The Desi VC with Akash Bhat

Pankaj Makkar is the Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments, a strategic investment arm of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA in India, focusing on investments in the digital, education, media and services sectors. He’s spent his career at Astro, Univision and has been at Bertelsmann for the last decade. He holds a B.Comm Hons. from Delhi University and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.Bertelsmann India Investments has several startups in its portfolio including Licious, Saavn, Pepperfry, and Quikr.Follow Pankaj (@_pankajmakkar) and host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) on Twitter.. . .Glossary of terms:1. Growth stage: Growth stage investment firms invest in well-run, growing businesses with proven business models and solid management teams looking to continue driving the business. Series B and beyond rounds are usually termed as ‘growth stage’.. . .In this episode we will cover:1. Pankaj Makkar’s background: (00:19)2. COVID-19 impact and the current state of work: (1:26)3. How has venture evolved in the last decade: (3:02)4. In this new normal, what are the learning from market perspective and VC Opportunities: (6:07)5. What is nature of conversations right now with portfolio companies: (8:17)6. Thoughts on sectoral thesis for post COVID world: (9:16)7. Evolution and current view of India VC market: (12:21)8. Why is it hard to multiply fund returns: (14:56)9. How do you do diligence for portofolio companies: (17:52)10. What diligence data points and methodology: (18:18)11. For companies already invested in, how do you mitiagte risk: (21:25)12. Investing in growth stage companies for consumer vs enterprise technology companies (25:10)13. Bertselmann’s Fund-of-Fund (FoF) strategy for investing in other funds: (26:48)14. EdTech and the constant disruption in the space: (34:29)15. Rapid-Fire - (40:48)

Ankita Vashistha is the Founder and Managing Partner at Saha Fund, a fund that invests in early stage tech-startups run by women entrepreneurs. Ankita comes with a background finance having spent time working in venture capital and private equity before co-founding Saha Fund along with her partner, Usha Amin. Follow Saha Fund (@sahafund) and host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) on Twitter.. . .In this episode we will cover:1. Ankita’s background2. Covid-impact on the venture industry3. What is Saha Fund and what’s special about it?4. Why diversity in investing matters in today’s context?5. How can VCs accommodate more diversity when it comes to investing in India?6. Challenges in fundraising as a fund manager for a women entrepreneurship venture fund7. What can Indian VCs learn from success of Nyaka, CashKaro, Rivigo8. Sectors that Saha Fund focuses on

Ishpreet Singh Gandhi is the Founder and Managing Partner at Stride Ventures, a venture-debt fund focused on lending to growth-stage startups with investments in companies such as Bira and Stellapps. He brings over 13 years of experience encompassing Banking, Private Equity and Venture Capital. During his last stint as Regional Head (North & East) at IDFC Bank, he spearheaded startup business by initiating lending business across Fintech, Consumer, Logistics and Agritech space. He has completed his Post Graduation from Delhi University (Delhi School of Economics) and Bachelors in Commerce from Delhi University.Glossary of Terms:1. Venture Debt: Venture debt is a form of debt financing for venture equity-backed companies that lack the assets or cash flow for traditional debt financing, or that want greater flexibility. A complement to equity financing, venture debt is generally structured as a three-year term loan (or series of loans), with warrants for company stock. Overall, venture debt is a form of “risk capital” that is less costly than equity when structured appropriately.2. Covenant: Debt covenants are restrictions that lenders (creditors, debt holders, investors) put on lending agreements to limit the actions of the borrower (debtor). In other words, debt covenants are agreements between a company and its lenders that the company will operate within certain rules set by the lenders.In this episode we will cover:1. Ishpreet’s background and entry into venture capital2. What are the differences between equity-based financing and debt-based financing?3. What kind of startups qualify for venture debt4. In spite of being founder friendly, why isn’t debt financing more popular than it should be5. What steps is Stride Ventures taking to make debt financing mainstream?6. How important is the cap table while evaluating a startup during debt financing?7. When should a startup think about venture debt?8. How does venture debt economics work?9. How much should a startup at Series A raise in debt financing10. Is venture debt for everyone? Are there downsides to it?

Ritu Verma is one of the co-founders at Ankur Capital. She is passionate about bringing innovation from lab to the market and did that for a decade across corporates such as Unilever and Philips. She has also worked globally investing in IP-led renewable technologies. She has a PhD in physics from University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from INSEAD.You can follow Ritu (@rituverma01) and host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) on Twitter.…Glossary of terms:1. Impact Investing: Impact investing refers to investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return.…In this episode we will cover:1. Ritu’s journey from Academia to Venture Capital2. The definition of impact investing according to Ritu3. The bottlenecks within impact investing4. The misconceptions about impact investing5. The trends within impact investing6. Ankur Capital’s investment thesis – today and going forward7. Fund-raising for an impact focused fund8. How an impact fund tracks and measures ‘impact’9. Portfolio construction strategy at Ankur Capital10. Advice to investors and startups in the impact space

Bhaskar is the Founder and Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures. In the past decade, Bhaskar has established himself as a well-regarded early stage investor and advisor, especially in the UK and India. He has held senior corporate positions with Times of India, Zee Telefilms and Altavista UK.In 2000, he started his first entrepreneurial venture, Recreate Solutions, a company within the digital media realm and backed by Insight Partners. After scaling the business, he sold the business to a US Systems Integrator. He has since been an investor in a number of technology and media early stage business through his propriety fund, Heath Ventures, and has invested his proprietary funds in more than half a dozen start-ups in UK and India.Follow Bhaskar (@Bhaskar_MLondon) and host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) on Twitter.. . .In this episode we will cover:1. Bhaskar’s background and motivation to enter the VC world2. Evolution of venture as an asset class in India3. Development of investment thesis4. Portfolio construction and best practices5. How founders can ‘protect’ their equity during fund-raising6. Unicorn’s time allocation strategy wrt their portfolio7. Role of a VC as a board member8. Due diligence required on the part of the founder(s) while choosing investors9. If there’s any such thing as ‘raising too much money’?10. Strategies for founders if they are not able meet fund-raising targets

Mark Kahn is the Managing Partner at Omnivore, a venture capital firm which funds entrepreneurs building the future of agriculture and food systems. Mark co-founded Omnivore in 2010 with Jinesh Shah, ex-CFO at Nexus Venture Partners. Previously, Mark was the Executive Vice President (Strategy & Business Development) at Godrej Agrovet, and also had stints at Syngenta and PFM. He earned a BA (Honors) from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar.You can follow Mark Kahn (@agri_technology) and host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) on Twitter.…Glossary of terms:1. Upstream investments – Upstream investments refer to infusion of capital into businesses that utilize material inputs needed for production e.g. seed, fertilizers, machinery etc.2. Downstream investments – Downstream investments refers to the infusion of capital into businesses where products get produced and distributed. e.g. e-commerce, grocery stores, logistics etc.…In this episode, we will cover:1. Mark’s venture into agri-business2. The broad definition of agri-tech and what it encompasses3. Evolution of agri-tech as sector4. Omnivore’s thesis for India5. Upstream vs downstream investments in agri-tech6. Sectors and geographies within agri-tech in India7. Metrics Omnivore pays close attention to while evaluating for investment8. Concepts of sustainability and how it correlates to success of the Indian agri-industry9. Challenges within agri-tech and for agri-tech startups10. The global opportunity for Indian agri-tech startups

Abhishek Prasad is the Managing Partner at Cornerstone Venture Partners (CSVP), an early-stage fund focused on backing startups that are ‘technology enablers’ in India and abroad. A few of the companies within their portfolio include Intelligence Node, Wizgo, Credit Nirvana and Smart Ship.Abhishek is an IIM-B alumnus, committee member at NASSCOM and has previously spearheaded the Investment team at GenNext Ventures Fund (part of Reliance Industries Ltd.)Follow both, Abhishek Prasad (@abhishek_csvp) and host, Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) on Twitter.. . .Glossary of terms:1. NPA: NPA or Non-Performing Assets is defined as a credit facility in respect of which the interest and/or installment of principal has remained 'past due' for a specified period of time. In simple terms, an asset is tagged as non-performing when it ceases to generate income for the lender.. . .In this episode we will learn about:1. Abhishek’s experience investing as a CVC and then now as a traditional VC fund2. India’s value proposition to investors3. Qualities in a startup/founding team that attracts CSVP4. How involved an investor should be in an early stage startup5. Areas where CSVP makes investments in6. What is impact scaling and why is that the thesis for success at CSVP7. False positives and false negatives with respect to investing in technology startups8. What customer diligence is all about

Sajith Pai is the Director at Blume Venture. Sajith is a long-time media executive turned VC. At Blume, Sajith supports investments in media, edtech and e-commerce, while simultaneously helping Blume building a research and knowledge platform. Before Blume, Sajith worked at The Times of India Group, across roles in strategy, business development and marketing.Sajith has an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, and a BA in Economics from Chowgule College, Goa.You can follow him on Twitter (@sajithpai) and read his blogs on Indian VC on Medium (@sajithpai). You can also follow host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash).. . .Glossary of terms:1. PMF: Product Market Fit or PMF is the degree to which a product satisfies a strong market demand. . .In this episode we will cover:1. Why Sajith calls himself ‘the accidental VC’2. The opportunities and challenges within the different tiers in India3. Product Market Fit in the context of different markets and businesses in India4. Why Indian founders lack the storytelling capability5. Network Effects for founders (e.g. how to get in touch with top VCs)6. How can startup founders stand out / create a brand for themselves?7. That one lie that VCs tell founders

Rama Bethmangalkar is the Director at Qualcomm Ventures. He joined Qualcomm with 17 years of experience spanning technology investing, R&D and product management. Previously, he was Principal at Ventureast, a premier VC firm in India. His current interests include enterprise software, IoT, and machine learning among the emerging technologies.Prior to venture capital, Rama was with Sun Microsystems in Silicon Valley for close to 7 years, initially as a systems programmer and later as a senior product manager. Rama holds an MBA from Cornell University, M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Rhode Island, and B.Engg in Computer Science from University of Mysore, India.Follow Rama on Twitter (@Ramab323) and while you’re at it you can also follow our host, Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash).…In this episode we cover:1. What corporate venture capital (CVC) is?2. How does corporate venture capital differ from traditional venture capital?3. What is the value proposition of a corporate venture capital?4. What is the investment thesis of QualcommVentures India?5. The thought process behind portfolio construction from a CVC perspective6. Challenges that corporate venture capital presents in general and in a country like India7. What are metrics CVCs look out for while investing in companies

Karan Mohla is Executive Director and Head of Consumer Media & Technology sector at Chiratae Ventures where he heads the sector focus and strategy on Consumer Media & Technology investments. He has been investing in Indian companies since 2009 and has over 15 years of experience in the technology industry across India and the US.Prior to Chiratae Ventures, Karan worked with QVT Finance LP, a US based hedge fund and was a founding member of their Asia-Pacific practice. He earlier worked in the technology banking group at Jefferies & Company (formerly Broadview International) in Silicon Valley, where he advised several technology companies in Internet, Mobile and Enterprise Software on capital raising, M&A as well as strategic partnerships.About Chiratae Ventures: Chiratae Ventures, formerly known as IDG Ventures was founded in 2006 by Sudhir Sethi and T.C. Meenakshisundaram, and has so far backed 76 companies including Flipkart, Myntra, FirstCry, XpressBees, Newgen, Lenskart, Manthan, NestAway, PolicyBazaar, and Yatra, among others. The firm rebranded itself in 2018 to signify its focus on staying agile and sharp, like a ‘Chiratae’, or leopard, in the ever changing startup ecosystem.You can follow Karan on Twitter (@KaranMohla) and while you’re at it you can also follow our host, Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash)…In this episode, we cover:1. Covid-19 Impact on Investments and Venture Capital2. Karan’s Background and Journey in VC3. Evolution of Venture as an Asset Class in India4. Exit Scenarios for VCs in India5. Evolution of Business Models in India6. Shift from Ad-based Model to Subscription-based Model7. Rise of Digital Media Marketplaces in India8. Purchasing Trends in Consumer Markets – Media, e-Commerce, Finance9. Learnings from within Chiratae Ventures’ Portfolio10. Where is the Next Big Innovation in Consumer Market going to come from?