IIM Udaipur’s incubation center has introduced an exclusive inaugurated its 12-week participant-centred Women-in-Tech Accelerator (WiT) programme. This programme, powered by the department of science and technology, will be focusing on supporting highly innovative and scalable women-led tech ventures.

The course is designed for women-founders who aspire to acquire the tools, knowledge, and connections to take their start-up to the next level. Each qualifying start-up receives up to ₹50,000 in cash prize, extensive training, mentoring, and technical guidance, as well as networking opportunities with corporate leaders, industry experts, potential investors, and ongoing advisory support. Eligible start-ups can now apply to the first batch of this programme, a release from the institute, said.

Suresh Dhaka, CEO of IIM Udaipur’s incubation center said, “The absence of adequate diversity, equality, and inclusivity in the global technology sector, particularly in terms of women’s representation, has become a mainstream concern. At IIM Udaipur incubation center, we encourage more women to join us in technical roles, where they may have a better grasp of their clients, the best business model for their company, different sources of finance, and knowledge on how to build good commercial partnerships. We are hoping to scale a total of 15 women-led technology firms through this programme.“ 

The Accelerator Programme is ideally suited for seed to early-stage revenue-generating tech businesses that are based in India and have Indian founders and operations. The pre-requisites for those applying for this course are: 

• Should be a member of the founder’s team with a significant equity stake or in a position of C-suite leadership
• Deep-tech startups that leverage technologies such as AI, machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, blockchain, and others are preferred
• The applicant should have achieved some degree of validation or traction — should have a minimum viable product or service with a market fit, viable commercialisation, and scope of scaling
• Be legally incorporated and in existence for more than a year 

Based on the above criteria, IIM Udaipur incubation center will select 15 women entrepreneurs for the accelerator programme through a two-stage competitive procedure. The part 1 of the process entails filling out an application form and part 2 entails interviews with candidates who have been shortlisted. The closing date for submitting the applications is June 15, 2022.