Shleifer took over as global head of private investments after his predecessor, Lee Fixel, left to start his own fund in 2019. According to at least two sources aware of Cook’s meeting in Bengaluru earlier this month, Cook, who was previously a private equity associate at Apollo Global Management, also discussed that Tiger Global, known for its aggressive growth stage bets in India, is looking to score more early-stage deals (seed to series A-B) and come in early in local startups.
Tiger Global, which has previously backed startups like Flipkart, Ola, Delhivery and others, birthed multiple unicorns such as Groww, ShareChat and Infra.Market, and participated in big follow-on funding rounds in several late-stage startups in 2021 – a record breaking year for big-ticket funding – at high valuations.
Data from London-based Preqin showed Indian startups raised $36 billion in total last year compared to $11.2 billion in 2020. The environment, currently, has changed owing to macroeconomic changes and there was a
37% dip in venture funding for Indian startups in the June quarter compared to the March quarter this year, ET reported on July 4.
“There were one-on-one conversions as well at a group level with certain founders. The message was that if you are managing to perform well while maintaining unit economics there won’t be a dearth of funding for those firms, and they (Tiger) would participate in new rounds. After several aggressive bets last year, now they will double down on winners,” one of the people mentioned above said.
Another person aware of Cook’s interaction with founders said he spoke about Tiger’s increasing intent to invest in early-stage deals in India. ET report- ed on Jun 28 that Alpha Wave Global (formerly Falcon Edge) is also
looking to place more early-stage bets in India.
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In 2022, Tiger Global, which is also an investor in startups like Moglix, Urban Company, has invested in several early-stage startups like electric vehicle (EV) battery swapping startup Battery Smart, fintech firm Jar, software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Toplyn and others.
“Tiger is known for big ticket deals, but they are in conversation for more early-stage deals in India as well as globally,” one of the sources briefed on the matter said. A spokesperson for Tiger Global did not respond to ET’s email query on the matter.
The change in tact comes as Tiger’s hedge fund has seen record losses this year. The Financial Times reported in May that it clocked a $17 billion loss amid the global tech sell-off. SoftBank, another influential and aggressive tech investor, also saw record $26 billion loss in its Vision Fund unit for the year ending March 2022, as ET reported previously.
Sources aware of Cook’s India visit said he has also advised founders not to go in for new fundraises – unless it is unavoidable – as they would likely have to bargain hard for attractive terms, the people cited above said.
While multiple venture funds, including Sequoia Capital, have sent memos to founders on how to prepare for the ‘funding winter’, Tiger Global has been secretive and media-shy about its practices and advice to portfolio firms.
Sources said Cook also told founders that Tiger Global was working on a new fund, though details were not immediately available. In February, it closed a $11 billion fund, exceeding its initial estimates, according to multiple media reports. “It’s a work-in-progress and not much was shared during the visit but a new fund is likely in the works,” sources said.
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