Brigade helps reap what you sow with investments from $50,000 to $1,00,000 per startup
Brigade Reap the first real estate company in India that has created an accelerator for startups. It aims to help young companies scale up in a sustainable manner to make it more acceptable and adoptable within the real estate space.
Brigade Reap the first real estate company in India that has created an accelerator for startups. Renewate has in fact been signed on by Brigade Reap, Nirupa Shankar, director Brigade real estate accelerator program (Reap) talks to Namita Shibad about the idea behind a realty company helping startups and apps like Renewate.
What were the three most important reasons you decided to take Renewate under your wings?
Simply put, they were: Market potential first. Renovation of existing properties has its own challenges when compared with new-build construction projects. Technology powered efficiency in the construction industry being our primary goal, we believed the team at Renewate is creating something that could help solve this problem by leveraging technology to take the pain out of renovation projects and the associated industry.
Then, team. The team at Renewate is well suited to solve the problem. Supratik used his IT background to develop this app within a time-frame of just a year. Debashree, an architect with over 10 years of experience, brings in the domain expertise.
Scope for collaboration, next. We found a lot of potential in Renewate collaborating with Reap alumni. For instance, AapKaPainter, a painting solutions company can be a good collaboration fit with Renewate and together they can create greater efficiency in the real estate or construction industry.
Apart from this the plan is to help Renewate scale in a sustainable manner.
What made you venture into the startup space? What is the philosophy?
While on maternity leave I was contacted by several start ups who wanted to pitch their product or service to Brigade. However, I found that while the premise of the startups was good, their business models required tweaking in order for an established company like ours to adopt the product or service. Hence, this real estate accelerator program. The philosophy of Reap is to help young companies scale up in a sustainable manner to make it more acceptable and adoptable within the real estate space. As part of scaling up we also help a startup with increasing client base; increasing revenues; helping them get additional funding; and a pilot project with a developer.
How much are you investing in it?
The invested amount varies from startup to startup, but typically it is in the range of $50,000 – $100,000 per startup.
What value do startups bring to Brigade group?
Innovation is part of Brigade group’s core values. Evaluating startups for each batch helps us keep abreast of the latest tech trends in the industry. Adopting some of the tech solutions provided by the startups keeps the team nimble and agile.