Sriharsha M.

its not just about VC/investor appetite for more mature start-ups where the risk is relatively less, its the turn now of VCs being treated the same by LPs. very likely to happen in India as well if not already happening. The infamous long tail in VC universe is very much going to be a reality.

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Quick commerce in India is the biggest consumption story in the world right now. Billions of 💰 are being invested by US and other VCs to change the way how millions of Indians shop 🇮🇳 . It is SUPER INTERESTING to see how this market is evolving literally under our eyes daily. The Morning Context has an excellent piece on it today. It got me thinking of 5 things. But first, the article makes the point that QC works in India because of high population densities, an unorganised and inefficient legacy supply chain and low rider cost 🏍 to average order value. Their article is posted in the comments section. Here's what came to my mind: 1. Viruses can permanently change consumer behaviour: Would the acceleration in QC adoption have happened if rapid digitisation hadn't been driven by the pandemic. High population densities, legacy supply chains and cheap labour existed pre-covid as well. 2. Did your family astrologer predict the QC future we are building: Predicting the future is always hard. More square footage was being built for malls under the hypothesis that India will transition from unorganised retail to a formal retail format. While for some formats this will continue, think white goods, for soft categories it looks like brick and mortar might be the most expensive and risky way to start. Wonder if in a country so into astrology any astrologers predicted the rise of QC because.... 3. Consultants and analysts were clueless: Entrepreneurs build the future, and consultants at best are slow followers. Go back and look at their reports from 10 years ago, no one was talking about the rise of QC. Everyone was on and on about how underpenetrated organised retail is and writing bullish stories on listed brick and mortar retail companies. 4. Will the marriage of fast fashion and quick commerce be all song and dance: What's in store here? Shorter supply chains like Shein, cheaper products like Primark, and quicker inventory turns via QC or risk of higher returns and inventory bloat. Time will tell. 5. FMCG companies should hire tutors to study disruption theory, but not from Byju's: Many of the MNC's don't have a playbook they can get from their global parent companies - QC is a uniquely Indian phenomenon. If their Indian listed businesses trade at 50-70x PE multiples, their future is pricing in so much growth and stability. "All of the future is in the price" as one of India's leading equity investors responded to my chat message. What will crack first, FMCG multiples or QC momentum? Last week I wrote about Zomato and Zepto, two leading QC companies in India and their world class execution even if they copied this model from abroad. The link to that post is also in the comments.

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"We bought a 13-acre piece of land in a village called Sikra in Kutch which is enough for us to reach a revenue of 500 crores." 🔥 Ep#08 of The India Opportunity Podcast with Aditya Aagare from Thermoflyde is out now! 🔥 Watch here: https://lnkd.in/g6JjrGq6 We talk about: > The market opportunity in the refractory space - north of $30 Billion USD globally > How Thermoflyde is aggressively growing its market share by taking on RHI Magnestia (a $3 Billion revenue-generating, publicly listed business) and has grown 100% year-on-year in terms of REVENUE > How starting up in college taught Aditya lessons about entrepreneurship the hard way > Focusing on customer service as a competitive advantage > Building an IPO-able, cash-flow-positive business > 500 Crores revenue in sight with current capacity and potential to grow much bigger > Aditya's goal of positively impacting 1000+ lives > How traditional manufacturing businesses can be multi-baggers over decades in the public markets > How kindness from angels helped them survive in the first 2 years Great episode for founders looking to build IPO-able businesses, with key insights into how to prepare your business at the earliest stages if IPO is an outcome you're working towards. Thermoflyde Industries Private Limited is destined to be a big success story emerging in the traditional manufacturing space and we're early backers via Swadharma Source Ventures - SSV. Thrilled to share Aditya's story with the world. #india #manufacturing #makeinindia #rhimagnestia #refractory #steelplants #ipo

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Join us! With great power (capital, position, trust) comes great responsibility. Following the launch of Ortella Global Capital - OG Capital, India's only fund that co-builds companies, we are humbled by the overwhelming support and enthusiasm for our mission to empower the next generation of groundbreaking startups. As we embark on this exciting journey, we are reminded of the profound impact we can make through responsible and strategic investing and co-building. At Ortella Global Capital - OG Capital, India's only fund that co-builds companies, we firmly believe that with great power comes great responsibility. We are dedicated to upholding the highest standards for our investors, our co-builders, our founders and every individual whose lives we touch. As stewards of capital, we understand the importance of harnessing our resources for the greater good, not just for financial gain (yet focused on delivering 50%+ CAGR). As we grow, we are eager to expand our team with exceptional individuals who share our vision. We look forward to potentially working together to create the next hundred unicorns. Who is it for: a. If you had started a company ever and successfully exited, Reach out to us b. If you are a current founder who is passionate about building but for some reason, your business is not working out, Reach out to us c. If you had started out a few times before but for some or other reason it did not work out, Reach out to us And by the way, all our team members are ex-founders :) Additionally: - It does not matter whether you are 15 years old or 60, Reach out to us - It does not matter whether you are in Ahmedabad or Agartala, Reach out to us - It does not matter whether you are from IIT/IIM or a college drop out, Reach out to us --- because we have seen that success does not have a tag, you just need it to click once. And that's it! Please fill out the form in the comments :)

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We've been part of this journey with Vidur Kataria Sidhanth Madan & Radhika Mittal since the pre-seed round in 2020 (also closer to heart since this was the first deal from Fund II). The investment thesis for us was always very simple - we tried cooking Chinese food at home during Covid, and all that was available was "Ching's Secret Schezwan Fried Rice Masala" & it was surprising that the second most enjoyed cuisine in the country is Chinese & we have just one brand that catered to this audience. Then we ended tasting the Masterchow sauces & we were just floored to see the difference in quality and taste. Having said that, the thesis that we believed in, didn't ring a bell with a lot of folks that we spoke to in the last 4 years. These were the top reasons why VCs hesitated -> 1) Market size is not large enough - Our belief was that the market appeared to be small, because the only brand available thus far was Ching's. Then Ching's got sold to Tata for ~5500cr, then noone questioned the market size any more. 2) Products are too expensive - Their sauces which was the first category they got into - was priced at ~Rs.240. Lot of people thought that this was expensive for India. But that was just the first category, after that in just last 2 years the founders have innovated on the product (Cup Noodles, Ramen, Chilli oil) and made products cheaper (Masterchow Staples, Chowmein, Schezwan). But I'm glad we got some believers along the way in the form of Anicut Capital LLP & Surge. And now, Tanglin Venture Partners. The founders continue to surprise everyone & I believe they'll do so in the future as well! #startup #funding #fmcg https://lnkd.in/g2wdAvmx

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Daily rant on Dollar daftness. Why oh why do seed stage companies in India insist on referring to things in Dollars? If someone reaches out to me with a message "I'm looking to raise $1 million at $10 million", and over 50% of their revenues AREN'T earned in USD, you're going to the reject mailbox. It's easy to try and 'siliconvalley-ize' building companies, refocus on reality. #funding #fundraising #startups #india #venturecapital

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The story of Acko and Varun Dua: 4 Lessons 2000Cr premium (FY24). 78 million customers. More than a billion policies issued. $500M raised. Thanks Varun for such an engaging and candid opening keynote session for the new Antler India Residency. Varun has built Acko into a one-of-its-kind insurance juggernaut across motor, health, life - including pioneering innovations via embedded/microinsurance models. The first time I met him in 2015 in Andheri, I was struck by the clarity of thought and even-keeled composure.. …even while talking about something crazy at that time - the idea of being the first startup to get an insurance manufacturing license! Rajiv Srivatsa and I were especially struck by 4 big reminders: (1) SURVIVE: In India, if you’re an ambitious founder who can stick through the hardships and survive for the first 6-7 years, you will likely create value immense value as one of the survivors. Flipkart, Zomato, PayTM, etc....Most large Internet successes still took 7-8 years before they established their dominance and then consolidated the gains. Many founders don’t appreciate this. (2) THE “HARDER” BUILD MAY BE THE RIGHT ONE vs. THE THIN LAYER: Many founders get discouraged by the seemingly insurmountable challenges of navigating regulated, capital intensive spaces like insurance and opt for the thin layer (distribution, affiliates, etc.). But esp. in a country like India, doing the hard work of manufacturing a new product / creating the rails / being the full-stack player likely ensures you’re one of the rare players, spending more energy on innovation vs. competition. (3) CONTROL OF LEVERS: Varun and team successfully built CoverFox before Acko, and while insurance distribution or brokerage in India is also a great business with high commissions, given infrequency and push nature of sales, Varun saw far more LTV potential via more control of levers… …from manufacturing the insurance product, a far better UX esp. the claims process for superior retention and lifetime value, embedded models, multiple nudges in the customer journey (and even extensions like garages) to solve additional pain points. All creating a highly trustworthy brand. (4) INTERNALIZING A BROADER VISION: Words matter. Varun doesn’t like Acko being described with jargon as "full-stack" or "digital insurer". To himself and to his team, he has insisted on a vision of “protection for the 200 million”. The knack of coopting people into your vision, and making it theirs, is a real superpower he has.

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The New Age vs The Incumbents. D2C startups vs Behemoths. Ever since I've moved back to India, I have consciously picked new age brands across the board, to get a better sense of the D2C ecosystem across the country. Today, I made my first switch back to an incumbent. Details follow: Experiment I - Bombay Shaving Company vs Gillette , Let the Battle Begin! Bombay Shaving Company is fairly well known, through the visible personality of it's founder, Shantanu Deshpande. They began as a highly premium offering, with a Japanese engineered blade, selling a six-part combo pack priced at ₹3,500. Over time, they shifted towards more traditional razor offerings to cater to the broader market. I bought the Sensi Smart3 + Charcoal Shaving foam combo on Blinkit for ~₹320 Used it for my weekly shaves (~once every 4-5 days). The foam was great, I may continue with it. The razor and blades, not so much. The razor itself has a much lighter, lower quality feel and finish as compared to a Gillette Mach 3 (weapon of choice). The shave quality and ease of rinsing were both lower than Gillette as well. Picked up the Gillette + foam for ₹199 on Blinkit (big discount, MRP ₹289). BSC has slightly better packaging, Gillette wins in the razor feel, ease of connecting to blade and actual shave experience. Experiment II - Bare Anatomy vs L'Oréal, 3,2,1 MORTAL KOMBAT!! Bare Anatomy is a brand by Innovist, is built by Rohit Chawla (founder, The Man Company), Sifat Khurana and Vimal Bhola, which looks to be building a collection of brands similar to Supernova. I ordered the Bare Anatomy Anti-Hairfall Shampoo for ₹415 (once again through Blinkit). Premium feel, great packaging, love the scent and the amount of information provided gives me the feel (since I'm not a scientist) that this product has gone through a lot of R&D, and feels safe. Bare Anatomy wins here, just reordered it to use again. I'll keep posting my experiences with various new age brands, the one thing that's clear to me is that I was wrong about a big thing. I used to be extremely dismissive of quick commerce, laughing at the concept and expecting it to die out. I was absolutely and completely wrong. Quick commerce is here to stay, it's a new age form of retail quickly becoming my go-to for most of my purchases (ice, fruits, snacks, personal care, etc). #d2c #startups

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NEW: Clear aka Cleartax perating scale grew by 93% year-on-year in FY24, while it reduced its losses by 59%, bringing them below Rs 100 crore in FY24. Its EBITDA margin improved significantly but remained negative at -40.26% due to high operational costs. Story by Md Salman Ashrafi

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Raised $26,000,000 with just an idea Lyskraft India Pvt Ltd - the latest kid in the block! So, Mukesh Bansal is back with another startup this time with Mohit Gupta, the former CEO of Zomato's food delivery arm. In July of last year, there were reports about Bansal and Gupta raising funds for a new venture. As per TechCrunch, both of them pitched a range of ideas to potential backers like a female-focused counterpart to Manyavar and "Infosys 2.0" a presumed upgrade to a multinational IT services and consulting firm. Now finally... The news is out and we know what they are building, Lyskraft: initially a women's only marketplace for premium brands mostly focusing on Gen-Z shoppers. Recently we have seen giant e-commerce platforms launching dedicated portals to attract GenZ shoppers, like SPOYL launched by Flipkart within its app, FWD by Myntra, also we are seeing the growth of new-age startups working in this space like Virgio(Mukesh Bansal is an investor in it), Newme(recently raised $4,500,000), Absolute Brands, Snitch, Styched and many more As per Inc42's Report, India's fashion and apparel sector is projected to reach a mouth-watering $112 Billion by 2030, which will be over a quarter of the country's $400 Billion e-commerce market!! Let's be honest, anyone will want a piece of this market. As we are already aware of how crowded this space is, let's see how Lyskraft differentiates itself from others. Mohit Gupts and Mukesh Bansal, in this crowded space building a community around your product, building digital IPs, and creating experiences through videos are the ways to elevate your brand to the next level. I the founder of Elevate would love to connect and assist Lyskraft in building a community, digital IPs and help create experiences through videos, if that sounds like something that interests you would love to connect and discuss!! sources of information : TechCrunch article 2021 - https://bit.ly/49UwkLI Inc42 article - https://bit.ly/3w0SDlb #mukeshbansal #myntra #fashion #startups #venturecapital #fundingwinter #norevenue #cultfit #community #communitymarketing #socialmediamarketing #india

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Hey Everyone! We are creating a resource specifically designed to help founders in India navigate the tricky waters of pre-seed funding. And, we need your insights to make it happen! We've put together a quick survey (should take about 10-15 minutes) to gather insights about pre-seed funding experiences. Your responses will directly shape the content of this playbook, making it a super valuable resource for the Indian startup community. https://lnkd.in/g_JDNNUF Requesting everyone to submit the form as soon as possible! Your insights are crucial in helping us create a guide that will benefit the entire startup ecosystem in India and re-define the experience of raising the first check. Thanks for your time, and let's make this playbook awesome! 🚀 Pankhudi Kedia Arvind Radhakrishnan, CFA Aniket Jagtap Shenjit Basu Mohini Kumar

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Buying gold / silver coins on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Trithiya come under low frequency - low complexity purchase category. It is a seasonal product bought generally during specific occasions. Zepto Blinkit Swiggy lapped up this opportunity and started selling this with the benefit of quick delivery. No wonder the sales picked up quite well. I wonder how much would it have impacted the sales of larger eComm players. Sales trends from swiggy is already out. I am sure the trend will be similar for Zepto - Aadit Palicha and Blinkit - Albinder Dhindsa I detailed out this approach and more in my notes - https://lnkd.in/gBmvVKy2

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I have seen this company go from midstage to IPO! During my previous role with a venture fund, I had the opportunity to manage BlackBuck (Zinka Logistics Solutions Ltd) as part of my portfolio.  BlackBuck, India’s largest trucking network platform, had its share of ups and downs and I was a part of it all. One of the most critical periods was during COVID-19 when their business came to a standstill. The transportation sector was among the hardest hit and many other startups in the space folded and gave up during that time. However, the team at Blackbuck didn’t give up. The team rebuilt the company, streamlining operations and choosing tech-driven solutions. Their resilience during those tough times is nothing short of inspirational. During the entire phase, I had the chance to collaborate closely with BlackBuck's core team, having a ring side view as well as support them with some critical financial aspects like working capital optimisation and more.  I learned a lot about scaling a business in an unorganised, competitive and operationally intensive industry. And honestly, this IPO feels personal, not just as an investor but as someone who has seen their grit and adaptability. Their story shows why I’m passionate about partnering with founders who dare to solve real-world problems at scale. Congratulations to Rajesh Yabaji, Ramasubramian B, Chanakya Hridaya, Supil Chachan and the entire team of BlackBuck on this achievement. I am glad that I got the chance to experience what this journey looks like. And this happened to be the 2nd company I managed previously to go IPO this year (first being Swiggy!). So grateful to have been a tiny part of both these cos and learning tremendously how to scale startups from 10 to 1000 and go to IPO. So what do you think are the traits that make a company IPO-ready? P.S. - Fun Fact - Anand Daniel from Accel was a common early stage investor in both these companies which went IPO last month!

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It is fabulous to see the growing interest in Angel Investments in Startups.. The news of Mamaearth stocks and also those of Zomato, Policy Bazar etc doing so well and making many new millionaires is definitely helping the cause. Some of these angel investors are beneficiaries of exits and esops and hence believe in this asset class, while others are looking to build such breakout events in their lives. Yet there are others who thrive in the ecosystem and enjoy riding the wave while making profits or losses from it. Whatever is the motivation, this space needs to be tread with caution. As a lead investor of our syndicate VG Angels at VentureGarage and having over a decade of experience in this space, I often advice my fellow angel investors the following: 1. Angel Investment is probably the riskiest asset class and requires patience. If you want to be one, then invest in 7-8 cos in 3 years or so and then expect a breakout in the 4th year from one of them. 2. There are over 20000 startups registering in the country every year, it is almost impossible for you to source and then invest in one of the top 20 of those. Follow a syndicate lead investor or a curated angel network for the deal flow and evaluation. 3. Founders are not looking for your mentorship. Invest in them first and then maybe you can mentor them. Definitely do not invest in founders who need your active guidance. 4. Learn about the future opportunities and build your thesis around some sectors. Learning new stuff is one of the big requirements and motivators of angel investments after all. Invest in those sectors which you are bullish about. Happy investing! https://lnkd.in/g2xx3zBX

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Key takeaways for startup ecosystem from Budget: - LTCG tax for unlisted investments has been reduced to 12.5% (without indexation) from 20% (with indexation) - At par with listed - Abolishment of Angel Tax - INR 1000 cr VC fund for space technology - Custom duty cuts will further enhance EV adoption Big boost to startup ecosystem, we will see more startups registering in India and more domestic capital participation in Private Markets🚀 #Budget #PrivateMarkets #India #Startup

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