Exclusive: Serial entrepreneur Kapil Mathrani launches startup incubator, raises capital

Kapil Mathrani has entered a new business with the founding of Disruptworkz Infolabs, parent operator to a startup incubation, support and investment services venture branded Disruptium, the BigSpoon founder and CEO told TechCircle on Monday.  

Disruptworkz, launched in the last week of May, has raised its first round of funding, dubbed pre-seed, at $200,000, Mathrani said.  

The participating investors in the round were Energysys and Lemonade Ventures managing director Pravesh Mehta, Chokhani Ventures, Maharshi Family Office, Suryam Group, and former Adani Group CFO Ameet Desai.  

Disruptium will use the raised capital towards technology development, hiring key resources, and building alliances and partnerships, Mathrani added. Mathrani’s co-founders at the Ahmedabad registered startup are Yash Shah and Ishit Desai.  

Shah, a Drexel University alumnus, worked at Goldman Sachs and a couple of startups in Singapore prior to donning the entrepreneur hat. He also founded The Address, an Ahmedabad based co-working space provider. Meanwhile NMIMS alumnus Desai spent five years managing a family office, and another five with a wealth management company.  

Disruptium operates via three main lines of business – its incubator programme for startups, a support services programme for existing early-stage startups, and end-to-end management services for fundraising.  

The incubation set-up aims to service chosen budding entrepreneurs, who have startup ideas, through conceptualization, seed fundraise of Rs 1 crore up till the Series A stage. Within a year, Disruptium plans to validate, build, and incubate seven startup ideas for its first cohort, 15 by the second year, and 25 by the third year. For the second line of its business, it aims to service 250-300 startups with its support services in a year.  

The support functions, expected to target over 1,000 existing startups, include hiring, growth and marketing, technology and product, and advisory services comprising pitch deck creation, public relations, marketing validation, competitive landscaping, marketing sizing, product-market fit, go-to-market strategy, match-making with other founders.  

The fundraising line of business will put to use a fully subscribed fund of Rs 15 crore it has created. The fund will invest up to Rs 50 lakhs in each of the 30 sector-agnostic startups it will back, with the same deal flow pouring to its investors network for a double down.   

Disruptium expects to fund 100 startups in the first 18 months of operations, including the 30 from its own fund. A second fund of Rs 50 crore size is planned to be raised in 2022.  

Additionally, in the investment processes, Disruptium will help with due diligence, negotiations, term sheets, shareholders agreements, final closing, call for money, share certificate issuance, and other regulatory filings, with plans to host one minute video pitches of startups to quick turnaround time investors.  

“The up-and-coming pool of angel investors and established Family Offices get drowned in multiple channels and sources of deal flow, from various angel networks, incubators, investment bankers et al. The lack of time and ability to analyze deals lands them in sub-optimal decision-making radius, with expensive annual subscription fees, zero control over rights and terms of deal, as well as exit options,” Mathrani said, in reference to Disruptium’s problem statement.  

The new startup said it plans to tap into a market opportunity of over $200 billion across new and existing startups, with over 5,000 unique investors every year participating across 6,000 deals.