Marwari Catalysts: The Accelerator Backing Tier-2 and Tier-3 Founders 'Where Others Overlook'

Marwari Catalysts (MCats) is a startup accelerator with a deliberately contrarian address: headquartered in Jodhpur, with regional offices in Mumbai, Jaipur and Bengaluru, it backs founders in tier-2 and tier-3 cities — startups, in its own words, 'where others overlook.' Sustainability is woven into the investment thesis, with emphasis on clean energy and water conservation, though the mandate is otherwise sector-agnostic.

The flagship vehicle is the Thrive acceleration and funding programme, now in its 9.0 edition. It runs a three-stage screening process, and selected startups receive investments of Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore each, a Demo Day in front of VCs, HNIs, angel networks and family offices, and a resource package of tools and credits valued at over US$150,000 via AWS, Google Cloud, Zoho, Notion and others. A 150+ co-founders club adds peer network effects.

The firm's stated stats: a 90+ startup portfolio, a 70% success ratio and 8+ exits. Portfolio names include Turms, Insurance Padosi, Jaipur Watch Company, BankSathi, ZoWorld, HobFit and ClimeKare — a mix that spans D2C, insurtech, travel and cleantech. Total fund size is not publicly disclosed.

The firm was founded by CEO Sushil Sharma, with Anish Thomas heading corporate acceleration programmes and Nikhil Gupta leading strategy and alliances. The leadership's operating rhythm — cohort-based, Demo-Day-driven, credit-rich — mirrors top-tier accelerators, just pointed at founders the metros miss.

The accelerator's three-stage screening for Thrive is designed to filter for coachability as much as traction — appropriate for an accelerator whose founders often come from ecosystems with thinner mentorship benches. The 150+ co-founders club creates peer learning across cohorts, which matters enormously when your nearest comparable startup is three states away. And the sustainability thread in the thesis — clean energy, water conservation — is more than branding in Rajasthan, where water and power economics shape real businesses. With stated stats of a 90+ startup portfolio, 70% success ratio and 8+ exits, MCats is making the case that disciplined acceleration works just as well from Jodhpur as from Koramangala — provided the programme, not the pin code, does the heavy lifting.