Starting a business and helping it grow over many years can be one of life’s most rewarding experiences. On the other hand, even especially successful business owners often reach a point where it feels like a change of direction could be in order.
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At such junctures, it frequently makes sense to consult with some experts in private equity to see what they have to offer. There are a number of reasons why it can be productive to negotiate a deal with private equity investors.
Relatively few companies ever reach the point of having initial public offerings, with the vast majority remaining private throughout their lifespans. Although publicly traded firms do account for around one-third of all private-sector employment in the United States, that leaves the rest to companies where shares of ownership cannot be bought on public markets at all.
This might make it seem as if publicly traded companies had definite, unconquerable advantages over those that remain privately held. While there are certainly benefits inherent in going public, private companies have options of their own.
Investors and firms that specialize in working with or taking over privately owned businesses, for instance, oversee an increasingly important segment of the economy. Accounting for somewhere around $500 billion in activity worldwide in 2013, private equity deals are quickly closing in on the trillion-dollar mark.
Business owners who reach a certain stage of life or who simply want to explore new options quite often find that private equity arrangements make excellent sense. Some of the reasons why entrepreneurs and others most often partner or make deals with private equity firms include:
Growth
Even businesses that have ready access to capital in the form of bank loans and lines of credit can find it wise to look for other ways of funding growth. Guarantees, usage restrictions, and loan officers who lack understanding often make turning to private equity investors far more viable. Professionals in the field of private equity tend to be a lot more interested in funding innovative, ambitious ideas than is typical of staid, conservative bankers. Even though a deal will generally mean giving up some equity in a company, the growth it enables can easily repay that many times over.
Liquidity
Selling a business can prove a lot more difficult than expected, even when the firm in question is one of the most competitive in its market. Some investors who approach retirement find themselves feeling forced to stick around to wait for an appropriate buyer. Private equity investors will often be a lot more responsive than other potential buyers and be better funded, as well. Having access to liquidity on demand might be the key needed to segue gracefully into a new stage of life.
Expertise
Even especially successful entrepreneurs can easily find themselves reaching their limits at certain points. Bringing on a private equity partner can provide access to highly developed skills and huge amounts of relevant experience. That will sometimes allow a business which had started to seem a bit boring or stagnant to become every bit as thrilling and full of potential as it had been in the past.
For reasons like these and a number of others, business owners regularly find that it makes excellent sense to at least look into what private equity investors might have to offer. Although there will sometimes be more appropriate options, entrepreneurs in a wide variety of common situations more and more often opt to sign private equity deals, as the statistics show.
Microsoft’s M12, Mayfield and Pivotal Ventures announced the second global Female Founders Competition to accelerate funding for women entrepreneurs developing B2B, SAAS, and deeptech solutions. Eligible women-led startups developing enterprise tech solutions in the United States, Europe, Israel and India are encouraged to submit applications beginning Oct. 17, 2019.
Four winning companies will receive a total of $6 million in venture funding, along with access to technology, resources, mentoring and other benefits.
Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice-President, Business Development, Microsoft Corp, said
Last year’s competition helped highlight that there are innovative female entrepreneurs developing enterprise tech solutions, and they just aren’t getting equal access to capital. The tech industry can’t afford to keep leaving women’s good ideas on the table.
We need to level the playing field for female entrepreneurs, and together with Mayfield and Pivotal Ventures, we aim to do just that with our second Female Founders Competition.
Venture capital funding, particularly for seed-stage companies, is critical to power ideas from incubation to go-to-market. Venture funding for female-founded companies continues to be nominal in comparison with dollars invested in male-only-led teams. Last year, companies founded solely by women garnered 2.3% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups, according to PitchBook [Source].
Regardless of this disadvantage, female founders continue to deliver outsized returns. In a study conducted by MassChallenge and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), women-founded businesses delivered more than two times as much revenue per dollar invested than their male counterparts. If women entrepreneurs received funding on par with their male colleagues, BCG estimates the global economy could experience up to a $5 trillion boost.
According to Gartner
The enterprise software market will experience the strongest growth in 2019, reaching $457 billion, up 9% from $419 billion in 2018. Investing in women-led enterprise companies is essential to economic growth and to closing the gender funding gap.
As a firm with a 50-year history of people-first investing, we are always looking for new ways to discover bold entrepreneurs. We are thrilled to partner with M12 and Pivotal Ventures on this innovative Female Founders Competition, through which we will find and invest in women creating built-to-last enterprise companies.
In addition to providing funding, we plan to share our playbook with competition winners on how to accelerate their journey from idea to iconic company.
Melinda Gates, Philanthropist and Founder of Pivotal Ventures, said
I am delighted to partner with M12 and Mayfield on this important competition. Enterprise technology is shaping our world in countless ways, but it will never reach its full potential unless women and their ideas are equally represented within the field.
Submissions will be accepted from Oct. 17, 2019, to Dec. 15, 2019, and are open across Europe, India, Israel, Canada [excluding Quebec] and the United States. Companies will be eligible to apply if they have at least one female founder, have raised no more than $5 million in combined equity funding and/or debt loans upon date of application, and offer or intend to release a product, service or platform addressing a critical business problem for a global market.
A live finals pitch competition will take place March 18-19, 2020, with the announcement of winners to follow shortly thereafter. Two enterprise software startups will earn investment awards of $2 million each, and two deeptech startups innovating through substantial scientific and research advances will earn investment awards of $1 million each.
Reinforcing its commitment to foster the Indian startup ecosystem, Microsoft for Startups announced the launch of Highway to a Hundred Unicorns. As part of this initiative, Microsoft will engage with innovators and entrepreneurs through a series of outreach programs across Tier 2 cities. Microsoft will work closely with state governments to strengthen the startup ecosystems in each state. Organized in collaboration with the Industries Commissionerate and iNDEXTb, Government of Gujarat, more than 250 startups attended the first event at Gandhinagar.
The impetus on innovation and entrepreneurship in India is helping startups to stem from not just metropolitan hubs like Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore, but also other Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. However, some of the key challenges in scaling their businesses include lack of cutting-edge technology support and dearth of mentorship from ecosystem players. In a bid to address these challenges, Microsoft for Startups has launched Highway to a Hundred Unicorns, a series of events dedicated to enabling startups across Tier 2 cities.
Lathika Pai, Country Head, Microsoft for Startups – MENA and SAARC, said
There is a strong pool of ideas and talent beyond the well-known startup hubs of India. Through Highway to a Hundred Unicorns, we will reach out to startups in Tier 2 cities and support them to achieve scale at their place of origin. Our tech expertise and experience of engaging with some of the most successful Indian startups will help innovators across the breadth of the country become enterprise ready and scale their operations in India and globally.
Startups attending the events will receive guidance and mentorship through technology workshops on subjects like Azure, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Identified top startups in the Emerge 10-Gujarat will receive Azure credits and select startups will also be invited to pitch for access to the Microsoft ScaleUp program.
The Microsoft ScaleUp program supports Seed or Series A funded B2B and select B2C tech-enabled startups to co-sell with Microsoft sales teams, get access to top tech VCs globally and receive mentorship from the startup ecosystem. Gaining access to large enterprises to co-create solutions or integrate product offerings and designing robust go-to-market strategies for their industry or customer segments are critical in the startup growth journey.
Microsoft for Startups enables startups to reach customers across the globe by leveraging the cloud marketplace, enterprise sales team and partner ecosystem. With its strong focus on Microsoft for Startups, an advanced technology platform, a rapidly growing partner ecosystem, and the venture fund M12, Microsoft is uniquely positioned to help startups embrace the next phase of growth and evolve from being market ready to enterprise ready.
Furthering its commitment towards building a digitally inclusive society, Microsoft announced a partnership with the Government of Telangana’s Women Entrepreneurs Hub [WE Hub] aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs and technologists in the region. This partnership will focus on designing and execution of learning activities and tools that will enable women to innovate and encourage girls to pursue a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math [STEM].
Together, they will also provide a platform for deeper and better networking opportunities for women in various technology fields. The partnership will provide the WE Hub communities access to the state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure at Microsoft Garage.
Underrepresentation of women in STEM fields has been an ongoing challenge in India. However, careers in science and technology are critical employment avenues today and, in the future, for driving innovation and social wellbeing. This initiative will help bridge that gap, as it will give women the opportunity to network and innovate alongside other women in STEM fields including transformational technologies like cloud and AI, empowering them to become an active part of the technology ecosystem in India.
Commenting on the partnership Deepthi Ravula, CEO WE Hubsaid
Digital technology is changing the lives of Indians across every section of society. Working with global technology leaders such as Microsoft has enabled us to bring a platform meant for growth to the doorstep of women in Telangana.
Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary to IT E & C Departmentsaid
This initiative will encourage women to actively engage in science and technology and contribute to the field not just with the state but also the nation.
As our engagement with technology increases, we will require more talent with advanced skillsets that are very different from what exist now. Empowering women to actively be part of this transformation is integral to the skilling revolution taking root in India.
With the right technology infrastructure, institutional support, exposure and training, we can help them shape and build the India of tomorrow.
Microsoft is committed to empower youth in India by helping build skills, providing access to technology, and giving them tools to support their learning. This collaboration is an extension of that effort, where both organisations will leverage each other’s strengths and assist women access more opportunities both as jobseekers and entrepreneurs.
Anthill Ventures, an investment and Speed Scaling platform for early growth stage startups, in partnership with HealthCare Global Enterprises Limited [HCG], the largest provider of cancer care in India, announced that it has shortlisted six start-ups for Lumos Health. Lumos Healthis a Market Access Program focused on scaling technology start-ups in Healthcare and Life Sciences, powered by Anthill Ventures & HCG.
The program is for 12 months and had launched its call-for-applications during late last year. It is designed to help startups focused on emerging technologies in Healthcare and Life Sciences, accelerate their business growth by providing them support and mentorship. Lumos Health will help the selected startups to raise investments, provide assistance with mentoring and regulatory approvals, increase their customer base and generate more revenues. A cohort of six start-ups that brings in exciting solutions for healthcare and life sciences has been selected out of over 120 applications received from across the world.
Speaking on the occasion, Prasad Vanga, Founder & CEO of Anthill Ventures said
There is tremendous growth of emerging technologies in the healthcare and life sciences industry globally, that have a huge potential to disrupt the space. We are thrilled to work with these start-ups – Alixir, AyuRythm, BiMedis, C-Test Medicals, Kronikare, and Raybaby. We will scale them with speed to the global markets as some of them will work on real use cases, and deploy their products in real client engagements through our tailored market access program.
Lumos Health is focused on scouting startups in the verticals of Oncology, Fertility, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Research & Diagnostics. The six selected startups have the potential to enhance the healthcare & life sciences innovation ecosystem in India. The entrepreneurs have developed solutions using Key Technologies such as Image-Based Pathology, Mobile Health, Artificial Intelligence [AI], Early Detection of Cancers, Easy wound assessments.
Panel discussion organised at the launch of Lumos Health program by HCG and Anthill Ventures
Speaking at the launch event, Dr B.S. Ajaikumar, Chairman & CEO, HCG Enterprise Limited said
Today technology has become a crucial part of healthcare. There is an advent of various innovations to bring about better outcomes in healthcare, particularly in fields like cancer, diabetes and other wellness programs.
HCG is looking at being at the forefront of bringing new disruptive technologies. To encourage this, we have partnered with Anthill to give an opportunity to the young minds of India and across the globe to come up with their proposals. I sincerely hope that our shared enthusiasm and passion for working in the healthcare segment will result in a grand success for everyone involved.
Anjali Ajaikumar, Program Director, Lumos Health & Vice President – Strategy & Quality, HCG Enterprise Limited, said
HCG and Anthill’s combined experience and history of fast growth makes this partnership ideal for healthcare start-ups to leverage upon. Under the Lumos Program, start-ups will enhance their product, have impactful interactions with our 30+ partner companies in both the local and global network and see how their company is making a difference in the quality of health and patient care.
I am excited that Lumos is paving the way for start-ups to make a significant impact in the future of how healthcare will be delivered.
This cohort of the latest generation of healthcare & life sciences startups will benefit from
Smart Capital through Anthill Venture Fund and investor ecosystem.
Access to diverse customer network through partnerships with corporates, hospitals, NGOs, various government bodies and foreign embassies.
Access to extensive R&D facilities at HCG.
Opportunity to work and scale up under the aegis of Dr B.S. Ajaikumar and other renowned clinicians of HCG. Startups selected through this program will work with subject matter experts, mentors, and coaches from both Anthill Ventures and HCG, to collaborate and enhance their solution.
Selected from 120 applications, 20 startups presented to a jury comprising of subject matter experts from HCG, Anthill Ventures, and external industry members for the shortlisting process. The participants were reviewed based on the quality of technology solution, product/solution readiness, and growth potential.
A panel discussion was organised during the launch of Lumos Health program by HCG and Anthill Ventures on how to scale up the healthcare delivery ecosystem collaborating with start-ups. which was moderated by Dr BS Ajaikumar, Chairman and CEO, Healthcare Global Enterprise. Present at the discussion was Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Dept. of ITBT, Government of Karnataka, Shantanu Ghosh, Ex Business Leader and CFO, General Electric, Genpact and Unilever, Krishnakumar Shankarnarayan, Executive Director, PWC Consulting Service, Naveen Kumar S, VP – Research and Innovation, Altran and Dr. Ramesh Byrapaneni, Managing Director, Endrya Partners.
Chosen startups for the program
Alixir – Alixir [HQ – Australia] aims to replace the reliance on radiologists with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system that scans digital mammographs and detects breast cancer. AI system provides an instant report with 96% sensitivity and 95% specificity. Accuracy achieved through usage of ‘gold standard data’ i.e. biopsies and diagnoses from surgeons.
Value proposition – Brings in value for Radiologists, Patients, Doctors, caregivers and the entire hospital system
AyuRythm – AyuRythm [HQ – India] is the world’s first application that can detect the age-old and renowned Naadi Pariksha [Pulse diagnosis], via a smartphone camera which integrates pulse detection technology and Ayurveda. It then uses Artificial Intelligence [AI] algorithm to recommend proactive solutions for the underlying causes and treatments of the ailments and stress-related issues.
Value proposition – Brings in value for Ayurvedic and alternate medicine users, as well as enthusiasts interested in natural fitness.
BiMedis – BiMedis [HQ – Ukraine] is an international medical equipment trading platform where medical devices buyers, sellers and service providers from all over the world can come together and communicate and close their deals in a professional environment. Unlike some of the marketplace aggregators BiMedis doesn’t charge a sales commission instead runs on ad revenue.
Value proposition – Brings in value for equipment manufacturers, hospitals, clinics, doctors and other service providers.
C-Test Medicals – C-Test Medicals [HQ: India] designs and manufactures a ‘Sampling’ tool which collects cells from the tissue in very painless fashion without any bleeding, needles, sutures and anti-biotics. It is the first in the market to provide a sampling tool to collect cells from third layer of epidermis [to detect oral cancers at an early stage].
Value Proposition – Brings in value for Hospitals, Clinics, Dentists, ENTs, Nurses, Government programs and service providers in rural areas who don’t have access to healthcare facility.
Kronikare – Kronikare [HQ – Singapore] offers a mobile application along with a hardware device that uses computer vision, thermal imaging and laser for Wound & Tissue Analysis, Detecting Complication and Preventive Care. It is one of the few companies to use Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence [AI] to understand tissue damage, assess wounds and predict complication against traditional manual inspection & caregivers’ guess work.
Value Proposition – Brings in value for hospitals, caregivers, patients with quicker and accurate assessments of chronic wounds
Raybaby – Raybaby [HQ – US] is a non-wearable sleep and breathing monitor, choosing breathing as one of the most important vital signs to track. It combines radar sensor with Artificial Intelligence [AI] powered platform to create intelligent and accurate baby monitor. It’s incredibly child-friendly design fits easily in a child’s nursery.
Value Proposition – Brings in value for parents, childcare centers, caregivers, baby
About Lumos Health
Lumos Health is a 12-month programme designed for Health Tech start-ups with disruptive solutions and technologies within the core businesses of HCG which include oncology, fertility, precision medicine, genomics, research and diagnostics, as well as emerging areas across the healthcare ecosystem. The programme is designed to help selected startups scale with speed by securing industry connections, technology mentoring, regulatory approvals, business growth and access to smart capital.
The programme enables its startups to secure product review and readiness, work on real use cases and deploy their products and solutions in real client engagements. Selected startups have the opportunity to raise funding from Anthill Ventures and their associated investor ecosystem.
The Indian startup ecosystem has boomed at an unprecedented rate in the past decade. The country is now being reckoned as the third largest startup economy in the world, after the UK and the US. Such statistics often fail to convey the complete story. In this case, though the numbers tell an impressive saga, they do not tell us the number of failed startups and broken dreams. A report by IBM Institute for Business Value and Oxford Economics found that 90% of Indian startups fail within the first five years.
On a closer look, the primary reasons for this are the lack of understanding of the compliance, various socio-economic hindrances and the one which stands out above the rest – lack of early-stage startup accelerators. While the number of accelerators in the Indian market has significantly hiked since 2014, the ones that cater to early-stage startups are significantly lower.
While the number of startups and startup accelerators are witnessing a significant jump, a majority of both just cater to the tech industry. Startup industry has now become synonymous to that of the tech industry.
Breaking the industry myths, Viridian Accelerator Centre [V@C], formerly known as Espark-Viridian, has accelerated more than 300 startups across various sectors with a success rate of 86%*. Startups accelerated vary from idea-stage to ones that had their revenue system streamlined. Contrary to industry belief, V@C also observed that there is a significant rise of startups in the unconventional sectors. A large number of startups that were accelerated belonged to the education and agriculture sector. Innovative ideas from such sectors often miss out on the traction they deserve following the lack of initial guidance from an accelerator.
Success of a startup in today’s time is gauged by the amount of funding it raises. Nasscom’s Startup Report’ 2017 suggests that around 20-25% of Indian startups end up shutting down after receiving the early stage funding. This can be primarily attributed to two things – 1. Dilution of equity which prioritizes expectations of the investors to drive revenue rather than building on the idea and 2. The inexperience of new entrepreneurs to understand how to use the raised funds, or for that matter, to know whether they even require funding at an early stage.
V@C believes that the passion behind an idea is more important than anything else in order to lay the basic foundation of a startup and hence, it does not take any equity from a startup to accelerate like other startups. This gives the founding team the drive to work on their idea and understand the complete dynamics of entrepreneurship rather than concentrating on raising funds.
Viridian Ventures, a venture catalyst in the startup and SME space with more than 250 professionals across the development, manufacturing, investment management and advisory functions instituted Espark-Viridian [now V@C] in association with Entrepreneurial Spark, UK. The non-profit accelerator has been pushing the idea of entrepreneurship in India and helping young entrepreneurs to believe and pursue their dreams.
V@C has been promoting the spark of entrepreneurship throughout its journey with innovative competitions such as Big B – a startup idea competition catering to young aspiring entrepreneurs, WE – a mentoring session for women entrepreneurs, Case In Point – a case study competition to give the aspiring entrepreneurs an understanding of real problems that startups face. The more V@C interacted with young aspiring entrepreneurs, the more it felt the need to connect with its target audience. Learning from the insights Espark-Viridian rebranded itself to V@C which resonates more with young entrepreneurial minds.
*Success rate = number of startups with a prototype + number of startups operational / total number of startups x 100
India’s startup ecosystem has the potential to innovate, excel and grow at a global scale by adopting technologies such as Artificial Intelligence [AI] and Software as a Service [SaaS] models in their operations. At the recently concluded India Internet Day, Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India spoke about the Indian startup ecosystem – opportunities, challenges and the road ahead; in a fireside chat with Rajan Anandan, President, TiE which revolved around how emerging technologies such as SaaS and AI are the necessary enablers for the ecosystem.
Highlighting the role of emerging technologies in the growth of startup ecosystem, Anant stated that to further scale up, companies must constantly work towards bringing together people, data and processes to gain competitive advantage. Listing out opportunities that Indian market presents, the dialogue exchanged views on the importance of having a trusted partner who can match the tech intensity of a startup and give them freedom to innovate with confidence.
Underlying opportunities
Diversity in workforce and increasing digital presence to benefit the ecosystem
Besides funding, young startups can benefit from the experience and knowledge of Angel Investors
India’s true value is in the bottom of the pyramid of small and medium enterprises [SMEs]
AI’s role in driving growth: AI is real now – In the past 2~3 years, AI has become a big thing where ABC – Analytics, Big Data and Cloud have come together. The first wave is already happening in healthcare and fintech domains.
Challenges
Taxes and biases impacting the ecosystem
Lack of a conducive policy environment
Road Ahead
Corporates are significantly investing in SMBs due to their potential
Growth of startups is not in the consumer models but is in the SaaS models
US, China and India are the 3 countries that have advance talent for the startup ecosystem
With SaaS holding the largest segment of the cloud market and its revenue expected to hit USD 85.1 billion worldwide in 2019, growing at 17.8% compared to 2019 according to Gartner, Indian SaaS landscape is expected to evolve much faster. Therefore, enterprises today must look at creating a robust product at an affordable price-point and must continuously take customer feedback to make it better.
Tech partners on the other hand must handhold the startups and help them – Prepare – as per market conditions to align with customer needs, Market– driving awareness for your solutions to Sell– last phase, selling to end-user in association with the team, their solutions.
Indian market offers immense opportunities as sectors including healthcare, fintech, e-commerce, logistics can benefit immensely if AI is used in a right manner. With the entire country moving towards a becoming a digital economy, the e-governance and citizen services are also implementing emerging technologies to help benefit the society.
Microsoft has been working with various state and central governments as well as companies across sectors to help leverage new technologies for the benefit of all. We are enabling startups to evolve through initiatives such as ScaleUp and M12. Several startups are already reaping benefits in the country, as the initiative helps provide cutting edge technology to startups and GTM strategies within Microsoft channels and outside.
Founded in 2003, Conquest has grown into an outstanding platform for startups, enabling more than 1000 startups to succeed every year. Conquest has constantly evolved and adapted to the ever-changing needs of the startup ecosystem to emerge as India’s first ever student-run startup launchpad.
Assimilating learnings from various revamped models and experiences from the ecosystem, Conquest 2019 will provide the top 10 most exciting startups of India with 6 weeks of online mentoring from some of the best entrepreneurs and field experts out there. This will be followed by a 10-day Accelerator Program in Bengaluru consisting of investment workshops by firms like Accel Partners and Blume Ventures, mentoring sessions by successful founders and pitching to seed stage investors. With promising investment opportunities, media coverage and a prize money of Rs. 5 Lakhs on the line, Conquest is on a mission to empower founders and assist creation.
This year, Conquest has tied up with Venture Catalyst as an Investment Partner, which has set aside a fund of INR 20 Crores exclusively for Conquest startups. With investors like Dev Khare from Lightspeed, Shanti Mohan from LetsVenture, Sanjay Nath from Blume and Barath Shankar from Accel, coupled with mentors like Suvonil Chatterjee from Ola Cabs, Abhishek Nayak from Accel and Anuj Rathi from Swiggy, Conquest serves as a networking paradise for every startup out there.
In the past, Conquest has had success stories like SocialCops, which has received acclaim from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has also been recognized as the Most Impactful Startup of 2017 by YourStory. Thinkerbell Labs, the winner of Conquest 2016, aims to bring Braille within the reach of visually-impaired people and has been funded by IAN and Anand Mahindra. XWards and Pencilton, the two finalist startups of Conquest 2018, have already expanded to multiple cities after receiving support from the expansive network.
We are thrilled to announce that Himanshu Sheth Blog is a Digital Media Partner of Conquest 2019. You can find more information about the digital media partnershere.
In those magical moments of giving birth to innovation, we stand by the crazy ones, for they are the ones pushing the human race forward by rejecting the status quo and building the future. Creation, with all its purity and nobility, is a mammoth task, and startups don’t need to rediscover the wheel every time.
At Conquest, our goal is to help startups find that one missing piece, tie that one loose end or just connect the existing dots so that they can leave their mark on the world. We have just the right people, who have done it all, to help you do it.
A Glimpse of Conquest 2019
With something in store for every founder, Conquest has become a leader in India’s startup ecosystem with multiple initiatives for all stakeholders in the industry.
Accelerator Program – With a goal to help the best founders build great businesses, Conquest provides a 10-day long accelerator program in Bengaluru. Fueled by the belief that multiple founders tackling similar problems in close proximity would lead to efficient solutions, the program features a unique co-living and co-working experience. Every day has something new in store for the startups, including investment workshops, fundraising pitches and mentoring by successful founders.
Online Mentorship Program – Conquest connects the Top 10 Startups with industry stalwarts from all over the country, enabling them to grow remotely while they continue to learn and work.
Grand Finale – The Grand Finale serves as the perfect platform for the Top 10 startups to pitch before Top Investors and Media houses for a prize money of INR 5 Lakhs.
Conquest Mentoring Sessions – Top 50 shortlisted startups are invited to attend a day-long multi-city mentoring session in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai with mentors from various domains such as Product Management, Customer Acquisition, and Fundraising.
Conquest Community – An initiative to build a strong and long-lasting community by bringing together stakeholder from all editions – startup founders, mentors, investors, developers and media representatives, this is the perfect platform to make the most of network synergies.
Conquest Academy – A one-stop shop of localized content for Indian startups. Whether you need help in acquiring your first 100 customers or in designing the perfect UI for your app, Conquest Academy ensures that you don’t have to go through tons of foreign resources.
Why should your startup register for Conquest?
Conquest has created the perfect high growth environment for every founder trying to build a great company. Be it an online word with a mentor, a casual chat with a founder, an intense discussion with an investor, a pitch to investment partners or just the cash prize, Conquest will make sure that you get exactly what you need, and much more. With numerous networking opportunities lined up, all you need to do is grab them as you take your startup to the next level.
Conquest has opened registrations, embark on your journey here.
