White Unicorn Ventures, a Mumbai-based early stage investment firm has launched its incubation co-working space called ‘Unigrowth Centre’. This is an All Suite Private, where offices can accommodate approx. six companies with a workforce of four to 10 people per company.
The startups selected to be the part of first growth centre are Unstockify (B2B online deal discovery platform); Blue Blox Consultancy (Independent business advisory company); PrimeSquares (Tech enabled commercial + retail real estate Platform); and Aarchon & Nature-Nam.
The Centre provides a fully equipped workspace with 24×7 access, offers a wide range of facilities such as round the clock security, Wi-Fi experience, UPS backup, open office environment, laser printer, scanner, coffee & tea, recreation area, terrace garden, video conferencing, conference rooms, cafeteria, and lounge facilities to the occupants.
The startups will also be provided with services such as online marketing, OOH media, PR agency, secretarial services, chartered accountancy services, legal services, treasury management, seed funding and much more. “We want startups to ideate differently, think out of the box want and flourish in the businesses they have embarked upon,” said Rohit Chokhani, Principal founder, White Unicorn Ventures.
He further added that besides providing the run of the mill facilities, the team will help these companies by mentoring them at every stage of their business; help them with getting talent on board, structure their organisations, and most importantly also provide a platform for growth of their venture. “We believe in non-intrusive guidance.”
The venture firm will be starting two more Growth Centres which will be slightly bigger and will be spread across more than 4000 sq ft. One at Powai, accommodating about 10 companies and other at Andheri West in Mumbai.
The venture firm aim is to double the capacity in next two years.
White Unicorn Ventures has planned to invest around $20 Mn in early-stage startups this year. The company also aims to spend up to $5 Mn by the end of 2016, across sectors, involving “anything from transportation and travel to B2B marketplaces,”. It has invested in 15 companies so far, some of them include Routofy, Shaadisaga, Justride, Unstockify, Hostelhousing, Lernr, Carcrew amongst others.
It is also introducing Unicorn X Prize which is to be held every year. This initiative will be focused towards startups who will be judged on the categories such as alternative construction technology for EWS housing, skills development of BPL homeless in urban clusters, e-procurement, e-governance SaaS/ platforms, electronic medical records in the Indian system, mass rapid transport systems for smart cities. The top company would funding of INR 10 lakh to propel their venture.
Co-working space, a more evolved concept in the west, is now a popular trend in the Indian startup community. It is also playing an important role in building community of like-minded people, apart from providing an efficient working space to the entrepreneurs. Other popular co-working spaces in India include Innov8, One Internet, 91Springboard, 9JCM, Bangalore AlphaLab and more.
