Suniel Shetty

PVR is struggling as it does not produce the content it shows As Bollywood movie quality plummets, all streamers that produce content are benefitting PVR's competitive advantage of being a distributor for all has become a huge disadvantage Distributors who produce are winning

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1,298 gaming platforms just vanished from India overnight. $23 billion industry. Gone. Dream Sports, MPL, Zupee - all pulling the plug simultaneously. Most people think this is government overreach destroying innovation. But i think there is a big restructuring that will happen in the gaming industry. Real-money gaming banned completely. But e-sports and educational gaming? Full government backing. Think about this for a moment: -1.4 billion potential users being protected from financial addiction -Skill-based gaming getting institutional support -International companies scrambling to redesign their India strategy A lot of gaming apps that you use might end up completely changing their games and some might shut down. I personally think it will be very difficult for the existing real money gaming companies to exist. Some might ssay they can shift to advertisement revenue. Let me put this into picture: 1) Dream11's last year revenue $700million + 2) Total advertisement revenue of all gaming companies combined INR 6000crore+ Its a new playground altogether and i feel new companies will capture this space. Ps: Is there some sort of a curse ??

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I want to share some insights on how certain Founders are treating their Investors nowadays.  Here’s a brief timeline of the events that unfolded: -Jan 2021 Successfully raised ₹5 crore at a valuation of 25Cr. -Oct 2021 to Jul 2022 Another impressive round brought in over ₹65 crore at a valuation of 132Cr -The company ambitiously claims it's on a path to becoming a unicorn in just three years, backed by a $200 million IPO commitment from The Global Emerging Markets Group (GEM). -Apr 22 YourStory Media publishes an article titled: "[Funding alert] Instoried raises $200M from GEM, seeks to go public" (Read more at: https://lnkd.in/d35MEJBh) -From then until Dec 22, the company maintains an average monthly revenue of ₹50 lakh. However, from Jan 23, this figure plummets to merely ₹5 lakh. -The explanation? They attributed this downturn to the launch of ChatGPT. -Fast forward to Oct 23: The company announces a pivot from AI text generation to AI video generation. -Dec 23 The sudden conclusion— the company shuts down. On the surface, everything seemed fine. I understand that valuations can be inflated and funding announcements might stem from paid PR without and fact checking. But then reality hits hard…  -The Founder relocates to another country. -Claims the company shut down was a success; she touts that she raised $200 million and “exited.” In truth, she never raised beyond $9 million and didn’t exit — she shut it down and vanished, leaving investors unable to recoup losses. -To top it off, she blocks all investors on social media, despite boasting 13,000 followers and over 500 connections. Her profile hails her as a “3X Entrepreneur | Keynote Speaker | Fortune 40 Under 40 | Angel Investor | Creator of 10,000+ Jobs | 8-Figure Exit & $200M Raised | Generative AI Leader.” What comes next? She starts new ventures: -AI (which is the Pivot product of old company with old investor money)-> PiePie AI -Mental Health -> https://lnkd.in/dN5H4trJ It’s one thing for a business to wind down; it's entirely different to flee, fabricate stories, and play the victim. Here are some takeaways from my 4-5 years in Angel Investing: -For investors putting in ₹3-5 lakh, it's wiser to target companies valued under ₹25 crore. -For startups with valuations over ₹100 crore, funding should primarily come from institutional investors rather than smaller angel investors. -Be cautious about angel networks; their survival relies on a 3-4% funding fee from startups, not your membership or carry fees. Their interest may not be aligned with investors. -Pursuing legal avenues often leads to wasted time and money. As a side note, I've had investments shut down where the Founder remained communicative, worked alongside investors to attempt revivals, closed gracefully, and even bought back shares to help investors book losses. This is my first attempt at writing such a post, so please let me know if there are any disclaimers I should include. 🙏

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Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, through their early-stage fund Titan Capital, had invested just ₹57 lakh in Urban Company during its seed stage. That small cheque has now turned into a ₹110 Cr exit, marking an extraordinary 200X return. The exit came after Titan Capital sold its stake to Dharana Capital (Vy Capital’s arm), right before Urban Company’s IPO — which went on to be oversubscribed 103X. This makes it one of the most successful early startup bets in India’s ecosystem, highlighting the power of patient, high-conviction angel investing. #TitanCapital #UrbanCompany #ROI #IPO #StartupUpdates #AngelInvesting #VC #Fundraise #Exit #Profit #India via Startupro.in

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Market expansion with zero funds !! Here is an amazing hack that Shantanu Deshpande said in their recent podcast. If you already have a recognisable brand, get onto quick Commerce apps and you get automatically expanded into new cities as they open more and more. This will generate initial chunk of revenue for your product and build a customer base in that neighbourhood. When you reach the planned threshold, deploy a sales team and get it into all Kirana stores in that area. Sweep it clean 😎 Distribution playbooks are being rewritten as we speak.

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🚨 Exclusive: Home Decor Startup Vaaree Closes Pre-Series A Round At $4.6 Mn The company raised INR 17.98 Cr (around $2.09 Mn) in an extended pre-Series A funding round from existing investors PeerCapital an Peak XV’s Surge Ventures, with participation from other investors. Confirming the development, the startup said that the fresh funding was an extension of its pre-Series A round and it has now closed the round at $4.6 Mn (about INR 39.5 Cr). Founded by Garima Luthra, Varun Vohra, and Pranav Arora in 2022, Vaaree offers a wide range of home decor products via its marketplace. It has more than 80K SKUs in segments like bedding, furnishing, kitchen utensils, bath products, gardening essentials, and more. Read the full story at Inc42 Media (link in the comments below)

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Tier II & III cities aren’t “emerging markets” anymore. They are the market. The more we work with brands, the clearer it gets - real growth isn’t just in metros. It’s in Indore, Surat, Lucknow, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Guwahati… and beyond. Here’s why these cities matter more than ever: 1. Spending power is rising fast. Driven by younger, aspirational consumers. 2. Modern retail is booming. Malls, multiplexes, cafés, gyms, lifestyles are shifting. 3. E-commerce penetration is higher than ever. These cities are among the fastest-growing order bases for Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho. 4. Digital adoption is deep. Tier 2/3 audiences are not just consuming, they’re creating trends. 5. And when a brand earns trust here, the loyalty sticks far longer than in metros. For us, the real excitement in Tier 2 and Tier 3 comes from the connections we’ve been able to build - with creators, audiences, and local brands alike. That’s why we often find ourselves in a unique spot: Tier 1 brands approach us to tap into these markets authentically, and Tier 2/3 brands reach out to scale their voice beyond their cities. In many ways, we get to bridge that gap and that’s where the work feels most meaningful. If you had to bet on the next “growth capital” of India, which city gets your vote? #NextWaveIndia #Tier2 #Tier3 #BrandGrowth #ConsumerShift #DIYSolutions

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Super excited to announce that our portfolio startup Nirmaan has raised a seed round! Founded by Mayank Bhawsinghka & Manish Maheshwari, Nirmaan is targeting the fragmented construction materials industry by bridging the gap between manufacturers and retailers. Nirmaan’s B2B platform works towards addressing the pain points that manufacturers, retailers, and ecosystem stakeholders face in the real estate space. Honestly, B2B marketplaces seem to have lost interest in the investment ecosystem in recent times. But we are super bullish on B2B brands and marketplaces. As India moves towards becoming a $6T economy, a lot of this growth will be driven by the digitization of business transactions. Why we are bullish: - While most of the first $100 billion of India’s digital economy has come from consumer digitization, a large portion of the next 10X will come from B2B marketplaces. - The current market is predominantly an unorganized B2B economy, and the supply chain is fragmented. Even the government regulations are in favor: 1. GST 2. eWay Bill 3. Trade Receivables Discounting System (TREDS) 4. Production Linked Incentives (PLI) So, if you are building a B2B marketplace in India, keep going!

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99 percent people try and take shortcuts in everything Building distribution, scaling revenue, launching products, launching new markets etc If you are disciplined enough & enforce a culture of not taking shortcuts, howsoever lucrative it might seem in short run, that itself becomes a huge advantage

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