Investor’s Corner.. ‘This is a really healthy reset’

I think in general there has been correction at every stage. We are seeing that valuations have dropped from anywhere from a quarter to a third for Series A, B and C rounds. The valuation drop has not been so much for the seed rounds. Also things are moving at a slower pace with a lot more focus on due diligence.

Ultimately that’s not good for founders or investors because eventually these companies have to be acquired or taken public. That only works if you do it at the right price.

It’s a well-known fact that sales are vanity, profits are sanity and cash is reality. So it’s important to come back to business fundamentals, which is not a mindless GMV chase but a focus on building real durable businesses that are creating tangible value. So, I think this is a really healthy reset.

We haven’t really seen any impact. We expect to have a big exit announcement in January. I think at least for investments which are a bit older, the environment is still reasonably good.

One of the themes that is meaningfully emerging is climate tech. There are a number of young entrepreneurs looking at solving problems in agriculture with a climate lens and helping to prepare Indian agriculture for climate change.

We are really excited about this space with some of the brightest people dedicating their lives to solve this problem.

In fact it has changed in the other direction and has picked up a little bit in terms of the size of deals especially at seed stage. We are encouraging founders to ensure they have funding for 24 months instead of six months.