Atharva comes to Lightbox with a strong background in technology. After graduating with a Computer Science degree from University of Mumbai, he spent the next few months studying Technology and Innovation at Stanford. While in Palo Alto, he deep dived into the intertwined world of Startups and Venture Capital, coming out the other end wanting to learn more.
Always the eager one, he was an early employee at a curated events startup while still in college. He oversaw their growth across multiple cities while heading operations. A common thread connecting this experience and the Venture Capital ecosystem is the importance of storytelling and the power of human connection. He is fascinated by how technology and people interact and wants to explore the subsequent startups which are born out of it. They say investing is both a Science and an Art; his background is a good reflection of that. At Lightbox, Atharva works closely with the portfolio companies and helps build the investment thesis. When not analysing startups, you can find him plugged into his newly discovered podcast for the week- binging away!
What does failure mean to you? A time to ponder and reflect.
What’s your superpower? Empathy!
Which is your favourite city in the world? I have a long term love-hate relationship with Bombay
If you weren’t a venture capitalist, you’d be.. A teacher
Favorite books you’ve read this year Surely you’re joking, Mr Feynman! by Richard Feynman and Peak by Anders Ericsson
Propelled by the exit of TikTok, access to cheap mobile data powered by Jio, and the availability of budget smartphones has created an ever-expanding whitespace of these ‘Bharat’ users. This has resulted in a fascinating battle of video content being fought between upstarts and new offerings by incumbent Indian media / digital content companies. Instead of trying to predict a winner, we’re going to unbundle what it takes to build a brilliant company in the short-form video app space.
Social Commerce (or Interactive Commerce) is a philosophy toward online shopping that humanizes the robotic online shopping experience, applying insights and design approaches that have been more traditionally associated with gaming, social media, or entertainment platforms. We deep dive into this topic with success stories, models and key takeaways for this rapidly evolving sector and is going to be the defining experience of commerce this decade.
We have always been bullish and very confident on the Kirana story playing out in India. As the second wave of startups bring with it a new wave of digitization, we’re keeping our eyes and ears close to the ground, while trying to find answers to differentiation, retention, and monetisation. Here's a deep dive into the topic, If you’re a founder building something fascinating here, write to us!
Going omni-channel is especially useful for brands with an only physical presence. This is especially relevant in India. As the country went under lockdown, there was also a race to pivot to a digital offering. Who would be the first one to offer the best quality product? We feel the ability to expand and have roots in an omni-channel distribution space would be an important yardstick to measure the company’s success in the fitness industry.
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