Explore every episode of the podcast The Desi VC: Indian Venture Capital | Angel Investors | Startups | VC
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| E143: Dhirendra Mahyavanshi (Co-founder & CEO, Turtlemint) | 20 Dec 2024 | 00:50:52 | |
Dhirendra Mahyavanshi is the Co-Founder of Turtlemint, an online insurance platform backed by Nexus Venture Partners, Peak XV, Jungle Ventures, GGV Capital, Blume Ventures among others. The company is on a mission to makes it easy to understand and buy insurance. Before founding this company he held leadership positions at Quikr and ICICI Lombard. He holds an MBA degree from The IIM Calcutta. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E142: Archana Jahagirdar (Managing Partner, Rukam Capital) | 09 Dec 2024 | 00:54:24 | |
Archana Jahagirdar is the founder and managing partner of Rukam Capital, to find out. Set up in 2019, the Delhi-based venture capital firm invests in early-stage consumer products and services companies with significant growth potential. The VC has funded as many as 20+ startups, including noted brands such as Go DESi, Sleepy Owl Coffee, Burger Singh, BECO, The Indus Valley, Curefoods and more. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E141: Anshuman Singh (Co-Founder of Scaler) | 01 Dec 2024 | 00:55:46 | |
Anshuman Singh is the Co-founder of Scaler, an edtech company designed to upskill college graduates and young software engineers in advanced computer science topics. The company has raised $55M from Lightrock, Peak XV Partners and Tiger Global Management, at a valuation of $700M. Before Scaler, Anshuman had co-founded InterviewBit, a platform aimed at helping software engineers prepare for technical interviews. During this time, he noticed that many talented individuals were struggling with the practical skills required to excel in real-world tech jobs, despite holding degrees in computer science. This realization laid the groundwork for Scaler. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E140: Sagar Kochhar (Co-founder & CEO, Eatsure, Rebel Foods) | 28 Oct 2024 | 00:58:19 | |
Sagar Kochhar is the Co-founder of Rebel Foods, and CEO of Eatsure. After completing his engineering degree from NIT Kurukshetra and an MBA from SCMHRD Pune, he began as a design engineer with Larsen & Toubro, then moved to Perfetti Van Melle and Vodafone in marketing roles. At Rebel Foods, he initially joined as Sr. VP of Operations, playing a crucial role in building brands from scratch to multi-million-dollar valuations. Since becoming Group CMO in 2016, Sagar has led brand growth across geographies, focusing on innovative campaigns and community engagement to strengthen brand equity and deliver memorable consumer experiences. In 2020, he launched and became the CEO of Eatsure, a food delivery platform and brand created by Rebel Foods that focuses on providing safe, quality-assured food from a curated selection of restaurant brands. It’s known for its "100% Safe Food Guarantee," where every meal is prepared following strict hygiene and safety protocols. Eatsure's app aggregates multiple brands under one platform, offering a wide variety of cuisines through a virtual food court concept. It also uses technology to track and assure quality across Rebel Foods’ cloud kitchens, enabling customers to order from different brands in one single order. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E139: Karthik Prabhakar (Managing Partner, PeerCapital) | 16 Sep 2024 | 01:09:16 | |
Karthik Prabhakar is the Managing Partner at PeerCapital, an early-stage investment fund in India focused on seed to Series A rounds. Karthik has been a part of the Indian tech ecosystem since 2005, with a wealth of experience in venture capital, product development, and marketing. Prior to PeerCapital, Karthik was the Managing Director at Chiratae Ventures (formerly known as IDG Ventures). . . . Episode Notes:
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| E138: Aditya Nambiar (Co-founder, Fennel AI) | 16 Sep 2024 | 00:42:22 | |
Aditya Nambiar is the co-founder of Fennel, a modern feature engineering platform that enables you to author, compute, store, serve, monitor, and govern both real-time and batch ML features, backed by Foundational Capital. Before diving into entrepreneurship, Aditya built products at Google and Facebook, and is an IIT-B alumnus. . . . Episode notes:
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| E137: Mayuresh Raut (Managing Partner, Seafund) | 27 Aug 2024 | 00:56:22 | |
Mayuresh Raut is the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Seafund, investing in pre-Series A startups in India with investments in companies such as Wigzo, Inc42, Zippee, ClooTrack among others. SEA Fund’s mission is to help the next set of technical founders, with small amounts of early capital in getting to market to build efficient and scalable businesses. He is an Engineer and an MBA and is an alumnus of Virginia Tech and INSEAD, has over 21 years of leadership experience with global clients in Manufacturing, Construction & Analytics in Financial Services & Healthcare and has been investing in startups for over 10 years. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E136: Swati Bhargava (Co-founder, CashKaro.com) | 27 Aug 2024 | 01:10:22 | |
Swati Bhargava is the Co-Founder of CashKaro.com, India’s largest Cashback & Coupons site, backed by Kalaari Capital, Korea investment partners and Affle. Swati first started Pouring Pounds with her husband Rohan Bhargava in the UK in 2011. Seeing the huge opportunity in India they launched CashKaro.com in April 2013. Swati is an alumnus of the London School of Economics and has worked at Goldman Sachs in London for 5 years before embarking on the path of entreprneurship. In this episode we’ll cover her decade long journey building a consumer business and all things she’s learned about being a founder and growing as leader. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E135: Anish Achuthan (Co-founder & CEO, Open Financial Technologies) | 26 Jul 2024 | 01:02:07 | |
Anish is the Co-founder and CEO of Open, a neo-banking platform which provides business banking services to SMEs and startups. With over 17 years in the fintech industry, Anish has a rich entrepreneurial background. In 2001, he co-founded his first startup, iFuturz Wireless, focusing on mobile value-added services. In 2007, he founded CashNxt, a plug-and-play mobile payment and financial inclusion platform for semi-urban and rural markets, which was later acquired by a Latin American company. In 2009, he built Neartivity Wireless, an NFC-based payment processing platform. In 2013, he co-founded Zwitch, India’s first developer-focused payment platform, which was acquired by Citrus Payments in 2015. At CitrusPay and later at PayU, Anish interacted with numerous SMEs and realized that banking was broken for small businesses, with owners struggling to track their income and expenses, leading him to found Open. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E134: Edul Patel (Co-founder & CEO, Mudrex) | 17 Jul 2024 | 00:54:47 | |
Edul Patel is the Co-founder & CEO of Mudrex, a crypto exchange platform on a mission to democratize investing, with its primary goal being to make crypto investing easy and accessible to all. The company has raised over $22M from Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners, Tribe Captial, QED Investors and Arkam Ventures. Edul brings with him over 10 years of experience deep-rooted in finance, entrepreneurship, and building tech-driven applications. Previously Co-Founded Niffler, which was acquired by Tapzo where he led the product team to build the core infrastructure and the app. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E133: Navin Honagudi (Managing Partner, Elev8 Venture Partners) | 10 Jul 2024 | 00:48:32 | |
Navin Honagudi is the Managing Partner at Elev8 Venture Partners, an India-focused $200M Growth-stage fund. Elev8 focuses on Series B and C rounds of financing in hyper growth companies. He bring 18+ years of experience investing in early and growth stage technology firms and also held the positions of Co-founder and Partner at Kae Capital. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E132: Sanket Shah (Co-founder & CEO, invideo) | 14 Jun 2024 | 01:03:34 | |
Sanket Shah is the Founder of invideo, an AI-powered video creation platform for creators, boasting over 25 million users worldwide. As a trusted leader in the industry, InVideo serves customers in 190 countries and has raised over $52 million from investors including Tiger Global, Peak 15, RTP Global, Titan Capital, and Hummingbird Ventures. Prior to InVideo, Sanket founded MassBlurb, which was acquired by Mobikon in 2016. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E131: Ashok Hariharan (CEO, IDfy) | 13 Jun 2024 | 01:00:24 | |
Ashok is the Co-founder and CEO of IDfy, an online fraud detection and identity platform that provides background verification services to banks and financial institutions. He started his career in semi-conductors, building high-speed network processors. His MBA degree took him away from Engineering and into the world of Business Strategy. He worked with British Telecom in London for 5 years before deciding that his heart lay in creating value grounds-up. The company has raised over $54M from IndiaMart, KB Investment, Blume Ventures, Elev8 Venture Partners among many others. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E130: Rajiv Srivatsa (Partner, Antler India) | 03 May 2024 | 01:05:20 | |
Rajiv Srivatsa is a Partner at Antler India, one of the most active early-stage venture capital firms. Prior to Antler, he co-founded Urban Ladder, an omni-channel furniture and decor retailer started in 2012. The company raised over $100M from SAIF Partners, Kalaari, Steadview, Peak XV Partners, Trifecta Capital and Ratan Tata. In November 2020, the company was acquired by Reliance Retail. Prior to Urban Ladder, he served as a Senior Product Manager with Yahoo, and before that at Infosys. He is an alumnus of IIT-Madras and IIM-Bangalore. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E129: Shwetank Verma (Co-founder & Managing Partner, Leo Capital) | 25 Apr 2024 | 00:52:30 | |
Shwetank Verma is the co-founder of Leo Capital, a venture capital fund investing in companies inIndiaand South East Asia. Recent investments include CoLearn (edtech), WayForward (mental health), CoverGenius (Insurtech) and IndiaGold (Digital Gold). Leo Capital is backed by institutional investorsfrom Singapore and Silicon Valley. Prior to Leo Capital, he led Open Innovation for MetLife Asia and was a part of the senior management team of LumenLab, MetLife's innovation consultancy. At LumenLab, he advised MetLife country CEOs andsenior leaders on growth, startup collaboration, culture change and new product development. Prior to joining MetLife, he was a serial entrepreneur in healthcare and education in India. He serves asInnovation Adviser to the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Singapore Management University. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Nottingham (UK), where he was a Foreignand Commonwealth Office scholar. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E128: Prayank Swaroop (Partner, Accel) | 08 Dec 2023 | 00:48:41 | |
Prayank Swaroop is a Partner at Accel, and joined the firm in 2011. He focuses on cybersecurity, developer tools, marketplaces, and SaaS investments. Some of the investments led by him are - Aavenir, Bizongo, Maverix, OnsiteGo, Securden, Slintel, Skeps, and Zetwerk. Prior to Accel, he worked at Adobe and Standard Chartered Bank in India and Singapore. He held positions across engineering, product marketing, pre-sales, and product management. He has an integrated master's degree in Mathematics and Computing from IIT Delhi and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E127: Priya Saiprasad (General Partner, Touring Capital) | 05 Dec 2023 | 00:53:53 | |
Priya Saiprasad is a General Partner at Touring Capital, a fund investing in enterprise-focused AI powered global startups. She co-founded Touring after 13 years in venture capital, M&A and enterprise technology. She was most recently a Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, where she led investments into category-defining software companies including Pixis, Vendr, Observe.ai, CommerceIQ, Sendoso and Skedulo. Previously, Priya was at Mayfield Fund focused on early-growth investments, and a founding member of M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), where she led investments in Go1, Workboard, PandaDoc, Element AI (acquired by ServiceNow), and Bonsai (acquired by Microsoft). Prior to that, she was a Deal Lead in Square’s M&A team leading acquisitions at the intersection of software and machine learning. Priya was recognized by Forbes in 2018 as part of their 30 under 30 in Venture Capital list. She is actively involved with All Raise, Neythri, and several prominent Women in Tech associations. Priya holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E126: Rohit Bansal (Co-founder, Snapdeal) | 27 Nov 2023 | 00:56:03 | |
Rohit Bansal is the Co-founder Snapdeal, one of the largest online marketplaces in India. The company has raised over $1.7B from eBay, Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital, BlackRock, Temasek Holdings and SoftBank. He is also the Co-Founder of Titan Capital, which has invested in companies such as Mamaearth, Dealshare, OLA, RazorPay and OfBusiness. He an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. . . . Episode Notes:
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| E125: Shubham Goel (Co-founder & Co-CEO, Affinity) | 26 Nov 2023 | 00:47:00 | |
Shubham Goel is the Co-foudner and Co-CEO of Affinity, a relationship intelligence platform for dealmakers. The company has raised over $120M in funding from Menlo Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Pear VC and Advance Venture Partners. Prior to Affinity, Shubham completed his BS in Computer Science at Stanford University. . . . Episode notes:
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| E124: Sumeet Mehta (Co-founder & CEO, LEAD) | 02 Oct 2023 | 00:44:35 | |
Sumeet Mehta is the co-founder and CEO of LEAD, an edtech company helping digitize and transform affordable private schools to better serve students from middle and low-income groups of families. Before co-founding LEAD, Sumeet was Chief Executive Officer at Zee Learn (2007-2012). He transformed the institution from a pre-school franchise company to an education company with a presence in pre-schools and K-10 schools, and science activity and animation classes. Prior to that, Sumeet spent eight years at Procter & Gamble Singapore, where he was involved in in brand management, leading businesses in Australia, Southeast Asia, and India. Sumeet is an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad and PEC Chandigarh. . . . Episode Notes:
Fostering a culture of long-term thinking among employees (39:02) . . . Social links:
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| E123: Sankar Bora (Co-founder & COO, Dealshare) | 20 Jul 2023 | 00:53:56 | |
Sankar Bora is the Co-founder & COO, Dealshare, a social ecommerce startup in India, that has raised close to $400M in venture money from marquee investors such as Alpha Wave Global, Tiger Global, Matrix India, Alteria Capital and WestBridge Capital. Prior to this, he co-founded Myntra in 2007, which was sold to Flipkart in 2010. . . . Episode Notes:
. . . Social Links: Dealshare on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dealshareindia Sankar on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/SankarBora6 Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E122: Aloke Bajpai (Co-founder & CEO, ixigo) | 14 Jul 2023 | 01:01:32 | |
Aloke Bajpai is the Co-founder and CEO of ixigo.com a platform that aggregates and compares real-time travel information, prices and availability for flights, trains, buses, and hotels, and allows ticket booking through its associate websites and apps. Since ixigo's launch in 2007, the company has gone from a bootstrapped startup to India’s leading travel search and planning business, with over 20 million active users every month across mobile and web. Aloke graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2001 and started his career at Amadeus in Europe where he held key product and technology roles, building and managing large scale web-based products and networks for the first four years of his career. He then went to INSEAD for his MBA, and returned to India to build ixigo. . . . Episode Notes:
. . . Social Links: ixigo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ixigo Aloke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/alokebajpai Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E121: Rajat Tandon (President, IVCA) | 10 Jul 2023 | 00:54:41 | |
Rajat Tandon is the President of IVCA, India's apex body representing the interests of PE/VC industry, Real estate, Infrastructure and Credit funds, Limited Partners, Family offices & Corporate VC's. Rajat leads the planning, development, and implementing IVCA’s regulatory advocacy activities, while also effectively influencing regulatory outcomes in support of the alternate asset class. Previously, Rajat was part of the leadership team at NASSCOM, where he headed NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups initiative, providing crucial support to technology startups in India. With his early stint as entrepreneur and extensive corporate experience in the IT & Telecom and GIS/Navigable maps, Rajat competently bridges the gap between boardroom expertise and on-the-ground experience. Over the past 25+ years, he has worked in various positions ranging from technical support, sales leadership, service delivery to strategic initiatives at Siemens, Nortel, and Nokia. Rajat also brings with him his extensive network in the startups space, having worked closely with most of the eminent industry leaders. His knowledge of the startup ecosystem, its constituents, successes, opportunities, and challenges run deep. He is also a member of CII National Start-up Council. A Post-Graduate in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management Technology (IIMT), Ghaziabad, Rajat also has a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Pune University. When not busy with the VC-PE and startup communities, you will find him spending quality time with family or enjoying a game of Golf. . . . Episode Notes:
. . . Social Links: IVCA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/indianvca Rajat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rajattandy Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E120: Rohit Sood (Partner, Bertelsmann India Investments) | 26 Jun 2023 | 01:13:42 | |
Rohit Sood is the Partner at Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), an investment firm that invests in companies in the digital, education, media, and services sectors. The firm also focuses on early-stage, as well as growth-stage investments. Rohit was the founding team member and has been part of Bertelsmann from Day 0 having seen the growth of the fund over the last decade as well played an instrumental part in shaping India’s startup ecosystem. Prior to Bertelsmann, he spent some time at Deutche Bank and holds an MBA from IIM-Kohzikode with a Bachelors from IIT Delhi. . . . Episode Notes:
. . . Social Links: BII on Twitter: https://twitter.com/biifund Rohit on Twitter: https://twitter.com/doostihor Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E119: Saurabh Saxena (Co-founder, Vedantu & Power Club) | 21 Jun 2023 | 01:00:31 | |
Saurabh Saxena is a serial edtech entrepreneur who has co-founded Lakshya, Vedantu and Power Club (previously known as Uable). He has been an educator and Edtech entrepreneur for 15 years now. After graduating from IIT Roorkee in 2005 he started Lakshya, a chain of offline learning centres. After a successful exit, Saurabh then co-founded Vedantu in 2012 which then went on to become one of the leading online test prep companies. Shortly after becoming a parent himself, Saurabh realised that our current education system does not prepare our children with real-world life skills required to lead a happy and successful life. That led him to found his third edtech venture, Power Club, aimed at preserving and nurturing our children’s creative intelligence and preparing them for an uncertain future. Links to topics discussed: Poistive Intelligence and Letter to younger self by Salman Khan (Khan Academy) . . . Episode Notes:
. . . Social Links: Powerclub on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/join.power.club/ Saurabh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/saurabh_learn Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E118: Nandini Mansinghka (CEO, Mumbai Angels) | 16 Jun 2023 | 01:03:28 | |
Nandini Mansinghka is the CEO of Mumbai Angels, an investment firm that now operates under the 360 One umbrella. She came on board as the third Co-Founder, operating partner, and CEO in 2017. She has vast years of experience across the Investment Banking, Media, and Education industries and worked for 5+ years with J.P. Morgan in India in leadership positions in the Investment Banking research group. Before J.P. Morgan, she has worked for over 5 years with the Times of India Group. She also holds a professional degree as a Chartered Financial Analyst. Episode Notes:
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| E117: Dr. Pankaj Jethwani (EVP, W Health Ventures) | 12 Jun 2023 | 01:04:19 | |
Dr. Pankaj Jethwani is the Executive Vice President at W Health Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build the future of healthcare delivery in the US and India. Over the last ten years, Dr. Jethwani has been involved in improving care delivery in several care settings in the US and India as a physician leader, operator, management consultant, and investor. Episode Notes:
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| E116: Saurabh Pandey (Co-founder & CEO, EloElo) | 26 May 2023 | 01:24:11 | |
Saurabh Pandey, co-founder and CEO of EloElo. EloElo is an app that enables live-social experiences through games and entertainment. It is currently among the top 10 Apps on the Google Play Store in India with over 10M downloads. It accommodates 34,000 creators and offers a staggering 400 million minutes of live content. The company has raised $15M from Kalaari Capital, KB Investment, Lumikai, WaterBridge Ventures and Better Capital. Before Eloelo, he accumulated a decade of experience in various domains such as marketing, product and growth at Flipkart and P&G. Episode notes:
. . . Social Links: EloElo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eloeloapp Saurabh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Saurabh65616912 Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E115: Karan Desai (Managing Partner, Interface Ventures) | 23 May 2023 | 00:53:35 | |
Karan Desai is the Founder and Managing Partner at Interface Ventures, an early-stage venture fund based out of Mumbai, India. He’s an operator turned investor who brings a diverse skill set that encompasses extensive experience in operations, investment banking, and financial consulting. Prior to Interface, he was the Joint Managing Director at Trucap Finance Ltd., a rapidly expanding NBFC listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange which specializes in providing finance to MSME businesses in India. In addition to this, Karan founded exerFIT, a globally recognized lifestyle nutrition and supplementation brand endorsed by top athletes and Bollywood stars. Throughout his career, Karan has held key roles at distinguished brands such as Bank of America, PwC, Centrum Capital, and the HEAL Institute. His academic credentials include a Masters from the University of Westminster, London, and a Bachelors from Narsee Monjee College, Mumbai, where he graduated with distinction. Episode Notes:
. . . Social links: Interface Ventures on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/interfaceven/ Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E114: Yohei Nakajima (General Partner, Untapped Capital) | 14 May 2023 | 00:53:46 | |
Yohei Nakajima is the General Partner at Untapped Capital, a pre-seed and seed-stage focused fund investing in under-represented founders in the US. At Untapped Capital, the sweet spot is investing $100k-$250k checks into startups based raising at $3-7m in valuation. Yohei has been supporting early-stage startups for 15 years, originally starting on the community side organizing events and educational courses for founders out of coworking spaces. He has spent the last 7 on the investing side, initially at Techstars where he helped spin up the Disney Accelerator alongside The Walt Disney Company, followed by his role as Director of Pipeline, supporting all 30+ Techstars accelerator programs in recruiting the best startups worldwide. Prior to Untapped, he was at Scrum Ventures, where he led the development of Scrum Studio, designing, leading, and overseeing our partner programs with Nintendo, Dentsu, Panasonic. . . . Episode Notes:
. . . Social Links: Untapped Capital on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UntappedVC Yohei on Twitter: https://twitter.com/yoheinakajima Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E113: Prateek Agarwal (Investments Lead, First Cheque) | 30 Apr 2023 | 01:10:48 | |
Prateek Agarwal is the Investment lead at First Cheque, a micro VC fund based out of Bangalore that invests $100K in pre-seed startups in India. Prior to this role, Prateek worked with the India Business Head at Dr. Reddy's where he was responsible for tracking business metrics, identifying areas of improvement, and leading strategic projects. His background as both a consultant and operator at firms like Dr. Reddy's and EY has allowed him to develop skills in strategic planning, project management, and data analysis across multiple industries. Prateek's ability to shift between the big picture and details has also been strengthened through his diverse experiences. First Cheque was originally conceived by India Quotient but is now an independent firm with its own brand. During its first fund, First Cheque worked with more than 20 venture partners and added over 100 startups to its portfolio, which includes well-known ventures such as Fashinza, Giva, Rocketlane, Fleetx, Wint Wealth, Plaza/Rigi, Global Fair, Drink Prime, and Bellatrix Aerospace. | |||
| E112: Nitin Jain (Co-founder & CBO, OfBusiness) | 28 Apr 2023 | 00:50:27 | |
Nitin Jain is a well-known name in the Indian startup ecosystem as the co-founder and Chief Business Officer of OfBusiness, a tech-enabled platform that provides raw material procurement and credit solutions to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India. With a strong background in structured solutions trading, Nitin has played a key role in OfBusiness' success, helping the company raise over $875M from top investors like Tiger Global, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Matrix Partners, among others. Today, OfBusiness is valued at around $5B and has become a leading player in the Indian SME ecosystem. Nitin Jain is an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and has had a successful career prior to his entrepreneurial journey. Episode Notes:
. . . Social Links: OfBusiness on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ofbusiness_com Abhishek Goyal on Twitter: https://twitter.com/njain351 Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E111: Beerud Sheth (Co-founder & CEO, Gupshup) | 16 Apr 2023 | 00:56:32 | |
Beerud Sheth is the co-founder and CEO of Gupshup, the world's leading platform for cloud messaging and conversational experiences. It is used by over 30K+ developers and handles over 4.5 billion messages per month. The company has raised more than $480M from marquee investors such as Helion Venture Partners, Tiger Global, CRV, White Oak among many others. He was previously the co-founder of Elance (now Upwork), the world's largest online services marketplace, which went public in 2018. Prior to founding Elance, he worked in the financial services industry – modeling, structuring, and trading fixed income securities and derivatives at Merrill Lynch and before that at Citicorp Securities. His graduate research, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, involved developing autonomous learning software agents for personalized news filtering. Beerud earned an M.S. in computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology & a B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Bombay. Episode Notes:
. . . Social Links: Gupshup on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gupshup Beerud Sheth on Twitter: https://twitter.com/beerud Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E110: Abhishek Goyal (Co-founder, Tracxn) | 06 Apr 2023 | 01:01:25 | |
Abhishek Goyal is the Co-founder, Vice Chairman, and Executive Director of Tracxn, a leading research firm that provides market intelligence data on private companies. Since its founding in 2012, Tracxn has secured funding from top investors like 3one4 Capital, Elevation Capital, Prime Venture Partners, and angel investors including Sachin and Binny Bansal, and has grown to become a highly profitable business. After much success, Tracxn debuted on the NSE in October 2022, becoming one of the few venture-backed startups to go public. Abhishek's strategic leadership and unwavering commitment to excellence have been vital in the growth and success of the company. Before Tracxn, Abhishek gained experience working with esteemed organizations such as Amazon Development Centre (India) Private Limited, Yahoo Software Development India Private Limited, and Accel. He also served as a consultant with 3i Infotech Limited and Erasmic Consulting Private Limited. Abhishek has been recognised as part of the '40 under 40' list by Fortune India in both 2018 and 2019, highlighting his success as a young entrepreneur. He holds a bachelor's degree in technology with a specialization in computer science and engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Episode Notes: 1. What was it like before and after Tracxn's IPO? (3:38) 2. Why did Tracxn's founders choose to go public instead of selling the company? (6:10) 3. How has Abhishek's leadership role changed since the IPO? (7:30) 4. How did Tracxn's investors learn about the IPO process, and what was their reaction? (15:53) 5. What's the best analogy for a company going public? (20:20) 6. Why did Abhishek choose to become an entrepreneur? (22:30) 7. What was Tracxn's first milestone? (26:00) 8. Would Abhishek do things differently if he had to build Tracxn again? (30:30) 9. What were some of the toughest days as a founder? (33:33) 10. What is Abhishek's superpower as an angel investor? (38:18) 11. What's the biggest lesson Abhishek has learned over his career? (44:23) 12. Abhishek tips on leadership and management (47:15) 13. What advice would Abhishek give his younger self? (57:00) . . . Social Links: Tracxn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tracxn Abhishek Goyal on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AbhishekTracxn Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E109: Sanam Rawal (Partner, Metamorph) | 03 Apr 2023 | 01:04:17 | |
Sanam Rawal is the Founder and Partner at Metamorph (previously known as Passion Connect), a Blume Ventures-incubated human resource advisory platform that helps startups grow with talent acquisition, talent branding, acquisitions, research, learning and development and more. With offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Pune, Metamorph has assisted in the hiring of more than 800 candidates, including CEOs and senior vice presidents for well-known startups such as Unacademy, Slice, HealthifyMe, Dunzo, Cashify, Purplle, and many more. Episode Notes: 1. How did Sanam become involved in the world of venture capital? (3:45) 2. Sanam's perspective on working within the Blume ecosystem (15:25) 3. A glimpse into the early days at Metamorph (18:36) 4. How does talent matching occur at the portfolio level? (26:08) 5. What makes founders choose to work with Metamorph despite having their own HR teams? (30:10) 6. The role of HR firms in M&A processes (35:04) 7. Overcoming challenges when working with portfolio startups (42:57) 8. Metamorph's strategy for hiring the best employees to support startup growth (48:45) 9. Addressing the reverse brain drain phenomenon (51:50) 10. Key takeaways from building and developing Metamorph (54:06) 11. Sanam's proudest achievement during her time at Metamorph (1:00:33) . . . Social Links: Sanam Rawal on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sanam_Speaks Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E108: Jen Abel (Co-founder, JJELLYFISH) | 31 Mar 2023 | 01:02:44 | |
Jen Abel is the accomplished Co-Founder of JJELLYFISH, a Boston-based firm renowned for its pioneering approach in assisting B2B startups to achieve early-stage sales proficiency and success in the United States, as well as the UK and Australia markets. With over six years of experience in the industry, JJELLYFISH has empowered over 200 B2B/enterprise startups to validate their sales process and go-to-market strategy, demonstrating a commitment to delivering exceptional results. The firm's highly skilled team has a proven track record of generating impressive revenue and driving substantial outcomes for companies headquartered in Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America. JJELLYFISH's range of services caters to diverse needs, including acquiring first-time US customers, defining US go-to-market strategies, or transitioning from the SMB market to mid-market/enterprise levels. The firm's expertise in these areas is unparalleled, and they have demonstrated a remarkable capacity to navigate and succeed in complex markets. Episode Notes: 1. The inspiration behind co-founding JJELLYFISH (2:52) 2. The evolution of the sales process in the US over the years(8:27) 3. The benefits of founder-led sales for startups (15:20) 4. The right time to invest in sales teams (23:15) 5. Jen's definition of PMF (33:55) 6. Common pitfalls Indian founders face while selling in the US (45:34) 7. Tips for improving sales skills for founders (50:47) 8. Advice for founders entering US markets (57:37) . . . Social Links: JJELLYFISH on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jjellyfish_co Jen Abel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jjen_abel Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E107: Rahul Chowdhury (Managing Partner, N+1 Capital) | 20 Mar 2023 | 01:28:01 | |
Rahul Chowdhury is the Managing Partner at N+1 Capital, India’s first revenue based debt fund. He brings 18+ years of intensive entrepreneurial and operating experience. He is a two-time founder, having founded and sold DenuoSource, a Chicago-based data analytics firm, in 2011. He later founded Reboot, India's first refurbished IT asset lifecycle management firm. How does revenue-based-financing (RBF) work? N+1 will provide startups access to capital, at a premium, without taking any equity share or collateral from the company. Further, it collects a percentage of the borrowing entity’s monthly revenues to pay the capital back, and gives steady returns to its limited partners on a quarterly basis. Unlike venture debt firms, N+1 isn’t dependent on future fund-raise of the startup, but will invest on the basis of its revenue outlook. Episode Notes: 1. What motivated Rahul to pursue a career as a venture capitalist? (3:38) 2. The impact of Rahul's operator journey on his venture capital journey (6:02) 3. With whom does Rahul do business? (12:50) 4. Key characteristics of successful entrepreneurs (15:41) 5. Rahul’s decision making process (23:10) 6. How important are metrics and numbers in investment decision making? (35:40) 7. How does Rahul view black swan events and their impact on predicting the trajectory of startups seeking revenue-based financing? (38:18) 8. Evaluating businesses of varying sizes with respect to revenue based financing (45:31) 9. How significant is TAM to a revenue-based-financing investor? (55:20) 10. Challenges of revenue based financing in India (58:38) 11. Why VCs like to collaborate with a revenue-based-financing firm? (1:04:20) 12. What were the LPs' concerns about a revenue-based-financing firm? (1:09:51) 13. Personality-Fund-Fit for a fund manager (1:15:35) 14. Things about India that continue to surprise Rahul (1:21:28) . . . Social Links: N+1 Capital on Twitter: https://twitter.com/np1capital Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E106: Tarun Sharma (Managing Partner, MegaDelta Capital) | 07 Mar 2023 | 01:01:01 | |
Tarun Sharma is Managing Partner at MegaDelta Capital Advisors, a sub-advisor to Millenna Capital, a Mauritius based investment fund as well as an investment manager of MegaDelta Capital Fund I, a SEBI registered Category II Alternate Investment Fund. The fund has invested in companies such as GOQii, Nova, IDfy, Naaptol, Firstcry, MoneyTap etc. and others. MegaDelta typically invest $15-25M across sectors of such as Healthcare, Enterprise technology and Engineering Services. Tarun has more than 18 years of work experience, including 16 years in principal investing and investment advisory in India and around the world. He currently serves on the boards of GreytHR Software, Intelligence Node, Panacea Medical Technologies, and Air Works Engineering, as well as Nova Fertility and FirstCry.com as a Board Observer. Tarun formed the core investment advisory team for NEA India prior to joining MegaDelta Capital, leading investments in consumer, healthcare, and technology companies. And before that, he worked for Peepul Capital Private Equity, where he was involved in transaction structuring and execution, as well as actively managing portfolio companies in the consumer and media sectors. He began his career at Goldman Sachs International in London, first with the Equity Derivatives team and then with the Global Macro Proprietary trading team, where he developed a strong understanding of macro themes and translated them into investible opportunities. Tarun received an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, India and earned his B.Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Delhi, India. Episode Notes: 1. Intro (2:45) 2. Tarun’s journey into venture capital (4:12) 3. The evolution of the Indian venture capital landscape over the last 15 years (12:05) 4. How has Tarun evolved as an investor over the years? (16:20) 5. The role of a successful fund manager (21:35) 6. Takeaways from investing and collaborating with portfolio founders (case in point: Firstcry.com) (31:02) 7. Healthcare in India: Why haven't venture capitalists done more in this sector? (43:21) 8. Where is the real opportunity in healthcare in the next 4-5 years? (48:13) 9. Advice Tarun would give himself (55:20) . . . Social Links: Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E105: Kanika Mayar (Partner, Vertex Ventures - SEA&I) | 24 Feb 2023 | 00:56:16 | |
Kanika Mayar is a Partner at Vertex Ventures SEA & India (VVSEAI), a fund part of the global Vertex Ventures network of funds, with portfolio companies such as Licious, FirstCry, Nium, Binance, Grab, Yatra, and Happy Fresh. In addition to Southeast Asia and India, the Vertex Global Network is comprised of affiliates in Silicon Valley, China and Israel. Kanika joined Vertex Ventures in 2020 and focuses on opportunities in India in agritech, B2B, consumer, and health tech. Kanika has worked in private equity, asset management, and investment banking for over 9 years. Prior to joining Vertex, Kanika was an Investment Officer with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where she focused on investing in early-stage technology, telecom, renewable energy and infrastructure companies across India and South Asia. Before IFC, Kanika was with Goldman Sachs’s Investment Banking team covering transactions in natural resources in Europe. Kanika holds a Bachelor in Economics from the Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Episode Notes: 1. Intro (1:30) 2. Kanika's professional trajectory (2:42) 3. A general overview of the VC industry in recent years (7:00) 4. India's macro trends (14:22) 5. Kanika's India thesis (21:23) 6. Portfolio startup learnings (31:51) 7. Establishing long-term relationships with founders (41:20) 8. Advice to anyone entering venture capital (51:30) . . . Social Links: Vertex Ventures on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VertexVentures Kanika Mayar on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KanikaMayar Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E104: Aprameya Radhakrishna (Co-founder & CEO, Koo) | 19 Feb 2023 | 00:55:15 | |
Aprameya Radhakrishna is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Koo, an Indian microblogging and social networking app also known as the Indian Twitter. The company has raised a little over $50M from marquee investors such as Accel, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures, 3one4 Capital, Tiger Global among many others. He founded his first venture, TaxiForSure with Raghunandan, which was acquired by OLA in 2015 for $200 million. In 2017, Aprameya launched his second venture, ‘Vokal,’ a user-generated content platform in Indian languages, with partner Mayank Bidawatka. After that, he realised that content in regional Indian languages was sparse, as most social media platforms carry an English-first approach and are built primarily for English speakers residing in urban centres. This gave him the idea of developing a multi-lingual micro-blogging platform for Indians, Koo, to communicate and connect with their linguistic and cultural communities. In July 2020, he won the Prime Minister’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge. Episode Notes: 1. Intro (2:20) 2. Reflections on free expression in the context of microblogging and social media (3:50) 3. Growing Koo within different sections of the Indian populations (8:55) 4. How did the idea for Koo come about, and what factors aided the company's growth? (12:50) 5. Learning from building TaxiForSure that translates to building Koo (17:10) 6. The initial set of milestones that established the Koo brand (20:04) 7. Expansion during the pandemic (23:48) 8. Lessons from India's growth that will help Koo expand to the United States (26:47) 9. Creating richer community experiences (29:40) 10. Taking on Twitter (33:52) 11. Scaling values as businesses grow (37:44) 12. Creating a brand with a purpose (41:38) 13. How do investors perceive Koo’s growth in the coming years? (47:37) 14. Lessons learned as a serial entrepreneur in India (50:18) . . . Social Links: Koo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kooindia Aprameya Radhakrishna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aprameya Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E103: Shyam Menon (Founding Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund) | 14 Feb 2023 | 01:17:49 | |
Shyam Menon is the founding partner of Bharat Innovation Fund (BII), an India-based early-stage venture capital fund that invests in IP-driven deep tech, healthcare, agritech, fintech, mobility, logistics, enterprise and renewables startups. The fund has invested in Fire Compass, CreditVidya, Shifu, Detect Technologies, among many others. He has worked in the technology industry for over 25 years. Prior to launching BII, Shyam co-founder Infuse Ventures, India’s first clean tech focussed early-stage venture capital fund backed by BP, IFC, MNRE, SIDBI and other prominent LPs, and spent several years abroad working across global institutions such as the World Bank, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Conduit Ventures, Fuel Cell Energy, and Acumentrics Corp. Shyam graduated with honors from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology with a Bachelor's degree in Metallurgical Engineering and Missouri University of Science and Technology with a Master's degree in Material Sciences. Despite beginning his Ph.D. at UC Davis, he decided to discontinue it and pursue a career in the impact space. Episode Notes: 1. Intro (2:20) 2. The origin story of Bharat Innovation Fund (3:00) 3. Why did Shyam decide to bet on the Indian startup story in 2007/08? (37:47) 4. Backing dreamers and disruptors (44:30) 5. How has Shyam evolved as a fund manager (1:02:30) . . . Social Links: BII on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bharat_fund Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E102: Tushar Vashisht (CEO, HealthifyMe) | 05 Feb 2023 | 00:51:37 | |
Tushar Vashisht is the Co-founder and CEO of HealthifyMe, a digital health and wellness company that provides smart meal plans personalized by expert nutritionists and customized workout plans with certified fitness coaches. The company has raised just over $100M from Khosla Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, Athera Venture Partners, Blume Ventures among several others. Vashisht began his career on Wall Street at BlackRock. He later joined Deutsche Bank as a corporate finance analyst in San Francisco before moving to Singapore. In 2009, he joined the Aadhaar project headed by Nandan Nilekani, and in 2012 he co-founded HealthifyMe with Mathew Cherian and Sachin Shenoy. Episode Notes: 1. Introduction (2:50) 2. What led Tushar to found HealthifyMe (4:05) 3. How did Tushar and his team validate their HealhtifyMe thesis? (8:40) 4. How do you find early adopters and solicit feedback as founders? (13:48) 5. How does the life of a founder change when they raise capital (22:05) 6. The pandemic's impact on HealthifyMe as a company (28:55) 7. Which is more difficult: building in the early stages or empowering leaders within an organization? (36:47) 8. Tushar’s frameworks for decision making (39:55) 9. Tushar's advice to his younger self (44:52) . . . Bonus: Ud ja Re by Tushar Vashisht . . . Social Links: HealthifyMe on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HealthifyMe Tushar Vashisht on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tusharvashisht Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E101: Upasana Taku (Co-founder & COO, MobiKwik) | 30 Jan 2023 | 00:57:41 | |
Upasana Taku is the Co-founder, COO and Chairperson of MobiKwik, a financial services company that provides a fintech platform designed for online payments (incl. BNPL), life insurance, and loans. The company has raised $178M from marquee investors such as Sequoia, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Blacksoil, AmEx Ventures, Orios Venture Partners, Cisco Investments among many others. Upasana built the company from scratch and now has 32 million users and 100,000 merchants, doing close to 500,000-1,000,000 transactions every day. Episode Notes: 1. What inspired Upasana to found Mobikwik (4:23) 2. How does one validate an idea or a business in its early stages? (10:30) 3. The evolution of the CEO's role (23:08) 4. The vision for MobiKwik (30:53) 5. Thoughts on monetizing UPI (41:55) 6. Differentiating consumer and fintech products, companies, and offerings (45:50) 7. What advice would Upasana give herself if she had to start over? (51:10) . . . Social Links: MobiKwik on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MobiKwik Upasana Taku on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UpasanaTaku Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E100: Bipin Shah (Partner, Titan Capital) | 23 Jan 2023 | 01:07:37 | |
Bipin Shah is the Partner at Titan Capital, an early-stage sector agnostic micro VC fund based in India. The fund has an incredible portfolio of over 250 startups in India and the US across consumer internet, D2C, SaaS, AI, Web3, and other sectors, including investments in Ola, UrbanCompany, Mamaearth, Oziva, Dealshare, Razorpay, Ofbusiness, Yellow Messenger, Beardo, and Giva, among many others. He was a founding team member of Lead Angels Network, a seed-stage investment platform, before joining Titan Capital in 2015. He graduated from IIT Bombay in 2013, where he was a member of the E-Cell team for five years and led it in his final year. Episode Notes: 1. Bipin spoke about his "gardening approach" and how it is helping entrepreneurs 2. Bipin discussed Titan's investment growth and reaching unicorn status 3. How Titan's 40% of portfolios raised Series A in less than two years of investment 4. How did Bipin begin his Titan journey with Kunal and Rohit? 5. Titan Capital Fundamentals: 3 Key Ingredients for Investments 6. Early investment experience and developing the investment philosophy for Titan 7. Short stories on investments in companies such as Beardo, Fynd, Superdaily, Mamaearth, Credgenics & others 8. Bipin's Titan journey learnings and methods for assisting founders in improving their unit economics 9. The most important piece of advice from Bipin on investing in startups 10. Insights into other sectors in which Titan invests Social Links: Titan Capital on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TitanCapitalVC Bipin Shah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bipin_28 Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E99: Yash Jain (Founder & General Partner, Sparrow Capital) | 16 Jan 2023 | 01:17:04 | |
Yash Jain is the Founder and General Partner at Sparrow Capital, an early-stage micro VC fund that invests upto $500K in SaaS, B2B, Fintech, and Consumer Internet sectors in India with investments in companies such as Mailmodo, Qoohoo, Bimaplan, GoKwik, Superfone among others. Prior to Sparrow, Yash had two stints with large VC funds in India – Kalaari Capital and Arkam Ventures, and also worked at Flipkart as an analyst. Episode notes: 1. Why venture as a career path? (2:20) 2. The difficulties of launching a new fund as a millennial (10:48) 3. Nuances and learnings from investing in India (16:07) 4. What founders in India can do better (36:00) 5. What can Indian VC improve on doing better (44:45) 6. Lessons learned from Yash's time in the US and the future plan for Sparrow (54:32) 7. Advice for young fund managers (1:02:46) . . . Social Links: Sparrow Capital on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparrowcapvc Yash Jain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/yash_sparrow Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E98: Milap Jadeja (Managing Partner, Openbook VC) | 09 Jan 2023 | 01:10:03 | |
Milap Jadeja is the Managing Partner of Openbook VC. He is a senior management and strategy professional with over 20 years of experience in building multiple businesses in sectors such as Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture and Non-ferrous castings. Milap brings with him a proven track record in investment leadership being An established angel investor with over 50+ angel investments in startups including unicorns and soonicorns. He has also led multiple fundraising efforts for startups as a syndicate head. A seasoned investor, he is an LP at multiple funds such as Better Capital, Cloud Capital and Prophetic Ventures. Episode notes: 1. Comparisons of two art forms: photography and investing (3:42) 2. A look back at investments and founders (22:50) 3. What has Milap learned about investing and specifically that in India? (30:16) 4. Takeaways from working with founders (45:10) 5. How has Milap evolved as a person? (58:25) . . . Social Links: Openbook VC on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenbookVC Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E97: Shalini Chhabra (Managing Partner, 3i Partners) | 04 Jan 2023 | 01:26:36 | |
Shalini Chhabra is the Managing Partner at 3i (Impact India Investments) Partners, a Silicon Valley-based Impact Fund with the objective of supporting enterprises looking to solve some of the most pressing challenges faced by India's lower-income millions. She is a seasoned Banker with over two decades of experience in Credit Risk Management. She has managed diverse portfolios including Large Corporate, Inter-bank, SME, Financial Institutions including Mutual Funds and Insurance, Government / PSUs, and Structured Finance including Supply Chain Financing, Factoring, Securitisation, Inter-bank Participation etc. She has also managed Risk Policy and processes, Basel Implementation and Development of Risk models for PD estimation for HDFC Bank. Prior to becoming a VC, Shalini was also an experienced angel in the impact space, primarily looking at livelihoods creation at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Episode notes: 1. Career in banking (3:34) 2. Learning from the banking sector that Shalini has carried over to VC (6:25) 3. Framework for risk appetite (18:05) 4. What has Shalini learned about herself as a result of her work in banking and venture capital? (28:42) 5. Shalini discusses what it takes to be a fund manager and success frameworks for operators (44:50) 6. Shalini's professional career (58:50) 7. Shalini's views on investing in personas (1:05:24) . . . Social Links: 3i Partners on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/3i-partners-india/ Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E96: Mohit Gulati (Managing Partner & CIO, ITI Growth Opportunities Fund) | 23 Dec 2022 | 01:14:36 | |
Mohit Gulati is the Managing Partner & CIO at The Investment Trust of India (ITI) Growth Opportunities Fund, one of the largest financial services conglomerate offering a range of products and services from Lending, Equities and Derivatives trading, Equity Research, Commodities Trading, Portfolio Management Services, Distribution of Mutual Funds, IPO & Insurance products and Investment Banking Services. Mohit bring over 10 years of experience in the Investment & Fund Management space, and led first round deals across ECOM Express, Grab.in, LocalBanya, TarusaWorld, WigzoTech, HumourMe and over a dozen early-stage startups. Prior to ITI, he founded Altius Ventures, which invested in sectors like ecommerce, fintech, enterprise software (SaaS), and internet of things (IoT). Episode notes: 1. Mohit’s career in a nutshell (4:26) 2. Life in Indian venture (26:04) 3. Thesis on investing and philosophy for investments (46:35) 4. What does Mohit love about venture and his job today? (53:40) 5. Advice to younger self (1:05:50) . . . Social Links: ITI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ITIFund Mohit Gulati on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mohitmgulati Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E95: Abhishek Nag (Partner, Lightspeed India Partners) | 13 Nov 2022 | 01:01:27 | |
Abhishek Nag is a Partner at Lightspeed India where he primarily focuses on investing in consumer internet companies, media & entertainment, the creator economy, and gaming. He brings extensive experience driving strategic partnerships, business development, and corporate development for internet companies in the domains of growth, content and payments, among other areas. Previously he held operator roles at hyper-growth companies including Meta (Facebook), Hike, Uber, and most recently, Netflix. He’s been an active angel investor since 2016, investing in over 45 startups with several first round investments turned unicorns. When he’s not busy working with startups, Abhishek publishes a newsletter in which he writes about building, scaling, and investing in technology businesses in India. Episode notes: 1. State of Indian venture capital in the context of today’s macroeconomic climate (3:52) 2. Fundings, valuations and funding winter: When will the market correct itself? (13:50) 3. What can Indian investors learn from the past and how can we become better investors in the future? (20:40) 4. What made Abhishek switch to VC? (25:55) 5. What has Abhishek learned from his angel investing experience that he now applies as a VC? (34:11) 6. Advice for angel investors (39:05) 7. A playbook for determining GTM and new market expansion (43:03) 8. Advantages of having feet on street (52:26) 9. Building products for different markets (56:15) . . . Social Links: Lightspeed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lightspeedvp Abhishek Nag on Twitter: https://twitter.com/abhisheknag Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||
| E94: Rahul Chowdhri (Managing Partner, Stellaris Venture Partners) | 07 Nov 2022 | 01:00:24 | |
Rahul Chowdhri is the Managing Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners, an early-stage tech-focused venture capital firm based in Bangalore with investments in companies such as Mamaearth, MFine, Whatfix, Vogo, among many others. Rahul is an industry veteran, having been in Indian venture for over 15 years. He started his investing career at Helion where he was a Partner and led investments in companies such as BigBasket, Simplilearn and Livspace. At Stellaris, he focuses on B2B & B2C Commerce, Consumer Brands, Content/Social, Agri-Tech, Recruitment and Gaming. Prior to getting into venture, Rahul had stints in product management and consulting roles at Microsoft, MarketRx, i2 Technologies, and BCG. He holds a B. Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur and an MBA from IIM Calcutta. Episode notes: 1. Current market sentiment and the state of the industry (3:03) 2. What have Stellaris' top-performing companies and founders done really well in the last few years? (7:25) 3. How does Rahul view investments, both cash-efficient and capital-intensive? (13:45) 4. The evolution of Indian investors' risk appetite (18:30) 5. What attracts investors to founders in both bear and bull markets, and what characteristics do they share? 23:26) 6. How does Stellaris view market corrections in today's context? (28:26) 7. What do the best operators do to take their businesses to the next level? (32:45) 8. How far into the future do funds look when developing their investment thesis? (37:15) 9. Fund culture, metrics, and metrics (41:07) 10. What has Rahul learned about himself as a fund manager over the course of his investing career? (45:48) 11. What is Rahul's decision-making framework? (50:10) . . . Social Links: Stellaris VP on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Stellaris_VP Rahul Chowdhari on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rchowdhri Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash | |||