Quarterly Update Q4 2023-24

Dear Reader,

India is sizzling figuratively and literally with both startup activity and heat!

Early-stage funding in India has been stable in the last few quarters in contrast to overall funding that fell in the previous quarter. We had an excellent last quarter talking to great founders across a combination of sectors and technologies such as Quantum Computing, GenAI, Semiconductor, Climatetech, Biotech, and Robotics in India and outside.

AI/GenAI is becoming more pervasive across sectors. ?It's heartening to see startups building vertical and sector-specific models.?We also see more startups working on products and tools to help them productize them with optimization, qualification, and governance. Also, it is encouraging to see the semiconductor ecosystem coming together with participation from the Government, academia, and the Indian diaspora from the USA. With climate changes affecting everyone, ?it's good to see startups using technology to address the climate challenges. ?We are happy to have partnered with Ambee, ?KCat Enzymatics, SmartshipHub, Okulo Aerospace, and Bluj Aerospace in their journey to create a better world.

Founder Series

We had the honor of hosting Mr. Sanjay Nayak-founder and CEO, Tejas Networks at our office as part of our Founder Series talks. Sanjay has built a company that stands for true deeptech innovation in India. Our founders from the deeptech domain gathered valuable insights on the challenges faced by a founder in this space and how to overcome them. He also shared his learnings from the journey of a successful IPO?and how to navigate the process. Our founders walked away with immense learning from the talk we thank Sanjay for taking the time out!

Ecosystem Initiatives?by Ideaspring Capital

We hosted the “Chennai B2B Startup Pitches and Mixer” event, along with Java Capital, in collaboration with TiE Chennai. This event was a great opportunity to network with both founders and venture capitalists in and around the Chennai region. We had a pitching session for startups followed by an engaging panel discussion and AMA session. We had more than 50 attendees for the event and 25 startups applied for the pitching session out of which 5 have been shortlisted for further evaluation. Chennai has always been a hub for innovation both in the SaaS and hardware spaces and we are very keen to explore the ecosystem and identify exciting startups building from here.?

We are excited to announce that at DefConnect 2024, Ideaspring Capital was on boarded as an investor partner under the iIH umbrella of iDEX - DIO. The event saw the attendance of the Honourable Raksha Mantri - Shri Rajnath Singh. We are extensively looking at the defence space for investments having already invested in two drone OEMs. Working closely with iDEX will help us identify exciting startups building in DefenceTech and also offer opportunities for our startups to reach a wider audience.?

Ideaspring Capital in collaboration with NuVentures conducted AI Mavericks, a Gen-AI focused program designed for founders with innovative ideas in this space. The program saw great participation from founders who were building AI solutions in areas such as Retail, BFSI, Gaming, Manufacturing, Social & Leisure, ESG, Transport and Logistics spaces. Close to 50 startups applied and 4 were shortlisted. We are continuously tracking the Generative AI space and are always on the lookout for startups working on path-breaking innovations in artificial intelligence.

Kwanzoo, U.S. held a USA GTM workshop at the Ideaspring Capital office. The workshop saw good attendance from companies in the 0-1mn ARR range who were looking to expand to the US.?The workshop was excellently moderated by Mani Iyer , CEO Kwanzoo, in an interactive conversation with Sridhar Ranganathan , Cofounder and CEO, B2Brain , a contextual Account Intelligence platform for SDRs. The workshop covered a range of topics, from defining your ideal customer profile, messaging, sales process, and marketing programs and tactics that drive growth. We?keenly focus on the USA GTM in discussions with our portfolio companies and are always on the lookout for opportunities to learn more in the space and partner with folks working in this corridor.?

We hosted a social to celebrate our partnerships with our LPs, our startups, our friends from the VC community, and our ecosystem partners for being an important part of our journey. We celebrated not just the path we’ve trodden on together, but also the paths we wish to create in the times to come. Thank you to one and all who could make it!

Portfolio Updates

Ahammune

• Featured on the cover page of Business Today Magazine as one of the Coolest startups in the country
• Second Indian patent granted

Ambee

• Sanofi partners with Ambee to launch Allegra Airways at SXSW. This is the first product of its kind in the world, powered by Ambee’s proprietary climate data and intelligence
• Went live on Weatherbug, one of the leading brands that offers location-based advertising to businesses

B2Brain

• Piloted the B2Brain value prop for Trade Shows and Industry Events with Modex 2024 at Atlanta, and that was received well, with a few opportunities getting added to pipeline
• Kicked off Account Insights video series as an industry-specific ABM effort

Convertcart

• Filed two patents:

1. A new method to accurately measure A/B testing outcomes by eliminating overlaps between campaigns
2. Automatic hierarchy mapping

• The first patent enhances the reliability of A/B testing results by ensuring that data from distinct campaigns is not mistakenly mixed, allowing for clearer attribution of outcomes to specific strategies the second one will?improve product categorization in eCommerce

Growthpal

• Closed two more overseas transactions last quarter in the US & UK. Increasing focus in these regions
• Pre-Beta release done for a fully automated target sourcing product for the buyers in the US and India market. Initial rollout is for IT services, followed by SaaS companies. Early access for customers (buyers) will be released in May

Okulo Aerospace

• Successfully executed its pilot project with one of India's largest renewable energy companies
• Progressed to the final testing phase of its product and on the verge of applying for Type certification for India's first Low Altitude Long Endurance Solar Electric UAV

Karomi

• Launched MA One: The next generation flagship SaaS platform in artwork management, that now caters to SMEs & enterprises, with improved User experience
• 6 new customers signed up for the enterprise offering and 2 customers onboarded for the new SaaS offering

Kcat Enzymatic

• Operations have commenced at the new state-of-the-art Biotech Facility. The facility will enable scaling up to 20x enzyme screening experiments in a month
• Patent on CRISPR Technology titled "In Silico Guided CRISPR-Cas Driven Enzyme Engineering Framework" has been officially granted?

Lavelle Networks

• One of India’s top 5 public sector banks, expanded?the rest of their network (3000+ locations) based on their experience with the solution last year for the first 2300 locations
• Completed a large rollout of 4500 locations at another top 5 PSB, making it one of the largest SD-WAN rollouts in the financial industry across the country - more than 7500 locations on one SD-WAN platform. Overall installations have crossed 25000

Litemed

• Ramped up sales team for B2B2C through Doctors in cities such as Hyderabad, Bangalore and Guntur
• Partnered with Spinta Digital to build a comprehensive Branding and Marketing plan as part of their Omnichannel strategy

Mason

• Started onboarding partners on the Solution Partner Program "Starburst" which went live in the last quarter
• Expanded the solution offering to AI-powered Carts that deliver personalised offers & upsells resulting in 7% - 15% increased basket sizes during checkout & 140% - 180% improvement in cart completion

Mihup

• Onboarded a prominent client in the Fintech Space, significantly reinforcing Mihup's position in the BFSI sector
• Successfully onboarded one of the largest players in the real estate space

Nimesa

• Onboarded one of the prominent fintech to help them recover from Ransomware in less than 30 minutes
• Ended the year?with 121% NRR

SmartshipHub

• India’s largest privately owned shipping company signed its entire fleet with SSG. This is in addition to prominent shipping companies from Germany and Japan signing up their entire fleet
• Ninety-six years old Japan’s leading maritime OEM ( original equipment maker) decided to become SSH’s Co Marketing Partner ( and Sales Agent) in Japan

Simyog

• Appointed Dr. Krishnan Ramaswami as CTO. Dr Krishnan comes with a vast experience in product design and geometry modeling. He received his masters from IISc and PhD from Stanford
• Simyog was represented by Dr. Dipanjan Gope as a panelist for "Advancing to the Next Frontier in AI/ML-Driven EDA" at the VLSI Conference 2024

Worxogo

• Was invited to present at Genpact's global event, as a partner, to jointly take the solution to market. The response we received was overwhelmingly positive
• Gearing up for a 2x expansion with the largest bank in India