“One-to-N” cohort program aims to empower startups by facilitating them with valuable experiences and accelerating their execution
A Gurugram-based founders’ community and accelerator startup PedalStart, launched “One-to-N”, a 6-to-9 months domain agnostic sector-specific cohort program specifically designed to provide mentorship, network and seed funds to 10 growth-stage startups, across the country. The program aims to empower these startups by providing them with valuable experiences and accelerating their execution along with fundraising.
PedalStart designed this cohort with a detailed understanding of the ecosystem like upcoming booming sectors, most interesting models, VCs investment thesis and multiple other factors guided by some of the prominent VCs from the ecosystem like Prime Venture Partners, WaterBridge Ventures, Axilor Ventures and Inflexor Ventures along with few micro funds and angel networks.
One-to-N cohort will also see some of the prominent successful founders, domain experts and VC partners/principals as mentors in this cohort who will deliver founders practical experiences and guide them throughout the journey of the cohort. Some of the names are Mayank Jain Ex-CPO & Marketing Head of Snapdeal, Mahendra Swarup Ex-MD & CEO Times Internet & Founder Ankurit Capital, Nilesh Balakrishnan – Associate Vice President, WaterBridge Ventures, Gaurav Ranjan – Vice President Prime Venture Partners and few top names are still undisclosed.
Additionally, selected startups will receive a direct investment of $100k from PedalStart. They also gain access to a network of venture capitalists (VCs) for potential funding for their next round. Finally, the cohort will provide a valuable community for the startups, connecting them with a network of ten high-growth startups from across India.
Speaking on the occasion, PedalStart Co-founders, Pal & Darolia said, “We are pleased to announce the launch of ‘One-to-N,’ a unique cohort program designed to provide full handholding to growth stage startups of India in raising seed round investment. In addition, this program will also offer valuable learning opportunities from successful startup founders and domain experts. At Pedalstart, we are committed to helping budding startups become industry unicorns.”
“This cohort will provide 10 startup founders a platform where they can Network, Learn & Raise and reduce some friction from their journey, founders will experience much empowered with a reduced expectation gap between founders and the VC ecosystem to cross at least their seed and series A stage seamlessly,” they said.
Out of more than 600 applications from Pan India, PedalStart will select only 10 potential startups for this cohort, our aim is to provide support in founders’ life so that they can focus on building PMF over struggling in gaining access to the right network and funds. Almost 60% of startups fail even after raising the first cheque, this number is huge and with this cohort, we will focus on continuously supporting founders to reach the seed stage seamlessly and without losing focus.
Mahendra Swarup, Ex-MD & CEO Times Internet & Founder Ankurit Capital, said, “We are thrilled to join this program, as it provides invaluable guidance for aspiring startups to thrive in the fiercely competitive industry. Cohort programs like this are essential in the current era of emerging entrepreneurs. The One-to-N program will undoubtedly empower imaginative individuals, enabling them to connect and gather momentum”.
The program highlights include a tenure of 3+6 months. The initial three months focus on structured learning, while the subsequent six months are dedicated to execution tracking. This allows the program to gauge market acceptance of the startups’ offerings/products and assess the founders’ execution abilities.
