Chirag Gupta is the Managing Partner at 8X Ventures, a deeptech fund investing in India. Prior to 8X, he has held leadership positions at 500 Global, Careem (MENA's first unicorn acquired by Uber at $3.1bn), McKinsey, PwC/Strategy& and Korn Ferry. During these experiences, he helped 10+ corporations build their unique startup “explore” strategy, helped multiple startups grow to unicorn status, and partnered with governments of 8+ countries to grow their startup ecosystem.
Chirag holds an MBA from University of Chicago: Booth and Nanyang Business School, and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.
Episode notes:
1. How does Chirag define deep tech (3:50)
2. Market being ready vs market being big (17:46)
3. Competitive nature of the deeptech landscape in India (26:44)
4. Why are Indian deep tech startups valued lower than their European and US counterparts? (33:22)
5. Is revenue still the most effective metric for evaluating deeptech startups? (37:50)
6. Will foreign investors price Indian investors out of the early and growth stages of deep technology, as has happened in other sectors? (42:25)
7. The benefits of down-rounds (46:00)
8. Deeptech sectors Chirag is bullish on (51:38)
9. Advice to deeptech founders in India (57:51)
. . .
Social links:
8X Ventures on Twitter: https://twitter.com/8xVentures
Chirag Gupta on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommittedChirag
Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc
Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash
Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc
Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash
