91springboard engages and invests in ventures at the seed and early stage - where our knowledge, access to networks and resources can add significant value. We have a sector agnostic approach towards investing though we restrict to sectors we understand well and have a good sense of the challenges and opportunities in target markets. Geographically, we only focus on Indian founders. They may be building for Indian market and / or Global markets.
91springboard currently has 18+ active companies in its portfolio across multiple sectors.
We evaluate investment opportunities based on -
- SKILLED and highly committed FOUNDING TEAM - by far and away, the most important factor
- GREAT PRODUCT - A solution to a real pain point that hasn't been solved before or the customers can't do without.
- STRONG focus on technical and commercial innovation
- Preferably has an in-market product with early revenue, in addition to a track for an attractive unit-economics
- GROWTH PLAN - Crisp understanding of the path to mitigating risks and resources needed, including money, to be able to reach a certain level of organisation growth. For eg, we would avoid investing in a startup which needs a lot of funding to grow unless there is a co-investor who has the ability to bring in significant capital in the future
We make investment decisions as a team by taking the investment opportunities and our thesis to our committee consisting of 91springboard founders and active co-investors. All approved deals are immediately sourced to our network of investors for further allocation. The investors can choose to opt-in on a deal by deal basis. We sometimes end up getting deals with shorter deadlines and limited allocation and in such cases, subscription to our co-investors is open on a sequential order of commitment.
The reason best entrepreneurs come to us for funding are:
- We have been immensely helpful to our existing portfolio startups. The other founders hear from them and value our presence on their cap tables
- We have a very large network due to our core business. We have been able to tap that to help our portfolio startups
- We have a strong network of co-investors and have been able to close funding rounds at a very fast pace, ensuring founders get time to focus on their business
- We are top tier partners for many companies. So, apart from funding, we are able to provide $100k+ of freebees like cloud credits etc. which is like a direct cash infusion for many of these startups
- We are also an Incubator supported by Atal Innovation Mission, Niti Ayog. We invest via funds provided by them. This allows us to open many doors and exposure opportunities for startups that we are funding
With a strong focus on fostering communities of like minded folks and entrepreneurs, our deal pipeline is sourced from -
- Early stage companies (present and alumni) accessing 91springboard hubs across all major Startup and Technology Hotspots in India.
- Entrepreneurs attending events & workshops at 91springboard and other avenues
- Startups participating in various support programs, both Proprietary and in partnership with various Corporates and Government Bodies
- Startup presented to us by our partner Angels / Funds who invite us (& our partner investors) as coinvestor(s) into the deals they are doing