Tushar Misra

Zepto raises $665 million at a $3.6 billion valuation. Here's why this raise is exciting for the Qcommerce space and startup ecosystem: Zepto's repeated fundraising success is impressive. > Pioneered the 10-minute commerce game. > Reached $1 billion GMV in under 2 years. > Founders are among the youngest in the startup world. > Built an exceptional team quickly. > Raised significant funds despite strong competition from Swiggy, Blinkit, BBNow, and others. > India is leading in aggressive Qcommerce growth. Reflecting on my TinyOwl days in the early FoodTech space, competition was fierce, and investors were cautious. However, things are different now: > Markets have scaled, unlocking multi-billion dollar opportunities. > IPOs are now viable, even for third or fourth ranked players with strong financials. Investors may feel relieved, but the Qcommerce space will remain highly competitive for the next few years. Consumers, meanwhile, are spoiled for choice. Interesting times ahead.

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Folks in the D2C space who have moved out of Shopify, what made you take that step? Did the end result turn out the way you expected? From my external observations while working in the D2C enabler space, my generic conclusion has been that a lot of this is perceptual. The bottlenecks that I often hear that Shopify has, which necessitates a move, are often extremely pale (or sometimes simply perceptual) as compared a whole host of other issues that cause the bigger bottlenecks and can be easily addressed than getting into a full migration (which might introduce other unforseen migrations). Plus, nothing out there has an ecosystem of the likes of which Shopify provides. Or maybe I'm missing a bigger picture here in which case I'd love to be corrected and understand what that is. #d2c

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if you know, you know Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. nerd. founder. wise. man. been there done that sv. wisdom. it's missing. let's face it. it's always been missing over time. for.ever. so it's a blessing truly to have an o.g. that keeps it for reals. yes we are a fan. much like Jensen Huang Fei-Fei Li ilya sutskever ...and other good people in sv. they are the ones who make this place so special. indeed they do. here https://lnkd.in/exWqey9K we have sam i am that's all that i am sam (alt)man having a 1-1 with the man. this is a must watch to provide a foundational (no llm required here) mindset as to how sv is at it's best (and worse). caution. watch out for the truth bombs. vinod is (in)famous for this style and we <love> him for it. thank g-d he exists. if you meet the dbags in sf/bayarea your experience you will be quickly lonely, dazed and confused. best to listen to these wise words from vinod and from that determine your spot in the sv landscape. with an insight on the sv playbook from a master. well. need i say more. it's about the very spirit of sv that makes it so special. and this is indeed embodied in a few who are masters. deserve our attention. yeah. yeah. i know attention is all you need. although what happens if your attention is being distracted from building. being in the company of those who will join your mission ala brian chesky of Airbnb. missionaries. search for the good missionaries in sv. keep away and keep in mind of the mercenaries. they are there. pg. he's another gift (as opposed to the grifters) paul graham wrote about this too https://lnkd.in/eEYmQwqZ - being a chesky-esque missionary. these are good things to follow on the path of achieving escape velocity as an (ai) startup. oh. hollywood has entered the ranks of sv. yes it has. so there is a bit of performance art that is required. not enough that you've created something that's novel (truly, novel). also requires a bit of showmanship. audacious in fact. it's a well known sentiment that audacious ideas motivate people. sun microsystems. audacious. juniper. audacious. OpenAI. vinod as an early investor. audacious. Vinod Khosla was born audacious. so fitting he found a place in this world where many have benefitted from this sentiment. perhaps years ago a bit on the abrasive side. now with those white hairs. the elder statesman. non-diplomat. rules, the roost of that which allows for others to flourish. note if you manage to thread the needle of vinod means that it's a very very very good beginning. nothing is guaranteed of course. as my lawyer 'friends' like to say. * buyer beware. be aware. Vinod Khosla is. are you (ai)? are you?? perhaps yes. perhaps, non. < . >

V3 Ventures Deal Announcement: Creme Castle - A tech first driven assembly line bakery for Bharat! 🔥 While I was evaluating this file, a lot of people said - bakery? There are 100s of home bakers. How is this scalable? I would have agreed, until I met Pranjay Mittal, who brought innovation from IIT-D, FMS and CarDekho Group to his mom’s humble bakery in Noida. You might remember their Shark Tank episode where his mom famously said, “Main neend mein baking kar sakti hu” 😊 That passion is exactly what we want in founders! From a small bakery in Noida to now clocking monthly sales of over 1 Cr, Creme Castle is disrupting the $12.6 billion Indian bakery industry. 🎂 Here is why we invested… ✅Changing consumer behavior from mithai → cakes & desserts India is a land of festivals and no festival is complete without mithai. However, cakes & desserts are now taking center stage in these celebrations. as the Gen Z takes over. We all know India is trading up. So, there's a growing demand for Tiramisu in Tier 2 and 3. But, we’re lacking a player. ✅The Assembly Line Model: And, we need a player that’s standardized. The biggest problem with F&B is that when you order from the 2nd and 3rd outlet - the product isn’t as good. This is the most unique part of Creme Castle. Cakes are made in 3 components in a central kitchen - base (sponge), icing and customization. At spoke kitchen it’s only about putting these parts together - thus ensuring quality! ✅This industry is regionalized and heavily fragmented: Think about it, growing up, we all had cakes from our favorite local bakery. Every city has one, but when we moved for college or work - it wasn’t there. Cakes have a nostalgia factor associated with it and so making this change is hard. With all of this Creme Castle is can offer something India hasn’t seen before: - 100% customized cakes in just 2 hours - World's highest # of flavor profiles to choose from They have >10 Lakh loyal customers with a 60% repeat rate and we’re all geared up to expand from NCR to Jaipur and Chandigarh! We’re excited to back the mother-son duo of Veena and Pranjay to disrupt India’s cake market 🎂 What’s do you order cake? PS: Delhi-NCR folks, give us a try. Even available on Blinkit! #india #investment #startup #investor #entrepreneur

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Here's my two cents takeaway from the contrast between ride-hailing players like Uber/Ola and #NammaYatri. While #Uber and #Ola have often leaned towards ambiguity in their offerings (not showing the riders whether the #cab would allow for the AC to be turned On or Not) - I guess to likely avoid deterring customers or impacting their brand image - Namma Yatri has taken the transparent approach. How? Namma Yatri clearly distinguishes between AC and non-AC cabs on its platform, giving #customers the chance to make an informed choice upfront. This move though seemingly small is a refreshing change from the lack of clarity that has sometimes plagued the larger players in the space.  Note: Having the AC on in cabs not defined as "AC cabs" would mean the cost is passed on to the drivers, thereby lowering their margin. Whereas cabs marked "AC Cabs" are slightly more expensive with no room for ambiguity.  This article highlights how Namma Yatri, by being upfront about their offerings,  empowers customers to make the best decision for their needs, rather than trying to obscure the details. This emphasis on transparency is a smart strategic move --also, you would see less fights over AC between drivers and riders! P.S. this in no way defines which service is better overall; just a spotlight on a feature that seems to be making life easier for both riders and #drivers. Read the full story 👇 https://lnkd.in/gDhGUXSm

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The total number of NRIs and PIOs stands at about ~3.3 crores, possibly the best Indians to sell any homogenous Indian product. Just the top 6 countries account for ~1.9 Crores. The minimum income/month would be around 1-1.5 Lakhs, and net-worth easily 30 Lakhs+ Should Finsire map their net worth across geographies?

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Vinod Khosla is considered as one of the most successful and influential venture capitalists ever. He's an indian-american billionaire founder of Sun Microsystems and Khosla Ventures, with investments like Square, Stripe, DoorDash, Instacart and more. Mario Gabriele's Lessons from Vinod: 1. You may be closer to a yes than you think. 2. Get the goose, not the golden egg. 3. Expect resistance to innovative ideas 4. Do not forget: your job is to sell. Top resources from Khosla: 1. 1. Pitch the way VCs think: https://lnkd.in/dVQ95uc5 2. How to solve the Pitch Problem: https://lnkd.in/dFKdTABy 3. Plausible tomorrows 2035-2049: https://lnkd.in/dGQdtA4b 4. Letters to a Young Founder: Vinod Khosla: https://lnkd.in/dX22Hxx7 Ilustration by Eleanor Taylor -- Subscribe to my newsletter for more content about Startups & Venture Capital: https://lnkd.in/dczX2bya

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If you doubted the rise of India as a powerhouse, Pine Labs, a significant fintech player, is now relocating its headquarters from Singapore to India following approval from a Singapore court. This strategic shift mirrors other successful Indian startups like PhonePe, Razorpay, and Groww, embracing the trend of ‘reverse flipping’. The move signifies growing confidence in the Indian market and its potential. Key factors enabling this move include: - Favorable economic policies - Growing domestic market - Increasing investor confidence - Greater certainty of an exit at a higher valuation - Ease of accessing capital - Regulatory changes - Maturing capital markets - Cost-effective listing process All great signs for India! #India #Fintech #PineLabs #Startups #BusinessGrowth

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Summer is just around the corner so founders have started hearing about bad times to fundraise. Let me extend on this common advice and give my own... Whenever you go out, you should plan for a 3-month process with no interruptions, so look for a time window within the following trouble zones: • Jun thru August - this is the summer slow down. vacations with family keep VCs out of pocket and hard to reach • Sept - Labor day and back to school so this is a hectic month for VCs • Oct - Halloween and parent teacher conferences mess up october. No one will take your fundraise seriously when thinking about how to dress themselves or kids up in costumes • Nov thru Dec - this is the dreaded Thanksgiving to Christmas to NYE Bermuda Triangle of holiday fundraising. Start raising here at your own peril • Jan thru Feb - holiday hangover and ski season for VCs make this a no go ⛷️ • March - spring break ❌ • April - April is pretty clear • May - end of the school year, final exams make this a stressful time for investors with kids. VCs without families are already mentally checking out prepping for the summer If you just avoid these, you should be good to go Hope that clears things up for everyone 🙏🤪

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myHQ by ANAROCK offsite- after 4 years: Team size grown 4X, Spread across 8 cities- We dearly needed it (it was only a question of when can we afford it). The team had promised a stellar Q4 of last FY, which made us profitable and honestly made this ask- very tough to refuse. And Goa was finally happening! We wrapped the offsite last week and loved every bit of it. Whether it was a game of tug of war, some impromptu dance performances or just a fun gala night- connecting with everyone on a personal level outside work was worth every second spent. 🎊 My 4 learnings:- - Zoom /Hangout/virtual can never replace in person- would have had 100 hours of calls with the person, but in person is just different. - Play more games/activities & less sessions (Specially for hybrid/spread out teams- bonding happens only over games, activities) - Outsource liquor arrangements to the Hotel/Organizer- not worth the hassle + whatever you arrange will never be enough! 🥂 - This idiotic, yet addictive game- "Ek machli pani me gayi, chappak" (Must play with friends: 4+ group) Looking forward to a much grander offsite in 2025 as the team targets another 3-4X jump this year. Onwards and upwards! 😃🙌

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Sage advice

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India’s Oyo, once valued at $10 billion, is finalizing new funding at a $2.5 billion valuation. This marks a steep decline from its $10 billion valuation in 2019. The startup, which has raised over $3 billion from backers like SoftBank, Peak XV Ventures, Lightspeed, Airbnb, and Microsoft, has struggled to attract institutional investors. In recent months, it has aggressively pitched to high-net-worth individuals after withdrawing its IPO application twice in the past four years. Once a red-hot Indian startup active in markets including the U.S. and Europe, Oyo has now scaled back its international presence. #venture #downround https://lnkd.in/gE2GjYnM

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🚀 Big News from OYO! 🚀 Exciting developments from OYO as the Ritesh Agarwal-led traveltech giant is reportedly in the advanced stages of raising approximately Rs 1,000 crore (around $120 million) in funding. This significant investment comes from the family offices of prominent Indian corporate executives and stock market experts, including: Anand Jain: Corporate strategy advisor and former senior executive at Reliance Industries Ramesh and Rajeev Juneja: Promoters of Mankind Pharma Utpal Sheth: Close associate of the late market expert Rakesh Jhunjhunwala 🔍 Valuation Insights: The funding round will value OYO at about $2.5 billion. This is a notable decrease from its peak valuation of $9 billion in 2021, marking a 72% drop. 📅 Upcoming EGM: OYO will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Tuesday to approve the fundraise, following an increase in its authorized share capital. 💼 Negotiations with Khazanah Nasional: In addition to this, OYO is in the final stages of talks with Khazanah Nasional, the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. The discussions are focused on securing certain rights before finalizing the deal, with an expected raise of Rs 250-300 crore from Khazanah, supplemented by domestic investors. 📈 Profit Milestone: In a recent announcement, Ritesh Agarwal revealed that OYO has achieved its first full-year net profit in its 12-year history, recording a profit after tax of nearly Rs 100 crore in FY 2023-24. This is a remarkable turnaround from the Rs 1,286.5 crore loss in the previous fiscal year. 📊 Growth Projections: Gross Booking Value: Projected at $1.8 billion for FY25, up from $1.2 billion in FY24 Revenue Forecast: $957 million for FY25, compared to $657 million in FY24 🌍 Strategic Focus: OYO continues to focus on key markets including India, Europe, Malaysia, and Indonesia, with 95% of its storefronts in these growth regions. The company is also expanding in the Nordics, Southeast Asia, the US, and the UK, adding around 5,000 hotels and 6,000 homes globally in FY24. 📅 Emerging Travel Trends: OYO is poised to capitalize on emerging travel trends such as premiumization, spiritual travel, business travel, conferences, and destination weddings to drive further growth. Kudos to the OYO team for these impressive strides and looking forward to seeing their continued success! 🎉🌟 #OYO #FundingNews #TravelTech #BusinessGrowth #Profitability #Expansion

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V3 Ventures Deal Announcement: We just doubled down on Go Zero. Here’s the scoop on why: 1) The Market: When I said it the first time people said, “where’s the TAM (addressable market) for low cal zero sugar. The reality -  India is the “Diabetes Capital of the World”, with 140 million diabetics, 17% of the global population. This is totally relevant for these consumers. To add to this, the healthy population is growing and people are reading labels (credit to my friend Revant Himatsingka). I myself have been on a sugar-free for 5 But, even I crave something sweet now and then. And my go to is always - ice cream 🍦 2) Founder: There is energy and then there’s Kiran Shah! He hails from a family legacy of 50+ years in ice cream and invented one of India’s most famous ice cream innovations - the guava chilli flavor. Like me, he wanted to take his family legacy forward in a new way. Yes, maybe I’m biased to founders like him because they have a massive right to win! 3) Growth: I don’t say it often enough but, they’ve exceeded all expectations! 🍨 Grown >10x as a business  🍨 Expanded to 16 cities, 🍨 Grown 7X on quick commerce. 4) Product: In food, taste trumps everything. Over everything I absolutely love the product and so do most people who I make try it. And, the company has launched some of the most interesting flavors - from chocobar and nostalgic mango duets to a jamun sriracha pop! I remember negotiating the termsheet with Kiran the day after Aisha was born. Like her, we’ve come a long way since then :) Honored to re-invest with our partners DSG Consumer Partners and Saama. Let’s take this to the 🌙 PS - if you haven’t already - try my favorite flavor Mad Over Mango 🥭 . Available across Swiggy Zomato Zepto Blinkit and Instamart #GoZero #india #growth #fundraising

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Like to order deliveries from the comfort of your own home? Zepto's recent $665 million funding will now allow the company to set up even more store across India to serve you better. Read all about it only in my new article at Entrepreneur India. . . . Follow and connect for more industry news and updates . . . #News #Update #Zepto #Funding #Investment #EntrepreneurIndia #AdityaPranMahanta https://lnkd.in/gYvATrUE

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Serendipity leads to awesome podcasts The Living On Blockchain (LOB) podcast at Spotify is a podcast that I listen avidly to… happened to serendipitously chance upon the same while looking for #blockchain and #web3 matters on Spotify. The podcast features contemporaries, fellow builders and fellow constituents from the #web3 ecosystem. The podcast became a regular dose of thinking matter, ecosystem trivia and nuances, and succint advice, in a format and tenor that was easy to hear and comprehend The next logical step was to reach out to Tarusha Mittal whose brainchild the podcast is. And behold ..am thrilled to announce the latest episode of the Living On Blockchain (LOB) podcast. We delve into the transformative world of #fanengagement, describe innovative gamification and personalised experiences using #ai, #ar and deep tech, the impact of permissionless and self incentivising #web3 in creating new community led fan engagement use cases, and how blockchain led #socialfi will disenfranchise tradional #socialmedia in the long run Request all #blockchain,#digitaltech enthusiasts and #movie buffs to give it a listen at Spotify below. Also available at Apple Podcasts, Radio Public and Overcast (links to these are in the comments) #Podcast #AI #AR #Web3 #FanEngagement #TechInnovation #wowTalkies #socialfi #Fandom #Innovation #blockchains

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YC is an accelerator. Faster networks, faster fundraising...it's about getting back to what you do best: BUILDING. Laduram Vishnoi isn't just talking the talk. Proof? He raised $6.5 million in his seed round, topping his entire YC batch in both funding and valuation. 💪 Could he have raised even MORE? Absolutely. But his focus? Scaling smart, with the resources to drive growth for years. YC success stories are inspiring...but THIS is the kind of outcome that gets founders REALLY paying attention. Want to hear the whole story? Watch the full episode here - https://lnkd.in/eqawwxcX . . . . . #startup #startups #founderstory #ycombinator #ycrejects #funding #seedfunding #venturecapital #entrepreneurship #techstartup #software #microservices #monitoring #observability #cloudcosts #saas #devops #cto #techfounder #middleware #lobstertalks

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🎉 The Clientell Family has some exciting news to share 🎉 We're thrilled to announce that Clientell has successfully raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round led by Blume Ventures, with participations from our existing investors, including Chiratae Ventures, Artha Venture Fund and from Z5 Capital. https://lnkd.in/gZukPBUg This investment marks a significant milestone in our journey to redefine Revenue Operations. At Clientell, we envision a future where autonomous AI agents handle the entire spectrum of RevOps tasks. These AI-driven agents will serve as copilots, enhancing productivity and efficiency for RevOps teams everywhere. While our vision is expansive, the road ahead is filled with opportunities for innovation and growth. We are gearing up to dive deep into the development phase and are enthusiastic about the impact we as a team can create in this space. We're hiring! To realize our ambitious goals, we are expanding our team. We are looking for passionate, innovative minds ready to join us in shaping the future of RevOps through cutting-edge technology. If you are excited about AI and making a significant impact, we would love to hear from you. Career's page: https://lnkd.in/gwPXQhjZ A special thank you to Venkatesh Peddi from Chiratae Ventures for taking an early bets on us in our first round as well as being the pillar of strength and voice of reason across the pivots and hard decisions. Lastly, the only thing that I'm really proud about here is the stellar team we have who are building this company. It's a whirlwind ride it wouldn't have been possible if any one of them wasn't there. Since it's their company as well so won't say thank you, but I really appreciate the opportunity of building a company with each one of them: Aryan Trip. Ruthuparna K. Prathik Shetty Sayak Samaddar Shivraj N. Ayush Singh Chauhan Palak Jani Penchala Tharun 🚀 Kirti Bhatia Malaya Sahoo Ankit Deshwal To our investors, partners, and the entire Clientell community, thank you for your trust and support. It is an exciting journey and we look for to sharing the same with you all. #Clientell #FundingNews #RevOps #AI #StartUpLife #WeAreHiring #Innovation

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Another special go-live for us. When you start your startup journey, the first big step is to validate your idea. Bipin Shah from Titan Capital connected us with two brands to discuss the original idea. One of them was SuperBottoms. Pallavi (founder of SuperBottoms) was eager to share her ideas and feedback around what makes a great customer experience for her customers. Little did she know that her pain points would serve as the cornerstone of our company and the LimeChat product. They were adamant about trying out the market before working with us because they saw us before we were a company. Well, things have come full circle, and we couldn't be happier to have them on board. Our solution was always built with SuperBottoms' use cases in mind. Four years ago, Aniket and I spending hours manually adding data and FAQs about baby diapers to show the SuperBottoms team. We have come a long way since then. Pallavi, thank you for your trust and support. We will ensure that we enhance your customer experience, bringing smiles to all moms and treating them as gently as your products treat their kids. #babiesrock #startupjourney #Earlyadopters #innovation #customerexperience

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