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What is it like being an investor today?

For Anand Chandrasekaran, Partner at General Catalyst, investing is all about being a part of the company building process. 

“When we talk to a company, we look at different aspects of the organisation that can have unintended consequences of societal growth, and how the founder views the business in terms of societal good,” he explains in a conversation with YourStory.

Anand was the CPO at Facebook (now Meta), Five9, Snapdeal, and Bharati Airtel. He has built five global products that have grown to reach over 10 million users each. 

Coming with an experience of investing in 80 startups, including Aisle, DealShare, Fynd, Netmeds, CREO, and Innov8, in India and the US, Anand believes that investors need to have a significantly deep partnership with the founder.

“It is important that both parties be in the partnership for a long term,” he adds.

The Interview with Arti Gusain

In a career spanning over two decades, Arti Gusain, Associate Vice President, Infosys Leadership Institute, has lived her life encouraging people to understand and appreciate their differences, invest in personal and professional growth, and give back to the community. 

YourStory caught up with Arti to know more about her milestones, learnings, and life hacks under its ‘I am the future’ series that spotlights dynamic and successful women leaders at Infosys.

Editor’s Pick: The Turning Point

With India’s largest-ever Series A fundraise of $200 million, financial solutions platform Oxyzo recently became one of the few startups run by a woman co-founder to enter the coveted unicorn club.

Oxyzo began as B2B unicorn OfBusiness Group’s financing platform in 2017 to bridge the gap in the market for working capital lending solutions for SMEs to buy raw materials. Here’s how it stepped out of OfBusiness’ shadows.

Startup Spotlight

Drone tech for farmers

Founded in 2016 by Amandeep Panwar and Rishabh Choudhary, Delhi-based BharatRohan Airborne Innovations provides drone-based advisory services to nearly 6,000 farmers across 20,000 acres in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Read more. 

Top Stories of the Week

• The Indian startup ecosystem witnessed 482 deals in the first quarter of 2022, of which only 78, i.e. 16.1 percent, were raised by women-founded and co-founded startups. Here’s what YourStory found about the disparity in funding when it comes to women entrepreneurs. 
• How does an entrepreneur bounce back from seeing his successful startup fail? In the first episode of YourStory UNCUT, we spoke to Founder Bhupinder Madaan about the rise, fall, and resurgence of his venture, Theka Coffee. 
• In this week’s Techie Tuesday, we feature Radha Ramaswami Basu who started the India operations of Hewlett-Packard (HP) and grew its electronic business software division into a $1.2 billion operation. She is now the co-founder of iMerit Technology Services.
• One of the biggest news this week was Flipkart’s public outing plans. The Walmart-backed ecommerce major plans to list in the US public markets by 2023 at a valuation of $60-$70 billion.
• Tata Group’s super app Tata Neu — which launched on April 7 — seems like a promising offering, packed with offers and familiar brands. But, the delivery needs improvement. Read YourStory’s in-depth take on the app. 

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“Take risks now and do something bold. You won’t regret it.”

— Elon Musk, CEO and Founder, Tesla and SpaceX

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