Oxigen Wallet founder Pramod Saxena launches startup accelerator with IIT-Roorke

BENGALURU: Pramod Saxena, the founder of Oxigen Wallet has launched Aarambh Ventures, a startup accelerator in partnership with IIT-Roorkee, specifically focusing on fin-tech and clean-tech startups.

Aarambh Ventures will also partner with several early-stage funds including Unitus Seed Fund, Ivy-Cap Ventures and LetsVenture along with select high net-worth individuals and angel investors. The platform will operate in two phases. The first will focus on setting up an idea lab on IIT-Roorkee’s campus, where infrastructure and tech support, will be made available to the selected startups.

“As of now, we are focusing on IIT-Roorkee affiliated alumni, students and faculty members with interesting ideas and product concepts that can brainstorm product ideas in the idea lab before going on to phase-two, which will be the accelerator programme. Based on how this works, we will look at including other IITs or outside applications,” said Saxena, a former IIT-Roorkee student.

The second phase will be a 16-week accelerator programme, which will be located outside the IIT-Roorkee campus in greater Noida. The Aarambh Ventures accelerator programme will select close to 100 ventures in the next two years, out of which 20% will be successful, viable business ventures with funding. “We are expecting to see a lot of SaaS, artificial intelligence and big data-oriented platforms integrated into these startups. The focus will be on promoting startups that are using smart algorithms to create cost-efficient products,” added Saxena.