Anupreet Singh Lamba

In venture capital, ultimately “only a handful of companies per year actually matter”. Just 7 firms led the Series A of ~60% of startups in India that are worth $1B+ today. The list of firms leading investments in these cos is fairly predictable - PANZEL + Tiger Global. Full post on India's unicorn hunters in the comments

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$100B DOMESTIC SOFTWARE MARKET – CXO ROUNDTABLE This Tuesday in a rain-soaked Mumbai, we hosted the 2nd roundtable on the Indian Domestic Market Opportunity with India’s top Chief AI Officers, Chief Digital Officers, and founders. Planned as 90 minutes, it stretched into 3 hours of sharp debate on: ► Where the biggest domestic software opportunities lie ► How Indian enterprises can leapfrog to AI-native ► What founders need to do differently to win in India 5 BIG TAKEAWAYS FOR FOUNDERS 1) Attack big, complex India-native problems as your wedge 2) Go narrow + deep—drive growth or compliance outcomes, not just cost savings 3) Voice will be a game-changer for AI adoption in India 4) Build within the enterprise ecosystem, not siloed point solutions 5) Getting a POC is easy; proving value at POC is the real unlock Special thanks to SaaSBoomi Avinash Raghava Neha Arya Kuldeep Dhankar Ashish Tandon Pratik Pal for making this happen, and to Peak XV Partners Akshay Agarwal for hosting us. Grateful to everyone who joined despite the rains. Anup Purohit Kunal Dhingra Rucha Nanavati Rajesh Kannan Nikhil Prasad Ojha Sharad Sanghi Rajiv Srivatsa Nitin Sharma Jasnoor Gill #IndiaSaaS #DomesticMarket #AIadoption #EnterpriseAI #SaaSBoomi #IndiaSoftware #AIinIndia #StartupEcosystem #EnterpriseSoftware #MarketMapMondays

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How does he sell products on Amazon every THREE seconds? The answer lies not just in the product, but in the PRICE. 💰 ➡️In the chapter “PRICING: THE HOLY GRAIL OF BUSINESS” from my book Startups of Bharat, we unpack the story of Varun and Tarun from Boult, one of India’s top three audio and wearable brands that has bootstrapped its way to 750 CR in revenue. 😳 At a time when international heavyweights like Bose, Sennheiser, and Marshall already dominated the premium segment, and local brands were competing on price, Boult charted its course. 👇🏻 Varun and Tarun discovered a clear gap ⏩Customers wanted premium design and sound quality — without the premium price tag. However, identifying a gap and monetising it are two distinct things. The real game-changer? Boult’s adoption of the target costing model—a method where you first decide the price customers are willing to pay and then engineer your product to fit the cost constraints. For example, if the COGS is capped at 60% and comes to 2200, with a remaining 40% margin, your price would be Rs 3080. This meant tight control over production costs, design-led differentiation, and a refusal to fall into the trap of over-innovation. Profitability wasn’t a distant milestone—it was baked into the business model from day one and reinvested to grow the business to 750 CR and take the No. 3 spot in the ever-competitive audio category. 💪 Ask yourself ⬇️ I) Would your customers still trust your product if it cost 20% more—or 20% less? II) Are you pricing based on cost or value perception? III) Is your pricing strategy helping you build a brand, or just moving inventory? IV) What does your price say about you, even before your product does? Find the answers in “PRICING: THE HOLY GRAIL OF BUSINESS” — only in Startups of Bharat on Amazon. Link in comments! Varun Gupta Surya Pasricha 🌞 BOULT #startupsofbharat #startups #india

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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

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The Indian startup ecosystem needs capital. Lots and lots of it, especially if we want to create globally relevant, game-changing tech companies. Wrote about how we can achieve this in the The Economic Times. AceVector Titan Capital Confederation of Indian Industry

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Pronto just raised $11M in Series A funding! Co-led by General Catalyst & Glade Brook Capital (with BCV), this Gurgaon-based real-time household help platform is set to: ⚡ Expand into Mumbai, Bengaluru & more ⚡ Build micro-hubs for sub-10-min service ⚡ Onboard 10,000+ new workers Pronto isn’t just scaling — they’re redefining how fast and reliable home services can be. 🏡✨ #FundingNews #SeriesA #StartupGrowth #OnDemandEconomy #IndiaStartups #HouseholdServices #TechForGood #Pronto

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🚨 Big Change for Angel Investors in India SEBI has raised the bar for who qualifies as an Accredited Investor: 📉 Earlier: ₹2 Cr net tangible assets (excluding primary residence) was enough to start angel investing. 📈 Now: Net worth ≥ ₹7.5 Cr (with ₹3.75 Cr in financial assets) OR Income ≥ ₹2 Cr annually OR Income ≥ ₹1 Cr + Net worth ≥ ₹5 Cr (with ₹2.5 Cr in financial assets) Corporates/Trusts need ₹50 Cr net worth This raises a crucial question: 💭 What happens to those who met the earlier requirements, began their angel journey, but no longer qualify under the new rules? 👉 Will they be locked out of funds? 👉 Does early-stage capital shrink? 👉 Or will new models emerge to keep them engaged? I’d love to hear perspectives from founders, fund managers, and fellow investors. Drop your thoughts ⬇️ #AngelInvesting #StartupEcosystem #IndiaStartups #VentureCapital #AngelInvestors #SEBI #InvestingInIndia

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#SEBI just clipped Angel Wings. And Founders should be thankful. SEBI’s recent New Rule to restrict #angelfund participation to Accredited Investors* has sparked concern across the startup ecosystem. Many believe it will reduce the flow of early stage capital. Others feel it goes against the idea of broadening participation in angel investing. But take a closer look, especially from a founder’s point of view, and the picture starts to shift. This change may not reduce capital. It may simply improve its quality. Earlier, the eligibility to invest through an angel fund was based on a self-declared ₹2 crore net worth, excluding the primary home. That bar was relatively low. And as a result, a lot of individuals started showing up, not because they had experience or real conviction, but because they did not want to miss out. FOMO brought them in. Startups ended up paying the price. SEBI’s shift to Accredited Investors changes that. It raises the threshold. Investors will now need to meet stricter income or net worth criteria and go through a formal accreditation process. Yes, this will reduce the number of angels in the ecosystem. But the ones who remain will be serious about investing. They will bring context, experience, and capital that actually moves the needle. Ask any founder who has raised from 15 or 20 angels to fill a ₹1 crore round: You spend weeks pitching. You convince dozens of people. And what you get is a bunch of ₹50K cheques that come with expectations, but not impact. Requests for board seats. Weekly update demands. Advisory equity asks without real involvement. Same pitch. Same effort. Very little return on time. This is where SEBI’s move helps. It does not block capital. It filters it. Founders will now deal with fewer angels, but ones who bring more conviction, more clarity, and write cheques that actually matter. Fewer names on the cap table. More value in the room. #Founders: How has your experience been raising from #angels? Have smaller cheques added more value or more overhead? And do you see SEBI’s move helping or hurting your next raise? #EarlyStageCapital ##AngelNetwork #StartupEcosystem #StartupFunding

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