Frequently Asked Questions

Thrive is India's most exciting and value-driven cohort-based accelerator program for the most promising early-stage startups.

• 3-phased screening process. Less than 2% intake rate

• The 12 to 24 week rigorous program comprises all key elements required in a startup's growth journey.

• Mentors include top startup founders, industry leaders and domain experts.

• The only accelerator program that comes with "Skin-in-the-game". Signal funding to startups on Day 1.

• Demo day at the end of the cohort, where in startups pitch their ideas and raise institutional funding.

• Marwari Catalysts invites applications from the startups for industry-specific startups. The dates are communicated via our social media platforms and website.
• Based on the applications received, initial screening selection and sharing the master form to the selected startups. (7 Days timeline)
• Second round screening and selection. Invite for a one-on-one meeting with the founders and final selections. (7 - 10 Days)
• Legal Compliances and Documentation
• Acceleration Program (3 to 6 months extensive help)
• Investor Connects
• Continuous support backed by the industry experts.

We accelerate all types of startups from all verticals depending on the category of the cohort running. Please note we focus only on startups and not on small businesses.

Startups in their early stages, having early traction, and are looking for Acceleration in the startup industry should apply for the program. Startups that are only looking for funding and are part-time founders, should not apply for our program.

As an early stage accelerator we emphasize primarily on the founding team, the innovation in terms of the business model or the product itself. Our preference goes to startups which have proven their commercial viability proven primarily in the way of traction.

Some points to remember:

• We try to understand your startup idea very quickly, so the application must ideally make it easy for us to know in the first three sentences of the introduction.
• Be concise, clear, and crisp about your product and why it should exist.
• Explain why your team is right to do this (team expertise and skills).
• Describe how far you have worked for the same.

Marwari Catalysts is a startup accelerator focusing nurturing and scaling innovative startups in tier 2 and tier 3 markets. We have our own AIF category 1 fund. But differ from other funds as the primary help given to the startups lies in the mentorship and guidance needed for them to scale up and grow.
We come at a slightly more advanced stage than incubators, if you're looking for Incubation, you can connect with our Incubation Partner, Startup Chaupal.

MCats provides startups with mentorship, guidance on various business aspects,and access to a panel of domain experts who offer insights into specific areas like branding, tech development, fundraising and more. We also have in house teams specializing in different domains who identify bottlenecks and guide the startups towards solving them and acheiving growth. Other areas of support include $75,000 worth of tools and resources, sharing government grant opportunities and more.

We select 10 to 20 Startups in each cohort.

Yes, many of the startup(s) come to us for the mentorship and direction we provide as part of the program rather than money.

We don't charge any monetary fees. Instead, Startups share advisory equity, aligning our interests perfectly with the startup's success and ensuring we are fully invested in its journey for a longer term.

Mentors are experts in different fields with wealth of experience. The roles they have played in the past is usually of a Successful startup founder or being part of the startup ecosystem, Professionals in large multinational organisations or industrialists.

We launch 3 cohorts in a year with different categories or sectors. Exact information on this is listed down on our 'Apply Now' page.

You can also find cohort timelines and other details on the same page.

The equity shared depends upon the stage, current valuation and the extent of support we foresee to be provided and the kind of value we can add in the startup's journey. The total equity including the investment ranges from 4 to 7%.

Investment ticket Size is INR 10 Lakh - 1 Crore depending upon the fund requirement, stage and potential of the startup under consideration.

The startups are expected to be actively involved in the acceleration program and provide regular updates on their progress.

Startups only looking for investment but not for additional support might now be the best fit for Marwari Catalysts' acceleration program. However, we would still encourage you to apply to initiate a discussion and explore collaboration.

Yes, we do accept pre-revenue or idea stage startups only difference being the selection threshold is slightly higher.

For all the startups we onboard and ready for investments, we share investor access and opportunites to raise funds as a part of our Thrive program .

As most of our mentors are spread out geographically, the acceleration program is conducted Virtually with some in-person networking events. If any of the selected startups would like to meet us and spend time with the team, they are ecouraged to visit us at any of our offices atleast once.

Extensive support and sessions last for a period of typically 3-6 months, depending upon the amount of support needed on a case to case basis. However, the support goes beyond this duration, till the time we are associated with the startups.

Not limited in terms of geography for accepting applications. However, our focus is on startups based out of India.

Yes, you can reach us through our contact page here or send a mail to office@marwaricatalysts.com You will consequently receive a reply or call from us as soon as possible.

Yes. We've had many startups who have joined the program along with being connected with another accelerator.