This article was published on March 13, 2013

500 Startups-backed GSF India opens applications for its second accelerator program


500 Startups-backed GSF India opens applications for its second accelerator program

Earlier this month we caught up with Rajesh Sawhney, the charismatic founder of GSF India, and today his investment company has opened applications for its second accelerator program.

GSF — which has partnered with 500 Startups and Seedcamp — is seeking 20 promising startups for the 9-week long program which will run simultaneously across ­ Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and now Chennai, having expanded into the latter city. As with the inaugural class, GSF is promising to tap into its network of 200 mentors and advisers worldwide, including Naveen Tiwari, founder of mobile ad firm Inmobi, and Deep Kalra, founder of leading Indian flight booking site MakeMyTrip, to provide help, guidance and wisedom.

“The program is designed to create the next wave of product-oriented technology start-ups in the areas of mobile, social, local and cloud. There is no reason that Indian entrepreneurs cannot create the next Instagram, or the next Twitter, or the next Inmobi,” Sawhney said when explaining the program last year.

GSF — which also runs angel investment and events businesses — promises that the accelerator program will include 25 “intensive and proprietary” workshops, while giving startups access to VC and business networks, mentoring and funding sources.

The program is currently just for India-based companies but, during our interview, Sawhney said he is looking into expanding it overseas in due course. He anticipates that the program will have graduated a total of 40-50 startups by the end of 2013.

Last week, location-based startup Playcez became the first GSF alum to close funding, and Sawhney says that 9 of the 15 startups that graduated the inaugural program are currently raising seed rounds and ready to follow suit.

Interested companies can head over to gsfindia.com/apply for more details and the chance to apply. The deadline for submissions is March 31 April 14.

Image via Thinkstock

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