E16: Pankaj Makkar (Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments)

Pankaj Makkar is the Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments, a strategic investment arm of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA in India, focusing on investments in the digital, education, media and services sectors. He’s spent his career at Astro, Univision and has been at Bertelsmann for the last decade. He holds a B.Comm Hons. from Delhi University and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bertelsmann India Investments has several startups in its portfolio including Licious, Saavn, Pepperfry, and Quikr.

Follow Pankaj (@_pankajmakkar) and host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) on Twitter.

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Glossary of terms:

1. Growth stage: Growth stage investment firms invest in well-run, growing businesses with proven business models and solid management teams looking to continue driving the business. Series B and beyond rounds are usually termed as ‘growth stage’.

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In this episode we will cover:

1. Pankaj Makkar’s background: 00:19

2. COVID-19 impact and the current state of work: 1:26

3. How has venture evolved in the last decade: 3:02

4. In this new normal, what are the learning from market perspective and VC Opportunities: 6:07

5. What is nature of conversations right now with portfolio companies: 8:17

6. Thoughts on sectoral thesis for post COVID world: 9:16

7. Evolution and current view of India VC market: 12:21

8. Why is it hard to multiply fund returns: 14:56

9. How do you do diligence for portofolio companies: 17:52

10. What diligence data points and methodology: 18:18

11. For companies already invested in, how do you mitiagte risk: 21:25

12. Investing in growth stage companies for consumer vs enterprise technology companies 25:10

13. Bertselmann’s Fund-of-Fund (FoF) strategy for investing in other funds: 26:48

14. EdTech and the constant disruption in the space: 34:29

15. Rapid-Fire - 40:48