Latest news with #growX
Entrepreneur
6 days ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
What Will be VCs' Next Bet on Tech?
"I believe India is at the start of its industrial decade, where hardtech and IP-led innovation will define global competitiveness," says Ashish Taneja, Founder & CEO, growX Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. India has officially become the fourth-largest economy in the world, crossing the USD 4 trillion mark. It has expanded by 6.5 per cent in FY25, driven by a 7.4 per cent surge in the fourth quarter (January–March) and a revised 6.4 per cent growth in the third quarter (October–December). "We are the fourth largest economy as I speak. We are a USD 4 trillion economy as I speak," BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO of Niti Aayog announced following the 10th Governing Council meeting of Niti Aayog. "If we stick to what is being planned and what is being thought through, in 2.5–3 years, we will be the third largest economy," he further added. While macroeconomic indicators validate India's rise, it's the startup ecosystem that acts as the innovation engine. In Q1 2025 alone, Indian startups raised USD 3.1 billion across 232 deals, a 41 per cent jump from the same period last year. This signals not just recovery but renewed investor confidence, particularly in transformative, high-impact technologies. But the nature of what excites investors is rapidly evolving. "We moved away from consumer blitzscale long ago," says Ashish Taneja, Founder & CEO at growX Ventures. "What excites us is deeptech with real-world defensibility—companies building satellites, chips, battlefield AI, and intelligent robotics. These aren't just startups, they're tomorrow's institutions." The rise of india's industrial decade India is now entering what many are calling its "industrial decade." Unlike the startup surge of the past that focused on rapid user growth and digital consumer platforms, the next wave will be defined by heavy engineering, core IP development, and national-scale tech missions. "I believe India is at the start of its industrial decade, where hardtech and IP-led innovation will define global competitiveness," Taneja notes. "The breakout sectors in the next 3–5 years will be space-tech, defence platforms, semiconductors, AI-driven automation, and sustainable materials. And AI won't be a vertical anymore, it'll be the invisible OS powering them all." Additionally, India's maturing capital environment is now more supportive of patient capital, investments with longer gestation periods, often needed for deep tech and hard science innovations. Taneja reinforces this view, "I believe India's next global giants won't be built in garages. They'll be built in labs, fabs, and test ranges by founders chasing frontiers, not just funding rounds."
Mint
19-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
GrowX reaps a bonanza from space-tech firm Pixxel
MUMBAI : GrowX Ventures Fund, an early-stage B2B-focused venture capital firm, partially exited its stake in space-tech startup Pixxel, delivering a 17x return, a top executive said. Existing investors, including Athera Venture Partners and Sparta, bought growX's stake in a secondary transaction last month, the executive added. 'We have part exited post the series B round, and most of the shares were bought by Athera and Sparta alongside an undisclosed third investor. We continue to hold more than 75% of our stake in Pixxel as we believe that the company will grow rapidly over the next few years," said Sheetal Bahl, partner at growX Ventures Fund and Merak Ventures. Also Read: Groww plans confidential IPO filing within two weeks The transaction has generated a 17x multiple on invested capital (MOIC) and a 68% internal rate of return (IRR) over 5 years. With this exit, growX will return about 15% of the fund to the limited partners. The venture capital firm has invested about ₹11 crore across multiple tranches in Pixxel since 2019. Strategic positioning This also marks the first liquidity event for growX Fund I, a $25-million ( ₹162 crore in 2018) early-stage fund, which has backed 17 B2B technology startups across sectors like deeptech, fintech, SaaS, and healthtech. Its portfolio includes companies such as Bellatrix Aerospace, Progcap, Zuddl, CynLr, Lightspeed Photonics, and 4baseCare. This development comes a few months after Pixxel raised about $24 million in an extended series B funding round in December from new investors such as M&G Catalyst and Glade Brook Capital Partners. Some of their other investors include Google, Radical Ventures, Lightspeed, and others. Bahl explained that the part exit was made to strike a balance between the company's future growth opportunities and its ability to demonstrate some exit capability. 'Over the course of this year, we anticipate a few more exits," he added. Also Read: Peak XV Partners nets over ₹1,200 crore after exiting stake in Porter, clocking 11-fold return Bahl's partner Manu Rikhye added that the fund has begun to scout for exit opportunities to show some liquidity and looks to take part exits in a few of its other assets as well. 'Pixxel's part exit was primarily in line with this strategy. This is a post-series B, pre-series C kind of opportunity that came to us with an attractive price." Investor expectations Broadly, several investors have taken to exits more proactively in the last 12-18 months as limited partners, who are investors in venture capital and private equity funds, seek some liquidity. 'While we believe in the long-term potential of Pixxel, we also wanted to demonstrate to our investors that these are real multiples," Rikhye said. Bahl added that many investors believe that these assets are only on paper as they have not seen the returns in real terms. 'One of the biggest points of contention that global LPs have with Indian funds is that they are not returning money although paper returns look great which is also one of the reasons, we have taken a small part of our shareholding from Pixxel," he said, adding that more funds are paying attention to this aspect. Meanwhile, growX used to operate as an angel syndicate before it launched its first fund in 2019, by raising capital from friends and family to invest in early-stage B2B startups in India. Some of growX's exits as an angel syndicate include Locus Logistics (acquired by GIC), Quandl (Nasdaq), AdSparx (Discovery), FortunePay (Ezetap) and Fynd (Reliance Industries). An angel syndicate is a group of angel investors who come together to invest in a startup. Also Read: VC fundraising wave gains momentum as dealmaking rebounds, but caution prevails In 2022, Bahl and Rikhye launched Merak Ventures with a $100 million maiden fund with the same investment thesis. To be clear, the two partners who previously managed growX Ventures' $25-million early-stage fund will continue to handle only the operations for Fund I. The growX brand is separate, and Rikhye and Bahl will have no role to play in any funds raised in future. Key takeaways
