Summer 2012 Funding

CodeVentures  is now accepting applications for the summer 2012 funding cycle. It will take place in Kochi from June to August 2012.

  1. If you want to apply, please submit your application online by  April 30, 2012,. Groups that submit early have an advantage because we have more time to read their applications.
  2. By Second week of March, we’ll invite the groups that seem most promising to meet us in Infopark Kochi on a weekend. We’ll reimburse up to Rs 10,000 per group for travel expenses.
  3. We decide who to fund that weekend. Yes decisions will include the amount we’ll invest and the percent of the company we’d want for it. We usually invest Rs 150,000 to 200,000 based on number people in the team.  in return for between 7% and 15% of the company. The average is 10%.
  4. If we invest in you, your group is expected to move to the Kochi Area for May through July 2012.
  5. After you’re accepted, we’ll immediately get to work helping you set up all your company paperwork, including getting you incorporated.
  6. As soon as your company exists, we’ll write a check to it for the investment. You can spend the money however you want.
  7. CodeVentures is not an incubator. We have space you can use if you need to, but we expect you to work out of wherever you find to live. It is no coincidence that so many successful startups have started this way; it’s the ideal setup for the initial phase.
  8. From March through May we’ll have dinners periodically for all the founders. At each dinner we’ll invite an expert  in some aspect of startups to speak.
  9. About 10-12 weeks in, we’ll organize a pair of investor days at which you can present to later stage investors. You can of course seek additional funding from any investor whenever you want.

How do we choose who to fund? The people in your group are what matter most to us. We look for brains, motivation, and a sense of design. Experience is helpful but not critical.

Your idea is important too, but mainly as evidence that you can have good ideas. Most successful startups change their idea substantially.

We’re more likely to fund people we know are smart from theirsubmissions.

The ideal company would have two or three founders. We’ll consider those with four or five. We’re reluctant to accept one-person companies.

We don’t expect you to have a formal business plan yet. All you have to do is fill out our application.

Rs 150,000 to 200,000 is not a lot, but it turns out to be enough. It will usually cover at least 4 months’ living expenses, and that is enough time to build something nontrivial. It’s in your interest to take little money in the earliest stages, because you give up less control for it.

The original motivation for Codeventures was benevolent, but this is not a charity. If our investments pay off, we can invest in more startups, and if they don’t, we can’t keep doing this indefinitely. So we’re looking for startups we think will succeed. We are a group of technologists and business people from Kerala. We have nothing to with any local, state or central governments.

Application form is available at http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AVMuwXHJ0fWrZGNoZHdidG1fMTAzOGduM3Fjdg&hl=en