Pankaj Makkar

Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments · 1 appearance on the record.

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Pankaj Makkar established and leads Bertelsmann India Investments, directing early-growth and growth-stage investments across Indian tech-enabled businesses. He is known for backing category-defining Indian scale-ups and unicorns, including Shiprocket, Eruditus, Licious, and LetsTransport.

9statements → 3claims → 1claims resolved → 3.78/5average certainty → 1.89/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated →

1 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 2 not checkable as stated how the 3 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

1 prediction · 2 assertions · 3 insights · 3 disclosures · every statement was checked. The prediction and assertions are the 3 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 1 is resolved, and 2 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Pankaj argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

In 2013, no dedicated VC funds targeted Indian Series C or D

“What we did realize was there was a significant market in Series D and Series C stage, which at that time we called as a growth investing in a VC market. And honestly, we did not find even a single dedicated fund which was focused on that market, and we decide…”

Pankaj Makkar May 3, 2020 ▶ 4:54 Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Pankaj Makkar on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said9 Episodes1

Everything Pankaj Makkar said on the Neon Show that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight

A VC's greatest value add is emotional companionship during difficult situations

“Entrepreneurship is a very lonely journey. And within that, if you can make some friends and you can talk to each other in a very informal fashion so that Any inhibition or difficult situation that the entrepreneur is facing, you're able to talk out as friends…”

Pankaj Makkar May 3, 2020 ▶ 15:33 Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups

Assertion Supported

In 2013, no dedicated VC funds targeted Indian Series C or D

Pankaj Makkar May 3, 2020 ▶ 4:54 Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups

Disclosure

Bertelsmann targets hard-to-replicate operational capabilities over specific startup sectors

“The idea is not to be sector specific, but look at capabilities and understand if there are capabilities which are very difficult To replicate and that's what we call as a complex business. We like those businesses because we ourselves are in such business.”

Pankaj Makkar May 3, 2020 ▶ 6:41 Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups

Disclosure

Merging Saavn with Reliance was the best path against new strategic rivals

“After some time we did see a lot more strategic entering into the game as soon as they realized that this is a large market. And at that point we realized that the best bet we had to make sure that the company becomes fairly viable and sustainable is to join h…”

Pankaj Makkar May 3, 2020 ▶ 8:30 Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Pepperfry will benefit significantly post-COVID from the shift to online shopping

“We think that a company like Pepper Fry may end up Eventually benefiting significantly after this COVID episode is behind us. The reason of course is that it is part of an online trend where people will spend less time looking at offline options, but may go si…”

Pankaj Makkar May 3, 2020 ▶ 9:48 Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups

Insight

Growth investors must distinguish fundamental business drivers from paid marketing scale

“Make sure that you look at fundamental levers behind the growth of the companies versus artificial levers like using digital marketing to get scale.”

Pankaj Makkar May 3, 2020 ▶ 12:26 Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups

Insight

Startups must secure an 18 to 24 month runway during major crises

“You don't know how long this crisis will last. You don't know how the recovery will be. And hence having at best 18 to 24 month runway is needed in the business at this point. If you think that there are ways in which you can cut your costs delay some amount o…”

Pankaj Makkar May 3, 2020 ▶ 27:50 Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups

Disclosure

Bertelsmann India writes $5M to $15M checks for 15-20% equity stakes

“As a series B, series C investor, we would typically come at with a check size of about five to fifteen million dollars let's say average of 10, and typically take anywhere between 15 to 20% in a company.”

Pankaj Makkar May 3, 2020 ▶ 18:30 Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Eruditus and Shiprocket scaled into great businesses using very little capital

“One, you know, so a few companies on ours, but the one that kind of stands out is Eruditis, which is a company being run by Ashwin Damera and Chaitanya, and both the entrepreneurs have built a fantastic company with very little capital. Another company in our …”

Pankaj Makkar May 3, 2020 ▶ 24:24 Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups

Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments, on Investing in Growth Stage Startups	May 3, 2020	23m

Pankaj Makkar

The record, in short

Their most notable supported claim

How they sound: not measured why? →

Appearances (1)

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