NatioCultus releases list of 42 most fundable startups in 2017

NatioCultus, a business strategy consulting firm, on Thursday said that it released the list of forty-two “Most Fundable Startups – 2017.”  The shortlisted startups will get an opportunity to put forth their ideas and meet investors in the ‘India Fund Fest’ to held in Bengaluru on May 12, according to a company statement.

Dinesh Singh, Managing Director, NatioCultus, said, “We conducted a nationwide campaign that reached 2.4 million people with 6500+ applicants, from which we shortlisted 663, which is remarkable for a fund-fest that was not driven through sponsors but on its core belief of providing a serious and credible funding platform for investors and entrepreneurs.”

To ensure that the India Fund Fest remains true to its objective of being India’s first and largest serious Startup Fund Fest, the shortlisted companies underwent the screening process through the unique “Funding Readiness Report”. Sunil Girdhar, festival mentor and architect of the report, said, “This is the crux of the fund fest - Entrepreneurs and Investors are frustrated at the current state of startup events and were desirous of a platform where real business could be conducted or at least initiated. But how would they do that in the few minutes they engage? This is the gap this algorithm driven report fills. On one hand guiding the entrepreneur by validating their business model, helping them with ideas on how to seek funding; while on the other, advising investors on the investability of the proposal and readiness of the venture vis a vis funding.”

“Today as the jury, we are immensely proud to release the list of the Top 42 fundable startups. The ideas were fantastic and the funding readiness report was insightful for me and the other four jury members to take an objective decision. The business experts who had prepared the reports gave us a vetted list of 49 companies from which we made our final selection. We wish the Top 42 the very best for the finale in Bangalore on 12^th May, in their quest for funding. As an investor, I personally look forward to a distraction free fund fest where we can seek companies to match our investment philosophy for mutually beneficial long term relationships,” stated Avinash Vashistha, the head of the jury.

Dinesh Singh, said, “Just look at the trends. The top ten cities that applied for the fund fest do not include any of the four metros and Bangalore the celebrated startup capital, just about makes the tenth position. Hyderabad is probably the largest city in the top ten. It is dominated by Lucknow, Patna, Indore, Agra, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Pune. Even lower in the list there is a certain secular wave of startups coming up all over the smaller towns. The second clear trend is the diversification of the industry landscape. It is not as tech heavy as one would expect. More hearteningly there is a breed of entrepreneurs willing to build longer gestation product companies versus the quick bang traditional outsourcing service model companies.”

“There is a message in this for investors and policy makers. While the overall startup ecosystem in India is still relatively less mature than other developed eco systems, the pace at which it has spread deep, wide and qualitatively will require investors and policy makers to rethink their metro centric and English language centric investment philosophies,” added Nalin Singh.

NatioCultus also released the formal list of the top 42 “Most Fundable Startups – 2017” as well as a report on the trends that emerged from the nationwide exercise over the three months that the process took. “We have seen this in all aspects of visible culture, be it cricket, movies or reality shows. What starts as a metro and perceptionally elitist driven participation soon gets engulfed by the larger mass of the aspirational class leading to a much bigger ecosystem, beyond the imagination of the initial evangelists. Something similar is trending in the startup space. Get ready for it or get left behind,” said Nalin Singh.