SUMMARY
Misfits offers mentorship and funding between $500K to $1.5 Mn to early-stage ventures
The seed-stage acceleration programme was launched in 2018 and has hosted nearly 20 startups since
Accel Partners, WaterBridge Ventures and YourNest Venture Capital, too, host seed-stage acceleration programmes
Early-stage venture capital firm Orios Venture Partners’ has finally announced the third cohort of its seed-stage acceleration programme Misfits. The two-year-old Misfits accelerator offers mentorship and funding between $500K to $1.5 Mn to early stage ventures.
The programme lasts up to six months and is held twice a year. So far, it has hosted nearly 20 startups since its launch in 2018. Anup Jain, managing partner of Orios Venture Partners, said that Misfits addresses the challenges faced by young startups including scaling up efficiently, hiring the right talent and raising funds. “We are proud of the response from 200-plus VC funds received to the latest batch from Misfits-3. It is a validation of the program,” he said.
The Misfits Demo Day was held virtually on August 4 (Tuesday) for the third cohort. Some of the marquee venture capital firms that attended this year’s Demo Day include Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners India, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Norwest Venture Partners. Global investors including Global Founders Capital, Vertex Ventures, the VC arm of Temasek, Picus Capital and ADB Ventures, the newly-established venture unit of the Asian Development Bank, were also scouting for deals at the demo day.
Startups in the Orios’ portfolio includes GoMechanic, MissMalini, LetsMD, Pretty Secrets, Pharmeasy, Zostel, Country Delight, Zupee and more. The company has exited Sapience after it was acquired by Credit Suisse, and Pipemonk which was acquired by Freshworks.
Here are the nine startups in the third cohort of Misfits
Karbon Card
Founder: Pei-fu Hsieh, Amit Jangir
Founded In: 2019
Karbon Card offers corporate cards to Indian startups with funding of at least INR 25 Lakh.
CityCash
Founder: Vineet Toshniwal
Founded In: 2017
CityCash is an offline transit-based payment ecosystem that allows users to make tap-and-pay based payments in public buses, metros and small retail.
MoneyOnClick
Founder: Vishal Chopra, Himanshu Gupta
Founded In: 2018
MoneyOnClick is a Bengaluru-based lending startup that aims to provide unsecured loans to underserved customers.
Gully Network Retail
Founder: Ajay Nain
Founded In: 2019
Gully Network Retail is a technology-enabled chain of small-format kirana stores for hyperlocal delivery
Intelligence Node
Founder: Sanjeev Sularia, Slavcho Ivanov, Yasen Dimitrov
Founded In: 2012
Intelligence Node is a real-time retail price intelligence platform for D2C brands and sellers
GolBol
Founder: Shanu Vivek, Karandeep Singh Gujral, Kaushik Mahato
Founded In: 2019
GolBol is a social network platform for users from Tier II, Tier III and beyond to share content in regional languages.
Krishify
Founder: Rajesh Ranjan, Manish Agrawal
Founded In: 2019
Krishify is a social network for farmers to discuss and solve for their agri input needs.
Leher
Founder: Vikas Malpani, Atul Jaju
Founded In: 2018
Leher is a video social network for content creators, influencers and vloggers.
YumLane
Founder: Hitesh Ahuja
Founded In: 2016
YumLane is a D2C food brand with a range of ready-to-eat hot snacks and meals.
Besides Orios Venture Partners, other leading venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, Kalaari Capital, Accel Partners, WaterBridge Ventures and YourNest Venture Capital also have a seed-stage accelerator programme.
