ISB I-Venture

Work out which door you're at

I-Venture @ ISB runs two very different kinds of programme, and the wrong assumption wastes a founder's time:

• ISPROUTE is for ISB's own postgraduate students only — outside founders cannot apply.
• TEP Tricity Edition is for engineering students at partner colleges in the Mohali-Chandigarh-Panchkula region, reached through campus roadshows rather than an open form.
• I-WIN, LoopX, Web3X, Industry 4.0, the Agri Incubation Program, and the Business Incubation Cohort are all open to founders with no ISB connection. Most expect the startup to already be a registered Indian company.

Check the programme is actually open

Several programme pages on the site stay live long after their application window has closed, and the summary list on the main Programs page does not always match what the individual programme page says. Before doing any work on an application, open the specific programme's own page and look for its stated deadline or a live "Applications Open" banner rather than trusting a card on the index page.

What each programme is looking for

• I-WIN: a woman founder or co-founder with at least 25% equity and an active role in decisions, already generating revenue, and raising between pre-seed and pre-Series A.
• LoopX: a circular-economy startup, pre-seed to Series stage, with a clear technical thesis and a defined view of its waste input and off-take.
• Web3X: an early-stage startup already registered in India, building exclusively on the Internet Computer Protocol, with founders working on it full-time.
• Industry 4.0: a smart-manufacturing startup with at least a basic prototype (Technology Readiness Level 4).
• Agri Incubation Program: early-stage agri startups, established agri enterprises looking to innovate, or researchers commercialising agricultural work.

How selection generally works

Most programmes follow the same shape: an application form, a screening and shortlisting round, and a pitch — sometimes virtual, sometimes at a demo day — in front of a panel or investors. The Agri Incubation Program adds a 1:1 needs assessment before formal interventions begin; the Industry 4.0 programme reserves a further acceleration phase only for startups chosen at its demo day.

Before you apply

• Read the specific programme page in full, not just the summary card — stage, sector and eligibility details vary a lot between programmes.
• For a programme that takes equity, such as Web3X, check what percentage is asked for and when it applies.
• If you're not an ISB student and the page you're looking at is ISPROUTE, you're at the wrong page — look for I-WIN, LoopX or one of the sector programmes instead.

I-Venture @ ISB is the entrepreneurship and incubation platform of the Indian School of Business, run out of ISB's Hyderabad and Mohali campuses. It brings together three pillars under one brand: DLabs in Hyderabad, the Atal Incubation Centre (AIC ISB) in Mohali, and I-Venture Immersive (ivi). A one-year anniversary event held in September 2022 puts its launch at around September 2021.

Who can apply — and who can't

A founder looking at I-Venture @ ISB needs to know which door they're at, because the platform runs two different kinds of programme side by side. ISPROUTE, its pre-incubation programme, is open only to ISB's own postgraduate students — the current edition is restricted to the PGP Class of 2027. The Technology Entrepreneurship Program's Tricity Edition is similarly restricted, but to engineering students at partner colleges in the Mohali-Chandigarh-Panchkula region, reached through campus roadshows rather than a public form. Everything else — I-WIN, LoopX, the Web3X Incubation Program, the Industry 4.0 Incubation Program, the Agri Incubation Program, and the DST-backed Business Incubation Cohort at DLabs — is open to outside founders with no ISB affiliation required. The one common thread on the open programmes is that most ask for a startup already registered as a company in India.

Programmes

I-WIN (Women in Innovation) is the flagship accelerator: a programme for women founders or co-founders, holding at least a quarter of the equity and an active decision-making role, who already have revenue and are raising between pre-seed and pre-Series A. It runs as a closed cohort, with a strategy and execution gap analysis at the start, expert-led sessions on go-to-market and financial planning, one-to-one mentorship, brand and performance-marketing labs, and a demo day in front of investors. Four cohorts have run so far.

LoopX is a circular-economy accelerator built with the venture fund Tavasya Capital, aimed at pre-seed to Series-stage startups converting waste streams into resources; Tavasya is involved from day one rather than joining at a later funding round. The Web3X Incubation Program, run with Crewsphere, backs early-stage startups building on the Internet Computer Protocol, with non-dilutive grants and mentorship, though selected startups give up equity in exchange for the programme's support. The Industry 4.0 Incubation Program, with Rx100 Startups, works with smart-manufacturing startups that already have a basic prototype, and can lead on to Rx100's own equity-linked acceleration track for startups that complete it. The Agri Incubation Program, run with Samunnati, supports agricultural startups, researchers and enterprises with mentorship, market access and legal guidance. DLabs also runs a sector-agnostic Business Incubation Cohort backed by the Department of Science and Technology, offering physical and virtual incubation with a shot at seed funding, and the platform hosts the government's Startup India Seed Fund Scheme as an eligible incubator.

I-Venture @ ISB has also run a series of shorter, sector-specific accelerators over time — in clean energy, gaming, healthcare, fintech and blockchain, electric vehicles, edtech, D2C and social impact, several with named corporate partners. As of this review most of these have closed application cycles rather than open ones; a founder interested in a specific sector should check the individual programme page for a current call before assuming it is running.

Facilities and support

I-Work @ ISB is the platform's co-working offer, with private office suites and dedicated desks at both DLabs in Hyderabad and AIC-ISB in Mohali, plus meeting rooms, event space, and a shared makerspace and UI/UX lab at the Mohali campus. Startups admitted into the Industry 4.0 and Agri programmes get access to further shared infrastructure through ISB — advanced laboratories and smart-manufacturing hubs for hardware teams, and laboratories, greenhouses and farmland for agri teams. Across its programmes, I-Venture @ ISB also offers regulatory and policy guidance, help preparing for investor pitches, and support connecting startups to potential customers and partners.

Track record

On its own pages, I-WIN reports four cohorts, more than 50 women-led startups supported, and 85% of founders saying they would recommend the programme. Companies that have come through I-Venture @ ISB's various programmes and are listed in its portfolio include Vecmocon Technologies, Cercle X, GreenPod Labs, Satyukt, Qzense Labs, NeuroPixel.AI Labs and BioPrime AgriSolutions, spanning EV components, waste-to-value, agritech and enterprise software.

Who runs it

Saumya Kumar is Director of I-Venture @ ISB and CEO of DLabs; Naman Singhal is CEO of AIC ISB. The advisory board includes ISB Dean Madan Pillutla, Kalaari Capital managing director Vani Kola, Threshold Ventures partner Heidi Roizen, and Cardekho.com co-founder and president Umang Kumar, alongside government and academic representatives.

How to apply

There is no single application form for the platform as a whole. Each programme carries its own apply page and its own calendar — I-WIN and LoopX run as periodic cohorts with defined call-for-application windows, while ISPROUTE opens only around the start of each ISB academic year for its own students. General queries can go to I-Venture @ ISB's role inbox rather than a named individual.