The VCpreneur · 2022-12-18 · 43 min
In this episode, Vishesh Rajaram , Founder & Managing Partner @ Speciale Invest , joins our host Digjay , to talk about Speciale Invest’s journey with fund I, added advantages of a larger fund II, whether climate tech is at its inflection point today, challenges faced by founders building in this space, Vishesh’s approach to building a thesis in frontier-tech, his portfolio construction strategy at Speciale Invest, overcoming valleys of death as a deep tech startup, and the promise of the Indian frontier-tech story. Speciale Invest is an early-stage investment firm that invests in deeptech startups - both hardware & software - across domains like Space tech, Robotics, micro-mobility, and clean energy transportation. The firm which recently launched a larger Fund II, has invested in ~25 startups so far. Some of its marquee portfolio startups include the likes of Agnikul, Utlraviolett, Cynlr, Rocketlane, Uravu Labs, Eka Care and Bluecopa among others. Vishesh started his venture capital journey with Venture East back in 2007. After spending almost a decade at Venture East, Vishesh founded Speciale Invest in 2016.
EP#69 Arpit Maheshwari - Investment philosophy at Stellaris, balancing mindshare when investing in different sectors and managing relationships with startups that are unable to achieve venture scale62 / 100
EP#68 Vishesh Khurana - Building Shiprocket to enable e-commerce in India, the scale up journey and approach to inorganic growth
EP#67 Anjali Bansal - Investing in climate and sustainability, the importance of having a strong board and building longevity as an investor
EP#65 Aditya Kulkarni - Building Stoa: India’s alternative to a traditional MBA, leveraging early-stage investors and scaling a profitable edtech business
EP#64 Somesh Dash - Growth investing at IVP, earning the trust of marquee founders and the value of mentorship in venture