– Cohort 1 was split into two parts, including peer meetups held in Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai.
– Applications for Cohort 2 are now being accepted.
India, 02 March, 2023: The ‘Level Up’ programme, a nationwide virtual accelerator program aimed at enabling women entrepreneurs to take their startups to the next level, has been successfully concluded by 91Springboard, one of India’s leading coworking communities, in partnership with Google for Startups (GfS). A total of 183 women founders were selected for mentorship from the best in the business, who provided masterclasses, peer meetups, tools, and expertise for three months to build and scale their businesses. Cohort 1 included women entrepreneurs from various cities, including Chandigarh, Surat, Indore, Pune, and others, in addition to the top metro cities.
More than 360 applications were received for Cohort 1, which was formed in August 2022. The peer meetups were held at 91Springboard hubs in Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, and Mumbai, where the entrepreneurs were given insights and guidance from accomplished mentors from Google and other leading corporations.
The mentors acted as sounding boards and worked with the women founders on their challenges to develop strategies to scale their businesses from X to 10X. Throughout the program, over 200 hours were spent on mentoring the founders, with 12+ hours in formal networking.
Cohort 1 of the Level Up program concluded on February 25, with a positive response from participants. As a result, Cohort 2 of the program will commence in March and continue until July 2023.
Women entrepreneurs wishing to participate in the ‘Level Up’ program can register here: Cohort II Application form
Anand Vemuri, CEO, 91Springboard, said: “Lately, we have witnessed a surge of women entrepreneurs becoming self-reliant and independent. It is great that our government is supporting them and we at 91Springboard are doing our bit. 91Springboard believes in nurturing growth through learning opportunities. This collaboration with GfS for Level Up will boost the confidence of the founders and assist them in their journey.”
Nicole Yap, Partnership Manager, Google for Startups, added: “It is our abiding belief at Google that to build universally relevant and helpful solutions, the companies and ecosystems building this have to be fully inclusive and diverse. Women founders still comprise a very small fraction of the overall pie and we think programs that facilitate and enable this representation are very timely and highly important. We are pleased to collaborate with 91Springboard for this.”
Women entrepreneurs have been integral to the Indian economy’s transformational journey. While there was slow momentum in terms of women founders initially, India has witnessed an upsurge in women establishing successful businesses over the last couple of years. Therefore, supporting them leads to a better and more dynamic entrepreneurship environment, creates jobs and imparts new perspectives to businesses.
