Flame Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has launched with plans for a five-month accelerator that will support between 10 and 15 startups.
Flame University has launched an entrepreneurship and commercialisation hub called Flame Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (FCEI), Global Banking and Finance reported on Saturday.
FCEI includes a five-month accelerator, Flame Origins, that will operate on a cost and equity-free basis to support 10 to 15 startups. Flame Origins will offer services including co-working space, library resources, workshops and events.
To participate, startups must clear a competitive, two-stage shortlisting process. FCEI will also run business competitions that pull together entrepreneurs, investors, students and corporations.
The initiative has been set up to help entrepreneurs pursue market traction through strategic and operational mentoring as well as access to potential customers, partners and investors.
FCEI is headed by director Darshan Doshi, who brings prior experience as head of programs at JioGenNext, a startup accelerator backed by conglomerate Reliance Industries.
The centre’s advisory team features Suhas Kadlaskar, director of human resource and corporate affairs at carmaker Mercendes-Benz’s India division, as well as Amey Mashelkar, head of JioGenNext, and Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, co-founder of the Upekkha Accelerator.
Other advisers include Kuntal Shah, partner at Oaklane Capital Management, and Sashi Chimala, a serial entrepreneur with three exits to his name who currently serves as executive vice-president of philanthropic organisation Wadhwani Foundation.
