In this episode of the India Deep Tech Series, we host the MD of TDK Ventures, Anil Achyuta. Born and raised in Bengaluru, Anil went from being a sportsman to falling in love with deep tech - firstly as an academic and then as an investor. In this podcast he talks about an ever changing world with deep technology, what are the risks and rewards for startups in this community. The interview is a must watch for those who aspire to build businesses with deep tech ideas.

00:00 - Introduction to the podcast 
00:38 - Anil's love for science
01:47 - The TDK Ventures investment thesis
04:32 - Not every scientist should become an entrepreneur
07:07 - Transitioning from science to an investor
09:30 - The need for 'Dream Syndicates' to support deep tech
14:51 - Why we need to come together to solve bigger problems
17:24 - The Tesla example of beating all numbers and expectations
19:13 - Why TDK Ventures takes big bets?
22:47 - The 'Fit' principles of investing
24:59 - Business is about data: upstream, the supply chain, downstream
29:31 - Role of the government in deep tech
30:30 - Impact of Ascend Elements and AM Batteries in the EV industry
34:20 - Building a thesis around 'heat' applications.
36:33 - Quick responses on industries transforming themselves - automotive, energy, healthcare and many more.
44:49 - Impact of AI.
48:29 - The TDK Goodness and what it means for startups 
52:11 - Using sports and its competitive nature as a lesson in investing
55:34 - Learning a lot from people, inspirations and sport. 

In this podcast the startups I talk about are Ascend Elements (https://ascendelements.com), AM Batteries (https://am-batteries.com), Verdagy (https://verdagy.com), Autoflight (https://www.autoflight.com/en/), Ineratec (https://www.ineratec.de/en) & Fasal (https://fasal.co).

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In this episode with Pavan Sharma, the partner of BCL India, an advisory and audit firm, we decode India by the numbers just as the elections are underway. Please download the report (https://tinyurl.com/yxykv3pv) for you to understand what Pavan is analyzing. All data sources mentioned in the PDF.

We analyze the Centre versus State tax conflicts, climate change, income growth, rise of the middle-class, jobs and the conflicts within youth employability.

Part 1 - Tax bouts, realities of freebies and Consumption.

00:00 - Introduction
02:50 - The heart of the conflict between India States and the Centre.
05:35 - The formula for tax sharing between States - the fair or unfair ask.
08:30 - The opposition narratives when it comes to Tax.
13:00 - The Human Development index, tax incentives for States.
15:25 - No freebies to youth please - differentiate between necessity and needs.
16:33 - The narrative of freebies - where will the money come from.
21:55 - Income Classes in India: the real truth.
24:35 - What do our income classes own - 92 million Indians earn Rs 12 lakh per year and this is growing. This is what capital loves.

Download our analysis: https://bclindia.in/indeco-apr24/

Part 2: 

28:49 - Household consumption and its interesting numbers - India is spending and is typical of a growing economy.
31:40 - Unhealthy nation: falling cereal and vegetable consumption, rise of packaged product consumption.
38:10 - The new billionaires who earn Rs 13 lakhs per day.
41:00 - Indian disparities.
42:12 - Where is India's wealth locked up?
43:20 - Analyzing India can be daunting - different reports, different analysis and the future of wealth creation.
45:38 - Unemployment in India - 45 percent of graduates are unemployed and the need to invest in training or reskilling.
52:22 - Climate change, lack of water and more.
54:30 - Who pays in India to keep things moving?
58:45 - Our energy sustainability

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In this episode theUpStreamLife.com's speak with Zinnov's President, Globalisation Excellence, Nilesh Thakker who talks about how India has become the place for setting global capability centres or some may even call it excellence centres or innovation centres.

00:00 - Introduction.
01:20 - Globalisation is about innovation and leveraging talent.
02:08 - A bit of history, the cost arbitrage era.
05:30 - How Zinnov builds globalisation excellence.
08:30 - Productivity in excellence centres is higher.
10:15 - Looking at business within India.
11:40 - How India became a global product hub?
19:34 - Indian leadership is global.
22:30 - Staying close to the American time zone.
26:16 - IT Services have to add value going forward.
31:14 - The war for talent in India 
38:10 - Nilesh's personal story.

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In this episode we speak to Gagan Agarwal, the co-founder of Planet Electric. Their speciality is to work modular but create a centralised IP for vehicle manufacturing. As an EV OEM in the commercial vehicle industry they have to take on the Mahindras and the Tatas. Check out the podcast to know their aspirations.

00:00 - Introduction.
01:35 - From space to an OEM.
03:46 - Starting up Planet Electric and the modular approach.
10:00 - The economics of Planet Electric'd light weight EV.
16:25 - Second life of an EV.
22:13 - Pricing of the vehicle.
30:00 - Designing a functional vehicle.
35:41 - What would you do with the data generated from the EV?
39:40 - The early supporters of Planet Electric.
44:30 - EV first policy in India.
48:00 - Gagan's inspirations.

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In this podcast we talk about how CIEL-HR became a large business in nine years and is preparing for an IPO.

00:00 - Introduction
01:30 - The business of CIEL-HR
10:25 - Building end to end solutions for modern organisations.
15:55 - Early customers and value propositions.
23:40 - Managing the business in the early days.
27:00 - Going after the EV & manufacturing industry.
33:20 - AI and the HR function.
36:22 - Funding raising and IPO plans.
40:30 - Being in touch with Hindu philosophy.

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In this episode you will discover the skill of the Minus Zero engineering team in building world class software for the automotive world. If the world of AI led driving is real, then Minus Zero is building such technologies from India to the world's best automotive companies. They have already signed a couple of large commercial vehicle companies to use their platform. Discover the thoughts of the co-founder Gagandeep Reehal in taking his business to a market where automobile makers have to stay relevant.

00:00 - Introduction
01:27 - The early days of Minus Zero.
06:40 - The paradigm shift in the automotive world.
10:41 - Democratising the tech for all automotive.
15:45 - LLMs and hallucinations in the automotive world.
20:07 - Why Large Language Models are big in India.
21:10 - Talent for this tech in India
26:37 - Natured inspired AI
34:34 - GPUs in the automotive world
42:52 - Partnering with OEMs

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In this episode Anil Achyuta, Managing Director of TDK Ventures, speaks with Arun Vinayak, the founder of Exponent Energy, a company whose tech has enhanced fast charging capabilities to increase value for commercial vehicle fleets in India. Their 15-mins fast charge technology has allowed them to create an ecosystem for fleet operators exclusive to Exponent. Arun talks about the future of the charging ecosystem in India and why his company is poised for Exponential growth. 

00:00 - Introduction to Exponent Energy by TDK Ventures.
00:40 - The business of Exponent Energy. 
04:00 - The aha moment for Arun and team - fast charging in 15-mins.
07:36 - Belief in the idea & an ecosystem for Commercial Vehicles.
10:53 - Being cell agnostic, working with partners and a data led play.
14:49 - Providing value to Exponent's ecosystem of partners.
17:53 - The benefits of Exponent to the small business.
20:23 - Managing engineers to solve problems.
23:09 - The future in the energy game and the upstream.
28:48 - The importance of story telling for a startup founder.
29:46 - What would Arun change if he has to build Exponent again.
35:21 - The future for Exponent.

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In this episode of theUpStreamLife.com you will discover Indian tradition or "traditional" certified methods of treating musculoskeletal conditions and the impact of nutrition in making one return to form. It's all about the diet and lifestyle.

I speak with an experienced nutritionist, Arti Balse, and an experienced medical doctor, Deepa, from the Ayurveda tradition who together at Zveta (https://zveta.health) , a startup that wants to make Indians live pain free,  enlighten us about managing three types of arthritic conditions without being subject to heavy medication. They talk about how the startup Zveta is making patients take control of their lives.

Zveta aims to improve quality of life with comprehensive and and reliable treatment at the convenience of home. 

00:00 - Introduction to Zveta
03:00 - What is a musculoskeletal condition?
04:00 - Types of arthritis, contributing factors to arthritis and more.
06:35 - Treatments at Zveta.
09:00 - Treating arthritis with diet.
17:40 - Treating spondylosis with Zveta’s experts.
29:30 - Treating osteoporosis with Zveta’s experts.

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Think about this - Indian farmers were struggling with low yields for generations so much so that a country like Netherlands had more yield per acre. India has the technology skills to enable farmers to improve the yield, predict the yield and plan the supply. You would wonder why this change is yet to happen at scale.

Fasal, a startup in agritech, has proved that Indian farmers can not just improve yields, but, make sustainability a core factor in the business. 

By significantly reducing the use of chemicals and water Fasal has truly enabled a new age of agritech in India. Watch this interview with Shailendra Tiwari and TDK Ventures Managing Director, Anil Achyuta.

TheUpStreamLife is proud to be presenting this podcast for the Indian deep tech community.

This podcast is part of TDK Ventures India Deep Tech Series.

00:00 - Introduction to the podcast by Anil Achyuta.
01:00 - Creating a new language for Indian farmers by Fasal.
02:21 - Going beyond conventional wisdom, the Netherlands way.
06:42 - Ability to absorb failures as a founder, obsession with the problem.
11:28 - Journey through mistakes and getting better at execution.
16:00 - Managing teams and enabling the team.
21:00 - The challenge with managing the farm.
24:20 - India's horticulture story and Fasal's role in the supply chain.
29:30 - Fasal's work in the value chain for an economically rising India.
34:43 - Fasal's moat in the business.
37:16 - Enabling farmers to embrace tech and learning from mistakes
42:00 - Closing in on the Netherlands yield per acre.

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In this episode of theUpStreamLife.com you will discover the internal values that are necessary to inculcate and execute in order to build a long term business. 

You will hear the story of K Pandiarajan, the founder of MaFoi who sold the business in 2008. MaFoi was one of the top HR firms in India at the time. After a decade long break and a long stint in politics Pandiarajan is now back to doing what he does best, which is starting up. 

His firm “CIEL HR” is rapidly growing and the stakes are high for Pandiarajan as his business is now placed in the eighth position, in India, and there is an opportunity to get back to the top. 

He has already built CIEL HR to a Rs 1000 crore plus business in sales and he wants to make it an end-to-end HR tech and services firm. Will he win? He can because this industry whose size is Rs 1,76,000 crore and CIEL HR can grow with acquisitions and win businesses across industry vertical. Watch the podcast to know more. 

00:00 - Introduction to Mr K Pandiarajan.
00:55 - Pandiarajan talks about his early days in Tamil Nadu.
01:36 - Starting MaFoi and the HR play in liberalised India.
02:50 - Managing a recruitment firm in the pre-social media days.
05:56 - Handling more than 250 investors, talking to VCs and being successful.
10:05 - Building a company for the long term.
13:17 - Handling vulnerabilities as an entrepreneur and growing.
16:55 - Managing the exit in 2008.
19:00 - CIEL HR and its growth to become a major leader.
26:00 - Tech and integrative systems in HR
27:28 - Anchorage around OKRs where tech is blended with human results.
33:57 - Reverse mentoring and why it’s important in an organisation.
38:55 - How fast can one scale a company today? It’s easier today, grow by acquisitions.
39:44 - Never regretted being in politics, it is macro-HR.
43:00 - The mentors and inspirations that guided Pandiarajan.

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In this episode meet Gagana Ganesh, the founder of Grab Me, who has defied conventional wisdom. She has expanded to modern retail first even while others go for a D2C concept. Don't get us wrong she has also built a "brand".com D2C store, but has expanded to over 100-retail stores. This podcast covers her journey and her efforts to build India's first long lasting brownies and more.

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Incentives in the world of Web3: Ketan Jog of Absinthe Labs bets on a new age of loyalty management

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In this episode we talk with Esha Tiwary, the founder of Furrl, a proprietary platform to discover new age brands. She has in the past worked with Entrepreneur First, Myntra, CloudNine and ITC. She is a graduate of IIT-Kanpur and Harvard Business School. Her marketing techniques along with blending technology and data has led her to scale up Furrl, which supports several new age brands to be discovered by customers. This has led many an entrepreneur to scale up their brands on Furrl.

00:00 - Introduction.
01:48 - Zero to One journey and the beginning of Furrl.
06:37 - Building a community on Furrl.
10:57 - Communities are moving online.
15:31 - Curating Furrl’s partners.
24:42 - Furrl follows a brand first strategy and is content first.
31:42 - Men! They are impulsive shoppers too.
35:25 - The search versus discovery analogy
36:21 - Discovery using hashtags
37:40 - Balancing business and life.
41:09 - The influence of parents on Esha
43:00 - Books and music

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In this episode of theUpStreamLife.com we talk to Shauraya Bhutani, the co-founder of Breathe Capital and Capital Connect Advisors. Shauraya has been the bridge in the movement of capital betweenIndia and South-East Asia. In this podcast he talks about the new age of Indian business and what they are going to do in South East Asia.

00:00 - Introduction
01:25 - Starting out as an I-banker.
05:38 - The bridge: South-East Asia and Indian startups
10:15 - Indian startup influence in South-East Asia
16:25 - Growth of ideas in the region.
21:00 - The future of edtech.
30:54 - Geo politics and the business of managing LPs.
34:37 - Debt versus Equity for early founders.
42:20 - The rise of brands in South-East Asia and India.

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In this episode we talk with the President of TDK Ventures, Nicolas Sauvage, who has been at the forefront of discovering entrepreneurs making impact in the climate-tech industry with the power of hardtech and deeptech. In this episode discover what TDK Ventures intends to do for India's deeptech community. 

Deeptech is combining the hard work at the atoms level with the power of algorithms and software to help humanity in a new journey towards energy storage, battery recycling, air-taxis, green hydrogen, electric vehicles and digital transformation. Their investments in AutoFlight (https://autoflight.com/en/), pH7 Technologies (https://ph7technologies.ca), Verdagy (https://verdagy.com), AM Batteries (https://am-batteries.com), Ascend Elements (https://ascendelements.com) and many others is testimony to their commitment to the global deeptech community of entrepreneurs.

In India they have invested in Exponent Energy (https://www.exponent.energy), Fasal (https://fasal.co) and (https://www.infinite-uptime.com/). 

If you are a scientist or a deeptech business in India you must not miss this episode with Nicolas if you want to understand the TDK Goodness. 

00:00 - Introduction to the TDK Goodness.
00:50 - Investing in deeptech - innovations in materials science.
01:41 - Atoms level innovation combined with software.
02:55 - Nicolas love for deeptech - the TDK Ventures thought process.
04:39 - Scaling deeptech businesses and the role of VCs & CVCs.
05:36 - TDK & TDK Ventures - the history of a deeptech enterprise.
06:35 - Investing in entrepreneurs contributing to the future of humanity.
11:00 - Challenger Technologies and the business of deeptech. 
13:30 - Green energy and energy storage in the years to come.
16:03 - Green hydrogen and its opportunities in India.
17:17 - TDK Ventures mission in India & it wants to meet scientists.
19:55 - Backing scientists and scaling a deeptech venture.
24:10 - What are a Challenger Technologies?
27:10 - Generative AI and its impact.
27:30 - Investing in Groq,  https://chat.groq.com/ [chat.groq.com]
28:26 - Entrepreneurs going beyond the "Jugaad" mindset.
30:03 - Needing those exits in deeptech to inspire people.
32:09 - Nicolas and the TDK Ventures team.
33:33 - https://www.tablegroup.com/product/dysfunctions/

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In this episode we bring you BCL India's partner Pavan Sharma who will talk about the interim #Budget2024. He will tell us about taxes, money, tech and the performance of the economy while we balance to support the poor and support the exuberance of a youthful nation. BCL India is an audit, compliance and financial transformation firm based in Bengaluru.

00:00 - Introduction to the episode
03:12 - What is the interim budget?
04:46 - Your taxes remain the same & availing benefits.
06:44 - Rationalising taxes to protect the poor & support business.
09:00 - High taxes versus govt services delivered, private services being expensive.
11:37 - India does not have a lot of money to play with.
12:01 - Fiscal deficit to govt debt - how India is moving to the future.
14:00 - MSME recovery and economy’s revenue and expenditure.
20:36 - The corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore for innovation & R&D
22:00 - The reason for using words like Deep Tech in the budget.
25:00 - The dilemma of running India with subsidies - good and bad.
28:00 - Individual taxes , old regime versus the new regime.
32:10 - Looking at the Prime Minister’s Yojana schemes.
33:00 - Analyzing the government’s performance in direct transfer of subsidies and managing Covid-19.
34:58 - Analysing the last ten years.
37:34 - Managing automation and technology while uplifting the poor and the salaried.
38:29 - We should manage our education better, only 40 percent of rural school kids can read.
41:15 - Why communities are important in India?
42:14 - The rise of the startup community.
44:50 - Rise in EPF payments, which means new companies are being created.
47:03 - India will grow on a smaller base with very little money to play with.

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In this interview we bring you a company that is well known in the Indian startup ecosystem. We are talking to Tracxn, a company whose novel way of collecting data has brought it a lot of respect. We speak to its co-founder Neha Singh. 

00:00 - Introduction to Tracxn.
03:05 - The first version of Tracxn was coded by Neha.
06:47 - Early lessons in the USA when Tracxn was launched a decade ago. 
13:45 - Winning early customers.
19:22 - Sales cycles in India vis-a-vis the world.
26:18 - USA being a deeper market for Corporate.
34:18 - Sitting in earning calls after the IPO and the questions on tech.
44:06 - Being organised as an entrepreneur.

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In this interview we deep dive into the battery ecosystem and the bike "Mantis" which is being built by Orxa Energies. The founders Ranjitha and Prajwal have been in the industry for two decades and they know a thing or two about deep tech. They are bonafide experts who also work with the defence and aerospace industry. Discover their trials and tribulations in this interview.

00:00 - Introduction to Orxa Energies
01:30 - Orxa's beginnings 
05:20 - Starting up after many years in Corporate
11:15 - The rigour of becoming an OEM and a brand
26:40 - Battery chemistries 
31:50 - Choosing the performance segment.
34:57 - The importance of battery recycling
38:00 - Managing the data from the bike and the Orxa tech stack.
43:00 - The importance of customer service
47:00 - Connected mobility and the customer
51:00 - Closing thoughts

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In this interview we bring you a senior technocrat Narendra Bhandari who has in the past worked with the likes of Intel and Microsoft. He has been advising startups for more than a decade and is now a partner at "seafund" - a deep tech fund. 

00:00 - Moving from Corporate Venturing to become part of a fund.
05:54 - Building the startup network.
07:07 - Deeptech and software - moving from IT services to products.
15:00 - Building moats around tech.
26:27 - Building digital "highways", large language models for India.
36:00 - Monetising data.
42:30 - The colour of the LPs in "seafund".
47:29 - The AI story is never going away.
50:33 - The chip wars are here.

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In this episode of theUpStreamLife.com we bring you Elektrobit, an automotive software company, which has pioneered connected mobility for three decades in the industry. We have Elektrobit’s VP Strategy and Country Manager - India, Satish S, discuss mobility in India and the role of engineers globally in the automotive industry.

00:00 - Introduction.
01:17 - How Satish entered the automotive industry. 
05:52 - Elektrobit, Autosar and Mobility.
14:07 - Electronics, software, and the cost of the vehicle.
28:00 - Data in a car and how it is used.
37:00 - Making the car secure in a connected era
42:18 - The use cases in mobility
47:30 - The Chip wars are here to stay.
54:00 - Unwinding as a CEO or a country

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In this episode of theUpStreamLife we explore how Arjun Vaidya went from being an operator to becoming a VC. He celebrates India's new age brands, modern marketing and the future of consumption led sustainable growth.

00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - The mythical term called D2C in 2018.
08:00 - The omnichannel world or digital commerce.
16:20 - Brands & customers collaborating with digital experiences.
23:00 - Digital micro-cultures and communities.
30:00 - The journey to the world of Venture Capital.
36:00 - Working with entrepreneurs who understand digital culture.
43:00 - Living in a completely digital world.

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In this episode we talk with Mustafa Al-Bassam of Celestia Labs who talks to us about a consensus based data networks and the practical uses cases of decentralised technology. This episode is brought to you by Lumos Labs and Builders Tribe.

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In this interview we speak with multi-talented personality Karan Javaji who has been an RBI Officer, a rugby player and an equestrian. Karan also serves as a Colonel in the territorial army of India. He is also involved in public policy research. 

00:00 - Introduction
01:40 - Karan and his multi-faceted career.
05:00 - Origin of the name Boni
10:00 - Boni for SMBs
15:00 - Focusing on solving problems Indian businesses 
23:00 - ONDC and why it is built for Indian SMBs to thrive.
30:08 - Generative AI and the future of technologies for SMBs
35:48 - Leaving the RBI and starting up
41:00 - Equestrian training and hobbies

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In this episode we talk with Rinka Banerjee who has built a practice around food and everything food tech. She had been with HUL for two decades before she started up Thinking Forks a decade earlier. She discusses the opportunity in food brands from India for the world.

00:00 - Introduction
01:07 - Journey of Thinking Forks
05:10 - How large food companies experiment?
09:50 - Getting the food supply chain right.
16:00 - The opportunity for startups in food.
22:19 - Indians consuming food and the experience.
29:26 - Global food companies coming into India.
35:36 - Figuring out customer service.
41:05 - Income segments and consumption in food.
45:00 - Serving safe food, future of food consumption and food tech.
52:00 - Rinka's hobbies beyond Thinking Forks

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In this episode of theUpStreamLife we talk about the benefits of cannabis as a medicinal plant and how it is sold in India under the aegis of the Ministry of Ayush. Richa Jaggi, the co-founder of Awshad explains why this plant is now mainstream for its ancient medicinal purpose.

00:00 - Introduction.
01:06 - Cultural relevance of cannabis in India.
04:40 - Why Richa started up?
06:06 - The Vijaya territory and what is it?
14:46 - Testing Awshad's formulations.
18:00 - Marketing Awshad today through its own e-commerce channel.
25:54 - Managing sleep and stress with Ayurveda

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