324. Meet the Woman Behind India’s Largest Diverse Accelerator w/ Aishwarya Malhi | Rebalance

0:00Thank you for having me here, Amardeep, and it's such a pleasure to always have a conversation with you. I'm Aishwarya, and I'm the co-founder of Rebalance. We specifically work in India to see more women, both as founders and funders. We started Rebalance in 2019 with this simple mission, how do we see more women raise and deploy capital? Rebalance essentially is an accelerator program that focuses on female founders. We've hosted about 200 plus founders since 2019 and moved over$50 million in capital since then. The other side of what we do is, of course, like I mentioned, women deploying capital.

0:36And that piece is very close to my heart because I think there's not enough women who are investing today in this asset class. So we're India's first angel community that is 60 % women. And so far, we've backed over 30 companies, of which about 75 % of them are women.

0:52Amardeep Parmar:So you're also our first ever international guest. So this is episode 320 something. So it's like a landmark one as well. And for the people watching back home, you're also the first one with a live audience. So you've got two firsts out of 300 episodes. So thank you for doing that. So when you started this out, right, so starting out an accelerator and keeping with the context as well, so a lot of the listeners are going to be from the UK. What is it like at the moment in terms of diversity with startups in India? And what's the funding amounts? Because here we always hear 2 % of funding goes to female founder startups in Europe.

1:26Amardeep Parmar:What's that like in India and what kind of inspired that mission? Absolutely. I think in India for every 100 rupees that is deployed, four goes to women. So it's not any better. I think it's a global conversation. And I think the conversations become better, but the capital is not. I think that's overall in the entire world. So I think in India, it's still the same. A lot has changed, though, since we started. When we started this, there were not a lot of women starting up in industries that we see them start up in now. When it comes to material sciences or within defense or aerospace, these are some of the companies and sectors that we've looked at and backed women in.

2:03So since 2019 to now, we've seen a 233 % increase in applications for the cohort, which is a great first primary data that we can actually share. And a lot of women are also, like I said, starting in very diverse sectors. So apart from just healthcare or a lot of women starting up in sciences, they're also looking at hardware and manufacturing and all of these spaces. So I think from a diversity point of view, we're specifically called rebalance as well because we want to be inclusive of not just women, but everybody else who wants to participate in this ecosystem. system so we also have folks from the lbgdqi community that is part of the individual community and also as part of the portfolio so yeah and you said about like as joseph shifted a bit where the conversation has changed even the capital hasn't yeah when you initially setting this up how are

2:57Amardeep Parmar:you getting people involved and getting the word out there to try and get female founders to get in your programs? The way we approach the program is actually a very different approach. It's focused more on access than it is focused on mentorship. And I think I've said this in multiple occasions that women are over mentored and underfunded. Sometimes all they actually require is just access and the money and they know what to do with it. So I think we don't try to mentor companies, but we try to create serendipity for them to meet the right people. And that has worked really well. So, of course, past program experience of founders and those referrals have helped reach more and more people.

3:40A lot of word of mouth has been part of our marketing, I would say, strategy for the program. So we, of course, do reach out to some companies that we think are really cool in India ourselves. but we have seen growth in word of mouth as one of the best ways to build the pipeline. That's one. And second, I think when founders are saying good things about you, you automatically have a larger, wider community of folks who want to join the mission, even as mentors or even as folks who want to invest. So I think it has been a flywheel that God created just because we were doing our work really honestly.

4:15And I think that is what's helped to propel this to the 10th cohort now, which we've just concluded, and maybe about over 120 angel investors who invest with us. So, yeah.

4:29Amardeep Parmar:And it was your demo day, was it last weekend? It was pretty recently, right? Last to last weekend, yes. And like, how do you feel like the, like the program has changed over the years? Like, have you made it better? And have you made it, obviously, the access increase? I think accelerator programs are, I'm talking from an India perspective right now, are misunderstood very widely, because a lot of the initial wave of incubators and accelerators that came into India, and I'm talking post 2014, I started Rebalance in 2019, but we started the work, Vikas and I, who's my co-founder, in 2017. And around that time, there were very few accelerators and incubators in India that between meaningful work.

5:12I think a big way to change how you're looking at the space is to also understand what you're trying to do. If your KPI is how many companies went through the program or when I've worked with X number of founders, that doesn't tell you anything. But what amount of capital have you moved? And one of the biggest KPIs that we look at when, and this has been a learning through running these batches, is how much time can be saved for a founder. And a lot of the time goes in cold emailing, reaching out to the right people, hits and misses, things that we can just get out of the way when we are guiding you through the program.

5:48So I think this has been one of the biggest learnings for us, that the more one-to-one time we've spent with them has helped them actually do better in the zero-to-one journey. Since we put the first check and we're looking at pre-seed and seed startups, the initial direction is really important for you. Otherwise, raising capital doesn't really do much if there's no direction to where you want to go. So I think the program all in all for us is very hands on. And second, we focus a lot on how we can actually help the founders save their time, which is, I think, more valuable than money. and the third thing that we've also learned across programs is that nobody wants to sit in the classroom right a lot of accelerators focus on um we'll call like a speaker and then we'll have like some one hour long conversation monologue that does not really help because you can actually do that on youtube now and the idea is to build those relationships for each founder that comes into the cohort and that's really worked well for us so we've just done our first accelerator as

6:48Amardeep Parmar:well right so the demo day is next week which you're coming to and it's one of the things that we tried to pick up on too right so i can probably admit this right i looked at your program i was looking at all these different programs across the world and trying to take the best bits of each yes and we had the same idea about there's so many workshops that are just kind of useless and it's better to get like we have the hour-long sessions but it's just q a yeah so then you get to pick the brains of somebody like a lot further ahead than you and in that period as well so in the accelerator because i know now you've grown up the team and it's like really so i think when did I first meet you was it three years ago now two years ago 2023 yes three years ago yeah and then like in the last few years you've grown so rapidly right you've got the team's got stronger you've got more people involved you've got the angel syndicate and things too yes and what was kind of the turning point there because I know it was so hard for so long at the beginning yeah and then you were able to now just really expand really quickly in the last couple of years I think the biggest mistake that we made um in hindsight is not growing the team early enough We tried to, but I think we got so busy with the ops of doing this because running an accelerator is really ops heavy and very manual, right?

7:57And then you have the angel community through which we invest is also ops heavy and very manual. So Vikas and I were doing the work of like 10 people each up until last year. And I think the best decision we made last year was to get the team going in terms of now we're about four people in the team, of course. but that really has helped us access a lot more opportunities to scale that we weren't able to do earlier. But I think you always have the right time to do things. And a lot of things just like fell into place. 2024, we saw some exits. We also looked at, we increased the frequency with which we were investing because the angel community also grew.

8:37So I think when the community in India started seeing the kind of deal flow that we were bringing, I think a big chunk of investors in the space, like when you look at PCs or you look at folks that are even in PE, they talk a lot in AUM that, you know, oh, this is where I work. This is my fund. And I do one billion AUM. Great. But at the end of the day, what is your deal flow like? Because the deal flow actually supersedes the AUM. Right. You could have 100, 200 billion to deploy. But if you don't have good deal flow, it doesn't matter. So I think we wanted to get that right. And that inflection point was sometime around 2023, 2024.

9:17And when we started seeing those investments do well, you also get very happy about seeing the bets that you've taken do well. So it brings confidence within the community. And so that, again, that flywheel goes and people come in and want to join the angel network. So when the angels grow, frequency of deal grows. Now we've done about 14 deals last year. and this year probably more right and the portfolio growth also attracts more founders right so you know how where i'm going with this right so that entire flywheel just kind of fell into place um i think last year and now we're just looking at growing um our portfolio at least

9:55Amardeep Parmar:by 20 to 25 companies more so it's paradise between what we do and what you do right so it's like bits for you're a few years ahead so i'm learning from what you're doing there and what made you go for kind of the angel syndicate side of things rather than maybe the VC side of things like what made you go down angel syndicate first rather than VC and what's the kind of plans around that we were actually really intentional about being an angel community although I think a lot of things that happened for me because I started this when I was 23 right and there was a lot I was also learning while I was building this but while the angel community happened organically when one of the mentors from the because cohort one was a very special cohort for us and there were a lot of mentors who were close to us.

10:37He said that guys even for your first batch this is really incredible deal flow and like I would like to put a check in in one of the companies and then we started thinking we were like okay if we want to put checks why don't we start with the angel community but we decided to remain an angel community even in our seventh year of the sale because of one really important thing. As a fund manager or a first-time fund manager you would go to the same institutions and same LPs to raise capital? What impact are you actually creating in terms of diversity on that layer? So if I'm going to them and I'm speaking to somebody that I want to raise capital from, there are not a lot of women there either, right?

11:15So we wanted to ensure that if we are looking to grow diversity within the venture capital space or this asset class, how do we see more women enter the space? And you've got to start them as angels, right so we now have focused on like I said we're 60 percent women angels that can now convert into women becoming LPs now a big chunk of a lot of women who invest with us are also coming from family offices they had never invested before right there was no lack of capital there was no lack of access they just did not look at this asset class or think that they were confident enough to actually go and deploy checks.

11:51So the angel community is really the hardest and slowest way to do this. But it's the most rewarding because we've actually been able to make far faster first checks than a lot of funds do. And I think we like to call ourselves the early believers and all of the angels along with us. So to actually put that into play was really important for us. And now as it grows, we can, of course, also look at the fund.

12:17Amardeep Parmar:And with those conversations, the female angels, right? And if they're doing it for the first time, how does that conversation go? Is it quite a simple thing to be like, we're doing this, do you want to back us and become an angel? Or do you need to convince them? And what's the kind of worries and concerns they might have that you have been able to convince them to invest? What has really worked for us is that we started with a really great base of about 30 to 40 angels. And they recommended a lot of folks. Now, like I said, when people look at the deal flow, they also feel like I would like to know more about investing in this particular sector.

12:55And every angel who reaches out to us has a very different take on why they want to invest. Right. There are angels who maybe the first set would be angels who are doing it. I want to give back to the community. This could be Indian diaspora outside of India, by the way. It could be folks within India who are now retired. It could be C-suite. You know, folks that are working at large MNCs are saying that, OK, I would like to give back to the community. And so and I've made all my investments in other asset classes. So I would like to invest here. The second set of angels would be folks that are looking at pure returns.

13:28They're the toughest, obviously, because they are also retail investors. And they look at it from a perspective of telling me what you're going to get for my$1 or my$2. And the conversation is very different with them. The third set of angels are the ones who actually want to back particular sectors. So they're really intentional. And they're saying, listen, my background is in energy or my background is in science. I would like to look at companies in this space because I'm passionate about the space. So all of the angels that are part of the network, they usually have a conversation with me before they join.

14:05And these are very common questions that come by, you know, in terms of what kind of sectors are you investing in? What's the minimum check size? You'd be surprised how many people actually don't know that a minimum check size can be as small as£4 ,000. They do not know that. And then the third one is, of course, exits. It's the biggest question that everybody has. but for us I think we've tried we've figured out how to navigate all three types of angel investors and are serving all three of them pretty pretty interestingly and recently in the community so for us I think this is how we kind of look at most of our base of investors who come to us and so far it's not been as challenging but I think the most challenging has been to get women to make to put their first check.

14:54After onboarding them, I've spent at least two hours in walking them through how angel investing works and how do you evaluate deals, right? So one thing that has worked for us to get and navigate that challenge is just encouraging women to access deal flow. If you don't want to invest, don't invest. Join the community, attend the pitch call, see what's happening in the ecosystem and then if you want to put a check you do and without I think feel every single one of them has invested in the first deal or the second deal that they've looked at so yeah I think that's how I would put it.

15:31Amardeep Parmar:Hello hello I hope you've enjoyed the show so far I'm Amadeep Palma co-founder of BayHQ and the host of this show for those of you who don't know BayHQ is the community for high growth Asian heritage founders and investors in the UK over 7 ,500 people have attended our events 200 people have been for our impact programs and obviously there's been over 250 episodes of this podcast if you want to join us and take part in the programs and come to the events go to bahiehq.com forward slash join we also just released our first ever book called startups for outsiders which you can get on amazon now and the link is in the bio hope to see you soon at our event hope you enjoy the rest of the episode So when there's like new angel investors, right, how is it different when somebody's maybe pitching somebody who's never invested before?

16:23Amardeep Parmar:So if there's a founder now who's like got somebody who's interested in the company, but they're pitching an investor who's a bit scared about doing the first check, how would you go about that? Or how would you coach a founder who's in that situation? I think the way we kind of do this is because we invest as a group. So the founders usually don't know if they're putting the first check, right? So for the investor, I can answer it better, but for founders, how we usually prepare them is to talk to any VC the same way. I think for most angel investors who are looking at first checks are really highly indexing the team.

17:00And that's usually how we recommend them to also invest. The team is usually 60 to 65 percent of your decision for pre-seed. What does the founder really have to actually show at pre-seed and seed? Right. Even if you have revenue, it will be early revenue or maybe you have an MVP. But the biggest bet that you're making is actually on the person. So how do you really evaluate founders when they are pitching to you is one piece that I do with the angels. For the founders, I think it's common advice because they will be pitching to a group of investors with us. And the first filter for them is also to pitch to us.

17:37And so how we actually coach the founders to do this is really focus very, very sharply on why you're the best team to do this. And the second piece would be, where do you really want to take the company with the capital that you're raising? I think having clarity of where you want to take the company in the next 12 months is more than enough. Every founder learns when they enter the market. Things change. You can also pivot. But if you're able to learn fast, you can actually look at creating a plan for the investor that you're pitching to, to give them comfort. I've thought about every single piece of how this could also go wrong and this could go right.

18:19And the ideal case is this scenario. So I think having the clarity and being really articulate about how you want to approach the next 12 months is good enough for you to pitch to an angel investor.

18:30Amardeep Parmar:So it's a classic case with lots of underrepresented founders where they don't brag enough, right? So as we know, it's all about the team, but then they'll skim over the team slide or they'll be like, oh, yeah, I did this for a couple of years and then carry on, right? Because they're uncomfortable talking about themselves and what they've achieved. And obviously, you've coached so many founders with pitches. What do you try and get them to bring out there? What are some of the traits you think that's really important for people to showcase or how can they make sure they present themselves in the right way?

18:56I think the way, and these are things that I've looked at since batch one to now, and every founder that we've worked with, of course, because the program focuses on female founders, and I'm going to try to focus on that piece, right? I think the one thing that women do not do really well is make quick decisions. And sometimes when you take too long to make a decision, it can also cost you capital and it can also cost you time. This is both from women who are investing and women who are raising when it comes to capital. And we've seen that very, very differently in men who are pitching. They'll set out audacious, large goals.

19:44They will also be very open about where they could go wrong. We like to be really detailed. as women we also like to be prepared and so sometimes it just takes longer for us to get out there and just put ourselves out there and say that listen this is what I'm doing and I might not have all the answers right now but I know that this is what I want to do so having that conviction in yourself and being okay to be vulnerable and going out there with a half-baked pitch deck which women usually don't do but I've seen a lot of other folks do it is one piece that we have at least observed across all of the cohorts that they really like to be prepared.

20:21And I think sometimes it slows you down. But I think a big part of that becomes really important when you're looking at financial projections. So the projections might be realistic, but they might not actually display the ambition that you really want to display, right? I think the best way we usually ask them to navigate this piece is we actually just push them. I sit on their head and I'm just like, you have to post this or you have to, because the reason why we do small batches is that we do 15 companies or less per batch in the accelerator. Our average has actually been about 10 to 11, right?

20:59And when you're working with such a close-knit group, you can actually coach them and work with them on areas that they have not yet thought about. So I think one piece would be that, which is how to think big, or rather how to actually showcase that you're thinking big. And the second would be just having done really good research about your competitors. I think a big gap that exists, and this is in general, I don't think it's to do with folks that are underrepresented or not, is that sometimes we tend to think that research in competition is not as important because maybe we think we're the only Everyone's doing it.

21:42But there are, I think there are very few original ideas in the world. And there's always someone doing it elsewhere. So I think having a really clear understanding of how many people have attempted this in the past and not done well, what is the current landscape like, can help you position your product better. So I think the positioning is a big part of the narrative and then a big part of the pitch. right and so that is one piece that I've worked a lot with with our founders but which has actually helped them raise capital because they were positioning themselves against the wrong like competitive landscape or the umbrella that they were looking at the investors may have had past investments that didn't do well in those sectors so sometimes the reason why investors also say no is is this which is that okay I've invested in xyz and it didn't go well I would like to sit out of this one.

22:36The moment you change or reposition yourself and you're able to actually showcase why you're different, it helps. So I think that is just universal general stuff that we usually help with throughout the cohort. But I think for underrepresented founders and women, it's really important to showcase that you are thinking big enough and it's okay to make mistakes and be a little unprepared or go into rooms that you feel unprepared for, but just enter anywhere. So, yeah.

23:02Amardeep Parmar:And I guess part of that too is seeing the success. So like you had so many great successes through the accelerator. Yeah. Is there a couple you can just highlight for us as well? Just like just shout about their success. Companies that we've invested in? Absolutely. It's going to be so tough for me to choose one or two. But we've backed about 30 companies and there's an under 25 team that we've recently backed. They're working in the energy space. It's called Mine Electric. And they were also part of our ninth cohort. they are building in the long duration energy space for APAC and they're the only players in APAC doing this at the moment with R &R batteries so I think I personally love the entire space of deep tech and 40 % of our portfolio is deep tech so I wanted to give a shout to mine.

23:47I think another one that I could possibly share is it's a different one it's a consumer brand called Nori but it's a luggage brand. And Nori specifically has the thesis that luggage is really boring and it's not really built for women. And they've actually designed luggage for women and travel gear. So it's India's first travel gear brand that's building, you know, luggage and bags and accessories for women. So that's one. And third would be one in healthcare. We've also done, we've just invested in Pinky Promise. It's a women's health company. And at less than$1, They're able to give you a prescription.

24:25So it's India's or rather maybe the world's first AI clinic for women to just download the app and you're able to get a prescription in less than five minutes and under a dollar, which is really cool. So yeah.

24:37Amardeep Parmar:So every time I've met you, you've been to, you've been to ZUKA at least three times the last few years, right? This is my third trip, yeah. And obviously you've been building out relationships here. Yes. And this time around you came with the Indian delegation as well. Yes. And I'm trying to remember the first time I met you, obviously everything was going really well but then I can just see that growth you've had yeah and now you're a big part of advocacy for the entire market right as well yes and how have you seen like the whole Indian market adapt and change in that seven years because you've obviously been a part of it yourself you've seen the whole ecosystem grow yeah I think the ecosystem now it's it's the best time to build in India and it's the best time to start a fund in India and we're already seeing that from 2019 to now 2026.