Manish Kheterpal named as the Vice Chair in IVCA's VC Council & More Portfolio Updates | Newsletter Issue #65 | July 2024
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Manish Kheterpal named as the Vice Chair in IVCA's VC Council for 2024-26
We're proud to have our Co-Founder and Partner, Manish Kheterpal , join at the helm of the new Venture Capital Council for the term spanning 2024-26.??
IVCA’s VC Council, co-chaired by Rajan Anandan (Managing Director, Peak XV Partners & Surge ) and Prashanth Prakash (Founding Partner, Accel in India ), ?aims to advance the VC ecosystem with a targeted focus on supporting micro-VCs, effectively catalysing job creation, mainstreaming entrepreneurship, and contributing to India’s adoption of DeepTech, alongside inclusive growth.?
In Manish's own words, “Our growing economy, digital disruption in consumption, as well as global software development enablers and robust capital markets are helping script a narrative for success in venture capital in India. Despite global challenges for the equity asset class, India offers a breeding ground for innovation, entrepreneurship, and unique investment opportunities.”
Heartfelt congratulations to Manish on this well-deserved recognition, and we wish the Council all the success as it works together with policymakers at the highest level to draft better governance frameworks, mobilise larger pools of domestic capital for AIFs and herald a self-sustaining and thriving Indian start-up ecosystem. ?
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Portfolio Milestones
Notable Updates From Our Portfolio
BimaKavach named Future Generali's Top Premium Broker
In 2022, theft, fire and such disasters caused $92B in damages to small businesses in India. BimaKavach simplifies business insurance for MSMEs. It currently serves 2,000+ clients - 78% of which are first-time insurance buyers - purchasing upto 2 policies each annually.?
This recognition, conferred at FG Rise Force in Lima, Peru, highlights BimaKavach's commitment to bringing MSMEs under the insurance fold.
Eloelo kicks off monetisation in style
Eloelo , India's #1 live entertainment app on Google Play with 80M+ instals, has launched virtual gifts to start monetisation. Virtual gifting is a means of self-expression for power users, showcasing status and aspiration. Hailing primarily from Tier 2/3 towns, these power users spend 75+ minutes daily on Eloelo, and can go up to ? lakhs in gifting to creators. Top creators are averaging ?300K net monthly income making the platform not just viable but a primary source of creator monetization.?
Chalo wins ?215 Cr contract to operate Nagpur's Aapli public bus service
Chalo replaces Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) as the new operator for Nagpur's fleet of 555 Aapli buses. Chalo is entrusted with the responsibility to improve bus route rationalisation, implement a smart-card based automated fare payment system, provide app-based information about the availability of bus seats and increase the overall reliability of bus service for Nagpur's 1.5 lakh daily commuters.
Magicpin enables KFC's ONDC foray
Magicpin will help KFC's 1000+ stores nationwide to go live on ONDC by next month. magicpin will be working on KFC's logistics capabilities, catalogue assortments and integrating technology backend with the government-backed network. Transactions on ONDC touched a crore in count (2X since December 2023). Magicpin is ensuring that more food chains gain a piece of this growing pie while scaling their online business.
Trampoline debuts at the UK Home & Gift Buyer's Festival 2024
B2B cross-border home decor brand Trampoline bulked up its order book at the Harrogate Festival - North UK's largest retailer trade show with 500+ brands participating and buyer budgets of ￡900M+ from retailers, interior designers and garden centre owners. Its bestsellers include eclectic coral-hued cushions, gold-textured metal collection, Chavi handwoven woollen kilims to the natural stone and reclaimed wooden pieces receiving orders from 40 new customers.
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Newsflash
WBV Founders In The News
Prukalpa on Voices from the Valley on CNBC TV-18?
Prukalpa ? , co-founder and CEO of Atlan , got together with Kirthiga Reddy ( Verix , ex-Facebook, ex-SoftBank), Priya Ramachandran ( Foster Ventures ), Jyotika Gupta ( z21 Ventures ) and host Shereen Bhan to talk about navigating collaboration chaos in data teams, in the era of advanced AI, building resilient, global companies, balancing growth at hyper speed and being role-models for women entrepreneurs.
Priya on Hurun's list?of top 10 women leading future unicorns
Incredibly proud to have Priya Singh , co-founder of India's #1 bus transportation technology company, Chalo, recognised as a "Cheetah" leading India's next unicorn. Her single-minded focus to make bus travel efficient and safer for women has won multiple accolades, the most recent from the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Dr Mohan Yadav. Chalo app is live in 66 cities in India, tracking 25K buses live and readying India's public infra for NCMC.?
Anshoo's determination and doggedness recognised by HT Media and Fever FM
Anshoo Sharma , founder of Magicpin, India's largest local savings super app for offline and physical retail, stayed optimistic when people around him found the idea of bringing millions of fragmented offline retailers into the rapidly growing online economy in 2015, ridiculous. His unwavering faith in the company's vision helped Magicpin emerge stronger from the pandemic, ready for the next leg of growth. ??
Raghav featured in Forbes, discussing how AI is taking over kitchens
Raghav Gupta , co-founder of Nymble , understands that eating healthy can be gruelling and time-consuming. That's why he spent the last five years at Nymble teaching home robots and AI to cook like humans. He shared how AI is aiding in meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking, thus freeing up more time for people to savour one another's company. Raghav believes that user experience, data-driven insights and collaborative development will be keys to success for Nymble.?
Angad featured on SeedToScale podcast
Angad K. , co-founder & CEO of CityMall , opines that quick commerce cannot replace India's $600B food and grocery segment, 98% of which is yet to be penetrated by e-commerce. Value-conscious Bharat consumers have small AOVs, which can be fulfilled profitably only by low-cost supply chains. CityMall's community leaders keep the cost base extremely low, while building trust and familiarity in Tier 2/3 households.?
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WBV Insights
Thought Leadership From Our Team
Manish Kheterpal on CNBC TV-18 discussing key trends shaping India's VC landscape?
On the panel alongside Rajan Anandan (Peak XV Partners) and Prashanth Prakash (Accel India), Manish touched upon "gambling" capital drying up, valuation expectations being reset and liquidity being injected into companies basis their ability to drive profits at scale, and generate DPI. DeepTech is in trend, with the India advantage, of world-class innovations at a fraction of the cost, more relevant than ever before.?
WBV strengthens partnership with WinPE
Women continue to be underrepresented in investment decision-making at PE/VC firms. Gender balance in investors is a powerful agent for driving diversity in the boardrooms and within workplaces. Winpe is a pioneering platform to engage key stakeholders of the industry to catalyse this change. WinPE and WaterBridge Ventures are partnering to pave the path to a more inclusive and diverse ecosystem.
Tanushree Nagori and Aditya Shankar serving the Forgotten India with Doubtnut
Although India ranks 2nd with its $6B e-learning market, its education system is plagued with lack of affordability and accessibility. The husband-wife duo started Doubtnut to usher in a transformative impact in the lives of economically disadvantaged students preparing for competitive exams such as IITJEE and NEET. Today, Doubtnut has served 62M learners, from 16K towns and villages, with 85% of the students attending government schools in non-metros.
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The Dots That Make the Picture
Celebrating The Everyday
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Read?about WaterBridge, our?Portfolio & Team:
VC at WaterBridge Ventures | Seed/Series A Investor | IIT Bombay
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