As one of the industry partners supporting the Amrit Mehsana Startup & Innovation Mission, alongside academic institutions, accelerators, and fellow industry players including ONGC and Dudhsagar Dairy, this initiative backed India's first district-led startup accelerator for Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns and villages. Facilitated by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and implemented by CSRBOX Group, the program set out to prove that high-potential entrepreneurship doesn't need a metro address to scale, it needs structured mentorship, institutional access, and a route to market.
The objective was to build a scalable, replicable model for grassroots innovation: giving early-stage founders in Mehsana and beyond access to expert mentorship, industry pilots, and investor connections, while channelling regional industrial and academic strength directly into the innovation pipeline.
Turning that into action started with reach. Within weeks of launch, the program drew 514 applications from across India; 44% from Gujarat, with the rest spanning Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and beyond, before a three-stage screening process narrowed the field to a final cohort of 50 startups, each capped at three representatives to keep engagement focused. From August 2025, that cohort moved through a structured 12-week hybrid journey across three phases: business fundamentals (model development, market validation, legal and compliance), growth (branding, fundraising, scaling strategy), and investor readiness (pitch deck reviews and practice sessions), delivered by mentorship partners including Marwari Catalyst, Favcy, Acxelerate India, and Growth Sense. A campus immersion in Mehsana, supported by the Wadhwani Foundation, sharpened founders' pitches further and included an industry visit to Dudhsagar Dairy for a firsthand look at large-scale operations.
That preparation fed into a three-day virtual pitching event themed by sector; Agri & Dairy Tech, AI & Deep Tech, and Healthcare & Sustainability, followed by the BharatNext Accelerator Pitching Festival itself, held at Ganpat University as part of the Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference. In front of the Chief Minister of Gujarat and Union Cabinet Minister, 37 startups from the cohort pitched to investors and ecosystem leaders, walking away with ₹41.56 crore in announced investment and Letters of Intent, including a ₹20 crore commitment to Soleos Energy and ₹12 crore to Taozen Technologies from Gujarat Venture Finance Limited. The momentum continued into a District Fusion Event, where founders shared their growth stories, and the program's reach extended further still, drawing innovators from Banaskantha, Patan, Sabarkantha, and Aravalli into what's now being called the "Mehsana Model."