“If you want the truth,
I’ll tell you the truth:
Listen to the secret sound,
the real sound,
which is inside you.”
- Kabir Das
I am a strong believer in the need to take time for self-reflection to have clarity and conviction in my decisions. Especially when I have to make difficult decisions; in my case moving to India, becoming a VC, continuing to play an active role in the ecosystem.
The promise of Digital India has come of age. Innovation and entrepreneurship across all levels are accelerating. India’s startup ecosystem reflects the inner spirit of a billion aspirations.
It took 7 years for India to build 13 unicorns, and in the first three months of 2022 alone 14 unicorns have been born. But successful startups are not defined by their status as a ‘unicorn’. To me, the fundamental force of entrepreneurship is the drive to solve for difficult problems and make a difference. Most leading entrepreneurs continue to be moulded by the strength of their conviction and scope of their vision.
At the same time, India’s entrepreneurial success faces a test of character to ensure sustainable growth. Geopolitical changes, a tempering of valuations, and high expectations for growth will be the forge that transforms entrepreneurs into leaders. Getting back to business fundamentals and delivering long-term value will never go out of fashion.
I'm very proud to have welcomed 9 startups into the #KalaariFamily this year. These mission-driven founders are passionate about shaping India’s future across sectors as diverse as SaaS, Gaming, FinTech, AgriTech, DeepTech, Logistics, and more.
India's entrepreneurial zeal and innovative spirit reinforce Kalaari’s conviction to fund founders to build the future.
Threedots' social investing platform enables early traders and novices to learn, interact and transact by following leading financial influencers and investment experts.
The retail investor base in India is growing rapidly, with the number of active demat accounts expected to increase to 113M over the next four years from 62M today.
The founders, Rishu Garg, Akul Agarwal, and Prakhar Bhardwaj – bring deep insights into the problem statement, and are looking to redefine the way Indians invest in the stock market.
Atirath makes strategy games based on India's rich history and mythology.
Gaming is set to become the biggest form of entertainment in India, surpassing movies and TV. With Gaming as a market growing at 40% CAGR, it is expected to reach $6.5B by 2025.
The founders, Shiva Bayyapunedi and Ramachandra Raju, aim to tap into Indian mythology and culture to build a gaming metaverse while adding new forms of monetization through Play2Earn and NFTs in gaming.
Agrim is a B2B marketplace for agricultural inputs, providing India's 3L+ agri-input dealers with high quality products directly supplied from manufacturers.
Agri-inputs retail is a $10B market in India, plagued by inefficiencies and supply chain issues.
The founders, Avi Jain & Mukul Garg, are well versed with the nuances of agri-input trade, and are looking to transform the way Agri-inputs are sourced in India.
aastey is building India’s first size-inclusive, digital-first, athleisure and fashion brand aimed at millennial women.
Women’s fashion is a $10B market opportunity in India, with a growing shift towards athleisure and active wear. Athleisure in itself is a $1.6B opportunity, growing at 25% YoY.
The founders, Jeevika Tyagi & Kanupriya Mundhra, live and breathe the “aastey life” and are set to fuel a cultural revolution in Indian women's fashion.
Zocket is an end-to-end platform that helps SMBs generate instant content, publish across multiple platforms, and optimize ad spending for the highest ROI.
India has 63M+ SMBs. Nearly 60% of these SMBs do not have a digital marketing agency and find it difficult to manage online ads.
The founders, Karthik Venkateswaran, Sundar Natesan, Nandha Kumar Ravi, and Mukund Srivathsan, all bring deep expertise in scaling digital products, and they are building a comprehensive digital marketing platform for all SMBs.
Baaz Bikes is building an asset light, scalable EV mobility platform for gig workers in India.
The Gig Economy will be a cornerstone of India’s future by unlocking more than 90M jobs and adding $105B to India’s GDP in the next 8 years
The founders, Anubhav Sharma, Abhijeet Saxena, Sahil Malik, Shubham Srivastava, and Karan Singla, aim to maximise the earnings potential for gig workers by bringing ergonomic and affordable mobility solutions that will directly help them multiply their net income.
ElasticRun enters unicorn club with $330M Series E fundraise
With Kalaari since Series A (2016)
Congratulations to Sandeep Deshmukh, Shitiz Bansal, Saurabh Nigam, and the ElasticRun team on this fantastic achievement. We’re privileged to have been their partners right from Day 1.
ElasticRun has emerged as a market leader in e-commerce logistics, a $3.5B market today that is growing rapidly and expected to cross $8B by 2025. ElasticRun’s asset light variable capacity model enables efficient FMCG distribution across Tier II+ towns, home to 10M kirana stores.
We are glad to welcome Softbank, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Chimera and Innoven Capital in the latest round. They join Prosus, Avataar VC, and us as investors in the company.
StanPlus raises $20M in the largest HealthTech Series A in India
With Kalaari since Seed (2017)
Congratulations to Prabhdeep Singh and the StanPlus team on this incredible milestone.
Emergency response and patient transport is a $3.5B+ market in India and Stanplus has established itself as a leader in the smart medical response space.
We are glad to welcome Healthquad and HealthX Capital in the latest round. They join us as investors in the company.
Congratulations to Nitesh Ranjan Rout, Niraj Nandy, and the entire Hiver team on their latest fundraise.
Hiver is an email helpdesk product built for GSuite that enables users to collaborate from their email boxes and work together on sales, support, hiring, project management, and operations. The GSuite CRM Market is expected to be $3B+ by 2025, and Hiver looks set to become the market leader. We’re privileged to be early partners in their mission to redefine the customer service experience for enterprises.
We are glad to welcome K1 Investment Management in the latest investment round. They join Kae Capital, AngelList, and us as investors in the company.
Congratulations to Ritish Reddy, Sethu Meenakshisundaram, Chaithanya Yambari, and the entire Zluri team on closing their Series A round.
The global SaaS Management market presents a $1.9B market opportunity that’s clocking CAGR of 16%. Zluri has shown stellar execution capabilities in product building, scaling Zluri into one of the leading SaaS management companies globally. We’re privileged to be early partners in their journey.
We are glad to welcome Mass Mutual Ventures in the latest investment round. They join Endiya Partners and us as investors in the company.
We are rooting for an amazing year ahead for the #KalaariFamily.
1. “As a founder and a leader, always stay focused on the long term. This helps you navigate through both, short-term failure as well as success.”
On this episode of #PayItForward, Sahil Barua, Co-founder & CEO of Delhivery, sheds light on what it takes to build a successful tech business and why it’s important to think long-term.
Here are three key lessons he shared from his journey as a business leader:
Clarity of purpose as a business is crucial. This will help you keep focused in the long run
There will be hard times that will test your powers of resilience and perseverance. Actively seek external support and mentorship
There’s no such thing as too much communication. Keep lines open at all times – with your investors, employees, and customers
Kalaari’s #PayItForward casts the spotlight on founders and CEOs who have built large, successful businesses, playing a significant role in shaping India’s startup landscape.
2. “To establish basic product-market-fit, you don’t always need to raise a lot of capital. When you are constrained for funds, prove your product in your local market first, and use those learnings while you scale.”
On this episode of #CXXONoCeiling, Lakshmi Potluri, Head of Asia Business Development at B Capital Group, shares her insights on building companies from Zero to One, and raising capital to scale.
Here are three important lessons from her journey:
Work without attachment to the outcomes
Be prepared to move quickly and pivot if your initial hypothesis isn’t working
Deeply understand consumer behaviour in a new market first before entering it
#CXXONoCeiling is a platform where exceptional women leaders share their insights and learnings from their entrepreneurial journeys.
Want to learn from successful founders and business leaders? Click here !
“Kalaari's culture makes me feel that I am a part of something that is visionary yet rooted in values.”
Nishtha Kishore is the Legal Counsel at Kalaari. She is a dual-qualified lawyer, licensed to practice in India, as well as New York. She’s driven to help create exciting new alliances and provide creative solutions as Legal Counsel to the Kalaari team. Outside of work, areas such as wellness, fitness, nutrition, & podcasts on a variety of subjects take up Nishtha’s R&R time. Fashion, TV shows, and Indian street foods are her guilty pleasures.
“Technology is magic. And Kalaari is where the magic happens. I'm super excited to set out on this adventure into the brave new world of Indian innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Viraj Nair is AVP, Marketing at Kalaari. He is a seasoned marketing and communications professional, with a wealth of experience in financial journalism. He has authored and edited articles for leading newspapers, newswires, and magazines in India, covering many sectors from autos to sports and technology. When he's not working, Viraj loves goofing around with his 2-year-old son, cooking exotic meals for his family, watching football, writing, painting and reading.
#KalaariFamily celebrates Holi, a riot of colours, laughter and many memories!
CXXO’s #YesSheCan Women’s Day celebrations cast the spotlight on the biases women entrepreneurs shatter in their daily lives. Many thanks to everyone in our CXXO community for making it a truly memorable evening. We’re inspired by your passion to #LevelThePlayingField.
Have you ever wondered why a driver takes a second to pray on passing a temple but doesn’t wear the seat belt? Or why do we hesitate to reach out for that last piece of cake or pizza? The answers are rooted in economics.
As the name suggests, ‘The Economics of Small Things’ written by Dr. Sudipta Sarangi uses everyday analogies and common scenarios and links them to economic concepts. Without using any complex equations, numbers, or figures, Sarangi explains the nuances of economic theories through bite-sized stories with just the right amount of humour.
Here are some key takeaways:
Economics is all around us. Simple everyday actions can be explained using the lens of economics. There is always an explanation for why we do what we do
As the author puts it - incentives matter, heterogeneity matters, complementarities matter, information matters, cognitive costs matter, and strategic behaviour matters
