The Distinctive Investor The investment philosophy at Endiya Partners has always been distinctive. The company invests across the SaaS, deep tech, financial services and healthcare sectors
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
"Given the frothy environment over the last couple of years, a course correction is imminent. We expect more focus on robust business models with healthy unit economics," said Sateesh Andra, founding partner and MD of Endiya Partners.
More than 90 per cent of the time, the firm will be the first institutional investor where the correction rate would be 10-20 per cent from a valuation perspective. "Our focus is on early-stage investments and we continue with our usual investment approach. On the other side, We don't see the need for recalibrating the valuations of our portfolio companies. None of them has raised money at unrealistic valuations," he added.
The investment philosophy at Endiya has always remained distinctive. It has backed product startups that are solving local and global problems. "We continue to stay committed to areas of SaaS, Deep Tech, Financial Services and Healthcare."
The company expects a slow down of late-stage/growth-stage investments. "We expect IPOs to dry up, and late-stage/growth-stage investments are expected to slow down with longer closure cycles and significant correction in valuation. Early-stage investments may witness a nominal trickle-down effect in the immediate run. It will not be tough for any startup that is solving a pertinent problem and has its fundamentals in place."
The firm has made six to eight investments a year and will continue to do the same. "Companies that are capital-efficient, medium to high growth with profitability in sight and realistic valuations would get invested. We do anticipate fundraisers to get delayed. Given that, we might see a surge in the number of bridge rounds."
Endiya invests in businesses that are market-creating and category-defining. Talking about unit economics, he said, "While unit economics at the beginning of a startup may be negative, we look for the path to positive unit economics with a sound business plan. Focus on the fundamentals may have diluted and built frothiness in the market recently, but it's back now and is here to stay. This is actually good for the overall ecosystem."
The company invests across the SaaS, Deep Tech, Financial Services and Healthcare sectors. "We have a demand-driven approach towards our thesis and invest in sectors where we have domain knowledge and add significant value. We will continue our approach of 6-8 investments a year."