Let's catch up!

Ram Mandir's inauguration, new IQ reports, IndiaQuotient 30 Under 30, and 3 intriguing new High IQ podcast episodes!

Jan 25, 2024

We cannot begin the newsletter without talking about THE talk of the town.

On January 22, PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the highly anticipated Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Lakhs of devotees who couldn’t attend the inauguration in person watched the live telecast on their televisions & movie theatres. The internet erupted with videos and pictures of the inauguration. January 22, 2024, will surely go down in history!

Ram Mandir holds immense religious, cultural, and historical importance in India, and with that, it also carries major economic implications.

A report by Jefferies predicts that the opening of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya will attract 50 million+ tourists/ year. It also mentions that Ayodhya's $10 billion makeover (new airport, revamped railway station, improved road connectivity, etc.) can set a template for infrastructure-driven growth in tourism.

It’s safe to say that the opening of Ram Mandir is set to transform Ayodhya into a religious and spiritual tourism hotspot. The surge in tourism will lead to substantial demand for FMCG, consumer staples, QSR, international & domestic connectivity, etc.

Apart from this, Ram Mandir’s opening is also fueling the growth of spiritual apps in India.

In an article by ETtech on this topic, Anand Lunia (IndiaQuotient) shares:

“People are already spending money on religion. This sector used to be somewhat taboo among educated founders and investors. That is no longer the case. Given that consumers are inclined to shift their efforts and money towards online options, and quality founders are entering this space, this trend will work well.”

It is an exciting time for India and for founders building in the religious and spiritual space. We’re looking forward to seeing how these developments will play out!

We have quite a few things to catch you up on since our last newsletter, so let’s get straight into them:

1. We all know that to make a great startup, it takes a great team. And when we say team, it’s not just about the founders - it’s also about the operators and leaders who play a critical role in achieving success.

2023 (December) marked the inaugural year of ‘IndiaQuotient 30 Under 30’ - an initiative by us that celebrates exceptional talent from our portfolio companies for their immense contribution to their organisations.

From a pool of nearly 100 outstanding, high-quality candidates, only a select few made it to the 'IndiaQuotient 30 Under 30' winners' list.

These individuals have always gone the extra mile in everything that they do, and they have played a critical role in taking their organization to new heights.

It was an absolute honour to get to meet and interact with all the candidates. Their passion for their work is inspiring to all of us.

Presenting ‘IndiaQuotient 30 Under 30’ winners:

We also had the pleasure of hosting these champions at our annual event held in Bangalore 😄 ‍

2. We released 3 new High IQ podcast episodes last month, featuring:

Here’s a bit about all the episodes, in case you want to check them out:

a) ‘Building One of India’s Leading Accounting Software Stacks’ ft. Sumit Agarwal (Co-founder & CEO of Vyapar).

This episode is a MASTERCLASS for founders on how to build & sell to SMEs in India.

Sumit shares some invaluable insights on how to crack making software for Indian SMEs, drawing from his own experience of building Vyapar - an accounting software stack used by 1 Cr.+ SMEs in India.

You can watch the full video here.

b) ‘Building Hardware for India’ ft. Farid Ahsan (Co-founder of General Autonomy & ShareChat)

What is it like to build hardware for India? How can one iterate quickly in hardware? Why aren’t hardware startups mainstream in India? How can VCs support this space? Farid candidly shares the answers to all these questions & more! Tune in here to watch the full video.

c) ‘Building One of India’s Largest Integrated Platforms for Real Estate & Mortgages’ ft. Tanuj Shori (Co-founder & CEO of Square Yards)

We would like to share one of our favourite insights from the episode:

“India needs 100 million houses to be built in the next 20–25 years. However, India is building only 1 million houses per year. Just this problem statement alone should be attractive enough for all the smart folks to leave everything they’re doing and start building in PropTech.”

In this episode, Tanuj sheds light on India’s massive PropTech opportunity.

He also talks about why you should work with friends and family despite popular opinion, why he has been building Square Yards under the radar, the art of building motivated teams, execution vs. strategy, etc.

Watch the episode here.

3. And lastly, we also have 2 new bite-sized reports in store for you:

a) ‘20 Things About India’s Digital Public Infrastructure’

There is no doubt that India has made massive strides in digitising the nation. But what’s next?

Learn how India’s digital public infrastructure is reshaping education, e-commerce, finance, health care, and beyond! And discover upcoming opportunities in this space in our latest report.

Here’s a quick look into the report:

You can read or download the full report here.

b) ‘20 Things About Microtransactions in India’

In this report:

Discover payment behaviours unique to Indians
Find out how UPI & microtransactions are redefining the way Indians pay, travel, consume, etc.
Learn about the distinct ways in which some of our portfolio companies are monetising
Gain insights into the future of microtransactions in India and much more!

You can read or download the full report here.

Here’s a sneak peek into the 2nd report:

P.S. In our last newsletter, we mentioned that we had conducted a panel discussion on ‘Building Consumer Companies: 2023 & Beyond’, on October 27th, 2023. The live recordings of both the discussions under the panel are available below:

You can also watch the above videos on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Kuku FM.

We’re at the end of the newsletter, and like always, we would like to leave you with some of the things the IQ team & our portfolio founders have been saying online! ⬇️

Gagan Goyal (IndiaQuotient) on the importance of validating your original thesis on the team/market post-investment: