You drive value from outside of India and valuation from inside India, says Zomato's Deepinder Goyal

"India is finally going beyond the 3Ms: Male, Metros, and Millennials, using the 3Vs to do so: Voice, Video, and Vernacular," said Vani Kola, Managing Director, Kalaari Capital, while speaking on the sidelines of India Internet Day (iDay), hosted by TiE Delhi-NCR, in the capital on Thursday.

The conference, themed around ‘unboxing’ opportunities and trends to enable 100 unicorns in India by 2025, saw some eminent entrepreneurs such as Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder, Paytm; Kunal Shah, serial entrepreneur; and Deepinder Goyal, Founder & CEO, Zomato, taking the participants through an entrepreneurial journey.

For instance, while speaking about Indian startups going global, Deepinder Goyal spoke about his experiences from Zomato's international expansion, and stated that "you drive value from outside of India and valuation from inside of India."

The conference mainly focused on encouraging entrepreneurs to innovate. “The focus is to encourage and help innovative internet-centric startups in learning how to unbox the full potential of their ambitious ventures," said Rajan Anandan, President – TiE Delhi-NCR.

Reinstating that India is a great startup country, after a welcome address by Rajesh Sawhney, Co-founder & CEO of InnerChef, Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, “India is among the 'first world' as far as investment in startups is concerned".

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In a conversation with Rajan Anandan, Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, said the value of India is in the bottom of the pyramid of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Along with Indian entrepreneurs, the conference also assembled key players from the Chinese startup ecosystem. Some of the speakers from China included Hans Tung, Partner, GGVC, the investor associated with 14 unicorns; Helen Wong, Partner, Qiming Venture; and Yun Lou, Founder and CEO, Club Factory.

In one of the sessions, Hans Tung said India will be the most-competitive digital market, and believes that nine out of 10 top apps on Google Playstore will be from India in the next 5-10 years.

In an insightful keynote discussion about startup valuations, Gaurav Deepak, Co-founder & Managing Director, Avendus Capital, said,

“India has never been cheap. India values quality and market leaders along with entry at higher levels and higher exists. Once you build the market leader, ‘other’ disruptors lose stream.”