The painful development of India’s startups

“How long is your runway before takeoff?” That is how venture capitalists (vcs) begin meetings in India these days, says Ananth Narayanan, founder of Mensa, one of the country’s newest unicorns (companies worth in excess of $1bn). Until recently the main question that mattered for India’s startup scene was valuation. But the mood has changed. Plunging share prices at companies that have gone public have made vc firms much warier about investing. Prizing unrealistic valuations has given way to worrying about how quickly startups might begin to make money. So far Mensa, which buys stakes in digital brands, is one of a handful of such firms that makes a profit.