Hello, and welcome to today's edition of Founders International, where we give you the update on startups and technology from outside of the US.

Today, we got a short one, but here's what we have in store for you today:1. The bull case of India, and our founder of the week2. Friday fundings - highlighting international companies that raised money this week

Read time: 2 minutes and 30 seconds

The bull case of India

One reason this is a shorter issue, is because our story/trend and founder of the week are wrapped into one part today.

Brendan Rogers is one of the co-founders of Wag!, a NASDAQ listed company. He also co-founded Gamechanger Labs, a social discovery service to meet new people which grew to over 50 million users, and was acquired back in the mid 2010's.

Brendan recently had a post on LinkedIn about his bull case for India, and why he thinks it is the best place for startups right now. And when someone smart and successful speaks, I know to sit down and listen.

Why should we care about this random guys bull case for India? Well, as mentioned in yesterday's issue, we like founder-hoopers here at Founders International, and while I don't know if Brendan is a hooper, he certainly is calling his shot and putting his money where his mouth is. I like that.

While also being the co-founder of Wag!, and previously Gamechanger Labs, in 2020 Brendan also became the co-founder of 2 AM VC, a venture capital firm solely dedicated to investing in young entrepreneurs in India. You can also just look at this guys posts on LinkedIn, he is ALL IN on India. He literally up and moved from the US to India because he believes so much in the thesis.

Okay, but the big question we're all wondering, is WHY? Why is India "such a great place to invest in?" Let's check out what Brendon had to say, and it all comes down to 5 compelling reasons:

• Growing consumer market

Brendan states there is a huge opportunity for companies to get into the growing consumer market as more and more people enter the middle class.

From a quick google search, the median age of India is 27.6. The US? 38.1.

In a population of 1.4 billion, that means 700 million are under the age of 28, and that supports that as these people age and make more money, there will be a lot of income to be collected by entrepreneurs.

• Rapid urbanization and growth in the middle class

This is mainly a supporting point to number one, but because of the sheer size of the population and how young they are, this is causing urbanization at a rapid rate in India. What does this drive? Demand for new technologies and more services to help keep up with this fast pace growth. AKA, room for problem solvers/startups.

• Strong government support for the tech industry

The Indian government is actively helping and promoting startups/the tech industry as a whole to provide support for many different initiatives. We even covered in a previous issue that some governments of cities within India are covering the costs of startups general expenses such as rent, internet, and supporting the cost of with employees, etc.

• Massive Gen Z population

My internet sleuthing for point number one covered this already, but Brendan's fourth point is the sheer number of people under the age of 28, and his supporting point is the fact that they were all brought up on the internet. Therefore, they are more likely to solve internet and technology related issues.

• India STEM graduates

Brendan states "India is one pace to produce the largest numbers of English speaking STEM graduates." I found that they actually already ARE the number one producer of STEM graduates, but it doesn't mention english speaking.

It's all very compelling. Brendan is a heck of a founder having co-founded a now public company. You definitely can't doubt that he is a go-getter. You also have to applaud the willingness to commit to this, moving to India to support his thesis.

And we here support you to Brendan. Go get that $$$

Friday Funding Company's of the Day

Here are some cool companies that raised funding this week:

• 🇩🇪 Planet A Ventures closed a €160M European, science-backed climate fund

• 🇮🇳 Zypp Electric, an EV startup out of India closed a $25m round to expand into 30 cities

• 🇸🇦 Palm.hr closed a $5m round to continue its growth in the MENA region

• 🇫🇷 French spacetech company, Exotrail, closes $58m Series B of debt and equity to fuel growth in Asia and the US and continue working with the likes of SpaceX

• 🇬🇷 Wikifarmer, a startup out of Athens, raised a €5m seed round

• 🇩🇰 Copenhagen based, Growblocks, nabbed €6m to continue helping companies unlock their revenue potential with enhanced data insights and forecasting

• 🇮🇳 India’s Bluelearn raises $3.5m to strengthen social learning

• 🇸🇬 PixCap, a web based 3D design platform raises $2.8 million in a seed round led by Sequoia’s Surge

• 🇳🇿 Hydrogen tech startup Fabrum in NZ$23 million Series A

• 🇦🇺 Fingerprint for Success raises $6.5m to further workplace coaching platform

• 🇨🇦 Raven.AI, Canadian supply chain startup raises $12m Series A

• 🇦🇺 Fable Foods, Australian mushroom-based meat alternative startup eats up $8.5m Series A

And many more! Congrats to all companies who raised rounds this week!

And that's all for today, if you want to get more follow us @Founders_Intl, or respond to this email. Yes, we respond to all emails, including yours. Try us.

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💯 Freaking sick dude🤷‍♂️ Meh, do better next time😑 Bruh, I might unsubscribe after reading that