Investimonial: Data-based portal aims to marry entrepreneurs with investors

At Investimonial, once you register as an entrepreneur or investor, you can use the platform according to your needs.

Apple Inc quashed concerns of muted demand for its iPhone X on Friday, saying pre-orders for the 10th anniversary phone were “off the charts”.

The company’s shares, which have fallen steadily since it announced in early September it would launch two iPhones within two months, rose nearly 3 % in response. Pre-orders for the much-anticipated 10th anniversary phone started on Friday.

“We can see from the initial response, customer demand is off the charts,” an Apple spokeswoman told Reuters.

“We’re working hard to get this revolutionary new product into the hands of every customer who wants one, as quickly as possible.”

The company’s website showed delivery times pushed out to five to six weeks for the phone, compared to an initial plan of 3 November.IPhone X’s launch follows weeks of concerns among analysts about the production of the new phone, which for the first time includes new facial identification software to replace the fingerprint used on previous phones.Analysts have cautioned that production of the phone was below target, due to difficulties in producing the TrueDepth camera system, which houses sophisticated cameras and sensors making it possible to unlock the phone using Face ID. Wireless carriers in the United States and Canada have reported slow third-quarter customer upgrades.

Major promotions on the iPhone X from US carriers have yet to materialise, and in some cases, the offers have been even less generous than what was available for the iPhone 8, said Walter Piecyk, an analyst at BTIG in a research note on Thursday. In India’s growing startup space, investors and entrepreneurs have been looking for the right match, and a few startups have taken upon themselves the responsibility to help them in their quest.

One such startup, Investimonial, which was launched recently in Mumbai, aims to bridge the gap between a startup and investor with its data-based platform. At Investimonial, once you register as an entrepreneur or investor, you can use the platform according to your needs. For an entrepreneur, the platform offers to guide the company’s business plans to make it presentable to investors, value added services like financial mod- elling, valuation assistance, etc., registering startup under PM’s startup initiatives and more importantly, your business idea will stay safe with a non-disclosure agreement signed by the investor. Furthermore, an entrepreneur is free to accept/reject the offers from investor or make a counter offer.

For an investor, the platform assures various investment opportunities which have gone through a background check and the search can be filtered to match the investor’s interests. Most importantly, an investor won’t be spammed with messages from entrepreneurs as only Investimonial can have an in-portal conversation to discuss further details, negotiate on the investment value, percenttage of securities etc.

The idea has been conceived by Ankit Totla, a Chartered Accountant, and Himanshu Dhabalia, a seasoned IT professional who helped in its implementation. Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Ankit said, “I have been in the start-up space for a long time, assisting them professionally and even catering as Virtual CFO for a few. One common problem I realised during my journey was that very few start-ups were able to get connected to investors, either due to lack of connect or a lack of expertise on how to connect with the investors. It is from this that the idea came; the idea was to assist not only the fund requirements, but also the enterprise through its journey of growth.”

Ankit and Himanshu have a team of over a 100 people in various departments including IT, Statutory Compliances, Management Consultancy, etc. They also have strategic partners for the purpose of legal, marketing services etc. In its initial days, Investimonial has 10 subscriptions and is in developing conversations with big investors like Angel investors, seed funders etc. Any enterprise can subscribe to the portal with an annual membership fee of Rs. 15,000.