Tetr College Students Raise Rs. 60 Lakh in 6 Hours on Kickstarter

In an unprecedented display of entrepreneurial spirit, students from Tetr College—an international business school—have collectively raised over Rs. 60 lakh in just six hours on Kickstarter, the renowned crowdfunding platform. The students, all undergraduates at the college’s third-semester venture-building programme, launched 12 innovative hardware and consumer technology projects, with eight of them meeting their fundraising goals in under 30 minutes.

This rapid success highlights the strong potential of student-led ventures, showcasing both the calibre of ideas developed within Tetr College’s unique curriculum and the increasingly important role of platforms like Kickstarter in bringing innovative products to market.

A Unique Venture-Building Approach

The Kickstarter campaign, known as ‘Kickstarter Showdown’, is a critical component of the college’s third-semester curriculum, which immerses students in real-world business ventures. Over a period of just two months, teams of students work to prototype, market, and fund their projects, learning essential business skills such as product positioning, customer engagement, and digital marketing.

“The hands-on experience of building a business while still in college has been transformative for our students,” said Pratham Mittal, founder of Tetr College. “Kickstarter is the perfect platform to test real-world market viability, and it’s inspiring to see these students so successfully navigate the crowdfunding landscape.”

The projects raised include a variety of consumer-focused products, including a modular productivity board, a portable electric cup, and a travel gear solution, all of which drew rapid support from backers. Each team will now transition into production, learning critical aspects of scaling a business, including manufacturing, fulfilment, and customer service.

Campaign Highlights: Early Success Stories

Among the standout campaigns was SlidePass, a compact travel gear solution designed to help users store personal items securely while on the move. The project exceeded its funding goal by three times, raising Rs. 5 lakh within hours of launch.

Another successful project, Kando, a Kanban-style modular board aimed at boosting productivity, hit 200% of its target in just 11 minutes. Meridian, a titanium electric cup, surpassed its funding goal within 12 minutes, while KŌasters, a set of magnetic coasters that form Japanese-inspired art, reached its Rs. 2 lakh goal in under 30 minutes.

“The Kickstarter campaign was a complete eye-opener for me,” said Rushil Chawla, co-founder of Meridian. “Not only did we learn how to shape a product’s narrative, but we also gained insight into customer psychology. It was an invaluable real-world learning experience that can’t be replicated in a classroom.”

A Growing Ecosystem of Innovation

Since its inception in 2024, Tetr College has been committed to developing future entrepreneurs with a hands-on, real-world approach to learning. The inaugural cohort of 110 students, representing 45 countries, launched 44 ventures across various sectors such as fintech, consumer tech, and sustainability, collectively earning over USD 300,000 in revenue and securing external funding.

In 2025, the college expanded its intake to 200 students, with a 2.6% acceptance rate and an average SAT score of 1490. Tetr has also introduced a Master in Management (MiM) programme to help early-career innovators refine their entrepreneurial skills.

Tetr’s success is a testament to the growing demand for practical, experience-driven education in today’s competitive business environment. By teaching students to build companies while they learn, the school is producing not only entrepreneurs but also forward-thinking problem-solvers equipped with the skills needed to thrive in the digital age.

Tetr College’s approach is reshaping how business education is perceived. Rather than solely focusing on theoretical knowledge, the institution is actively preparing students for the real challenges of building and scaling a business. Through partnerships with industry experts from institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and MIT, Tetr ensures that students are well-equipped with the expertise required to transition from ideation to execution.

As the Kickstarter Showdown campaign winds down and teams transition to production, the next step for these young entrepreneurs will be crucial: they will be tasked with refining product materials, improving design ergonomics, and navigating the complexities of the manufacturing process.

This new wave of business education, where students are learning to innovate in real-time, marks a shift toward more practical, action-orientated learning experiences. As these students move forward in their ventures, their success on platforms like Kickstarter may well be just the beginning of their entrepreneurial journeys.