Conquest: India's First and Largest
Student-Run Startup Accelerator
For early-stage founders navigating uncertainty, limited capital, and rapid decision-making, the right environment can dramatically change the trajectory of a company. Conquest exists at the intersection of mentorship and acceleration, helping founders move from early validation to scalable growth within a structured, high-intensity program.
Who We Are
Conquest is Asia's largest student-run startup accelerator, working on empowering founders for more than two decades. What started as a B-Plan competition in the classrooms of BITS Pilani back in 2002 has now evolved into a 6+1 week nationwide program working at helping startups grow ground-up through our network of founders, mentors and cool businessmen.
What Makes Conquest Unique
We are one of the rare programs that operate on a completely equity-free model, ensuring that our family of founders maintain ownership of what they love while growing alongside Conquest. At our core, we run an zero-cost, sector-agnostic and learning-first accelerator, making it accessible to ambitious founders regardless of industry or existing resources. Startups gain access to a network of over 150 mentors, 50+ investors, and leading operators across domains for no expense of their own apart from a hunger to grow the business. The emphasis is not just on funding but on long-term value creation.
Conquest Structure at a Glance
Conquest runs as a 6+1 week hybrid accelerator program. We begin with our Bootcamp phase—the month of June where the selected cohort of founders go through 6 weeks of learning sessions and one-on-one mentor calls with industry leaders.
After 6 weeks of focused learning, we move onto our offline phase in Bangalore where our cohort gathers for a week filled with networking mixers, real-life workshops by industry pioneers and give the founders an in-person experience of learning.
All of Conquest leads up to our flagship day: the Demo Day. A day where our cohort of founders, after 8 weeks of growth, come in front of our panel of investment partners to pitch their startups. Regardless of who wins the equity-less grant, the day is focused on learning, building connections and ideas.
Who Should Apply
Conquest is built for early-stage, MVP-ready startups that are actively building and preparing to scale. It is ideal for founders who are seeking structured mentorship, investor access, and a high-caliber peer group. Teams looking to sharpen their positioning, accelerate execution, and prepare for fundraising will find the program particularly valuable.
What Success Looks Like
Over the years, Conquest alumni have gone on to build impactful and venture-backed companies. We do not measure our success in numbers; we measure it in the value our founders go on to build. We can proudly say that over time we've had the opportunity to be a part of several amazing stories. Atlan, formerly SocialCops, has grown into a global data collaboration platform with a valuation exceeding $450 million. Sarla Aviation is working on electric air mobility solutions in the aerospace space. Thinkerbell Labs has developed inclusive learning devices for visually impaired students and gained national recognition for its innovation.
These success stories reflect the broader impact of a structured ecosystem that combines mentorship, network access, and execution focus. Conquest is not just a program—it is a launchpad for founders ready to build with intent and scale with confidence.
Apply to Conquest '26
If you are building something technically strong, early but ambitious, and ready to sharpen your positioning for scale, Conquest '26 was built for you. Apply now and take the next step in your startup journey.