Consequences what happens when America's richest programmer bill gates reviews Ezra Vogel- Asia-America's kindest connector.
.. Macraes' last 100 trips to Asia - they started with dad Norman Macrae teen serving in allied bomber command (today's Myanmar)-
The Economist became min diary of Norman Macrae's half century of asian trips from Myanmar 1943 on- we archive that at normanmacrae.net economistjapan.com; connection of my 50 trips with 5 generations of my family in Asia only made full sense from 2001 and mostly
15 trips to Bangladesh thanks to interviews with Fazle Abed & friends 1 2 3 and young chinese scholars at his 80th birthday filled most gaps EconomistPoor.com .. Asia trips 1 to 51 india -1-3 1984-2004; indonesia 4-7 (1982-1994) ; singapore 8-10 (1982-1992) japan (11-17) 1985-2013; thailand (18.19) 1984-1995 ; malaysia (20-21) ; 1993 korea (22-23); 1990-2017 bangladesh (24-39) 2007-2018;
dubai (40,41) 2015,6; qatar(42) 2017; china (43-50) 2016-2019 hong kong 51 (1996) like 7 members of my scotttish family tree i have enjoyed the huge privilege of learning more about advancing the human lot from the two thirds who are asian than my own race caucasian
...united ; ASIA/MIDDLE EAST: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh & women, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon/yemen, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore-Asean, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, -eurasia, Russia- we list twice because most of its land is in asia but traditionally its capital and history is categorised as european....Mapping livelihood economics of two thirds of humans- in 1983 london scot james wilson started the economist as a newsletter of royal societies chattering classes- his initial goal ro end poverty and starv=ation in scotland and nearest islands london ruled over- 17 years later queen victoria sent wilson to calcutta with charter bank to end poverty wherever britain ruled over asia; sadly james died 9 months after landing of diarrhea; it took another 120 years before bangladesh, china and unicef taught every village mother how to cure diarrhea with a recipe of water sugar and salts; from this first open source health service, a billion women across the continent spent 1970-2020 ending extreme poverty - with the help of universities who knew fazle abed vest, at www.abedmooc.com we track how/why the world used bangladesh as its lab for solutions that worked without access to electricity or any of the engineering that glasgow gave to the world from 1760; some people ask what happened to the economist mission- you can read 2nd editor walter bagehot's attempts to help victoria journey to commowealth at the english constituition; but progress was to slow to prevent the colonial eara where whites 15% designed world trade to exclude most of human development in the economist's 1943 centenary biography; at that tie my dad was teenage navigator in alied bomber command stationed in modrnday myanma; the east end of the bay of bengal opposite to calcutta's west end; what happened next to bay of bengal - yuo'd thnk kamala harris and berkeley let alone howard alumni would urgenrly follow coming from her mothers'schennai- in a hasty retreat from responsibility anywhere the british raj had rlued -india eas partioned; calcutta the superport of asoa's 19th century was assigned to india; the rest of the bay was given to pakistan to rule; it took 24 years for bangladeshi people to win back indepenence now the 8th most populous nation with less than zero capital; my father norman macrae mapped varios asian economic models from 1962 when he first surveyed hs war time foe japan - he named the model poorest villagers would need to network rural kensianism; while he named the win-win supercity/port model of tokyo capital belt roadtsrs; for the next 30 years those who saw the economist as the first viewspaper for debating globalisation exponentials were trewed to regular updates on every asian peoples progess or not in sharing these new economic modelsSustainability's last chance decade: Feb 2021 2025report.com 37th annual update- economistpoor.com - thanks to hard work of asian motherhood, one billion asians have ended extreme poverty in the last 40 years - research shows human development's greatest lesson is not yet a curriculum in any western university -can you help adamsmith.app change economists before year end summits in Glasgow 1 2 & Dubai -try applying Economist alphabet Ai Bank Child Diary Edu Food Green Health Inclusion ..my scottish family's concern for development of two thirds of humans who are Asian goes bac 150+ years to founding of the pharmacy kemp's corner in mumbai to grandad's sir kenneth kemp's 25 years of mediation with gandhi leading to sir ken's last project wrining up the legalese of india's independence to my father's 40 years reporting asia's sustainability entrepreneurial revolution in The Economist; to his last article 20 years later on lessons from bangladesh needed to rectify the west's subprime disaster: japan's ambassador to dhaka helped aspiring youth journalists and others listen to sir fazle abed legacy debriefs - see our catalogue abed.games offering the most vital alumni networks youth can linkin if they are to celebrate being the first sustainability generation REFERENCES UN ENVOY EDUCATION -asia has proven to be greates champion of former uk prime minister Gordon brown -10 years un envoy edu links include A 1 2 lots of moving parts - some are very radical empowering new universities and apprenticeships - I have been tracking the for 5 years since being at un launch 2016 - can try and help with queries chris.macrae@yahoo.co.uk - if real summits return end 2021 hope to unite updates cop26 nov Glasgow and worlds largest edu summit allied to uae expo dec -meanwhile zooms can make connections
..

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

india startup series

from inc 42 11/23


Introducing Indian Startup Hubs: 


Yatti Soni
05 Nov'19  3 min read
Already home to nearly 50K startups, India is among the top three startup ecosystems in the world
Fueled by govt initiatives and an easy tax regime, the number of Indian startups is rapidly growing
Indian Startup Hub Series will dive into the startup ecosystem in 24 Indian states and territories

In a country as diverse as India, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. What works for the Tier 1 market, may or may not work for Tier 2 and Tier 3 users. Thus, arises the need for problem solvers from every state and region; local entrepreneurs who live and breathe these on-ground local problems everyday. 
In H1 of 2019, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Mumbai together accounted for about 85.28% of all the fundings deals in Indian startups. According to Datalabs by Inc42, out of 50K startups in India, only 20% are based in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Further, over 5,800 of these startups from Tier 2 cities only, accounting for $1.3 Bn in total funding between 2004 and Q1 2019. 
Related Article: Unsung Heroes: How Angel Networks Are Nurturing India’s Small Town Startups
The nascent startup ecosystems in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are complemented by central and state government initiatives. Last month, speaking at the India Economic Summit, DPIIT secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra said, “There are large tracts of India untouched by startup presence,” he said, adding that the government is committed to further spreading the startup movement to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in the next five years.
tier2/3:Inc42 concluded a six-cities tour for the BIGShift series, stopping by at Kochi, Chandigarh, Vizag, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Indore.
Along with acting as a launchpad for Tier 2 startups, BIGShift also helped identify unique trends in these cities. For example, Nagpur’s affinity for foodtech startups, or the prominence of aquaculture and hardware startups in Kerala and Kochi, as well as Indore’s focus on the education and edtech sector. Inc42 is now launching the Indian Startup Hub Series which will bring into focus the top ecosystem enablers and startups from each of these regions. 
The 24 regions being covered under Inc42’s Indian Startup Hub Series include West Bengal, Pune, Lucknow, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Kanpur, NorthEast, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
As NITI Aayog’s CEO Amitabh Kant  had repeatedly said, “While Silicon Valley may be very innovative, all the challenges of the world are in India. From the challenge of providing water, to converting waste into energy, to provide seed and fertilizer to the farmers in real-time  — all those challenges are in India.” 
Here’s to turning focus towards the emerging entrepreneurs and innovators across the length and breadth of India. 

 PUNJAB
The State Of Startups In Punjab: Can The Land Of Green Revolution Nurture Tech Innovation?
Over the course of the past few years, there has been a rise in the number of promising startups in Punjab. Spread across sectors such as agritech, fintech and more, the startups have attracted the keen eye of the stalwarts from the ecosystem. A few prominent names among those are...
The Startup Stars Of Punjab: The Tech Startups Making A Difference On The Ground
Though the startup ecosystem of Punjab is taking slow and steady strides on its journey to becoming a major startup hub, many innovative ideas have helped give it the right push. Here is a quick look at some of the most promising startups from the state...
Meet The Incubators, Investors And Mentors Guiding And Shaping Punjab’s Startup Hub Journey
The enabler community of the state, along with the government, is actively working to change the status quo. These enablers have helped Punjab take steady strides on its journey to becoming a major startup hub and have given many innovative ideas the right push.
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Rajasthan
Rajasthan Startup Hub: Startups Rise In The ‘Land Of Kings’
The land of Rana Sanga and Maharana Pratap has today become the nourishing ground for successful startups such as CarDekho, Culture Alley and Razorpay. Even if these startups have moved out of their first offices in Rajasthan, the ripple effect of their success can still be felt across the state.
The Rising Startups Of Rajasthan: The State’s Most Promising Tech Startups
In terms of sectors, Rajasthan have a mix of startups ranging from jewellery retail, agritech, tourism, deeptech, extending to cloud kitchen, mobility, SaaS and healthtech. In terms of funding, Jaipur startups have raised $110 Mn in funding.
===========================
SEBI to spend INR 500 Cr for IT infrastructure and technology innovation for social media surveillance
This week, we looked at FY19 performances of Square Yard, Fresh Menu, CarDekho and more
Startup India claims threefold growth in registrations of startups
News Roundup: 11 Indian Startup News Stories You Don’t Want To Miss This Week [Nov 18 - 22]
We bring to you the latest edition of News Roundup: Indian Startup Stories Of The Week!
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In one of the most important developments this week, the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) has proposed to reduce the compliance time for Indian startups in its drafted Startup India Vision 2024 document.
To boost the tech industry in India, the government has laid out plans to offer incentives to 324 companies including US-based automotive and energy giant, Tesla and UK-based pharmaceutical major GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to set up manufacturing units. Not only this, in the next five years, SEBI will be spending INR 500 Cr in IT infrastructure and technological innovation.
In another interesting development, Raebareli (Uttar Pradesh) railway coach factory is set to be modernised with the introduction of humanoid robot ‘Sona 1.5’ to transport documents and greet visitors. The humanoid robot was built by Club First Technologies, who also demonstrated the product on November 18.

Important Startup News

Doodhwala Vendors Turn To Police

Around 35 vendors had filed an FIR for unpaid dues against Doodhwala founders. Over a dozen employees have alleged that the company owes up to INR 20 Lakh in salaries. Doodhwala had been unable to raise funds and had to wind down operations in October.

From The Government Corridors

  • A rift seems to have emerged between Niti Aayog and health Ministry following the faulty hip implant case involving US-based Johnson and Johnson. Niti Aayog had proposed for legislation for medical devices and an independent regulator for this industry with the Draft Medical Devices (Safety, Effectiveness and Innovation) Bill, 2019, which health ministry believes is not needed.
  • To promote entrepreneurship at the grassroot level, the Indian government may soon set up a dedicated cell for agriculture startups and small entrepreneurs. Through the platform, the government will ensure different technologies are uploaded and shared with the public. The idea is to encourage more startups in the agritech sector.
  • Karnataka plans to formalise a legal framework for a regulatory sandbox is now expected to boost the tech startup ecosystem further. On the lines of the regulatory sandbox being tested by RBI, the Karnataka government’s initiative will allow technology entrepreneurs to test the viability of products in a live situation before going for the launch of their startups.
  • Startup India claims threefold growth in registrations of startups. There are nearly 25K startups at present, under this programme. The department of promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) also said that it recognises 26 startups everyday.

What Social Media Players And Apps Were Up To?

  • Minister of IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad shared his proposal about linking Aadhaar with social media accounts of individuals. The issue came to light after a petition was filed on July 2018 at the Madras High Court. The petition also included the issue related to message traceability to stop cybercrimes and intermediary liability.
  • Google removed ‘2020 Sikh Referendum’ from its Play Store after Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh raised concerns with the government about the app promoting anti-national activities.
  • At Facebook’s annual South Asia Safety Summit held on November 19, the company announced its collaboration with the ministry of women and child development (MWCD) to promote digital literacy to ensure women’s and children’s safety online.
  • Tech giant Google launched cloud-based gaming platform Stadia on Tuesday (November 19). However, it is yet to be launched in India, and the gaming enthusiasts may have to wait.
  • The government cybersecurity body, CERT-In on November 16 alerted WhatsApp users about a new vulnerability on the encrypted app which the attacker can exploit through MP4 files, and this file is said to be in a compressed form, which can be an image, video, audio or subtitles files among others.
India To Go Ahead With Social Media Regulations, Policy by 2020
Related Article: The Story Of Indian Robot Mitra From Inception To The GOI Finland Showcase Slush’17

From The World Of Fintech

  • Google has entered the India’s entry-level job search market by revamping its Google Jobs platform. Its new feature is now available on Google Pay application, under ‘Jobs’ section. It now allows its users to create their job profiles by linking it with LinkedIn, Naukri.com, Monster.com and other portals.
  • One97 Communication’s Paytm has partnered with Twitter to increase user engagement. Paytm will integrate Twitter moment on the messaging service to allow users to access news, astrology, events, trending tweets and others.
  • The National Payments Corporations of India’s (NPCI) payments service, UPI now partners with the income tax department after launching its platform into the international market, Singapore. This collaboration will allow individuals to pay their income tax using UPI enabled applications, and through other digital payment modes such as credit cards and mobile wallets.
  • Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank, which had planned to shut shop in July 2019, is heading towards liquidation. According to RBI’s notification, the Bombay High Court has passed an order on September 2019 related to the voluntary winding up of application by the company.

From Digital Entertainment Players

  • One of India’s largest OTT platforms may bring Disney’s video-on-demand streaming service, Disney+ to India soon. It is said to be launched mid next year.
  • The Swedish company, Spotify has launched its original audio-based content for the Indian market called ‘Spotify Podcasts Originals.’ The category has more than 2 Mn Indian-based podcasts. The company is betting on localised content which is specifically targeted at Indian audiences.
  • Amazon Prime Music recently launched ad free plan for its non Prime users. However, for Prime users, it will continue providing the premium service across all the other channels.
  • YouTube Music, on November 18, announced to offer prepaid plans for its music services in the country. It allows indian users to purchase either one-month or three-month prepaid plan to enjoy YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium benefits.

Startup Financials

  • Amid the real-estate market slump, Square Yard, a proptech startup, on November 19 announced that the company has recorded 56% annual growth in revenue for Q2 FY20, touching INR 75.5 Cr.
  • For the last few months, the auto industry is going through a turmoil. However, Jaipur-based auto-tech startup CarDekho reported a significant growth of 30% in H1 FY20.
  • Food aggregator startup FreshMenu reported a revenue of INR 140.96 Cr, a 13.9% in FY19, compared to FY18, INR 123.9 Cr. In terms of overall expenses, the company grew 2.09% reaching INR 171.12 Cr from INR 167.6 Cr in FY18. In terms of losses, the company has reduced the losses by 31.28% from INR 43.8 Cr to INR 30.15 Cr in the previous year.
  • Indian OTT startup ALTBalaji claimed 3x growth in revenue in Q2 FY20 compared to Q2 FY19. It has cut down on losses from INR 39.2 Cr in Q1 FY20 to INR 31.19 Cr in Q2 FY20. In terms of overall expenses, there is a point percentage increase, i.e Q1 FY20 was 52.30 Cr and INR 52.27 Cr in Q2 FY20.
  • The furniture rental company Urban Ladder has recorded overall revue of INR 434 Cr, a 1.87x growth as compared to last year. The company has also noted 2.08x increase in operational revenue and has reached INR 298.17 Cr from INR 96.64 Cr in FY18. Moreover, when it came to employee expenses, the company has reduced its expenses to 3% in FY19 compared to last year INR 53.66 Cr.
msme-finance-transactions

Opinions From The Industry Leaders

  • Telangana IT and Industries Minister, KT Rama Rao, in his opening speech for Indiajoy 2019, on November 20, said that the state is poised to become a hub for the South Asian industry in the gaming, technology and entertainment space with world-class technicians, post-production facilities, VFX and post-production work for Hollywood movies
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been working in areas of healthcare, sanitation and financial services for underprivileged people. Speaking on his latest visit to India, Gates talked about technology intervention in TB vaccines. Gates counted the work being done in green mobility as one of India’s strengths
  • Future’ Group’s founder and CEO Kishore Biyani said that online and offline retail, especially small stores, are different models altogether. He believes that the corner shop will not vanish because “convenience and contingency buying will always be there”. However, he feels that the problem of the limited inventory at these small scale traders encourages the customers to move to ecommerce.
  • Bengaluru is the youngest city and every person here is a techie. The adoption rate for tech products is much faster, believes cofounder of Ola Cabs Bhavish Aggarwal. He shared these sentiments during a panel discussion at the recent Bengaluru tech summit.

From The World Of Ecommerce

  • Traders’ body CAIT, on November 20, announced ‘National Protest Day,’ against Amazon and Flipkart, among other ecommerce platforms, where more than a lakh traders joined the protest seeking an immediate ban on the ecommerce platforms, spread across 700 cities in the country. The traders blamed it on the online platforms engaging in deep discounting, predatory practices and not complying with the newly updated foreign direct investment (FDI) policies, which has affected the offline brick-and-mortar stores to a large extent.
  • Online fashion portal Myntra is working on new initiatives such as stylists on call, an embedded fitness tracker called the myntra Move, and hyperlocal services in partnership with Mumbai-based Pretr. The decision came as an attempt to be different from Amazon and parent Flipkart.
  • Amazon and Flipkart is on a hiring spree. Amazon currently leading the campus drive, is followed by Flipkart, where both the ecommerce giants are fighting their ways to hire the right talent from top technical and b-schools in the country,  includes NIT and IIMs.
  • The Indian government is now redefining the ecommerce, where it plans to make policies that ensure the protection of consumer rights across all segments. It is looking at bringing both product and services companies under one umbrella. For instance, the government now has decided to bring B2C internet companies across segments such as MakeMyTrip, Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, BigBasket among others, under a new ecommerce draft policy.
  • Amazon founder Jeff Bezos meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2020 is crucial for the company. As the new policy is under its way, it becomes imperative for ecommerce giant to build a strong relationship and stability in the country to ensure smooth operation of its business in India. It is said that Bezos will be visiting the country to attend the annual event for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Bezos is optimistic about gaining regulatory stability in India, as he believes that the company has been growing rapidly in the country and seeks clarity.
  • Fueling the agitation against against ecommerce platforms, the CAIT once again demands Indian government to introduce a uniform policy for discount, related to the implementation of minimum operating price on offers and discounts.
  • This festive season, ecommerce giants Flipkart and Amazon combined, recorded gross transaction value of $4.3 Bn (INR 31K cr) in India. However, the numbers fell short of expected $5 Bn in sales, as per RedSeer Consulting. Flipkart reported INR 1.9K followed by Amazon at INR 1.4K. It has to be noted, Flipkart led with 64% share of the combined gross sales, while Amazon continued to show higher net promoter score (NPS), on the basis of customer loyalty aspect towards its platform.

Swiggy-Zomato Saga

  • Gurugram-based Zomato denied merger talks with its food delivery competitor, Swiggy. Zomato told Inc42 that the business has been profitable and it is not looking for merger or acquisition. The situation came to light after the two platforms in one of the media reports had plans to merge to take on Amazon’s new food aggregator Prime Now, which is expected to be launched next month.
  • The food aggregator startup, Swiggy believes that cloud kitchens are the future of food delivery business.It said that its cloud kitchen programme, Swiggy Access plans to host 1000 such cloud kitchen restaurant partners across India. Through this, Swiggy will be offering restaurants with the space and infrastructure to run a remote kitchen which is expected to expand into Tier 2, 3 cities, including Guwahati, Surat, Kochi and more.
Zomato Denies Merger Talk With Rival Swiggy Amid New Reports

Other startups News:

MakeMyTrip Plans Big To Take On Airbnb

The online travel aggregator MakeMyTrip (MMT) plans to expand its reach in the growing homestay market in India by adding more private properties, villas and apartments in the next one year. The decision came to light after MMT decided to aggressively capture the market on par with US-based Airbnb and startups alike. The company plans to focus on leisure destinations such as Goa, Coorg and Manalu, apart from its metro cities expansion plans.

Homegrown Ola Is Now Popular Worldwide 

The popularity of Ola’s ride sharing application comes to light after its launch in the international markets, including markets such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It currently operates in more than 20 international cities. Launched in 2010, the company has come a long way from where it all started. The Bengaluru-based cab sharing application has now entered the list of top five ridesharing and taxi apps downloaded globally.
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According to one of the media reports, Ola is the fourth most downloaded ride-sharing app internationally. On Google Play Store, the app was also the third most downloaded app.

WhatsApp vs Government 

  • In a never-ending saga between the government of India and Whatsapp over Pegasus breach. The minister of IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad on October 31 had said that the government seeks clarity on the breach, and  blames on WhatsApp for not informing the seriousness of the issue. However, WhatsApp now claims that it had informed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), on September 5, 2019, about the vulnerability of the breach led by Pegasus spyware.
  • The question of the government’s involvement with NSO Group, the developer of Pegasus spyware, is now being answered. The minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy has admitted to it. The minister said in one of the statements that the government has the authority to monitor digital communication and also decrypt the encrypted communication if required. He added in his response that it has to be done in order to maintain the interest of national security and to maintain friendly relations with foreign states.

RSS Urges The Government To Pass Personal Data Protection Bill 

K N Govindacharya, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has urged the government to expedite the passing of the personal data protection bill (DPB). Govindacharya wrote a letter to Shashi Tharoor, the chair of the parliamentary standing committee of IT that the WhatsApp matter must not be buried like other spying incidents.
Recently, Govindacharya filed a petition in the Supreme Court after the WhatsApp spying controversy. In the petition, it urged WhatsApp to give a reply within four days, and he also proposed data protection law is getting skewed, day by day.

Samsung Enters The Smart TV Market In India 

South Korean tech giant Samsung plans to return to television manufacturing business in India. The company is said to give competition to Xiaomi and Vu which are making smart TVs in the country. To take this forward, Samsung plans to partner with Indian television manufacturer Dixon Technologies. Further, the company looks for other TV OEMs in India to increase its television production in the country.

TikTok Parent ByteDance To Enter Music Streaming Service 

The parent company of short-video app TikTok and vernacular social media platform, ByteDance will be entering the music streaming market soon. The app is expected to be launched early next month. Conversely, the Chinese company ByteDance is already in talks with the three major record labels — Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music, for licensing deals. These record labels control nearly 90% of the global music industry. 
Once launched, ByteDance will be listing all their tracks on its streaming platform. The music streaming platform will be made available in India, Indonesia, Brazil and the US.
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Author

Inc42 Staff
Business Journalist
Amit Raja Naik is a business journalist for Inc42 Media. A startup enthusiast, who loves to write about technology, people, process, culture and more. You can also find him regularly performing shows with his music band in Bengaluru, India.
Responses
NEWS

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Nov 18-23]

23 Nov'19  9 min read
Perfios has raised $50 Mn in Series B funding round led by Warburg Pincus
Edtech startup Azent Overseas Education has acquired Bengaluru-based admission assistance platform Admission Table
Maruti Suzuki India Limited has announced the launch of the third cohort for its MAIL programme
Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week
We bring to you the latest edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!
In one of the biggest funding round this week, Bengaluru-based fintech firm Perfios has raised $50 Mn in Series B funding round led by Warburg Pincus and its existing investor Bessemer Venture Partners.
The recent funding of Perfios has also given an exit to a few of its angel investors from the fintech company. The company plans to utilise the funds in its three core areas — continued technology innovation, developing new offerings, and international expansion.
Overall, this week 19 startups raised around $122.56 Mn funding totally and one startup acquisitions took place in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount).

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. Wingreens: $17 Mn
2. Telluris: $4 Mn
3. myHQ:$1.5 Mn
4. GiveIndia: INR 23.4 Cr ($3.26 Mn)
5. Furtados School of Music: INR 20 Cr ($2.8 Mn)
6. EasyRewardz: Undisclosed
7. Digital Mall of Asia: INR 22 Cr ($3.1 Mn)
8. Stanza Living: Undisclosed
9. Kaarva: Undisclosed
10. Multibhashi: Undisclosed
11. Quikkloan: Undisclosed
12. TravelTriangle: $13 Mn
13. Healthians: $12 Mn
14. Medikabazaar: $15 Mn
15. Food n i: Undisclosed
16. Do Your Thng: $150K ($0.2 Mn)
17. OneLife: INR 5 Cr ($0.7 Mn)
18. EVI: Undisclosed

  • Wingreens:

Gurugram-based food and beverage maker Wingreens has raised $17 Mn (INR 125 Cr) in Series B from venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and responsAbility to expand its presence to general retail stores. With the funds, the company plans to expand its distribution, with a special focus on general trade to scale up revenue and sales.

  • Telluris:

Telangana-based early-stage life sciences startup Telluris Biotech India Private Limited has raised $4 Mn funding led by Innovation in Food and Agriculture Fund. With the recent fundings, the company plans to expand in newer markets. Founded by Venu Polineni, Telluris’ research has established proof of concept for four different products.

  • myHQ:

Delhi-NCR headquartered coworking space provider, myHQ has raised $1.5 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by India Quotient, Singapore-based family office RB Investments, Ashish Goenka from Suashish, angels from the online platform LetsVenture and existing investors including Anupam Mittal and Nitish Mittersian also invested in the round. myHQ plans to utilise the funds to expand its operations.

  • GiveIndia:

Bengaluru-based non-profit organisation, GiveIndia has received a combined grant of INR 23.4 Cr ($3.26 Mn) from A.T.E. Chandra Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network India and philanthropist Vikrant Bhargava, towards its mission of scaling up every day giving in India. With the new funds, the nonprofit organisation plans to scale up its donor base from 1.7 Lakhs to 20 Lakhs over the next five years.

  • Furtados School of Music:

Mumbai-based Furtados School of Music (FSM) has raised a fund worth INR 20 Cr ($2.8 Mn) from IAN Fund and DSG Consumer Partners. The company has said that it will be utilising the funds for expanding its presence across major cities in the country, enhance its service offerings, and scale its technology infrastructure (app and online platforms).

  • EasyRewardz:

Gurugram-headquartered customer engagement and rewards platform EasyRewardz has raised an undisclosed amount of Series B funding from Walmart-owned ecommerce player Flipkart. The company said that the fresh funds will be used to drive new product development and accelerate global expansion.

  • Digital Mall of Asia:

Delhi NCR-based Digital Mall of Asia (DMA), a virtual ecommerce platform, has raised INR 22 Cr ($3.1 Mn) in a funding round led by real estate investor Satish Jain through his privately held infrastructure development company Amour Infrastructure. The company plans to utilise the funds to scale up product development and branding, to create awareness about its key offerings and how it’s differentiated from traditional ecommerce models.

  • Stanza Living:

Delhi-based student housing startup Stanza Living has raised undisclosed funding from Equity International, a real estate-focused investment company founded by US-based billionaire investor and philanthropist Sam Zell. The recent investments have come as a part of the $50 Mn Series C funding round of the student housing startup.

  • Kaarva:

Bengaluru-based fintech startup Kaarva has raised undisclosed seed funds from angels such as InMobi founders Naveen Tewari and Piyush Shah; Yulu CEO Amit Gupta, Vokal founders Aprameya Ramakrishnan and Mayank Bidawatka, NuWare founder Venk Krishnan, Melissa Frakman of Emphasis Ventures (EMVC), Citrus Pay’s Satyen Kothari, Bhagchandka Family Office Fund and Gemba Capital among others. The company said it used the funds to build its product and is now taking it to market as it looks to increase the reach among the addressable base.

  • Multibhashi:

Bengaluru-based edtech startup, Multibhashi, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from RareJob and other investors. This is the first time that a Japan-based English tutorial company has made such an investment in an Indian edtech startup. Multibhashi plans to utilise the funds towards the development of technology, enhancement of product, hiring of team and acquisition of new users in the country.

  • Quikkloan:

Delhi-based fintech startup, Quikkloan has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding led by angel investors including Arun Diaz, advisor of Aavishkaar, Aasif Ahsan Khan, managing director and CEO Of Fab Technologies and startup mentor Sanjay Budhwar. The fintech company has said that it will utilise the recently raised funds to improve the products technological, data science capabilities, hiring the team, ramp up marketing, sales and customer service teams to expand in more cities.

  • TravelTriangle:

Haryana-based curated travel platform TravelTriangle has raised $13 Mn (INR 91 Cr) in Series D from South Korea-based KB Global Platform fund and Nandan Nilekani-led The Fundamentum Partnership Fund I. Founded in 2011 by Sankalp Agarwal, Sanchit Garg, and Prabhat Gupta, TravelTriangle is primarily a holiday designing platform that helps travel designers build great holidays for travellers.

  • Healthians:

Yuvraj Singh-backed Healthtech startup Healthians has raised INR 85 Cr ($12 Mn) in Series B round led by Japan-based DG Incubation and DG Daiwa Ventures. Other investors included Kotak PE, Trifecta, Tokio Marine and Singapore-based fund Mistletoe. Healthians is planning to use the funds to expand its geographical presence and penetrate deeper into the cities it already operates in. In addition, it plans to enhance its technological capabilities and introduce new products for the users.

  • Medikabazaar:

Mumbai-based B2B healthtech marketplace Medikabazaar has raised INR 112 Cr ($15 Mn) as part of Series B round led by HealthQuad, Ackermans & van Haaren, Rebright Partners and Toppan Printing company. Medikabazaar plans to use this funding to enhance its technological abilities, supply chain infrastructure and expanding its team.

  • Food n i:

Hyderabad-based B2B Enterprise FoodTech Marketplace, Food n i, has raised an undisclosed seed round from a group of HNIs and angels like founder and CEO of Go North Ventures, Sanjay Jesrani, CEO Acko, Varun Dua, Premanshu Singh, CEO Coverfox, among others.

  • Do Your Thng:

Gurugram-based tech startup, Do Your Thng, has raised $150K ($0.2 Mn) from angel investors including Puneet Chandra, founder and joint managing director at Skootr Global Private Limited, Sorabh Agarwal, ex-MD – Copal Partners, among others. The raised amount will be utilized for expanding the team, getting more creators on-board and do tie-ups with brands and other organisations to increase their revenues.

  • OneLife:

Mumbai-based consumer healthcare brand OneLife has raised pre-Series A funding of INR 5 Cr ($0.7 Mn) from a group of HNIs from pharma, healthcare and chemicals industry. The funds raised will help the company to strengthen its product range, expand geographies, increase online and offline presence, invest in marketing and brand building, and hire talent.

  • EVI Technologies:

Delhi-based electric vehicle focused startup EVI Technologies Pvt Ltd (EVIT), has raised an undisclosed funding from Tessellate Tech Ventures, investing arm of Napino Auto & Electronics Ltd, Gurgaon. Founded in 2017 by Rupesh Kumar, Vikrant K. Aggarwal and Aditya Raj Verma, EVI plans to utilise the funds to install a network of 2K EV chargers besides 50 Battery swapping stations in Delhi and NCR over the next 6 to 8 months.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

  • Online-offline edtech startup Azent Overseas Education has acquired Bengaluru-based admission assistance platform Admission Table. The acquisition is in line with Azent’s investment and growth strategy, which involves INR 250 Cr investment in new technologies and innovative products over the next three years.

Other Developments Of The Week

  • India’s leading automobile manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, has been doing its share to support India’s startup ecosystem through its Mobility and Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) programme and now it has announced the launch of the third cohort for its MAIL programme.
  • After making the first close of its third fund in April 2018 with $30 Mn, Venture capital firm India Quotient has made the final close of its $60 Mn fund. India Quotient is also planning to raise an additional $40 Mn opportunities fund to invest in its existing top-performing startups. With a total $100 Mn in the bank, the venture capital company plans to deploy it over the next two years.
  • Early-stage venture capital firm, Fireside Ventures has announced its first investment from its Fund II. The VC firm will be investing in a women’s wellness brand Gynoveda that makes ayurvedic products for menstrual health.
  • A year after the Global Cooling Prize (GCP) was launched, the competition has moved into the final phase with startups from India still having the chance to win up to $1 Mn in funding as an award. The competition was launched in collaboration with the department of science and technology, global research body the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Mission Innovation — a global initiative of 24 countries and the European Union (EU). Eight participant startups have been selected for the final round.
  • After their exit from the IT consultancy firm Mindtree, following the takeover by Larsen and Toubro, the three founders — Krishnakumar Natarajan, NS Parthasarathy and Rostow Ravanan — have decided to start their own $120 Mn fund to invest in tech startups.
  • With an aim to boost the startup ecosystem in universities, CL Educate Limited (CL), an edtech company, has announced a fund of INR 30 Cr for early-stage startups based out of university campuses.
  • Founder of startup advisory services venture, Startup Buddy, Amit Singal has launched an INR 80 Cr sector-agnostic micro venture capital fund, Fluid Ventures, to promote the startup ecosystem in India.
  • Game developer and publisher, Nazara, has earmarked $20 Mn to invest in around 20 startups across emerging markets by 2020. The ticket size of these investments is expected to be around $600K – $1 Mn.
Stay tuned for the next week edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!

Author

Inc42 Staff
Aman is a recent postgraduate in English Journalism. He currently writes on startup ecosystem and technology. You can write to him at aman@inc42.com
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Movers And Shakers Of The Week [Nov 18-23]

23 Nov'19  4 min read
Ola has appointed Hemant Kaul to Ola Money’s Board of Directors
Uber has witnessed an exit of its chief product officer, Manik Gupta
CollegeDekho has appointed Tarun Aggarwal as the chief business officer (CBO)
Indian Startup Movers And Shakers Of The Week [Nov 18-23]
We bring to you the latest edition of movers and shakers of the week in the Indian startup ecosystem.
While young graduates are finding it difficult to get jobs, Gurugram-based proptech startup Square Yards has planned to hire around 1,500 fresh graduates from over 100 college and university campuses this year to lead the next leg of growth for the company. Square Yards says has added multiple layers to the candidate screening process to keep it high on engagement while at the same time, helping it identify the right talent across the country.
Here’s a look at the other important movers and shakers of the week

Ola Appoints Hemant Kaul To Ola Money’s Board of Directors

Hemant KaulCab-aggregator major, Ola has appointed Hemant Kaul to the Board of Directors of its financial services arm, Ola Financial Services (OlaMoney). Previously, Kaul was part of the initial startup team of Axis Bank, previously known as UTI Bank. He was instrumental in setting up the retail banking function at Axis Bank. He was an executive director at Axis Bank until 2009.
Thereafter, he was the MD and CEO of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance until 2012. Hemant is a veteran in India’s financial services space with over four decades of experience. At his new role in Ola, kaul will work closely with the company’s founder Bhavish Agarwal, Nitin Gupta, CEO of Ola Money and the OlaMoney team and build innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of consumers.

Uber’s Chief Product Officer Manik Gupta Takes An Exit

Manik GuptaUS-based cab aggregator giant, Uber has witnessed an exit of its chief product officer, Manik Gupta from the company. Gupta had joined Uber in 2015 where his journey at the company started with leading the Maps and then Marketplace teams.
As chief product officer, Gupta helped Uber in building many products across the whole stack, from backend platforms to frontend consumer experiences. After quitting Uber, Gupta plans to take a break and will take some time before he starts again exploring jobs for himself.

OYO Hotels & Homes Announces Appointment of Betsy Atkins As An Independent Director

Betsy AtkinsOYO Hotels & Homes today has appointed of Betsy Atkins, CEO and founder of Baja Corporation, as an independent director on the company’s board of directors. As an independent member of the Board, Betsy will play a supervisory role and provide guidance to OYO’s founder Ritesh Aggarwal and the management on key business decisions.
She will join the board that has industry experts like Mark Schwartz, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs, Munish Varma, managing partner, SoftBank Vision Fund, Bejul Somaia, partner, Lightspeed India Partners Advisors, among others.

Edtech CollegeDekho Appoints Tarun Aggarwal As Chief Business Officer

Tarun AggarwalEducation technology startup CollegeDekho has announced the appointment of Tarun Aggarwal as the chief business officer (CBO). In his new role, Tarun will be responsible for leading new initiatives for CollegeDekho and spearhead the next phase of growth and expansion.
With over two decades of experience, Tarun has worked with Infoedge, HT Media, Tech Mahindra and HCL, across sales, business development and operations domains. He has completed his engineering from the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology and has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad.

LendingKart Announces Senior Executive Appointments As Part Of Its Ongoing Growth Strategy

Ahmedabad-based fintech startup LendingKart has appointed two key officials as part of its continuing strategy to grow services and outreach – Mohit Bajaj as the chief financial officer for its NBFC arm, LendingKart Finance Ltd and Bharat Aggarwal as the senior vice president – operations.
With industry understanding and past experiences, Bajaj and Aggarwal will further aid in expanding LendingKart’s geographical footprint, leadership team and enabling financial inclusion for MSMEs across India.
Mohit BajajBajaj who joins LendingKart as CFO has spent a considerable time at Media Guru as their group CFO. With an experience of over 17 years, Bajaj has also worked with Religare Macquarie Wealth Management Ltd, Fullerton Securities & Wealth Advisors Ltd, Actis Global Services, Fortis Healthcare, and Dixon in varying capacities.
Additionally, Aggarwal who joins LendingKart as the senior VP, operations, brings in over 15 years of experience of working across consumer, banking and financial services industry. Prior to Lendingkart, Aggarwal has worked as national manager, business Loans with Bajaj Finance, managed credit and operations for the fintech division of Bajaj Finserv – Bajaj Finserv Direct Limited.
Stay tuned for the next edition of Movers and Shakers of the week!
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