9Unicorns, one of India’s leading multistage accelerator VC funds, has announced the launch of DDay 4, its fourth consecutive demo day, on October 5, 2023.
The Mumbai-based VC, which counts startups such as ShipRocket, Videoverse, Zypp, Renee, Blusmart, Leverage Edu, Freightify, and Ethereal Machines amongst 136 others, expects to raise a total of $100 million for its portfolio companies on this virtual global demo day.
Previously, DDays have featured over 70+ companies, which raised over $440 million cumulatively from Seed to Series A. The success stories include BluSmart, the EV ride hailing and aggregator platform that raised $25 million; Rooter, India’s largest game streaming platform that raised close to $41 million; OTO, the two-wheeler financing company that raised $10 million; and Renee, a cruelty-free cosmetics brand that raised $25 million in consecutive rounds.
Demo days are excellent avenues for early and growth-stage companies to raise capital between $3-10 million on average from marquee global investors.
9Unicorns, the flagship accelerator fund of multistage investment firm Venture Catalysts ++, will showcase over 15 startups across agritech, consumer brands, deeptech, ecommerce, edtech, financial services and fintech, HRtech, media and entertainment, before 1,500+ marquee global and domestic investors. These startups have already raised an average of $4 million in previous funding rounds and have received $20 million in commitments in their current round.
DDay features startups curated based on their track record and a strong focus on profitability and growth. Over 58% of the presenting startups are led by serial entrepreneurs who have built successful businesses in the past.
“We are pleased to announce our fourth virtual demo day. Over the years, we have created the world’s largest demo day where over 2,000+ investors have participated in the past, with 90% of startups having successfully raised capital,” said Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder and Managing Director, 9Unicorns and Venture Catalysts++.
“The idea behind these demo days was to ensure that our existing portfolio startups get maximum exposure to the global investment landscape and graduate as highly scalable and fundable ventures. We continue to commit to our dedication in supporting startups beyond capital,” he added.
The DDay, which will be conducted virtually, brings a range of opportunities, enabling greater access and interactions between the startups, global and domestic venture capital firms, family offices, unicorn founders, angel investors, and CXOs.
“DDay 4 will showcase 15 high-growth startup opportunities; we are quite optimistic that these curated startups will collectively raise over $100 million on DDay 4. This optimism comes from the fact that in previous demo days, 70 companies raised around $440 million,” said Soham Avlani, Partner, 9Unicorns.
The significance of October DDay has increased as the funding winter appears to be receding, evidenced by the emergence of green shoots in the form of Zepto, a hyperlocal delivery startup, which has become the first unicorn of 2023. There has also been a resurgence in large-scale funding.
To register here for the fourth edition of DDay