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Accel’s Atoms picks 8 startups for its third cohort with a focus on AI and Industry 5.0
KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)
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Summary
The eight startups in Atoms 3.0 will each receive up to $500,000 in funding, access to perks worth more than $5 million from Accel’s network partners, personalised mentorship and the opportunity to collaborate with a strong peer community of founders.
Flipkart and Swiggy-backer Accel India have unveiled eight startups for the third cohort of its six-month pre-seed accelerator programme called Atoms.
The latest cohort marks a rejig in the programme strategy — from being sector-agnostic to thematic — with a dedicated focus on operators in artificial intelligence and Industry 5.0.
Accel Atoms’s two preceding cohorts were dominated by startups in B2B, SaaS, Crypto, D2C and hardware, among others. For Atoms 3.0, Accel says it wanted to provide “deeper, sector-focused mentorship for startups”, as artificial intelligence turns into a “must-have” in the portfolio.
“We believe we have found the next wave of disruptors in AI and Industry 5.0, and the proof of this has been witnessing the growth of each of these startups since joining the programme,” Prayank Swaroop, Partner, Accel.
The four AI startups that are part of Atoms 3.0 are Tune AI (a Generative AI stack for enterprises), Skoob (a GenAI platform for reading), Meritic (a storytelling co-pilot for financial planning and analysis) and Arivihaan (an AI-based, fully-automated learning platform).
The two Industry 5.0 startups in this cohort are Spintly (an IoT platform for smart buildings) and Asets (a multidisciplinary CAD, simulation and engineering design platform). The two remaining startups from the cohort are in stealth.
The eight startups in Atoms 3.0 will each receive up to $500,000 in funding, access to perks worth more than $5 million from Accel’s network partners, personalised mentorship and the opportunity to collaborate with a strong peer community of founders from past Atoms cohorts and Accel’s network of over 200 portfolio founders, industry buyers, and customers.
The cohort was launched with a four-day long kickoff programme that included an AI summit with over 200 AI founders and operators, and an Industry 5.0 customer connect. The Atoms 3.0 founders interacted with senior business and tech leaders from companies like Swiggy, Flipkart, Reliance, GitHub, Facilio, ITC, Diageo, Schneider, Aditya Birla Group, and Vedanta.
“Our mission with Atoms is to ensure founders have the best odds at success and can make those mission-critical decisions with insight from the world’s best domain experts. Meetings facilitated via the programme have helped the 3.0 founders onboard new, large customers,” says Barath Shankar Subramanian, Partner, Accel.
Launched in February 2022, Accel says it has held more than 100 learning sessions led by experts from companies like Google, AssemblyAI, and Langchain, mentor connects, and community gatherings across the Atoms cohorts. The 24 Atoms startups from Atoms 1.0 and 2.0 have together raised over $200 million in funding to date.
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