While Indian tech startups are making their mark on a global level, it is about time we have a super angel group focused on technology like YCombinator and Techstars. Rajesh Sawhney, former president of Reliance Entertainment and founder of GSF Superangels in India, has announced the launch of GSF Accelerator for startups in the country. This program is supported by successful entrepreneurs and venture funds. The prominent venture fund supporting GSF is 500startups by Dave McLure, Blume Ventures and Kae Capital, seedcamp of Europe and Singapore based Ruvento. Its impressive lineup of backers include entrepreneurs like Naveen Tewari of InMobi, Avnish Bajaj, founder of Matrix Partners and co-founder of Bazee.com, Sharad Sanghi, founder of netmagic and Atsushi Taira of Bharati Softbank.
The startup accelerator programme will kick off on October 15 and operate in three cities – Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. The platform will mentor 12 startups, provide them initial capital and get them connected to funding and business networks. The accelerator is designed to support product-oriented technology startups in areas like mobile, social networking and cloud.
GSF Accelerator will run simultaneously in all three cities during October 15-November 24, with each location hosting four startups. Currently GSF is in the process of shortlisting startups.
According to Dave McClure, founder of 500 Startups, “India is booming with innovation and 500 Startups is excited to be partnering with GSF Accelerator in one of the world’s most exciting entrepreneurial ecosystems. We have already made several investments in India and we plan to do more in the future.”
All 12 startups will receive initial funding ranging from INR 1 crores to INR 3 crores from GSF Superangels and will also showcase themselves at the Second Global Superangels Forum during November 26-27, where 400 early-stage investors from across the globe will be present.
