Here's What Startups Need to Know to Get Funded by JSW Ventures JSW Ventures fund will invest about 100 Cr in early-stage tech and tech-enabled businesses and has so far invested into Overcart and Purplle.
By Sneha Banerjee •
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JSW Ventures is part of the multi-billion dollar JSW Group with interests in steel, power, cement and infrastructure. The fund will invest about 100 Cr in early-stage tech and tech-enabled businesses and has so far invested into Overcart and Purplle.
Overcart provides an alternative source of high quality unboxed & refurbished products to end-users by collating unsellable inventory stuck across the supply chain, whereas Purplle is an online platform providing beauty products and services.
In an interview to Entrepreneur Media, Gaurav Sachdeva, Managing Partner at JSW Ventures, spoke about what the key factors that the fund looks at before taking the final call.
According to Gaurav, the fund mainly looks for three things -
- Entrepreneurial team with a strong ability to solve problems.
- Capital efficiency.
- Business models that leverage technology.
Tech and tech-enabled businesses across education, healthcare, fin-tech, consumer, enterprise software and SaaS, are the domains the fund intends to focus on.
Amid funding winter and slowdown, companies like Overcart and other niche players have managed to raise funds. Talking about what are the main things are required for startups to get funded, Gaurav said, "A business catering to an untended need led by an execution-focused team will continue to attract capital irrespective of the market sentiments. A rule of thumb for us is: Product businesses with monetisation capability; enterprise businesses with razor sharp focus on customer segments, pricing and distribution; marketplaces with significant customer repeat and seller retention are key characteristics that we like."
An Ideal startup pitch
The most important aspect that helps entrepreneurs get the required attention from investors is an "perfect pitch." Gaurav said that in an early stage pitch, demonstration of the team's vision and an ability to execute is critical. "In a late stage pitch, along with the above, demonstration of proven business model and clear communication of the scale-up strategy is important. In either case, the presence of a viable monetization strategy can help differentiate the pitch further," he added.
