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How VCs Think About Startups in India w Sramana Mitra
Rating: 4.5 out of 5(12 ratings)
84 students

How VCs Think About Startups in India w Sramana Mitra

Case studies of Investors (Angels and Venture Capitalists) in India; due diligence frameworks for Venture Capital
Created bySramana Mitra
Last updated 2/2025
English

What you'll learn

  • Through in-depth interviews with prominent Indian investors, learn their thoughts on how investors think about startups in India.
  • What investor-entrepreneur fit is and how to look for it before looking for funding.
  • Why 99% of entrepreneurs who seek funding get rejected by VCs.
  • Why traditional VCs only invest in hyper-growth startups.
  • What some of the key considerations are for investors when they evaluate startups.
  • How entrepreneurs can best position themselves for success while building startups.
  • What some of the common mistakes are that entrepreneurs make when pitching their startups to VCs.
  • What the fastest way is to find the relevant source of funding when building a startup in India.

Course content

2 sections • 20 lectures • 8h 10m total length

  • Introduction1:34
  • How Do Investors Think About Startups In India?7:21
  • Investor - Entrepreneur Fit10:36

    Discussing how to win the low probability game of startup fundraising.

  • Fundamentals-Focused Venture Capital w/ Jishnu Bhattacharjee, Nexus Ventures31:11

    Jishnu Bhattacharjee is Managing Director at Nexus Venture Partners, a fundamentals – focused firm. Jishnu takes us through several examples of how the firm is thinking about investing in startups. Excellent conversation.

  • Indian Venture Capital Industry With Sasha Mirchandani, Kae Capital32:23

    Sasha Mirchandani, Managing Partner of Kae Capital, an early stage venture fund. Sasha is also a co-founder of Mumbai Angels. This conversation is from 2016 and the next lecture is our more recent conversation. There are lessons to learn from both discussions.

    Here, Sasha re-emphasized two points that we have heard before: Indian VCs only invest in India-facing B-to-C ventures and global B-to-B startups. India-facing B-to-B is not a sector that gets any investment, although we have covered exceptions like Knowlarity here that have received significant funding.

    We discussed the issue of the lack of exits in India, as well as the missing late-stage funding for B-to-C ventures facing the Indian market. Global B-to-B ventures pretty much routinely start in India, but move to California or some other US location after Series A. Thus, they can tap into the global capital pool, and are unconstrained by late stage funding availability in India.

    Those of you who are working out of India would do well to keep these key points in mind.

    Let me refer you to Mahesh Murthy’s provocative article, Is Venture Capital Killing Indian Startups? Mahesh raises the question whether in a relatively slow-growth market like India, you can build companies within the US venture capital timeline. The article is worth reading for the valid questions it raises.

    My discussions with many Indian investors, will all point you to one conclusion: most Indian VCs are aware of the fact that India is a slow-growth market, and they’re trying to tap into global growth rates, US-scale adoption when it comes to B-to-B tech companies.

    In B-to-C, especially e-commerce, there is a massive gating item restricting growth: lack of acceptance of credit card transactions online. When this will change, we don’t know. If it does change, there will be massive acceleration. Until then, Mahesh Murthy’s question remains a valid one.



  • Spotlight on the Indian Startup Ecosystem w/ Sasha Mirchandani, Kae Capital21:46

    Sasha Mirchandani, Founder and Managing Director, Kae Capital, an early stage fund focused on India. I’ve known Sasha for over a decade, and we discussed the evolution of the Indian startup industry at length.

  • Exit Options for Indian Startups with Mohanjit Jolly, Iron Pillar Fund34:51

    Mohanjit Jolly, Partner at Iron Pillar, and a long-time player in the Indian startup ecosystem discusses Exit options for Indian startups and other topics.

  • Spotlight on India’s Startup Ecosystem with Anirudh Damani, Artha Venture Fund38:18

    Anirudh Damani is Managing Partner at Artha Venture Fund. We had a terrific discussion on the Indian Startup Ecosystem and its trends.

  • Indian Funding Eco-system and Trends with Padmaja Ruparel, Indian Angel Network35:30

    Padmaja Ruparel, Co-founder, Indian Angel Network (IAN), and Founding Partner, IAN Fund. This is from our conversation in 2017 and the next lecture will be a more recent discussion.

    Padmaja has been a key player in shaping India’s nascent startup eco-system. Must listen to interview for those interested in Indian startups and the funding trends.

  • Evolution of the Indian Startup Ecosystem with Padmaja Ruparel, IAN17:01

    Padmaja Ruparel, Co-founder, Indian Angel Network and Founding Partner, IAN Fund. The Indian startup eco-system has grown tremendously, and IAN has contributed heavily in that evolution. We did have some technical difficulties, but still worth a listen.

    I'm also providing my first interview with Padmaja from 2010 as an external recource. So interesting to compare all three conversations and appreciate how much the Indian startup industry has grown over the past decade.

  • Spotlight on Indian Venture Capital with Rahul Chandra, Arkam Ventures37:47

    Rahul Chandra, Managing Director at Arkam Ventures, is a veteran of the Indian Venture Capital industry. This discussion spans historical context to current Unicorn mania. Great analysis!

  • Pre-seed and Seed Funding Strategy for Indian Startups with Deepak Gupta22:06

    Deepak Gupta, Founding Partner at WEH Ventures, discussing his fund’s pre-seed and seed funding strategy for Indian startups.

  • Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, Veteran Angel Investor in Indian Startups30:57

    Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, Founder of Malpani Ventures, is an active angel investor in Indian startups for the past decade. Wonderful conversation.

  • Spotlight on Impact Investing with Eva Yazhari, Beyond Capital Ventures22:57

    Eva Yazhari, General Partner at Beyond Capital Ventures, discusses Impact Investing in Africa and India.

  • Further Discussions on Indian Venture Capital with KK Natarajan, Mela Ventures23:34

    Krishnakumar Natarajan, Co-founder of Mela Ventures, and former CEO of MindTree, discusses the Indian Venture ecosystem.

  • Building Consumer Brands in India with Kanwaljit Singh, Fireside Ventures33:31

    Kanwaljit Singh is Founder of Fireside Ventures, a fund focused on building consumer brands in India. This is an excellent podcast interview about the nascent opportunity that, I expect, will be a major, worldwide phenomenon in the coming years.

  • Funding Trends in the Indian Startup Market w/ Anirudh Suri, India Internet Fund42:12

    Anirudh Suri, Founding Partner at India Internet Fund, talks about the funding trends in the Indian startup market during this podcast interview.

  • Broader Trends in the Indian Startup Market with Brij Bhasin, Rebright Partners43:17

    Brij Bhasin, Principal and India Investment Lead at Rebright Partners, which is a Japanese venture capital firm, discusses their India strategy. The podcast interview encompasses broader trends in the Indian startup market.

Requirements

  • The only requirement for this course is an open mind and a willingness to learn.

Description

In India as well, the early stage investment ecosystem has fragmented, it’s no longer just seed and Series A. The seed part has fragmented to friends and family financing, pre-seed, seed, post-seed, small Series A, and large Series A.

In this course, we will do a deep dive into startup financing in India.

What is the difference between pre-seed, post-seed and pre-Series A? This is not so simple anymore to understand. For entrepreneurs who are seeking financing for the first time, it’s not easy to understand where they fit in.

There is a lot of competition to get into some of the deals for Series A (and Series B). Clearly there is a lot of companies in that pool that are not getting to Series A. Only a percentage of those are really the hot companies. The hot companies, by definition, are few and far between, which is why there is such a competition. There are a lot of companies in the middle.

Then there are the stranded businesses that don’t deserve Series A. That is irrelevant, because there are a lot of companies that do get seed investments and don’t really pan out. They shouldn’t be raising more money. That is not of concern to me because it makes sense that they shouldn’t get to Series A. But still, there is a big number of startups in the middle. They’re not the hottest companies, but they are good solid companies. Many of those are falling in the Series A crunch as well.

To keep up with the evolving nuances of startup financing, this course shares how several of the investors I’ve spoken with view the startup ecosystem in India. You will also learn what kind of validation they are looking for in a startup before getting into a deal during our in-depth conversations.

To raise money from investors in India, you also need to get a clear sense of the trends, what people are investing in, why, how, what metrics are needed to qualify.

We deal with all that and more in this course.

The 1Mby1M courses are all heavily based on interview-based case studies on Innovation, Business Models, Go To Market Strategies, Validation Principles, and various other nuances of an entrepreneur's journey. We offer extensive opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn the lessons from the trenches from successful entrepreneurs who have done it before and Investors who support their ambition.

Who this course is for:

  • Ambitious entrepreneurs who want to pursue ideas for which they have both passion and expertise.
  • Indian Engineers who want to turn their tech knowledge into multi-million dollar revenue businesses by becoming startup founders rather than remain employees.
  • Aspiring Indian founders who want to increase their chances of getting accepted into top startup accelerators such as Y Combinator, Techstars, and 500 Startups.
  • Any entrepreneur who wants to learn from successful entrepreneurs who have done it before and from investors who have supported them.
  • Professors teaching technology entrepreneurship courses in India and anywhere else in the world.

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