From Bengaluru to the world: Indian startups aim to build global brands with bold R&D and visionary capital

Panellists at the Mint Insights Forum bat for developing global tech brands, privatisation of urban infrastructure, creation of startup cities and greater flow of R&D funds into universities

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At the Mint Insights Forum in Bengaluru, panellists urged Indian tech startups to build products for global markets and establish stronger international brands.

While SaaS firms like Zoho and Freshworks have already succeeded abroad, they said it's now time for consumer tech companies to expand globally.

The forum also called for privatization of infrastructure in cities like Bengaluru to support the world class talent pool available. More focus on research and development and supporting domestic capital through tax incentives were the other important points raised.

The panellists included Sudhir Sethi, founding partner at Chiratae Ventures, Pranav Pai, founding partner at 3one4 Capital, Shreyans Daga, founder of MyGate, Dale Vaz, founder of Sahi, Adarsh Narahari, founder of Primus Senior Living, Aniket Shah, founder of Swish, Neha Bagaria, founder of Herkey and Vineet Agrawal, founder, Jiraaf. Senior journalist Darlington Jose Hector moderated the discussion.

“Domestic capital is available in abundance. But we need research and development (R&D) in the country to grow substantially,” said Sudhir Sethi of Chiratae Ventures, whose firm focuses largely on consumer tech, SaaS, fintech, health tech and deep tech. “Deep tech, automotives and mechatronics are all areas that require massive R&D investments,” he said. “I'm expecting family offices and HNIs to pour more capital into startups in the next 5-10 years and this domestic capital will be a tremendous boon for the ecosystem,” said Sethi.