EVC Ventures helps entrepreneurs turn ideas into unicorns. Their investment thesis is focused on enabling American and Indian enterprise software, consumer Internet, Edtech, AI, Adtech, Gaming and Security startups to be successful.
Managing Partner, Anjli Jain
Name of Accelerator: EVC Ventures
Location: Gurgaon, India and Chicago, IL
Website: www.evc.ventures
Managing Partner: Anjli Jain
Corporate Communications: Sayantan Dasgupta
This article is part of our Startup Accelerator Spotlight featuring accelerators from around the world. We hope these spotlights will assist the entrepreneur should they consider attending an accelerator program.
In two sentences or less, tell us about your accelerator and its objectives.
EVC Ventures is an accelerator and venture capital fund led by serial entrepreneur and investor Anjli Jain that helps entrepreneurs turn ideas into unicorns. EVC’s investment thesis is focused on enabling American and Indian enterprise software, consumer Internet, Edtech, AI, Adtech, Gaming and Security startups to be successful.
Why is your accelerator program unique? Please describe the benefits of participation in your program?
There are many things that make EVC Ventures unique, but here are a few:
- Mentorship by Partners with extensive relevant technology and business experience
- Extensive ecosystem of Partners with rich experience in education sector to help increase revenue
- Extensive ecosystem of vendors that help companies reduce the cost of operations
- Capital to finance the growth of the business in areas such as product development, sales and marketing operations.
Looking for an Accelerator? Find My Accelerator tool can help.
What is the most difficult part of working with startups?
Getting the startups to understand the importance of targeting the right customers, getting the MVP out there and making them sell. The product does not have to be flawless to be launched. Getting it out there with the MVP and iterating it according to the customer feedback until you hit that sweet spot is something most startups don’t understand.
Key to Startup Success: Customer Discovery
What do you enjoy the most; what do you find most appealing about working with entrepreneurial startups?
Getting a founding team to hold discipline. Entrepreneurs have incredible energy and their intrinsic creativity is where wonderful ideas come from. However, without a strong foundation, understanding where your capital is going, developing a structured methodology for launching a new product and tracking activities – startups can take pause even before playing.
What are the Stages of a Startup?
Tell us about your success stories. Which are the most interesting companies to have participated in your program?
- BigDeal (Successfully Exited)
– Virtual platform for buying online deals, recently raised $4.5 million from First Round, Foundation Capital and Mayfield Fund. - MilkBasket
– A micro-delivery e-commerce company, had raised $500,000 last year. At a time when grocery delivery and hyperlocal companies are struggling to get the unit economics right, MilkBasket kept the cost under Rs 5. MilkBasket represents the second generation of Indian e-commerce startups strongly educated by the mistakes of its large predecessors and relatives. The company has moved from covering 1 cluster to covering 15 clusters with negligible marketing budget and got profitable from early stages. - I-Made
– An app maker for students to develop apps at no cost, tied up with Government of India, Department of Telecommunications to create next-gen wave of tech savvy entrepreneurs. - BlackBeltHelp
– Provides helpdesk solutions in the higher education space, recently came up with their Artificial Intelligence product. Anything simple starting with information on application process, deadlines, documentation and tuition can be addressed within seconds resulting in high level of engagement and returning students to either find out more or enroll into a course. - OculusIT
– Support and solutions for leading ERP systems, staff augmentation, infrastructure management, project-based support, emergency technical support and Virtual CIO consulting and management services. It has already raised $2.5 million and is looking to close another round soon. - LookingGlassKryptos
– Based out of Chicago, KYRPTOS Mobile provides KRYPTOS AppMaker, a cloud based, self-service mobile app development platform for creating and managing cross-platform native mobile apps without writing complex software code. - QuickLaunchSSO
– “I forgot my username and password” is one of the most common problems when managing multiple desktop and internet applications. QuickLaunch SSO addresses this problem by enabling users to use one username and password to login into all of their websites and enterprise software applications on any devices.
Apart from these, EVC Ventures has also accelerated several other tech ventures focused on higher education and more.
What are the three most important factors startup entrepreneurs should consider when contemplating attending an accelerator?
- Is joining an accelerator right for you at this moment?
Consider whether you’ll be able to make the most of advice and guidance you’ll get. Is your team compete? Do you have a hacker, a hustler and a designer? 
Consider what the startup needs the most.
Does it need to figure out product market fit? Or does it need to learn how to raise money? Does it need to know how to commercialize a technology idea? Accelerators have different styles and different stresses. Startups need to identify, find out which one addresses their needs.- The thought of getting an investment of $100,000 or $1M is understandably tempting.
When making a decision to apply for an accelerator, the founder shouldn’t just run the calculations on investment vs. percentage of equity. Accelerators are spending a lot more than cash in a startup. From making sure your legal contracts are done right to the mentorship with rock star mentors. Ask yourself what are these benefits worth to you.
Consider what the startup needs the most.What else would you like to share?
Build your product, get the chance to market and use your capacities to drive new revenue. The sooner you can keep the cash balance from going to zero, the higher possibility of triumph you will have.
An Advisory Board: 7 Reasons They Are Critical to the Scalable Start-Up
Practically every efficacious startup we have talked with has embraced doing some non-traditional things early on to ensure they had the runway to succeed. Remain positive – remain solid. Get some rest, invest time with family and companions. At the point when your brain and body are in a decent spot, achievement comes substantially simpler and with significantly less resistance.
Are you familiar with other accelerators you believe should be spotlighted? If so, we would like to hear from you. Tell us about them, sharing your comments below.
Pam Goforth
Pam Goforth is Research Manager for FundingSage, which provides valuable information, tools and resources to entrepreneurs seeking to start, grow and fund a business.
