Just a few years ago, building a consumer app in India meant following an expensive playbook: chase users first and figure out monetization later. Today, that playbook is being rewritten. With direct monetization emerging as a $3B revenue pool and growing faster than the digital ads market, founders can build capital-efficient businesses by monetizing early. We're seeing companies reach significant scale with far less capital, proving that Indian users will pay for value – if you get the model right.

The convergence of key tailwinds—widespread internet accessibility, smartphone penetration, robust payments infrastructure, and rising disposable incomes—has created an environment where consumer apps can monetize effectively and at scale.

At Elevation Capital, we've been closely tracking the evolution of consumer monetization in India, witnessing first-hand how the market has transformed from a "DAU/MAU farm" to one where users actively pay for value. We've been at the forefront of this transformation, having partnered with companies that are rewriting the monetization playbook by leveraging alternative models like subscriptions and microtransactions.

Our New Era of Consumer Monetization series examines this shift in detail, providing founders with actionable frameworks to build and scale revenue-first consumer businesses.

Through this exploration, Elevation's Consumer Tech team breaks down the fundamentals of different monetization models, sharing benchmarks and metrics that founders can use to evaluate and implement the right strategy for their business. We combine insights from our portfolio companies with analysis of global success stories to provide a comprehensive guide for building in this space.

The series has been complemented by our recent Elevation Kickstarter event, where founders of ShareChat, Seekho, AppsForBharat, and Dashtoon shared their experiences in implementing various monetization strategies. The accompanying presentation delves into exciting new opportunities at the intersection of emerging monetization models and AI, highlighting how the next wave of content companies will be built.

Access the complete series and event materials below:

The Founder's Guide to Consumer App Monetization: Part 1

The Founder's Guide to Consumer App Monetization: Part 2

Building a consumer app with innovative approaches to monetization? We'd love to hear from you. The playbook for consumer tech success in India is being rewritten, and we're keen to partner with founders leading this change.

Download our detailed deck on 'New Era of Consumer Monetization' here.