Dear Investor, A few weeks ago, I was among professionals from diverse backgrounds and, after the initial introductions, someone asked me what it felt like to manage a VC firm and work with young entrepreneurs across the country. That set me thinking, and I realised that, along with my partners, ...

Dear Investor, The hallmark of the world’s finest musicians or triumphant athletes (or, for that matter, any high performer) is their ability to perfect their timing. You may well ask: what does music or sports have to do with our business? Or, for that matter, timing? The fact is that ...

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 ...

Dear Investor, Even as I write this letter, a winter fog shrouds India’s capital in its icy grip. And yet there is a warm glow within every one of us at YourNest. We stand at the threshold of a new year, looking back at one of the most exciting periods ...

Dear Investor, While it is common knowledge that we VCs spend a large proportion of our time with startup founders, we also spend hours meeting a number of interns and career-seekers who are keen to join us fresh out of university. And invariably, I discuss what we do and what ...

Dear Investor, I am writing this at a time when the world is sending mixed signals in almost every sphere: global uncertainties continue to make financial markets volatile, and geo-political shifts are adding to indecisions. Amidst all this, our economy is an exemplary beacon of hope with steady growth and ...

Dear Investor, The more things change, the more they remain the same… while it may sound repetitive, the underlying principle holds immense value today. In a world where volatility is a constant, and plans are disrupted by geo-political and economic events, there are some things that are unlikely to change ...

Dear Investor, The last few months have been dominated by a small two-letter abbreviation – AI. As a technological development, we are witnessing history being made with Artificial Intelligence dramatically altering our lives. And, just recently, we saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi referring to AI as America & India. Beyond ...

Dear Investor, We have seen the term ‘funding winter’ building momentum across last year: as global recessionary trends increased, India also saw a decline in startup funding and deals by VCs (charts below from ET Prime). This slowdown in fund inflows led to a sharp drop in the number of ...

Dear Investor, ALL AROUND US, a ‘funding winter’ prevails across the late-stage startup eco-system. Funding in early-stage startups continues – albeit at more attractive valuations. Nevertheless, our disciplined approach of investing in DeepTech, early-stage, B2B focused startups continues to weather this storm, and is demonstrating resilience as is evident from ...

Dear Investor, Change, they say, is the only constant in life. The ones who are prepared to embrace change, ready to step out of the comfort zones are people we call ‘Challengineers’. They have manifested themselves not just as partners and employees at YourNest but also as entrepreneurs and founders ...

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 ...

Dear Investor, There is no greater sporting spectacle than the Olympics: it remains the ultimate goal for any athlete. In this aspect, a sportsman aiming for an Olympic medal is akin to a startup founder: both enter the field with a burning passion to accomplish something that no one has done before ...

Dear Investor, Since I last wrote to you in September 2020, a country that was hesitantly emerging from the lockdown has begun to charge ahead with renewed vigour. If the conversation during the nine months from March to December were mostly about the lockdown and the seemingly unstoppable spread of ...

Dear Investor, When Charles Dickens, wrote “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” he could well have been thinking of 2020. Except that he wrote these opening lines of his classic, A Tale of Two Cities, as far back as 1859. He also went on to write, ...

Dear Investor, As India rightfully claims her place in the new world order, she does so with pride. On the back of millions of the brightest minds who are among the largest STEM talent pool on our planet. Each one a celebration of the Imagi-Nation that we are: a nation ...

Dear Investor, For an entrepreneur and an investor, every decision for something is a decision against something else. Likewise, with life. We operate in a world of choices every day, every minute; and some of our decisions turn out to be right, while others appear to be questionable at that ...

Dear Investor, Several metrics showcasing the strength of the Indian tech startup ecosystem in NASSCOM’s latest report indicate that we are approaching escape velocity. India added eight new Unicorns in 2018, and now has the third largest number after USA (126) and China (77). More importantly, the time to attain billion-dollar ...

Dear Investor, In a world beset with challenges, it gives me immense pleasure to report that our focused approach to identifying and investing in specific startups is starting to pay off. As you know, we launched the fund with one clear objective: we would not adopt the spray-and-pray approach but would, instead, ...

Dear Investor, In Nov’17, your fund was recognised as one of ‘Top 10 Performing PE/VC across Vintage & Sectors’ by Preqin Insights on Alternative Assets in India! We are the “Youngest Fund” in India to be featured on this list and amongst the two VC funds to make the top-rank ...

Dear Investor, The most fascinating times in history have been filled with tumult and upheaval. The participants who were living through these momentous changes were probably experiencing trepidation and pain – till the impact of those changes settled in to bring about astonishing growth. And the cycle continued to repeat ...

Dear Investors, Another quarter, another report, another opportunity to share the excitement that is this journey to becoming the Best VC fund in the country. They say when the root is strong, the fruit is sweet. With your continuous support and guidance, we continue to build stronger roots. In September ...

Dear Investors, Even before the printer’s ink dries on this letter, the world, as we have known it, would have changed AGAIN. Recently there was the Brexit. Then Prime Minster, Mr. Modi’s waving of the wand to make the high denomination notes disappear. And now the incredibly tight competition in ...

Dear Investors, A Zen saying goes : The value of a room lies not in its walls but in the space within. While the walls provide protection and define the space what can happen within those walls is what really matters. And so it is with any Venture Fund. The ...

Dear Investors, Spinoza said, ‘You must look at things in the aspect of eternity’ and Ben Graham made it a basic dictum for his tenet of value investing. And that, indeed, has made the difference in the way we have been selecting our investee companies – not ones that will ...

Dear Investors, With the new policy for Setting and Managing Venture Capital funds in India announced by RBI, manage in India is set to become a reality. RBI last week has allowed FDI on automatic route in Venture Capital Funds (VCF) and Private Equity (AIF). With this, the long standing ...

Dear Investors, The quarter gone by has been quite mixed in terms of the way the ecosystem has evolved. On the brighter side, there were things like more and more companies getting into the USD 100mn valuation window (63 in October 2015 vs. 39 companies in May 2015), and new ...

Dear Investors, This report comes to you after a gap of 7 months. While we have been sending you updates in various ways, the closing of YourNest Angel Fund – Scheme 1 and its related activities – have led to the missing of an interim report. Thank you for bearing ...

Dear Investors, Interest in early stage investing in India is seeing an unforeseen frenzy. More and more eminent personalities – be it Mr Ratan Tata, or Mr Azim Premji – are getting on the bandwagon as are large corporations. The leading consumer Internet players such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and even ...

Dear Investors, In my earlier letter, I had stated that we have never seen such “across the board” optimism in the country. I had not imagined that it will morph into the kind of snowball that it has for YourNest in particular, and the start-up ecosystem in general. We have ...

Dear Investors, The mood in the economy is definitely on the upswing. The outcome of the largest electoral exercise conducted on this earth, and the subsequent policy actions of the new government has filled each one of us with hope and expectations of prosperity. Some of the lead macro-economic indicators ...

Dear Investors, In keeping with our philosophy of investing in cutting edge ideas with sound teams, we are happy to announce our 4th investment in Chennai based Uniphore Software Systems. The startup was incubated at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM) and operates in the speech recognition and voice biometrics area. ...

Dear Investors, YourNest’s entrepreneurial journey, that started 20-months ago, has helped us gain perspective on various parameters of success for an early stage fund. We believe smart investors demonstrate capability to invest in the right idea, early. They are not only supportive, collaborative and friendly but also back the venture ...

Dear Investors, ‘India has the youngest growing population in the world. And that population is as innovative as its counterparts in the ‘developed’ countries’ – says Dr. Nirmalya Kumar, Professor of Marketing at London Business School. Over 750 R&D centers have been set up by MNCs in India employing an ...

Dear Investors, Startups need continuous nurturing and lots of nourishment – emotional, intellectual and financial. As with children, the initial phase puts into place the organisational values, strengthens entrepreneurial belief and lays down the DNA of a process driven organisation with objective decision making capabilities. And so it is with ...

Dear Investors, ‘The times, they are a changing’ – must be the most repeated statement and yet it holds true every time. “Every crest is followed by a trough, and the trough, inevitably, by the crest.” And so the waves of fortune lap the shores of effort. The best amongst ...

Dear Investors, The year 2012 has started on an encouraging note for early stage venture capital and angel investing in India. The regulator formally acknowledged that venture capital has positive spillover effect on the economy, and has formulated Regulations imparting higher level of transparency & disclosures. The Finance Bill 2012, ...

Dear Investors, It has been a just over a month since I stepped away from the corporate sector to concentrate on angel investing full time. Having researched the economy closely for over the years, I realised that this is perhaps the best time to initiate this step, with economic indicators ...