Everyone needs support. Support is, in fact, one of the primal needs of all beings and entities that exist. From creeper plants that grow with the help of sticks and poles to human beings who have perfected their support systems over thousands of years for the ideal growth environment, a significant support push is needed for all sorts of existence. In this light, the modern drivers of business and entrepreneurship – start-ups – are no exception when it comes to needing support and aid – support for taking off from the ground to hitting markets with the aims of impacting people’s lives.
And providing this backbone of support is where the role of venture capital players becomes significant. Venture capital is the money invested in small businesses or those that exist as an initial stage start-up but have enormous potential to grow. The people who fund this money are known as venture capitalists. This story is about a new age venture capital firm, an accelerator and an angel network for modern era start-ups that is bringing new methods to the segment; this is the story of Meteor Venture.
About Meteor Venture
Meteor Venture is a seed fund and incubation firm focused on tech start-ups in India and South Asia. It empowers entrepreneurs through its range of accelerator programs such as Raise Capital, Idea to Product, Grow Your Business and Financial Coach.
But before delving into the functions of this venture firm and the significance of its programmes, let’s delve into the story behind its making. The highly young venture capital and start-up incubation firm found its start when Mr. Arpit Chundawat, Co-founder of Meteor Venture, along with his other two co-founders – Ms. Sonal Agarwal and Mr. Vipin Verma- began the journey to create an accelerator and investor network that works with disruptive start-ups across various sectors and geographies.
Mr. Chundawat has often described his professional journey as one that is relatively unusual and unconventional. He has been drawn towards purpose-driven projects that have exposed him to new and extensive experiences, and aided him in launching and scaling P&Ls of various business models. His stint includes running a joint venture in Bali, Indonesia called Dragoon Yachts. He sold the venture last year due to COVID induced challenges, and has since moved on to a marketplace model.
After this move of Mr. Chundawat, Meteor Venture found life with the help, entrepreneurial efforts, and expertise of co-founders Sonal Agarwal and Vipin Verma. Ms. Sonal has been around and working in the start-up community for over a decade now. She is a veteran finance official who has worked for Unicorns such as OYO and has a demonstrated background in financing unique business ideas and projects.
Mr. Vipin Verma, who is considered as one of the pioneers of affiliate marketing in India, has perfected the art to generate vetted and solid leads for businesses and is a key driving force at Meteor Venture. Since its incorporation, Meteor Venture has provided national and international start-ups access to better technology, talent, mentors, customers, corporations and investors.
Meteor Venture – Vision for an Innovative Start-up Space
While the start-up space in India has been on an upward trajectory for quite some time now, the country still has a higher rate of start-up failures than many other economically similar nations. A 2018 report by IBM Institute for Business Value and Oxford Economics found that 90 per cent of Indian start-ups crumble and fail within the first five years, primarily due to the lack of innovation and scalable models.
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Meteor Venture aims to change the failing nature of a majority of start-ups as it strives to empower an ecosystem hungry for innovation.
Regarding this issue, company founders have often outlined that while not all start-ups become Unicorns, mentors can set many of them on the path to earning decent profits, given that they are incubated and appropriately guided. Meteor Venture, as a venture firm, is set on enabling and empowering an ecosystem driven by budding entrepreneurs and start-ups which are hungry for innovation.
It aims to achieve these goals by driving start-ups to scale up faster and create business value. By elevating innovation for companies and transforming their business models for the profitable stakes, it provides growth hack marketing and business development services that keep the businesses leagues ahead of the competition.
Mentoring Purpose-Driven Start-ups by Meteor Venture
Meteor Venture was founded in 2020 and is based out of Gurugram, Haryana. The firm provides four programmes for start-ups who seek help and support in different areas of their business journey.
It is well known that a start-up has to cover an arduous journey and spend a considerable amount of time perfecting the basics and dotting all the I’s before reaching a somewhat stable mode. On similar lines, Meteor Venture conducted deep research using their own expertise in the field, and came up with programs that specifically suit the needs of developing and growing start-ups.
This is a look into Meteor Venture’s research-based programmes.
Raise Capital
The Rise Capital programme helps start-ups raise the money needed for their business most efficiently by dedicating a ‘seasoned team’ to the cause. The firm ensures everything – from pitch deck perfection, grooming, and being investor-ready for the journey, all nuances are paid heed to. The group includes industry experts who contact angel investors and venture capitalists for the specific needs of companies, be it debt equity, or venture debt fund, among others.
Grow Your Business
Meteor Venture’s growth and scaling programme – Grow Your Business – helps start-ups acquire new customers at a fraction of the cost. It also opens gates for start-ups to enter new markets, increase sales and revenues, reach new customers, and accelerate business growth. The firm offers affiliate marketing through its large network, digital growth hack, and B2B alliances- all at an affordable cost.
Idea to Product
Its ‘Idea to Product’ programme helps first-time entrepreneurs start their businesses and build their products efficiently. It also helps them in creating and improving pitch decks, business plans, and financial forecasts. The firm’s in-house team of coders, developers, and go-to-market experts ensure the best output at all stages.
Financial Coach
In the “Financial Coach” programme, Meteor Venture works closely with tech-based start-ups and companies to understand and formulate specific action plans. Accelerating growth is key to catching investors and entrepreneurs’ interest and taking the business to the next level. The company pledges to help manage cash flow, keep investors happy, and create a strong base of efficiencies in the operations and business processes.
These programs help start-ups at different stages – from creating an MVP to acquiring new customers to increasing overall revenue, giving them financial mentorship and actionable resources. Meteor Venture helps start-ups cover various aspects from developing business plans to financial advisory, administrative work, marketing, etc. Having an intensive network, the firm also helps revenue-generating start-ups find new partners and enables their growth to new highs.
Meteor Venture’s Growth Trajectory
Meteor Venture empowers start-ups to scale faster and create business value. The following numbers speak for themselves.
14 Start-ups Impacted
Rs. 11 crore Funding raised
21 Exclusive Tie-ups
19758 Vetted Leads Generated
Collaborating With Start-ups, how does Meteor Venture do it?
Meteor Venture nurtures innovation through the guidance of mentors and in-house growth hackers who are trusted industry leaders. The firm forms collaborations with various start-ups in a seemingly organic manner as each onboarding is ‘unique’ for the company’s portfolio, depending upon the customer needs and requirements.
The collaboration process, which is different for start-ups looking for help and investors looking to invest via the ‘Submit Your Pitch’ and ‘Invest with Us’ portals, respectively, is as easy as it gets.
The ‘Meteor Venture – Submit Your Pitch’ portal uses the simple Google Form for start-ups to sign up and make the initial pitch details for the firm to work on. The form asks basic details like the start-up name, website, person’s name and role, a brief about the start-up in less than 20 words, what problem they are solving, and how their solution is unique, among other questions. This process takes 10 minutes to finish, and then the founding members of Meteor Venture analyse it and arrange for an introductory call.
The entire process is seamless, rapid and easy to comply with for start-ups. The ‘Meteor Venture: Investor Form’ operates on a similar method and asks basic details from potential investors about their background and interest in collaborating with Meteor Venture.
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Meteor Venture helps start-ups become investor-ready and helps them get funded through their extensive network of angel investors/VCs.
At Meteor Venture, support programmes are set up for each start-up expressly. Since a majority of start-ups strive to raise capital, the firm helps start-ups with evaluation and product validation of their products in the market, examining customer base and looking into revenue generation processes. They add the start-up with promising reports to their Raise Capital programme. If the results are not conclusive to growth parameters, they move the start-up into the Grow Your Start-up programme, where they further mentor the start-up and give them free leads to monitor their growth.
As per its website, following are the working strategies and action plan of Meteor Venture for easing the lift-off of new ideas and start-ups from the ground.
Curated Playbooks: Meteor Venture assists businesses to accelerate their entrepreneurial journey with tailor-made playbooks.
Market Access: It provides a solid platform and growth hack services for entrepreneurs to increase turnover and attract investments.
Networking Opportunities: The vast network of Meteor Venture connects start-ups with distinguished industry leaders, investors, partners and service providers.
Idea-To-Product: The firm and its team help businesses and ideas in building a practical go-to business plan, validating the concept, building the MVP, and charting the path to scalability.
Meteor Venture’s Recent Undertakings and Support for Start-ups
In recent times, Meteor Venture has actively expanded its portfolio and horizon to impact the Indian start-up space. It has recently partnered with HSBC and the Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (WICCI) Council to empower women entrepreneurs. Meteor Venture has helped raise funds for various start-ups, including Classroom, Ezyschooling and various other new entrepreneurial projects.
Meteor Venture is also creating numerous unique and market-changing ideas such as an Uber-like service for ambulances, Cashback websites and many more such innovative plans for its portfolio start-ups to bank upon. It has helped its start-ups scale 10x in revenue through the growth hack services, which are a great value add for new businesses. They offer a 35% discount to all registered start-ups.
Future Plans
As the overall entrepreneurial graph seems to be going up in a seemingly post-COVID world, venture capital firms and incubators like Meteor Venture will have jam-packed business days shortly. As goes with an expanding business, Meteor Venture also has expansive plans for the firm’s future. The company is aiming to add fresh members to its business development and marketing teams. The trio- of co-founders need all the hands on-board for catering to the growing network of start-ups that seek their support.
As for the investors on its board, Meteor Venture is open to having new faces and industry experts, investors and mentors to guide the new businesses. According to information available in the public domain, Meteor Venture has had 25% foreign investors and 75% Indian investors connected to them.
The future of this online incubator, accelerator, and service provider for early-stage start-ups looks bright, and the firm is on a path of steady growth. With some of the best prospective start-ups in key segments already in its work portfolio, the company will have a busy future with progressive results and a distinctive impact on the start-up space of India.
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