HostelFund breathes the spirit of Student Start-ups ecosystem. As it is quite evident from the name we go by, we are supporting student start-ups to grow and encouraging them to build their passion into a business.
HostelFund is paving a new road by pivoting the investors’ lenses as well, for these start-ups. One might wonder why? And the answer is as straightforward as it’s the STUDENT start-ups we are trying to seed our money to. We have to have a different and younger perspective towards evaluating these startups. We need to have a separate KPIs to measure the progress of a student startup starting from the idea they are pursuing to the final product/service they are targeting.
There are various stages in the journey of a startup and each can be considered as a milestone. We consider ‘receiving funding’ for a startup being a milestone of acceptance and presence in the society. If startups are being trusted with someone’s money, it is a big support financially as well as morally. It is a responsibility at the same time and we are amazed to see how the students we have interacted with, are mature enough to understand this by themselves. While they are well self-taught entrepreneurs, we are helping them to achieve this milestone with ‘HostelFund’.
And now it’s a great time for us to announce our first successful funding raised for a BITS PILANI students’ startup. This is a proud moment for HostelFund ! Not because it’s our first funding but we are so fortunate to have found Siddhant & Deepansh and be part of their journey. We are joining BITS Alumni team in funding CortexBCI.
CortexBCI is a thought based robotic systems. They are trying to bridge the gap between man and machine by eliminating the limitations of human body and utilizing the limitless power of brain.
In their own words “The lack of sensible and efficient methods to control robotic devices especially medical devices like control of bionics led us to explore this arena, and the idea of using one`s brain`s signals to control stuff struck us. Understanding the social impact of our solution became one of a key driver for us and hence we have working since to reach our goals. The human brain is one of the most complex and powerful machines, yet its capabilities are limited by the fragile human body. Our vision is to unleash the true potential of the human brain by breaking the chains holding it back.”
For us, it’s a Day 1 and there is a long road ahead. We will call ourselves successful when our start-ups become profitable and start returning money to all their stakeholders and that will happen only when we have a successful business model.
We wish all the success to Siddhant Dangi (CEO) and Deepansh Goyal (CTO) and look forward to be an integral part of their journey.
Watch the full interview here.
Hopeful and Wishful for future!
Ankur Jain
HostelFundTeam
HostelFund is a fund for student entrepreneurs. We are eagerly looking forward to listening to many more innovative ideas. Apply here.