Gurugram-based start-up community builder PedalStart announced the launch of PedalCircle – India’s first Outcome-driven, offline cohort program in Bangalore, focused on accelerating early-stage start-ups’ journey from Proof-of-Concept (POC) to their first round of fundraising. Centered on empowering founding teams through access to knowledge, mentors, infrastructure, market access and growth capital, PedalCircle brings an unparalleled 3-month offline experience to significantly fast-track the progress of 25 exceptional founders in their early-stage entrepreneurial journey.
This first-of-its-kind cohort program will commence in Bangalore in the second week of February 2024. It aims to selectively pick only 25 start-ups from an anticipated applicant pool of over 2000+ start-ups via a highly competitive 5-step screening funnel that includes – form screening, analyst call, offline war room evaluation, final analyst call, and the final selection through a gala dinner event organized on 25th January in Bangalore where these founders will get access to top-notch Venture Capitlists, mentors, and ex-Start-up Founders. The screening process has been designed to be highly founder-friendly but thorough in assessing alignment across these key aspects.
After the final selection, 25 start-ups will be shortlisted and invited for the outcome-driven offline cohort program. During the 3 month program, the 25 shortlisted start-ups will have access to an expert PedalStart support team where they can leverage PedalStart’s shared resources pool across functions like marketing, tech, legal, recruiting, etc., on a usage basis, optimizing cash burn in the early days of building up the start-up. The founders will also have 1:1 mentor sessions with ex-founders and investors, tailored to the specific start-up needs at different phases of their entrepreneurial journey and focused on enabling success.
Speaking in PedalCircle, Manas Pal and Aditya Darolia, Co-Founder of PedalStart says, “We designed PedalCircle as a solution focused on filling very critical gaps faced by start-ups in their early stages – right guidance from those who have built ventures from the ground up before. Through the cohort, selected start-ups stand to get unparalleled access to infrastructure, knowledge, industry connections, mentors, market access channels, and growth capital – all aimed at accelerating their progress and providing the launch pad for success. PedalCircle also aims to differentiate itself by focusing on community building, an overlooked aspect. Participants get to engage intensively at the Innovation Hub for the duration of the program. This leads to strong personal bonds developed from shared experiences and war rooms, enabling them to learn collectively, avoid potential mistakes, and form a strong long-term founder relationship that lasts well beyond the program itself.”
By the end of the offline cohort, 5+ start-ups will get the opportunity to get the investment from PedalStart. These founders will receive funding of up to – $250K from the PedalStart network.
After completing the cohort, they also continue getting full access to PedalStart’s wider founder community platform, which consists of over 1600+ entrepreneurs. This lifelong community can be leveraged for potential partnerships, future growth needs and knowledge-sharing opportunities even after the 3-month accelerator experience.
The application registration for PedalCircle, India’s first cohort, has started and applicants can apply through this link – https://zfrmz.in/Uun0optJfSJA7bubdFcy. The registration ends on 18th January, 2024, with the 3-month program set to start in the second week of February 2024 in Bangalore. Early-stage start-ups from India and globally across sectors are invited to apply for this unique 3-month founder-focused accelerator.
About PedalStart
PedalStart is a platform that solves a single major problem statement of the ecosystem: building start-up founders. The platform helps build founders through their start-up ideas, with the help of ex-entrepreneurs, successful start-up founders, domain experts, and angel investors. The team at PedalStart uses real-life experiences over traditional theoretical knowledge to build start-up founders. With more than 10,000+ start-ups, 300+ mentors, 800+ founders building ideas, and 1200+ house discussions, PedalStart has been transforming big ideas into high-potential businesses since 2021.
