Latest news with #AnantVidurPuri
Mint
08-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
UPI AutoPay set to drive incoming wave of consumer AI companies in India
The launch of UPI AutoPay has led to a new breed of startups and is helping others tweak their strategy to make the best use of the technology. The shift comes at a time when Indians are spending more time and money on the internet. AutoPay's adoption has been sector agnostic. Between 2024 and 2025, startups in edtech, wellness, health tech, fintech, as well as media and entertainment, have raised nearly $7.6 billion from venture capital firms, according to startup data intelligence platform Tracxn. Some of the firms that have adopted a subscription model or have enabled UPI AutoPay include content platforms like Kuku FM and Pocket FM, edtechs like SpeakX, Khare Classes, and Seekho, and wellness platforms like mental health startup Wysa and weight loss and nutrition tracking startup HealthifyMe. 'Anywhere that people need to make regular payments, whether it's towards entertainment or financial services, AutoPay is boosting that,' said Munish Vaid, vice president at global consulting firm Primus Partners. In 2025, India will have over 900 million internet users, according to a 2024 report from market research firm Kantar and the Internet and Mobile Association of India. As a result, UPI AutoPay's adoption is also set to increase. But it isn't new to us. Indians have always paid for television channels and newspaper subscriptions, and even milk. 'AutoPay has opened people up to subscriptions online. It isn't a new market, this is the offline market that is coming online,' said Anant Vidur Puri, partner at global investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners. Indians spend an average of nearly seven hours a day accessing various services and products on the Internet, according to social media intelligence firm Meltwater. Mobile devices account for 58% of this time. Launched in 2021, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) introduced UPI AutoPay, a functionality for recurring payments that allows users to set up e-mandates for things ranging from electricity bills to mutual fund systematic investment plans to even OTT subscriptions. As a result, startups have pivoted their business models: subscription-first platforms priced for the Indian consumer. 'What UPI AutoPay has done is that it has enabled people to recurringly pay for something they want to pay for,' said Puri. The transaction volume of UPI AutoPay from the top 10 remitter banks nearly doubled to 29.29 million in May 2025 from 16.73 million in May 2024, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India, which runs UPI. In contrast, the volume of UPI transactions in May this year alone stood at 18,677 million, valued at ₹ 25 trillion. Harsha Kumar, partner at Lightspeed India, said, 'UPI was the first large tailwind because of which transaction platforms such as ecommerce, transportation and utility all grew. Now, UPI AutoPay is the next big tailwind on the back of which we will see a bunch of fintech and content solutions come up. It's because these are two models where AutoPay or subscription works best." The volume of UPI transactions has gone to 13,116 crore in FY24 from 92 crore in FY18, a compound annual growth rate of 129%. For example, prior to UPI AutoPay, consumers would make mutual fund investments through systematic investment plans (SIPs), doing it through accounts on MF websites. Essentially, AutoPay makes it easier for people to set up their SIPs on brokerage apps like Groww, Zerodha and AngelOne. AutoPay reduces friction for both users and businesses. Traditional subscription systems use credit cards, a financial product with little penetration in India. In comparison, UPI AutoPay is mobile-first, low-cost, and works for small-ticket services. Thirty-seven million AutoPay mandate registrations were made in January this year alone. English-language learning startup SpeakX uses a subscription model, enabled by AutoPay. 'We've been able to capture a market which was untouched because digital penetration there was low. What it has enabled is access to people who want solutions, and it has become feasible for us to serve them at an affordable cost,' said company founder and chief executive Arpit Mittal. The company's product has seen considerable traction from lower-income groups as well as Tier-II and Tier-III cities, primarily due to its ₹ 300-a-month subscription model. Mittal argues that prior to the enablement of AutoPay, consumer companies had to be sales-led in order to convince users to join a platform. 'If I had to do SpeakX five years ago, my only option would be to sell packages to people, and not subscriptions. As a result, my product would be priced very differently and it would be out of the reach of many Indians,' Mittal said. SpeakX is raising up to $15 million in a pre-Series B round, the largest for a personalised AI-led edtech platform so far this year. Existing investor Elevation Capital has already paid the company. Other investors include consumer tech VC firm Goodwater Capital and global investment firm WestBridge Capital. Seekho, an online edutainment OTT platform, pivoted from a yearly payment model to a monthly one. The company had started out at the same time as the National Payments Corporation of India launched AutoPay back in 2021. At the time, monetisation wasn't the goal. By 2023, the company pivoted to a monthly subscription, led by AutoPay. 'It helped us drive good user retention, and for us, we saw it as an opportunity to finally build Netflix-like subscription businesses in India, something that wasn't possible before,' said Rohit Choudhary, founder and CEO of Seekho. As a result of the switch, the company was also able to increase its pricing, starting at ₹ 99 per month before raising it to ₹ 199 a month. That's what Seekho used to charge users yearly before. The pivot was led primarily because the company realised they could acquire more users and keep them engaged for less money spent. 'We saw recurring subscribers increase 3 to 4 months after we shifted to a monthly plan. After that, however, we had returning users coming back, which is where we saw hockey stick growth,' said Choudhary. Seekho claims that it currently has four million users and retains between 30 to 35% of its users over a 12-month period. Their market is spread across India. In terms of revenue, the company said they make ₹ 40 crore every month and that 85% of their user base are paying customers. Choudhary narrates a user interview who said that, considering they require ₹ 400 to recharge their phone every month, paying ₹ 200 to learn isn't a bad deal. 'This is how people compare their spends with Seekho. They don't really compare it with OTT platforms, but to a newspaper or a coaching class where they're paying to learn something.' But there's still a long road ahead. Often, the AutoPay mandate cancellations are hard to find, and users complain that they're losing money on something that they didn't want to continue to pay for. A letter had been sent to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from 'an aggrieved user' earlier this year, alleging unfair auto-debit practices from some of these startups. The letter said that some of these apps didn't provide users a simple way to cancel auto debits and were instead being forced to rely on UPI apps to make those cancellations. 'Eventually, builders will learn how to build for AutoPay, and consumers will learn how to manage AutoPay,' said Lightspeed India's Kumar. 'But we're headed in the right direction.'
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Business Standard
26-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
India's digital economy is primed for significant expansion: Bessemer
India's digital economy is primed for significant expansion, according to a new report released by the India practice of Bessemer Venture Partners. Titled 'Click, Watch, Shop: The Consumer Opportunity in India,' the report outlines how a convergence of technological advances, demographic shifts, and favourable policy developments over the past decade has unlocked what Bessemer estimates to be a $1 trillion digital opportunity. The venture firm points to a 'tailwind trifecta'— rapid internet penetration, a young and tech-savvy population, and supportive government reforms — as key enablers of a new generation of consumer-focused startups. Companies such as Swiggy, Urban Company, Boldfit and Vetic have ridden this wave. They are capitalising on India's growing appetite for on-demand services, health and wellness products, and personalised digital experiences. Looking ahead, Bessemer identifies the continued evolution of online marketplaces, the rise of local content platforms, and shifting consumer aspirations as central to the next wave of growth. 'India presents a $1 trillion dollar digital opportunity. The emergence of multiple consumer marketplaces, platforms and new-age brands in the past decade is a testament to the growing aspirations of an emerging India,' said Anant Vidur Puri, Partner at Bessemer. Puri added, 'This makes us exceptionally optimistic about the potential for many more consumer plays to emerge in the coming years.' Quick commerce The report highlighted that India's burgeoning online commerce sector has witnessed an extraordinary expansion in recent years. Starting from a base of $30 billion in 2020, it is expected to reach $300 billion by the end of the decade in 2030, contributing to a $1 trillion dollar digital opportunity. This demonstrates it is no longer a niche phenomenon catering to a small segment but has firmly established itself as a dominant force within the Indian retail landscape for a significant and growing share of the population. In addition, the recent rise of quick commerce (q-commerce) has introduced a new dimension to the online retail ecosystem, further revolutionising the way consumers access goods. Platforms such as BigBasket, Blinkit, Swiggy, and Zepto have spearheaded this movement, demonstrating the viability and consumer appeal of rapid delivery services. This segment is seeing a further trend of verticalised q-commerce emerging, with startups like Snabbit, Swish and Slikk catering to niche needs. Lastly, direct to consumer (D2C) brands are increasingly catering to an aspirational mass-premium audience — an audience characterised by the demand for newer, better priced, higher quality products. Content revolution The report said that India is also experiencing a content revolution driven by consumers' diverse appetites for entertainment, education, and gaming. Characterised by short attention spans and a multitude of accessible platforms across interests, languages, and budgets, user engagement is rapid, facilitated by frictionless microtransactions or autopay-led subscriptions. Platforms are adapting to these shorter attention spans with quick and engaging content. Over the past five years, short-form video platforms in India have witnessed a 3.6 times growth in daily active users, competing with mainstream digital platforms. Moreover, the rise of virtual tipping, UPI autopay and other micro-transactions is expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2029. They exemplify the growth of UPI-enabled microtransactions, which allow companies to experiment with diverse monetisation models beyond just ads. New Lifestyle The modern Indian consumer's choices increasingly prioritise what were previously seen as lifestyle spending. These include previously thought 'non-essential' spending in areas such as physical and mental health, financial wellness, and pet care. This expenditure has moved from being a good-to-have to a must-have for Indian consumers. For instance, there is increased spending on organic food, protein, fitness gadgets, preventive healthcare, and wellness services. Health-focused food and beverages (F&B) as a category has expanded from about 11 per cent to 16 per cent of F&B spend and is expected to continue increasing as brands have been quick to adapt to this trend. Similar trends can be seen in segments such as financial services, for example, personal finance offerings by players such as Groww. The report concludes with the metrics and numbers that Bessemer tracks to evaluate the robustness of a business. These metrics, pertaining to total addressable market (TAM), acquisition, usage and retention are important for founders to track the health of their business.
Time of India
26-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Bessemer Venture Partners sees $1 trillion digital opportunity in India; eyes quick commerce, D2C boom: report
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Global venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners has projected a $1 trillion digital economy opportunity in India over the next decade, led by a convergence of commerce, content, and rising consumer a report titled 'Click, Watch, Shop: The Indian Consumer Opportunity', the firm said the upcoming wave of value creation in India's consumer internet space could be five times larger than the last decade, with much of it expected to accrue to startups building in segments such as quick commerce , direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, and mobile-first content platforms.'Because of confluence of different sets of events, like smartphone penetration, improvement in the overall income levels of the country and the fact that there is a lot of favourable policy developments, we feel that India is well poised to be a trillion-dollar economy on the tech and digital side in the coming years,' said Anant Vidur Puri, partner, Bessemer Venture venture capital firm highlighted quick commerce as a key trend reshaping the online retail ecosystem, where platforms like Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart have driven consumer adoption of rapid delivery report also signals the rise of verticalised quick commerce startups such as Snabbit, Swish, and the consumer brand front, it noted that direct-to-consumer (D2C) startups across fashion, fitness, personal care, appliances, and food, such as Blissclub, Snitch, Mokobara, The Whole Truth, and Minimalist, are catering to the growing demand for aspirational, high-quality products among India's young, digitally native report also outlined strong investor tailwinds in areas like micro-transactions, pet care brands, mobile gaming, and content platforms built for short attention with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities now embedded across consumer touchpoints, brands are leveraging technology to solve pain points at scale, it Venture Partners, which started its Indian operations in 2006, has invested in more than 80 startups in the country so far, including BigBasket, PharmEasy, Urban Company, and Livspace. Its portfolio has seen nine companies go public, including Swiggy, Indian Energy Exchange , and Bharat this year, Bessemer Venture Partners closed its second dedicated India fund at $350 million, aiming to invest in startups across AI, software-as-a-service (SaaS), fintech, digital health, consumer brands, and cybersecurity domains.
Time of India
26-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
India's digital economy to cross $1 trillion by 2030: Bessemer Report
BENGALURU: India's digital consumer market is set to cross the $1 trillion mark within a decade, fueled by mobile-first behavior and a wave of new consumer brands, according to a new report by Bessemer Venture Partners. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The report, titled Click, Shop, Repeat , finds that rising smartphone usage, affordable mobile data and seamless payments have created a 'triple engine' of commerce, content and consumer discernment, making India one of the most dynamic digital economies globally. 'Even if this grows at a simplistic rate of 20% every year, it will still cross the trillion-dollar mark,' said Anant Vidur Puri, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the authors of the report. 'Time spent on the phone is just going up and up, access to products is far easier, and consumer aspirations have surged. What used to be a trip to the mall and a visit to the movies has now become a mobile-first experience,' he told TOI in an interaction. The report highlighted that mobile internet penetration, with roughly 800 million smartphone users averaging almost eight hours a day online, is reshaping commerce and brand-building. According to the findings, digital platforms have evolved into virtual shelves that enable smaller, niche consumer brands to find national prominence almost instantly. 'If you can be a new disruptor, a new trend, a unique thing in the market, the new consumer is looking for you, and platforms will come and get you. A brand can now get listed on 20 platforms almost without doing anything. That has changed in the last ten years and why it's a great time to build a brand,' Puri said. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The report also underscored the growing significance of consumer retention and its impact on long‑term growth. 'A brand can scale very rapidly, but eventually you have to live up to the test. Retention is the single most important thing, it changes your time to revenue predictability, reduces your marketing working capital, increases your Ebitda, and reduces your cash burn. You have to solve one thing, and that is retention,' Puri added. Bessemer's findings point out that India's digital consumer market comprises many niches, making precision in pricing and positioning vital for new brands. 'India is many Indias. What's affordable for one person is different from what's affordable for someone else. You have to define very clearly, is your TAM a Rs 100 lipstick, a Rs 500 lipstick, or a Rs 1,999 lipstick? At each price point, someone will consider it 'cheap' and someone else 'expensive',' Puri said. With an estimated 600 million people in India born after 2001, the consumer trend is being shaped by a generation for whom mobile commerce and digital payments are second nature. 'All of them, by the time they went to college, existed in a world where smartphones, blazingfast internet and e‑commerce were just facts. This generation spends more than 50% of their waking time online, that's where they shop, watch movies, consume content, learn and spend. This is what gives us the conviction that the digital economy will continue to compound for years to come,' Puri said. According to the report, this trend positions India to join the likes of China, where digital commerce accounts for more than 15% of the overall economy, highlighting a long runway for growth. Puri added, 'the quick commerce phenomenon, this brand‑building playbook, almost how do you build a brand for a billion Indians, you don't have to learn from the US. In India, it's about making brands relevant within the cultural context. These are lessons global markets can learn from India.'
Time of India
25-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
India's digital economy to cross $1tn by 2030: Report
Bengaluru: India's digital economy is set to cross the $1 trillion mark by 2030, according to a report by Bessemer Venture Partners. The report, titled "Click, Shop, Repeat," highlights that mobile-first behaviour and a wave of new consumer brands are driving this growth. Rising smartphone usage, affordable mobile data, and seamless payments have created a "triple engine" of commerce, content, and consumer discernment, making India one of the most dynamic digital economies globally. "Even if this grows at a simplistic rate of 20% every year, it will still cross the $1 trillion mark," said Anant Vidur Puri, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners and one of the authors of the report. "Time spent on the phone is just going up and up, access to products is far easier, and consumer aspirations surged. What used to be a trip to the mall and a visit to the movies has now become a mobile-first experience," he told TOI in an interaction. You Can Also Check: Bengaluru AQI | Weather in Bengaluru | Bank Holidays in Bengaluru | Public Holidays in Bengaluru The report highlighted that mobile internet penetration, with roughly 800 million smartphone users averaging almost eight hours a day online, is reshaping commerce and brand-building. According to the findings, digital platforms evolved into virtual shelves that enable smaller, niche consumer brands to find national prominence almost instantly. "If you can be a new disruptor, a new trend, a unique thing in the market, the new consumer is looking for you, and platforms will come and get you. A brand can now get listed on 20 platforms almost without doing anything. That changed in the last ten years and why it's a great time to build a brand," Puri said. The report also underscored the growing significance of consumer retention and its impact on long-term growth. "A brand can scale very rapidly, but eventually you have to live up to the test. Retention is the single most important thing, it changes your time to revenue predictability, reduces your marketing working capital, increases your Ebitda, and reduces your cash burn. You have to solve one thing, and that is retention," Puri findings point out that India's digital consumer market comprises many niches, making precision in pricing and positioning vital for new brands. "India is many Indias. What's affordable for one person is different from what's affordable for someone else. You have to define very clearly, is your TAM (total addressable market) a Rs 100 lipstick, a Rs 500 lipstick, or a Rs 1,999 lipstick? At each price point, someone will consider it 'cheap' and someone else 'expensive'," Puri said. With an estimated 600 million people in India born after 2001, the consumer trend is being shaped by a generation for whom mobile commerce and digital payments are second nature. "All of them, by the time they went to college, existed in a world where smartphones, blazing fast internet and e-commerce were just facts. This generation spends more than 50% of their waking time online, that's where they shop, watch movies, consume content, learn and spend. This is what gives us the conviction that the digital economy will continue to compound for years to come," Puri said. According to the report, this trend positions India to join the likes of China, where digital commerce accounts for more than 15% of the overall economy, highlighting a long runway for growth. Puri added, "the quick commerce phenomenon, this brand building playbook, almost how do you build a brand for a billion Indians, you don't have to learn from the US. In India, it's about making brands relevant within the cultural context. These are lessons global markets can learn from India."
