Accel's Atoms accelerator program shifts towards AI and industry 5.0

VC Firm Accel has announced a shift in focus for its accelerator program, Atoms. After completing two sector-agnostic cohorts. The program is pivoting towards thematic cohorts starting with artificial intelligence and industry 5.0. This change aims to provide start-ups with more targeted resources and mentorship to help them succeed in these rapidly evolving sectors.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Barath Shankar Subramanian, Partner, Accel said, "On the AI side, we are looking at multiple different use cases. Obviously, there is a long history of investing activity for us in India and globally. So a lot of these use cases stem from our scale companies themselves. So be it on the consumer side, or on the B2B side, both domestic as well as global. So we incubating some of these ideas, as well as looking at new opportunities. So this program actually gives us the flexibility to do both."

Fintech giant Razorpay, which is in the process of moving its parent entity from US to India, says its IPO is at least a couple of years away. In a chat with my CNBC-TV18’s Ritu Singh on the sidelines of the Global Fintech Fest, Razorpay's co-founder and CEO, Harshil Mathur said the company would go public only after it breaks even across all its businesses. Mathur also spoke about how business has evolved since the regulator brought about a slew of changes in digital lending guidelines last year.