Market

Where the fundable companies come from.

The categories that work from here, the ones we avoid, and why. Better specific and wrong than broad and unfalsifiable.

The stack

Four layers, different economics.

Local capital crowds the consumer layer. The durable companies are further down.

Where value accrues
LayerExampleOur view
Infrastructure and toolingDeveloper tools, APIs, data infrastructureStrongest fit — global buyer from day one
Vertical softwareWorkflow tools for a named foreign industryStrong fit — if the buyer is reachable remotely
Applied AIA model wrapped around one costly workflowSelective — the workflow must be specific
Local consumerApps monetised by local advertisingPoor fit — rupee revenue, capital intensive
Circuitry standing in for platform infrastructure Infrastructure
A woven textile laid out on a table Vertical
Server racks running in a data centre Applied AI
A local clothing store interior Consumer
Fundable pockets

Six places we expect to write cheques.

Same shape every time: engineering-heavy, remotely sellable, priced in a currency that holds.

A build pipeline running in a code editor

Developer tooling

Testing, observability, build and deploy. The buyer is an engineer who judges the product, not the postcode.

Paper forms and spreadsheets on a desk

Back-office automation

The unglamorous processes inside foreign mid-market companies that are still run on spreadsheets and email.

A payments reconciliation view on screen

B2B fintech infrastructure

Reconciliation, compliance workflow, payment operations. Not lending, not deposits, not a licence we do not hold.

Finished garments on a rail ready for export

Vertical SaaS for export industries

Textiles, surgical instruments, sports goods, freight. Real domain knowledge, foreign counterparties.

A worker checking finished garments on a production line

Applied AI on a named workflow

Document handling, quality inspection, support deflection. Value measured in hours or errors removed.

Data routes traced across a globe

Data and integration services

Pipelines and connectors sold as product, by the engineers who spent a decade building them as a service.

White space

The gap is the first cheque.

Accelerators write small cheques and give mentorship. Regional funds arrive at Series A with an international metrics bar. Between them sits the institutional pre-seed round, thinly served.

So strong teams raise from angel syndicates on inconsistent terms, end up with a cap table no institutional investor will touch, and find out eighteen months later.

A wall of notes mapping out a funding plan
An investor meeting under way
  • Friends, family, angels Served
  • Accelerator cheque, mentorship Served
  • First institutional round Thin
  • Structuring for foreign capital Thin
  • Series A and beyond Served, from outside
Sizing note

An honest word about the numbers.

We publish no total addressable market. Any figure would be a projection dressed as a fact, and reported IT export revenue measures services — the thing this thesis argues against.

The number that matters is smaller and harder to see: how many teams here start a genuinely product-shaped company each year, with a foreign buyer and the will to sell. Enough for a concentrated first fund. Not enough for a large one. Our biggest assumption — and the one we are most willing to be wrong about in public.

Building in one of these pockets?

Or one we have missed. If the map is wrong, tell us.

Tell us where we are wrong