Cogniphy

Before you apply

• Cogniphy is an angel fund that invests in equity or similar instruments. It is not a grant, an incubator or an accelerator, and it publishes no application window.
• It says it welcomes pre-seed, seed and early growth companies in any sector, from any city.
• It does not state a cheque size, so decide what you are raising and ask whether it fits.

How to apply

• Use the Apply for Funding link on the website; it opens the application on investor.cogniphy.com.
• Expect an eight-section form: basics, founders, business, financials, fundraise, traction, documents and review.
• Have your round type, instrument and what you will use the funds for ready, since the fundraise section asks for them.
• Document uploads such as pitch deck, cap table and registration certificate are optional but speed up review.

What it says about the process

• The community evaluates your pitch, then due diligence follows.
• It says governance is non-intrusive and founders keep control of their vision.

Cogniphy is a Category 1 angel fund registered with SEBI, run by COGNIPHY AIF Private Limited from Gurugram, Haryana. It calls its model cognitive community investing: a community of individual investors backs startups together, and the fund says decisions are meant to rest on data and merit rather than on who you know. It says it has 176+ active investors and 39+ portfolio companies.

Who Cogniphy backs

The site says any stage and any sector are welcome, and names pre-seed, seed and early growth as the stages it has in mind. It says it evaluates on potential, not history. It also says it is built for founders from Tier 1 to Tier 3 cities, and that location is never a barrier. Its portfolio page lists companies across 16 sectors, including AI, cyber security, drone tech, health tech, fintech, food tech, retail tech and supply chain, and each entry is tagged with a stage such as pre revenue, revenue or growth and a city. Companies named there include CoRover, Zvolv, Spintly, Scooton, Shipease, Planys, Indrones and StoryMirror. Several companies appear more than once, which looks like follow-on rounds, so the 40 companies on the portfolio page and the 39+ on the home page are not an exact match.

What you get beyond capital

Cogniphy says it wants to be a long-term partner and offers community, connections and governance that respects your vision. It describes non-intrusive governance with no micromanaging, and says founder autonomy is fundamental. It also says it connects founders to co-investors, customers, advisors and peer founders in its network.

How to pitch

This is an investor, not a programme with a cohort or a deadline. The site describes four steps: apply online, review by the community, due diligence it calls non-burdensome, then funding. The application lives on the investor portal at investor.cogniphy.com and is an eight-section form: basic details, founders, business, financials, fundraise, traction, documents and a final review. The financial and traction sections are marked as latest-year metrics, and document uploads are marked optional. The fundraise section asks for your round, instrument (equity, CCPS, SAFE or convertible note) and the terms you are seeking.

Things to know before applying

Cogniphy publishes no cheque size range, so check what it can write for your round before you spend time on the form. The site lists a general contact email on a different domain from the website, so use the application form for a pitch and confirm any email through the contact section of the site. Its footer says investments in early-stage businesses carry risks including illiquidity and dilution, and that pitches are not offers to the public.