In a Series B fundraising round headed by Ektha.com, Bengaluru-based pet food company Dogsee Chew has raised $8 million (INR 69.4 crore), with participation from Shivanssh Holdings and the Poddar Family office. The money will be used by the manufacturer of natural pet treats to increase production capacity and strengthen its position in global markets, especially in the US and Canada. Dogsee Chew, which was founded in 2015 by Bhupendra Khanal and Sneh Sharma, makes vegetarian snacks using Himalayan cheese. In a statement, Sharma stated that the brand’s objective is to become the world’s largest manufacturer of Himalayan chews with the assistance of this funding. The business had previously raised $7 million in November 2021, led by Sixth Sense Ventures, and INR 50 Cr in January 2022 from Mankind Pharma and Sixth Sense Ventures. “Our human-grade chews are in high demand. By increasing production and our global footprint, this investment guarantees that we are ready to satisfy this demand,” Khanal said in the release.
Expansion Plan
The company wants to establish distribution centres in strategic international markets, and now it operates in more than 30 countries. Additionally, it will concentrate on fortifying its Amazon Global Selling approach.
Dogsee has established a strong worldwide brand in the natural pet food industry, according to Sreenivasa Musani Reddy, managing director at Ektha. Investors think that by expanding, they will maintain their market dominance. Dogsee Chew, which began with just seven products in 2015, is currently the fourth-largest pet food exporter in India.
Dogsee Chew’s revenue in FY24 was INR 53.76 crore, up from INR 98 crore in FY23, according to data analytics platform TheKredible. In the most recent fiscal year, the company reported a nearly flat loss of INR 27.73 crore.
Global Pet Food Market
Fortune Business Insights, a market research company based in Pune, estimates that the size of the worldwide pet food market was USD 126.66 billion in 2024. The market is anticipated to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.52% from USD 132.92 billion in 2025 to USD 193.65 billion by 2032.In 2024, North America held a 40.6% market share, dominating the pet food industry. Furthermore, due to the increasing rate of pet ownership and the growing trend of pet humanisation, the pet food industry in the United States is expected to increase dramatically, reaching an estimated value of USD 59.76 billion by 2032.
The global market offers pet food items in a variety of forms, including snack treats, wet foods, and dry foods. These goods may come from plants or animals. These products are sold through a variety of distribution channels, including speciality shops, internet platforms, hypermarkets, and supermarkets. The industry has grown significantly in recent years due to the growing number of pets worldwide. Along with the growing humanisation of pets, the market is anticipated to rise rapidly over the course of the projected period.
The article is contributed by Mr. Saarthak Bakshi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the International Fertility Centre.
Mr. Saarthak Bakshi is recognized as Forbes 30 under 30 ASIA, 2017 for HealthCare and Science. He is known for his persona as an engineer, an entrepreneur and a social worker. He flourished his career by working with reputed companies – Infosys and Ernst & Young – as a Software Engineer and IT Risk and Assurance Analyst respectively. He soon realized that he has an inborn passion for entrepreneurship and went on to launch a slew of ventures including IFC.
As we know that starting a business can be expensive. We may have less cash in hand to get started without some outside help but sometimes, it is important and beneficial to have investors in your business. It gives you a sort of security. Investors in your business are different from lenders. Instead of monthly repayment like lenders, investors give you money in exchange for ownership of part of your business. Apart from money they can also be an important source of business-related advice and strong business networks, which you can utilize for your own business. Therefore, it is important to draw the attention of the investors to make their decision firm to invest in your business. Most important thing is that investors want to see a return on their investment. They make money by putting their money into the growing business. Therefore, how to woo them plays a crucial role in the success of any startup. It is not necessary that every investor looks for the same things but still there are chances of commonality.
So, here are ten points to make the investors interested in your startup.
Having a passion for their startup is easy to be found in new business founders. But how your business will help the investors to gain profit is a deciding factor for their interest. They want your confidence justifying that it is an improvement over existing products or is a new way to address an old problem. You should demonstrate your firm belief and confidence in your business.
A market-oriented deal
It is one of the important points that to pitch potential investors, familiarity with the market is generally the safest option. Startup investors look for opportunities in sectors that fit their interests and expertise. They already have an idea of how businesses become profitable in this industry and what it will take for your business to yield a return on its investment. Thereafter reviewing and organizing your proposal, go for the market research to pitch in a suitable investor.
Demonstrate your success rate
A track record of previous success is critical to attracting the interest of investors who can take your venture into your business. Most of the time successful startups are a rarity, therefore it becomes difficult for inexperienced entrepreneurs to convince the investors to lend their capital. But, if your business can captivate the market and the customers and if your track records give a guarantee of success, then you have a fair chance.
Competitive advantages
Most of the time investors look for satisfactory answers to the following question: What makes your product/service unique? There must be something about your product that sets it apart. If your product and you’re the first to the market, then it’s the best thing. However, most startups are entering existing marketplaces. What then makes you different? And how affordable it is in comparison to the already existing quality?
Have an emotional approach with logic
Whenever you are pitching with your investor, you must hit them on both emotional and business fronts. Include a story with your plan. Make it appeal to real-life scenarios and how your idea will solve the problem. At the end of the day, investors look for founders who have passion, motive, and experience to create a profitable as well as a sustainable business. It is not a matter of only ideas or concepts, the investors look to invest in you and your team and their ability to successfully execute your business plan.
A strong team
If you have a competent team, you have the attention of the investors. Show them that your team is intelligent, strategic, successful and follows strong financial discipline. Show them the qualifications of each member and what they bring to the business. Having a team that is knowledgeable, willing to learn and can handle multi-responsibilities are all positive traits that will impress your investors.
Experience
Experience can play a convincing role in winning over investors. If your team members have prior experience in their respective fields or have been involved with a startup in the past, it shows that you and your team have knowledge of your market and are tenacious enough to complete goals.
The investment structures
You should have a clear business structure in place that allows the investors to consider it and buy it. You should also plan for how the investment will work. In that plan, you must include, a clear valuation for your business and a stockholder’s agreement that clearly sets out the rights of all the owners.
Build your business with scalability in mind. Most investors expect a return on what they are investing. Therefore, scalability is a major factor for successful startups and a great attraction to investors. Basically, scaling is known as adding revenue at a rapid rate while adding resources incrementally. The amount of resources required doesn’t change as your customer base increases, driving consistent growth and improving profit margins. Therefore, the plan of your faster revenue, makes the investor consider your startup dearly.
Future vision and planning
Give your investors a picture of your potential startup, that is where your company will be in the future and make them optimistic that you have the credibility to achieve your goals. Plan along the lines of where is your startup going? How do you see your startup in the coming years? Do you plan for the worldwide market? Etc.
Conclusion
Attracting startup investors to your company is necessary for your business. Therefore, you must put all the pieces in place to show that partnering with your business would be a smart move for them. Highlight the best parts of your startup and discuss your challenges with them openly. Investors will get on board when you demonstrate your best.
India is one of the fastest emerging startup ecosystem. The Indian technological landscape has seen a tremendous growth towards creation of innovative startups which has lead it to become the 3rdfastest growing hub for technology startups in the country. The current article analyses the India’s position as a global startup hub that is becoming attractive for investors startup, and corporates.
From having just a handful of tech companies to couple dozens and now thousands of innovative new ventures, India’s startup ecosystem has grown immensely from the past decade. India now has 55,000 startups with more than 3200 startups raising $63 Billion in funding in the last five and half years alone.
The internet has helped paved the way for thousands of startups to rise over the past decade, address unique problems, transform entire industries and create new segments. With deep data insights to influence strategic decision making in governance, investments, growth, and other core aspects driving the Indian startup ecosystem.
Over the years the growth of startups has brought in more international investors and boosted their confidence towards India. Fundraising reported by SEBI registered ventured capital funds grew from Rs.326 Crore in 2014 to over Rs. 2,703 Crore in 2019 showing the increase which is up to 8 times more now. The share of actual capital raised to commitments in 2014 was 35% compared to 61% in 2019, indicating the growing investor interest towards investments opportunities in India.
The most beneficiary sectors are EdTech, fintech, online gaming and OTT, ecommerce and enterprise tech. But because of the covid 19 scenario in 2020, the total capital inflow in Indian startups expected to dip in 202 by as much as 36.2% compared to 2019 to reach $8.1 billion. The total capital inflow in Indian startups for the year 2020 is expected to be the lowest since 2017.
Indian’s Unicorn And Soonicorns
India only a single unicorn in 2012, but in 2016 the number increased 10. It is now the home to 34 well known Unicorns with a combined valuation of $115.5 billion, 52 Soonicorns with the potential to become unicorns by 2022. With an overall funding skyrocketing to $63 Billion from 2014 to 2020. In the past decade, India has shown a great appetite for technology, data and the internet.
Some of the popular unicorn companies in India
Excluding that India has 53 startups in India that have the potential to achieve $1 billion pus valuation by the end of 2022. Out of these numbers the fintech sector has 19 unicorn which is different from the unicorns where enterprise tech startups which have 7 unicorns
Infrastructure And Resources That Help The Startups Growth in India
India now has an estimated 100 plus startup incubators across the country, mostly housed in academic institutions; this number is likely to cross 300 by 2020. This means that there will be a startup incubator in every state, city and town in the country are enabling entrepreneurs to access resources and solve problems in their local areas. Next, we have Co- working spaces that are growing at an exponential rate and this helps entrepreneurs to have office spaces in their neighborhood.
Many states are coming up with policies in 2020, as the government at the central and state level have recognized the potential of startup as a driver for job creation and are hence enabling a better regulatory environment for starting up. The startup culture in India and other policies are looking at addressing the problems of B2C entrepreneur level.
NITI Aayog is in the process of making the necessary infrastructure and resources available through the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM). AIM is adopting a more B2B approach by supporting in the scale up of the existing incubators such as NSRCEL, C-CAMP etc.
The Main Hubs of Indian Startups
In 2020, Bengaluru the silicon valley of India is still the startup capital of the country with a total funding amount of $28 Billion across 1,876 deals 2014 to 2020. It’s the startup hub in India for startups. In addition to that the other top hubs are Delhi and Mumbai, while the emerging hubs are Pune and Hyderabad as they have recorded an annual growth rate of 45% and 37% respectively.
Top startup hubs in India as of 2020
In the tier segment Jaipur and Goa have outperformed cities like Hyderabad and have earned their spot in top 10 startup hubs as of 2020 based on the number of funding deals.
The Indian Investor Landscape
From just a handful of investors and a few startups to over 49 thousand startups and over 2,000 Indian and International investors, the startup ecosystem have come a long way in past five years. The International investors now routinely come to India to invest in the burgeoning tech ecosystem. The frequency of participation by the existing investor is on the rise.
The total count of unique investors every year
Many corporations have played a major role in the funding trends, according to Datalabs by Inc42 analysis, 2019 was not one of the good year for venture capitalist. In 2020 however, there are approximately 4,640 active investors in India. Among these 59% (2,751) are angel investors and about 18.3% (849) are venture capital firms. Overall there is a downward trend in terms of unique investor’s participation similar to what has been observed in 2019.
Fintech Boom
The fintech sector continues to grow at rapid speed. Paytm can easily be called a pioneer in fintech as at gave the power of choice and how to spend to people who never had wallets or bank accounts. Following the success of Paytm, many other wallet companies have shown promise. We believe this sector will continue to attract investors’ interest in 2019 as the business ideas in fintech.
The Growth of Innovation in India
The interim budget conveyed the message that India youth should constantly innovate to drive the country growth. Towards this end, the government has pushed for the use of digital technologies through initiatives such as the National Program on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the establishment of nine centers of technological excellence.
While the first decade of 21st century was all about bringing India’s cities and metros online, the past ten years have been about using the internet to create businesses and startups and take the digital torch to rural India. India is today the home to world’s largest working population and startups are expected to take full advantage of this in the next five years.
The country has more than 500 million internet users. Which is why we can expect an active implementation of block chain, AI, IoT and data analytics across multiple technology sectors. For example the IoT in India has reached $15 billion by 2020. It will account for approximately 5% of the total global market. On the other hand, AI is predicted to become as big as $ 15.6 trillion by 2030.
Nevertheless, 2025, the number of startups in India is expected to cross 100K, creating more than 3.25 Million jobs in the process. At the same time, the total funding in Indian startups is likely to increase to over $150 Billion and with the total value creation exceeding $500 Bn. Once the medium and long-term pandemic impact subsides, there’s no stopping Indian startups.
A startup ecosystem is formed by people, startups in their various stages and various types of organizations in a location (physical or virtual), interacting as a system to create and scale new startup companies.
What is entrepreneurial ecosystem?
Entrepreneurial ecosystems or entrepreneurship ecosystems are peculiar systems of interdependent actors and relations directly or indirectly supporting the creation and growth of new ventures.
What makes a good ecosystem?
A healthy ecosystem consists of native plant and animal populations interacting in balance with each other and nonliving things, for example, water and rocks.
Nothing is more predictable like the startup ecosystem. The one residing at the top of the chart may fall into the loopholes and become less popular on any given day. The same is the story about the Indian startups who are struggling at the present moment. These ventures can become the next big thing in the ecosystem if they execute their plans very well. Now, as we discuss the stories of many venture capitals, there is one of the most vital venture capitals: Chiratae, that has helped many startups to grow and help out multiple companies to stand on their own feet.
Quick Facts – Chiratae
Company Name
Chiratae
Headquarter
Bengaluru, India
Sector
Finance
Founder
Sudhir Sethi
Founded
2006
Net Worth
$600 million
Insights into Chiratae
The entrepreneurs at Chiratae embrace the unpredictable and exploratory terrains of the startup ecosystem. The name has been derived from the animal Cheetah as most of the team members are wildlife enthusiasts. The company has helped over 80 ventures and 2 IPOs. About $700 million advisories have been done by Chiratae and the team has over 3 offices across the country.
The company was founded by Sudhir Sethi. Post-1998, Sudhir and the team have advised on investments into 100+ companies across Deep Tech, Digital Consumer, Enterprise Software, Fintech, and Healthcare sectors. The key investment under Sudhir is Flipkart, FirstCry, Lenskart, Policy Bazaar, Curefit, Manthan, Newgen, Nestaway, and many more to name.
Sudhir Sethi
The company is now one of the leading tech venture capital in the country with Mr. Ratan Tata, Mr. Kris Gopalkrishnan, Mr. Burno Raschle, and Mr. Manish Choksi on its global advisory board. In 2001, Mr. Sethi was recognized by Red Herring as one of the leading venture capitalists in the country. Apart from that, he has been named among the Top Ten IT Professionals by Dataquest and Bloomberg UTV as the visionary venture capitalist. He also featured in Subroto Bagchi’s book Zen Garden- Conversations with Pathmakers in 2014.
Adding on to that, the founder of Chiratae ventures has served on EMPEA Venture Capital Council. He has served on the executive committee of India Venture Capital Association, Investment Committee of UTI Ventures, on the Board of Advisors at N.S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurship, IIM Bangalore. Sudhir has completed his BTech in engineering and holds an MBA degree from FMS Delhi, one of the most prestigious institutions in the country.
Chiratae Efforts in Helping DeepTech Startups
Being one of the leaders, risk-taker, and supporters of the startup ecosystem, Chiratae Ventures has been digging down deep and finding the uncharted terrains of the startup ecosystem since 2006. The company was formerly known as IDG Ventures. This VC has invested in over 80+ companies across consumer media and tech, cloud/software, health tech, and fintech sectors, and out of this, 25 % have made it to the global stage.
The fundraising philosophy of the founder includes the entrepreneur being a stellar one, with an ability to become a huge brand and to get on to the global stage. Hence, the company has been helping out the startups successfully and continues to do so. As time passes, the company is growing bigger and better and making it to the headlines.
Chiratae Deeptech
As the country moves from services to products to innovation to the DeepTech economy, Chiratae Ventures is on a mission to explore the trends in the ecosystem and identify when opportunities could be created. Now, the company is looking to identify and support entrepreneurs who are motivated to bring a positive impact by leveraging Deep technology.
Since few years, the firm has nurtured and helped grow several DeepTech startups, some of them include Axio Biosolutions- MedTech to revolutionize bleeding and wound healing, SigTuple-intelligent screening solutions to aid diagnosis through AI-powered analysis of visual medical data, PlayShifu which is an AR-based interactive learning toy for kids, Zumutor Biologics- a leading immune-oncology company in the space of targeted NK cell therapeutics and Emotix- makers of Miko, an educational company bot are some of the major support provided by the company.
Chiratae on the Path to Enable DeepTech Entrepreneurs
Being one of the major supporters of the DeepTech movement, the company had launched a DeepTech innovators program, which was a two-day immersive event to provide startups in DeepTech space access to an ecosystem of experts and successful entrepreneurs. Talking about the event, Sudhir had cited that as investors, the team needs to reinvent to steer the country into its next growth phase.
According to him, the country is witnessing a boom in innovation in the country and the team wants to be the catalyst for this transformation by supporting the entrepreneurs. Through this program, they have tried to bridge the gap that early startups are facing in terms of accessibility to talent, mentorship, and capital. During this event, the companies were given a chance to partner with key influencers in the ecosystem, including the DeepTech experts and industry evangelist who can provide them with expert advice and opportunities to scale their business.
Now, as the company aims to bridge in the gap between the struggling startups and resources, it is has been taking giant strides in the ecosystem. In this event, the team brings in a program that fosters a network-led and collaborative approach by providing selected entrepreneurs with many benefits. Some of those benefits included an increased investment process and AMA with experts who have scaled businesses across multiple sectors.
This event also included sessions on entrepreneurship must-knows and how to create great products that can help society. Apart from this, the selected entrepreneurs got a chance to have access to seed-stage capital. Adding on to this, leading corporate brands are sharing their deep-tech knowledge with Chiratae and its partners.
Chiratae Funding
Announced Date
Fund Name
Money Raised
Oct 9, 2019
Chiratae Ventures International Fund IV
$184M
Sep 12, 2019
India-focused fund IV
$150M
Sep 4, 2019
Chiratae’s Fund IV
$20M
May 12, 2016
IDG Ventures India Fund III
$208M
Feb 1, 2013
IDG Ventures India Fund II
$175M
Feb 1, 2007
IDG Ventures India I LLC
$150M
Chiratae as an Inspiration
Well, if we look into how much Chiratae has contributed to the development of the startup ecosystem, we can infer that it is an indispensable part of the startup circuit. Now, a company alone cannot fuel the growth of the circuit on its own, hence, it is very much important for other venture capitals to come up and support the entrepreneurs!
Even with the best of charity, no fundraising event would survive without the involvement of several volunteers and this is also true for smaller non-profit organizations. Whether managing kiosks, welcoming participants, helping with assembly and dismantling, etc., their help is essential.
Finding the right volunteers can be a very difficult task. As a non-profit organization, it is essential to have interviews, or at least to plan a short meeting with each of the interested parties. Not all the services a volunteer offers must be taken …
First, make sure they understand your values and goals, and then assess if they have the skills to do the tasks you ask.
You cannot be as selective as in an interview for an employee, but be convinced, from the start that you choose the right volunteers for successful fundraising events.
2 The distribution of tasks:
Once you have found the right volunteers, you must now give them the right tasks. Begin by first learning how to know them, what are their motivations, what do they like in events, why do they want to give time for your event? By answering these questions, you can assign the right volunteer to the right task. Give volunteers a sense of purpose while they’re working with you, so you have to set expectations, define goals.
For example, do not entrust the task of monitoring a blocked street to someone who likes contact with the public, place them at the reception desk for they will be more motivated to give you better results.
3 Information:
It is important to provide clear information to volunteers regarding fundraising events. Since they are not part of the organization during planning, they cannot know all the details. Event managers, in most cases are in direct contact with the participants, so they will be the first to be questioned by the participants.
Also, to make sure that everything goes smoothly, make sure that all volunteers can communicate with you, or a responsible person, at all times. You do not want them to make bad decisions with lack of information.
4 Instructions:
On the day of the charity event, you must reserve time for a “briefing” with them. Have them arrive in advance and take the time to explain to them what to do. Provide instruction sheets that they can keep with them and refer to, if necessary.
Also ensure that all volunteers know the tasks of other volunteers during the course of fundraising events. In cases where some volunteers do not turn up, you can replace them with another who already know what to do.
5 Meals, expenses and rewards:
It is absolutely necessary to reserve a budget item for volunteers at fundraising events. Although they do not expect to be paid, they do not expect to have to spend either.
If they have to eat, you have to provide the meal. Make prior agreements with your caterer or find a sponsorship.
Same thing applies for traveling. If they have to use their own cars to travel a long distance, make sure to at least pay for the gasoline.
And finally, think about rewarding them.
6 Appreciation
You must keep volunteers motivated to ensure they will continue helping you. You should appreciate volunteers. You should consider giving out awards and incentives, and organizing events. It’s not mandatory that it’s expensive, only a little something that will prove you appreciate their involvement. For example, if you have promotional items (sweaters, caps, etc.) to the effigy of your event, book in a few for them. You can also offer them a discount at one of your sponsors, a gift card, etc. The happier volunteers are, the more productive they can be.
Certainly, although it is essential, the management of volunteers is not an easy task. However, by applying these tips, your experience will be more enjoyable and if your event is recurring, you will have less and less difficulty finding, motivating and keeping your volunteers.
Nitin Konde
