Mr. Amit Ratanpal is an alumnus of Harvard Business School with over 20 years of experience across private equity, capital markets, asset management, and investment banking with large organizations like Birla Sun Life and ICICI Group. He has also set up various domestic and global funds, through which he invested and managed ~INR 300 Cr with multiple successful exits. Leveraging his experience and strengths, he co-founded BLinC with his partner RK Rangan, to support entrepreneurs and invest in EdTech and FinTech sectors in India.
Here is an excerpt of the interview withMr. Amit Ratanpal, Founder & MD, BLinC Invest on Indian Startup Ecosystem.
How was the year 2021 for you as an investor/VC?
It was definitely a high-momentum period as private investments touched new peaks and multiple unicorns emerged throughout the year from all sectors. 2021 was a milestone year for BLinC – we had successful exits, launched our INR 100 Cr BLinC Fund II, and also made our first investment from the Fund in an InsurTech company named Vital.
How often do you bet on the entrepreneurs and not on the ideas? And when/if you do that, what quality of the entrepreneur usually makes you do that?
As an investor, I always strive to find the perfect balance between the quality of the promoter and the scalability of the business idea. We at BLinC work very closely with the promoters of our portfolio company, and hence, alignment with the promoters plays a key role in our investment decisions. It is always great to work with experienced and honest entrepreneurs who are good at business execution, organization development, and fundraising.
What is a warning sign for you when investing in a startup?
I prefer investing in startups whose key management team is execution-focused and takes a hands-on approach to the business. Another red flag is when promoters do not have a clear understanding of what problem they are trying to solve for their customers and how significant it is.
What are some common biases you find in the Indian Startup ecosystem?
One of the most common biases in the Indian startup ecosystem is “growth over profitability”. Businesses today adopt a high-burn-high-growth strategy without focusing on profitability. However, high growth does not necessarily lead to profitable unit economics. On the other hand, there is a general bias towards funding entrepreneurs coming from top-tier educational institutions.
What are your views on the SharkTankIndia Episodes until now?
I believe the show will surely motivate all the aspiring entrepreneurs, which will further amplify the existing entrepreneurship wave in the country.
We are seeing many startups exiting with IPO, what’s your opinion on that? How is it going to change the ecosystem?
Exits, especially through IPOs, are a great sign of success for both entrepreneurs and investors. IPO exits also generate a good amount of liquidity for the investors, who can further invest in other startups in the ecosystem, thereby, improving the liquidity in the market. I believe this phenomenon is only going more prominent over the coming years. On the other hand, the increasing number of IPOs also serves to indicate the maturity of the investors in the market, especially with regards to the acceptance of new-age business models that are yet to turn profitable.
More than 42 unicorns in 2021. What do you think caused this wave? Is the valuation justified according to you?
It is the changing consumer mindset that has enabled these Unicorns to grow. Today’s consumer prefers convenience, is very open to try new products, and is less risk-averse than the consumer of the previous decade. Most of the unicorns have tapped into this changing consumer mindset to identify and solve unique problems for their customers. For example, Licious has completely changed the way consumers order meat. I believe the valuations are steep, and there is a bubble. However, like everything, good businesses always come at a higher price.
How can we support/enable entrepreneurs in tier2 and tier 3 cities?
Entrepreneurs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities suffer from lack of access to quality resources. One of the most effective ways to fill this gap is to set up incubation centers in these regions in partnership with colleges, to provide access to top quality mentorship and industry experts.
What do you look forward to as an investor in the year 2022?
Budget 2022 has focused significantly on leveraging technology to penetrate deeper into the Tier-2 and lower cities in India. I expect technology-led businesses to gain significant market traction and attention from the investor community, giving rise to new unicorns in 2022. At BLinC, we are looking forward to deploying our Fund across various whitespaces identified through our internal research.
What are a few sectors you think would be hot in the upcoming year?
Education and Financial Services sectors have been very resilient through the pandemic. Companies in these sectors have a large potential to leverage technology to drive deeper penetration, and I expect these sectors to continue growing at an accelerated rate in the upcoming year.
One learning that you would like to share with founders who are looking to raise funds?
It is all about execution, prioritization, and defining the short-term and the long-term focus. Early-stage startups should have a detailed understanding of their target market, competitive landscape, and the target customers. It is critical to think from the customer’s perspective and solve at least one real pain point of the customers. It is important to consistently prioritize and make efforts to achieve the product development milestones and the targets of the business plan. While pitching to the investors, it is important to give comfort to the investors around your market understanding and your execution capabilities.
The article is contributed by Andesh Bhatti – Angel Investor & Founder of Collectcent.
The investment management sector is witnessing what is perhaps its most volatile moment in history. The investment landscape has changed and changed for good at that.
Investment is no longer an exclusive habit of the rich and powerful, but rather one that’s becoming more widely available as new disruptive technologies make it more and more accessible to the general public. In fact, investment opportunities can now be taken advantage of with the tap of a smartphone because of the rise in demand for digitally facilitated, easy-to-understand financial services.
Although all these new technologies have the potential to revolutionise and improve the investment process, artificial intelligence (AI) is the one that offers the most potential. The technology encompasses a wide range of techniques for simulating human-like intelligence on a machine. For investors who have until now ventured on the precarious investment terrain relying primarily on their gut instincts and personal assessments, artificial intelligence offers a whole slew of opportunities.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics will be used to inform more than 75% of venture capital (VC) and early-stage investor assessments.
The Inner Voice Conundrum and Its AI Resolution
Investors who succeed in their ventures are often believed to have a sharp intuition. That’s because their capacity to make financial decisions is based on largely qualitative data like management expertise, industry cycles, strength of research and development, and labor relations; only after that is it abetted by the quantitative data provided by the financial specifics of any business. However, it’s difficult to measure an inner voice, especially when that voice is developed largely through personal experience. And, of course, it also does not give a guarantee of success. Consequently, the role it plays in investors taking financial decisions is decreasing.
The AI Answer
Rising data analysis capabilities are fast directing early-stage investing strategies away from personal judgment and qualitative decision making and toward a more sophisticated quantitative process. Data from websites like LinkedIn, Crunchbase, and Glassdoor, as well as third-party data marketplaces, will be a big part of this process. They are already giving rise to sophisticated models that can better identify the feasibility, proposal, and prospective outcome of an investment. The result being that questions like when to invest, where to invest, and how much to invest are on the verge of becoming practically automatic.
But that’s on optimizing the quantitative process alone. AI is also enabling the metrics for measuring success based on qualitative factors.
AI technology is renowned for its capabilities of predicting future behaviour and delivering insights into client preferences. Natural language processing AI that can discern features about an individual from real-time or audio recordings can further be used to generate unique profiles, now with barely any human assistance. Based on job history, field experience, and previous business performance, AI algorithms can soon be utilised to estimate the likelihood of investment success reliant on individuals.
AI can be used in three stages of the investment decision making:
Pre-trade
To find and analyse investment opportunities, analysts devote a large amount of time to gathering, sorting, and organising relevant data. Consequently, a substantial part of their efforts is spent on data that is later found to be of little value.
Natural language processing (NLP) AI can handle a big part of this job, as it can take in large amounts of data from multiple sources, scan for trends and patterns, and then assign a score to each relationship it uncovers. Using these tools can significantly minimise the amount of time analysts spend in this phase, allowing them to focus on data that has the greatest potential for better discoveries.
At the moment of truth
Although it is up to the investor to make buying, selling, or holding choices, NLP AIs can assist in this. Relying on AI results blind sightedly is not what most investors are going to buy into. NLP can help explain the drivers of an AI decision engine and give an unbiased report that explains the decision in detail, including all the countervailing elements. This can further enable managers to deep analyse a trade and approve or reject it.
Post-investment
NLP engines can leverage structured data inputs to create performance attribution reports and periodic investor reviews. The technology has the potential to increase the speed, precision, and cost of creating reports based on the performance and strategy of the investments made.
Conclusion
The use of AI by investment managers is quick reaching a point where it could provide a competitive edge for a long time to come, by enabling better investment possibilities as well as increased operational efficiency. Needless to say, it has the potential to revolutionise the investment decision process, and by relation, the world of growth and innovation.
The reach of social media influencers, be it on Instagram or YouTube or any significant social media platform, is all-pervasive. These influencers could be fitness trainers on Instagram giving us tips on how to maintain a healthy body shape or they could be stand-up comedians on YouTube who make us laugh and thus brighten our mood and so on.
With lockdowns imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the country, their influence has reached new heights. In a January 2022 report, it was estimated that the value of the Indian social media influencer market to be somewhere between 75 million dollars to 100 million dollars.
A trend that can be observed as of recent is that these social media influencers are not just being confined to their social media platforms and are willing to “venture” beyond it.
Some of these social media influences, for example, tend to invest in startups across various categories as, from their perspective, it’s their way of contributing to society, the reason they have attained their virtual celebrity status.
We shall now talk about the various investments in startups made by one such social media influencer in Tanmay Bhat of All India Bakchod fame. He has also a YouTube channel by his name with 3.84 million subscribers and also has contributed to the likes of Netflix India.
Tanmay Bhat’s first investment was as a later stage VC in the startup named Smallcase which specializes in the financial domain. He has also invested in a startup named HYPD stores along with fellow YouTubers in Bhuvan Bam, which allows influencers and creators to make their multi-brand store on the platform. He has also invested in an ed-tech startup named Growth School and other startups such as Qoohoo, Flint, and so on.
Here’s a look at all the startups in which Tanmay Bhat has invested:
Smallcase is an online trading platform that facilitates investment for professionals in the stock market. Smallcase was founded in February 2015 by three alumni of IIT Kharagpur in Anugrah Shrivastava, Rohan Gupta, and Vasanth Kamath.
Smallcase provides its user access to various brokerages and wealth platforms and also has its team of professionals who help the investor make their ideal portfolios of stocks, ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds), REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), and multiple other options for an investor’s portfolio. Smallcase has also been backed by behemoths like Amazon and Sequoia Capital India.
Tanmay Bhat has invested in 10 preference shares for a 0.3% stake in September 2020. This is in line with his YouTube videos, where he makes a lot of videos regarding how someone new to the world of finance can invest in stocks and so on.
Qoohoo
Founders: Aseem Gupta and Vimal Singh Rathore
Qoohoo is a social platform that allows content creators to establish a long-lasting connection with their followers and fans and simultaneously also monetizing it so content creators can reap the benefits. Qoohoo was founded in November 2020 by Vimal Singh and Aseem Gupta.
In March 2021, as an investor, Tanmay Bhat and popular social media influencer, Ranveer Allahabadia invested in the first round of Qoohoo. They were joined in by other noted investors such as Gaurav Munjal (founder of Unacademy), Kalyan Krishnamurthy (CEO of Flipkart), and Kunal Shah (founder of CRED). Qoohoo was able to raise $800,000 in their first round of investing.
Headquartered in Miami, Florida, the United States of America, Mean DAO was founded in November 2021 by Eydel Ruiz, Maylin Ramirez, Yamel Fdez, Yansel Florian, Michel Triana. They focus on providing blockchain infrastructure and decentralized products to ensure no one misses out on the benefits of cryptocurrency.
They operate the MEAN protocol which is responsible for the smooth working of the Solana blockchain. Tanmay Bhat invested 3.5 million dollars as an early-stage VC in this venture. Soon other investors like DeFiance Capital and Gate.io have also joined in.
Avalon Scenes
Founders: Varun Mayya, Shashank Udupa, Abhinav Arora and Tejas Tholpadi
Avalon Scenes Logo
Founded in May 2021, Avalon Scenes was established by three digital entrepreneurs in Varun Mayya, Shashank Udupa, and Abhinav Arora. It helps to build a community space where people can interact with fellow-minded people on any aspect of life, be it establishing a new product or reminiscing about your old college days and so on. Avalon Scenes also helps a person to create their community and monetize it, you can also add multiple moderators.
In May 2021, Tanmay Bhat along with other angel investors who he already knew due to their investment in Qoohoo, Kunal Shah, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, and Gaurav Munjal invested an undisclosed amount in its pre-Series A funding round. They were also joined by investment firms in Whiteboard Capital and iSeed Ventures and so on.
Established in 2020 by Ashwarya Garg and Akshay Bhatnagar, HYPD Stores was started to enable content creators to launch their multi-brand stores/businesses and establish a new source of income for them and thus helping creators monetize their platforms. HYPD Stores is completely ad-free and allows users to experience the product before buying virtually.
In January 2022, HYPD Stores managed to raise $1.5 Million in seed funding from Tanmay Bhat, Bhuvan Bam and Ranveer Allahbadia. Investment firms such as Better Capital, Sauce VC, has also invested in the startup.
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Founded in 2021 by two ex-product managers at CRED, Anshu Agrawal and Akshit Bordia. Flint is involved in the cryptocurrency domain. They try to ensure the investor gets as high as 13% returns from whatever they have invested in cryptocurrency and only deal with stable cryptocurrencies in Ethereum and USDC, which are pegged to the US Dollar.
In January 2022, Flint managed to raise 5.1 Million dollars in seed funding from Tanmay Bhat along with other angel investors like Kunal Shah and Rohit Bansal. Investment capital firms like Sequoia Capital India and Coinbase Ventures were also involved.
Growth School
Founder: Vaibhav Sisinty
Growth School Logo
Growth School is a startup that operates in the ed-tech industry and it was founded in 2020 by Vaibhav Sisinty. They partner with experts across various fields to create personalized training programs in a short period, so they can be employable and thus contribute to society as soon as possible. The courses, for example, are on how to build a UI/UX platform, how to invest in cryptocurrency, etc.
In January 2022, Tanmay Bhat, along with other 80 angel investors invested in the startup. The company managed to raise 5 million dollars in seed funding. Growth School was also aided by notable investment firms in Sequoia Capital India and Owl Ventures.
Founded in 2020 by Abhik Patel, Ajinkya Kulkarni, Anshul Gupta, Shashank Chimaladari, Wint Wealth is a platform that offers returns on Fixed Income Investment Products of about 10-11%. These returns are higher than Fixed Deposits (which vary from 2% to 5%) but also don’t have the risk factor associated with equities.
These investment opportunities are usually available for individuals with high net worth. Formerly known as GrowFix, they have been backed extensively by Zerodha and Kunal Shah of CRED and Freecharge fame.
In January 2022, they managed to raise an undisclosed amount from a special round of funding by Tanmay Bhat and other noted people such as Ankur Warikoo, who is the founder of Nearbuy and also is one of India’s top public speakers, CA Rachana Ranade who offers stock market classes through Youtube and so on.
In the end, Tanmay Bhat has been an investor in startups predominantly based on teaching financial literacy to all sections of people or startups which encourage new social media influencers to showcase their skills and incentivize their skills. By steps like these, he has shown that he is someone who sympathizes with emerging social media influencers and doesn’t want them to face the same struggles he faced when he first broke into the scene.
FAQ
Is Tanmay Bhat an angel investor?
Yes, Tanmay Bhat is a comedian and an angel investor too he has invested in many startups. Some of the prominent investments are Smallcase, HYPD Stores, and Flint.
Is Tanmay Bhatt an entrepreneur?
Yes, Tanmay Bhat is the co-founder of All India Bakchod.
Startups are now ruling the business world, wherever you look, you’ll find one. It is becoming a crucial part of every country. There are people out there ready to invest in startups that look promising to them. Investing in a startup company can reward investors both physically and financially. It is also very risky as well, you are not exactly sure if that Startup is going to survive or not.
Although there is a huge number of startups that are creating a name for themselves in different industries but not every one of them makes it till the end. Of course, the reward is fascinating but the risk of losing the entire money is also there. The feedback on investing money in Startup Companies is immeasurable. So, there are many things for investors to keep in mind while investing their money in Startups.
According to a report, 90 % of Indian startups fail within the first five years. Hence as an investor, you must perform quality research before investing in startups. In this article, we will talk about some tips that an investor must follow before investing in a startup. So let’s get started.
To reduce the risks after investing in any Startup Company, the investor must know the domain in which the startup operates. This will help to attain potential success in investing. Always make sure that the startup company will grow and money will return back to the investor.
Be Mindful of the Founder’s Background
It is important to place the founders of the company in the right place as they are the ones to determine the company’s profits and success in the future. Especially for early-stage companies, founders are necessary for developing the path to success. If one product is made, it is tested by many members in the founder group and finally released. So, founders must have the right place to show their talents to lead the company. Thus, the investor needs to focus on the founder’s background story. The story includes which companies, the education they are previously coming from and what type of value they bring to the table.
Invest Your Money in Different Industry
The best way of reducing the risk of investing is multiple investments of money on different field tracks. This will increase the possibilities of success and will help to reduce risk. It will also increase the chances of getting money back with some profit or an offer by another company. This type of investment gives a result from the long gap. So, investors patiently wait for their turn and attain great heights in business.
Learn how to invest by joining another group
When investors are struggling with how to invest money in Startups, they can simply join other members online and invest a part of the amount. Investors must learn by analyzing different deals made by another member to determine what makes them a proper investors. It is important to understand the market before making any type of investment.
Analyse the type of competition held on markets
Analyze what type of competition is there among market investors. Investors are suggested to invest their money in the beneficial domain. First, the investors should analyze the customers, what they wish and what they want. Feedback is the key for the startup to develop the project at the right time. The investor must be very careful and analyse the market properly.
Find Out if the Startup Is Ready to Face Challenges
Not every time, things will go as planned, unforeseen circumstances can be a part of the journey of a startup, so the investors must analyse if the startup will be able to change its way, according to the circumstances so that they can survive the upcoming challenges.
Keep an Eye on Investing Money
Investors must keep an eye on investing money. They must watch for what purpose and how their money is spent. The investors must know that their invested money satisfied or reached the milestone of their startup company.
Examine the Legal Documents
It is an important thing for each investor to review the legal documents because sometimes cheating occurs when investing in a startup company. This may involve how the company is structured and who is involved. The investors must know the structure and ancient history of a particular startup company and what percentage of ownership in the company they are receiving depending upon the amount of money that they are investing.
Main Parameters for Investing
The first parameter for investing in startup companies is product or technology. The investors should be aware of what type of product is being developed by the Startup. They should also know, what type of problem occurs and when it occurs during investing money.
The second parameter is the team. The investor should know the team which works for them and whether they work efficiently or not. They carefully choose the associates and workers in a team.
The third parameter is scalability and competitive advantage. It means that can the business scale efficiently and cost-effectively. Investors should be aware of the business can be cost-effective or not. It decides if the investor is suited for the business or not.
The fourth parameter is the market. The investor should know the size of the market and how it reaches customers. They must know the number of people who really use their product efficiently.
Conclusion
If you are investing in a startup for the first time, then you must follow the above tips. Apart from that if you are not good at finance and laws, then it’s better to take advice from experts regarding stocks, bonds, shares, and other startup-related things. Last but not least, do invest in a startup first then measure the progress and learn from the mistakes.
FAQ
How do Investors Invest in Startups?
Investors create a partnership between the company and themselves.
Is it Good to Invest in Startups?
Investing in startups can be risky, if the startup turns out to be successful, the reward is great but if the startup fails, the investors lose their money.
Why do Most Startups Fail?
There are a number of reasons why most Startups fail, it includes money running out, choosing the wrong business market, problems between founders, wrong way of marketing and others.
The concept of crowdfunding has just started to gain momentum in India. ‘Funding’ is the first problem new people, entering the world of business for the first time, find it difficult.
Startups have to turn to institutions and angel investors because there is a lack of funds for bootstrapping or a lack of help from friends or family. But banks tend to refuse business loans for first-time entrepreneurs and often ask for huge collateral. Sometimes, it’s difficult to convince investors also. That crowdfunding platforms can play a key role in helping entrepreneurs make the most of their ideas.
Crowdfunding is defined as a pooling of resources by a group of people for a common goal. In this concept, common mass is approached to raise funds for your idea execution, project, startup, or cause.
According to a survey conducted, less than 2% of the companies end up raising funds from professional investors. This is large because of reasons ranging from non-scalable businesses to the lack of exits. The rest 98% still need to raise funds to take their startup to the next level.
Some of the popular crowdfunding sites in India are Kickstarter, Wishberry, Indiegogo, FuelADream, Fundable, Ketto, Catapooolt, and Milaap which not only help Startups or individuals to launch a product but also test the acceptance of the product in the market.
If we compare the crowdfunding market in India to that of the United States, we are still considerably smaller. However, if estimates are to be believed, this can soon change.
Let’s see how does crowdfunding works in India for businesses and startups and its benefits.
In the donation model, individuals make a financial contribution to a project without any expectations of financial benefits.
Lending Model
In this model, individuals will lend money to the project with the expectation of being repaid under the terms and conditions agreed.
Reward-Based Crowdfunding
In reward-based crowdfunding, people contribute to your campaign and you give them a reward in return. The reward could be a DVD of the Film, The Gadget, etc. Equity cannot be given as a Reward.
Investment Model
In the Investment model of crowdfunding, the investor receives an equity stake in the project. Equity-based crowdfunding is not so common in India. Crowdfunding is becoming a lifeline for new entrepreneurs and small businesses as it helps them in many ways without losing much equity. Let’s see how crowdfunding helps startups and businesses in India.
How to Build a Crowdfunding Website or Platform in India?
Easy Steps to Create a Crowdfunding website or platform:
Find a Crowdfunding Niche
Choosing a niche helps to classify your site from others, and can also provide value to your campaign creators and sponsors. Every new crowdfunding website or platform is dedicated to a niche. That means that the website will host crowdfunding campaigns for one particular matter or kind of product.
This is due to the big platforms that are available to crowdfunding creators. There is no use in trying to compete with the bigger crowdfunding platforms on the internet because you will likely lose.
Use Crowdfunding Technology
Search for the right technology that you want to use for your Crowdfunding website. Not all technology is paid, but when it comes to running a successful Crowdfunding platform, you want to be sure that there are no faults so users have a great experience on your website.
You get what you pay for, if you use free Crowdfunding software, do not be surprised when something goes wrong with your website. Choosing a SaaS (Software as a Service) product can provide you with real-time support. This way you can get your site up and running fast, with as few issues as possible. And if there is a problem on the site, you are not left to your own to fix the issue.
Connect The Payment Gateway
It is usually best to open up a new bank account for the Crowdfunding platform if you are serious about taking a transaction fee on the donations to the website. If you were not already known, most Crowdfunding websites are taking a transaction fee on each donation to the campaigns on the site.
This is a great way to generate an income on the side, by utilizing Crowdfunding. Depending on the usage of the platform, a bank account can be set up and connected to the payment gateway to receive a transaction fee.
Add The Content
Once you are finished choosing the niche, platform, and connecting your payment solution to your bank account, next, is the most time-consuming step, adding the content to your platform. You should have access to the front-end source code, to manipulate the User Interface (UI) to your standards.
You will be restricted by the default UI and features from the product if you do not have access to the front-end source code. It is best practice to create all of the content, and have all of the images/videos ready before adding the content to the site. This can save a lot of time by simply copying and pasting the content onto the site.
Launch The Platform
Once the platform is all set up, the next step is to launch the platform. Before launching the platform, however, it is recommended to have Crowdfunding campaigns ready to host their campaign on your platform before launching.
The first handful of campaigns on your new platform is likely going to be from friends and family. If those campaigns are not available, you need to start searching for campaigns by joining online communities in your niche, and in the Crowdfunding industry.
Market The Platform
The website is finally created and launched on the internet. The last step is to market the platform. The whole idea is to market the Crowdfunding platform successfully so that many campaign creators are approaching you to create a campaign on your platform. This way, you do not have to do any work to make money. This can be a great solution for those that want to generate monthly revenue by simply approving or disapproving Crowdfunding campaigns.
Starting up a company is a very risky and challenging journey. Launching a crowdfunding campaign hedges these risks and serves as a valuable learning experience. Crowdfunding as it is today allows an entrepreneur to gain market validation and avoid giving up equity before going all out and taking a product concept to market.
Crowdfunding Saves Equity
Crowdfunding is a great alternative way to fund a venture and it can be done without giving up equity or accumulating debt.
Crowdfunding As Marketing Tool
An active crowdfunding campaign is a good way to introduce a venture’s overall mission and vision to the market, as it is a free and easy way to reach numerous channels.
Crowdfunding Proves The Concept
Showing investors and convincing yourself that your venture has received sufficient market validation at an early stage is hard. Crowdfunding makes this possible as people get to know about your product and show their response.
Crowdfunding Helps to Brainstorm Ideas
One of the biggest challenges for small businesses and entrepreneurs is to be able to cover all the holes that a venture might have at an early stage. By having a crowdfunding campaign, the entrepreneur has the ability to engage the crowd and receive comments, feedback, and ideas.
People who view the entrepreneur’s campaign and decide to contribute are ones that believe in the success of the company in the long run. In essence, these people are early adopters. Early adopters are very important to every business, as they will help spread the initial word without asking for anything in return. Such people care about the venture’s brand and message and are likely to be loyal customers throughout their life.
Crowdfunding is Easier Than Traditional Applications
Applying for a loan or pursuing other capital investments are two of the most painful processes that every entrepreneur has to go through, especially during the early stages of the company.
Crowdfunding is Free PR
The momentum created by successful crowdfunding campaigns attracts potential investment from traditional channels and attention from media outlets. Success stories make for interesting reading, and reporters are always hungry for them.
Crowdfunding Provides The Opportunity of Pre-selling
Launching a crowdfunding campaign gives an entrepreneur the ability to pre-sell a product or concept that they haven’t yet taken to market. This is a good way to gauge user reaction and analyze the market in order to decide whether to pursue or pivot on a given concept.
Crowdfunding is Free to Launch
Launching a crowdfunding campaign on some of the platforms is absolutely free. You will be charged a minimal fee when you raise funds.
This is the major step where most of the crowdfunding projects fail in India and the project creator never realizes it. As crowdfunding is a very niche stage in India, it is very important for crowdfunding platforms to help project creators in creating projects and help them to shape their projects for an Indian audience. Choose your crowdfunding portal wisely.
Every crowdfunding platform in India takes a different approach to projects. Do little research on all the portals. Talk with some platforms, regarding your project and find out which crowdfunding platform fits perfectly for you.
Create the Perfect Pitch Video for your Crowdfunding Project
This is the most important factor which most of the people in India forget. Most people see Kickstarter and create crowdfunding projects, thinking that they’ll get millions overnight, which is never true.
Entrepreneurs need to understand the mentality and psychology of Indians, compared to other nations. Indians love giving. We give millions and billions of rupees every year in temples and charity but when it comes to lending a hundred rupees to some person we think thousand times. That is where your crowdfunding video and description play a vital role in raising funds from them.
Most people judge a crowdfunding project by just looking at the video. Make your crowdfunding video short and simple. Don’t add fancy 3D imaging graphics or VFX in the video. Nor add too much animation to it. Keep it to the point, make it clear.
Remember, your end result from this video is money, not entertainment. Show your product, show yourself, your team, your workspace, your past work, and tell why someone should fund you or what change your project is going to make in society. This helps to build trust for the contributor.
Project Description
Write a detailed description but add attractive graphics along with it. In observation, it was found that most of the people in India write 2-3 lines or 1-2 paragraphs without graphics in their description. Writing only 2-3 lines shows that you are not serious about your product.
A dedicated investor would never be investing in your project without knowing in detail about it. It is suggested to keep long description, as the one who is going to give a large amount of money to a stranger will surely want to read everything.
Create a graphic picture that shows your product, your rewards, your timeline when you’ll deliver me rewards, and most importantly, your product specification.
Rewards
You need to understand that in India, most of the target audience is the middle class. Nobody will be willing to give more than 5% of their monthly salary unless you’re giving them something cool in return.
Only rich people will give your project above Rs 5-10K and that if you’re giving them a customized product or something special in return. You need to consider giving a special reward gift in return which provides them emotional value. For example, you can give them your product with a celebrity’s signature or better, help them meet the celebrity.
PR (Public Relation)
Most of the people in India are unaware of crowdfunding. So, it is very important for the project creator to get the right reach of the right audience. Once your crowdfunding project is ready, you need to decide your communication strategy before making the project live.
Create a mailer list, from your school friends to current enemies. Tell them all about your project and ask them to fund it once the project is live. Don’t be ashamed, be straightforward in asking to fund your project. If they don’t fund it, at least ask them to share a word of mouth or a small post on their social media. It will help you to raise a little fund. Then, it’s time for PR.
Get in touch with all your press contacts and tell them about your crowdfunding project. If you don’t have any contacts, hire a PR agency. If you can’t hire a PR agency, ask your crowdfunding portal to do PR on your behalf.
Some of the crowdfunding platforms in India help with that too. PR or Public relations are a crucial factor in any business. You need to have credibility in writing to prove your genuineness and potential in your PR.
News articles will help you to achieve this and act as a backbone. It’ll also help you to get strangers to know about your project and in some cases, raise funds from them.
Get in touch with bloggers who write articles regarding your project field. Let them know about your project and ask them to write an article on your project. Choose a blog with good reach and engagement.
Social Media and Follow-up
Build a social media strategy and create some unique campaigns surrounding your project. Social Media will help you to get that boost for making your project a success. A creative campaign will help your project go viral and even to reach the audience who’ll fund it.
Do Facebook posts thrice a day.
Interact with strangers on Twitter by tweeting, hourly.
Tell every possible person on the internet about your project.
Send emails to all your contacts regarding your project, weekly.
Take a follow-up via email or phone with the people who said they’ll fund your project or showed their interest.
Connect with writers who wrote about your project in news articles or blogs. Ask them to update their articles about your new achievement.
Put yourself in the investor’s shoes and see what you will want to see if someone asks for money from you.
Crowdfunding is a good option for new startups with people and investors getting aware of it. It is a platform to show your product to investors if you do not have many contacts in the business world. The main advantage of crowdfunding is that you do not necessarily have to lose equity while raising funds. However, the Indian crowdfunding system does work in that way a lot.
There might be some people who will fund you without equity but you will get the majority of the funds from professional investors who will demand equity in your company. It’s your job to choose the right crowdfunding option.
FAQs
What is crowdfunding and how does it work?
In its simplest form, crowdfunding is getting others to finance the creation of a product, project, business, or work of art. It’s extremely advantageous for entrepreneurs and eliminates the overbearing upfront costs that stop most startups before they begin. It uses a web-based platform or social networking sites to solicit funds for the fundraiser by showcasing the story to potential donors or investors.
What are some of the benefits of crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding can be a fast way to raise finance with no upfront fees in businesses. Pitching a project or business through the online platform can be a valuable form of marketing and result in media attention. By sharing your idea, you can often get feedback and expert guidance on how to improve it, etc.
What are some of the popular crowdfunding platforms in India?
Kickstarter, Wishberry, Indiegogo, FuelADream, Fundable, Ketto, Catapooolt, and Milaap are some of the popular crowdfunding sites in India.
What is an example of crowdfunding?
An example of a successful crowdfunding project is The Veronica Mars Movie Project. Fundraiser Rob Thomas used crowdfunding to fund the movie. The project was a great success surpassing their $2 million goals by an additional $3 million. The crowdfunding project also gained international reach.
Shark Tank is a business reality show owned by ABC and is the no. 1 business reality show in the world. The concept of the game show involves ambitious entrepreneurs presenting their breakthrough business concepts to ruthless investors or “Sharks” to convince them to invest in the concept.
The most important part of Shark Tank is the panel, aka the ‘sharks’ who decide whether or not to invest in the ideas of the entrepreneurs. In the Indian version, Shark Tank India, we have the following sharks (Judges) in the panel:
Vineeta Singh – CEO & Co-founder of SUGAR Cosmetics
Ashneer Grover, Founder and MD of BharatPe
Peeyush Bansal – Founder & CEO of Lenskart.com
Namita Thapar – ED of Emcure Pharmaceuticals
Anupam Mittal – Founder and CEO of Shaadi.com
Ghazal Alagh – Co-founder and Cheif Mama of Mamaearth
Aman Gupta – Co-founder and CMO of BoAt
Some aspects that come to mind when someone says Shark Tank: grilling someone on the industry size, the market opportunity, the size of the niche market they want to target (if they are targeting a niche market), competitors, financial data on their competitors, how they got that data / how they arrive at the assumptions about their competitors etc.
On top of this, Sharks also want to get to know the entrepreneurs. There are a few episodes in the original Shark tank where the Sharks have walked away from a pitch not because the product was bad, but because they didn’t want to work with the investor.
On the flip side, there were also times when Sharks made offers not because they loved the product but because they believed in the entrepreneurs. We get a glimpse into some of the characteristics of these entrepreneurs but I’m sure they go more in-depth.
The first episode of Shark Tank India was aired on 20th Dec 2021 on Sony Liv. The panel for the first episode included Vineeta Singh, Ashneer Grover, Namita Thapar, Anupam Mittal, and Aman Gupta.
BharatPe MD and Co-founder Ashneer Grover, who is still one of the judges of the Indian version of Shark Tank, has been recently engaged in a financial fraud of BharatPe and is asked to be on a mandatory leave of absence. He and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, who is also associated with this financial misconduct, has been on a leave of absence along with five others. BharatPe Co-founder and MD can also be fired from the company by the Board, as far as the reports dated January 29, 2022.
Products Featured in the First Episode of Shark Tank India
First Product: Blue Pine Foods Pvt. Ltd.
Blue Pine Foods
The Entrepreneurs:
Aditi Madan aka Momo Mami and the Co-Founders- Rohan Singh and Naveen Pawar.
The Ask:
₹50L for 5% equity
The Pitch:
Blue Pine Foods is a frozen momo company that makes 100% natural, preservative-free handcrafted momos using traditional Himalayan ingredients. The shelf life of the momos is over 4 months.
The Profits:
Made and sold over 80 Lakh momos through both B2B and QSR. Sales of ₹3.6 cr over the period of 5 years.
The Negotiation:
Ashneer did not wait too long before making the first offer of ₹50L for 7% equity with a warning that it was an exploding offer. Anupam pulled out saying he cannot make an offer that’s lower than Ashneer’s. Namita Thapar was the next one to pull out as she “cannot relate with the industry”. Vineeta offered ₹50L for 20%.
Together, Aman and Ashneer offered ₹50L for 12%, to which Aditi gave two counteroffers of ₹50L for 10% and ₹75L for 12%. Ashneer, Aman and Vineeta came together and made a tempting offer of ₹75L for 16% equity, which was happily accepted by Aditi.
The Deal:
₹75L for 16% Equity
Second Product: Booz Scooters
Booz Scooters
The Entrepreneur:
Rutvij Dasadia
The Ask:
₹40L for 15% equity
The Pitch:
Booz is South Asia’s first App-based electric scooter operator that serves at business parks, Commercial parks, residential areas, industrial areas, educational campuses, tourist spots, clubs, resorts and other such confined premises by offering electric kick scooters on rental.
Charging stations, installations, daily maintenance, charging plugins and plug outs are offered at monthly subscription. The vision of Booz is to eliminate fuel vehicles at these places and make premises more pollution-free and add leisure experience to recreational spots.
The Profits:
Last Year the business got revenue of 4 Lakhs.
The Negotiation:
Anupam pulled out immediately after giving a brutal statement that he doesn’t see any value in it. Namita, once again, pulled out as she doesn’t “relate to the product” and because the product did not excite her on a personal level. Vineetha and Ashneer came together and made an aggressive offer of ₹40L for 50% Equity. Rutvij countered the offer with an offer of 40L for 33% Equity but Ashneer stood his ground till the founder finally caved.
The Deal:
₹40L for 50% Equity
Third Product: Heart up my sleeves
Heart up my Sleeves
The Entrepreneur:
Riya Khatter
The Ask:
₹25L for 10% equity
The Pitch:
It’s a unique brand that makes detachable statement sleeves. The sleeves are reusable, sustainable and you can style them in different ways.
The Profits:
Sales of ₹11.6L in 9 months. Last month’s sales were ₹1.96l.
The Negotiation:
Aman and Namita did not think twice before pulling out as they did not see potential in the product. Anupam and Vineeta swooped in to grab the opportunity, and an offer of ₹25L for 40% equity was placed on the table. The 23-year-old entrepreneur countered it with an offer of ₹25L for 30% equity which the sharks couldn’t say no to because of her beautiful pitch.
The Deal:
₹25L for 30%
Review of the First Episode of Shark Tank India
The investors faced a lot of backlashes after the show was aired. But there were a lot of people that found nothing wrong with the actions of the investors. The controversy can be summed up with the help of the post and the comment below:
Shashikant Chaudhary, an angel investor posted the following on LinkedIn:
“I was really very excited to watch the first season of Shark Tank India – both as a viewer and as an angel investor. This show promises a platform for entrepreneurs from tier 2 and tier 3 cities to take their business to the next level. Crucially, this show is also going to double as educational for millions of people as it reveals things about business and funding.
It is in this context that I found the way sharks were making an offer to entrepreneurs by asking for a 40-50% stake in the company for 25-50 lacs uncomfortable to watch.
As an angel investor myself and instructor of an entrepreneurship course, I feel, If an entrepreneur is giving up 30-50% of the company in a single round, by the end of the third or fourth round of investment, the founding team will be at less than 15-20% stake. There would be very little incentive for founders to work for such a low equity stake. In the end, he/she would leave the company.
I know it can be argued that the sharks are doing their best by getting the best deal for them personally but I also feel that this is a tricky message for the startup community (especially those not well-versed with technicalities of the impact of giving away too much stake in a single round). I wish people watching the show somehow also know that this is the kind of offer that is detrimental to the founder in the long run.”
And the top comment by Paresh Masade, Founder of Vaave (Coherendz India Private Limited) read:
“Isn’t the very notion of “Shark” in a tank wrong, they are supposed to be “Angel” investors. You have been a mentor, guide, advisor and well-wisher, not even close to being a shark.
My views on the shark tank differ a bit, it is designed to be a TV show and to entertain the audience. They resemble more of the WWF matches, very glamourous and sexy, nothing real. I may be wrong here, but many of the seasoned angel investors I have seen, understand very well that it’s the entrepreneur who is in the driver’s seat!”
The original shark tank created a huge fan base for itself across the globe over the past 13 years. The Indian show definitely shows a lot of potential for creating a massive loyal fanbase as well. It is amazing to see the spirit of the young entrepreneurs and supportive seniors on Indian television. Hopefully, the show will bring a new wave of ideas and entrepreneurs to the country.
You can watch the episodes of Shark Tank India live on SonyLIV or Sony TV. With new episodes coming out from Monday to Friday at 9 PM on the designated platform.
FAQ
Who are the judges in Shark Tank India?
Vineeta Singh, Ashneer Grover, Namita Thapar, Anupam Mittal and Aman Gupta, Ghazal Alagh, and Peeyush Bansal are the judges in Shark Tank India.
Angel investors are sometimes marked as Private investors or Seed Funders. Though known by different names, their main aim is to invest in startups or new ventures, thereby helping them to grow and create a presence in this dynamic environment. If you are looking to get an insight about Angel Investors in Delhi along with their Contact Details and Major investments, then this is the right place. As we have put in our best to compile a list of Angel Investors in and around Delhi.
Before, getting to the list of Angel Investors in Delhi. Let’s get an understanding on What do Angel Investors look for in a startup? It becomes essential for a startup to wisely approach an investor that suits the requirements and expertise of both.
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Markets Interested: SaaS, Consumer Internet, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Healthcare, and Digital Media. Investments: Instamojo, POPxo, ZipGo, Dunzo, Innov8, Rapido, Unacademy, CroFArm among many others.
Rajan Anandan | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajan Anandan, the MD of Sequoia Capital, is the most prominent investor in the startup industry. He has served as an MD at Microsoft India, Vice President and SEA at Google, and also gained exposure in Dell India. He has gained experience with startups across various domains.
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Markets Interested: Mobile, Gaming, Social Media, Real Estate, Food Tech, Logistics, Consumer Internet, Media, Fintech, HR Tech, Education, and E-commerce. Investments: LogiNext, Milaap, InnerChef, Wishberg, FactorDaily, ThePrint, Flyrobe, TapChief, Unacademy, Innov8 among many.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma | Angel Investors in Delhi
The founder and CEO of Paytm, Vijay Shekhar Sharma and One97 has a spectacular experience in the Indian startups. He has given a helping hand to many of the startups in their journey of survival and growth. He graduated from Delhi College of Engineering and later founded his first venture XS Corps, which was then sold to Lotus Interworks LLC.
Sunil Kalra is one of the prominent independent angel investors in Indian Angel Network. Being the MD at Via Projects Pvt Ltd and a Venture Partner at Stride Ventures, Sunil has gained immense experience in the field of Finance & Investments.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, IT, Augmented Reality, Social Media, Clean Technology, Food and Beverages, Fintech, Big data. Investments: My Child, WittyFeed, PumpKart, Deyor Camps, Ketto, Nimo Planet, Falcon Labs, Josh Talks, Inc42 Media, SectorQube, and many.
Ritesh Malik | Angel Investors in Delhi
Ritesh Malik, the Co-founder, and MD of Innov8 practised as a professional doctor at the esteemed Ganga Ram Hospital, before venturing into his entrepreneurial journey. He is an active and prominent angel investor in Delhi. He also Co-founded Adstuck Consulting Pvt Ltd, a digital transformation agency.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, E-commerce, Internet, Big Data, SaaS Investments: Ola, Gigstart, UrbanClap, Bira 91, Belong, Bewakoof, Rapido, Razorpay, Fynd, Jugnoo, Mamaearth, Tripoto, LetsVenture among many others.
Kunal Bahl | Angel Investors in Delhi
Kunal Bahl, the Co-founder, and CEO of Snapdeal is the most prominent and active investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. He is an alum of the prestigious Wharton School of Pennsylvania. Before Snapdeal, he was associated with prominent organizations like Deloitte and Microsoft in the US. He co-founded Jaspers, the parent company of Snapdeal in 2008.
Aloke Bajpai is the Co-founder, and CEO of Ixigo – an Online travel marketplace. He is a keen angel investor based out of Delhi. He is a B.tech graduate in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur. He served as VP at Final Quadrant Solutions Ltd, by getting engaged in strategic business development and product marketing.
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Markets Interested: Clean technology, Fintech, AI & Robotics, Digital Marketing, Healthcare, Foodtech, Big Data, and Virtual reality Investments: Unocoin, Arya ai, SmartVizx, Rubique, MObilewalla, LogiNext, Rubique, Phonon, Utsav Fashions, Vista Pharma, Auro, and many more.
Neeraj Kumar Singal | Angel Investors in Delhi
Neeraj Kumar Singal, Founder and Director of SEMCO Infratech Pvt ltd and also Lightyear Infratech, is a focused investor in varied fields. He is an active member of IAN (Indian Angel Network), LetsVenture, and HBS Alumni Angels. He values innovation and appreciates strategic ideas that can transform the world of Business. He is also well represented at various leadership roles and organizations like FCCI, HBS Club of India, Young President Organisation, AIMA, CII, TiE, Ph.D. Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and many.
Dinesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO of IndiaMart, is a prominent entrepreneur and angel investor. He is a well-known member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Being an alum of The Harcourt Butler Technological Institute of Kanpur, he served as a system analyst at HCL Technologies.
Markets interested: Healthcare, Consumer Internet, Mobile, Fin-tech, Food-tech, E-commerce, Media. Investments: Meesho, LifCare, Babygogo, Fashalot, Sheroes, Tripeur, Foodcircle, Just Move, Shuttl, Reify Health among others.
Rahul Garg | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rahul Garg is the Founder & MD at Leo Capital India. He is one of an active business investors in delhi for startups. Being an alumnus of IIT Delhi with a degree in Computer science, his expertise in this field is commendable. He is also associated with TiE, NASSCOM, IIT Mentors, and many other organizations.
Markets Interested: Management Consulting, Product Innovation, Blockchain, global investments, technology management, SaaS, Clean technology, etc., Investments: Betaout, Zippr, Tavaga, Innov8, Testbook, Adpushup, Doormint, LE tote, Rappi, Lead Genius, Proven, NexGear, and many more.
Utsav Somani | Angel Investors in Delhi
Utsav Somani is a prominent angel investor in Delhi via AngelList (an online marketplace of startups and investors). He did his Masters in Innovation & Entrepreneurship from ESADE Business School in 2012. At present, he is also the partner at OB1T Capital (Investment management). He is a well-experienced investor and has been active in the Indian Angel Network.
Investments: Agastha, Rapido, Wizgo, Routofy, Drivezy among many.
Nikunj Jain | Angel Investors in Delhi
Nikunj Jain, the Co-founder and CEO of Zohem (A blockchain-based data exchange protocol) is a warm investor in the Indian Startup industry. He is a keen investor and also a noteworthy entrepreneur. Before zohem, he had co-founded Frankly.me, which is a video microblogging startup along with inoXapps (a gaming startup). Nikunj did his Btech, Textile Technology from the reputed IIT Delhi.
Investments: Touch Talent, Adpushup, Lucideus, and Wishberry.
Amit Ranjan | Angel Investors in Delhi
Earlier, Amit Ranjan had Co-founded Slideshare (Professional content sharing platform). He is now active as the Architect for Digital Locker & OpenForge (e-governance projects) under the Ministry of IT, Government of India.
By being an enthusiast about startups, he mentors them for their growth and development. He played a lead role in commencing the cult of technology “unconferences’ called BarCamps, by organizing India & Asia’s first such event in Delhi.
Rohit Bansal is the Co-founder of Snapdeal, an Indian e-commerce business. Rohit Bansal is one of the prominent investors in the Indian Startup ecosystem. He is an alumnus of IIT Delhi with Btech and Mtech in Computer Science. He is skilled in team management, business development, and strategic planning. He not only provides finance to startups via investing in them but also guides them through their journey by mentoring them in areas of sales, product management, competitor analysis, operations, vendor management, and marketing.
Alok Mittal, the Co-founder, and CEO of Indifi Technologies Pvt Ltd is not only among the prominent angel investors but also the founder of Indian Angel Network, a platform that connects startups and investors. He is an alumnus of the University of California and completed his Bachelors in Computer Science from IIT Delhi.
Earlier he had also co-founded JobsAhead.com (leading e-recruitment business), which was later acquired by Monster.com. He also worked with Hughes Software in telecom and internet technologies. He graduated from IIT Delhi and completed his MS and Management of Technology programs from UC Berkeley.
Markets interested: Technology, Consumer internet, Media, Fintech, Travel, Gaming, E-commerce. Investments: Overcart, Serial Innovations, Speakwell, Inc42 Media, Dexl, Silver Push, Little eye labs, Gamezop among many others.
Rajesh Sawhney | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajesh Sawhney, the Co-founder, and CEO of InnerChef (Food Tech Startup) is a successful entrepreneur and angel investor He is also the CEO of GSF, an Indian Capital firm and accelerator which is focused on mobile startups. He has a wider experience in media and entertainment ventures. Earlier he worked as the COO of Times internet ltd, as the president at Reliance Entertainment and around 14 years with BCCL. He created several successful businesses across sectors like TV, eCommerce, and travel.
Markets interested: eCommerce, Consumer Internet, Foodtech, Travel, Education, Social Media, Gaming, Automotive, Fintech. Investments: Flipclass, GamingMonk, White Owl, YumLane, Zophop, IndiaLends, LimeTray, MassBlurb, Rapido, OnlineTyari, Scoopwoop among many.
Kunal Khattar | Angel Investors in Delhi
Kunal Khattar, the Founding Partner of AdvantEdge Partners (Venture Capital Firm), is one of India’s most prominent investors. He also acts as the Director of Rapido, leading a two-wheeler ride-sharing platform. Earlier, he worked as the Marketing Manager at Vodafone. He has also Co-founded ventures like Simply Look.
He is one of the most active angel investors in Delhi, who is always available for any kind of help on sales, business development, communication, and strategic marketing management.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Technology, Digital Media, Technical Continuing Education. Investments: Airwoot, Biosense, HackerEarth, Xapr, Little Eye Labs, ShieldSquare, MobStac, and many.
Samir Sood | Angel Investors in Delhi
Samir Sood, the Co-founder of Venture Highway (Early-stage venture investment firm) is one of an active private investors in Delhi. He served as the Head of Corporate Development, South Asia and Australia at Google. He was also associated with organizations like Cisco, Microsoft, Dell, and Lehman Brothers. He is an MBA graduate from The University Of Chicago and completed his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University.
Markets Interested: SaaS, Enterprise Software, Fintech, Social Media, IT, Clean Technology, Gaming. Investments: Alma Connect, Enpower, HashCube, Zuvvu, Pinpuff, Ideophone, Biosense, and many more.
Pranay Gupta | Angel Investors in Delhi
Pranay Gupta is the Co-Founder of 91springboard, India’s leading co-working spaces. He also acted as the Joint CEO at Centre for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship. Before Co-founding 91springboard, he worked with Lehman Brothers and Nomura Securities.
Soaib Grewal acts as an Advisor to AngelList India and is also the Venture Partner at TLabs, a leading startup accelerator and seed investment firm. Before getting associated with TLabs, he acted as Design Mentor at Microsoft Accelerator and also founded BOLd, Design-led investment firm.
Markets interested:E-commerce, Clean Technology, Travel, Real Estate, SaaS, Big data. Investments: Radiowalla, AdvantEdge Club, WittyParrot, Leverage Edu, Alliz Health among many.
Hetal Sonpal | Angel Investors in Delhi
Hetal Sonpal is into mentoring young minds and budding entrepreneurs along with the students of Amity International School in Gurugram. Earlier, he worked with Intel as the Head of Strategic Alliances. From the esteemed Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Hetal obtained his MBA Degree. He possesses relevant knowledge and expertise in his field.
Markets Interested: Social Media, Travel, Foodtech, Automobile, B2B, Internet. Investments: Yaantra, BSquare, RippleCard, Wow Momo, Find my Stay, ChefsNearMe, Ziveg and many more.
Yogesh Bansal | Angel Investors in Delhi
Yogesh Bansal, the Founder, and CEO of ApnaCircle Infotech is a tech missionary with tremendous knowledge and expertise in this field. He holds an MBA Degree in IT & Finance from the University of North Carolina and also founded companies like GeoRapid, GoActiveClub, and Mail Genie. He has got exposure to skills like team building, merger and acquisitions, and serial entrepreneurship.
Markets Interested: Healthcare, Aerospace, Hospitality, Agritech, Real Estate, Foodtech, Travel, Fintech. Investments: X Prime, Unbxd, SmartVizX, IntensAquatica, SquarePlums among many.
Bharat Mehra | Angel Investors in Delhi
Bharat Mehra is the Co-founder of Eatworks. He has major experience in the industry of food and real estate. He is a graduate from the esteemed Alliance Manchester Business School and entails skills in Negotiation, management, sales, and valuation. He is among the leading seed investors in Delhi, who is always an enthusiast to work with people who have passion and zeal to do something new.
Satyan Gajwani, the VP of Times Internet & Board member of Times India Group, is among the prominent investors in Delhi. Times Internet is one of India’s largest digital media companies that possess brands like Mumbai mirror, Gaana, Times of India among many. He is an alumnus of Stanford University. He also acts as a mentor to startups in media planning, market research, strategic planning, and team building.
Markets Interested: Enterprise Software, digital media, fintech, e-commerce, journalism, technology. Investments: Magictap Solutions, NewsBytes, ORO Wealth, Slintel, Vaultedge, Khabri, Yellow ant among many.
Rajat Harlalka | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajat Harlalka, the Co-founder of Bellurbis Technologies (enterprise software platform), is an active angel investor in Delhi. He is an alumnus of IIT Varanasi and IIT Guwahati. He also acts as the operating partner at GSF India and as a mentor to startups. Be it any concept, like Competitive Analysis, Product development, presentation skills, industry trends or technical marketing, Rajant is at the forefront to help you out.
Abhishek Dwiwedi, an Assistant VP of Growth at 1mg.com (Online Pharmacy), is one of the top angel investors in Delhi. He is associated with SternFisher (an Angel Network) as a partner and also served as the Head of Business Development at HealthKart. By being an alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering, he launched SBD Solutions to organize the fragmented solar photovoltaic & thermal market.
Spinny, a platform for buying used cars, was Founded by Niraj Singh. Earlier, he was associated with Outbox Ventures as a Founding Partner and has also Co-founded Top Yaps, an internet media site. Locus Education, an ed-tech startup that helps students with IIT JEE Preparation was also co-founded by him. Being a graduate in Electrical engineering from IIT Delhi, he has got exposure to various domains. He not only invests in startups but also provides correct guidance for the growth of the venture.
Markets Interested: Fashion, Social Media, Digital Marketing, Ecommerce, Lifestyle, Blogging, Marketing, Food, Logistics. Investments: Campanja, Bea’s of Bloomsbury, Shoto, Tizaro.
Priyanka Gill | Angel Investors in Delhi
Priyanka Gill is the Founder & CEO of POPXo, Women-focused digital media firm). She is a prominent female angel investor in Delhi and entails interest in building brands within the lifestyle market. She is also the founder and CEO of Plixio (Influencer management platform) & Luxeva (Digital guide platform). She completed her Master of Arts from Kings College London and BA (Hons) in English from Lady Shri Ram College for Women.
Anirudh Mullick is the head of Recruitment at Sequoia Capital India, where he provides recruiting services to Sequoia’s portfolio companies. He is currently the VP of Sequoia Capital India and is an alumnus of IIPM. Earlier, he served as an Associate Director at Executive Access India. He can help startups find and acquire talents for their development and also guide them through business development and strategic planning.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, SaaS, Small and Medium Businesses, Education, Big Data, Location-Based Services. Investments: Kartrocket, Kraftly, Roposo, talking threads.in, Giveter.com, among many.
Gaurav Kachru – Angel Investors in Delhi
Gaurav, Founder and Managing Partner at 5ideas (an investment firm), is an active private investor in Delhi. Earlier he founded e-commerce startups FashionAndYou and DealsAndYou. Before commencing his entrepreneurial journey, he worked with Manpower Inc as Regional Director for Asia.
Markets interested: Enterprise Software, Travel, Technology, SaaS, Mobile applications, Fintech, Healthcare. Investments: MealHopper, Mind Your Fleet, OnlineTyari, AppVirality, Autowale.
Rajnish Kumar | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajnish Kumar, the Co-founder and CTO of ixigo.com (travel & hotel booking platform), is one of the prominent angel investors in Delhi. He is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and has expertise in Computer Science and Technology. Earlier, he had also founded Traveneus and has an understanding of Mobile applications and Software development. He also served in various roles at Amadeus IT Group in Spain
This was our list of Angel Investors in Delhi. If you are an investor or know any of the investors for startups, connect with us at shubham@startuptalky.com to get featured in the list.
FAQs
How to get investors for business in India?
Steps to get investors for business in India or investors for startups in India:-
Create a profile on Angel List.
Prepare a record of investors to share your ideas with.
Brush up your networking skills.
Have a classy introduction to your and your business.
Tell them why they should invest in your business.
Where can I find Angel Investors?
Check with the Business Development Center, Community Futures Office or Economic Development Centre where you live; there may be an active group of angelinvestors in your community.
What is an angel investor?
An angel investor is a person who gives capital for a business start-up, normally in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.
How to find investors in Delhi?
You can find out investors in Delhi by Ask Family or Friends, try crowdfunding platforms to find investors.
The new technologies today have made the idea of startups more popular than ever before. Gone are the days when people were afraid to try out new ideas. Nowadays the young passionate minds are more driven towards the ideas of a startup.
With startups progressing well, the idea of startup investing has become lucrative. More investors are now interested in startup funding. Funding an innovative startup in the initial stage can be profitable in the future.
Yuvraj Singh, former Indian team cricketer has now become a venture capitalist. Yuvraj launched his investment company, YouWeCan Ventures in 2015. With this venture, he planned to encourage entrepreneurship and online startups. He has invested in various startups like Healthians, EazyDiner, Wellversed, etc.
Funding is the capital needed to start and run a business. Startup funding, in simple words, is a financial investment. This funding made by an investor helps the startup ideas come to life.
Startup funding involves equity financing or debt financing. In both cases investment proves to be lucrative, except if the startup fails.
Many entrepreneurs, cricketers, actors are entering the ecosystem of startup funding. They do funding as venture capitalists, angel investors, and private equity.
YouWeCan’ An Initiative by Yuvraj Singh
YouWeCan Logo
Yuvraj Singh, a former Indian Cricketer was diagnosed with cancer in 2012. He fought cancer and came out as a survivor. This journey inspired him to start an organization for cancer patients, YouWeCan.
It aims to support cancer patients in various ways. These are raising awareness among patients, helping in their treatment processes and, equipping the survivors with opportunities.
Yuvraj Singh as a Venture Capitalist
Yuvraj Singh turned into a venture capitalist. He expanded YouWeCan by starting YouWeCan Ventures. He announced to invest 40-50 crores (Indian rupees) in technology-based startups.
Since it was introduced, YouWeCan Ventures has invested in several startups. Yuvraj has thus, made a great contribution to the Indian startup movement.
The fundings came to a halt during the time of covid-19. But soon in October 2020, Yuvraj Singh invested in Wellversed.
Startups Funded by Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh has invested in various startups. These are as follows:
Healthians
Healthians Logo
Healthians is a tech-based startup that provides lab test services at home. It provides convenient, faster, affordable, and dependable healthcare services. Deepak Sahni founded it and is also its CEO.
Healthians uses various technologies like HTML, jQuery, Google analytics, etc. This tech-based health startup has proved to be profitable and useful in the field of healthcare.
Healthians started from Delhi NCR. Now, it has its presence in more than 30 Indian cities. YWC Ventures-backed Healthians also acquired Mumbai-based Healthy Labs in 2019.
Yuvraj’s association with the brand proved to be a great marketing measure for the startup.
EazyDiner
Eazydiner Logo
EazyDiner is an online restaurant reservation platform. It provides recommendations and reviews by top critics for a great dining experience. It also provides great deals on every reservation.
The company entered the market in 2015, backed by six investors and Yuvi was one of them.
Its headquarters are in Gurugram. It is active in 150 Indian cities and Dubai. It has partnerships across the restaurant industry. Some of the key partners are Leela Hotels, Taj Hotels, Marriott Group, Burger King, etc.
It was founded in 2011 and Ishan Gupta is the founder. Five investors are backing up this startup. YouWeCan Ventures and United Finsec are the most recent. Later in 2016, Paytm acquired it.
EduKart has made a great remark following the need for online learning in recent times.
Chqbook
Chqbook Logo
Chqbook is a fintech startup. It helps the customers compare, book, and get personalized finance products. It offers services like banking, lending, insurance, and rewards.
Vipul Sharma is the CEO of Chqbook. Founded in 2016, it has 14 investors. Yuvraj Singh is one of the lead investors in Chqbook.
Wellversed
Wellversed Logo
It is a technology-based startup. It deals in nutritional products. This healthcare startup’s products span many nutrition regimes.
It aims to help people with healthy transformations in their diets. The products of Wellversed are available on many online sites. These include Amazon, Snapdeal, etc.
The CEO of the company Aanan Khurma. Wellversed is funded by eleven investors. Yuvraj Singh made an angel investment in the company. Along with being an investor, he is also the face of the brand.
It is the latest investment made by Yuvraj through YWC Ventures in October 2020.
Naturals@Home
Naturals@Home Logo
Naturals (before Vyomo) is a mobile application for beauty and wellness. It allows women to book their beauty appointments and enjoy the services at home. The services are rendered by trained and verified professionals.
Abhinav Khare is the founder and also CEO of the company. It has three investors. These are Naturals, Rocket Internet, and YouWeCan Ventures.
Yuvraj Singh was an early investor in Vyomo, now Naturals.
Black White Orange Brands
Black White Orange Logo
This is a new-age startup that provides merchandising solutions. It offers services of brand consulting, creative solutions, retail distribution. It provides services in India as well as overseas.
Bhavik Vora is the founder and CEO of Black White Orange Brand. It has two investors- Collaborative Ventures and Yuvraj Singh’s YWC Ventures.
SportyBeans
SportyBeans Logo
SportyBeans is one of India’s reputed sports programs for children. It aims to promote fitness and a passion for sports among pre-schoolers.
YouWeCan Venture is the lead investor in SportyBeans.
Yuvraj Singh has also funded JetSetGo and Moovo. JetSetGo helps with private aviation services. Moovo is a tech-based booking platform for mini-trucks.
Yuvraj Singh has made great contributions to society. He started YouWeCan to support cancer patients and help with their treatments. Then started YouWeCan Ventures to support young entrepreneurs with their innovative startup ideas.
Yuvraj calls startup funding a risk one takes. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t. He feels happy to see any startup funded by him turning into a big company. Here, Healthians is a great example. Since covid did not hit the health sector, Healthians has seen great growth during the pandemic.
FAQs
Who is Yuvraj Singh?
Yuvraj Singh is a former Indian international cricketer.
How many Startups has Yuvraj Singh Funded?
Yuvraj Singh is Invested in various Startups like eazyDiner, WellVersed, Healthians, EduKart, etc.
What is YouWeCan?
YouWeCan is a non-profit organization established by Yuvraj Singh that aims to support cancer patients in various ways. These are raising awareness among patients, helping in their treatment processes, and equipping the survivors with opportunities.
A Startup is a company that is just on the verge of developing and offering services and products that are not available in the market. Startups are now becoming a significant part of every country’s economy; they are providing jobs to the people of this generation and are carrying huge responsibilities.
They are hugely contributing to the development of the socio-economic conditions of the country. Not only that, through the use of new technologies, they are providing solutions to the problems as well. Every industry is getting to see new Startups and some of them are going to be the future of that industry.
The survival of a startup hugely depends on the fund, if there is no fund a Startup can never see the daylight, it will shut down even before the beginning. So, for preventing from getting shut down, one needs to arrange funds and must invest in the business and these can be done in two ways.
One is getting money funded for the startup and the other one is through Bootstrapped. In this article, we will discuss the difference between funded startups and Bootstrapped startups and what they are all about. We will also talk about which will be a better option for your startup. So let’s get into the business.
“It’s almost always harder to raise capital than you thought it would be, and it always takes longer. So, plan for that.”
Bootstrapped startups are those businesses, where you don’t take capital from an outside source or venture capitalist and totally depend on your own funds for the survival and growth of the business. There is no process for external funding here, you are the leader here and you need to take all kind of decision that is necessary for your business.
Pros and Cons of a Bootstrapped Startup
Pros:
The thing about bootstrapped startups is that the founder doesn’t have to depend on outside investors for the funds and the ownership solely belongs to the founder.
The founder of the business needs to just focus on the business products and services and there is no need for issuing equity.
The control of the business belongs to the founder and they don’t get succumbed to any pressures by anyone and have the control to take any important decision regarding the business.
There are no investors who can suggest and help the founder in making decisions. Plus, the lack of connections of different investors leads to a slower pace in gaining the trust of the public.
Examples of a Bootstrapped Startup
GoPro
GoPro Logo
This company is one of the best brands out there for selling personal cameras that capture video photographs was first founded in the year 2002 by Jill Woodman and Nicholas Woodman. It is a successful bootstrapped startup that has now become a big company that sells high-definition personal cameras.
Nicholas Woodman got the idea of making such cameras that can shoot action photography while he was on a surfing trip to Australia. He funded $10,000 from his own pocket to his business. He did many jobs such as emailing and truck driving and at last, he was successful. In 2004 his company, GoPro sold the first analogue camera of 35mm.
GoPro First Camera
Zerodha
Zerodha Logo
A popular example of a bootstrapped startup in India is Zerodha, Zerodha is an Indian financial services company founded in 2010 by Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath.
Nithin Kamath started trading in stocks at the age of 17. When the market crashed between 2001 and 2002, he lost 5 lakh rupees. He still continued to trade in stocks and later started his own brokerage Kamath & Associates. In 2010 he founded Zerodha.
Now the company has a revenue of 1,093.64 crores INR and is valued at $2 billion. The founder of Zerodha in a series of tweets explained why the company doesn’t raise any funding.
Nithin Kamath Tweet on Why Zerodha does not raise Funding
While starting a business, an amount is needed as an investment. There are some startups who decide to raise amounts from the public as the fund for the company. Here you look out for investors also known as venture capitalists, who are actually interested in your business and they provide you with your required amount of capital in return for your company’s equity.
Pros and Cons of a Funded Startup
There are some advantages and limitations that one faces when they chose to raise funds from the public for their business and they are:
Pros:
Funding from outside provides businesses with lots of opportunities related to finance which in turn becomes a big factor in the fast growth of their business.
The Investors who are funding the business guide the owner of the startup with their experience, if the need arises.
The connections of these investors can be a plus point for the startup and it can help them in earning the trust of the public.
Cons:
When external forces started involved in the business, decisions related to payments, finance, equity by the startup founder become limited.
The founder loses a big amount of the company to the investors and thus holds a very small part of it.
Example of a Funded Startup
Flipkart: Funded by Venture Capital
Flipkart Logo
This online shopping website was founded by Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal in the year 2007. The online E-Commerce company that started its journey by selling books now sells everything. In the year 2018, Flipkart got its first fund from Junglee and Helion Venture’s founder Ashish Gupta. After that, Flipkart received $10 million from Tiger Global Management. Tiger Global Management is an American investment firm.
Flipkart keeps getting bigger and bigger with various investments by the investors It even acquired Myntra in the year 2014 for $270 million dollars. In 2018 Walmart acquired Flipkart and became the fund provider of the business and Walmart now owns almost an 82.3% stake in the Indian E-Commerce giant. It has raised almost $12.6 billion. As per reports, the current value of Flipkart is $37.6 billion as of 2021.
Funding Vs Bootstrapped Startup: Factors That Entrepreneurs Must Consider
In the choice between funding and bootstrapped, one must decide what they want with their business. Here they need to consider some factors that would help them in deciding between funding and bootstrapping. Those factors are:
Objective
The main aim of your business is one of the prime factors that help you in deciding the future of your startup. If you just want a profitable business, bootstrap is the option for you. On the other hand, if you want your business to have maximum revenue growth then, external funding is the answer.
Pace of Growth
When you are the only one who is investing in your business, the growth will be slower in pace. As the resources you have, including the financial ones, are limited in nature. While funded business provides resources like new connections and finances thus the growth is way faster.
Control
In a Bootstrapped startup, you have control over your startup. Whatever the important decision is, your call is the last one. On the other hand, funded startups don’t give you that much freedom, where you can take the final decision for your startup as it involves the investors who are funding your business.
Conclusion
In the end, the decision of choosing between funding and bootstrapping is yours. If you decided to bootstrap your business, in the future you can go for funding as well. Whatever you do, you need to consider the factors while making the decision, because the survival of your business depends on this.
A Startup is the result of an innovative idea getting sculpted, that have the capacity to transform the world. The term Startup has been in limelight over the past decade due to their rapid growth recorded around the world. The global Startup Ecosystem has surpassed $3 trillion which is larger than the GDP of UK. In India, 41,061 Startups have been recognized by government as of December 2020. Such an enormous growth has pushed India to top 3 in the Startup Ecosystem table lead by US and China.
For a Startup to sprout, mere ideas and business knowledge won’t do good. They need funding. This is where the Venture capitalist, Private equity investors and others pop-up. Facebook is one such investor, who selects innovative Startups through their Facebook Accelerator Programme, and offer financial support and guidance to them. They have so far made 38 Investments and 90 acquisitions in diverse Startups and businesses.
In this article, we’ll see 10 of such Startups, that received funding from Facebook out of which, some are showing great potential towards reaching the Unicorn Club.
Factory_OS, a housing development and modular home company, has raised $77.7 million from 6 investors including Facebook and Google. Factory_OS deploys viable and pioneering tech with optimized manufacturing systems to construct multistorey buildings at efficient costs and effort. Keeping up with the growing demand of housing, Factory_OS is focusing on building more affordable homes, and simultaneously developing technology for utmost optimized solutions. Besides off-site construction, Factory_OS has also partnered with Autodesk for ‘Digitizing Volumetric Design’ for efficient delivery, manufacturing, and construction.
Gojek
Facebook startup funding in Gojek
Gojek is an online multi-service provider who deals in digital payments, food delivery, commuting, shopping and many more. They offer almost two dozen services and serves more than 170 million customers around Southeast Asia. Gojek provides all their services from one application and hence it became a Super App. They showed great potential in their growth in Indonesia, where it was originally established in 2010. As a result, Gojek succeeded in procuring a huge sum of $5.3B from big investors like Facebook, PayPal, Visa and 31 others in 12 funding rounds. They have made 13 acquisitions and investments so far in their line of business.
Tech Matters, an innovative and non-profit IT and Services company, has raised $1.7 million in its seed round, and is funded by 4 investors including Working Capital and Facebook. Tech Matters aims to develop AI and data driven cloud-based products for startups and innovative organizations, as well as Machine Learning models to predict outcomes with internal and external datasets. It also designs interactive custom bots to keep their customers and stakeholders engaged, while also answering FAQs. Tech Matters deploys data to create immersive experience and experimental designs, hence solving some complex business problems.
Nilus
Facebook startup funding in Nilus
Nilus, a social enterprise that employs crowdsourcing and AI for creating affordable food markets, has raised $1.5 million from 9 investors including the like of Facebook, Google, and Angel Ventures. Nilus aims to fight the dearth of food to low income people through technology and efficiency, and become the first private firm to come up with a viable solution. Nilus focuses on helping the vulnerable communities with food shortage with professionalism, while also keeping in mind the nutritional quality of the food and an optimized way to prepare and deliver it. The services carried out by Nilus are with utmost transparency and efficiency to conserve resources as well.
Com Olho builds scalable AI solutions for enterprises, and has recently secured a strategic investment by Facebook and Lloyd Mathias in the grant and angel rounds respectively. It is also India’s first company to win the patent for fraud detection advertisement, and works for both, fraud as well as identity theft detection. Com Olho is also working towards helping making high dimensional data more viable among enterprises using machine learning models and uses programmatic attribution manipulation for fraud detection. It also offers various resources including informative blogs for general awareness against frauds and identity thefts.
ArtyOwl
facebook startup funding in ArtyOwl
ArtyOwl is a unique marketplace and an E-commerce store for handmade products, and has raised $100K in the grant round from Facebook in December of 2020. Be it personal care, home decor, food, or even fashion, ArtyOwl offers many different niche of home made products for users and customers to try something more custom and sometimes traditional. ArtyOwl endeavors to revolutionize handcrafted products and trade, so artisans and craftsmen can share their works with the world, and showcase their dexterity. With ArtyOwl, customers also enjoy a simple, convenient and secure shopping experience with an exceptional bouquet of handcrafted items.
Meesho
facebook startup funding in Meesho
Meesho is an e-commerce company rooted in Bengaluru and is growing its branches across India rapidly. Meesho is an online re-selling company has created more entrepreneurs in recent years, out of which 80% turn out to be women homemakers. This was the reason for their success and popularity in our country. In 2016, Meesho was selected for Y Combinator, and it was one among the three Indian companies to achieve this feet. Facebook’s first investment in India was made in Meesho. They raised $1.1B through 10 rounds of funding from 32 investors. In September 2021, Meesho raised a whopping $517M through Series F funding where Facebook and Good Capital were the recent ones to invest.
Unacademy is the second EdTech company in India to enter the Unicorn Club next to BYJU’S. They secured $838 million investment from 42 investors of which Facebook was also a part of, and have made 10 acquisitions in the past 2 years. Unacademy is an online educational platform that deals in diverse areas of learning. They offer online courses, live classes, practice session, tests, etc., for all the competitive and professional exams in India. They have grown to be the most popular online learning platform among Indian learners.
facebook startup funding in FEMCA Financial Services
FEMCA Financial Services was created with a unique objective of helping the investors and traders with investment research reports, containing the ranks of investment advisors based on their win-to-loss ratio. They also provide their expired reports to students and investors for auditing, in order to gain their authenticity. Facebook and Tanmaya Sharma are the two lead investors of FEMCA who had invested $15K in the company for its further development.
Hello Heart
facebook startup funding in Hello Heart
Hello Heart is a cutting-edge clinical-based smartphone solution and healthcare company that fixates on improving hearth health of the masses. It is part of the diversity investment of Facebook, and has raised a total of $23.2 million in funding from 22 investors Arba Ventures and Franklin Trust. Hello heart offers clinically approved smartphone based solutions that help manage hypertension, and fight heart diseases. It can also be integrated with your existing health plan and work with your PCPs and cardiologists while also offering a peer reviewed assistance and unmatched effectiveness for employers, individuals, and health plans.
HelpMum is a social enterprise that works to prevent infant and maternal mortality rate in Nigeria. It was created by Dr Adereni Abiodun, a social entrepreneur and innovator, in 2017. They create awareness among pregnant women on safe and hygienic delivery by issuing affordable birth kits and educate birth attendants through their e-learning platform.
They participated in the race for Facebook’s accelerator programme in 2020, along with 77 participants and got selected as one among the four Startups for an additional funding of $25,000. They’ve so far acquired $410K of funding from seven investors out of which, Google made $270,000 investment in them.
EchoAR
facebook startup funding in EchoAR
EchoAR, also known as Echo3D is a cloud platform, that offers tools and infrastructure facilities to developers and companies to create games, apps and contents in 3D, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR). Their main objective is to provide a readymade platform for creators to develop and publish their own content (3D/AR/VR) without the need for technical knowledge or a developing team. With Facebook’s recent investment on Oct 5, 2021, EchoAR managed to procure $5 million seed capital from 12 investors including Remagine Ventures and Space Capital.
Obviously AI
facebook startup funding in Obviously AI
Obviously AI is a tool that helps its clients to build their own business learning models. Users don’t require any coding knowledge to create their model and the output can be easily integrated to their database. A new technology called “Edge Sharp AutoML” was developed by Obviously AI, which helps the users to build new models within a minute. Using this technology, they claim to have saved 13.8 million hours for their customers. They bagged $3.6M as seed capital from Facebook and other investors and further added $1.1M to their capital recently to expand their operations in eastern countries like Japan.
Utiva
facebook startup funding in Utiva
Utiva is another Nigerian company that became one of the four Startups to win Facebook Community Accelerator Program’s fund of $25K. It is an EdTech company that involves educating technology for people across Africa. They provide online virtual classes on Data analysis, tech skill development, digital marketing and many more with expert trainers.
JobSenz
facebook startup funding in Jobsenz
JobSenz is an online job searching platform which is based in Singapore. They also sell learning materials to students on their platform that are provided by experienced educators and institutes. JobSenz received $40K from FbStart programme to expand its business in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Also, they would receive guidance and mentoring from Facebook’s technical and engineering team as a part of this programme.
Facebook has been in the funding and venture investment niche for about a decade now, and continually seems to invest in innovative startups through its accelerator program. While it has already made 35 venture investments, the most recent being in January of 2021, also acquiring 89 organizations along the way, it has been hiring tech investors to lead an investment fund, suggesting there are yet more startups that Facebook is eyeing to invest in. Hence, it is safe to assume that in the near future, the startup ecosystem is bound to evolve, and be nurtured by tech giants and venture investment firms.
FAQs
Does Facebook invest in startups?
Facebook always looks towards investment opportunities in early-stage startups. They focus on backing potential startups with innovative models for growth not only in India, but globally.
What is the Facebook Accelerator program?
The Facebook accelerator program provides mentorship from Facebook employees, training on Facebook’s approach to products and businesses, and access to a global network of startup peers, successful founders, and industry experts.
What are the startups funded by Facebook accelerator programs?
Some of the top startups that are funded by facebook are:
Damini Bhandary
