5100: Lightspeed’s Bejul Somaia on IPO realities and India’s AI gap; AI-native fintechs yet to emerge, says QED’s Sandeep Patil and Legacy players take lead in EV two-wheeler race amid discounts and subsidy rush | MC Tech3

IPO isn't the finish line, says line space bejulesomaya.

India's AI native FinTech gap opens up 300 million opportunity.

Legacy players take lead in EB2 wheeler race amid ear end discounts and subsidiary rush.

Dream level bets big on watch long targets 50 million users during IPO.

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Let's start with the reality check from the venture capital world.

If founders think an IPO is the finish line, they may be running the wrong race.

Light speeds, bejulesomaya stays, IPOs are just a financing event, not an outcome.

In other words, listing gives you capital but it does not guarantee returns.

He also points out that in volatile markets, rushing to go public without predictable performance can't actually backfire.

Companies can end up struggling post listing if expectations are not met.

Interestingly, four funds like Light Speed, a lot of returns actually come from secondary sales, not IPOs.

Zooming out Somayasi's macro uncertainty from inflation to geopolitics is still weighing on investor sentiment.

But at the same time, AI is creating a generational shift which runners can scale much faster.

On India, the opportunity is clear but urgency is lacking.

He says founders here are not moving fast enough compared to the US, especially in building AI applications.

So according to him, the message is that the next decade will reward speed and execution not just timing the IPO window.

Now staying with AI but moving to FinTech, there seems to be a gap that is becoming harder to ignore.

Despite strong digital and fraud massive data availability, India still does not have many AI needs of FinTechs.

In fact, QED investors send a portal to Money Control, said that the building blocks are already in place.

From UPI to Accountant Gator Systems, India has one of the richest structured financial data ecosystems globally.

But the potential is still very underutilized.

One big opportunity area is fraud detection according to PARTL.

Now digital financial frauds are estimated at around 35,000 crore rupees annually and the scale is only expected to grow with AI.

Now PARTL says if companies can build strong AI-led fraud detection systems in India, they could scale this globally as well and succeed.

Now QED itself is looking to invest up to $300 million in India focusing on AI need to financial services, cross-border payments and personalized wealth platforms.

So while the Infra is ready, the next wave totally depends on whether founders can build truly AI-first FinTech products.

Now to the electric vehicle market, where March numbers show a clear shift in leadership, India's electric 2-wheeler registration stood at around 1.39 lakh units this month with legacy players taking the lead.

Now TVS Motor topped the charts with over 27% market share followed by Bajaj and Aether Energy.

Meanwhile, early leader Rola Electric slipped to fifth place highlighting how execution and services are becoming as important as pricing.

Now March also saw a surge in demand driven by discounts and policy deadlines. Let me explain what's happening.

Companies rolled out top companies like TBS, Aether and Ola Electric rolled out aggressive offers to clear the financial year end inventory while buyers also rushed to take advantage of subsidies.

Before the March 31 deadline under the PME drives scheme comes to a close, even though we do not have a clarity on whether it's actually coming to an end on March 31st, 2026 because there's no notification as yet.

But this also raises the key question what happens after subsidies taper off.

Industry watchers say that affordability could come under pressure which may slow demand in the coming months.

And finally, a shift in the sports tech space dream 11 is reworking its platform to lean more into content and engagement.

The company is targeting 50 million monthly active users for its watch-along feature during the IPL season.

Now this comes after a major pivot the company took following regulatory changes that impacted real money gaming.

Dream 11 redesigned itself into a content led Twitch-like platform.

Now watch-along allows users to follow matches through live streams hosted by creators and former cricketers adding a more interactive layer to viewing.

The platform already has around 10 to 15 million active users and over 250 million registered users overall.

Now to driving engagement it is adding features like ports, trivia chat and virtual gifting making the experience more participatory.

Now fantasy sports is still there but now as just one part of a broader ad supported ecosystem.

So the idea according to the company CEO Harsh Jane is to shift from just gaming to a mix of content, community and interactivity around live sports.

Alright, that's a wrap for today's episode of Tech 3 from Money Control.

A big shout out to our reporters from the Deccan startup team for the stories we cover today.

Thank you so much listeners, we air every Monday to Friday between 7.30 and 8.30 PM.

So tune in for more news minus the boring bits. This is Vavya LeLip from our signing off.

You were listening to Money Control's Tech 3 podcast.