The Change Engine, a Gurgaon-based startup studio, launched its inaugural cohort of Agents of Change Entrepreneurs (ACE), an accelerator for pre-idea startups. The fully funded, six-month program aims to foster a new generation of entrepreneurs by helping them go from problem discovery to launch and fundraising while developing scalable solutions to tackle difficult problems.

ACE is targeted towards enthusiastic final-year students and recent graduates who are interested in addressing complex challenges and developing solutions that can be scaled. The fully-funded six-month program offers each founder Rs 6 lakhs over six months, along with the possibility of receiving additional funding of up to Rs 2 crore at the end of the program. 

Seasoned entrepreneurs and professionals will mentor selected founders and have access to active advice from funders. Additionally, the program offers office space, credits or discounts on various SaaS tools, and free access to office, legal, and accounting services. 
After completing the program, participants will receive support in raising funds from venture capitalists and angel investors during their demo day.

Change Engine is backed by industry stakeholders, including Varun Aggarwal, co-founder of Aspiring Minds and Shailendra Jha, who has worked with MakeMyTrip and Spinny. Pravega, an early-stage venture fund, is ACE’s knowledge partner. 

The mentor and advisor team includes industry leaders like Sourabh Deorah, co-founder and CEO of Advantage Club, Ashish Dua, principal product manager at Amazon and Vibhu Bhushan, co-founder of Gradeup.

"We are thrilled to launch our inaugural cohort and invite the next generation of young entrepreneurs to apply for this fully funded program," said Varun Aggarwal, Founder of The Change Engine. "We wish to create organizations that can impact 25,000 jobs each and we believe ACE can help improve a million jobs in the next five years."