I think India-specific solutions across all sectors are a good bet. Taking global businesses and altering it for the unique Indian needs and making Indians feel like they are getting value.  
 Jugaad, essentially ￼

Good bet but not profitable over any vertical. 
 The business should be chosen wisely with an extensive research on supply chain optimization then only the model will work as Indian market is very price sensitive

Product Manager

Here's a breakdown of the potential next big wave for Indian startups:  Deep tech: This involves applying complex technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and Internet of Things ...

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Here's a breakdown of the potential next big wave for Indian startups:

Deep tech: This involves applying complex technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and Internet of Things (IoT) to solve problems in areas like healthcare, agriculture, and clean energy. Investors are looking for startups that go beyond simple consumer apps and solve substantial challenges.

Focus on intellectual property (IP): Developing new, innovative products and solutions will be key for Indian startups to compete globally. This could involve creating new devices, materials, or processes.

Tier 2 and 3 cities: The startup boom has largely been concentrated in metro cities. The next wave is expected to see more startups catering to the needs and challenges of smaller cities and rural areas.

Social impact: There's a growing interest in startups that address social issues like poverty, education, and healthcare. These startups could use technology to create a positive impact on society.

What is the next big wave for an Indian Startup?

What is the next big wave for an Indian Startup?- Grapevine

What do you think is the next big thing for Indian Startups?

Considering Edtech, Fintech, E-commerce is done

What is the next big thing in India?

Growth Manager

What problems would Indian and Global startups be solving in the next decade, or they would be just throwing random yearly new buzz words and as usual VCs would be having orgasms on these buzz words.

I mean real problems.

Startups of the coming age

Frontend Engineer

Let's not rant over filpkart or others as tech startups. They are Tech enabled. Let's share out some tech startups registered on Indian soil with over 100 million dollar revenue. And discuss, why are you not creating one (if you have a vision and figured problem-solution-market)?

Eg: China in its developing time had many. Phone companies, circuits companies, gadgets companies, LED TV companies, semiconductors, agritech machines, plane manufacturing companies. 

Tik tok was a simple idea, literally most of you could have built the tech, couldn't you? Then, still why weren't we able to carry such big vision and execution. India received funds very well to replicate tiktok, yet they failed in execution and differentiation.

I struggle to accept a few thoughts;

1) We are less disciplined, less dedicated, and less visionary compared to the general population of China.

2) Maybe we are more western than the western itself. We adopted and copied developed nations present and skipped their past hardwork and dedication.

3) We have grown too practical and not ready to hear impractical ideas.

Share yourself similarly on related topics.

Wonder why India has no deep-tech/device startups.

Solution Architect

Let's ignore what's wrong with startups, keep this an optimistic thread. Which startups make you excited about their future? 
The ones that have cracked product, GTM, model, or something else.

Name the best Indian startups :)

One for the believers: Which startups in India do you feel are going to make it really big? 🚀

Corporate Strategist

Budget 2024 scrapped the angel tax for all investors, creating the ultimate playground for innovation and entrepreneurship in India.

Big news for Indian startups!

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

Lately, I have been thinking very deeply about my college days when the Flipkart story had inspired the entire lot of my batch at IIT-D. We were starry eyed college kids who wanted to do something innovative in India and break away from the "three" most popular moves after IIT:

1. UPSC
2. MBA
3. MS/PhD abroad

I proceeded to then work in various Indian startups and noticed an alarming thing. I began to realise a pattern across all my stints:

The initial founding team does exceptional work innovating, they excel at what Thiel calls "Zero to One", the act of creation. I will concede that although most founders fail to innovate by often copying what worked in the west but the initial founding team usually excels in execution. It allows for initial traction as it breathes a fresh breath in the\ space that they are operating in.

Almost always, when Product Market Fit is "achieved"(whatever that means), the founders begin to deploy insane amounts of funds into growth. 

By definition, Growth is not a bad thing. But, I have been noticing that across all startups I have worked at( all raised funds from the largest global funds) that it comes at the expense of product building. And during this era of hypergrowth, the product starts to stagnate while focus becomes marketing and sales. 

I often felt that this was temporary. That once we reach enough scale, we would start to innovate again. 
But time and time again, the ability to innovate atrophies over time.
Rather than building something that has enduring value by executing faster than anyone, the focus becomes achieving growth at all costs. 

This ultimately leads to two outcomes:
1. The startup cannot sustain this growth and retention begins to look dire. The churn becomes unbearable and the startup goes out of business.

2. The startup gets acquired by someone bigger, allowing founders and investors to believe that they created value where none existed in the first place.

I am completely dejected at this.

The Death of Indian Innovation: Why Indian Start Ups are failing to Innovate?

hello viners,

Want to know about startups which are doing AI based solutions in the manufacturing / process industry.

which are the current big names and how does the future look like?

startups doing AI based solutions in manufacturing / process industry

Which startup, currently valued > $100mn, has the best growth potential in next 3 yrs in your opinion? Why? No self promotion please.

Startup with best growth potential?

Director of Engineering

What's an Indian startup that you think is solving a crucial problem?

Too many instances of global funds entering India. This will be interesting. The big existing ones (Peak, LSIP, Accel, Elevation) will be forced to deploy because the new ones will  have a lot more appetite. 

General Catalyst investing in Zepto for example. Entering with a bang.
Glade Brook, GC, and rumours of the two biggest ones in the US - one that used to exist earlier here.

Interesting times ahead for founders and invest.

Indian VC ecosystem heating up, global funds incoming

Investment Associate

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

In a landmark deal, Silicon Valley powerhouse General Catalyst has acquired Venture Highway, a seed-stage investment firm with a track record of backing winners like Meesho and Mobile Premier League.

The Deal:
- Rare instance of consolidation in the Indian VC market
- VH to be rebranded as General Catalyst India
- GC plans to invest $500 million to $1 billion in India over the next three years
- Acquisition driven by desire to build strong local team and tap into local LP network

But the move also raises important questions. Will this trigger a wave of consolidation in the Indian VC market? Will other global firms follow suit and snap up local players to gain a foothold in the country? And how will this influx of foreign capital shape the trajectory of India's startup ecosystem?

As the dust settles on this landmark deal, one thing is clear: India's startup scene is entering a new era, one where local innovation and global capital are increasingly intertwined.  Always long on India 🇮🇳

Image Credits: The Arc

General Catalyst's Venture Highway Acquisition: A Strategic Play for India 🇮🇳

Journalist

Heard from most people that there’s a lot of crunch. Wondering if anyone at their companies feels like their startup is growing despite the slowdown. 

Razorpay, CRED, and are seeing tighter regulations and downrounds. The food delivery companies have all gone through their down rounds and readjustment of expectations. Even SaaS most founders have a poor revenue/employee ratio and the india story is still yet to play out for the newer bets. 

Just yesterday Oslash announced it’s shutting down its app.

Any green shoots ☘️? And if there are maybe it’s a good thread for folks to try and hire.

Any Indian startups doing well currently ?

As the question says, i’m looking to find out about startup successes from tier 2 and tier 3 towns - those outside of the usual funding and VC world in Bengaluru, Mumbai, NCR, Hyderabad, etc.

What are some successful small town startups from India?

Software Engineer

I'll go first.

1. even healthcare
2. Hike/Rush
3. Spartan Poker
4. Ultrahuman
5. Invideo

Mention the reason too if possible.
Let's discover some hidden ones. Brownie points if you mention startups that only a few have heard of.

If you know a less-known Indian startup that is doing some crazy shit (not so obvious ones), do mention.

Your turn.

What are some cool startups (Indian) you would love to work with?

As an ex-Ultrahuman employee, I can confirm that you don’t want to work there. 
  
 The culture is cut throat. I was there for an year and I got a total of 3 weekends where I didn’t touch my laptop. 
  
 Credit where its due, founders and people are amazing, it’s just that the expectations are so high that you are constantly overworked.

Marketing Associate

I've been curious about whether there are any good Indian startups in the AI field that are not building "tools" like meeting summary or anything of that sort. But more like research based such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Midjourney, etc.
They could be early stage or late stage, doesn't matter. Have you guys seen any around you with potential?

What is the next big wave for an Indian Startup?

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