Indian Entrepreneurs Are Moving Beyond Serving Urban India, says Prasanth Prakash
Indian entrepreneurs should build profitable business without chasing valuation
Investors at the India Startup Festival opined that technology is critical to rural innovation
Accel’s Prasanth Prakash: Global South Can Provide Solutions To Global North
Bengaluru, NFAPost: Global South entrepreneurs led by Indians can provide solutions to major problems faced by Global North, said Accel Managing Partner Prasanth Prakash at the second edition of India Startup Fest 23.
“It is no longer SaaS area where Indian entrepreneurs will work but Industry 5.0 and digital manufacturing technologies. With the decoupled supply chain policy and China+1 lot more opportunities has opened up in manufacturing sector,” said Accel Managing Partner Prasanth Prakash to TheNFAPost.
Hilighting the fact that Indian entrepreneurs are moving beyond serving serving urban India and there is a huge opportunity in Bharat, he also opined that current funding winter is a boon in disguise for the Indian startup ecosystem.
“VC ecosystem has matured in India over the years. Current funding winter is blessing for companies to achieve sustainable growth,” Accel Managing Partner Prasanth Prakash.
Giving an example of impact of the funding winter on startups, Prakash pointed out that many companies have reduced losses and have reported profits or are on their way to achieve the same.
While food delivery platform Zomato posted its maiden profit in 15 years in the first quarter earning of FY24, Paytm losses were down by 90 per cent during this period.
“Historically, consumer, fintech, & SaaS have been the fore-runners in the VC world. However, this is changing with emergence of new spaces like agritech, climate-tech, B2B ecosystem. Agriculture itself is a big enough opportunity with a market size of $500 billion,” added Accel Managing Partner Prasanth Prakash.
Speaking at the event, Aavishkaar Group- the PE fund Founder Vineet Rai said that invests in social impact-related ventures Indian entrepreneurs shouldn’t chase valuation, rather should build sustainable and profitable businesses in the long-run.
Putting a word of caution for investors, Aavishkaar Group- the PE fund Founder Vineet Rai advised investors to provide active mentoring along with facilitation of their network than only investing capital in the startups.
“Rrural innovation can be scaled up easily in a country like India because of the sheer size of the economy. Indian economy has reached multi-trillion dollar mark on its own. While 65% of our people live in rural India, around 20 million enterprises are non-farm based in rural India,” said Aavishkaar Group- the PE fund Founder Vineet Rai.
He pointed out that it is more than all the enterprises in urban India. “The opportunity is that the scale of trillion dollar is high, while the challenges like very fragmented market, small wallet size, and less technology intervention. That’s where the opportunity lies,” said Aavishkaar Group- the PE fund Founder Vineet Rai.
“Technology is a very critical aspect for rural innovation. Similarly, entrepreneurs should focus on governance. Governance is the protection for entrepreneurs. Good and sound governance protect you from the risks that you don’t know of. Building business is not only about making money but it is also about building credibility,” said Aavishkaar Group- the PE fund Founder Vineet Rai.
He also pointed out to focus on building sustainable and profitable ventures not necessarily chasing valuation.
“Honesty, transparency, and integrity are the only ways to buy credibility. Also, keep capital as an option. If you can remain bootstrapped, then remain so,” he added.
India Startup Festival, which kickstarted from today saw participation of more than 100 startups along with several key investors from both VC, PE firms along with HNIs (high net worth individuals).
The festival will conduct several seminars till August 12 in which around 20 startups will be selected for active mentoring with funding opportunities.
Some other investors also opined that current funding winter is a boon in disguise for the Indian startup ecosystem.
Similarly, Murali Vullaganti, Founder & CEO of PeopleShores-a US-based public benefit corporation- said, India requires impact investment that can bring in innovation in the agriculture sector.
