BUSINESS OF TECHNOLOGY
TiEcon Mumbai 2025, the 18th edition of the flagship event organized by TiE Mumbai, took place on 12 March, 2025, at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. With the theme “DhandaFirst,” the summit fostered collaboration and innovation between startups and traditional industries, driving India’s progress towards a $10 trillion GDP milestone.
India’s startup ecosystem has witnessed remarkable growth, with over 120 unicorns, 600+ soonicorns, and numerous mature SMEs. These companies have collectively raised more than $200 billion in funding and directly employ 60 lakh people, with a 7x indirect employment multiplier effect.
F1000 Meets S500 at TiEcon Mumbai 2025 brought together key players from across the entrepreneurial landscape to facilitate knowledge-sharing, networking, and the exploration of opportunities created by the convergence of startups and established industries.
The event featured insightful discussions, engaging workshops, and a platform for startups to showcase their innovations and connect with potential investors and partners. The conference delved into the complexities of the current global and technological disruptions that are shaping a new breed of startups and business mindsets.
By fostering collaboration and integration among ecosystem participants, TiE Mumbai seeks to facilitate deeper conversations on building resilient businesses and models that will contribute to the overall maturity of the industry.
Key topics at the conference included:
Navigating global and technological disruptions to create stronger businesses.
The emergence of new business mindsets in the face of disruption cycles.
Building efficient and sustainable models for long-term growth.
Fostering collaboration and integration between startups and traditional industries.
Opportunities and challenges presented by the convergence of industries.
Through these discussions and knowledge-sharing opportunities, TiEcon Mumbai 2025 aspires to empower entrepreneurs and industry leaders with the insights and connections they need to thrive in the ever-evolving business landscape.
The inauguration Ceremony by Shri Arvind Kumar, Director General of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) delivered impactful address. consistently emphasizing India’s digital transformation, startup ecosystem growth, and the role of emerging technologies.
Key Themes and Messages –
Digital Public Infrastructure as Growth Catalyst
Across his addresses, Kumar consistently highlighted Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a catalyst for inclusive economic growth. He emphasized how India’s digital transformation is strengthening the country’s global position, noting that the robust digital public infrastructure has enabled over 16 billion monthly transactions through UPI.
Startup Ecosystem Evolution
Kumar pointed to significant changes in India’s startup landscape, particularly emphasizing that 50% of startups now emerge from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, signaling a broader entrepreneurial wave across India. He also highlighted the rising number of women-led enterprises as a positive trend in the ecosystem.
Three Pillars of Startup Success
In his addresses, Kumar outlined what he termed the three pillars of startup success: Passion, Persistence, and Partnership. He urged stakeholders to support long-term investments that drive India’s vision of becoming a $35 trillion economy by 2047.
Technology Trends and Deep-Tech Focus
Kumar identified three emerging trends shaping the current tech landscape:Deep-Tech Startups: A growing number of startups venturing into deep-tech domains
Tier 2 and Tier 3 Cities as Digital Hubs: Increasing startup activity in smaller cities
Manufacturing Growth: Government focus on strengthening manufacturing through initiatives like the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme
AI Mission and Investment Priorities
He emphasized the importance of the ₹10,000 crore India AI Mission, describing it as crucial for the entire startup community, not just AI companies. Kumar stressed that investments in AI, quantum computing, and semiconductors are crucial for long-term growth, advocating for a shift from short-term gains towards patient capital and J-curve investments.
STPI’s Expanded Role
Kumar detailed STPI’s evolution from its original IT services focus to becoming a comprehensive startup enabler. He highlighted STPI’s 25 Centers of Entrepreneurship across India, providing 360-degree support including seed funding, consumer connectivity, mentorship, and other essential assistance.
Shaleen Sinha, Head of Growth Tech India at Boston Consulting Group, delivered a comprehensive analysis of global macroeconomic forces and their implications for Indian startups at TiEcon Mumbai 2025. His presentation emphasized navigating uncertainty while capitalizing on massive domestic and global opportunities, particularly in AI and emerging consumer segments.
Global Economic Landscape: A Delicately Poised System
US Economic Volatility and Global ImpactThe United States presents a “delicately poised setup” with stable fundamentals but underlying structural issues. While GDP growth remains steady at 3% and unemployment is controlled, the country faces significant challenges including a 124% debt-to-GDP ratio – among the world’s highest. Most concerning is the extreme market concentration, where US stock market capitalization represents 50-55% of global markets despite the US economy being only 25-28% of the global economy.
The new administration’s aggressive policy approach is unprecedented, with 83 executive orders issued in just 45 days compared to the previous administration’s average of 40 per year. Key policy areas creating global uncertainty include tariffs, immigration restrictions, deregulation, AI focus, tax cuts, and fiscal deficit reduction.
India’s Remarkable Growth Trajectory
Economic Transformation Scale
India’s economic expansion has been extraordinary, growing from $1.2 trillion in 2007 to $3.9 trillion currently – effectively absorbing “two more Indias” in terms of economic opportunity. Even with conservative 6.5% growth projections, India will add “one more India-sized economy” in the next seven years.
Three-Tier Market Structure
Sinha outlined India’s unique three-tier consumption structure:
Top tier: 10 million households with Europe-equivalent per capita income
Middle tier: Comparable to Indonesia’s economic level
Bottom tier: Similar to Sub-Saharan Africa
This structure provides startups multiple entry points and expansion opportunities across different economic segments.
Startup Ecosystem: Explosive Growth Across Sectors
Quick Commerce Revolution
The quick commerce sector represents one of the most dramatic startup successes, achieving $7 billion in market size within just three years. To put this in perspective, modern trade took 20-25 years to reach $20 billion, while Flipkart and Amazon required 15 years to achieve $45 billion. This rapid scaling demonstrates product-market fit in high-density, high-income micro-markets with profitable unit economics.
D2C Brand Explosion
The direct-to-consumer revolution has been remarkable, with over 300 brands launched in the past three years. This transformation is “exploding the traditional distribution pipe” that FMCG companies relied on for decades. Now, aggregators provide the distribution infrastructure, allowing brands to focus on product differentiation and consumer connection.
Emerging Opportunities
Several key trends are creating substantial market opportunities:
Full-Stack Companies: Businesses like Licious and Country Delight are solving supply-side issues while achieving scale in quality-conscious market segments.
Experiential Economy: High discretionary spending is driving growth in travel, dining, and entertainment – anyone trying to book premium experiences recently understands this market’s strength.
India Building for the World: Companies like Ultrahuman and Pocket FM are “fighting western companies on their own turf”, representing a confidence shift where Indian companies target global markets from inception.
Tier 2-3 Penetration: While challenging, companies are successfully cracking monetization models in smaller cities through microtransactions, affordable subscription packages, and innovative fintech credit solutions.
Artificial Intelligence: The Trillion-Dollar Transformation
Market Size and Opportunity
Sinha projects AI represents a minimum $1 trillion opportunity, potentially adding another $1 trillion to the existing $1 trillion software market within 2-4 years. This massive expansion occurs because AI companies target the entire human labor cost, not just software spending – expanding the Total Addressable Market dramatically.
Generative to Agentic AI Evolution
The AI landscape is rapidly evolving from generative AI (creating content) to agentic AI (managing complete workflows). This represents a “massive shift in reasoning models” where AI moves from assistance to autonomous operation. Examples include AI that doesn’t just create dashboards but moves inventory, or systems that don’t just detect cyber threats but automatically implement countermeasures.
India’s AI Competitive Advantages
Four Strategic Strengths
Large Developer Base: India’s massive software development talent pool positions it well for AI development, particularly in code generation and testing applications.
Scaled Technology Companies: Zepetto, Blinkit, Zomato and similar companies operate at globally unprecedented scale while being tech-first, providing ideal testing environments for AI solutions.
Services DNA: India’s decades of services industry experience creates opportunities for AI services layers – helping enterprises navigate the complexity of 600-700 SaaS tools by providing outcome-committed solutions.
Mature Indo-US Corridor: 15+ years of SaaS development has created mature go-to-market channels and relationships, eliminating traditional barriers to US market entry.
Sinha’s presentation revealed a world of unprecedented opportunity amid significant uncertainty. For Indian startups, the message is clear: while global economic volatility creates challenges, India’s domestic market strength, combined with emerging AI capabilities and proven global reach, positions the country uniquely for the next growth phase.
Success requires balancing ambitious vision with disciplined execution – the “dhanda first” approach that prioritizes sustainable business fundamentals while aggressively pursuing transformational opportunities in AI, consumer markets, and global expansion.
The “second revolution in technology” is underway, where AI democratizes innovation and anyone with strong ideas can create meaningful impact. Indian startups that master this balance of pragmatic profitability and bold innovation are positioned to capture disproportionate value in the emerging global economy.
The distinguished panel featuring Cyril Shroff (Managing Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas), Manish Kejriwal (Founder & Managing Partner, Kedaara Capital), Ritesh Chandra (Managing Partner, Avendus Future Leaders Fund), and Renuka Ramnath (Founder, MD & CEO, Multiples Alternate Asset Management) provided comprehensive insights into India’s rapidly maturing private equity landscape, highlighting unprecedented growth, regulatory evolution, and emerging opportunities.
India’s Private Equity Market: Scale and Maturity
Market Size and Growth Trajectory
India’s private equity market has achieved remarkable scale, with $45-50 billion in annual PE investments. The domestic capital component has grown exponentially to $130 billion in SEBI registered Category 1 and 2 funds, growing at an impressive 30% year-over-year rate.
Industry Evolution and Performance
The industry has undergone a fundamental transformation from its early struggles. Fifteen years ago, numerous funds existed but lacked DPI (Distributions to Paid-in capital), meaning no capital was returning to investors. Today, the sector demonstrates consistent performance and high levels of DPI, which has become the foundation for successful fundraising.
Kejriwal’s experience illustrates this evolution: Kedaara’s first fund took 2.5 years to raise $500 million, while their fourth fund raised $1.74 billion in just 3.5 months during a challenging global fundraising environment, demonstrating investor confidence in proven track records.
Distinguishing Factors for Indian PE Funds
Local Market Understanding
Domestic Indian funds distinguish themselves through deep understanding of how India operates. As Ramnath noted, India resembles “a six-lane highway where you can suddenly hit a pothole” – requiring constant vigilance rather than cruise control. This necessitates understanding what businesses work, what people succeed, and how to navigate complexities that international funds may struggle with.
Investment Philosophy Evolution
Successful funds have developed distinct investment styles and strategies:Multiples focuses on minority investments with strong entrepreneur partnerships
Large global funds operate with different ticket size thresholds
Stage preferences vary from growth to buyout transactions
Sector specialization and value-add capabilities differentiate offerings
Performance Over Strategy
Kejriwal emphasized that success depends less on specific strategy and more on two critical factors:
Consistent performance – LPs prefer steady 20% net IRR across multiple funds over volatile returns
Institutionalization – Ensuring firm continuity beyond key individuals through robust organizational structures
Regulatory Environment: Recognition and Challenges
Positive Regulatory Evolution
Cyril Shroff highlighted significant regulatory improvements:Policy Recognition: The Indian government now recognizes private equity as a “good asset class” essential for achieving economic growth targets, eliminating previous “Barbarians at the gate” sentiment.
FEMA Liberalization: Foreign investment restrictions have been substantially relaxed across previously sensitive sectors like insurance.
Pricing Flexibility: Movement from rigid “price high at entry, price low at exit” philosophy toward market-based pricing models.
Capital Gains Tax Equalization: Government finally equalized capital gains tax between public and private markets, removing the penalty for illiquidity risk.
Regulatory Holy Grail: Delisting Framework
The biggest regulatory opportunity remains creating an effective delisting or “taking private” framework. With over 6,000 listed companies, more than half don’t deserve to be listed at current scale. An effective delisting mechanism would “open floodgates” for private equity opportunities.
Domestic Capital: Emergence and Cautions
Historical Context and Growth
Ramnath’s journey illustrates domestic capital’s importance. Starting in 2001 during post-9/11 international capital withdrawal, she pioneered domestic institutional fundraising, eventually building a $250 million fund from domestic sources. Today’s $130 billion domestic allocation represents 25 years of persistent development.
Allocation Potential
Current domestic allocation ranges from 1-2% for wealthy individuals but has potential to reach 15% for ultra-high-net-worth segments. The combination of wealth management proliferation and Indians becoming wealthier creates natural demand for alternative investments.
Distribution Concerns and Mis-selling Risks
Both Kejriwal and Ramnath expressed serious concerns about distribution channel quality. The risk of mis-selling this complex, illiquid product could damage the entire industry’s reputation.
Direct Investment RisksThe panel warned against high-net-worth individuals making direct investments bypassing professional fund managers. This “institutionalized product” requires robust evaluation mechanisms, company building expertise, and exit capabilities that individual investors typically lack.
Direct Investment Risks
The panel warned against high-net-worth individuals making direct investments bypassing professional fund managers. This “institutionalized product” requires robust evaluation mechanisms, company building expertise, and exit capabilities that individual investors typically lack.
Buyout Revolution: Control Transactions Take Center Stage
Supply Side Dynamics Multiple factors drive buyout opportunity growth:
Conglomerate Rationalization: Multi-business houses becoming more efficient, spinning out non-core assets as they move away from license raj mentality.
Generational Transition: Second and third-generation entrepreneurs increasingly prefer professional management or exit rather than continuing family businesses.
Family Office Evolution: Next generation often chooses family office management over operational business involvement.
Institutionalization of Corporate India
Ownership Structure Transformation
Ramnath identified a fundamental shift from 70% family ownership toward institutional ownership. This “one-way street” trend accelerates due to:
Next generation disinterest in traditional family businesses
Consolidation requirements for global scale competitiveness
Founder monetization preferences rather than minority stake management
Talent Gravitation
Critical success factor: “The best talent wants to work for private equity-controlled companies”. This talent migration makes PE-backed businesses increasingly attractive and distinctive, creating positive feedback loops for both performance and future deal flow.
The private equity industry has matured from its early struggles to become an integral part of India’s capital markets ecosystem, positioned to support the country’s economic transformation and growth aspirations over the coming decades.
Key Observations from Foinder Infosys – N.R. Narayana Murthy’s Fireside Chat with Harish Mehta -?Founding President, TiE Mumbai — the first TiE chapter in India, at TiEcon Mumbai 2025
Core Philosophy: Compassionate Capitalism
Compassionate capitalism represents “capitalism in mind but socialism at heart” – a philosophy that combines wealth creation with human dignity and social responsibility. Murthy emphasized that in a country like India, which has long embraced socialism, entrepreneurs must demonstrate that capitalism can serve society positively by treating employees as human beings, maintaining reasonable salary ratios, and sharing corporate fruits fairly among all stakeholders.
Murthy demonstrated this philosophy during NASSCOM’s early days when the organization faced significant losses. Instead of abandoning the collective effort, Infosys offered training programs on IBM AS/400 computers to competitors’ engineers – essentially training their own competition – with all proceeds going to fund NASSCOM’s operations. This exemplified his principle of “keeping India first, keeping industry first” over narrow corporate interests.
Murthy provided a historically informed perspective on technology adoption, noting that every technology in history has led to higher economic growth rates. He cited the 1971 banking strike in England, where computer introduction initially faced resistance, but ultimately created more jobs after proper stakeholder engagement.
Rather than viewing AI as a threat, Murthy advocates for using technology in an “assistive manner” that enhances human capabilities:
Revenue expansion through AI augmentation rather than job replacement
Training employees to master new technologies instead of replacing them
Strategic thinking by leaders to identify assistive applications of AI
He illustrated this with autonomous vehicles: while driver jobs may disappear, the technology creates opportunities in healthcare transportation, ambulance services, and related sectors.
Leadership Philosophy: Stakeholder Respect as Primary Objective
The Stakeholder-Centric Model
“Keep earning respect from your stakeholders as number one objective” – this principle forms the cornerstone of Murthy’s business philosophy. He identified key stakeholders as:
Customers
Employees
Investors
Vendor partners
Government
When companies prioritize stakeholder respect, Murthy explained, they trigger a positive feedback loop:
More customers provide repeat business
High-quality employees choose to join
Long-term investors commit capital
Vendors support during difficult times
Government officials become sympathetic allies
The Four Pillars of Successful Entrepreneurship
Murthy outlined time-invariant and context-invariant principles that apply regardless of location or era:
Simple Value Proposition: Express customer value in a simple sentence, not complex or compound sentences
Market Validation: Ensure sufficient market size for the business idea
Differentiated Value: Create clear competitive advantages over rivals
Stakeholder Respect: Maintain integrity in all business relationships
“Benchmark yourself with the best global company in each function of your enterprise” – whether finance, sales, quality, or productivity. While initially seeming impossible, this mindset creates momentum for continuous improvement and eventually enables companies to “create the next practice” in their industry.
Drawing inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi, Murthy emphasized leading by example in austerity, hard work, discipline, and ethical resource usage. He noted that Gandhi “walked the talk” and demonstrated to the world the power of exemplary leadership.
Murthy positioned entrepreneurs as “the heroes who will build future India” and remove poverty through job creation rather than depending on “slogan-mongering” politicians. This places direct responsibility on the startup ecosystem for India’s economic transformation.
Murthy expressed concern that “it has become a fashion in India to talk of AI for everything” and noted seeing “several normal ordinary programs being touted as AI”.
Technical AI Framework
He outlined two fundamental AI principles:
Machine Learning: Large-scale correlation for prediction based on historical data
Deep Learning: Neural networks that mimic human brain function and handle unsupervised algorithms with greater potential for human-like decision making.
Murthy reflected on his role in building India’s IT industry foundation through NASSCOM, where he served as the first elected vice president under Harish Mehta’s presidency. Their collaborative approach established corporate governance practices and ethical standards that enabled the Indian tech industry to achieve 30% compounded growth over 30 years.
Murthy’s overall message emphasized that successful entrepreneurship requires combining capitalist efficiency with socialist compassion, using technology as an enhancement tool rather than a replacement mechanism, and maintaining unwavering focus on earning stakeholder respect through ethical leadership and value creation.
Key observations from the TiEcon Mumbai 2025 Unicorn Panel discussion on “Building Real, Sustainable Businesses” featuring Tarun Mehta (Ather Energy), Amrit Acharya (Zetwerk), and Pankaj Naik (Avendus Capital).
Core Philosophy: “Dhanda First” – Business Fundamentals Over HypeThe panel emphasized the “Dhanda First” philosophy, which prioritizes business fundamentals, profitability, and long-term sustainability over rapid scaling at unsustainable costs. This approach represents a maturation of India’s startup ecosystem from pure growth focus to value creation and financial discipline.
Tarun Mehta (Ather Energy): Sustainable EV Scaling Strategy
Disciplined Expansion Approach”
Ather has a disciplined approach to expansion, opening stores only where a viable business case exists”. Mehta emphasized that timing market entry perfectly is impossible, so the focus should be on building sustainable business operations regardless of market conditions.
Key Strategic Principles:
Strong Unit Economics Over Hyper-Growth: Maintaining stable pricing instead of deep discounting to ensure long-term sustainability
Ecosystem Building: Creating supportive infrastructure through Ather Grid charging network (3,000-3,500 fast chargers) and open-sourcing charging connector standards
Geographic Strategy: Expanding beyond South India stronghold with products like the Rizta designed for pan-India preferences, particularly family segments
Technology and Market Leadership:
Mehta positioned India as “the most advanced two-wheeler market in the world for electric vehicles”, with Indian companies leading global innovation in electric two-wheeler technology. This represents a significant shift from India being a follower to a technology leader.
Amrit Acharya (Zetwerk): Manufacturing-as-a-Platform Model
Balancing Unicorn Status with Profitability”
Being a unicorn and being profitable are two completely independent goals”. Acharya emphasized that achieving unicorn valuation doesn’t automatically translate to sustainable business operations, making profitability a critical separate objective.
Core Business Philosophy:”Boringly Predictable” Operations: Building systematic, repeatable processes that create sustainable competitive advantages
Strong Unit Economics from Day One: Establishing disciplined burn culture early to avoid unsustainable growth patterns
Global Supply Chain Diversification: “As an entrepreneur, diversification is a good trait to have. We need to become experts in geopolitics for our business long-term”
Scaling Strategy:
Asset-Light Manufacturing: Operating as a digital bridge between demand and supply, connecting businesses with small manufacturers globally
Technology Integration: Using proprietary software to manage thousands of manufacturing partners, creating network effects
Market Expansion: 30% of revenue now comes from international markets, primarily the US
Pankaj Naik (Avendus Capital): Investment Perspective on Sustainability
EBITDA-First Mindset
The discussion highlighted the investor community’s shift toward prioritizing profitability and sustainable growth over pure revenue scaling. This represents a fundamental change from previous investment cycles that emphasized growth-at-all-costs.
Capital Market Evolution:
IPO Readiness: Both companies represented different stages of IPO preparation, with Ather reportedly planning a $400 million listing and Zetwerk targeting public markets within 15-24 months
Valuation Discipline: Focus on achieving sustainable valuations that reflect real business fundamentals rather than speculative growth projections
Key Strategic Insights from the Panel
1. Technology as Business Enabler, Not Driver
Both founders emphasized using technology to enhance business operations and customer experience rather than building technology for its own sake. The focus remained on solving real customer problems through technological innovation.
2. Market Timing vs. Business
Building”It’s not possible to time the market” – the emphasis was on building robust business foundations that can weather market cycles rather than trying to perfectly time market entries or expansions.
3. Ecosystem Development
Both companies invested heavily in creating supportive ecosystems:
Ather: Building charging infrastructure and industry standards
Zetwerk: Developing manufacturer networks and supply chain partnerships
4. Global Competitiveness from India
The panel highlighted India’s emergence as a global leader in specific sectors:Electric two-wheelers (Ather leading global innovation)Manufacturing services (Zetwerk competing globally from India)
Future Outlook and Challenges
Geopolitical Awareness
Acharya’s emphasis on entrepreneurs needing to “become experts in geopolitics” reflects the increasing complexity of building global businesses from India, requiring understanding of international trade dynamics and supply chain risks.
AI Integration Strategy
The panel touched on AI as assistive technology rather than disruptive replacement, aligning with broader TiEcon 2025 themes about using AI to enhance human productivity and business operations.
Regulatory Navigation
Both companies demonstrated expertise in working with regulatory frameworks to enable industry growth, from EV charging standards to manufacturing compliance across multiple countries.
The overall message from the unicorn panel was clear: sustainable business building requires discipline, long-term thinking, and focus on fundamental value creation rather than pursuing growth metrics that cannot be sustained. This represents a significant maturation of India’s startup ecosystem toward building enduring global businesses.