'Building A Solid Business Case Is A Better Area To Focus With Approaching Investors'

Manish Singhal, Founding Partner, pi Ventures, shares insights on the parameters required for startups to attract investors, in an interaction with Raelene Kambli

- Raelene Kambli

Tell us a little about yourself and how you got involved in working with startups and early-stage entrepreneurs?

After doing my engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1992, I began building several products across startups and established organisations like Sling Media, Ittiam Systems and Motorola. Subsequently, we spent a few years mentoring and investing in several startups from technology and strategy perspective. In the process, also co-founded LetsVenture.com, a platform for investors and startups to discover each other. In short, I have been deeply engaged in the ecosystem for the last few years.

What attracted you to invest in healthcare companies?

India as a market is deeply underserved as far as healthcare is concerned. We have an abysmal patient to doctor ratio and if you talk about access to quality healthcare, the ratio further takes a beating. We simply cannot train enough doctors to bridge this gap. However, AIbacked technology can create a middle layer between the doctors and patient to make the system more effective. Hence, I am quite excited about how technology can make a difference to the entire healthcare space.