In the recent years, India has been witnessing a great boom in the start-up business arena. As more and more individuals are choosing to call themselves entrepreneurs rather than employees, there is a huge need for business funding.

If you have a viable start-up idea, but lack the funding it’s time you start looking for investors. Before the advent of venture capital, entrepreneurs relied on family, friends and bank loans for initiating their ventures. Later on, private investors and angel investments groups came into picture creating more options for business funding.

The most important factor to consider before you meet investors is to understand precisely where you are going to invest the money. Once you fix an appointment with the investor, present the profitability of the investment in a clear-cut and crisp manner. Highlight the USPs of your product/service and long-term goals of your business. The initial stage of convincing the investors can be a bit challenging, but however keep knocking on doors until you find the right investor.

Let’s discuss a list of options you could try to find prospective investors:

1. Bootstrapping – Self-Funding

When you start looking for investors, the first option is your family and close friends. If you happen to find any relatives or friends who may be interested in an investment, then you can very well consider approaching them. You can plan to repay their investment money with a decent interest rate within a few years’ time.

2. Angel Investors

Get your idea up and listed on the Angel list platform, an online portal to find investors. Create a profile, detail your business services &connect with various investor groups who come under the category of High Net Worth Individuals (HNI).

3. Crowdfunding

For smaller amounts of investments, crowd funding is the best option. You can get funds from a pool of people, each of them contributing small denominations. Create a detailed business proposal and put it up on an online crowd funding platform.

4. Bank Loans

Bank loan is a safe and reliable option for starting a business. You can opt for EMI payments with a repayment window of upto 20 years. Another major benefit is that you don’t have to share the business profit if you are taking a bank loan.

5. Venture Capital

Venture Capital is a source of funding offered by investment banks and other financial institutions. Venture Capitalists usually invest in business ventures which have a great growth potential in the long run. You can rely on venture capitalists for guidance and monetary advises also. This type of financing is best suitable for small business ventures with aquick turnaround time.

6. Start-up Meets

Maximize your networking through business gatherings, entrepreneurs meet or start-up contests. There are various events that are conducted across the country to encourage innovative business ideas and showcase new talents. Find these platforms to connect with business men and you may end up finding an investor for your venture.

7. Government schemes

Government of India had introduced various schemes to support start-up businesses. Schemes like ‘Stand-up India’ are aimed to provide business funding for women and people belonging to the backward caste. Government funding schemes has benefits like lower interest rates as compared to private sectors and longer repayment windows.

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