Hard Truths By Vertex

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Oct 2026

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Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we want to share and uncover Hard Truths - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital experience across Southeast Asia & India. Tune in to hear from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists and industry experts in the region and to gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please click follow or subscribe and share it with entrepreneurs or investors in your circle so we can all grow, succeed and build the future of SEA and India together.

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October 15, 202632 min

India’s Biggest AI Opportunity Is in “Dusty” Industries | Piyush Kharbanda

India may be late to the AI gold rush… but Piyush Kharbanda thinks we might be looking in all the wrong places. I sit down with venture investor Piyush Kharbanda to unpack how he’s thinking about AI startups, venture capital and India’s place in the global AI race. We get into why Indian AI companies are still behind the US, why the old SaaS playbook is breaking, and what he actually looks for when investing in Series A and Series B startups. Piyush also explains why boring industries like manufacturing and industrials could become India’s biggest AI opportunity, and why execution, not technology, may be the real moat. If you’re building an AI startup, investing in one, or trying to understand where India’s AI ecosystem is headed next, this conversation gets very practical, very quickly. IN THIS EPISODE 00:30 | Why India Is Missing the AI Boom 01:52 | Why the US Pulled Ahead 03:45 | Can India Catch Up? 04:46 | Why India’s AI Apps Lag 05:35 | AI Is Still at Day Zero 08:29 | Why the SaaS Playbook Is Breaking 10:44 | The Real Moat in AI 15:32 | Why Proximity to the Edge Matters 17:34 | Where AI Moats Will Come From 19:17 | Why the Harness Could Be the Moat 20:45 | India’s Biggest AI Opportunity 23:23 | Why Legal & Health Are Overcrowded 25:12 | Why AI Startups Grow So Fast 28:29 | What VCs Want From AI Now 30:12 | Why “Boring” Industries Could Win Piyush Kharbanda Piyush Kharbanda joined Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India in 2016 and focuses on opportunities in India. Piyush is a technologist at heart and has invested across consumer and enterprise focused companies that use software technology to build strong business models. Piyush works closely with Kissht, Kuku FM, Signzy, Ayu Health, Beepkart, Tortoise, Threado and Certa. Piyush has also successfully helped exit Recko and Hansel. Prior to Vertex, he spent five years doing growth investing in the Financial Services and Technology verticals with Multiples, a leading India based mid-market fund, where he was involved in investments through portfolio management and exit. Before that, Piyush worked with Alvarez and Marsal on performance improvement and strategy consulting assignments. Piyush holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, and a Bachelors in Electronics and Communications from the Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi. Rahul Thayyalamkandy Director of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & India Rahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore. Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy/ — Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth — raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions. — Follow us to get notified whenever new episodes are shared. — For more information, please visit: https://www.vertexventures.sg #ArtificialIntelligence #AIStartups #IndiaAI #GenerativeAI #VentureCapital #StartupIndia #IndianStartups #EnterpriseAI #SaaS #AIInvesting #FutureOfAI #TechStartups #StartupFunding #AIBusiness #VentureCapitalIndia

September 9, 202637 min

Why Al Never Got Cheaper | Lemuel Low, Ren3

I sat down with an AI founder who believes companies are spending first… and asking what it cost later. Lemuel Low is building Ren3 to help businesses understand, control and optimise the rapidly growing cost of AI. As enterprises deploy copilots, autonomous agents and increasingly complex workflows, many are discovering that traditional software budgets simply do not work when every outcome carries a different and potentially uncapped token cost.We spoke about why AI never became as cheap as promised, who should be accountable when an agent fails, whether companies can predict the cost of a workflow before running it, and why governance needs to be built into infrastructure rather than left as another policy document. Lemuel also explains model routing, open-weight alternatives, outcome-based pricing, the conflict between model providers and their customers, and what cost-efficient companies are already doing differently. This is one of the most practical conversations I’ve had about the economics behind enterprise AI. If you care about AI agents, enterprise software, token costs, governance, model routing, pricing, or building sustainable AI businesses, watch this one till the end! IN THIS EPISODE 00:00 | Teaser 00:51 | Uber's AI Budget & Token Spend 03:32 | Why Token Maximisation Suddenly Stopped Working 05:33 | When Finance and Engineering Collide Over AI Costs 09:42 | The Two Things Every Company Must Control 10:59 | Who Takes Accountability When Agents Fail? 12:40 | Accountability Beyond Governance Frameworks 13:21 | Why the Best AI Model Is Often the Wrong Choice 16:46 | Can You Price an AI Task Before Running It? 20:40 | Inside Reentry’s AI Cost-Control Infrastructure 22:26 | Can AI Companies Really Charge for Outcomes? 26:09 | What Cost-Efficient Companies Look Like 34:24 | Will AI Competition Actually Make Models Cheaper? 35:41 | The Coming Battle Over Enterprise AI Spending Lemuel Low Lemuel Low is building Ren3, an AI platform focused on helping businesses manage, attribute and optimise the cost of running AI workloads. His work explores how companies can move beyond unrestricted token consumption by introducing model routing, workload planning, traceability and governance directly into their AI infrastructure. Through Ren3, he is working to give organisations greater visibility into how tokens are being consumed, which teams and processes are responsible for that spending, and whether the outcomes being produced justify their cost. He believes that as AI adoption accelerates, companies will need to treat token economics as a core operational discipline rather than relying on model providers to control spending for them. Rahul Thayyalamkandy Director of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & India Rahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore. Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy/ — Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth — raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions. For more information, please visit: https://www.vertexventures.sg

August 20, 202626 min

Why India's Rich Are Choosing Villas Over Hotels | Ritwik Khare & Karan Miglani, Elivaas

They went from three villas to 600 in just over two years — by betting that India’s next major travel brand would look less like a hotel and more like someone’s dream home. Ritwik Khare and Karan Miglani, co-founders of ELIVAAS, had worked together in travel before building a company at the intersection of hospitality and real estate. They saw a growing market of second-home owners who needed help maintaining, monitoring and monetising their properties — and travellers who wanted the privacy of a villa without sacrificing hotel-level service. ELIVAAS has since grown from three villas to around 600 properties. In this conversation with Rahul, Ritwik and Karan explain why India’s luxury villa market is larger than it appears, how group travel makes premium stays more affordable, and why customers increasingly choose the property before the destination. They also break down the technology and operational systems required to manage scattered homes consistently, the advantage of building dense micro-markets, and their ambition to make ELIVAAS the Marriott of villas and apartments. IN THIS EPISODE 00:00 | Teaser 00:45 | Introduction: From Airbnb Host to ELIVAAS Founder 01:29 | Why Focus on Luxury Villas and Apartments? 02:50 | The Genesis: A Personal Problem to Solve 04:00 | Market Size and Growth Potential 05:40 | Changing Travel Behavior: More Frequent Luxury Getaways 07:33 | The 3M Promise: Maintain, Monitor, Monetize 08:35 | Customer Personas: Homeowners and Travelers 10:52 | ELIVAAS vs. Alaya Stays: Two Brand Segments 11:41 | Cross-Sell Services and Enhanced Experiences 13:25 | Evolving Consumer Behavior and Sustainability 15:18 | Surprising Consumer Insights 17:43 | Technology and Operations: The Execution Engine 19:34 | The Power of Micro-Markets 21:18 | Why Choose ELIVAAS Over Airbnb? 22:13 | Competitive Landscape and Early-Mover Advantage 22:47 | International Expansion Strategy 24:40 | Vision for 2035 and Key Risks About Ritwik Khare Ritwik Khare is the Founder and CEO of ELIVAAS, a technology-led luxury villa and apartment management company. His experience as a second-home owner helped shape ELIVAAS’ core promise: to maintain, monitor and monetise properties while delivering a consistent luxury experience for travellers. Ritwik on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritwikk/ About Karan Miglani Karan Miglani is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of ELIVAAS. He leads the company’s technology and product systems across homeowners, travellers and on-ground hospitality teams, helping ELIVAAS manage distributed luxury properties at scale. Karan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karanmiglani/ Rahul Thayyalamkandy Director of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & India Rahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore. Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy / —- Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions. — Follow us to get notified whenever new episodes are shared. — For more information, please visit: https://www.vertexventures.sg

August 6, 202638 min

The ₹500 Cr Startup Making Ayurveda Work Like Modern Medicine | Ameve Sharma, Kapiva

He wants to build the “herbal Pfizer”... and he’s betting Kapiva’s future on proof, not blind faith. I sat down with Ameve Sharma, founder of Kapiva, to understand how his personal connection to Ayurveda became a mission to bring 5,000 years of Indian medicine into modern healthcare. We unpacked his journey of scaling Kapiva, investing heavily in clinical trials, challenging traditional thinking, and convincing manufacturers to meet standards nobody else was asking for. Ameve explains why Ayurveda must work alongside modern medicine, how Kapiva uses R&D, doctors, technology and AI-powered healthcare journeys, and why building trust matters more than selling another wellness product. We also spoke about taking Indian herbal medicine global, competing with pharmaceutical companies, and his ambition to make Kapiva a respected global healthcare brand built on measurable results. Timestamps 00:00 | Why Kapiva Is Rebuilding Ayurveda 02:17 | What Makes Ayurvedic Products Safe? 02:41 | Why Ayurveda Treats More Than Symptoms 03:36 | How Ayurvedic Medicines Actually Work 05:27 | Can Clinical Trials Prove Ayurveda Works? 07:51 | How Kapiva Personalises Your Treatment 09:51 | Why Big Ayurveda Brands Missed Healthcare 10:47 | How Kapiva Tests Products Like Pharma 13:15 | Why Kapiva Bet Big on Research 15:22 | What Doctors Need to Trust Ayurveda 16:26 | How Kapiva Tests Every Product Batch 17:15 | Are Heavy Metals in Ayurveda Dangerous? 18:04 | How Kapiva Builds Customer Trust 21:49 | What Ayurvedic Customers Really Want 23:43 | Can Ayurveda Work With Modern Medicine? 25:22 | The Hardest Parts of Scaling Kapiva 28:03 | Can Indian Ayurveda Become Global? 30:48 | What India Can Learn From China 33:49 | What Could Unlock Ayurveda’s Growth? 35:04 | Why Prevention Isn’t the Biggest Market Yet 37:18 | Kapiva’s Goal: Become the Herbal Pfizer About Ameve Sharma Ameve Sharma is the founder of Kapiva, an evidence-based Ayurveda brand based in India. He started his entrepreneurial career with a cold-pressed juice company before pivoting to Ayurveda, where he saw an opportunity to apply scientific rigor to one of the world's oldest wellness traditions. Under his leadership, Kapiva has conducted 28 clinical studies, raised over $60M, and grown from a D2C-first startup into an omnichannel brand with 250 field sales staff across Tier 2 and Tier 3 India. Kapiva is an official health partner of the IPL. Ameve on LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/amevesharma Kapiva website: https://kapiva.in/ Rahul Thayyalamkandy Director of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & India Rahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore. Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy / — Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions. _ Follow us to get notified whenever new episodes are shared. _ For more information, please visit: https://www.vertexventures.sg #Kapiva, #Ayurveda, #D2C #IPLsponsor, #FiresideVentures, #FMCG, #foundermistakes, #quickcommerce, #Blinkit, #Zepto, #startupculture

June 11, 202637 min

Almost Bankrupt Twice. Profitable After 13 Years. | Brian Marshal, SIRCLO

I sat down with a founder who almost lost his company twice… and still built one of Indonesia’s biggest e-commerce enablers. Brian Marshal took SIRCLO from a Shopify-style startup to powering major brands across TikTok Shop, marketplaces, live commerce and fulfillment… all while surviving the startup crash, failed fundraising rounds and the tech winter. We spoke about profitability, AI agents, startup governance, IPO readiness, scaling outside Jakarta, and why most Southeast Asian startups got growth completely wrong. IN THIS EPISODE 00:00 | Why SIRCLO Almost Died Twice 01:38 | The Shopify Idea That Failed in Indonesia 02:25 | Why Brands Need More Than Just a Storefront 04:06 | The Brutal Reality of Startup Fundraising 06:30 | How SIRCLO Finally Became Profitable 07:53 | Preparing SIRCLO for a Possible IPO 11:37 | The Governance Mistakes Startups Keep Making 15:24 | Why Good Tech Infrastructure Pays Off 17:10 | How SIRCLO Is Using AI Agents Internally 19:38 | Scaling E-Commerce Without Owning Warehouses 22:05 | How TikTok Changed E-Commerce in Indonesia 23:31 | Why Catalog Commerce Is Dying 24:00 | Building for TikTok, Live Selling & Creators 25:07 | Why Sales and Marketing Are Merging 26:05 | The Future of Live Commerce in Southeast Asia 26:19 | Will Indonesia Become Like China’s E-Commerce Market? 27:23 | Balancing Profitability and Innovation 28:22 | Why Innovation Failed at SIRCLO Earlier 32:30 | Why Southeast Asian Tech IPOs Struggle 35:10 | Is Indonesia Still a Great Startup Market? 36:36 | Brian’s Vision for SIRCLO’s Next Chapter Brian Marshal Brian Marshal is the Founder and CEO of SIRCLO, a leading Southeast Asian e-commerce enabler that helps brands sell online across their own web stores and platforms like TikTok and Shopee. What began as a simple website-builder idea in 2013 has grown under his leadership into an integrated solution powering millions of monthly orders. Over the past decade, Brian has guided the company through organic and inorganic growth, shifting market conditions, and a steady push toward profitability, rooted in a commitment to resilience and integrity. His personal journey bridges Indonesia and Singapore, built on a background in computer science and data analytics alongside a firm belief in technology's power to unlock new opportunities. Beyond SIRCLO, Brian is deeply committed to nurturing Indonesia’s future leaders through his active involvement in the Informatics and AI Olympiad communities, as well as the McKinsey Young Leaders for Indonesia program. Rahul Thayyalamkandy Director of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & India Rahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore. Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy / —- Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions. — Follow us to get notified whenever new episodes are shared. — For more information, please visit: https://www.vertexventures.sg #hardtruthsbyvertexventures #vertexventures #entrepreneurship #startups #venturecapital #vc #podcast #businessleaders

April 23, 202628 min

Why Every Future Fintech in India Will Be Built on UPI | Anup Agrawal, Kiwi

He had one formula for building trust in fintech: promises kept divided by promises made. Anup Agrawal spent years at LazyPay watching how India actually pays — and what he saw was striking. 85% of consumer transactions ran on UPI. Credit cards existed, but they weren't built for the way India's new generation spends. So he built Kiwi: a credit card designed as a delightful UPI experience, with credit rails underneath and instant cashback on top. In this conversation with Rahul, Anup unpacks the product decisions behind Kiwi — including a data point that surprises most fintech insiders (80% of Kiwi spends are offline, the exact opposite of the industry norm), a product failure that reshaped their rewards design (users who made their first transaction at a fuel station churned when they got no rewards), and two mental models he uses to make every product decision: the Trust Formula and the Ginger Product rule. He also makes a sharp case for why retention has to come before growth — every time. Timestamps 00:00 | From LazyPay Data to the UPI Credit Idea 03:43 | What Kiwi Actually Is — "A Delightful UPI Experience" 05:52 | Why Gen-Z UPI Users Need Credit (The Utility Ladder) 06:43 | Virtual vs Physical Cards — and the Offline Stat That Flips the Industry 09:34 | Who Kiwi Is For — Credit-Invisible Affluents, Not Thin-File Poor 10:59 | Retention First: Why Kiwi Doesn't Push Growth Until It's Ready 12:25 | The Fintech-Bank Division of Labour 14:35 | The Trust Formula: Promises Kept ÷ Promises Made 17:35 | When Product Fails: The Fuel Attrition Story 19:31 | Cashback vs Points — Why Kiwi Bets Against Breakage 20:59 | Competing With Cred and PhonePe: Focus Over Distribution 23:07 | The Ginger Product Rule + Kiwi's Three Dimensions 25:53 | The 2035 Vision — Imagine the Taj Mahal Before It's Built About Anup Agrawal Anup Agrawal is the founder of Kiwi, a fintech company building credit card products designed for India's UPI-native generation. Before Kiwi, he led product and growth at LazyPay, where consumer behaviour data — specifically the 85% UPI dominance in Indian transactions — sparked the founding insight. Kiwi targets "credit-invisible affluents": users with income but limited formal credit history, who are well-served by UPI but underserved by traditional credit products. Anup on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anup-agrawal-a2915b11 Kiwi website: https://gokiwi.in/ Rahul Thayyalamkandy Director of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & India Rahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore. Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy / —- Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions. — Follow us to get notified whenever new episodes are shared. — For more information, please visit: ⁠https://www.vertexventures.sg⁠ #Kiwifintech, #UPI, UPIcreditcard, #fintech, #LazyPay, #creditcardIndia, #RBI, #cashback, #Cred, #PhonePe, #founder

March 27, 202646 min

How the Best VCs Source, Back, Support, and Exit | Kee Lock Chua, Vertex Ventures SEA & India

How do VCs pick that one billion-dollar startup… before the world sees it? I sat down with Kee Lock, a veteran venture capitalist who’s spent decades backing founders, navigating failures, and building companies from zero to exit. We unpack his real playbook—from sourcing deals and spotting great founders to surviving the brutal 0→1 and 10→100M growth journey in venture capital. He shares how pattern recognition is built, why most investors get market size wrong, and the subtle red flags that instantly kill a startup pitch. If you’re curious about startup investing, venture capital strategy, fundraising, and what actually makes a founder worth betting on—this one’s packed with insights you won’t hear elsewhere. IN THIS EPISODE 00:30 | How VCs find winning startups (and how you get noticed) 01:30 | The exact checklist before investing in any startup 02:05 | 4 ways top VCs discover breakout founders 06:50 | Early mistakes that cost investors millions 07:58 | How VCs build “gut instinct” for great startups 08:45 | The 3 filters every VC uses before investing 09:52 | Why judging founders is harder than you think 15:20 | Red flags that instantly kill a startup pitch 16:54 | How to judge if your market is actually big 22:47 | How VCs actually help startups grow (beyond money) 33:32 | When and how VCs decide to exit 42:47 | Why VC training is like flying a fighter jet Kee Lock CHUA Mr Chua Kee Lock is the Group President / CEO of Vertex Holdings (“VH”), a Singapore-headquartered venture capital investment holding company. VH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek. Vertex Group is a global venture capital network comprising 5 early-stage technology-focused funds (Vertex Ventures China, Vertex Ventures Israel, Vertex Ventures US, Vertex Ventures SEA & India, Vertex Ventures Japan), an early-stage healthcare-focused fund (Vertex Ventures HC) and a growth-stage fund (Vertex Growth). Each of these funds is managed by independent and separate General Partnerships and investment teams, with VH providing anchor funding alongside significant 3rd party capital commitments. Vertex Group manages USD 6.8B in assets. Mr Chua is currently Managing Partner of Vertex Ventures SEA & India, as well as Chairman of Vertex Growth Fund. Rahul Thayyalamkandy Director of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & India Rahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore. Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy / —- Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions. — Follow us to get notified whenever new episodes are shared. — For more information, please visit: https://www.vertexventures.sg #hardtruthsbyvertexventures #vertexventures #entrepreneurship #startups #venturecapital #vc #podcast #businessleaders

February 6, 202646 min

Why India’s Home Appliance Market Will Look Very Different in 5 Years

Why would someone quit chasing “big startup ideas” to redesign something as ordinary as a ceiling fan? In this episode, I sit down with Gazal, co-founder of Nuuk, to trace her journey from a personal problem at home to building a design-led consumer electronics startup in India. We talk about how COVID changed the way Indians live indoors, why Indian consumers are shifting from cheap to meaningful products, and how Nuuk builds home appliances designed specifically for Indian homes. Gazal shares the thinking behind product-first brands, women-led design, and what it really takes to scale a modern Indian consumer brand without cutting corners. If you care about startup journeys, consumer brands in India, or product design that actually solves real problems, this episode will pull you in. If you want it more playful, more founder-centric, or even punchier for YouTube, say the word and I’ll tune it! IN THIS EPISODE (00:00) Why Nuuk Isn’t “Just Another Appliance Brand” (01:28) The Personal Problem That Started Nuuk (04:40) How Indian Consumers Are Changing (And Why It Matters to You) (06:21) Who’s Actually Buying Nuuk — The Answer Will Surprise You (12:11) How Nuuk Turns Daily Frustrations into Product Ideas (16:09) Designing Appliances That Actually Work in Indian Homes (23:28) The Hidden Health Risk Lurking in Indian Mattresses (29:28) Why Building in India Is Harder Than It Looks (30:46) What “Safe Kitchens” Really Mean (And Why You Should Care) (34:49) How Nuuk Builds Trust After the Sale (41:54) Nuuk’s 10-Year Vision — And What’s Coming Next Gazal Kalra | Co-Founder | Nuuk Gazal Kalra is the Co-Founder of Nuuk, a new-age D2C brand for home appliances, shaping the Indian home with purposeful innovation and design-first thinking. At Nuuk, she brings a product-led approach rooted in human-centered design and operational excellence with a vision to create high-performance appliances that reflect modern lifestyles. Gazal is deeply committed to building consumer brands that solve real-world problems alongside raising the bar for thoughtful design, long-term utility, and a future-ready approach to sustainability. Before Nuuk, Gazal co-founded Rivigo, the logistics-tech unicorn that disrupted India’s long-haul trucking sector by introducing relay trucking and tech-enabled efficiency at scale - cementing her reputation as a bold problem-solver with an eye for scalable impact. Her career also spans influential roles at McKinsey & Company and the World Bank in Washington DC, giving her a unique cross-sectoral perspective on systems, policy, and innovation. Rahul Thayyalamkandy Director of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & India Rahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore. Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy / —- Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions. — Follow us to get notified whenever new episodes are shared. — For more information, please visit: https://www.vertexventures.sg

December 9, 202543 min

How Solar + Credit Is Changing Rural India Forever | Metafin CEO Sandeep Chopra

What if the biggest energy revolution in India isn’t happening in cities… but inside tiny flour mills in forgotten villages? In this conversation, I sit down with Sandeep Chopra, co-founder & CEO of Metafin, to unpack how solar financing for rural MSMEs is reshaping livelihoods, powering micro-enterprises, and quietly shifting India’s clean-energy future. We dive into why solar energy in India is exploding across the Global South, how decentralised power beats unreliable grids, and what it takes to underwrite credit for first-time borrowers in remote villages. From surviving COVID to unlocking financial inclusion, this episode will change the way you think about rural India, clean energy, and solar financing for MSMEs. Don’t miss the story behind one of India’s fastest-scaling impact-driven energy models! IN THIS EPISODE (00:00) Why the next big energy boom won’t start in cities (04:41) The moment a finance guy quit London to chase purpose (09:31) How one unexpected detour unlocked a billion-dollar rural opportunity (15:04) The strange secret behind predicting who will actually repay (18:59) The grid problem no one talks about… and the hack rural India figured out (20:17) How one village becomes a “network effect” goldmine (21:00) What the government quietly gets right (and wrong) about solar adoption (23:25) The hidden barriers that stop rural India from scaling - and how to break them (28:03) The one product rural MSMEs desperately need but don’t get (29:34) A myth about rural India that shocked me completely (32:11) The future of selling power like UPI payments - hype or real? (34:15) The uncomfortable truth about grid stability nobody wants to admit (38:08) The impact numbers that even shocked us (40:22) A single upgrade that transformed one family’s entire future Sandeep Chopra | CEO | Metafin A senior executive with extensive experience in renewable industry (solar), growing start-up organizations, making them sustainable and delivering change. Specialties: Strategy, Renewables, Finance, Delivering Change to make organizations sustainable, managing large operations, Negotiation Skills, Strategy Rahul Thayyalamkandy Director of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & India Rahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore. Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy / —- Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions. — Follow us to get notified whenever new episodes are shared. — For more information, please visit: https://www.vertexventures.sg

September 18, 202538 min

Why Consumer Is India VC’s Forever Bet | Ben Mathias, Managing Partner at VVSEAI

What’s it like to bet big on beauty brands, snacks, and even quick commerce in India? In this episode, I sit down with Ben Mathias, Managing Partner at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, to unpack his journey of spotting consumer opportunities where others only saw risk. Ben shares how he went from backing early players like FirstCry to today’s digital-first names such as Pilgrim, Kapiva and Licious. We talk about why mass premium products matter, how India’s quick commerce boom is reshaping shopping, and what makes a startup truly venture-backable. If you’re curious about venture capital in India, consumer brands growth, or how VCs really make money, this conversation is packed with insights straight from someone who’s been in the trenches. IN THIS EPISODE (00:00) Why VCs secretly love your shopping habits (02:56) The sneaky rise of brands your parents never knew (05:01) 10-minute deliveries: magic or madness? (05:41) Is instant everything only for city slickers? (07:37) Could kirana shops beat Amazon at its own game? (11:11) From diapers to D2C: the wild evolution of buying (13:24) How to build a million-dollar brand on a shoestring (15:49) Premium dreams, middle-class wallets: where’s the sweet spot? (19:58) What makes investors say take my money? (23:45) Food, fitness, furniture: the next gold rush (25:49) Startup lessons money can’t buy (29:12) Will Indians really pay for podcasts and stories? (32:30) The temptation (and trap) of going global too soon (34:19) Why Gen Z is spending on experiences, not stuff (36:20) The big question: can consumer startups actually make money? Ben Mathias Ben Mathias is a Managing Partner at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India and has overall responsibility for the firm’s investments in India and Japan. Since joining Vertex in 2015, he has made several investments in the areas of Consumer Internet, Fintech, Enterprise Technology, Semiconductor & Digital Health. Ben has sat on multiple boards including Licious, FirstCry, XPressBees, Kapiva, IVF Access, Attentive AI, BigEndian Semiconductor, CloudCherry and Synup. Ben received his Master of Science in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College and his Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Hear him share his career and more on this podcast . Rahul Thayyalamkandy Director of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & India Rahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore. Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy / —- Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know. If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions. — Follow us to get notified whenever new episodes are shared. — For more information, please visit: https://www.vertexventures.sg