This October, arise will be hosting the first of many pitch days for startups seeking early stage investments, with a focus on fin-tech firms for the October 14th pitch day.
The #arisepitch is happening on Friday, October 14, 2016, and applications are open. Applications close on the 9th of October, 2016, and shortlisted startups will be contacted privately, and invited to come pitch to the arise syndicate for a seed fund of NGN1000000.
Interested investors/syndicates should contact arise via email at info@ariseinvest.co for information on how to join the arise syndicate.
Interested startups/founders can visit http://ariseinvest.co on how to apply.
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So for a N1m seed round for 5% equity, does this in anyway mean, startup post money valuation, automatically equates to N20m??
Fintech.
1M.
5%
At ideation, whatever you might have compared to a failed startup only fares better but no more valuable. So any valuation at this stage is somebody’s joke, yours or theirs, but you can always choose to take it or kick it.
Strictly speaking it does. But there are subtleties that are worth expanding on.
The first is to get people investing in early stage - the people behind the N1mm investing are only putting in 50k max individually so for every N1mm investment there will be at least 20 backers. The rationale for this is to reduce the entry barriers for people who would like to invest as angels but want to do so within a defined structure or with others. For would be entrepreneurs, it lowers the barrier of leaving my paid employment (or sticking out for a few more months)
In many ways the 1mm at 5% is arbritary - the rational was more a certain amount of money that could fund a small team for say 6 months - to build some traction. For some the N20mm is too high a valuation but hey its your lucky day. For others the N20mm might be too low but there is no restriction on people investing beyond the 1mm and the goal is that the investors do so if there is a business case. So imagine the first 1mm goes in at 5% but the next 5% (if there is mutual agreement) goes in at N11mm, reflecting the companies true valuation.
At the early stage, I would rather take connections/networks over cash and the arise scheme is designed for this. The expectation is that at least one of the 30-50 investors will be able to help open some doors, hire services. What is even better is that some of the investors decide to invest in a team that doesn’t get the 1mm.
Its not a perfect structure - it may be amended but even if 1 person gets funded as opposed to scrounging for months (and I have been there) then we’d consider this a success
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Good detail. Good concept.
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There is an issue with ur sign up form tho… do check it out.
thanks for the heads up. was there any particular area - you have to sign up to gust before you can apply - or was there another issue?
I wanted to apply for the funding, it wasn’t showing any captcha picture whereas it’s needed to complete the form…
Bizarre, i tried it after your comment and it seemed to work fine.
AKA Come and give us your brilliant ideas and take N1 million.
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Absolutely!
Absolutely!!
1M NAIRA for 5%. Jesus is lord.
Meanwhile folks are getting 30k$ for 10% i
You guys should just re-think about the stake.
Or just give the money on a convertible note or YC SAFE
1 million NAIRA
That should be a little above $3k using cbn exchange rates
While I am neither for nor against the idea, it is inaccurate to compare based on exchange rates.
The economies, environment & buying power are different (& complex) kettles of fish, which makes face value comparison next to useless.
Next time, use commas for figures. I had to go count the zeros (not a small feat) to know it was a million.
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I strongly feel that the NGN1m is too small for building traction with a small team for 6 months. More cash investment, along with the Arise connection/network would be better
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Suggestion, this excellent explanation answers so many questions and should be on the website in some form.
Except this bit though 
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Good luck. 