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.
For more information, visit YFounder Lab.