Accel unveils Atoms 3.0 with a focus on AI and Industry 5.0 start-ups

Venture capital firm Accel has unveiled the new avatar of its Atoms program—Atoms 3.0, which will have two theme/sector-based cohorts—artificial intelligence (AI) and Industry 5.0.

The redesigned Atoms 3.0 will offer personalised learning, sector-specific mentors, and up to $5,00,000 in seed investment for each selected start-up. Additionally, these cohort startups will get access to Accel’s global community.

“With this new approach, the program aims to foster a community of like-minded founders in the same domain who can collaborate and help each other succeed. An industry-specific cohort enables the marshalling of resources, customer connections, and industry experts to provide deeper assistance to the companies involved,” the firm said in a statement.

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Over two cohorts, Atoms has invested in 24 start-ups ranging from SaaS, B2B marketplaces, Web3, D2C, hardware, health and wellness, to hardware and e-commerce. Since joining the Atoms program, these start-ups have further raised over $160mn, with Accel leading or participating in follow on rounds. 

Speaking to businessline, Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel, said, “The firm has participated in follow on rounds of almost 80 per cent of these 24 Atoms start-ups. In cases where Accel has not done follow on rounds is because either the start-up has been shut down or the company did not see the need to raise a new funding round.”

Adding to this, Swaroop said, “Accel strives to partner with companies at the very early stages to support them in becoming successful. Zero-to-one is the most challenging journey for an entrepreneur, as it sets the foundation for the business—that is what Atoms 3.0 hopes to accomplish for our founders. Based on feedback from our founders in cohorts 1 and cohort 2, we launched Atoms 3.0 as a thematic cohort program. The idea is companies targeting a similar industry and at a similar stage of evolution get to learn from each other a lot. ‘Perpetual Beta’ is the name of the game with Atoms. We hope to further improve the Atoms program in the future as thematic cohorts are our own PMF experiments in start-up building.” 

Each Atom cohort will consist of 4-5 companies and will have its own duration and methodology. Applications for Atoms 3.0 will open by the end of May. Accel has been an early investor in companies such as BookMyShow, Browserstack, Flipkart, Freshworks, FalconX, Infra.Market, Chargebee, Clevertap, Cure Fit, Musigma, Moneyview, Mensa Brands, and Myntra among others.

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