Next frontier is startups solving India-specific problems: Prosus, Elevation Capital investors

The era of borrowing ideas from the West has run its course, and the time has come for India to build businesses uniquely tailored to Indian challenges, believe Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Growth Investments at Prosus India, and Mukul Arora, Co-Managing Partner at Elevation Capital.

Speaking at TechSparks Bengaluru 2024, YourStory's flagship startup-tech event, Sharma said that many of the “low-hanging fruits” like ecommerce, ride-hailing, travel etc have been plucked, leaving the more intricate, India-specific challenges ripe for innovation.

"The bar is higher than ever,” Sharma noted, highlighting that the real test for today’s founders lies in crafting solutions that rise above existing offerings.

The path forward, though brimming with potential, is not without hurdles.

As Sharma pointed out, launching a startup has become deceptively simple. Technological advancements like cloud computing and AI have dramatically lowered the cost of entry, and capital—though investors have become more cautious—is still accessible.

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However, this has led to a crowding of ideas, turning the startup ecosystem into a battlefield where only the most distinctive ventures can thrive.

In Sharma’s words, "Starting up is easier than ever, but the competition is fierce, and only those who carve out something truly original will stand out."

Elevation Capital's Arora, too, echoed this view, highlighting how India’s tech infrastructure has evolved to become “best-in-class,” setting the stage for the next decade of growth.

“There’s so much value creation still ahead of us,” Arora said in a discussion hosted by YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma, comparing India’s tech growth to that of the US and China, where tech giants now dominate their markets.

For years, sceptics questioned whether India’s market was mature enough to support large-scale exits. But Arora and Sharma believe the recent surge of successful startup debuts has proven the viability of significant exits in India’s ecosystem.

"We’re still in the early innings, but the ecosystem is growing. Starting up is easier than ever, and with the right idea, there’s no better time to build in India," Sharma said.