*\u201cThe AI Boom Feels Like the Dot-Com Era\u201d at *ValleyNXT Fund Launch*<\/p>\n\n\n\n
P.V.Anandpadmanabhan<\/em> *\u201cThe AI Boom Feels Like the Dot-Com Era\u201d at *ValleyNXT Fund Launch* P.V.AnandpadmanabhanNew Delhi:\u201cIn startups, new highs and new lows can happen in the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"views":2,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7756,"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754\/revisions\/7756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banewslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
New Delhi:
\u201cIn startups, new highs and new lows can happen in the same month\u2014or the same
day. There is no straight line. Founder should be ready for it as the key is to survive,\u201d said
Sandeep Aggarwal, India’s only two-time unicorn founder, drawing sharp parallels between
today\u2019s AI surge and the dot-com boom.
Aggarwal was speaking at the panel discussion at launch of ValleyNXT Ventures\u2019 Bharat
Breakthrough Fund\u2013I, a SEBI-registered Category I Venture Capital Fund, unveiled in New
Delhi. The fund has been structured as a Rs 400 crore platform (including Rs 200 Croce
greenshoe) to invest in startups from seed to pre-Series A, with a focus on sectors including
space, defence tech, robotics, AI\/ML, cybersecurity, biotech, sustainability, and consumer
innovation.
This brought together founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders to address what ValleyNXT
calls the most critical phase in a startup\u2019s journey\u2014the early-stage \u201cValley of Death.\u201d
ValleyNXT\u2019s thesis is that startups don\u2019t fail only because they run out of capital, but because
they run out of clarity.
\u201cRisk can be managed, but uncertainty is harder because it is connected to capital, market,
team, customers, and supply chain. That\u2019s why mentorship is essential. Business needs
passion, not fashion,\u201d said S. P. Singh, CGM, SIDBI, stressing the role of structured guidance in
early-stage execution.
Mentoring helps founders strengthen their vision. \u201cWe want to build something for
society\u2014beyond capital. That becomes possible when it includes connections, capital, team,
and other resources,\u201d said CA Anand Saklecha, Founder and Head of the Investment
Committee.
Highlighting the importance of acceleration, Nipun Agarwal compared startups with traditional
businesses. \u201cIn business families, systems and processes keep you grounded. In startups, you
need mentor to accelerate,\u201d he noted.
Founders also shared personal lessons. Dinesh Prasad (Navars) said, \u201cThings don\u2019t work every
time, and when something odd happens, we need a mentor and a second perspective.\u201d Sameer
Sharma (Swaha) added that mentorship was transformative: \u201cMentoring put us in the correct
orbit. It helped us focus on what matters most.\u201d
Investor Ish Babbar emphasized that founders need frameworks, not interference. \u201cYou need
someone to guide you\u2014not to take over but to grow you. Personal values pay back in tough ValleyNXT Ventures, which has evaluated 5,000+ deals and invested in 10+ ventures, will run
the fund through its MIB Framework\u2014Mentorship, Investment and Business Connects, led by
Dr. Nikhil Agarwal, Dr. Madhu Vasepalli, CA Anand Saklecha and Mr. Suresh Goyal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"