[Funding alert] Entrepreneur First announces pre-seed investment in 8 Indian tech startups

Global talent investor Entrepreneur First (EF), on Thursday, announced a pre-seed investment of $440,000 in eight tech startups from its fourth cohort in India.

As part of the company’s Demo Day, EF introduced these eight innovative startups which employ new-age technologies such as machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and virtual reality (VR) to top early-stage investors in the country for their next round of funding.

Expertia

Despite hiring job boards being available today, recruitment is still a long and painful process. This is what Expertia solves through its ‘smart’ platform. As a platform-independent job and candidate recommendation engine for SMEs, it uses Deep Learning, Natural language processing (NLP), and Explainable AI to predict the right candidate for SMEs with 90 percent accuracy and at one-tenth of the cost.

NeuroPixel.AI

Neuropixe.AI is a deeptech startup focused on apparel cataloguing, which is one of the most repetitive processes that any fashion retailer/ecommerce platform undertakes on a daily basis. NeuroPixel.AI's proprietary DeepNet framework not just simplifies this process, but also makes it cost-effective.

Fello

Fello is a fintech startup that leverages its proprietary games to turn Gen-Z gamers into financial investors.  

Subconscious Compute

Subconscious Compute uses neural computing technology. The startup deploys proprietary, ultra-compact Edge AI models on resource-starved edge devices to deliver scalable multi-sensory intelligence that is 10x faster and 1000x cheaper than cloud AI-based solutions.

Immunito AI

Immunito AI is a life sciences (biotech) startup that leverages AI to revolutionise antibody discovery and therapeutics. Positioned to scale globally, their full-stack platform predicts the best therapeutic antibody candidates, saving time by 60 percent and money by 50 percent, and doubling the efficiency.

UngearVR

UngearVR has brought VR-like immersive experiences to laptops and TVs without requiring any specialised VR gear. Leveraging their proprietary advanced computer vision algorithms, they produce all the elements of a high-level VR headset experience without a VR headset, and in real-time.

Aspiro

Aspiro is a voice AI-driven sales coaching SaaS solution. Armed with Aspiro's personalised sales platform, it enables sales leaders to onboard and coach their sales force continuously, in a fully automated manner.

Rightbot

Rightbot is a robotics startup focused on "Goods to Person (G2P)" warehouse automation, that is critically needed by online commerce players to satisfy the needs of their demanding consumers. Rightbot’s plug-and-play G2P robotic solution is compatible with existing flooring, racking, shelving, and 10x faster deployment with negligible installation capex, and generate 3x higher ROI. 

Commenting on the Demo Day, Esha Tiwary, General Manager, India at Entrepreneur First said,

“The founders at EF India are pushing the boundaries of how technology can be leveraged to solve real world problems. And the fourth cohort is no different — from smart recruitment for SMEs to AI-driven automated apparel cataloguing to revolutionising antibody discovery and immersive experiences, these startups show are well poised to disrupt their industries,"

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"Despite the global challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing a steady influx of aspiring Indian entrepreneurs keen to build their dream tech startups. EF provides the best platform to connect brilliant minds in tech to the best minds in business, together with the right mentorship and financial backing," Esha added.

According to the press release, for each cohort, EF selects around 50 potential founders and helps them find co-founders among themselves. EF invests pre-seed in the selected startups and the founders then move to the second stage of the programme, which involves building the product, expanding the team, and deploying with early customers.

Finally, once the founders are ready, they meet early-stage investors for their next round of funding.

With presence in six global markets, EF pioneered the concept of talent investing – finding and funding talented individuals – pre-company, pre-team, and most often, even pre-idea. EF has built over 300 technology startups that have created more than 3,000 jobs worldwide since its inception in 2011.

Since its launch in January 2019 in India, EF has supported more than 200 talented individuals in their entrepreneurial journey. The company has invested and facilitated a total investment of $5 million in Indian startups over the last two years.

EF claims to have seen a 100 percent increase in applications received since it first launched in India. While the first cohort had 800 applications, it grew to 1,800 for the most recent cohort.