How We Closed Our Biggest Fund ($300M) | Alok & Ritesh | Stellaris Venture Partners

Feb 14, 2025

Alok Goyal and Ritesh Banglani, Partners at Stellaris Venture Partners, share insights from their successful $300 million fundraising journey. They dissect the ambitious nature of Indian founders and discuss strategies for recognizing potential billion-dollar B2B SaaS companies. The duo emphasizes the importance of decision-making dynamics and independent conviction in their investment choices. They also explore the shifting landscape of venture capital in India and the growing relevance of AI in shaping future investments.

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Intro

00:00 • 2min

Strategic Insights Behind Successful Venture Fundraising

01:46 • 2min

Navigating Venture Capital Investments

04:00 • 6min

Navigating Venture Capital Challenges

09:36 • 22min

Navigating Venture Capital: Founders vs. Market Potential

32:06 • 6min

Strengths and Evolution in Venture Capital

38:29 • 30min

Navigating the AI Investment Landscape

01:08:36 • 10min

Evolving Challenges in Venture Capital

01:18:15 • 11min

Venture Capitalists on Venture Capital

In this episode we have Alok Goyal and Ritesh Banglani, Partners at Stellaris Venture Partners, one of India’s top VC firms. We go into details on running a VC firm in India.

We discuss the ambition of Indian founders, what are the next B2B SaaS billion-dollar outcomes, market-first vs. founder-first investments, decision-making process at Stellaris and why DPI (Distributed to Paid-in Capital) is the ultimate measure of success.

If you’re curious about how top VCs invest, what makes a great fund, and what advantages Indian startups have in the AI race then this episode is for you.

0:00 - Stellaris Venture Partners Introduction
0:50 - How Stellaris Measures Success
3:16 - Deal Sourcing in Venture Capital
5:40 - Coverage Ratio in Venture Capital
7:39 - Contrarian Bets: Mamaearth and Whatfix
9:34 - Independent Conviction in Venture Capital
12:03 - Trust in Venture Partnerships
15:12 - The War Stories Behind Stellaris’ First Fundraise
18:10 - Fundraising during COVID
22:30 - How Stellaris Raised Its Third Fund
26:31 - Stellaris’ Investment Strategy
30:08 - Founder-First Vs. Market-first Investments
36:32 - Strengths of Stellaris’ Four Partners
41:07 - Culture of Open Disagreement in Decision-Making
48:08 - The Ambition Levels of Indian Founders
50:08 - Next Billion-Dollar SaaS Companies From India
56:17 - How Venture Investing in India Has Changed
57:38 - Decision-Making in Stellaris vs. Other VC firms
1:07:43 - Global AI Trends and Stellaris’ Investment Thesis
1:11:31 - Opportunity For Indian AI Startups
1:16:17 - How Stellaris is Evolving with Time
1:17:24 - The Need for Bigger Outcomes in Fund Three

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Hi, I am your host Siddhartha! I have been an entrepreneur from 2012-2017 building two products AddoDoc and Babygogo. After selling my company to SHEROES, I and my partner Nansi decided to start up again. But we felt unequipped in our skillset in 2018 to build a large company. We had known 0-1 journeys from our startups but lacked the experience of building 1-10 journeys.

Hence was born The Neon Show (Earlier 100x Entrepreneur) to learn from founders and investors, the mindset to scale yourself and your company. This quest still keeps us excited even after 5 years and doing 200+ episodes.

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This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.

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