E35: Rahul Chandra (Managing Partner, Arkam Ventures)

The Desi VC: Indian Venture Capital | Angel Investors | Startups | VC

Rahul Chandra is the Co-founder and Managing Partner at Arkam Ventures, an early-stage fund partnering aimed at Middle India –– the 400 million people just below the top of the pyramid. He was one of the earliest tech VCs in India, starting in 1998 as part of the team at Walden International's India-focused fund. He later moved to Palo Alto to invest in Silicon Valley start-ups. In 2005, he co-founded Helion Ventures and relocated to India. At Helion, he invested more than $100M in 15 companies, a list that includes Equitas (IPO), Spandana (IPO), Shubham Housing, UnitedLex, Toppr, Railyatri, MoEngage and Seclore.

He is also the author of "The Moonshot Game - Adventures of an Indian VC", a book that captures his experience of investing in India from 2006 to 2016.

Follow Rahul Chandra (@rahulchandra77), host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) and our podcast (@thedesi_vc) on Twitter.

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The Desi Startups of the Week:

1. Qshala: Qshala is a curiosity platform consisting of live online courses designed to foster life-skills & curiosity in children. The Quriosity curriculum helps your child develop critical thinking, improve communication skills, and enhance their ability to learnIt’s a one-stop-shop for all the skills you wish you were taught at school.

2. Clergo: Clergo makes it effortless to start a discussion around a topic, eliminating the need for ad-hoc and unplanned meetings to discuss something specific.

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In this episode we will cover:

1. How COVID has impacted Rahul and Arkam Ventures (3:51)

2. What’s changed in the diligence process (6:57)

3. Has covid impacted deal flow and investments? (10:13)

4. LP Concerns: Institutional LPs vs new-age entrepreneur LPs (14:53)

5. Rahul’s motivation to be a VC and starting a second fund (17:13)

6. LP mentality in 2005 vs LP mentality in 2020 (25:00)

7. Why Rahul believes India is promising market for LPs (32:51)

8. Is Middle India today the India of 2005/06 that Helion first began investing into (34:40)

9. Biggest misconception of middle India from an LPs and founder perspective (43:57)

10. How does the macro-economic trends affect the middle India opportunity? (49:06)

11. Rahul’s thoughts on the movement to bridge the gender gap within middle India (54:35)

12. How can manufacturing sector amplify middle India’s potential at scale like China? (59:51)

13. How much of a say does the VC community have in policy ma