Varun Dua

Co-lead a workshop (with Sumathi my business partner and Komal lath of Tute Consult) on branding and communication and why/how its' strategic & important for the portfolio companies of an early stage growth focused PE fund in Mumbai this noon. very interactive session. lots of takeaways. one of the biggest benefits of doing such workshops with founders and CXOs of growth companies is that you get to first hand understand their pain points and priorities. which makes you realize there is a long road ahead laden with great opportunity for those in PR & comms if we take off our hats and look at it from their perspective.

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Celebrating One Year at Elev8 Venture Partners! What started as humble beginnings at co-working spaces like Axilor and WeWork, has finally culminated into our second home at Elev8 VP. Exactly one year ago, we inaugurated our new office on 12th Main in Indiranagar, marking a significant milestone in our journey. Initially, I was hesitant about large offices or high rentals, especially on the high street. However, thanks to Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Anuj Golecha, and Gaurav Jain, Anil G Jain, we took the plunge. We secured an office space that was more than I initially thought we could afford. Today, I can confidently say it was one of the best decisions for Elev8 Venture Partners. In the world of venture capital, office location and décor surprisingly play a crucial role, especially for a first-time fund. It's not about extravagance or lavish spending but about creating a welcoming, professional environment. Our beautifully done office, complete with lush plants, has greatly contributed to building a positive external perception. This perception & vibe, is our reality. Home is not built by bricks but by memories. Over the past year, we've made incredible strides. Our investments in IDfy and Astrotalk have been pivotal, marking the beginning of our journey to support high-quality tech companies at the growth stage. This journey wouldn’t have been possible without my incredible team, whose dedication and hard work have turned our office into a second home. Here’s to many more years of growth, innovation, and impactful investments. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey with Elev8 Venture Partners. #Elev8VP #Anniversary #VentureCapital #Investment #TechStartups #GrowthStage #Teamwork #Innovation #Success Divy Chopda, Ashwini Khemka, Aman Ahmed, Abhisekh Shah, Parth Doshi, Mayank Jajoo, Komal Vichoor, Zaveria Mohammad, Mitali Rai, Eric (Jung Ho) Yoo, Donghyun Kim

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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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Today, we are excited to share our biggest investment as Antler, in India so far. At Antler, incl. our Elevate continuty fund (Fady Abdel-Nour, CFA), we're thrilled to co-lead a $11M pre Ser A in Namma Yatri, alongside Blume Ventures Karthik B. Reddy and Google In this business, a few times in your career, you come across a truly disruptive business model that challenges the way things have been done, and extremely obsessed founders creating a culture that is so unique, you have never seen it before. When that happens, despite all the things not clear, it’s a joy to jump on board that potential rocketship. That’s what we have seen in the way Namma Yatri is being built by Magizhan Selvan and Shan M S with (a) a disruptive business model in urban mobility, rethinking how to make the life of a driver better and (b) Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) at its heart. 46 million trips have already been completed, with >7 million registered users. For us, this is also a continuation of our commitment to investing in a future on DPI / Beckn / ONDC, started in 2022. h/t Susmit Patodia. Rajiv Srivatsa Magnus Grimeland Martell Hardenberg Teddy Himler Keerat Singh Sethi Vimal Kumar Sheetal Lalwani T Koshy sujith nair Pramod Varma

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The One That We Had To Back. It is rare in venture to find a team so complete. As the former leadership team of NDTV, an iconic Indian media powerhouse - Suparna Singh Arijit Chatterjee and Kawaljit Singh Bedi have been battle-tested in ways that most of us can't even imagine. With over 3 decades of experience in digital media, broadcasting and media tech - the team has seeded ventures, scaled them, and navigated a publicly listed company from turnaround to profitability (stock price went up 27x and was voted Asia's Best Media Company under Suparna's leadership). Miraculously, they have the hunger and drive to do it all over again. As a VC, it is rare to come across complete teams at the seed stage with the perfect blend of business acumen, domain expertise and technical prowess.Those tend to get built over time. Compounded by unanimous positive feedback on leadership ability + startup drive and hustle - that's the rarest of the rare. We simply had to back them. Frammer AI is building on a thesis that we have long harboured. The world of media is changing so fast, eyeballs are moving digital and most importantly to social media. Formats are becoming shorter but yet brands, publishers, enterprises were using the same ol' means of content creation and targeting. Manual, tedious and imprecise. Frammer AI makes the entire process of short form video creation faster, cheaper and most importantly monetisable. And unlike other prosumer solutions - Frammer's AI is trained on some of the smartest and premium data sets available in the world - news content which is complex, dense, multi-faceted as opposed to low quality Youtube shorts. In a span of 8 months since launch, they are already integrated with several large global clients from the US, Europe, and MENA with leading domestic clients like India Today, ZEE, Acko and several others. Big Tech is already talking to them to collaborate on enterprise projects. Given the demand for the round globally, it's a privilege to be part of their journey. Lumikai Fund We can't wait for what lies ahead. Onwards and upwards! 🚀 🚀 🚀

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Next steps in India Mobility are continuing to show progress - one of the top investments that continues to show IndiaFirst #ProudInvestor #ProudVC #IndiaFirst #BestLPs

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As an investor its fascinating to watch founders tackle a complex market, nail a sticky value proposition and figure out global GTM. When we met Shashank Bijapur Madhav Bhagat and Rohith Salim a couple of years back it was still early. In a short while Spotdraft has changed the way mid-market businesses leverage AI to make contract management more efficient and intelligent. The company has seen strong market pull by scaling to 400+ customers, 120% NRR, 85%+ gross margin while doubling revenue in each of the past three years. Here is their journey straight from the founders. SpotDraft Arkam Ventures

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Excited to see Jio launching Jio Brain - the AI includes setting up data centers in Jamnagar, Gujarat, powered entirely by green energy. Encouraged to see Jio's dedication to achieving the world's most cost-effective AI inferencing, aiming to make AI applications more accessible and affordable than ever. This effort is more than just technological progress; it's a vital move towards sustainable development aligning well with RIL's (Reliance Industries Limited) focus on green fuels and AI solutions. At SenseAI Ventures, we view the continuous development and focus on enhancing India's AI infrastructure as mission critical to drive AI growth and initiatives like these are essential for nurturing a dynamic AI startup ecosystem in India. Read more about this transformative project here at The Times Of India: https://lnkd.in/gG2xiU-w #AIPlatfrom #AIInitiative #JioBrain #RelianceIndustries #Jio #GreenEnergy #AIStartups #SenseAIVentures #AI #TheTimesOfIndia #TOI

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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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🚀 Big News from OYO! 🚀 Exciting developments from OYO as the Ritesh Agarwal-led traveltech giant is reportedly in the advanced stages of raising approximately Rs 1,000 crore (around $120 million) in funding. This significant investment comes from the family offices of prominent Indian corporate executives and stock market experts, including: Anand Jain: Corporate strategy advisor and former senior executive at Reliance Industries Ramesh and Rajeev Juneja: Promoters of Mankind Pharma Utpal Sheth: Close associate of the late market expert Rakesh Jhunjhunwala 🔍 Valuation Insights: The funding round will value OYO at about $2.5 billion. This is a notable decrease from its peak valuation of $9 billion in 2021, marking a 72% drop. 📅 Upcoming EGM: OYO will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Tuesday to approve the fundraise, following an increase in its authorized share capital. 💼 Negotiations with Khazanah Nasional: In addition to this, OYO is in the final stages of talks with Khazanah Nasional, the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. The discussions are focused on securing certain rights before finalizing the deal, with an expected raise of Rs 250-300 crore from Khazanah, supplemented by domestic investors. 📈 Profit Milestone: In a recent announcement, Ritesh Agarwal revealed that OYO has achieved its first full-year net profit in its 12-year history, recording a profit after tax of nearly Rs 100 crore in FY 2023-24. This is a remarkable turnaround from the Rs 1,286.5 crore loss in the previous fiscal year. 📊 Growth Projections: Gross Booking Value: Projected at $1.8 billion for FY25, up from $1.2 billion in FY24 Revenue Forecast: $957 million for FY25, compared to $657 million in FY24 🌍 Strategic Focus: OYO continues to focus on key markets including India, Europe, Malaysia, and Indonesia, with 95% of its storefronts in these growth regions. The company is also expanding in the Nordics, Southeast Asia, the US, and the UK, adding around 5,000 hotels and 6,000 homes globally in FY24. 📅 Emerging Travel Trends: OYO is poised to capitalize on emerging travel trends such as premiumization, spiritual travel, business travel, conferences, and destination weddings to drive further growth. Kudos to the OYO team for these impressive strides and looking forward to seeing their continued success! 🎉🌟 #OYO #FundingNews #TravelTech #BusinessGrowth #Profitability #Expansion

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"India has among the highest out-of-pocket expenditures in healthcare in Asia, with 48.2% of healthcare expenditure being incurred by patients. 1 High out-of-pocket expenditures have increased poverty, pushing 55 million people below the poverty line every year. 2 While the government continues to take significant steps to bridge the healthcare financing gap, the role of the integrated healthcare financing ecosystem continues to gain significant importance in the country. This prominence of healthcare financing has brought about certain crucial trends to the fore." Pleased to share that my thoughts on the integrated healthcare financing ecosystem have been published in India's leading financial media publication, The Economic Times BFSI. https://lnkd.in/dwdh8CiK

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The process of getting deeper into the Indian start-up ecosystem as an angel investor and limited partner (2 new hats of mine since 2023) is well on its way. Today spent the day attending Ivycap day 2024 as a special attendee. getting to understand the dynamics of investing, assessing business models and plans, valuation and most importantly founders. should have started a bit earlier but then no regrets. these new hats are part of a larger connecting the dots am attempting.

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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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India's $45 Billion Startup Implosion Puts Tech Future in Doubt Byju’s, Paytm falter in stark reminder of the unique risks and challenges facing the country’s tech economy. For a brief, shining moment, India looked like the next big market for technology startups. Now, the country’s leading startups are struggling to survive and funding for the next generation of founders is drying up. Potential profits have turned to dust. The online education pioneer Byju’s — once the country’s most valuable startup at $22 billion — has seen that figure drop more than 90% from its peak. The digital payments firm Paytm pulled off what was India’s largest-ever initial public offering in 2021 — only to have its stock collapse about 80%. Oyo Hotels, a celebrated lodging business, has watched its valuation sink roughly 75% amid accounting problems and partner clashes. Those three marquee names between them have shed more than $45 billion of market value from their peak. More than 35,000 startups wound down operations last year, according to one study. https://lnkd.in/dAKiFNtH By Sankalp Phartiyal Repost by : Salem Bagami Chief Executive Officer Digital Transformation Company & Managing Director 2080.Ventures Email: [email protected] Website: www.2080.ventures -

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🚀 Swiggy Set to Make Waves with ₹11,300 Crore IPO: Key Details and Market Implications 🌐 Swiggy, India's food delivery giant, is set to go public with an IPO launching on November 6, 2024, aiming to raise around ₹11,327 crore (~$1.35B). Shares will be priced at ₹371-₹390 each (around $4.64), with trading expected to start on November 13, 2024. IPO Highlights: Price Range: ₹371-₹390 per share Funds Allocation: Expanding logistics and quick commerce operations This IPO is launching amidst rising tech-driven competition in India’s market. By securing capital, Swiggy plans to advance its quick commerce capabilities, aiming to gain a strategic edge over competitors like Zomato. Market Impact: Swiggy’s IPO offers a unique investment opportunity with strong growth potential, balancing between established dominance in food delivery and quick commerce expansion. Investor Insight: With a grey market premium around ₹25, sentiment is optimistic. As Swiggy steps into the public sphere, it's poised to redefine India's fast-paced delivery ecosystem. #IPO #SwiggyIPO #Investment https://lnkd.in/eyHRRPXh

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Thanks Bismah and Inc42 Media for the insightful coverage and deep dive into the vital role of operator VCs! Bismah's thoughtful analysis underscores the growing need for operator VCs in today's startup landscape. As an operator VC , I've witnessed firsthand how founders increasingly value more than just capital. They seek partners who bring operational expertise, strategic guidance, and an extensive network to the table. These elements are crucial for driving sustainable growth and navigating the complexities of scaling a business. At GrowthCap Ventures , we understand the unique challenges faced by early-stage startups, which is why we prioritize offering not just funding, but also hands-on support and access to our extensive network. Together, we're empowering founders to realize their vision and build transformative businesses. #OperatorVC #StartupEcosystem #Gratitude

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Expecting many more $100M+ revenue brands to emerge out of India, owing to the rise in discretionary spends. Emergence of quick commerce has been a great enabler for small brands. Great panel with fellow investors from the community investing in consumer brands. #venturecapital #brands #consumer #d2c #RAI #investing

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Merak MeetStreet in Gurgaon was one for the books! 💯 Reflecting on our journey with MeetStreet, we've now hosted 5 events across 5 different cities, shortlisting 52 businesses from a large pool of registrations. Each edition has highlighted the innovative spirit of early-stage founders, yet some challenges resonate universally. A few key hurdles we've observed: ➡️ Hiring: The first few hires are crucial lifelines for any business. Founders often find this process daunting as these early team members can significantly influence the trajectory of the business. Are there any firms (or even better, early-stage businesses) that specialise in assisting with these critical early hires across multiple functions? ➡️ Working Capital & Supply Chain Financing: A perennial challenge for businesses (more so, B2B ones), which we have observed getting mitigated with time (and scale). Despite its importance, solutions remain limited for early-stage companies. Founders, how have you navigated this tightrope? ➡️ Tech Roadmap & Development: For non-tech founders, establishing a tech foundation can feel like navigating unchartered waters. Until you find a permanent tech co-founder, where do you start? Are there any consultants who specialise in guiding early-stage startups? ➡️ Fundraising: The classic conundrum! It's often why many founders attend MeetStreet, hoping to unlock funding opportunities. But let's face it, early-stage fundraising might be more of an art than a science. How are you creatively approaching fundraising beyond the traditional VC route? MeetStreet isn't only about funding; it's about building a community where founders can share insights & explore solutions together. The learnings from these sessions have been tremendous & there's so much more to uncover as we continue this journey with many more gatherings to come. ✨ Merak Ventures #VentureCapital #Business #Startups #India #EarlyStage #Founders #MerakMeetStreet #VC

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Absolutely Thrilled to announce a game-changing partnership between Statiq and Cube Stop, a pivotal division of Cube Highways , India’s largest institutional investor and operator of toll roads! 🚗 🛣 With this partnership, Statiq will set up multiple state-of-the-art fast charging stations for #electriccars, #ebusses & #etrucks across Cube stop locations that offers best-in-class F&B, Hygienic restrooms and Convenience Retail facilities. Our shared vision for transforming the travel landscape aligns perfectly with CubeStop’s commitment to delivering unparalleled convenience and comfort to highway travelers and transporters across India. At Statiq, we've always strived to redefine industry standards, and this collaboration marks a monumental step forward in achieving that goal. By joining forces with CubeStop, we're poised to revolutionize the travel experience, offering a comprehensive array of essential services seamlessly integrated into India’s vast network of highways and transportation routes. #StatiqxCubestop #ElectricVehicle #Sustainability #InfrastructureDevelopment #charginginfrastructure #reliablecharging #EV #NetZero #GreenEnergy #EVChargingStation #RenewableEnergy #Statiq #StayCharged Shell Y Combinator Akshit Bansal  https://lnkd.in/eVFWe-bm

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