Venture Garage hosted its annual flagship event, Capitalize 2.0 powered by HDFC Bank at Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HSIIDC) Auditorium in Gurugram on 12th January. More than 250 Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors, start-up ecosystem enablers such as Accelerators, Incubators, Co-working spaces, Communities and Entrepreneurs attended the event.

The highlight of the event is the fund raising challenge for start-ups. Four startups shortlisted from all over India get a chance to pitch to a panel of 30 VC and Angel Investors. Venture Garage then takes initiates further discussions forward with the investors to determine who from the four start-ups will be funded. Last year 2 startups raised Rs. 2 Crore at Capitalize 1.0, hosted at IIT Delhi in April 2017.

Mr. Vipul Goel, Cabinet Minister in the State of Haryana and in charge of Ministry of Industries & Commerce, Environment, Skill Development & Industrial Training was supposed to join the event but could not because of health problems. However, he sent a formal letter to be read for all the attendees. “I would like to apologize to each one of you present here for not being able to make it to the event due to my health. I very strongly feel that the startup ecosystem has generated a new sense of enthusiasm amongst the aspiring entrepreneurs. Haryana has always had open arms for the ecosystem with the new policy in place I am sure. Gurugram will be the epicentre of the growth of startup’s in the country.”

The panel discussion of Venture Capitalists was joined by Mr. Ravi Kaushik of WaterBridge Ventures, Mr. Vikram Gupta of IvyCap Ventures, Mr. Tej Kapoor of Fosun RZ capital, Mr. Vinay Singh of Fireside Ventures, and Mr. Navin Honagudi of Kae Capital who shared their outlook on the startup ecosystem and funding landscape in 2018. All unanimously expect an increase in startup funding in 2018.

“We are committed to enabling entrepreneurship in India. We have handheld 50+ startups in their journey and helped 20+ ventures raise funds from our network of 1,000 investors” – Vivek Kumar, CEO, Venture Garage. “Captialize is our annual flagship event organized in Delhi/NCR with which we want to give a platform to startups to interact with investors from all across India. We are soon coming to Mumbai. ” added, Vineet Sagar, Managing Partner of Venture Garage.

Mr Jasmeet Singh Anand, zonal head, HDFC Bank also made a presentation on the collaboration and partnerships HDFC Bank has initiated with the start-ups under the SmartUp initiative. "HDFC Bank is happy to associate with Venture Garage's Capitalize 2.0 which endeavors to identify opportunities for start-ups and their ideas in and around Gurugram. We have been pro-actively working with the start-up ecosystem to not only harness the technologies and ideas they have on offer, but also partner them in their entrepreneurial journey. We have deployed cutting edge AI and ML based platforms like chat bots on our website and also on social media. Smart Up zones across branches in India have been created to tap the potential start-up eco-system in tier 2 towns and cities and offer products and services customized to their needs. In the Bank, forging a long and mutually beneficial relationship with start-ups is an important component of the digital banking framework at the Bank," said Jasmeet Singh Anand, Zonal head, HDFC Bank.