Investments

When Tiger Global had to sign a non-compete pact

Madhav Chanchani

August 11, 2021 | 6 Min Read

In the current funding climate where capital is increasingly becoming a commodity and investors want a share of the hottest deals at any price, founders get to dictate the terms. And investors, including the likes of Tiger Global, cave in sometimes, even if that involves breaking some golden rules

Tiger Global Management is known for changing conventions around investment. The most talked about among these is its strategy of backing competing companies. The fund has backed three investment apps (Groww, Upstox and INDWealth), three online education firms (Byju’s, Unacademy and Vedantu), and multiple fintech businesses.

But there are exceptions to every rule.

When Tiger Global recently invested in Mohalla Tech, the owner of social media platform ShareChat and short-video app Moj, the deal stood out for more than the nearly 2x valuation jump to $2.1 billion in just a few months.

Tiger promised Mohalla Tech that it would not back any of its competitors in the Indian short video and social media space, even naming 10 of those specifically, including MX Player, Josh and Roposo.

“This is a very unlikely clause (that Tiger Global would agree to) unless that founder had leverage,” said an investor tracking Tiger Global closely. “You need to have balls to ask this.”

Corporate

Access unlimited content at a special discounted rate. Trusted by top VC’s and leading organizations, we provide bulk subscriptions for groups of 30+. Contact us for more details

Campus

Top educational institutions have collaborated with us for campus-wide subscriptions. For bulk campus-wide access, please get in touch.

Join our community of 100,000+ top executives, VCs, entrepreneurs, and brightest student minds

Trusted by the best

Karthik Reddy

Blume Ventures

The CapTable brings a refreshing set of insights for us at the Blume team, highlighting stories that bring together the underlying business and founders with that of investors' journeys with these startups. It's an important perspective that very few bring to startup ecosystem enthusiasts.

Latest Articles

The overlooked barriers to India’s next ecommerce boom cycle

India has more online shoppers than almost any country but China. Quick commerce is its big win, but in the other two global waves reshaping ecommerce, it’s falling behind peers like Brazil and Indonesia.

Pranav Balakrishnan

India must build the electro-intelligence stack

Even as India turns its focus to the AI race, there's a growing opportunity to build for the electric stack—augmenting physical technologies like motors, pumps, and heat pumps with intelligence that makes them more efficient and responsive.

K Yatish Rajawat

Org Chart: Inside BigBasket’s C-Suite shuffles and tweaks for a quick commerce era

As BigBasket pivots to quick commerce, it has added leaders, built specialised teams, and freed founders to focus on strategy and fundraising. Yet even as it chases faster delivery and battles lost market share, it holds on to the cultural ethos built a decade ago.

Pranav Balakrishnan

ChatGPT at ₹399, Perplexity for free: Inside Big Tech’s AI subscription war for India

India is fast becoming global AI’s biggest playground. Big Tech is chasing mass adoption over monetisation with loss-leading strategies. But in a value-obsessed market, long-term sustainability lies in pricing sweet spots, bundling, and whether AI can become as essential as UPI or WhatsApp.

Sohini Mitter

From YouTube to Dalal Street: Inside PhysicsWallah’s public market play

Once dismissed as a scrappy YouTube channel, PhysicsWallah is heading for an IPO after becoming an unlikely survivor in India’s battered edtech sector. Its offline push, bold deals, and looming risks set the stage for Co-founder Alakh Pandey’s toughest exam yet: winning over public investors.

Nikhil Patwardhan

Convinced that The Captable stories and insights
will give you the edge?

Convinced that The Captable stories
and insights will give you the edge?

Subscribe Now

Stories

Explore