Osborne Saldanha

Invitation to Join Trade & Investment Mission to India: 7–13 April 2025 We are delighted to invite you to participate in the Australia–India Trade & Investment Mission, scheduled from Monday, 7 April 2025, to Sunday, 13 April 2025. This mission is a unique opportunity to explore emerging business and investment opportunities between Australia and India, with a focus on fostering collaboration and partnerships across critical sectors. Mission Objectives Strengthen business and investment ties between Australia and India. Network with senior business leaders and government bodies in India. Facilitate business and project matchmaking between Australian and Indian enterprises. Key Opportunities This mission is designed to foster collaboration across the following sectors: - Food & Beverage, Agriculture - Healthcare - Technology and Financial Services Mission Highlights Program Overview: Mumbai: Explore India's business ecosystem, engage with industry leaders, and participate in B2B matchmaking. Bangalore/ Chennai: Collaborate with government officials, attend networking events, and discover investment opportunities in India's tech hub. Event Features: - Meetings with leading Indian companies across sectors such as ITC, TCS, Infosys, Apollo Hospitals, and more. - Interactions with venture capital firms, private equity investors, and financial institutions. - Visits to technology and business hubs. - Guided tours to iconic cultural and historical landmarks. Tentative Program Schedule Sunday, 6 April 2025: Mumbai Welcome and introduction to India’s business ecosystem. Networking dinner. Monday, 7 April – Wednesday, 9 April 2025: Mumbai Curated meetings with investors and successful businesses. B2B matchmaking and networking events. Learn from experts in India how to set up and do business as well as connect to strategic Indian partners Thursday, 10 April – Sunday, 13 April 2025: Chennai Meetings with government officials and institutions. Guided tours and sightseeing opportunities. Why Participate? Expand Your Network: Connect with influential business leaders and government officials. Explore New Markets: Gain insights into India’s rapidly growing industries. Strengthen Partnerships: Establish strategic collaborations with Indian counterparts. Expression of Interest To express your interest in joining this mission, please send us your Expression of Interest by 31 January 2025. For more details and to confirm your expression of interest, please contact us at : [email protected] or +61 2 9659 4339. We look forward to your participation in this exciting opportunity to strengthen Australia–India trade and investment ties. www.sipbn.com.au https://lnkd.in/gD-khMBy

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This comment to a Slashdot article "Venture firms double, then halve, in stunning reversal" may be interesting to some. In response to a question "WTF Is "Dry Powder" on that chart?" and the answer "cash on hand VCs have" someone responded with: Except it isn't. In theory that's what it is. What it really is is the amount of commitments that a venture fund has from LPs. VCs don't actually hold that cash, when they're ready to make investments they do a cash call, where the LPs are required to transfer funds to the VC who then deploys it. This is done for a few reasons, namely that the VC isn't sitting there collecting management fees on an undeployed mountain of capital, they collect fees only when the capital has been deployed and starts working. The reason I make this distinction is when talking to several of my VC associates of mine, many have passed on investments because they are concerned the LPs won't meet the cash call, even though they are required to via their commitments. This is where interest rates come into play. Let's say an LP is a family office worth $100M, and they committed $2M to the VC. They still keep and invest their money, but are required to transfer funds when called. From the LPs perspective, having that money sit in cash waiting for a cash call is stupid, so they take out loans against their assets, usually in the form of margin. When interest rates were low this was the smart thing; you could get 3-5% margin rates against assets that were going up (like Bitcoin, but also just stocks in general), or maybe some stable income assets to manage your volatility like AA bonds or muni bonds or treasuries; you take out the margin loan and transfer the cash to the VC, and if you run into trouble on the margin loan you sell the assets and cover the margin call. But the last 10-12 years, you could easily make the payments on the margin loan. Lately with interest rates going up the margin rates are much higher; Fidelity is advertising 9.25% for over $1M in margin rates [fidelity.com]. On top of that high growth asset classes like crypto have been highly volatile; if you took out a margin loan but your crypto assets dropped a lot, covering a margin call gets really hard. If you had plenty of treasuries or bonds 4 to 5 years ago, those went down in value a lot because with higher interest rates older bonds have less value relative to newer bonds. Thus liquidity is a lot harder for the LPs. (the rest of the post, where the meat of the argument is, is in the comment)

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No official notification has come out concerning any extension of the dematerialisation mandate for private Indian companies. Surprisingly, many startups that meet the requirements have just started reaching out to inquire and get started. For all practical purposes, many won't make it to this deadline (30th September 2024). But that doesn't mean that companies should further delay their dematerialisation. Here are quick cautionary points I'd like to share with anyone who is just getting started: 👇 1. Many boutique/one-man army CAs might promise you to generate your ISINs within 10-15 days - seems unlikely. 2. CDSL/NSDL themselves have quite the backlog that needs to be cleared out, reinforcing point # 1. 3. ISIN generation requires liaisoning with RTAs and depository clarifications, ensure you're working with a professional partner who can make that happen for you. 4. Venture-backed companies will have a higher ISIN generation requirement, given all the different share classes and allotment dates. Your dematerialisation partner needs to be aware of your cap table (in its most updated format). 5. Startups with a variety of investors on their cap table may even be inclined to dematerialise both on CDSL and NSDL - depending on their shareholder's demat accounts. Be prepared for that. 6. Foreign shareholder's Indian PAN + demat account creations will take a lot more time. 7. DRF issuance is more shareholder coordination than anything else. Preserve some investor relations bandwidth for this ops. 8. This is a lifetime activity for the company - every time a fresh issuance happens, ISINs will be created and shares will be pushed to shareholders' demat accounts. Reach out to me / EquityList if you're struggling to find the right partner who can cover all the above 8 points. We use software + on-ground service to help make this possible. We currently cannot beat the existing CDSL/NSDL/RTA queue, but can ensure that this is done correctly.

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Yesterday's budget has a promising note for Startups, VC & PE funds. 1. Abolition of Angel Tax 2. Unlisted securities to be taxed at 12.5% instead of 20% - More secondary deals to happen. 3. Creation of VCCs (They have been very popular in Singapore, and started in 2020). - Provides greater flexibility for pooling funds and repatriation of funds 4. REITs - For the Fractionalization of RE (SME REITs) - The holding period has been reduced from 36 months to 12 months. Will write in detail about VCC in the coming days. #startups #vc #pe #angeltax #vcc #reits

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As a founder looking to raise funds, you can have it all right- the b-plan, the team, the idea…. But a VC might still not write that cheque for you. Here’s why: Because you are just appealing to the intellect. Investments are not just a decision of the mind, the gut feeling and heart has a lot to do here…. Most VCs and investors will agree to it. We don’t just put money in places where we can make returns and exit. Instead we look for ideas that excite us, move us, relate with us. This is called ‘Cognitive Resonance’. We need to be connected with your pitch, not just convinced by it. So here’s a tip the next time you pitch to an investor: Remember, gut feeling gets funded! #venturecapital #investor #founder #funding #investments

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Excitement is building for the RELPI | Interests Aligned® for the "RELPI | Boardroom Credit Forum", a one day event* helping to facilitate in-depth discussions on specific topics of significance in today's market place on Credit and Debt. Join this exclusive and immersive event tailored for institutional investors and fund managers seeking to dive deeper into the nuances of the Credit and Debt asset class offering exclusive networking opportunities and an experience tailored specifically for attendees who have debt funds or are considering developing one. With a true 1:1 LP/GP ratio, this event has limited seating allowing only one representative from a fund manager and will fill up quickly. Heather Fernstrom Border and Jennifer Stevens, Alliance Global Advisors are joining the RELPI Boardroom Credit Forum as presenters and facilitators. Thank you Gila Cohen, Ryan R. Harding, and the entire Vanbarton Group LLC team for making this event happen. Dates: October 29-30, 2024 Day One; Pre-event networking social 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM ET, Rooftop- 292 Madison Ave, NYC Day Two; Full day meeting 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM ET; LX Club- 425 Lexington Ave, NYC Host: Vanbarton Group LLC *Plus prior evening networking social Additional Information: https://lnkd.in/gWEvPbyb If you're interested in learning more about the RELPI | Boardroom Credit Forum, please contact us at [email protected]. "Interests Aligned ®" is not just a tagline, it's what we do." For Investor and Consultant engagement, please contact Leigh Ann Hochman at [email protected]. #RELPI #InterestsAligned® #Community #institutionalinvestment #debtfunds #modernmedia

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Big Exits, Bigger Returns: 2024 is leading the charge for Indian VC’s appetite for exits. For years, large exits with substantial returns have been a sore subject for Indian VCs, but 2024 is shaping up to change the narrative. With an increasing number of IPOs, M&As, and secondary sales, the winds are shifting in favour of exponential returns. After a low phase in 2022 and 2023, we’re seeing startup IPOs bouncing back and profitability trends sparking a domino effect across the ecosystem. Which begs the question: When and how can investors expect exponential returns on their portfolios? Take secondary deals, for instance. As Blume’s Karthik Reddy notes, “A 1% holding can yield $750,000 to $5M in cash returns, a sweet spot for micro-VCs but often unattractive for larger funds.” Yet, large funds writing early-stage to growth-stage checks have delivered astronomical returns—sometimes in the hundreds or thousands of multiples. Such as these game-changing examples: ✦ Tiger Global: 340X return on Freshworks ✦ Info Edge: 1,000X return on Zomato’s IPO ✦ Kunal Bahl & Rohit Bansal: 101X return on Mamaearth’s IPO These are just a few examples of how VC investing can lead to a goldmine. However, the old adage of “the more, the merrier” portfolio is evolving. Investors are becoming more receptive towards companies with strong fundamentals over sheer scale. As Fireside Ventures’ Vinay Singh insightfully pointed out: “For many international LPs, India is grouped with China under the Asia pool of capital. But with China facing its own set of challenges, investors are finding comfort in Indian startups trending towards profitability.” At the heart of these pivotal discussions is #MoneyX 2024, where we’ll dive deeper into these themes shaping the future of startup investments in India. If you haven’t secured your spot yet, now’s the time. Reserve your invite today:  https://4-2.co/3X6gQ2I Vaibhav Vardhan Utkarsh Agarwal #VentureCapital #Startups #IPO

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Valuation Multiples come down at each round. That's fine. But you must keep scaling. Establishing a valuation at each round is an exercise in balancing results with expectations. That is why the multiples paid at Seed are the highest. > Few Results : Massive Expectation : Massive Multiple And the biggest drop in multiples are at Series A. > Some Results : Reset Expectation : Adjusted Multiple This is all compensated for by the understanding that absolute valuation will continue to grow: e.g. If revenue at Seed is $500k @ 30x multiple = $15m If revenue at Series A is $3m @15x multiple = $45m Therefore, the only way to hack the "valuation : multiple" correlation is by ensuring that you continue to grow revenue at → venture scale ← i.e. $1m ARR → $100m ARR → within a 10 year window On this basis, 2x thoughts: 1. If you've raised a large Seed round ❔Have you thought carefully about what comes next? 2. If you want to raise a Series A, B, C ❔What valuation does your revenue suggest? *************************************************** Shout to Michael Ho for another cracking visual. *************************************************** If you enjoyed this, repost it for others♻ Follow me Asif Ahmed for more in the future.

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It is often said that Impact investing does not deliver financial returns. At C4D Partners, we are proving this wrong. Our Fund 1 has already achieved a 51% DPI on the India portfolio within 6 years of fund life, delivering a robust IRR. We’re not just about investing for impact, but also prioritizing strong, sustainable financial returns. We carefully select companies that are cash flow positive and demonstrate a clear path to profitability within a couple of years of our investment. This has enabled us to keep our mortality rate under 20%, lower than the industry average. Our approach - We invest in early-growth stage companies that are well-governed and on a clear path to positive cash flows, and be there for the long haul. Our approach comprises not just capital infusion, but active involvement in fostering a culture of transparency, operational excellence and sustainable value creation. We position our investments for sustainability and success in an ever-evolving market. If you’re a startup or investor interested in partnering with us, or just curious to learn more, let’s connect. Mirakle Couriers, Ecotasar, LabourNet, Saahas Zero Waste, Aarohan , 1BRIDGE, Ananya Finance, Freyr Energy Services Pvt Ltd #VentureCapital #Startups #SMEs #GrowthCapital #InvestmentStrategy #C4DPartners

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We have seen almost $6.5 Billion USD of Private equity deals in hospital chains in the last 8 odd years. That's a staggering number in a single sector and a considerable uptick compared to the previous decade. I looked up this detail after listening to Shantanu Deshpande's podcast with Deepak Garg (Founder and CEO of Rivigo) where he brings up the demographics of India and drops value bombs on macro trends, one of which being the aging population of the country. Digging deeper, lately PE firms have taken over significant stake in many major hospital chains bringing in PE expertise and guidance in capital allocation and optimizing workflows, at the same time, allowing the promoters to monetise their holdings. All of this amidst sectoral tailwinds like increasing revenue per occupied bed/day to ~38k INR, rising insurance penetration and medical tourism and added to that, an ever aging population that require medical treatment in some shape or form from the age 40. In the e-commerce equivalent words, this is a case of rising AOV and # of orders, compounding the revenues every year. The operational synergies brought in by the consolidation have started showing significant outcomes already. Max healthcare, in the last two financial years has seen a 30% increase in Revenue while the net profit rose by almost 75%. This is in stark contrast to a promoter led chain which has 4x the revenue but the net profits are lower than Max. These investments will be ripe for multi bagger exits in 10-12 years time, which is usually the fund cycle of a typical PE firm. No wonder the allied sectors like Elder care has been under the radar of many VCs lately. Even with the PE activity and expansion recently, we still have half the physicians per 10k people as most western countries. In 10 years time we will most likely begin to see the signs of our demographic strength turning to demographic liability if the health care infra doesn’t catch up with the needs. It would be very interesting to see what kind of companies come up to solve in this space in next few years. Image source : ESCAP

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Sector wise valuation comparison at Series A stage The industries with the most activity (most funding rounds) are: 1. SaaS (Software as a Service)  2. Healthtech  3. Biotech 4. Fintech (Financial Technology) 5. Data Analytics Highest median cash raised sectors are: 1. Proptech 2. Renewables 3. Media 4. Biotech 5. Hardware And these sectors are also the ones with one of the highest (median) pre-money valuation. The exception here being inclusion of web3 instead of media. This is the data from Carta and is US focused. However, I am seeing one trend which is already catching up in India and that is Hardware sector startups attracting investment which was not the case previously. We are way behind in rest all sectors in terms of deal activity at early stage as well as money raised. Will be interesting to see how this changes as India moves towards being a developed nation in the coming decades. When do you think we will have these sectors as the top sectors of investment in India? TDV Partners #fundraising #startupinvesting #founders #ujwalsutaria #tdvpartners Image and data credits: Carta / Peter Walker

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▶ CredFlow has secured $3.7 million (approximately Rs 31.2 crore) in a pre-Series B funding round, with participation from its existing investors, Inflexor Ventures and a Singapore-based family office. ▶ Previously, the Delhi-based firm had raised $9.2 million in two separate funding rounds backed by leading venture capital firms. #CredFlow #FintechFunding #StartupSuccess #PreSeriesB

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🆕 🇮🇳 Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures’s portfolio in 2024 was dominated by India, which accounted for two-thirds of its investments, Ben Mathias told DealStreetAsia, adding that the firm’s future deal pipeline is also skewed towards the world’s fifth-largest economy. Vertex Ventures closed its fifth Southeast Asia & India fund in September 2023 at $541 million, approximately 80% larger than its predecessor. From this fund, the firm has completed 16 investments so far, nine of which are in India. Vertex Ventures’s Indian portfolio includes companies like Licious, Ayu Health, Kazam, Kissht, Pilgrim, and Kuku FM, among others. The firm has exited notable investments such as FirstCry.com (BrainBees Solutions Ltd.).com, Xpressbees (BusyBees Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd.), Active.Ai - A Gupshup Inc Company, and Yatra Online Ltd.. Read full interview: https://lnkd.in/gh7b-cKs

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Portfolio construction of a fund is very important for a fund’s performance. Many fund managers do not give adequate important to it and because of that in later part of fund deployment, they either have too many startups with very less equity in their portfolio or the fund has very less capital left to exercise its pro-rata in the winner portfolio companies. It is very important for a fund manager to understand and finalise fund’s portfolio construction in the beginning as it is an integral part of the fund’s thesis and focus. The first and the most important point in portfolio construction is to arrive at the split between the first (primary) cheques and the reserve for follow-ons. If the fund keeps high follow-on reserves, it will have less amount for the primary cheques. If the fund has less amount allocated for primary cheques, it will impact the number of portfolio companies in the fund or the fund will have smaller primary cheque to invest in startups. If the fund’s portfolio size is small, it would mean that the fund will have lesser odds of finding a winner or fund returner as we call it in the VC world. On the other hand, if the primary cheques are smaller in size, it would mean that the fund does not have decent equity to start with and its portfolio companies are inadequately funded, which means that the portfolio companies have less chance of getting to the next stage as they will be looking for funds very soon again. Both these issues severely impact performance of the fund 💹 and return to its LPs 💰. However, there is no sure shot portfolio construction for a VC, but an ideal portfolio construction should have an optimal combination of (i) primary and follow-on reserve allocation, (ii) number of portfolio companies the fund would have; and (iii) cheque size (means %age of equity owned) in each startup.   This portfolio construction also plays a very important role in how the funds value the early-stage startups. Yes, it’s true, despite of all valuation theories, guidelines and formula but that’s for the next time 🙂! If you found this useful, please share it with your network as well! I write on startups investing, transactions, valuation and general awareness! #startups #investing #venturecapital #valuation #portfolio #VC

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"Think your AIF can sneak into the Anchor Investor club? Not anymore! 🚫" SEBI's new rules have tightened the doors on backdoor QIB entries. If you’re managing an AIF, it’s time to double-check your investors status. AIFs acting as QIB and Anchor investors might need to re-think their entire structure. Click on the article below for further insights: https://lnkd.in/gV7MjPrG

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An indicator of whether a company is overvalued is if you start seeing online advertisements for products which are oddly irrelevant for you. I just saw an Instagram ad for FIGS, which makes healthcare apparel (I'm not a healthcare provider). This company, previously VC backed and now post-IPO, is expected have negative 0.1% revenue growth in 2024. However, they are trading at 25.5x P/E (2026). Its shares are now, in July 2024, trading at 25.5x the earnings per share expected for the year 2026. That is like a 3.9% yield, as at 2026, assuming those earnings are actually 100% paid out to shareholders. In the US, the 3-year treasury yields 4.4%, guaranteed, with inflation close to that. When companies become desperate for growth, they may start to accept high customer acquisition cost for the sake of keeping their equity story alive. This kind of degradation leads to ads like this. #customeracquisition #growth #valuation #advertising

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“Globally, venture capital funds make up one-third of the private impact fund universe; but in India, they account for 85 per cent” Good insights by FT on how Indian venture capitalists are leading the way in private market impact investing (Glad to see our fund parrners mentioned in the report). Few other funds that are not mentioned are also driving real change by investing in entrepreneurs who are truly driving ‘Innovation for Impact’. India’s venture capitalists seek to verify the impact they make https://lnkd.in/dDVgKFgA British International Investment, Mark Kahn

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The lower-middle market of private equity is our favorite segment of private markets and in tracking Lighthouse Funds India, this fund manager is demonstrating investments and exits akin to established middle market fund managers in the US. Congratulations on the successful full exit of Poly Medicure Ltd, India’s leading #medical device #manufacturer, in an open market transaction on India's National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE India)! Similarly to our favorite and most successful middle market fund managers in the US (particularly in #chicago), Lighthouse Funds India has taken a measured and disciplined approach to building out a team, retention and incentivization (sharing the carried interest), and fund sizing that applies a proven recipe in the US to the India market, with now 4 funds raised by the firm since 2007 inception, including most recently Fund IV in 2024, multiple full and partial exits in their Fund III, and the demonstrated ability to tap into liquidity for LPs via #ipos, M&A and secondary share sales. Overall, investment exits and value creation in the India private equity continue to materialize for those fund managers who have been able to endure the capital markets, political, and market nascency cycles over the past 2 decades, and now it is clear India has an established set of private markets players in position to create attractive net returns for global limited partners going forward - with demonstrated multiple exit paths. And it seems Lighthouse Funds India also just had a partial exit of another investment in their vintage 2018 Fund III. More to come on that later. Exits at attractive values to LPs via multiple avenues are one of the primary characteristics of distinction for best-in-class private markets fund managers and Lighthouse Funds India are demonstrating their winning traits! Definitely worth tracking this manager! #middlemarket #privatemarkets #indianeconomy #exits #valuecreation #secondaries #publiccompanies #publicmarkets #tradesales #acquisitions #liquidity #capitalmarkets #consumer #healthcare #retention #employeeequity #economics #sharing #noegos https://lnkd.in/gg42PnBJ

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