PedalStart, a start-up founder community and accelerator, has announced the launch of the second edition of its flagship outcome-driven, community-based cohort for early-stage start-ups, ‘Zero-to-One 2.0’. It promises to be an even more transformative experience for early-stage entrepreneurs who are attempting to turn their innovative ideas into thriving businesses.  

Through this cohort, the accelerator shall be investing a cumulative amount of Rs 5 Crore into the cohort start-ups. Additionally, credits worth Rs 2.2 Crore will be provided to the cohort start-ups, among various other lucrative opportunities and resources to grow and become successful 

Zero-to-One 2.0 is a one-of-a-kind start-up acceleration program; with an outcome-driven model at its core, the program has been designed to provide entrepreneurs with all the tools, mentorship, skills, capital, networking, and resources necessary to take their start-ups from inception to growth. 

Expressing their excitement on the launch of the Zero-to-One 2.0 cohort, Manas Pal and Aditya Darolia, co-founders of PedalStart said, “ While the phenomenal success of the first cohort exceeded our expectations, our team has put in significant efforts to refine and enhance the program based on the feedback and learnings from the first edition. We are now all pumped up to witness and nurture the growth potential of the start-ups that will be emerging from our second cohort”. 

The first Zero-to-One cohort, which was launched last year, has already created many entrepreneurial wins. Out of the batch of 50 start-ups from this first cohort, 3 start-ups have to date got funding, and the rest are being accelerated. The Zero-to-One start-ups that have received funding are- Newtral.io (a climate-tech start-up), Rupid (a fintech start-up), and Betterspace (a health-tech start-up). 

Speaking about the experience of the program, Avi Chudasama, co-founder and CEO, of Newtral.io (a funded start-up of Zero-to-One's first cohort) said, “Being a part of Pedalstart's Zero-to-One cohort was an extremely valuable experience. We joined the cohort at the initial stage of our entrepreneurial journey, and the cohort provided us with much-needed guidance and support. During this cohort, we scaled from early-stage MVP to fruitfully launching the business and acquiring our initial customers. The mentors, Pedalstart team, and fellow entrepreneurs’ community played a huge role in shaping our business. Also, the cohort helped us raise our external investment and provided guidance on all aspects of our fundraising journey”. 

Some of the key benefits that are up for grabs for the cohort start-ups include

Intensive Learning: Throughout this 12-week accelerator program, the participating startup founders get a chance to learn from successful mentors – including founders and domain experts, and build important skills hands-on by attending the virtual discussions and solving ‘real-life’ startup problems. 

Financial Support: The cohort start-ups will have opportunities to cumulatively raise up to Rs 5 Cr investment earmarked for them by PedalStart. Additionally, the best-performing startup (who leads the Leaderboard at the end of the Cohort) shall be rewarded with a Rs 1 lakh equity-free cash grant. 

Significant Credits: All the cohort startups will get credits valued at Rs 2.2 Cr – credits of AWS, Canva, and Notion, among others. By applying these credits, the startups will get access to some of these tools’ features either free of cost or at a price lower than the market. Additionally, the 5 best-performing start-ups of the cohort gain access to credits worth Rs 1 lakh specifically for technology and marketing enhancement. 

Core team hiring support: Assistance will be provided in recruiting early team members for start-ups that are deemed investable 

Free coworking access: Up to 25 cohort start-ups will be allotted a coworking workspace. 

Bolstering connections: Participants have the opportunity to establish meaningful business connections, potentially boosting sales and collaborations. 

Access to the Community: A three-month-long access to the PedalStart community for cohort startups, thereby granting them a dynamic community of entrepreneurs and innovators for networking and knowledge sharing. 

Applications for Zero-to-One 2.0 are now open, and aspiring entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply to be a part of this transformative program. The deadline for applications is 25th October 2023, and the program will commence on November 1, 2023.