Rahul Chandra: I very strong selection criteria that have a lot to do with growth. Growth is a big factor. Let’s say I’m part of a micro-finance investment cap table. My response is, in India, if you’re not doing things with the right scale, it’s not going to mean anything. It’s a lot like how
Sramana Mitra: How many of those 11 investments are in EdTech? Rahul Chandra: Just one so far. Sramana Mitra: Do you want to talk about that? Rahul Chandra: We have not announced this one, but I can talk about it. The premise is similar to what I’d said. There is a two-dimensional, non-interactive nature to
Rahul Chandra: One of our companies is called Jar. There is a very big question about whether the segment of 400 million UPI users that Jar is targeting and investing for is just a dream. For them, investing needs significant capital saved in the bank. India is a credit-hungry market. Are people even thinking about
Rahul Chandra, Managing Director at Arkam Ventures, is a veteran of the Indian Venture Capital industry. This discussion spans historical context to the current Unicorn mania. Great analysis!
Rahul Chandra, Managing Director at Arkam Ventures, is a veteran of the Indian Venture Capital industry. This discussion spans historical context to current Unicorn mania. Great analysis!
Sramana Mitra: Do you want to talk about a couple of companies that you’ve invested in that you are particularly excited about? What are they doing? What value proposition are they providing? What are they experiencing in penetrating the market? Rahul Chandra: We are saving some of the new names from Unitary for a formal
Sramana Mitra: Geographically, are we talking about non-major metros now? Rahul Chandra: We are talking about the next 50 towns and cities. Especially if you travel there, you see the change happening. There is certainly a need to change the mindset of a VC while thinking about customers in these parts.
Rahul Chandra: Our thesis, of course, changed in 2011 but it was multi-faceted. We were investing more similarly to a Silicon Valley fund which is consumer enterprise and consumer internet specifically. These are fairly broad terms. Since you know both sides very well, you know that the depth you can get to in a particular