One Indian startup raised capital every six hours in 2022! And this was despite the funding winter setting in after the proverbial FOMO of venture capital investors catapulted the local startup ecosystem to the bigger global stage with several dozen unicorns the year before.
Despite the challenges, the entrepreneurial revolution in India is here to stay, with startup pitches being showcased on reality shows and a growing community of founders with diverse backgrounds and experiences. However, being an entrepreneur requires more than just creating a product and developing a strategy; founders must also manage finances, HR, marketing, and other aspects of their business.
To further engage with the founders and provide them a platform for discussion and learning, VCCircle is launching its debut edition of Founders' Forum on 15th June. The half day summit will bring together successful entrepreneurs to share their experiences and discuss new challenges, providing a valuable opportunity for the next generation of startup founders to learn from their peers and seniors.
By Shalil Gupta, Business Head, Mosaic Digital
By Ashwin Moduga, Head-Research, Mosaic Digital
Ashwin Moduga, Head-Research, Mosaic Digital in conversation with Sonali Jindal, Co-founder and COO, Ring/ Kissht
How can founders create the right leadership talent pool to take over the reins in the future, with or without necessarily hanging their boots.
Speakers:
Sourjyendu Medda, Founder and Co-CEO, DealShare
Vaibhav Tewari, Co- Founder and CEO, Portea Medical
Moderator: Vishal Krishnam, Partner, PWC India
The responsibilities of modern CHROs are constantly evolving. Today they wear multiple hats: Strategic partner, counsel to the CEO, culture builder, and chief engagement officer. While visionary leadership is often associated with successful CEOs, it is equally vital for them to have a realistic understanding of available resources and capabilities. CHROs can collaborate with CEOs to see how realistically they can help achieve this vision.
How can CHROs leverage leadership combined with grounded realism to build a powerhouse of revenue, culture, and people, ultimately leading to sustainable and effective outcomes for the organization?
Speakers:
Zeeshan Ramlan, Director & Head HR, CoinSwitch
Maya John, Chief People Officer, VerSe Innovation
Moderator: Shalil Gupta, Business Head, Mosaic Digital
As the local startup ecosystem matures, we see an ever-growing tribe of serial entrepreneurs, or those who are now on their second or third startup ride. Some of them could be ‘serial-winners’ while others have seen a venture or two get folded. What are the key takeaways from past ventures that helped them in a new startup? What are the pitfalls that one managed to avoid from the real-life experience as a newborn? How was a pivot essential to findig the right calling?
Speakers:
Vipul Parekh, Co-Founder, Bigbasket.com
Sarth Jain, Managing Director, Xponents
Moderator: Ashwin Moduga, Head-Research, Mosaic Digital
Entrepreneurs juggle with multiple challenges each day. Customer delight is the front-facing task, but founders need to tackle multiple curveballs every day in the backroom. It is equally important for founders to find a balance to maintain their physical and mental health quotient. How do founders achieve the mythical work-life balance amidst the thousand-ton lodestone on their shoulders?
Speakers:
Prashant Singh, Co-Founder and COO, LeadSquared
Rahul Chowdhri, Partner, Stellaris Venture Partners
Ankit Agarwal, Co-Founder and CEO, Insurance Dekho
Akhil Gupta, Founder & Chief Tech & Product officer, NoBroker.com
Moderator: Shaleen Sinha, Managing Director, BCG India Growth Tech
Longevity in business creation is taken as a given – nobody sets out to create a company with an expiration date in mind. However, very few companies think critically about the strategic principles needed to endure. That said, in today's dynamic business landscape, understanding the intricate interplay between investors, startups, and founders becomes paramount for sustainable growth and long-term success. So, what are some effective strategies for navigating the complexities of capital flow and mitigating the potential risks associated with excessive investments?
Shalil Gupta, Business Head, Mosaic Digital in conversation with Sarth Jain, Managing Director, Xponents
Several startups have seen cofounder conflicts leading to inferior outcomes for the company, investors and other stakeholders. How can founders ensure the delicate balance of their partnership is maintained with division of roles, stake, compensation and more.
Priyanka Gulati, Partner Human Capital Consulting, Grant Thornton Bharat in conversation with Harsh Parekh, Co-founder and Whole-time Director, API Holdings Ltd.
The epic momentum of 2021 slowed down in 2022; from $4.7 billion raised in January 2022 to $1.3 billion in November. The cost of capital has escalated, and investors have become more cautious to deploy capital as they were earlier.
Is it real? Will it end the dreams of the start-ups? Will it force start-ups to brace for another 12-18 months before capital flow ease? What are the best practices in a drought?
Speakers:
Sanachit Mehra, Founder, CTO, Cateina
Nitin Jain, Co-founder & CBO, OfBusiness
Vishal Agarwal, Cofounder, LocoBuzz
Moderator: Vishal Krishnam, Partner, PWC India
Ankit Agrawal is the CEO and Co-founder of InsuranceDekho, the leading Insurtech in India. Launched in 2017, InsuranceDekho has achieved rapid growth, with the company growing 2x every year. The Gurgaon based company has 90,000+ advisor partners across 1370+ cities covering 98% pin codes in India. With 410+ insurance plans in tie-up with 46 insurance companies, InsuranceDekho is on its way to revolutionize the way India buys and sells insurance.
Ankit is also the recipient of several awards including being a part of the coveted BusinessWorld 40 under 40 list for year 2022.
In order to move closer to its vision of insuring every Indian, InsuranceDekho recently raised $150Mn in Series A funding from marquee investors like Goldman Sachs, TVS Capital and LeapFrog Investments; this is the largest Insurtech Series A funding in South East Asia.
A Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary, and a graduate from the Department of Financial Studies, University of Delhi, Ankit worked for three years in the US before returning to India. Post returning, Ankit was associated with the technology industry as a part of Anand Rathi Advisors. Here, he developed an interest in startups and soon joined MoveInSync, a leading employee transport solutions startup in the country.
Ankit has set up and exponentially grown the Insurance business at CarDekho, with InsuranceDekho being formed in 2019 as a separate entity. InsuranceDekho has today become a leading player and an integral voice of the Indian Insurtech industry.
Ankit is passionate about startups and actively supports new businesses & founders in all ways possible; he’s an active angel investor having invested in several high-impact ventures. Outside of work, he enjoys playing with his son and cooking food for the family. Being an avid reader, he reads at least eight books a month. Ankit firmly believes education is the greatest leveler in anybody’s life. He coaches the children of his house help and driver because he feels education is the greatest gift to impart.
Harsh Parekh is the Co-Founder and Whole-time Director of API Holdings, India's largest digital health platform. The group has businesses and brands like PharmEasy, Retailio, DocOn, Aknamed, and Thyrocare.
Harsh finished his graduation in computer engineering from DJ Sanghvi College of Engineering and post that he did his MBA in Marketing from NMIMS in 2009-2011. He was the founder member of Ekagrata (NGO for Children's education), ACM (International student body), and Secretary of Rotaract Club. He started his career ITC and then joined Bharti Airtel as part of Young Leader Group. After briefly working for one year, he decided to start the entrepreneurship journey with two friends. They are the first health tech unicorn and recently created history by acquiring the listed company Thyrocare.
Harsh looks after the Channel and Platform Business and has been responsible for scaling the business over the last 9 years. He leads the group's efforts in retailer, hospital, fintech and brands. He has recently been featured in the Fortune 40 under 40 lists and is now an active angel investor in new-age companies.
Priyanka Gulati currently a Partner with Grant Thornton in HR Consulting practice comes with 20 years of experience, from leading professional firms (Accenture & Deloitte) and also has experience in running her own consulting firm. She has focused on organizational strategy and transformation, human capital strategy and leadership development performance management, and learning and development for leading organizations.
Priyanka is also on Boards of SGS Teknik’s, Krishna Maruti Ishizaki Limited and Talbros as Independent Director. She also heads the National level FICCI Flo Angel Investing and has invested in 15+ startups.
She is passionate about bridge.
Shaleen leads the Growth Tech practice at BCG India. Growth tech works with leading digital disruptors and startups on range of transformative issues. Prior to this, Shaleen had a mix of operating and consulting experiences in India and US especially in space of consumer and deep tech. In the last stint, Shaleen was CEO at Zivame - a large vertical e-commerce company.
Shalil is responsible for research, events and training business that assists clients in improving their capabilities in key process areas. Before this, Shalil was ‘AVP, Research and Consulting’ at IDC India. He has an extensive senior level experience in the ICT industry that enriches his strategic engagements with companies. A much-sought-after speaker at international forums, Shalil also invests his time in leading innumerable focused group discussions in India. With his specialization in the BFSI sector, he covers an array of topics including emerging technologies, digital enterprises, industries and IT sourcing and servicing in his speaking engagements.
Shalil's role extends beyond delivering qualitative research content, and includes preparing forward-looking assessment and analysis and sharing market insights and predictions with senior management teams. He has worked in India, London, Edinburgh, Ireland, Western Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan. During his time in these organizations, he has driven the development of enterprise level technology strategies, managed large transformation and IT programs, and played a leading role in a post-merger IT integration of two banks in the United Kingdom.
A graduate of Computer Science, Shalil holds a postgraduate (MBA) degree from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), a leading business school in India.
TVS Capital Funds or TCF is one of the leading growth PE funds in India. Since its beginning in 2007, TVS Capital has been anchored on the philosophy of partnering “next-gen” entrepreneurs, their building scalable and successful businesses.
TVS Capital Funds is dedicated to backing businesses that align with India’s growth story. The platform focusses on portfolio value creation by bringing in capability through its vast network of industry leaders, advisors and partners.
TCF was founded by Gopal Srinivasan, a third-generation entrepreneur of the TVS Family with a vision to provide financial and capability capital to Empower India’s NextGen entrepreneurs.
The TCF team consists of an experienced investment team with deep sectoral knowledge, supported by an eclectic ecosystem that works with them in supporting entrepreneurs in building businesses. The team is currently actively investing from TCF’s 3rd fund, TVS Shriram Growth Fund 3, which has commitments of ~?1,900 crore.
TVS Shriram Growth Fund 3 is backed by key domestic financial institutions, family offices and high net worth individuals, many of whom have been associated with TCF since inception. It is noteworthy to mention that entire gains generated through our investments from the Fund stay in India.
JLL is India’s premier and largest professional services firm specialising in real estate. The Firm has grown from strength to strength in India for the past two decades. JLL India has an extensive presence across 10 major cities (Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Kochi, and Coimbatore) and over 130 tier-II and III markets with a cumulative strength of close to 12,000 professionals. The Firm provides investors, developers, local corporates, and multinational companies with a comprehensive range of services. These include leasing, capital markets, research & advisory, transaction management, project development, facility management and property & asset management. These services cover various asset classes such as commercial, industrial, warehouse and logistics, data centres, residential, retail, hospitality, healthcare, senior living, and education. For further information, please visit jll.co.in.
VCC Events opens up the avenues for participation. Join hands to be a part of India’s largest gathering of alternative investments leaders, industry stakeholders and Asia’s influential limited partners, general partners and marquee advisors. Your chance to actively participate and augment yourself as thought leaders.
Drop us a line and we will call you.
