Dear Investor,
When we end a year, we also begin a new one; and this is the beauty of the cyclical nature of life, as well as of our business. From the days when startups were few and far in between, when investors such as yourself were rare, we are now seeing the beginning of a wave in which India is not just the world’s third largest startup ecosystem, but also the third-largest home to unicorns (after USA and China). In 2021, we added 46 unicorns and more than doubled the number from the previous year. Collectively, US$ 42 bn were raised by these startups in 2021, compared to US$ 11.5 bn the previous year.
Beyond the numbers, the fact that our startup eco-system is maturing and has the Government’s full support was evident in the fact that, on December 17, 2021, I was invited to represent YourNest – and the interests of our investors and founders – at a meeting chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi along with Hon’ble Minister of Finance, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman and key bureaucrats. With me were several other leading VCs and PEs and we came away energised and reassured that encouraging entrepreneurship is clearly a priority at the topmost level of India’s policymakers.
Exactly a month before this momentous meeting, YourNest was privileged to be the only VC representing India at a global conference of investors at Montreux, Switzerland. Apart from the invaluable connections made with potential investors, the highlight of the event was a talk by Kjell A. Nordström, a Swedish economist, author and public speaker. From his talk, we have distilled nine nuggets on future trends that will impact us all: these are captured in detail in our blogpost here:
Finally, the beginning of 2022 also saw me chairing the jury for the SAMRIDH-MeitY accelerator Program allowing us to interact with India’s leading tech-accelerators.
Having successfully exited two more companies – Momspresso and Cove IoT – we have achieved a DPI of 1.43 in the first Fund and are on track to deliver better returns in the coming months.
Our newly launched YourNest Innovative Products VC Fund III has already received capital commitment of INR 260 cr from early backers, representing 47% of the target corpus. What is most gratifying is that we were able to welcome the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) as an anchor investor in the Fund.
These are exciting times for us and, should you wish to stay abreast of developments at YourNest, do follow us on Twitter and/or LinkedIn.
In conclusion, let me thank you once again for your continued support. Our team, along with the family of Challengineer-founders, joins me in wishing you safety and good health always.
Sunil K. Goyal
Managing Director & Fund Manager
February 7 2022