TRANSFIN.

28/02/2025

"We continue our focus on exploring the confluence of co-working systems and associated real estate dynamics. Our guest this time is Ms Chulamas Jitpatima (""Amy""), Country Director, MQDC India. Her firm is a Bangkok-based property developer which has now entered India with a venture called ""Whizdom Club"", a co-working space and inspiration hub.

Amy offers valuable insights on how to create a healthy, stimulating and productive co-working environment to beat burnouts and work-from-home fatigue. We discuss how startups, small businesses and multinational companies can employ synergistic systems to combat the disrupted work-life balance of employees and to navigate the contours of hybrid workplace models once the effects of the pandemic recede."

24/02/2025

"Our guest this time around is Chaith Kondragunta, CEO of AIRA Matrix. Chaith heads the Mumbai-based company and provides artificial intelligence-based solutions for life sciences and healthcare applications with particular focus on the pharmaceutical drug and discovery side of things.

Together, we delve into the fascinating world of AI - how it works, its applications, how it compares vis-a-vis human intelligence, and whether it can actually pose a threat to human jobs in the future.
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21/02/2025

"Madhusudanan R, the co-founder of M2P Fintech, who made an appearance last year, joins us again to talk about how his business has changed since then and what future he sees in the fintech space.

Our guest discusses his journey from YAP to M2P, the firm's unique proposition, the competition it faces, its successful run in raising capital and investor perception when it comes to fintech. We also talk about the changing roles of regulators, banks and fintechs (especially neobanks) within the Indian financial system."

17/02/2025

This week, we discuss the many happenings in the burgeoning agritech sector!

We're back with another episode of LongShorts, and this week we delve into the world where agriculture and technology collide.

Our guest is agritech expert Anjami Nayyar, the CEO of Knowledge Network Solutions, who has also been associated with crop nutrition company Yara International in an advisory capacity.

Anjami opines that digital technology can be the game-changer for Indian farmers, who continue to struggle with high levels of poverty and low levels of productivity. And startups can be at the forefront of bringing about this change.

Anjami, who says financial inclusion is the key component of her work, is driven by social impact. She explains the complex value chain of food in India, which begins with the farmer (who requires credit and agri inputs), proceeds through multiple intermediaries after the harvest, and finally reaches the consumer after packaging via an array of distribution channels.

We also discuss the ways to calculate the credit-worthiness of a farmer, the effectiveness of farm loan waivers, the farm laws, and how the agritech sector at large is suddenly enjoying a veritable boom wherein it is receiving VC money as opposed to just CSR or grant-based funding.

14/02/2025

"We are back with a brand new episode and our guest today is Milind D. Shinde, the founder and CEO of 88 Pictures - the studio behind great animated shows such as Troll Hunters Trilogy and Fast & Furious.

We discuss all things animation as Milind (formerly at DreamWorks) offers his insights on the global value chain and where homegrown companies such as 88 Pictures can fit.

A big proponent of merging India-based content with Western style of storytelling and visualisation, Milind takes us on a fascinating practitioner's journey through an industry that is fast-evolving with newer ways of content creation and consumption day-by-day. "

10/02/2025

This week, we explore the growth, potential and dynamics of the data centre market in India.

If data is the new oil, then data centres are the new-age high-tech hubs of this critical fuel.

India's data consumption has seen a sharp 38% uptick YoY in FY21. This has unsurprisingly piqued the interest of global and domestic data developers who are rushing to invest, establish and develop data centres across the country.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres India (STT GDC India) is a Mumbai-based co-location service provider that reportedly commands a 33% revenue market share in the country's data centre segment. Our guest this week is Jatinder Singh Pabla, Vice President - Sales & Marketing at STT GDC India.

Together, we delve into this up-and-coming market: its capacity, growth potential, investment cycles, geographic distribution in India, how the pandemic augmented change in its dynamics, what the entry of big players bodes for the sector going forward, and much more.

07/02/2025

🔥 🎙 It’s the new year and we’re back with a brand new episode of LongShorts!

Our guest is Karan Mehta, the Co-founder and CTO of Kissht, a digital lending platform that offers BNPL and merchant level credit in India. Backed by his profound technological insights, Karan walks us through Kissht's journey and at the same time, gives us an account of the different models of Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) and consumer durable finance which are at play in the market.

Karan is a fintech veteran and offers a bird's eye view into digital lending, the technological possibilities when it comes to better underwriting and fraud detection and the immense opportunities and potential that lie in the field.

It’s the new year and we’re back with a brand new episode of LongShorts!

31/01/2025

In the latest episode of LongShorts, we delve into how technology can augment investing.

The gap between technology and investing is growing ever so narrow. Algorithmic trading already accounts for the bulk of market activity in Western countries, and it is slowly but surely taking off in a big way in India (case in point: SEBI's recent consultation paper).

Our guest this week is Kanika Agarrwal, co-founder of Upside AI, a Mumbai-based PMS that aims to build "India's first tech-led AMC".

Ms. Agarrwal argues that machines make trusty market companions and portfolio advisors, since, unlike humans, they are "unbiased, unemotional and unaffected by market euphoria and panic". There may, however, be a few terms and conditions involved.

27/01/2025

India recently created a framework to tax crypto assets in a move that is being seen as bold and progressive by one of the largest economies of the world.

But does a crypto tax necessarily confer legitimacy on an asset class that is long distrusted by traditional financial systems due to its novelty, volatility and notoriety?

Join us as we discuss these nuances and much more with our guest Edul Patel, the Co-founder and CEO of Mudrex.com, an automated crypto trading platform. As a self-proclaimed "crypto enthusiast first and Mudrex founder later", his take on the Government's move is largely optimistic just like his take on cryptocurrency which he believes is "going to stay here for the next 30-40 years".

24/01/2025

Insurance is one of the world's oldest industries. It’s also an industry “waiting to get disrupted by technology” according to Sanchit Malik, our guest this week on LongShorts.

Sanchit is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pazcare, a seed-funded insurtech startup that is aiming to disrupt the delivery of employee health benefits.

We discuss how Pazcare aims to address the challenges around employee benefits and group health insurance plans.

We also delve into the Indian insurance sector in general, the heated price competition among the players, and why the country's health insurance market remains hospitalisation-driven as opposed to day-to-day healthcare-driven.

Tune in for some valuable insights!

20/01/2025

Does your child struggle with instructional learning? This week in LongShorts, we speak with Sonia Notani, the co-founder of BrainGymJr - a technology startup that aims to teach children how to think and apply their school-based knowledge from a young age. Focused specifically on Mathematics, English and real-world skills, BrainGymJr is gamifying learning by presenting simple concepts (e.g. ratios) within a problem-solving framework (e.g. ratios of a pizza) - one game at a time!

Choosing not to identify strictly as an edtech company, Sonia talks about the complex value chains underlying education, the various stakeholders at play and the critical inputs needed to create a product such as hers.

Listen in for an engaging conversation!

17/01/2025

🔥 🎙 We speak with Milan Ganatra, CEO & Founder of 1SilverBullet. His platform's core offering includes building API-based digital interfaces to help financial institutions, consumers and developers talk with each other.

Milan speaks about how 1SilverBullet acts as the bridge between manufacturers of various financial products, including investments, lending, and insurance, with the wider marketplace (brokers, intermediaries, etc.). He takes a nuanced view towards digital adoption, saying physical stores, storefronts and physical advice would always be there.

Listen intently for a brilliant conversation.

We speak with Milan Ganatra, CEO & Founder of 1SilverBullet.