Rashmi Guptey
1st February 2022
Harish Talreja
25th January 2022
Sid Talwar
31st December 2021
Ankit Moorjani
30th June 2021
20th January 2024
Sandeep Murthy
17th March 2022
1st January 2020
20th November 2017
7th June 2022
15th May 2022
17th February 2022
28th November 2023
Prashant Mehta
2nd February 2022
22nd September 2021
30th August 2021
15th March 2022
21st January 2022
14th January 2022
5th November 2024
Monish Pathare
28th October 2024
4th October 2024
5th August 2024
20th October 2021
25th April 2021
Akshat Jain
12th February 2021
31st May 2020
Tanya Rohatgi
19th August 2024
20th June 2024
Siddhant Ahuja
25th April 2022
14th February 2022
2nd June 2018
5th June 2024
15th February 2024
9th February 2024
26th May 2022
1st February 2024
20th November 2020
Shivani Daiya
20th February 2020
17th August 2014
17th October 2024
18th July 2019
17th September 2021
15th September 2021
Maansi Vohra
28th January 2021
Atharva Purandare
10th January 2021
Tanvi Ghate
23rd January 2024
Ahan Rajgor
12th May 2022
8th March 2022
22nd February 2022
22nd August 2024
29th July 2024
5th June 2022
5th May 2022
16th April 2021
15th November 2014
25th October 2021
8th March 2020
7th August 2018
27th December 2016
17th February 2021
29th September 2020
24th September 2020
26th July 2020
20th January 2020
15th October 2018
26th June 2018
13th June 2017
21st May 2024
13th February 2024
15th July 2024
10th April 2024
20th February 2024
Are private equity firms 2 faced? How does the financial service sector deal with challenges? Read on to find out:
1. It is sometimes cynically said that Private Equity firms are two-faced: angels on the one side (while giving money), and devils on the other (while demanding their pound of flesh)! At the outset, please share with our readers what makes a Private Equity firm an important part of an economy.
Honestly, I don’t know any industry that doesn’t have its share of demons and angels. Private capital is no different. The important thing is to make sure one doesn’t generalize any one industry as either only demons or only angels.
On the question of the importance of private capital (which I will refer to collectively as venture capital for the sake of brevity) in the larger economy, here is my two cents. In our immediate future and beyond, invention and innovation will drive our economy, more than any other single element. And entrepreneurs are going to be the force behind it. At their side, will always be private money, in the form of venture capital, to help them in ways no one else can, and of course, for a piece of the action.
I would argue that venture capitalists come at a point of an entrepreneurs journey when no other pool of capital dares to even try. In essence, venture capitalists come in at the ideation stage, they nurture it for a short period of time, and then exit before the true value of successful companies is realised. How much innovation would the last 50 years have seen if it weren’t for venture capital? How much innovation would the last 15 years in India have seen if it were not for venture capital? Dare I say, not much unfortunately. Where would the founders of Flipkart, Infoedge, Ola, and MakeMyTrip be today? Probably still standing in line at HDFC Bank’s loan department hoping to meet an officer for the 100th time. And we would still be struggling to find a taxi and booking a flight. How lucky we are, as consumers (and how lucky are they, as founders), that venture capital happened to be around.
2. As Covid-19 continues to impact us all, businesses are faced with more uncertainty than any period since the global financial crisis. What are some of the challenges that have come about due to the pandemic on the financial services sector, and specifically on private equity firms?
Venture capital is not the same as traditional financial services companies. The kind of issues faced by venture capital businesses aren’t the same as the larger finance sector. And although the pandemic is the biggest crisis to hit the world since the 2008 crash, it is not the same thing. Yes, both created an uncertain future. Both saw an initial collapse of the global stock exchanges. And both saw governments intervening. But that’s really the only similarity. The larger financial services sector is far more secure today than it was in the aftermath of what happened in 2008.
As for venture capital, some of the largest businesses of our generation were started and funded during that time. Some of the largest software infrastructure and development tools businesses were founded then. For example, Nutanix, MongoDB, Github, and Cloudera. And, many services businesses that revolutionized how work is done today—from Square, to Slack, to Dropbox and Glassdoor. The total market value of these 8 companies is over $30 billion.
And in 2009...Uber was founded.
I’m eager to see what revolutionary businesses venture capital funds during this crisis.
3. Private Equity players often state that they are not just about money. What is the nature of support that your firm has provided to investee firms to weather the current storm?
The most important thing we can provide, I would say more important than money, is to be there for our companies. To be available. To be both a sounding board, as well as a support system. To let them know they are not alone. In some cases, we have supplemented that with capital. But in every case, our capital is not the reason our founders have weathered this storm. And I can tell you today, every one of our founders have weathered it. And they know they’re not out of it yet, but they also have a clear path now to move forward. It’s a good place to be.
4. You have been an entrepreneur at heart. What attracted you to the Private Equity industry?
I wanted to give back to entrepreneurship something I didn’t get myself - support. There are many pools of capital out there. But very few of them are truly able to support a founder in any way outside of money and potentially a few introductions. My partners and I wanted to change that. We wanted to truly be available and knowledgeable enough on their company to be of help whenever needed. That’s what we strive for today. That’s what we rate ourselves on. And that’s what we continuously try to improve on.
5. Please share with us more on the story behind Lightbox ventures and your investee firms. What makes you different from other Private Equity players in the market?
Our investment thesis has always been about building along with our portfolio companies and not just betting on them. Being entrepreneurs ourselves, we love building products and companies and understand the importance of growing and building a business with the right set of virtues, culture and financial foundation while creating something impactful and sustainable. So we get to know our founders early on and try and get operationally involved in the any way we can. We also enjoy working with consumer tech and tech enabled businesses that sell within India, to make a better India because it's not enough for a company to be able to generate value if they're not doing it in a manner that's actually benefiting us as residents of the country and we believe in the ability of technology to play a larger role in helping build the future of India.
Having a concentrated portfolio makes it easier for us to do that effectively and that approach is what really separates us from the other players in the market.
Source: Interview with Empoweredindia
Hitendra and I discovered this opportunity through an iterative set of conversations that took place prior to funding the business. It was this deep engagement and exchange of ideas, even before there was an economic incentive that allowed for a strong relationship with an open exchange of ideas to develop.
Tech companies are nothing without growth. The real value creation will take place in companies that are able to demonstrate differentiated growth by taking advantage of the imminent technology boom (a result of the explosion in data & apps).
Good design deepens the connect between and brand and its user and that makes it good business.
As technology investors, we strive to find ways to use technology to make an impact in people’s lives. What better way than with everyday food?
Indian women’s lives have changed. It’s time the jewellery industry changed. With Melorra jewellery women do not have to endure heavy jewellery that they take off at the end of the day with a sigh of relief!
As tech flattens the world, brands have the ability to directly connect with consumers. Born on the internet and made big by digitally native millennials, these brands challenge big industry business models across the world.
One of the most bizarre tax provisions in recent times, 'angel tax' has been causing extreme heartburn and confusion within the startup community. And while the procedural change with the January 2019 notification is welcome, what needs to change are the rampant tax notices and coercive action against genuine startups who already run very boot-strapped operations.
In one breath, India is called the ‘pharmacy of the world’; and in the very next, it is the ‘world’s diabetes capital’. This paradox encapsulates the state of Indian healthcare today.
At Lightbox, we’re committed to solving problems with differentiated solutions that leverage technology. Its our indifference to conformity and vision to partner with the ambitious who want to embrace the unknown and find a new and better way to do things. Companies that will create a cultural impact and defining moments in the lives of the generations that come after us.
"Whatever ramp time you are budgeting for in terms of demand coming back - double it. However long you think you need cash for - double it." When this is over, companies that have been household names will disappear and a new crop will emerge. How you prepare and use resources today will determine which group you are in.
Someone once said, “customer service isn’t about telling people how amazing you are, it’s about creating stories that do the talking for you.” Very few brands understand the value of these stories or even have the internal service culture to cultivate experiences worthy of being retold.
Why would Jio, a company that has rarely parted with ownership, agree to (or dare we say, actively seek out) partnerships and investments, and why now? What does this $20 BN mean for Jio, and how will these deals affect the broader technology market in India?
You will receive the next newsletter in your inbox.
The monthly Gazette is your source of happenings within Lightbox - updates, blogs, deep dives, opinion pieces and all things consumer tech
Join the thousands who hear from us