Brigade REAP [earlier coverage here] chose five startups from 122 applicants as part of its 9th cohort of startups who will be part of a program that follows an intensive eighteen-week long cycle to help them unlock value and scale their business. The five startups were chosen from 8 finalists who participated in two jury rounds.
The startups were evaluated based on 10 criteria including innovation, relevance to the Industry, magnitude of the problem being addressed, pedigree of the founding team etc.
Nirupa Shankar, Director, Brigade REAP, said
Since inception, our focus has been to accelerate innovation in the real estate sector and to help deliver and enhance efficiencies both for the industry and the customer. The objective is to help inventors and innovators create sustainable and scalable businesses.
In the past, startups have seen an increase of over 150% YoY growth in revenue, 42% of the startups have raised funding within 12 months of graduating with the real estate industry being actively involved in not just giving business but also investing in many of these startups.
Once the onboarded startup’s progress has been demonstrated, stakeholders clearly identified, business plan firmed up and customer and investor pitches ready, Brigade REAP enables access to customers for potential investors for fundraise.
Final five startups chosen for Brigade REAP 9th Cohort
- Angirus – Eco friendly technology to make building materials that are made from 100% waste materials for the affordable housing industry.
- MetroGuild – Convert flat buyers to customers through hyper-personalized relationship building marketing and sales.
- GoFloaters – Enable individuals and teams to work from anywhere through its wide network of on demand work spaces.
- Strawcture – Green Building Material – bio panels that convert waste to value.
- Vision Earthcare – Waste water rejuvenation.
John Kuruvilla, Chief Mentor, Brigade REAP, said
We have a very stringent selection process where the jury evaluates each incoming application based on the nature of the problem, the founding team, whether the company has any early traction and whether their solution is unique. Our role is to help the chosen startups to sharpen their value proposition, create or re-examine their business plans and pricing models and identify customers.
Brigade REAP has six pillars of engagements with startups that are onboarded including product, technology, business model, people, go to market and scale.
The second jury included renowned industry stalwarts such as M.R. Jaishankar [CMD – Brigade Group], Samir Kumar [MD – Inventus Capital], Vipul Roongta [MD – HDFC Capital], Sanjay Mehta [Founder & Partner – 100x.VC], Ram Chandnani [MD Advisory & Transaction Services – CBRE], Kumar Vembu [CEO – GoFrugal Technologies] and Mohan Parvatikar [Director – Brigade REAP].
Sanjay Mehta, Founder & Partner 100X.VC, said
Real estate is the largest asset class by far, but it is still in the early stages of technology adoption. While I have been investing in diverse sectors, Proptech as a sector is definitely to watch out for. Each of the finalists in REAP’s Cohort 9 are solving very interesting problems – for e.g., startups that are recycling waste to create new building blocks for construction and interiors in a scalable manner.
The final five that were shortlisted should have an exciting 2021 as they get into REAP to scale their product and business offerings.
Visit Brigade Reap for more information on the programme.