For every entrepreneur/start-up who want to take their idea/ innovation/ product/ service to the next level, raising funds becomes an important requirement that will ultimately define the success and sustainability of their enterprise. Keeping this in mind AIC-NMIMS organized its first workshop on October 26-27, 2018 focusing on “Essentials of Fund Raising for Entrepreneurs and Start-ups”.
The 2-day workshop focused on understanding some of the nuances of fund raising faced by entrepreneurs and start-ups. The Guest Speakers included some of the highly talented and experienced entrepreneur-turned-investors from the Industry and includes senior members of Venture Capital and Private Equity Firms, Founders/Co-Founders of successful Start-ups and Legal Advisors who have mentored several entrepreneurs to create valuable enterprises. The event was attended by about 40 participants which included incubatee Start-ups from AIC-NMIMS, Entrepreneurs from Mumbai and around and student entrepreneurs from NMIMS’s Chancellor’s Challenge competition.
Day 1 – 26th October, 2018
Prof. Chiitaranjan Bhattacharjee, Director, Centre for Executive Education, spoke on understand the importance of ‘Understanding Cash Flows in a Start-up” where he employed a simple video to deliver the role of cash flows in a early stage enterprise. Later Dr.Aniruddha Malpani, Founder and Director, Malpani Ventures presented a clear understanding on “What Entrepreneurs need to know about Angel Investors” and answered several queries of the participants. Bhaumik Sanghvi, Head, Operations Management, UE LIfe Sciences Inc, shared his entrepreneurial journey towards developing a hand held diagnostic device for breast cancer, raising funds, creating partnerships for marketing and distribution and taking the product to the global market.
Post lunch, Rishi Piparaiya, Angel Investor (Ex-Citi Group) and Author, presented the essential ingredients for “Writing an Investable Business Plan” which was followed by an interactive session with participants towards understanding the major features of a business idea that must be highlighted in a Business Plan. The day ended with an interactive session with Sandesh Kirkire, Angel Investor (Ex-Kotak Mahindra), where he described the various nuances of raising funds through Angel Investors.
Day 2 – 27th October, 2018
Started with a very informative interaction with Anand Desai, Managing Partner, DSK Legal, where he shared various scenarios in a Start-up that might require legal diligence and counselling. Participants asked a range of queries related to share holding patterns and company formation. Later Mandar Gadkari, Associate Partner, Valuations, BDO India, made a presentation on the various principles and techniques by which Start-ups could be valuated for raising funds and for diligence related processes. This was followed by a insightful presentation on the nuances of fund raising for Social Enterprises by Abhishek Shah, Engagement Manager, Intellecap.
Post lunch around the selected entrepreneur teams gave mock pitch presentations to a Jury team comprising Ajit Deshmukh, Managing Director, Equirus Capital; Manthan Shah, Senior Analyst, Matrix Ventures; Siddharth Arur, Associate Regional Representative (Asia), Developing World Markets and Tanay Paranjpe, Executive Director, Paranjape Builders. Certificates were distributed at the end of the session.
