The First Cheque Show

Gamer to Game-Changer: Salone’s Journey in Building India’s First Gaming VC Fund

In this episode of The First Cheque Show, Rishab Malik sits down with Salone Sehgal, founder and managing partner of Lumikai Fund, India’s first gaming-focused venture capital fund, to trace her journey from gaming entrepreneur to investor.
 
Salone shares how her early experiences in finance and gaming shaped her worldview, what it took to raise capital for a gaming startup in 2014, and how those lessons laid the groundwork for launching Lumikai in 2019. She opens up about the challenges of fundraising during the pandemic, building LP trust, and why product-market fit applies just as much to funds as it does to startups.
 
Now leading one of the most distinctive VC firms in India, Salone dives into the rise of women gamers and how India is poised to lead in interactive media. She also reflects on the mindset shift from founder to investor and what she had to unlearn to build for the long game.
 
Timestamp
00:00 – Salone’s introduction and background in gaming entrepreneurship
02:42 – Starting her career in finance and investment 
04:39 – Demographic shift: more women entering the gaming market
05:37 – Joining a fund and stepping into the global startup ecosystem
06:52 – Moving back to India and launching Lumikai Fund for gaming startups
08:23 – Her experience raising capital for a gaming company in 2014
11:07 – Transitioning to fundraising for Lumikai in 2019
14:26  –The reality of fundraising during the pandemic
17:23 – Fund 1 as product-market fit: raising capital, backing talent, and scaling startups
18:09 – Deliberate deal sourcing: building a fund with intentional outreach
23:13 – Reflecting on focus: why a vertical strategy remains the best path
24:22 – Portfolio exits and returns: 107x median for early stage investors
25:46 – Debunking the monetisation myth and winning LP confidence
26:26 – Lessons from China: parallels in digital payments and gaming growth
29:30 – Startup founder vs. fund founder: key differences in mindset and control
34:10 – What she had to unlearn transitioning from founder to investor
36:47 – Emerging themes: convergence of game mechanics and consumer apps
40:16 – $2 to $22 ARPU: India's Gaming Inflection Point
43:07 – Why strategic exits dominate over IPOs in media and gaming
 
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WHO ARE WE? 
 
Jungle Ventures is a Singapore based Venture Capital Firm that invests in regional or global technology category leaders from Asia. We collaborate closely with Founders to build the intrinsic value of their company by building a scalable organisation and providing dependable long-term capital. 
 
We have grown to become one of Southeast Asia's largest independent venture capital firms.
 
FIND US
Website: https://www.jungle.vc
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/jungle-ventures
Medium: https://medium.com/jungle-ventures/about 

From TradeGecko to AMP - Why Cameron Priest Chose to Be Co-Founder, Not CEO

In this episode of The First Cheque Show, Rishab Malik sits down with Cameron Priest, founder of TradeGecko and now co-founder of AMP, to explore the journey of building, exiting, and intentionally starting over.
Cameron shares how TradeGecko grew from an idea in Singapore to a global SaaS player acquired by Intuit and what the acquisition actually looked like from the inside. He talks about operating within a public company, learning to let go of the CEO role, and why he chose to return to the startup world again as a co-founder, not a CEO.
Now building AMP, an AI-powered platform for e-commerce operations, Cameron reflects on the difference between raising capital and using debt, how AI is reshaping product and acquisition strategies, and what he’s doing differently the second time around.
00:00 – Introductions
01:13 – How TradeGecko was born and the early vision behind it
04:27 – What it was like raising a Seed round for B2B in Singapore in 2012
06:04 – Why they chose not to raise funding in North America despite early traction
07:38 – How the Intuit relationship began, evolved and what really happens after an acquisition
13:01 – Operating within Intuit after the acquisition and starting the next chapter with the changes involved
16:43 – Choosing to be a co-founder instead of taking the CEO role
18:37  – Ready to take on the CEO role again in the future after time as a co-founder 
20:36 – The founding journey and vision behind AMP
23:38 – Growing funding and exiting a software company then in 2013 and now
26:10 – Employing debt as a key part of their acquisition strategy
28:07 – How AMP Embraces AI Internally to Drive Innovation
30:00 – How AI Is Redefining AMP’s M&A Strategy and Customer Value
31:47 – TradeGecko’s in-person culture vs AMP’s remote-first model
36:01 – After two e-commerce ventures, what’s next?
 
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WHO ARE WE? 
 
Jungle Ventures is a Singapore based Venture Capital Firm that invests in regional or global technology category leaders from Asia. We collaborate closely with Founders to build the intrinsic value of their company by building a scalable organisation and providing dependable long-term capital. 
 
We have grown to become one of Southeast Asia's largest independent venture capital firms.
 
FIND US
Website: https://www.jungle.vc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jungle-ventures
Medium: https://medium.com/jungle-ventures

Building Atomberg - The 0 to 1 Brand Journey | The First Cheque Show

What does it take to build a premium Indian brand in a legacy category?
In this episode of The First Cheque Show, Rishab Malik sits down with Arindam Paul, founding team member and Chief Business Officer at Atomberg, to unpack the building blocks behind one of India’s most distinctive D2C brands.
They trace Atomberg’s journey from an engineering-led idea to a INR 1,000 crore business with over 10 million fans sold and a presence in more than 7 million Indian homes.
Arindam shares how the team reshaped consumer perception on price and performance, scaled across online and offline channels, and built staying power in a legacy category. He breaks down his PPCMF (product-price-market-channel fit) model, a framework he has shaped and sharpened through a decade of execution that has become a reference point for early-stage D2C founders.
Timestamps for the episode:
0:51 Arindam & Atomberg: Background Overview
6:14 Building the Atomberg Brand: Online & Offline Strategies
9:17 Electricians are Engineers: Shifting Perceptions
11:16 Consumer Pride in Atomberg Products: Brand & Product Creation
14:25 Overcoming Premium Price Perception: Value vs. Cost
15:55 Customer Service as a Marketing Channel 18:28 ROI on Appliances Driven by Strong Customer Support
19:21 Mixer Grinders: Product Journey Compared to Fans
23:34 Product, Price, and Channel Market Fit
27:30 Advice for Early D2C Founders in that 0 to 1 Journey
 
WHO ARE WE?
Jungle Ventures is a Singapore based Venture Capital Firm that invests in regional or global technology category leaders from Asia.
We collaborate closely with Founders to build the intrinsic value of their company by building a scalable organisation and providing dependable long-term capital. We have grown to become one of Southeast Asia's largest independent venture capital firms.
FIND US
Website: https://www.jungle.vc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jungle-ventures
Medium: https://medium.com/jungle-ventures

Unpacking the First Cheque Report 2024 - India focus | The First Cheque Show

The Jungle Code kicks off with The First Cheque Show. In the debut episode, Rishab Malik, Partner, Seed investments at Jungle Ventures and Abhishek Goyal, Founder & CEO of Tracxn, unpack the First Cheque Report 2024 from the perspectives of both a founder and an active angel investor.
They discuss the rise of local investors, flow of Seed capital beyond tier 1 cities, and how founder teams are evolving. Plus, why second-time founders are ahead of the curve and the growing impact of female entrepreneurs.
Next episode: Christopher Madiam from Sociolla digs into Southeast Asia’s data from the report.
 
1:08 Intro to First Cheque@Jungle
2:23 Tracxn’s beginnings
4:38 Building for IPO vs M&A from the outset
5:57 Taking Tracxn public
7:35 Abhishek’s first angel bets
11:51 Unexpected findings from The First Cheque Report 2024
13:08 Rise of female founders in Seed funding
16:34 Female founders shaping company culture
19:17 Investor bias: Evaluating education, experience, and background
21:46 First Principles of angel investing
23:49 Propagation of the venture playbook into next-tier cities in India
30:57 Abhishek’s next big idea
 
WHO ARE WE?
Jungle Ventures is a Singapore based Venture Capital Firm that invests in regional or global technology category leaders from Asia.
We collaborate closely with Founders to build the intrinsic value of their company by building a scalable organization and providing dependable long-term capital.
We have grown to become one of Southeast Asia's largest independent venture capital firms.
 
FIND US
Website
LinkedIn
Medium