Pranav Pai (3one4 Capital) on Backing Licious, Darwinbox & India's Next Decade of Unicorns

Episode notes

Pranav Pai, Founding Partner and CIO of 3one4 Capital, has spent a decade betting on Indian founders at the earliest possible stage, often when they are just two people on a laptop. From backing Licious when 50 investors said no, to spotting Darwinbox before enterprise HR software was considered a credible category in India, Pranav has built a track record that speaks for itself, including a 6x Fund I return, a single-digit loss ratio in a market where 30 to 45 percent of VC capital typically goes to zero, and five unicorns across a $570M portfolio. In a candid, wide-ranging conversation with host Akshay Datt, Pranav shares why he deliberately caps fund size, how he fires people for persistent poor judgment, and why AI can now write your investment thesis but can never replace genuine market instinct. He also delivers one of the sharpest takes on India's foundational AI debate, the myth of the vegetarian Indian consumer, and what it actually takes to build a performance culture inside a VC firm.

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