Q&As with Azhar Babayeva, Our Business Development Officer

VentureRocket Eurasia (VRE) is the first startup co-investment platform in Central Asia that unites vetted startups and accredited professional investors.

The startup accreditation is a process of projects’ thorough validation which includes checking the startup’s management team, legal aspects, and the product from the standpoint of its market and business potential. At VentureRocket Eurasia, the whole team of specialists is involved in the evaluation process.

Azhar Babayeva, our Business Development Officer, has shared how the due diligence process is conducted on the platform, what startups should pay attention to, and much more.

What startups can register on VRE?

Any technology startup can register on our platform, and each of the startups applying will be considered. However, mind that the admin may reject a startup’s registration application.

Before the startup is allowed to fundraise, it has to undergo our evaluation process. We do not evaluate the cost of the project. By means of evaluation, we try to answer if the investors will be interested in the startup registered on the platform.

In your experience, what industries are investors most interested in on VRE?

There are a lot of projects coming from different industries on our platform. However, we have noticed that investors are more interested in the solutions that improve and automate business processes, mainly focused on small and medium-sized businesses. Due to the lockdown conditions, e-grocery and product delivery startups have been in great demand on VentureRocket Eurasia.

What are the main criteria of your startup evaluation?

Imagine you were an investor, startup-wise, what things would you pay attention to?
To us, it’s always about the startup’s management team. We also pay great attention to its idea and development strategies which should be supported by good traction rates.

In your experience, what are the main reasons for the VRE team not to cooperate with a startup?

The main thing is the unavailability of a startup, in every sense… When it is difficult to negotiate with the startup’s team, the guys do not provide the necessary information or do not meet the deadlines, delay with answering us, etc. – all this may make us stop cooperating with the startup.

How much time does it usually take to raise funds on the platform?

It all depends on the current status of the round. We are often approached by startups that have already raised 30-50% of the round and are looking for other investors ready to close the remaining round. For such projects, we set 1-3 months to raise funds. Keep in mind that the TA market is still developing, so the processes take more time than in the United States, for example, where you can close its round in almost an hour.

What are the benefits of raising capital on VRE?

Firstly, not only startups but also investors are checked on our platform. Thus, a startup can be sure that it deals only with real professional investors who can and should be trusted.

Secondly, we give an opportunity to raise large amounts – our platform makes it possible to co-invest. That means several VCs can invest in one startup.

In addition, we help startups connect with the entire ecosystem of regional investors, beyond the platform. Thus, the startup increases its chances of finding a worthy investor.

To join VentureRocket Eurasia as a startup, register here.