A Founder-First VC Firm That Likes Bold Ideas BEENEXT's funding prospects for the coming year are optimistic as it continues to identify promising founders and their ground-breaking startup ideas.

India accounts for more than 50% of BEENEXT's investments, making it a sizable market. The venture capital firm's funding prospects for the coming year are optimistic as it continues to identify promising founders and their ground-breaking startup ideas.

"At BEENEXT, we always believe in investing in the founders' potential and the startup's positive effects on the industry or ecosystem in which it operates. We promote solutions and scalable business models that are driving innovation by investing in founders with great vision and resiliency," according to Chinmaya Saxena, Partner - Community Strategy, BEENEXT.

"B2B commerce, climatetech, spacetech, edutech, marketplaces, fintech, healthtech, agritech, and deeptech are a few of the areas where we actively continue to evaluate opportunities," Saxena continued.

Highs and lows are unavoidable since the market is constantly evolving. According to BEENEXT, it keeps in close contact with its founders to assist them in overcoming any unique difficulties that may emerge. "For instance, we advise being creative to lessen the burn if the firm has less than 18 months of runway and is still attempting to identify its Product Market Fit. Prepare for a hard reset with just the core staff and be ready for the worst-case scenario," advised Sexena.

But if the startup has already achieved Product Market Fit and has a longer runway than 18 months, the priority should be finding new funding as quickly as possible. "We advise doubling down on the primary product's monetisation while halting any new experiments and hires. Additionally, it is essential for these startups to provide a clear route to profitability, perhaps by securing longer revenue contracts or subscriptions," Sexena said.

On the other hand, if startups have less than 18 months of runway but have not found their Product Market Fit, efforts need to be on low-cost Product Market Fit discovery by reducing burn and preserving runway for as long as possible. "If the startup has achieved Product Market Fit and has more than 18 months of runway, then they need to prioritize profitability over growth by doubling down on channels that are working well and cutting down on low ROI experiments," emphasised Saxena.

Even while unit economics and profitability are significant elements, BEENEXT places more emphasis on entrepreneurs who have shown the potential for long-term success and value creation at the early stage. This is because the business model and the specific unit economics require time to completely materialise.

According to Saxena, the startup ecosystem around the world is still plagued by funding winter and other ecosystem shifts. While early-stage startups founded by passionate founders, particularly in India, a key region of concentration for BEENEXT, are less likely to be significantly impacted, this may continue to be a concern for growth-stage startups.

Stats:

Focus Areas: Climatetech, Spacetech, Edutech, B2B/B2C Ecommerce, Fintech, Healthtech, Agritech, Deeptech, D2C, AI/Data-Driven Technology, Logistics, etc.

Fund Size: 'Emerging Asia Fund' of USD 110 million or Rs 834 crore, which was launched in July 2020.

Ticket Size: USD 500,000 to USD 2-3 million