‘A hit rate of close to 50%... we have gotten luckier than usual’

Why read this story?

Editor's note: Late last month I wrote about Canaan Partners India and how it stands vindicated, albeit in hindsight. Four companies out of its portfolio of 15 have either gone public or are in the process of doing so; the three that have listed already are Bharat Matrimony, Happiest Minds and Equitas Small Finance Bank while the fourth, CarTrade, filed its draft prospectus for an initial public offering last month. This is what I said in the earlier piece, which if you haven’t read already, you must:  Canaan Partners entered India in 2006 as an arm of the global VC fund with a mandate to invest in early-stage internet startups. Over the years, Canaan invested close to $150 million in about 15 startups. By 2014 and thereabouts, though, after eight years of playing in India, the global team started evaluating whether the Indian market was really worth their effort and money. Their frustration stemmed from the lack of exits.  From a 2014 point of view, things didn’t look good. While startup valuations were skyrocketing, business models and founder ethics were seriously questionable. …