30+ Fellows, 35+ Mentors, 20+ Sessions: CapitalX’s First Cohort Was A Grand Success

Over the years, institutional investments have fuelled the growth of tech startups and offered favourable returns and exits to those backing them. Between 2014 and 2022, Indian startups raised $136 Bn in funding from more than 9.5K investors who showed their trust in new-age players and the innovation they brought along.  

In the course of almost a decade, Inc42 has seen startups emerge as a lucrative asset class, offering as high as 20% average yearly VC returns. The burgeoning startup funding landscape surely caught our attention, making us wonder how we can support the new crop of investors in their pursuit. 

This thought led to the launch of CapitalX, a four-week programme aimed at helping aspiring VC fund managers master the art of VC investing by learning the tricks of the trade from India’s top 1% of investors. 

After extensive vetting, we shortlisted a group of 31 fellows who showed promising potential and readiness to disrupt the investing game with their professional experience, skillset and unwavering trust in the Indian startup ecosystem. The CapitalX cohort comprised a vibrant mix of angel investors, entrepreneurs and CXOs, corporate leaders, investment bankers, family members of some of the largest Indian family offices, et al. 

After weeks of power-packed sessions, we concluded the programme with a convocation ceremony, which was attended by several top Indian investors, CapitalX speakers and participants. It encouraged the new class of investors to mingle with the who’s who of the investment community and kickstart their VC fund journey. 

What Did CapitalX Entail?

The live cohort-based programme was held between January 14 and February 5. During this period, CapitalX fellows received the opportunity to directly engage with some of India’s biggest investors including TV Mohandas Pai, the chairman at Aarin Capital Partners; Manoj Kohli, the former country head at SoftBank India; Sanjay Mehta, the founder and partner at 100X.VC; Gopal Srinivasan, the chairman & MD of TVS Capital Funds Capital, among others. 

Across 15+ live sessions, the fellows learnt the nuances of being a VC in a structured curriculum, curated specifically to offer actionable insights. 

From building your fund’s investment thesis and understanding the legal framework for VC funding to managing your startup portfolio and reporting to LPs (limited partners), the curriculum covered all aspects of VC funding.

At the end of week four, the fellows pitched their fund thesis to LPs and received feedback to help them perfect their thesis and move forward in their journey.

Finally, we concluded the programme in February with a convocation ceremony.

Empowering Emerging Fund Managers

Since 2015, Inc42 has extensively tracked the rise of startups through monthly, quarterly and annual reports and in-depth news features. In addition, we have actively encouraged startup founders, investors and other stakeholders in the ecosystem to engage with each other through our virtual conferences and networking events. 

The idea behind CapitalX was not only to provide a learning framework to upcoming fund managers but also to enable them to meet like-minded people and explore collaboration opportunities. From creating a WhatsApp group to holding a convocation ceremony, we endeavoured to forge connections among participants, boosting their career trajectory. 

“I have made good business connections with many fellows at CapitalX. However, beyond that, I have made friends through the cohort, which is very important for stakeholders in the ecosystem,” said a fellow at CapitalX, Madhuri Rao, who is a chief design strategist at Zeitgeist Design & Development. 

The CapitalX convocation ceremony was an exclusive event that brought new and experienced investors under the same roof.

The evening was filled with candid conversations, cheers, and, most of all, learnings. We hosted prominent startup stakeholders like 100X.VC’s Mehta, SoftBank India’s Kohli, and Sanil Sachar, the founding partner at Huddle. The speakers covered a diverse range of topics such as mapping exits, managing returns, and corporate governance, among others. 

“CapitalX has offered what the (startup) ecosystem couldn’t — collaboration. The initiative has offered participants something beyond funding deals. It has helped create synergies among the ecosystem players,” said guest speaker Sachar.

A Thank You Note!

We extend our gratitude to the speakers of CapitalX, who not only spent hours building every session to drive value for the fellows but also held their hands throughout this journey. We are thankful that these eminent leaders of the industry took out time to make CapitalX a success. 

In order to keep the momentum going, we are now opening the waitlist for the next cohort of CapitalX. Watch out for more details in this space. 

Update | February 24, 2023, 11:20 AM

The names of all the speakers from CapitalX have been added.

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.