1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Rahul Chandra of Unitary Helion Ventures (Part 3)

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.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Rahul Chandra of Unitary Helion Ventures (Part 2)

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 vertical in terms of the disruptions that are happening and the range of companies that you could get to invest in in the Valley is far deeper.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Rahul Chandra of Unitary Helion Ventures (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Rahul Chandra was recorded on July 2019.

Rahul Chandra, Managing Director at Unitary Helion Ventures, provides an excellent overview of the opportunity around India’s next 400 million consumers.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about yourself and about Unitary Helion. What are you investing in? What is the investment thesis?

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Deepen Parikh of Courtside Ventures (Part 5)

Deepen Parikh: We want to plan the infrastructure side. Obviously, 4G in India and the infrastructure that Jio has created is a game changer for a lot of content that is being consumed.

Similarly if you look at something like China, the market is big enough to have direct deals with some of the major sports leagues. Every country, at the end of the day, comes down to the same thing. How do you engage the community aspect? How do you create engagement?

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Deepen Parikh of Courtside Ventures (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: Your talk of the drone racing league reminds me of Harry Potter and the Quidditch game.

Deepen Parikh: That’s right. I would recommend watching it because it actually does.

Sramana Mitra: Is there anything else that you want to add to enlighten us about your sector?

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Deepen Parikh of Courtside Ventures (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Beam is also a subscription business model?

Deepen Parikh: It wasn’t; it was ad-supported. It was very early. It’s different from The Athletic, which was more of subscription model and more consistent revenue where you can see the growth over time. This was a pure-play on technology interactivity, but more importantly, it’s just massive validation from the small community.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Deepen Parikh of Courtside Ventures (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: I have a few questions. As you correctly laid out, a lot of the sports ventures are essentially media and entertainment ventures. It’s basically performance media that monetizes. What is the product for this company that people are subscribing to?

Deepen Parikh: It’s written content. As a sports fan of a team, you’re paying for in-depth access to content. It may not appeal to every single sports fan out there, but it appeals very heavily to anyone who is a hardcore fan.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Deepen Parikh of Courtside Ventures (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: How big is Courtside Ventures?

Deepen Parikh: Our first fund is $35 million. We were scrambling non-stop. It was just me and my partner. Our job is to find the best entrepreneurs, companies, and ideas across our main verticals. As a first-time fund, it was about building relationships with other VCs, sports leagues, and founders.