: The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies’ (UPES) Runway Incubator is working on a ₹30-crore accelerator fund, as it tries to position itself as a start-up university. 

“We want to position UPES as a startup university, instead of a university that creates job-seekers. I feel when young people are working on startup ideas, professors are helping them and they also have their own ideas. This suddenly changes the culture of the place. It becomes more lucrative, creative and vibrant place to be,” CEO Runway Incubator, Rahul Nainwal told BusinessLine.

Runway Incubator currently runs an eight-weeks pre-incubation programme, under which 82 ideas have been selected. The incubator plans to do two cohorts in a year. Along with mentorship and network, start-ups in Runway Incubator also get an opportunity to raise a no-strings attached grant of ₹1 lakh from the university. 

The start-ups will then have 2-3 months to work on their ideas and pitch them to a clutch of investors, where UPES will also be one. The programme recently conducted an informal pitch day, where 8 companies raised capital.

While the pre-incubation program focuses on mostly idea stage companies, the new accelerator fund will invest in companies that have built an MVP(minimum viable product), have some revenues.

Size of investments

On an average, the size of the investment will range between ₹25 lakh and ₹75 lakh. Broadly, the fund will target tech-enabled startups across themes like D2C, SaaS, metaverse and urban mobility. However, Nainwal said the fund is not too fixated on these themes and aims to invest in about 30 companies.

The fund will scout for early-stage start-ups across India. It is also building a team in Bengaluru and Delhi NCR to build pipeline of investees for the program. The fund will also collaborate with other accelerators, and funds to co-invest.

“The idea is that anybody who comes at an early stage, gets a good runway by working on their idea in the incubation stage raise some funds, work on their MVP or proof of concept and then there is opportunity to raise more money through the acceleration program,” Nainwal added.