New Delhi, Delhi, India | 22nd November 2019: On the back of a successful Find Your Investor (FYI) series in 2018, Venture Garage, in association with Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak), has announced the FY2019-20 edition of the power-packed fund raising platform for start-ups. FYI is the annual fundraising program organised by Venture Garage where they take start-ups through the journey of raising capital, including aspects such as legal, banking and documentation requirements during fundraising; one-on-one interactions between start-ups and investors; discussion on the investment views of leading VC/angel investors of India; networking and much more.
At each of the five cities, 50 carefully selected start-ups from all across India get a chance to pitch their business ideas to investors to raise capital. The FY2019-20 edition of FYI will take place in Hyderabad on 29th November, 2019; in Bengaluru on 13th December, 2019; in Mumbai on 10th January, 2020; in Pune on 23rd January, 2020, with the final chapter of the series taking place in Chandigarh on 7th February 2020. The FY2019-20 FYI series will host 500+ entrepreneurs and 40+ Investors, including India’s most active VCs such as Inventus Capital Partners, Matrix Partners, Artha Venture Fund, 7 Gate Ventures, RPSG Ventures, Orios Venture Partners among others.
Puneet Kapoor, Senior Executive Vice President, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, “It’s a daunting task to be an entrepreneur with a number of obstacles to be overcome, especially in the initial stages of a start-up. Kotak has always worked to fulfil the aspirations of entrepreneurs who dare to dream big. Every dream involves money and the Kotak Start-Up Current Account is customised to meet the unique requirements of a start-up and help it realise its full business potential. We are pleased to be associated with the FYI series by Venture Garage.”
Aanchal Saini, CEO of Flyrobe, India’s number 1 fashion renting platform said, ”Venture Garage has been associated with us for over two years now and I am glad I joined them for the Find Your Investor series in all the four cities last year. Venture Garage has mastered the recipe for a perfect start-up event with their FYI series where early stage start-ups get to learn about the nuances of fund raising like how to pitch to investors, how to make your business plan/financial projections, legal and banking needs during the fund raise process, networking with investors and other things that an entrepreneur requires to fulfil his/her dreams. The most exciting part is the opportunity to pitch to investors in a one-on-one format to raise funding and see your dreams as an entrepreneur come true. I wish all the start-ups participating in FYI all the very best. Do make the most of it.”
Rahul Nehra, Co-founder & CEO of Jadooz, a cinema and entertainment chain backed by Artha Venture Fund, TV Celebrity Rannvijay Singh and Actor Ravi Kishan, said, “This platform that Venture Garage is giving to start-ups is exactly what an entrepreneur needs to enable his vision. FYI was our first serious pitch across the table with some of the leading VCs of India and today we are funded by Artha Venture Fund & Celebrity Rannvijay Singh. Venture Garage took care of the entire fund raising process including finding investors and managing the transaction, while Kotak fulfilled all our banking needs. If you are a start-up raising your 1st or 2nd round of capital, then FYI is the place to be.“
“India is an emerging market for start-ups and VC investments. Most start-ups are still struggling to make themselves funding ready and then find the right platform to connect with investors. At FYI, we have a simple goal of making fundraising easy for start-ups. The 4-hour journey at each FYI event is about a deeper dive into fundraising, followed by interactions between the most promising start-ups and VC/angel investors to drive early-stage start-up investments. Start-ups that pitched at the FYI FY2018-19 series raised a cumulative of INR 18 crore+ in seed/angel/pre-series A investments from investors and we hope to deliver an equally exciting FY2019-20 series,” Vivek Kumar, Co-founder & CEO, Venture Garage.
FYI FY2018-19 was a huge success with over 50 VCs/angel investors and 700 entrepreneurs attending the programme in Delhi, Gurugram, Jaipur & Chandigarh. Some of the investors who participated included Ravi Kaushik, WaterBridge Ventures; Girish Shivani, YourNest Venture Capital; Pranav Gupta, Carpediem Capital; Kunal Khattar, AdvantEdge VC; Rajesh Sehgal, Equanimity Investments; Addison Appu, ThinKuvate; Aayush Jain, Ex-Unicorn Ventures; Ojasvi Babber, Amity Capital Ventures among many others. The total funding raised by start-ups that pitched at FYI FY2018-19 stood at over INR 18 crore.
