7 Indian startups selected in Web3 accelerator Graviton's first cohort

Graviton, a Web3-focused accelerator for emerging markets, has announced its first cohort of startups for 2023, comprising seven Indian projects.

The accelerator reportedly received over 350 applications from Indian startups operating in the Web3 infrastructure space, including DeFi payments, decentralised identities, real-world asset tokenisation, NFT trading, GameFi, and more.

The seven selected teams, comprising Spydra, Strive, Zoth, Wall, GETSecured, Fetcch, and a seventh team operating in stealth mode, were shortlisted following multiple rounds of evaluation before being accepted into the cohort, according to a statement.

Each startup in the cohort will receive an initial investment of up to $50,000 from Graviton, along with mentorship, networking opportunities with global VCs, access to future institutional funding, and technical grants from global Web3 brands.

Here are more details on the selected startups:

Spydra

Spydra is an enterprise-facing, low-code asset tokenisation product where both online and offline assets can be tokenised on-chain.

Strive

Strive is a utility protocol that enables monetisation, renting, trading and sharing of NFTs, alongside an SDK for NFT projects, and a utility marketplace that allows trading, staking, airdrops, digital events, and more.

Zoth

Zoth is an alternative assets investments platform that brings liquidity to real-world assets, focused on enabling the tokenisation and on-chain trading of high market-cap assets such as gold.

Wall

WALL.app is a Web3 community growth platform that creates interactive and incentivised quests for new users, tracking their journey via on-chain proofs and data dashboards. Wall aims to solve for user-acquisition in the Web3 space at a time when mainstream adoption solutions are in huge demand.

GETSecured

GETSecured is a one-stop security, risk assessment, and due diligence platform for both retail and institutional investors. It leverages community insights in order to build actionable investment intelligence.

Fetcch

Fetcch is a decentralised payments connectivity network connecting users, wallets and dApps. The protocol will allow wallets and dApps to issue cross-chain, composable wallet IDs to users, giving them a single identity to connect to any number of addresses from any chain.

Stealth mode project

The seventh team is in stealth mode, where details are expected to be announced prior to Graviton’s Demo Day, where all the cohort participants will pitch their evolved-state variants to an extensive network of Web3-focused venture capital firms

Web3 accelerator

Graviton has a globally distributed team which is led by Arpit Nik, an entrepreneur and Web3-focused product builder, and a, with key verticals managed by industry leaders including Jeffrey Broer, VP at Mulana Capital, who serves as Graviton’s Programme Director; Vishal S, GP at GravityX Capital, who leads Portfolio Development and Collaborations; Shomprakash Sinha Roy, who runs Graviton’s marketing outfit; and Hasan Ansari, who leads the charge at the Founder’s office.

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 tokenisation, monetisation and solutions that bridge the gap between DeFi and CeFi," he added.

Graviton is backed by 10 blockchain VCs, including Hashkey Capital, NGC Ventures, G1 Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto (IVC), Ascensive Assets, Moonrock Capital, Stacker Ventures, 369 Capital, MH1 Ventures, and GravityX Capital, as well as prominent angel investors in the Web3 space.

Graviton’s first cohort of product builders will be supported by industry mentors such as Arjun Kalsy, ex-Growth Lead at Polygon; Karan Ambwani, India Lead at dYdX Foundation; Parth Chaturvedi, Crypto Ecosystem Lead at CoinSwitch; and many other senior Web3 experts.

Global technology ecosystems such as Sei Network, Chainlink Foundation, dYdX, Eclipse, Spheron, and more have also teamed up with Graviton to provide a selection of grants and credits to early-stage founders accepted into the programme.