Nikhil Kamath, Kishore Biyani launch The Foundery to back aspiring entrepreneurs, offers 25% equity for co-founders
The Zerodha co-founder, along with Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani, launched The Foundery, a launchpad for early-stage startups in India. The 90-day residency program is a combination of school, accelerator and startup studio elements and helps aspiring entrepreneurs jump-start their business through an immersive experience from concept development to investment preparation, as well as having the chance to acquire a 25% equity stake in the business.
“Some idiot I know said that overpriced MBAs might be a bad idea, so here’s something different, and if you’re among the lucky few who get accepted, not only do you get everything you need to build a consumer brand, you don’t pay any college fees, instead you get the capital and know-how to launch the brand,” Nikhil Kamath said in a post announcing the launch of the program at X.
A number of advantages are offered to selected entrepreneurs.
25% equity capital for founding partners
Foundery will select 30 co-founders and validate ideas from 20 businesses during the 90-day residency program in Alibaug.
Applicants are required to pay a fee. ₹5,000 applications will be made to the program, whose applications are accepted until mid-January 2026.
Applicants whose businesses are supported by The Foundery will receive up to 25% equity from these ventures. This means that entrepreneurs are not only guided by mentors, product teams, brand teams with AI stacks, creative support and investor access, but they also get to keep a large portion of the business they launched.
What are the other benefits?
In addition to receiving 25 percent equity capital in startups, up to 25 percent support will be provided to the founding partners of the business. ₹4 crore from The Foundery for product development, launch and early scaling.
At the end of the programme, aspiring entrepreneurs will walk away as co-founders of a funded, launch-ready business with end-to-end support from Nikhil Kamath’s WTF and Kishore Biyani’s Think9 networks.
The program also promises guidance even after the three-month The Foundery project ends. Even if at some point the business loses direction or fails to move forward, co-founders can work with mentors to rebuild and steer the idea and are “never left without support.”
Individuals including aspiring founders, early-stage entrepreneurs, and mid-career professionals can apply to participate in The Foundery program.
The mentors of the project include Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Kunal Bahl, Mithun Sacheti, Varun Berry, Rama Bijapurkar and Aakrit Vaish. Applicants can go to The Foundery website to apply for the program.
