Bala Srinivasa

Continuing on the question of what themes have driven India SaaS over the last decade: one of the themes has been the me-too model in SaaS - this has been a majority of early-stage financings historically in India. I think starting a new company today with this model may be tough, given rise in keyword costs and intense competitive clutter. The model has assumed: - target a large, mature market - build 60-80% of functionality (or pick off a part of the workflow) with some technical innovation - offer at a fraction of the price of the market leader - target SMB first, then work your way up to lower mid-market - aggressive GTM through SEO, SEM, self-service and remote sales - differentiate through price and support - category leadership is not the goal - 10 years to $100mm ARR (if successful)- which is ok-ok growth rate, not top quartile

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All of us at BCV would like to congratulate Rubrik’s founding CEO Bipul Sinha, founding CTO Arvind Nithrakashyap, and their two other original co-founders, Arvind Jain and Soham Mazumdar, along with the rest of the Rubrik team on their initial public offering today. Rubrik has significantly transformed the landscape of digital resilience, expertly transitioning the concept of data protection into a broader, more critical framework of data security. This shift has not only captivated the interest of customers worldwide but has also positioned their solutions as indispensable tools for modern businesses. Transitions are never easy, but as a board member for the past five years, I have seen Rubrik seamlessly navigate this complex process under the visionary leadership of Bipul and Nitro. Today marks another milestone in Rubrik's journey, a testament to the team's hard work, innovation, and the strong direction provided by its leaders. The emphasis on securing data not just from loss, but as a proactive measure against threats, shows Rubrik's commitment to redefining the industry's standards for data security. cc: Bain Capital Ventures Rubrik

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Excited to share Marathon Venture Capital's investment in Eva Magnisali's DataForm Lab! Construction is large enough to be measured in GDP terms, yet remains a laggard in the adoption of automation. Our buildings are still constructed manually! Offsite manufacturing, i.e. assembling buildings in factories, provides the perfect canvas for putting automation to work – still, however, robots are nowhere to be seen... Eva studied architecture and robotics, and worked with design firms, developers and industry vendors, realising first hand what's keeping the industry stuck in the past. Then she got to work... Dataform Lab's software platform translates designs to production drawings and machine code, along with optimising processes and scheduling, essentially offering a modern operating system for construction factories. The company already works with some of the most prominent offsite manufacturers worldwide. Today it announces the completion of a GBP 1.1m Seed round led by Marathon. Eva and her team are on a mission to drive automation in offsite manufacturing. If you are excited about working at the intersection of technology and construction, get in touch! Building construction has been slow and expensive for far too long. Our next homes and schools may come from fully-automated factories, delivered at a fraction of today's time and cost. Keep an eye on Dataform Lab! https://lnkd.in/dVVfnudS

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What better way to demonstrate product-market fit than to learn about customer journeys before and after your platform? At Grip Invest, mass-affluent retail investors are migrating part of their portfolios from FDs to uniquely curated SDIs / Bonds manufactured by the platform. This ties into our thesis that the TAM for such a play is not the typically perceived 'alternatives' TAM but a cut of the humongous $2.5T FD market, which has never really been disrupted. A large set of retail customers understand now that there is a gap between FD returns and equity markets, and a risk-adjusted portfolio can be built here. Thanks Forbes India for this insightful piece. Congrats Nikhil Aashish Vivek for the tremendous execution.

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Thanks to Kavitha N. and DealStreetAsia for featuring Collyer Capital in this interesting piece about secondaries. Glad to have contributed to the discussion as the secondary toolkit, if used right and in full transparency, can really benefit all parties involved, particularly in #ASEAN. #CollyerCapital #CCPL #ASEAN #secondaries #liquidity #transparency

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🧠 So many pearls of wisdom in this Vinod Khosla interview, for both entrepreneurs and VCs. I've pulled out some of my favourites for you below. 1️⃣ On making contrarian bets "Here's a philosophy, whether you're a venture firm or an entrepreneur. You have to bet on something that you believe in - that the market doesn't believe in - and then stick with it through the ups and downs. You can't predict the timing of most innovations." 2️⃣ On new innovations "I can't think of a big new innovation that came from a person who was in the area they disrupted. Most board members advise founders to 'get somebody who understands the domain' - that's really bad advice generally. You want someone who can think from first principles, and can learn the business rapidly in 6 months. If Elon Musk had been in the automotive industry, I guarantee you we wouldn't have Tesla. When people who came from healthcare tried to do digital health, they generally failed at it." 3️⃣ On risk and failure "There's no one in the venture business who has failed more often than I have failed. I've just tried many more things and screwed up more often than most people. Then a tiny percentage have become the big visible successes. People need to understand that venture is really asymmetric, so you don't want to take low risk. You want to take very high risk - it's not IRR investing. We are buying an option in a great team, and then helping them succeed." 4️⃣ On taking advice as founders "Ask yourself: how many billion dollar companies has the person built? From scratch - not joined Google or Facebook and were given an internal business. When you worry about your pay check, or you struggle to hire someone because you can't offer them a large enough pay check... that's pain. That's when you learn empathy for entrepreneurs." 5️⃣ On thinking long term "Ukraine, Covid and AI are massive turbo-chargers for venture. This is not how the world looks at it. They're looking at short term interest rates, or what's happening with GDP growth. I'm looking at it in terms of what companies will be built over the next 20 years given the changes in the world. I'm not investing in crypto one year, then AI the next. It's a long term approach to venture." 6️⃣ On future predictions "Today's 30-year-olds, take note. In twenty years, jobs won't be the key criteria for education. In twenty years, the world's 50-year-olds will have a hard time adjusting to the fact that they generally won't have to work. As robots and AI do much of the labour-intensive work, they'll be able to lean into their passions and be more creative. Human selection, human preference and taste will become highly valuable. Human's will always prefer human uniqueness."

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A series where we highlight Gemba Capital's Portfolio companies' every week. Simple post - no gyaan and no bakwaas :) This week meet Pramod Rao and Abhishek Nalin from Threado AI Kamini Shivalkar Aditya Vargante Govind Lohia Vipul Rawal ↗️ ️Anupreet Singh 📈 Sujoy Chakravarty #meetourportfolio #earlystage #venturecapital #startups #tech #india #portfolio

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Inspired by Zubair Naeem Paracha and nudged by Ahad Shaikh, I took a look at the Rasan IPO. Detailed thoughts in my substack post and quick summary below. Rasan IPO Implications: 💹 The strong interest in the initial subscription and subsequent continued rally signal positive prospects for tech founders in the GCC. Local markets are bullish on homegrown tech and may offer attractive valuation multiples in comparison to international exchanges.   Company Background & Performance: 💼 Rasan operates as a digital insurance aggregator, focusing on motor and health insurance, alongside financial and data analytics solutions.   Rasan has shown robust growth with over 450% revenue increase from FY20 to FY23, strong unit economics with gross margins (~60%), and net margins around 20%.   IPO Pricing and Valuation Metrics: 🤑 Rasan debuted at SAR 37, and has reached highs of SAR 67, implying a market cap of ~ USD 1.3 billion, up from the original offer valuation of USD 750m.   The implied Price/Sales of ~20x may seem overpriced at face value, however, the rapid digitization in KSA + population demographics, underutilization of tech in insurance and potential to expand into other fintech verticals may still present a compelling opportunity.   Comparables Other Regions & Closing: 🚀 Compared with global peers, Rasan's efficient fiscal operations at tremendous top line growth rates is impressive.   US public Insurtechs (digital insurance not aggregator) i.e. Lemonade, Oscar etc. have faced downward price pressure as IPOs were overpriced in previous years. Policy Bazaar is a better comp against which Rasan seems like a solid small cap growth stock. PB has a P/S of ~23x which is attributed to record breaking investor interest in Indian markets and a massive TAM in the local market. PB is ahead in terms of scale yet Rasan seems to be operating more efficiently from a margin standpoint. If you got into Rasan at the original IPO price, you have already enjoyed some strong gains but there could be more to come if you hold long term. The tailwinds of economic growth, focused investment on non-oil diversification and the push to build local exchanges in the region coupled with continued growth at the company's current margin profile may yield 2x-3x return over the next 3-5 years.

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#India 🇮🇳 is playing an increasingly significant role in #AsiaPacific #PE-#VC activity, accounting for ~20% of all PE-VC #investments in 2023, up from ~15% in 2018. #Resilience amid #turmoil: Multiple bright spots emerged in India amidst a globally challenging year for the PE-VC ecosystem. India #PrivateEquity Report 2024 | Bain & Company

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Exciting News: Launch of Trifecta Capital Venture Debt Fund-IV We are thrilled to announce the launch of Trifecta Capital Venture Debt Fund-IV today. When Nilesh Kothari and I began our journey in 2015, the term "venture debt" was unfamiliar to many. However, over the past nine years, we’ve witnessed its transformation into a vibrant asset class, with significant commitments from Institutional Investors, Development Finance Institutions, Endowments and Family Offices. As we embark on this next chapter, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to our investors. Your unwavering support has helped us navigate significant challenges, including demonetisation, GST rollouts, COVID-19, and the recent tech funding slowdown. With your backing, we have provided over Rs 6,000 crores in financing to the startup ecosystem, and for that, we are profoundly thankful. We also want to recognise the incredible founders of our portfolio companies. Your relentless dedication and resilience in building your businesses through market fluctuations have been truly inspiring. It has been a privilege to collaborate with over 180 startups, many of whom have become household names today. We extend our appreciation to our partners in the venture capital ecosystem. Your diligence in identifying early-stage investment opportunities has been invaluable. Having been part of the venture industry since 2005, we know it doesn’t get easier with time, but it’s immensely gratifying to see how much the startup ecosystem has flourished, thanks to your efforts. Lastly, I want to thank the team at Trifecta Capital. Your commitment to the values of the firm have made all the difference and I'm looking forward to getting this Fund raised so that you can go do what you do best - invest in the future leaders of India. #TrifectaCapital #KeepBuilding #MakeinIndia

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On June 1, 2024, 100X.VC invested ₹1.25 crores in 17 startups during their Pitch Day for Class 11! It was an honor to be part of a vibrant cohort of 400 passionate investors, including HNIs, Family Offices, Venture Capital Funds, and Corporations, exploring over 300 groundbreaking startups. 100X.VC stands out as the first VC firm to invest in early-stage businesses using India SAFE Notes. SAFE Notes allow investors to provide capital to startups in exchange for a promise of future equity. Startups from diverse fields such as B2B SaaS, API, HealthTech, ClimateTech, F&B, and PetTech showcased their innovative ideas, representing cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Gurgaon, and beyond. Wishing these startups and 100X.VC all the best for their future endeavors, taking India ahead on the path of entrepreneurship and innovation. #venturecapital #investor #investing #startup #business

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StepStone Group is one of the largest institutional Limited Partners in Venture Capital funds globally. They first invested in India through Nexus Venture Partners before 2010, and since then, they have been actively investing in the country. They are also limited partners in Chiratae Ventures and Lightspeed India, and recently invested in Stellaris Venture Partners. Earlier, large global institutional LPs had doubts about whether India could deliver DPI (Distribution to Paid in Capital) to LPs. Hunter Somerville, Partner, StepStone mentions that the last 4 years of active domestic IPOs, some Mergers and Acquisitions, and secondary funding / buyouts have cleared all those doubts. India is one of the top markets in Asia for global LPs to deliver cash returns. Stepstone led the Unicorn round in Zepto as well as participated in the last announced round of PocketFM. Both of these companies are category leaders in their respective categories. Stepstone is looking for battle-tested managers and is actively looking for new managers to deploy in India. The qualities that they are looking for are “Ownership”, “Grit” and “Mastery”. They are not looking for managers who treat venture capital as a club. This conversation is a masterpiece for understanding the institutional Limited Partners whose money Venture Capitalists invest in startups. Watch NOW only on the The Neon Show! https://lnkd.in/gM37dG6k

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The boom in exits in India stands in stark contrast to the rest of the world. The best news is that the exits are broad-based coming from half from IPOs, and a quarter each from secondaries and IPOs. "The big picture: The Indian exit boom is thanks to a few factors, namely favorable macro conditions and investor-friendly government policies, GPCA says. Plus, the rise of retail investors has boosted the public markets, Indian corporate acquirers have been active, asset managers have adopted continuation funds, and the rupee has been stable." Thank you, Axios and Global Private Capital Association, for highlighting this good news! https://lnkd.in/gsGWQ7-t

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Been thinking through what the enduring themes of India's software/SaaS sector have been and which of these are going to continue (or not) over the next decade. My first submission - one theme that I think will continue is this:

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I had a lot of fun recording a podcast episode with Shiva Singh Sangwan. We discussed the evolution of Humba Ventures & Susa Ventures; tips for raising and building a fund; how to improve investment sourcing & picking; the role of luck in investing, and so on. https://lnkd.in/eiqsStej

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The abolition of #angeltax has opened many doors for #FDI, as well as domestic money. With the removal of difficult tax regulations, domestic and foreign #investors now have more freedom to support Indian #startups. As a result, more private, individual and family office money is expected to flow into the #startup ecosystem in the coming days. This will unleash Indian startups to conquer the world and will be a powerful factor in translating research into #commercialisation. I spoke to Shereen Bhan of Young Turks on various intricacies of budget and its impact on our ecosystem. Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gsDzuH8b

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A rapidly maturing startup ecosystem, heightened due diligence practices, and a steady pipeline of startups gearing up for public markets, India is clearly the promised land for investors and entrepreneurs alike. In a recent interview with Vibhuti Sharma from DealStreetAsia, I delved into how India remains a key focus for RTP Global. We discussed how with our new $1B fund, we are doubling down on the region's potential, backed by our dedicated team in India supporting early-stage entrepreneurs. India is an essential part of RTP Global's long-term vision, and we remain committed to nurturing innovative startups that can scale globally

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I found this article a good read on what's happening in India and SE Asia region. At BEENEXT, we have been backing founders in the space over last few years with our partnership with smallcase - one of the most unique product in the region where investors can create their own quasi etf type products. Raise Financial Services - building Dhan app to cater to growing needs of investors and traders in India Gotrade (YC S19) - democratizing access to USA stocks for Indonesian investors Makmur.id wealth tech platform in Indonesia making investing cheaper and easier for Indonesians There is an underlying macro trend towards investments that should continue for next decade and beyond. Kudos to all the founders and builders! https://lnkd.in/g4WUm5Mv

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