Manish Gulati

I recently had a fascinating discussion on 3.0 TV, a channel at the forefront of Web3 journalism in India. We dove into the burgeoning Web3 gaming sector in India, a field that's just as thrilling as it is complex. India, with its rich gaming culture and a robust community of Web3 developers and startups, stands on the brink of becoming a leader in this innovative industry. The potential benefits are vast, promising opportunities for individuals and entities across all city tiers. However, we're facing some significant regulatory headwinds. Recent GST amendments, which took effect on October 1, 2023, have thrown us some serious curveballs. A striking example is Gameskraft, which was hit with a tax demand for INR 21,000 crores on funds held in trust for its users. These developments have sparked around 30 writ petitions across 11 high courts, all now escalated to the Supreme Court. This has created a precarious wait-and-see situation, where the pace at which the world moves won't slow down for us to sort our internal issues. The danger of losing our early mover advantage is real and pressing. What's clear is the urgent need for a robust, tailored regulatory framework that can nurture and not stifle growth in Web3 gaming. We can learn a lot from international models like Malta's, Singapore, Switzerland, amongst others, which might provide some valuable insights. A synchronized regulatory regime is crucial to disincentivize regulatory arbitrage seeking. Moreover, there is an immediate need for clarity on how GST impacts business models in the online gaming sector to prevent these models from being undermined. The risks of inaction are significant. Without the right regulatory support, we risk seeing Indian Web3 gaming companies relocate abroad, leading to brain drain and loss of valuable intellectual property. The financial implications are massive too—excessive demands could potentially drive this nascent industry out of India, and the government might not even achieve its revenue targets. Web3 games are likely to be the forerunners of what we will come to know as the metaverse, representing digital environments where economic and social dynamics play out in real-time, always-on virtual worlds. As with any emerging industry, early adopters set the standards and lead innovations. India has the potential to leverage its Web3 capabilities to influence various sectors globally, pioneering future business models. But this can't be done in isolation—the industry needs proactive policy engagement to flourish and achieve global leadership. Reflecting on all this, it's clear that India shouldn't chase short-term financial gains at the expense of stifling a promising industry. Thoughtful, supportive regulations could help cultivate a thriving Web3 gaming ecosystem within the country. Here’s hoping for wise decisions that harness our full potential and keep us at the forefront of digital innovation. https://lnkd.in/dMY_ahSw

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Super fun catching up with one-time arch-rival, co-conspirator, and now good friend Sanjay Swamy. Thanks for having me on the show Prime Venture Partners. It was fun looking back on how our journeys in fintech began before the term was even coined. Life is tough as an entrepreneur, sometimes it's good to look back and see how far we've come. #startups #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs #nostalgia #earlydays #OGs #fintech #mcommerce #payments

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Here's one more theme that has played out over the past decade in India SaaS: SaaS companies that sell into India/Asia (non-China/Japan). There's been a reasonably large set of investors in India who have been default no in this category, based on perception of limited TAM and GTM challenges. However, there is reason to be optimistic for this theme (we are!). A reasonable set of companies in the ecosystem have scaled, such as MoEngage, Darwinbox, Capillary Technologies, Yellow.ai, Unicommerce , Gupshup, CRMNEXT, LeadSquared. Companies like Salesforce, SAP etc have reached multi-hundred million ARR in India. As a result, the potential scale from sales in India has grown from the $15-20mm that people used to talk about 5 years back to perhaps $50mm in India, overall $100mm-150mm in Asia. I think we'll see more companies continue to get funded here as IT demand in India/SEA deepens and local requirements (mobile, India Stack, regulations, languages) get addressed. Founders and investors will need to tune into this being a solid path to go but will take longer to get to impact than US/EU-focused companies. Some characteristics we see at India/SEA-facing software companies: * Many start out in SMB but then find scale & success selling into enterprises. India market has a ton of SMBs (10mm+), a relatively light mid-market and a significant set of large enterprises. * Products tend to have feature sprawl and design-deficit but this can be fixed. * Some large sectors that are pulling at enterprise level e.g. BFSI, multi-sector conglomerates. Early traction from digital native companies (but naturally capped market). * Natural to go to SEA & Gulf countries. Product could remain fairly similar but sales & marketing motion can be quite different. To get really large, feels like will have to end up going to US/EU markets eventually. * ~10 years to $100mm ARR, with market leadership in Asia * Gross margins start out perhaps 10-15 points lower than corresponding companies in the US/EU but trend up over time. * Most India-facing SaaS companies are starting as India Pvt. Ltd. today, compared to 5 years ago (versus US C-corp), with a view to going public in India at $50-100mm revenue level.

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Gaming is one the oldest forms of entertainment. While the games and gaming platforms have evolved, it continues to be the largest form of content and entertainment. At $190B, global gaming revenues are more than 2.5x of movies and music combined. While gaming as an industry is still in its early days in India compared to the rest of the world, we are seeing a lot of positive signs that make us bullish on the gaming opportunity in India. - There are over 500M gamers in India which is ~15% of the global gaming users. - Over 130M+ paying gamers. - In 2023 India had over 15B game downloads, 2nd only to China. - In terms of revenue we are at ~$3B which is <2% of global gaming revenue. It is not long before this user heft translates to revenue heft. And we are seeing early signs of this as Indian gaming is coming out of the shadows of RMG. There are games that have scaled to $100M+ revenues just through In-app-purchases which shows increasing propensity to pay for games. Tune into this new episode of our podcast where we cover all things gaming and why and what are we excited about the gaming opportunity in India. https://lnkd.in/g6yKXakM Shripati Acharya Jerome Manuel Prime Venture Partners

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CLSA published a detailed research report on India quick commerce. Recommended reading. Who will be the first to create a $50-100Bn company in India internet? #Zepto #Zomato #IndiaInternet

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📊 Is pricing the answer to fragmenting the UPI App market? 📊 📈💡NPCI has extended the 30% market cap deadline because the top 3 UPI apps have ~92% market share. Phonepe, Paytm & Gpay capitalized on the early mover advantage. New apps don’t have incentives to compete for UPI volumes because it is a “free product.” And while this was why it grew, it has now also hindered entry of new players ✅ Global real time payment (RTP) equivalents are usually free for the customer while merchants are charged. Ex: 🇧🇷 Pix: Merchant: 0.22 - 0.3% / txn, free for user 🇨🇭 Twint: Merchant:1.3% / txn, free for user 🇵🇱 Blik: Merchant: $0.1 - $0.75 / txn, free for user 🇸🇪 Swish: Merchant: $0.09 / txn, free for user 🇸🇬 PayNow: Merchant: 1.3% / txn, free for user 📈💡 If we want to keep RTP free for the end user, the constraint is free P2P payments. Only P2M can be charged. Is that feasible? Let’s look at the data: 📌 UPI Value (in Cr): From April ‘23 to ‘24, grew by 39.6%. P2P grew from 10L Cr to 14L Cr, at ~32% growth YoY. And P2M grew from 3.2 L Cr to 5.3 L Cr, at~65% YoY. 📌 UPI Volume (in B txn): From April ‘23 to April ‘24 UPI volume grew by 62%. P2P grew from 3.8B to 4.9B, at YoY 29%. P2M grew from 5B to 8.3B at YoY 65%. And proportionally: 📌 April ‘24 Value: Total: INR 19L Cr, P2P: 72.97%, P2M: 27.03% 📌 April ‘24 Volume: Total: 13.3B, P2P: 37.5%, P2M: 62.5% ✅ The constraint of only being able to price P2M transactions is not a blocker, P2M seems to have significant volumes. But that’s the overall P2M market: There is a big segment that falls within P2PM (unorganized merchants), that NPCI will not charge 📈💡Let’s assume that P2PM majorly consists of low value transactions of AoV less than Rs 2000. If we look at AoV > 2000 bucket of P2M transactions, this constitutes for 4.50% of txn numbers, and 68.36% of P2M txn value. ✅ So even excluding P2PM this still leaves a significant~68% of P2M monthly value or 4.5% of P2M txns that can be monetized So what’s the ideal pricing model? ❗Well, the cost of a UPI transaction is ~Rs 0.4. At 13.3B UPI txns that is a monthly cost of Rs 532 Cr. Which is Rs 6384 Cr per annum to maintain the UPI ecosystem! The pricing needs to generate atleast this much❗ 1️⃣ Option 1: Fixed fee / txn: If only AoV > Rs 2000 txns are charged, then to break-even, the fee per txn needs to be Rs 15, which is high. If ALL the P2M txns are charged, then a per txn cost of Rs 0.67 would be enough to break-even. But the P2PM merchant would be impacted 2️⃣ Option 2: % of txn value: If only AoV > Rs 2000 txns are charged, then the break-even fee is 0.15%. If the total P2M value is charged, the fee needs to be 0.10%. Seems to make more sense But even if pricing comes, while it incentivizes new apps it also incentivizes incumbents to keep their market share. Enter: the 30% UPI market share cap To read the full article and other pieces like this, click here: https://lnkd.in/gSPm49aq #fintech #UPI #NPCI

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Google's arbitrary decision to pause the expansion of Pay-to-Play skill games on the Play Store, gatekeeping gaming apps, and picking market winners reinforces the immediate need for ex-ante antitrust regulations. All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) has been at the forefront, advocating for ex-ante regulations since the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance first examined the issue of Anti-Competitive Practices by Big Tech Companies. We look forward to working with the broader Indian startup ecosystem and engaging with the Government on this issue. AIGF has always advocated for a fair and open market that provides equitable opportunities for everyone. In this market, consumers decide who wins and who loses, not private entities, and we will continue to fight for the same. Sunil Krishnamurthy | Dhruv Garg | Soumya AK | Dedipyaman Shukla | Shreyasi Tripathi

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Live streaming is all about CDN 🤦‍♂️ If you are one of them, watch this podcast to understand the infra setup, the scaling techniques, and the challenges it takes to livestream a cricket match to 20 million concurrent users without hiccups. I spoke with Prachi Sharma, a Sr. Engineering Director at JioCinema leading the Backend Platform pod to understand the nuances of live streaming at scale and some fun wartime stories. Fun fact, it was Prachi's 6th IPL 🤯 give it a watch - youtu.be/36N1Bz7qW0A I am on a mission to bring out the best engineering stories from around the world and make you all fall in love with engineering. If you resonate with this then follow along, I always keep it no-fluff. #AsliEngineering x #JioCinema

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All roads to monetization in fintech lead to lending, that's where the profit pools lie. "Fintech is not dead," Akshay Sarma who's spent the last 9 years building axio (formerly Capital Float (now axio)), one of India's most valuable fintech companies. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/gvHqB4zM We've talked about all things Fintech: > The Landscape of the Fintech Ecosystem, opportunities, and different business models > How Axio evolved from MSME lending to consumer lending post the pandemic > Are the regulators (RBI & SEBI) unsupportive of Indian fintech companies? > How should fintech founders navigate the tough fundraising environment? > Public markets, investing in equity vs debt + Akshay's personal investing strategy > The High-Risk, High-Reward Nature of Angel Investing > Do you need a NBFC license to succeed as a fintech company? > The Frenzy Around SME IPOs and Risk Appetite > The Importance of Profitability and Cost of Funds in Determining Margins Must watch for all fintech founders and investors in the country!

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Hyperledger India Chapter also looking for Jury members for this hackathon. Please recommend Blockchain leaders you would like to see as a Jury #blockchain #hyperledger #jury #hackathon Hyperledger Foundation Prasanna Lohar Ajay Jadhav Sharat Chandra Ritu Marya Ritu Verma Som Roy Siddharth Durbha Rajesh Dhuddu

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Fintech startup Dexif, led by former Blinkit senior executive Deepank Bhandari, secures $4M seed funding from RTP Global. Funds to bolster tech stack, expand operations, and enhance talent pool. Platform enables trading in fixed-income securities and capital raising for companies. Revenue generated via fees from companies and investors. Pending regulatory licenses to operate in bond trading market. Vision to democratize fixed-income market, aiming for further innovation and scalability. Co-founder Bhandari: "Fundraise fuels our mission to unlock India's fixed-income market potential." Gross transaction volume: Nearly INR 300 Cr per month. Exciting times ahead for Dexif amidst the booming fixed-income securities market in India! #Dexif #Fintech #SeedFunding #Innovation #FixedIncome #MarketPotential https://lnkd.in/gGajtBjc

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How UPI Crippled Kotak Mahindra Bank & lessons we can learn Via the ET (Link in comments) "On April 24, RBI barred Kotak Mahindra Bank from onboarding new customers through its online and mobile banking channels and issuing fresh credit cards." WHY? "The bank’s core banking system (CBS) and its online and digital banking channels have suffered frequent and significant outages in the past two years without a robust IT infrastructure and IT risk-management framework." WHY did that happen? Enter UPI! "In March, 13.4 billion UPI transactions were conducted. Before the pandemic, this number stood at 1.3 billion. “Every time you make a UPI payment, it is recorded on the CBS, does not matter if it's an INR 10,000 or INR 10 transaction. CBS is a legacy architect which is burdened with UPI transactions,” said a former banker. “If my UPI transaction is stuck, it will unnecessarily load CBS. If that happens, other peripheral systems could also be impacted. There is a ripple effect.” Learning: - INNOVATION KILLS anything in its way. A business can no longer IGNORE Global Innovation, thinking "How will this damage me" If UPI can whip Kotak Bank, you have no idea what AI, the Cloud, and even EVs can do to you! - The other major lesson is an obsession with ROI. "Why add more tech stacks? Why invest in extra security?" "Why spend crores in upgrading" All the "Why now, let's wait" arguments become Dirge Songs of the STUCK. Mota lesson: If you see anything moving fast, make sure you either catch up with it OR stand clearly out of its way! #Dhandhekibaat What example of ruin by innovation denial comes to your mind?

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Tokenization and blockchain are at the core of Finternet, offering a seamless, user-centric experience across all asset types. Nilekani dubs it the "three U's" of finance: user-centric, unified, and universal. EkStep Foundation Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure - CDPI Pramod Varma Prasanna Lohar #digitalassets #blockchain #tokens #finance

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SaaS startup Rocketlane has raised $24 million in its Series B funding round co-led by 8VC, Matrix Partners India, and Nexus Venture Partners. Rocketlane offers a purpose-built unified workspace for collaborating with customers for onboarding projects. It helps businesses shorten their time-to-value, streamline their software implementation, and provide real-time visibility. Rocketlane claims to have tripled its revenue and reached over 500 customers, including enterprise companies that have switched to Rocketlane from legacy Professional Services Automation (PSA) tools. The company’s customers include Chargebee, Pando, parcelLab, Yellow.ai, LinkSquares, Appcues, and Netcore. Founders: Srikrishnan Ganesan, Vignesh Girishankar and Deepak Bala Previously, the trio built an in-app messaging startup Freshchat that was acquired by NASDAQ-listed SaaS firm Freshworks in 2015. Follow Rise & Shine for daily startup updates. Stay informed, stay ahead ➡️ www.riseshine.in #saas #funding #venturecapital #automation #nasdaq

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