Harsh realities of Indian startup ecosystem
-Online brands are expanding offline to achieve scale -Late stage startups are gearing towards profitability earlier than planned -Biz models built on behavior during Covid are struggling (like edtech) -Startups which got funded due to TikTok ban are struggling -Finfluencers are soon expected to struggle -Credit Fintech w/o NBFC license is a struggle -Very few consumer content startups frm India are seeing scale and profitability -RMG is struggling due to regulations -India focused creator economy startups finding it difficult to scale -PLG led Indian SaaS startups not able to cross $20M ARR -Some VCs finding it tough to raise without DPI -Public markets thrashing innovative/vanity metrics of pvt VC funded cos. and their pvt market valuations -Series B and beyond is tough, down round/flat round is now common
- Deals happening at single digit ARR multiple for SaaS valuations
- Web3 startups not getting funded
- Most GenAI startups not able to build any defensibility
- Most B2B Commerce startups are not able to increase gross margins or reduce NWC
- CACs are ever increasing
- Compliance issues at many startups - Layoffs to continue
- startups which got funded in 2021, will soon be out of runway
- no liquidity event for vested ESOPs in most Indian startups
- secondaries happening at 35% discount in some cases
- deal closure times have become 2x - less FOMO amongst VCs
- More instances of M&A falling through
