A brief framework on how to classify and evaluate early stage companies.

1. Founder/Investor
Dynamics
Anurag Ramdasan

2. About me
• Computer Engineer
• Founding Member, Code For India
• Silicon Valley/India based Not For Profit
• Employee #1 at Edcast
• Silicon Valley based Enterprise Ed-Tech Startup
• Menlo Ventures, GE Ventures, Softbank as investors
• USD 180mn company
• Principal, Investments – 3one4 Capital
• 50+ company portfolio
• Over 2000+ companies each year
• Other ecosystem work with various start focused entities

3. Early Stage High Reserve Ratio Force-Multiplier Effects
Fund II (2017)
Seed, Pre-Series A and Series A
$250K to $2M
Target Portfolio of 20-25 companies
Back Winners
New Investments over 3 + 1 years
Follow-on funding over 3 + 2 years
Deep involvement in Product,
Tech, Financials, & Roadmaps.
Inorganic growth via BD and CD.
INR 250 Cr
USD $40M

4. Focus Areas
Enterprise
Intelligence & Automation
New frameworks and automated workflows
that drive better decision-making and
improve productivity across multiple focus areas.
Education
Technologies
Platforms and technology-enabled services
to prepare us all for the jobs of the future by
mapping education to outcomes.
Ambient
Intelligence
Leveling-up conventional practice in agriculture,
supply chains, construction, and manufacturing
through data-driven routines and technology-laced
playbooks.
Health
Core innovation to augment research and
development of products and services that can
elongate health spans and solve species-level challenges.
Financial
Technologies
Helping a new generation earn,
spend, save, and multiply smarter with
highly accessible and multi-modal services.
Media & Content
Development
Multi-format & multi-lingual content
that can exploit new distribution strategies to
serve rapidly evolving consumption behaviours.

5. India is a Top
Startup Destination 100K
Startups
By 2025
5,000 new startups in the last 12m
3rd largest startup base in the world
$95B
Value
Created
Mature ecosystem of funds
Strategic participation increases
M&A market ramping up
$10-14B
Funding
Every Year
India is the 3rd largest global exit
destination
Growth and Late Stage activity coupled with
easing IPO regulations

6. Fund I (2016)
INR 100 Cr
Corpus ($16 Mil)
INR 50Cr + INR 50Cr green-shoe
79% committed so far
34 Indian companies
6 US Inc. companies
High reserve ratio for pro-rata value capture
20+ up-rounds participated
40
Portfolio Companies
70+
Rounds Participated

7. Government Entities
Including startup initiatives, regulatory bodies and
independent government supported organizations.
Venture Capitalists
The source of capital for the ecosystem. In tough with every other
element of the ecosystem very often.
Startups
The most important aspect, ones that have to
interact with all the above entities to successfully
navigate the ecosystem.
Accelerators
Including incubators, coworking spaces etc. Most
important touchpoint between VCs and Startups.
Industry Partners
Source of revenue for early stage startups through
their pilot programs, partnerships programs etc.
E.g. Banks, Insurance firms etc.
Macro View

8. Demand and Supply
41,000 Startups in India
2000 new startups every year
300+ Funds in the ecosystem
820 deals in 2017

9. Demand and Supply
Series E+ Investors(45+)
Angel Investors(800+)
Seed(+) Investors (370+)
Series A Investors(280+)
Series B Investors(185+)
Series C Investors(133+)
Series D Investors(76+)

10. THESIS
POWER LAW
PORTFOLIO
LEARNINGS
ECOSYSTEM
SIGNALS
What are VCs looking for?
20% of the portfolio delivers
most of the returns
Strong analysis and distribution of risk
Spread metrics between big
winners and low risk deals
The worldview of the VC
fund.
The expertise of the team behind the fund.
Challenges/Successes of
each companies invested in
What didn’t work in their previous investments?
VCs learn a lot from their founders learnings
What direction is the
ecosystem taking off in?
What signals are the different
ecosystem entities giving out?
Global trends that may affect the
ecosystem

11. What kind of company are you?
IP Driven?
A strong IP at the core as a massive differentiator.
Market Driven?
Companies propelled into the next orbit by sheer market forces.
Founder Driven?
A strong founder at the core with an excellent track record.
Value Driven?
Companies with a strong value to its end users.

12. IP Driven?
AlphaICS
Hardware that enables real-time
computing at the edge of the network
Bugworks
Drug discovery platform to combat Anti-Microbial
Resistance
Tonbo Imaging
Designing and manufacturing advanced imaging and
sensor systems

13. Founder Driven?
ScoreData
Enterprise Machine Learning platform for
collaborative modeling & analytics
Yulu Bikes
Smart dockless bike sharing system
Cure.Fit
Cure.fit is a health & fitness company that empowers
physical & mental well being.

14. Market Driven?
Pocket Aces
Mobile-first digital fiction content production and
distribution
Faircent
India’s largest peer-to-peer lending exchange
Flipkart
India's biggest online store for Mobiles, Fashion
(Clothes/Shoes), Electronics, Home Appliances, etc

15. Value Driven?
DarwinBox
Full-stack Human Resource Management
Solution
Licious
Online platform for gourmet meat sourcing and
delivery.
Freshworks
Feature packed product suite for businesses of all
sizes

16. How to stand out?
Leading with the strengths
Know the kind of company you are and lead with that.
Pick the right people
Know how to pick your partners and advisors.
Getting a direct referral
Approx 30% deals via referrals from the network.
Have outlier indicators
Know what numbers/metrics sets your company apart

17. Thank You
@3one4Capital | 3one4capital.com
Anurag Ramdasan
anurag@3one4capital.com
@anuragwho