Brand Accelerator Funds Eight Startups In Its First Batch

BCCL’s (Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd) strategic investment arm Brand Capital and GSVlabs’ joint venture Brand Accelerator, an accelerator-cum-Seed fund investment arm has announced eight investments in 2016.

The program was launched on May 16, 2016 and currently has close to $2.5 Bn assets under management, across sectors such as retail, FMCG, durables, realty, digital, health, financial services, and more.

The programme focusses on seven core areas including curriculum, mentorship, networking, community support, funding access, workspace, and BC-GSV’s expertise and marketing power.

As per an official statement, it has invested in Vear, Oyeplay, Ubinga, Aaboli, Hungry Bells, Night Panda, Playablo and seatselect.in.

According to an official statement, Brand Accelerator can invest up to $150K (INR 1 Cr) in selected startups while initial investments are in the range of INR 25 Lakh.

The selected startups are:

Vear: An AR/VR technology platform

Oyeplay: A  playground and sports trainer aggregator

Ubinga: A product reviewing app for retail shoppers

Aaboli: Online marketplace for women’s ethnic wear in India

Hungry Bells: An individualised hyper local restaurant discovery app

Night Panda: A Bengaluru-based food delivery service that operates in night

Playablo: A gaming-based edtech startup for children

SeatSelect: Online bus ticket discovery and reservation platform

20 companies were selected in the first batch of the programme and out of them, eight have received funding from the accelerator. It also has a panel of 80 mentors who would spend time with startups. In exchange for these benefits, BC-GSV will take an equity stake in each participating venture.

The development was reported by VCCircle.