The event started with BV Naidu’s keynote address where he spoke at length about the thriving startup ecosystem in Bengaluru, the forward-looking policies of the government of Karnataka, and how India’s economic growth has been moving ahead in a positive direction.
“The startup ecosystem of Bengaluru is flourishing like none other. Out of the 115 unicorns in India, Bengaluru has produced 53—maintaining a GDP growth rate of 8.5%,” Naidu said.
He added that there was strong cooperation between the government and industry stakeholders in Karnataka, which has played a pivotal role in the growth of the startup ecosystem.
“The government has encouraged Centres of Excellence, further fostering innovation and efforts to spread the ecosystem beyond Bengaluru, including Mysore. The government of Karnataka is also supporting entrepreneurs through the Elevate programme, and has thus far funded 198 startups,” he said.
Hari Menon’s on India’s e-commerce boom, quick-commerce trends
The Fireside chat with Hari Menon, Co-founder, of BigBasket, followed the Chairman’s keynote address. The chat was titled ‘Quick Commerce: A Paradigm Shift in E-commerce’ and was moderated by, Digbijay Mishra, Deputy Editor, ETtech.
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Menon said that he was glad that he had been proven wrong in his assumptions on quick commerce as the sector has taken some serious leaps of growth in the past few years. “Customers are lapping it up—speed is something that customers are absolutely loving, specifically talking about grocery,” he said, adding that quick commerce was no longer verticalised and is moving into a multi-category. “As we speak, we at BigBasket have been selling three to four iPhones every minute!” shared Menon.
Mayank Kumar on the future of machines and human languages
Another Fireside chat with Mayank Kumar, Co-founder and MD of upGrad, titled, ‘The Future of Learning: Will Future Developers Speak English to Machines?’ yielded a thorough look at the evolution of machine learning and the what future holds for the domain.
Kumar recounted an anecdote that the “future language of coding might be English & English!”
He said that the need of the hour is that coders must be familiar with domain knowledge and customer dynamics too, and be ready for this future as the language of coding evolves and machine communication takes on a whole new dimension.
A panel decoding the reverse-flipping trend
The ‘Homecoming’ panel opened and closed on a deeply emotional note as the speakers took visible pride in the strides India has been making in turning around its startup landscape, to a direction where founders are reverse flipping and coming back to India.
They said that the reasons ranged from favourable government policies, easily accessible Venture Capital, a much larger and better talent pool, and easy access to the primary market for the founders.
Abhishek Dubey, Partner at Trilegal – M&A, Venture Capital & Private Equity, and Ramakant Sharma, Founder and COO, Livspace were the speakers who asserted that there was no reason for founders to move outside of India in the first place.
“Only move when you have a very solid reason to do so. If your whole business is India-centric, there is no point moving out,” they said, adding that the favourable policies of the government should add emphasis on staying back in India and not moving operations abroad.
A panel addressing the gender funding gap question
Jo Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of Wysa, one of the panellists speaking on the topic, ‘Women in the Indian Startup Ecosystem: Breaking barriers and bridging the gender funding gap,’ insisted that “Funding is still a bro culture.”
They highlighted how early-stage funding might still be relatively easier but late-stage funding continues to remain a challenge for women-led startups, asserting that decision-making was often based on societal biases.
Aggarwal was joined by Shanti Mohan, Founder of LetsVenture & trica; Shally Modi, Co-founder of Pratilipi; Minu Margeret, Founder of BlissClub; Rashmi Daga, Founder of FreshMenu. And the session was moderated by Shabori Das, Senior Assistant Editor at ETPrime.
The panellists said that “women in the ecosystem” is a new and evolving playbook both from the founder’s and the investor’s point of view, while women have created a mutually enabling ecosystem for themselves, which surely will go a long way in bridging the gender funding gap.
Fintech’s tightrope walk between regulation and innovation
The last panel before lunch was about fintech, titled, ‘How to strike a balance between the regulatory lens and growth?’ with Akash Sinha, Co-founder and CEO of Cashfree Payments; Hardika Shah, Founder & CEO of Kinara Capital; Anand Prabhudesai, Co-Founder, Turtlemint; and Mridul Gupta, Founding Partner, CoinDCX, in the speaker panel, moderated by Pratik Bhakta, Deputy Editor at Times Internet.
In a deep dive into the subject, the speakers said that the focus is surely on making digital lending more transparent to consumers, even as regulations not only help build better customer relations they also might help create newer job opportunities in this dynamic sector. They said that the investors are deeply invested in the process of due diligence and scrutinise the regulatory environment.
The summit is not over yet. There are some more intriguing sessions waiting for you after lunch, including the most important one where we will let you in on the intricacies of fundraising. Do join us!