Mesa School of Business raises ₹110 crore co-led by Dharana, Elevation
Bengaluru's Mesa School of Business raised ₹110 crore in Series A equity and debt. What it does, who founded it, where the money goes and the edtech context.
Lovish Madaan18 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
Bengaluru’s Mesa School of Business has raised ₹110 crore (about $11.4 million, according to Inc42) in a Series A round that mixes equity and venture debt. Dharana Capital and existing backer Elevation Capital co-led the roughly ₹85 crore equity portion, and InnoVen Capital and Alteria Capital supplied ₹25 crore of debt, the company said in a press release dated 13 October 2026.
The round, also reported by YourStory and Entrepreneur India, is a sizeable cheque for a three-year-old business school in a year when Indian edtech funding has shrunk to a fraction of its 2021 peak.
Key takeaways
- Total of ₹110 crore: about ₹85 crore of Series A equity plus ₹25 crore of venture debt. (One crore is 10 million rupees.)
- Dharana Capital and Elevation Capital co-led the equity; InnoVen Capital and Alteria Capital provided the debt.
- Mesa puts its valuation at ₹385 crore; Inc42 reports this as post-money, citing co-founder Ankit Agarwal.
- The money goes to AI-led programme design, new programmes, leadership hires and startup partnerships.
The round in detail
All the reports we checked agree on the rupee figures. The equity is about ₹85 crore, co-led by Dharana Capital and Elevation Capital, which led Mesa’s first round. The ₹25 crore of venture debt comes from InnoVen Capital and Alteria Capital, two of India’s established venture lenders, according to Entrepreneur India.
Mesa says the round values the school at ₹385 crore. Inc42 reports that figure as a post-money valuation of about $40 million, citing Agarwal. The press release carried on UNI’s PR Newswire feed does not state a valuation, so treat it as the company’s own figure. Dollar conversions vary between outlets; we use Inc42’s.
Dharana Capital is a newer name in Indian education. It closed a $250 million second India growth fund in January 2026, taking assets under management to $450 million, and said it backs technology and consumer businesses, according to Entrepreneur India. Its named portfolio includes Urban Company, Petpooja and Vyapar. Mesa is its first education bet that we could find reported.
What Mesa School of Business does
Mesa is an on-campus business school built to train people for startup jobs rather than consulting or corporate tracks. It has no full-time faculty; founders, executives and industry experts design and teach the courses, Inc42 reports. The company says more than 100 founders have taught on campus and students have worked on over 200 startup projects.
It runs three programmes, according to the company’s release:
- a one-year Post Graduate Programme in Startup Leadership for early-career professionals, with tuition of ₹25.4 lakh (one lakh is 100,000 rupees), per Inc42;
- Forge, a one-year programme for fresh graduates, from ₹15.4 lakh;
- a four-year undergraduate programme in business and entrepreneurship, at ₹48 lakh in total.
Mesa says it has grown from a single postgraduate cohort to more than 550 students across these programmes. Students build and run a small business and use AI tools to develop and launch a tech product as part of the course, Entrepreneur India reports.
Placements and student startups, as the company reports them
These are Mesa’s own numbers and have not been independently audited. Students from its first two postgraduate cohorts got an average CTC (cost to company, India’s term for total annual pay) of ₹26 lakh, and the top quarter averaged ₹36.5 lakh, the company says. All placed students joined startups, including Zomato, Zepto, Urban Company, Scapia and Comet, and 58% took founder-facing roles. If you are weighing a CTC offer, our in-hand salary calculator shows what reaches your account each month.
Nearly 20% of graduates have started companies, Mesa says. Its in-house residency, Mesa Startup Lab, incubates over 50 student startups that the company says have raised more than ₹25 crore in funding and grants and have an annual revenue run-rate above ₹50 crore. One example it cites is Mumbai Pav Co., which it says has raised ₹9 crore.
Where the money goes
The company lists three uses for the funds in its release:
- strengthening the leadership team and building capability in AI-led programme design and delivery;
- deepening partnerships with startups for course input, industry projects, mentorship and jobs;
- launching new programmes and scaling the existing ones.
On the business side, Agarwal told Inc42 that revenue comes mainly from programme fees, largely collected in advance. The postgraduate programme brings in about 40% of revenue, the undergraduate programme 35–40% and the fresh-graduate programme about 20%. Mesa is not yet profitable, though most programmes are close to operational breakeven, and it says it has grown about 2.5 times a year over the past two years.
Founders and earlier funding
Mesa was founded in 2023 by Ankit Agarwal and Varun Limaye. According to the company, Agarwal studied at IIT Bombay and Harvard Business School and previously worked at BCG and Urban Company. Limaye studied at Kellogg School of Management and previously worked at Amazon.
In April 2023, before its first class, Mesa raised ₹34 crore in a round led by Elevation Capital, with angels including Kunal Shah of CRED, Vidit Aatrey of Meesho and Abhiraj Bahl of Urban Company, Inc42 reported at the time. The founding postgraduate cohort was planned at 60 students, with fees then set at ₹14.95 lakh. The company also lists Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma among its angel backers.
The new-age business school race
Mesa’s closest rival is Gurugram-based Masters’ Union, Inc42 notes. Masters’ Union, founded in 2020 with more than 3,000 students, received university status after Haryana’s assembly passed the Haryana Private Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2026, Inc42 reported on 1 September 2026. Its founder Pratham Mittal has said it plans departments in law, medicine, agriculture and biotech, plus PhD programmes.
Both schools pitch a practitioner-taught, learn-by-doing model against the traditional MBA. Mesa also competes for learners with online upskilling players such as upGrad, Great Learning, Masai School, Eruditus and Springboard, according to Inc42. Agarwal argues that non-technical roles, which he puts at about 80% of startup jobs, face the sharpest talent gap.
Edtech funding has shrunk, but cheques are bigger
The round lands in a tight market. Indian edtech equity funding fell from about $4.3 billion in 2021 to $214 million in the first eight months of 2026, according to Tracxn data reported by Entrepreneur India. Funded rounds dropped from 368 to 36 over the same span, while the median round size rose to $1.1 million in 2026, roughly double the earlier norm. Fewer companies are raising, but those that do are raising more.
Mesa fits that pattern: an offline, fee-paying model with fees collected upfront, rather than the cash-burning online growth that defined the 2021 boom. You can follow other rounds like this on our funding tracker and in startup news.
Why it matters
Investors are backing education again, but selectively, and they favour models with upfront fees and a clear path to breakeven. Mesa’s raise, alongside Masters’ Union’s move to a university, suggests that startup-focused, practitioner-led schools are becoming a real category in India. The test will be whether outcomes hold up as cohorts grow: the placement and revenue figures are company-reported, and independent data on graduates’ careers will matter more than headline salaries.
FAQ
How much did Mesa School of Business raise?
₹110 crore in total: about ₹85 crore of Series A equity and ₹25 crore of venture debt, announced on 13 October 2026.
Who invested in Mesa’s Series A?
Dharana Capital and Elevation Capital co-led the equity. InnoVen Capital and Alteria Capital provided the venture debt.
What is Mesa School of Business valued at?
The company puts its valuation at ₹385 crore, which Inc42 reports as post-money, citing co-founder Ankit Agarwal.
Who founded Mesa School of Business?
Ankit Agarwal and Varun Limaye founded it in Bengaluru in 2023.
How much does Mesa’s postgraduate programme cost?
Inc42 reports tuition of ₹25.4 lakh for the one-year postgraduate programme. Check the school’s site for current fees.
Sources
- PR Newswire via UNI, “Mesa School of Business raises ₹110 crore to expand its portfolio of programmes for the AI era”, 13 October 2026
- Inc42, “Mesa School Bags ₹110 Cr To Launch New On-Campus Courses”, 13 October 2026
- YourStory, “Mesa School of Business raises Rs 110 Cr co-led by Dharana Capital and Elevation Capital”, October 2026
- Entrepreneur India, “Mesa School of Business Raises INR 110 Cr in Equity and Debt”, 13 October 2026
- Inc42, “Mesa School Raises INR 34 Cr To Open Startup-Focused B-School”, 20 April 2023
- Inc42, “Masters’ Union Secures University Status From Haryana Govt”, 1 September 2026
- Entrepreneur India, “India’s EdTech Sector Moves from Funding-Led Growth to Model-Led Consolidation: Tracxn”, 4 September 2026
- Entrepreneur India, “Dharana Capital Raises USD 250 Mn for Second India Growth Fund”, 12 January 2026
Related stories
Sources (8)
- PR Newswire via UNI 13 Oct 2026Amounts, investors, use of funds, programmes, student numbers, placement and startup-lab figures, founders' backgrounds
- Inc42 13 Oct 2026$11.4M conversion, ₹385 Cr post-money valuation, fees, revenue split, growth, no full-time faculty, competitors, 80% claim
- YourStory 13 Oct 2026Confirms ₹110 Cr round co-led by Dharana Capital and Elevation Capital
- Entrepreneur India 13 Oct 2026Confirms amounts, investors, valuation, curriculum details
- Inc42 20 Apr 2023₹34 Cr 2023 round led by Elevation, angels, first cohort size and fee
- Inc42 1 Sep 2026Masters' Union university status, students, expansion plans
- Entrepreneur India (Tracxn data) 4 Sep 2026Edtech funding $4.3B (2021) vs $214M (Jan-Aug 2026), rounds, median size
- Entrepreneur India 12 Jan 2026Dharana Capital $250M fund, $450M AUM, focus, portfolio
