9th September 2023: The BSSS Incubation Centre organized an online expert session on “Angel Investment and Venture Capital – Opportunity for early-stage enterprises”. The session was organized on 9th September 2023 at 05:00 pm through Google Meet and was delivered by Ms. Amruta Shingwekar who is CEO and Co-Founder of EZE SEED. They are providing their services to start-ups in availing fundings and investments for their growth.
For participating in the session, a flyer with the Google meet id was circulated in the college and more than ninety students and aspiring start-ups joined the session.
The session commenced with Mr. Arun Panicker (Manager, BSSS Incubation Centre) welcoming the Expert Speaker and the participants and introduced Ms. Amruta to the session. Ms. Amruta thereafter took over the session by introducing herself and her organization by detailing on the services provided by them. Post the introduction she requested the participants who are aware of what angel investment and venture capital is to brief on their related knowledge.
In the session the contents discussed by her were:
The expert initiated with the first topic of explaining different scenarios when a start-up or an early-stage enterprise requires investment and the purpose of using the received investment. The scenarios being when the enterprise wants to grow fast, competition is tough, grow the team or acquiring some technology. After this, the next discussion was on the different stages of funding where it was detailed on the time and process of receiving funds for investing.
After that she initiated with the topic of the day Angel Investment and Venture Capital, where she explained the students of both the terminology and also differentiated between them. Thereafter a detailed discussion on Angel Investment by the expert was done, where she covered various aspects of the angel investment like who are they, why then invest, sources of identification, roles and responsibilities in an organization as investor and many more. Similarly, she also detailed on Venture capital like who is a venture capitalist and his sources of revenue, their motive of investing in start-ups and all other relevant aspects.
After the discussion on Angel Investment & Venture Capitalist, the expert detailed on where these investors can be found such as their sources or agencies through which their details can be accessed. Also, then formalities an enterprise or a Start-up should be following and preparations that has to be done by them before approaching an investor was also detailed in the session. The preparations that were explained were doing the research, investment required and what will be offered in exchange, a solid pitch of the business model, prepare for questions that can be asked by the investor, the use of investment plan and also a negotiation plan. It has to be ensured that what data and expectation be presented to the investor be realistic along with honesty and transparency should be ensured.
The session was very much interactive as participants had many questions regarding angel investment and venture capital, which were all answered by the expert Ms. Amruta. Questions had arisen continuously throughout the session while the different particulars of the funding opportunities for Start-up were detailed. Some of the doubts raised by the participants were:
After all the doubts were answered by Ms. Amruta, few students gave the feedback and she also offered her assistance to the students whenever they require her support. This was followed by Dr. Arti Mudaliar (President & Nodal Officer, BSSS Incubation Centre) and Mr. Arun Panicker presenting their vote of thanks to Ms. Amruta for taking out valuable time from her busy schedule to guide the students and participants attending the session. Also, to clarify the doubts raised which will help in their future entrepreneurial journey.