Graviton announces first cohort of Web 3 accelerator, seven Indian startups selected

Representative image

Graviton, a web3 accelerator focused on emerging markets, announced its first cohort of seven Indian startups for 2023 across DeFi payments, decentralised identities, real-world asset tokenisation, NFT trading and GameFi segments, as Web 3 and blockchain techonologies gain steam among venture capitalists.

The startups will be getting an initial cheque of up to $50,000, in addition to technical grants, mentorships, and follow-up fundraise assistance from Graviton. The selected startups include Spydra, Strive, Zoth, Wall, GETSecured, and Fetcch. Other than these six, Graviton has also brought on board a seventh team that is currently operational in stealth mode.

Some of the mentors on board for the programme include Arjun Kalsy (ex-Growth lead at Polygon), Karan Ambwani (India Lead, dYdX Foundation) and Parth Chaturvedi (Crypto Ecosystem Lead, CoinSwitch).

The accelerator received around 350 startup applications since its launch in December 2022. It was founded by Arpit Nik, a general partner at GravityX Capital, ex-WazirX and ex-Zoomcar.

Nik said, “We understand the need and potential for web3-focused acceleration in India, considering how difficult it usually is for an early-stage founder to apply and receive the necessary capital, grants, infrastructure, and mentorship support that they need to succeed in this space.”

“The domestic web3 space has a lot to contribute in terms of asset tokenization, monetization and solutions that bridge the gap between DeFi (decentralised finance) and CeFi (centralised finance),” he added.

Graviton’s Program Director Jeffrey Broer added that some of the key differentiators such as a demonstrated capacity to build for web3 (a team with strong credentials), a clear product roadmap, and the vision to scale up an idea for mainstream adoption were instrumental in making these seven startups to be the top contenders, from the pool of applicants.