Mesa School of Business has raised Rs 110 crore in funding co-led Dharana Capital and existing investor Elevation Capital. This funding round is a combination of equity and debt. The equity component comprised Rs 85 crore and the venture debt of Rs 25 crore was from InnoVen Capital and Alteria Capital. Founded in 2023 by Ankit Agarwal and Varun Limaye, Mesa School of Business will use this funding to build on AI-first curriculum for existing programmes, launch & grow new programmes and build strategic partnerships with the startup ecosystem. According to Mesa, it runs residential programmes built around learning by doing real things. Every student builds and runs a small business, and learns to use AI to build and launch a tech product and claims that more than 100 founders have taught on campus, and students have worked on over 200 projects with startups. Mesa is also backed by founders including Kunal Shah (CRED), Vidit Aatrey (Meesho), Abhiraj Bhal (Urban Company) and Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm). “Mesa is growing quickly, but our tenets haven’t changed: every student builds something real, every student learns new age skills & AI, and founders are always in the room to give them feedback. Those tenets are why startups hire our students, and why so many of them go on to build their own startups. We believe this is the future of education for the top students.” said Ankit Agarwal, co-founder, Mesa School of Business. Mesa has grown from a single postgraduate cohort to over 550 students across three programmes in the last 3 years: a one-year Post Graduate Programme in Startup Leadership, a four-year undergraduate programme on business & entrepreneurship, and Forge, a one-year programme for fresh graduates. “The rapid evolution of modern tech has exposed a glaring disconnect in higher education: students feel unprepared for new-age roles, and companies can’t find job-ready talent. Mesa is bridging that gap by rethinking business education for an AI-first world, ensuring students develop proven, high-impact operational capabilities.” said Vamsi Duvvuri, Founder and Managing Partner, Dharana Capital.