Hi Friends,
We at www.maangal.com are a matrimonial portal for Uttarakhandis ( Garhwali/ kumaonis) only.
We have steadily evolved since last 1 & 1/2 year and have offices at Delhi and Dehradun.
We have been successful in terms of number of marriages finalized through our portal , number of registrations and a steady payment inflow.
Angel funding required
5 Lakhs Only
( We can use the money in small but regular installments of Rs 1 Lakh each and you can monitor the effect and progress of this fund infusion directly.)
Assured Returns as we are already a one and half year old Private Limited Company and are doing quite well.
Why we need the money
We need to shore up the (members) numbers as it is a number game and also grow the number of offline centers via Franchising.
We need the money for advertising / Franchising as we have growing until now through word of mouth.
We also need to do some Software updations .
Now , we can do the above alone without seeking any help but that would take MORE and LONGER time and our commodity is perishable and hence we will stay where we are even after 5 years.
My Investment
I have spend almost all of my money in developing the product and later on building the company.
I have a team of 5-6 people working with me since 1 and half year and we also take on some contract based guys for random promotional activities.
We are surviving on what we earn but need to scale up.
What lies ahead
Around Rs 2 crore in Turnover yielding about 80% in profits
( this is the lowest figure i could come up with )
Point to remember
We did get a seriuos funding approval for Rs 15 Lakhs but the guy wanted almost 40% share in the company. We refused.
The point is that though we would welcome funding but not at the cost of what we built.
We love what we do and we value our Freedom!!!
We are not an Idea anymore but a business proposition
I understand that we have only Big Daddy’s here and this amount may seem small change compared to your investments but mark my words that we are on the verge of becoming the LARGEST and most successful portal in a regional matrimony market.
P.S. I am not very good with presentations , slides so kindly find time for face to face meetings or mobile talks.
I am available at 9897512542
Thank you all for your time.
Warm Regards
Vijay Bhatt
Rakesh Sidana
Vijay, raising seed funds for venture on the same line of successful model is easy, you just need to keep trying contacting “the right” investors (who are interested in your category of business or already funded similar). Always raise amount more than what you require, because giving away for small amount is not good for you. I would suggest read more articles on https://www.therodinhoods.com and ask to Alok, you will be enlightened to know his comments on how to do that.
/ Rakesh
Nayana Somaratna
@Vijay :
1. For a 5 lakh investment, how much equity would you be willing to give ?
2. And how would the investor recoup his money ? Over what time period ?
Nayana Somaratna
@Vijay: Just for disclosure, I am not an investor – just a fellow entrepreneur.
From my experience, most (angel) investors are wealthy people and successful businessmen – and thus have very little time to spare.
Most of them will not sit down at the table and hash out a formula with you (at least, serious investors will not). It is up to you to convince them why they should invest their money (and more importantly, their time) in you. The really good investors being much more than money to the table.
I think that you need to built up a concrete proposition first – i.e. how much investment you need, how much equity you’ll be giving, what type of equity and what type of stockholder rights they’ll be getting, what your exit strategy is, what your growth plans are and rough timeline is.
Without those facts at hand, you are unlikely to be taken seriously (frankly, I would not). It is not the exact values, which matter but rather the fact that you have thought about these aspects of your business.
Nayana Somaratna
@Vijay: Why did you post the question here then ?
This is not an investment forum – this is a site where entrepreneurs can get together and help each other.
I was under the impression that you wanted help in coming up with a business proposition and tuning your pitch, so that you can attract angel investors.
And while I do not care either way whether you take my advice or not, I would expect at least a little appreciation.
The community here helps each other out – not for money, not for equity, but because we want to see our colleagues getting ahead in life.
It is not like we have nothing else to do in the short time available each day.
Prabhat Sinha
Hi Vijay,
I can connect you with a similar portal based out of Mumbai, that has a national reach if that would be of interest to you.
Prabhat
Ashwin C Parulkar
any investor ultimately will look at the projections and your PL ac. to that matter and certainly if you dont agree with 40% then 15% is way to low to the risk one is taking on a new idea and a fragile business
so you have to shell out something in return to get those 5 lk.
if you want to lower the stake then an investor will look for collaterals against it to secure 5lak,
Ashwin C Parulkar
agreed that this is not an investment forum but ‘imagine if’ which is every enterprenuers moto-
here there is a ‘Rodinhood Hedge fund’ exciting it may sound but may be impractical
thats the fun being enterprenuer
Nayana Somaratna
@Ashwin: Well, would you (assuming that you were a in charge of a fund) invest in a team which has not done the basic groundwork ?
If you are attempting to raise money, you have to convince investors to take interest in you – and a properly constructed value proposition is essential for this (unless you are one of the startups lucky enough to have investors clamoring after you).
I seriously doubt that attempting to hash details over the table will work with the “useful” investors (i.e. the guys who not only bring in money, but also contacts and advice). They are unlikely to give you the time of the day (as there are enough and more startups who would jump through hoops to get their money).
It might interest “middlemen”, who merely want to carve up your company. It might also interest some of the “not so useful” investors – i.e. with more money than sense.
Nayana Somaratna
BTW, I’d really value @Alok’s opinion on this – as an investor, what does he expect to see ?