Wow, funding didn't really come to zero. 
  
 But appraisals definitely did. 
  
 Kudos to PR team of the startup world.

Growth And Strategy

Software Developer

Recruiter

Software Engineer

I don't think this is the right data. I would be wary of this. Why would funding in 2020 be lower than 2019? And 2020, would be covid era, right? 2020 had already seen ZIRP being implemented.

Business Analyst

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

So 2023 wasn't a funding winter. Rather a pre-covid year?!

So 2023 wasn't a funding winter. Rather a pre-covid year?!- Grapevine

As we bid farewell to the challenges of the past, let's delve into why 2024 is poised to be a game-changer for the Indian Startups! 🚀

In 2020, the world weathered the storm of COVID, followed by unprecedented quantitative easing. We then saw that in 2021 the bull run came soaring. Investors, fueled by the appetite for riskier assets led to a funding boom for startups as salaries soared.

Fast forward to 2022, and the music is about to stop. The realization that the Fed would hike rates to curb inflation means that funding is about to dry up as big money will be invested away into debt/T-Bills. Though demand remained robust, the stock market felt the impact as JPow raised the interest rates. 

Late 2022 and 2023 saw the tech landscape experiencing layoffs, and startups facing significant headwinds. It’s a wonder  if anyone raised this year.

But here's the twist—2024 looks brighter. The stock markets have rebounded to all-time highs, signaling that things may be on the rise. Despite geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and Iraq, the macro outlook for India shines bright. 

For Indian Startups? VC Funding is still here to stay. So keep your heads down and keep building. From what I am hearing, it is set to make a roaring comeback. There is now significant rationality in the funding ecosystem leading to realistic valuations.

However, this revival will come with a plot twist. Newer companies, fueled by fresh funding, are set to rise, while most of the lofty valuations of those who raised in 2021 are about to crash and burn.

So buckle up folks. Let’s see where it takes us.

What do you think? 🤔

[Thread] Why 2024 is going to be a massive hit for the ecosystem?

Reads like an year end address from the company MD before the employees realize there are going to be no increments this year

Business Development Manager

Product Manager

There’s now a list of 4-6 startups that have shut down and announced closure in December. Why is this happening

Why are so many startups shutting shop in December?

Norwest has deployed nearly $500 million in India over the past 24 months.

‘Tech-only investing doesn’t make sense in India’

Funding winter may get over by next year

What changed for you post acquisition and how did it change your lives

Context: worked at a small startup getting acquired soon by a publicly listed company

Anyone who worked at a startup then got acquired by a big company?

I was working in a startup, but I left only after a couple of years. 😅 That startup got acquired by a big company some years after I left.  
  
 My co-workers who stayed till the acquisition, their life changed in two ways at acquisition: 
  
 1. Each of them got USD $1 million cash in exchange for the e-sops / equity they owned  
  
 2. On acquisition, their salaries immediately got doubled by the acquiring company, in line with the company's salary bands 
  
 So there, that's how lives change on acquisition. 😄

Staff Engineer

The data is from Carta and mostly North American companies.

50% increase in startup closures

Consultant

Being an investor in equity markets, i was aware of the fact that US market will crash as the free money by fed draws back. I obviously was not able to link this up with the funding dry-ness.

I still expect a founder to be aware of these economic events. I am curious how could the management decide to go for hiring employees only to lay them off a year later. 

If you are a founder, would be happy to know the other side of the story.

What triggered layoffs ?

Let me explain in detail. 
 There are two parts to it and can be broken down basis PnL 
 1. Revenues : Sudden jump in tech( social media, e-commerce, ad tech, fintech, etc) plus supporting industries (chipmakers, laptop / device manufacturer) and the general economy with QE money  
 This impacted forecasts as most firms forecast AOPs basis historically trend (which clearly was an abberation) - this lead to higher HC estimates and rampant and quick hiring  
 Variable costs: CAC, customer support, sales incentive all spiked up as 1. Everyone was putting money (inc bidding price for key words) and 2. Huge customer inflow due to covid (edtech, e-commerce) that required support  
 Fixed costs: While office space / rents remained steady or dropped as % of revenue. This was offseted by fixed tech (software, hardware, people) costs and other costs like (legal, HR, Business, Marketing, supply chain, etc.) the talent was expensive to source plus their need was instant as you already had customer to be served  
 All of this lead to rampant hiring, inflated CTC, rosy forecasts, etc.  
 everyone had turned a blind eye to inflation implications (as for the past 30 Y no one saw a shooting inflation - hence the key decisions makers had now experience & idea about it) - till Dec’21 even FED said inflation is transatory. 
 It was the Ukraine invasion that opened people eyes. Oil went up, food prices went up, UK Europe saw an energy crisis etc 
 This made all the rosy forecast mentioned above duller as 1. Demand was expected to reduce due to higher cost of living 2. Capital became scarce as funding drired 3. Cost of capital (WACC) became expensive as hurdle rate climbed (which is rate of return for bond)  
 Management and investor panicked as they have limited partners (LP) to answer and quess who are these (big pension funds) so people’s pension money had come into startups which were not showing signs of exit for investors. 
 All in all - it is a pain we all have to bare for being exuberant in 2021-2022:

Growth Manager

Welcome to Personal Finance's Private Community

https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/the-funding-winter-is-thawing-and-expected-to-end-in-6-12-month/amp_articleshow/102567076.cmsp

So this new survey claims that funding winter will end in upcoming 6-12 Months. So I think job market should be back to normal, what's your take on it?

Why do some startups lay off people even when they know that they'll be raising money soon via new funding?

Case in point: Dunzo

Are these employees given severance? Or is it just that Hi, Hello, Today is your last day, thank you, bye that you see most startups do?

What are your thoughts on this?

Funding and layoffs

Program Manager

Is it only fintechs that are still hiring. I guess there is a hiring freeze across most of industries.

Funding winter but fintechs still warm

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

Folks, I wanted to make a prediction that most of us pretty much know already 

2023 our salaries haven’t grown at all. Across my group of friends at work and college, the average amount of increment I heard is close to 5%

2023 is a year of virtually no salary increments

Only for landlords, it has been an year of insane increments 🥲

300+ startups got a deal ( sorry funding, shark tank degraded my startup vocab)

Indian startups mopped up $2.77 billion across 326 deals in the March quarter or Q1 2024, as per data compiled by TheKredible.

Indian startups mop up $2.77 Bn in March 2024 quarter: Report

Funding winter is over

Senior Consultant

So Zepto was the first, InCred becomes the second one. 2 unicorns this entire year 🙀

InCred becomes 2nd unicorn of 2023 after raising $60 Mn in a new round. At $1.03 Bn valuation.

Corporate Strategist

#startup the word has lost value since the 2020/21 era and employees/founders are actually feeling it now.  #Founders felt like Sugar Daddies and employees started asking for it. What is a real startup? no actual chair to even sit, that is a startup, you don't have loads of money, hence the word (we are a startup)

During 2019 end to 2022 people got ridiculous amounts of funding, funds beyond the actual numbers, 44x revenue multiples and what not, like bro, do you have a proper GTM, nobody fkin knows, but are you the founder that know that other guy? yes, here here take my money, strip my VC fund and take all of it. 

Employees were looking for Sugar daddies not companies, fkin 2 off sites/ quarter, #bmw bikes/cars, 5X salary competitions, unlimited time offs, (Do you know how many actual leaves are ideal in an actual #startup? 0). Joining bonuses going upto $10k in India. Are you serious? is that a startup, or a sugar daddy? 

Most of these startups went bankrupt or have lost value because they deserve it, They were working in startups because the leadership is a young team, it's real chill and all those bs. founders were doing it because it was trendy and cool. Nothing actually converts into value. These employees are all out there looking for same packages now, obviously they ain't getting it, so taking paycuts. Those founders are in some corner of some city, building their next idea!

Startups or Sugar daddies?

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

Hello everyone,

I'm Varun, the co-founder of Mesa School of Business. We’re Asia’s first startup focused business school focused on fostering the next generation of startup leaders in India.

Prior to Mesa, I was a Sr. Product Manager at Amazon in Seattle, and did my MBA from Kellogg School of Management.

I'd love to chat with you folks about my journey in building Mesa, my thoughts on higher education, 0-to-1 building, amongst other things.

Ask me anything! :)
I'll be back at 5 pm and start answering.

I'm Varun, Co-Founder at Mesa School of Business. Ask me anything!

Founder

[TL;DR former National quizzing champ dropped out of B. Tech in 2020 during peak of addiction and depression . Got over it and sober in Jan'23, resumed college and completed my B. Tech in Feb'24. Picked up coding again and feel ready for a job now Should I be honest or lie about the gap? Been ghosted my few recruiters whom I was honest with.]

JS developer here. I used to be a decent student, public speaker and one of the best quizzers in the college scene (former National Champ). But I never addressed some traumatic events that took place in my life before I turned 16. My depression took refuge in substance abuse and I abandoned all studies/career prospects during the pandemic. Eventually after 7 years of using, I got clean/sober in Jan'23 and resumed my studies. I earned my degree but on paper it took me 8 years to complete a 4 year B. Tech (2016-24).

Reasonably I get asked about the gap in my academics by hr/recruiters whom I push my CV to. I've been dead honest to them about my struggles with mental health and addiction in the past. And I've been getting ghosted. (It could be because of skill reasons on my part but I'm not even getting a feedback).

Should I not tell recruiters the truth about the gap? Should I leave the addiction bit out? How should I word it? I've never held a real coding job before but been slogging for the last 6 months to get better each day (my github and projects will reflect that). Please help me out with all your valuable suggestions. If you're a tech recruiter let me know how you would perceive my case.

Sorry if this is the wrong board to post in, I'm desperate. Should I be honest about my past struggles of depression/addiction with recruiters while explaining the 4 year gap in my resume?

You don't have to. They are not your friends and you don't know how someone might take it as.  
 You have been brave enough to come out of it but unfortunately not everyone will see it.

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

I am a generalist having 3 year experience working in startups (Series B and seed funded). 
I am handling Product and Growth in soon Series A Start-up. But I'm thinking to switch. 
Need guidance is it a good time to switch job?

So 2023 wasn't a funding winter. Rather a pre-covid year?!

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