Chairman
Pradeep Dhobale
Happy Diwali and Season’s Greetings to everyone.
Reflecting on the challenging nature of the startup ecosystem, I am reminded of Joe Procopio’s words: “The startup ecosystem is set up to work against you. If you want to succeed, you have to create something new and useful, leaning on vision, instinct, and drive.” This resonates deeply as we assess our journey over the past two years, a period marked by turbulence yet met with resilience across our portfolio.
Many of our portfolio companies have demonstrated remarkable resilience, navigating through this challenging period. Some have successfully reached profitability, and several have managed to secure funding, thanks to their relentless execution. We are pleased to report zero attrition within the portfolio—no company has succumbed despite the difficult market conditions over the past two years. Additionally, HA achieved a few exits, yielding solid IRR for our members. In recent months, the climate for startup investments has turned positive, with Hyderabad startups now drawing serious attention from venture capitalists and angel investors across the country. The bar for KPIs and revenue attainment has, however, risen considerably, requiring founders to meet high standards with leaner capital structures and a sharper focus on returns on capital, unlike the investment landscape of 2020 and 2021. At HA, maintaining effective stakeholder management remains a top priority, with our focus firmly on investor and member satisfaction. Given the evolving market dynamics, we are optimistic about increasing our investments in the coming year, though startups will face a stricter criteria for funding approval. As highlighted in The Economic Times: “To build a truly self-reliant and enduring startup ecosystem, a substantial increase in domestic capital investment is imperative.” In line with this vision, HA has expanded its member base and leveraged HA Fund 1, which is SEBI-approved, positioning us to contribute further to the ecosystem. We also see a promising rise in locally funded VCs, which bodes well for the industry. Looking forward to a successful and prosperous year ahead for all. Thank you.
Recent Investments
Our firm successfully invested in 8 opportunities across various sectors, each closely aligning with our investment thesis. Also benefited from newly generated capital reserves, allowing us to maintain a strong financial position for future investments illustrating our continued focus on identifying and backing high-potential ventures.
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Some of the Sectors include:
Deeptech
AI enterprise
Climate tech
D2C
BLUECOPA
Bluecopa is an AI-powered solution that automates real-time finance workflows, providing a single source of truth for all data needs of fast-growing enterprises. It eliminates manual, repetitive tasks, increasing finance team productivity by 50%. Positioned as a “need-to-have” tool, Bluecopa transforms traditional finance into strategic finance industry.
SKIPPI
Skippi Icepops, India’s first icepop brand, is crafted from 100% natural ingredients and comes in a variety of natural flavors. Available both online and offline, Skippi Icepops are now sold in over 20,000 stores across India.
WICKEDGUD
WickedGud is an internet-first brand providing multigrain pasta and noodles, including high-fiber, protein-rich, and gluten-free vegan options. On a mission to “un-junk” India, it uses natural ingredients like dal, rice, oats, and millets to create maida-free, oil-free, and chemical-free products. These pasta and noodles contain 96% less saturated fat and significantly more protein and fiber than traditional offerings.
SKYE AIR
WickedGud is an internet-first brand providing multigrain pasta and noodles, including high-fiber, protein-rich, and gluten-free vegan options. On a mission to “un-junk” India, it uses natural ingredients like dal, rice, oats, and millets to create maida-free, oil-free, and chemical-free products. These pasta and noodles contain 96% less saturated fat and significantly more protein and fiber than traditional offerings.
BREATHE ESG
Breathe ESG is a scalable SaaS solution for centralized sustainability data management and precise reporting, enabling organizations to focus on growth. It offers two tools: Breathe ESG for corporate ESG management and Breathe Impact for social impact management. Designed for organizations with no prior sustainability reporting experience, it operates on a tiered subscription model.
FINDER
Findr is an AI-powered search assistant designed to unify workplace apps, acting as a “Google for internal information.” It enables seamless searches across platforms like Notion, Slack, Jira, and more. We created Findr to eliminate the hassle of searching multiple apps for a single piece of information.
BLUESMART
Bluesmart is India’s largest fully electric ride-hailing service and operates the largest EV fast-charging network. Growing at 20% month-over-month, Bluesmart now completes 60,000 emission-free rides monthly. To date, it has delivered 510,000 rides and covered 16 million emission-free kilometers, with an impressive app rating of 4.8.
MY3DMETA
We are developing the world’s most advanced 3D modeling tech platform for creating avatars, characters, and accessories in the metaverse and gaming. Current challenges in scaling realistic and hybrid 3D models include time, cost, accuracy, and interoperability. Our goal is to enhance each of these factors by 10X through AI/ML models trained on the largest database of human 3D models.
NOTO Ice Creams
Internet-first brand of ice cream. It offers various flavors like strawberry, raspberry, kala jamun, mango, coconut, orange, and more. It claims the products are dairy-free and gluten-free.
Let’s EV
Platform offering customized logistic solutions to enterprises. The services offered by them includes first-mile, mid-mile, and last-mile deliveries. They also provide cold chain logistics and managed services. It also provides transportation from stores to retailers and customers, material handling, packaging, trucking, and end-to-end delivery service management.
Portfolios in News
SKYE AIR
Skye Air mobility partners with DTDC in Drone delivery services, to reduce carbon emissions, distance and traffic congestion. DTDC’s first drone delivery happened from Bilaspur to Gurgaon, covering a distance of 7.5 km in 3-4 minutes instead of a usual road route that takes around 15 minutes.
The Arunachal Pradesh Postal Department has partnered with SKYE AIR Mobility to conduct a Proof of Concept for drone mail delivery in hilly areas. Mail transmission time has been cut from 2.5 hours to just 24 minutes over a distance of 45 kilometres by using drones instead of buses.
BLUESMART
BlueSmart Granted US Patent for Innovative Allocation System for e-Mobility. India’s first and leading all-electric ride-hailing mobility service provider, BlueSmart, has been granted a US patent for its innovative allocation system for e-mobility. This system, titled “Systems and Methods for Allocating Vehicles to Ride Requests,” optimizes ride matching, driver efficiency, and charging station utilization. It ensures reduced wait times, fair pricing, and reliable service with 100% uptime.
BlueSmart became the first Indian mobility company to receive carbon credit certification from Verra.
Bluesmart raises ₹200 Crores in Series B Funding, led by MS Dhoni. Ride-hailing EV startup conducted a successful funding round led by former Indian cricket captain. Bluesmart has reportedly raised ₹710 Crores so far since December 2023.
Bluesmart crosses 1,500 electric trips milestone in UAE since launch. Bluesmart, UAE’s first all electric full-stack, chauffeured premium limousine service announced a significant milestone completing over 1500 electric trips in a short span since its launch in the UAE. Since June 1, Bluesmart has rapidly gained traction, underscoring its commitment to providing sustainable, efficient, and high-quality transportation solutions.
Getepay
Sehwag’s Next Innings: Investment in Fintech startup Getepay
Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has diversified his investments by backing Getepay, a Jaipur-based fintech startup, with a significant investment. Beyond his financial commitment, Sehwag will also represent the brand as its ambassador and contribute his recognizable voice to select IVRS services, bolstering the company’s visibility and customer engagement. The company currently works with over 1.5 million merchants and more than 150 banks across almost every state in India.
This digital innovation journey will reach out to maximum merchants in the coming days and enable cost-effective solutions for the merchants. Getepay has so far raised over $4 million from prominent investors.
Skippi
Skippi Is Tapping India’s Appetite For ‘Chuskis’ And Confectionery With A Modern Twist
Identifying a big gap in the Indian ice popsicles market, largely dominated by a hand full of global and Indian players, Ravi and Anuja Kabra founded in Skippi in 2021. The Hyderabad-based startup, which offers ice popsicles that are 100% natural and free from artificial colours, flavours, and preservatives, is available at over 14,000 outlets nationwide. When Skippi started on Shark Tank in FY22, it was generating about INR 2.5 Cr. Following its appearance on the show, its revenues skyrocketed to nearly INR 15.4 Cr in FY23.
LegalPay
Farmer’s son from Bihar launched Fintech startup, made Rs. 3000 Cr in deferred revenue.
In 2019, Kundan and his brother, Chandan, launched LegalPay with the aim to assist businesses and individuals in offloading their burden of litigation expenses and gaining access to justice. Being a fintech startup, LegalPay focuses on a specific and substantial market segment that traditional fintech companies do not typically address: the legal sector. Recognizing that one size does not fit all, LegalPay tailors its customer segments, user journeys, and services to meet the unique needs of this market.