The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a “Start-up” as a: noun, often attributive implying a fledgling business enterprise. A venture that is just birthing and needs support. There is nothing more a startup needs than encouragement and belief in their vision. The belief usually translates to people wanting to invest in their idea to transform it into a vision with scalable impact. Now what happens if you are a startup from a tier 2 or tier 3 city in India with dreams in your eyes and no knowledge about where to find an ecosystem to help you in your journey. You either reach out to friends, family, look up incubation hubs or continuously make endless pitch submissions to various platforms who like it or not, may not even respond to your submissions.
Throwback to 2017 when we were trying to come up with startup solutions out of Lucknow or Vizag, it seemed unachievable. The primary reason being, no one ever thought working from home worked. Even if they thought it did, it was always considered a level below being in a class 1 city. However, in this new age, times have given more power and access to smaller cities with the transcendental shift in mindset that great things can be accomplished anywhere with the right execution strategies. Today it is all about finding the right people who believe that you have the capabilities that you can deliver.
Now with the great startup evolution, there is a rise in people who are willing to take that risk on your venture. Those people who do not know you personally, but see tremendous mettle in your vision and purpose. As a tier 2 or 3 city startup with no access to people with all the great venture capital, where do you go? We came across this incredible platform called ah!ventures. ah!Ventures was started in 2010 with the vision of enabling people with ideas meet money. What makes this fundraising platform unique is the 4-level curation of mandates, accessibility of the founders, the professionalism of execution all leading to the valuable trust in their mission and purpose. For someone who’s seen their ease of approach and clarity of thought and execution on a day to day basis through the Vizag Startups community, we have come to believe in them because their actions always speak louder than words. Through regular sectoral insights, guidance in the form of webinars and the easy way of choosing investments, ah! Ventures provides an amazing platform to people with no access to formal Angel Investing systems a chance to invest and make their money grow along with providing light to the vision of so many entrepreneurs.
With end to end support, frequent feedback moments, grooming and guidance, they make people with ideas transform into full-fledged entrepreneurs. As startup-founders ourselves we know how much the motivation from a community like ah! Mentors helps us believe in our vision and keeps us motivated to continue pursuing the often hard path knowing that we have a community to fall back on. In addition to the mentorship, there also is a structured framework known as S3 which provides expert advice at startup-friendly rates.
A platform focussed on promoting Entrepreneurial spirit in the nooks and corners of the country by bringing investors from tier 2 and 3 cities to invest in curated mandates and to startups from these cities to get noticed by investors across the globe.
They also enable startup enthusiasts to become Venture Partners and create a rewarding profession for themselves while representing ah! Ventures regionally. Today ah! Ventures has 24 venture partners across 21 cities in India and they’re the network you need if you’re coming from India’s traditional small town. If you’re an investor looking for researched, well-bred startups, this is your spot to join hands with them and help build India’s next big unicorn.
Their platform has two formats to raise funds: Angel and High Tables/Closed Door. The Angel platform is a fully automated platform on email whereas High Tables is driven by offline showcases and closures. To know more please visit http://www.ahventures.in/
If you’re an early stage startup looking for the best connections in the country, all you need is to get signed up on the ah!ventures platform and the world of investment funding will be your oyster! Let’s make the best use of these resources and help spread the word, because you never know, the person in that little house next to you could be building aatmnirbhar bharat’s next big company.