What are the hard truths about being a startup builder in manufacturing, and what was Vertex Ventures’ thesis for investing in such a tradition-bound and notoriously difficult space? And how does it feel to be a female only founder-investor pair in such a male-dominated world?

In This Episode

(01:10 ) Vertex and Karkhana; Meeting, first impressions and the investment thesis

(08:18 ) How Karkhana got started

(12:50 ) Hard Truths about building and investing in manufacturing startups

(18:20 ) How Karkhana scaled their business

(21:32 ) Importance of company culture

(27:42 ) The value Vertex brought to Karkhana as an investor

(29:23 ) Hard Truth about authenticity

(31:10 ) Insights about being a female VC and advice for new female founders

Our Guests

Sonam Motwani is the founder & CEO of Karkhana.io, a one-stop solution for custom manufacturing that offers clients on-demand manufacturing with seamless execution from quotation to delivery.

Kanika Mayar is the partner with Vertex Ventures SEA and India who led the investment in Karkhana

Vertex Ventures is proud to be associated with over 20 female-founded startups across SEA and India and this episode is part of our special series for International Women’s Day 2023. Throughout March we will feature four accomplished women business leaders along with their Vertex investors so do subscribe to our show and discover what it takes for women leaders to succeed in what is still a male-dominated space.

Links

• Show notes and full transcript for the episode

Your Host

Elise Tan is the Director of Communications and Community at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India. Prior to joining Vertex, she has had extensive experience in investor relations and partnership at global venture funds and accelerators with more than $100m in AUM. Elise also currently runs a Southeast Asia-based startup community of nearly 800 entrepreneurs called the Asia Startup network and actively supports their startup journey through panels, meet-ups and mentoring programs.

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Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists and industry experts in the region and to gain industry insights from those in the know.

If you like what you hear, please click follow or subscribe and share it with entrepreneurs or investors in your circle so we can all grow, succeed and build the future of SEA and India together.

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