On Friday 7th April , Venture Garage organized “Capitalize-Funding conclave ” at IIT Delhi which saw an overwhelming response with over 25 investors and 300 entrepreneurs attending the event.
The event started with a panel discussion moderated by Rahul Narvekar, ex CEO of NDTV Ethnic and now CEO, Scale Ventures. Rehan Yar Khan of Orios Ventures who is one of the first investors in OLA Cabs was special guest of honor. Other panel members included Ravi Kaushik, Partner at Water Bridge Ventures, Ojasvi Babber of Amity VC, Girish Shivani of Yournest Angel Fund and Tej Kapoor of Fosun Kinzon Capital. These investors together have over $1 Bil to be invested in startups.
The investors shared their views on the startup ecosystem and its outlook in the new financial year, why profitability is still a major issue in Indian startups, how to approach investors etc.
Rehan recalled his experience how he met founders of OLA Cabs at one of the pitching events at IIT. “I was at IIT when 2 guys were pitching me a disrupting technology . It is the same nostalgia that brings me back to IIT Delhi for Capitalize.”
Girish of Yournest said, “Our new fund of Rs 300 Crore will be deployed over 25-30 startups with preference on more tech oriented sectors such as Internet of Things, electronic system design, artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, enterprise software and mobile Internet.”
“Capitalize was a great platform to present your idea & business plan to the group of Investors. In 15 minutes , I reached to 15+ Investors & fortunately for me , 70% of them have shown interest in my Project”, said Sunny Arora, Founder Fitzup.
The panel discussion was followed by pitching by 8 startups which were shortlisted from over 300 startup entries. These startups pitched for seed investment to a panel of 25 investors including Advantedge, Indian Angel Network, Quarizon, Pravega VC, Yournest Angel Fund, Water Bridge Ventures, Fosun Kinzon Capital, Scale Ventures and many others.
The startups ranged from Healthcare solutions to AI to content and IOT.
Vivek Kumar, CEO of Venture Garage said, “We strive to find the best startups in India’s startup ecosystem and provide them access to investors. Capitalize is one such platform and a step in that direction”. Vineet Sagar, Managing Partner of Venture Garage added, “Most events that bring investors and startups together have heavily priced tickets and most entrepreneurs cannot afford multiple such events. Venture Garage is about handholding entrepreneurs and intends to keep its events free to enable seamless interactions between investors and startups.”