Vidhai & Vaanam Space LLP

Check that the programme is the right shape for you

Vidhai runs one programme, the Vidhai-Vaanam Accelerator Program, and it is a cohort with a fixed schedule rather than an always-open incubation offer. It is hybrid: the weekend sessions happen in person in Chennai, so plan for travel if you are based elsewhere. Weekday sessions are online.

Applications are described as being for early-stage founders with a validated idea or an MVP, teams that want structure and expert feedback, and teams getting ready to raise. If you are still at the idea stage with nothing built, you are on the early edge of what the page describes, though Vidhai does say it backs grit and clarity of vision over product maturity.

Confirm the dates before you commit

The programme page says 12 weeks in one place and publishes a thirteen-week curriculum ending in Demo Day in another. Ask the team for the actual start date, end date and weekend session dates before you plan around them.

Get the pitch deck ready first

The application requires a link to your pitch deck with open access. Set the sharing permissions so anyone with the link can view it, and check the link in a private browser window before you paste it in. A deck that asks the reviewer to request access is the most common way an application stalls.

Answer the investor questions like an investor is reading them

The form is built like an investment screen, not a course sign-up. It asks for the problem in one sentence, how your approach differs from what exists, who your primary customer is, your market size, your core technology, what makes it defensible, your stage, your traction, how much you are raising, what you would spend it on, and why Vidhai should back you.

Write the problem line first and keep it to one sentence — everything else reads better once that is sharp. For traction, give the concrete things: pilots, users, revenue, letters of intent, grants. For defensibility, say what would actually be hard for someone else to copy: intellectual property, proprietary data, distribution, partnerships or execution speed. For the funding questions, name two or three uses, not a long list.

What selection looks like

Vidhai does not publish rounds, an interview stage, a cohort size or a decision timeline. The confirmation after you submit says the team reviews the application and gets back to you if there is a fit, so expect the process to be conversational rather than staged. Its stated preference is for teams with grit, a clear vision and strong execution, often ahead of product maturity or early metrics.

Ask the questions the site does not answer

Nothing on Vidhai's site or its programme page states whether the programme charges participants, whether it takes equity in the startups it selects, how large a cohort is, or when Cohort 2 starts. It does describe itself as investing at the earliest stages and calls the companies it supports its portfolio. Put all of those questions in writing to connect@vidhai.io before you accept a place, and get the answer on the commercial terms in writing.

If you want to be involved another way

Vidhai's partner page takes enquiries from people who want to collaborate, mentor or advise, and it lists mentoring sign-up by email. Its careers page lists an Investor Relations Associate role in Chennai, with applications by email.

Vidhai is a Chennai-based accelerator for early-stage founders. Its own site brands it as Vidhai Accelerator, and it describes itself as investing at the earliest stages and backing the startups it selects as portfolio companies. It runs one named programme, the Vidhai-Vaanam Accelerator Program, co-launched with Vaanam and first announced in August 2025.

The Vidhai-Vaanam Accelerator Program

The programme is described as a 12-week, founder-first initiative built around real startup problems rather than general startup advice. It runs in a hybrid format: weekend sessions in person in Chennai, covering workshops, masterclasses, founder roundtables and peer learning, plus weekday online guest lectures by industry people and AMA sessions. Cohort 2 applications were open when this page was last checked.

One thing to note before you plan around the dates: the programme page states a duration of 12 weeks, but the curriculum it publishes is laid out across thirteen weeks, with Week 13 given over to Demo Day and the wrap-up. The two numbers sit on the same page, so treat the end date as something to confirm with the team.

What the programme covers

The published week-by-week curriculum starts with orientation, founder mindset and personal branding, then moves through a design, build and deploy sequence: problem discovery and validation, market research and competitor mapping, user personas, MVP prioritisation, wireframing and prototyping, no-code and low-code tools, customer interviews and usability testing. The back half covers go-to-market and customer acquisition, branding and positioning, growth, pricing and retention, scaling operations and hiring, pivots and crisis management, financial planning and investment readiness, and finally legal structuring, intellectual property, compliance and AI integration. It ends with pitch rehearsal and Demo Day presentations to investors and stakeholders.

Vidhai says participants get a curriculum built around real startup pain points, one-to-one mentorship from founders, operators and investors, access to domain experts and policy advisors, a founder community and peer-learning network, a slot to present at its Demo Week in front of investors and partners, access to its ecosystem of partners, advisors and alumni, and technology credits and tools along with support for incubation services through its incubation partners. Those incubation partners are not named anywhere on the site.

Alongside the programme, Vidhai lists six standing areas of support on its programmes page: product sessions and workshops, one-to-one and group mentorship, curated introductions to customers and partners, demo days, investor access and follow-on funding support, and startup tooling including cloud credits, alumni network access and co-founder matching.

Who can apply

The programme page names three groups: early-stage founders with validated ideas or MVPs, startups that want structure, market insight and expert feedback, and founding teams ready to scale and pitch to investors. On sector it is deliberately open — it names SaaS, consumer tech, hardware, deep-tech and space-tech, and space-tech is mentioned as one option among several rather than as a specialism.

Vidhai publishes no other eligibility rules. There is no stated requirement to be incorporated, no state or city restriction, no student or age gate, and no category requirement. The application form asks where your company is based as an open question rather than as a filter.

How to apply

Applications go through an online form on Vidhai's own site, reached from the "Pitch to Us" button. It is a multi-step form covering founders and company details, the problem in one sentence, how you solve it differently, your primary customer, market size, your core technology, what makes it defensible, your current stage, any traction, how much capital you are raising, what you would use it for, and a closing question on why Vidhai should invest in you. A pitch deck link with open access is required. The programmes page carries a second, external application link for the Cohort 2 intake.

After submitting you get a short confirmation: the team reviews the application and gets back to you if there is a fit. No rounds, interview stages, cohort size or decision timeline are published. On what it looks for, Vidhai says it prioritises teams with grit, clarity of vision and strong execution, often over product maturity or early metrics.

Who runs it

The team page lists two co-founders, Sameer Bharat Ram and Hariharan Vedamurthy. Three people are listed as mentors: Sabarisan Vedamurthy, described as a tech entrepreneur and investor; Chevalier Arun Nanda, described as a former President and Executive Director at Mahindra & Mahindra; and Ravi Mariwala, described as an industrialist and investor. Two people sit on the advisory board: Ashwin Chari, described as Director of Venture Building at NTUitive, and the actor and director R. Madhavan. Vidhai's programmes page separately claims a mentor pool far larger than the names it publishes, so the published list is the part you can rely on.

Portfolio and partnerships

Vidhai names six portfolio companies with their legal names, founders and websites: Scrapify (Scrapify Ecotech), a clean-tech company working on restoring water bodies; Vizai Engineering, in industrial automation and material handling; Infinitraq (Griffin AI Tech), in CCTV video analytics; Lexdoo (Lexin City), in legal AI; Madras Defence Company (Royan & Jose), building physical AI agents for defence; and Make Gpt (Kochadai Technology Solution), an AI hardware development platform. Vidhai says Scrapify, from its current cohort, was named in Forbes India's Top 100 Startups to Watch.

On the institutional side, Vidhai says it signed memorandums of understanding with Amet University's Chennai incubation cell in June 2025 and with SIMATS Engineering in May 2025, and it ran a student-startup session at SSVM Institutions in October 2025. Its home page also carries an uncaptioned wall of ecosystem logos with no relationship stated for any of them, so read that as branding rather than as a list of confirmed partners.

Contact and careers

Vidhai publishes no office address and no phone number. The single contact address on the site, connect@vidhai.io, is used for partnerships, media and job applications. Its careers page lists one open role, an Investor Relations Associate based in Chennai.