Unraveling the process of finding the right startups for your company

Being new to the team and GreyB’s work, I always wondered how we find the right startups for our clients to acquire. I always wondered how GreyB researchers could select one that fits the client’s requirements perfectly. 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, our team was doing something right. Soon, I got answers to all my questions, and Anshuman’s email, sharing his experience, dropped in my inbox. The email discussed a recent case in which his team worked on finding a startup in the ‘Sustainable Packaging’ field.

If you have been wondering how GreyB never disappoints in finding the right startups, look at the email below, and you will surely find an answer.

SUB: Data Analytics Session

Anshuman Jha

Research Analyst

Hey all,

Today’s activity was to find an obscure but promising start-up with patent(s) to its name that is not discussed much in the domain. I was paired with Megha, and we searched for start-ups in the ‘Sustainable Packaging’ field together. We shortlisted Welkiv Solutions, an India-based start-up focused on the waste-to-wealth segment and working towards a green environment with 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 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, per founder Arpit Gupta’s LinkedIn page.

Solution: The startup has created a dedicated team to research agricultural waste. After long research, they developed the new Eco-Friendly Waste Agriculture Recycled Material (ECOWAREM) concept. 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 devised 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 Google’s ‘News’ section. 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 little chance of them being acquainted with this particular start-up and its portfolio.

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

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 various commercial databases.
2. Our next step was to filter them based on Priority date and Assignee/Applicants.
3. We also cleaned the data and removed duplicates and irrelevant results, such as 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 the SMART way eventually results in finding a promising startup. The researcher’s mindset of shortlisting certain keywords and proceeding accordingly makes them the best at what they do. Finally, knowing what’s best for the client and being persistent in finding it makes them hit the bullseye—every time. Impressed? I sure am.

If you want to test the expertise of our researchers and find the right startup to acquire, we’re just a message away.