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Communication platforms are sorely lagging behind the times. If you take a look at the current state of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platforms - it's a fragmented mess. I believe there's a real need for solutions tailored to marketers, offering a unified interface that simplifies campaign planning and outreach. This interface should be able to take away or simplify the complexities of user segmentation and the process of syncing across multiple platforms. It's high time for a significant leap forward in this space to unlock its full potential. Gen AI on the rise, it's absolutely essential that we take a step back and completely reimagine this problem. This is a rapidly growing market, with the CPaaS market expected to grow from USD 12.5B in 2023 to USD 47.2B by 2028.

Around 70 to 80 % of cancer patients in India do not find a cure for the illness as compared to other developing countries where 80% of cancer patients are cured. The question is, how do we create accessible and affordable early detection and care infrastructure to prevent life-threatening diseases like cancer in India? A startup could address this by developing technology-driven solutions to democratise cancer care. For instance, mobile health platforms could facilitate early screening and diagnosis reaching remote areas. The focus should be on innovative, cost-effective methods that can be widely deployed, potentially transforming cancer care for millions.

With the ePharmacy market in India poised to touch $3.6 billion by 2022, only 3% of total pharma sales in 2019 were attributed to ePharmacies. These platforms in India have encountered regulatory challenges due to lack of valid licenses. However, it is a clear need as was seen during the pandemic. ONDC has the potential to enable hyperlocal medicine delivery. A startup that works exclusively through local chemists, with verified licenses and hence acts as a pure marketplace could be a massive opportunity.

For the last few decades, China has been the factory of the world. Every nation & most supply chains have a heavy dependence on China for their manufacturing needs. But after the recent shocks, the world is looking for reliable partners in other countries, including India as their ‘China + 1’ partner. With improvements in technology, availability of talent, relatively low cost of labour & favourable policy environment, this is the best time for manufacturing to take off in India & become the ideal ‘+1’ partner for the world. Pick some high-value products that one can make in India with the same or better quality and cost efficiencies.

From the consumer preferences point of view, the adoption/usage of pet animals has skyrocketed in India in the past few years. This surge in pet ownership is driving a variety of needs from nutrition to the health of pets. And if you look outside that - pharmaceuticals, grooming, toys and accessories​​. I would love to see a startup that identifies a relevant product-market gap and builds for it. This could be in areas like specialized pet food catering to different breeds or health conditions, advanced healthcare and wellness products, or even tech-based solutions for pet care management. The key here is to identify specific needs within this broad market and offer solutions that resonate with the evolving consumer mindset.

We are structurally bullish on start-ups building for "Bharat" / rural India consumers. The surface area of the opportunity is rapidly evolving and ripe to build and disrupt. With tailwinds such as rising digital and physical connectivity, rural India is getting modernised and aspirational, looking for solutions and products similar to what their urban counterparts have. Bharat represents 65% of India's population, which spends ~$500B of annual consumption. This is likely to double by 2030. Multiple categories have an annual spend of $10B+ each by the top 30% of rural households. Teams having strong operational acumen with a deep understanding of rural consumer pain points and nuances of product-building will have the right to win in this segment.

In an era where digital platforms are democratizing education, a significant portion of India's populace, especially the economically disadvantaged, remains away from quality learning resources. We need a platform like Khan Academy, which offers free educational content alongside a very affordable (~INR 200 per month) premium version. I believe an AI layer to create content can further bring down the production costs to make an affordable model like this possible.

In India, many people in cities and poor communities need affordable and accessible mental health services, but it's not easy to get. Some small companies have started to offer help, but we need bigger companies to step in too. With newer tech like AI, and the government paying more attention to mental health, there's a rich ground for founders to create solutions that offer affordable mental health help. Right now, solutions like online counselling offered by startups are a start, yet lack the scale and comprehensive services needed. If a big company steps in, using new technologies like AI and online doctor visits, more people can get the help they need without spending a lot, significantly improving access and affordability. This is not only about getting health care. When people are mentally healthy, they can work better and this is good for the economy. With the government and new technologies supporting, this area can see new businesses coming in, making a real change.

Currently, the market is filled with wrapper products that fall short of delivering end-to-end workflow and automation needs of enterprises. While sooner or later every software company will embed Gen AI into their workflows, step change value will only happen when someone looks at the workflow and fundamentally reimagines it from an AI-native lens (vs. using AI as just an ‘add-on layer’).

The last decade focused on financial inclusion, while this decade will be about manufacturing capacity. Several manufacturing value chains have matured in India, to become globally competitive. Post-pandemic, efficiency took a backseat as agility and responsiveness in supply chains became crucial to tackle disruptions. Mobile-native ERPs, digital transformation tools, digital twins, autonomous robots, and other Industry 4.0 practices are seen as catalysts to boost both capacity building and competitiveness of Indian manufacturing in the next decade. This could push manufacturing to become a significant growth driver of incremental GDP, replicating the same momentum the knowledge economy experienced in the previous decade.

The rapid urbanization in India has amplified the housing demand, yet the problem of affordability leaves over 20% of the urban populace in slums, along with a staggering housing shortage of 29 million units. We need more cost-efficient housing solutions at scale aligning with the soaring demand. Existing measures, like the "Housing for All" scheme lack the scalability and innovation required to significantly dent the issue. Utilizing cutting-edge construction technologies and forging strategic partnerships can enable a startup to drive the creation of a scalable, cost-efficient housing solution in India.

Imagine augmenting our brains like we upgrade computer hardware - boosting memory, data retention and processing power. It's definitely not science fiction but stands at the intersection of neuroscience, bioengineering, and AI. I see the potential benefits to be staggering – from accelerated learning to enhanced problem-solving. This concept, similar to adding RAM or enhancing the CPU in a computer, could push the boundaries of our cognitive abilities. For startups in this space, the key lies in potentially leveraging AI and advanced neuroscientific research to develop practical, safe methods for brain enhancement. The challenge is monumental, blending cutting-edge science with ethical considerations. I agree it's an ambitious vision, but it could redefine the very essence of human intelligence and capability.

Tackling Scope 3 emissions is pretty hard, yet it's crucial for achieving broader sustainability goals. Currently, there's no stick/carrot platform that allows large buyers to build a "race to the top" dynamic in their supplier base, leaving everyone confused & frustrated. Build a platform to streamline this process for large organizations (think Unilever, Walmart) to incentivize their tens of thousands of suppliers to report & improve Scope 3 emissions. This data would not only facilitate better decision-making but also drive supplier engagement towards emission reduction. The platform could further incentivize suppliers by setting ambitious reduction targets and showcasing progress publicly. Once it gains traction, it's easy to extend it into a marketplace of goods/services that help these suppliers reduce emissions, etc.

In Tier 1 India, we are witnessing unique trends in family structures. Younger individuals are increasingly opting for nuclear families over joint ones, leading to a situation where senior citizens are also choosing to live alone rather than with their children. Both of these emerging demographics present spaces where innovation is sorely needed. Within nuclear families, the cost of living tends to be higher due to increased spending on sustenance (spending on furnishings, appliances, cars) and potentially greater demand for mental health support. On the other hand, for seniors living alone, there is a growing need for solutions that can help them navigate daily life more independently. This includes tasks such as bill payments, coordinating trips to the doctor, and even simple activities like composing emails, which often require assistance from family members today. Imagine if there were a service that could act as a personal executive assistant for these seniors, providing the support they need to lead fulfilling lives on their own terms. While geriatric care has traditionally focused on medical interventions, it's becoming increasingly evident that ancillary support services will become essential sooner rather than later.

The problem with consumer brands is that most people building represent the top 1 per cent of India. This is while their products aim to cater to a broader segment, 'Bharat'. Now, consider that our consumption does not reflect the way the rest of India consumes. This may lead to the creation of a lot of brands representing a smaller TAM (Total Addressable Market). Even though I invest in things I don't usually use, it's tough to create brands that appeal to a larger group, especially when trying to set aside personal likes or dislikes. The real task is to understand and build for the bigger crowd, moving past personal biases. This way, we can tap into the bigger market and create brands that many more people in India can relate to and use.

In a rapidly evolving Indian market, the concept of a House Manager startup is a great solution. Imagine a service providing well-trained house managers proficient in technology and adept at using various grocery delivery apps. They'd be skilled in wardrobe management, ironing and washing, along with cooking according to diverse diet plans like keto, vegan, etc. This idea taps into the home services market in India, which is projected to reach USD 60 billion by 2026​​. Such a startup would not just offer convenience but revolutionise the way urban Indian households operate, catering to the dynamic lifestyles and needs of modern families. It'll be a blend of traditional housekeeping and modern tech savvy, creating a unique niche in the home services market.

It's 2024, and an 80kg person still uses a 1000 kg metal contraption to drive around. While two-wheelers are an option, 90% of users opt for them due to affordability issues despite their lesser safety compared to four-wheelers. Everyone is aspiring to buy that car, and most of them eventually will (Yay GDP++). But here's a thought: can cars be <500 kgs? and still be sexy, cool, and fast? We have some crazy material science evolution, but a car from 2023 isn't too different from a car from the 1950s. Sure, they have car-play, and some are now electric, but cars haven't changed. Meanwhile, a phone from 2013 is worlds apart from its 2000 predecessor. Beyond aesthetics, a lightweight 500 kg Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) car is more sustainable than a 2000kg Electric Vehicle (EV), both in material and energy consumption per kilometre. There have been micro-mobility attempts, but they fail because no one wants a nano. I feel like buying a car isn't a logical decision; it's got to be sexy. So, the future should not only be to trim down a car's weight but to retain the 'cool' factor in this compact model.

Disrupting women's healthcare is crucial right now, especially by creating easily accessible specialists without the long waits for appointments and not relying solely on large hospital infrastructures. A digital-first approach for tracking, reporting and raising awareness for checkups and assessments is also a need of the hour. To state one, ProActive is a commendable example in this space (disclosure: I'm an investor in this company). In India, the women’s health market is on a significant rise and is projected to grow from $0.7 billion in 2022 to $1.3 billion by 2030​​. This just shows me that there is immense potential for innovative solutions in women's healthcare, particularly in a rapidly expanding economy like ours.

In the early stages of a startup, being able to find the right mentors and fellow founders can either make or break the idea. Although websites like AngelList and LetsVenture exist, there isn't a platform that carefully picks and brings together new founders and experienced advisors. Such a platform could meticulously vet and bring together aspiring founders and experienced mentors, creating a well-connected community of innovators. As this platform evolves, it could also morph into a marketplace where venture capitalists are rated and reviewed, just like how G2 and Capterra function for software products. This can not only significantly improve the quality and transparency of the startup ecosystem but also provide a trustworthy space for new founders to find guidance and support, making things a little less scary for them.

We need to build LLMs based on Indian languages. They're very hard to build, and very useful for India. It can be an absolute game changer for multiple startups via APIs for multiple conversational and design use cases. The applications of such a model could be extensive. Like the ability of smartphones to translate signs from one Indian language to another, multilingual voice translation for service bots and enhancing government-to-citizen services by making them multilingual and more efficient. I believe we're near a breakthrough in this sector and startups who can combine existing large datasets and create increasingly accurate LLMs with scalable computing resources will take off.

The next big revolution brewing up in India is data empowerment and protection. The financial sector has been at the forefront of enabling explicit consumer consent-based data access via Account Aggregator and the initial results are extremely powerful. With the DPDP Act 2023, this concept will now be replicated in many other sectors such as health, education, telecom and others. There are exciting opportunities for start-ups offering solutions around consented data be it as account aggregators or consent managers, privacy-preserving data analytics solutions or data governance/audit services.

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While economies are getting transformed by technologies such as the internet, mobile and now AI; puzzlingly they haven’t done much to lessen the inequality divide or produce more widespread prosperity. So a very important question for us to ask is how can we make technologies such as Generative AI and its use cases accessible to the next 1B users? A lot of potential lies in looking at voice as a new UI/interaction category and reimagining use cases for India’s diverse and underserved communities. These can be across spaces like Insurance, Agriculture, Education, Healthcare or even helping enable ONDC buyer and seller side apps. One foundation challenge that we need to overcome before we can build conversational solutions is related to India’s diverse language and cultural context. For this, we need to build custom models and have rich data sets across not just text and audio but also video, and photos.

I'd love to see built-in-India for the world brands, especially in B2B. India's B2B marketplace is booming, and it's set to hit $200 billion by 2030. This surge is fueled by increased digital adoption, supportive regulations and a global shift in demand towards India. For founders here, it's a golden ticket. They can tap into this growth using tech like ONDC and OCEN for more efficient data handling and financial transactions. Simplified taxes and e-way bills have made cross-state business smoother. And there's a real shot for Indian startups to go global, focusing on full-stack marketplaces and necessary infrastructure, not just for the local market but worldwide. It's a ripe time for innovative solutions in this rapidly growing digital economy.

The ONDC system holds immense potential to revolutionize digital commerce in India. However, to fully unlock its benefits, we need to establish an interoperable system of rewards and incentivization. Currently, many businesses struggle to offer compelling loyalty programs due to the lack of standardization and compatibility across various e-commerce platforms and payment systems. This fragmentation diminishes the effectiveness of loyalty initiatives and hampers customer engagement. Through the interoperability of the ONDC network, rewards collected while shopping with merchant X from buyer app A become useful even when shopping with merchant Y from buyer app B

I see that Android Automotive and GAS (Google Automotive Services) have a rising demand. As the number of EVs and smart vehicles are increasing, there will be and there is a requirement for a sharp rise in AOSP firms and Android Automotive providers for OEMs, especially in India. Our country has unique mobility needs, and we require more startups that can ensure seamless EV integration and enhanced user experiences. This is specifically for tailoring software to regional preferences and infrastructural nuances. If you take a look at S&P Global's Feature Technology Benchmarking, the growth rate for Android Automotive deployment should be the biggest in the next five years. Android Automotive will likely capture around 18% of the market share by 2027 compared with around 1% currently.

The concept of WhatsApp shopping, particularly in a diverse country like India, demands innovation in terms of platform linguistic capabilities. What if a startup could integrate a multilingual voice interface powered by the ONDC protocol? This would revolutionize e-commerce for a vast range of consumers, especially those who are not comfortable with English or text-based interfaces. By having voice commands in multiple Indian languages, this system could simplify online shopping, making it even more accessible.

In a country that speaks different languages, it is hard for everyone to use important services like healthcare, government help, and utilities the same way. Creating next-generation mass-market public and pseudo-public services for Indian citizens through multilingual AI-based applications is a great opportunity.

The Indian ITES/BPO services market is a dynamic and rapidly growing sector. It's driven by factors like rising cost pressures to maintain in-house IT systems, the need to focus on core competencies and access to new technology and expertise. I feel like founders could leverage these growth drivers by offering AI-enabled services that streamline and improve efficiency in various domains such as software engineering, accounting, tax, legal and content production. The idea is to build AI models that automate routine tasks in these domains, freeing up human resources for more complex and creative work. For instance, in software engineering, AI can be used for code review and optimization, while in accounting and tax, it can handle data entry and compliance checks etc. With supportive government initiatives and a robust digital infrastructure, the environment in India is conducive for startups to thrive and contribute significantly to this $200B services-for-the-world segment.

Parents often face anxiety due to the unavailability of paediatricians during off-hours or emergencies. With a stark ratio of one paediatrician per 8,000 children in India, the demand for accessible paediatric services is glaring. We need to develop a paediatric service that's accessible both online and offline, ensuring reliable healthcare for children around the clock. The disconnect between online consultations and offline ones leaves parents navigating a fragmented healthcare system. A hybrid paediatric service could bridge this gap, offering timely medical interventions, reducing parents' anxiety and improving health outcomes.

Infertility is a growing problem, affecting about 1 in 6 people worldwide. And today's solutions are fine, but there is still a lot of friction in helping couples. A good service will be a combination of medical advice and counselling: pre and post. Addressing this growing problem, I'd like to see a solution that could offer an integrated service that not only provides medical treatment but also emotional support through counselling. This approach recognizes the complexity of infertility, which often extends beyond physical aspects to psychological and social dimensions.

Re-imagining the use of DPIs as a service. DPIs like UPI, Aadhar or ONDC become successful when the three layers come together - Technology, Governance and Innovation. The beauty of DPI is that at the core, the protocol allows for re-use, innovation allows for re-use and governance ensures all rights are protected. The classic example is the use of UPI and Aadhar to effect DBT in India. The need for DPIs is very high but what is lacking is the speed of implementation. A solution of using the best-in-class DPGs, packaged and cloud deployed for a country’s specific needs can significantly accelerate the implementation of DPIs across the world.

Mint stated that, in the June 2023 stock market breakout, Indians purchased the largest quantity of sovereign gold bonds (SGBs) at 7.77 tonnes worth a whopping ₹4,604 crore in the first series of this fiscal year, underscoring the preference for an asset that acts as a hedge against inflation and a safe-haven asset at times of global uncertainty. India currently has 3.5 crore investors in Mutual Funds and eight crore investors in the stock market. Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) are still not at this scale or even accessible to mass at scale. It is growing, but what will enable the rising adoption? The idea is to have a user-friendly secondary market platform for users to buy and sell SGBs. The reason is that all smartphone users have one app for one fintech use-case, for example, stocks: Zerodha, MFs: Groww/Paytm Money, but for SGBs, we have no focused secondary platform to buy and sell it. It's an even bigger incentive to buy since you don't need a Demat account for it.

I've noticed that Crypto-backed loans and credit cards present a unique and growing opportunity. There was a 700% growth in assets under management by the top CeFi lending platforms in 2020 alone; the potential in this sector is undeniable​​. A startup could leverage this potential by offering crypto-backed loans and credit cards tailored specifically for the modern borrower. This solution could completely disrupt how individuals and businesses access credit, combining the flexibility of cryptocurrencies with the traditional benefits of loans and credit facilities. Through this, we'll be able to introduce new, efficient ways of lending and credit management backed by the security and potential of cryptos.

India is urbanizing at a rapid clip, and groundwater reserves are rapidly being depleted. This is a problem worth solving for its double-bottom-line benefits. We need a market-driven answer vs a government-driven answer for this. This is worth solving for first for India but could be something we take to other parts of the world that have similar issues. Think anything from developing advanced sensors and AI-based systems for monitoring groundwater levels, promoting water-efficient crops, and implementing water-saving irrigation techniques.

The Indian ERP landscape, traditionally dominated by costly global players needs a homegrown solution tailored to the nuances of Indian businesses. Every year, Indian companies invest heavily in foreign ERP systems, spending millions on customisation to fit local needs. I'd like to see a complete cloud-based/mobile ERP system, specifically designed from the ground up for India. This should essentially be mobile-driven, voice-enabled, and support multiple Indian languages, catering to the diverse and rapidly expanding business sector. As India's GDP is projected to grow from USD 3 trillion to USD 15 trillion in the coming decade, this ERP solution could empower millions of emerging Indian businesses, offering them an efficient, cost-effective and locally relevant management tool.

Simplifying hospital checkout process for India. Hospital checkout is the most broken process right now and a harrowing experience for patients. Let's say, by creating a centralized digital platform that allows for real-time updates and coordination among hospital staff, insurance providers and patients. If such a system could significantly simplify the checkout process, making it more efficient and less stressful for patients and as smooth as a hotel checkout - it could be a winner in many ways.

There is a lack of market offerings designed to cater to the distinct needs and preferences of senior citizens (~10% of the world’s population) across various categories. Intuitive home automation systems, ergonomic mobility aids, personalized healthcare services, interactive community platforms and tailored financial advisory services could be potential offerings that could significantly enhance the quality of life and independence for senior citizens.

Sports as a profession is not popular in India on account of a lack of awareness and access to training programmes, infrastructure and coaches, thereby hindering talent development. Enable an extensive mapping of athletes from across the length and breadth of the country to match them to coaches and training programmes, equipping them with the skills to represent the country. This will also help grow sports beyond cricket- diversify sports representation, and increase the country’s competitiveness.

For the large childcare market (urban India), I feel like there should be a solution offering a comprehensive platform that streamlines every aspect of childcare. From connecting parents with experienced and reliable nannies to providing a curated selection of enriching activities for kids, I would love a one-stop solution for all childcare needs. Imagine effortlessly scheduling playdates, ideas for nutritious meals, reviews on schools, discovering extra curricular activities in your area, and even managing childcare-related purchases, all through one platform. Parents, especially working moms, would love the convenience and peace of mind, ensuring that every aspect of their child's well-being is seamlessly integrated into their busy lives. I can foresee AI playing a critical role in this platform. Additionally, major drivers such as the increasing employment rate of women, hectic work schedules of parents, and rising demand for high-quality education for younger children further propel the market​.

Despite rapid technological advancements, 190 million Indians remain unbanked, largely from the bottom economic pyramid, with over 60% in developing regions detached from formal banking due to technological apprehension and misconceptions. There is a requirement for Personal Finance Management Apps built specifically for the bottom of the pyramid that have audio-visual assistance and explain why the formal economy is cheaper than the informal one (regardless of having to pay tax). This segment fears technology and hence holds back inclusion. So, sachet products can be provided, like 1) Credit can be provided that helps income generation, 2) Insurance to help mitigate economic shocks 3) Investments to help provide returns, especially for the long term when daily earners retire and need a nest egg.

Some of the biggest businesses to be built over the next few years will be scalable service businesses helping companies with AI implementation. While we will see new startups here, the hyper-scalers are also trying to play this role. Today, we are only in the first innings of enterprise AI adoption, and there is massive demand for it. According to a survey of ~600 enterprise executives in 2023, over 60% plan to adopt AI, and less than 10% have adopted AI in some manner into their businesses and products. Interestingly, this is a pull market -- many want to deploy AI and are actively asking how and where to begin. The end-to-end solution will be making data AI-ready, deploying custom workflows without business disruption, and ensuring an overall secure, compliant, and robust AI implementation. These startups will help unlock strategic advantages for enterprises, making them ready to compete effectively in the new AI world.

While it is true that most businesses adopt new technologies at a painfully slow pace, platform shifts like AI can accelerate the adoption of SaaS in laggard verticals. One such vertical is Fashion, which is still largely under digitized. Besides, considering this sector may not have as many fast-moving SaaS incumbents with the capability to add AI-enabled co-pilots to their products quickly, new players have a unique opportunity to enter with a 10x automation wedge, create magical user experience and win from there. For these reasons, I see an interesting opportunity in developing an AI SaaS platform for fashion businesses, integrating machine learning algorithms to analyze diverse, unstructured data sources like fashion week trends, TikTok, influencer preferences, historical data and designers' mood boards. This platform could generate predictive designs and 3D models, offering text-to-design capabilities and multiple variations at the click of a button. Envision an intuitive, collaborative interface where designers co-pilot with AI to convert ideas into high-fidelity designs and manufacturing specs tailored for different body shapes, accelerating the entire design-to-production-to-market process. This could lead to custom fashion at scale, a largely unsolved problem today. Taking it further, one can also imagine an end-to-end AI system that optimizes production workflows, predicts demand, suggests efficient manufacturing processes, and minimizes waste, helping contribute to sustainability in design and production - the need of the hour.

In a world increasingly conscious of sustainability, the concept of a circular economy in the context of household waste is a really great opportunity. I feel like this can be done by creating a platform that collects household throwaway items, ranging from extra food to furniture, and matches them with underprivileged people who need them. This model will be similar to an online charity shop but more dynamic and volunteer-driven. This could significantly contribute to waste reduction and social welfare. Such a solution could be transformative, especially for the global south, where waste management is a critical issue. This wouldn't just help in managing household waste more effectively but also provide much-needed resources to those in need, thereby being able to create a more inclusive and sustainable economy.

In this age of AI mania, it can be hard to separate hype from reality. But we do think that AI can play a transformative role in financial planning and personal finance In this age of AI mania, it can be hard to separate hype from reality. But we do think that AI can play a transformative role in financial planning and personal finance management, an area that remains fintech's white elephant, both alternately demanded and rejected by users. AI, along with the rapidly expanding and improving account aggregator data landscape, may just capture that opportunity. The second space we feel generative AI could be transformative for us is customer interaction - both customer support interactions but also the day-to-day experience in the app. Critically, these opportunities need to be seized while protecting customer data in letter and in spirit.

New-age brands have an opportunity to scale across different geographies and regions by capitalising on omnichannel platforms. These brands can significantly expand their reach by offering varied pack sizes and price points, catering specifically to the needs of consumers in tier 3 cities and beyond. It's also imperative that there is responsible production and consumption - while consumers do have a role to play in keeping brands accountable, it's also the role of brands to take ownership. It's time for India's Patagonia to come to be born.

Given demographic & technological shifts, India will have one of the largest gig workforces globally. A gig workforce that leverages technology can see a huge boost to productivity & also participants like women who are currently underrepresented. However, the fragmented nature of gig workers binds them to use technology provided by platforms/marketplaces whose interests may not be fully aligned with the workers. A 'gig worker first' technology stack + applications that integrate with services ranging from government to marketplaces to financial service providers & enable gig workers to truly be in charge of their destiny can be transformative to the economy. A mix of vertical (for specific gig work like rideshare/delivery) and horizontal (generic workflows) will be viable & can create adequate value for workers, builders and investors alike. Over time, an effective stack will result in an expansion of types of work that can be handled by gig workers.

Similar to how India revolutionized the fintech space, there's a great opportunity to provide an abstracted experience for people wanting to make payments across the world. Think TransferWise with Web3 integrations, at an experience and scale only possible now thanks to technical advancements in Web3. India is far ahead on the experiential level of payments relative to the West, and it's a great opportunity to solve this problem. Unlike India, many developing nations do not have reliable payment systems and rely on cash based dollarization. Here's an opportunity to digitize that and unlock financial inclusion for people living in developing nations who seek stable instruments as well as safer value storage and transactions. This is already a significant market - ~$120b in stablecoins and over $2T in global transaction volume.

Verifying the data integrity, privacy and compliance of AI models is going to be a critical need, as enterprises, institutions and governments start utilizing AI models. Similar to how nobody trusts Web3 applications that are not audited, it is likely that enterprises, governments and even individuals will demand more security and transparency from the AI applications they use. Think Vanta for AI, but focused on what inputs and data the model is collecting, as well as verifying the outputs. This is going to be incredibly critical as AI scales up, especially for closed source applications. Both organizations and individuals will increasingly demand proxies for trust, just like we see in Web 2.0, but with even higher stakes. People still remember Equifax and several large data breaches, and they're going to be increasingly paranoid. This product will provide a line of defence against such issues, and it is likely that regulators may also enforce such standards.

As digital commerce grows, disputes between buyers and sellers are bound to increase. With over 1.2 million anticipated disputes annually, traditional resolution methods buckle under the weight. Resolving these disputes efficiently, specifically at the stage of grievances, is crucial for maintaining trust in this ecosystem. By leveraging AI and machine learning algorithms, platforms can help parties examine and analyze disputes to enable parties to make an informed decision considering all variables. To enable dispute avoidance, effective grievance redressal mechanisms are indispensable to ensure that the trust and confidence of consumers are earned and retained and grievances are resolved at lightning speed.

India has some strong and mature areas of manufacturing. Garments and Leather products are two areas that stand out. Both are highly profitable and deep industries bound to the mass manufacturing paradigm. Direct access to consumers and advances in technology-enabled manufacturing will enable personalization from factory to consumer and a new kind of consumer startup.

Farming in India faces challenges due to small land holdings. This makes it hard for farmers to invest in advanced equipment. About 85% of the farming community in India operates on less than 2 hectares each, which is a cause of inefficiency in the ecosystem​. I believe the solution lies in community farming where farmers unite based on their share of land and labour, by being long-term members of a local community. What this model allows for is to build scale with the ability to leverage technology and machinery. This means higher output which is distributed among farmers according to their equity. A startup can be an enabler here by providing necessary technology and equipment and taking a cut for this. This setup can possibly open doors for new ventures aiming to modernise India’s agricultural sector while keeping the financial burden on individual farmers low.

As India strides into the next decade, there is a transformative opportunity for founders to lead the AI revolution, particularly in the enterprise software sector. The global enterprise landscape, spanning from small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to large corporations, has an array of unmet needs that could be addressed through tailored AI solutions. Given the sheer diversity of businesses, there's a palpable demand for flexible, scalable, and customizable platforms akin to what Salesforce and Microsoft offer, yet with a deeper AI integration tailored for various sectors. For India, with its vast talent pool in software and emerging technologies, the challenge is to pioneer an enterprise solution that not only meets the business operations, analytics, and customer relationship needs but does so with intelligence, foresight, and adaptability. Building an AI-driven enterprise ecosystem that is affordable, efficient, and culturally attuned to diverse business environments can position India as a global leader in the next wave of technological innovation.

The concept of WhatsApp shopping, particularly in a diverse country like India, demands innovation in terms of platform linguistic capabilities. What if a startup could integrate a multilingual voice interface powered by the ONDC protocol? This would revolutionize e-commerce for a vast range of consumers, especially those who are not comfortable with English or text-based interfaces. By having voice commands in multiple Indian languages, this system could simplify online shopping, making it even more accessible.

As global energy demand is expected to soar by 50% by 2050, we must move to cleaner and sustainable energy solutions. Nuclear fusion is a potential answer, offering a near-inexhaustible and clean energy source. However, certain technical and financial hurdles are serving as roadblocks in making nuclear fusion a viable, large-scale alternative energy. Despite big strides made by international projects like ITER (where India joined the US, UK, EU, Japan and Russia in a consortium to develop fusion for peaceful purposes) - the dream of a commercially viable fusion power plant remains distant. However, the other developments within the ecosystem signal progress. There's still hope -  as several other startups worldwide are pushing through challenges with a few possible workable models. TAE Technologies is exploring a unique fusion method, while General Fusion is working on Magnetized Target Fusion technology. Another startup, Tokamak Energy which raised about $200 million, has made progress with a prototype machine that hit 11 million degrees Celsius in tests, eyeing a goal of reaching 100 million degrees Celsius. Altogether, around 35 fusion startups globally have pulled in a combined $1.9 billion, mainly from private sources, which shows a gradually stirring momentum for supporting fusion energy.

A significant portion of India's population is still underbanked. This is where a 'Meesho' for financial services can be a game changer - a platform democratizing financial access and comprehension for all, like how Meesho has revolutionized e-commerce for Bharat. Current FinTech platforms lack a user-centric, accessible and community-driven model, which a 'Meesho' for financial services could solve with the Bharat user in focus. I believe this will unlock financial inclusion, economic empowerment, and financial literacy on a broad scale and reshape the financial services sector not just in India but set a precedent for other emerging markets.

India is still not manufacturing the basic cells. We import them from China in bulk, and then pack them into batteries and battery packs, where the scope of innovation is narrow. At the very basic level, we would want more Indian companies to build cells in India, and innovate more on chemistries, geometries, and new formulations, hopefully reducing costs - only then will new applications come up and become financially viable. Additionally, founders can explore alternatives to lithium-ion technology, like sodium-ion batteries which could offer a safer and more cost-effective option. Collaborating with research institutions for developing new battery technologies and tapping into government initiatives like the "Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India" (FAME) could provide necessary support and visibility​​​​.

Fintech will remain one of the biggest opportunities in India over the next decade. The unabated growth in digital adoption combined with the government’s continued investments in building foundational elements of the tech ecosystem is catalysing a fintech revolution in India, opening up immense value-creation avenues across payments, credit, insurance, and savings. Fintechs are making meaningful inroads in the financial sector, commanding substantial shares in areas like digital payments (70 per cent), retail lending (46 per cent), and broking (49 per cent). Their slice of the financial services revenue pie is set to grow from the current 5 per cent to 20 per cent by 2030. Consequently, out of the projected financial services revenue pool of $380-400 billion by the end of this decade, $75-80 billion will be addressable by fintechs. We are excited about three key opportunity areas within fintech: Experience (small and medium business digitisation, seamless investing, niche segment targeting), Access (full-stack plays, vertical-specific solutions, embedded financial services), and Efficiency (CFO tools, fintech-financial institution collaborations, tech-led tools for identity, collections etc).

Indian women are at the cusp of sexual awakening and progress. We have started asking for more, albeit with the constraints that exist. As societal norms evolve, there's a growing demand for products and services that cater specifically to the unique needs of Indian women. In context of this, we need more products and service in: 1) Sexual Health: Particularly around menopause. The current resources are sparse and disorganised. This area has immense potential for growth by providing structured information, awareness and treatment options. We should be addressing PCOS, menstruation challenges, fertility issues and egg freezing for future planning.2) Sexual Pleasure: This is around sex education for women specifically. Developing audio and video content can help tap a large swathe of women who don't have access to progressive content. Commerce could be the monetising factor here, though I do see subscription for such content going up. 3) Specific wearables that revolve around women's health keeping in mind that our bodies function differently especially around heart diseases, Diabetes, hormonal health and more.

Building the marketplace for the circular economy - matching demand-side (increasing supplier EPR norms) with supply-side (consolidation of fragmented supply of recycled material); also, scaling up of recycling of harder-to-obtain materials, Eg Li-ion batteries

The chemical industry’s contribution to India’s GDP is 6%-7% at nearly $200Bn. Conventional chemicals provide critical material input to several industries, contributing to 15% of GVA in manufacturing. The combination of burgeoning demand, global sustainability push, and corporate commitment to green practices is making sustainable alternatives to conventional chemicals a strategic and socially responsible area of focus. India is well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity with its world-class biotech talent pool, large local demand, policy support from Government, and research focus to create cost-competitive solutions.

India excels in building labour intensive, cost sensitive industries — Anirudh of Pepper and Dev Khare of LSP have already mentioned workflows, process automation and ITES. But this is a more secular trend — be it ERG like Tata Technologies, or India's watchmaker turned jeweller Titan. Taking that a step further, for someone with the right Capex skills: India can be a great place to build drivers and middleware for specialised compute like GPUs. We already have underpriced talent via companies ranging from Broadcom to Samsung with a significant Indian presence. This can go up the stack as well e.g. you start out as a Serverless GPU Provider or API Provider like NimbleBox and integrate backwards for performance which translates to cost savings as economies of scale kick in.

The second secular trend is the "need for human data" — this is beyond tagged data which is relatively low skill, with most ML teams now needing competent data engineering folks to work with web scale. An AI specialized team working across Vision, Language, and Speech datasets only could also open them to building a Pantone or Moody's (Standards & Rating) of the sector. In this lens, the evaluation piece is also just intelligent data which hasn't been tagged yet!

The biggest challenge to be solved in the Indian capital market is the shallow participation. The number of unique mutual fund investors and demat accounts is about 6 crores. If our economy has to grow, the markets have to grow manifold. We realized this around 2016, and that’s how the Rainmatter journey began. Today, we support startups working on helping traders and investors do better. That means backing startups that are building things that help people manage their risk, behaviour and their overall personal finances. All of us at Rainmatter are also passionate about health. Along the fintech journey, we had an aha moment—what’s the point of helping people do better with their money if they have poor health. So we started supporting startups that are helping Indians make healthier choices. So far, we’ve supported startups that are creating healthy alternatives of products that Indians already consume. The odds of such approaches working are higher, given that they reduce the cognitive shock among consumers to discover and get used to new things. Sports is one of the most accessible ways to improve fitness, and we are constantly looking for startups that make it easier for Indians to take up sports. Perhaps our biggest focus is on climate change and livelihood creation. We support organizations working on sustainable farming, clean energy technologies, energy efficiency, waste management, bio-alternatives and more.

If 80% of urban SMBs use digital payments today (UPI-QR), why are only 5-7% selling online? This is one of the questions that drives our ONDC thesis at Antler. If ONDC sees major growth in 2024-25, it could bring millions of new sellers into online ecosystems. Additionally, GenAI has the potential to further dismantle barriers.

For a small business in India, selling online could seem appealing, but challenges remain:

(a) Ensuring visibility and meaningful demand across multiple channels (marketplaces, WhatsApp, quick commerce, ONDC seller apps, etc.).

(b) Overcoming logistical hurdles like creating digital catalogs, visual content, and listings for each SKU, and managing advertising, pricing, and updates across fragmented channels.

GenAI, especially voice-enabled in Indian languages, could revolutionize this by allowing you to “speak” your catalog and inventory, automating most tasks. Imagine a platform that simplifies this process, making it as seamless and magical as a new Shopify-like solution.

There are immense opportunities to bring new financial products to India's real estate market. India's real estate market is valued at $200bn in 2021 and expected to reach $1tn by 2030, contributing to 13% of India's GDP by 2025. Further, India's home loans outstanding as of Mar 21 stood at $271bn and expected to grow at a CAGR of 22% between 2021 to 2026. Participants in India's real estate value chain have so far been reluctant to adopt technology or innovative financial products in a meaningful way but there are indicators that this is changing rapidly. We're already seeing innovative solutions for this market and these are early days, and we anticipate startups playing a pivotal role in bringing fresh financial products to the table and contributing in a meaningful way this decade.

A simple way to record MIS for your company (not dashboards, more spreadsheet approach), with collaboration and security layers for sharing with investors, key members, and potentially even employees. It should have rule based syncing with other cloud tools for automatic updates of data. Today, most of it is done manually, and leads to unnecessary grind work and errors. Looking ahead, the tool could evolve to automatically calculate and present key industry-specific metrics, enhancing tracking and collaboration efforts. This solution would streamline data management, reducing the time and potential for error in critical business processes.

India lacks accessible, comprehensive financial education, leading to poor financial decisions, especially in rural and semi-urban areas. This can be addressed with a technology-driven platform providing personalised financial education across India, offering learning paths using AI and data analytics, interactive simulations for financial scenario understanding, AI-powered virtual financial advisors for real-time guidance and community engagement for peer discussions. Gamified learning, localised content, and partnerships with financial institutions will enhance user experience and provide diverse financial resources. What is likely to work is a freemium model with basic financial education for free, and premium features like advanced courses and personalised advisory services available through a subscription. Revenue is also generated through referral partnerships with financial institutions. Addressing a crucial issue in India, building a platform like this will have a rapid scalability potential and can attract diverse user demographics.

I'd like to see an ABHA-integrated insurance claims management network that can map patients' behaviour at the point of care with their insurance coverage. There is immense scope to reinvent the claims loop for India with the scale out of ABHA as a unifying DPI. As health insurance coverage increases, setting a higher standard for personalised and data-integrated claims processing will bring a new efficiency to the industry in India. By leveraging ABHA's transparent and efficient framework, we could change how insurance claims are managed and processed in India, ensuring that benefits are maximized for both insurance companies and policyholders.

India has 1.5 cr new graduates coming out of college every year, but only 7L-10L white collar jobs waiting for them. The rest end up without enough opportunities. The challenge becomes how to effectively utilise this young, educated workforce. We need colleges or college equivalents that only prepare students for Entrepreneurship - not necessarily for preparing students for SaaS or AI companies but for starting small businesses like Pharmacies or Jewellery retailers. This approach would provide practical, hands-on training and knowledge, equipping graduates with the skills to start and run their own businesses. Only then can enough people be employed and India viably grow. Jobs aren't enough and aren't going to be enough, irrespective how good our colleges become at training.

1) I believe that Indian entrepreneurs are now ready to build digital consumer or prosumer startups from India for the world. We have seen early success in that domain with companies like Quizizz, Headout, Ultrahuman, Whitehat, etc. Many more companies could be built targeting niches with no advantage for someone based in the US.

2) As India is becoming wealthier, there is a clear upgrade in consumption, and consumer behaviour is evolving. Retail should undergo significant changes. Our portfolio company, Zepto, is clearly a leader in how it's changing the way India shops. We should expect to see many vertical online-offline retail experiences, especially in baby products, pet care, wellness, food, etc

With more disposable income among senior citizens and higher life expectancy and activity levels among seniors, the opportunity to build for and serve the senior care segment is ripe. One can almost imagine a parallel internet catering to their unique needs (health, companionship, safety), digital behaviour (e.g., simpler UI), and purchase channels (e.g., more offline). In the midst of this opportunity, I'm bullish about a Decathalon-like omnichannel model that sells all health and wellness products for elders, ranging from back braces to wheelchairs. Most of these are high-value purchases and need an offline trial to see the user's comfort with it, making offline a strong channel to distribute.

~80% of undergraduates in India do a BA degree, an overwhelming majority of which do BAs in hard-to-employ subjects from Tier 3+ colleges. These colleges struggle to expand their revenue base and maintain good teacher quality. Most of these graduates are unemployable at the end of these degrees making our skill market shallow. I believe there is an opportunity for third parties to provide concurrent programs for these students (within the confines of college) with direct paths to jobs. Colleges provide the student and the infrastructure (for a share of revenue) and startups provide the curriculum and faculty. This is similar to what Virohan is doing for AHP degrees or what Sunstone is doing for MBA programs.

For both auto and health - where the factors considered for pricing are derived from driving habits and adherence to safety and healthy lifestyle choices respectively, a product can be conceptualised that rewards good behavior and lifestyle versus forcing system costs equally to everyone. In a massive country like India, individual behavior profiling should start getting factored into risk pricing. The inefficiency of mass pricing will pull back adoption and encourage a reward system to incentivize bad behavior.

I feel that Indian consumers are highly underserved. In most spaces, one can build a business that provides a good enough and standardized customer experience at a good value-for-money price point. Think what Indigo did to the airline industry, nothing fancy, just being on time, clean aircrafts and a great network. We should be able to replicate this model across different sectors, delivering value-for-money services while elevating the overall customer experience.

In India, healthcare access is polarized: the wealthy rely on personal savings, while the poor depend on government support. But what about Middle India, the vast majority often overlooked in this dichotomy? I see a need for an integrated healthcare ecosystem catering to this segment. What would it take to create a startup that builds a seamless Payer + Provider + Benefits Administrator system for them? This solution would bridge the gap, offering affordable, accessible healthcare. It’s about understanding and addressing the unique needs of Middle India, providing a tailored health system that ensures quality care without financial burden.

India needs a startup that can regulate daily traffic better using predictive AI and LLMs. As one invests in infrastructure, we need to make better use of LLM and AI for predicting the peak hours/capacity as well as for the future growth of the stress that will be put on the infra asset. Add on top of this - a prediction of intercity and intracity (daily) migration resulting in the strain on other public transportation including airports.

I believe that every single area of content - entertainment, media, travel, real estate, hospitality etc. will undergo a sea of changes to fit the VR/AR world that should take off by 2024/2025 with Apple releasing its first device and Facebook becoming better with its devices. Many different areas of work, like education, work, manufacturing, services, healthcare etc. will also undergo many changes to help delivery of these services and new behaviours across VR. That means remote work, collaboration, increased productivity, functional skills etc. will be happening. These are global arenas and global apps that will go both B2C as well as B2B2C - either as platform behaviours, conversion engines for current content and businesses. Billions of consumers and millions of businesses need to be ready for this revolution, similar to what's happening in AI. I believe a ton of startups can be built across many of these areas.

I've been thinking about how certain privileges, like having a personal assistant, are often exclusive to the very wealthy, those who value time over money. They rely on assistants or concierge services for mundane tasks and decision-making. Can a startup democratise this luxury? Leveraging a well-trained ML model and a shared pool of assistants - this service could be made accessible to a wider, aspirational audience. I feel like this could transform how we manage time and tasks, bringing the convenience of personalised assistance to more people. It’s about simplifying life for those who value their time immensely but might not have the resources of the ultra-rich. This idea could reshape the landscape of personal assistance, making it an affordable, everyday luxury.

Leveraging the idea of quantum entanglement for secure communication and data transactions is potentially game-changing. A startup could operationalize this by developing a technology that uses particle-to-multi-particle entanglement as a key for locked data access. This could enable tracking and control over data sharing, allowing for the destruction of any unauthorized copies through selective disentanglement. Such a technology could revolutionize data privacy and security, ensuring that financial transactions and communications remain private and untaxable by governments, shifting the tax burden to a consumption basis. This system could impose stringent penalties for unauthorized data sharing, akin to wire-fraud and RICO laws in the US to deter misuse.

Managing ratings and reviews for all participants within the ONDC ecosystem, akin to TrustPilot, is a massive opportunity. This service should include not only seller ratings but also user ratings, which can be shared across both buyer and seller apps. This comprehensive approach would substantially deter fraudulent activities from either side. Moreover, these ratings would become a crucial component in Online Dispute Resolution processes. As ONDC evolves further, embedding a comprehensive review mechanism is important.

With ONDC striving to reach the unreached corners of the country, an important problem to solve is the empowerment and awareness of retail sellers coming online. Such sellers primarily work on offline inventory and seldom "update" in an e-commerce-enabling platform/interface. This absence of an integrated Point of Sale (PoS) system curtails their e-commerce potential, leading to lost sales and possible inventory mishaps. A Point of Sale device would help manage, track and improve sales as well as enable them to tap into consumers who are not necessarily in their immediate street or area. The integration helps in inventory management, provides them insights and demand analytics and hence, online seller cancellations are reduced with accurate planning and inventory management.

In India, we have a very strong young workforce with a very low per capita income. The best way to solve it is by India building for the world. We have all kinds of talents within the country for every art form out there, which is now accentuated with content platforms. If we can solve the problem of discoverability of talent in India for the world easily, then we will be able to leverage this vast resource for so much productivity globally. A startup could bridge this gap by creating a platform that not only highlights but effectively markets Indian talent globally. For example, this solution could use AI for personalized talent matching to make sure that the right skills meet the right opportunities. This is just one way out of the many.

Over the last decade, Indian startups have done fairly well in developing globally competitive software products and scaling them globally. I strongly believe that in the next 10 years, Indian startups will demonstrate similar success in building products which combine India’s growing manufacturing skills and leverage our software advantage. As manufacturing costs decline, a new breed of startups is emerging, which may appear like hardware/manufacturing companies but their DNA is that of software companies. They will deliver magical experience to their users through innovative software, making them globally competitive. We’ve invested in a few of these hardware/software companies such as Ati Motors, Euler Motors, BluArmor, etc but expect to see many more like these coming out of India.

The perfect Sweep-in/Sweep-out savings account where the app automatically sweeps in everything but a weekly required balance into an index fund. For the sweep-out, the mechanism should be designed to operate in the most tax-efficient manner, with Short Term Capital Gains (STCG) forms auto-populated, ready to be forwarded to the CA (Along with advance tax calculations done automatically). This account should allow an overdraft against the securities as well and come with a metal credit card which also works on UPI.

Problem: The launch of Apple Vision Pro is set to change app development with its requirement for spatial interface inclusion, a demand that current tools are unprepared for, leaving developers with little direction. The solution is a specialised toolkit designed for the Apple Vision Pro. This toolkit will tackle spatial interface development hurdles, integrate seamlessly with Apple's developer tools, and boost workflow efficiency. Components should be (a) Spatial Interface Library: A comprehensive library of spatial UI elements for developer use, targeting efficient 3D user interactions. (b) IDE Integration: Compatibility with major IDEs, including Xcode, bringing spatial app development features like visual assistance, debugging and simulation. (c) Workflow Management: A platform to oversee the entire development journey, from concept to launch, with features like version control, teamwork tools and testing designed for spatial apps. (d.) Educational Resources: Given the novelty of spatial development, resource center housing tutorials, recommended practices and documentation is crucial. The market potential of such a solution being Apple's extensive user community and the tendency of developers to use their platforms suggest a significant market for this toolkit. As spatial tech gains traction, tools to simplify its app development will be increasingly in demand.

India has one of the lowest rates of female labour participation in the world—less than 30% of women in the 15-59 bracket work. Strangely, labour participation amongst women in higher income groups is lower than in lower income groups. Keeping status signalling apart (as in, she can afford not to work), a key factor behind the lower-than-usual number of working women in higher-income groups is the absence of affordable and universal daycare for young children, so the mothers can go to work guiltlessly, and unworried. I would love to see a flurry of innovative build-outs in daycare solutions for children. Innovative and disruptive without a single compromise on child safety. Imagine an Uber / Airbnb for childcare where there is a marketplace of trained, licensed daycare providers, such as older or retired women looking for earnings and some activity to do, connected to parents looking for one-time, occasional or continuous daycare for their kids. Or a WeWork for daycare (WeCare?), a regional-national chain either in partnership with companies or independent operations offering their services that becomes an automatic press-a-button for daycare so that parents can locate a convenient daycare location (with continuous tracking + monitoring, etc.) with convenient facilities including a play gym etc., and come back in the evening to pick up the child. I think these are just two of a range of ideas - some full stack, some focused, all supporting full to partial childcare solutions for mothers and parents.

I would love to see more founders building in India for India. As a fund looking at interactive media, we see a growing propensity to pay with micro-transactions and IAPs on the rise. With 50% of India's population under 25, the next generation of entertainment and immersion is yet to be explored for this mobile-first, digitally native audience. Founders should explore building across genres in mobile casual and mid-core games for broader audiences, leveraging applied game mechanics to disrupt industries like healthtech, fintech to drive intrinsic engagement and push the boundaries of innovation by leveraging frontier tech using Gen AI, 3D tools, XR to define the next decade of India's digital led future.

India’s wealth pyramid is beginning to show signs of growing at its top and the middle. The rising affluence is visible both anecdotally and in data (number of USD millionaires to double to 1.6 m by 2026, growth in PMS/AIF assets, ESOP wealth creation). Unlike before, this affluent group is digitally native. They also have a high bar on the quality of the digital products they want to try and retain. Building for this group requires a different lens — that which is focused on the value of the individual transaction and not just the number of users. The intense focus on product quality and user experience will also be defining for successful players in this segment. Solving for India’s affluent is a meaningful problem therefore to work on, especially in the context of their money — including but not limited to investing (something that we at Dezerv are working on).

In almost all transactions involving two or more parties on the ONDC network, there is an inherent risk of fraud. It is crucial to find a means to build trust for all parties involved in the transaction. This can be achieved through a self-authenticating mechanism or virtual key logging of all data points, which enhances trust in the data shared by each party. Additionally, the validity of this data can be easily cross-checked by the counterparty. Such a fortified trust mechanism elevates user confidence, reduces disputes and can solidify ONDC’s reputation as a marketplace with secure online transactions.

We're just getting started in India - with Aadhaar, UPI & early eCommerce & OTT the country has tasted the benefits of Digitisation 1.0. The AI & IOT revolutions will signal the onslaught of true digitisation - and will drive inclusion and enhancement of livelihoods of the masses; poised to $450-500 billion to the GDP by 2025, largely driven by sectors like consumer goods, agriculture and finance​​.  It's important for the government to show the way with progressive policy making - so that entrepreneurship can flourish. From everything we've seen, we couldn't be more excited about the next Techade for India!

What I really wish someone built - lies in community-led solutions, especially when it comes to utilizing public resources and optimizing natural resources. I've observed there's an increasing demand for this in climate tech. With India's material consumption having skyrocketed sixfold since 1970, driven mainly by population growth and rapid urbanization, there's an urgent need for sustainable solutions​​. Yet, despite this urgency, public awareness remains a pivotal challenge. And I feel environmental sensitivity can only flourish through a lot of public awareness campaigns, leveraging media, education and grassroots movements​. The potential for startups here is pretty big. This could be developing platforms that facilitate community engagement in resource management to creating educational tools that help with environmental consciousness.

I'd love to see a startup that could really streamline application workflows, especially in user onboarding processes. A workflow automation tool with both API and a user-friendly UI. In the UI, you set rules like, “Send a verification email after signup and resend if not verified in 3 hours.” These rules are flexible, adapting to the user’s needs. The tool would use API and webhooks to communicate with your app. So when a user signs up, your app notifies the API, and the tool acts based on the set rules. Something like this could eliminate a significant portion of the development cycle for app workflow actions, saving time and resources. It's about making the backend smarter and more responsive, transforming the way we manage digital interactions.

UPI has ushered India into an era of frictionless digital payments. With zero-cost rails from UPI, payments large and small are surging over UPI with adoption across all segments of society. Unfortunately, this has also led to a rapid increase in cyber crimes: online scams, phishing attacks, credential theft, spurious wire transfers and more. There is a need for a lightweight yet robust security suite that guards the user against digital attacks without imposing any friction on the day-to-day payment experience. This could be a client-side or server-side solution - likely both - which will protect user data and credentials, simultaneously flagging and thwarting any attempt to compromise the bank account.

Since some industries are looking to move from China, India has a big chance of attracting them, especially those making semiconductors, laser parts, and materials like refractories. Though there are challenges like improving infrastructure and finding skilled workers, the big market in India makes it a good place for these industries. If India doesn't make this move, it might miss a huge opportunity for economic growth and tech advancements. But, if it does, this could create many jobs, increase the country's earnings, and position India as a global manufacturing powerhouse, leading to job creation and significant GDP contribution. This big change needs everyone – the government, investors, and the industries to work together, embracing new technologies and supportive policies.

AI infrastructure in general is a great space to go after. A couple of sub-themes that I am excited about include LLMOps and how do you empower enterprises to either build or integrate LLMs into their workflow and constantly improve it using internal proprietary data. The other is AI model compression companies - how can you build a developer-friendly platform to help enterprises reduce the size of the complex (multi-billion parameter) AI models without impacting the accuracy especially to run them in resource-constrained environments such as on edge devices?

The Sahamati & AA ecosystem enables the creation of a 'personal balance sheet' for every individual and MSME, transforming their digital trails into digital capital. This opens up vast opportunities in various sectors: a. Lending: Tailoring financial products based on individualized data, enhancing credit accessibility and risk assessment. b. Insurance: Offering customized insurance products based on personalized risk profiles. c. Wealth Management: Providing insights for personalized investment strategies. d. Cash Flow Management: Enabling better financial planning and management for individuals and MSMEs. e. Cross-Border Transactions: Facilitating smoother, data-driven cross-border financial services. f. Consent Management: Empowering users with control over their financial data, ensuring privacy and trust. Each of these areas represents a potential breakthrough in financial services, driven by individual empowerment of data and innovation.

I've seen GenAI changing how tech businesses operate right in front of my eyes. As someone deeply involved in this space, I've noticed a significant gap: while large tech companies are swiftly adapting, small businesses and independent workers are often left behind. Even in tech-savvy circles, only a small set of folks are conversant with the possibilities. At Swiggy, we needed Microsoft to come explain to our tech team on what GenAI can do. However, there might be some completely ignored opportunities around building a Swiss Knife tool that does many things but leveraging GenAI in a way that solves many small but meaningful problems for a small business. This tool would address various everyday challenges, making advanced tech accessible and useful on a micro-scale.

In today's B2B landscape, while there are reviews we use as buyers to determine which vendors we want to work with, there needs to be a system that works the other way too. For vendors and suppliers to learn about how it is to engage with an enterprise. Almost like a Karma system that allows partners, vendors, etc to rate if the customer pays on time, treats their teams well, etc. We all know how an Uber or Ola rating system improves both the customer and driver behavior. This is similar. This would help with creating the right accountability and encourage better business practices from the company too.

India's agriculture sector faces several challenges such as fragmented land holdings, limited access to modern technology and considerable post-harvest losses. I really believe there's an opportunity for startups specialising in agritech solutions to make a real impact. Innovations in precision agriculture, supply chain optimisation and sustainable farming practices could be key to addressing these challenges. The Indian Agritech market currently hosts about 600-700 startups potentially impacting about 25 million farmers in our country. Such startups have the potential to revolutionise the sector with the ability to enhance productivity and sustainability. One such startup I can think of is Ninjacart. As India's largest fresh produce supply chain platform, Ninjacart connects food producers directly with retailers and service providers, working on significantly reducing food wastage and enhancing supply chain efficiency.

One of the biggest issues in the future will be ensuring access to clean water, making water recycling crucial. A hurdle is the aversion to using recycled water for household purposes like the kitchen, bath and even for washing and cleaning. There's an opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop a cost-effective solution to separate black and grey water, filtering them differently for varied uses, suited for both standalone houses and apartment complexes. Initially targeting new constructions could ease the implementation of water separation, simplifying downstream filtering. If priced reasonably and with options to switch between recycled and supply board water, this solution has potential. Alternatively, setting up water treatment within residential apartments and selling the recycled water to industries could pave the way for a scalable business, addressing a really great market need.

The Internet as an Infrastructure is open, but the economy on top of it is closed.  For many of us and small businesses, closed platforms dictate the rite of passage to our formal Participation in the digital economy. E-commerce, for example, due this model has seen only 8% penetration in India.  How do we open up access to a wider population of people and small businesses and move the needle from 8% to 80%?  How do we drive adoption at a massive scale, fostering innovation and inclusion at the same time? India is putting up a new model of scale and inclusion using open protocols like the Beckn Protocol. Initiatives like ONDC, Namma Yatri, ONEST are redefining the model access to online transaction economy, and the model is finding acceptance across the world.   It is offering a rich and open playground for innovation for entrepreneurs to jump in and deliver scale. The time is now to take the leap and unlock massive value, for upstarts    in the space of mobility, retail, energy, sustainability, financial services, skilling & education and more.   It’s a new paradigm of scale and value creation that is being unlocked. It’s not a story of adding more gardens to the existing ones. But instead enable a whole wide forestry ecosystem.  Gardens don’t bring scale as a forest does. Forests grow naturally, unrestrained as an ecosystem and its scale feeds into more scale.  It needs no gardener to help it scale.  India is enabling forestry of innovation through open protocols, allowing a naturally flourishing ecosystem at population scale.