Mumbai, 2 Other Metro Cities Accounted For Over 50% Applications At Pre-Seed Companies

An in-depth analysis of more than 2,000 applications received for the second cohort of Atoms, an Accel initiative aimed at pre-seed companies, revealed some interesting trends regarding innovation in India.

Innovation is everywhere!

Entrepreneurs from across the length and breadth of India have shown robust interest in establishing their own start-ups, with large numbers situated in non-metro cities. Applications came in from 35 cities in India, with a large number of applicants stating that their work was completely location-agnostic. Interestingly:

Close to 40% of the applications came from non-metro cities, showing that as a country India is definitely moving up the innovation and entrepreneurship value chain.

Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi (the metros) accounted for more than 50% of the applications.

Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Patna and Surat all contributed more than 10 applications each.

Indore, now billed as India's up-and-coming startup capital, brought in 20 applications all by itself.

Over 100 entrepreneurs applied for the Atoms program from Gurgaon

First Time Entrepreneurs and Repeat/Serial founders

55% of the applicants were first-time founders; while close to 45% of the applicants have at least one co-founder with prior experience of building a startup.

Almost 45% of the companies have two founders.

21% of the applicants have three or more co-founders, preferring to work in groups.

Other interesting insights

More than one-third of the applicants have already launched their product or service, with another 20% having a working minimum viable product (MVP). It is interesting to note that around 22% of the applicants are at the idea stage.

Nearly 61% of the companies have not yet started generating any revenue at all. This could mean that the start-ups are in stealth mode developing the product/service/solution.

Through the Atoms program, Accel aims to support budding entrepreneurs, irrespective of which stage the company is at.  As part of the program, the start-ups received $250K in non-dilutive capital, one-on-one mentorship from established business leaders, as well as access to the global Accel community.