"Kuberan's House has the scope to connect startups to over a billion viewers across the globe," says Anirudh A Damani of Artha Venture Fund

Kuberan's House is a first and one-of-its-kind platform for entrepreneurs in India to showcase innovative startup ideas and get investments from the best panel of investors and venture capitalists. A reality television show featuring Sonu Sood, it opens new ways of getting an idea funded through engaging primetime content. Aspiring entrepreneurs get a chance to be featured in one of the largest reality shows and receive various perks, along with an investment of up to Rs 10 crore.

Embodying the spirit of the ‘Make in India’ movement, the platform is designed to empower people from the nook and corner of the country, including entrepreneurs from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. This platform aims to help establish more startups, and in turn, provide more employment opportunities in India. Sonu Sood is the brand ambassador, host and Sutradhar between the entrepreneurs and investors, and will also play a major role in the negotiation process.

To ensure maximum participation from the startup community, the last date of application has been extended to February 15, 2021, with no further extension. If you have a game-changing idea that you wish to turn into reality, log onto www.kuberanshouse.com and apply.

Read more here: Have a business idea? Kuberan’s House can change your life with funding up to Rs 10 crore

The first Kubera: An influencer in the startup world

At Kuberan's House, participants get the opportunity to pitch to India's most prominent, proactive and sector-agnostic investors from the startup venture community. Known as Kuberas, they will evaluate ideas, negotiate and close an investment deal that is anywhere from Rs 10 lakhs to Rs 10 crore. The platform has onboarded 10 Kuberas, with four being featured per episode. Apart from investing, they bring to the table their expertise, mentorship and close-knitted network and ecosystem to empower some of India’s most promising early-stage startups.

Kuberan's House has revealed the first Kubera - Anirudh A Damani, Managing Partner, Artha Venture Fund, who is presently counted as one of the most sought after investors in the Indian startup space today.

Being a part of the global group of mentors and advisors, he works with the sole aim to provide the required support, connections, and guidance to the founders of early-stage startups. He is an influencer in the startup and venture capitalist space and has brought about a change in the lives of over 35,000 followers on social media through his expertise and experiences.

Along with blogging on his website, Anirudh also hosts a weekly live show and podcast on his Instagram handle where he shares his learnings about the startup ecosystem. Artha Venture Fund has invested in more than 85 early-stage companies that span across India, the US and Israel, with notable names such as Oyo, Purplle, Tala, and Coutloot.

"The unique thought process and precise structure with which Kuberan's House was shortlisting startups piqued my interest. Their approach to begin with an acceleration program where the founders would get groomed, their pitches refined to meet investor expectations, and the investors get to observe the founders for a few weeks before the final pitch impressed me. The intriguing concept, coupled with the vision of the show's founders, prompted an immediate ‘yes’ from me," says Anirudh.

On what piques an investor’s curiosity

As revenue-stage startup investors, Artha Venture Fund concentrates its efforts on themes that have the potential to become mainstream in the next five to seven years. "We focus on D2C companies and in the B2B space, especially those that act as ‘enablers’ for the consumer ecosystem – point-of-sale loans companies, SaaS solutions, and more. Another sleeping giant that piqued our interest is the gaming sector for the masses. The deepening penetration of internet services has led to 760+ million interest subscribers, a massive pot of gold for Indian gaming companies," says Anirudh.

The primary criteria for him to assess is if the business is solving a "need-to-solve" problem or a "good-to-solve" problem. If the analysis indicates the former, then it catches his interest to invest in the idea. Secondly, the focus on positive unit economics, i.e., delivering gross profits, is crucial. And lastly, one of the most important aspects to assess is the founders' background, motivation, alignment and chemistry, as this is a long-term engagement.

On what kind of winning ideas he has in mind for the Rs 10 crore, Anirudh says that a fintech idea that is close to his heart is a digital debt collection platform for the fintech space. "India's lending space will explode in this decade, but each company will not have the expertise or the bandwidth to develop robust collection processes. Most would prefer to outsource that process, which is where I see a substantial business opportunity," he says.

Secondly, he adds, the proliferation of B2C brands would mean that the number of consumer complaints is also bound to increase. This common problem creates a lucrative opportunity for a startup to offer consumers a mechanism to reach to brands to resolve their grievances and provide support to escalate it to the consumer courts, where the grievance resolution rate exceeds 90 percent.

One other Idea that intrigues him would be a platform that rates companies based on how they paid their vendors and suppliers. "There is concrete evidence that corporates utilise MSMEs as working capital options, purposely delaying payment to ease their own payment cycles. It leads to a domino effect that clogs up the entire value chain. It is believed the profit margins of MSMEs would increase by 25 percent if they got paid on time. Therefore, if there were scores given to companies based on how quickly they paid their suppliers, it would guide the suppliers on pricing their contracts with them, i.e., the lower the score, the higher the margins. It could force companies to pay their suppliers on time to get the best prices – a massive business opportunity."

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for startups

Apart from getting directly connected to VCs, Anirudh says that visibility and positioning are some of the most crucial factors that make an emerging startup successful, and since Kuberan's House is a national platform, the sheer visibility and recognition from being associated with the show can catapult a fledgling brand to great heights. "Kuberan's House has the scope to connect startups to over a billion viewers across the globe, when you consider the OTT opportunity," he says.

Anirudh believes in active venture investing, which has been a part of Artha Venture Fund’s DNA since the beginning. Besides providing the startups with strategic guidance, they help founders with business development which helps them scale their business. "I get involved with founders to develop their sales pitches, open doors for them, and help close deals in several cases. We have a reliable vast network spanning across the globe, and connect our founders with advisors or potential business partners at the appropriate time. And, given our investment history, we have deep ties to the investor community, and help our founders raise their follow-on rounds of capital when they are ready."

He adds, "As India's first revenue stage micro-VC fund, we believe in creating precedence beyond the conventional norms of funding. With the unique structure and due diligence, Kuberan's House is set to create ripples in the entertainment and business community, alike. Our ability to invest up to Rs 10 crore over three rounds would resonate with the show's participants. We look forward to actively working with the contenders and making Kuberan's House a household name."

Turn your business dreams into reality today

Kuberan's House is looking to connect with talented entrepreneurs from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, especially from unique sectors like Deep Tech, SAAS, Health Tech, to India's most proactive investors. Anirudh A Damani is one of the many investors who are going to be revealed in due course of time.

With the show having received an overwhelming response of 17,000 applications so far and to ensure more participation, the last date of application has been extended to February 15, 2021.

If you have an idea that could be a game-changer, don't miss out. All you need to do is log onto www.kuberanshouse.com and register.