Sanchita Upadhyay

It was a pleasure to join CNBC-TV18 to discuss Atomic Capital's ₹400 Cr+ maiden fund closure and our vision as an Operating VC to transform India’s consumer tech landscape. In this conversation, I shared actionable strategies and perspectives on building sustainable, high-growth startups. 1. Defining Operating VC: Unlike traditional VCs, we’re operational partners—driving value through hands-on support in strategy, hiring, and scaling, minimizing risks and maximizing impact. 2. Consumer and Consumer Tech Focus: With ₹10-30 Cr cheques for a curated 10-12 startup portfolio, we’re backing Consumer brands, Consumer tech companies, and consumer enablers reshaping India’s $2T consumer market. 3. Why Conscious Chemist and Doodhvale Farms: Our ₹50 Cr in four startups targets founders with robust PMF. We prioritize capital efficiency, defensible moats, and 10x growth potential in our evaluations. 4. Investment Outlook: Evaluating 20+ companies with a term sheet for our fifth, we plan 2-3 more investments by year-end, emphasizing high-conviction bets. 5. Emerging Trends: We’re bullish on omnichannel retail, eco-conscious beauty, and tech-enabled supply chains—trends set to redefine India’s consumer behavior. 6. Founder Advice: Prioritize pro-active organization building and capital efficiency. Ruthless focus on unit economics ensures sustainable scaling beyond initial product-market fit. 7. Our Roadmap: Full fund deployment by 2027, targeting 3-5x returns through follow-ons and exits, with plans to explore a second fund to amplify our impact. Thank you, CNBC-TV18, for the platform to share our mission. Atomic Capital Manish Jain Nikhil Patil #VentureCapital #ConsumerTech #StartupsIndia #OperatingVC #Innovation #Entrepreneurship

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Most poeple don’t get Boba Bhai right. But, as an investor via Titan Capital Winners Fund, I’ve had the fortune to see this story play out very closely. It is not just winning the bubble tea market in India - It is creating it. - Before their explosive entry, the category was a fragmented, niche curiosity-a handful of scattered outlets with no cohesive market identity - And Boba Bhai’s strategic execution is a live case study in transforming a fringe trend into a dominant, mainstream consumer category Their first move was to define the product for the Indian masses. By fusing Korean formats with Indian flavours, they created an accessible, craveable version of bubble tea and street food that could achieve broad appeal, moving it out of the niche corners of K-culture enthusiasts. Next, they built the physical infrastructure for the category at an unprecedented speed. Scaling to over 70 outlets, they are single-handedly putting bubble tea on the map in cities across the country, building the distribution network that is making the drink a household name. But their most visionary move in category creation is happening right now, in the digital aisle. The launch of Ready-to-Drink (RTD) canned bubble tea on quick commerce platforms like Blinkit and Zepto is another big bet. Effectively, they are not just entering a new channel - they are creating an entirely new FMCG category from scratch - packaged bubble tea. This allows them to own the "at-home" occasion, building brand salience far beyond their physical footprint. And this is very inspiring, because this is how categories are built. A single brand becomes so dominant in the consumer's mind that it becomes synonymous with the product itself. Think Xerox for photocopying or Maggi for instant noodles. With a stated goal to make K-Pop culture mainstream in India across food, drink and more, Boba Bhai, and its amazing founder, my friend Dhruv (in pic), are not shy about their ambitions. - And having read this whole thing, I am sure you would now get that they are not aiming to be a player in the bubble tea space - They are building the entire stadium and positioning themselves as the home team And that’s why I always say with pride and confidence, that Boba Bhai isn't just another QSR. What do you think? ---- I've begun to share my learnings from the world of startups more frequently to gain wider perspective. Thus, if you hold any additions or differences to the thoughts I shared above, do share in the comments. That will help widen my thinking horizons. Thanks! Best, Shiv

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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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FirstClub in talks to raise $20 million from Accel, Paramark Ventures, others FirstClub, the members-only rapid delivery startup founded by former Flipkart senior vice president (SVP) Ayyappan R, is in advanced stages to raise $20 million (around Rs 170 crore) from existing investors including Accel and RTP Global, with new backer Paramark Ventures also expected to join, sources told Moneycontrol. The Bengaluru-based company is putting together a fresh round just eight months after it raised $8 million in seed investment, as it chalks out growth plans with more investors looking for exposure to quick commerce. A slew of its early backers including Blume Founders Fund, Quiet Capital, and 2am VC and others are also likely to participate in the round on a pro rata basis, sources said. FirstClub is commanding a valuation of around $120-130 million, up sharply from around $50 million in December 2024, as its expands to newer pockets in Bengaluru by Aryaman Gupta https://lnkd.in/gP85VfFZ

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How does he sell products on Amazon every THREE seconds? The answer lies not just in the product, but in the PRICE. 💰 ➡️In the chapter “PRICING: THE HOLY GRAIL OF BUSINESS” from my book Startups of Bharat, we unpack the story of Varun and Tarun from Boult, one of India’s top three audio and wearable brands that has bootstrapped its way to 750 CR in revenue. 😳 At a time when international heavyweights like Bose, Sennheiser, and Marshall already dominated the premium segment, and local brands were competing on price, Boult charted its course. 👇🏻 Varun and Tarun discovered a clear gap ⏩Customers wanted premium design and sound quality — without the premium price tag. However, identifying a gap and monetising it are two distinct things. The real game-changer? Boult’s adoption of the target costing model—a method where you first decide the price customers are willing to pay and then engineer your product to fit the cost constraints. For example, if the COGS is capped at 60% and comes to 2200, with a remaining 40% margin, your price would be Rs 3080. This meant tight control over production costs, design-led differentiation, and a refusal to fall into the trap of over-innovation. Profitability wasn’t a distant milestone—it was baked into the business model from day one and reinvested to grow the business to 750 CR and take the No. 3 spot in the ever-competitive audio category. 💪 Ask yourself ⬇️ I) Would your customers still trust your product if it cost 20% more—or 20% less? II) Are you pricing based on cost or value perception? III) Is your pricing strategy helping you build a brand, or just moving inventory? IV) What does your price say about you, even before your product does? Find the answers in “PRICING: THE HOLY GRAIL OF BUSINESS” — only in Startups of Bharat on Amazon. Link in comments! Varun Gupta Surya Pasricha 🌞 BOULT #startupsofbharat #startups #india

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Listened to a very interesting talk by Vikram Chatterji, CEO of Citi Ventures portfolio company Galileo at the 2025 IIT leadership conference. A few insights stood out: 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆: Around 95% of enterprise agents fail in production. The core challenge is not building agents, but making them trustworthy, safe, and production-ready. 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝟭.𝟬 → 𝟮.𝟬 → 𝟯.𝟬: We are moving from deterministic coding (1.0), to embedding neural networks in applications (2.0), to natural language interfaces that allow developers to rapidly assemble complex AI systems (3.0). This shift makes the traditional SDLC insufficient. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗖𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲 (𝗔𝗗𝗟𝗖) is fundamentally different: Failures include hallucinations, prompt injection, and compliance issues. Enterprises need continuous monitoring, root-cause analysis, and guardrails at scale. Galileo is the Datadog + New Relic for AI agents 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴: Companies are shifting from one-off agents to fleets of 10, 50, or 100+ specialized agents communicating through emerging protocols. This resembles the microservices revolution, but for intelligent agents. Reliability, authentication, and governance will be critical. 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱: Galileo’s recent launch of free Agentic Evaluations drew strong adoption, confirming that developers quickly hit a wall in scaling agents without systematic testing and monitoring. Large enterprises like Verizon, and Comcast are already embedding Galileo’s stack. The next frontier in enterprise AI is clear: moving beyond building agents to ensuring they are reliable, observable, and safe at scale. Galileo is one of the players defining this new infrastructure layer Dharmesh Thakker, Andy Vitus, Amarjit Gill, Lip-Bu Tan, Yash Sheth, Atindriyo Sanyal, Arvind Purushotham, Çağla Kaymaz, Victor Chang, Kevin Weber

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Sreedhar Peddineni (Co-Founder, Gainsight & GTM Buddy) and Kiran Darisi (Co-Founder, Atomicwork & Ex Freshworks) joins me on Neon show. Two founders from Hyderabad who build global SaaS companies, taking one to IPO, another to a billion-dollar exit, and then choosing to begin again (and again). In this episode, we discuss: 1. Sreedhar’s journey: Host Analytics → Gainsight → GTM Buddy 2. Kiran’s path: Zoho → Freshworks → Atomicwork 3. How to find the “Goldilocks zone” for startups 4. Building companies that last for decades 5. Common mistakes founders make scaling SMB → Enterprise 6. How Atomicwork co-founders connected & chose their problem 7. Why smaller, high-quality teams are winning 8. Is AI expanding the pie while eating it? 9. How businesses can leverage custom GPTs 10. If big AI goes everywhere, what’s left for B2B SaaS? This conversation is about the two decades of building India’s most iconic SaaS companies and what the future holds for SaaS founders from India. Episode is out on youtube.com/@TheNeonShoww

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I had an exciting conversation with Sandeep Bardia who is currently the CFO of Cloud Nine Hospital with over 25 years of experience in corporate finance. We discussed - Role of CFO in Hyper Growth Vs. matured companies - Practical nuances of Short range plan & Annual operating plan (do you know what is Topline protection plan?) - Business partnering - what really it is in practice? - Managing Tensions, towards healthy & profitable growth - Governance and Steps taken towards preparing for IPO - CFO role & perspective Thanks Sandeep Bardia I really enjoyed it. I really believe this is useful for aspiring CFO's across all finance team members be it FC (finance controller), planning / business finance and treasury. I also think this is useful for CFO's as well. For full video: https://lnkd.in/gbbc2wpV #SBN #CFOlife #FClife #financereporting #resultlane Swaminathan Subbarathnam Deepak S Prasad Harish S K Sandeep Bardia Gagan Shetty Sriram Chidambaram Chitra Parameswaran Soundar R Dhawal Parvatikar

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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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Pronto just raised $11M in Series A funding! Co-led by General Catalyst & Glade Brook Capital (with BCV), this Gurgaon-based real-time household help platform is set to: ⚡ Expand into Mumbai, Bengaluru & more ⚡ Build micro-hubs for sub-10-min service ⚡ Onboard 10,000+ new workers Pronto isn’t just scaling — they’re redefining how fast and reliable home services can be. 🏡✨ #FundingNews #SeriesA #StartupGrowth #OnDemandEconomy #IndiaStartups #HouseholdServices #TechForGood #Pronto

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The Great GCC Paradox: We’re Hiring, but Losing India’s GCCs are expected to cross $100B by 2030. But here’s what no one’s openly talking about: We’re leaking talent at the top, and hiring at the bottom. 1. A new study by Mercer shows mid-career attrition in tech has doubled since 2022. 2. CXO-level hiring cycles in GCCs have stretched beyond 6 months (Zinnov, 2024). 3. Returnee talent with global exposure is still asked: Q) “Why do you want to come back?” Q) “Are you too senior for this role?” We’ve mastered delivery. But we’re stuck in a talent loop: - Entry-level upskilling is celebrated - Strategic leadership hiring is feared - Internal mobility is sluggish - Culture fit outweighs culture transformation The result? India’s most capable talent is being interviewed by Singapore, Berlin, and Dubai, while local GCCs are still refining JD drafts. What if the real growth limiter isn’t infrastructure or policy… …but our inability to bet on catalytic leadership? You can’t build a $100B ecosystem with a $1M mindset. Let’s talk: What one mindset shift would unlock India’s next-gen GCC play? #GCC #LeadershipHiring #IndiaTalentCrisis #DigitalTransformation #ReturneeTalent #LeadershipGap #CXOHiring #Mercer #Zinnov #StrategicIndia #FutureOfWork #TalentFlight #HyderabadTech #GCCReset Zinnov Achyut Menon "AK" LinkedIn News India Reshab Shaw Vishwanadh Raju Viswanathan K S GCC Pulse™ Korn Ferry KPMG India

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