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Rajiv Dadlani
Rajiv Dadlani
Director
Consort Capital, Mumbai
About Me
• I am an entrepreneur myself, and the Founder/CEO for Consort Capital, a 15 year old, premier Mumbai based full-service Investment Bank, which I set-up in 1997, along-with a Team of professionals, from the Investment Banking and Corporate Finance field.
• Consort Capital is now a 20 member strong Team of professionals, providing the following services to its corporate clients like Raising of Venture Capital and Private Equity, Working Capital, Term Loans, Project Finance, Corporate Loans, ECBs (External Commercial Borrowings), FCCBs, GDRs, Structured Finance, IPO Advisory, Trade Finance, M & A (Domestic and Cross Border) and Wealth Management.
• Consort Capital has raised financial resources, cumulatively over $ 2 Billion, in the form of Debt and Equity, for over 250 corporates since inception.
• Have been a passionate investor personally, and very active, in the Indian early-stage / angel investment eco-system, for the past 6 years, since its inception.
• Am among the early members, of the Mumbai Angels, and also an active member of the IAN (Indian Angel Network).
• Further, have made several co-investments, with other early-stage super-angel funds like Blume Ventures, etc.
• Have an early-stage investment portfolio of more than 40 companies, with several successful exits.
• On the investment strategy, I like to keep it simple, and look for only a few key things, which are as follows,
Recent Favourite Investments
Hunger and passion for success, in the entrepreneur.
Founders being able to see the big macro picture.
A good vibe and complementing skills between the founders.
Founder frugality.
A desperate need in the market, for the product or service offered, major pain-point solving.
Visibility of high scalability in the business.
High gross margins in the business.
Brand and/or IP creation.
Hard-work and tenacity.
The following are some of my favourite early-stage and investee companies;
a) Apps Daily (erstwhile Onward Mobility) - Branded Offline Retail for Mobile Apps and Digital Distribution.
b) Apalya Technologies - Mobile TV and On-Demand Video Aggregator.
c) Tonbo Imaging (erstwhile Serial Innovations) - Electro-Optic Imaging Systems.
d) Birds Eye Systems - Real-Time Intelligent Traffic Monitoring Solutions.
e) Karmic Lifesciences - Clinical Research, Trials and Data Management.
The following are among, some of the recent early-stage transactions, advised by us;
1) Tonbo Imaging (erstwhile Serial Innovations) - Consort Capital was their sole financial advisor, for their recently closed $ 6 Million Series "A" Fund Raising from Artiman Ventures, Silicon Valley, USA.
2) Apps Daily (erstwhile Onward Mobility) - Consort Capital was their sole financial advisor for their $ 4 Million Series "A" Fund Raising from Indo US Venture Partners and Qualcomm, USA.
3) Apalya Technologies - Consort Capital was their sole financial advisor, for their $ 3 Million Series "A" Fund Raising from IDG Ventures and Qualcomm, USA.
Founders being able to see the big macro picture.
A good vibe and complementing skills between the founders.
Founder frugality.
A desperate need in the market, for the product or service offered, major pain-point solving.
Visibility of high scalability in the business.
High gross margins in the business.
Brand and/or IP creation.
Hard-work and tenacity.
The following are some of my favourite early-stage and investee companies;
a) Apps Daily (erstwhile Onward Mobility) - Branded Offline Retail for Mobile Apps and Digital Distribution.
b) Apalya Technologies - Mobile TV and On-Demand Video Aggregator.
c) Tonbo Imaging (erstwhile Serial Innovations) - Electro-Optic Imaging Systems.
d) Birds Eye Systems - Real-Time Intelligent Traffic Monitoring Solutions.
e) Karmic Lifesciences - Clinical Research, Trials and Data Management.
The following are among, some of the recent early-stage transactions, advised by us;
1) Tonbo Imaging (erstwhile Serial Innovations) - Consort Capital was their sole financial advisor, for their recently closed $ 6 Million Series "A" Fund Raising from Artiman Ventures, Silicon Valley, USA.
2) Apps Daily (erstwhile Onward Mobility) - Consort Capital was their sole financial advisor for their $ 4 Million Series "A" Fund Raising from Indo US Venture Partners and Qualcomm, USA.
3) Apalya Technologies - Consort Capital was their sole financial advisor, for their $ 3 Million Series "A" Fund Raising from IDG Ventures and Qualcomm, USA.
Common Challenges Startups Face
Over the last couple of years, the early-stage fund raising environment in India, has been quite challenging.
Guess, this is because of a few factors like, VC/PE Funds returns have been very mediocre, way below below industry average, fewer exits have occurred, on account of tepid capital markets and recessionary atmosphere prevailing, further entry-valuations paid, by these VC/PE Funds have been very high, as they were made during the boom days of 2006-07. Therefore, many of the VC/PE Funds, themselves have been finding it difficult, to raise their next round of funds.
I think the biggest hurdle in India currently, for mainly early-stage entrepreneurs, to get access to capital, is the gloomy business environment, as there are many interesting businesses and strong teams prevailing, who in a normal or better business climate, would have easily been able, to close their Series “A” or Series “B” institutional funding rounds of $ 3 - 10 Million.
In addition to the above, another key reason, is the subsequent larger size overall funds being raised, by the VC/PE Funds, therefore automatically migrating to later stage and larger size ticket deals. This has left very few VC/PE Funds, who still cut smaller investment cheques, into early-stage companies.
Guess, this is because of a few factors like, VC/PE Funds returns have been very mediocre, way below below industry average, fewer exits have occurred, on account of tepid capital markets and recessionary atmosphere prevailing, further entry-valuations paid, by these VC/PE Funds have been very high, as they were made during the boom days of 2006-07. Therefore, many of the VC/PE Funds, themselves have been finding it difficult, to raise their next round of funds.
I think the biggest hurdle in India currently, for mainly early-stage entrepreneurs, to get access to capital, is the gloomy business environment, as there are many interesting businesses and strong teams prevailing, who in a normal or better business climate, would have easily been able, to close their Series “A” or Series “B” institutional funding rounds of $ 3 - 10 Million.
In addition to the above, another key reason, is the subsequent larger size overall funds being raised, by the VC/PE Funds, therefore automatically migrating to later stage and larger size ticket deals. This has left very few VC/PE Funds, who still cut smaller investment cheques, into early-stage companies.
My Advice If You are Starting Out
Have seen many entrepreneurs, making the same mistake over and over again i.e. not communicating, very crisply, in lay-man’s language, their overall vision, for the business, and how they plan to get there, in a lucid one-two-line statement.
They tend to get obsessed and carried away, hence lose focus, and try and run the VC fund’s team, through slide after slide, in their presentation, without properly, right in the beginning, communicating their primary message i.e. their business’s goal.
Consort Capital, their financial advisor, steps-in here, and our Team assists the entrepreneur, to make a very concise but crisp presentation, on what to focus, and also guide him on the chronology, of the various points of the discussions, to be had with the VCs.
My advice to entrepreneurs, who are writing their first business plan, is to keep it concise, very crisp and to the point, communicating the macro goal, and how you will get there.
They tend to get obsessed and carried away, hence lose focus, and try and run the VC fund’s team, through slide after slide, in their presentation, without properly, right in the beginning, communicating their primary message i.e. their business’s goal.
Consort Capital, their financial advisor, steps-in here, and our Team assists the entrepreneur, to make a very concise but crisp presentation, on what to focus, and also guide him on the chronology, of the various points of the discussions, to be had with the VCs.
My advice to entrepreneurs, who are writing their first business plan, is to keep it concise, very crisp and to the point, communicating the macro goal, and how you will get there.
3 Piece Advice
i) Appoint an experienced and reputed investment banker, who has strong relationships with the VC/PE Funds, and who will rightly, guide you step-by-step, through the entire process. You will definitely, increase your success rate of raising the funds, in a stipulated time, and at good reasonable terms.
ii) Prepare a strong business plan, keep it concise, very crisp and to the point, communicating the macro goal, and how you will get there. Going in too deep, and into micro details, can be reserved for another time, but not at the first pitch/meeting, where only the big picture and macro details, need to be effectively communicated.
iii) Be flexible in terms of valuation expectations. In my experience, most of the entrepreneurs, who never manage to get their start-up funded institutionally, are where the founders, do not properly understand valuation metrics, at different stages of the business, especially the early-stage, and therefore are not very flexible, in their negotiations with the VC/PE Funds, in terms of valuations.
ii) Prepare a strong business plan, keep it concise, very crisp and to the point, communicating the macro goal, and how you will get there. Going in too deep, and into micro details, can be reserved for another time, but not at the first pitch/meeting, where only the big picture and macro details, need to be effectively communicated.
iii) Be flexible in terms of valuation expectations. In my experience, most of the entrepreneurs, who never manage to get their start-up funded institutionally, are where the founders, do not properly understand valuation metrics, at different stages of the business, especially the early-stage, and therefore are not very flexible, in their negotiations with the VC/PE Funds, in terms of valuations.