Inflection Point Ventures, one of India’s most active angel platforms, invested an undisclosed amount in Eden Smart Homes marking it’s 11th investment since March this year.

Eden Smart Homes is an IoT startup that has a range of smart home solutions. The funds raised will be used for launching new product lines and scaling up sales and marketing operations to acquire more customers.

Inflection Point Ventures is an initiative of accomplished CXOs & Angel Investors with a belief that ‘Everyone can Grow with Startups’. Since its inception, IPV has invested more than Rs 100 crore across 35+ startups. With a current investor base at 2500+, IPV is seeing a massive influx of highly accomplished CXOs and HNIs, looking to invest in startups with rational valuation and sustainable business models.

Vinay Bansal, Founder & CEO, Inflection Point Ventures said, “We are known to back great founders with great business models with a sustainable growth path. With the ease with which all of us are embracing technology and the Smart City projects currently underway, there is a demand for IoT enabled homes. Eden has been able to position itself as an aspirational product for Indian households as the disposable income rises. We believe that their fast and seamless technology coupled with a promise of power savings will wow their customer segment.”

Eden Homes was launched in 2018 with an aim to develop an indigenous and cost-effective smart home automation system. Eden’s solution includes monitoring power consumption, the ability to view the real-time status of appliances, scheduling on and off times for appliances, and creating custom scenarios. Also, one-button control of the entire smart home makes them an attractive smart home solution in the market where there is currently no clear leader.

Pranjal Kacholia, Co-Founder of Eden Smart Homes stated, “We aim to become India’s leading IoT company in the next 3 years. In India, the smart home market is expected to be $8 billion by 2023 and we aim to be one of the well-known brands in this segment. Our product helps save power significantly in both the residential and commercial segments. To have investors like IPV, which can leverage their huge network strength to not only sign cheques but also help us scale up our business quickly makes this a win-win partnership.”

Eden Smart Homes is currently present across 5 cities in India. Eden Smart Homes will be using the funds raised to set up its distribution channel across 30 major cities for driving more business in the Home segment. The Company is also in talks with large brands and SMEs to license a part of their technology for bundle up sales and even listing it online on targeted platforms for better visibility to the customers.

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Adesaa Wellness Private Limited – a Mumbai-based wellness startup, which sees themselves as the flag bearers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s yoga initiative, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors.

Adesaa Wellness has recently launched India’s first-ever ‘pop-up theme’ program, offering an amalgamation of the best of ancient Indian traditions – Yoga, Meditation and Naturopathy –  providing some of the finest wellness retreat programs for physical, spiritual, and mental rejuvenation. It aims to spread the light of India’s ancient yoga globally to integrate body, mind and soul. Adesaa is a Sanskrit word, which means a divine command from within.

The startup intends to use the funds for growth and is planning to hire certified yoga teachers as well as nutritionists. “This investment gives us additional resources to support our expansion plan, which will be used to accelerate our marketing efforts as well as employment generation. Our expansion plans are very exciting for our investors as they foresee a huge potential for our business model. We are going to democratise healthy living – providing some of the finest retreat programs and create employment to hundreds of yoga teachers and nutritionists,” said Samidha Rasaikar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Adesaa Wellness Private Limited.

Adesaa is focusing its efforts in niches where it has special expertise and guidance from Yoga Pandit Shri Gopinath Bhimaji Kedar, who has been practicing advanced level of Astanga yoga over 18 years. “Our plan is to become the market leader in the current set of services and introducing our various wellness retreat programs to corporate, educational institute as well as to media houses. There are plans for a strategic partnerships with various State governments, for which, we are in advanced stage of discussions with Maharashtra and Goa governments – on collaborating with Adesaa’s initiatives,” said Amjad Waghu, Co-Founder & Director, Adesaa Wellness Private Limited.

The Yoga and wellness segment has boomed into one of the most revenue generating businesses with a USD 3.2 trillion industry. While India is currently measured at INR 490 billion and it is estimated to rise by 20 per cent in the next five years.

According to Juned Khan, Co-Founder and Director, Adesaa Wellness Private Limited, the idea of expansion is to reach out to maximum people and spread benefits of yoga to prioritise health and wellness. “We intend to take India’s traditional yoga and our initiatives on the international platform since yoga is a precious gift to mankind, which is Adesaa’s key objective. Through this expansion, we will have footprints in overseas market – London, New York, Singapore, Beijing, Honk Kong, Melbourne and Sydney – which would be carried out in the phase-II by year-end,” he said.

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Chances are that you’re either a founder or are working with a startup if you’re reading this. That means you’ve had to raise funds at some point or are looking to do so now. We’ve written this especially for you.

Truth #1. Starting a venture is not all fun and games, as much as HBO says it is.
Truth #2. Everything will not work out unless you put in the work and make good decisions.
Truth #3: Building a startup requires money. Sometimes a lot of it. All the time more than what you have in your savings account. #fundraising

In this series, we want to focus on the less-spoken-about Truth#3.

Disclaimer: Yes, money is important but remember fundraising is not the end goal. We have seen a lot of founders getting so absorbed with fundraising that they forget the real goal: building a kickass company. So don’t forget that as we run through, five important questions you should answer before you kickstart your fundraise.

1. How much do I need to DILUTE my ______?

For the first timers, fundraising is done through multiple financial instruments that give away shares of your company in exchange for investments. The top ones are private equity and convertible debts.

So the question is further broken down to: “how much should I raise?” and “how much should I value my company?”

Rule of thumb, what you should raise is contingent on your goals for growth. Don’t get greedy, you can always raise another round. Ideally, set six month/one year/18 month goals and calculate the cost of reaching them. Be clear on where the money will be spent and why it’s essential for your growth plan.

Next step, calculate the pre-money valuation of your company. Valuation of your company is usually driven by projected revenue, your team, market growth, market size, and scalability of your solution. There are more, but these should help you start. Calculating your valuation at an angel level has become a science, but the main takeaway here is being able to convince your investors of your math. Equity is costly and investors should know why.

2. Does my LOCATION affect my fundraise?

FYI: Angel Investing is a high-risk profession. As an investor, I want my risks to be minimized. I do this by spreading my investments across ventures. So I write smaller cheques with a larger pool of investors, usually a syndicate, to close a round. Key takeaway here being smaller cheques and a pool of investors.

So in short, yes, access to a group of investors is important and hence, location is as well. Data from our platform suggests that startups in Tier 1 cities have the most exposure and the shortest time to raise funds. But do note, there has been a rise in angel investments across Tier 2 cities via newly established angel networks and digital investment platforms. The big ones being Pune, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata and Chandigarh.

3. Timing + My Idea = Born to Succeed?

Investors are big on accounting for team, product, scalability, market penetration potential etc. But a lot of big success stories are almost always based on timing. Think about it. Airbnb: built post recession when empty wallets opened people up to being part of sharing economies. YouTube: blew up at the peak of internet expansion in US. PayTM: enough said.

So pay attention to market sentiment. What is hot right now might not be later and vice versa. The dynamics revolve around the sector of operation. For example, an early-stage horizontal e-commerce company will struggle to raise funds at present and an enterprise software company might just raise post a couple of pilots. So be up to date on your sector, observe who raises money and who doesn’t. Sometimes it’s good to wait and be strategic.

4. Is my startup at the RIGHT STAGE for Angel funding?

Another means for investors to mitigate their risk is to study the initial adoption of the product/service looking for funding. Your ask changes based on the stage of your product. Goes without saying that successful startups with early revenue will find it easier to attract investors and larger cheques than startups in earlier stages like ideation where proof of concept is still being proven and traction is less convincing. Would you have invested in Facebook when it was in an ideation phase? Less likely right?

How good is your TEAM MARKET FIT?

Your team is one of your strongest selling points and value proposals as a startup. The important question here is “Do you have a Founder (team) market fit to raise funds?”

Here are three key things investors look at in a team:

1. Domain experience – The more exposure you have to a problem the deeper your insights are and usually, the stronger your proposed solution. It tells investors the kind of research that has been put into the idea.
2. Previous startup experience – Once bitten twice shy? Not in the startup world. Teams with previous startup experience have a better idea on what to expect and how to navigate to success.
3. Pedigree – Touchy subject, but investors tend to lean towards teams that have been vetted by reputed educational institutions aka IITs, IIMs, Ivy League schools. If that’s not you, don’t sweat it; it’s only one tick in a checklist.

So there you have it. Five big questions to ask yourself before a fundraise. We will be exploring each question in-depth in our upcoming posts with data insights from 12,000+ startups and 2,200+ investors.

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The post 5 Questions You Need To Ask Yourself Before You Kickstart Your Fundraise originally appeared on LetsVenture blog.

LetsVenture’s flagship event LetsIgnite conference is back. This March, 300+ Angels, 25+ VCs and 20+ Lead Investors will meet and network at the event. It’s opening up the event to both early and growth-stage startups looking to raise funds, partner with VCs and more. Click here to get started, applications close on Jan 15th!

Picture credit: Pixabay

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