Accel, Prosus select six ‘off-the-map’ startups for inaugural India team

Accel and Prosus have selected six startups for their first joint team in India, supporting what they describe as “off the map” ideas – companies working on problems where markets are undefined and progress is hard to measure.

The inaugural cohort spans healthcare, climate, space and longevity, reflecting a focus on science-driven topics with long development timelines and uncertain commercial paths. The six startups were selected from more than 2,000 applications.

These are the selected startups:

• Praan develops air infrastructure systems to improve indoor air quality using cleaning, detection and automated controls. The Mumbai-based startup had in the past lifted up funding from investors including Social Impact Capital, Aera VC and Avaana Capital, as well as strategic investors and family offices.
• QOSMIC develops optical communication systems to transfer data between satellites and Earth. The Bangalore-based startup works to increase bandwidth and reduce latency in space-based networks.
• Ethereal Exploration Guildalso known as EtherealX, is developing reusable orbital launch vehicles to lower the cost of access to space. The Bengaluru-based startup last raised a $20.5 million Series A round led by TDK Ventures and BIG Capital at a valuation of $80.5 million.
• Dognosis is working to detect multiple cancers from breath, using dogs’ sense of smell along with robotics and artificial intelligence. Its product, BreatheEasy, involves patients breathing into a mask, with the sample later analyzed in a lab to detect markers linked to cancer.
• Ferra builds an at-home strength training system to help people maintain mobility as they age. The system automatically adjusts the resistance to match the user’s performance.
• A sixth startup, operating in secrecy, is developing brain-computer interfaces to enable direct communication between the human brain and external systems.

Announced in October, the program aims to support startups outside the industry’s usual playbook, rather than those that are easiest to fund, the companies said.

Under the program, Accel and Prosus co-invest in each startup, with Prosus matching Accel’s investment and checks ranging from $500,000 to $2 million. Companies use a structure that reduces early depreciation for founders, with a portion of the capital deferred so that equity is abandoned at a later stage.

The companies say the model is designed for startups with long development cycles. “More than capital, it takes time to make these discoveries,” said Pratik Agarwal (pictured above, left), partner at Accel.

These companies often follow a non-linear path, according to Ashutosh Sharma (pictured above, right), head of the India ecosystem at Prosus. Progress depends on achieving key technical innovations rather than steady growth, he said.