Venture Garage conducted the fourth leg of the FY2019-20 edition of the Find Your Investor (FYI) programme in Pune in association with Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) at MCCIA Pune.
After three super successful sessions in Mumbai Hyderabad and Bengaluru where close to 60 investors and 450 start-ups participated over 170 applications were received and more than 150 start-ups interacted with 15 investors at the FYI Pune event which is a fund-raising platform for start-ups. FYI Pune not only attracted the local start-ups but also start-ups from cities such as Mumbai Nagpur and Ahmedabad. It hosted a new mix of investors like Windrose Capital Rainforest Venture Network Crucible Fund Oceans Bridge Better INC Alacrity India Indian Angel Network Sprout Venture Partners India Quotient White Unicorn and a slew of active angel investors from Pune and Mumbai.
(L to R): Vaibhav Domkundwar (Better Inc) Rohit Goyal (Windrose Capital) Avinash Kalia (Crucible Fund) Saurabh Lahoti (Alacrity India) Anirudh Kumar (Rainforest Venture Network)
A set of 16 shortlisted start-ups got to pitch one-on-one to investors. Some of the ideas presented included:
A technology-driven lead generation payment platform that allows its partner retail merchants to offer their end customers the ability to buy small- and mid-sized ticket goods and services on their websites/in-store on a buy now pay later; basis without the end customer paying any interest or entering into a traditional loan/credit card arrangement.
A network of digital screens available to all advertisers (big and small) to rent and display their messages simply and conveniently.
A unique footwear which grows organically with the child feet providing a comfortable fit and thus reduces the overall number of shoes bought between ages one to eight. It also keeps in mind various other factors focused on a child growth and foot care.
An IIT-IBS team working towards solving a broken supply chain using data science to prevent price fluctuations in the fruits and vegetables sector. With the help of machine learning and inflation data of the past 24 months they have been able to predict price fluctuations for the next 60 days. This enables them to provide fixed prices to the end customer and still make profits.
A platform providing health loans to patients who are uninsured or underinsured at 0% interest and is currently present in six major cities - Mumbai Chennai Bengaluru Pune Nagpur and Hyderabad.
A data driven health-tech platform that empowers various healthcare providers with technology a seamless integration and a referral-based incentive system to improve overall consumer experience and the quality of healthcare.
Further Kotak conducted a session on banking for start-ups which covered aspects such as a start-up focused current account credit facilities and making the road just a little bit easier with a customised suite of banking solutions for start-ups. Enthusiastic participation from the audience included queries around start-up current accounts and non-collateral loans.
Puneet Kapoor Senior Executive Vice President Kotak Mahindra Bank said Venture Garage Find Your Investor programme is proving to be one of the key fund-raising platforms for start-ups with strong participation from both investors and start-ups. We are delighted to play our part in supporting the dreams of entrepreneurs. The Kotak Start-up Current Account is customised to meet the unique requirements of start-ups and help entrepreneurs scale their businesses and manage their day-to-day business needs efficiently.
The Kotak Start-up Current Account comes with a host of features such as no balance commitment for the first 12 months customised payment and collection solutions to suit each start-up business model corporate salary accounts for employees special forex pricing cost-effective payment solutions and trade forex solutions.
A fireside chat saw Vivek Kumar from Venture Garage interact with Amitava Saha an IIT-IIM alumni and Co-founder of Firstcry.com and Xpressbees. He was insightful in addressing how start-up founders should think and plan while building a unicorn.
A panel consisting of Rohit Goyal from Windrose Capital Anirudh Kumar from Rainforest Venture Network Avinash Kalia from Crucible Fund Saurabh Lahoti from Alacrity India and moderated by Vaibhav Domkundwar from Better INC addressed issues around the selection of sectors sectoral mix in the portfolio the importance of rapid scaling up of start-ups for a fund choosing a company for investment and the preference of investors for founders from IIT IIIT IIM and ISB for funding.
Avinash Kalia of Crucible Fund said I realised during the panel discussion that one of the common suggestions from investors to founders was that just like a product market fit they could also look at product investor fit. I mean they should ideally pitch to funds that are focused on that specific area. That will not only improve the chances of funding but once funded the start-up would be in the appropriate sectoral portfolio.
Rohit Goyal of Windrose Capital said Considering the total addressable market for a start-up the top-down approach to assess its potential scale is an inaccurate mechanism. India is a big country with a large population and even 1% of the population relevant to the product makes it a sizeable market. But by that approach every start-up should become a unicorn. The bottom-up approach is more appropriate as the cost of acquisition per customer order size and repeat order rates can give a better and more reasonable picture of the addressable market for a start-up.
FYI has become the go-to platform for new-age entrepreneurs to interact one-on-one with investors enabling them to meet the right investor(s) and equipping themselves with tools to build large scalable businesses.
FYI FY2019-20 is being organised in five cities -Hyderabad Bengaluru Mumbai Pune and Chandigarh.
For more details on FYI FY2019-20 and to register please visit www.venturegarage.in/fyi.
About Venture Garage
Venture Garage handholds startups to help them raise capital from its network of 700+ Angel Investors Venture Capitalists Strategic Investors and Family Funds. Venture Garage specializes in early-stage investments across Seed to Series B stages starting from $100K to $5mil. Established in 2015 and with offices present in Mumbai Bengaluru and NCR Venture Garage also manages a network of 30000+ entrepreneurs.
For more information please visit the company website at www.venturegarage.in.
About Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited
Established in 1985 Kotak Mahindra Group is one of Indias leading financial services conglomerates. In February 2003 Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd. (KMFL) the Groups flagship company received banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) becoming the first non-banking finance company in India to convert into a bank - Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.
The Bank has four Strategic Business Units -Consumer Banking Corporate Banking Commercial Banking and Treasury which cater to retail and corporate customers across urban and rural India. The premise of Kotak Mahindra Group business model is concentrated India diversified financial services. The bold vision that underscores the Group growth is an inclusive one with a host of products and services designed to address the needs of the unbanked and insufficiently banked. As on 31st December 2019 Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd has a national footprint of 1539 branches and 2447 ATMs and branches in GIFT City and DIFC (Dubai).
For more information please visit the company website at www.kotak.com.
After three super successful sessions in Mumbai Hyderabad and Bengaluru where close to 60 investors and 450 start-ups participated over 170 applications were received and more than 150 start-ups interacted with 15 investors at the FYI Pune event which is a fund-raising platform for start-ups. FYI Pune not only attracted the local start-ups but also start-ups from cities such as Mumbai Nagpur and Ahmedabad. It hosted a new mix of investors like Windrose Capital Rainforest Venture Network Crucible Fund Oceans Bridge Better INC Alacrity India Indian Angel Network Sprout Venture Partners India Quotient White Unicorn and a slew of active angel investors from Pune and Mumbai.
(L to R): Vaibhav Domkundwar (Better Inc) Rohit Goyal (Windrose Capital) Avinash Kalia (Crucible Fund) Saurabh Lahoti (Alacrity India) Anirudh Kumar (Rainforest Venture Network)
A set of 16 shortlisted start-ups got to pitch one-on-one to investors. Some of the ideas presented included:
A technology-driven lead generation payment platform that allows its partner retail merchants to offer their end customers the ability to buy small- and mid-sized ticket goods and services on their websites/in-store on a buy now pay later; basis without the end customer paying any interest or entering into a traditional loan/credit card arrangement.
A network of digital screens available to all advertisers (big and small) to rent and display their messages simply and conveniently.
A unique footwear which grows organically with the child feet providing a comfortable fit and thus reduces the overall number of shoes bought between ages one to eight. It also keeps in mind various other factors focused on a child growth and foot care.
An IIT-IBS team working towards solving a broken supply chain using data science to prevent price fluctuations in the fruits and vegetables sector. With the help of machine learning and inflation data of the past 24 months they have been able to predict price fluctuations for the next 60 days. This enables them to provide fixed prices to the end customer and still make profits.
A platform providing health loans to patients who are uninsured or underinsured at 0% interest and is currently present in six major cities - Mumbai Chennai Bengaluru Pune Nagpur and Hyderabad.
A data driven health-tech platform that empowers various healthcare providers with technology a seamless integration and a referral-based incentive system to improve overall consumer experience and the quality of healthcare.
Further Kotak conducted a session on banking for start-ups which covered aspects such as a start-up focused current account credit facilities and making the road just a little bit easier with a customised suite of banking solutions for start-ups. Enthusiastic participation from the audience included queries around start-up current accounts and non-collateral loans.
Puneet Kapoor Senior Executive Vice President Kotak Mahindra Bank said Venture Garage Find Your Investor programme is proving to be one of the key fund-raising platforms for start-ups with strong participation from both investors and start-ups. We are delighted to play our part in supporting the dreams of entrepreneurs. The Kotak Start-up Current Account is customised to meet the unique requirements of start-ups and help entrepreneurs scale their businesses and manage their day-to-day business needs efficiently.
The Kotak Start-up Current Account comes with a host of features such as no balance commitment for the first 12 months customised payment and collection solutions to suit each start-up business model corporate salary accounts for employees special forex pricing cost-effective payment solutions and trade forex solutions.
A fireside chat saw Vivek Kumar from Venture Garage interact with Amitava Saha an IIT-IIM alumni and Co-founder of Firstcry.com and Xpressbees. He was insightful in addressing how start-up founders should think and plan while building a unicorn.
A panel consisting of Rohit Goyal from Windrose Capital Anirudh Kumar from Rainforest Venture Network Avinash Kalia from Crucible Fund Saurabh Lahoti from Alacrity India and moderated by Vaibhav Domkundwar from Better INC addressed issues around the selection of sectors sectoral mix in the portfolio the importance of rapid scaling up of start-ups for a fund choosing a company for investment and the preference of investors for founders from IIT IIIT IIM and ISB for funding.
Avinash Kalia of Crucible Fund said I realised during the panel discussion that one of the common suggestions from investors to founders was that just like a product market fit they could also look at product investor fit. I mean they should ideally pitch to funds that are focused on that specific area. That will not only improve the chances of funding but once funded the start-up would be in the appropriate sectoral portfolio.
Rohit Goyal of Windrose Capital said Considering the total addressable market for a start-up the top-down approach to assess its potential scale is an inaccurate mechanism. India is a big country with a large population and even 1% of the population relevant to the product makes it a sizeable market. But by that approach every start-up should become a unicorn. The bottom-up approach is more appropriate as the cost of acquisition per customer order size and repeat order rates can give a better and more reasonable picture of the addressable market for a start-up.
FYI has become the go-to platform for new-age entrepreneurs to interact one-on-one with investors enabling them to meet the right investor(s) and equipping themselves with tools to build large scalable businesses.
FYI FY2019-20 is being organised in five cities -Hyderabad Bengaluru Mumbai Pune and Chandigarh.
For more details on FYI FY2019-20 and to register please visit www.venturegarage.in/fyi.
About Venture Garage
Venture Garage handholds startups to help them raise capital from its network of 700+ Angel Investors Venture Capitalists Strategic Investors and Family Funds. Venture Garage specializes in early-stage investments across Seed to Series B stages starting from $100K to $5mil. Established in 2015 and with offices present in Mumbai Bengaluru and NCR Venture Garage also manages a network of 30000+ entrepreneurs.
For more information please visit the company website at www.venturegarage.in.
About Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited
Established in 1985 Kotak Mahindra Group is one of Indias leading financial services conglomerates. In February 2003 Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd. (KMFL) the Groups flagship company received banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) becoming the first non-banking finance company in India to convert into a bank - Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.
The Bank has four Strategic Business Units -Consumer Banking Corporate Banking Commercial Banking and Treasury which cater to retail and corporate customers across urban and rural India. The premise of Kotak Mahindra Group business model is concentrated India diversified financial services. The bold vision that underscores the Group growth is an inclusive one with a host of products and services designed to address the needs of the unbanked and insufficiently banked. As on 31st December 2019 Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd has a national footprint of 1539 branches and 2447 ATMs and branches in GIFT City and DIFC (Dubai).
For more information please visit the company website at www.kotak.com.
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