Silicon Road and NUMA are partnering to launch a 4-month startup acceleration program providing international funded support and infrastructure for startups, particularly in Retail & FoodTech to fast-track startup growth.
Silicon Road empowers retailers to take charge of their own future, through investment in transformative innovation. We bring together industry, academia, and startups to co-create next-gen retail technologies.
Our unique program combines four key elements to create a maximum synergy:
- A strategic US fund financed by retailers; India fund comprising of GPs, LPs and other investors
- An accelerator program for early stage startups in India, and early & growth stage startups in the US
- A shared innovation lab and advisory services provided by Georgia Tech in the US
- Partnership agreements with CFTRI from a FoodTech standpoint
Funding and Support: Silicon Road will invest an initial seed amount of money (INR 25L) in all startups joining the program. Startups will also get access to the €700k worth of perks and to international & local investors for fundraising support with a further round of funding opportunity from Silicon Road for eligible startups during or after the program.
Access to international & local networks around the Retail & Food Tech industries: An actionable network is a key feature of any startup program. The selected startups will be introduced to the local & international network of food and retail tech corporates, mentors, research infrastructure, industry experts, founders, partners & foreign official delegations to enable the startups to build their own networks.
Tailored program to accelerate the Startup growth: In the beginning, startups will be taken through multiple bootcamps on the various core functions of a business including Design, Technology/Product, Growth Hacking, etc. to help startups strengthen their product and build a business strategy. At the end of these bootcamps, we will be helping each startup to create their OKR/roadmap with clear KPIs and in the next 3 months, we will support them on the execution of this roadmap.
Quality mentoring by some of the best mentors & in-house experts: The startups will be surrounded by some of the best in-house experts and introduced to the right mentors. In addition to the team, an Entrepreneur in Residence and Growth Hacker in Residence will support the startups to execute their product and growth strategy.
Free office space and infrastructure in Mysuru: The selected startups (at least one of the founders) will be working out of the Silicon Road campus and they will get a world class office infrastructure at Silver Spirit Tech Park for 6 months in the royal city Mysuru.
Silicon Road will be taking equity stake in exchange for the funding and acceleration program.
We have kick-started the call for application for our first cohort, and startups can apply here by 20th April 2019, the program will kickoff in May 2019.
