Vikram Bharati
Backpacking through 50 countries after a long finance career led Vikram Bharati to his true calling of becoming an entrepreneur. In March 2018, Bharati founded Tribe Theory, a global chain of business hostels targeted for young startups and entrepreneurs.
What began with a single unit in Singapore has since been expanded to eight locations around the world. On Tuesday, Tribe Theory announced a US$3.5 million funding from American venture capitalist Tim Draper and rebranded it to Draper Startup House (DSH).
e27 had a chat with Bharati to know more about this deal and DSH’s future plans.
Below are the edited excerpts:
Getting funding from billionaire investor Tim Draper is every entrepreneur’s dream. How did this deal happen?
Two Draper University alumni, Katie Russel and Daniel Wiegand, were tackling their own challenge of connecting entrepreneurs around the globe, aiming to expand the university strategically beyond the US. With the entrepreneurial stars aligned, Tribe Theory was then introduced to the US-based Draper Ecosystem.
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Tim Draper’s dynamic and inspirational venture capitalist background was by far amongst the most genuine, where the dedication to progressing each entrepreneurial life was undeniable — this was the 10x differentiator Tribe was looking for.
You built Tribe Theory with your blood, sweat and tears. While partnering with Draper is definitely a major achievement, how hard was the decision to rebrand it?
The rebranding of Tribe Theory helps us propel our mission forward in a bigger way, so it was an easy decision. Tribe Theory is rebranding to reinforce the new combined vision — to enable one million entrepreneurs by 2030.
How DSH is going to be different from Tribe Theory? Will this deal help you scale and grow much faster?
This rebrand will accelerate Tribe’s mission of building what it originally set out to accomplish – hospitality as the foundation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The transition begins now but within the next couple of months, each location will offer co-working spaces, custom programming focused on entrepreneurship, access to venture capital funding, and the ability to submit pitch decks to the Draper Venture Network, which has 23 global funds.
Post-deal, will you still continue to be part of Draper Startup House?
Yes, I will continue being the founder of DSH International and building the International division of DSH
What are your future goals?
We want to have a DSH location in every major country by 2030.
We will focus on our mission to enable one million entrepreneurs by 2030. Through the use of the real human connection, inspired business travel, a diverse-minded community and access to global citizens — one is able to connect to new opportunities, inspire one another to innovate and execute, and empower one another to go big, give back, and drive progress.
The post ‘We want to have a Draper Startup House in every major country by 2030’: Vikram Bharati appeared first on e27.