8 Weeks
BuildUpVenture CapitalLab
30 Students
July 12 – Sep 13
5–6 Per Team
8 Weeks
30 Students
July 12 – Sep 13
5–6 Per Team
What is Buildup Venture Capital Lab
Venture capital is one of the hardest industries to break into, even for people who've spent years trying. BuildUp Venture Capital Lab is an 8-week program that gives high school students the curriculum, mentors, and tools to kickstart their career in finance.
Built in collaboration with HireVC, the competitive fellowship that has placed analysts at Blume Ventures, Peak XV, Speciale Invest, Titan Capital, and Accel, the first five weeks involve structured learning. In the final three weeks, you run a student fund where you evaluate company profiles, conduct due diligence, sit in investment committees, and build a portfolio that you present to a panel of VC professionals.
Our Student Community
Schools across six continents
Our students come from schools across six continents. When you join the lab, you are designing alongside students who see the world differently from you — and that perspective will show up in your work.
Akshara International
Thomas Jefferson high School
Riverside Academy - Qatar
Oakridge International
International Academy
Future Kids School Hyderabad
Billabong High International
Vidya Valley School
Shri Ram School
Pestalozzi Education Center
Mahindra International School
Heritage International School
CNS Pune
Woodstock School
The Doon School
Prudence School
MIT Vishwashanti Gurukul
Indus Pune
Enko International Schools
BD Somani
TISB
San Mateo High School
Pathways World School
Kodaikanal International School
Gems Modern Academy - Abu Dhabi
Bishops School Pune
Vidyagyan School
Stonehill International School
Pine View School
Mahindra United World College
Indus Bangalore
Cygnus World School
The Program Structure
The program runs across two phases. The first five weeks build the analytical foundation. The final three weeks, you put it to work.
Phase 1 Learning & Investment Foundations
Weeks 1–5 · Saturday & Sunday · 2 hours per session
Week 1: Foundations of Venture Capital & Startup Ecosystems
How investing works, the evolution of venture capital, how startup ecosystems are structured, the investor mindset, and how startups operate differently from traditional businesses.
Week 2: Business Models, Markets & Competitive Analysis
Business model thinking, scalability, customer demand evaluation, market sizing, competitive landscape analysis, and how to identify high-potential opportunities.
Week 3: Founders, Growth & Startup Funding
Evaluating founders and execution capability, growth levers, network effects, startup scaling, funding stages from pre-seed to Series B, and how VC firms think about risk and portfolio construction.
Week 4: Valuations & Investment Decision-Making
Startup valuations, profitability metrics, retention analysis, CAC, and the frameworks investors use when deciding where to put capital.
Week 5: Research, Investment Thesis & Future Trends
Startup analysis frameworks, founder and market research, investor psychology, emerging industries, ethical investing, and building a credible investment thesis.
Phase 2 The Fund
Weeks 6–8 · Teams of 5–6
Week 6–8: Fund Formation, Due Diligence & Portfolio Construction
In Phase 2, your team comes together to form a fund and you define everything from the name and your investment thesis, to establishing the kind of companies you want to back. From there, you evaluate a set of company profiles, running each one through due diligence and debating them in investment committee sessions before making allocation decisions as a team.
By the end of the three weeks, your fund produces a report that captures everything from the thesis you built, the companies you evaluated, the decisions you made, and the reasoning behind them. The program closes with a demo day where each fund presents their portfolio and investment rationale to a panel of VC professionals.
Program Outcomes
Investment Thesis:A 30–40 page investment thesis report, capturing your fund's mandate, the companies you evaluated, the decisions you made, and the reasoning behind every call.
Outcomes
BuildUp student admits
Our students progress to globally respected universities through deliverable-focused, world-class projects, rigorous mentorship, and unique profiles.
Brown University
NYU
Carnegie Mellon University
UC Berkeley
Duke University
UCLA
Harvard University
University College London
King’s College London
University of Oxford
London Business School
University of Warwick
LSE
USC
NUS
The Mentors
Mentored by the venture capitalists from some of the most active funds
Most programs teach you about venture capital through case studies and textbooks. BuildUp VC Lab is built in partnership with HireVC, South Asia's leading VC fellowship, which means your mentors are General Partners, Managing Partners, and investment directors at funds that have collectively deployed hundreds of millions of dollars.
When you present your investment thesis at Demo Day, the panel judging your work will be the same calibre of people you'd pitch to if you were actually raising a fund.
Our partner
About
The VC Fellowship by HireVCruns one of India and South Asia's most respected VC fellowship programs — with a highly selective acceptance rate, alumni placed at Blume Ventures, Speciale Invest, Peak XV, Titan Capital, and Accel, and a network of mentors drawn from the top tier of the Indian startup ecosystem.
The BuildUp VC Lab brings HireVC's curriculum, mentor network, and simulation methodology to high school students for the first time.
Fellows Participated
500+
Students and founders trained through the HireVC fellowship network.
Active Angel Investors
50+
Mentors and investors from funds actively deploying capital.
Country Alumni Footprint
10+
Alumni building careers across global startup ecosystems.
Events Across India
20+
Workshops, demo days, and community sessions nationwide.
Meet our Mentors
The team that Builds
Shobhankita Reddy
Venture Capital Mentor
Divyanshu Bali
Venture Capital Mentor
Vrinda Bajaj
Venture Capital Mentor
Anupam Pandey
Venture Capital Mentor
Pranav Bafna
Venture Capital Mentor
FAQs
Find the answers
The VC Lab covers investment foundations, live startup pitches, due diligence, portfolio construction, and a mock demo day — a complete venture capital education experience for high school students.
The program is designed for aspiring high school investors globally. Real early-stage founders pitch to student-led funds during the simulation phase.
The program runs for 8 weeks — 5 weeks of foundations followed by 3 weeks of live VC simulation, with sessions on Saturday and Sunday evenings.
The program fee is $1,950 USD. There is no payment due when you apply — tuition is collected only after you receive and accept an offer. Limited partial scholarships may be available. For deadlines or questions, email us at admin@build-up.net.
Apply Now
Ready to think like an investor?
Applications are open for the next cohort. Complete the form on our apply page — it takes about five minutes.
Start your applicationPrefer email? admin@build-up.net
What you'll need
- Basic details — name, school, grade, and contact info
- A short note on why venture capital interests you
- Optional LinkedIn or portfolio link
July 12 – Sep 13 · 30 seats · $1,950 USD · Grades 9–12 worldwide