Arkam Ventures Announces the Launch of Its Gen-Z Study Program Through the program, Arkam aims to collaborate with 100 students across four cohorts annually, and each cohort will deep dive into themes such as FaithTech, Digital Gold, and Microdramas.
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Arkam Ventures, an early-stage venture capital (VC) firm, has announced the launch of "The Limitless Program" to study India's digital adoption through the Gen Z lens.
According to the firm, this is India's first VC-student collaboration meant to identify how Gen Z applies digital to Indian habits and culture. The firm said it will share the program insights with founders and the VC ecosystem with an aim to improve overall understanding of this uniquely Indian phenomenon. Arkam said in a release that programs like this are necessary to stay in tune with the rapid change in the digital behavior of Indian consumers from across India, with the insight collection ability giving founders ways to build for the emerging Gen Z consumer.
Through the program, Arkam aims to collaborate with 100 students across four cohorts annually, and each cohort will deep dive into themes such as FaithTech, Digital Gold, and Microdramas.
For its first edition, Arkam has engaged with the entrepreneurship cells of 30 universities, including IIT Delhi, SRCC, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, and IIM Calcutta. The firm said that the outreach drew over 1,500 applications and, after a series of preliminary evaluation rounds, the first cohort of 26 students was selected.
The inaugural cohort is currently underway with participants taking part in four research sprints, immersing themselves in real-world cases posing strategic value to the startup ecosystem.
The Sprints will focus on sector research-market analysis: an assessment of competitive landscape, market opportunities, and identifying where sustainable value lies across the value chain; User research-insight generation: Identification of consumer pain points and unmet needs through survey, interviews and community observation; Deal evaluation: Preparation of investment memos recommending a startup best positioned to succeed in its market; and Portfolio support and advisory: Creation of 12-month strategic roadmap for scaling based on market insights for portfolio companies
Announcing the program, Rahul Chandra, Managing Director, Arkam Ventures, said that the real moat lies in building knowledge capital as the country's VC ecosystem matures.
"As VCs we need to keep our ears closer to the ground to better understand how India is going digital. With The Limitless Program, we are bringing into view the viewpoints of Gen Zs from Lucknow, Kolkata, Kozhikode, and many more cities. This student collaboration widens the lens of venture research and helps identify multi-generational trends, opportunities, and sectors that will create value over the next decade. We are very impressed with the in-depth work being done by the current cohort. In the next 12 months, we will aim to collaborate with 100 students across four cohorts, creating one of the largest student–VC research collaborations in India's venture ecosystem," said Rahul.
