Mumbai-based seed and early-stage venture capital firm Artha Venture Fund is planning to launch a startup accelerator programme. The programme will help mentor and invest in a select bunch of startups.
It plans to train around 20 startups and is looking for sponsors, in order to set up a school for entrepreneurship, in the coming six months. The fund is finalizing a deal with a prominent US university to partner the programme.
Talking about the programme, Anirudh Damani, Managing Partner, Artha Venture Fund, said, “There is a lot to learn about ethics and management from the western venture ecosystem. Indian entrepreneurs need to learn to delegate, and we hope these learnings can be taught from the programme.”
He said, that the startup accelerator model will be based on the US-based seed accelerator Y Combinator, training two batches in a year, mentoring them and providing networking opportunities in exchange for equity.
Backed by Artha Group, Artha Venture Fund has business interests in renewable energy, innovative digital designs and a family-run investment office.
Currently, the fund is invested in two startups, Mumbai-based tea startup Haazri and another Mumbai-based P2P lending startup LenDenClub. Last month, Haazari raised ₹1.25 crore in seed funding.
Earlier in July 2018, it was reported that Artha Venture Fund had marked the first close of its maiden fund called Artha Venture Fund I at ₹40 crores. The has a target corpus of ₹200 crores, which is expected to see its final close in the next six to twelve months.