Not sure how entrepreneurs can use any of this data tbh

It’s a good way to understand VC dynamics, because this data isn’t as usually exposed

Investment Associate

Product Owner

It's well constructed. Some sneak peaks and Insider emails make it interesting. 5x is good in 10 years.

Growth Manager

Just read through the document. Gotta say, it’s such rich and helpful details:   Helps you understand how VC fund returns work over a 10 year period  How their startups in different sectors diff...

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Just read through the document. Gotta say, it’s such rich and helpful details:

- Helps you understand how VC fund returns work over a 10 year period
- How their startups in different sectors differed in returns (enterprise software did much better than consumer and B2B)
- How Tier 1 founder startups ended up doing much better than non Tier 1 founder startups (unfortunate data, I would hope this is a bias from that period) 
- They seem to have had 16/17% YoY returns while India Quotient has higher (20-23%ish) 

But overall, just gotta commend them for taking the effort and making this data public. It’s very helpful!

Link below: 
https://x.com/BKartRed/status/1735560796451619242?s=20

Blume's Omega Files - Take a bow! 🙌🏻

Blume's Omega Files - Take a bow! 🙌🏻- Grapevine

Been spending way too much time on Grapevine lately - absolutely loving it @Micheal_Scott!

Posted the Prosus report takeaways yday - lots of you DMed asking questions. Then I saw NewsAnchor break down the entire Prosus Annual Report - great stuff.

I was an Associate at one of the largest VC funds in India, so I enjoy going through new reports and summarising them - found my notes from Bain's India Venture Capital Report 2024. Thought of sharing the unedited summary that I shared with the Partners at the fund, have a bunch of these - can share more if of value to any of you here (ofc removing the confidential parts)

Notes:
1/ India's maintaining its gravitational pull despite the global funding crunch. Sure, overall funding nosedived 63% to $9.6B, but we're still the #2 destination in Asia-Pacific. Might not necessarily be a crash, it's a necessary course correction.
2/ Early-stage investing is showing remarkable resilience. Seed deals now comprise 70% of all deals, up from 60%, with average check sizes holding steady at $1.4M. Smart money is quietly positioning itself for the next wave of innovation.
3/ The tech-only playbook is being rewritten. While consumer tech, fintech, and SaaS still command 60% of funding, traditional sectors like BFSI are gaining ground, with average deal sizes jumping from $8M to $15M. We're witnessing the birth of tech-enabled, not just tech-centric, growth stories.
4/ The unicorn factory has hit pause, with only 2 new billion-dollar valuations vs. 23 in 2022. Mega-rounds ($100M+) plummeted from 48 to 15. This isn't a drought; it's a return to fundamentals. The era of grow-now-profit-later is firmly behind us.
5/ Generative AI isn't just hype; it's reshaping the landscape. Funding exploded from $15M to $250M, with 80% flowing to existing companies integrating AI. India's quickly becoming a laboratory for practical AI applications, not just speculative moonshots.
6/ Electric mobility is rewiring itself. While overall funding dipped slightly to $600M+, charging infrastructure investment surged 50%. The real opportunity isn't just in vehicles; it's in building out the entire EV ecosystem.
7/ Exits are defying gravity, leaping 1.7x to $6.6B. Public market sales led the charge at 55%, even as IPOs cooled. LPs are getting liquidity, and the secondary market is proving surprisingly robust. There's still appetite for quality assets.
8/ PE is no longer just watching from the sidelines. These players doubled their share to 25% of investments, going toe-to-toe with traditional VCs. The lines between growth equity and venture capital are blurring, and it's changing the game for late-stage rounds.
9/ We're watching natural selection in real-time. Yes, 35,000+ startups shuttered and 20,000+ layoffs hit the headlines. But companies like Groww and Indifi turned profitable. This isn't a bubble bursting; it's an ecosystem strengthening its foundations.
10/ Domestic VCs are coming of age. While overall fund-raising halved to $4B, homegrown VCs led 90%+ of raises. They're not just following; they're specializing, with thematic funds like Omnivore's $150M agritech vehicle. The ecosystem is bootstrapping its own future.
11/ Regulation isn't just tightening; it's evolving. Angel Tax expanded and lending norms got stricter, but we're also seeing innovative policies like UPI for foreign travelers. India's crafting a uniquely balanced approach to fostering innovation while maintaining stability.

Topics we can discuss during our standup:
1/ Can India produce global tech giants if it's primarily adopting rather than pioneering in areas like AI? How do we enable this?
2/ How will the shift towards profitability impact India's ability to foster truly disruptive innovations? Implications for us, how should we be evaluating deals differently?
3/ With domestic VCs leading the charge, how will this change India's startup narrative on the global stage?
4/ Is this maturation setting the stage for more resilient, globally competitive Indian startups, or are we risking our innovation edge? How do we look at thesis driven investing v/s fomo investing?

Link to Bain's report - https://www.bain.com/insights/india-venture-capital-report-2024/

P.S. Do note that this is 6+ months old - data points mostly look diff now but sharing it anyways. Will post more as and when I get time :)

My notes on Bain's 2024 VC report as a VC Associate

Investor

Saw this on X so made an Indian VC version 😂

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

- Most VCs are fraud, they never make any money and keep shifting from one fund to another to hide that they never made anyone any money. 
They also have usually no real input to add. 
They are no subject matter except negotiations which too mostly they just prey upon any founders. 

It's a thankless asset class. Most founders will always hate it as they will never get a dollar and most investors hate it as they will never net a dollar. 

Never chase VC, they are supposed to find opportunity .. Chasing them is useless, they judge you for it. 
So treat them from first day like your ex. Gf/bf. 

- Most tech startup founders are fraud,  they never make any money and keep shifting from one idea to another to hide they never made anyone any money. 
it usually takes 20 years to make a real $100 million dollar revenue company, but 20 months to be a unicorn. 
Any unicorn today is priced according to what they would make after 5-10 years... Yeah right. 

- Making real money is hard. Making fake money is easy. 
99% of startup Esops are fraud
If the company is homerun, then they won't get you stock easy. 
If the company is maybe homerun, they won't give you cash easily. 
If you get free cash and esops, just imagine it's an 18 month project. 

- Most of the humblebrags are fraud as half of them don't even understand the fine print of what they think is real money but not. 

- Most of the people who usually ask for change have no intention for it. They want to be seen as leaders, change is hard, negotiated and cried for. 

- you only live once. Go hard.. No one like people who have too much to talk but nothing to show.

Some observations after 10+ years of being in the system

Product Manager

Blume Ventures just released a report on startup exits in India. Here's the breakdown:

Exit Strategies: 3 Main Types

1. Secondaries: Quick Cash Options
- Angels exit first, typically under $75M
- Micro-VCs target $75M-$500M range
- Large institutions aim for $500M+, usually 7-8 years in

2. M&A: From Small Buys to Big Deals
- Under $20M deals are mostly for talent
- Real returns start at $50M+
- $500M+ deals are rare, need major buyers

3. IPOs: The Big League
- More accessible than thought: Even $10-20M revenue companies can list
- SME exchanges offer options for smaller players
- $1B+ listings reserved for top players, usually after a decade

Key Points:
1. Patience matters: Big exits often take 7-12 years
2. Profitability is crucial: Markets reward it
3. IPO boom expected: Projections show 5x increase by 2025

In short: India's startup scene is maturing. Exit options exist, but require strategic long-term thinking. For founders and investors alike, understanding these patterns is key to long-term success.

Full report: https://blume.vc/commentaries/decoding-exit-patterns-in-the-indian-startup-ecosystem-blume-ventures-perspective

Unlocking Exit Strategies in India's Startup Ecosystem

Am I missing any trend or do they have FOMO?

Lol, I see all Indian top tier VC wants to start YouTube channel!!

Analyst

Hey folks,

Just wanted to understand more about the VC ecosystem and their investment thesis for Indian Landscape. Have watched a few episodes of "Desi VC Podcast". Would be great if anyone can recommend what all episodes can be watched to get a good understanding of the same.
Or would love to hear other recommendations as well.

Thank you!

VC Podcasts

Product analyst

There are essentially four parties in the startup economy:

1. The Consumer
2. The Enabler(read, Startup)
3. The Service Provider
4. The Investor

Now let's look at Game Theory motivations:

1. The Indian Consumer wants to minimise money spent per unit value extracted, the Western Consumer wants to maximise value extracted per unit money spent. (There's a massive difference.)

2. The Startup depending on the stage wants to maximise User Growth and Free Cash Flows.

3. The Service provider wants to maximise financial incentives.

4. The Investor is wants to maximise the XIRR of their fund. For this they need to reach a multibagger liquidity event.

Now let's look at what happens when:

1. The Consumer gets f'ed over: 

The startup attains pricing power through deep competitive moats allowing for monopolisation. They can jack up the prices to ensure nice FCF, greater rewards for Service Providers and great returns to their investors. (Think, Uber can charge anything to you now)

2. The Startup gets f'ed over: 

The users get bang for their buck, the service providers get good incentives, the investors push for higher growth but unfortunately the startup does not have enough capital to service their Cost of Operations through their unit economics, so they will either run out of cash or investor patience. Either ways, they are doomed. (Think every legit startup that failed)

3. The Service Provider get f'ed over: 

This is the likeliest scenario as they have the least power in this dynamic. Rewards will be reduced over time or made harder to achieve. They have no option because they got no option for sustenance. (Think any on-demand service providing app)

4. The investor gets f'ed over: 

Now imagine there is a startup that can balance the act very well. They have a service that users are willing to pay a margin on. They pay their service providers fairly and have decent unit economics. Now, the investor will do halla about destruction of shareholder value from little growth. (Is this the case with BluSmart?)

Maybe that's why building in India is tough.

[Rant] Here's why someone usually ends up f'ed over, for a startup to get successful in India

VC here. Doing this for fun.
Don't take all views seriously.

Comment a startup's name, I'll share if it's promising or whatever I know

Hero has revenue of Rs. 35,000 crore & profit of rs. 4000 crores.Ola Electric has revenue of Rs 373 crore and loss of Rs  784 crore... OLA Electric (OE) aims 7-8 Bn $ IPO Valuation while Hero has 10 Bn $ valuation

" but ola has innovation" , " kya matlab founder ke IIT se hone se valuation multiple jayada nhi hona chahiye" , " ola full indian saar. Support ola IPO saar. Lose your money while investors and founder make a lot saar" , " bro but ola founder ne Sanskrit waala chatgpt banaya hai. He sapports indian culture. So higher multiple to Banta hai" . 
  
  
 Prepare to hear this in coming days

Software Engineer

Mamaearth IPO: Fireside Ventures leads pack of early winners

Good analysis on returns by vc firms on Mamaearth ipo

https://anonymfile.com/NEEXl/tiger-global-draft-of-new-yorker-story-doing-the-rounds-in-nyc.pdf

TLDR: Tiger Global may pass soon.

Leaked NewYorker Article on Tiger Global

A few summary points:
- LP risk is over exposed to VC funds (Tiger, for these LPs)
- Tiger has had abysmal investments and returns these last few years
- They've actively looking to pass on their assets to buyers where they can find them 
- Lee Fixel, the most prolific investor they had left a few years back
- The fund has been led by Scott Shleifer; who has reported to been an alcoholic, hosts drug parties, and invests with very little DD/deep dive.

All in all, this is scary stuff. With Softbank and Tiger both seeing difficult times, this feels like the Lehman moment for the VC industry.

Corporate Strategist

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nishantmittaltt_yesterday-i-posted-an-analysis-on-apna-activity-7136198472654897153-hMwv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

Damn. This is serious.

Founder of Apna lives in US, flies first class, has hired his best friends at huge salaries. More in the link below!

This represents the worst of the ecosystem
All of it happened during the peak bull market. Creating a blue collar marketplace made sense in the bull-bharat era. 

The rounds happened in a peculiar way too, most top investors didn't even get the chance to evaluate. It was all too quick. Tiger came in quick succession. 

Ultimately, we're now saying "The VC's were terrible negotiators & left him with 50% board seats so they cannot fire him". Well, of course. 

VCs created the hype. VCs face the brunt.

Founder

I want to read in depth business case studies/stories from India. I also want to consume relevant startup news and updates. What is the best place to find such content? Seems like all good content is hidden behind a paywall. If I have to buy a subscription which one should I buy?

Morning context vs The Ken

What are your thoughts on Blume Ventures?

How much do partners at venture capital firms make annually?

I feel they make much less than an average software engineer 

Is it true? What would be absolute levels

Venture capitalist

Another consumer tech startup bites the dust :/

https://entrackr.com/2023/10/ex-myntra-ceos-startup-virgio-shuts-down-after-raising-37-mn/

Virgio shuts down a year into raising $37Mn

Get a tag(college/company) -> Open a startup -> Get Funding (even seed stage is fine) -> Burn money -> sell or shut down startup. 
  
 Fastest way to accumulate wealth in today's time.

Software Developer

Hi folks, 

I'm Kashish, the CEO of EquityList and Founder of Cloud Capital which I run as a solo GP.
A little bit about what we do: 

EquityList is a full-stack equity management platform by AngelList India. Companies across India, US and Singapore use EquityList to manage their cap table, stock options (ESOP/SAR), shareholders, and related compliances. Managing equity for 10k+ stakeholders, 250+ companies and ~$1B in stock options.

Cloud Capital has deployed $8M+ in 55+ startups such as Airmeet, Rupifi, Orange Health, DevRev, ZET (OneCode) and others. I've also angel invested in startups such as OSlash, Atlys, Chronicle, Even Healthcare and others.

Excited to do this AMA, and look forward to answering any of your questions about ESOPs, cap table management, investing, entrepreneurship, and more!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kashisharma

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