India is considered a global leader and the next international hub for start-ups and MSMEs, based on the exponential rise in the related figures. Start-ups are undoubtedly one of the most trending word these days, with roughly one out of ten unicorns having been born in India.
Be it the youth or an experienced professional; everyone dreams to make it big in the world of start-ups.
However, there is one thing that we all have forgotten while running this race: the availability of the right ecosystem, mentorship, and guidance. Do we have a suitable support system in India that can guide these pools of entrepreneurs? After all, everyone is looking for funding for their start-ups and businesses, but are they sailing on the right boat?
Meet Anil: Founder and MD, CapSavvy
What these start-ups need is an expert who can handhold them towards success. Anil Goyal is a man who has been raising funds and has been instrumental in building the start-ups & SMEs for past 22 years of his professional journey. He is a rank-holding Chartered Accountant, and has a natural flair for business functioning, in financial terms. Owing to this, he has been able to nurture himself throughout his career, developing his skills in communications and leadership.
CapSavvy: An Overview
CapSavvy began its remarkable journey in 2019, as it ventured into business strategic advisory, private equity and debt syndication. Since then, it has been working with various start-ups and SMEs on their journey of growth, through a professional board and a great team. The board consists of Mr. Debashish Mallick (former MD, Exim Bank), renowned CAs, IITians and Engineers, who have been delivering quality services with a focused vision and strategy, to help bring the right funding for their clients.
Though the firm is young, Anil and his team have a phenomenal level of experience. CapSavvy also guides start-ups and SMEs as a mentor and philosopher, to help them make the right decisions for their business. Having such an advisor on board, who can give them a bird’s eye view of the business, is of utmost importance. This is what CapSavvy helps them with. In addition to this, CapSavvy also caters to the needs of firms who have crossed a certain threshold in terms of growth and profits. It helps them with a long-term vision, as well as a value proposition based on their products and services for further expansion.
The culture of any firm is a direct reflection of the nature and ethics of its founders. Anil is a visionary, who has helped several organisations in raising significant capital and earn credibility under his diligent leadership.
Anil’s Professional Journey
Overview
During his 25 years of professional journey, Anil has worked constructively with multiple eminent organisations like ILFS, IDBI, Mexus Education and Meril Life Sciences. The latter has recently become a unicorn, by acquiring a whopping $210 million as funding from Warburg Pincus. While working at IDBI as an appraising officer, he had been able to successfully process a loan of approximately ₹7000 crore, to high profile corporates.
Navi Mumbai SEZ Project
Anil has also been associated with the Navi Mumbai SEZ project (coming up near Panvel) from the private sector, with CIDCO (Government of Maharashtra) as partner from the public sector. He was on the Core Team for funding requirements, where he successfully raised the required funding amount through equity and debt, within the defined timeline. To achieve this feat, he worked closely with more than 25 banks for debt funds. This project is currently being overlooked by Reliance Group.
ILFS
After the initial financial closure of Navi Mumbai SEZ Project, Anil smoothly exited this project, in favour of a National Level position at ILFS, introducing a new division called the SEZ Business Group.
Here, he worked with many state governments, as well as the central government. The primary role of this division was to identify and advise governments on eligible Business Parks for SEZ usage. His department’s role was to identify suitable land parcel, provide project development services for value addition, and later bid out these projects to the private sector. He was able to work on several projects, total cost value of ₹10,000 crore with state governments.
Whilst on this project, he also provided services to a few private sector companies. Among these was Ajanta Pharma, who was awarded on SEZ project through the bidding process, with a project outlay of ₹4000 crore.
Having worked for many years with multiple high-profile corporate teams, Anil has created a wide network, including top-level officials in both the public, as well as the private sector. He has met and worked together with Chief Ministers, IAS officials and other VIPs, who were the decision makers. “When we formed the SEZ division in 2005, I was the first person in it, and we had a very small team of only 2 people,” recalls Anil. “But by the time I left ILFS in 2008, the department had a team of 50 people. SEZ division was one of the top performers in ILFS, in terms of business and revenue.”
Bilakhia Group
ILFS also had a private sector client, Bilakhia Group (promoters of MicroInks, a chemical manufacturing company). MicroInks makes and distributes printing products and had a 70% market share. With ILFS, Anil advised a massive city development project of ₹1000 crore, which was an affiliate project of the Bilakhia Group near Raigad.
They had acquired land, and his team’s work involved getting approval for the project and advising them on the value addition to the land. In 2008, they had obtained complete approval and were due to start construction activities, when Anil was asked to join the project and head the company.
Anil then left ILFS, and worked with the Bilakhia Group for nearly 12 years. Simultaneously, the company started two projects in the education and medical fields; he was associated with both. He served as the Managing Director in the education company, Mexus Education Private Limited. They built a business with a contract value of over ₹250 crore, employed nearly 1500 people in offices at over 28 locations. After over a decade spent here, Anil gained a substantial amount of skill and expertise, having collaborated with a number of affiliates. This eventually led him to start his own company, CapSavvy, in 2019, to strengthen SMEs
CapSavvy: A Comprehensive Summary
CapSavvy focuses mainly on SMEs that have saturated their growth, and lack the vision to expand. They help these enterprises become automated, and work as a corporate. They assist them with raising the right amount of capital, from the right sources; and also support them in obtaining the required approvals, compliance and government benefits. The SMEs are aided with several processes including team building, policy making, as well as value addition to make them investment-ready. Moreover, CapSavvy also provides similar strategic and handholding services to start-ups that have implemented their business ideas, but lack ready-to-go market information.
CapSavvy faced its fair share of trouble during the initial days of formation, before it was able to take off. The company was formed in late 2019, where soon after Covid-19 took the world by a storm, tremendously impacting business activities due to the imposed lockdowns. Undeterred, however, Anil was able to overcome this hurdle with some difficulty, as a result of his hard work and goodwill in the market and through active support from his son Ayush and his wife Aruna. Ayush helped in leveraging the vast cosmos of social media, and CapSavvy was able to receive a few business inquiries. CapSavvy struck its first deal in July 2020, and it hasn’t looked back since.
The company has set up a criteria for start-up collaboration, which allows them to cater specifically to the needs of their clients to help them grow to their full potential. CapSavvy receives a lot of inquiries from start-ups that think their business ideas are viable, and are looking to raise funds for the same. The CapSavvy team looks into these proposals, and performs a thorough assessment of the enterprise. This enables them to determine whether they have reached the stage in business where they can find potential success in fundraising. If the start-up is yet to reach that stage and offers a product or service that could prospectively succeed, CapSavvy assists them first to reach that level, and then guide them towards fundraising.
CapSavvy is currently serving 45 clients, and has been facilitating investment proposals worth ₹1200 crore for them.
A mentor empowers a person to see a possible future, and believe that it can be obtained. He is not one who instructs, but one who walks with you.
Anil is an inspiration for entrepreneurs everywhere, as he utilizes his knowledge and experience to help them achieve greater heights. His willingness to share his diverse skills and understanding with those who want to create an impact in the start-up ecosystem is truly extraordinary. He envisions turning India into a start-up hub, and providing the best support systems for them to succeed; and is working tirelessly to achieve his dream.
To connect with him:
Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/anilbgoyal/
Website: https://www.capsavvy.com