Assiduus Founder Somdutta Singh on Funding Start-Ups, Finding Alpha and Philanthropy

Both my parents are surgeons, and I am a first-generation entrepreneur. I was born in Calcutta. One of the big opportunities I saw was that there are very few women entrepreneurs. I exited my first company at 22, and although I was lucky to have mentors and investors in the US, I still heard no from 76 people before anyone agreed to invest.   

There is still a mindset that questions whether it is risky when a woman starts a business, or whether marriage or children will change things. I do not think those assumptions reflect reality. It is really about who can execute best and move forward.  

After my exit, I asked myself how I could create impact. A mentor told me that the best way to give back was to support first-generation founders and become the first believer in them. That is how Karma Holdings began.   

It has now been operating for about 14 years. I started by allocating my own capital, then formed a trust and an organisation. We have one operating entity in India and an investment platform based in ADGM [Abu Dhabi Global Market] for international investments, and I am also an LP [limited partner] in several funds.

When you invest through an operating company, the pressure on entrepreneurs becomes substantial because P&L [profit and loss] and balance sheet become a liability for them. Investors then start looking at acquisitions, mergers, exit timelines, returns and cash flow in a very narrow way. That puts a lot of pressure on the opportunity.  

A family office is different. It is about long-term wealth diversification. Through my family office, I invest in start-ups, real estate and public/private market opportunities through multiple vehicles.   

One vehicle does investing, another maps private and public market opportunities, and we also do commercial and private real estate. That structure allows wealth creation without one vehicle becoming a liability for the other.   

If I get a great exit from real estate, I can allocate some of that capital into start-ups, and if I get a great start-up exit, I can allocate into real estate.   

In a family office, it is value creation first; in an operating company, valuation tends to dominate.

I grew up on the fundamentals of Swami Vivekananda. One idea that has shaped my life is to take a risk: if you win, you lead; if you fail, you learn. Out of 78 investments, numerous have not worked, but that has never discouraged me from continuing. Even one good outcome can become a great story, and the rest can become a support system for the ones that work.  

Failure is part of learning. We do not expect a baby to walk without falling several times. Founders should be given the same grace. A failure should not be held against them, and success should not become the only measure of credibility.   

I also believe in mental health. I have spoken publicly about my own depression because many founders face similar challenges. Through our ecosystem, we try to help founders talk to others who are first-generation and dealing with the same pressures.  

My philosophy is to focus on long-term value, not just success or failure, and to operate with empathy, accountability and action. Without empathy, there is no real accountability or action. Entrepreneurship starts with empathy.

The first thing is integrity. I do not care whether someone went to an Ivy League school or an IIT [Indian Institute of Technology]. What matters to me is how they position themselves and whether they are honest about who they are.  

The next thing is the ability to say what they cannot do. If a founder can admit they are not good at something, that is a strong quality because then you can guide them toward excellence.   

Founders have attitude and aptitude. Aptitude can be taught, not attitude. Culture eats strategy for breakfast because culture comes from values and upbringing.  

The final thing is accountability. I want a founder who can say, ‘I made a mistake, I am okay to fix it, let us move forward’. I also pay attention to family values.   

If someone says they did everything on their own, that is not true. The value system usually comes from the family, and then they build on top of it.   

In the early years, you cannot judge too quickly because the business has not scaled yet. But if the founder has integrity, attitude, value system and accountability, they will scale.

I look at three different stages. At the very early stage, product-market fit is critical. I do not believe in artificial stories. I want to know whether there is real demand and whether the consumer is actually ready to adopt the product.   

In many of my portfolio companies, the brands are disrupting existing demand rather than creating something detached from the market. I also look at the founder’s background, not education, but attitude versus aptitude.   

Another important thing is whether the brand can cross borders. I like businesses that can scale across multiple countries. I also look at whether the founder is building for scale or simply thinking about an exit.  

At the post-seed, pre-Series A or Series A stage, I look first at the zero-to-one journey and the numbers. By then, there should be product-market fit and meaningful revenue. I want to see the path to profitability.   

I do not like companies that say it will take ten years to become profitable. I have always built my companies profitably, and I believe that matters. At this stage, I also look at the second layer of the team, because the founder alone cannot carry the company forever.  

At the Series A-plus or pre-Series B stage, If they are still burning cash without real momentum, that is not interesting to me.   

I also check whether they have expanded beyond one country when it comes to consumer brands, because if there is no economics of scale, I will not touch it. At this stage, my team is involved in the evaluation.   

In the second and third rounds, audited financials and financial due diligence by a large accounting firm become very important because governance and compliance have to be in place.

Absolutely. KindLife [a beauty and wellness platform] is a great example. When Radhika [Ghai] started it, there was a lot of baggage around the brand, and many people did not want to invest. I came in early and brought in three other friends to invest, and then Kalaari [early-stage venture capital firm] came in. We invested in the first round and second rounds.  

They started with India because they wanted to become a global brand. In the next round, they had already gone cross-border. They are doing multi-country fulfilment and bringing international brands into the region. That showed the thesis was working, and now they are raising the next round and going global.  

Another example is Ambrosia [a dedicated innovative food brands platform], one of my UAE investments. They started by bringing brands like Biryani by Kilo and Blue Tokai into the UAE market, which fit my thesis because it was consumer-facing and cross-border. They later expanded into India as well, and I put in another check. They brought Papa Johns back to India and they are also in the process of acquiring more brands.

Consumer [sector] is still my sweet spot. I have been in this sector for the last 20 years, and all the companies I have built have been consumer. I have also had my own D2C [direct-to-consumer] brands, so I understand the space, the data, the people and the distribution side very well.  

Space tech is another huge opportunity. There is massive innovation there, and the geopolitical environment makes its importance very clear. I have also just made an investment in defence tech. Medtech and longevity are also very exciting.

Longevity. Anything built for longevity and health is where I have the strongest conviction. Within health, I am most interested in premium, high-quality products focused on cellular rejuvenation and related areas.  

For example, I invested in ReHydr8 [an oral rehydration brand] because water quality in India is a real issue. I believe there is growing consumer demand for better hydration, electrolyte balance and gut-health-supportive wellness products. 
 
I also see a huge opportunity in targeted amino-acid supplementation and advanced delivery formats that improve absorption and convenience. 

I am also looking at peptide stacks. All of this connects to people wanting to live longer, look younger and stay healthier.

Yes, women’s health, especially menopause, perimenopause, PCOS [polycystic ovary syndrome], PCOD [polycystic ovarian disease] and fertility.   

In India, this space is still very underrepresented. Only about 0.3% of investment has gone into it, compared with around 17–18% in the US. With women making up almost 50% of the population and the median age of the country being 29.2, the opportunity is huge. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are focused on health, longevity and well-being, not drinking or smoking. These categories will become major.

I am hands-on only in areas I understand. Otherwise, I am a patient observer. In MidiHealth [a health-care platform], I am a patient observer. In P.TAL [a traditional handcraft brand] and Ryle [a medical equipment company], I am hands-on. If I can help through distribution knowledge, supply chain knowledge, or my network, I do. Otherwise, I stay back.  

Across my portfolio, I probably give around 15–20% of my time to about 25–30% of the companies. That is still a lot. My family office also has people who are hands-on with some of them. We have a six-member team, and some of them come from health tech and other backgrounds.

My husband is involved and my mother is involved to some extent. She is a doctor and a health-tech investor. I also have a daughter, and I want her to learn the nuances of investing, even if she does not actively participate later.  

I believe professionals should run businesses, not family members just because they are family. I strongly believe companies should be run by the most competent professionals. While family members may support the broader ecosystem, leadership roles should always be based on merit, capability and alignment with the company’s long-term vision. 
 
I have no siblings, so someone from the family will likely continue the journey eventually, but I have not planned that far yet. I am still young, and I want to keep building for now. Maybe 20 years from now I will think more seriously about succession.

In five years, I want to have invested in 100 women entrepreneurs, and they must each have 50% plus equity. I will not back a company where a woman has only 5% equity and is being called a women-led entrepreneur. That is not my ethos.  

I also want to invest in at least 20 more women-led funds, and each of those funds must have at least one woman GP [general partner]. That is our KPI [key performance indicator] for the next five years. I am not thinking beyond that right now. First, I want to live through this plan, help grow Assiduus and then I will think about the next five years.