YES BANK Launches YES SCALE, a Multi Sector Accelerator to support Sunrise Sectors of the Economy

YES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector bank launched its in-house multi-sector start-up accelerator YES SCALE (Smart City, Clean Tech, Agritech, Lifesciences Tech, Edu Tech). The 15-week program is aimed at creating financial innovations by Sourcing, Scaling, and Sustaining Emerging Technology Solutions in Sunrise Sectors of the Indian economy.

YES SCALE aims to address the 3 biggest scale-up challenges faced by technology startups-

ü  Commercialization: Each of the 5 accelerators under YES SCALE will have dedicated industry partners who will support the development of a Proof of Concept (PoC) and go-to- market/commercialization of the developed solution
ü  Funding Support: YES SCALE will provide a PoC grant of upto INR 20 lakhs (to ensure startups remain cost neutral during PoC development) and also access to funding of upto USD 1 mn through Investment/Fund partners
ü  Mentorship/Guidance: Over 100 mentors will be guiding startups during the 15 week programs. Each startup will be supported by 1 sector expert, 1 technology expert and 1 investment partner

Additionally, for start-ups that have ready solutions, YES SCALE will provide access to a technology sandbox to help them test their solutions in a risk-free environment and give them support worth over USD 1 mn through cloud credits (Google, AWS, Microsoft based on startup preference), cloud telephony, SaaS invoice discounting etc. Through YES SCALE, startups looking to take their solutions global will be able to do so with YES BANK’s partnerships with 20+ start-up ecosystems around the world across USA, Europe, Middle East and South-East Asia. 

YES FINTECH – YES BANK’s Fintech accelerator program which was launched a year ago received an overwhelming response from the global startup & investment ecosystem, and  helped the bank establish that fintechs or tech-fins have the potential to create disruptive impact on multiple sectors like agriculture, heath, smart cities, education and clean energy.

Commenting on the development, Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, YES BANK, said, “The success of 2 cohorts of YES Fintech have demonstrated our Bank's strengths in partnering fintechs to co-create industry changing Banking solutions. Now, with YES SCALE, we will replicate this model across YES BANK's focus sectors like Smart Cities, Agriculture, Clean Energy, Education and Healthcare, to build deep interventions jointly with our corporate clients. This is fully in line with the Bank's vision since inception - which was to cater to the 'sunrise sectors of India's economy' using knowledge banking to deliver impactful ecosystem solutions.

Recently, YES BANK operationalized its Agritech start-up acceleration programme under YES SCALE, with sectoral organizations like ITC, Nestle, MTR and Amul committing to adopt solutions scaled up in the program and commercializing them either through integration in their systems or further distributing the solution with their supply chain partners. YES BANK has also partnered with Omnivore Partners, Anthill Ventures and Artha Venture Partners who will support the program as Investment Partners while Villgro will provide support to YES SCALE as the official Program Partner.

Commenting on the partnership Jinesh Shah, Founding Partner, Omnivore Partners said “When banks like YES BANK launch Accelerators like YES SCALE, it is a clear indication of the overarching positive vibrancy in agribusiness sector where everyone wants to be a part of. Initiatives such as these are in sync with our philosophy of digitizing farm level technology solutions and scaling up the startup ecosystem.”

Speaking about the digitization process, Sanjay Sharma, CEO, MTR Foods said, “We are happy to partner YES SCALE -the agribusiness accelerator of YES BANK. Initiatives such as these align with our vision of digitizing technology solutions to address key challenges in our business model and also help scaling up the startup ecosystem.”

YES SCALE will bring together over fifty organizations, funds, ecosystems as well as Government partners for advisory support. Through YES SCALE, YES BANK is also offering its clients and partners in sunrise sectors, the opportunity to accelerate their digitization processes.