Mesa Raises ₹110 Cr to Build the Business School Startups Wish Existed

Mesa School of Business has raised ₹110 crore in Series A funding as it expands an alternative business-education model built around startup operators, industry exposure and entrepreneurship rather than a conventional faculty-led campus structure.

The Bengaluru-based school raised ₹85 crore in equity, co-led by Dharana Capital and existing investor Elevation Capital, along with ₹25 crore in venture debt from InnoVen Capital and Alteria Capital. The round values Mesa at about ₹385 crore post-money. The capital will be used to strengthen leadership, integrate AI more deeply into its programmes, launch new courses and expand partnerships with startups.

Founded in 2023 by Ankit Agarwal and Varun Limaye, Mesa currently runs three full-time on- campus programmes targeting experienced professionals, fresh graduates and undergraduate students. Instead of employing traditional full-time faculty, it relies on startup founders, operators

and industry specialists to help design and deliver its curriculum. The company says around 2,000 industry professionals have interacted with its students so far.

The model is designed around a gap Mesa sees in startup hiring, particularly for non-technical roles. Agarwal said graduates without access to elite institutional networks often lack a structured path into startup careers. Mesa says its first three postgraduate cohorts have produced roughly 300 alumni placed across more than 120 startups in roles spanning founders’ offices, product, partnerships, account management and venture capital.

The school also wants entrepreneurship to remain central to the experience. It claims to have incubated more than 50 student startups that together generate around ₹50 crore in annual revenue, while offering equity-free grants and incubation support. Mesa is not yet profitable, although Agarwal said most programmes are approaching operational breakeven and the business has grown roughly 2.5X annually over the last two years.

The new funding therefore gives Mesa more room to test whether a business school built closely around startups can scale like one — while keeping curriculum, industry access and new-age skills moving faster than traditional academic cycles.