Manu Awasthy spent over two decades managing wealth for India's ultra-rich at Citibank, IIFL Wealth, and 360 ONE before founding Centricity WealthTech in 2022. In under three years, he has built one of India's fastest-growing wealth management platforms, crossing ₹10,000 crore in AUM, onboarding 17,000 financial advisors across 70 cities, and raising a $20 million seed round led by Lightspeed at a $125 million valuation.   

In this episode, Manu breaks down why India's wealth management industry is 20 years behind e-commerce, how most PMS and AIF products fail to beat a simple index fund, and why the laziest investors consistently win. He reveals the three levels of conflict of interest hiding inside India's most prestigious wealth firms, the structural reason why every wealth manager eventually becomes an asset manager, and why he has deliberately chosen not to. He shares Centricity's contrarian B2B2C model, his risk-first founder philosophy, and his bold vision for a single-window investment platform for India's global diaspora. He shared the full story in this candid, no-holds-barred conversation with host Akshay Datt.  

Here is what you will learn in this episode: 

👉Why 80 to 85% of PMS and AIF products underperform a basic index fund over 15 years, and what it means for every Indian investor 

👉How Manu grew Centricity WealthTech from ₹20 crore revenue in Year 1 to ₹100 crore in Year 3, with 60% recurring ARR 

👉The three hidden conflicts of interest inside India's biggest wealth management firms, and how Centricity is built to eliminate all three 

👉Why India's passive investing penetration is near zero compared to 55% in the US, and the massive opportunity this creates 

👉How Centricity's B2B2C model is turning 17,000 mutual fund distributors into full-spectrum wealth managers across tier-2 and tier-3 India 

👉Manu's risk-first operating philosophy - why he says markets and geopolitics are uncontrollable, but asset allocation always is  

If you found this episode valuable, subscribe to Founder Thesis for weekly conversations with India's most ambitious founders and investors. Follow host Akshay Datt on LinkedIn and X for real-time insights, episode drops, and founder stories you won't find anywhere else.  

00:00 - Manu Awasthy and Centricity WealthTech Introduction  

02:52 - India's Wealth Management Industry Explained Simply  

11:20 - 85% of Fund Managers Fail the Index Test  

34:50 - The Conflict of Interest Destroying Wealth Firms  

47:30 - Wealth Management Is 20 Years Behind E-commerce  

58:40 - India's Passive Investing Gap and the Opportunity  

01:08:00 - Lazy Investors Win, Here Is the Math  

01:13:00 - How Centricity's B2B2C Model Scales to 60,000 Advisors  

01:19:30 - The NRI Wealth Corridor, India's Biggest Untapped Market  

01:39:00 - Manu's Advice for Founders, Go Slow Grow Big  

01:47:55 - Risk First, the Philosophy Behind Centricity's DNA  

#ManuAwasthy #CentricityWealthTech #WealthTechIndia #IndiaWealthManagement #FounderThesis #AkshayDatt #PassiveInvestingIndia #IndexFundsIndia #PMSvsIndexFund #AIFIndia #WealthManagementStartup #IndianStartups #FintechIndia #HNIInvestingIndia #B2B2CStartup #IndiaWealthTech2025 #PrivateBankingIndia #MutualFundsIndia #FinancialAdvisorIndia #WealthTechFunding #LightspeedIndia #StartupFounderIndia #IndiaFintech #UHNIIndia #WealthManagementConflictOfInterest Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the speaker, not necessarily the channel

The Uncomfortable Truth about your Wealth Management | Manu Awasthy(Centricity WealthTech)

In this episode, Manu Nair, Co-Founder and CEO of EtherealX, breaks down the engineering breakthroughs, fundraising battles, and geopolitical forces reshaping the future of space tech in India and beyond.  

Over 85% of the world's commercial satellite launches depend on a single rocket from a single country. That's not a monopoly - it's a dependency, and Manu Nair believes it is one of the most dangerous structural flaws in global space infrastructure today. Manu is the Co-Founder and CEO of EtherealX, the Bengaluru-based deep tech startup building the Razor Crest Mk-1 - India's first fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle that recovers both its booster and upper stage.  

In a conversation with host Akshay Datt, Manu traces the journey from bootstrapping on personal savings and a loan from his father, to closing a $20.5 million Series A co-led by TDK Ventures and Accel, to signing binding launch agreements with Japanese, Taiwanese, and European space agencies. He reveals the proprietary rocket engine cycle EtherealX developed, the first new feed cycle in six decades of rocketry, which harnesses re-entry plasma heat as a thermodynamic resource rather than fighting it with heavy ceramic shields.  

He also shares why the economics of partial reusability are a dead end, why super-heavy rockets make no commercial sense for everyday satellite deployment, and why EtherealX's long-term roadmap extends from orbital launch vehicles all the way to small modular nuclear reactors.   

A candid, technically rich, and deeply inspiring episode at the intersection of space tech, deep tech investing, India's policy renaissance, and civilisational ambition.  

Key Highlights 

👉Why 85% of global payloads riding one rocket is a civilisational risk, and how EtherealX is building the alternative the world needs 

👉The FFSCC breakthrough - how EtherealX invented a new rocket engine cycle that turns re-entry heat into fuel, enabling full upper-stage recovery for the first time in the medium-lift class

 👉How Manu and his co-founders bootstrapped for a year, raised a $360K milestone round, and eventually closed $26.3 million across four rounds to build India's highest pressure-rated private rocket engine test facility 

👉Why the economics of large rockets like Starship don't work for routine commercial LEO deployment, and why the medium-lift segment will remain the engine of the global space economy for the next decade 

👉India's regulatory renaissance - the FDI reforms, the Rs 1,000 crore IN-SPACe VC fund, and how ISRO's shift from gatekeeper to enabler created the conditions for EtherealX to exist 

👉Why EtherealX's long-term roadmap includes fusion-based small modular reactors to power AI data centres on Earth, and why putting data centres in orbit is a dangerous mistake

#ManuJNair #EtherealX #EtherealExplorationGuild #FounderThesis #AkshayDatt #ReusableRocket #IndiaSpaceTech #SpaceTechStartupIndia #RazorCrestMk1 #DeepTechIndia #SpaceXAlternative #IndiaSpaceStartup #MediumLiftRocket #FFSCC #IndiaSpacePolicy #INSPACe #MultipolanSpaceAccess #SpaceFundingIndia #DeepTechFunding2025 #ReusableLaunchVehicle #FounderStoryIndia #IndiaStartupFunding #SmallModularReactors #SpaceTechPodcast #StartupPodcastIndia #ISROPrivateSector #IndiaDeepTech2025 

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the speaker, not necessarily the channel

How EtherealX and Manu Nair Are Challenging SpaceX from India

In this episode, we uncover how Priyadarshi Mohapatra turned CureBay into one of India's most ambitious rural healthtech ventures, raising $37M and proving that Bharat will pay for quality care.  

Priyadarshi Mohapatra has spent 25 years building businesses that others said couldn't be built. From co-creating the Tanishq brand's iconic purity positioning to scaling Microsoft's consumer division and leading Google Cloud's India enterprise push, he has always found opportunity where others saw obstacles.   

Then COVID hit, and a broken Skype teleconsultation attempt for his wife ignited an idea that would become CureBay, a hybrid phygital platform delivering last-mile primary healthcare to rural India through a network of 200 AI-powered eClinics across Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.   

In a candid, wide-ranging conversation with host Akshay Datt, Priyadarshi unpacks the structural failures of India's rural healthcare system, the unit economics of the Kavach membership program, the Swasthya Mitra distribution model and why he believes 100 CureBays are needed to truly solve this problem.  This episode is essential listening for anyone tracking India's $45 billion rural health market, the future of AI in healthcare, and the next wave of impact-driven startups reshaping Bharat.  

What you'll learn in this episode:  

👉Why India's rural healthcare crisis is not a funding problem but a trust and access problem, and how CureBay's hybrid eClinic model solves both at once 

👉How the Kavach membership program, priced at just Rs 499 per year, is built like an insurance product and is already seeing 60% renewal rates 

👉The real reason doctors refuse to serve rural India, and why no policy mandate has been able to fix the structural economics behind it 

👉How CureBay is training AI models on real patient data from 200 clinics to build diagnostics tools that outperform anything trained on synthetic data 

👉Why Priyadarshi believes partnering with government, not competing with it, is the only way to build healthcare at scale in India 

👉The "nodal point" strategy that replaced his early mistake of going too deep into single villages, and how speed of execution became his sharpest competitive weapon  

If this episode gave you a new lens on India's rural health opportunity, subscribe to Founder Thesis so you never miss a conversation like this one. And follow host Akshay Datt on LinkedIn and X for daily insights on India's most ambitious founders and the startups they are building.  

Chapters:  

00:00 - Why Rural India's Healthcare System Is Broken  

08:20 - The Doctor Shortage Nobody Can Fix  

14:00 - How CureBay's eClinic Model Actually Works  

24:30 - Kavach, The Rs 499 Plan Rewriting Rural Health Insurance  

37:45 - Funding CureBay, The $37M Journey  

43:00 - From Tanishq to Google to Village Clinics  

54:00 - AI and Data, CureBay's Secret Long Game  

1:03:00 - Why India Needs 100 CureBays  

#PriyadarshiMohapatra #CureBay #RuralHealthcareIndia #HealthtechIndia #IndiaStartups #FounderThesis #AkshayDatt #PhygitalHealthcare #RuralBharat #AyushmanBharat #AIinHealthcare #ImpactInvesting #IndiaHealthtech #StartupFunding #SeriesBFunding #SwasthyaMitra #KavachMembership #TeleconsultationIndia #LastMileHealthcare #BharatStartups #HealthtechDisruption #RuralIndiaHealthcare #IndiaHealthcareMarket #StartupIndia #ImpactStartupsIndia 

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the speaker, not necessarily the channel

AI-Powered Village Clinics: Inside CureBay's Plan to Serve a Billion Patients

Pranav Pai, Founding Partner and CIO of 3one4 Capital, has spent a decade betting on Indian founders at the earliest possible stage, often when they are just two people on a laptop.  

From backing Licious when 50 investors said no, to spotting Darwinbox before enterprise HR software was considered a credible category in India, Pranav has built a track record that speaks for itself, including a 6x Fund I return, a single-digit loss ratio in a market where 30 to 45 percent of VC capital typically goes to zero, and five unicorns across a $570M portfolio.   

In a candid, wide-ranging conversation with host Akshay Datt, Pranav shares why he deliberately caps fund size, how he fires people for persistent poor judgment, and why AI can now write your investment thesis but can never replace genuine market instinct. He also delivers one of the sharpest takes on India's foundational AI debate, the myth of the vegetarian Indian consumer, and what it actually takes to build a performance culture inside a VC firm.  

What you will learn in this episode: 

👉How Pranav Pai and 3one4 Capital built India's highest-performing early-stage VC fund without an investment banking or IIT pedigree, by betting on operators over financiers 

👉Why 3one4 turned down capital to stay sub-$250M, and the precise mathematical logic that makes fund size a performance variable, not a vanity metric 

👉The real story behind the Licious and Darwinbox investments, two of India's most celebrated startup bets, both rejected by 50-plus investors before 3one4 said yes 

👉How Pranav evaluates founders using three non-negotiable criteria, including one he rarely admits publicly, and why pain and anger are features, not red flags 

👉Why AI can write a 90 percent accurate investment thesis today, what that means for the future of VC as a profession, and where the actual edge now lives 

👉Pranav's unfiltered view on India's AI sovereignty debate, the $10 trillion GDP trajectory, and the third path India must take between the US and China models  

If you found this conversation valuable, subscribe to the Founder Thesis Podcast so you never miss an episode. Follow host Akshay Datt on LinkedIn and X for sharp takes on Indian startups, venture capital, and the founders building India's next decade.  

Chapters  

00:00 - Pranav Pai's Journey Into Indian VC  

05:10 - Why 3one4 Capital Stays Sub $250M  

13:00 - The Math Behind Fund Size and Returns  

20:30 - How 3one4 Backed Licious Against All Odds  

31:00 - Prepared Minds: Luck vs Decision Quality  

37:00 - Darwinbox, Decision Logs and Firing for Bad Judgment  

47:00 - How to Judge Founders at the Seed Stage  

01:03:00 - Two Unicorns in Fund One: The Inside Story  

01:09:00 - What VCs Actually Need to Be Great At  

01:17:00 - Pain, Anger and the Fuel Behind Great Founders  

01:25:00 - Market Truth, AI and the New VC Edge  

01:39:00 - 3one4's Four Big Investment Themes for the Next Decade   

#PranavPai #3one4Capital #FounderThesisPodcast #IndianVentureCapital #VCIndia #IndiaStartups #EarlyStageVC #StartupFunding #Licious #Darwinbox #UnicornIndia #IndiaVC2025 #VentureCapitalIndia #StartupIndia #IndianFounders #FundingIndia #AIStartupsIndia #IndiaStartupEcosystem #VCFundStrategy #AkshayDatt #HomegrownVC #IndiaGDPGrowth #DecisionQuality #FounderEvaluation #SeedFundingIndia 

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the speaker, not necessarily the channel

Pranav Pai (3one4 Capital) on Backing Licious, Darwinbox & India's Next Decade of Unicorns

How did a JP Morgan currency trader go from building India's most iconic nightclub to reaching 500,000 children through EdTech? 

In this episode, Simran Mulchandani, CEO and Co-founder of Rangeet, reveals the unconventional playbook behind India's leading social emotional learning platform.  Simran Mulchandani's journey defies every startup playbook. He traded currencies during the Asian financial crisis, built Blue Frog into one of the world's top 10 music venues, watched it collapse, and then found his true calling in a municipal school classroom in Mumbai. Today, his startup Rangeet has reached over 500,000 children across India and Bangladesh with a teacher-led EdTech model that deliberately keeps screens away from students.  

In this candid conversation with host Akshay Datt, Simran shares why he believes no machine can teach a child to be human, how Rangeet bootstrapped to $500K revenue through NGO partnerships and grants before raising VC, and what it took to get Oxford University Press, Brookings Institution, and the BMC to back his vision. With expansion into four African countries planned for 2026, this is a masterclass in building impact at scale, surviving failure, and finding purpose in your mid-forties.  

What You Will Learn: 

👉🏻 How Simran Mulchandani pivoted from Wall Street trading to founding Rangeet after a life-changing experience in a Mumbai public school 

👉🏻 Why Rangeet built an app exclusively for teachers with zero screen time for students, and how this contrarian model enabled massive scale 

👉🏻 The bootstrapping playbook that took Rangeet from BRAC revenue and Jacobs Foundation grants to $500K ARR before VC funding 

👉🏻 Lessons from Blue Frog's collapse, including why rushing into new markets without understanding customers leads to failure 

👉🏻 How NEP 2020 and the post-COVID learning crisis created policy tailwinds for social emotional learning in India 

👉🏻 Rangeet's unit economics, delivering wellbeing curriculum at Rs 500 per child per year  

#SimranMulchandani #Rangeet #EdTechIndia #SocialEmotionalLearning #SELIndia #B2BEdTech #BlueFrogMumbai #TeacherLedLearning #NEP2020 #WellbeingEducation #IndiaStartups #EdTechStartups #FounderStory #StartupIndia #BootstrappedStartup #ImpactStartup #EducationIndia #FundingWinter #StartupPodcast #founderthesis

From JP Morgan Trading Floors to 500,000 Indian Classrooms | Simran Mulchandani, Rangeet

This episode with Prateep Basu, Co-founder and CEO of SatSure, is the deep-tech founder story India's startup ecosystem has been waiting for.  

Prateep Basu left a career building propulsion systems for India's GSLV MK-III rocket at ISRO to ask a deceptively simple question - why do urban Indians get 10 loan offers a day on WhatsApp while farmers wait a month for a single approval? The answer became SatSure, a Bengaluru-based Earth intelligence company that uses satellite imagery, AI, and government land records to deliver alternate credit scores for farmers, monitor crop health across bank portfolios, and help airports, insurers, and FMCG companies make smarter decisions from space. Bootstrapped for four and a half years before raising $25 million across multiple rounds, SatSure now monitors 1.95 lakh villages and has analysed over 2.1 million farmer plots.  

 In this candid, wide-ranging conversation with host Akshay Datt, Prateep breaks down the physics of 40-pixel crop detection, explains why algorithms are never the moat, and reveals the strategic logic behind SatSure's audacious zero-bid for India's first private national satellite constellation. He also shares why AI is an accelerant, not a threat, for deep-tech companies that have built genuine domain depth.  

What you will learn in this episode:  

👉How SatSure built an alternate credit score for farmers using satellite crop imagery, land boundary data, and historical yield analysis, collapsing a 30-day loan process to under 30 minutes and creating a product that banks like ICICI and IDFC are paying for at scale 

👉Why Prateep believes the algorithm is never the moat, and how SatSure's real competitive advantage is the nuanced translation of banking business processes into product and model design, something no open-source GitHub repository can replicate 

👉The full story of SatSure's 4.5-year bootstrap, from a letter written by a young MP in Srikakulam to winning a Gates Foundation-backed challenge and securing a five-crore purchase order from the Andhra Pradesh government, all before raising a single rupee of institutional capital 

👉How India's Digital Public Infrastructure, including AgriStack, the Unified Lending Interface, and digital land records, is assembling the exact pipeline that makes SatSure's products commercially unstoppable at national scale 

👉The strategic logic behind Allied Orbits, the consortium of Pixxel, SatSure, Dhruva Space, and PierSight that won India's first private satellite constellation contract, and why the consortium chose to refuse government funding in exchange for full global commercialisation rights

#DeepTechStartup #StartupIndia #EarthIntelligence #RemoteSensing #SatelliteImagery

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the speaker, not necessarily the channel

From ISRO Scientist to $25M Deep Tech Founder | Prateep Basu (SatSure)

Nalin Agrawal, Co-founder of SnapMint, is a three-time entrepreneur and IIT Bombay alumnus who has quietly built one of India's most efficient consumer financing platforms, scaling from a tiny ₹5 crore revenue to ₹350 crores while serving 7 million monthly users across 23,000 pin codes.   

In this candid, wide-ranging conversation with host Akshay Datt, Nalin reveals the contrarian principles behind SnapMint's success: why they have never charged a single rupee in late fees, how their data science moat achieves industry-beating credit loss rates, and why they believe India will leapfrog credit cards entirely and go straight to EMI on UPI.   

What you will learn in this episode: 

👉How SnapMint built a 2.5% credit loss rate versus the industry average of 6-8%, using machine learning models powered by 3,000 data factors and a sophisticated real-time fraud detection engine that catches organised fraud patterns in under 10 minutes 

👉The four-quadrant framework, Market-Product fit, Product-Channel fit, Channel-Model fit, and Model-Market fit, that Nalin uses to evaluate every business idea and what investors are really looking for at Series A versus Series B 

👉Why SnapMint calls itself a transaction-led business and not a lending business, and how this distinction creates fundamentally different and more predictable unit economics compared to traditional balance sheet lenders 

👉The story of how a failed advertising campaign in 2016 revealed a 300 million consumer opportunity hiding in plain sight, and how that insight became the founding thesis for SnapMint

👉How India's digital public infrastructure stack, UPI, Aadhaar, Account Aggregator, and the Unified Lending Interface, is enabling fintech companies to serve tier 2 and tier 3 consumers at a cost that was previously impossible 

If you find this episode valuable, subscribe to the Founder Thesis Podcast (Listed as one of the Top 45 Indian Entrepreneur Podcasts by FeedSpot) for weekly deep-dives with India's most compelling founders and operators. Follow Akshay Datt on LinkedIn and X for curated insights, episode drops, and startup ecosystem commentary delivered straight to your feed.

#NalinAgrawal #SnapMint #BNPLIndia #IndiaFintech #EMIonUPI #ConsumerFintech #FounderThesis #AkshayDatt #FintechIndia2025 #SeriesBFunding #DigitalLendingIndia

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the speaker, not necessarily the channel

The Lending Business That Never Charges Interest or Late Fees | Nalin Agrawal (SnapMint)

In this episode, Sreeraman "SMG" Mohan Girija shares how Fynd became the retail technology backbone powering 2,300+ brands, 20,000 stores, and 20 million consumers across India. From nearly dying as a touchscreen kiosk company in 2015 to being acquired by Reliance Industries in 2019, SMG reveals the pivotal lessons about building at the transaction layer, optimizing for customers over engineering bandwidth, and why conversational commerce powered by LLMs will kill traditional e-commerce homepages. He also opens up about the brutal first year of cultural integration post-acquisition, scaling a 100-person design organization, and why Fynd is now exporting India-hardened retail infrastructure to global markets like GCC, UK, and Canada.

He shared this candid journey with host Akshay Datt, exploring everything from hiring for empathy over skills to why beautiful products often fail without proper business fundamentals. If you're building in retail tech, SaaS, or preparing for AI-native commerce, this conversation is essential viewing.

Key Highlights:

👉How Sreeraman Mohan Girija pivoted Fynd from hardware failure to becoming India's largest unified commerce platform powering Reliance Retail

👉Inside the ₹295 crore Reliance acquisition: selling 87.6% equity while retaining operational independence and achieving 60x revenue growth post-deal

👉Why conversational commerce and LLMs will fundamentally reshape shopping UX, killing traditional e-commerce homepages by 2030

👉The design philosophy behind scaling from 1 to 100 designers: hiring for empathy, optimizing only for end customers, and preventing "engineer's MVP" syndrome

👉Fynd's complete retail tech stack: from AI-powered catalog generation and AR try-ons to omnichannel POS systems and marketplace integrations across Amazon, Flipkart, and emerging ONDC networks

👉Strategic lessons on B2B SaaS pricing innovation, the cold start problem in marketplaces, and why sitting on the transaction layer is non-negotiable for retail technology companies

Don't forget to subscribe to the Founder Thesis Podcast for more deep-dive conversations with India's most ambitious builders. Follow Akshay Datt on LinkedIn and X for behind-the-scenes insights and updates on upcoming episodes.

#RetailSaaS #IndiaEcommerce #QuickCommerce #ONDCIndia #StartupAcquisition #MADeals #FashionTech #IndiaUnifiedCommerce #RetailInfrastructure #POSSystems #WarehouseManagement #StartupPivot #FounderThesisPodcast #AkshayDatt #IndiaStartupEcosystem #B2BSaaS #EnterpriseRetail #AICommerce #LLMShopping #FutureOfRetail #RetailAutomation #DesignLeadership #ProductManagement #ScalingStartups

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the speaker, not necessarily the channel

How Fynd Powers the Global Retail Industry

Sreevathsa Prabhakar is the serial entrepreneur behind Servify, the B2B insurtech platform that powers extended warranty programs for Apple, Samsung, HP, and 70+ global brands.

In this candid conversation with host Akshay Datt, he reveals how Servify achieves 90% AI automation in claims processing, generates 70% revenue internationally, and maintains 18% EBITDA margins in the competitive device protection market. From being locked in a Dharavi home as a BPL service engineer to receiving a welcome sign at Apple Park, Sree's 25-year journey offers rare insights into operational excellence, platform leverage, and building lasting enterprise partnerships.

Key Highlights

👉How Sreevathsa Prabhakar built Servify into a profitable insurtech platform managing ₹2000 crores with just 15 operations people through 90% AI automation

👉Servify's asset-light business model breakdown: retailer margins, OEM royalties, insurance partnerships, and the path to 18% EBITDA at scale

👉Why 70% of Servify's revenue comes from international markets and the geographic arbitrage strategy for Indian B2B startups going global

👉The 16-year Apple partnership strategy, from running India's first AppleCare center to powering device protection across multiple countries

👉Real insurtech innovation: how Servify disrupted insurance by capping loss ratios, eliminating fraud through technology, and making claims self-service

#InsurtechIndia [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/insurtechindia] #ExtendedWarranty [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/extendedwarranty] #DeviceProtection [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/deviceprotection] #AppleCare [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/applecare] #SamsungCare [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/samsungcare] #StartupIPO [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/startupipo] #BootstrapExit [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/bootstrapexit] #AIAutomation [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aiautomation] #FintechPlatform [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/fintechplatform] #B2BInsurtech [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/b2binsurtech] #AfterSalesService [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aftersalesservice] #ApplePartnership [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/applepartnership] #GlobalExpansion [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/globalexpansion] #ProfitableStartup [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/profitablestartup] #FundingWinter [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/fundingwinter] #OperationalExcellence [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/operationalexcellence] #PlatformBusiness [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/platformbusiness] #IndianStartups [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/indianstartups] 

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the speaker, not necessarily the channel

Sreevathsa Prabhakar (Servify) Explains The Business Model of AppleCare+

Dr. Ritu Verma, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Ankur Capital, breaks down her decade-long journey from experimental physics at the University of Pennsylvania to building one of India's most respected deep tech VC funds.   

With portfolio companies like Captain Fresh heading toward a billion-dollar IPO, Offgrid Energy Labs pioneering zinc battery technology, and String Bio revolutionizing precision fermentation, Ritu shares the contrarian strategies that generated 30% IRR returns. From raising Fund I with a random Colorado angel investor to securing commitments from British International Investment and the US DFC for Fund III, this conversation covers the scrappy realities of VC fundraising in India, the multiplication formula most founders miss during term sheet negotiations, and why mediocrity in early hires destroys startups.   

Ritu also unpacks India's transformation from IP-averse to filing 100,000 patents annually with 50% domestic share, the codification thesis powering B2B marketplace unicorns, and how Indian defense is becoming the guinea pig customer for deep tech. She shared these hard-won insights in this candid conversation with host Akshay Datt, offering a masterclass in patient capital, portfolio construction, and ecosystem building through initiatives like ThinkAg and the Deep Science Forum.  

What You'll Learn:  

👉The multiplication formula for VC returns that most founders negotiate wrong during fundraising (Returns = Valuation × Ownership %) 

👉Why Ankur Capital's ₹50 crore Fund I failed structurally and what emerging fund managers must avoid 

👉How codification strategy turned fragmented fish and fruit supply chains into billion-dollar B2B marketplaces 

👉The mediocrity trap: Why hiring safe corporate executives in early stages kills startups faster than product failures 

👉India's deep tech moment: From getting kicked out of IITs for asking about IP in 2008 to 50% domestic patent share in 2025 

👉Captain Fresh's 5-year seed-to-IPO journey and what it signals for real economy tech companies versus consumer apps 

If you found value in this deep dive into deep science VC and early-stage investing in India, subscribe to The Founder Thesis Podcast for more unfiltered conversations with founders and investors shaping India's startup ecosystem. Follow host Akshay Datt on LinkedIn and X for episode highlights, startup insights, and exclusive content.

#RituVerma #AnkurCapital #DeepTechVC #DeepScienceIndia #CaptainFreshIPO #IndiaStartups #VCFundraising #EarlyStageInvesting #AgritechIndia #BatteryTechnology #ZincBatteries #OffgridEnergyLabs #StringBio #B2BMarketplaces #SupplyChainTech #IndiaPatents #IPRevolution #StartupFundingIndia #VentureCapitalIndia #TheFounderThesis #AkshayDatt #SyntheticBiology #PrecisionFermentation #DefenseTechIndia #SemiconductorIndia #ThinkAg #DeepScienceForum #IndiaUnicorns #StartupIPO #PortfolioConstruction #VCReturns #FounderAdvice #HiringStrategy #TechnoCommercialRisk #PatientCapital #ImpactInvesting #CleanTechIndia #EnergyStorageIndia #RDIFund #BritishInternationalInvestment #AngelInvesting #FundManagement #StartupEcosystem #IndiaInnovation #globalexpansion   

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the speaker, not necessarily the channel

Ankur Capital's Ritu Verma on Investing in India's Deep Science Revolution

Dickens said, it was the best of the times, it was the worst of the times. The words have never been truer.  Best because there’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur.  Worst because the clutter is mind-numbing. Founder Thesis breaks through the noise to bring you stories of success & failure, grit & struggle, bouquets & brickbats from some of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in India. 

Founder Thesis

Saurabh Garg talks to investors and venture capitalists about what it takes  and
how start-ups to get the funding that they need

Investor Thesis

India Booked is a podcast that uses literature as a lever to bring multiple
facets of India alive. A perfect podcast for bibliophiles, trivia junkies and
people interested in learning more about India. Every episode focuses on a
different theme and takes place via a conversation between the host with
celebrated authors.

India Booked

किस्से कहानियाँ हमारी ज़िंदगी का उतना ही अहम हिस्सा हैं, जितना शायद खाना और पीना
। कहानियाँ हमें हँसाती हैं, रुलाती हैं, सिखाती हैं। वो बचपन में सुलाती हैं,
बड़प्पन में रुलाती हैं। कहानियाँ हमें वहाँ ले जाती हैं, जहां हमें गाड़ी या जहाज़ भी
शायद न ले जा पाएँ । तो चलिए हम भी चलते हैं दूर कहीं, कुछ कहानियों के साथ । आप का
तहे दिल से स्वागत है इस पॉडकास्ट पर, जिसका नाम है ‘कहानियों का गुच्छा’। इसमें आप
सुनेंगे हिन्दुस्तानी ज़बान के प्रसिद्ध लेखकों की कहानियों की कई शृंखलाओं को,
जिनको चुना गया है किसी न किसी विषय वस्तु के आधार पर। तो सुनते रहिए ‘कहानियों का
गुच्छा’। We are the stories we tell! Stories are as important in our lives as
probably food and shelter. Stories make us laugh, cry, and learn. They carry us
to the mysterious worlds of our imagination. So here we are, ready to take you
along with us on a ride with some great stories by some great writers. We invite
you to this podcast ‘Kahaniyon ka Guccha’ where you will hear carefully curated
series of stories written by some of the greatest writers in Hindustani
language. Stay tuned to some of the greatest stories with us in ‘Kahaniyon ka
Guccha’.

Kahaniyon ka Guccha

At The Spotlight, we go behind the scenes and identify and highlight the upcoming disruptors from the startup space!

The Spotlight

Welcome to the podcast where all stories are welcome. This is a podcast with no
agenda. Hidden or otherwise. In a freewheeling conversation over coffee, Sheba
gently nudges people to shake off their masks and share their real selves. Hear
what keeps people ticking, what helps them make sense of the world, and what is
the inner, most private conversation people have with themselves. Hear people
being, well….human. Expect to hear from the quiet introverts, because Sheba has
a soft corner for them.

SoulBrews with Sheba

Marketing is often considered a nice to have, not a must have. “Let’s get business first”, is what one has often heard. However, MARKETING WHEN DONE RIGHT, GETS BUSINESS. In this show marketing stalwarts talk about how marketing works in the real world. In this show you will learn how marketing will help you to - win business - acquire new consumers - grow the brand - build defensibility - command higher pricing power. Vani Dandia is an award winning marketeer who has spent over two decades in advertising and marketing with Unilever, PepsiCo, Reckitt Benckiser, Henkel, BBDO and Leo Burnett. Her claim to fame includes turning around Kurkure and successfully launching brands like Quaker, Veet, Sunsilk Colour, Fa in India and Asia.

Marketing with Vani

Hosted by Nakul Kumar, this podcast will feature some interesting personalities
from various domains of life. From sportsmen to artists and entrepreneurs, we'll
speak to a line-up of unconventional people. What will always remain constant is
our focus on how technology shapes their lives and their go-to hacks & tricks.
We will explore their unique relationship with technology and try to soak in all
that can enhance our and our listeners' relationship with technology. Hacks,
tricks, insights, upcoming tech or innovations, you name it and we'll have
covered it in this stream. So sit back, relax, plug in your earphones and let
the fun begin. About Your Host When not coming up with killer ideas to help the
users of his co-founded app, Cashify, Nakul Kumar is a full-time tech
aficionado, a cook, a proud dad, and a gaming geek. Of late, his super-honest
"2-minute reviews" on the latest smartphones on YouTube have turned him into a
tech influencer to be reckoned with. Through his new podcast on The Podium,
Nakul aims to change our general view of the world of technology and disruption.
Lend him your ears and we're sure you'll go back with your own tech eureka
moment.

Upgrade with Nakul

The minds behind brands, the minds behind ads. 

 

Tune into Marketing Connect as Saurabh Garg, a marketer, startup enthusiast, and filmmaker, gets up close and personal with some of our most celebrated marketers in India. Watch him pick their brains on the method and madness that is marketing, as art and as a discipline. And so they answer the most important question: what does it take to succeed as a marketer in this day and age?

 

Bringing you the first season of the Marketing Connect Podcast, where Saurabh chats with marketers from real estate, to fashion, content, food, retail, and just about any industry you can think of.

 

Hear, learn, and get inspired from the marketers handling the brands you and I consume each day!

Marketing Connect

We get up close and personal to some of the most celebrated marketers in the country. We understand from them the method and the madness behind how they look at marketing as a discipline and what it takes to succeed as a marketer in this day and age. In the first season of Marketing Connect Podcast, we speak to marketers from businesses ranging from real estate to fashion to content to food to retail, and a lot more! These marketers manage some of the largest brands in the country today!

Akshay Datt

Shows