Chetan Dalal

Excited to share this News, 888vc, Our Early-stage venture capital firm based in Bangalore, India has launched platfrom Gro8 backed by ₹175 crore (US$ 20M) fund to back startups focused on AI, deep tech, Enterprise SAAS and sustainability over the next three years. 💡 Key Focus Areas: 🔹 Average ticket size of ₹2–4 crores 🔹 Sector Agnostic Angel fund 🔹 Focus on globally scalable solutions 🔹 Launch of GRO8 angel platform for cross-border funding, mentorship & market access 📌 If you’re building in AI, deep-tech, or sustainability with ambitions to grow globally, let’s talk. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gtUcYkrx #888vc #gro8 #venturecapital #angelinvestments #startups

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Recko | A Stripe company's $150M acquisition proved that India Talent can build world class software. Here are the top learnings from my podcast with Saurya, Co-founder, Recko: 1. Recko was founded in 2017 by Saurya and Prashant to fix the complex and broken process of financial reconciliation in fast-growing B2C companies like Flipkart and Blinkit. 2. Getting the product off the ground was really tough. Early customers openly said they didn’t need it, and investors thought the idea was pointless. Recko was trying to build in a new category where there were no benchmarks or clear paths to follow. 3. Their first big break came from Myntra, who reached out just when Recko was down to their last $500. Over the next 3 to 4 months, they worked closely with Myntra’s finance team to solve huge reconciliation problems involving millions of data rows. That work earned them the credibility to build the product. 4. Indian VCs passed on Recko for several reasons: Lack of investor-focus on B2B during 2017-18 , the perception that back-office products were unsexy and the pressure for fast hockey stick growth. In some cases, even customers denied they had the problem Recko was solving, which confused potential investors further. 5. Saurya shares that India’s B2B ecosystem has “over-indexed” on cost advantages and marketing-heavy models. But to truly compete globally and reach higher valuations, companies should start with a solid product that offers real value through Tech and product superiority, not just by being cheaper. 6. For early-stage B2B startups, the most important metrics is not ARR, but product shape & product usage- how often the product is used and how critical it is to the workflow of the business. If your product becomes part of a company’s core workflow, it’s much harder for them to stop using it- even if it’s tough to sell at first. 7. Stripe's acquisition of Recko was primarily a product acceleration and product suite completion strategy. With financial operations closely tied to payments, Recko brought deep expertise in that space- something Stripe's customers were already asking for. 8. Recko was acquired at a 75X revenue multiple of $2 million ARR - A result of the product's unique strength, very specific domain knowledge, and "thickness" in its product layer. This contrasts with companies offering easily replicable solutions or operating in crowded, benchmarked categories, which give them lesser leverage in acquisitions. 9. The acquisition process took about six months, with four of those months spent on intense due diligence. Founders must manage conflicting expectations from investors and employees while maintaining highly confidential communication throughout. 10. Saurya advises founders to prioritize long-term relationships over attempting to "squeeze the last drop" of money during an acquisition, as future collaborations are likely. 

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Agilitas x Virat Kohli partnership is one of the masterstroke deals I have seen in recent times. Virat invests 40 CR in Agilitas for a 1.94% stake, putting Agilitas’s valuation around 2000 CR. 📈 In turn, Agilitas acquires one8world, making Virat a co-founder and shareholder. They now get two very important growth levers: ⬇️ 1. A powerful manufacturing (via Mochiko Shoes - a 600 CR+ footwear brand that Agilitas acquired in 2008 ), 2. India’s biggest athlete — exclusively aligned. Easily becomes a 4000 CR revenue brand in the next 5 years. Footwear + retail scale requires capital — but this partnership compresses customer acquisition, product cycles, and brand-building like few others. Even Virat said in his podcast with Abhishek Ganguly, the co-founder of Agilitas that, “I didn’t want a brand deal… I wanted to build something that outlives me.” And Abhishek said something even beautiful - “An ambition to build from India but be globally relevant.” This isn’t marketing. This is legacy building with shared skin in the game. And that is how startups work - shared ambition with one goal (to make the company big) and food (read stake) in the table for everyone! A company that can be built in the long term with culture, capital, and conviction aligned. This might be the first time in India, where an athlete joins hands with a sport company to re-imagine and build the sport ecosystem of India - truly revolutionalising the game with a clear vision. 🙌

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India has a startup graveyard. And most tombstones read the same cause of death: "𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗦" Brands that scaled on “50% off” headlines. Then collapsed when someone else offered 60%. As Arpan Biswas, CMO of AJIO.com, told me in our conversation: “𝘈 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘦𝘸-𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵.” That line stuck with me. Because discounts don’t kill brands. They only expose the ones that never built loyalty to begin with. When the only reason to buy is price, you’re not building customers. You’re renting them. The smarter play is to use discounts like a scalpel. Not a hammer. But the foundation has to be solid: Returns. Delivery. Experience. Trust. That’s what keeps the customer when the coupon expires. This is exactly what Arpan and I unpacked in our chat: ➡ The real role of discounting in brand strategy ➡ Why WhatsApp could be India’s most powerful commerce channel ➡ The new rules of influencer marketing 👉 What’s one smart way you’ve used pricing without diluting brand equity?

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Has India’s gaming sector hit by a funding slowdown? VC funding for gaming startups has plunged nearly 90% in just three years. Why? Real-money gaming has been hit by regulatory fog, GST fears, and wobbly monetisation models.. But there’s more here than a funding freeze. AI is quietly rewiring the gaming value chain. Infrastructure players and tools-focused startups are still drawing investor interest. So, what’s missing? Regulatory clarity, and a national framework that doesn’t punish innovation. Until then, even solid fundamentals like low data costs, a young digital-native population can’t drive the next boom. Find the story in the comments. Outlook Business

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After this Soham Parekh saga, any other YC founders going through a mental list of under performers and guessing if any were moonlighting at other startups? Soham apparently: - Used a US address to receive multiple startup laptops 💻 - Probably used forged I-9 docs 🤯 - Interviewed in person for some roles (!!) - Showed up the first day for one job and then... never came back - Meanwhile, scored off-the-charts on technical tests and projects (some founders said "best they’ve ever seen") - He must have received over 100+ startup offers, even after being called out for his behavior Couple thoughts: - In person interviews for white collar workers are definitely coming back. Between Cluely screen cheating, AI coding agents, and remote work, its going to be very hard to make sure your codebase is safe and you aren't paying benefits and salary to an LLM. - Should payroll and HRIS providers flag potential conflicts to employers. There’s room for an "inter-company background" signal (not sure if that would be legal or not) At Classet, we have not put a ton of work into interview persona validation and anti-cheating measures because 95% of the roles are in person and its harder to fake skills in those types of roles, but interesting to think about how interview cheating will develop in the blue collar world too.

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Rare but major ✅ green flags when I’m considering an investment in a startup: 1) a user of the product leaves their current role (esp if cushy) to join the startup 2) a buyer of the product hustles their way into becoming an angel investor in the startup AFTER using the product (NOT the other way around)

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🚀 Funding Update in the Indian Startup Ecosystem Mumbai-based Luma fertility, a tech-enabled fertility care startup, has successfully raised $4 million in seed funding, led by Peak XV Partners (via its Surge program), along with participation from notable investors like Ameera Shah (Metropolis Healthcare) and Vijay Taparia (B2V Ventures). Founded by Neha K Motwani, Luma Fertility is building a patient-first platform to offer end-to-end reproductive care—covering IVF, fertility assessments, egg freezing, at-home diagnostics, and more. The startup is leveraging technology and empathy to modernize fertility services in India. 📍 With a flagship clinic in Bandra West, Mumbai, Luma now aims to expand across multiple cities over the next two years. This is yet another sign of rising investor confidence in healthtech and femtech sectors in India. As a funding consultant, I closely track such movements and assist businesses in navigating their own equity and debt funding journeys. 📩 If you're a startup or growing company looking to raise capital or explore funding options, feel free to connect. #FundingNews #StartupFunding #SeedFunding #LumaFertility #PeakXV #HealthTech #FemTech #IndianStartups #Linkedin #techindia #healthcare

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SCOOP: CRED is raising $75 Mn in an internal round led by existing investor GIC (via Lathe Investment), with RTP Global and Sofina participating. Founder Kunal Shah will invest ~$20 Mn. The round values CRED at $3.5 Bn — a 45% drop from its peak valuation of $6.4 Bn. #Exclusive break by Harsh Upadhyay https://lnkd.in/gF3Xu6MX

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