YNOS - A startup platform to help startups

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has come up with a startup, YNOS, to help other startups. It is a platform for upcoming startup founders to get information about incubators and accelerators across India.

The Centre for Research on Startups and Risk Financing (CREST) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras developed the AI-powered platform, YNOS.

How it works

India has about 1000 active incubators but the information about them was till now scattered and not available at a single location.

YNOS brings all these startups together on its common platform to help the new startups identify similar startups to study and understand various parameters addressed.

YNOS addresses the pain point and also helps startup founders to identify, compare, and analyze incubators easily. This AI-powered platform will help startup founders identify incubators and accelerators across India and shortlist the one that best fits their requirements.

Who does it benefit?

Apart from the founders, the platform can also benefit the CEOs and managers of incubation centers to get the attention of startup founders so that their incubation centers benchmark themselves against comparable incubators, and constantly improve their effectiveness.

Other stakeholders associated with the development of the startup ecosystem such as educational institutions, government, and funding agencies, would also benefit from this platform.

The Incubators platform is a one-stop destination for all critical information about incubators and accelerators such as:

• The various startups being supported by the incubator or accelerator,

• The success ratio of the startups in getting funded,

• The investor network of the incubator,

• The prevalence of virtual incubation support.

The Incubators platform, developed using the latest technology tools, quickly analyses the incubator and accelerator landscape in India. It features intuitive filters on multiple incubator parameters to quickly identify the set of incubators that satisfy different criteria for shortlisting. It also features a facility to bookmark shortlisted incubators for detailed assessment at a later stage

The highlights of the incubator platform include:

• Data on more than 920 incubators and accelerators

• Comprehensive information on each incubator such as host organization, startup funding agency, number of startups supported, and investors who have invested in the startups supported by the incubators, among others

• Focus areas of existing startups supported by the incubator

• Enables easy comparison of incubators on various parameters helping the startup founders to decide on the incubator that would be most suitable for their startup.

Thillai Rajan, a professor at the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, is the founder and director of YNOS. He is also the principal investigator of CREST.

Dr Jayesh Ranjan(R), IT Secretary, Telangana launches YNOS with prof. A Thillai Rajan, IIT Madras ( Image Courtesy:IIT Madras )