InnovationQore’s Turbostart Invites Applications From Startups For Its First Cohort

The burgeoning Indian startup ecosystem has attracted plenty of industry bodies and agencies that have supported innovators, entrepreneurs, and founders at all stages. From incubators and accelerators to state and central government-run innovation cells, startups have more  opportunities to take their ideas to the market and become a success story.

InnovationQore is an entity that is creating a strong industry-startup-investor network to assist startups in product and market validation, funding, industry connections, business support and more.

InnovationQore has now announced that it will take the ten most promising startups in the country through a dedicated pan-India, sector agnostic acceleration programme called Turbostart.

Run twice a year, Turbostart was conceptualised to bring the country’s best entrepreneurs under the spotlight. Startups will be screened, selected and felicitated at a grand finale event. InnovationQore will then invest up to INR 2 Cr in exchange for 10-14% stake in the winning startups within 30 days. The company says its objective is to invest in the growth of 100 startups over a period of five years.

Turbostart provides more than funding alone. The selected startups will receive end to end services – such as product and market validation, funding, tax planning, compliance, legal services, brand and digital strategy, human resource development, and more – all of which is handled by their in house management team.

Applications to the first batch of the programme opened in October 2019 and every startup applicant will go through 3 stages of rigorous selection. The top 10 startups will be chosen and awarded at a grand finale in January 2020.

“We expect to receive over 1,000 applications from across the country and the top 10 startups will be selected and felicitated at a Grand Finale to be held in January 2020. Over the next five years, we expect the number of applications to increase to more than 5,000 by virtue of consistent brand building activities, media profiling, sponsorships and more,” said Ganesh Raju, Founder and CEO of Turbostart.

The founders of the winning startups will enjoy the flexibility of building on their ideas while Turbostart works with them closely through the various stages in the journey. Turbostart, in fact, becomes an extension of the team with experts involved in scalability options and overall growth.

Criteria For Qualifying For Turbostart 

To get selected, startups have to check for eligibility before applying. Here’s the eligibility criteria: 

• Startups incorporated for a period of fewer than 10 years
• Startups having a minimum viable product or proof of concept with a scalable business model
• It works towards innovation and development or improvement of products or processes or services

What Startups Get From Turbostart

• The winning startups at Turbostart will enjoy services pro-bono for twelve months or until their next round of funding, whichever is earlier
• These services include
  • Legal and regulatory services
  • Tax planning
  • Accounting and financial reporting
  • Compliance services
  • Internal controls
  • Pricing strategies and much more
• InnovationQore shall invest up to INR 2 cr in exchange for 10-14% stake in the startup.
• Turbostart will facilitate additional rounds of fundraising through investors, family offices and more.
• Startups will get a chance to validate their product or service through an industry-investor network of Turbostart and gain insights on tried-and-tested methods for launch.
• Startups will get assistance in appointing the board and talent management of executive leadership, identify appropriate compensation methods and rewards, and build strengths within the company.
• Assistance with their branding and digital strategy, marketing plan and sales strategy.
• Evaluation of business models to enhance value.
• Determining appropriate legal/operating structure in India and overseas.
• Managing strategic and tactical issues related to capital such as capital structure optimisation, investor communications strategies etc.

Turbostart will closely monitor growth and scalable opportunities for startups in every cohort. The programme’s vision is to consolidate the startup ecosystem through meaningful synergies.

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