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How We Supported Stan in Securing $2.5 Million and Scaling Their Business

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In the fast-moving, startup-filled world today, securing pre-seed funding is very key. On the path to growth, a lot of startups are accompanied by strict challenges; for example, 90% struggle to secure early-stage funding, and 70% fail in the first couple of years. For Stan, an innovative gamified fan engagement platform within the Indian gaming sector, this funding represented a huge victory. Here’s how we helped Stan raise $2.5 million to scale their innovative platform:

Background Information: Stan

Stan is a pioneer platform founded in 2022 with an agenda for supercharging fan engagement across India’s booming gaming sector. It partners with the most influential content creators to empower them with the ability to monetize their follower base through games and real-life rewards. Although an extremely young player in the field, Stan made a mark when it raised $2.5 million as part of its seed round in early 2022. The funding round saw participation from General Catalyst and several other prominent angel investors.

Background Information - Eximius Ventures

Eximius Ventures envisions supporting and empowering innovative startups by providing the resources, guides, and networks that realize success to early-stage companies with high growth potential.
We team up with the best founders who project impressive leadership capability, have a clear vision, and set up effective plans. We give special attention to sectors that hold huge growth opportunities, and through our proactive support, startups really scale. This goes beyond capital, including strategic advice, mentorship, and access to a large network of industry experts and partners.

In our portfolio, there are some successful investments in high-growth companies such as

Jar, Hood, Oyela, and Simple Viral Games. The milestones and market success of the companies mentioned above once again underline our realization of how to identify and support startups with potential that will transform industries and attain lasting impact.

Challenges Stan Was Facing

Stan was a rising name in Indian gaming. Indeed, they had to fight off several serious problems on their way to establishment and funding. Here is a detailed look at the initial ones:

Poor Funding

From the very beginning, Stan was battling to raise early-stage capital. This was expected because financial constraints were galore for a new startup like them. Their money was needed to build out the platform, market the product, and build out a capable team. Raising money from investors in a venture that’s new, with little traction and no proven market potential, is not easy. Hence, it was very essential that Stan demonstrate an ability not only to vision but also to execute and grow.

Overcoming Scaling Challenges

Scaling their business was not without its problems. Stan had to properly manage increased demand by optimizing technology and increasing staff. Resources were very crucial, for they had to weigh development and marketing with the operations against what should be set aside to let the business grow and increase. Reconciling all these challenges was key to transforming a startup into a fast-growing business.

Problems of Market Entry and Competition

One big challenge was entering the competitive Indian gaming market. The market was growing fast, though it was crowded with established players. Stan had to find a very unique way of standing out and attracting users within that. That means innovative strategies for user engagement and differentiation from other platforms. It would take a great strategy and a compelling product to row across this competitive landscape.

Why We Invested in Stan?

Several key factors drove our decision to invest in Stan, discussed below:

The Explosive Indian Gaming Sector

The Indian gaming industry has been experiencing massive growth, and the pandemic and growing smartphone use have accelerated it greatly. With revenues of $1.2 billion in 2021, forecast to grow to $2 billion by 2024, India will become one of the world’s biggest gaming centers. While funding did drop briefly in 2022, the sector still went on fast and is remaining bright; it proved to be an attractive sector for investors. This growth made Stan an attractive investment opportunity.

eSports’s Great Promise

eSports is an intrinsic part of the gaming industry, and it has been growing at a fast pace with a CAGR of 32% from FY22 to FY27. Some of the important milestones are that eSports has become a medal sport in the Asian Games and a demonstration event in the Commonwealth Games—everything that projects its increasing importance. Technological innovation in areas like 5G further increases the reach of eSports. During such times, Stan’s focus on this area becomes very promising.

Strong Founding Team

The founders of Stan—Parth Chaddha, Rahul Singh, Shubham Gupta, and Naman Mulla—are powerhouses of exceptional expertise and leadership. The co-founders of Ewar Games, Parth and Rahul, were highly innovative and resourceful managers in their earlier venture. The versatility of Shubham and the eSports management experience of Naman were simply adding to the strength. With this combined experience and leadership, they navigated the competitive gaming landscape pretty well.

An Impeccably Accessible Product

Stan offers a different approach to fan engagement through gamification, digital collectibles, and NFTs. Fans can collect, play, and trade collectibles of their favorite e-sports players on the site. This is going to be an interesting combination of traditional card games using today’s blockchain technology, providing a highly engaging experience for the fan while differentiating Stan from other market players.

Lessons Learned From This Journey

The story of how Stan secured pre-seed funding and scaled their platform was enlightening in many ways on how to overcome common challenges faced by startups. Here are the five lessons learned from the example:

Validate Your Market Early

Understanding market demand is an important thing. The intense market research taken by Stan in validating their business idea ensured that the company was targeting a real problem, hence helping secure investors.

Develop a Strong Value Proposition

Differentiate your product. Critical to any business venture is the ability to differentiate one’s product from that of the competition. Against this noisy market backdrop, Stan’s ability to provide a differentiated gamified fan engagement solution made all the difference, underscoring the requirement of a robust value proposition.

Build a Resilient Team

A good and experienced team is an excellent asset. In the case of Stan, his richly experienced and well-led team was instrumental in successfully dealing with several challenges on the way to scaling the business effectively.

Focus on Efficient Resource Allocation

Effective management of resources can guarantee either success or its opposite for a startup. Strategic allocation of funds and resources helped Stan strike a perfect balance between development, marketing, and operational costs while driving growth.

Embrace Adaptability

The ability to pivot and adapt to competition in the competitive landscape is huge. The flexibility of Stan to thwart market changes and competition showed that one needs to be agile and responsive to the changing currents of industry trends.

To Sum Up

The case of Stan goes a long way toward proving that the Indian gaming sector is yet to bloom. Backed by innovation, market understanding, and an excellent founding team, Stan truly puts itself on top in gamified fan engagement. As the Indian gaming sector gets bigger, such platforms will play a huge role in shaping their future.
We are proud to have been a part of Stan’s journey and look forward to continued success. The place where gaming, eSports, and fan engagement cross is a space full of promise, and Stan is truly at the forefront of this exciting evolution.
If you’re seeking funding for your innovative venture, like Stan, reach out to Eximius Ventures today.
If you’re a startup seeking financing for your next steps as a company, come pitch your idea.
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Eximius Capital Ventures Private Limited is the investment manager of the funds licensed by SEBI under AIF categories CAT I – Eximius Trust I (IN/AIF1/20-21/0855) and CAT II – Eximius Fund (IN/AIF2/24-25/1566).

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Eximius Capital Ventures Private Limited is the investment manager of the funds licensed by SEBI under AIF categories CAT I – Eximius Trust I (IN/AIF1/20-21/0855) and CAT II – Eximius Fund (IN/AIF2/24-25/1566).

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