'AI is a monster wave, investors are focusing on AI-first initiatives'

Both of us were doing angel investments on the side and helping founders. In 2019-20, we realised that there was literally no operator-led help for early-stage startups

In September, Girish Mathrubootham, the founder of SaaS major Freshworks, said he would step down as executive chairman on December 1 to devote his time to Together Fund, a venture fund he had cofounded. In a video interview with Shine Jacob, Mathrubootham and Manav Garg, the two founders of Together Fund, talk about their plans. Edited excerpts:

 

You are leaving to focus on Together Fund. Have you lined up your plans?

 

Mathrubootham: It is an early-stage fund. We invest in seed and Series A stage only. It is a fund related to artificial intelligence (AI) and it invests in global-product companies from India. We do not come from a venture-capital (VC) background but from operating our companies. We are bringing that experience to help early-stage founders navigate building global products from India.

 

What will be your role in the fund and what are your other plans?

 

Mathrubootham: In terms of personal investment, I have exited many angel investments I had done. Since I started Together Fund, I have stopped all my angel investments. I have a family office, which is managing my personal investment, and I am passive in that.

 

We have a three-pronged strategy for investment. We have an AI studio, where younger startups come into our incubation programme. We have typical venture deals where we scout and invest. And we have an incubation strategy of handpicking companies. Across all these three, we have the portfolio divided among ourselves. Also, in general, we tend to help founders in our areas of specialisation. I am a product person and help them in building products.

 

How do you see the AI story going ahead when the startup and SaaS ecosystem is in a changing phase?

 

Garg: We were the first fund to invest in the early stage in AI from January 2023 onwards. We have so far done around 25 deals and are the largest fund in AI today in the early stage. We have deployed around $110 million in AI only.

 

Those companies have gone on to raise around $400 million from the next round of investors. We have had the top companies in the sector in the past two years. We have a portfolio and an operating model, which we think can make companies from India successful at a global stage in AI.

 

Which are the strategic areas that both of you have zeroed in on?

 

Garg: We have been investing $1-0 million at the seed stage, and we can shield them for a large-scale outcome. We are looking at physical AI like robotics, manufacturing, and deep tech. New areas we are looking at are infrastructure, and on applications we are looking at insurance, logistics, health, life sciences, among others.

 

In India, there was a 23 per cent drop in funding in the first nine months of 2025. How do you see this, with SaaS funding seeing a major dip?

 

Mathrubootham: You will see an uptick next year when all the early-stage AI investment is going to start raising follow-on funding.

 

AI is a monster wave. If you look at it, people are focusing on AI-first initiatives. So, all the existing SaaS will have to transform, building AI-native or adding AI capabilities into their software. We are in that transformation phase, and also, if you look at it, venture capital has moved to AI.

 

There is concern about AI leading to job losses. What is your view?

 

Mathrubootham: Hiring AI talent is a hard problem globally. On the other hand, the impact of AI on jobs will be massive. A lot of jobs that exist today will not stay. New jobs will come, but a lot of what we do today in different careers will go.

 

What are the factors that will attract you as an investor — the market size, technology, or founder mindset?

 

Garg: We are looking at teams that can create world-class products. We encourage teams to have an AI cofounder in their team to have a mindset shift. We look for high-quality founders with a learning mindset, solving a hard problem — what gives them the right to win in that market, their ability to tell the story and their craftsmanship in their product experience and design.

 

How do you see the role transition from a founder to an investor and a mentor role now?

 

Mathrubootham: An investor is more like a board member. You are not taking decisions or operationally running the company but giving the right directions and sharing experience, hoping that the founders will have the right mindset and come with their original idea.

 

I have worked with world-class board members, and hence I know where to draw the line between being an investor board member and a founder. I know all the times I have benefited from their good experience, while some ideas will take time. So, I am aware of the shift that I need to make from being chief executive officer — being used to asking things to be done — to a board member in an advisory role. From a personal learning standpoint, there is a phenomenal shift. We are learning how to understand portfolio construction.

 

Can you share the story of Together Fund so far?

 

Mathrubootham: When I started Freshworks in 2010, it was an accidental beneficiary of the VC funding boom when all the VCs in India were investing in the consumer internet. There was very little of an ecosystem to develop people building global product companies. In 2015, around 40 of us building global products from India met in Chennai. That is where I met Manav, and then we ended up creating SaaSBoomi as an ecosystem play where we could learn from each other.

 

Both of us were doing angel investment on the side and helping founders. In 2019-20, we realised there was literally no operator-led help for early-stage startups. They still rely on traditional VCs where financial investors can get them money. These early-stage founders need a different kind of help like picking the right market model or right products. That is where we realised that while India has a lot of VC money, there is a gap for an operator-led fund that can make a difference in early-stage companies. That is how Together Fund was born in 2021, and we are in Fund II now. We started with SaaS investment but quickly pivoted to AI, and are now doing only AI.