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How investors evaluate startups: Insights from India’s leading VCs | SeedToScale Specials

Feb 02, 2026

How investors evaluate startups: Insights from India’s leading VCs | SeedToScale Specials

Behind every funding decision lies hours of evaluation founders never get to witness.

This episode of SeedToScale offers a rare backstage pass into the room where ideas are dissected, and where a simple yes or no is anything but simple.

Seasoned investors, Mukul Arora, Co-Managing Partner at Elevation Capital, and Rajan Anandan, Managing Director at Peak XV, sit for a discussion with Anand Daniel, Partner, Accel, to unpack what really happens, from the first cold email to the final investment committe vote.

The conversation goes beyond the cliches and gets brutally honest about how thousands of startups get filtered.