Vinayak Aggarwal

The Rise of India’s SaaS Market: A $70 Billion Opportunity by 2030 India’s SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) market is on a growth trajectory like never before, poised to become a $70 billion industry by 2030. 🚀 Let’s unpack what’s fueling this incredible expansion: 1️⃣ Global Leadership: India is home to over 1,600 SaaS companies, including 18 unicorns as of 2024, contributing significantly to the global SaaS ecosystem. 2️⃣ Exports Powering Growth: A whopping 75% of India’s SaaS revenue comes from international markets, making India a global SaaS powerhouse. 3️⃣ Funding Boom: Indian SaaS startups have raised $6 billion+ in funding since 2020, demonstrating strong investor confidence. 4️⃣ SMEs and Startups Driving Demand: With over 60 million MSMEs in India digitizing rapidly, the demand for affordable, scalable SaaS solutions is skyrocketing. 5️⃣ Employment Opportunities: By 2030, the SaaS sector is expected to generate over 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs, boosting India's economy and talent pool. 6️⃣ AI and Cloud Adoption: AI-driven SaaS products and cloud computing are transforming industries, with Indian companies leading innovations in vertical SaaS solutions for healthcare, finance, and education. India’s SaaS journey is not just a growth story; it’s a transformation story—reshaping how businesses operate globally. 🌍 As we look to 2030, it’s clear that Indian SaaS is not just solving problems; it’s setting benchmarks. 💡 Let’s hear from you: How do you see Indian SaaS evolving in the next few years? Share your insights below! #SaaS #IndianTech #StartupIndia #Innovation #DigitalTransformation

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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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What if you invested in Swiggy's first funding round? Back in February 2015, Swiggy raised $2 million in its Series A funding round by Accel & Elevation Capital (Formerly SAIF partners) with a post-money valuation of just $4.87 million. Fast forward to today, and Swiggy’s IPO is targeting a valuation of around $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion​. Here’s the math: - Investment in Series A (2015): ₹10 Lakh - Post-money valuation then: $4.87 million - Current valuation: $13.5 billion That ₹10 lakh investment from 2015 would now be worth roughly ₹36.5 Crore!

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Announcing: Antler Fastrack to Residency - MUMBAI Edition (for founders in Mumbai / Pune / Ahmedabad / Surat) 2 weeks back we announced the first version of Fastrack to Residency through a warm intro to stay true to our promise on delivering faster to the most exceptional founders in Bangalore! We had an overwhelming response of 250+ warm referrals from other VCs, operators, serial founders and were introduced to a vibrant bunch of founders building across bath fittings, offline senior care clubs to CBDCs powered international payments. Of this, we met with 22 founders (and have 30+ we are speaking to virtually given limitation of slots) and offered the residency to 5 teams and individuals within 48 hours! Seeing such a promising response from the ecosystem, we are now coming to Mumbai and hope to see an even bigger outcome! If you are an exceptional founder (individual or team) that’s just starting up, Nitin Sharma & I will spend a full day in Bombay on the 27th of August to talk to you! The only twist - you need to reach us through someone who knows you - and knows us too! Why are we doing this - we announced last month that we are investing $500k in 20 companies (amounting to $10Mn). This is our endeavor to deliver faster and bigger on this promise! What we promise - is a decision into the Residency within 24 hours of us meeting you. Here’s how it will work - (1) Find someone in our networks (cue: some of them would have shared this post on their LinkedIn / Twitter) or would have engaged with us in the past. (2) Show us you are super resourceful :) Ask them to email us / tweet to us / message us on LI / Whatsapp us - any of the Antler team members that they know (there’s 18 of us!) - to give a warm intro to you. Convince them to write a good line or two :)  (3) All shortlisted individuals and teams will get a direct slot with Antler India on Aug 27th meet us IRL in Mumbai. (If you are not shortlisted post the above process, you will hear from us by Aug 24th) (4) You will get a decision to get into the Antler India Residency by Aug 28th Please note that the last date for being referred to this is 21st of August. Do refer great folks our way! Next on the list - NCR in September!

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Every founder journey is different. You’ve to find yours. Foxtale, a D2C skin care startup, raised its $15M series B round within 3 years of starting out. Their FY24 revenue was ₹172 Cr. The Pant Project, a D2C fashion startup, raised its first round of $4.2M after 4 years of starting out. Their FY24 revenue was ₹31 Cr. Two smart #founders operating in crowded categories with vastly different approaches. One is chasing quick growth, other early profitability. There is no one right way to do business. You must have fun and continue doing what you enjoy. #startups #India

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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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Frugality & Startups. Is being frugal an important part of an organization at the early stage? That's what we believed when we started, because we knew that resources were limited and we needed to prolong our runway. Subsequently, after a few years, we also learned there will be too many mistakes on the way and the only way to survive is that mistakes can't be costly. My growing up helped a lot in making this change, during graduation my nickname was “Pishukkan pattar”( miser Brahmin in Malayalam, for context I am not a Brahmin). Though that wasn't a nice name then, after starting up I have worn that as a badge of honor and lived every day. We came from a corporate life of flying whenever required and designated car for 7 plus years. Still, when we started up, Puru and I have always taken the train between Mumbai - and Delhi for the initial 4 years and to date only take a cab in between Pune - Mumbai when more than one person is traveling. Bla bla is my default mode of travel and I use those trips to convert co-passengers as True Elements consumers.  Coming from a middle-class household, the biggest benefit one has is we aren't scared about ZERO. We started there and if need be going back there won't be an issue. This doesn't mean failures don't scare us it does but still we are ready to take risks. When the hunger to excel and resilience is coupled with being frugal, then nothing will knock you down. You will have bruises and stitches but you won't be out of the game. Frugal is a subjective word, even Ambanis find this word relevant. The only difference between a commoner and them would be the number of zeros they are comfortable putting on the desk. So don't judge yourself with my frugality and it has to be defined by you and you only. Earlier i used to judge a fresher buying an iphone 15, though i still pass a comment but i dont judge :). In a startup biggest cause of conflict between old-timers and new members is this, who is more frugal? When frugality becomes a culture and every new member is judged on that, it becomes difficult for people joining from big corporations. But freedom for these new members is pivotal so as to check the tensile strength of frugality.  All organization needs to be frugal throughout their journey. The degree of frugality varies depending on their stage and that needs to be challenged and calibrated now and then. Ps: When we raised our first angel, we bought Google Chromebooks because that doesn't need a MS OS & Office and used to come at 17K. The image here is of my desk with my refurbished HP 14-inch with i5 and OS bought for 19k. Yes we are still frugal :)

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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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Sow Seeds of Financial Abundance At ODIGITAL Startup Drivers, we know that investing in early-stage, high-growth, technology-driven startups is a proven way of sowing seeds of future financial abundance and wealth. This is an asset class that delivers great returns on investment (ROI) for stakeholders and has consistently outperformed hyperinflation and local currency weaknesses in global markets. We have partnered with Tekedia Capital to give you the opportunity to co-invest a minimum of $250 in their early-stage, technology startup investment deals. We have an ongoing investment round that will close on November 10, with a rigorously selected group of 15 of the world's best investment deals. And you have the opportunity to get your equity in any of these ventures and position yourself for future profitable exits. These ventures operate in varied sectors and markets such as B2B Commerce for African fashion, B2B Export for Africa, AI operating systems for chemical manufacturing, construction, property management, hardware design, insurance infrastructure with carriers license, supply chain management, medical billing as well as AI Infrastructure for non Nvidia Chips and Quantum Chip design, Diversified global investing for Indians, global payments for travellers in China and South East Asia and Stablecoin based remittance. If you want to join us to sow seeds that will deliver a future of financial abundance and wealth for you and your generations, then hurry and connect with us via any of the options below to get started. * Send me a direct message * Email - [email protected] * Click - https://lnkd.in/dHd8K9ZN - to join our WhatsApp group. Share and repost for the benefit of your network. And follow me for more posts like this.

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The Best Entrepreneurship Lesson You'll Receive Today. (from someone who’s build him’s from scratch ) Foster a giving mindset in your venture. ↳ Focus on customer need’s ; profits will come. ↳ Business is Team Game not solo . ↳ Hire the people smarter than you ↳ Keep learning, keep growing don't stop it ↳ Treat your customers, team members, and investors well. ↳ Create a sense of community, not just a customer base. In a world where everyone is chasing profits, be the one who provides value. Become an alchemist of your business: → See potential where others see risk. → See collaboration where others see competition. → See a mission where others see just a business plan. Entrepreneurship goes beyond simple exchanges. It’s about the vision you have, the culture you nurture, and the legacy you build. PS: What value are you creating today? How? For whom? :) #sudiptamondal #Entrepreneurship

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5+ Cr in investment. Team in 3 countries. 18 months in the making - Layers is going bigger in August 2024. It all started when we first launched Layers in 2022, we had 0 experience of - D2C, Branding, SKUS and everything in between. We hustled, failed, but ultimately figured things out building India’s largest skins brand—100% bootstrapped, selling over 2.5 lakh skins. (The Neel who scored -2 Marks in JEE would have never imagined this.) But, the entire experience taught us 3 core things: > The confidence to succeed in markets that never existed > The freedom to think long-term and take bets in short term > The understanding of a creator-led D2C brand’s potential It wasn’t easy, but that’s the fun part. And now, we’re taking on the next big challenge. LAYERS IS LAUNCHING ITS FIRST TECH PRODUCT! In all honesty, building a tech product is ten times tougher than building the skins business. We had to revisit our entire strategy—pricing, distribution, customer service— and most importantly, the right innovation to stand out in the market. In the skins market, we had little competition. But here, we face giants with 1000X resources and decades of experience. Competing with them and building a superior tech product - bootstrapped with a lean team, is a huge challenge. I am quite nervous and afraid. Don’t know what’s gonna happen.. Until then, feel free to guess what the product is! :)

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Naarica has been smashing it 💯 So proud of how far Shruti Chand has come. When we first met, she didn’t even have a website, just some traction from some offline events. And now, she’s doing Rs. 10L+ MRR with a double digit EBITDA margin. And she’s just touched the surface - the real mission is 1000x larger than this. In India 🇮🇳, there are still 12-15 crore women who use sub-par products (or none at all) during periods. Making women feel more confident, lesser anxious - I feel that’s Naarica’s true mission. A truly women centric brand. I hope there are more and more folks like Shruti who take up such bold challenges. I hope more and more folks get inspired by her and choose entrepreneurship. And truly solve India-specific problems 🙌🏽

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A founder gave 50% equity upfront to onboard a CTO and now the CTO is asking for... 🙈 I recently met a founder who has a good idea but he's not able to build it as he's not a tech guy himself he also didn’t have money to pay someone to build so after looking for many months, he found a guy who met his requirements but asked for 50% equity to become the CTO out of desperation, the founder agreed and he gave him 50% equity WITHOUT ANY VESTING 🤯 and now, the CTO is asking for an intern before he can start building the founder doesn't have money to hire an intern so even after giving away 50% of his company, he's stuck where he was I feel bad for him but he made some really wrong decisions: 1. giving equity upfront without any vesting 2. not checking the execution capability of the cofounder before getting them onboard no matter how disheartened you feel in your search for cofounders/employees, don't give away any equity without a vesting schedule and be clear on their motivation and demands Founders, please don’t make such mistakes 🙏🏽

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🚀 Is your startup losing time and money due to operational inefficiencies? I recently worked with an Indian footwear startup that’s creating eco-friendly, handmade shoes. What was their challenge? 👉 Production delays and missed deliveries caused by disorganized workflows. 💡 Solution: We identified inefficiencies in their process, aligned their team, and introduced simple tools to track progress and reduce errors. 🎯 Result: - Faster production timelines. - Improved customer satisfaction. - More bandwidth for the founders to focus on growth. The lesson? Efficient operations drive sustainable growth. —-------- Here are 3 frameworks to streamline operations in early-stage startups: 🔍 1. Analyze Your Workflows Start by understanding how each process works. Identify bottlenecks, repetitive tasks, and steps that add no value. Eliminate what isn’t essential. 💡 Tip: Create a visual map of your processes to clearly see where changes can have the most impact. —----------- 📋 2. Improve Team Communication Misalignment leads to delays. Regular updates, clear responsibilities, and open channels for feedback ensure everyone stays on the same page. 💡 Tip: A simple weekly check-in meeting can uncover issues before they snowball. —----------- 🤖 3. Leverage Technology to Save Time Use basic tools to handle inventory, track tasks, and manage deadlines. Automation reduces human error and frees up time for high-priority work. 💡 Tip: Start small with tools your team is comfortable with and expand as you grow. —----------- 💡 This is the 7th of 8 articles in my Startup Success series. Next, I'll be discussing "Building Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) from the Ground Up." ------------- Hi, I’m Abhimanyu Gargesh and I mentor start-up founders to help them build efficient, scalable systems that support their growth journeys. 🤔 What’s the biggest operational challenge holding your startup back? Share it in the comments—I’d love to brainstorm solutions! #StartupWhisperer #Startups #Mentor #Operations #ProcessImprovement #BusinessChallenges

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This person is sitting on 𝗥𝘀 𝟳𝟱𝟭𝟬 𝗖𝗿 ($𝟵𝟬𝟱𝗠) gain by investing in 3 startups which are going IPO this week. SoftBank Investment Advisers led by Masayoshi Son portfolio companies Ola Electric, FirstCry.com (BrainBees Solutions Ltd.) & Unicommerce are live with their IPOs right now. Ola Electric - invested Rs 4161 Cr($500M) -> value at IPO Rs 5974 Cr($720M) FirstCry       - invested Rs 2824 Cr($340M) -> value at IPO Rs 4863 Cr($586M) Unicommerce - invested Rs 100 Cr($12M) -> value at IPO Rs 174 Cr($21M) Total value of these 3 combined assuming upper price band of IPO - 𝗥𝘀 𝟭𝟭𝟬𝟭𝟭 𝗖𝗿 ($𝟭.𝟯𝟯𝗕) They are selling shares worth only 𝗥𝘀 𝟭𝟮𝟴𝟳 𝗖𝗿 ($𝟭𝟱𝟱𝗠) Previously they had booked profits of 𝗥𝘀 𝟮𝟮𝟵𝟳 𝗖𝗿 ($𝟮𝟳𝟳𝗠) in FirstCry. 𝗛𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝟭𝟬𝟲%, 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗥𝘀 𝟳𝟱𝟭𝟬 𝗖𝗿 𝗼𝗿 $𝟵𝟬𝟱𝗠! 𝗛𝘂𝗴𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘀. 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗱. The combined value of his ownership across these 3 companies itself is 𝗥𝘀 𝟭𝟰𝟱𝟵𝟱 𝗖𝗿 ($𝟭.𝟳𝟲𝗕) which is massive. Thats is not all. Other SoftBank Investment Advisers backed companies who IPOed in India already include Zomato , Policybazaar.com , Paytm & Delhivery Three more unicorns expected to go public are Swiggy , OfBusiness & OYO Out of the 20 unicorns which they have backed, 7 will be public by this month and 3 more hopefully in this financial year. While Softbank has already invested huge amount in India, the India portfolio worth is less than 10%. I am sure this will change in the coming years :) Credits - moneycontrol.com Which of the 3 IPOs do you plan to invest in? TDV Partners #softbank #olaelectric #firstcry #unicommerce #ipo

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Simple Takeaways from Meeting with VC Anup Jain At Startup Mahakumbh, recently talked with Anup Jain, a well-known VC. We discussed how VCs decide to invest, especially in places like Bihar VCs help startups grow by giving money and advice. In Bihar, they want to make a difference and help the economy grow. Looking for teams that can solve big problems and are excited about their work. VCs who understand Bihar are important for the state’s startup growth. Bihar is becoming a great place for startups, and at AbhiCares, I’m excited to be part of this change. #BiharStartup #StartupBihar #AbhiCares #StartupMahakumbh

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The worst thing a founder can do is build his entire revenue and business on big corporate customers from day 1. Acquiring corporate customers takes time, energy, building relationship and could take up to 12 months. Instead, founders should think about step-process for their GTM. Start with SMBs, who will be more flexible and willing to pay for your product and also provide valuable feedback as you build. At the same time, engage with corporations and push for written pilot or paid usage of your product. By then, you will already have active users that will help you perfect and adapt the product for the big guys, and you can charge them as well and not be in a situation where you are offered unpaid corporate pilots.

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Lets's understnad SaaS business module !! How to properly calculate Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for a SaaS company as well as all the key unit economics. 1.           CAC - Customer Acquisition Cost 2.           ARPA - Average Revenue Per Account (aka ACV) 3.           Account Churn - Percentage of accounts who cancel monthly 4.           Lifespan - Average months a client stays 5.           LTV - Estimated lifetime revenue from a client 6.           Payback Months - Number of months of revenue to recoup S&M spend 7.           LTV: CAC Ratio - The ratio of how much bigger your average customer value is compared to the cost to acquire a customer, target around 6:1 for most SaaS firms.

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