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Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick had raised $37-million in Series-B funding while talking to investors at a pub in Dublin after meeting them during the day at Web Summit in 2011.
Five years later, when the Irish organisers brought the event — Surge 2016 — to Bengaluru this week, there was hardly any pub-hopping by start-ups and investors.
“Bengaluru is no Dublin,” a participant told Business Standard.
However, hours after the two-day event, entrepreneurs were hoping for that much-awaited call from investors.
There’s little interest in seed funding now as investors are finding it a risky proposition, said A Tayeb Tarmal, founder & CEO of Nasik-based Grouplee, a one-week old retail social network.
The NRI from Kuwait said three years ago, “They would have invested anywhere, but not anymore.
” A lot of investors simply told budding entrepreneurs “Drop me a mail”, a far cry from Travis raising money after a few drinks at a pub in Dublin.
Sharad Singh, who showcased his financial technology start-up Invezta.com, said he didn’t expect investment assurance in the first meeting.
“There has been genuine interest from 8-10 investors. . . We are moving towards the next steps,” he said.
Anant Sanjeev Doogar, founder of a start-up in B2B aluminium ecosystem, said “We are in talks with some interested investors.”
Deckport’s Ankit Abhishek and Abhinav Prakash, who have come out with a prototype to make flying cheaper, especially in the case of international flights, said getting investment was meant to be difficult.
“There’s no pub-hopping for sure, but we are confident of the first round of funding soon,” said Ankit.
How much? “Around five per cent of $500,000.”
Phynart, a home automation solution based on artificial intelligence, is also awaiting investor interest.
Ashish Sharma of Phynart said, “Our solution can be fitted into both old and new homes at a cost of around Rs 50,000 a unit.
” Currently, in beta phase with funding from friends and family, the start-up is aiming for a June launch.
There were several others — including Indoriv Clinical (a start-up for clinical trial digitisation), ClapGlobal (connecting international travellers to local classrooms), Hombot (home automation), Lawmatters (dispute resolution platform), Wedlock (a variant of matrimonial sites) — looking for investor interest.
Data from the organisers of the event, however, looks promising.
There were 288 pre-arranged meetings and 190 conversations on the event app between more than 5,000 participants from 72 countries.
Among 72 high-level attendees were Blippar’s Ambarish Mitra, Zoomcar’s Greg Moran and Ather Energy’s Tarun Mehta.
More than 200 investors, including some marquee names, came as 433 start-ups put up their stalls.
And while there was no pub-hopping, networking between investors and start-ups happened over 12,000 cups of coffee.
Image: Kerala start up village. Photograph: Rediff Archives
The image is used for representational purpose only
