Mr. Vittal Ramakrishna - CEO & Founder, POD World

How did the inception idea for POD World come up?

As a non-HNI investor, the entry barrier for me to invest in early-stage startups was very high in some premium platforms that we see in operations today. At the same time, as a startup founder, the current fundraising process was unorganized and broken. This is when we thought we could address these concerns one step at a time, or rather - one campaign at a time.

In your views, how are disruptive technologies redefining the finance sector? Which segments within the industry are witnessing major changes?

One of the key aspects that is going to grow is Embedded Finance. Embedded Finance is Banking-As-A-Service with an added layer of technology for seamless integration - be it credit issuance or even the investment circuit. Furthermore, Buy now - Pay later is a model which is expected to grow in this sector. The other occurrence that is expected to gain prominence is alternative investments. Alternative Investments has seen tremendous growth in the last couple of years with the increased participation from the working class and even from retail investors. This in turn is resulting in diversification of investments.

Revenue based finance (RBF) is also expected to see a spurt next year.  We are also likely to see the adoption of the blockchain technology and crypto on a global front and more so in India.

Where do you see your industry in the next few years?

‘Startup’ has become a household name in the last couple of years especially with some premium TV shows showcasing entrepreneurship across households. We are going to see a huge influx of startups and people daring to bring in new ideas, experimenting it out in the markets and also growing their business. All of this is going to take a lot of resources, time and most importantly a structured effort. So the industry in itself is growing multifold as we speak. This is definitely expected to hit 5 times of where we are as of today.

What are the unique solutions that set PoDWorld apart from the competition?

We offer quality, vetted deals to non-HNI investors and most importantly we offer a hybrid deal structuring. This means that people who are willing to put a minimum investment value- defined by the startup - could get equity as an instrument of investment and at the same time people who are not able to look at equity as an instrument would still come into the deal flow using CCD which is another instrument but with a lower ticket size. 

Tell us about your future roadmaps and current partnerships?

Since the industry is shaping up very positively there has been a huge influx of retail investors - especially people who are non-HNIs. The working class are seeing this as a new asset class in which they can invest. POD definitely seems to be the fundraising stack for the future entities - be it founders or at the same time non-HNI investors. That is something that POD is focussing on and currently we have signed MOUs with over 50 institutions particularly top incubators and accelerators to be their plug-and-play system. This is across the spectrum - be it in fundraising or in terms of deal sourcing. POD intends to be the fundraising stack for founders which enables them by reducing their timeline to raise funds and on the other hand, by providing a one-stop access for retail investors who are non-HNIs to actually structure their deals and their investments.