Mesa School Of Business Raises INR 34 Crore With the funding, the founders are leveraging their deep industry networks to design a unique learning system with a heavy focus on learning-by-doing, industry exposure and 1:1 industry mentorship

Mesa School of Business has raised INR 34 crore from Elevation Capital and notable angel investors such as Kunal Shah (Cred), Vidit Aatrey (Meesho), Abhiraj Bahl, and others who continue to join each week. With the help of these funds, Ankit Agarwal and Varun Limaye aim to build a cutting-edge, hands-on, and application-based curriculum, designed and delivered in partnership with startup leaders and potential future employers for a founding cohort of just 60 hand-picked students.

"We believe startups will be responsible for creating the bulk of the new aspirational jobs in India, and yet there isn't a b-school focused on preparing candidates to be successful in these leadership roles. This gap inspired us to start Mesa School. We have kept 'learning by doing' as the core principle of the program where every candidate will get to learn business directly from startup CXOs and practitioners, build startup businesses from scratch as part of coursework and deeply immerse themselves into Bangalore's startup ecosystem. We have kept our inaugural cohort small at only 60 exceptional students to keep the experience personal, deliver an unparalleled learning experience and ensure strong outcomes for our students," said the founding team of Mesa School of Business, in a joint statement.

According to the statement, the founders are leveraging their deep industry networks to design a unique learning system with a heavy focus on learning-by-doing, industry exposure and 1:1 industry mentorship. This will be a 12 months, full time PG program in Startup Leadership, based out of Bangalore. At the end of the program, students will get access to opportunities for leadership roles at top startups and technology companies in the country.

The program will also focus on individual leadership growth for students with 200+ hours of leadership workshops with army veterans, communication and stage presence hackathons with coaches and theatre artists and 1:1 industry mentorship. The campus is strategically located in Bangalore with over 500 startup offices within a 5 km radius, providing unprecedented access for students to the startup ecosystem and its prominent leaders, the statement added.

"We believe there is a clear opportunity to build new age, outcome-focused higher-ed institutes in India. Therefore we could immediately relate to Ankit and Varun's vision of building a business school of the future, focussed on entrepreneurship and the start-up ecosystem. Their long term orientation and their focus on creating very high quality experience and outcome for students really stood out for us. We are thrilled to partner with them on this journey to create an iconic Indian higher-ed institution," said Mukul Arora, managing partner, Elevation Capital.