Aimed at supporting Indias thriving startup ecosystem, Ritesh Agarwal will step in as an advisor and operate intimately with the countrys biggest incubator, Venture Catalysts, to encourage entrepreneurship across tier 1, 2 and 3 cities.

India is a thriving startup ecosystem and requires skilled people to come ahead to collectively grow the ecosystem and make the country Atma Nirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India).

Ritesh is taking a step forward to give back to the people and his fellow entrepreneurs along with Dr Apoorv Sharma, one of the first people to support Ritesh's vision in 2012 while he started Oravel Stays and established OYO in 2013.

Having begun his journey as an entrepreneur at a young age, Ritesh recognises the significance of mentorship and supervision.

He fondly reminisces how people across the startup ecosystem have performed great and vital roles in enabling OYOs continued growth and development. While founders must have the right vision, focus, determination and persistence, the role of people like Dr Apoorv, who helped, mentored and guided him, is critical and key to success.

Ritesh Agarwal commented, I began OYO at an age and time while the ecosystem was still growing and was lucky to get mentors like Dr Apoorv, Bejul Somaia, and others, who led and supported me in my startup journey.

As I tread forward in my journey as an entrepreneur, I believe it is time for me to give back to the community and set other young entrepreneurs.

Within this collaboration with VCats, I aim to empower the young entrepreneurs coming from the humbler towns of India, who do not get opportunities that their peers in bigger cities or metros get.

I am certain that we will be capable of discovering the next big idea from a tier 3 or 4 town, added Ritesh, one of the first resident Asians to be admitted to the 20 under 20 Thiel Fellowship at the age of 19.

We are thrilled to be collaborating with Ritesh. His insights will prove valuable as we continue to execute our plan to build a robust infrastructure for startups across India. Being one of his early supporters, I am really happy to see his commitment to continue supporting students and young founders in India.

His learnings will help many entrepreneurs that have the potential to become the next Unicorn but have very limited access to the right support and mentorship, commented Dr Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, founder of Venture Catalysts.

Venture Catalysts (VCats), which is ranked worlds seventh most active early-stage investor and integrated incubator according to CrunchBase of TechCrunch, is known for developing and nurturing early-stage startups such as Beardo, BharatPe, Fynd, Supr and Coutloot, among others, in various sectors ranging from FMCG to FinTech.

The Mumbai-based incubator has a deep presence in over 30 smaller Indian towns such as Jaipur, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Vizag, Rajkot, and Ahmedabad, amongst others.