Summary:
- Indian startups are scaling faster than ever before
- Peak XV’s Surge bets on building decade-defining companies
- Market could see ₹10,000 Cr firms in the next 10 years
India’s Startup Growth is Outpacing Investor Imagination
Indian startups are growing at a pace most investors fail to anticipate, says Rajan Anandan, Managing Director at Peak XV Partners. Speaking to Mint, Anandan stressed that the real challenge is not in capital or talent but in the failure of imagination among investors who consistently underestimate the scale of India’s economy.
“A decade ago, hitting ₹100 crore revenue was a success. Today, companies aim for ₹1,000 crore. Ten years from now, we’ll be looking at ₹10,000 crore companies,” Anandan remarked.
Surge and the Next Wave of Indian Giants
Anandan leads Surge, Peak XV’s scale-up program for early-stage startups. The initiative has already backed some of India’s most ambitious ventures and is designed to help them reach global scale.
As India’s GDP is expected to grow from $4 trillion to $7–8 trillion, Anandan believes the next wave of companies will be far bigger than today’s market leaders. The potential is not just domestic, he argued, but global — with Indian companies increasingly serving international markets.
Why Investors Keep Missing the Opportunity
Despite India’s strong fundamentals, many investors rely too heavily on historical data. “Most analyze the last 10 years and project linearly,” Anandan explained. This backward-looking approach, he added, is why models like brand roll-ups and e-commerce aggregators often stall — they underestimate how consumer demand will multiply in the next cycle.
For Peak XV, the conviction is clear: India is entering its decade of scale, and those who fail to adjust their lens risk missing out on billion-dollar opportunities.
