Dear Investor,
The experiment with a glass of water to distinguish between optimists and pessimists is very well known. But what if someone sees it as neither half-empty, nor half-full? What if I look at the same glass and assure you that, whether your view is based on hope or doubt, the glass still has water. Entering our 14th year as an early-stage venture capital firm, I am reminded of this every day.
Over our last two funds, we have become the first port of call for capital-hunting DeepTech founders and for peer VCs who seek our opinion on DeepTech startups. With every opportunity that we analyse, our dealflow team discovers that Indian founders are launching remarkably innovative – and globally scalable – ventures that leverage diverse aspects of technology. We get a ringside view of how the ecosystem will potentially evolve in the next few quarters. Subsequent meetings between our partners with these disruptive founders present us with unique perspectives which remind us that, like the glass of water, they all stand for highly potent investment opportunities. And yet, we invest only in a handful: those that eventually make the cut are the ones whose commitment to their cause stands out, and inspire us.
When we first met Miko’s founders in 2018, the founding team shared their vision of building a companion robot to take children away from addictive digital screens. This was long before AI became the buzzword it is today, and their innovation has helped tens of thousands of children across over 140 countries interact with technology from a very young age. Their insight led to an inspired product that won over Disney, and has been remarkably successful. It is also true to our investment thesis. From a US$ 5 mn pre-money valuation seven years ago, Miko is now valued at US$ 450 mn.
More recently, our interactions with the founders of EtherealX demonstrated their commitment to innovation: their belief that access to space must be multi-polar, its role as an inevitable evolutionary step in our civilisational progress was truly inspirational. From this springboard, EtherealX’s mission to bring true democratisation of access to space by leveraging a technical breakthrough in upper stage rocket reusability and the geographical advantage India’s spaceport provides, made it a compelling investment case.
Similarly, QpiAI’s vision is to advance intelligence modelling and computing systems by vertically integrating AI and quantum technologies in enterprise applications: their goal is to elevate India to that rare club of countries with an indigenously-built quantum computer.
In Chennai, as part of the Velocity Fast-track Funding Program, we discovered the fledgling ThinkMetal whose 3D metal printing platform will help manufacturers produce metal parts 10 times faster and at half the current cost.
And then there is WIOM which was born from the idea that information can help individuals to first dream big and then provide them tools to realise these dreams. However, millions of people do not have access to such. Risking their stable corporate jobs, the founders decided to set up WIOM in 2020 to solve for information asymmetry. They are already helping millions of users and, as a consequence, creating significant value – both in terms of financial returns (a 6-fold valuation growth in under three years post YourNest initial investment) as well in making Earth a better place.
While credit must go to each of our founders and to our eagle-eyed team for identifying and investing in these gems, none of this would have been possible without your conviction and continued support as our investor. Ideas are always fragile and require sustained nurturance: we have believed this from the day we created YourNest. Today, as we move ahead with our vision to nurture success, we remain even more committed to the cause. And we thank you for being with us, always.
Sunil K. Goyal
Managing Director & Fund Manager
March 25, 2025