Today, there are more founders and startups than say a decade ago, but still only about 8% of them secure institutional funding. While several factors can affect this, there’s much more that startups can do to leave no stone unturned from their end.

The COVID-19 pandemic has coerced the edtech space to evolve rapidly. Now, experts are estimating the market to grow between $10B to $16B by 2025. However, ~$4.5B of VC funding has already been poured into a $1.5B edtech market. While this is encouraging for newer edtech founders and investors, both need to analyze and understand the future of edtech to make better informed decisions.

Until recently, India did not have a ‘gaming community’ as such. Yes, there were online games popular among youngsters, but barring a few hardcore gamers, the general junta had no clue about Steam or Call of Duty. And then PUBG happened. The whole nation was hooked. And the pandemic only egged on the growth of these online games, which people started playing for monetary stakes. Welcome to the world of Real Money Gaming (RMG) that involves playing any sport or skill-based game online for a cash-prize wager.

Indian Edtech: Everyone’s Teaching but Who’s Learning? Whiz kids have been putting all their traditional education to use and disrupting classrooms as we knew it, with innovative new services. But where is all this leading to? Smart learning for the nexgen or online chaos?

Over the course of the past one year at Eximius, we have received over a thousand pitches from startups. Like any other VC, we find only one game changer among every 100 startups. However, being a micro VC means spotting hidden gems who are still in their nascent stage.

Over the last year, our team has seen over a 1,000 pitch decks and met over a 100 startups. After sifting through thousands of fundraising materials, we realized that founders can explain their product well, but often don’t provide key items required by a VC firm to make an investment decision.

With the growing engagement of almost half a billion online gamers in India, estimates show that the online gaming industry is bound to reach a billion dollars in terms of revenue in the foreseeable future, consequently ranking India as one of the top 10 markets globally. This indicates huge prospects for entrepreneurship, employment and a strong collaboration between technology and innovation. As this industry picks up momentum in digitization, regulating the industry remains a top priority for the government and industry stalwarts.

Having a dream gives you a purpose to grind. While it is enough on most days to sustain your productivity, some days are harder. There comes a point in an entrepreneur’s journey where he/she feels overwhelmed, demotivated, or unsure about the next step. The problem exists even for founders who have sufficient resources, an experienced team and the desired startup venture capital. Moreover, it is cited as one of the top 20 reasons a startup fails. While passion, determination and grit have immense power, they alone are not enough for continuous effort. Once you pair them with the right methods, you will find it much more effortless to maintain productivity.

Disclaimer: This research note is an analysis of information available in the public domain and is purely informative in nature. No part of this document is to be construed as legal advice or legal opinion.

Two heads (or more) are often better than one, especially in work environments. Entrepreneurs all over the world prefer to team up with someone rather than to ride solo — especially before they decide to take their startup to the next level and scale up. A 2015 study on venture capital consulting conducted by The Rotman School of Management demonstrated that a new venture is more likely to succeed if its founder builds a bigger and more experienced team.

Are you from an IIT, IIM, or an Ivy League university? Or from Google, Microsoft, or JPMorgan Chase? Whatever your answer is, you have an idea about the difference such names can make in what lies ahead for you. The same is true when fundraising.

You’ve come a long way from growing your startup. From a mere idea in your head, to a proposal on a paper, your startup takes a giant leap for the big world, when you are ready to pitch your idea to a team of investors. All the days that lead up to the presentation, are a jumble of emotions: you are excited and yet apprehensive of their reaction to all that you’ve built from ground up — Am I dreaming too big? Is my idea realistic at all? Is it too early to be approaching an investor? However, we should know that investors aren’t there to make your legs tremble, instead they hope to help you find firm footing so that you can eventually take off and soar higher.

Founders are defined by their passion to build a business, provide unique solutions, and materialise ideas that are capable of making a change. Yet statistics show that only 1 out 10 founders succeed. Why do the remaining 90% go wrong?

The angel investing scene in India has undergone a massive transformation over the past decade as entrepreneurs turned angels have invested back heavily in the Indian ecosystem buoyed by their exits. From less than 50 angel investors a decade ago, the Indian start-up ecosystem has recorded angel investments from more than 2,000+ angel investors (DataLabs by Inc42).

When you flip through a magazine that boasts of 30 top entrepreneurs under 30, you are likely to find faces of men staring back at you. However, despite what we see, we must realize that entrepreneurship is indeed gender-neutral, and since access to capital is not, the society tends to associate only men with business. Investing in Indian women entrepreneurs is not only needed to empower more women, but women also need to actively participate in India’s growth story to create a more sustainable economy.

I was a fresh graduate of IIM-Ahmedabad with a job offer in hand for Bain & Company. Life was good. But I had a few months until I had to join. So I decided to dip my toes into the startup ecosystem. Having worked with a few startups and a VC firm earlier, this was something I had always been interested in.

Stefan Bollmann’s widely read book, “Women Who Read Are Dangerous,” has struck a chord with women worldwide. The book was published at an opportune time when Indian women were gaining courage to put themselves outside preconceived societal notions of a woman’s job is to raise a family. Bollmann’s words proved to be the fuel that stole the hearts of millions inspiring them to more than just read — to paint, to run businesses, to work full-time, fly planes and pursue their passions.

After spending a decade building a strong personal network across the US and UK, I moved back to India this year in January, and discovered that I had to start networking all over again.” Pearl Agarwal, Founder of Eximius Ventures, shares her experience of achieving her goals in a new geography by networking right.

Every startup born in India in the past ten years is cradled with the endless opportunities that come with the internet market-place. Vibrant pamphlets distributed across the neighbourhood to attract local clients is a time-worn marketing technique that is replaced by minimalistic and aesthetically designed Instagram posts that have the potential to reach a global clientele. Similarly, personal savings or loans to provide for brick and mortar office rent is no more a prerequisite to launch your startup. With the provision of digital meeting spaces, and softwares that build a conducive environment of an online workspace, the world is your oyster.