Avinya
ACCELERATOR
PROGRAMME
Avinya, derived from the Sanskrit word for innovation, is ACSEL Technology Forum’s accelerator programme dedicated to empowering visionary founders in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Designed as a founder-first platform, Avinya goes beyond funding support to provide structured mentorship, global networks, and tailored resources that help startups scale faster and make a lasting impact.
Avinya is a structured 4-month programme that nurtures early-stage startups through expert mentorship, curated datasets, deep industry engagement, and seed funding of up to ₹10 lakhs. With access to Karnataka’s premier AI ecosystem, including IIT alumni networks, government support, and global partners, Avinya enables startups to solve real-world challenges in sectors like healthcare, agriculture, education, and governance. It’s a launchpad for responsible, scalable, and impactful innovation.
Duration
Weeks Duration
Cohort Size
startups per batch
Model
Flexible equity participation accommodating both equity and
non-equity arrangements to attract diverse startups.
hOW aVINYA WORKS
Structured Mentorship & Personalised Guidance
- Mentorship Pods: Dedicated mentors (IIT alumni, entrepreneurs, domain experts, strategists) for holistic guidance.
- Strategy Sessions: Regular one-on-one reviews to track progress and refine plans.
- Peer Circles: Cohort-driven discussions to share experiences and solutions.
Global Network & Alumni Engagement
- Access: Ongoing support from IIT alumni, investors, and industry experts.
- Alumni Mentorship Programme: Past founders mentor new cohorts, building a culture of giving back.
- Global Exchange Opportunities: Partnerships with international accelerators for learning and market access.
Tailored Curriculum & Resources
- Custom Learning Tracks: Startups choose Industry-specific pathways (FinTech, HealthTech, Climate Tech, etc.) with content tailored to their industry.
- Resource Toolkit: Access to tools, templates, and resources including legal, financial, and marketing support.
- Expert Workshops: Interactive sessions led by industry leaders on fundraising, scaling, and product development.
Funding & Investment Opportunities
- Initial Seed Funding (in Phase 1): INR 10 lakhs investment for all cohort members.
- Investor Matching (in Phase 2): Personalised introductions to investors aligned with the startup’s stage and industry. ACSEL invests up to INR 10 million in select (best performing from cohort) start-ups
- Demo Day: Culminating event where startups pitch to a curated audience of investors and partners
Infrastructure & Operational Support
- Co-Working Spaces: Access to modern workspaces fostering collaboration and community.
- Pilot & Testing Facilities: Opportunities to test products in real-world environments through partnerships with corporations and institutions.
- Operational Support: Assistance with administrative tasks, allowing founders to focus on core business activities.
SELECTION CRITERIA
To ensure you’re attracting and selecting founders who can benefit most from the programme—and who will shine in the long run— Avinya evaluates startups on the following 5 pillars:
Founding Team
- Grit & Coachability: Founders who demonstrate resilience, self-awareness, and a willingness to learn
- Complementary Skills: At least one technical founder (if applicable), one with business acumen
- Full-Time Commitment: Founders must be working full-time on the startup
Why it matters: Great ideas can pivot, but strong, adaptable teams are irreplaceable.
Market Opportunity
- Large TAM (Total Addressable Market): Ideally > $1B market or fast-growing niche
- Market Timing: Clear reason why now is the right time (tech, policy, social shift)
- Scalability: Business model capable of rapid and efficient scale
Why it matters: Market size and timing influence startup growth potential.
Product/Service Innovation
- Unique Value Proposition: Clear differentiation from competitors or incumbents
- Tech or IP Advantage: Proprietary technology, defensibility, or unique distribution
- Traction: MVP or early version shipped. Some user validation (beta users, signups, pilots, etc.)
Why it matters: Innovation and early proof reduce risk.
Business Model & Revenue Strategy
- Clear Monetisation Strategy: Clear pathway to revenue, even if pre-revenue
- Unit Economics: Early understanding of CAC, LTV, margins—even if preliminary
- Repeatability: Potential for a repeatable and predictable sales cycle
Why it matters: Startups that understand monetization, survive longer.
Impact Potential (Optional but Valued)
- Sustainability & Ethics: Consideration of long-term impact on people and the planet
- Diversity & Inclusion: Founders from underrepresented backgrounds or inclusive teams
- Problem Significance: Solving real, meaningful problems—not just cool tech
Why it matters: Great startups also improve the world.
Bodyclone Innovations Pvt Limited
Founder:
● Sampath Kumar HK | Co-Founder & Tech Head
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Bodyclone is an AI-first Human Digital Twin platform that enables predictive and personalized healthcare, visualized across web, mobile, and XR experiences. Today’s healthcare systems are largely reactive and fragmented, leaving patients without continuous monitoring, predictive insights, or true ownership of their health data—often resulting in delayed interventions and worsening chronic conditions. Bodyclone addresses this gap by creating real-time digital replicas of individual health using AI, XR, IoT, and AWS HealthLake. The platform supports predictive diagnosis, remote monitoring, surgical recovery, and personalized wellness, empowering both patients and healthcare providers to move from reactive treatment to proactive, data-driven care What makes your solution unique? Unlike fitness trackers or organ-specific models, Bodyclone creates a full-person digital twin with integrated XR visualization and AI predictions. Backed by surgeons and IIT REP, our defensible edge is medical validation + deep-tech execution.
Current Stage: MVP (Minimum Viable Product).
Calyirex Technologies Private Limited
Founders:
● Swasthika Devadiga | Founder & CEO
● Shrikrishna | Co- founder
Sector: Security & Compliance
Calyirex develops smart surveillance and data-driven platforms that enable law enforcement agencies and communities to proactively improve crime prevention, public safety, and operational efficiency. Traditional policing systems often rely on outdated, manual processes for tenant and servant verification, night patrol management, and CCTV monitoring, making them reactive, slow, and prone to human error. Calyirex addresses this gap through Nazar, a unified AI-powered web and mobile platform that transforms existing CCTV infrastructure and verification workflows into intelligent systems. Nazar streamlines tenant and servant verification, integrates and maps private camera networks, optimizes patrol routes, and delivers real-time alerts to officers, significantly reducing manual workload, improving response times, and strengthening overall community safety.
What makes your solution unique?
Integrates directly with police workflows and community networks, turning existing infrastructure into an intelligent safety grid. Our close collaboration with law enforcement gives us deep insights into their operational challenges, enabling us to build practical, scalable, and defensible solutions that are hard for competitors to replicate.
Current Stage: Product-Market Fit
K3NP CIPHERION Private limited
Founders:
● Kunaal Shirish Shindagi | Founder & CEO
● Pooja Rajendra Ekbote | Co-Founder & COO
● Nagaraj Krishna Bhandare | Co-Founder & CTO
Sector: Enterprise Tech
Cipherion redefines data security with a scalable Encryption-as-a-Service platform that
enables enterprises to safely adopt AI and Large Language Models while reducing
compliance costs. As organizations increasingly use AI for training and inference, sensitive
data is often exposed because traditional encryption breaks once data is decrypted for AI
workflows, creating serious risks of data leakage and regulatory non-compliance under
frameworks such as HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI-DSS. Cipherion addresses this challenge
through a quantum-resilient, keyless encryption framework combined with an AI-aware data
masking layer that anonymizes and protects sensitive information before it enters AI and
LLM systems. The platform integrates seamlessly with existing enterprise infrastructure,
automates compliance enforcement, and allows organizations to deploy AI securely,
efficiently, and at scale.
What makes your solution unique?
Cipherion’s solution is unique because it secures sensitive data before it enters AI and LLM
workflows, addressing a critical blind spot in AI adoption. Its defensibility is built on three
pillars: a keyless, quantum-resilient encryption framework that eliminates traditional
cryptographic attack surfaces; an AI-native security layer purpose-built for AI and ML
pipelines; and automated regulatory compliance for standards like HIPAA and GDPR,
significantly reducing audit risk and costs for enterprises.
Current Stage: MVP (Minimum Viable Product).
Kazunov 1AI
Founders:
● Chittaranjan Savadi | Founder
● Dr. Chaitali Diwan | Co- founder
Sector: BFSI/FinTech
Kazunov 1AI is an AI-driven platform that automates health insurance underwriting and claims adjudication through intelligent risk assessment and treatment verification. Health insurance operations today rely heavily on manual, document-intensive workflows that are linear, time-consuming, and costly, with operational expenses exceeding 5% and error-prone processes leading to fraud, incorrect risk profiling, and premium leakage. Industry reports estimate that 5–7% of premiums are lost due to wrong risk assessment and fraudulent claims, resulting in higher costs for insurers and poor customer experience. Kazunov 1AI addresses these challenges by building a proprietary customer risk assessment model that enables accurate underwriting at scale, alongside an industry-first treatment verification engine that identifies and filters unrelated or invalid expenses within claims. Together, these solutions reduce processing time, lower operational costs, minimize fraud, and improve accuracy and trust across the health insurance lifecycle.
What makes the solution unique?
Kazunov is building a unique risk assessment model for the customers, with specific workflows to manage for scale, and right profiling of customers. On the claims adjudication side, we are building an industry first treatment verification engine to weed out unrelated expenses in a claim. Currently, the product is under development.
Current Stage: MVP
Sensio Enterprises Pvt Ltd
Founders:
Venkatesh Vadde | Founder & CEO
Kenneth Joel | Founder & Director
Mohan Prabhakar | Founder & Director
Sector: Health Tech & Deep Tech
Sensio is India’s first deeptech wearables ODM, building original, sensor-enabled wearable solutions to measure, improve, and protect human health, wellness, and safety. In a world where stress is rising and quality sleep and health are in short supply, existing wearables often provide limited insights and lack customization. Our platform addresses this gap through three versatile form factors—a smart ring, smart band, and chest patch—each designed to collect accurate human vitals using medical-grade sensors. These wearables enable individuals and organizations to quantify health with high reliability and precision. As an ODM, our core strength lies in customizing each device for specific use cases, from consumer wellness to clinical and enterprise applications. Our smart ring integrates four sensors—ECG, PPG, temperature, and IMU—surpassing most market offerings that rely on only three. With access to raw data, ultra-low power designs, edge-AI algorithms, and end-to-end product development, we deliver ground-up wearable solutions that match or exceed global benchmarks in both cost and capability.
What makes your solution unique?
Sensio has an unique IP and recipe to make our vital signs monitoring wearables entirely in India, we own our design and build the product hands-on. Our capabilities are also unique, and we do not see a peer like us in the wearable ODM space.
Current Stage: Revenue
SUVIHAAN BIONOBEL SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED
Founders:
Dr. Shivaji K. Jadhav | CEO/ Director
Varsha Shivaji Jadhav | COO & Co-founder
Sector: HealthTech
Suvihaan Bionobel Solutions develops an AI-powered diagnostic platform for the real-time detection and staging of cervical cancer, enabling early and accurate diagnosis for women, particularly in rural and underserved communities. Cervical cancer diagnosis today is often delayed due to manual, time-consuming, and expert-dependent processes, leading to late treatment and high mortality rates. Suvihaan addresses this challenge through an automated AI-driven system that analyzes Pap smear, cytology, and histopathological images to identify abnormal cells and accurately determine cancer stages. The platform delivers real-time, standardized, and consistent results, reduces reliance on expert cytologists, and accelerates clinical decision-making. Designed for telemedicine and low-resource settings, Suvihaan seamlessly integrates with hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, and screening programs, making high-quality cervical cancer diagnostics accessible, scalable, and cost-effective.
What makes your solution unique?
Suvihaan is the first integrated AI platform that not only detects cervical cancer but also stages it in real time. It minimizes expert dependence, delivers consistent and rapid results, adapts to low-resource settings, and is scalable across hospitals and screening programs, making it both unique and defensible.
Current Stage: Pilots
TrustscapeAI Technologies Pvt. Ltd
Founders:
Hariharakrishnan Mannarsamy | Co-founder
Britto Franklin Joe Ambrose | Co-founder
Sector: HRTech
TrustscapeAI Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is an AI-powered interview intelligence platform designed to help companies hire credible and reliable talent. In an era where resumes are polished, interviews are subjective, and candidates are increasingly coached by AI, Trustscape goes beyond surface-level skills to evaluate trustworthiness and emotional attributes. The platform analyzes interview responses, speech, video cues, and behavioral patterns to assess consistency, clarity, confidence, integrity, and emotional stability. By identifying integrity signals and checking alignment between resumes and interview responses, Trustscape delivers a structured, scientific evaluation of candidate trust. The current MVP offers foundational response evaluation and emotional stability analysis through detailed reports, with plans to incorporate digital footprint insights to generate a comprehensive “Trust Score.”
What makes your solution unique?
Trustscape stands out by measuring credibility, integrity, and emotional stability, which other platforms do not address. The solution’s defensibility comes from a self-reinforcing data moat; with every interview, the AI refines its algorithms and builds benchmark datasets that are difficult for competitors to replicate.
Current Stage: The company is at the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) stage and has started pilots.
applications for COHORT 2
are now Open
**We ask all applicants to take time and fill in all the details/questions asked in the form. 20 applicants will be shortlisted based on the replies.
Timeline
March 7, 2026
Application dates start
April 10, 2026
Application dates ends
May 2026
Orientation of Cohort 2
September 2026
Demo Day







