Fellowships open a door for campus entrepreneurs
For a small but growing number of young professionals and college graduates, fellowships and grant programmes are emerging as an alternative entry point into India’s startup ecosystem. Recently, deeptech focussed venture capital firm Shastra VC launched its fellowship, SDEX, aimed at early-career founders, researchers, and PhD candidates.
Other than this, Emergent Ventures runs a fellowship programme of George Mason University, that supports aspiring founders building for India, Africa, and the Caribbean, while Akshay Kothari, cofounder of Notion, a San Francisco-based productivity startup, has launched the Kothari fellowship along with his brothers, for Indian students below 25.
Data from Superscout, a platform that tracks VC fellowship and scout programmes globally, shows that from a total of about 10,000 applications across such programmes, India’s participation has held steady at 12% over the past three years, up from around 7–8% in earlier cohorts (2020-2022). There is strong representation from IITs, IIMs, and BITS, with relatively fewer applicants from US or UK universities. Also, India-based applicants skew toward founders, operators, and students, with relatively fewer candidates from a finance background.
While these fellowships do not guarantee funding, they are increasingly seen as a strong signal of entrepreneurial intent.
The trend is well established in the US, where popular programmes such as the Thiel fellowship established by PayPal founder Peter Thiel have produced successful founders. But tightening US visa norms are forcing many young Indians aspiring to start up to scout for similar programmes closer home.
Catching the entrepreneurship bug
“Students and researchers across IITs, IISc, BITS, and NITs are increasingly treating entrepreneurship as a day-one path. Deeptech investing has also matured, with VCs backing technically ambitious ideas much earlier. SDEX is built to help researchers turn strong lab work into venture-ready proof,” Jivesh Madan, vice president at Shastra VC, told ET.
“Our programme is aimed at supporting young Indians build or explore ideas without having to worry about making ends meet,” said Pranav Kothari, who manages the Kothari Fellowship in India and is CEO at the edtech firm Educational Initiatives. The fellowship offers grants of up to Rs 1 lakh for a year. Fellows are encouraged to share ideas with peers, experienced founders, venture capitalists, and build networks. There is no investment beyond the grant. The programme’s first cohort of four fellows have already started their work.
San Francisco-based South Park Commons has opened an outpost in Bengaluru and begun onboarding fellows to its programme. It offers a funding commitment of $400,000 upon joining, with another $600,000 available in a subsequent fundraising round.
Peak XV Partners runs Spark, a programme focused on female founders. It offers $100,000 to encourage women entrepreneurs to quit their jobs, start up, and hire their first employee while building a market-ready product. “We have more than 50 women in the Spark community today across 45 companies. Twenty-two companies have raised follow-on capital after receiving the Spark grant,” said Sakshi Chopra, managing director at Peak XV Partners.
Tapping young minds
While these programmes typically attract young professionals, PhD candidates, and technologists, they are also increasingly drawing college students willing to drop out to start companies. Sheetal Chauhan, a founding team member at Sarvam AI, is currently building Compose, a creative software startup. She is a fellow at South Park Commons, a community of founders and engineers across San Francisco and Bengaluru, and has already secured $1 million in funding through the fellowship to build her venture.
Vikrant Patankar, 25, who works as a founding filmmaker at the Silicon Valley-based AI startup Composio, is learning the ropes of entrepreneurship through the Kothari fellowship. Anagha Rajesh, another Kothari fellow, is building Biocompute, which is reimagining data storage. Rajesh was previously a fellow at Emergent Ventures.
“The Emergent Ventures fellowship goes beyond business ideas. It is trying to build a community of high achievers that is remarkably diverse, ranging from dancers to podcasters,” Rajesh said.
Increasing popularity
Industry executives suggest that more Indian students are aspiring to build startups, with applications to such programmes steadily rising.
“The 1517 fellowship has seen an increase in applications from India over the last 15 years, with things really picking up in the last five years,” said Michael Gibson, cofounder of venture capital fund 1517, who earlier served as a director at the Thiel fellowship.
“If an applicant has gone through such fellowship programmes, it shows seriousness about building a startup. At an early stage, that is a very important indicator of future success,” said Richa Bajpai, founder of Campus Fund, which invests in startups founded by college students and fresh graduates.
Other than this, Emergent Ventures runs a fellowship programme of George Mason University, that supports aspiring founders building for India, Africa, and the Caribbean, while Akshay Kothari, cofounder of Notion, a San Francisco-based productivity startup, has launched the Kothari fellowship along with his brothers, for Indian students below 25.
Data from Superscout, a platform that tracks VC fellowship and scout programmes globally, shows that from a total of about 10,000 applications across such programmes, India’s participation has held steady at 12% over the past three years, up from around 7–8% in earlier cohorts (2020-2022). There is strong representation from IITs, IIMs, and BITS, with relatively fewer applicants from US or UK universities. Also, India-based applicants skew toward founders, operators, and students, with relatively fewer candidates from a finance background.
While these fellowships do not guarantee funding, they are increasingly seen as a strong signal of entrepreneurial intent.
The trend is well established in the US, where popular programmes such as the Thiel fellowship established by PayPal founder Peter Thiel have produced successful founders. But tightening US visa norms are forcing many young Indians aspiring to start up to scout for similar programmes closer home.
Catching the entrepreneurship bug
“Students and researchers across IITs, IISc, BITS, and NITs are increasingly treating entrepreneurship as a day-one path. Deeptech investing has also matured, with VCs backing technically ambitious ideas much earlier. SDEX is built to help researchers turn strong lab work into venture-ready proof,” Jivesh Madan, vice president at Shastra VC, told ET.
“Our programme is aimed at supporting young Indians build or explore ideas without having to worry about making ends meet,” said Pranav Kothari, who manages the Kothari Fellowship in India and is CEO at the edtech firm Educational Initiatives. The fellowship offers grants of up to Rs 1 lakh for a year. Fellows are encouraged to share ideas with peers, experienced founders, venture capitalists, and build networks. There is no investment beyond the grant. The programme’s first cohort of four fellows have already started their work.
San Francisco-based South Park Commons has opened an outpost in Bengaluru and begun onboarding fellows to its programme. It offers a funding commitment of $400,000 upon joining, with another $600,000 available in a subsequent fundraising round.
Peak XV Partners runs Spark, a programme focused on female founders. It offers $100,000 to encourage women entrepreneurs to quit their jobs, start up, and hire their first employee while building a market-ready product. “We have more than 50 women in the Spark community today across 45 companies. Twenty-two companies have raised follow-on capital after receiving the Spark grant,” said Sakshi Chopra, managing director at Peak XV Partners.
Tapping young minds
While these programmes typically attract young professionals, PhD candidates, and technologists, they are also increasingly drawing college students willing to drop out to start companies. Sheetal Chauhan, a founding team member at Sarvam AI, is currently building Compose, a creative software startup. She is a fellow at South Park Commons, a community of founders and engineers across San Francisco and Bengaluru, and has already secured $1 million in funding through the fellowship to build her venture.
Vikrant Patankar, 25, who works as a founding filmmaker at the Silicon Valley-based AI startup Composio, is learning the ropes of entrepreneurship through the Kothari fellowship. Anagha Rajesh, another Kothari fellow, is building Biocompute, which is reimagining data storage. Rajesh was previously a fellow at Emergent Ventures.
“The Emergent Ventures fellowship goes beyond business ideas. It is trying to build a community of high achievers that is remarkably diverse, ranging from dancers to podcasters,” Rajesh said.
Increasing popularity
Industry executives suggest that more Indian students are aspiring to build startups, with applications to such programmes steadily rising.
“The 1517 fellowship has seen an increase in applications from India over the last 15 years, with things really picking up in the last five years,” said Michael Gibson, cofounder of venture capital fund 1517, who earlier served as a director at the Thiel fellowship.
“If an applicant has gone through such fellowship programmes, it shows seriousness about building a startup. At an early stage, that is a very important indicator of future success,” said Richa Bajpai, founder of Campus Fund, which invests in startups founded by college students and fresh graduates.
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