Aakash Tulsani

Global growth technology Investing Privilege to work with @zepto @icertis @cohesity @moengage @meesho @yubi @blackbuck @khatabook @dailyhuntapp

[Aakash Tulsani @AakashTulsani]

Thrilled to lead the latest round and partner with @viditaatrey @barnwalSanjeev and @Meesho_Official team...3 years of tracking and perseverance but excited for what in store for the future :)

Few thoughts below🧵
cc @DhruvJain95 Kabir @esaverin @BCapitalGroup

[Deedy @deedydas]

Zepto’s just filed to go public in India for ~$7-10B!

All in just 5yrs by 2 Stanford dropouts. What an absolutely incredible story!

Last year,
— Revenue 2x’d to ~$2.4B
— Loss margins halved (-26%), looks like a path to profitability
— ~50M users and rev/user growing

Thats the scale and market cap of Swiggy, which had a 8yr head start, in half the time. Zomato, with a 13yr head start, is at $24B.

Looks like 10min grocery delivery is here to stay.

[Aadit Palicha @aadit_palicha]

Thank you sir - it was a pleasure to spend time with you!

[Buggy Human @SridharanAnand]

Events in Bangladesh confirm my longstanding theory that ...

Microfinance fellows are up to no good.

[Aakash Tulsani @AakashTulsani]

Grateful for continuing the journey with @Meesho_Official @viditaatrey @barnwalSanjeev…reflections on a milestone for an evergreen compounder

https://t.co/hqnI9f8Wri

+ hits and missus from 2021 thoughts!

[Aakash Tulsani @AakashTulsani]

Thrilled to lead the latest round and partner with @viditaatrey @barnwalSanjeev and @Meesho_Official team...3 years of tracking and perseverance but excited for what in store for the future :)

Few thoughts below🧵
cc @DhruvJain95 Kabir @esaverin @BCapitalGroup

[Vidit Aatrey @viditaatrey]

Meesho completes 10 years today.

Ten years ago, we didn’t have an office.
We didn’t even have an app.
We had no playbook. No GTM plan. Just curiosity and a deep desire to solve.

But we had one idea: what if e-commerce could work for the millions of Indians the internet had left behind?

Back then, we were sitting quietly in shops across Koramangala, watching how real people sold and bought. On WhatsApp, through photos, with trust as their only infrastructure.

We didn’t come from retail backgrounds. We didn’t know what “growth hacks” meant. But we learned. From homemakers. From shopkeepers. From sellers who were running businesses out of their homes long before they were called entrepreneurs.

From those who joined us in the early years with raw belief, to those who came in more recently asking, "How can we do this better?", this journey belongs to you just as much as it belongs to us. Somewhere along the way, we found you : our team. The believers, the builders, the problem-solvers.

To our engineers who built for low-end phones, not just the latest ones.
To our business team who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with sellers across the country.
To our growth, monetisation, and product teams who turned ideas into engines.
To our logistics and fulfillment teams who ensured every delivery carried the promise of trust.
To our legal, finance, ops, and support teams who kept us strong behind the scenes.
To our HR team who shaped the culture that made all of this possible.
To our new initiatives team who constantly asked, "What next?"
To our shareholders, who supported us through all the pivots and tough decisions.

And most of all, to the people who trust us every single day : our users, our sellers, and our logistics partners. You made this journey meaningful. Thank you.

We’ve come a long way.
From social selling to full-fledged e-commerce. From one seller to millions. From WhatsApp groups to AI-first platforms.
But what hasn’t changed is why we started: to democratize access. To opportunity. To markets. To trust.

As we mark this milestone, with cake, of course, we’ll also do what we’ve always done.
Go back to the problem.
Talk to a seller. Listen to a user. Sit with a Valmo partner. Learn from a creator.
And ask ourselves: what more can we unlock?

Because the future isn’t waiting. And at Meesho, we’re already building it together.

@barnwalSanjeev @Meesho_Official

[fintechjunkie @fintechjunkie]

A New Chapter

Dear Friends in the Venture Capital and Startup Communities,

By now, some of you may have seen the news, though I'd hardly call it newsworthy: After 17 incredible years, I've decided to step away from my role at QED Investors, the firm I co-Founded and have poured my heart into. Effective January 1, 2026, I will transition to a Partner Emeritus role at QED. That role will allow me to collaborate with, and support, my colleagues at QED while giving me the freedom to spread my wings and return to my roots.

This isn't goodbye – far from it. It's simply the chance for me to explore interesting opportunities and spend time on what has always energized me: The exhilarating 0-1 phase of building new things. I’ve learned to become a decent Investor over the years, but where I think I truly shine is in the realm of navigating the idea maze and creating things that didn’t exist before. Building is in my blood and the Founders who've worked with me know this to be true.

Let me be clear: I love QED. Nigel and I have worked together for more than 30 years between Capital One and QED, and it has been amazing. We've accomplished so much together, and I will forever be proud and grateful. I love our Team and our Founders.

I'm simply switching seats at the table. I'll be exploring opportunities that the Universe kindly places in my path and see this as a chance to collaborate with the many remarkable people I've grown to know and respect in the VC world. I'm looking forward to partnering with hungry, eager Founders who, for some strange reason, will be willing to work with a startup junkie like me.

As a few of you know, the first business that I plan on getting out of the ground is in the music industry. It’s easy to call me crazy for all the obvious reasons, but it’s worth reserving judgment until you learn more about the business that’s evolved in my head and sat on the shelf for years. It will be fun to build and could actually make a huge difference to an industry that none of us could imagine living without.

And one more thing: I'll likely write a book centered around my observations and frameworks for the startup and VC worlds. This shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me – writing is my oxygen. I can’t imagine a life without it even though ChatGPT and Claude are better writers than I am.

So please, reach out. You know how to find me. And in the immortal words of Lewis Carroll: "The adventure first, explanations take such a dreadful time."

With gratitude and excitement for what's next,

The VC formerly known as the fintechjunkie

[Aadit Palicha @aadit_palicha]

Zepto Café has hit 100K orders/day. That's closing in on a $100M Ann. GMV with a ~50% steady-state GM.

It hasn't been easy to get Café the ground and many challenges are still work-in-progress, but I believe this is the beginning of a revolution in India's QSR industry.

[Vidit Aatrey @viditaatrey]

Meesho is building India’s largest creator marketplace! 🚀

We’re transforming influencer-led shopping by launching Content Commerce—a dedicated business unit empowering creators, sellers, and consumers in a dynamic three-way marketplace. 21,000+ creators are now part of this ecosystem, with 14.5M users shopping through content-led experiences.

Through Creator Club—our in-house affiliate program, Video Finds, and Live Shop, we’re democratizing content commerce by unlocking economic opportunities for creators of all sizes and followerships. Whether in metros or small towns, emerging and established influencers alike can monetize their content, drive real sales, and thrive.

Take Ramyaa Gopi, a creator from Chennai—her product review of a ‘magic eraser’ from Meesho hit 1.2M views. Through Meesho Creator Club, thousands of creators like her are turning content into an income stream, earning upto ₹5 lakh+ every month.

By making content commerce inclusive, accessible, and rewarding, @Meesho_Official is empowering creators across India to shape the future of e-commerce.

https://t.co/HcqzP4SQ1t

[Marcelo Claure @marceloclaure]

My life

[Andrew Ng @AndrewYNg]

Today's "DeepSeek selloff" in the stock market -- attributed to DeepSeek V3/R1 disrupting the tech ecosystem -- is another sign that the application layer is a great place to be. The foundation model layer being hyper-competitive is great for people building applications.

[Janelle Teng Wade @NextBigTeng]

Profoundly honored to share this journey with all the incredible founders I’ve had the privilege of working with. Thank you for trusting me to walk alongside you as you all change the world!

This milestone is also a reflection of the incredible support, collaboration, and mentorship, I’ve received from my teammates at @BessemerVP . You all inspire me to become a better person every day. Forge ahead! 🚀

[Zishaan Hayath @Zishaan]

In the last week of 2024, I spent a few days riding 🏍️ in Meghalaya and Assam. I started riding out of Guwahati and here are my notes and highlights from the trip 👇🏽

[Aadit Palicha @aadit_palicha]

We're launching a separate app for Zepto Café next week! The team is shipping an MVP and iterating quickly, so it may not be perfect on Day 1, but it's worth it to launch fast :D

Café is scaling rapidly: we're launching 100+ Cafés a month and already clocking 30K orders/day 🚀

[Vidit Aatrey @viditaatrey]

So proud.

Most heartfelt acceptance speech of the evening 👌

[Shuvi Shrivastava @shuvi]

truly surprised there aren’t more founders working on solving the imminent white collar job crisis. ok sure “AI will create new jobs” but what are they, what skill sets do we need to build, how do we enable access for everyone?

who’s working on this or has strong thoughts on this - I’m in SF the next couple weeks, ☕️?

[Buggy Human @SridharanAnand]

The most dangerous people in finance are:
1. High-IQ
2. Confident that all forms of risk are amenable to analysis.

[Vidit Aatrey @viditaatrey]

Nine years ago, Sanjeev and I started Meesho with a clear mission: to democratize internet commerce for every Indian . At the time, many couldn’t see the opportunity or the scale, as e-commerce seemed confined to the big cities. Fast forward to today, our recent Mega Blockbuster Sale is a powerful testament to that goal. We saw unprecedented growth and adoption as crores of users—mainly from tier 2+ areas—once again turned to our platform for their shopping needs. This not only reaffirms our commitment to expanding e-commerce into Bharat, home to the largest consumer base in the country, but also highlights the massive opportunities that lie ahead as we continue to make online shopping even more affordable and accessible for millions.

This festive season, we beat industry estimates for e-commerce growth with a remarkable 40% increase in total orders compared to last year, fueled by:

- 145 crore customer visits
- 45% from tier 4+ cities
- 2X growth in orders on Meesho Mall

Our sellers also benefited immensely, with many doubling their revenue during the sale. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who trusted us with their festive shopping. We’re excited to keep this momentum going and continue delivering even more value in the future!🚀

[Vidit Aatrey @viditaatrey]

What a record-breaking start to our annual Mega Blockbuster Sale!

By just 2 PM yesterday, we had already surpassed our previous best of highest orders placed on Day 1 previous year, and by the end of the day, that number had more than doubled.

~6.5 crore unique customers visited the mobile app on Day 1
~1.5 crore app downloads ahead of the sale
Meesho Mall saw an incredible 2.5x growth in orders compared to last year, ~45% of these orders coming from customers shopping on Mall for the first time

On behalf of everyone at Meesho, thank you 🇮🇳 for trusting us as your go-to online shopping destination! This is just the beginning, and we're excited to break even more records together this festive sale season.

https://t.co/4yblhcZ48v

[Pat Grady @gradypb]

1/ my partners @sequoia like to tell a story about how we had this brilliant SaaS thesis that led us to Fred Luddy, founder of @ServiceNow... but the truth is that we pinged him because it was a company, and my job was to find companies. here is the actual CRM record, starting in 2008:

lmwa [“left message with assistant”, back when cold calls actually involved picking up the phone]
lmwa
emailed
lmwa
emailed
lvm [“left voice mail”]
lvm
lvm
emailed
emailed
emailed
first response!!!

[Buggy Human @SridharanAnand]

Looking forward to Day 3 of Global Traffic Fest.