build3 and Edge City are bringing something new for India's startup ecosystem

We are so excited to share this one with you!

The published application deadline for build3’s Cohort 10 was August 17, 2026. See build3 for current accelerator opportunities. You can still apply to join Edge City India.

Know someone who'd be perfect for this cohort? Please send them this post. We’d love to see them in Goa.

There is an idea behind everything we do at Edge City, and it is one that runs through build3‘s accelerator too: the best way to build the future is to actually live in it.

The environments we place people in shape the ideas they are capable of creating, which is why our month-long popup villages bring founders, researchers, artists, and families together to live, work, and experiment side by side rather than simply attend yet another conference.

It is this belief in intentional community, in healthy and creative ways of working, and in treating a village as a living laboratory for how people might build together, that made our collaboration with build3 feel less like a partnership we had to engineer and more like two teams who had quietly arrived at the same conclusion from different directions.

This October in Goa, the two combine for the first time. build3 is joining Edge City India as our primary local co-organizer, and Cohort 10 of their Impact Accelerator will end at build3’s Startup Ecoāshrām inside Edge City India’s closing week (October 25 to November 1).

The Impact Accelerator

build3’s Cohort 10 is designed for founders who want more than a standard accelerator gives them. Past cohorts have built companies across climate action, healthcare, financial inclusion, education, and technology for good.

What you’ll get:

• A 10-week program, virtual and in-person: a four-day in-person kickoff, eight and a half weeks of remote building with mentor hours and bi-weekly expert sessions on GTM, branding, and fundraising, and a closing week together at Startup Ecoāshrām.

• Real capital: ₹25 lakh in pre-seed investment with a 15% discount on your next round, for startups selected on demo day, plus up to 24 months of ongoing support after the ten weeks.

• 8 days at Startup Ecoāshrām (Oct 25 – Nov 1): Cohort 10’s closing week, with pitches, investor feedback, funding decisions, and demo day. Hosted at build3’s 30-acre eco-village in Sindhudurg, Edge City India’s satellite venue in the Western Ghats (expenses covered).

• A free 3-week Edge City India pass for 30 accepted founders, alongside 500+ international builders, investors, and industry leaders on the coast of Goa. Come down two weeks early (Oct 11), build alongside the village, then head up to Ecoāshrām together for the closing week. The pass covers all Edge City programming; accommodation in Goa is your own.

• A cohort of 80 to 100 impact-driven founders, with 30 selected for the in-person closing week (plus an Edge City India ticket).

Learn about build3’s Impact Accelerator

About build3

build3 was started by Varun Chawla, who after his years at Goldman Sachs went on to co-found 91springboard, one of India’s largest co-working networks.

What Varun took away from all of it was a simple but stubborn conviction: that great ideas deserve real backing, and that it is entirely possible to hand founders capital, expertise, and connections without also handing them the anxiety and exhaustion that so often come bundled with ambition.

That conviction is why build3 was designed around four pillars:

• Community: founders build best when they aren’t alone.

• Capital: real early backing without extractive pressure.

• Capability: the systems and expertise to actually scale.

• Campus: an eco-conscious space designed for how they build.

Over more than five years, they have made 40+ investments into early-stage startups, mentored 400+, and grown a founder community of 1,600+ people who continue to learn from and support one another. Their larger goal is to positively impact more than 100,000 founders, and by that measure they have reached only about one percent of where they intend to go.

Startup Ecoāshrām: the eco-village for founders

If build3 is that philosophy in daily practice, Startup Ecoāshrām is the fullest expression of where it is heading. Their ambition is to build the world’s first eco-village designed specifically for founders, a 30-acre regenerative campus in Sindhudurg, in the Western Ghats, where people can build their companies, live, and co-work entirely within nature.

During Edge City India, Ecoāshrām will serve as a satellite venue for the popup village, hosting Cohort 10’s closing programming and welcoming Edge site visits throughout the three-week village.

It is here that our collaboration with build3 feels so natural, because our work has long shown that when you gather ambitious people into a healthy, intentional environment and let them build together in one place, remarkable things follow. Together we hope to prove that the most ambitious ideas and the most humane ways of living and working were never truly at odds to begin with.

Apply to Join

Founders and builders: The published Cohort 10 application deadline was August 17, 2026. See build3 for current opportunities. You’re welcome to join us at Edge City India.

Three weeks in Goa, October 11 to November 1, with full access to Edge programming, workshops, hackathons, and community dinners, alongside 500+ curious, ambitious, high-agency builders, investors, and industry leaders. Apply here.

We are so excited to collaborate with build3 and the incredible founders shaping India’s startup ecosystem. More on programming, site visits, and other details will come closer to Edge City India. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, and Instagram for updates.

- The Edge City Team ☀️

Join us at Edge City India

Come live, work, and build with us in Mandrem, Goa, October 11–November 1, 2026. Apply to join Edge City India.

Want to help make the village possible? Reach out to sponsor Edge City India.

Originally published on Edge City India’s Substack.