Bharath Bhaskar

🚨 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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Natasha Malpani Launches ₹200 Crore Fund to Power India’s AI Startups Former Kae Capital partner Natasha Malpani has launched Boundless Ventures, an early-stage venture fund with a corpus of ₹200 crore, dedicated to supporting homegrown AI-native startups across India. The fund will focus on pre-seed and seed-stage investments in companies innovating across consumer AI, infrastructure, agent tooling, healthcare, logistics, deep tech, and make-in-India hardware. Boundless has already written its first cheques to startups including Superhealth, Armatrix, PierSight, Knot, and two stealth ventures in AI infrastructure and consumer AI. Beyond capital, the fund promises to bring narrative and network support to founders. As Malpani puts it, India today has a once-in-a-generation advantage talent density, digital rails, and ambition to build global AI leaders from day one. At Startup Veda, we’re thrilled to see local capital fueling the AI frontier. This fund signals rising maturity in India’s venture ecosystem—placing conviction behind AI-first founders well before the rest of the world catches on. Join the conversation: Which early-stage AI ventures excite you the most? How powerful is the mix of capital + storytelling for building AI startups? #Startup #AI #VentureCapital #DeepTech #StartupIndia #FounderStories

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Anthropic raised $13B at a $183B valuation Fundraise is greater than entirety of VC in India raised in 2024, valuation is close to that of all of India's unicorns in total The crazy part is that it's a spin-off team from OpenAI, which itself is worth $300B Different scale

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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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🚨 Urban Company’s existing investors are backing its Rs 1,900 crore IPO in a big way - Steadview Capital, Singapore’s Arohi, Think Investments and DF International have subscribed to 10% of the Rs 854 crore anchor book. All of the have been investors in Urban Company since at least 2021 - This comes after Elevation Capital has picked up additional shares through its late-stage fund from Tiger Global

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📢 Mumbai ranks #2 in buyer counts across all metros. But which HOUSING SOCIETIES are these buyers concentrated in? We did the analysis—here’s what we discovered: At Xpert, we analyzed verified purchase data from 745K+ buyers across 89+ pincodes in Mumbai, and mapped their delivery addresses to identify the societies they reside in. We then aggregated this buying data spanning digital & retail POS purchases across categories like Personal Care, Food & Beverages, Apparel, Electronics, to rank the Top 50 Housing Societies based on their buyer density and purchasing power. Here are some highlights from our findings: 🔹Buyer Clusters Are Ultra Intense – Just 12 out of the Top 50 societies account for more than 40% of purchasing power, making them goldmines for precision-led BTL activations. 🔹Zonal Strength Emerges – Societies in west Mumbai consistently rank higher on buyer density, compared to East and South Mumbai. 🔹Category Trends Differ – While residents of Sarvodaya Heights lean towards higher purchases in kids’ products, Omkar 1973 is dominated by design-conscious consumers. We’ve covered all this into Mumbai’s Top Housing Societies Report—a ready-to-apply playbook for brands to: 1️⃣Prioritize societies for door-to-door activations, sampling, and BTL campaigns. 2️⃣Identify OOH hotspots—banners, standees, entry gate screens for unmatched buyer visibility. 3️⃣Decode buyer motivations & category-specific consumption trends on a society level. If you’re looking to win Mumbai with smarter marketing, stocking, and distribution, this report is your blueprint. Built with 💜 by Xpert’s data & product teams. 👉 Drop “Xpert” in the comments & 👉 Send a connection request to get the full report straight to your DM. 🗓 Free access valid for 30 days from publish date #TopHousingSocieties #MumbaiSocietyReport #Marketing #UnlockDemand #RetailExpansion #BTLMarketing #BuyerInsights #StorePlanning #ConsumerIntelligence #Mumbai #MumbaiRealEstate #MumbaiRetail #DataDriven #Retail #HousingSocieties #AdTargeting #OOHPlanning

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𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 $𝟭 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 India’s manufacturing output hit $471B in FY24, and if current momentum continues, it’s projected to nearly triple to $1.3T by FY30. But this isn’t just about topline growth, it’s about a shift in the quality of what we’re building. We’re moving from assembly to IP-led manufacturing, from manual production to automation and digitization, and from commoditized inputs to strategic sectors like electronics, aerospace, and medical devices. This is what we call advanced manufacturing—companies that build or apply deep R&D, proprietary equipment, or process innovation to drive step changes in performance, efficiency, or cost. It’s not a buzzword. It’s where the world is headed. And it’s where India has a real shot at global leadership. 𝗔𝘁 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹, 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀. Smartphone exports crossed $24.1B in FY25, making them our largest export category. Over 200 mobile factories are now operational, up from just 2 in 2014. And PLI incentives have catalyzed over ₹14 lakh crore in production. This isn’t a government-led push alone. It’s a rare convergence of policy, global supply chain shifts, and startup energy. If we lean in now—with capital, skilling, and long-term conviction—India won’t just participate in the global manufacturing wave. We’ll shape it.

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Ever wondered why US VCs invest more in SaaS while in India we focus on consumer? From a seed investor’s lens, the math looks very different. In the US (SaaS) → Predictable ARR means companies can raise debt early, so equity rounds are cleaner and less frequent. A seed investor who comes in at $5–10M valuation often still holds a meaningful stake by Series C. Multiples at exit (10–20x ARR) only compound that advantage. In India (Consumer) → Brands chew up capital for inventory and offline scale. That means round after round of equity, each one crushing early investors. A seed cheque at $5M valuation can shrink to a rounding error by the time the company is big. On spreadsheets, it looks like bad math. But here’s the paradox: India’s consumption depth is so large that even after ugly dilution, outcomes can still be big enough to make sense. In the US, SaaS is the logical bet. In India, consumer is the volume bet. For seed investors, it’s not about who scales faster — it’s about who leaves you with more stake once they do :)

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💡 A perspective for founders on angel money Many founders ask for very small cheques from angels — ₹5–10L. Nothing wrong with that, but here’s the reality: 👉 The smaller the cheque, the lesser the involvement. Why? Because time is also an investment. If the stake is tiny, the incentive to spend hours guiding, mentoring, and opening networks naturally reduces. As angels, we love to support founders. But meaningful guidance, regular reviews, and network push usually come when there’s meaningful skin in the game. So if you’re raising, think beyond “let me collect 20 small cheques.” Instead, ask yourself: “Which 2–3 angels can back me meaningfully with both money and time?” ⚡ Funding isn’t just about filling the cap table. It’s about building the right circle of believers who walk with you. #AngelInvestor #FounderTips #Fundraising #StartupInsights #DeepakBhagnaniFamilyOffice

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