Founder Thesis

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 organizing information about prospects is a challenging task for sales teams across the globe. These professionals painstakingly work towards maintaining CRM databases which in turn hampers their productivity. Tending to this gap, Abhijeet founded Nektar.ai in 2020, with Aravind RS. Nektar.ai is a first-of-its-kind AI-driven sales productivity solution that helps sales teams by reducing the amount of time they spend on CRM database management and providing analytics that can increase their revenue.

Tune in to this episode to hear Abhijeet speak about how Nektar.ai is taking sales into the era of intelligent systems and empowering them to deliver superior outcomes.

What you must not miss!

• How does Nektar.ai manage information across channels?
• Sales strategies for B2B companies
• Fundraise journey

“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 lending platform that was acquired by InCred in 2020. In his second innings as an entrepreneur, he is leading Niro, which aims to leverage the power of embedded finance and unlock the untapped potential for every customer-facing digital platform to become a consumer lending fintech.

Tune in to this episode to hear Aditya speak about how Niro is disrupting the consumer lending ecosystem by providing hassle-free embedded credit products.

What you must not miss!

• The learnings from collaborating with various lending partners
• The acquisition story of Qbera
• The concept of embedded finance

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 Srivastava, Co-founder and CEO, Skeps. He is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and has extensive experience in the Banking and Financial Services sector.

Founded in 2018, Skeps aims to solve the problem of credit accessibility by using blockchain technology. It offers a cloud-based modular platform for both merchants and lenders to identify credit solutions with the highest chance of a conversion.

Tune in to this episode to hear Tushar speak about how Skeps is disrupting the traditional lending industry with new-age technologies.

What you must not miss!

• Difference between API and blockchain integration
• How to integrate lenders on the blockchain?
• Fundraising journey
• Merging BNPL with blockchain

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 spans from starting VeriSoft, India’s pioneering testing company later acquired by SQS, to creating Ideas to Impacts, a disruptive IT services firm that builds tech delivery centers in tier-2 and tier-3 towns under the Smart Town model. He also co-founded Pentathlon Ventures, one of Pune’s first VC funds, dedicated to early-stage B2B SaaS startups. In this candid conversation with host Akshay Datt, Gireendra shares insights on building for adjacency, why B2B SaaS is India’s hidden strength, and how distributed work from hometowns will shape the future of Indian IT.

Key highlights:

• How Gireendra Kasmalkar built and exited VeriSoft to SQS
• The founding story of Ideas to Impacts and the Smart Town model
• Lessons from creating a Pune-based VC fund Pentathlon Ventures
• Why B2B SaaS is India’s strongest global play
• COVID’s role in accelerating the Work From Hometown model
• Founder insights on building, scaling, and investing with adjacency

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00:00 - Gireendra Kasmalkar’s entrepreneurial beginnings
04:30 - Building VeriSoft into India’s testing leader
10:20 - Exit to SQS and lessons from acquisition
16:05 - The origin of Ideas to Impacts Smart Town model
22:40 - Work From Hometown and COVID’s impact
30:15 - Scaling tier-2 and tier-3 IT delivery centers
38:50 - Launching Pentathlon Ventures from Pune
46:30 - Why B2B SaaS is India’s next big wave
54:10 - How Pentathlon screens and funds early startups
01:01:40 - Macro trends shaping Indian VC and SaaS

#GireendraKasmalkar #IdeasToImpacts #PentathlonVentures #FounderThesis #SmartTownModel #WorkFromHometown #B2BSaaSIndia #PuneStartupEcosystem #IndianVC #IndianSaaS #EarlyStageVCIndia #ITservicesIndia #Tier2India #RemoteWorkIndia #IndianFounders #B2BstartupsIndia #StartupFundingIndia #FutureOfIndianIT #DistributedWorkModel #SaaSgrowthIndia

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 payments.

Mandar started Sarvatra back in 2000 to bring the best banking services to the underbanked people in semi-urban and rural cities by providing tech support to the cooperative banks. And thanks to the digital boom and quick smartphone adoption, Sarvatra launched ‘Sarvatra EFT Switch’, a PaaS (platform-as-a-service) solution which enables banks to allow UPI and IMPS transactions.

Tune in to this episode to hear Mandar speak about how Sarvatra is promoting financial inclusion for the country’s underbanked population through its unique solutions.

What you must not miss!

• The concept of PaaS (platform-as-a-service)
• The challenges in setting up tech support for coop banks.
• The impact of demonetization of the business

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 for marketing and sales.

Varun is an alumnus of FMS, Delhi and has worked at Nestle before starting his entrepreneurial journey. He started Kraftshala as a project in 2016 to help students understand what real-world sales and marketing look like. And today Kraftshala has collaborated with numerous sales and marketing professionals and students from top B-Schools in the country and has helped them to build careers in this field.

Tune in to this episode to hear Varun speak about how Kraftshala is challenging the traditional higher education ecosystem in India.

What you must not miss!

• Varun’s experience of working as a brand manager
• The Kraftshala model of learning
• The road for the future

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 Juspay in 2012. Many wouldn’t know that he was the mind behind BHIM UPI app.

While serving as an advisor for various neobanks, Ram knew that it takes around 2-3 years for banks to launch credit-related products. To bridge this gap, he founded Hyperface in 2021. It is a Credit Card-as-a-Service platform that aims to help businesses integrate financial products into their mobile apps.

Tune in to this episode to hear Ram speak about how Hyperface is reinventing, simplifying and improving access to credit cards in the country.

What you must not miss!

• Experience in developing BHIM UPI app
• Why BNPL is a hot property?
• The thesis behind Hyperface
• Fundraising journey

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 Amazon, respectively, before starting off with this venture.

Working for customer-centric companies made Arjun and Vikram realise that the true success of the crypto industry depends on mass adoption for which an ecosystem needs to be built on the pillars of customer support, security, and trust. Based on these three tenets, they founded Giottus in 2017, with the aim of making cryptocurrency trading simple and trustworthy.

Tune in to this episode where Arjun and Vikram explain everything about cryptocurrencies and how Giottus is driving digital currency adoption in India.

What you must not miss!

• Customer service is paramount
• How do various crypto exchanges work?
• Ways in which customers are allowed to trade on Giottus

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 CEO, Freightwalla, a full-stack digital platform where businesses can plan, book and manage their international freight shipments online.

Sanjay has previously worked with PWC as a strategy consultant. Here, he closely observed the issues faced by the logistics industry. While working for Solera Partners and Everstone Capital, he came across various technologies that could potentially solve numerous problems businesses face in this industry. He started Freightwalla in 2016 with a mission to bring transparency and simplicity to the import-export process.

Tune in to this episode to hear Sanjay speak about how Freightwalla, with its unique digital solutions, is transforming international maritime logistics.

What you must not miss!

• Digitising the entire logistics process
• How to work towards achieving the best customer service?
• The roadmap to the future

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 making strides in the Indian financial sector by building a network of business correspondents. Leveraging on this network, Save Solutions focuses on providing access to financial products and services through kiosk banking and customer service points to rural and semi-urban unbanked customers.

Tune in to this episode to hear Ajeet speak about how Save Solutions is delivering the best financial services by providing last-mile banking services to rural and unbanked communities.

What you must not miss!

• Experience in setting up CSPs in Naxal areas
• Collaboration with State Bank of India to scale lending ops
• Expanding to PAN India presence
• Vision 2025