💸 Meet the YCombinator of Tamil Nadu

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21 May 2025 View in Browser

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Hello,   Investors are gaining big returns from Indian bets.   VC firm Elevation Capital netted a 25X return from further trimming down its stake in travel tech company ixigo. It sold 21.5 lakh equity shares for Rs 178 apiece, which it had purchased from the company at Rs 7.14 apiece.   Last week was busy too with investors cashing in on their stakes.   growX Ventures Fund made a partial exit from space tech company Pixxel, generating a 17X multiple on invested capital. This comes right on the heels of Peak XV Partners’ Rs 1,200 crore windfall and 11X return from exiting logistics startup Porter.    Speaking of big numbers, ecommerce enablement platform Shiprocket is expected to file confidential draft papers with SEBI for its upcoming IPO as it aims to raise Rs 2,000-2,500 crore.    However, not everyone is happy with their balance sheets.   Digital financial services platform Mobikwik swung to a loss of Rs 121 crore in FY25, compared with a profit of Rs 14 crore in FY24. Growth in its payments business failed to offset mounting expenses and a slowdown in its credit distribution segment.   It’s all a numbers game.   In today’s newsletter, we will talk about  MudhalVC’s grassroots startup push Roadmap to India’s deeptech dreams Breakfast with a twist Here’s your trivia for today: Queen Elizabeth II owned a branch of which fast food brand?

Interview MudhalVC’s grassroots startup pushWhen Y Combinator was launched in 2005, little did its founders—Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston—know that nurturing scrappy startups early on would lay the foundation for a whole ecosystem.   Chennai-based MudhalVC is bringing that same spirit to Tamil Nadu. The VC firm is now investing Rs 25 crore across 50 idea-stage startups, by mentoring founders, helping them build core competencies, achieve early product-market fit, and survive long enough to attract larger investments.   Idea-stage investments: As of now, the firm has a Rs 25 crore idea-stage fund, has already invested in 15 companies and plans to deploy the rest over the next two-plus years. Afterwards, it intends to raise Rs 100 crore from limited partners for its second-stage growth fund. MudhalVC is sector-agnostic but geographically focused towards founders building from Tamil Nadu. The state has strong talent, policies, and mentors—but lacks risk capital. As a result, startups often migrate to Bengaluru in search of funding. The VC firm also runs monthly founder workshops through its founder-driven community, Idea Pattarai, in cities like Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchi, and Coimbatore. The workshops involve a knowledge-sharing session on startup basics, followed by a pitch teardown. Know More

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Funding Alert CureBay: $21M | Series B CloudSEK: $19M | Series A2 and B1 Biostate AI: $12M | Series A

Interview Roadmap to India’s deeptech dreams In a highly competitive landscape dominated by fast-moving, heavily funded ecommerce brands, deeptech startups like Agnikul are following a different playbook—building for strategic, long-term impact, not just market shares.   What would it take for India to lead the world in building deeptech capabilities? That question was at the heart of a wide-ranging conversation between YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma, Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner at the deeptech-focused, early-stage fund Speciale Invest, and Prabhu Rangarajan, co-founder of fintech infrastructure platform, M2P Fintech.   Deeptech dreams: For Prabhu, the fundamental question is whether India is a product country, and can build products which become household names. One of the benefits of developing a product mindset, he believes, is the ability and inclination to look ahead and build something for the future, which India needs to pursue deeptech.  According to Vishesh, deeptech is about creating things that don’t exist, which often don’t exist because something has changed in the industry which is altering the status quo. For Vishesh, solving the capital question is vital as AI “can supercharge national productivity.” Policies like the AI mission require capital for infrastructure, which needs to be disbursed over a long period of time. Know More

Startup Breakfast with a twist Despite the rising awareness around fitness and wellness, one core challenge persists: healthy food often doesn’t taste good enough to keep people coming back.    The leap from comfort food to clean eating is usually too steep, making it hard to build lasting habits. GOAT Life, a new-age food startup founded by 25-year-old Yash Kalra, is attempting to take this problem head-on—with oats.   Healthy habits: GOAT Life (formerly known as GoOAT) is a ready-to-consume oatmeal-based product that can be consumed in both drinkable and eatable formats. It is quick to prepare—ready in about 30 seconds.  The startup operates its own facility in Kota, Rajasthan, where the team manages the entire process—from sourcing raw materials to manufacturing and fulfilling orders for Amazon and its own website.  The startup’s current revenue comes from marketplaces like Amazon, its own website, and B2B channels. At the moment, the company is clocking about Rs 10 lakh in monthly revenue, growing 2-3X from last month, claims the founder. Know More

From the CapTable Meesho built a logistics arm to break free of 3PLs—now it may be more cornered than ever When Meesho officially launched Valmo, its in-house logistics arm, last year, few in the industry paid attention. Fewer still thought it would work. But over the past 12 months, Meesho rapidly flipped the script, scaling Valmo so quickly that it now delivers more than half of Meesho’s total order volume. As Valmo picked up more share, third-party logistics firms—sitting on idle capacity—began to compete aggressively for whatever volumes were left. Shipping rates for Meesho dropped to rock-bottom levels as companies undercut each other to stay in play. So far, the strategy has worked in Meesho’s favour. But that might be about to change. According to multiple people aware of internal targets, including those quoted earlier, Meesho is now struggling to push Valmo’s share of shipments much beyond 60%. Operational constraints and execution challenges are starting to emerge. More critically, the very disruption Valmo helped trigger may now put Meesho on the defensive. While it may have looked like Meesho was becoming less dependent on third-party logistics players, the balance of power could be tilting back in favour of the logistics companies as Meesho’s external logistics options dry up. Key Takeaways: Meesho built Valmo to reduce reliance on third-party logistics (3PL) firms and cut shipping costs. The move disrupted India’s logistics market—but also triggered consolidation that shrank Meesho’s external options. With Valmo hitting operational limits and 3PL power reconsolidating under giants like Delhivery, Meesho now has less leverage than before. Meesho’s low-cost, asset-light logistics model faces challenges in scaling to new regions or high-value products—forcing continued 3PL dependence. Continue Reading

News & Updates

Shifting focus: Elon Musk said he plans to significantly cut political spending and is committed to staying on as Tesla's CEO for another five years, aiming to address concerns about balancing his role at the automaker with his involvement in the Trump administration. Stellar debut: Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd jumped in its Hong Kong trading debut after the Chinese battery giant wrapped up the world’s biggest listing this year by raising $4.6 billion despite grinding through geopolitical storms. Upbeat outlook: Vodafone Group plans about $2.3 billion in share buybacks and forecasts a return to top-line growth in Germany, as the company works to dial up its performance in its biggest market.

Did you know?

Queen Elizabeth II owned a branch of which fast food brand?   Answer: McDonald’s.

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