Bexley Advisors, a boutique investment bank has issued a call for entries to its Covid-19 Action Fund. The BACoAF is designed as a bridge to capital for innovators on the frontlines of the pandemic, who are creating solutions for the biggest challenge we have confronted as a nation.
The firm has committed a quarter of its resources to rapidly creating investment material for the most promising candidates, and waived its engagement fees for the duration of this crisis.
Following that, for all entrants who are working to design a product or solution in response to the Covid-19 crisis, Bexley will run their standard investment banking mandate and present the shortlisted ideas for funding to a collection of marquee investors (a mix of equity, debt and grant funders).
The initiative, which went last week at www.bexleyadvisors.com/bacoaf, is currently accepting applications on a rolling basis. Entries will be shortlisted every Wednesday, and shared with investors on recurring calls at the end of the week.
The investment memoranda and teasers developed for the entrants will be made available to the applicants, so that they may also explore alternate avenues for funding.
Speaking about the initiative, Utkarsh Sinha, Managing Director of Bexley Advisors said, “Investment banks are facilitators of the flow of capital at their core. It is imperative that we deploy our skills at a time like this, where without stimulus, natural funding channels may freeze. Just when the need for innovation – and capital – is the highest, we want to make sure we play our part in arresting any potential clog in funding flows and connecting worthy ideas to capital, so that they may focus on impacting lives on the ground”.
While typically, investment banking mandates have long lifecycles, the BACoAF initiative is designed to be speedy and agile. “We want to make sure perfection does not get in the way of action: the form is designed to be quick, so we can gather the most critical information and let the innovators get back to solving the challenges they are working on. Our team will then work with the entrepreneurs to tease out all the information that will help facilitate a transaction. Don’t aim for perfection – we will help you get there,” said Utkarsh. “We have also waived our standard engagement fees for this initiative. Our goal is simple: We are looking to play our small part in facilitating the most promising solutions during this pandemic, and multiplying their impact potential by connecting them to the right kind of capital,” he added.
Several marquee investors from a mix of backgrounds: traditional VCs, government and multilateral agencies, banks and venture debt funds have made commitments to support initiatives and companies identified through this initiative.
