Jaipur: The National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) – Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has announced IIM Udaipur as a robust Accelerator Program Centre in Rajasthan for the year 2019-20. Across India, only nine incubation centers are listed, out of which IIMU’s Accelerator Program Centre headed by Mr. Umamahesvaram Mandi.

The recent development came in the backdrop of the upcoming IIM Udaipur’s Launch-n-Zoom 2.0 accelerator cohort program. With its theme of MARKET-VALIDATION-LAUNCH, the elaborate program is open to Tech-based startups from all domains. The selected cohort will begin training in January 2020. Before this, IIM Udaipur’s Incubation centre hosted its first successful cohort in 2018 where 18 startups were selected out of 275 applicants following a thorough process.

On the attainment, Mr. Umamahesvaram Mandi, Chief Executive Officer, Incubation Centre IIMU said, “This is a moment of monumental victory for the entire IIM Udaipur and the emphasis our institution places on entrepreneurship. IIM Udaipur thrives with the launch of emerging early-stage technology startups and zooms them into their success; once again this year with Launch-n-Zoom 2.0, which focusses on creating a positive impact on the way startups roll out their products or services and build ventures. Through 12 weeks of learning, mentoring and networking, the startups are prepped for the demo day where they get an opportunity to pitch their ideas and models to investors, for potential funding.”

Prof. Janat Shah, Director, IIM Udaipur said, “The country needs motivated youth to launch startups, invest in self-driven projects and conduct extensive research and development for the better tomorrow. Our Incubation centre is driven towards building a strong and effective network with other leaders and entrepreneurs in the industry to enable meaningful partnerships with startups.

Applications from all over India are welcome till November 30th for early-stage startups that have done Proof-of-Concept and are in the process of developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and building prototype.

Sovan Sunil Panda, CEO and cofounder, Mangosteen Holdings, Anjana Vivek, technologist, Saurabh Kwatra, an innovative designer and function cost analyst and Rishabh Verdia and Yogesh Andlay business builders will be joining as mentors with others.

IIM Udaipur’s incubation centre has focused on providing some additional benefits to the new cohort which include  access to equipment and software for MVP development and prototyping; discovery of customers; price-points of products in the market; prototype refinement; assistance in development of newer edition of products and market testing of products; co-working spaces with 24×7 internet connectivity; and tailor-made topics and knowledge resources. IIM Udaipur will also bear costs of prototyping and development.

•  ‘Launch-n-Zoom 2.0’ At a glance: