The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our world in such a way that going back to things as they were, seems to be a losing strategy. Organisations and individuals have to re-invent themselves to make the most of this new world. Digital adoption has accelerated pace like no one ever thought it could. This throws open opportunities for smaller, agile, digital and technology-first players to lead and create newer markets, businesses and operational models. We are well-poised at the cusp of this change and are focused on finding entrepreneurs and business models that can truly lead the way.

The average Indian consumer has grown beyond the ‘roti, kapda, makaan’ paradigm to become more demanding and discerning about consumption. Inarguably, Indian consumers drive a hard bargain and are highly cost conscious.

We are heading into a critical zone as far as world markets are concerned with mega events about to unfold: (i) The US presidential elections and its aftermath, (ii) unabated Chinese muscle flexing and the subsequent US, neighbouring countries and World response, (iii)continuing global spread of COVID-19 and its economic and social impact.

The most important lesson we learned during COVID was to be self-reliant and manufacture everything in-house to ensure smooth operations. During Lockdown, when resources were scarce—we leveraged our expertise and managed to identify our spare capabilities which made our company self-reliant. Moreover, with self deep analysis of all our business verticals, we were able to optimise our processes with a lean yet efficient team, thereby enabling us to create a positive impact on the bottom line. This not only improved our cost metrics but also made us self-reliant thereby ensuring smooth operations.

In early 2004, the then UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan laid the foundation of ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) Principles. He approached over 50 CEOs of major financial institutions to collectively deliberate the cause of sustainable businesses. The objective of this joint initiative was to find ways to integrate ESG into mainstream capital markets.

These are unprecedented times where literally 'no man has gone before'. The world is more connected than ever and the virus has taken advantage of this fact and spread itself far and wide. We have to be candid and admit that it is difficult to assess the impact COVID-19 will have on our lives and on the overall business landscape, including startups. As highlighted above, we find our portfolio in a good position for now and we continue to monitor it and work closely with our companies.

Equanimity has been following India’s innovation story for quite some time now and we would like to share that the Global Innovation Policy Center recently came out with the 2020 edition of their International IP Index.

At first glance, the drop in India’s position from 36 to 40 (out of 53 countries) may be disheartening but on peeling the onion, we found that India’s score increased from 36.04% (16.22 out of 45) to 38.46% (19.23 out of 50), resulting in a 2.42% jump on an absolute basis and 6.71% on a relative basis.

The webinar focused on the founders’ experiences in dealing with this unprecedented situation and navigating the challenges with undeterred optimism, strategic pivots and relentless execution. A common aspect displayed by all founders has been equanimity. All three have managed drastic pivots in their business models, deftly and with poise, ranging from a change in sales mix (FreshVnF), having to choose between growth or adding value to the brand (BabyChakra) and moving from a marketplace to an inventory led model (Peel-Works).

For most of us, work was a place we went to and fulfilled our duties and responsibilities alongside building professional and social connections with co-workers and other stakeholders we interacted with. Home, on the other hand, was always a place we went to after work was done and dealt with. There is a whole section of books on how we should keep our personal and professional lives separate. Well, you know what, that bit just got a whole lot more challenging as we work from home and so did the work-life balance equation.

These are unprecedented times where literally 'no man has gone before'. The world is more connected than ever and the virus has taken advantage of this fact and spread itself far and wide. We have to be candid and admit that it is difficult to assess the impact COVID-19 will have on our lives and on the overall business landscape, including startups.

As investors, it is vital for us to be cognizant of the competitive landscape before gaining exposure to a particular sector or company. We adopt a slightly differentiated approach and step into the shoes of various stakeholders of the business – customers, shareholders, management, employees etc. We look to analyze and see the competitive positioning of the company’s business model vis a vis their competition.

India fared well in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings coming in at 63 among 190 countries. However, it slipped 10 places to rank 68 on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index ahead of all its neighbors, except China (28th rank). In what was shocking, India fared poorly in the Global Hunger Report published jointly by Concern Worldwide, an Irish agency and Welt Hunger Hilfe, a German organisation.

We take pride in being an agile setup and every time we break an audacious benchmark is the best day. We recently launched our services in a new geography to accommodate a customer’s desperate need overnight, and got it right first time. This has become an internal template to venture into a new geography. The worst day is the one where we have failed to delight our customers

As we scout around for investable businesses that leverage technology to deliver capital efficient, sustainable and scalable business models, we are overwhelmed with all the innovative, passionate, dedicated and well-meaning entrepreneurs who are out to make a difference.

Six months after bidding adieu to a blockbuster 2018, a year that saw eleven Indian startups hit the coveted ‘Unicorn’ status (startups valued at US$1 billion or more), we seem to be on track to beat that record this year. The first half of 2019 saw seven1 startups across sectors reach unicorn status

Last month, we completed our first full year of investing and have constructed a portfolio of seven attractive startups gearing up to disrupt their respective industries. Allow us to introduce you to the companies Equanimity has had the pleasure of backing over the last 12 months: 

The overriding approach to any forecasting is to minimise the number of variables estimated. In our experience, the lower the number of assumptions the lower the probability of the estimate being far away from the eventual actual number. We tend to prefer this approach in the TAM estimation exercise when we evaluate and analyse companies. It has always stood us in good stead. 

The first order that the company fulfilled for a customer in East Delhi. Taikee offered customers a choice that he had never experienced in the past.  A choice which offered buying on a guaranteed availability basis. No questions asked cancellation. Cash on delivery. All of this at prices lower than the store otherwise had access to. We look back at fulfilling that order with a sense of pride. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our world in such a way that going back to things as they were, seems to be a losing strategy. Organisations and individuals have to re-invent themselves to make the most of this new world. Digital adoption has accelerated pace like no one ever thought it could. This throws open opportunities for smaller, agile, digital and technology-first players to lead and create newer markets, businesses and operational models. We are well-poised at the cusp of this change and are focused on finding entrepreneurs and business models that can truly lead the way.

Equanimity crossed a major threshold with its assets under management crossing the INR100 crore mark. Given the plethora of opportunities that we see in the ecosystem, we have decided to bring in another INR100 crore of assets by exercising our greenshoe option.