Why do we exist?
tal64 is an equity research + investment syndicate for venture investors seeking alpha.
Capital flows as a function of stories.
We see a gap in the coverage of equities in the venture market and we are here to serve that gap for our reader-investors. We focus on equity reseach of interesting companies and provide them to our reader-investors for free.
We do not charge any onboarding/exit fees from our reader-investors, nor do we charge any carry on the profits.
We want to be the platform where company builders narrate their stories and document their progress. We aim to develop tools and mechanisms that enhance storytelling and research around growing startups.
In the process, we want to be the platform of choice for company builders to raise value-added capital.
You can reach me at banjan@tal64.com.
Our research + investing focus area:
“Mimicking the herd invites regression to the mean.”
― Charles T. Munger
We have a differentiated process where we interview interesting company builders and publish their stories.
These deep dives into their story allow us to observe the true value the company is creating on the ground, and observe the difference between the company’s actions versus the benchmark.
As 90% of our readers are investors themselves, we use the reader-investor interest in our articles to gauge the trend. We take great care to keep our reader base limited.
We further research the chosen companies to understand how they fare according to the checklist mentioned below — this process enables us to predict the alpha.
Pre-series A companies in a revenue run-rate of Rs. 8 crores and above range
Alpha in consumer/client experience
Alpha in product research and development, the production process, and the data warehouse
Revenue Growth Rate, Unit Economics especially GM + CM1-2-3, Liquidity, and Cash Conversion Cycle
Sales channel break-up, distribution economics
Capital efficiency with funds raised, repeat-rates, ability to serve across the price bands, and pricing that can be defended in the market
Path to cost structure reduction in the long term
Unmet consumer need or gap in the market from the team’s POV who find errors in conventional wisdom of the market and develop a business model to challenge it
Defensibility of everything above from competitors, in the long run
Exceptions to the above
Non-negotiable: Founder(s) with demonstrated grit
Our investments:
We went live on February 03, 2025. So far, our network has invested in:
Janitri, founded by Arun Agarwal. Our feature.
Who am I?
Hi! I am Priyadarshan Banjan—a chess professional turned investor + entrepreneur.
While my friend Nihal Sarin thinks I must be the worst chess player to have ever lived, my love for the game runs deep.
Background:
After learning chess at 14 (quite late as you can see) and playing tournaments across India, I dropped out of college and CA at 19. I hitchhiked across southern India and lived in a home for the homeless before Chess returned to rescue me. By education, I remain an Inter. Chartered Accountant.
Chess:
Since dropping out, I have worked as a chess coach, organized tournaments, marketed chess products, worked as an arbiter, reported events as a chess journalist, acted as an official photographer in several tournaments, worked as a manager for a couple of (incredibly) talented titled players, mainly Nihal Sarin, and edited one of the best chess news portals of the world (ChessBase).
In 2015, I helped found ChessBase India - a monopoly in chess content in India.
From 2017 to 2019, I served as the Media Officer of the All India Chess Federation (AICF).
Outside Chess:
In 2017, after transitioning out of chess, I worked my way up to become the Head of Marketing for Akshayakalpa, a Bengaluru-based Organic Milk and Food Products company. My area of focus was building the digital revenue growth for the business from scratch to INR 100 Cr+ (USD 12 million) by revenue in approximately 3 years. Today, Akshayakalpa is the largest organic foods company in India.
