Social Commerce India Challenge

Deadline: 31-May-23

The YFounder Lab is seeking applications for its Social Commerce India Challenge.

Social commerce is a booming market in India, currently valued at $5 billion in GMV, with potential to reach $70 billion by 2030. Over 40 million small businesses and entrepreneurs could benefit from social commerce, but several challenges must be addressed.

These include simplified shopping, scalable trust-building, made-for-commerce propositions, smart curation, tools for sellers, unlocking new consumer segments, reimagining high value categories, and building enablers for the social-commerce ecosystem. Indian startups are invited to apply and develop solutions to these challenges.

Themes for Challenges

Social Commerce Enabler
E-Commerce
MSME / Small Business
Customer Experience
Trust – Building
Product Discovery
Platoform APIs
Logistics
Payments

Funding Information

Funding & Grants Upto 20 Lakhs.

Incentives

Fiscal Incentives
- Funding: Help arrange grant and equity funding to the winning startups to help them accelerate their growth and develop their social commerce solutions.
Non-Fiscal Incentives
- Mentorship: Offer mentorship opportunities to help the startups refine their ideas and strategies, and provide guidance on how to overcome specific challenges.
- Access to networks: Provide startups with access to key industry networks, such as investors, customers, and partners, to help them expand their reach and grow their businesses.
- Incubation opportunities: Offer incubation opportunities to selected startups, providing them with a physical workspace, access to resources, and ongoing support to help them refine their solutions and scale their businesses.
- Collaboration opportunities: Connect the winning startups with potential collaborators, such as established businesses, academic institutions, or government agencies, to help them develop new partnerships and opportunities for growth.

Eligibility Criteria

The startup should be based in India and should have a valid legal registration (or willing to register in the near future).
The startup should have a product or service which supports social commerce platforms or an innovative idea to create one.
Your team should have a strong desire to build a company and ideally should have experience in building projects in the past.
The startup should have a minimum viable product (MVP) or a prototype that demonstrates their solution to one or more of the challenges outlined in the problem statement.
The team should have a broad knowledge base to draw upon and an passion in keeping up-to-date with the latest technologies.
The startup should have a scalable business model that can generate revenue and create sustainable growth.
The startup should be able to demonstrate their potential impact in empowering small businesses and entrepreneurs in India to expand their reach and supplement their income.
The startup should be willing to collaborate with other stakeholders in the social commerce ecosystem, such as payment and logistics providers, to build a more robust and seamless social commerce platform.
The startup should be willing to participate in mentoring sessions, workshops, and networking events with other startups, industry experts, and potential investors.
The startup should be willing to participate in a pitch competition where they will showcase their social commerce solution to a panel of judges and potential investors.

Procedure Post Submission

Submit your innovative solution: Once you have gone through the eligibility criteria, submit your solution through the online platform before the deadline.
Pitch your solution: Shortlisted startups will be invited to pitch their solution to the panel of judges.
Develop a minimum viable product: Selected startups will be given the opportunity to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) of their solution with guidance and support from industry experts.
Get incubated: The top startups will receive an incubation offer from the partners and access to resources such as mentorship, infrastructure, and funding to take their solution to the next level.
Partner with industry leaders: Connect with industry leaders and mentors who will provide guidance and support to help your startup grow and succeed.
Showcase your solution: Showcase your solution at events and conferences to get exposure and attract potential investors, customers, and partners.
Scale your solution: Scale your solution with access to resources and support from the partners, and make a meaningful impact in the social commerce ecosystem in India.