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<ul><li>In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, the million dollar men Mukul Arora, Deepak Gaur and Mayank Khanduja, of <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword> sit down to discuss how they invest in <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword>.</li><li>They are now willing to go as early as possible in the fund cycle of a startup. </li><li>SAIF Partners has been an early investor in <keyword id="6357120" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="paytm">Paytm</keyword>, MakeMyTrip, Swiggy, Firstcry, BookMyShow, Rivigo, Meesho, Sharechat, Urbanclap and multiple others. </li></ul>In one of Gurugram’s hottest properties, in a swanky new space, we walked into the office of SAIF Partners. Huddled in the conference room were Mukul Arora, Deepak Gaur and Mayank Khanduja, men who have made million dollar bets in the Indian startup ecosystem – most of which have taken off and how. SAIF Partners has invested early in most top startups that saw a meteoric rise— like Paytm, MakeMyTrip, Swiggy, Firstcry, BookMyShow, Rivigo, Meesho, Sharechat, Urbanclap and others. The investment firm stood with them through the growth phase of these startups. Investing at the seed stage and Series A round has always been their strategy. They are now more leaning towards investing early. They meet more than 100 companies in a week, but with few breakthroughs. We sat down with Arora, Gaur and Khanduja, as they discussed what they look for in a company. “Our approach is to invest in the best team in place. We have a very focussed approach to investing - unlike some other funds which invest in multiple companies in the sub sector, we map out each sector and try to invest in the best in them, and come in as early as possible,” said Gaur. SAIF Partners invests across sectors – consumer tech, education, finance, healthcare, internet and IT services, logistics, mobile and SaaS companies and more. The second leg of their approach to investing is a fundamental one – looking for the right business model. They look for companies that are customised for India, rather than replicate what’s happening in other countries. The third aspect is that they continue to support and invest in those companies as their horizons are fairly long. “We invest for 7-9 years. We try to invest as much we can according to our fund circumstances across multiple rounds,” said Gaur. So what’s the trick to getting funded by them? A team that has a very fundamental approach to problem solving, where it understands how to solve a real problem in the right manner. It has to be a strong and ‘rightly motivated’ team – which is not creating short term goal or scale but sustainable impact. And of course, capital efficiency in the initial stages. How they cracked Swiggy SAIF Partners invested in Swiggy, when the foodtech unicorn had just a landing page. They had met over 50 teams in the foodtech space, including some of the large names out there today. What they liked about Swiggy was that they understood the problem deeply – the only way is to deliver food on your own, when you have your own logistics in place and — not just build an app for ordering. “First time, we pinged them even before they were live, they just had a landing page in July or August 2014. Then we saw the progress – they were very customer-obsessed even at a small scale, their retention was very strong, they were not offering discounts, charging a convenience fee on every order. They also have a complimentary founding team - Harsha is a very strong business leader, Nandan is great in operations and Rahul is a strong tech guy. Then we invested in the seed round,” said Arora. Could they have predicted then that Swiggy would today be a marker leader? “No,” comes the answer. “But that’s true for the entire consumer tech market, acceleration has happened much faster than we could have imagined in the last four years. But given their building blocks we were sure that this is the team that is likely to be a leader. We had a strong conviction,” said Arora. Why do they go after seed-stage startups As the internet penetration in India has gone deeper, so has a startup’s ability to reach out to more consumers. This has also led to investors going in after startups at an early stage, catch them before they become the hotshot company that everyone’s after. “We are now willing to go even earlier than in the past. We are even talking to companies that are in the pre-launch phase,” said Arora. A big reason for that is that the adoption of these new products or services by consumers is so much faster. “People are so much more open to trying out some of these new products and see if they are satisfying. We had invested in No Broker long time back, we knew that there would be a market for a real estate transaction without a broker. They took two-three years to build a user base but when they started to monetise, I think everyone was pleasantly surprised to see how many people were willing to pay the money. If there’s a high quality service out there, consumers are now more willing to pay,” said Khanduja.

SAIF Partners invested in Swiggy when they just had a landing page – today they are going after more seed stage startups, here’s why

<ul><li>Logistics startup <keyword id="3156357" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rivigo">Rivigo</keyword> has raised $65 million in its Series E round.</li><li>This funding, which came in from Warburg Pincus and <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword>, is a part of its ongoing Series E round. </li><li>The startup’s last reported valuation was $950 million and with this funding it could have crossed the $1 billion mark to be a unicorn.</li></ul>Logistics startup Rivigo raised $65 million in its latest Series E round. The funding came in from PE firm Warburg Pincus and SAIF Partners. Rivigo’s last reported valuation was at $950 million when it raised the earlier tranche for the Series E round, in February. With the new round, Rivigo could have become India’s latest unicorn, although it’s not confirmed yet. “We continue on our mission to make logistics human and digital. Relay trucking is now very well established where relay truck pilots lead better life and customers gets exceptional service. With technology and freight marketplace, we now want to bring relay to every truck in the country,” Deepak Garg, chief executive of Rivigo, said in a <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/warburg-pincus-saif-partners-lead-65-million-funding-round-in-rivigo/articleshow/70171852.cms">statement</a>. Rivigo and its competitor <keyword id="53463" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="blackbuck">Blackbuck</keyword> both have been racing towards the unicorn status. Blackbuck had announced its latest funding in May and it had fallen a few million short of being a unicorn. It is also currently valued at $950 million. Blackbuck had raised $150 million from Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Silicon Valley-based Accel, along with Wellington, Sequoia Capital, B Capital and LightStreet and existing investors Sands Capital and International Finance Corporation.

Rivigo raises $65 million in its latest round as it stands at the door of the unicorn club

<keyword id="6354630" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="mark-zuckerberg" source="Orion">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword>'s <keyword id="399907" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="meta" source="Orion">Meta</keyword> (formerly Facebook) on Wednesday announced a partnership with VC fund <keyword id="1397792" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="kalaari-capital" source="Orion">Kalaari Capital</keyword> to upskill and scale young, invested businesses in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> by providing them with timely business skilling support. The partnership is a part of Meta's 'VC Brand Incubator Initiative' for the growth of micro, small and medium businesses in the country. "As part of this initiative, Meta has partnered with India's largest VC funds. We are thrilled to now partner with Kalaari Capital that has been instrumental in the growth journey of many startups," said <keyword id="3056724" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ajit-mohan" source="Orion">Ajit Mohan</keyword>, VP and MD at Meta in India. Kalaari Capital is an early-stage, technology-focused venture capital firm based in Bengaluru. "As startups scale, they need to leverage several tools and platforms like Meta to support their growth," said <keyword id="1397790" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="vani-kola" source="Orion">Vani Kola</keyword>, Founder and Managing Director, Kalaari Capital. In the last three years, Meta has tied up with 16 VC funds, including Kalaari Capital, and has successfully skilled and mentored more than 500 small businesses at various stages of their growth journey. In April, Meta onboarded <keyword id="122716" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sequoia-capital" source="Orion">Sequoia Capital</keyword>. Other VC firms are Fireside Ventures, Elevation Capital [SAIF Partners], DSG Consumer Partners, Matrix Partners, Anthill Ventures and <keyword id="6306883" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="stellaris-ventures" source="Orion">Stellaris Ventures</keyword>, to name a few. With Kalaari Capital, Meta said it is going to have several young, invested businesses from emerging sectors such as ed-tech, social commerce, gaming, and fin-tech, among others participate in the initiative. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/if-you-place-an-order-youre-accepting-the-service-charge-restaurant-body-says/articleshow/91779455.cms">If you place an order, you’re accepting the service charge, restaurant body says</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/tata-avinya-renders-reveal-the-expected-design-of-the-concept-electric-car/articleshow/91765348.cms">Tata Avinya renders reveal the expected design of the concept electric car</a>

Zuckerberg's Meta partners with Kalaari Capital to upskill young startups in India

<keyword id="2434035" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rapper-Raftaar">Rapper Raftaar</keyword> has invested in the <keyword id="11790278" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="frontrow-app">FrontRow app</keyword>, six months after Deepika Padukone invested in the same platform. After investing in the learning and community platform, <keyword id="302421" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raftaar">Raftaar</keyword> told <keyword id="105681" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IANS">IANS</keyword>: "I am very excited to be joining forces with the stellar crew at <keyword id="4975958" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="frontrow">FrontRow</keyword> and see how I can add value in fostering the culture of non-academic education across India. In my teenage years, I was always motivated by the creative arts and felt like a misfit in the conventional educational setup. I have always believed there is more to life than traditional degrees and textbook knowledge and skill development deserves its spotlight now, more than ever." Elaborating how the app would be beneficial for the youth in rural areas due to unlimited avenues, he added: "Whilst interacting with young minds during my tours in different cities, I realised that rural India has alternate passions, most of which it cannot pursue. The students would come up to me and talk about their acting, singing, and filmmaking dreams. They didn't want to do engineering, IT, or medical. But they had limited avenues because they weren't in Mumbai or New Delhi." Emphasising the necessity of the app in today's times, he said: "I want to make non-academic learning accessible and affordable for small-town Indians and hope to do so as I embark on this new journey. A big shout out to my partner, Ankit Khanna (AK Projekts) for making this happen." FrontRow has secured an undisclosed amount from Raftaar and AK Projekts. The fundraise came six months after Frontrow secured seed funding of $3.2 million from Deepika Padukone, <keyword id="455799" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lightspeed-Venture-Partners">Lightspeed Venture Partners</keyword>, and Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners). Reflecting on the development, Mikhil Raj, co-founder, FrontRow told IANS: "We are excited to join hands with Raftaar on the mission of democratising access to learning with partnerships with some of the industry's finest peers and experts at an affordable price from the comfort of your home. We continue to aspire to make learning accessible, easier, and enjoyable at FrontRow with partnerships like these." The non-academic skill development platform was founded by serial entrepreneurs Mikhil Raj, Shubhadit Sharma, and Ishaan Preet Singh in 2020. The app has forged creative alliances with celebrities like Neha Kakkar, DIVINE, Suresh Raina, Amit Trivedi, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Raju Srivastava, <keyword id="6404681" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sunburn">Sunburn</keyword>, MortaL and 8bit Thug in the past. Adding on Ankit Khanna, founder, AK Projekts said: "We are extremely bullish on the opportunity presented in the celebrity-driven vocational training platform segment in India. We believe there is huge merit and scope in this business that allows a wide section of people to have access to leaders from their respective fields and to learn from them directly. We are excited to support a new archetype for learning, an assortment of education, entertainment, and community." SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/google-is-now-using-chrome-as-another-security-layer-for-account-sign-ins/articleshow/84975356.cms">Google is now using Chrome as an added security layer for account sign-ins</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/how-to-check-allotment-status-of-glenmark-life-sciences-ipo/articleshow/84978486.cms">Glenmark Life Sciences IPO: How to check allotment status, listing date and more</a>

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SAIF Partners invested in Swiggy when they just had a landing page – today they are going after more seed stage startups, here’s why

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Rivigo raises $65 million in its latest round as it stands at the door of the unicorn club

Sanchita Dash

Zuckerberg's Meta partners with Kalaari Capital to upskill young startups in India

IANS

After Deepika Padukone, Rapper Raftaar also invests in learning community FrontRow

IANS

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