The Contrarians: Inside Stellaris Venture’s bold playbook

With a fresh fund close and the Mamaearth IPO in their pocket, Stellaris Venture is clearly doing something right. YourStory's CEO and Founder Shradha Sharma talks to its four partners to get the inside story.

Wednesday December 11, 2024 , 4 min Read

They say the best VCs are contrarians, and Stellaris Venture Partners embodies that spirit. In 2017, when most VCs were chasing unicorns, this homegrown firm chose to build differently. Now, in 2024, with the successful Mamaearth IPO delivering returns and a formidable $300 million Fund III in their arsenal, that approach has paid off handsomely.

But here's the plot twist: It wasn't always champagne and term sheets for this venture capital firm. In a remarkably candid conversation with YourStory's Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma, the partners behind Stellaris reveal how they built their playbook—one contrarian bet at a time.

For Ritesh Banglani, venture capital comes with an unexpected perk: "Venture is the easiest job in the world because we are paid to be wrong 80% of the time," he jokes. "We sit cosily in our offices and entrepreneurs come to our office to teach us about various industries. So, if you're curious, if you like learning about new industries, it's the best job in the world."

Newly minted partner Naman Lahoty brings brutal honesty to the table. "For me, it was to be more intellectually honest with the founders, and that goes a long way in building strong trust with the founders," he says. "Even when we have to give harsh feedback to them, be intellectually honest and give candid feedback. Founders usually have very thick skin and they're used to hearing 'no' multiple times, and you will be benefiting them a lot if you tell them the real feedback, even if it is something that they will not like."

Rahul Chowdhri had to unlearn the quest for perfection. "Even in my early career, I used to have this view that you have to find a perfect fit—as in all qualities that I want should be there, and over time, realised actually that is not what works. What works is few spikes, and they're always going to have a few gaps," he explains.

For Banglani, following the herd is a cardinal sin. "Sometimes it is very tempting to follow someone else's conviction. Every single time I've done it in my career, I've lived to regret it," he admits. "Often my conviction is wrong, but when it is wrong, I own that decision. Let's say a large investor is coming into a portfolio company, and for that reason alone, I choose to double down. I think it's the worst reason to put capital into an account. So the important thing is, right or wrong, follow your own conviction."

For Alok Goyal, patience is key. "What we find often is that the early data that you get from a company can be wrong. We can be very wrong about the way we are judging founders. We can be wrong about the way we are judging markets," he adds.

Consider Whatfix, a once-uncertain bet that's now a crown jewel in their portfolio. When the SaaS company raised $3.5 million in a Series A round led by Stellaris in 2017, Alok Goyal recalls: "The story was just not going anywhere. We could not figure out which persona should we be selling to and at what price point should we be selling to. And I remember that it was my first SaaS investment as well. By the way, I thought this company ain't gonna work but you know, founders and markets both surprise you. Just important to be patient as we are building companies."

Today, that same company serves over 700 enterprises, including 80+ Fortune 500 giants like Shell, Microsoft, and Schneider Electric.

Looking back at Stellaris' own journey, the early days were no cakewalk. When even raising $20-30 million for their first fund seemed like a daunting challenge, and COVID-19 threw a curveball, it was partnership strength that kept them standing. As Chowdhri reflects, "Despite these hurdles, the strength of our partnership carried us through. Today, we've delivered returns to our investors, built a strong team, and welcomed Naman as a partner. What started as a question of sustainability has turned into a path we're confident in." Its portfolio now sparkles with winners like consumer brand Nestasia, accessories brand Zouk, and credit-on-UPI platform Kiwi.