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Thursday, May 22, 2025

Rethinking VC and Angel Investing for India’s Ground Realities



Rethinking VC and Angel Investing for India’s Ground Realities

When Alibaba reimagined e-commerce for China, it didn’t just clone Amazon. It built something uniquely tailored to China’s infrastructure, behaviors, and socioeconomic terrain. It factored in low credit card penetration, informal small businesses, and a deeply fragmented logistics system. The result wasn’t just a local success—it became a global case study in adaptation-driven innovation.

Now, imagine applying the same principle to venture capital (VC) and angel investing in India.

Too often, Indian startups are judged by Silicon Valley metrics: blitzscale or die, grow at all costs, burn capital fast, and chase unicorn status. But India’s ground realities demand a fundamentally different model—one that’s more patient, locally informed, and impact-oriented.

1. Smaller Checks, Longer Runways

In the US, angel rounds often start at $500K+. In India, a $50K investment can sustain a small team for a year. Instead of pushing startups to burn cash fast, Indian investing should prioritize frugality, sustainability, and iterative growth—something that aligns more with India’s jugaad (creative problem-solving) culture.

2. Beyond Tier-1 Cities

Silicon Valley VCs mostly fund startups in tech hubs. In India, real innovation is happening in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities—in agri-tech, ed-tech for vernacular learners, micro-finance platforms, rural healthcare delivery, and more. A grounded VC model would focus on these regions, understanding hyper-local needs rather than importing urban elite assumptions.

3. Profit Before Valuation

In the US, profitability is often sacrificed in favor of rapid valuation growth. In India, the priority should be unit economics. A small profitable startup serving 10,000 customers in Bihar might have more long-term value than a loss-making urban app chasing 10 million downloads.

4. Tech for Bharat, Not Just India

India isn’t one market; it’s a patchwork of languages, cultures, and access levels. A grounded VC approach would fund tools in local languages, USSD-based fintech for feature phones, or AI-powered tutoring for government school students. These ventures may not look “sexy” to a Silicon Valley lens—but they solve deep problems for the 800 million Indians living outside the digital elite bubble.

5. Blended Returns: Financial + Social

Indian VCs must rethink success metrics. Impact investing, often treated as a niche in the US, should be mainstream in India. A startup that lifts 100,000 people out of poverty and makes a 5x return should be celebrated more than one that burns through $100M to build a food delivery app for millionaires.

6. Infrastructure as Opportunity

In the US, investors avoid sectors that depend on state infrastructure. In India, infrastructure gaps—poor roads, patchy internet, unbanked populations—are the opportunity. The VC that funds solutions to these systemic holes (like mobile education vans or solar-powered micro-ATMs) is not only backing future unicorns—they’re building the rails of the new economy.

7. Mentorship Over Capital

Capital alone doesn’t build companies—mentorship does. Grounded investing in India means local mentorship: investors who speak the language, understand local policy, know the panchayat system, and can guide founders through the maze of Indian bureaucracy, corruption, and grassroots marketing.

Conclusion: India Needs Indigenous Capitalism

Just as Alibaba adapted to China's context, India needs a VC and angel investing ecosystem that is made for India, not just imported to India. This means embracing local ingenuity, focusing on deep impact, and redefining success beyond Silicon Valley norms. The next generation of Indian unicorns won’t be built in glass towers—they’ll emerge from dusty classrooms, rural farms, and narrow startup lanes in Jaipur, Ranchi, and Coimbatore.

It’s time to fund India from the ground up.






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Gemini Can Supercharge Veo 3


Google Gemini and Veo 3 are both cutting-edge products from Google, but they come from different innovation streams: Gemini is Google DeepMind's advanced multimodal AI model (text, image, code, audio, video), while Veo 3 is a generative video model capable of creating high-quality, cinematic, long-form videos from text prompts. When combined strategically, Gemini can supercharge Veo 3 in several transformative ways:

1. Multimodal Prompt Engineering and Refinement

Gemini can act as a smart assistant or co-pilot for crafting highly detailed prompts for Veo 3. Instead of manually entering plain text, creators could:

  • Describe a general idea, and Gemini refines it into rich, scene-by-scene prompts.

  • Automatically generate detailed camera movements, lighting descriptions, character behavior, emotion arcs, etc., tailored for Veo's cinematic engine.

Example:
User: "I want a sci-fi chase scene at sunset."
Gemini-enhanced prompt: "A neon-lit drone chase through the narrow alleys of a future Tokyo at dusk, with golden rays piercing through metallic skyscrapers and dynamic camera shifts tracking every twist."

2. Real-Time Video Editing & Iteration via Conversational AI

Gemini could make Veo 3 an interactive video creation tool. Instead of iterating with prompt tweaks manually:

  • Users talk to Gemini: “Make it more emotional,” “Add slow motion,” or “Change the background to a forest.”

  • Gemini interprets and refines the Veo 3 settings live, almost like having a creative film director on standby.

3. Fusion of Storytelling + Video Creation

Gemini excels at storytelling, narrative structure, and dialogue. Paired with Veo 3:

  • Gemini can generate full scripts or storyboards, with Veo 3 generating each shot.

  • Ideal for short films, advertisements, educational videos, or animations.

  • Gemini could also inject character arcs, plot twists, pacing suggestions, etc., and Veo visualizes them.

4. Context-Aware Scene Expansion

Gemini understands context across sequences — so it can ensure continuity and coherence across multiple scenes Veo generates.

  • Maintaining wardrobe consistency, weather conditions, character expressions.

  • Smooth transitions and thematic unity throughout longer videos.

5. Personalization and Branding at Scale

With Gemini’s understanding of brand tone, audience profiles, and style guides, it could help Veo 3 generate:

  • On-brand videos for different audiences (e.g., Gen Z, professionals, different regions).

  • Versions of a video localized in tone, language, symbolism using Gemini's language and cultural intelligence.

6. Deep Integration with Google Ecosystem

Gemini is baked into Google Workspace and Search. This can allow:

  • Integration with Google Slides to auto-generate video intros.

  • Real-time data visualizations in Veo using Gemini’s ability to turn spreadsheets into animated charts and scenes.

  • Video summaries, captions, scripts auto-generated from Docs or Gmail threads.

7. AI-Assisted Filmmaking Tools for All

Together, Gemini and Veo 3 could democratize filmmaking by offering:

  • An end-to-end AI video studio, from idea to script to visuals to narration.

  • Filmmakers, educators, marketers, and kids can bring ideas to life with a conversation.

8. Future Vision: AI-Directed Movies

Gemini could one day serve as an AI director, guiding Veo 3 through:

  • Mood boards

  • Shot composition

  • Scene pacing

  • Actor direction (for animated humans)

It’s not just about generating a video — it’s about directing a cohesive, intelligent audiovisual experience.

In Summary

Google Gemini can elevate Veo 3 from a powerful generative video tool to a full-fledged intelligent creative partner. The combination brings together:

  • Gemini's narrative reasoning, multimodal understanding, and conversational fluency

  • Veo’s high-fidelity, cinematic-quality video generation

Together, they don't just generate videos—they co-create stories, emotions, experiences, at the speed of thought.


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