The ease of software development brought by artificial intelligence (AI) has raised the bar for startup founders seeking venture capital funding, requiring them to continuously upgrade their skills across multiple domains, Ashish Kumar, co-founder and general partner at The Fundamentum Partnership, said on Thursday.
Speaking at the Huddle Global 2024 here, Kumar highlighted how technological advancements have transformed expectations for startup founders. “Because of software development becoming significantly easier now compared to how it was five years ago, especially with AI, if you are only differentiating the product and go-to-market, it is going to be problematic,” he said during a panel discussion on private equity and credit for India’s emerging technology sector.
The rise of the internet has been a critical enabler of this transformation, he said. “Thanks to internet, everything is possible now.”
Speaking at the panel discussion, Naveen Unni, managing partner at TVS Capital, underscored the importance of self-awareness in founders. “If the team has an awareness of what they know, it’s fine, but the awareness of what they need to know going forward is the thing we look for most importantly,” he added.
Navas Ebin Muhammed, head of Asia Pacific and MD at Mars Growth Capital, said India remains a silver lining in the global startup ecosystem, with significant opportunities for listings and consolidations in the coming years. He also highlighted venture debt’s role in supporting scaling companies that require working capital or funds for acquisitions without diluting equity. “Debt is not for building products; it’s for companies scaling without taking on equity risk,” he added.
Muhammed noted that many Indian startups are poised to acquire and consolidate traditional businesses, as they position themselves for potential listings. “Over the next decade, we could see 10 listings a year—amounting to 100 new companies going public. This requires debt to fuel acquisitions and prepare companies for such growth,” he said.
The writer was in Thiruvananthapuram on the invitation of the Kerala government.