Big Bang Boom Roars with an Additional Rs. 11 Cr HNI Fund Raise

CHENNAI:
Big Bang Boom Solutions has raised an 11 Cr round led largely by Mumbai Angels, and other Angel Networks including Keiretsu Forum, Udtara Ventures, Pitchright Ventures and other HNIs. This comes on the back of a 5Cr raise a short while back and has put the company on a highly accelerated growth trajectory and is expected to bolster the company’s efforts towards setting up a high technology software vertical, and its presence internationally.

The company has pioneered the concept of ‘Runway Infinity’ where they have been able to build a business model which uses cash only for acceleration of projects with a clear path to monetization; as opposed to a classical burn rate measured by startups, which gives them an infinite runway.

The startup accelerated the fundraise at the announcement of the lockdown and closed the entire round with oversubscription by the end of it. The company leadership explained this acceleration with a metaphor – “If we are not allowed to chop wood due to a blizzard, we will spend the time sharpening our axe”. The leadership also mentioned that the recent announcements by the government towards increasing FDI in the defence sectors, import ban on key technologies and local procurement of all governmental tenders under 200Cr would aid in the growth of the fledging defence product development sector in India.

Praveen Dwarakanath, CEO mentioned, “We took inspiration from the battle at Rezang La in 1962. If the Indian soldiers could hold the enemy back under those impossible odds, surely we can do what is needed to back our Force. We did not let the lockdown slow us down and did what was required to ensure that everything is on track”.

The fundraise is not just the cash addition to our balance sheet, the founders clarified “The addition of over 70 private investors means that the startup now has a set of highly intellectual, and well-placed individuals whose combined contribution to the journey in kind, far outweighs the cash raised.” The company decided to turn towards Angel Networks as opposed to the classic VC route for their fundraise as a strategic call to bring in these allied benefits. The company anticipates several alliances with, and among the new additions to the Big Bang Boom family.

Dr. Shivaraman Ramaswamy, CTO mentioned, “This is an extremely exciting phase of our journey towards becoming India’s first defence Unicorn. With support from iDEX and the confidence of our investors; we are sure we will be able to continue our groundbreaking R&D in defence technologies.”

“Defence technologies that are developed within the geographical boundaries of the nation bring a great deal of security to the country especially given the situation at the border,” he further added.

Vishwanathan, Head of Forge Incubator Coimbatore mentioned, “As a partner incubator to iDex, Forge sees Big Bang Boom as an exemplar startup bringing its audacious vision, execution agility, and financial ingenuity to serve the iDEX vision to strengthen technological capabilities of the Indian defence sector in alignment with Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

Col. Arvind Kumar, Program Director of Defence Innovation Organization (DIO) mentioned, “Kudos to your efforts and single minded determination. Very happy to note that your continued high traction growth will allow for a deeper engagement with the Defense Innovation Organization.”

Nandini Mansinghka, Co-promoter and CEO Mumbai Angels Network, “We are happy to welcome BBBS in our expanding diversified portfolio. We are seeing a dynamic shift in how the government is looking defence as a sector for startups to innovate, research and built technologies from ground-up and put India on the global footprint as a defence exporter instead of a defence importer. We are extremely bullish about participating in this industry-defining the near future and is the backbone of our economy.”