The startup ecosystem has grown over the past few years because many venture capital firms are investing in the early stages of upcoming startups. One such homegrown early-stage investing firm is Nexus Venture Partners, which was founded by successful entrepreneurs Suvir Sujan, Sandeep Singhal and Naren Gupta in 2006.
The firm has its main headquarters in Menlo Park, California with head offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai in India. Itis a pioneer of investing in global technology products and technology-led business for India. Nexus focuses on funding startups in the industries such as Enterprise Technology, Consumer Internet, Healthcare, Consumer, Business Services, Media, Software, Big Data Analytics, Data Security, Fintech, DevOps, Open Source, Education, Commerce, Gaming, Cloud, SaaS, Agribusiness, Rural Sector, Energy, Etc.
Nexus is an early partner firm and believes in being the first institutional investment in the seed or the series A rounds. The firm also has long term commitment and work closely with the startups they invest in. Nexus Venture Partners has over $1.5 billion in AUM, after partnering with many entrepreneurs from both America and India.
So far the firm is known to have invested in 294 companies and has over 65 exits. According to Venture Intelligence, Nexus has earned more than $500 million in exits by 2020. Nexus’s core identity has been its success in software deal-making, unlike other Venture Capital firms that only choose to fund successful consumer’s internet unicorns.
The firm also prefers to invest in companies from India or global markets and may also invest in companies located outside India with a focus on American based companies with technologies that are relevant for India and its emerging markets.
Here are some of the startups funded by Nexus Venture Partners
Snapdeal
Snapdeal Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Snapdeal is a well-known e-commerce company in India, which was founded by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in 2010. The company has its headquarters based in New Delhi and has recently grown to become one of the largest online marketplace in the country.
Snapdeal is different from other e-commerce sites because its sellers offer good quality merchandise, customers get to pay value for money which is similar to local markets in metro cities. The website has over 500,000 sellers that sell fashion and home products to customers from 3,700 towns and cities across India.
The company raised over $12 million in its first funding from Nexus Venture Partners and Indo–US Partners in 2011. Three years later, Snapdeal raised $133 million from eBay, Kalaari Capital, Nexus Capital Partners, Bessemers Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Saama Capital in 2014. The last investment made by Nexus Venture Partner to Snapdeal was in 2017 where the company raised funds Rs 113 crore from the firm.
ShopClues
Shopclues Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
ShopClues is one of the top online marketplaces in India, that was founded in 2011 by Sanjay Sethi, Sandeep Aggarwal and Radhika Aggarwal. The company has its headquarters in Gurgaon and its parent company is Clues Network Pvt Ltd. ShopClues was said to be valued at $1.1 billion in 2015 as it was backed by top investors like Tiger Global, Helion Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners, among others.
In 2019, Qoo10 a Singapore based company acquired Shopclues for 470 million.Shopclues is the country’s first online Managed Marketplace that connects buyers & sellers online while offering a trusted and safe online shopping environment to customers in over 9000 cities across India.
The company secured over $10 million in their Series B round of funding from Helion Venture Partners, Nexus Partners and Netprice.com in 2013. According to the company, the funds were used to scale their business, increase the website’s product catalogue and expand their reach to their target audience.
Delhivery is the leading supply chain services chain company in India that was founded by Sahil Barua in 2011 and has its headquarters in Gurgaon. The aim of the company is to become the operating system for commerce in India, with the help of advanced infrastructure, logistics operations and cutting-edge technology.
Delhivery so far claims to have delivered over 500 million shipments, in 230 cities across the country. The company aims to provide products and services in order to help improve the lives of consumers, small businesses, enterprises.
They provide services such as transportation, warehousing, freight, reverse logistics, cross-border and technology services and has over 500,000 sellers and over 10,000 customers. The company raised over $5 million in its series B funding from Nexus Venture Partners in 2013. These funds were said to have been used to further expand its customer base.
Unacademy
Unacademy Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Unacademy is one of the top EdTech companies in India that was founded in 2015 by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, and Hemesh Singh. The company has its headquarters based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and started out as a YouTube channel from 2010 to 2015.
Currently, Unacademy claims to have over 18,000 educators that offer free and subscription-based live classes along with preparation materials for professional and educational entrance exams.
As of 2020, the EdTech startup was valued at $2 billion. Unacademy raised over $4.5 million in their Series A funding from Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures, Girish Mathrubootham, (the CEO of Freshdesk), and Ananth Narayanan (the CEO of Myntra) in 2017.
The company used these funds to strengthen its base of educators from 200 to 2000. Unacademy again secured over $50 million in their Series D funding round from existing Venture capital firms like Steadview Capital, Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures.
Olx short for Online Exchange is a popular Dutch online marketplace that was founded in 2006. The company is owned by Naspers (South African media group), has its headquarters in Amsterdam and operates in over 45 countries.
Olx allows its users to buy and sell from a wide range of products and services such as electronics, fashion items, furniture, household goods, and vehicles like cars & bikes. In India, Olx has launched special services like Olx Autos (in 2020) and Olx Cashmycar (2018).
Olx is not only popular in India, but also has a strong foothold in countries like Spain, Portugal, Mexico, South America, China, and the Philippines. Olx secured over $5 million in its initial stages of funding from Nexus Venture Capital in 2009.
Zolostays
Zolostays Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Zolostays is a Bengaluru based company that provides services for co-living and accommodation options especially to students and young professionals. The company was founded by Snehas Choudary, Dr Nikhil Sikri and Akhil Sikri in 2015 and is available in more than 10 cities across India.
Zolostays provides many budget-friendly unique services like good quality food, carefully curated living space, dedicated support team, free maintenance and zo-tribe events. Currently, the company claims to accommodate 40,000 Zolo properties and is aiming at reaching 200,000 beds by December 2022.
Zolostays has raised $56 million in its Series C funding from Investcorp, Nexus Venture Partners, Mirae Assets and Trifecta Capital in 2020. It had also earlier raised $40 million from Nexus Venture Partners, Olympia Developers, Patni Computers Family Office and Mirae Asset. The company will be using these funds to strengthen its technology and AI-driven operating platforms.
Pratilipi is a self-publishing e-platform that offers content in ten different Indian languages which are Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, English, Urdu, Punjabi and Odia. Pratilipi was founded by Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Prashant Gupta, Rahul Ranjan, Sahradayi Modi and Sankaranarayanan Devarajan in order to promote Indian languages.
The company was launched in 2014 with its headquarters based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The platform currently claims to have over 2 crore users and allows its users to publish or read their original works such as stories, poetry, essays and articles. Pratilipi secured over $1 million seed funding from Nexus Venture Partners in 2016.
In 2020, the platform went on to raise Rs 76 crore in their Series C funding round led by Tencent with participation from Omidyar Network, Bennett Coleman, Shunwei Capital and Nexus Venture Partners.
Rapido
Rapido Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Rapido is a well-known online bike taxi and logistics service providing a platform in India that was founded by Aravind Sanka, Pavan Guntupalli, and SR Rishikesh in 2015. The company has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka and currently operates in over 100 cities across India.
In 2018, the company had over 15,000 registered riders and more than an average of 30,000 rides per day. By 2019, Rapido has 1 crore registered users and had also created over 500,000 jobs in India. Rapido has over 15 million customers and 25 million app downloads, as of 2021. Recently, the company has also launched on-demand auto-rickshaw hailing services in 14 cities across the country.
Rapido raised over $11.2 million in its Series A round of funding from Nexus Venture Partners in 2019. In its Series C round of funding, Rapido raised $43 million from Westbridge Capital, Nexus Venture Partner, Pawan Munjal Family Trust, Everblue Bangladesh LLC, Motherson Lease Solutions, Everblue Bangladesh LLC, Motherson Lease Solutions, Konark Trust, MMPL Trust in 2021.
Yolobus is an intercity bus aggregator that has its headquarters in Gurgaon, Haryana and was founded in 2019. The company provides its users with world-class bus facilities that cover over 250 routes across India.
All their busses have facilities Wi-Fi, CCTV Cameras, and GPS tracking, their customers can also choose from options such as a fleet of sleeper, luxurious sleeper buses, and AC/Non AC buses, built-in washrooms, etc.
In 2020, Yolobus raised $3.3 million in their Series A funding round from Nexus Venture Partners and India Quotient. The company will use these funds to ramp up their services, technology, customer, crew safety and sanitization. It will also enhance safety measures as in the times of Covid 19, people are wary of travelling intercity.
Druva
Druva Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Druva is a cloud backup and data protection based firm that has its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California with offices in Greenwich, New York, Hong Kong, London, San Francisco and Mumbai. The company was started in 2008 by Jaspreet Singh, Milind Borate, and Ramani Kothandaraman in Pune, India.
Druva is a leader in providing services like SaaS-based data protection and management products to both companies and government agencies. The company aggregates the data of the enterprise data from endpoints, data centers, and cloud workloads for backing it up or restoring, compliance monitoring, security, and other uses, etc.
So far the company has over 750 customers and is known to protect over 300,000 endpoints worldwide. Druva secured $130 million from Sequoia Capital India and Nexus Venture Partners in 2019. Druva is a pioneer as it has created an industry-first application known as InSync that instantaneous automates backups for laptops.
Postman
Postman Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Postman is a popular collaboration platform for API Development that was founded by Abhinav Astana, Ankit Sobti and Abhijit Kane in 2014. The company has its headquarters based in San Francisco, California and claims to be used by over 13 million developers and 500,000 organizations worldwide.
The platform helps in simplifying every aspect of building an API and streamline collaboration so the users can create better APIs. Postman raised $150 million in their Series C round of funding from Global venture capital, Insight Partners, CRV and Nexus Venture Partners in 2018.
The company had also been funded by the Nexus Venture Partner in two other rounds first was $1 million in 2015 and $7 million (Series A round funding) in 2016.
Nexus Venture Partners is one of the leading early-stage investment firms that has helped many Indian startups to grow into unicorns today. The firm has been the most successful in funding software companies, rather than consumer internet unicorns that other venture capital firms prefer investing in.
Over the years, Nexus Venture Partners has earned nearly $500 million exits. Despite being termed as a software investor, the firm is currently investing in a wide variety of industries.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Nexus Venture Partners?
Nexus Venture Partners is one of the first homegrown Venture capital firms and is a pioneer of investing in global technology products and technology-led business for India.
Who is the founder of Nexus Venture Partners?
Nexus Venture Partners was founded by Suvir Sujan, Sandeep Singhal and Naren Gupta in 2006.
What are the industries in which Nexus Venture Partners fund?
The industries in which Nexus Venture Partners fund are Enterprise Technology, Consumer Internet, Healthcare, Consumer, Business Services, Media, Software, Big Data Analytics, Data Security, Fintech, DevOps, Open Source, Education, Commerce, Gaming, Cloud, Saas, Agribusiness, Rural Sector, Energy, etc.
What are startups funded by Nexus Venture Partner?
The startups funded by Nexus Venture partners are Postman, Druva, Yolobus, Rapido, Pratilipi, Zolostays, Unacademy, Olx, Delhivery, Shopclues, and Snapdeal among others.
Hyderabad, being the major city of the technology industry and termed as the “City of Pearls”, embraces many budding as well as successful entrepreneurs. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur who is looking for startup investors in Hyderabad, here we have attempted to list down Top Angel Investors in Hyderabad with their Contact, who you can reach out to. Further, get an insight into the Major investments made by them in specific areas.
Before moving ahead to find out Angel Investors contact list, let’s get an insight on How Angel Funding Benefits Startups.
The list of Angel Investors with contact details is as follows:
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Markets Interested: Healthtech, AI, E-commerce, edtech, Technology, Enterprise Software Investments: Medplus, CustomFurnish, SkillPro, Alphabeta, and more.
Srini Koppolu, the Founder and CEO of NewsPlus (Personalized news platform) is a well-known Investor in Hyderabad. He has also served as First President of Hyderabad Angels and made more than 10 angel investments.
During his journey of work in Microsoft as a software engineer, he gained a greater insight into developing innovative products, R&D initiatives, and building a large-scale organization from scratch. He holds more than 20 global patents. After working at Microsoft for 21 long years, he moved out to set up Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC), he transitioned this from a start-up to the largest product development Centre outside of US.
Markets Interested: Finance, Technology, Ecommerce Investments: App Virality, Smytten, Alphabeta, and more.
Rimpal Chawla
Rimpal Chawla, Founder and CEO of Anitya Ventures (a boutique investment and business advisory firm), is an active angel investor in Hyderabad for startups. He is the co-founder of Vasisth Relative Value Fund i.e. a SEBI Registered alternative investment fund. He is also the promoter and co-founder of Ninebark Advisors, which is a SEBI Registered investment advisory firm.
He has worked with Global Finance Giants like Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, and Citibank, thereby gaining massive experience in investments. Currently, he is the Charter Member of TIE, a member of the Mentor Club at Indian School of Business, Hyderabad for their innovation and Entrepreneurship Program. He also coaches senior corporate executives on strategic business concerns and a Company Valuation course at IIT, Hyderabad.
Markets Interested:Healthcare, Technological, Education, Consumer, and Fintech Investments: Flatpebble, Aarav, Unmanned Systems, DoctorC and more.
Sanjay Jesrani, the Founder and CEO of Go Ventures (Hyderabad-based Investment firm) is an active member of the Indian Angel Network. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and a Fellow Member of ICAI. He was a core member of India and South Asia Hitachi group company CEO Network, and thus being intrinsically involved in the company’s growth strategies. He brings around 20 years of experience from his role as CFO at Sierra Atlantic. Before his joining Sierra Atlantic, he managed his family-owned venture and led his CA Practice.
Markets Interested: Ecommerce, Marketplace, Technology, Consumer Internet Investments: 20Dresses, IndieFolio, and more.
Srinivasa Rao Aluri, the Chairman of Qunu Labs Pvt Ltd is a prominent investor in the Indian Startup ecosystem. He is an alum of the prestigious Yale University and has also served as an MD at Morgan Stanley. The knowledge and expertise that he retains are immense.
Markets Interested: Finance, Marketing, Technology, Big Data, AI Investments: GeneSys Biologics, Crayon Data, Dexter, and CafeX
Vijay Amritraj, the Founder, and CEO of Voila F9 Gourmet (Food & Beverage Company) is an entrepreneur and has experience of over 20 years in the domain of marketing and finance. He pursued his Degree in Commerce from Nizam College and later an MBA from the SIBM, Pune. He was a founding team member at the Global Insurance giants and helped them to launch their India operations. He also experienced leadership roles at Max New York Life Insurance and AEGON Life insurance.
Markets Interested: IT, Agritech, Cloud-based, AI, Consumer Internet Investments: Hotelogix, Exotel, eFarm, and more.
Puru Modani, chairman of the Telangana Fencing Association AdHoc Committee, is an active angel investor in the Indian startups’ ecosystem. He has been an alum of IIM-Kozhikode. He is a well-experienced investor, in the venture capital and private equity industry.
Modani served around a one-year term as a board member at FIIRE (Forum for innovation incubation Research & Entrepreneurship). He has also been a Chief Strategist at Houston Technology Center. Overall, he is skilled in Global Delivery, IT Strategy, Management, Business Relationship Management and Risk Management.
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Markets Interested: Technology, Digital, Food Investments: Invilogic, Silly Monks, Ittisa, Dogsee Chew, and more.
Sreenivasa, the Chairman and MD of Ektha (a technology solutions provider company) is a prominent investor and mentor for startups. He is an alum of BITS Pilani, and by the virtue of his vast experiences, he helps startups in their journey of growth and development.
Markets Interested: Biometrics, Technology, IT, Gaming Investments: SETU Software Systems, InCights, Fortuity Infotech, and more.
He is the founder and Ex-COO of T-Hub, Hyderabad. He is an active and keen angel investor, thereby helping various Indian Startups via funding and mentorship. He has gained over 25 years of experience in product strategy, product management and business development, but according to him, His true passion lies in helping startups scale and to build thriving communities around entrepreneurship. He entails a deeper insight into the global and Indian startup ecosystem.
Markets Interested: Manufacturing, Infrastructure, and FMCG Investments: Cookifie, Flatpebble, Tattva, Wow! Momo, and more.
Abhinav is the owner of GAR Corporation Pvt Ltd, a leading commercial real estate asset creation company. He is an active member of the Indian Angel Network and also the Hyderabad Angels Venture. He is the partner at StartupXseed Ventures, thereby has immense experience in the field of investments and finance.
He completed his Bachelor of Science, Finance, Marketing from Weatherhead School of Management, and OPM from Harvard Business School.
Markets Interested: Edtech, Technology, IT Investments: EngineersHub, BikeShed and more.
Vineel Reddy Pindi, the Founder, and CEO of Collab House (a co-working space provider) has a keen interest in the field of angel investing. He was a core member of TEDxHyderabad.
Markets Interested: Technology and Retail Investments: MARUT Drones, Varaha Studio, and more.
Kiran Darisi is the Co-Founder & VP of Engineering at Freshworks. Prior to Freshworks he worked in Zoho Corporation and Accenture Technology Solutions. He has keen interest in investments. He is an angel investor in multiple startups and also guides entrepreneurs as technical mentor. He is also part of multiple Venture Capital funds.
This was our list of Angel Investors in Hyderabad. If you are an investor, connect with us at shubham@startuptalky.com to get featured in the list.
An angel investor (also knownas a private investor, seed investor or angel funder) is a high net worth individual who provides financial backing for small startups or entrepreneurs, typically in exchange for ownership equity in the company.
How to get Investors in India?
Get Investors 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 intro.
Tell them why they should invest in your startup.
How much do angel investors invest in India?
The range can be anywhere from Rs. 5 lacs to 2 Crores depending upon the financial risk capacity of the individual.
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Diagnostics tests are done to find if a person has a certain disease. An accurate diagnostic test is important to avoid trial and error in treatment. 3Hcare, a Delhi-based healthcare startup is here to ensure that your diagnostics are done safely and conveniently. It provides different health packages, 3Hcare ThyrocareAarogyam being the most popular one. Read this article to know more about a healthcare startup in India, 3Hcare and its success story.
3Hcare is a Delhi-based startup operating in the healthcare sector. 3Hcare is an online marketplace for healthcare services. It provides detailed information on healthcare services provided by PAN India. A user can simply log on to 3Hcare’s website and find nearby diagnostics and hospitals as per their requirements.
Our mission is to assist in getting quality health services and facilities for the community, to promote wellness, to relieve suffering and to restore health as swiftly, safely and humanely as it can be done, consistent with the best service we can give at the highest value for all concerned. – Ruchi Gupta (Founder of 3Hcare)
According to the Indian Diagnostic Services Market Outlook 2020, the diagnostic services market will be growing at 27.5% for the next 5 years. The market has reached INR 860 Billion in revenues by the end of 2020. Some of the major causes for this fast-growth are increasing health consciousness, an increase in the number of people having insurance cover, improving healthcare services, etc. Covid-19 is also one of the major reasons for the borne of the healthcare industry. The Novel Coronavirus has not only hit the nations mentally but also economically, especially the healthcare industry.
The healthcare market is expected to reach $372 billion by 2022.
CA (Dr.) Ruchi Gupta, Dr. Ravinder Pal Singh Malhotra and Dr. Gurdeep Singh Ratra are the founders of 3Hcare.
3Hcare’s Founders
Ruchi Gupta is a doctorate in Risk Management and a fellow member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. She pursued her MBA from GGSIP University and Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from SRCC, University of Delhi. She is a prolific educationist, qualified UGC NET-JRF having a decade-long experience in mentoring management students for the corporate world in the field of applied Finance & Business Management. She also has extensive experience in reviewing and writing subject-specific books in finance & management. Her numerous papers have been published & presented in renowned journals and conferences. She is a member of the panel of authors in the Central Board Of Secondary Education (CBSE).
Exclusive Interview of 3Hcare’s Founder Dr. Ruchi Gupta
Dr. Ravinder Pal Singh Malhotra is an MBBS, MS (General Surgery, MAMC, Delhi) and M.Ch. (GI & HPB Surgery and Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery, GB Pant Hospital, Delhi). He did his fellowship in Liver & Multi Visceral Transplant at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi. He worked as an online CME Observer at John Hopkins Hospital, USA and Chairperson in Harvard Accredited CME’s for GI Surgery. He has around 13 years of experience in Liver Transplant, HPB & GI surgery in India with exceptional donor and recipient surgery safety records. Ravinder has been a part of more than 700 live-donor-related liver transplants, 500 pancreatic surgeries, 2000 liver surgeries, 500 gall bladder cancer resections and has vast experience in other GI surgeries.
Dr. Gurdeep Singh Ratra is an MBBS, M.S. (Orthopaedics) and M.Ch. (Orthopaedics). He did his fellowship in Joint Replacement (Endoklinik, Germany) and Joint Replacement and Sports Medicine (AKH Hospital, Vienna, Austria). Dr. Gurdeep has clinical experience of more than 13 years in the field of Orthopaedics. He has a special interest in joint replacement and deformity correction. He is passionate about the Ilizarov technique and limb-lengthening procedures.
The other core members of the team are–
Mr. Ankush Mehra, who is the director of 3Hcare. Ankush is a Post Graduate in Commerce and MBA. Ankush is a prolific supply chain specialist and a startup man with 22 years of experience, known for creating and managing highly responsive yet cost-effective and efficient solutions. He worked with corporates like Honda Siel Cars India Pvt. Ltd., Samsung Electronics India Information & Telecommunications Ltd., Metro Cash & Carry, Reliance Hypermarkets & LimeRoad.
Mr. Sumit Gupta is an IT manager at 3Hcare. He did his MCA from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. He is an expert at C#.net and VB.net languages, with extensive experience in working on databases like SQL SERVER, MYSQL, ORACLE. His functional domain encompasses operating systems like Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2012. He is proficient in scripting using HTML, ASP.net, Javascript, and Jquery. He has over 8 years of experience with a number of projects for Indian as well as international clients.
The founders decided to divide the team into three departments – one to focus on the medical field, one on the marketing and the other in the technicaldomain. Initially, the startup was functional with only 10 members including founders. But with the growing response from the public, the team had managed to expand over 50 members within less than 6 months.
Ruchi had never planned to become an entrepreneur. She pursued her MBA along with CA and is also a Ph.D. scholar. Inherited the interest in teaching from her parents, she also wanted to become a lecturer. In pursuit of her dreams, she became a mentor to management students and worked as a lecturer in a college in Delhi for many years.
She noticed many complications that the common public faces while getting a diagnosis in hospitals and other test centers, one incident that especially left her wanting to make a difference was the difficulty faced by a relative in finding a good hospital and diagnostic services during the time of emergency.
Ruchi’s relative was suffering from dengue and needed immediate admission, wherein the hospitals denied admitting him due to overcrowded. She was not in a position to wander around to different hospitals in search of bed availability. But giving reference to a known doctor, the patient was immediately admitted. The problems did not end, soon the admin staff asked her to get the patient tested for platelets, due to lack of facilities during that time. This was another challenge for her to track and locate a diagnostic lab that can provide the test results immediately for further treatment. In the end, only her reference helped the patient with regular tests and treatment. This incident came as a wake-up call for Ruchi and the idea of starting 3Hcare was formed.
However, to practically execute the idea, she still had many hurdles to cross. She wanted to create an online portal by tying up with various labs to make all the tests available to the patients with ease and transparency. To develop a team, she actually shared the idea with more than 300 people and at last, found 4 reliable sources who were convinced with her idea – Dr. Gurdeep Singh Ratra, Mr. Ankush Mehra, Mr. Sumit Gupta and Dr. Ravinder Pal Singh. And finally, with the initiative of the co-founders, 3Hcare was started in September 2016.
3Hcare – Name and Logo
The 3H stands for – Help, Health, and Happiness.
Our aim is to help the common masses to bridge the gap between healthcare services and patients .
3Hcare Logo
3Hcare – What is 3Hcare?
3Hcare is an online marketplace for health services. They provide several featured tests and packages. 3Hcare Thyrocare Aarogyam provides Aarogyam profile packages and preventive health checkup packages. The services currently provided by the company are –
Diagnostics – With over 1500 labs and 350 test centers (NABL accredited) to choose from over 50+ locations throughout India, this vertical provides ease for every patient to search, compare & book online lab tests with the value addition at discounted rates.
Plan My Surgery – One of the essential innovations rendered by the online portal includes Plan My Surgery vertical. An innovation by which the patient can plan their surgeries with the best surgeons at the viable cost & schedule. Moreover, a price comparison is available and the patient is also able to seek time availability and appointment with the best in class doctors and hospitals.
Option to choose among the best labs in the patients’ preferred locations.
Price transparency.
Attractive discounts and offers on services.
Under Plan My Surgery, 3Hcare makes all information available such as expenses required for surgery, doctors available and the accreditation of the hospital. All this information is available online, which makes it easier for patients to make informed decisions.
3Hcare – Revenue Model
3Hcare’s revenue model is simple. As its services are free for the patients, it charges only support fees from centers and hospitals.
3Hcare – Funding and Investors
3Hcare has raised a total of $1.1 Million in 2 rounds of funding. Its funding details are as follows:
Funding Date
Funding Stage
Funding Amount
Investors
September 2017
Angel round
$100K
Angel Investors
August 2018
Venture round
$1 Million
–
3Hcare received an angel fundingof $100K, just within 11 months of its inception. The funds were used to develop the IT infrastructure and enhance the other verticals. Recently 3Hcare also raised a second round of funding of $1 million.
3Hcare – User Acquisition
For 3Hcare, the main focus was to provide the best of services to the public. Word of mouth publicity is something that the healthcare startup focused on acquiring new users. Price transparency and discounted prices/offers have also attracted new customers.
Further, to add to the CSR activities, and spread awareness about the importance of timely diagnosis, the team organizes regular free health checkup camps at various locations like rural areas, slums and villages across India.
The main focus was to deliver the best services to the public. If the services are provided with the best class quality, the word of mouth power by the patients/persons seeking the services are the best reference publicity.
3Hcare – Startup Challenges
In the initial months when the website was under construction, it was a huge challenge for the 3Hcare team to convince tying up with diagnostic centers. Still, they managed to bring around 180 centers. Today the portal is ready with over 1000 test centers (PAN India) to choose from with further verticals yet to be added.
According to Ruchi, apart from developing a reliable team, the other major challenge was to self-check for quality labs before getting associated with them. The task was tedious to completely check each and every lab initially for quality, report accuracy and accreditation.
While the further expansion of 3Hcare’s other vertical – Plan My Surgery, rendering comparative quotes, providing real-time data of bed and doctors availability was initially a challenge.
With the progression of data management in our cloud, synchronization helped to overcome the herculean task. Our main aim was to develop the IT infrastructure and strengthen it with the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
3Hcare has established itself as a trusted name among its niche customer base. In terms of patients, booking tests through 3hcare.in have increased 10 folds in the past 2-3 months, and the same is the case with revenue.
3Hcare currently has 400+ diagnostic partners and 40+ hospital partners.
The company’s future plans are-
Launch Diagnostic Centre vertical of 3Hcare with the initiation of website functional throughout the world (with an aim to boost medical tourism in the upcoming years).
Launch all verticals along with Mobile applications on a PAN India basis.
International Tie-ups for the second opinion.
Opening of Branches and regional offices.
Covering PAN India and start of Medical Tourism Services.
Adding new Healthcare and wellness verticals like Yoga, Homeopathy, Ayurvedic and fitness centers.
Starting “Manage My Health” vertical.
To open offline labs throughout the tier 3 and tier 4 cities in India to encourage patients to get timely tests.
Become the Leading Marketplace in India’s Healthcare sector by 2022.
Our team has already commenced the opening of offline labs by the name of ‘3Hcare Labs’ in the rural areas. Presently, we have targeted to cover the western UP and Eastern Haryana belt where most backward villages are still devoid of diagnostic centers (that has only sample collection centers, report generation takes 2-3 days there).
3Hcare – FAQs
Does 3Hcare provide Healthcare services?
No, 3Hcare provides details about healthcare services available pan India along with the specialization they have. Users need to register and choose as per their needs.
How much is the registration fee to use 3Hcare?
3Hcare registration fee is free. After registration, customers can avail themselves of the benefits provided by 3Hcare.
How is 3Hcare review?
3Hcare has average to good ratings. It is quite safe to trust and use 3Hcare.
Who is the 3Hcare founder?
CA (Dr.) Ruchi Gupta, Dr. Ravinder Pal Singh Malhotra & Dr. Gurdeep Singh Ratra are the three founders of 3Hcare.
How much is 3Hcare funding?
3Hcare has around $1.1 Million of funding.
Who are the competitors of 3Hcare?
DocPrime, Zoylo, Renew Health and Spreemo are the top competitors of 3Hcare.
Kunal Shah is an Indian entrepreneur who has tried his luck and become successful in the industry through his hard work. He has successfully shattered the myth that only people with technical or management background can have a fortune in the business field.
Being a philosophy student and then an MBA dropout, he proved that if you have the vision and determination to work for your dreams nothing will stop you. He is the co-founder of Freecharge which was launched in 2010 along with his friend Sandeep Tandon.
His vision and prediction of the booming market of online recharging did not go wrong. After its successful run, it was acquired by Snapdeal for around $400 million. He later founded the members only credit card payment app, CRED in 2018.
Apart from that Kunal Shah is also an active angel investor who has helped significantly in the growth of startups like Spinny, Unacademy etc. He did not forget his experiences after he became successful. He yearns towards creating an ecosystem where entrepreneurship will thrive in India. He strongly believes that his will to see more entrepreneurs from India is what pushes him forward. Here are a few startups in which Kunal Shah has invested.
Plum is an employee based health insurance startup that was founded in 2019 by Abhishek Poddar and Saurabh Arora. Over the years, it has completely altered the notion of employee health insurance stack by introducing innovative fraud detection algorithms. Its real-time designs and pricing makes it extremely easy for the users to navigate through their website.
Plum aims to build better and deeper API integration along with insurers like care health, ICICI Lombard, new India assurance etc. In 2021, Kunal Shah along with a few others had invested around $20 million in the firm.
Plum aims to use these funds to augment its business development, engineering and operations teams. It also envisages building new products that are suitable for small businesses that have smaller teams.
Qoohoo
Qoohoo is a mobile app which allows creators to launch their private community that focuses on monetisation. It was founded by Vimal Singh and Aseem Gupta. Kunal Shah along with a few other angel investors invested close to $8 million in this creator-based social platform.
This Bangalore-based company will utilise the fund to further build on their engineering and product teams. As of now they have seven members and they aim to expand their team up to 10 to 12 in the next one year. The investment was announced in March 2021.
Mensa Brands
Mensa Website
Mensa Brands is a startup founded by ex-Myntra and Medlife co-founder Ananth Narayanan. They aim to build global digital brands from India by collaborating with different entrepreneurs, by making investments into their business and by providing the company’s expertise to scale the brand.
In May 2021, Kunal Shah along with other investors like Falcon Edge Capital, Northwest Venture Partners, Mukesh Bansal etc invested over $50 million in Mensa Brands during a series A funding. The startup plans to make use of the funds to improve their marketing strategies and working capital so as to work with more brands.
Unacademy
Unacademy is an online education platform that was founded in 2010. Since then the startup had been thriving, revolutionising the entire notion of online education in India. In 2015 Kunal Shah along with other angel investors like Sachin Bansal, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Binny Bansal, invested a total of $1 million in the startup. The funding was led by Blume Ventures.
Onsurity
Onsurity Website
It was launched in 2020 with just 700 SMEs with them as healthcare partners. Initially they only had around 70,000 users. The company’s aim to democratise healthcare for all including small businesses was a very innovative idea which led to their expansion in a very short span of time.
The firm became the first digital platform in India that provides monthly employee benefit subscriptions to the users. In April 2021, this Nexus Venture Partners backed healthcare startup Onsurity received an undisclosed amount of funding from a group of investors.
Kunal Shah was a customer who turned into an active investor as far as the startup was concerned. The startup was also supported by other investors like Jitendra Gupta and Amit Lakhotia. The firm aims to develop their tech stack and enhance customer experience by utilising the funds received.
FamPay
Fampay Website
FamPay is a Bangalore-based startup that aims at raising a financially aware generation of Indians. It was founded by Kush Taneja and Sambhav Jain. In June 2021 many investors especially Kunal Shah, Vladimir Tenev, Kevin Lin , Global Founders Capital invested a whopping $38 million in series A funding that was led by Elevation Capital.
The firm plans to use the fund to build their leadership team and fuel future growth that accommodates more users through marketing and launching many more attractive features on their platform.
Considering the fact that more and more teenagers below the age of 18 are going to use smartphones, FamPay is gearing up to make use of this opportunity to create an early relationship with the future citizens. This is to ensure that the firm will become their go to brand when it comes to payments with smart cards without actually having a bank account.
Spinny
Spinny website
This startup was founded in 2015 by Niraj Singh. Currently it sells refurbished used cars. They sell around 1500 cars every month and their business is growing at a rate of 15% month on month. In June 2017 this startup received $1 million through series C funding. And as usual Kunal Shah was an active angel investor in this fundraiser.
Spinny aims to improve customer experience and expand business by strengthening technology and product utility through the fund received. Currently Spinny operates in more than nine city’s and already has plans to expand to more cities by the end of 2021. However, Kunal Shah had announced earlier in June 2019 that he had fully exited Spinny.
Carl Pei’s New Venture
In December 2020, the OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei had announced that he will be going to start a new venture. However he did not share much details about the same. The angel investor Kunal Shah had his contribution in his new venture as well. They received seed funding of more than $7 million from people including Kunal Shah.
Other private investors including Kevin Lin, Steve Huffman, Paddy Cosgrave, Josh Buckley etc were part of it. All that we know about Carl Pei’s company is that it is related to consumer electronics.
Other Startups in which Kunal Shah has invested
Zepo
Bharat Bazar
Innov8
Betterhalf
Blissclub
Goalteller
Antwak
Razorpay
DailyNinja
Pocket Aces
Voonik
FAQ
What is the qualification of Kunal Shah?
Kunal Shah graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Wilson College, Mumbai and briefly pursued an MBA from SVKM’s NMIMS before dropping out.
What is the net worth of Kunal Shah?
The net worth of Kunal Shah is $800 million as of 2021.
Who is Kunal Shah?
Kunal Shah is an Indian entrepreneur and venture capitalist, he is also the founder of FreeCharge and Cred.
Usually investment firms only fund a startup when they see potential to grow their money. However philanthropic investment firms fund in startups that help achieve their philanthropic endeavors like solving a country’s problems or empowering the civil society.
One such philanthropic investment firm and a non-profit organization is Omidyar Network India, which was established in 2004 by the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pamela Kerr. Omidyar Network India is part of the US based Omidyar Group which is a diverse collection of companies, organizations and initiatives that are dedicated in creating opportunity for people to improve their lives.
Omidyar Network India has its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra with over a 50 employees in the country. Omidyar Network invests in innovative organization and bold entrepreneurs that will eventually catalyze economic, social or political change. As of 2017, the firm had invested in more than 60 companies within a decade, and raised more $350 million by 2020.
So far the organization has committed over $992 million to profit, nonprofit and public companies that aim in fostering economic advancement and that are trying to solve the problems of India’s hardest and most difficult problems and challenges.
Omidyar Network India makes equity investments upcoming companies and provide grants to non-profit organizations in the areas of Digital Identity, Education, Emerging Tech, Financial Inclusion, Governance and Citizen Engagement, and Property Rights. The organization invests in 3 levels which are :
Supporting new and upcoming market innovators,
Help in building institutional & market infrastructure and
Working with the Indian Government to promote inclusion, entrepreneurship, competition, and ensure necessary safeguards and protections.
Here are some of the startups funded by Omidyar Network India
Quikr
Quikr is the India’s top online classifies platform that helps people of a particular city meet, trade, buy and sell household goods, cars, bikes, local services and even find jobs, among other services. Quikr was founded in 2008 by Pranay Chulet and has its headquarters based in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The company is currently has its footprint in 1000 different cities around the world. Quikr aims on empowering people to independently connect with different buyers and sellers. The company has so far raised over $350 million in 7 rounds in order to fulfill its dream of disrupting the ecommerce market in country and empower people.
In 2009, the company raised over Rs 200 million in their second round of funding which was led by Omidyar Network and Matrix Partners India. Quikr has a long list of investors like Tiger global, Kinnevik, Matrix Partners, Omidyar Network, Norwest Venture, Nokia growth Partners, Warburg Pincus and eBay, etc.
HealthKart
HealthKart is known to be India’s largest online nutrition and fitness platform that offers products, services and even expert advice or assistance to fitness enthusiasts. The company also has leading subsidiaries like MuscleBlaze for (sports and fitness) and Healthkart for (health).
HealthKart sells everything from protein supplements to vitamin smoothies at affordable prices. The company has it’s headquarters in Gurgaon and sells more than 200 brand products and authorized vendors that is listed on their website. It is known for nutrition products that are sold especially to elderly people, personal care, chronic care, eye and skin care.
The startup raised over Rs 27 crore in their second round of funding from their existing investor Sequoia Capital and Omidyar Network India. With this the company expanded its product portfolio and is also developing an online magazine about health and fitness.
Dailyhunt is one of the top news and local language content app in India. Currently, the company has over 150 plus million app installations with more than 100,000 news articles that are available in 14 different languages.
The company was founded in 2007 by Virendra Gupta and its parent company is Verse Innovation. Dailyhunt claims to have 150 million monthly users and 27 million daily users. It also has 650 publication partners, while their content is created by machine learning algorithm that delivers real time personalized content.
The company raised over Rs 24.61 crore in series E2 funding from Omidyar Network India, Sequoia Capital and the Renu Sehgal Trust. Omidyar also funds other news aggregators like Pratilipi and Helofy. The competitors of Dailyhunt are NewsDog which is backed by Tencent and Helo backed by Toutiao.
1mg
1mg Website
1mg is one of the top online pharmacy and integrated health application in India and is known for its wide range of medicines, health products, online consultation, booking lab tests and providing information on doctors, clinics, diagnostic centres, pharmacies, etc.
The company promotes transparency around medicine information and is the one stop shop for medical search and transaction experience. During the pandemic, the platform has become popular as it delivers medicines and health products at the safety of the homes in more than 1000 cities across India from Licensed pharmacies.
In 2016, 1mg raised over $15 million in their series B funding round from Maverick Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Omidyar Network India. The company at that time said that it was going to use the funds to expand their online pharmacy and diagnostics and also launch personalized health feeds for their consumers.
Scripbox is an online mutual funds platform, which was founded by Sanjiv Singhal in 2012. The company has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka and uses proprietary algorithms to curate a portfolio out of 8000 other mutual funds in country, they are then divided into equity, debt and tax savings.
The company aims to educate young working professionals to save and grow their wealth and also encouraging people to explore inflation beating instruments rather than the usual inflation par instruments like fixed deposits and gold. As according to E R Ashok Kumar, the CEO of Scripbox, equities will give people over 15% returns than compared to the traditional forms of investing.
The company raised an undisclosed amount in their series B round investment from Omidyar Network India and Accel partners. The company joins Omidyars’s other investment made in the sector of personal savings such as Juntos from US and Tandem from UK. Scripbox was planning to expand to 1000 cities by 2020 with its funds.
Transerve
Transerve is a platform that offers geospatial tech based SAAS solutions. The platform allows solutions for sustainable growth and urban planning. Transerve is used by both individuals and companies for visualizing and sharing spatial data and map visualization through Map APIs.
The platform is a data collector, has location intelligence and helps in mapping precisely so the companies can geo locate data and then make smart and accurate decisions. The company also built many apps and platforms like CityOS in order to solve problems which are related to urban setup, Watsan for waters supply and sanitation solutions and deploys Lidar for heritage restoration and highway engineering.
The company aims in providing solutions to modernize a city’s municipal information system, which is why it went on to raise $1.6 million in Series A funding from IL and FS Investment Managers and Omidyar Network.
Vedantu is a well-known Ed tech company that allows teachers to provide Live tuitions to students online. The online tutoring platform has more than 500 of India’s best curated teachers and over 1 million hours to over 40,000 students across 1000 plus cities from 30 countries.
Vedantu uses a built in technology known as WAVE to create a marketplace model for teachers, where students can browse, discover and choose to learn from a particular teacher. So far the app offers teaching classes for 6th to 12th grades and also for co-curricular and competitive examinations.
Vedantu raised $11 million in Series B funding round from Omidyar Network in 2018. It also went on to raise $12.5 million in Series C-1 round of funding from Legend Capital and Omidyar’s Ohana Holding in 2020.
ZestMoney
ZestMoney is India’s fastest growing Fintech startup that was founded in 2015 by Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman. ZestMoney uses mobile technology, AI and digital banking facilities to make life more affordable to millions of Indians by managing their credit for them and helping them pay in affordable EMIs.
The platform was made with the aim of improving lives of the people who don’t have an access to credit card or other financial option due to insufficient credit history.
The Bengaluru based digital lending startup raised over $20 million funding in Series B round from Quona Capital, Reinventure, Omidyar Network, Ribbit Capital and PayU. The company is said to use these funds for expanding their platform with EMI-based financing for e-commerce and for other online purchases.
Credflow is a New Delhi based Fintech startup, that offers small and medium enterprises (SMEs) solutions for cash flow management. With the help of the platform SMEs can manage their finances better with timely insights of pending amounts by customers, sending regular payment reminders, validating invoices and negotiating discounts for early payment, among others.
So far over 5000 SMEs are said to have used Credflow to process invoices that are worth over Rs 70,000 crore. The main aim of Credflow is to help small businesses grow exponentially by managing their banking, payments, and treasury.
Credflow raised $2.1 million in their seed round of funding from Stellaris Venture, Omidyar Network and Flourish Ventures. The company said that they would use the funds to develop its platform, strengthen its technology and come up with new products in order to expand their customer base.
WhiteHat Jr
WhiteHat Jr Website
WhiteHat Jr is a Mumbai based Edtech startup that offers live online 1:1 classes on coding and math. The platform is also built on the foundational skills like literacy and numeracy from an early stage.
WhiteHat Jr helps in connecting top certified teachers that can teach children topics such as e-learning, coding, early childhood education, computational thinking, logic, algorithmic thinking, etc. After learning the kids are encouraged to come up with creative outcome like animations and apps.
The startup raised over $1.3 million in a seed funding round from Nexus Venture Partners and Omidyar’s Network India in 2018. It also raised $10 million in their Series A funding round by their existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Omidyar’s Network India in 2019. The company said that they would use the funds to strengthen their platform and expand their curriculum and marketing to increase consumer awareness.
Newslaundry
Newlaundry is a well-known independent news media company that provides its readers with media critique, reportage, satirical commentary, podcasts, documentaries, comics and animation content. The media company was founded by former journalists Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen in 2012.
Newslaundry was also the first subscription based website in India, as unlike other news websites like The Wire, The Quint, Scroll, etc the company relies on public subscriptions for revenue instead of advertisements. In 2016, the media company raised Rs 3.1 crore from Omidyar Network, Omidyar now owns 18.4% stake in the company.
Over the years Omidyar Network Indian helped in driving empowerment and social impact at a big scale, by investing in startups and entrepreneurs who aim in providing solutions to solve Indian chronic problems. Even during the Covid 19 pandemic, Omidyar Network funded over Rs. 10.75 crores to 67 projects out of 2000 under the Rapid response funding initiative in 2020. The investment firm will continue to help many upcoming startup grow and bolster a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Omidyar Network India?
Omidyar Network India is part of the US based Omidyar Group which is a diverse collection of companies, organizations and initiatives that are dedicated creating opportunity for people to improve their lives.
Who is the founder of Omidyar Network India?
The philanthropic investment firm and a non-profit organization was founded by Pierre Omidyar (also the founder of eBay) and his wife Pamela Kerr.
What are the areas that Omidyar Network India funds?
The areas in which Omidyar Network India funds are Digital Identity, Education, Emerging Tech, Financial Inclusion, Governance and Citizen Engagement, and Property Rights.
What are some of the Top startups funded by Omidyar Network India?
The startups funded by Omidyar Network India are Newslaundry, WhiteHat Jr, Credflow, ZestMoney, Vedantu, Transerve, Scripbox, Dailyhunt, 1mg, HealthKart and Quikr.
“City of Dreams”, as many people express Mumbai, is a place that helps bring dreams to reality. Angel Investors are one of the means for you, to help achieve your dreams. Thereby, find the list of Angel Investors in Mumbai and get an insight on their specific Market Interests, Contact details and Major Investments. It is also essential for you to clear certain Myths about Angel Investors. We are here to help you out on all of it.
Mumbai isn’t just the well-off city, but the Economic Hub of India, that has various Industrialists, CEOs, Entrepreneurs, Well-known companies, Directors, Producers, Artists, and what not! The place ‘Mumbai‘ has its own culture and architecture that makes it the spot of tourist attraction. Well, a place that is full of life and energetic minds, requires a guide and a financial supporter to enthusiastic people, for building up the initial base of their dreams. Thus, here comes the Role of Angel Investors who act as wizards for breeding minds to help them act upon their dreams.
Before, moving ahead to get insights on Angel Investors, Lets’ understand the Pre-built Myths about Angel Investors and the Reality Strike.
Myths vs Reality of Angel Investors
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Arihant is the MD at Ideaspring Capital (an early-stage VC) and Hive Technologies (platform for launching startups in big data space). He acts as the MD at Patni Financial Advisor and as a Director of Nirvana Venture Advisors. An Entrepreneur, Financial Advisor, and Venture Capitalist, Arihant completed his B.Sc in Chemical Engineering from the reputable University of Pennsylvania and MBA from Babson College, with concentration in Entrepreneurship. He also did a Masters in Statistics from Columbia University.
Anupam Mittal is the Founder & CEO of People Group, which has created ventures like Shaadi.com, Mauj Mobile, and People pictures. He is one of the prominent angel investors in Mumbai with over 20 investments. He completed his studies in Commerce field from the esteemed Boston College. Before People Group, he served as the Product Manager at MicroStrategy in Washington.
Ratan Tata, one of the most influential business tycoons of India, is an investor & philanthropist. He is the recipient of India’s esteemed awards Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan for his immense contribution to the country. He was associated with advisory boards for various companies like Mitsubishi, Temasek, JP Morgan Chase, and Rolls Royce. He serves as the former Chairman of the Tata Group. He completed his Bachelor of Arts from the esteemed St. Xaviers College, Mumbai.
Markets Interested
Digital Media, Education, Healthcare, Ecommerce, Technology
Anirudh, the MD at Artha India Ventures (an early-stage investment firm) is an energetic investor in startups and also a prominent member of the Indian Angel Network. He has a vast understanding and experience of the Indian Startup Ecosystem. He is always on a hunt to find new ideas and accept new challenges. Before Artha Ventures, he acted as the Investor director at FindUrClass and Klip.in. he obtained his Bachelor Degree in Economics & Business Administration from the esteemed Austin college
Zishaan is a successful entrepreneur and a prominent angel investor. He is the Founder and CEO of Toppr, an online education platform. Before getting associated with Toppr, he also co-founded a Phone commerce marketplace Chaupaati Bazaar, which was later acquired by the Future Group. He has also worked with Opera Solutions on various strategies and consulting projects. Being a graduate from IIT Delhi, in 2015, he was awarded the Young Alumni Achiever Award.
Anand Mahindra, the Chairman of Mahindra group, is a reputable businessman and also an active investor in emerging startups. He founded Project Nanhi Kali, an NGO that provides financial and academic support to underprivileged girls across India. He was included in the Fortune Magazine’s List of ‘World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’. He did his MBA from the reputable, Harvard Business School.
Anand Mahindra’s Investments
Thinkerbell Labs, Local circles, among many others.
Kunal, the Co-founder of FreeCharge (Online mobile recharge platform), is a successful entrepreneur, mentor, and among the top angel investors in Mumbai. He acts as an active advisor at AngelList. He is also the Founder of CRED, Advisor to the board at Times group, and had been an advisor at Sequoia Capital.
Sandeep Tandon, the Co-founder of FreeCharge (Online mobile recharge platform), is an active angel investor in Mumbai. He has invested in and mentored various early-stage startups. Being the Member Board of Directors at CRED, partner at Whiteboard Capital, Non-executive chairman of Aavas Financiers, and the Member of Board of Advisors of Iron Pillar, Sandeep got exposure to various domains. He completed his studies in Engineering from the esteemed University of Southern California.
Markets Interested
Digital Media, Ecommerce, B2B, Online Marketplaces, Matrimonial, Healthcare
Sandeep Tandon’s Investments
Pocket Aces, Bharat Bazaar, ShaadiSaga, Flyrobe, Spinny among many.
Sanjay, the Director of CORE (Centre of Recognition and Excellence), is a prominent angel investor of Mumbai. He was the recipient of the “Angel Investor of the Year” award by LetsVenture in 2017. He is an active member of Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels, B2B 1K Ventures & CIO Angel Network, Venture Nursery. He has angel invested in more than 100 startups in diverse sectors. He did his Executive education in Venture Capital from the esteemed The Wharton School.
Ronnie, the Co-founder & Chairman of upGrad and also the Founder of Unilazer Ventures, is an entrepreneur and an experienced angel investor. He is also famous for the creation of UTV, leading Mass media aggregate. He did his Bachelor’s degree from the Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics.
Jitendra, the Founder of Citrus Pay, Jupiter, Lazy pay & MD of PayU India, is a well-experienced angel investor. He has got expertise in the field of Banking & Financial Services industry. Before Citrus, he was associated with ICICi Bank and as the Chief Manager of Global Investment Banking Group.
Vishal, the Founder & CEO of GOQii (platform from health and wellness solution), Vishal Gondal, is an entrepreneur cum angel investor. He has acted as a major contributory in modifying the journey of many startups. Believing in leading and motivating startups to get extraordinary results, Vishal expresses the importance of extra effort & commitment Before, he was associated with the Walt Disney Co. and India Games Ltd.
Haresh, Partner at True North (Private equity firm), is one of the active investors in the Indian startup ecosystem. He is an alumnus of the reputable IIT Bombay & IIM Calcutta. Earlier, he had been associated as a Group CEO at Viacom18 & Network18. He also acted as the General Manager of Times Group & the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation.
Ajeet Khurana, the Former CEO of Zebpay (Mobile wallet for cryptocurrencies), is an entrepreneur and angel investor. He is skilled in building teams, ensuring performance, scaling, digital strategy, planning, and negotiation. He was also associated as an Advisor at Kalaari Capital, a Consultant at ii5 Ventures ltd and as the CEO of IIT Bombay’s business incubator: SINE. He completed his MBA from The University of Texas at Austin.
Markets Interested
Cryptocurrency, E-stores, Fashion, Technology, Digital Media, Healthcare
Ajeet Khurana’s Investments
Medd, WittyFeed, Leaf Wearables, Stitchwood among others
Sanjay, an Operating Partner at GSF India (Venture capital firm & accelerator), is a wise mentor and an active angel investor. His portfolio is majorly composed of tech startups. He also acts as an Independent Director at Easy Home Finance Ltd. Earlier, he served as the President & CMO at Reliance Capital and also as the Marketing Head at Allianz Life Insurance. He excels at negotiations & alliances.
Anuj, the Co-Founder of Venture Catalysts (Start-up Incubator) & Samyakth Capital (Hybrid growth fund), is among the prominent angel investors in Mumbai. He has over 15 years of experience across various fields which includes real estate, financial services, manufacturing, and internet companies. By profession, he is a chartered accountant.
Markets Interested
Digital media, Cryptocurrency, Fintech, Ecommerce, Education, Real Estate
Anuj Golecha’s Investments
LenDenClub, Inc42, Koinex, Fynd, Supr Daily, Bharatpe among many.
Japan, the Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Sixth Sense Ventures, is a well-experienced angel investor. He has mentored and invested in various Indian startups and helped them in their journey of growth & development. He is also the Chartered Member of TiE Mumbai. Earlier, he served as the Director at IDFC Investment Advisors Ltd.
Anand, the CEO at Everest Flavours ltd., is an active member of the Indian angel network and Mumbai angels. He has got immense experience in International Trade.
He is also member of National Executive Committee of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), Managing Committee of FIEO (Federation of Indian Export Organisations). He has his footprints set on various social and charitable organisations.
Amit, the Co-Founder & Director of Raay Global and also the Chairman of Nirvana Venture Advisors, is a prominent angel investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. Additionally, he is also a promoter shareholder of Patni Computers and former Director of PCS Technology Ltd., Partner at The Hive-India & Ideaspring Capital. He holds a Bachelor in Commerce and an MBA from Babson College, Boston.
Vaibhav, he is a partner at Karnavat & Co and a prominent angel investor. In addition to that, he is a partner at Itreat Grocers LLP and also acted as CEO of Jewelex International Pvt Ltd. He did his Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting & Finance from the H R College of Commerce & Economics and is Chartered Accountant by qualification.
Dr. Apoorv, the Co-founder & President of Venture Catalysts, is one of the prominent angel investors in Mumbai. He also acts as the Board member at TiE Mumbai. Earlier, he served as the Vice President of Indian Angel Network and as the General Manager at Amity Innovation Incubator. He did his Ph.D. in Incubation from Amity University, Graduated in Engineering from HBTI, Kanpur, and Diploma in Mentor Studies of Berkley Institute of Management, University of California, USA.
Rajeev, the Founder of Magnetic Partners, is a well-experienced angel investor in the Indian start-up ecosystem. Earlier, he acted as the CEO & MD of JM Financial Services.
Pravin, He is the General Partner at Seedfund (Early-stage venture capital fund) and the owner of the Infinity Technology Venture Fund. In addition to that, he acts as the Board Member of TiE Mumbai and as an Advisor at Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund.
The Founder & Director of Malpani Ventures, Dr. Aniruddha, is a doctor-turned angel investor. He also acts as the Director at Solidarity Investment Advisors and the Board member of Invention Labs.
Aakrit, the Co-founder & CEO of Haptik (Conversational AI Platform), is an entrepreneur and an active angel investor. He is also the co-founder of Flat.io, a real estate platform and the Director of Winmark Enterprises Earlier, he served as the director at Flurry Inc., Business Technology Analyst at Deloitte Consulting LLP and as a Financial analyst at Chicago Transit Authority.
Markets Interested
Education, Technology, AI, eCommerce, Healthcare
Aakrit Vaish’s Investments
Unacademy, ION Energy, Dataweave, Haikujam, Tookitaki, Talent Litmus among others
Bharat, the CEO & Senior President of Aditya Birla Group, is an active member of the Indian Angel Network, CIO Angel Network, Venture Nursery, and The Indus Entrepreneurs. He is an experienced person in varied fields like Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions, business development, and investing. He is the recipient of the “Professional Achiever – Finance Sector” Award from the ICAI.
Bharat Banka’s Investments
OYO, Perpetuiiti Tech, Invenzone, TalView, Vegayan, AdStringo, InstaSafe among others
Devesh Chawla, Founder & CEO of Chatur Ideas, a Startup enabling platform. He is an active investor, TEDx speaker, and mentor to budding entrepreneurs. He is a recipient of various awards which includes “Youth Leadership Award” by Trade Commissioner of Canada, “Mahatma Gandhi Samman Award”, “Entrepreneur of the Year 2018″ and “CEO of the Year 2019”
He did his MBA in Finance and Insurance from the Mumbai Education Trust-Institute of Management and his Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering from the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology.
Devesh Chawla’s Investments
NUOS, Cloudrino, Hublio, Koonk Technologies, and others.
Vikram, the Founding partner at 8i Ventures, is a prominent angel investor. He also acts as the Board Advisor to Blue Tokai and Signzy, and the co-founder & Board Member of Eight Capital. He did his MBA in Accounting & Finance from the New York University, MBA in Personnel Management & Industrial relations from the XLRI Jamshedpur and Bcom in Finance from the Shri Ram College of Commerce.
Farooq, the Co-founder of Fynd (Online Shopping Platform), is an entrepreneur and an active angel investor. He is a graduate from the IIT Bombay and also was associated with Opera Solutions before founding Fynd. He is an alumnus of the esteemed IIT Bombay.
Abhishek Shah, the Founder & CEO of Wellthy Therapeutics is a prominent angel investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. He did his MBA in Finance, strategy & Leadership from the Esteemed Indian School of Business.
Markets Interested
Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, E-commerce, IT, Food & Beverage, AI, Healthtech, Big Data
Abhishek’s Investments
Bizly, ZipDial (Acquired by Twitter), Innerchef, Haptik, Greatist, Silverpush, Meddo Health, myUpchar.com, Doxper, among many
Sohil is an Early stage investor and a prominent entrepreneur. With experiences in firms like Bank of America, Fortune Financial Services & Intellecap Impact Investments, he has explored his field of interest with enthusiasm and curiosity. He completed his MS in Finance from The University of Michigan.
Bhavik, the Founder & Chairman of Vamaship (India’s largest e-commerce logistics marketplace), is a focused investor & entrepreneur. He also serves as a Director at BVC ventures. Being a part of various angel networks, he has gained exposure in several tech enabled startups. With regards to academic exposure, he was part of Harvard, London School of Economics, Indian School of Business, Singularity University & Narsee Monjee.
Markets Interested
Mobile Advertising, Social Media, Digital Media, Transportation, Logistics, E-commerce, Travel & Tourism, Software Technology
Siddharth is the Founder & CEO of Noesis.tech. He was also the founding partner at 369 Solutions. With a keen passion for technology, Siddharth constantly attempts to create a platform to monetize knowledge.
Being associated with Protiviti India & StyleCracker as Consultant and Advisor at Umoja & FoxyMoron Media Solutions, he gained immense experience and exposure in his field of domain.
This was our list of Angel Investors in Mumbai. Hope the contact details of these Angel Investors helped you! If you are an investor or know any Angel Investor in Mumbai, connect with us at shubham@startuptalky.com to get featured in the list.
A business startup comes with a lot of responsibilities. If you’ve got a business idea and you think it could make a change in the market, it’s up to you to make it a reality. Funding is an essential part of any business, as, without the seed money, you’ll be unable to fire the starting gun on your startup.
Entrepreneurs are an incredibly clever and industrious bunch, but many are in the dark about how to fund their startup business idea, preferring instead to focus their energies on a core offering.
Great ideas can only fulfill their potential if they are backed by a stable investment. These are some of the ways you can fund your startup:
How Startup Funding Works.
1. Personal Money
For many people, the first inclination is to use personal money to make essential purchases. With a new startup creating so many different needs for money, it can be rather challenging to decide what needs to be funded first.
Business costs start right from the time you decide on a business name. For instance, to retain that business name, you need to register a company name via a company formation. Registering a new entity costs money, but it is one of the first requirements to legitimizing your idea.
Personal money can come from savings, and you can finance everything yourself, leaving you with total equity in the organization. One important factor to keep in mind is not only will you need cash for business purchases, but you will need working cash flow. You probably have other financial responsibilities. Therefore, you will need funds to deal with these. If you use up all your savings for your business startup idea, it could leave you in a precarious situation financially as you move forward.
Money Management Tips
2. Seek for Angel Investors
There are some people out there whose sole job is investing in businesses that might help them make even more money going forward. These are known as angel investors and they have plenty of money to spare. These are the people you should be pitching to if you think your business idea is innovative and has the potential to make big money in the future.There are many online angel investment networks, as well as local investor groups you can pitch to in person, so do your research and start submitting your pitches.
Find the right angel investor and not only will you benefit from their financial support but also their wisdom: oftentimes, they offer mentorship as a side dish alongside their capital. Although they generally offer less financial backing than banks and venture capital funds.
Crowdfunding has taken off in a big way over the last few years. Crowdfunding is a favorite of the digital economy, and probably the quickest way of obtaining finance for a new business. All you need is a compelling pitch, one which strongly references your start-up’s potential for growth, as well as a knack for interacting with your cash-rich community. The sooner you get started and get creative with your crowdfunding campaign, the sooner you’ll start to draw more people in.
As a side benefit, crowdfunding is a nifty form of advertising, a way of stimulating public interest in your company before it’s even made its debut.
4. Bank Loans
In the modern age, it almost seems anachronistic to seek a bank loan. But if you have a solid credit history or existing assets that you’re happy to offer as collateral, as well as a workable business plan with clear profit forecasts, it’s still possible to launch your start-up with an infusion of bank cash. If you want to get money, it makes sense to head to a bank where they have lots of it. Their loans might come with harsh interest rates that could cause you plenty of problems further down the line though.
5. Find a venture capitalist
Finding a venture capitalist who shares your vision, or at the very least believes in your ability to turn your idea into a successful, profitable venture, is a good way of raising cash. The main con with this option is that venture capitalists are typically looking for the next big thing and so, many entrepreneurs struggle to convey the scale-ability of their enterprise.
Venture capital funds, by their very nature, have a short shelf life as they generally seek to recover their investment, turn a profit then move on to the next fresh startup.
6. Pursue startup grants
Grants are great for people who don’t know where else to turn. If you have an unusual idea that investors and banks are scared of and crowdfunding doesn’t seem like a realistic option for you, it makes sense to apply for startup grants. While you shouldn’t expect to be cut a massive cheque, there are dozens of grants available, offered by national and state governments (as well as private enterprises) in the interests of stimulating the economy and growing the jobs market so it’s worth checking out your options for funding your startup.
The main drawback is the fierce competitiveness of such grants, as well as the box-ticking involved, it can be a frustratingly drawn-out process, but that’s the tradeoff for retaining equity.
7. Family and Friends
Lastly, the idea of hitting friends and family for cash doesn’t sit well with some entrepreneurs, but many of the world’s top magnates readily admit to borrowing from their social network early in their careers. As such, you should have no compunction about doing the same.
On the other hand, it’s not easy to put together a hefty bankroll relying solely on family and friends; and you have to ask yourself whether you want to risk straining meaningful relationships.
It is difficult to qualify for a small business loan with a credit score lower than 700. Additionally, you should build a strong personal credit score and drive down any debt prior to applying for a business loan.
What do startups use the funding for?
Startups raise funds for various reasons but most often the main purpose is to grow their business. It can take a while for a company to reach profitability and until then, the business needs some cash to keep going.
Who is eligible for startup India?
Being incorporated or registered in India for less than seven years and for biotechnology startups up to 10 years from its date of incorporation. Annual turnover not exceeding INR 25 crores in any of the preceding financial years.
How can I approach angel investors in India?
Here are a few tips to approach angel investors in India are:
Approach angel investors in your niche.
Show them how successful your past business ventures were.
How can I raise money to start a business in India?
Go for Crowdfunding.
Consider Self-funding.
Get in touch with the Venture Capitalists.
Try Angel Investment.
Try Angel Investment.
Focus on the close.
Terms of the deal.
Conclusion
Perhaps a combination of funding options is best, but only you will truly know. All these above options require a great deal of consideration and researching because each of the options that have been discussed here has its own benefits and drawbacks, don’t forget that when you’re making your decision.
Entrepreneurship is one of the growing niche in recent times, and the startup ecosystem is evolving as more individuals are gearing up to work on their own startups with unique and actionable ideas. Startups with a vision and a roadmap to make a fortune out of it are often funded by venture capital and investment firms. Such firms offer private equity finances to startups in need of funds, for a fraction of the company itself. Larger corporations including Google and Jio haven’t held back from this either.
Flipkart has made quite some investments in the recent times, and has invested in startups both in India and abroad. As of now, Flipkart has made 24 investments along with 15 acquisitions including Scapic, Walmart India, eBay and others. Flipkart also has a separate program for Indian startup funding called the Flipkart Leap. Here we discuss and compare the top 10 startups funded by Flipkart, their solutions and funding amounts.
PhonePe is an Indian digital payments service founded in the December of 2015, and has raised since $1.4 billion in 12 rounds of funding. Walmart and Flipkart are the most recent investors of PhonePe, and while its latest funding round closed in the December of 2020, PhonePe acquired Zopper back in 2018. PhonePe allows users to recharge their mobile phones, pay bills, find stores that accept digital payments and make digital transactions, and a lot more. PhonePe has recently rolled out a new solution for business called the PhonePe Switch, that furnishes users with access to over 273 million PhonePe users, while being cost effective.
Mech Mocha
Mech Mocha is India’s first real-time multi-player social gaming platform based in Bengaluru. It was founded in 2014 and has since raised about $9.9 million from 5 funding rounds and 8 investors including Blume Ventures and Flipkart. While their latest funding closed in the November of 2018, Shunwei Capital and Neoplux are its most recent investors. While its lead investors were Shunwei Capital and Accel, Mech Mocha was recently acquired by Flipkart, the E-commerce giant of India in November of 2020 for an undisclosed amount.
Universal Sportsbiz is an Indian youth-centric fashion brand house, and has so far raised over $33 million from 3 investors including Flipkart, Accel, and Alteria Capital over 4 funding rounds. Universal Sportsbiz has catered to the Indian Fashion Industry with trending products and celebrity tie-ups. Based in Bangalore, Universal Sportsbiz was quick to be recognized by the youth and fashion enthusiasts, and became a key player in its category with its portfolio including Wrogn and Imara. Moreover, with amenities such as order tracking, shipping, order cancellation, and return and exchange, it has made a firm grip in the Indian market, and is looking to expand further.
Liv.ai
Liv.ai is an AI based speech recognition startup founded in 2015, and was only funded by Astarc Ventures in the May of 2017 until it was acquired by Flipkart in the August of 2018 for an undisclosed amount. Liv.ai comprises of a team of innovative tech and AI enthusiasts who are committed to deploying and integrating Deep Learning with products that can easily manage routine and repetitive tasks with ease. Flipkart’s acquisition of Liv.ai would mean that it is keen to develop a competitor to one of its key rivals in the Indian markets, Amazon and Amazon Alexa.
Ninjacart is a B2B produce supply chain for farmers and manufacturers to connect to retailers, and has raised over $192 million in 11 funding rounds from 19 investors including 6 lead investors. While the investors of Ninjacart include some big names such as Walmart and Flipkart, its latest funding round was closed in the October of 2020. Through the use of innovation in technology, Ninjacart strives to offer solutions on supply chain problems, and delivers fresh produce from farmers to businesses within 12 hours. It helps farmers with faster payments along with a revenue hike by about 20%, along with doorstep delivery for retailers.
ANS Commerce
ANS Commerce, founded in 2017, is a complete solution for E-commerce business, connecting brands to their customers and allowing business owners to focus on the products. ANS Commerce has so far raised $25K in the Grant round from Flipkart leap, Flipkart’s accelerator for Indian startups, and offers a Brandstore, performance marketing, marketplace management, along with warehousing and fulfillment, as a complete suite of business and E-commerce solutions. Moreover, with its onboarding support, sales focused approach, along with omnichannel strategies help you enhance revenue growth seamlessly.
Found in 2016, Entropik Tech is an AI powered emotional intelligence platform based in Bengaluru, and has so far raised $9.3 million over 4 funding rounds from 9 investors, including the likes of Flipkart Leap and Bharat innovation fund. With a humongous database of 16 million unique user emotion data, 20K testings, along with 100 million testers on panel, Entropik uses human emotions for displaying ads customized to your specific interests and connections, develops custom UI/UX designs, and offers an amazing shopping experience. A leader in EmotionAI, Entropik helps brands measure customers’ cognitive responses to their content and products.
Shadowfax
Shadowfax, founded in 2015 and based in Bangalore, is an on-demand logistics network and a one stop delivery solution, and has raised over $119 million from 13 investors over 6 funding rounds. With some industry giants as their investors including Flipkart and Qualcomm Ventures, Shadowfax exhibits 4 lead investors, with the most recent fund raised in December of 2019 in Series D funding round. The solutions offered by Shadowfax include Now, a hyperlocal service, Connect, the logistics service, along with E2E and Next, an integrated 3PL service with tracking and system monitored pickup and assisted task management.
Scapic is an augmented reality startup founded in 2016 and based in Bangalore, and had initially raised $500K from 3 investors until it was acquired by Flipkart in the November of 2020, for an undisclosed amount. Scapic started out as a simple and intuitive tool to build AR, VR, and 3D experiences without the use of code, and has since endeavored to offer immersive commerce to viewers and E-commerce customers with 3 dimensional view of products. With Scapic, customers will be able to virtually try out wearable products, create and view realistic images, and also view and monitor metrics to see growth and performance.
Fashinza
Fashinza, founded in 2020 is a Gurugram based B2B fashion and apparel manufacturing marketplace, and has since raised $2.6 million over 2 funding rounds and 6 investors including Flipkart Leap and Accel. Fashinza connects you to the best manufacturers in the industry, and takes complete ownership of tasks ranging from design to delivery, with users getting to choose the fabrics and the techstack. Moreover, Fashinza sets you up with with the right manufacturer based on your budget and requirements, and strives to offer solutions for global supply chain challenges with technology and sustainability.
Conclusion
Flipkart, a startup founded in 2007 by Binny and Sachin Bansal, has grown immensely since its conception, and has come a long way from raising funds to investing in other startups. This depicts an exemplary growth of a startup with a vision, and speaks volumes, suggesting the Indian startup ecosystem has evolved under percipient entrepreneurship, and the future of the Indian startup ecosystem, although full of room for improvement, is on the right track.
Facebook, the social media giant, and one of the top companies in the field of Technology has been financially helping many startups across the world in the past few years by investing in them. Facebook has invested in Indian startups as well. Some of the Indian startups in which Facebook has previously invested have now become very big names such as the online teaching platform ‘Unacademy’ and Reliance Jio in which Facebook has invested huge amounts of money. Facebook recently has come up with a new venture for investing in startups and financially help them. Facebook recently posted a job opening for the role of ‘Head of Investments’. According to them, they were looking for someone who had at least 10 years of experience in the Technology field.
Facebook invests in Jio
According to the job opening posted by Facebook, they were looking for someone who can lead and manage the multi-million dollar project that invests in leading private companies and will also propose and lead the execution of many new investments in other companies and startups. The job opening floated on the internet recently but was soon taken down. Facebook has given a statement in response to this that the job vacancy has been filled without giving out the name of the person who has been selected for the job.
It is believed that this has been done to ensure that Facebook stays in close touch with the startup industry all over the world and to ensure that new startups and applications that they think will do big in the future can easily be acquired by them. The general idea of Facebook remains to try and acquire companies, generally social media platforms or tech-related companies, which are already large or have the potential to grow to great heights. For example, Facebook has acquired both Instagram and WhatsApp and tried to acquire Snapchat too, but they turned down the offer. Earlier this year, Facebook acquired GIPHY – The GIF Maker.
Two of the Biggest Social Media Platforms have been acquired by Facebook
Facebook has been investing in many startups. Some have received huge financial help, while others have received a relatively small amount of financial help. Facebook remains interested in startups with ideas that can generate huge revenues. Facebook has invested billions of dollars in Reliance Jio. This venture, however, is intended upon many of the small startups in the ‘Tech’ industry which will receive comparatively small financial aids. Facebook is reportedly looking for the best startups in different categories and will include these into this venture. Facebook offers it ‘Accelerator’ service to those startups who have managed to get their services or products out on the market already and are trying to grow. Facebook also offers its services to small startups who have just been launched and are currently working on their products or services. Facebook also has the option for full training under mentors for such startups.
This decision by Facebook will help boost the startup culture and ecosystem in India. More and more startups will come up with many new ideas every day. Therefore, this situation is a triple win situation. Firstly, the startups will benefit as they will receive financial aids. Secondly, Facebook will benefit by receiving huge amounts of returns when these startups, which are already acquired by them, turn into multi-million companies. Thirdly, the many new ideas that the startups will come up with will prove to be greatly beneficial for the general public.
However, Facebook is competing with many big companies such as Microsoft, Intel, and Google which are already investing in many startups around the country. All these companies try to become the leaders of this field, and these types of ventures help them succeed at this mission.
When it comes to a business the most significant thing is funding and if it’s a startup, funding becomes more important. The survival of a business hugely depends on it. In a startup, funding is important so that the business can meet its expenses, as the profit will be mediocre at first.
Finance is the fuel needed to run any business. There are numerous stories of entrepreneurial ventures which could not survive despite having great potential tanking, due to a shortage of funding. Getting funds is especially challenging when a business is in the startup stage. Hence, it is important for emerging entrepreneurs to be aware of the various startup company funding options.
According to a report, Indian startups raise a record $3.9 billion so far in 2019. So we have compiled a list of sources from where you can raise funds for startups, in India.
When loans are given by individuals or a group of people instead of banks and other financial institutions, such loans are known as micro-loans and the technique is called microlending. Micro-loans can be a good source of startup funding for small businesses. Microloans are unsecured loans. The credit score of the borrower is a guiding factor for the lender; it helps in deciding the interest that the borrower would pay to the lender in addition to the original principal amount.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding
Using an online platform, individuals interested in raising funds for their initiative can make use of crowdfunding. The investor gets some form of equity or reward in exchange for the contribution. KickStarter, GoFundMe and Indiegogo are some of the most popular and top-ranked crowdfunding sites. Crowdfunding is a good startup funding process because it is easier to acquire than traditional bank loans.
Line of Credit
Once approved for a ‘line of credit’, the borrower gets access to a pool of money. But only when he actually takes out some amount i.e. borrows from the pool, he is subjected to the interest that would be charged. The benefit of this type of loan is the low-interest rate charged as compared to bank loans or NBFC loans.
Equipment Financing
As the name suggests, equipment financing involves machinery or some other item instead of monetary funds at disposal. The idea is to allow businesses to save money on purchasing equipment and use the same for other purposes. So equipment financing can be the funding option for startups that require equipment and machinery.
Angel Investors
Wealthy people who are interested in assisting the business owner through debt-free funding are known as angel investors. They ask for a stake in the ownership of the business and provide advises and suggestions from their own experiences. Such investors usually back early-stage startups that can generate a massive turnover in the future. So if you have a great business plan, then approaching angel investors can be one of the best ways to raise capital for the company.
Venture Capitalists
There are many venture capitalists that readily provides fund for a startup. People often use the terms venture capitalists and angel investors interchangeably without understanding that there are more than just subtle differences. Unlike angel investors, venture capitalists are proper firms aimed at helping businesses to develop. The venture capitalist plays an active role in running the business. Apart from purchasing stakes in the business, the firm has a say in the business’s decisions. There are two types of entities in such firms—‘limited’ partners who inject cash into the venture capitalists’ funds meant for assisting startups, and ‘general’ partners who work alongside the startup by engaging with the startup’s management in business-related decisions.
Government Grants
The central authority of the country also provides loans for startups in different sectors of the economy. In India, there are various schemes such as Credit Guarantee Scheme, MUDRA loan scheme, and Stand Up India scheme under which the Government provides funds to startups.
Also, there are schemes introduced by the State Government of different states of India, like Rajasthan Startup Fest, Kerela State Self Entrepreneur Development Mission, Sarothi startup loan by the Govt of Assam.
Peer to Peer Loans
In P2P lending, people (excluding banks and financial institutions) lend to those in need of money. Now, this may seem like crowdfunding but there’s a significant distinction: In peer-to-peer lending, the borrower has to repay the original principal along with the interest accrued. This isn’t part of crowdfunding, where the investors may not necessarily pay money to the lenders in exchange for their contribution; it could be a reward exchange program as well.
Business Credit Cards
As the name suggests, business credit cards allow borrowers to access a pool of money with a credit limit for transactions. Credit cards are suitable for financing short-term needs and immediate requirements. Just like ordinary credit cards, the card owner is liable to be penalized if the borrowed amount is not repaid in full at the end of the billing period.
Bank and NBFC Loans
Lastly let’s talk about the traditional method of funding, the bank, and NBFC loans. Banks provide term loans, working capital loan,s and asset-backed loans. NBFCs provide business loans too. But the issue with most banks and NBFCs is that they offer unsecured loans to only such businesses that have been in business for at least 2 years and which are earning a specific amount of profit.
While approaching someone for a loan for your startup, ensure that you have an excellent business plan. A business plan is the heart and soul of your initiative or project. It should cover the minute details, must be easy to comprehend, engaging, and enticing at the same time. Above all, it’s the attitude brimming with confidence and the ability to convince that would either make or break the deal!
Conclusion
If you are thinking about long-term sustainability then funding is highly recommended. Funding also helps you to explore the current market opportunities as well. Before going for funding, you need to understand what type of funding is actually needed for your business. The entrepreneur needs to be very careful while selecting the type of funding they are going to choose for their business.
FAQs
Can businesses use GoFundMe?
To start funding for a business, people can use GoFundMe.
What is Startup Funding?
Startup funding means the amount of money required to start and build a new business.
Jeenal Jain
