The Hatch adds online merchandise platform PosterGully to its portfolio

Startup accelerator and business incubator The Hatch has added yet another startup to its portfolio. The latest addition is Postergully.com, an online platform that helps brands monetise through merchandise. For the same, the company partners with bands, brands, and schools and colleges and manufactures exclusive merchandise for them in the form of posters, art prints, key chains, stickers, badges, sweat-shirts, etc. These are then offered on the site, and the company shares revenue with the brands for the merchandise sold.

As part of The Hatch, the company will receive mentorship, seed funding, as well as access to the accelerators and contacts (VCs, PE and angel investors).

"What I like about PosterGully is their approach towards opening up an untapped niche. They have also demonstrated high quality execution so far," said Aseem Sadana, co-founder, Isango, who is also the mentor for the startup.

Delhi-based Postergully.com was founded by Anuvi Srivastava (Head, marketing and communications) and Bharat Sethi (COO) in March 2012. The site went live in May. Anuvi has worked at companies like Ernst & Young and Essex Lake group and Sethi has had stints with HDFC Securities and WOne Management Systems.

According to Sethi, as of now, the site is receiving around a lakh visitors on a monthly basis. The company is actively looking for angel funding and expects to appoint a CEO soon.

The Hatch, launched by serial entrepreneurs Anupama Arya, Puneet Vatsayan and P K Gulati, aims to incubate 1,000 entrepreneurs over the next five years. Vatsayan and Arya are co-founders of Mobera Systems Pvt Ltd, a contract research and development company focused on communication, networking, wireless and embedded technologies. Both worked at Silicon Valley before moving to India. Gulati, the CEO of Optimistix Ventures, is a telecom professional with two decades of exposure in the Middle East, Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

As a startup accelerator and business incubator, The Hatch provides mentoring, operational guidance, knowledge and resources, infrastructure support and access to capital.

We had earlier written about the accelerator's plans to open centres in six Indian cities including the National Capital Region, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. The company also plans to open overseas centres at Silicon Valley, Dubai and Singapore. Each centre would have an area of 15,000-20,000 sq. ft., fitting in 15-20 startups at any point of time.

While the accelerator is sector-agnostic, it's more inclined towards technology start-ups,  given the background of its founders. The Hatch's current portfolio includes companies like TunePatrol, AllSchoolStuff, Moneyleo.com, Eonlinetutors.com, GoGobble and Scooze, among others. Read here to know more about the accelerator.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)