December 2: Nepal Communitere, a non-profit organisation under its I-Cube business incubation programme, hosted its first demo day on November 30. The event showcased five companies that were incubated and supported for a year by Nepal Communitere.

The event was accompanied by the launch of Nepal’s first-ever seed investment fund, ‘Safal Seeds’, which supports early-stage Nepali startups looking for  investment worth Rs 1 to 2 million. Potential investors who attended the event showed their support by pledging an investment of Rs 100,000 each.

Bahar Kumar, executive director of Nepal Communitere, said, “We harnesses the creativity and innovation that emerges in the face of scarcity.”

Keynote speaker of the event, British Ambassador to Nepal Richard Morris, emphasized the importance of creating a healthy ecosystem for entrepreneurs willing to take risks, and collaborate. He also underscored the importance of providing business development guidance and support for small and medium enterprises.

Ashutosh Tiwari of Safal Partners talked about Safal Seeds’ feature of bridging the gap between businesses and investors, in addition to providing administrative, communications, and legal support to SMEs, as these SMEs often lack institutional support.

‘Safal Seeds’ is a collaboration between Nepal Communitere, Antarprerana, a private company that supports entrepreneurs of Nepal through investment and mentorship, and Safal Partners, Nepal’s first operational improvement-focused Investment Company. According to the companies, it is an initiation to nurture budding startups to create a pipeline for them to be ready for large-scale investments—both domestic and foreign.

Three registered companies namely 8byte Creative Studio, Around the Corner Restaurant and Orange Ball Pvt Ltd pitched for seed investments. Similarly, two teams comprisign of engineering students, NovaTech and Light Up presented their ideas.

I-Cube is a 2 year DFID/UKAID sponsored program representing three key pillars for the success of startups - to innovate, iterate and incubate the business. The incubation journey for the second cohort of I-Cube is already underway for up to eight companies.