Bangalore, February 14, 2019: The first Techstars mentorship-driven accelerator to be held in India --Techstars Bangalore Accelerator --, kicked off last  weekm and will culminate on May 2 with a demo day.
Ten outstanding companies have been chosen to be part of the inaugural class, following a rigorous selection process that included meetings with hundreds of entrepreneurs from 30 countries around the world.
The companies that are part of the programme are Ambee, which has data driven environment intelligence solutions, Dcoder, a platform that helps developers code, Instacar, a mobility solutions provider, Leucine, a pharma start-up that helps with compliance, Liquid Diamonds, a B2B trading exchange for diamonds, Nira, a financial services offering for blue collar workers, oDoc, a Sri Lankan digital healthcare startup, Redwing, a cargo delivery service using drones, Rephrase, an AI powered dubbing tool, and Unifize, a collaboration platform for engineers.
Says Ray Newal, Managing Director of Techstars Bangalore Accelerator: “The breadth and capabilities of these companies that come from sectors including drone delivery logistics, pharma tech, and environmental data speaks volumes about the potential of rapidly growing emerging markets startup ecosystems such as India, and their ability to address issues which affect billions of people around the world”, said
During the intensive programme, Techstars will provide companies with complete access to the tools they need to succeed -- qualified advice, mentorship from professionals, global connections to leading corporates, as well as capital. Techstars will invest  $120,000 in each of the 10 chosen teams, the same terms offered to startups which are accepted into any of its other accelerator programs.
Techstars is the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. Techstars founders connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporations to grow their companie

The Canada born and raised Newal is no stranger to building a startup in India. In 2009, he left a career in corporate tech in North America to build a mobile video company in India. His startup Jigsee went on to become one of the top apps on Nokia feature phones and streamed entertainment content to millions of first time Internet users. It was his passion to bring disruptive and democratizing technologies to market that led Newal to found Jigsee, which he exited in 2015. Now Newal, who has over 20 years of experience as a growth and operations leader including stints at Doubleclick, Yahoo, and Microsoft, returns to India again to provide support to entrepreneurs.