FIITJEE, a leading education institution in India, launched the first cohort of its Accelerator Programme for early stage startups in the latter half of 2022. The event was graced by the presence of Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman of Indian Angel Network and Co-Founder, NASSCOM as the chief guest and D K Goel, Chairman FIITJEE Group, along with multiple early stage and angel investors. The programme invited startups from EdTech, HealthTech and Social Impact Sectors (with DeepTech applications), offering them a structured mentoring programme. FIITJEE Group evaluated the suitability of the startups for funding and business synergy.

The programme generated an enthusiastic response with close to 150 startups participating. After initial screening, 60 startups were shortlisted for the first round of interactions and mentoring. A final list of 16 was shortlisted for intensive mentoring by a panel of 4 mentors appointed by FIITJEE. Out of these 16 startups, 7 were further shortlisted to present at the Demo Day which included Witblox- an online hangout place for K-12 students who love to build robots, drones or do anything related to technology; Arivu Learning (myPal) - a hybrid B2B education platform where testprep courses are delivered via live-interactive platform; K8 School - India’s only online school for Nursery to Grade 8; Stimuler - helps improve speech in English using AI voice engines by improving speaking skills of participants; Shakti - India’s first woman safety defensible accessory; PerceptionAI - developing tech to help visually impaired navigate independently; Ajna Lens (Dimension NXG) - an education platform making learning interesting and hands-on.

Commenting on the ‘Demo Day’, D K Goel said, “In recent times, India has emerged as one of the leading players in the global startup space, acting as a magnet for top VCs and global investors. We created FIITJEE Accelerator Programme to play our part in helping the startup community. The programme saw an enthusiastic response by startups from all over India”.