Peak XV’s Shailendra Singh
Some of the most well-known startups in the world include Cred, Cars24, Grofers, Razorpay, Pine Labs, Truecaller, Yubi, Zomato, Byju’s, Groww, OneCard, and Oyo. They also share the trait of having been advised by Shailendra Singh, who is currently managing partner at Peak XV Partners.
Singh has come to run one of the most significant venture capital organizations in this region of the world thanks to his ability to read the tea leaves for the future success of an industry or a young company. Furthermore, he predicts: “There will be no non-AI applications. All apps will try to use some form of AI or will try to be a more intelligent version of themselves,” he said, predicting the path of developing solutions, using AI as the underlier.
The opportunities coming up in future discussed by Shailendra Singh
Singh discussed his experience and where he believes the next great opportunities for entrepreneurs will arise while speaking at a virtual session.
The company, where XV represents 15, is finding its feet after the rebranding from Sequoia India and Southeast Asia. “At some point, it started to become clear that the needs of the business in each region were different. This is a global decision to rebrand. I think one thing that changed over the last few years is about five, six years ago, around 10% of our business was focused on cross-border investing,” said Singh in conversation with media.
The approach is clear, with what he referred to as the “twin engines of innovation as well as products and services built in India”. One ready example of rapid innovation is fintech, Singh said, adding that Peak XV sees significant growth with products and services built in India.
How to approach the question of viability as an investor
“About five or six years ago, this used to be 10% of what we invested in. Over the last two years that became 50% of what we invested in,” he said. The primary driver behind the rebranding is hidden behind these figures. Their strategy frequently caused them to clash with regional allies in the US. The ownership arrangements of these corporations are generally multi-regional, so even if teams from there led an investment in a startup, the Indian business would not be able to make comparable investments in this region.
Singh also spoke on how best to approach the question of viability as an investor. “I have started asking a new question — is this the right decade to own this company? Because many companies are hitting their stride just after the five-six year mark,” he said, explaining that he believes in the decadal growth and the compounding that it brings.
