POD World: Empowering Startups Through Technology-Driven Fundraising Responses By: Mr Vittal Ramakrishna, Founder and CEO, POD World

1. What are POD World’s suite of offerings? How do you create value for your stakeholders?

 

Here is an overview of the key features of www.podworld.in:

• Access to a large pool of potential investors
• Suite of tools and resources to enable startups with their fundraising efforts
• Opportunity to invest in early-stage startups with the potential for high returns
• Educational resources for startups and investors
• All-year round events such as pitches and community meetups

 

Although POD is a relatively new platform, it has already gained a significant following among startups and investors in India. The platform has been praised for its user-friendly features, comprehensive resources, dedicated services and its commitment to transparency.

 

2. What role does technology play in your platform, and how do you see technology evolving to further support nonprofit fundraising efforts?

 

Technology plays a vital role in the platform that POD provides. The platform uses several technologies to facilitate the fundraising process for startups. These technologies include:

 

• A secure online platform: POD uses a secure online platform to allow startups to create their profiles, submit their pitch decks, and launch their fundraising campaigns. The platform is PCI-compliant and uses the latest security measures to protect the data of startups and investors.
• A simplified interface: POD has a simple, easy-to-use – easy to comprehend interface that makes it comfortable for startups and investors to use the platform. The interface is designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate.
• A communication platform: POD provides a communication platform that carries out activity to enable startups and investors to communicate with each other and share legal information and required documents.
• A payment processing system: POD uses a secure and reliable payment processing system that allows investors to invest in startups.
• A portfolio management system: POD provides investors with a portfolio management system that helps them view all their investments, related documents, and updates in one place.
• A shareholder management system: POD provides startups with a dashboard allowing them to view all potential and actual investors along with their level of interest in one place.

 

The use of technology has made it possible for POD to provide a platform that is easy to use, secure, and reliable. The platform has helped to make it easier for startups to raise money and for investors to find startups to invest in.

 

3. How does your platform aim to strengthen venture capital generative AI startups?

 

POD is not only benefiting AI startups but also empowering early-stage startups across all sectors to achieve scale and rapid growth. With a robust network of investors nearing 5000, POD has successfully facilitated 25 startup campaigns, resulting in over 18 crores in funds transacted. These numbers are projected to further increase every quarter, solidifying POD’s track record of success.

 

4. What are some of the most common challenges that ventures face when it comes to fundraising, and how does your platform address those challenges?

 

Here are some of the key challenges startups face when raising funds and in addition to how POD contributes to alleviating them:

• Finding the right investors: POD provides the startup with a pool of investors on a single platform, eliminating the need to individually reach out and pitch. Coming on POD helps startups identify interests and communicate with multiple investors in one shot.
• Building trust with investors:Investors need to be convinced that the startup is a good investment. POD, through its own vetting process, ensures that the startup is a legitimate entity with a viable business and also prepares them to have all the required information that a potential investor would seek.
• Regulations & Process Compliance: Raising investment for startups is a regulated process and requires a lot of compliance to be met. POD streamlines the process and ensures that each step is being carried out as per the requirements of regulations and the fundraising process is completely compliant.
• Time Management: The fundraising process can be extremely lengthy, lasting over 6 months. This leads to companies losing a lot of business-critical time and more often than not this leads to the closure of the startup. POD cuts short the whole process considerably for startups. In some instances, down to days.

 

5. How does the POD platform ensure the legitimacy and authenticity of the organizations that participate in fundraising through its platform?

 

 

POD carries out KYC checks for each of the individual founders and the business entity that intends to raise funds through the platform. The vetting process includes verification of all the relevant documents from MCA records. In-house CA/CS/Legal team review and verify every detail submitted. Further, the internal team also spends time with founders through one-on-calls to get a clear understanding of the business model and the future plans. Only those startups that clear the entire process and meet the criteria satisfactorily get considered for campaigns on the platform, who then get access to POD’s network of investors.