Vijay Shekhar Sharma Founder, Paytm
For founders building a better world.
Pre-seed and seed checks. India focused.
Led by an operator who's been in the seat.
A decade investing · OperatorVC, 2016 · Appreciate Capital, 2023
Where we play
A barbell, not a scatterplot.
Appreciate backs two kinds of early Indian companies: consumption businesses where brand, distribution, and execution create the moat, and frontier technical bets where the problem is hard enough to matter.
01 Consumption
Simple on the surface. Hard underneath.
India's consumption story is still early.
The opportunity is broad, but the winners will be built through execution rigour: brand, supply,
distribution, margins, and repeat behaviour.
02 Frontier technical bets
Hard problems.
Global relevance.
Frontier means security, robotics, bio, material science, defence, and infrastructure software. These need technical depth before category polish. We look for irrationally obsessed founders with a wedge.
03 Value system
Principles matter.
World Positive
Useful products. Non-extractive models. Returns from real value created.
Gender Smart
A deliberate eye towards companies that are women-led and women-serving.
Track record
Appreciate Capital, 2023.
An 18-company barbell portfolio across consumption and frontier tech. Early proof shows up in acquisitions, follow-ons, and capital allocation.
18 investments since launch
2 companies acquired
5 companies have raised subsequent rounds
48% of deployed capital to women-led companies
57% of deployed capital Gender Smart aligned
OperatorVC, 2016 vintage
Earlier investing chapter. 4x cash returned, with assets still held.
Backed by
A compounding LP network.
Our LP base includes founders and operators who have built at scale. Their capital matters. So do their judgment, access, and practical help around the companies we back.
Samar Singla Founder, Jugnoo
Ankush Singla Co-founder, Coding Ninjas
Ambarish Narayan Gupta Founder, Knowlarity, Basis Vectors
Pooja Sharma Goyal Founder, Udaiti Foundation, Avishkaar
Rahul Dash Co-Founder, Purplle
Sudhir Kamath COO, Nazara
Founder notes
In their own words.
The relationship with a founder is the work. A few accounts of what that looks like.
“Appreciate Capital has been our strongest supporter from day one. From the very first call, the team's bias for action, clarity of thought in moving our vision forward, and founder friendliness have always shone through. True partners in our journey.”
“I've always felt like I was talking to founders first, not investors. I'm grateful to have Appreciate on our cap table as respectful, honest supporters of our long-term mission.”
“Appreciate Capital has been a true champion of our success. The team is always available to meet, talk, share knowledge, and help socialise our brand in their circles.”
“Abhishek is one of those early-stage investors who doesn't invest just money, but his quality time and carefully cultivated network. His ability to connect the right people at the right time is what I value most.”
Get in touch
For founders
Send the deck.
Building for India consumption or frontier tech? Send a deck, memo, or sharp note. Short is welcome.
founders@appreciate.capital For LPs
LP conversations.
For institutions, family offices, founders, operators, and angels who understand early India and want to be useful around the portfolio.
lp@appreciate.capital Everything else
Useful intros only.
Perks for portfolio companies, useful credits, press, and warm introductions. No forms. Just email.
contact@appreciate.capital