Accel announces Atoms 3.0, unveils 8 start-ups

Venture capital firm Accel has unveiled eight startups from the third cohort of its accelerator programme Atoms. The programme’s first sectorfocused cohort, Atoms 3.0, backs preseed startups building in the AI and Industry 5.0 domains.

The four AI startups that are part of Atoms 3.0 include Tune AI, a GenAI stack for enterprises, Skoob, a generative AI platform for reading, Meritic, a storytelling copilot for financial planning and analysis, and Arivihan, India’s first AIbased, fully automated learning platform.

The two Industry 5.0 startups in this cohort are: Spintly, an IoT platform for smart buildings; and Asets, a multidisciplinary CAD, simulation and engineering design platform. The two remaining startups from the cohort are in stealth.

THEMATIC PROGRAMME

“The shift to a thematic program design for Atoms 3.0 has enabled us to provide deeper, sectorfocused mentorship for the startups. Atoms has always restricted itself to smaller cohort sizes to stay hyperfocused on the needs of a smaller group of exceptional founders. We believe we have found the next wave of disruptors in AI and Industry 5.0, and the proof of this has been witnessing the growth of each of these startups since joining the program,” said Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel.

“While AI presents an incredible opportunity, the pace of innovation in AI requires founders to have the right mindset for navigating this market. As part of Atoms 3.0, founders are also learning how to build that muscle for resilience and agility,” he added.

INDUSTRY 5.0

The third edition of the program, Atoms 3.0, shifted from being sectoragnostic to thematic, focusing on AI and Industry 5.0. Prayank Swaroop and Barath

Shankar Subramanian, partners at Accel, lead the AI and Industry 5.0 domains respectively

The Atoms programme brings Accel’s network and learnings from working with disruptive companies, to help preseed founders during the 0to1 journey.

The cohort receives up to $500,000 in funding, and access to perks worth more than $5 million from Accel’s network partners. There is personalised mentorship, and the opportunity to collaborate with a strong peer community of founders from past Atoms cohorts and Accel’s network of over 200 portfolio founders, industry buyers, and customers.

The Expert Committee on developing the GIFT City in Gujarat as ‘Global Finance and Accounting Hub’ has recommended a comprehensive regulatory regime for undertaking bookkeeping, accounting, taxation and financial crimes compliance services from the IFSC in India.

The Panel’s recommendations —twelve major ones in all—include measures for enhancing the skills and competencies of the workforce, broad entry criteria for firms looking to offer services of bookkeeping, accounting, taxation and financial crimes compliance services. Only firms that are registered as a company or a Limited liability partnership should be allowed to offer these services. Any entity established overseas can open a branch in IFSC only if it does not have a presence in India, the Panel has recommended.

THE COMMITTEE

The Expert Committee, Chaired by CA Institute President Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal, has submitted its