In this episode, Pankaj Makkar (Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to Bertelsmann, evolution of Bertelsmann’s India investment strategy and why now is a good time to accelerate investments in India, challenges faced in evaluating growth stage startups, mitigating the noise when investing in a ‘hot’ sector, Pankaj’s perspective on the exit landscape in India, mental models to identify stellar startups and more.

Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), is a strategic investment arm of the global Bertelsmann Group which has invested more than $1bn in over 250 companies and funds. Established in 2012, BII is a sector agnostic early-to-growth stage fund that has invested in category-defining companies like Eruditus, Licious, Shiprocket, Pepperfry, AgroStar, Vymo among others. The firm also recently closed its new $500mm India fund.

Prior to Bertelsmann, Pankaj worked with Mayasian conglomerate - The Usaha Tegas Group and invested in various sectors in India and South East Asia. Pankaj received his MBA from Harvard Business School and holds a B.Comm Hons. from Delhi University. You can connect with Pankaj here on Linkedin / Twitter.

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Show notes –

(01:50) Pankaj’s background & path leading up to Bertelsmann India
(03:48) Evolution of Bertelsmann’s India investment strategy
(08:25) India bull case - Why now is a good time to accelerate investments in India?
(14:07) Challenges faced in evaluating growth stage startups; Assessing binary & non-binary risks
(20:11) Mitigating the noise & taking a measured approach when investing in a ‘hot’ sector
(24:40) Processing signals from early stage investors
(26:25) Portfolio construction strategy at Bertelsmann
(30:15) Pankaj’s perspective on exits in India’s startup ecosystem
(33:13) Mental models to identify stellar startups; Key outlier founders within Bertelsmann’s portfolio - Eriditus, Licious, Pepperfry, Shiprocket, Agrostar
(37:02) How has being a VC influenced Pankaj’s personality over the years?
(40:40) Rapid fire and closing remarks

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