The Desi VC with Akash Bhat

Swati Bhargava is the Co-Founder of CashKaro.com, India’s largest Cashback & Coupons site, backed by Kalaari Capital, Korea investment partners and Affle. Swati first started Pouring Pounds with her husband Rohan Bhargava in the UK in 2011. Seeing the huge opportunity in India they launched CashKaro.com in April 2013. Swati is an alumnus of the London School of Economics and has worked at Goldman Sachs in London for 5 years before embarking on the path of entreprneurship. In this episode we’ll cover her decade long journey building a consumer business and all things she’s learned about being a founder and growing as leader. . . . Episode Notes: Swati's journey into entrepreneurship (2:54) Influence of parents on career decisions (7:30) Essential advice for aspiring and first-time entrepreneurs (10:40) Embracing uncertainty in entrepreneurship (15:25) Founder’s evolution as the company grows (18:35) Cultivating company culture (23:55) Pros and cons of having your life partner as a co-founder (31:40) Early days of CashKaro: Customer acquisition, attracting investors, and brand building (34:50) How capital empowers founders (39:04) Taking a step back to move forward (42:42) Investor sentiment in 2024 (45:28) Transformations in the Indian startup ecosystem over the past decade (47:45) CashKaro’s larger vision and future outlook (52:54) Spirituality and mental resilience as a founder (59:36) The importance of vulnerability in leadership (1:02:52) Advice to a younger Swati (1:09:02) . . . Social links Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Swati on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Swati on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn

Anish is the Co-founder and CEO of Open, a neo-banking platform which provides business banking services to SMEs and startups. With over 17 years in the fintech industry, Anish has a rich entrepreneurial background. In 2001, he co-founded his first startup, iFuturz Wireless, focusing on mobile value-added services. In 2007, he founded CashNxt, a plug-and-play mobile payment and financial inclusion platform for semi-urban and rural markets, which was later acquired by a Latin American company. In 2009, he built Neartivity Wireless, an NFC-based payment processing platform. In 2013, he co-founded Zwitch, India’s first developer-focused payment platform, which was acquired by Citrus Payments in 2015. At CitrusPay and later at PayU, Anish interacted with numerous SMEs and realized that banking was broken for small businesses, with owners struggling to track their income and expenses, leading him to found Open. . . . Episode Notes: Introduction (1:50) Why entrepreneurship? (2:37) Selling his first company (9:00) Building fintech in India from 2010 to 2024 (13:45) Why Open and what was the vision for the company when it was initially founded? (18:48) Building trust as an early Neo bank in India (23:20) Lessons from building multiple startups (28:20) Building and nurturing culture (33:20) Building during the years of the pandemic (40:55) Growing as a leader (47:55) Challenges of building a company at scale (52:20) Vision for Open in the coming years (56:38) Advice Anish would have given himself early in his career (58:55) . . . Social Links: Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Anish on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Anish on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn

Edul Patel is the Co-founder & CEO of Mudrex, a crypto exchange platform on a mission to democratize investing, with its primary goal being to make crypto investing easy and accessible to all. The company has raised over $22M from Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners, Tribe Captial, QED Investors and Arkam Ventures. Edul brings with him over 10 years of experience deep-rooted in finance, entrepreneurship, and building tech-driven applications. Previously Co-Founded Niffler, which was acquired by Tapzo where he led the product team to build the core infrastructure and the app. . . . Episode Notes: Intro (1:50) How Edul got into entrepreneurship (2:45) Why so many IITians become founders (6:45) Overcoming insecurities as a founder (13:13) Learnings as a second-time entrepreneur (17:40) The origin of Mudrex (22:02) How Indian VCs viewed crypto in 2017 (29:36) The crypto and web3 movement: why community matters (35:15) Building investor confidence in crypto after recent events (42:17) What Edul has learned about himself as an operator (45:45) . . . Social Links: Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠Edul on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Edul on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn

Navin Honagudi is the Managing Partner at Elev8 Venture Partners, an India-focused $200M Growth-stage fund. Elev8 focuses on Series B and C rounds of financing in hyper growth companies. He bring 18+ years of experience investing in early and growth stage technology firms and also held the positions of Co-founder and Partner at Kae Capital. . . . Episode Notes: Introduction (1:48) How Naveen entered venture capital (2:24) Comparing entrepreneurs: 2000s vs. today (4:45) Indian VC landscape & expected exits/returns in the 2000s (8:38) What Elev8 looks for in founders (11:45) Why India is exciting today (18:01) Opportunities in offline to online transition in India (25:30) Emerging sectors like faith-tech (28:15) Next billion dollar opportunities: alcohol, sex-tech, betting, gaming (32:25) Summarizing investment experiences: CVC, consumer VC, and growth-stage VC (37:25) Investing in early-stage vs. growth-stage (42:15) Advice Naveen would give his younger self (45:28) . . . Social Links: Follow ⁠⁠⁠Navin on Twitter⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠Navin on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn

Sanket Shah, the visionary Founder and CEO of InVideo, shares his journey of creating an AI-powered video platform with over 25 million users. He discusses the influence of his entrepreneurial family on his career choice and the emotional challenges of entrepreneurship. Sanket reflects on the importance of simplicity in product design, the shift in focus from enterprise clients to content marketers, and the value of effective feedback in product development. He emphasizes resilience and self-awareness as key traits for founders navigating the startup landscape.

Ashok is the Co-founder and CEO of IDfy, an online fraud detection and identity platform that provides background verification services to banks and financial institutions. He started his career in semi-conductors, building high-speed network processors. His MBA degree took him away from Engineering and into the world of Business Strategy. He worked with British Telecom in London for 5 years before deciding that his heart lay in creating value grounds-up.  The company has raised over $54M from IndiaMart, KB Investment, Blume Ventures, Elev8 Venture Partners among many others. . . . Episode Notes: Introduction (2:00) Was entrepreneurship part of Ashok’s career plan (3:04) Early influence of entrepreneurship (4:40) Learnings from building (13:50) What does entrepreneurship teach you about failure and setbacks (25:00) Struggling with mental health as founders (30:00) Evolving as a founder: Doer to enabler (39:45) Building a ‘change culture’ (44:01) Impact of entrepreneurship on personal life (51:35) Advice to self and other founders (54:29) . . . Social Links: Follow ⁠⁠Ashok on Twitter⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠Ashok on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn

Rajiv Srivatsa is a Partner at Antler India, one of the most active early-stage venture capital firms. Prior to Antler, he co-founded Urban Ladder, an omni-channel furniture and decor retailer started in 2012. The company raised over $100M from SAIF Partners, Kalaari, Steadview, Peak XV Partners, Trifecta Capital and Ratan Tata. In November 2020, the company was acquired by Reliance Retail. Prior to Urban Ladder, he served as a Senior Product Manager with Yahoo, and before that at Infosys. He is an alumnus of IIT-Madras and IIM-Bangalore. . . . Episode Notes: How did it all start for Rajiv (2:02) When and why did Rajiv decide to start Urban Ladder (5:50) Where does Rajiv’s love for consumer products come from (12:10) How did idea of selling home decor / furniture originate (14:41) How did Urban Ladder look at culture internally and build a great one at scale (28:45) How has Rajiv’s leadership evolved over the years (34:12) How and why did Rajiv decide to enter venture capital (42:35) What does Rajiv enjoy the most - being an operator, founder or investor (55:10) Rajiv’s advice to anyone on a break looking for a framework on how to develop a career plan (57:35) . . . Social Links: Follow ⁠Rajiv on Twitter⁠ Follow ⁠⁠Rajiv on LinkedIn⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠⁠ Follow ⁠⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠⁠ Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn

Shwetank Verma is the co-founder of Leo Capital, a venture capital fund investing in companies inIndiaand South East Asia. Recent investments include CoLearn (edtech), WayForward (mental health), CoverGenius (Insurtech) and IndiaGold (Digital Gold). Leo Capital is backed by institutional investorsfrom Singapore and Silicon Valley. Prior to Leo Capital, he led Open Innovation for MetLife Asia and was a part of the senior management team of LumenLab, MetLife's innovation consultancy. At LumenLab, he advised MetLife country CEOs andsenior leaders on growth, startup collaboration, culture change and new product development. Prior to joining MetLife, he was a serial entrepreneur in healthcare and education in India. He serves asInnovation Adviser to the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Singapore Management University. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Nottingham (UK), where he was a Foreignand Commonwealth Office scholar. . . . Episode Notes: State of the industry in 2024  How does Shwetank define a good investor? Takeaways from working with portfolio founders Vision for India the next 5 years Examples of building from India for the world from a category-creation play Best investor persona: Operator vs Pure investor? How did Leo build its internal thesis? Why did Shwetank become an investor? What does Shwetank like and dislike about investing? How has Shwetank evolved as an investor? Insights from working with Leo’s porticos Advice Shwetank would give his younger self . . . Social Links: Follow Shwetank on Twitter Follow ⁠Shwetank on LinkedIn⁠ Follow ⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠ Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠ Follow Akash Bhat on LinkedIn

Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel, discusses his journey into venture capital, the potential of the Indian market, insights gained from investment experience, evaluating people as an investor, and advice for founders.

Priya Saiprasad is a General Partner at Touring Capital, a fund investing in enterprise-focused AI powered global startups. She co-founded Touring after 13 years in venture capital, M&A and enterprise technology. She was most recently a Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, where she led investments into category-defining software companies including Pixis, Vendr, Observe.ai, CommerceIQ, Sendoso and Skedulo. Previously, Priya was at Mayfield Fund focused on early-growth investments, and a founding member of M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), where she led investments in Go1, Workboard, PandaDoc, Element AI (acquired by ServiceNow), and Bonsai (acquired by Microsoft). Prior to that, she was a Deal Lead in Square’s M&A team leading acquisitions at the intersection of software and machine learning. Priya was recognized by Forbes in 2018 as part of their 30 under 30 in Venture Capital list. She is actively involved with All Raise, Neythri, and several prominent Women in Tech associations. Priya holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. . . . Episode Notes: How did Priya end up in venture (2:36) What about venture surprised Priya the most (6:00) Insecurities as/of an investor (11:25) Learnings as an investor when investments haven’t really worked out (17:02) How can one acquire the skills to assist founders, even if they haven't personally experienced those challenges? (25:05) Investing is personal: Do investors derive guidance from aspects of their life when making investment decisions? (29:35) How does competition drive investors (34:52) Prestige and perception in venture (41:30) Advice Priya would give her younger self (47:20) . . . Social Links: Follow ⁠Priya on Twitter⁠ Follow ⁠Priya on LinkedIn⁠ Follow ⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠ Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠ Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn