Vatsal Sanghvi

The Ecosystem Community is now 3500+ members strong and 1500+ folks are in premium curated groups PS: The only problem is no one can spam here, or join random groups (If anyone follows this they are a part of the community) #Community #Startups #Investors

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Zepto entering BNPL. I generally hate how startups see lending as a go-to strategy for growth - whether it is B2B marketplaces / manufacturing aggregators to Quick commerce (especially given the organic growth happening). I often wonder if it really enables true demand or ends up unduly inflating it only to bring it all down during downturns. But, in this case, I slightly differ. Consumers have historically enjoyed extended monthly settlements from their local grocers - remember, hisaab me likh lena! BNPL for Zepto eliminates another friction for customers in buying grocery online.

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Startup founders in India, I need your input. We're facing significant hurdles with the Google Play Store review process for our app, Queo Health. Current situation: App stuck in review for almost a month Zero feedback from Google Multiple unanswered support tickets 3-month delay in our app launch This lack of communication is severely impacting our business timeline and plans. Despite Google's promise of 48-72 hour response times, we've been waiting for weeks. Questions for the community: Has anyone else experienced such lengthy review times recently? What strategies have you used to get a response from Google Play support? How are you managing the uncertainty in your release schedules? Let's share experiences and solutions. Perhaps together I can find a way to navigate these challenges. #GooglePlayStore #AppReview #StartupChallenges #TechSupport #MobileDevelopment

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Zepto raises $665M @ $3.6B valuation** 🤑 signifying venture capital investors belief that q-commerce 📦 will keep on growing and replace traditional kiranas (which modern retail 🛒 could never do). But why would they want to invest in Zepto Cafes??? ☕ It only partially competes with Zomato and Swiggy because it delivers only snacks and beverages 🍵🥤 but why do I feel it's a waste of money? Zepto Cafes are housed within the dark stores but it requires a different level of operational planning and expertise. 🔥 Competition is heating up in q-commerce with Flipkart entering ... Zepto is the only one with no access to a listed or rich parent's money 🏦. They are best served to stick to their core expertise 🛠️ and trying to survive. In my mind, they will be the most vulnerable eventually 🧨. #venturecapital #zepto #q-commerce

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Overall Funding Landscape: Total Raised: $5.3B, a slight 1.8% dip from H1 2023, but deal volume is up by 7%. Median Ticket Size: Down 8% YoY to $2.8M but a significant 87% increase from H2 2023. Indian Startup: The Shift in Funding Trends! The first half of 2024 has been quite a ride for Indian startups! I was reading this article early morning, and wanted to share this latest funding report. Debt Funding Surges: Debt investments have skyrocketed to $576M, more than double the $285M from H1 2023. Notable deals include GPS Renewables’ $50M, Bira 91’s $25M from Kirin Holdings, and Ola Electric’s $50M from Alteria Capital. Equity Investments Dip: On the flip side, equity funding took an 8% hit, dropping to $4.7B from $5.1B in the same period last year. and why this trend? Startups are increasingly turning to debt to fuel growth without diluting ownership—a smart move, especially for those gearing up for IPOs like Ola Electric and Mobikwik. The Bright Side: The future is promising for our startup ecosystem with a 15% sequential increase in deal volume and rising investor activity, particularly from venture debt firms like Stride Ventures, InnoVen Capital, and Trifecta Capital. My 2 cents: While these trends signal growth, we must remain vigilant about potential bubbles. Increased debt can be a double-edged sword—fueling expansion but also increasing financial risk. #Startups #Funding #DebtFunding #EquityInvestments #VentureCapital #Growth #Sustainability #IndianStartups #H12024

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Never work in Stealth Mode for a Startup Idea. Very risky. This is the time that the idea needs a lot of Validation, Understanding Use Cases, Market Insights, Understanding Competition, Adoption challenges, Market Sizing. More prospects/customers in this phase needs to be met. Asking all the right & tough questions. The Foundations of Problem Validation & Value Proposition needs to be clear here. Working in Stealth Mode cuts you off from these inputs. We have worked with 100+ MedTech/Healthcare startups over the last 3 years. Impact : ✅ Some startups pivoted after they worked with us in GTM Readiness. ✅ Few founders even went back to their Corporate jobs realising the problem they were solving was wrong & didn't see a path to PMF. ✅ Few changed their Pricing and Business Model and entered the Market. Explore GTM Readiness Services. Enter the form in the comments section for a discussion.

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There are 247 startups in the YC S24 batch. You’re probably not going to meet them all. So how can you find the best ones? I look at every single startup, meet around 10-20% of them, and invest in perhaps one. Here’s how I do it… YC produces a wonderful tool: the YC Startup Directory. It contains details on every single YC company, from Airbnb to the latest batch. Here’s how I use it to find great new startups: 1. Choose the current batch (S24 is the current one) 2. Sort by “Launch Date” instead of “Default.” Then, I can see each new startup as its product launches.  3. Look at each page, see what looks interesting. What’s novel? What’s new? 4. Contact the founders. Their LinkedIn is on the right hand side of the page. 5. Set up meetings. The directory page is a great way to prep for these meetings. It’s almost like a mini-deal memo. Investors love to complain about YC. “Wahhh, the valuations are too high, I want my mommy!” Boo hoo. They sorted through thousands of companies and picked the best ones. Then they funded them and gave them the best coaching on the planet. The deal is friggin’ gift wrapped for you. And you want that at a $8M post? What do you think of YC? More below, including how to tell which YC companies are the strongest in the batch... #startups #venturecapital https://lnkd.in/dQkFxs37

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🚀 🚀 🚀 Zepto Bags $665 Million in Funding, Doubling Valuation to $3.6 Billion: Quick Commerce Battle Intensifies 🚀 🚀 🚀 Zepto has recently secured a whopping $665 million in a new funding round, more than doubling its valuation to $3.6 billion post-money. This significant influx of capital sets the stage for an intensifying battle in the quick commerce sector, with Zepto poised to go head-to-head with formidable rivals such as Zomato -owned Blinkit , the public-markets-bound Swiggy Instamart, and Tata Digital – owned bigbasket.com , all of which are aggressively scaling their operations. In a recent CNBC-TV18 Interview Aadit Palicha, Co-Founder & CEO of Zepto, delved into their growth blueprint and future plans. ✒️ Key Takeaways from the interview: 1️⃣ Strategic Investments: The new funding will be strategically deployed to enhance Zepto’s technological capabilities, expand its geographic footprint, and streamline its delivery infrastructure to offer even faster and more reliable services to customers. 2️⃣ Competitive Edge: Palicha emphasized Zepto’s focus on innovation and customer satisfaction as the core pillars driving their rapid growth. By leveraging advanced analytics and a robust supply chain network, Zepto aims to stay ahead of the competition in the highly competitive quick commerce market. 3️⃣ Future Outlook: Looking ahead, Zepto is committed to continually improving its service offerings, expanding into new markets, and maintaining its growth trajectory. The company’s strategic roadmap includes further investment in cutting-edge technology and partnerships to enhance operational efficiency and customer experience. #QuickCommerceWars #FundingFrenzy #BillionDollarValuation #BattleOfTheGiants #IntenseCompetition #ScalingUpFast #MarketDisruption #TechInvestments #EvolvingEcosystem

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Zomato's Q2 results are amazing! and one of the reason for that is it's strategic acquisition, here's what happening... After acquiring Blinkit, zomato acquired Paytm Insider But why is a food delivery company buying a ticketing platform? Zomato is exploring a new domain by acquiring PTM Insider, a leading ticketing platform for movies, concerts, and sports events, for a whopping ₹2,000 crore! Let’s break it down: 1. Zomato’s Vision Zomato aims to become a lifestyle brand and not just a food delivery platform! That's what their new launch 'district' is about. It's a app for everything outdoors Food, Movies, Concerts etc PTM Insider will still operate under PTM, till the next 12 months but then all ticketing services will migrate to District 2. But why did Paytm sell a profitable business? While Zomato is diversifying, Paytm is doubling down on its core business—finance. You might remember Paytm’s recent regulatory troubles, which led to the shutdown of Paytm Payments Bank. This might just be a smart move, allowing PTM to consolidate resources and fortify its position in the fintech space, especially after the recent regulatory hiccups. 3. Zomato’s Growth Strategy: The Bigger Picture Zomato’s Q2 report shows ~5X profits rise since last year But here’s the catch: while Zomato’s food delivery revenue grew by 10%, their acquisition Blinkit surged by a insane 222%! This tells us that Zomato is not just diversifying for the sake of it; they’re strategically positioning themselves in high-growth areas like quick commerce and now, ticketing. To kickstart this Zomato is organizing the “Feeding India Concert” in Mumbai on November 30! Zomato’s dream is ambitious: to become India’s ultimate lifestyle platform. It’s a bold vision that won’t be easy to realize, but if they pull it off, Zomato could redefine how we eat, play, and live. #zomato #acquisition

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Taking the HARD FACT path. MatchDay Health is undoubtedly taking Path #2 based on Sequoia Capital product market fit framework. The status quo around jobs has always been. Job board > apply to jobs >get interview > get offer > accept offer. We have been brainwashed to believe this is the path to landing a job. I have never personally landed a job this way. It work's, but it's not the ideal path. Also, who the heck said that this was the only way? Would you list your home on the market without an agent? Maybe. Would you get the best offer? Would you get the best buyer in the fastest amount of time? Probably not. The job market has been one sided for so long, without proper representation for job seekers. Taking the HARD FACT path means we are changing the status quo. Making professional EXPERT representation in the job market the new smart approach.

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Who would invest in founders who have wasted $50M? Koo, an Indian microblogging platform, recently shut shop after raising $50M in capital. Everyone has their views on why Koo failed. IMO, the biggest reason behind its failure was a lack of PMF (Product Market Fit). Koo spent much money on marketing and didn’t build a product people wanted. It kept harping on nationalism, a Twitter for Indians, made in #India. This approach failed. However, this doesn’t mean Koo’s founders aren’t smart or intelligent. I wrote in an earlier post that we shouldn’t be surprised if Koo’s founders raise fresh capital for a new startup. To many of us, this might seem grossly unfair. Millions of smart, hardworking founders are struggling to raise capital while investors are backing failed founders who have wasted millions of dollars. How is that fair? It confirms the widely held belief that the #venturecapital industry is broken and corrupt where a few people with the right connections get all the capital while others don’t see a dime. It shows that the VC industry is a closed group, a cabal where who you know matters more than anything. While these are just complaints, most people who criticise VCs don’t understand how startup investing works. VCs welcome failures. They embrace them because they know failures are inevitable. When VCs invest in 20 #startups, they know 15 will fail. The goal is to invest in startups that can give them a 100x return. Failures are part of the game. They are unavoidable. The aim is to back founders who can build such 100x return companies. Hence, failures are not looked down upon in the VC industry. It’s similar to the American culture where society appreciates the people who take risks, and it easily accepts personal bankruptcies that result from this risk-taking approach. There’s no taboo in failing in the USA and the VC industry. I’m sure Koo’s founders have learnt from their mistakes. It’s an expensive mistake and not everyone is so lucky to have this luxury to spend $50M on their education. ;) However, most VCs will back Koo’s #founders because these founders know how to raise capital and they know how to not build and scale tech companies. Their past failures have improved their chances of future success. In the VC industry, Failure is Good.

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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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There's a shift happening in the Indian startup ecosystem, and it's impacting late-stage funding. Here's a quick breakdown of the data points: - Late stage funding slump: Investments in Series C rounds and beyond dropped to their lowest level in seven years for the first half of 2024. Deal negotiations seem to be taking longer to close. - Shrinking deal sizes: The average amount invested in late-stage startups has dipped to $47 million so far this year, compared to over $57 million in the same period of 2023. - Focus on profitability: Investors are prioritizing metrics that demonstrate a clear path to profitability, like EBITDA multiples, over headline numbers like revenue or GMV. What does this mean? The easy money days might be over for late-stage startups in India. Investors are taking a more cautious approach, prioritizing companies with strong fundamentals and a clear path to profitability. #venturecapital #startups #funding #India

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Popular dating apps such as Bumble and Tinder spend an average of ₹150 to acquire one female user. At flutrr our CAC per active female user is just ₹13. How did we achieve this? We tapped into the latent demand in an underserved market — women from Tier 2 and 3 cities in India who are seeking a safe alternative to casual dating and arranged marriages. Our brand positioning focuses on enabling long-term, meaningful relationships, resonates deeply with this demographic and caters to this need. All our ad assets are in local languages and portray the happiness of being in a loving, stable relationship – tapping into the emotions and values that matter to this target market. Plus, having The Times Of India as an investor has also amplified our credibility. The formula for a successful dating app is simple: when the number of female users grows, matches increase, male users engage more, and thus, the revenue climbs. Everything moves north. #customeracquisition #datingapp #startup #branding

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🚨 US-based WeWork Inc is selling its 27% stake in its India joint venture after filing for bankruptcy WeWork India valuation - about $500 million 📈 WeWork US market cap - $6.4 million (post-bankruptcy filing) 📉 As The Arc first reported last year The latest deal is a win for all WeWork Global and Embassy Group will get some liquidity New investors - Enam family office, Caratlane's Mithun Sacheti & A91 Partners - are getting a good deal at attractive multiples because of the restructuring And what we need to watch out for is if Adam Neumann gets back control of WeWork Global. The last news was that he had bid $500 million for the company. https://lnkd.in/gGpaxdtD

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As a founder, when you transition from start up to scale up, a few things happen. 1. Become a thinker rather than an operator. 2. Develop less tolerance for mediocrity. 3. Focus on the machine, not just the pieces—your job is to make it run better. Definitions vary for startup vs scale-up but from a founder perspective, things change. #founder

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Do you know Groww, Razorpay, Meesho and Zepto are YC companies and right now they are killing in their markets. As Y Combinator announced their YC S24 batch and there are 100+ companies which gets selected, So firstly congratulations to all the S24 Y Combinator startups. Do you want me to do in-depth analysis of 82 YC S24 batch companies? Analysis would include startup selected in which industry, country wise, Indian YC S24 companies, their Indian existing competitors etc... So that you can get aware about industry trends and can also use their awesome products in your daily life. P.S. If I got 100 likes on this post, I will make a video on the same and post it here only. #yc #startup #funding #s24 #entrepreneurship #business #genai

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Bolt raised $1.4 Bn and Fast raised $120 Mn in 2021-22 5 companies in that year’s YC cohort were building Checkouts for LatAM, South East Asia, etc As we were still narrowing down on a problem, this was impossible to ignore. Having seen Flipkart build Amazon of India, Ola build Uber of India, it made sense that “someone will build Bolt/Fast of India” It became a good starting point For our VC experience, we also knew such pattern matching is useful in fundraising We launched the product and had some customers. That’s when stories of bolt and fast failing started to do the rounds on Twitter. There was a lot of drama. It was hard to look away. After some introspection on what this means for us, we realized that 1) Customers were excited about the problem and were willing to pay. To the extent, people were signing up for demos inbound via word of mouth 2) It was merely a starting point. As we started spending more time with customers, we started to see plethora of problems in “effectively engaging customers” they were facing 3) India (our first market) is uniquely different from US (their first market) : Phone number as an identifier, un-standard addresses, low trust, Cash on Delivery, So many more payment options 4) US had likes of PayPal, ApplePay and GooglePay solving this problem making the competitive landscape even more intense I personally think it is a great wedge into the market. It got us the customers who shared several insights turning the wedge into a product, which we hope to turn into a platform. It was also clear that everyone is writing their own story. Pattern matching only goes so far. Is there another company who you think has successfully executed the “X for Y” strategy like Flipkart and Ola? #floBTS This post is a part of our effort to share the behind the scenes of building our company. You can see the other posts by clicking on the hashtag or link in the comments.

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India’s Oyo, once valued at $10 billion, is finalizing new funding at a $2.5 billion valuation. This marks a steep decline from its $10 billion valuation in 2019. The startup, which has raised over $3 billion from backers like SoftBank, Peak XV Ventures, Lightspeed, Airbnb, and Microsoft, has struggled to attract institutional investors. In recent months, it has aggressively pitched to high-net-worth individuals after withdrawing its IPO application twice in the past four years. Once a red-hot Indian startup active in markets including the U.S. and Europe, Oyo has now scaled back its international presence. #venture #downround https://lnkd.in/gE2GjYnM

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