Starting up at Sonic speed: Chiratae Ventures announces new initiative to fastrack seed funding for early-stage startups

For businesses — especially ones that are just getting off the ground — capital is the oxygen that keeps them moving. In 2019 estimates suggest the failure rate of startups stood at a whopping 90 percent.

For many up and coming startups with high potential, one of the key reasons for their failure was the lack of funds. To solve this issue is what moved Chiratae Ventures to launch their new initiative: Chiratae Sonic. 

Commenting on the launch of this initiative, Sudhir Sethi, Founder & Chairman, said, “One of the biggest challenges an early-stage entrepreneur faces is the tedious and time consuming process behind raising capital. We believe innovation needs to be at the core of why and how founders interact with investors. By solving and simplifying the ‘how’ of that conversation Chiratae Sonic strives to empower founders to focus on innovation above all.”

Keeping this vision in mind, Chiratae Sonic is a landmark seed funding initiative that aims to level the field for founders seeking seed funding less than or equal to $500,000. The Venture Capital firm looks to fuel and fast track the journey of startups by committing to a 48-hour turnaround time. 

This initiative will be launched in phases – the first of which went live on July, 7, 2021. This initiative is the eighth seed investment program rolled out by Chiratae Ventures to encourage and foster the growth of early-stage ventures.

Diligence and Rapid Investments: Chiratae Venture’s commitment to early-stage startups

In line with streamlining the path for early-stage founders, through this initiative, Chiratae Ventures commits to making rapid investment decisions on standard terms for equity investments. In addition, due diligence will be carried out rapidly and remotely for all investments under the programme with trusted partners. 

Chiratae Sonic seeks to empower startups with technology at their core, across dynamic industries, including:

• Consumer Tech
• Enterprise Tech/ SaaS
• FinTech
• Health-Tech
• Deep-Tech
• Ed-Tech
• Agri-Tech 

Empowering early-stage startups beyond capital

In addition to much-needed capital, Chiratae Ventures also offers its portfolio businesses access to the business savvy, insights, and expertise of its Global Advisory Board and India Advisory Council. Members of the Global Advisory board include:

• Ratan Tata -Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons
• Kris Gopalakrishnan – Co-founder of Infosys 
• Bruno E. Raschle – Founder, Managing Director, and Non-Executive Vice Chairman of Schroder 
• Manish Choksi – Non- Executive Vice Chairman of Asian Paints
• Dr. Andreas Hettich – Chair, Hettich Group Advisory Board 
• Dr. Ferzaan Engineer – Co-founder and Chairman of Cytecare Hospitals (from the India Advisory Council of Chiratae)

Furthermore, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a key collaborator in the Sonic program, and will offer credits up to $100,000 per eligible startup through the AWS Activate program, which provides resources like AWS credits, business mentorship, and technical support to help early-stage founders build and scale successful businesses.

Sign up and fastrack your journey 

The first phase of the Chiratae Sonic initiative started on July 7, and is open for 30 days. To begin your startup's journey towards making its mark on the world, click here to sign up for the Chiratae Sonic programme.