On July 20th, a team led by Usman Sheikh started laying the building bricks for HOV Accelerate – High Output Ventures’ first Accelerator Program. At the time, HOV published a post emphasising how thrilled we were to be starting the Accelerator, but the real work had not yet started and the success of the whole program relied on the quality of the companies to be selected.

The first Cohort of HOV Accelerate was successfully wrapped up on 15th January 2021. HOV is glad to say that our expectations, albeit very high, have been exceeded. The three startups that were selected to participate in C1 have been great and also proved very attractive for investors. We are confident that the start-ups will receive the investment they require and continue to hit all their goal targets in the months to come.

We plan to remain closely connected with the start-ups and have made clear they have our continued guidance should they wish to reach out.

Commenting on the start-ups, Usman Sheikh HOV managing director said “We are thrilled with the quality of the ventures. This first-ever cohort to participate in HOV Accelerate has set the bar very high.”

We used the following three primary filters to select companies for our Cohort, which we spoke about in-depth here:

1.     Venture scale businesses 

2.     Fast growth trajectories

3.     Domain Experts 

The initial idea was to accept around 10 companies without compromising on quality and maintaining the bespoke nature of the program. In order to maintain these standards, and keeping the above markers in mind, HOV selected only three companies out of over 200 applications received for the program.

We hope that after putting in so much effort over the course of the last 3 months, the companies see an acceleration in reaching key milestones such as time to raising venture capital and gaining customer traction. The entirely online program – with mentoring and networking all done virtually – focused more on business resilience, defining company fly-wheels and customer retention.

Here’s a quick look at the startups: 

Baby Planet: The parenthood journey is plagued with challenges. Irfan Ahmed decided to solve one of these challenges by setting up an online portal, Baby Planet, where parents can find everything they need for their children without having to search too far and too wide. The company is growing 30% MoM. With an estimated target market size of $5bn, Irfan and his team have traced their customer journey over the course of the last 5 years and are able to identify not only the need but the amount of a product that a customer would require at different stages of their child’s life. 

Hotpod: Pakistan’s first managed kitchen network, Hot Pod is solving the limited access problem faced by several food brands; Opening a new kitchen is expensive, risky and time-consuming. Hotpod wants to enable hyper-growth for F&B brands by giving them instant access and revenue growth from new markets. Hotpod currently has 3 kitchens and plans to expand to over 50 within the next three years.

Swag Kicks: It’s hard to find the latest sneakers at affordable prices in Pakistan. That’s where Swag Kicks comes in. The startup sells pre-loved top brands at low prices in mint condition. The shoes are 100% authentic and rare to come across such as FILA, ASICS and Columbia. With a local shoe market size of $2bn, Swag Kicks leverages its strategic connections with importers and vendors to get the first pick of pre-loved shoes. 

At HOV Accelerate, the end is the new beginning! Dates for Cohort 2 will be announced later this year. If you think the program might be a good fit for you, make sure to keep checking back to see when applications open.

We hope we continue our journey in helping thinkers and doers build remarkable businesses ✨