PVR Inox CEO and AngelBay Cofounder Among 55 Leaders Mentoring Startups at India’s First Venture School

VenturEdu launches 14-month venture-building programme with 55+ mentors

 India’s first residential venture school, VenturEdu, has announced its flagship 14-month venture-building programme, bringing together more than 55 investors, founders, senior executives, and academics to mentor and co-build startups.

The mentor cohort includes Pramod Arora (CEO, PVR Inox), Sanjay Guha (former president, Coca-Cola UK & Ireland), Sorabh Agarwal (co-founder, AngelBay), Ashish Nayyar (co-head, OakNorth India), and Suraj Jain (Expedia), along with leaders from technology, consumer, financial services, and venture capital firms.

“Mentorship is often the difference between ideas that stall and companies that scale,” said Kulmani Rana, founder of VenturEdu. “The leaders joining us have built and scaled businesses themselves. They understand capital discipline, leadership under pressure, and the realities of growth.”

Unlike traditional incubators or classroom-led entrepreneurship programmes, VenturEdu follows a co-building model, in which mentors work closely with founders across the venture lifecycle — from idea validation and product-market fit to team formation, go-to-market strategy, and fundraising. Mentors also participate in candidate selection, curriculum design, venture reviews, and investment discussions.

Several mentors are investors in Fibonacci X, the holding company of VenturEdu, and have previously backed startups through its accelerator platform.

“Our focus was on bringing together operators and investors who have personally scaled businesses, built leadership teams, and deployed capital,” Rana added. “That combination is still rare in most entrepreneurship programmes, particularly at the idea stage.”

VenturEdu will track outcomes including early revenue, external funding within 6–12 months, and progress to Series A and beyond. Alumni will retain access to the mentor network, capital ecosystem, and execution infrastructure, while top ventures may receive funding from a dedicated accelerator fund for the top 30% of each cohort.