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Venture capital firm Accel has redesigned the format of its startup accelerator Atoms with a thematic approach by focusing on just two segments—artificial intelligence and Industry 5.0.

First launched in August 2021, Accel’s Atoms followed the cohort approach until now by selecting 10 very early-stage startups and taking them through various sessions. Now in its third edition, the team at Accel received feedback from startup founders that they would be interested in insights, which are specific to their domains rather than generalised knowledge.

Based on this feedback, Atoms 3.0 programme will offer personalised learning, sector-specific mentors, and up to $500,000 in seed investment for each selected startup.

Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel, said, under the new format, Atoms will be able to build deeper connect with startups as it will have a thematic approach.

In addition, the Atoms programme this year will not be restricted to selected startups only as some of the sessions will be open for other firms that are part of the Accel portfolio and those outside of this framework. The idea is to create a community-based approach in the same domain.

Atoms 3.0 will also have a smaller number of startups in a batch of 4-5. The applications for this programme will open by the end of May.

Regarding the themes selected for this year’s programme, Atoms is looking for startups using AI for business applications and companies building development tools for the AI ecosystem. On Industry 5.0, the Atoms programme will engage with those startups building digital tools for traditional industries.

Prayank will lead the AI cohort and Barath Shankar Subramanian will look at Industry 5.0 of the Atoms programme.

In the past two cohorts, Atoms invested in 24 startups ranging from SaaS, B2B marketplaces, Web3, D2C, hardware, and health and wellness, to hardware and ecommerce. Since joining the Atoms programme, these startups have further raised over $160 million, with Accel leading or participating in follow on rounds.