Founder Thesis

India is the second-largest internet market in the world with more than 70 million small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). But only a fraction of them is utilizing the advantages of digitization. The Founder Thesis podcast presents to you a two-part series, where Akshay Datt speaks with Rahul Raj, Founder and CEO of FloBiz. Rahul started his entrepreneurial journey in 2017, a year after graduati...

With one of the world's largest ageing populations, the eldercare market in India is estimated to be worth $5 billion. But still, a substantial chunk of this sector remains disintegrated and unorganised.   In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt talks with Vaibhav Tewari, Co-founder and CEO of Portea Medical. He is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta with more than two decades of experienc...

A few years ago, businesses were struggling to accept card payments, and this demanded a solution that could enable the smooth running of businesses across the country.   In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Akash Sinha, Co-founder and CEO, Cashfree Payments, a Bengaluru-based FinTech start-up which facilitates businesses in India to collect payments online and make...

The Indian auto industry is going through a gradual but essential change which will continue for the next 10 to 15 years. If the trends are to be believed, the Indian EV industry is estimated to reach USD17 billion in the next five years. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Vikash Mishra, Founder and CEO, MoEVing, an electric mobility-focused tech platform working towards ac...

Digital Lending is having a substantial growth in India, with several start-ups availing loans to small and micro-enterprises that often get denied by banks and NBFCs. In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Ramaswamy Iyer, Founder and CEO, Vayana Network – an electronic network that provides easy, digital access to low-cost financing to every enterprise, from large corporations...

BNPL is a wide-open market with rooted players and start-ups securing the pole position. But a large chunk of retailers is still not covered by any of them. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt talks with Vikas Garg, Co-founder, Paytail. He is an alumnus of Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, New Delhi, and had a decade long experience in the BFSI sector before stepping into ent...

‘Milk is the largest crop on this planet and there is a strong need for technological interventions.’ Convinced by this, a group of ex-Wipro employees perceived digitizing the Agri-Dairy supply chain as an opportunity. In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Ranjith Mukundan, Co-founder and CEO, Stellapps Technologies Private Limited - an IIT-Madras incubated start-up which prov...

The country’s transportation sector is on the verge of a phenomenal change. Courtesy of EV-tech! In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Akash Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, Zypp Electric, India’s leading B2B Delivery and shared mobility app. After an extensive experience in the corporate sector, Akash started his entrepreneurial journey in 2017 with Mobycy, an electric rental mobil...

From being embroiled in controversies to becoming one of the leading companies in the real estate sector, this is the story of a remarkable turnaround! In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Dhruv Agarwala, CEO, REA India Pte. Ltd., a company that has Housing.com, Proptiger.com and Makaan.com under its umbrella. An alumnus of Harvard University, Dhruv started his entrepreneuria...

Recruiting talent has always been a tough nut to crack. And the pandemic proved to be one such trigger that has spiked unemployment rates globally. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Raj Das, Co-founder and CEO, Hirect India, the country’s first chat-based hiring app. He is an alumnus of IIT Bombay and has worked as a product manager before starting his entrepreneurial jour...

In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Sandeep Jethwani, Co-founder, Dezerv.in. He is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore and has an extensive experience in the wealth management domain. Before starting his entrepreneurial journey, Sandeep worked with IIFL Wealth for more than a decade. In a bid to democratize access to investment expertise, he started Dezerv.in in 2021. This wealth te...

In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Rajiv Vij, a person who became the Czar of rented cars in India. Rajiv is currently the Chairman and Managing Director of Carzonrent. An alumnus of FMS Delhi, Rajiv started his career at Hindustan Motors which gave him exposure to the taxi business at that time and at ITC’s International Travel House allowed him to interact with the best a...

You all must have heard – It is not the destination but the journey that matters. This is the same with entrepreneurship. In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Naman Sarawagi, Co-founder, Refrens.com, a Bengaluru-based venture that offers free invoicing, payments and expense management system. Naman started his journey as a product manager at Freecharge and then went on to wor...

"We realized that if we’re going to do this, we have to be in it for the long run… we’re here to build a legacy." - Arman Sood This quote encapsulates the commitment and long-term vision that drove Arman Sood to build Sleepy Owl Coffee from a dorm-room experiment into a leading Indian coffee brand. It highlights that true success isn't about quick wins, but about building something sustainable and...

Ever heard of the Japanese proverb, “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” That is exactly the premise of the story of our guest on this episode of the Founder Thesis podcast. In this episode, Akshay Datt speaks with Sumit Suneja, CEO, Merlin Brands, a company that houses Rabitat (a parenting brand) and Headway (stainless steel drinkware brand) under its roof. Sumit is a serial entrepreneur who embar...

Any technology aims to make it easier for its users and bring the best out of them. But in the case of sales professionals, it’s the other way round. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt talks with Abhijeet Vijayvergiya, Co-founder and CEO, Nektar.ai. He is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and a seasoned SaaS leader with more than a decade of experience in this field. It is well-known that or...

“At the core of large-scale transformations lies a single innovation. We believe that embedded finance is one such innovation.” – Aditya Kumar. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Aditya Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, Niro, a second-time founder, who is on a mission to transform consumer internet platforms into fintech. Before Niro, Aditya headed Qbera, a digital full-stack...

One of the biggest impediments of the Fintech industry has been the way consumer loans are handled by large institutions. In the process of getting a consumer loan approved, an application flows from one lender to another and faces rejections. This hugely affects the credit score, and the consumer might end up with sub-par offers. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Tushar S...

How did Gireendra Kasmalkar build one of India’s earliest independent testing companies, exit to a global leader, and then reinvent himself as a B2B SaaS-focused VC from Pune? In this episode of the Founder Thesis Podcast, we uncover the playbook behind his 30-year entrepreneurial journey. Gireendra Kasmalkar is the Founder of Ideas to Impacts and Managing Partner at Pentathlon Ventures. His story...

Unified Payments Interface or UPI enables instant and hassle-free fund transfer between accounts and has been one of the biggest disruptors of the Indian FinTech industry. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Mandar Agashe, Founder and Vice-chairman, Sarvatra Technologies, a Pune-based company, which through its platform, has become the true enabler of India’s digital payment...

MBA is the go-to postgraduate degree in India. But there are two major issues students face. On one hand, where a minor chunk gets selected to the top institutes, the irrelevant curriculum fails to prepare students for what lies ahead in corporate life. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Varun Satia, Founder and CEO of Kraftshala, India's largest online learning platform fo...

In the last five years, digital payments have picked up pace in India and our economy is witnessing a shift towards credit products. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Ramanathan RV, Co-founder, Hyperface, a Bengaluru-based banking-as-a-service start-up that is helping companies in launching their credit cards. Ram is a serial entrepreneur and launched his first venture Jus...

India has a pretty strange relationship with cryptocurrency. Amidst bans, pandemics and whatnot, crypto companies continue to be bullish on the Indian market. In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Arjun Vijay and Vikram Subburaj, Founders, Giottus, the country’s leading crypto assets trading platform. Arjun and Vikram are alumni of IIM Calcutta and have worked in Vodafone and...

The international logistics industry is a critical enabler of global trade and commerce. In India, it is around 13% of GDP. However, in this era of technology and digitization, most of the activities of this industry are handled in traditional ways, which are not only time consuming but also prone to errors. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Sanjay Bhatia, Co-founder and C...

Financial inclusivity is the only way to improve economic growth and reduce poverty. While with the evolution of FinTech and newer technologies, things have certainly improved, still a lot needs to be done at the rural level. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Ajeet Kumar Singh, Managing Director and CEO, Save Solutions Pvt Ltd. Founded in 2009, this Bihar-based venture is...