Avsnitt
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After having an elaborate educational and career background in finance, right from becoming a CA & CFA to working at Morgan & Stanley and Citi, Ankur decided to join BlackSoil Capital.
BlackSoil, growing fast into the Venture Debt fund space, has so far disbursed over Rs.450crore+ to VC backed start-ups & growth companies.
Some of the notable startups under its portfolio are EarlySalary, Vogo, & Nearbuy among others.
In this podcast, Ankur seeks to help our listeners understand the entire Venture Debt fund ecosystem and its working in a better way.
Notes -
00:38 - Founding BlackSoil and initial focus areas
02:39 - How is BlackSoil and its working structure different from other VC firms?
03:30 - Value propositions which BlackSoil brings to the table while funding its portfolio companies
06:54 - What are the interest rates, loan tenure, repayment modes which they currently offer as a working capital to Startups?
09:06 - Which family-offices is BlackSoil currently backed by? How did they build that credibility?
15:57 - How is Venture Debts different from traditional Bank loans for businesses?
17:30 - How do warrants work in case of Venture Debt funding?
18:59 - How’s the future of Venture Debt in India? -
Shruti is one of the few Indian-origin VCs in US who invest in Enterprise focused Startups globally.
After spending 9 years of her career at IBM as an Engineer, she joined Samsung Next as a Principal, where she spent the next 2 years investing in early-stage startups. This was probably what worked out as a perfect mix of (a) Her understanding of Enterprise focussed SaaS businesses & (b) Venture funding ecosystem, which helped her start Array Ventures.
Some of her notable investments are CasaOne, Blumira & Modal among others.
In this podcast, Shruti shares her experience of supporting founders building early-stage SaaS businesses focussed on solving problems for Large Enterprises.
Notes -
00:57 - Her journey from Mumbai to the US and transitioning from an Engineer-cum-Founder to a VC
02:35 - How and why did she choose to start a fund to cater to startups selling to Enterprises?
05:20 - Changing growth & opportunities for SaaS startups focussed on Enterprises in India & the US
08:19 - Her thesis of investing in Blumira based on how their automated threat detection can benefit companies
09:53 - Is the recent IPO of 6 Enterprise companies including Palantir, Snowflake, Sumo Logic, Bentley Systems, creating real value or is it a bubble?
11:20 - Her learnings from Array VC exits: Passage AI, Hivy, & Simility
13:10 - What would be an ideal exit for her - Large Acquisition (in 5-6 years) or IPO (in 10 years)?
14:13 - What value does Array VC bring to its portfolio companies?
16:10 - How’s the growth trajectory for her portfolio SaaS companies from 0 to $10M and then from $10M to $100M ARR?
19:02 - What are things which worked for her portfolio companies for exponential ARR growth? -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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Baskar’s journey is very similar to what classic Product-driven Tech entrepreneurs have, i.e. a college drop-out built several tech solutions from an early age, founded a fast-paced startup growing multi-folds over years.
He co-founded Amagi Media Labs, in 2008 with the intent to revolutionize global content delivery & monetization of the Media Industry.
Amagi is one of the few startups which experienced constant growth even in the Covid-19 circumstances and has no plans of slowing down its growth engines anytime soon.
In this podcast, Baskar shares his experience of building tech solutions and his learnings from being a Tech entrepreneur for over two decades.
Notes -
01:09 - Enabling end-to-end global virtualization of content delivery and monetization in Media Industry
03:22 - Major emerging trends in Media & OTT platforms for broadcasters
08:50 - Evolution of OTTs in the US and how Amagi helps them as a one-stop-shop!
11:59 - His journey from dropping out of IIT Bombay (during MTech) to starting Amagi?
21:12 - Transiting from an Advertising sales model to a Technology platform
25:44 - Growth in Revenue from 2012 to till date
28:35 - How was the fund-raising experience being in the Media industry?
32:32 - What’s his end goal with Amagi? Going Public, achieving a $200 Million ARR or something else?
36:34 - What are the processes which helped him as an entrepreneur & the company to grow exponentially?
38:25 - How “letting go” is a very crucial part of the growth process?
40:36 - How being open, vulnerable, and accepting your mistakes openly within the team can help a company grow? -
Naren is probably one of the earliest VCs in India’s startup ecosystem. He co-founded Nexus Venture Partners in 2006. He has also been mentoring early-stage entrepreneurs and supporting them since 1990.
With investments in over 200+ companies in India and the US, Nexus Venture Partners have some of the most notable startups in their portfolio - Postman, Rapido, and Unacademy among others.
In this podcast, Naren shares his experience of investing in early-stage product startups for over three decades.
Notes -
01:16 - His journey from moving to the US being an IIT Gold Medalist
02:10 - Lessons from his first venture - Integrated Systems Inc.
05:45 - Starting Nexus Venture Partners and deciding upon sectors it won’t invest
14:25 - Building a cross border teams
18:50 - Uniqueness among entrepreneurs and growth journey of portfolio companies
24:52 - Being an early-stage investor and also being consistent through the follow-up rounds
29:25 - What are the metrics of success upon which early-stage founders and VCs should focus?
35:13 - At what stage do things like - go-to-market, building stronger organization & sales, become a part of board-meeting discussions? -
From working at PwC, while pursuing his CA to starting a Venture Fund which invests in Early-stage disruptive Tech startups, Vishesh has experienced it all.
He started his investing career at VenturEast in 2007. This was where he understood the Ins & Outs of Venture investing.
From its Fund-I, Speciale Invest has invested in a total of 10 portfolio companies, some of which are Scapic, Agnikul, and Kawa Space among others.
In this podcast, Vishesh shares his experience of investing in seed-stage Hardware & SaaS startups.
Notes -
01:10 - His journey from a CA to becoming an Early-Stage Investor
07:41 - Starting Speciale Invest aiming to invest in disruptive tech startups
09:30 - Developer Tools companies in his portfolio - Scapic, Kawa Space, TotalCloud, and iauro
10:44 - Conversation AI startups in his portfolio - True Lark & Wingman
12:35 - Investing in Cynlr with a vision to evolve Visual AI and Industrial Robotic Arms
14:47 - Investing in Agnikul - India’s version of SpaceX
16:27 - His experience Investing & Exit from Vogo
19:48 - Is the Indian startup ecosystem mature enough for early-Exits within 5-6 years of investment?
24:31 - What are some of the recent tailwinds for Hardware & SaaS startups in India?
28:19 - How are B2B founders different from B2C founders in terms of Go-to-market strategy, customer acquisition, and other parameters?
31:18 - His learnings from being a VC-cum-Fund Manager and managing LPs -
Ashmeet started his career at HP in 1989. He founded Sidana Systems in 1995 (later sold to Doclinx in 1999).
He started his stint as a VC at Foundation Capital in 2004. Eventually, he founded Engineering Capital in 2015, which focuses on investing in Tech startups, based on Technical insights.
He is one of the few VCs to have been to the base of Mount Everest. In this podcast, he also shares his experience of climbing mountains, one step at a time.
Engineering Capital is based in the US and majorly in the San Fransico Bay area, some of its notable portfolio companies are Robust Intelligence, Concentrix, and vFunction among others.
In this podcast, Ashmeet shares his thesis of investing in Tech Startups and the approach he follows while evaluating them.
Notes -
01:24 - His journey from growing up in Rural India to becoming a VC dedicated to Engineers
02:43 - Purpose of starting a fund focussed on engineers
04:04 - Difference between Market insight, Technical insight & Consumer insight
06:43 - Investing in SignalFx based on its use case - “Enabling cloud-based monitoring and analytics.”
08:18 - Investing in Robust Intelligence based on its use case - “Solving the issue of User Data contamination.”
10:51 - Investing in vFunction based on its use case - “Allows users to take any legacy applications and break them into micro-services & benefit from the cloud.”
12:35 - Is Technical insight alone a sufficient reason for a VC to back a Tech Startup?
15:49 - Making an early seed-investment in Azure Power (India) as an Angel Investor
20:50 - His perspective and view-point on Postman & potential of Tech Startups in India
24:55 - Learnings about Market size with future entrepreneurs in B-schools
29:36 - “Even though Venture Capital attracts the brightest and smartest minds all over the world, but still most VCs are not successful.”
36:12 - “The magic of making a startup successful is to focus on an incredibly narrow problem, that has a wide application.” -
Nikhil is one of the most Tech & Product-centric VCs in Asia. This probably comes from his early career with Microsoft, and later with Pie (acquired by Google).
He also founded a company called TommyJams, a tech-enabled Artist management platform.
He has been with STRIVE Ventures for over 5 years. STRIVE’s portfolio includes HASURA, Classplus, and Saleswhale among others.
In this podcast, Nikhil shares his experience of investing in SaaS startups in Asia and helping them achieve Product-Market Fit.
Notes -
01:03 - Two major SaaS buckets for STRIVE - (1) Global SaaS (US, European, & Asian markets) and (2) Local SaaS (India SaaS / Indonesian SaaS and similar others.)
04:48 - How does STRIVE focus on such segregated SaaS markets?
09:28 - Not only monetizing Local SaaS startups through the typical Subscription-Business model (Example - Classplus) but also through transactions
17:34 - What was the thought process at STRIVE while coming up with a Non-subscription model for monetizing their portfolio companies in the Indian market?
20:27 - Indonesia SaaS market in terms of product adoption, willingness-to-pay & market penetration
26:21 - Portfolio of Global SaaS - Healint, HASURA, Saleswhale
29:18 - Investing in HASURA with a vision to simplify backend development
33:10 - Investment Thesis - “Founders & Teams who Do More with Less”
36:10 -Common early-stage mistakes in SaaS startups
40:05 -Crucial changes in GTM strategies for SaaS startups in Pre-COVID vs Post-COVID market
48:22 - Emphasizing on portfolio companies to build user engagement and reach an initial $1 million+ ARR -
Sheel is a Fintech-Entrepreneur turned Fintech-VC investing in Pre-seed & Seed rounds.
His first startup was FeeFighters in 2010, which was acquired in 2012 by Groupon.
In this podcast, Sheel shares his experience of being an entrepreneur twice and becoming an Angel Investor and later starting his own VC firm.
Notes -
01:03 - His journey from a Fintech Entrepreneur to a Fintech VC
04:50 - Starting “The Pitch Podcast” (acquired by Gimlet, Gimlet was later acquired by Spotify)
07:55 - What does he look for in founders while investing in startups at Seed/Pre-Seed stage?
09:57 - Brief about his game-changing fintech portfolio companies
13:29 - From hating working at a company that made software for hospitals to investing in a startup which makes software for hospitals
14:50 - “Majority of companies in the future will be Fintech companies”
22:15 - How did he spot his first Angel Investment? -
Amit being one of the co-founders of India’s first Unicorn Startup - InMobi, needs no introduction.
After driving InMobi’s growth journey for over 10 years, he decided to start Yulu (E-bikes & Mobility solutions) in 2017. In his 2nd entrepreneurial stint, he also convinced Rajiv Bajaj (MD, Bajaj Auto) for investing in Yulu & assembling Yulu bikes in India by Bajaj Auto.
As an Angel Investor, Amit has backed over 30+ Early-stage startups, as a gesture of giving back to the community. Some of the popular ones being - HealthifyMe, Applicate & Vahak.
In this podcast, Amit shares his experience of building two great companies, along with his core beliefs & principles as a long-time entrepreneur.
01:28 - Starting his Entrepreneurial Journey
04:04 - Co-founding InMobi in 2006, based on his intent to disrupt Mobile Advertising in India
11:50 - How did he identify the potential in mobile advertising in India, back in 2006, when mobile internet wasn’t mainstream?
16:02 - What made him start a new venture after 11 years in InMobi?
27:30 - Convincing Rajiv Bajaj for investing in Yulu & assembling Yulu bikes in India by Bajaj Auto
30:40 - Future plans & product positioning of Yulu with the current COVID situation in perspective
39:23 - How did Yulu negotiate free parking spaces for YuluZones?
42:37 - Was raising funds for Yulu easy, being a 2nd-time entrepreneur?
59:40 - Startups he’s backing as an Angel Investor -
Sajith has been constantly sharing his thoughts & thesis around the Startup ecosystem on social media since 2012.
This probably reflects from his background, of being at the Times Group for over two decades and his love for reading and taking copious notes.
He joined Blume Ventures in 2018, in his 40s. As he didn’t have a background in VC & Angel investing, he humbly considers himself, “An Accidental VC”.
Some of Blume Ventures portfolio companies include - Unacademy, Dunzo, and Cashify among others.
In this podcast, Sajith shares his experience of becoming a VC, from a Non-investing background and identifying startups that outshine during Covid-19.
Notes -
00:55 - A Day in the life of a VC during Covid-19
02:02 - Why does Sajith refer to himself as “An Accidental VC”?
07:09 - Building a personal brand & experience to enter the VC Ecosystem
09:44 - Emphasis on Note-taking for collating thoughts & ideas
12:56 - Secret to being an open-minded VC - “Having Strong Views, weakly held”
22:30 - Strongly backing Unacademy’s incredible growth journey
25:55 - Markets where vacuums have been created in situations like Covid-19
42:10 - What’s his perspective on “Moats” in Early-stage startups vs Bigger players in the market?
45:27 - What things did he have to unlearn to succeed as VC?
53:45 - What does he consider, as his edge as a VC, coming from a Non-investing background, at the age of 40? -
Pratik Poddar having his roots back in a Tier-II city, Patna, is probably one of the youngest Principals at a VC firm in India.
After having multiple entrepreneurial stints, Pratik joined Nexus Venture Partners, in 2015 as an Investment Associate and has grown tremendously since.
Some of Nexus Venture Partners’ portfolio companies include - Zolo, Postman, and Unacademy among others.
In this podcast, Pratik shares his experience of identifying potential Edtech Startups in India and adding them to his Portfolio.
Notes -
01:29 - Focus on Product-first companies in the Portfolio
05:35 - How Edtech startups made themselves resistant from Covid-19?
07:46 - Edtech Companies in Portfolio - Unacademy, WhiteHat Jr., and Quizizz among others
09:58 - Monetization & Growth Journey of Unacademy with 1200+ Cr. Annual Revenue
11:08 - TestPrep Market Scenario & Opportunities in India
21:30 - Investing in WhiteHat Jr. a very new concept in Edtech
41:25 - Untapped Opportunities in early school for Edtech
49:02 - How big is the potential market for “Pay After Placement model” startups like Newton School?
52:45 - 3 Key Qualities VCs look for in Edtech Entrepreneurs -
After completing his MBA from Delhi School of Economics, Ishpreet worked with many banks like - Kotak Mahindra, IFDC, and Citibank among others.
For a major part of his career, he worked on Debt funding companies via Banks as Financial Institutions. Eventually, this made him start a Venture Debt Fund of his own, Stride Ventures in December 2018.
Some of its portfolio companies include - Stellapps, CredR, and LetsTransport among others.
In this podcast, Ishpreet shares his experience of being a part of Debt funding in companies across all domains and building a Venture Debt Fund ecosystem in India.
Notes -
01:05 - His early career in Investment & Corporate Banking
04:30 - Experience the VC Ecosystem and founding Stride Ventures
06:58 - How does Stride Ventures differ from other Venture Debt Funds in the market?
09:22 - At which stage does Stride Ventures enter in a Company?
13:55 - With what financials does it makes sense for a company to raise a Debt round?
19:50 - How much returns do a Venture Debt fund typically expect?
22:27 - Investing in companies like Stellapps & CredR
27:53 - Potential sectors in 2020-21 from a Debt Fund’s perspective - SaaS, Logistics, and Gaming among others
29:45 - Building an ecosystem of Venture Debt Fund in India -
While having his family roots back in Odisha (India), Somesh had his upbringing in the US.
After completing his graduation from UC Berkeley in 2001, as the US job-market was hit after 9/11 he came to India and joined Sony Entertainment.
Later in 2005, he joined Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) back in the US.
IVP was founded over 40 years ago and has so far invested in over 400+ companies out of which 111 have gone public.
Some of its portfolio companies include - Twitter, Slack, and Soundcloud among others.
In this podcast, Somesh shares his experience of investing in growth-stage companies across various sectors.
Notes -
02:20 - Building a portfolio with numerous public companies
05:52 - Two lessons the Startup Ecosystem can consider during Covid-19 crisis as learnings from similar past events
12:51 - Starting his career in India after 9/11
23:22 - Investing in companies in their growth-stage - Twitter, Thrive Global, Netflix among others
27:30 - Diversity in portfolio companies spread across Cyber Security, Consumer, Analytics & Enterprise Softwares
31:27 - Missing out on Salesforce & Zoom
39:08 - Second wave of Tailwinds which most people might missout in the startup ecosystem
43:50 - “A Startup’s aspirations shouldn’t be to raise the next Unicorn-venture round, it should be to build the next Microsoft or Google.”
53:27 - Importance of Mental Health from a VC perspective -
Dhruv worked with ABN AMRO and McKinsey & Company in Investment Management & Strategy roles in the early days of his career. He stepped into the VC ecosystem in India by eventually joining Helion Ventures in 2008.
At Helion Ventures he was part of investing in companies like Ezetap, Azure Power, and MoEngage among others.
Later when in 2015, Sistema (Russian conglomerate) decided to set up a Venture Fund in India, Dhruv joined Sistema Asia Capital in order to bring the best practices and 8 years of experience on board with him.
Some of Sistema Asia Capital’s current Portfolio includes - Licious, Lendingkart, Netmeds & Faasos among others.
In this podcast, Dhruv shares his experience of investing in mid-stage growth startups across various sectors in India’s Startup Ecosystem.
Notes -
00:57 - His Journey from working at ABN & McKinsey to joining Venture Capital
04:30 - Experience of working with Helion Ventures
07:56 - Joining Sistema Asia Capital - Building the foundations of a VC firm
10:15 - Sistema’s background & establishment in India
14:34 - Executing Exit from Qwikcilver (Acquired by Pine Labs)
19:44 - Investing in Faasos - reaching $1 billion valuation
25:30 - Impact on fintech portfolio companies during Covid-19 lockdown - Lendingkart & Kissht
31:26 - HealthifyMe’s transition from human-centric model to AI-based model
33:30 - Netmeds offering a full-stack model & growing scalable margins
37:04 - Sectors at which Sistema is bullish in 2020-21 - Edtech, Healthcare, & Agritech -
Ganesh began his career working in Strategy & Acquisition at Infosys in the San Francisco Bay area. He founded his first startup - Travelguru (later acquired by Travelocity) while he was pursuing his MBA from Harvard Business School.
In 2006, he began his journey as a VC with Greylock Partners. In 2014, he Co-Founded Quona Capital, which is a Fintech-focused VC firm, making investments across Asia, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
A few of its successful exits include - IndiaMart (went IPO) & Coins.ph (acquired by Gojek).
Some of its current Portfolio includes - ZestMoney, Fisdom, & Neogrowth among others.
In this podcast, Ganesh shares his experience of investing in emerging markets and fintech-businesses with robust teams.
Notes -
00:54 - His Journey from working at Infosys to Co-founding Quona Capital
04:39 - Quona Capital: Countries of operations, Cheque-size & Ideology
07:58 - Starting Travelguru while pursuing MBA at Harvard Business School
14:07 - Investing in teams who respect & fear lending
18:17 - Exit from IndiaMart - Most Successful Digital IPO
22:30 - Exit from Coins.ph - Acquired by Gojek
28:08 - Managing investments across multiple countries and diverse markets
34:02 - Fundamentals driving rapid growth in Indian startups in Quona’s portfolio
36:23 - Rise of Neobanks in India -
With over 14+ years of experience in investing, Sushma has been acknowledged for “40 under 40 - Alternate Investment Professionals” in India.
Currently, at Aavishkaar, she majorly looks after Fintech & Microfinance.
Aavishkaar is also well-known for being one of the few VC firms in India, well known for its Impact Investing Thesis.
Some of its portfolio companies are - Chqbook, Agrostar, and Soulfull among others.
In this podcast, Sushma shares her experience of investing in high-growth socially responsible startups.
Notes -
01:10 - Her Journey from real estate equity background to joining Aavishkaar
03:08 - How does Aavishkaar differentiate itself from other funds in terms of thesis - Impact Investing
06:36 - Is impact-investing successful in giving justified returns to LPs?
08:55 - Investing in socially responsible businesses - Micro-finance & Agritech
13:42 - Investing in Chqbook - Making credit cards & short-term loans accessible
19:23 - Diversification in investments between early-stage & growth-stage companies
22:25 - Significant evaluation around Exit-thesis at the time of new investments
28:33 - What does the Indian startup ecosystem requires to mature similarly to Silicon-valley?
30:48 - Gender Diversity in the VC & Startup Ecosystem in India -
Anand has worked with some top companies in SaaS & Product roles - Yahoo, Airtel, Snapdeal, Freecharge, Facebook & currently at Five9.
Since 2014 he has been an Angel Investor in over 50+ companies, some of the popular one’s being - Yulu, Khatabook, and MoEngage among others.
In this podcast, Anand shares his experience of building consumer-friendly products & becoming a successful Angel Investor.
Notes -
01:10 - Journey of one of the best product thinkers in the country - Entrepreneur in SaaS (2001-2008), Multiple Product Leadership Roles across few of the best companies in the world 2008 - Present (Airtel, Snapdeal, Facebook, Five9) and now an investor in startups 2016-Present (Rupeek, Khatabook and 48 other companies)
03:16 - Joining Five9 after Facebook
04:09 - Leading acquisition of Whendu and Virtual Observer
06:55 - Five9’s future plans with over $400 million ARR and becoming a Decacorn soon
09:42 - Working in India with Airtel, Snapdeal & Freecharge (from 2013-16)
13:12 - 50+ portfolio companies as an Angel Investor - Khatabook, MoEngage, Innov8 etc.
16:56 - Investing in Rupeek - Building a customer-friendly product in a market with very low NPS
19:32 - Investing in Nobroker - Solving rental issues on consumers
21:16 - Investing in MoEngage - Solving the user engagement marketing needs with SaaS
23:00 - Exits from Fynd & Innov8 - More of a founder & team bet, than a market bet!
28:37 - Failures Startups face - Cash burn without Product-market fit & Lack of team chemistry
36:50 - Covid-19 crisis - Not just conserving cash but creating solutions to tackle it
38:16 - Working & learning with Marissa Mayer (Yahoo), Mark Zuckerberg & Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook), Gopal Vittal (Bharti Airtel)
44:15 - “The tools that people continue to pay for during a crisis are the ones which grow in the long run.”
51:02 - His first principle of being an Investor -“You are not the Hero of the story, the founder is!” - Just be founder friendly
53:01 - His second principle of being an Investor - ”You make your money with the success, but you make your reputation with the failures.” - Being with founders during their bad times
54:30 - His third principle of being an Investor - Not to exit from a company, as soon as it breaks-out
56:10 - In India would it make sense for Angel investors to Exit-early at a good valuation? -
Anup worked with some top of the line consumer brands like - Bata, Yum! Restaurants International (Pizza Hut), Whirpool, and P&G among others for over 20 years of his career.
In 2015 he started his own family office through which he mentored and Angel Invested in several startups over the next 2 years.
In 2017 he joined Orios Venture Partners, where he currently focuses on retail, fintech, healthTech, edTech and D2C brands.
Some popular startups in its portfolio - PharmEasy, Zostel, MoneyOnClick, CountryDelight, Gully Network, BeatO among others.
In this podcast, Anup shares his experience of identifying top-quality founders and how their portfolio companies are combating with the lockdown due to Covid-19.
Notes -
00:42 - Working at Consumer Brands to joining Orios Venture Partners
05:11 - Thesis behind investing in Portfolio companies - Multiple pain points, Founders & Team with quality execution experience
08:06 - Investing in BeatO - Personal assistant for managing Diabetes
09:10 - Investing in MoneyOnClick - Personal loan for salaried professionals
09:52 - Investing in Gully Network Retail
11:58 - What are their portfolio companies doing to survive through Covid-19?
16:08 - Exploring new investments vs re-investment in existing portfolio companies
18:15 - Helping out Portfolio companies with - Extending runway & Optimising operations
19:25 - Is it a suitable situation to consider an M&A?
21:45 - PharmEasy being the crown-jewel of Orios Venture Partners
26:12 - Sectoral outlook for potential tailwinds during Covid-19 -
During her early career, Ritu worked in Product Development at Unilever and later in Marketing Strategy at Philips. In 2013 she Co-founded Ankur Capital with Rema Subramanian
Ankur Capital has so far majorly invested in Agritech & Healthcare sector, some of its portfolio companies - Health Sutra, Cropin & Niramai among others.
In this podcast, Ritu shares her experience of investing in Agritech & Healthcare space in India, and her vision going forward.
Notes -
00:42 - Her Journey from a Physicist to the VC ecosystem
06:50 - Thesis behind investing in Cropin & Niramai
10:21 - Concentration of Portfolio towards Agritech & Health-tech
11:20 - Future of Agritech in India by emerging startups
21:36 - Training farmers for adopting Agritech solutions
23:20 - Deployment of Fund II in 2020 & 2021 (at Pre-Series A & Series A rounds)
25:07 - Recent successful exit from Carmel Organics and others in the pipeline (next 6-8 months)
27:40 - Is it difficult for women to mark a place as VC?
35:07 - Thesis behind investing in Jiny -
Deepak’s investment journey started with him joining Intel Capital in early 2000, where he spent 14 years managing global investments, mergers & acquisitions.
In 2015, he started Equitycrest, which identified and worked with early-stage startups and assisted them in engaging with investors to realize their funding needs.
After gaining over 17 years of investing experience and managing acquisitions, in 2017 he founded WEH Ventures.
Some popular startups in its portfolio - Trell, Pratilipi, and smallcase among others.
In this podcast, Deepak shares his experience of investing during the 2000 & 2008 crash and what he expects now.
Notes -
00:43 - Joining Intel Capital & starting WEH Ventures
03:05 - Successful exits from Telecom, Consumer Internet startups
05:07 - Working at Intel Capital & understanding fundamentals of Venture capital
06:57 - Investing during previous downturns of 2000 & 2008
09:27 - Investing in Pratilipi - Crucial to India’s vast vernacular landscape
13:08 - Investing in smallcase - Simplifying investing in Stocks by creating thematic bundles
16:31 - Overall approach to finding & adding portfolio companies
18:45 - Advice for Startups in tailwind sector - Being semi-aggressive
20:15 - Advice for Startups in badly hit sectors - Cut down cost & preserve your runway
22:22 - Distinct qualities of entrepreneurs who survive & thrive during such crisis
28:06 - Impact of Covid-19 on upcoming investments (Series A & Series B) in 2020 & early-2021 - Visa fler
