The Moonshot Game: Adventures of an Indi

India's start-up revolution began in 1998 when the first venture capitalists (VCs) arrived from the US and backed early businesses in IT services for global corporations. The second wave came in 2006 when home-grown VCs raised large amounts of capital and funded products and services companies for Indian consumers. This is a gripping behind-the-scenes account of a VC's journey right from the beginning of the second start-up revolution in India in 2006 until the end of the funding frenzy in 2016. A story about how global conditions local consumers founder ambition and good old greed shaped the start-up story in India. Rahul Chandra tells us in this candid memoir about his journey building one of India's oldest venture capital firms. In a remarkably gripping manner he recounts his adventures in India's hyper-funded start-up ecosystem. The Moonshot Game gives readers an insight into the secret world of VCs with unguarded stories involving large bets and big mistakes and tales of how one juggles several investments at the same time. Rahul shows why being a VC is a constant journey of ups and downs why building value is a long-term business and why no amount of failure can be an excuse to lose optimism in the power of entrepreneurship. About the Author Rahul Chandra is one of the earliest venture capitalists in India. He started his journey in 1998 at Walden International's India-focused fund. He later moved to Palo Alto California to invest in Silicon Valley start-ups. In 2005 he co-founded Helion Ventures and relocated to India. At Helion he invested more than $100 million in start-ups including SMS Gupshup Equitas Small Finance Bank (IPO) Spandana (IPO) Shubham Housing Finance UnitedLex Toppr(acquired by Byju's) RailYatri and MoEngage. Arkam Ventures is his new $100-million fund that invests in companies using technology to disrupt and create new markets for middle-India consumers. Some of the companies he has invested in at Arkam include Smallcase Jar Invact Metaversity and Jai Kisan.Rahul lives in Bangalore Karnataka. Apart from deep dives with founders and cooking meals he spends his time solving crosswords reading history books and learning to breathe consciously.Rahul has an undergraduate degree from BITS Pilani and an MBA degree from the University of California Berkeley.