CoVenture, a ‘service focused venture firm’ in progress by Ali Hamed and Jamil Goher has raised an impressive $3 million in funding. The company plans on funding the operations with this money rather than approaching startups straightaway.
CoVenture builds software for nontechnical start-up founders in return for an equity stake. Co-founder Ali Hamed is of the view that depending on startups to build their structure on their own is a rather inappropriate method.
CoVenture employs over 55 employees in Lahore
This is particularly true if the founder lacks technical skills in which case he/she would actively seek a co-founder with those skills or pay developers by the hour.
That way the firm runs the risk of settling for anyone who might not even be suited for the job in question but will be rewarded with a good chunk of equity.
Instead, Hamed proposes waiting until there is viable product along with some users available before money is raised and a team with technical proficiency is brought aboard.
CoVenture does that. The company builds around $30,000 of software for startups in return for a 5% equity stake.
Hamed emphasized that the firm mainly looks for tech-enabled companies instead of tech companies.
The company builds software for early stage startups in exchange for equity.
More precisely, CoVenture doesn’t seek startups that have established themselves with huge technical feats; instead, it looks for those proficient in other fields but interested in incorporating technology in order to address issues.
The latest pool of funding comes courtesy of a total of 57 investors, some of which include: Great Oaks Venture Capital, Bob Adelson of Osage Partners and Gerson Lehrman Group. As mentioned before, those funds will mainly target CoVenture’s own operations but some of them might be used to provide startups some leverage as they seek funding from elsewhere.
Plans are in place to invest in 22 more companies over the course of 2 years. CoVenture has had a history of investments in 15 companies to date, some of which include: Bib + Tuck, FireStop and Enriched Schools.
