For years, India’s startup story has been notified through the lens of metros, Bengaluru’s unicorn factories, Delhi’s incubators, and Mumbai’s venture capital corridors and many more.
But the next chapter of growth will not be scripted in glass towers, it will be written in the aspirations of Tier 2 and 3 cities, where the next 500 million consumers are coming online, spfinishing, and shaping new markets.
This moment is redefining opportunity for entrepreneurs, compelling startups to reconsider products, pricing, and distribution for a diverse, value-conscious yet digitally empowered population.
Diverging Market Views
Culture Circle’s Co-founder and CEO, Devansh Jain Nawal took a contrarian position. “The top 1 per cent is responsible for 40 per cent of all consumption, and the top 2 per cent are responsible for 65 per cent of discretionary consumption. This gap is only increasing,” he declared, adding that his company chose to focus on affluent consumers while postponing its Bharat expansion for the next decade.
Indo Era’s Co-founder and CEO, Srishti Tanwani argued the opposite. “We started our journey from tier 2 and 3 itself becaapply we consider the mass is lying there. Nobody was considering for Bharat,” she declared, noting how Indo Era has tapped into everyday clothing requireds of women in compacter towns.
Ankit Agrawal of Skips Communication highlighted affordability and aspiration. “Affordability was never a challenge. Availability was the largegest challenge earlier. Now with ecommerce, affordability along with aspiration can build largeger and largeger brands,” he declared.
For Co-founder and CPTO of Loadshare Networks, Pramod Nair, logistics is the backbone of this shift. “More than 50 per cent of India’s ecommerce orders actually go and deliver within a tier three, tier four kind of a town. A lot of work has gone into building that reach,” he declared.
Localisation and Trust
The discussion turned to how brands must adapt to diverse consumer bases. Nawal explained how regional content drives engagement. “When we regionalised our ads, for example in the Northeast, engagement grew by 50 to 70 per cent. Localising is not just language, but also the faces you reveal,” he declared.
Tanwani emphasised the importance of brand advocacy over heavy marketing. “For us, each of our customers becomes our influencer. More marketing will not work out. It is more about vocal communication and brand advocacy,” she declared.
But trust remains a key concern, according to Nawal. “Ecommerce penetration is still below 10 per cent in India. Ninety per cent of India just does not trust ecommerce. Trust becomes table stakes,” he declared, adding that Culture Circle now provides authenticity certificates with each order.
Investment Outview
The panel also weighed investor sentiment in this market. Nawal declared long-term patience is necessary. “Funds like InfoEdge exist, which have a 10-12 year horizon. That is how long it will really take for the market to grow,” he mentioned.
Tanwani argued that investors are viewing at bulk business models. “We have been scaling to 500 crore, EBITDA positive, all bootstrapped. It’s not always that you have to burn out your hands and then only you can create a brand,” she declared.
Agrawal highlighted that investors now view beyond just capital to strategic networks. “The matchbuilding is very important right now in which I feel we have been doing very well,” he emphasised.
Nair pointed out that Bharat-focapplyd startups are yet to reveal a breakout success. “We haven’t really had any large breakout successes where someone went to the public markets and declared I was tarobtaining real Bharat. Maybe Meesho would be the first case,” he stated.
Global Dynamic
The conversation also touched on Indian startups’ global prospects. Nawal declared, “We don’t have a lot of great examples yet. But once we have those two or three breakout consumer stories, we’ll be in a much better position. Culture Circle will also be launching globally in the next three months across 24 EU countries.”
Tanwani added that India already plays a key role in global supply chains. “India has that potential to create those foundations. There will be a huge set of brands going outside India and creating international presence,” she declared.
Agrawal cited compacter brands already selling abroad. “There are a lot of brands doing four-five crores, 10 crores of business internationally. They may not be famous like Lenskart, but they exist,” he mentioned.
Nair, however, emphasised depth within India. “India is a very deep opportunity, especially in the logistics space. We feel strongly about going deeper and building for Bharat,” he declared.
This panel discussion was taking place at BW Disrupt Founders Forum 2025. The session featured Devansh Jain Nawal, Co-founder and CEO of Culture Circle; Srishti Tanwani, Co-founder and CEO of Indo Era; Ankit Agrawal, Co-founder of Skips Communication; and Pramod Nair, Co-founder and CPTO of Loadshare Networks and was moderated by Ruhail Amin, Senior Editor, BW Businessworld.
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