Ram Kumar fought in vain for two years as funders shied away from backing his online ayurvedic platform NirogStreet. Then came Japanese VC firm Spiral Ventures in 2018...
It was the 60th rejection. Ram Kumar remembers the count for a reason. For a good one-and-a-half years, Kumar got used to polite snubbing by venture capitalists (VC) of all shapes, kinds and nationalities for his fledgling ayurvedic venture NirogStreet. Some declined by citing that the model couldn’t be scaled; a few reckoned the venture needed products to begin with and not just services; and there were some who questioned the credibility of the doctors, as the ancient system of medicine was plagued with fake practitioners and medicines across the country. “I knew there would be rejections, and I was mentally prepared,” recalls Kumar.
The last spurning in mid-2018, though, was special. The VC wanted a magical pill. Looking for instant results, he suggested Kumar make a switch from ayurvedic to allopathic way of medicine. Kumar, who has been building a close-knit community of ayurvedic doctors since he bootstrapped the venture towards the fag end of 2016, was not ready to bite the bullet. He knew NirogStreet didn’t have a monetisation plan then, but he trusted the process. He had been scouting for a funder with a long-term vision. Sadly, there was none. The initial amount that he pumped into the venture—Rs25 lakh—was fast depleting. The Indian entrepreneur, and his business based on the ancient Indian form of medicine, needed a saviour.
Enter the Samurai in June 2018. Japanese VC firm Spiral Ventures led from the front by pumping around Rs 2 crore. Others who took part in the seed round were Subho Ray, president of the Internet and Mobile Association of India; and Samir Kumar, who was then derivatives director at Deutsche Bank in Singapore. “Isn’t it ironical that it took a Japanese fund to back a venture founded on an ancient system of Indian medicine?” ask Kumar.