We’re excited to share that our portfolio company, byteXL, has raised $9 million in Series B round.

Consumer AI adoption in India is moving faster than almost anyone in the ecosystem predicted, including the platforms building for it.

In this edition, we explore why storage is becoming critical, how different technologies solve different use-cases, why storing energy for days is harder, and where startup opportunities lie.

It takes exceptional people and an ecosystem that brings together founders, researchers, investors, and operators to build the next generation of India’s technology companies. At Kalaari, this belief continues to shape how we think about building India’s technology future. We recently opened applications for the next batch of the @Kalaari Fellowship program, which we have been running for a decade now to induct extraordinary talent into the venture capital industry. Read about this in the latest edition of 𝘝𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥.

Sanjay Nekkanti, the founder of Dhruva Space, was still in college, when he kept hearing the same thing: Satellies were a governmetn-only game in India. A population of over one billion and not a single private company to show for it? Sanjay set out to build the whole stack: satellites, launch infrastructure, and ground infrastructure.

As mobile data becomes the backbone for many consumer services, we believe that the quality of data networks and data science around it will be a huge market opportunity.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw returned to India in the 1970s as the country’s first qualified woman master brewer, expecting to begin the career she had trained for. Instead, she discovered that no brewery was willing to hire a woman. What began as rejection soon became an act of defiance: if the industry would not make room for her, she would build something of her own.

In this edition, we explore why compute is moving into space, what makes orbital AI fundamentally different, and where the startup opportunities lie.

Shashank Bijapur, the founder of Spotdraft, joins Vani Kola to talk about how he built an AI-powered contract lifecycle platform that is now trusted by legal teams from India to the US.

JB Air is building a consumer-electronics brand for Indian homes, and we believe it is uniquely positioned to define this category for the next generation of Indian consumers.

Earth observation has an $80B opportunity across agriculture, defense, maritime, and a range of other industries -- but only $6B of this opportunity has been captured. Investments, however, are steadily rising.

As AI models scale from millions to trillions of parameters, it is vital to have the right access to capital and compute to nurture a fast-growing AI ecosystem.

Why live commerce, agentic checkout, and loyalty look different once you examine the pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase layers

This is our annual investor and startup mixer. Held every year, the flagship event brings ogether visionaries, investors, and ecosystem enablers to collaborate and shape the future of India's tech and venture landscape.

The Kalaari Mumbai Mixer 2025 is an exclusive, invite-only event catering to startup founders, investors, and business leaders a to network and engage with the city's tech ecosystem.

Kalaari Capital invested in Digantara, the first Indian company building space situational awareness with a patented LiDAR system that tracks debris as small as 1 cm. As orbital traffic and debris surge, Digantara aims to build the data infrastructure that keeps satellite constellations safe.

Building a deeptech company is not the work of years - it is the work of decades. It requires patience when outcomes are uncertain, and often the current generation builds on the work shaped by changemakers who have built enduring institutions.

Manepally spoke about how his started in Portland, when he brewed his first perfect batch of beer. Returning to India and finding only Kingfisher available everywhere convinced him that India deserved better craft beer, and he decided to make that happen himself.

Kalaari Capital’s recap of a talk with chip veteran Dr. Karthik Sankaran: semiconductors are becoming foundational as AI, EVs, and edge computing scale, and India’s design talent gives it a real shot in deep-tech—if it gets patient capital and a full ecosystem

Kalaari’s Zero Hour session with Google’s Shalini Govil-Pai and Raj Pai explored how AI is reshaping storytelling. The takeaway: tech can’t fix a weak story—audience resonance, curiosity, and relationships matter most.

Policybazaar CEO Sarbvir Singh says leadership is about team buy-in, not perfect decisions—even a flawed call works when people believe in it. He adds that networks shape careers and real growth comes from owning outcomes.

In this edition, we unpack the two levers India has for cutting its carbon emissions while still growing as an economy, and the opportunity for startups as the country opens up its carbon market

Kalaari Capital explains its thesis for leading a $1.8M seed round in SimpliContract, an enterprise Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) startup tackling a market growing from $1.5B to $5.2B by 2027.

Kalaari Capital breaks down its investment in Portl — an AI-driven connected fitness device tackling India’s biggest workout pain points: adherence, personalization, space, and access.

Kalaari’s thesis on backing Chara, a DeepTech startup reinventing the electric motor with rare-earth-free, software-controlled SRM technology.

The session focused on leadership, reinvention, and India’s tech ecosystem.-

Arvind Thakur shared leadership lessons from decades in India’s IT industry — crisis reveals capability, values matter most in tough moments, differentiation comes from playing to your strengths and AI is fundamentally reshaping how businesses operate and create value.

In Episode 03 of The Hindsight, Vani Kola speaks with Mabel Chacko, Co-founder of Open, about building one of India's leading neobanks for small businesses and startups. The conversation covers the early struggles of convincing banks to partner with them, finding unexpected distribution channels, building culture during rapid scaling, and keeping the customer at the center of every major decision.

Across enterprises, staffing firms, and high-growth startups, hiring remains one of the most manual and time-sensitive workflows. Most organizations have digitized tracking (ATS, spreadsheets, portals). The actual work still happens outside the system: interpreting requirements, chasing candidates, running screening loops, and coordinating interviews across multiple stakeholdersThe workflow is full of drop-offs and coordination debt. Candidates don’t complete applications, or they drop because communication is slow or unclear. Recruiters spend hours on searches and repetitive screening, and then lose days in scheduling ping-pong. The result is predictable: qualified candidates exit the funnel, hiring managers see low-quality shortlists, and offers fail at the joining stage.

Twenty years ago, before Kalaari Capital existed, a conversation with Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala helped shape the decision to return to India and build here. When we launched Changemakers — a podcast series marking 20 years of Kalaari — there was no question about who the first guest should be. In this episode, Professor Ashok traces his life's conviction back to a single instruction from his grandfather, a cloth merchant from Bihar, who told him: "If there is a problem in society, you cannot say 'But what can I do?' If you cannot solve it, who else can?" That instruction became his operating system. It is what drove him to build the IIT Madras Research Park when everyone said there was no land, no capital, and no precedent for academia and industry working together at that scale — a campus that today counts 350+ startups among its alumni, including Uniphore, Ather Energy, AgniKul Cosmos, and Modulus Housing. It is what drove him to pioneer India's telecom revolution, bringing down the cost of telephony from ₹40,000 to ₹10,000, and to conceive of mobile payments at a time when the idea of paying a vegetable vendor from a phone was considered impossible. And it is what drives him as a mentor. On how he pushes the founders he works with, he says: "Every entrepreneur I work with is like my own kid. You love them. And from that love, you have to be hard at times." When asked if he sees himself as a changemaker, he said he does not — calling himself instead a spokesperson for the hundreds and thousands who worked alongside him. That, to us, is exactly what makes him one.

Today, we are very excited to announce Kalaari Capital’s investment in Milkbasket — partnering with founding team Anant, Ashish, Yatish, and Anurag. Their journey towards building a great household brand for grocery shopping in India is exciting to us and we hope to foster a long-term relationship with Milkbasket and see this goal come to light.

Swift is building the infrastructure layer for India's D2C commerce ecosystem, simplifying fulfilment and enabling one-click checkout to reduce cart abandonment and improve conversion rates.

In this edition, we unpack Physical AI - the technology stack powering it, the deployment challenges holding it back, and where the next generation of startup opportunities are emerging

AI is rewriting cybersecurity faster than enterprises can respond. Our new Kalaari report captures what CISOs are actually struggling with, and where they believe the next wave of cybersecurity companies will be built

India’s factories lose over $50 billion annually to unplanned downtime and low utilization, producing just a fifth of China’s per-worker manufacturing value. Kalaari Capital argues that AI-native tools — predictive maintenance, vision-based inspection, and intelligent scheduling — offer India’s best path to leapfrog this productivity gap and build globally competitive factories

3D printing is quietly transforming that by enabling prosthetics tailored to anatomy and implants modeled from CT scans. Our latest insight brief, “3D Printing in Healthcare: The Next Frontier of Innovation,” maps the technology’s current traction, its potential for bioprinted tissues and tailored drug delivery, and the white-space opportunities emerging for India’s deep-tech founders

A lot has been said about consumer AI this year. One thing feels clear: we have finally entered the era of native AI consumer apps that actually makes life meaningfully better, not just theoretically cooler

Maximize Money is building India's universal savings and loyalty infrastructure, replacing fragmented discount channels with an automated "SaveMax" engine that stacks coupons, gift cards, and rewards into a single click.

A digital-first physiotherapy platform addressing the $17 billion rehabilitation market by shifting from session-based temporary relief to outcome-focused, long-term pain recovery.

As 2024 unfolds, it’s time to look back at the monumental strides AI has made in the past year.

In Episode 02 of The Hindsight, Vani Kola speaks with Nishchay AG, Co-founder of Jar, about building one of India’s leading fintech startups focused on savings and investing. The conversation covers consumer behavior, habit formation, fintech growth, distribution, product-market fit, and building for the mass market in India.

India’s gaming ecosystem is evolving rapidly, with founders building global products, platforms, and infrastructure. Based on insights from 200+ gaming startups, this primer explores key trends, opportunities, and emerging white spaces in the industry.

Zocket allows users without marketing expertise to create social media content and launch digital ad campaigns across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google in less than 30 seconds.

Zluri is an enterprise SaaS Management Platform (SMP). Its main function is to help organizations discover, manage, and optimize their third-party subscription software applications from a single dashboard.

Tring capitalizes on India’s deeply rooted celebrity culture by providing an execution-heavy platform that democratizes access to underserved, long-tail creators and regional stars

Studio Sirah targets an under-penetrated whitespace in India by building culturally resonant, high-quality midcore and hardcore gaming IPs inspired by Indian mythology.

90% of internet users in prefer to consume content in their local language. The next big opportunity in India is . We kickstarted our session on Clubhouse with of and of , hosted by , MD of .In this episode, we discuss the vernacular opportunity in India and how it's shaping India’s digital ecosystem.Hindustan Hamara focuses on conversations with the shapers of India's digital future. Every session we talk to individuals who are shaping the future of India's digital innovation landscape.For more updates on our sessions, follow Kalaari on Clubhouse: If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.

Samosa Party scales India’s massive, unorganized $40B street food market by establishing a capital-efficient, delivery-first QSR brand backed by predictable cloud kitchen unit economics.

Pype AI scales hospital front-desk operations by deploying deeply integrated, voice-led autonomous agents that eliminate administrative overhead and reduce patient no-shows

Peer Robotics heuristics-based tech stack enables out-of-the-box, flexible material handling deployment without heavy integration costs.

kindlife captures a rapidly expanding clean beauty and wellness market driven by conscious, millennial consumers seeking sustainable, ethically sourced products.

Niraj Ranjan Rout and Nitesh Nandy, co-founders of Hiver, detailing their early entrepreneurial journeys and the inspiration behind optimizing email for team collaboration.

HerKey is a digital career engagement platform that unlocks the economic potential of Indian women by providing them with job opportunities, upskilling, and professional networking communities

GuardianLink provides a proprietary anti-piracy AI tech and no-code launchpad that simplifies NFT commerce.

Fanon addresses a highly fragmented $7 billion fan economy by consolidating scattered community behaviors.

Eloelo capitalizes on the massive creator economy by blending live streaming with traditional social games (like Tambola and Trivia)

Back when Dream 11 was founded in 2008, fantasy sports as a category did not exist in India. Today, they have more than 100 million users and are clear market leaders. We kickstarted our first #PayItForward session with , Co-Founder, and CEO of . We spoke about what inspired Harsh to start Dream11, choosing the right investors to partner with, building the right company culture, and setting audacious goals for yourself. The Pay It Forward series, hosted by , MD of , focuses on conversations with founders and CEOs who have built businesses that have transformed the landscape of the Indian start-up ecosystem. For more updates on our sessions, follow Kalaari on Clubhouse: If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.

Deconstruct addresses the evidence-based personal care market with clear formulation transparency and targeted product lines that drive strong customer retention.

Creative Galileo targets a massive, underserved early childhood education market with a gamified learning multiverse that transforms passive screen time into personalized foundational skill building

Convin disrupts the B2C SalesTech market by using automated, vernacular conversational intelligence to eliminate manual quality assurance and feedback dependencies for over 2.5 million sales reps across

Clean Electric manufactures energy storage solutions featuring patent-filed, direct liquid-cooled battery packs designed to eliminate thermal runaway and reduce cell degradation.

Bombay Play converts low-social casual games (like card games and puzzles) into live, multiplayer experiences to pioneer the fast-growing hypersocial gaming genre.

Baaz Bikes provides an indigenous, end-to-end electric mobility platform consisting of in-house designed electric scooters, automated battery swapping stations, and management software

Agrim is a B2B marketplace platform that digitalizes the fragmented $44B agri-inputs industry in India.

Agriculture and allied sectors contribute roughly 14% ($276 Bn in 2020) to India’s GDP. Yet we have to date not witnessed a tech unicorn emerge from the sector, despite having over $600M in VC funding over the last 5 years.

After five transformative years at IIT Kharagpur (Dual Degree), my professional journey began as an operator role at Flipkart. As a business development manager within Flipkart, I managed the Appliances section portfolio, focusing on pricing strategies, demand planning and the growth of the concerned SKUs.

Looking in from the outside, it seemed like I was living a dream life: After graduating from UCLA, I got a great job as a consultant in Los Angeles. But deep down, I felt this nagging sense of unfulfillment and the guilt that came along with it.

I remember the raised eyebrows and surprised looks when I announced my career shift from law to venture capital. It was a stark reminder of the unconventional path I had chosen.

You know that feeling when life takes you somewhere completely unexpected, but somehow it all makes perfect sense? That’s exactly how I feel about my journey to the Kalaari Fellowship.

“The secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” — Paulo Coelho In 2020, the email arrived – I hadn’t made the cut for Kalaari Capital’s fellowship program. Four years and countless experiences later, I’m writing this as part of Kalaari’s 2024 fellowship batch. That initial rejection didn’t mark the end of my path – it was merely a redirect.

The day I cleared Level 3 of the CFA, I was certain about one thing – I wanted to build a career in venture capital. My trajectory seemed crystal clear: finish my stint at EY, pursue an MBA, then dive into venture capital.

My professional journey began with a fundamental curiosity about what truly separates successful businesses from the rest. This question guided me to read eagerly about capital market, learn value investing and to begin investing with my very first articleship stipend. The CA journey was demanding, instilling a deep sense of rigor, discipline, and the value of hard work.

After a brief stint at an early-stage proptech and climate tech VC, two years ago I decided to take the plunge and apply to the Kalaari Fellowship. I was excited by the opportunity to shift closer to the ecosystem and build depth in venture, grounded in real operating experience rather than theory.

This was the common refrain when I announced my decision to transition from McKinsey to venture capital. Looking back, that reaction wasn’t surprising.

From robotic surgery in Indian OTs and autonomous hiring to the ₹4 problem in women's funding and India's shift from AI consumer to AI builder, this edition of Venture Forward marks 20 years of Kalaari and the next chapter just beginnin

For every ₹100 deployed into Indian startups, women founders see ₹4.

Over the last decade, enterprise software has moved decisively to cloud-native, multi-cloud, containers, and microservices. The way enterprises build software has fundamentally changed. The way they operate it has not.

In a nation where commerce has been the backbone of communities for centuries, from bustling bazaars to neighbourhood Kirana stores, India stands at the cusp of a revolutionary transformation.

At the peak of its Golden Era, India was the beating heart of the global economy, contributing a staggering one-third of the world’s GDP. It was a land of innovation and abundance—the world’s sole diamond hub, a treasure trove of silk and spices, and the birthplace of groundbreaking scientific ideas like the decimal system and zero.

In this edition, we unravel quantum technology, three parallel races in sensing, communication, and computing converging into one strategic moment, and where India’s startups can build.

AI will define the future. But who defines AI? As India races ahead in building its AI ecosystem, Wired for Impact: Women in (Ind)AI — a CXXO and Kalaari Capital report explores how women are participating, leading, and reshaping India’s AI journey, and where the biggest gaps remain.

Today, Indian women not only mean business – they are also good business. Helping 560M women achieve financial independence is GREAT business.

2023: A Year of Unprecedented Climate Disasters The past year has underscored the escalating urgency of addressing climate resilience.

When Data Became the New Perimeter In the last decade, data stopped being a byproduct—it became the business itself.

The Market Shift: From fragmented systems to intelligent operations, enterprises face growing pressure to ensure data resilience and operational efficiency.

That is over 20% of the world population, for perspective Covid 19 infected around 9%. In November of 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared loneliness a “global public health concern”.

Snabbit founder Ayush Agarwal joins Vani Kola to unpack how he built India's first on-demand home services platform by solving a problem no customer could articulate and no competitor thought to look for.

The Kalaari Lounge at TiE Global Summit 2024 was a hub of energy, insights, and collaboration, bringing together founders, investors, and ecosystem enablers to celebrate and advance India’s startup landscape. Over two action-packed days—December 10th and 11th—Kalaari Capital hosted engaging discussions, networking sessions, and ecosystem meetups, reinforcing its commitment to empowering founders and fostering innovation.

Kalaari Unplugged 2025 was inspiring, refreshing, and real — spent in the company of our amazing portfolio founders.

From 15-minute EV charging and satellites tracking space traffic to a fintech founder who bootstrapped for 11 years, this edition of Venture Forward covers the innovations, investments, and ideas pushing India's next frontier forward.

From rare-earth-free motors and space surveillance to agentic AI and cybersecurity, this edition of Venture Forward brings you Kalaari's 2025 reflections, latest portfolio milestones, and what India's next innovation wave looks like from the inside.

From stock market ticker, satellites in space to SaaS in an AI-first world, this edition of Venture Forward brings you our insights on these topics and more.

In this edition, we unravel rare-earth elements - what they are, their importance and the opportunity for startups as globally industries hunt alternatives for China’s control on rare-earths.

In this edition of Kalaari’s DeepTech Dispatch we unpack Earth observation – what Earth observation is, its growing relevance, the tech stack that powers it and the emerging start-up opportunities.

In this edition, we unravel India's SHANTI Bill - how a law named "peace" has sparked India's entry in a $214B energy race, why AI's power hunger is the trigger, and where startups can build.

The Indian Techade ahead is an exciting opportunity with the economy predicted to grow 8x over the next 2 decades.

Every year, millions of patients in India undergo surgeries that leave them with longer recovery times, larger scars, and higher risks of complications—not because better surgical techniques don’t exist, but because they remain economically inaccessible.

Globally, the CRE tech sector has flourished, with the market potential of tech solutions in CRE across the US, Canada, EMEA, and APAC totaling approximately $52 billion.

Revolutionizing Engineering Education: Preparing Students for 149 Million New Global Jobs

Chronic diseases, affect one in five Indians or around 270 million people. Stress and unbalanced lifestyles in today’s fast-paced world further exacerbate these health problems.