SPJIMR Mumbai has launched a funding accelerator — Vriddhi —  for alumni and participants of the Centre for Family Business and Entrepreneurship (CFBE). The new initiative aims to connect family businesses with fund providers. “It will help route funds, offer due diligence, and add a layer of professional expertise to guide, support and drive growth,” a press release from the institute, said.

The four-stage process runs for four months starting from the application stage to making a pitch. The B-school will also charge nominal fees for the service. The minimum ticket size for funds to be raised has been set at ₹25 lakh. The institute will also study and support proposals for bigger amounts of debt as well as equity.

Mentorship

Varun Nagaraj, Dean, SPJIMR said, “Family businesses contribute approximately 70 per cent to India’s GDP and are key to our economy’s growth. With Vriddhi, we are aiming to impact the family business ecosystem and facilitate next-generation family entrepreneurship.”

Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman Axilor Ventures, and Co-founder, Infosys said, “I compliment SPJIMR’s CFBE on this initiative. We need many more such initiatives to support start-ups and entrepreneurship. We need to support these with domestic capital that is smartly invested. We need more mentors to guide these start-ups. I believe that our national goal of reaching a $10 trillion economy will partly be driven by innovation, start-ups, and entrepreneurship. We need to channel 15 per cent of our wealth into new business creation.”

 “We seek to provide not just financial capital to family businesses, but also the EQ capital, network capital, and engagement capital that are unique to the family business ecosystem,” said Tulsi Jayakumar, Chairperson, CFBE, SPJIMR.