RAAGHAV BELAVADI

Why start a VC? To stay in the trenches. That’s roughly how Shashank Randev and Yagnesh Sanghrajka described the motivation behind 247VC during our sit-down session at 91Springboard in Vikhroli, Mumbai. They operate from there and we were having coffee at abcoffee, one of their portfolio companies. Here are a few narratives I found compelling: 1. Their new fund isn’t a rebrand (they were with 100x VC earlier). They’re bringing new ambition, sharper focus, and deeper “operator DNA.” 2. Bet size + intent: ~₹200 crore base fund with ₹50 crore greenshoe, targeting ~30 investments over 3 years. 3. First checks in the range ₹3–7 crore, with reserves for follow-on rounds. 4. Focus sectors: Consumer tech, Enterprise SaaS, Deep Tech, and Industry 5.0 (i.e. physical + industrial + advanced systems) A fund that behaves like a co-founder is rare. The timing is right: India is entering what I believe will be a decade where “physical + digital” (industrial, hardware, AI + robotics) will see breakout moments. If you are building in the deep frontier or industrial + tech intersection, leave a comment. #StartupIndia #VC #OperatorVC #DeepTech #IndustrialTech #SeedStage 247VC

٢٧٧

٩ تعليق

Diipa Khosla launching ‘Hot Sauce a fiery DLT lip plumper’ inspired by ghee + chilli
is a masterclass in how personal brand fuels revenue, scale, and market domination. That authenticity has become the heartbeat of Indē Wild. It’s Ayurvedistry, her mother’s Ayurvedic wisdom meeting modern science. The best seller? A hair oil straight from her mom’s recipes. The new launch? A lip plumper inspired by her childhood. And it doesn’t stop at products. Walk into one of her offline events and you feel the same energy: warmth, intimacy, aspiration, connection. Here’s the nuance most founders miss:
When your business is an authentic extension of you, you’re not competing on product features, you’re competing on identity. That creates a moat no amount of paid marketing can buy. That alignment is exactly what now flows through every SKU of Indē Wild and why the brand cuts through in a saturated beauty market. Business Breakdown (Why this works): * Trust Before Transaction → Years as a beauty/fashion authority built credibility. So when she launched, her audience wasn’t “trying” her brand, they were investing in someone they already trusted. That’s why first day sales hit fast. * Personal Brand = Product Roadmap → Founders often chase market trends. Diipa anchored her roadmap in identity, her mother’s Ayurvedic blend, her upbringing, her cultural heritage. That’s not sentimental, it’s strategic differentiation. * Consistency = Compounding Attention → Same voice online, offline, and in product launches. No disconnect. Consistency compounds into equity and equity lowers acquisition costs. * Science Meets Storytelling → Ayurveda provides emotional pull, science provides rational proof. This duality wins both consumer loyalty and investor confidence. * Cultural Moat → There are a thousand hair oils. But none with the credibility of “this is my mother’s recipe.”That’s a moat competitors can’t replicate. * Influence → Infrastructure → A strong personal brand doesn’t just sell products, it buys leverage. Retailers stock faster, investors listen longer, media amplifies harder. * Authenticity Converts to ARPU → Premium positioning works because authenticity is aspirational. That’s how founders command higher price points without discount wars. Takeaways for Founders: * Your personal brand isn’t vanity, it’s the lowest cost, highest-ROI customer acquisition channel you’ll ever own. * Every story you tell today is compound interest on tomorrow’s sales. * If your products don’t reflect you, they’ll drown in noise. * Authenticity isn’t soft. It’s a revenue strategy. * Personal brand is the difference between being another product on the shelf vs. building a category defining business. 
Indē Wild isn’t just selling lip plumper.
It’s selling an identity people want to belong to. And that’s the highest form of brand building: when your personal brand becomes the operating system for business growth. #PersonalBranding #FounderTips #Entrepreneurship

٩١

١٢ تعليق

A founder who has spent 32 Years building IP-Owned Tech in India's Defense Sector. Ashok Atluri, Founder of Zen Technologies Limited shares a growth story bootstrapped from Hyderabad: -Revenue: ₹60 Cr (FY21) → ₹930 Cr(FY24) -Market cap: 40 Cr (2012-13) → 13000 Cr today -Growth: 400X in 12 years Takeaways from our conversation: 1. India historically imported 65–70% of its defense equipment. Today, defense exports have grown more than 30× over the past decade, with the private sector contributing around 60% of exports. Domestic defense production has increased to ₹1.27 lakh crore, a 174% rise since FY 2014–15. 2. For over two decades, Zen built advanced simulators but struggled to sell them in India because single-vendor bids weren’t accepted. The IDDM policy in 2015 gave preference to IP-owning Indian companies and allocated 75% of the capital acquisition budget to local sourcing. And decades of R&D became a real market worth ₹200 billion. 3. Defense tech startups in India have raised $184 million in VC funding since 2020. Zen’s journey shows that IP-owned Tech built with self-funded R&D can build the most defensible advantage, similar to how Apple captures value through IP rather than manufacturing. 4. Zen’s anti-drone systems were proven in field operations, leading to export inquiries from over 20 countries. This mirrors the broader trend of India’s defense exports growing from ₹1,940 crore (FY14) to ₹21,083 crore (FY24). Field-tested solutions build trust far faster than lab demos or pilot projects. 5. Government fundings are rewarding innovation over manufacturing. Programs like iDEX provide up to ₹10 crore for proven concepts, while DRDO offers ₹50 crore per system under the Technology Development Fund. This shift allows companies to reinvest profits into next-generation R&D. 6. Ashok believes that not all technologies should be patented. Highly secretive or complex innovations can be reverse-engineered if patented. Instead, patent what is obvious to outsiders to protect your competitive edge. 7. Build with a focused approach on Pareto technologies with maximum impact. Instead of chasing every opportunity, Zen concentrated on the 20% of technologies delivering 80% of results, anti-drone systems and simulators. Prioritizing high-leverage areas compounds impact effectively. 8. Time market entry around overlooked gaps: In 2018, drones were a hot topic, but there was little attention on anti-drone systems. Zen entered this gap and was ready when the need became urgent, from regional conflicts to domestic security. Opportunities often lie where others are silent. 9. Create policies around your innovation: Self-funded R&D firms face unique risks that conventional procurement rules often overlook. Zen advocated for new categories rather than adapting breakthrough technologies to unsuitable frameworks, ensuring their innovations could be evaluated on merit. Full Episode https://lnkd.in/gnAFEj3f

١٧٣

٥ تعليق

Today’s announcements by PM Modi signal a triple shift in India’s growth journey ✅ GST Simplified Moving to a 2-slab system makes life easier for businesses and cheaper for households. Essentials, medicines, and insurance become more affordable, while MSMEs and startups face less compliance friction. ✅ Make in India Strengthened A renewed call to buy and build Indian. Not just patriotic, but practical: resilient supply chains, more jobs, global-standard quality, and exports that carry the “Made in India” mark with pride. ✅ H-1B Fee Hike A wake-up call. Indian talent is sought after globally, but rising barriers abroad mean we must double down on creating world-class opportunities at home. Let’s convert “brain drain” into “brain gain.” These aren’t isolated reforms — they are part of a larger vision of self-reliance, competitiveness, and global leadership. The choice is clear: Invest in India, Build in India, Believe in India. #GSTReform #MakeInIndia #AtmanirbharBharat #EconomicGrowth #IndianTalent #H1BVisa #MSME #GlobalCompetitiveness #IndiaRising #Leadership

٦٣

٤ تعليق

After a fabulous two years at Kae Capital, I knew it was time to build the fund I wished had existed when I was a founder. Today, I’m launching Boundless Ventures, an early-stage, AI-native venture firm backing India-rooted founders who are building globally defensible companies at the intersection of science, systems, and culture. Boundless starts with a simple belief: the next decade’s breakout companies won’t “add AI” as a feature. They’ll be AI-native from day one, rethinking consumer products, enterprise workflows, and infrastructure with new primitives. We’ll write the first cheque ($200–400K), and then double down. We’ve proud to have already partnered with six category-shaping founding teams: • Superhealth: rethinking healthcare from the ground up • Armatrix: autonomous snake-arm robots for engine inspection • PierSight: real-time ocean intelligence • KNOT: AI-native fashion discovery and logistics • Two stealth companies in infra and consumer AI Our thesis spans four arenas: • The AI-native stack: infra, agents, and memory protocols • Make-in-India hardware: autonomous systems, design-led manufacturing • New-India consumer: culture × code • Science × story: where deep tech meets narrative leverage India is not catching up. It’s compounding. Boundless exists to back originals, with speed, belief and storytelling firepower. Link to our website & thesis below.

١٬٩١١

٤٦٧ تعليق

SEBI has changed the rules of Angel Investing in India! In the past, with just ₹5,000 and a WhatsApp group invite, anyone could claim the title of “Angel Investor.” Not any more. Recently, SEBI mandated that only Accredited Angel Investors would now be able to invest in startups. Download (no signups) to discover, how the recent regulations impacts founders, angel investors, and ecosystem as a whole. #Startups #AngelInvesting #AngelInvestors #SEBI

٨٢

٢٤ تعليق