"What are the best practices to arrive at a good valuation?" is a question that we hear a lot. In this article, Vani talks about how investors look at valuation at different stages and some best practices for startups to follow. Read More
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Neo-banking: Banking for millions of Indians
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With increasing demand for better banking products, and need for better financial access, neobanking is emerging as a global trend. In this piece, Chirag demystifies the landscape of Indian neobanks. Read More
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Kalaari Hackathon - 9 problem statements, 160+ participants
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Our hackathon saw 60 teams take a shot at solving problems related to mobility, security, content, fitness, and payments infrastructure. Our portfolio companies CureFit, ElasticRun, Vogo, Winzo, Mall91, and MoneyOnClick, provided 24-hour challenges. To know more about the innovative solutions, read along.
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Mall91 is a vernacular social commerce platform that combines video-based shopping, voice-based catalogue and chat-based checkouts. The company recently raised a $7.5M Series A round led by Go-Ventures & existing investors.
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Recent Fundraise by Portfolio Companies
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ElasticRun is a variable capacity, asset-light network that is transforming logistics and FMCG distribution. They recently raised $40M round led by Prosus & existing investors. Read More
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Jumbotail is a wholesale marketplace that organises the food and grocery ecosystem in India through technology, data science and design. They recently closed $13M in Series B funding. Read more
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Toffee Insurance provides accessible and affordable insurance policies contextual to the user's lifestyle. They recently raised a $5.5M in its Series A round led by Yellowwoods Ventures along with participation from existing investors. Read more
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We are taught to speak, but we aren’t taught to listen. In this article, Vani focusses on how listening is an important skill that needs to be nurtured. Read More
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'I Do What I Do' by Raghuram Rajan is a collection of talks, lectures, and papers delivered on a wide range of issues as the RBI governor from 2013-16. Rajan explains economic concepts and key issues in a readily accessible way that are not in any banking manual but essential to a country's progress. Further, it provides great insight into the mind of a man I respect immensely.
The book also touches upon how India Stack was born and provides great perspective and insight for anyone looking to understand FinTech.
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For me, this book by Ben Horowitz makes it to the list of a few management classics ought to be read time and again. As they say, culture eats strategy for breakfast. This book touches upon many subtleties of what it took to build some of the best and worst cultures in history.
Without getting prescriptive, Ben Horowitz talks through examples from ancient history like L'Ouverture (Haitian Revolution), Genghis Khan, Shaka Senghor (prison gang leader) and the Samurai. Ben establishes similarities with modern world technology examples. My favourite idea from the book was about creating shocking rules that serve to highlight an aspect of the culture. For instance, Facebook's 'Move fast and break things' highlights that the speed of innovation is the most important aspect of their culture. By the end of the book, I was convinced that this is a seminal read for leaders crafting organizational design.
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Mandar Dandekar is a Principal at Kalaari and focuses on Consumer Internet, HealthTech, Logistics, Gaming, and Supply Chain. He has 14+ years of rich and diverse experience in venture capital, private equity and technology consulting. Mandar likes passionate entrepreneurs building scalable yet sustainable businesses with sound unit economics in large markets.
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Prior to Kalaari, Mandar was part of Tata Capital Innovations Fund, a sector agnostic $60M early growth stage fund.
In his free time, Mandar enjoys traveling (especially backpacking), playing sports and catching up on latest movies. He is also a die-hard Arsenal fan. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to wear their jersey proudly for the last 10+ years.
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Vikash Rathi is the Vice President of Finance at Kalaari and is our resident expert on all things finance. His role encompasses fund controllership and working closely with multiple Kalaari portfolio companies in helping them set up financial processes and systems. Vikash is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
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Prior to joining Kalaari, Vikash was the CFO of Redbus where he stabilized a sub-scale finance function and drove business efficiencies. Previously, he was an engagement manager at KPMG where he led complex financial reporting engagements for global MNCs and large Indian Corporates.
Outside of work, Vikash is an avid reader and fitness enthusiast. He has read almost every John Grisham book in existence and also likes to dive deep into the history of the Indian subcontinent and global financial markets. Having built a strong following on LinkedIn for his insightful posts, Vikash plans to write a book in the future based on his learnings.
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