Garima Bharadwaj

Most of the good early stage VCs in India now have visibility of at least 1-2 IPOs/year in their portfolio for the next 3 years. Understandably, this is becoming a barometer for investor-partner selection by the best founders at the early stages.

931

56 Comments

I want to share some insights on how certain Founders are treating their Investors nowadays.  Here’s a brief timeline of the events that unfolded: -Jan 2021 Successfully raised ₹5 crore at a valuation of 25Cr. -Oct 2021 to Jul 2022 Another impressive round brought in over ₹65 crore at a valuation of 132Cr -The company ambitiously claims it's on a path to becoming a unicorn in just three years, backed by a $200 million IPO commitment from The Global Emerging Markets Group (GEM). -Apr 22 YourStory Media publishes an article titled: "[Funding alert] Instoried raises $200M from GEM, seeks to go public" (Read more at: https://lnkd.in/d35MEJBh) -From then until Dec 22, the company maintains an average monthly revenue of ₹50 lakh. However, from Jan 23, this figure plummets to merely ₹5 lakh. -The explanation? They attributed this downturn to the launch of ChatGPT. -Fast forward to Oct 23: The company announces a pivot from AI text generation to AI video generation. -Dec 23 The sudden conclusion— the company shuts down. On the surface, everything seemed fine. I understand that valuations can be inflated and funding announcements might stem from paid PR without and fact checking. But then reality hits hard…  -The Founder relocates to another country. -Claims the company shut down was a success; she touts that she raised $200 million and “exited.” In truth, she never raised beyond $9 million and didn’t exit — she shut it down and vanished, leaving investors unable to recoup losses. -To top it off, she blocks all investors on social media, despite boasting 13,000 followers and over 500 connections. Her profile hails her as a “3X Entrepreneur | Keynote Speaker | Fortune 40 Under 40 | Angel Investor | Creator of 10,000+ Jobs | 8-Figure Exit & $200M Raised | Generative AI Leader.” What comes next? She starts new ventures: -AI (which is the Pivot product of old company with old investor money)-> PiePie AI -Mental Health -> https://lnkd.in/dN5H4trJ It’s one thing for a business to wind down; it's entirely different to flee, fabricate stories, and play the victim. Here are some takeaways from my 4-5 years in Angel Investing: -For investors putting in ₹3-5 lakh, it's wiser to target companies valued under ₹25 crore. -For startups with valuations over ₹100 crore, funding should primarily come from institutional investors rather than smaller angel investors. -Be cautious about angel networks; their survival relies on a 3-4% funding fee from startups, not your membership or carry fees. Their interest may not be aligned with investors. -Pursuing legal avenues often leads to wasted time and money. As a side note, I've had investments shut down where the Founder remained communicative, worked alongside investors to attempt revivals, closed gracefully, and even bought back shares to help investors book losses. This is my first attempt at writing such a post, so please let me know if there are any disclaimers I should include. 🙏

415

111 Comments

PVR is struggling as it does not produce the content it shows As Bollywood movie quality plummets, all streamers that produce content are benefitting PVR's competitive advantage of being a distributor for all has become a huge disadvantage Distributors who produce are winning

745

41 Comments

Anthropic just raised $13B Series F. For perspective: that’s more than double what all Indian startups combined have raised in 2025 so far. AI capital flows in US on a completely different scale compared to the rest of the world.

74

3 Comments

Key Insights from the India Venture Capital Report 2025 by Bain & Company and Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA) 1. VC Funding Rebound: India’s VC funding surged to $13.7 billion in 2024, a 1.4x increase from 2023, making India the second-largest VC destination in APAC while global funding remained stagnant. 2. Surge in Deal Activity: 1,270 deals in 2024 (up ~45% from 2023), with 95% of deals under $50M. Larger deals ($50M+) nearly doubled, indicating a strong rebound in late-stage funding. 3. Tech-First Sector Dominance: Consumer tech, SaaS, and fintech secured 60%+ of total funding. Consumer tech saw a 2.3x jump to $5.4 billion, led by megadeals in B2C commerce, gaming, travel tech, and edtech. 4. Rise of Quick Commerce: Rapid adoption, profitable models, and evolving business propositions made quick commerce a breakout theme in 2024. 5. Generative AI & SaaS Growth: Funding in software/SaaS rose 1.2x to $1.7 billion, with Generative AI funding up 1.5x, signaling increasing investment in AI applications and platforms. 6. Traditional Sectors See Growth: BFSI and consumer/retail attracted increased investments due to their large addressable markets and favorable macroeconomic conditions. 7. Diverse Investor Base: A resurgence of PE funds, family offices, and corporate VC firms, with deal volumes up 1.8x YoY, showcasing renewed investor confidence. 8. Decline in Fundraising: VC fundraising dipped 35% to $2.7 billion, the lowest since 2020, as investors continued deploying existing dry powder. However, maiden funds gained prominence, focusing on sustainability, agriculture, gaming, and defense. 9. Exits on the Rise: Exit activity reached $6.8 billion, with public market exits surging from 55% to 76% of total exit value. A 7x jump in IPO exit value reflected improved liquidity and regulatory changes. 10. Regulatory Boost & Future Outlook: Policy reforms—removal of angel tax, LTCG tax reduction, and foreign VC registration simplifications—are fueling long-term VC growth. 2025 is expected to see more growth-stage deals and a rise in deep tech, energy transition, and semiconductor investments. ~~~~~ ♻️ Found this helpful? Repost it so your network can learn from it, too. And follow me, Fazlur Shah for more content like this. #startups #entrepreneurship #venturecapital #investing

184

20 Comments

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? 𝐎𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? SEBI’s circular from its 210th board meeting (PR No. 08/2025, dated June 18, 2025) didn’t make front-page headlines. But in startup WhatsApp groups, it triggered DEFCON 1. The declaration: Only accredited investors - those with a net worth of at least Rs 7.5 cr (or Rs 2 cr annual income) - can invest in angel funds, going forward. These angels will be treated as Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs), but only for the purpose of investing in angel funds. Cue: chaos. “Is angel investing dead?” “Will tier-2 founders lose all access to capital?” “Do I now need a CA, a PAN, and a Pradhan Mantri Aadhar KYC Yatra to back a startup?” But here’s my take: this may actually be one of the best things SEBI has done for Indian venture capital in years. The old model was creaking. Most angels were writing tiny cheques based on emotion, not diligence. A pitch deck with a nice font and some AI buzzwords, and boom - Rs.10 lakh wired. Within two years, they’re sitting on a 5-startup portfolio where: One has ghosted One pivoted into Agentic AI One’s in stealth (forever) And two are quietly “restructuring the cap table” So what happens next? They quit.They tell friends angel investing is a scam. And the ecosystem loses a potential long-term player - not because of startups, but because of lack of structure. Now imagine a professional fund. Pooled capital. 20+ startups. Institutional checks. Follow-on discipline. Rebalancing. Real risk-adjusted thinking. Even if half the portfolio fails (which it will), you still have a shot at outsized returns. This rule doesn’t kill angels - it filters out the dabblers. It encourages them to invest like LPs instead of day-traders. It pushes capital toward managed, diversified, transparent vehicles. And that’s a win for everyone - angels, founders, and the ecosystem. The jungle may have fewer tigers now. But maybe it also has fewer of the clueless. Angel investing isn’t over. It’s just growing up. #SEBI #angelinvesting #venturecapital #earlystage #IndiaVC #LPthinking #fundmodel #startups

41

6 Comments