Venture Co-Build
Some opportunities deserve a company, not just a project
Selective partnerships to investigate, design and potentially launch new ventures with a shared plan and clear responsibilities.
Information only. Any partnership is subject to written agreements.
What is the Venture Co-Build?
The Venture Co-Build is for carefully evaluated founders, domain experts, distributors and strategic partners. Starting point: an opportunity that could become a company. Format: selective, staged partnership. You leave with a shared plan with gated decisions. Each stage ends with a decision you sign off, and scope and price are confirmed in writing after a short call.
Based in Bengaluru, working with companies across India and abroad.
What we look for
- A real problem in a market you understand from the inside
- A distribution advantage, domain expertise or asset that's hard to copy
- A product Merge is well placed to design and build
- Partners willing to share risk and responsibility in writing
- A written view of whether the opportunity is real
- Contributions and responsibilities set out in writing
- Gated decisions, so nobody is locked in early
- A build plan tied to commercial validation
What happens, step by step
Each step produces something you can see and keep, and ends with a decision you sign off. Scope never drifts silently.
A short, confidential description of the opportunity and your role.
Is the opportunity real, and is this the right team for it?
A scoped discovery to test the riskiest assumptions.
Both sides examine fit, commitments and constraints.
A written term sheet, if appropriate, followed by definitive agreements.
Build milestones, then commercial validation.
A sample blueprint, start to finish
One worked example of how we take an opportunity from idea to decision: the user, the scoring model, the test and what we concluded. Illustrative: not a client project.
Site supervisors at small construction firms spend their evenings turning WhatsApp photos and phone calls into daily progress reports. Missing records lead to payment disputes with clients.
Supervisors and owners at contractors with 5 to 40 workers on site.
Supervisors already photograph everything on their phones, and clients increasingly ask for documented progress before releasing payments.
- Reports written at night
- Disputes over undocumented work
- Photos scattered across chats
- A partner with access to contractors
What you walk away with
- Opportunity criteria applied openly
- A staged evaluation with written decisions
- Defined partner contributions and governance
- Build milestones tied to validation
Not included unless scoped separatelyAny promise to invest moneyFinancing or fundraising guaranteesValuation guaranteesAcceptance of every proposal
Pricing
Equity, valuation, control, vesting, IP, capitalisation, confidentiality, dissolution, cross-border tax and securities matters are settled only in written agreements with qualified legal advice. This page is information, not an offer.
Venture Co-Build
Price on a short call
Structured in written agreements with qualified legal advice. This page is information, not an offer.
- Opportunity criteria applied openly
- A staged evaluation with written decisions
- Defined partner contributions and governance
- Build milestones tied to validation
- For
- Carefully evaluated founders, domain experts, distributors and strategic partners
- Starting point
- An opportunity that could become a company
- Format
- Selective, staged partnership
- You leave with
- A shared plan with gated decisions
- The opportunity
- Your role and contribution
- Market evidence
- What you need from Merge
- Timing
Is this the right fit?
Right for you if
- You bring domain expertise, distribution or a strategic asset
- You want a partner who builds, not a vendor
- You are ready to put responsibilities in writing
Not the right fit yet if
- You're looking for investment or a loan
- You want a product built on standard commercial terms (see MVP Launch Studio)
- You need a decision within days
Questions partners ask
Will Merge invest money in my venture?
This is not an investment program. Any partnership is structured case by case in written agreements, and nothing on this page is an offer to invest or provide financing.
How selective is it?
Very. We take on few co-builds and decline most proposals, usually because of fit rather than quality.
Is my proposal confidential?
Introductory enquiries are treated as confidential. Please don't share material you can't share without an NDA until one is signed.
Start with a confidential conversation
Share the outline. We'll tell you plainly whether it fits.