Rajeev Agrawal, CFA

Thrilled to announce the launch of Ironclad Ventures Fund, our second investment product under Ironclad Asset Management — a ₹200 Cr SEBI-approved fund dedicated to Employee Secondaries. Why does this matter? In India, most venture-backed startups allocate 5–15% of their cap tables to ESOPs, yet liquidity for employees is rare and ad-hoc. For too long, ESOPs have been treated as “paper money,” leading to weaker belief in equity ownership and misaligned incentives. Ironclad Ventures is built to change that. We partner with leading VC-backed startups to offer structured, repeatable liquidity programs, so employees can partially monetize their equity while continuing to hold long-term upside. This liquidity massively increases employees' belief in ESOPs. For companies, this reduces the pressure to constantly increase cash salaries, strengthens retention, and sends a credible signal of wealth creation via ESOPs to future hires. We will take a diversified approach — backing 30–40 high-quality startups across fintech, consumer, SaaS, AI, and digital infrastructure with small ESOP secondary cheques of ₹1–4 Cr for Seed to Series B startups. Our aim is simple: 1. Improve the belief that employees have in ESOPs and unlock some wealth for the people building India’s breakout companies 2. Preserve founder alignment and cap-table integrity 3. Enable Indian HNIs & family offices to access the innovation economy This launch follows the success of our first product, the Ironclad Flexicap PMS, which has grown capital at ~20% since inception in Jan 2025, in a difficult year for capital markets. With Ironclad Ventures, we extend our disciplined investment philosophy into private markets. #Ironclad AMC #VentureCapital #ESOPs #Secondaries #WealthCreation #InnovationEconomy https://lnkd.in/gqWkh_-m

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We’re excited to share our blog on Premji Invest’s recent investment in Baseten. In it, Vedant Agrawal breaks down the key questions we had to answer—why now and why Baseten—and offers insights into how we track markets, build conviction, and decide when it’s the right time to lean in. High-level takeaways: 👉 Inference optimization as a point solution quickly becomes a race to the bottom. Baseten is different: it delivers a reliable, developer-centered inference system with strong stickiness and pricing power. 1⃣ We waited for the right moment In early 2024, inference infrastructure was crowded and chaotic with dozens of startups chasing narrow optimizations. We held back until lasting market traction emerged. 2⃣ The market matured, and Baseten stood out As the field narrowed, Baseten differentiated itself with enterprise-grade, model-agnostic, cloud-agnostic reliability and deep customer integration. 3⃣ Reliability, workflow, and sticky enterprise traction With 99.99–99.999% uptime across regions, Baseten is built on trust, not just speed. Its developer-first tools embed directly into engineering workflows, creating durable attachment. 4⃣ A level beyond what hyperscalers can offer Beyond compute and storage, Baseten provides redundancy, versioning, autoscaling, and rollback features that matter even more in the wake of recent cloud outages. 5⃣ A strong team and thoughtful business model Founders Tuhin Srivastava, Amir Haghighat, and Philip Howes embody enterprise discipline and product depth. The model scales without owning hardware, and with leaders like Dannie Herzberg driving go-to-market, enterprise adoption looks compelling. Read the full post here: https://lnkd.in/gS92F_BW Premji Invest - US Premji Invest

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Titan Capital Appoints Utpal Raman Sharma as Vice President – Consumer Investments Titan Capital has appointed Utpal Raman Sharma as Vice President – Consumer Investments. An Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur alumnus, Utpal brings 12+ years of operating experience across product, growth, and P&L leadership. He has: - Led product at Mosaic Wellness - Scaled insurance at Policybazaar.com - Founded a cross-border commerce startup At Titan, he will partner with founders to build and scale the next generation of consumer tech and digital-first brands. Titan Capital, co-founded by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, has been an early backer of Razorpay, Mamaearth, Urban Company, and OfBusiness. With Utpal’s appointment, the firm further strengthens its leadership in India’s consumer investments space. Read More: https://lnkd.in/gPWwGbuU #Leadership #TitanCapital #ConsumerTech #Startups #IndianStartupEcosystem #InvestmentNews

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What makes India one of the most compelling private equity markets today? Managing Partner Shweta Jalan explains why private equity in India is at an inflection point and how on-the-ground insights and strong local partnerships can make all the difference.

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Today SEBI notified regulations for mutual funds to offer alternative strategies as specialised investment funds (SIF) at a 10 lakh minimum. 10 key implications: 1. Investors will see innovation in the long/short category. SIFs can do long biased & market-neutral long short across stock selection, sector rotation and asset class timing. The possibilities are vast and we may get world class absolute return funds. 2. Balanced advantage & multi asset funds will see competition for share of wallet from moderate risk investors. 3. Advisors will need to upgrade their understanding of derivatives and modern capital markets to keep up with clients. 4. Category III AIFs that do derivatives will struggle to remain relevant with unfavourable taxation. Unless the maximum leverage is raised beyond 2x. 5. There will be a talent war for alternative fund managers with proven track record. There are maybe ten fund managers who could potentially be the CIO of a SIF. 6. Long-only PMS portfolios offered to accredited investors at 10L will be unaffected. Long-only portfolios in general are unaffected. 7. The credit default swap market in India will get institutional support to develop. 8. Alternative asset managers will increasingly seek mutual fund licenses like PPFAS, Helios and others have done. 9. Derivative strategies being offered to retail investors via broking platforms will move to the better regulated and better managed SIFs. 10. SIFs are being offered adjacent to the mother mutual fund brand - a great move to convey trust but also reduce reputational risk. Ionic Wealth Srikanth Subramanian Shobhit Mathur Dharmendra Jain Kamakshi Iyer Gaurav Aggarwal Harsh Gupta Madhusudan Ankita Pathak Abhishek Murarka Yajash Mehta Piyush Thakkaar Siddharth Khatkhate

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We are pleased to present the inaugural edition of Fident Fineprint - A research-led view on emerging megatrends. Fident Fineprint is a focused lens on structural megatrends shaping India’s growth story. In each edition, we will explore sectors undergoing meaningful transformation, highlight listed companies aligned with these themes, and share how our portfolios are positioned to participate in these long-term opportunities. In our first edition, we probe into the Pharmaceutical sector where we cover Biotech, CDMO and GLP-1. We hope you find this edition insightful; we look forward to your feedback and continued engagement. Fident Asset Management

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SEBI recently forced Active MFs to disclose their performance using the metric of 'Information Ratio'. The performance is terrible across all categories of Active MFs -- Largecap, Midcap and Smallcap Active MFs This is a short clip from my recent hour-long presentation about '20 Reasons to Invest in Index Funds'

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Arjun Guha Thakurta, Executive Director & Unit Head, Mumbai shares his thoughts with The Economic Times on asset allocation strategy for mothers planning their futures, it’s time to move from instinct to insight—with data-led, goal-aligned investing.

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India’s long-term prospects are good despite global uncertainties. Budget focused on structural growth by aiming at fiscal prudence, export promotion, tax rationalization and increasing disposable income in hands of consumers to spur demand. Trajectory of corporate earnings has slowed. Going forward Nifty50 earnings are projected to compound at 11%. Large caps have corrected due to aggressive FPI selling, which makes them reasonably valued. Valuations in the Mid & Small cap space continue to remain high. #Investing #WealthCreation #CapitalLeague

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Moderated an insightful panel discussion on “Unlocking Capital: The Growing Role of AIFs in Deepening India’s Corporate Bond Market” at ASSOCHAM's 8th Annual Conclave on Corporate Bond Market in Mumbai. With India’s AIF industry crossing $158 bn in commitments (as of June 2025), and private credit projected to hit $~60–70 billion by 2028, the conversation couldn’t be more timely. Our discussion explored: ✅ How AIFs are contributing to deepening the bond market and especially bridging the credit gap for mid-sized corporates ✅ Regulatory shifts enabling deeper participation in corporate debt ✅ Innovations in private credit and structured financing ✅ The role of technology in improving transparency and access ✅ Investor appetite and the future of alternative debt strategies A big thank you to our stellar panellists Shekhar Daga, Ankur Jain, CFA, Vineet Nahata, and Nagesh Chauhan for sharing their perspectives on: 1. Diversification benefits for institutional investors 2. Pass-through taxation and its impact on transparency 3. ESG integration and global competitiveness of India’s debt market AIFs are no longer niche—they are becoming a cornerstone in India’s debt ecosystem, driving liquidity, innovation, and resilience. Would love to hear your thoughts: What is the role of AIFs in deepening India’s corporate bond market and making it globally competitive? #AIF #PrivateCredit #CorporateBonds #DebtMarkets #AlternativeInvestments #FixedIncome #CapitalMarkets #FinancialInnovation #PrivateDebt #StructuredFinance #InvestmentStrategies #WealthManagement #ESGInvesting #IndianEconomy #InvestorInsights #FinTech #RiskManagement

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💬 Structural Bull Market & Sector Outlook Recently had the oppurtunity to share my views with CNBC TV 18 that current market volatility is typical of a structural bull phase, creating selective opportunities for investors. While past leaders such as Capex and PSUs may not drive the next run, companies in essential sectors like defense, infrastructure, and power are poised for continued performance. Policy-driven increases in disposable income are likely to benefit consumption-oriented sectors. Commodity-linked sectors such as sugar are volatile, requiring disciplined technical strategies. Meanwhile, specialty chemicals and fertilizers show strengthening fundamentals, positioning them well for the medium term. High-growth tech and consumer-facing businesses also remain contenders for accumulation on dips, provided investors maintain focus on structural and policy-driven drivers rather than short-term euphoria. 📖 Full interview: https://lnkd.in/gGqhBDc7

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Hidden Gems of India | Company 2: Power Finance Corporation Ltd. Continuing our Research Series: Hidden Gems of India, today we spotlight a PSU that has quietly become one of the strongest pillars of India’s infrastructure financing landscape — Power Finance Corporation Ltd. (PFC). Since 1986, PFC has evolved into a Maharatna NBFC powering India’s energy transition, renewable expansion, and large-scale infrastructure projects. With the Government of India holding a 56% stake, its strategic importance to national development is undeniable. What makes PFC a true hidden gem is its consistent and disciplined financial performance: ✔️ Revenue CAGR: 8.25% ✔️ EPS CAGR: 9.38% ✔️ Book Value CAGR: 8.87% ✔️ Market Cap: ₹1.19 lakh crore ✔️ GNPA: 1.94% | NNPA: 0.39% ✔️ CRAR: 32.66% — a testament to robust financial stability Strong government backing, leadership in renewable energy financing, disciplined asset quality, and fintech-driven innovation make PFC a standout in the infrastructure financing space. In an era where sustainable financing is shaping the future, PFC continues to demonstrate operational excellence, sector dominance, and a long-term commitment to India’s growth story. This series highlights fundamentally strong Indian companies that often go unnoticed — not as investment advice, but as research-driven insights. PRABINA RAJIB Dr Ruchi Arora Nikhil Srivastava #HiddenGemsOfIndia #ResearchSeries #PowerFinanceCorporation #PFC #InfrastructureFinancing #Maharatna #IndianEconomy #RenewableEnergy #FinancialInsights #IndiaGrowthStory #PSU #LongTermValue #FinanceResearch

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