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Unraveling the process of finding the right startups for your company

Being new to the team and GreyB’s work, I always wondered how do we find the right startups for our clients to acquire. I always wondered how GreyB researchers could select the one that fits perfectly with the client’s requirements. It cannot be a Google search of companies. I have seen the final result, but never knew what goes on behind the scenes.

With clients all over the globe trusting us, there was something that our team was doing right. Soon I got answers to all my questions as Anshuman’s email, sharing his experience, dropped in my inbox. The email discussed a recent case that his team worked on in finding a startup in the ‘Sustainable Packaging’ field.

If you have been wondering how GreyB never disappoints in finding the right startups – have a look at the email below and you are sure to find an answer.

SUB: Data Analytics Session

anshuman.greyb

Anshuman Jha

Research Analyst

Hey all,

Today’s activity was to find an obscure but promising start-up that has patent(s) to its name but is not being talked about much in the domain. I was paired with Megha and together we decided to search for start-ups in the ‘Sustainable Packaging’ field. The start-up we shortlisted is Welkiv Solutions, an India-based start-up focused on the waste-to-wealth segment and working towards a green environment having a concept of less pollution maximum results.

The problem being solved: The harmful effects of plastic on the environment are well known. Welkiv solutions is focused on reducing the usage of plastic in our daily lives by replacing plastic-based products with an eco-friendly material, which can be used to manufacture toys, robotics characters, home decoration items, food packaging, food serving, lighting solutions, games, handmade paper, computer accessories, showpieces, stationery products, ancillary craft, decorative articles, art-pieces, etc. The start-up was founded in August 2018, as per founder Arpit Gupta’s LinkedIn page.

Solution: The startup has created a dedicated team for research on agricultural wastes. After long research, they came up with the new concept of Eco-Friendly Waste Agriculture Recycled Material (ECOWAREM). ECOWAREM has had several quality tests done by an agency and received a certificate of ‘non-hazardous and non-toxic material and also 100% natural biodegradable and 100% reusable’. It can be used as an alternative to plastic products in multiple extremes. Post-certification, they have come up with an idea to replace plastic toys and home decoration items with ECOWAREM. The process of manufacturing this material includes drying biomass residues, grinding the dried mass to convert it to a powdery form, decoloring the powdery mass, drying the discolored mass followed by preparing a slurry of the dried consistent powdery mass, preparing mold from the decolored slurry, and getting the desired molded product, followed by providing shellac coating to top it off. The process has been explained thoroughly with technical details in their patent IN202011006616A.

Despite targeting such a relevant modern-day problem and providing a unique and innovative solution, the start-up remains hidden and a Google search for “welkiv solutions” leads to just 44 results, mostly from its own website and YouTube channel, except for a single mention in an article by ‘the TOY FAIR’. No results appear if the same is searched in the ‘News’ section of Google. Hence, it is safe to assume that this start-up, if recommended to a client looking to invest in or acquire a start-up from this domain, can help him/her gain an edge over competitors as there is very less chance of them being acquainted with this particular start-up and its portfolio.

But if it was so difficult to find, how did we do it?

How to find startups for acquisition? 

We followed the following steps to identify this promising start-up.

  1. We extracted patents covering sustainable and eco-friendly packaging innovation from a variety of commercial databases
  2. Our next step was to filter them based on Priority date and Assignee/Applicants.
  3. We also took care of cleaning the data and removing duplicates and irrelevant results like – universities, institutes, colleges, etc. Since our goal was to find startups.
  4. We were left with approximately 140 results. We searched these manually to identify the most promising assignee from the remaining list and searched for details about it.

Hope this is helpful for all of you!

Best Regards, Anshuman

As I reached the end of the email, I understood that it is the SMART way that eventually results in finding a promising startup. The researcher’s mindset of shortlisting certain keywords and proceeding accordingly makes them best at what they do. And finally, knowing what’s best for the client and being persistent in finding it is what makes them hit the bullseye. Every time. Impressed? I sure am.

Want to put the expertise of our researchers to test and find the right startup to acquire– we’re just a message away.

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