About Bharat Chhabria
Bharat Chhabria began his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 20 when he established a dental and medical equipment startup. He successfully grew the company to exit in about four years. While growing his venture, Bharat quickly recognized the pivotal role finances (or lack thereof) play in a startup’s trajectory.
Simply put, Entrepreneurial Finance refers to the “process of acquiring capital and making financial decisions for a new venture or startup”, as explained in this article.
Since exiting his first startup, Bharat Chhabria’s career has spanned pre-seed technology commercialization funds, angel capital, venture capital, corporate strategy and M&A, bootstrapped startups, and franchise growth across a range of industries: technology, telecommunication, advanced materials, medical devices & equipment, specialty chemicals, and consumer retail. Influenced and motivated by his interactions with thought leaders and superstar serial entrepreneurs, Bharat founded Tampa-based Globalogi Venture Partners. As a boutique, privately-held venture development firm, Globalogi builds successful ventures using proprietary & leveraged capital, and a global network of thought leaders.
As an entrepreneur heads down the path of business ownership, the question, “Where do I get the capital?” tends to be at or near the top of their list. In most cases, friends & family are the first place people turn to, followed by personal savings and credit cards. Bharat Chhabria found himself in that unsurprising situation with his first venture. But Entrepreneurial Finance extends well beyond these seemingly “traditional” sources of capital.
Options include but are not limited to angel investment, venture capital, financial bootstrapping, buyouts and loans, inventory financing, receivables financing, factoring, credit cards, lines of credit, and home equity lines of credit, to name a few. In the United States, the Small Business Administration (or “SBA”) plays an active role in supporting entrepreneurs & job growth.
While working with the technology commercialization team at SciTech Corporation, Bharat co-founded the Ohio TechAngels Funds. This “sidecar” angel investment group was established to bridge the “valley of death” for startups, especially in the technology sector. With support from The Ohio State University, the City of Columbus, and the state of Ohio, SciTech operates incubator & accelerator space along the Kinnear Road corridor in Columbus, Ohio. The significant amount of scientific research conducted at Ohio’s institutions opens up potentially multi-billion dollar opportunities to commercialize this research & technology.
The creation of the Ohio TechAngels group allowed these start-ups to reach critical milestones: technology validation, prototype development, proof of concept, etc., which allowed them to be in a better position to attract venture capital from around the globe. Today, Columbus, Ohio is a thriving eco-system for tech entrepreneurs, scientists and researchers.
As a venture grows, so do its options for securing growth financing. In a subsequent venture in a major BRIC economy, Bharat Chhabria creatively leveraged capital invested by a manufacturing partner to carve out a leadership position in the market. As sales grow and your company develops deeper relationships with vendors, these relationships can potentially be leveraged to expand working capital. As the company further builds its operating history and attracts a high-quality management team, it can potentially become more enticing for “institutional investors”. Examples include private equity firms, family offices, strategic investors/partners, long-term development partners and last but not least, traditional banks and lending institutions.
Globalogi Venture Partners operates in the high-energy ecosystem of rapid business growth, wherein access to capital and a strong network in the world of finance are needed for success. Bharat enjoys interacting with entrepreneurs and leaders who are attempting to build meaningful businesses that create lasting impacts on our economy and community.
Bharat Chhabria has an MBA in Finance/Investments from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Mumbai, India. He currently lives in Tampa, FL, and is an active and engaged member of the Bay area’s fabric via the CEO Council of Tampa Bay and multiple non-profits actively involved in the Tampa Bay community.
Visit BharatChhabria.com to learn more
