🍷Sula Vineyards | The Journey of Seed to IPO | The India Opportunity Podcast ft. Chaitanya Rathi

Welcome to The India Opportunity Podcast where you get a front-row seat to people building India’s future. We talk about unlocking the potential of the country with founders, investors, creators, and successful leaders from different fields to bring you real-life stories and behind-the-scenes of what it takes to be at the forefront of building the India Story.

Our guest today is Chaitanya Rathi, Partner at Sharrp Ventures, a $350Mn consumer fund. Chaitanya’s journey as an operator and investor has been nothing short of remarkable, where he previously grew Sula Vineyars and took it to its IPO (a 4000 Crore listed company). He has also headed a $100Mn fund as a part of the Everstone Group. He was also the Chief Operating Officer at Mswipe, a company that was valued north of $400 million. Some of his notable investments include Leverage Edu, Veeba, Epigamia, Indialends, Woodsmen Whiskey and many interesting consumer businesses built in India. He uniquely has the best bird’s eye view of the consumer sector, understanding the landscape and evolution really well which is coupled with his remarkable experience as an operator having grown companies like Sula & Mswipe. So much to learn in this conversation - look forward to doing a deep dive with Chaitanya on the consumer sector. 

Chapters:

00:00 Childhood and Formative Experiences

06:15 The Value of Operating Experience

13:41 Building Sustainable Businesses

26:52 Funding and Evaluation Criteria

30:32 Identifying Founders and Market Potential

34:25 The Future of Consumer Brands

35:59 Opportunities in Good for You, Better for You Food and Low and No Alcohol

38:13 The Turnaround Story of Leverage EDU

38:34 Sula's Journey During the COVID-19 Pandemic

45:03 Price Discovery in IPOs

50:52 The Funding Landscape in India

51:55 Investing Personal Capital vs. Fund Capital

56:03 Personal Ambition: Finding Satisfaction

58:53 Reading, Sports, Movies, and Physical Fitness

01:00:48 The Power of Relationships and Patience
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