The Ledger
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Agarwal: Outsized startup growth is heavily driven by luck and timing
“So I would say the ones who are lucky enough, because luck also plays a big role, we believe, ah, for all these factors to come together, they grow, end up growing 5000 X, and the ones that are slightly unlucky or, you know, just wrong time, wrong place, at ti…”
Agarwal: Indian edtech market size poses challenges for traditional VC returns
“Overall, we think it's a market that is very attractive. Finding you know, kind of a market size you know, think that can be a bit challenging for conventional VC investors, we think, because each of these companies can probably scale to a certain point, and t…”
Agarwal: Info Edge refuses to back competitors of portfolio companies
“The reason it also looks way more diverse is because we don't invest in competition once we've invested in a company. And we are, we hold that very, very strongly irrespective of how that company is performing. That till we hold shares in one founder, We do no…”
Agarwal: Info Edge holds a majority stake in only one portfolio startup
“Because if you look at the current portfolio, only in one company we have over 50% stake out of that, out, all the others are minority investments, and the first shareholding that we look for when we enter is typically between 15 to 25%, which is extremely reg…”
Agarwal: Info Edge flash-sales investment failed as capital flooded the sector
“So we did, we took an early bet in a fashion e-commerce, one of those flash sales companies, which did not work for us because a lot of capital flooded the sector immediately after we invested and unit economics did not work.”
Agarwal: Info Edge avoids pure content startups over monetization challenges
“Content based startups, you know, we've not really invested in any because we just find the monetization angle a bit difficult to get our heads around.”
Agarwal: Info Edge accommodates cap table restructuring for struggling founders
“When things are not going as well as imagined, then any kind of restructuring of cap tables or anything that we need to do in order to give the entrepreneur a fresh lease of life or give them another chance with raising money and all of that. We are fairly acc…”
Agarwal: Info Edge mandates independent audit provisions even in early-stage startups
“Once we invest we do put in place the audit committee and we put in place other committees, right? And we make sure that there is independence of those committees at all times. We also make a provision for an independent director, even in our extremely early s…”
Agarwal: Startup strategic sale multiples in India lag global standards
“So, strategic sales, right, of course that can be a good exit, but in India, you know, typically the sale value or the multiples have been low compared to, you know, global standards, but that can be a good exit if a company has not raised too much capital, bu…”
Agarwal: Info Edge launched its venture arm due to internal bandwidth constraints
“There was a conversation at the InfoEdge board level that InfoEdge did not have the bandwidth to build all companies or verticals internally, and there were some very exciting entrepreneurs, very passionate people chasing great opportunities out there in the t…”
Agarwal: Info Edge writes first institutional checks of $500k to $5M
“So first check sizes are fairly flexible and depends on the fund requirement of the company, but the stage, ah, we are a little more particular about the stage that we try to be the first institutional investor in, ah, typically amongst the first who are in. S…”
Agarwal: Info Edge paused all new investments from 2012 to mid-2015
“This was between 2000 and 12 to 2015 mid where we did not make any new investments. Because the environment at that time just seemed really euphoric to us, and so we have the liberty to slow down the pace of investment since we invest from the balance sheet an…”
Agarwal: Info Edge funded two-thirds of ShopKirana's $10M round
“So the ten million round that has recently happened, we've done two thirds of that round and one third has come from other existing and new investors.”
Agarwal: Info Edge has held Zomato and PolicyBazaar for over 10 years
“For example, we've been now invested for 10 plus years in Policy Bazaar, 10 plus years in Zomato 10 plus years in Merit Nation.”
Agarwal: Info Edge is extremely bullish on B2B marketplaces
“B to B marketplaces, we've actually done quite a few because if you look at Shopki Rana, Shoe Connect, Wishbook, these have all been B to B marketplaces, right? So we have a very robust view on the sector and we are extremely bullish about it.”
Agarwal: Info Edge evaluates 500 startups annually and invests in five
“500 startups, roughly, we evaluate in a year. That's what the traditional kind of metrics show us, and we end up investing in five or six.”
Agarwal: Sanjeev Bikhchandani spends 70% to 75% of his time on investments
“So Sanjeev gets roped in because he spends about 70, 75% of his time on the investment activity.”
Agarwal: ShopKirana retailers order five to six times per month
“BtoB shop Kirana is very high frequency, so a retailer orders five to six times a month, at least, with good ticket sizes”
Agarwal: Info Edge seeks startups uniting Jio data, video, and vernacular
“What we are really actively looking for is companies which can bring these trends together, right? Whether it is through a commerce angle, whether it is through other engagement angles, or providing newer products or services to consumers which they did not kn…”
Agarwal: ShopKirana grew 7x in six months post-$2M Info Edge check
“For example, with the two million dollars we put in they grew about six to seven X in six months on the base end, which we put that, right, which is phenomenal and similar kind of growth trajectory going forward.”
Agarwal: ShoeKonnect grew 16x in 18 months post-investment
“And again, even those guys in 18 months since we've invested, they've grown about 16 times.”
Agarwal: Info Edge invested ₹12 crore into ShoeKonnect across 18 months
“So Shoe Connect, we've invested 12 crores over a span of 18 months, but that's been sort of, you know, the first check was three crores, then there was another three crores, now there's six crores, and there's more going in, which we haven't announced yet. So …”