Abhishek Goyal: From Coding & Investing to Co-founding Tracxn, the Private Market Data Titan
Explore Abhishek Goyal's journey: techie, investor, & Tracxn Co-founder. Learn how he's shaping global private market intelligence from India.
Abhishek Goyal, the Co-founder of Tracxn Technologies, embodies the journey of a technologist turned investor, and ultimately, a pioneering entrepreneur. His multifaceted career, spanning software development at tech giants, venture capital, and prior entrepreneurial success, laid the perfect foundation for co-creating a global platform that addresses a critical data gap in the private markets. Tracxn, under his and Neha Singh's leadership, has become an indispensable tool for understanding the intricate world of startups and private company investments.
To hear Abhishek Goyal share his experiences and the evolution of Tracxn firsthand, tune into the Founder Thesis Podcast episode
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights.
👨💻 The Technologist's Grounding & Investor's Eye
Abhishek Goyal's story begins with a strong technical foundation, graduating from IIT Kanpur with a degree in Computer Science in 2002. His early career saw him as a software programmer at prominent tech companies like Yahoo and Amazon in India.
"My first job was Yahoo. And then I also worked with Amazon. So these are all tech teams... I was coding, basically."
This hands-on experience in building and scaling software products was invaluable. He even became a CTO at 26 at a division of 3i Infotech. However, the entrepreneurial bug and an interest in the broader startup ecosystem led him to the world of venture capital. He joined Accel Partners, a move that provided him with an investor's perspective on the challenges of evaluating and tracking private companies.
During his time at Accel (2008-2010), Abhishek was involved in significant investments:
"During Accel, one of my claim to fame is that I helped them lead the C-Tron trip card [Flipkart]."
He also made a prescient personal angel investment:
"Luckily in 2011, I met Delivery Founders and I was the first agent [angel investor] at that company."
🚀 First Foray into Entrepreneurship: The UrbanTouch Journey
Before Tracxn, Abhishek co-founded UrbanTouch in 2011, an e-commerce company focused on women's lifestyle products, akin to what Nykaa or Purplle are doing today. UrbanTouch successfully raised funds from notable investors like Accel and Tiger Global.
"In 2011, I started an e-commerce company called Advantage [UrbanTouch], which was into women's lifestyle... We raised money from Accel and Tiger."
However, the startup journey is rarely linear. A market downturn in 2012 impacted their ability to raise subsequent funding.
"In 2012, there was a little bit of a downturn like we are seeing today. And we were not able to raise our next round... So we ended up sending to Fashion & You."
This experience of building a company, fundraising, navigating market challenges, and managing an exit, provided him with deep entrepreneurial acumen that would be crucial for Tracxn.
💡 The Converging Path to Tracxn: A Shared Pain Point
The idea for Tracxn was born out of a shared frustration. Both Abhishek and Neha Singh, whom he met in 2010, had independently identified the significant difficulty in accessing comprehensive and reliable data on private companies.
Abhishek, described in the dossier as a "techie turned investor," was contemplating building a solution to this data scarcity himself.
Their conversations between 2010 and 2012 crystallized this shared vision. While Neha initially started working on the concept, Abhishek joined forces after his exit from UrbanTouch in 2013. Their collaboration began in earnest, taking them to the U.S. for an incubation period at Lightspeed's U.S. office to strategize their market entry.
"We went to the U.S. We got incubated in the Lightspeed U.S. office. And we worked there for four months with some of their senior partners, debating how to enter the market... Eventually, we thought it's better to come to India and build this company from there."
They realized the best approach was to build Tracxn from India, leveraging the talent pool and cost efficiencies to serve a global market.
🌐 Building Tracxn: A Global Data Platform from India
Tracxn Technologies was officially co-founded in May 2013. Abhishek Goyal, along with Neha Singh, set out to create a platform that would be the go-to source for private market intelligence.
The core problem Tracxn addresses is the "information asymmetry" that plagued investors, corporates, and other stakeholders trying to understand the private company landscape. They aimed to replace fragmented, manual research with a centralized, technology-driven solution.
Key aspects and figures related to Tracxn:
Global Ambition: From day one, Tracxn aimed for global reach. Their "Make-in-India" strategy for global sales and operations has been a cornerstone, with approximately 70% of its revenue in FY23 coming from international markets.
Comprehensive Data Coverage: Tracxn profiles over 3 million private companies globally (as per the dossier) and tracks emerging technology sectors like IoT, AI, VR, and blockchain. They provide data on funding, M&A, investor profiles, and market trends across numerous geographies and thousands of niche business models.
Product Suite: The SaaS platform offers tools for deal sourcing, due diligence, M&A target identification, competitive analysis, and market mapping, with customizable dashboards and real-time alerts.
Technological Backbone: Tracxn heavily relies on AI, machine learning, big data analytics, and NLP. They employ a hybrid data collection approach combining technology with a two-layer human analyst verification process to ensure data accuracy from over 2,500 to 2,900 feeds.
Funding and Growth: Before its IPO in October 2022, Tracxn raised around $17 million from investors like Elevation Capital, Accel, and Prime Venture Partners. The company's revenues from operations grew to ₹827.71 million in FY24 (year ending March 31, 2024).
Market Position: Tracxn is recognized as one of the top five global players in private company data coverage.
🧭 Abhishek Goyal's Leadership and Growth Philosophy
Abhishek's approach to leadership and growth is reflected in his insights and even his book recommendations ("The Hard Thing About Hard Things," "Trillion Dollar Coach," "What You Do Is Who You Are"). These choices highlight his appreciation for resilience, strong relationships, mentorship, radical candor, and the importance of actions in shaping company culture – aligning well with Tracxn's stated "candid culture."
He emphasizes the value of taking on leadership roles for developing soft skills and believes that the "drive to do something" is the most critical ingredient for success. This philosophy is vital for a company like Tracxn, which relies on a large team of analysts and a culture of high-paced learning and continuous mentorship.
Reflecting on the initial problem, Abhishek stated in the podcast: "We are investors and we are struggling to do these basic things and there should be somebody who's solving it. And over two, three years, when we figured out nobody's solving it, we started to take a step at this problem ourselves."
📈 The Future is Data-Driven
Under the stewardship of Abhishek Goyal and Neha Singh, Tracxn continues its mission to illuminate the private markets. Their focus remains on leveraging technology to provide deeper, more actionable insights, expanding their offerings, and solidifying their position as an indispensable tool for the global investment community.
Abhishek Goyal's journey from a coder to an investor and then a co-founder of a global data intelligence leader is a testament to his vision, adaptability, and entrepreneurial spirit. Tracxn stands as a significant "made-in-India-for-the-world" success story, fundamentally changing how private market data is accessed and utilized.
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Until the next founder's thesis📕,
Your host, AD