Exclusive: Manish Singhal, Founding Partner, pi Ventures believes that AI will be at the core of all consumer-tech in the future

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Manish Singhal, Founding Partner, pi Ventures started the fund which focuses on tech startups, particularly those working on artificial intelligence and machine learning, about 18 months back.
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The VC fund already has attracted investors such as Flipkart’s Binny Bansal International Finance Corporation, Accel Partners, and TV Mohandas Pai.
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​​Singhal feels that successful product start-ups fail to catch the limelight because they mainly solve real business problems unlike the unicorns that are riddled with debt, “It’s all about valuations and not value with most B2C companies but we are old-school and believe in the business of making money as soon as possible. Whether we will see a billion dollar product company is questionable but what we will definitely see is a global AI companies from India very soon.”

“If companies just have technology, we do not get excited but the sweet spot is when they are solving a business case with world-class technology,” Singhal told Business Insider.

Health is literally, wealth

pi ventures has invested in three companies in healthcare namely Sigtuple- which uses deep learning to execute blood diagnostics, Cicer- does intelligent heart monitoring, Niramai- Machine learning driven breast cancer screening technology which make up for the majority of their portfolio because of the immense potential.
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​​Singhal feels that successful product start-ups fail to catch the limelight because they mainly solve real business problems unlike the unicorns that are riddled with debt, “It’s all about valuations and not value with most B2C companies but we are old-school and believe in the business of making money as soon as possible. Whether we will see a billion dollar product company is questionable but what we will definitely see is a global AI companies from India very soon.”

“Healthcare is a sector which requires intervention of technology to bridge the gap in a country as large as ours. The standard of healthcare varies from cities to towns to villages and technology can help bridge that gap. Our focus will remain healthcare as the business opportunity and it is an immediate need,” Manish is also excited about sectors like energy, logistics, enterprises, fin-tech etc. which can be further revolutionized with technology.
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​​Singhal feels that successful product start-ups fail to catch the limelight because they mainly solve real business problems unlike the unicorns that are riddled with debt, “It’s all about valuations and not value with most B2C companies but we are old-school and believe in the business of making money as soon as possible. Whether we will see a billion dollar product company is questionable but what we will definitely see is a global AI companies from India very soon.”

Global solutions, not local unicorns

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Singhal feels that successful product start-ups fail to catch the limelight because they mainly solve real business problems unlike the unicorns that are riddled with debt, “It’s all about valuations and not value with most B2C companies but we are old-school and believe in the business of making money as soon as possible. Whether we will see a billion dollar product company is questionable but what we will definitely see is a global AI companies from India very soon.”

With that, Manish signs off carrying the beacon of innovation that Indian tech start-ups need to be following.

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Exclusive: Manish Singhal, Founding Partner, pi Ventures’ love for building products transitioned into his investment in start-ups

Exclusive: Manish Singhal, Founding Partner, pi Ventures’ love for building products transitioned into his investment in start-ups

​​Singhal feels that successful product start-ups fail to catch the limelight because they mainly solve real business problems unlike the unicorns that are riddled with debt, “It’s all about valuations and not value with most B2C companies but we are old-school and believe in the business of making money as soon as possible. Whether we will see a billion dollar product company is questionable but what we will definitely see is a global AI companies from India very soon.”
Exclusive: Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India says that for him, only entrepreneurs matter in a start-up

Exclusive: Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India says that for him, only entrepreneurs matter in a start-up

​​Singhal feels that successful product start-ups fail to catch the limelight because they mainly solve real business problems unlike the unicorns that are riddled with debt, “It’s all about valuations and not value with most B2C companies but we are old-school and believe in the business of making money as soon as possible. Whether we will see a billion dollar product company is questionable but what we will definitely see is a global AI companies from India very soon.”
Exclusive: Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India thinks that investing is entrepreneurship on steroids

Exclusive: Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India thinks that investing is entrepreneurship on steroids

​​Singhal feels that successful product start-ups fail to catch the limelight because they mainly solve real business problems unlike the unicorns that are riddled with debt, “It’s all about valuations and not value with most B2C companies but we are old-school and believe in the business of making money as soon as possible. Whether we will see a billion dollar product company is questionable but what we will definitely see is a global AI companies from India very soon.”