Category: Entrepreneurship

With digital driving changes, individuals need to continue honing skills: Entrepreneurs

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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With digital technologies changing the way people live, shop and learn, individuals need to continue focussing on enhancing their skills as well as anticipate demand for future services, entrepreneurs said at Bennett University’s ‘Freshers’ Welcome Week 2020′.

BigBasket co-founder VS Sudhakar, Simplilearn CEO Krishna Kumar and Livspace co-founder Ramakant Sharma spoke to students about the way sectors like retail, education and online shopping are changing and how the younger generation would need to adapt to these changes.

Speaking on the second day of the event, Kumar said while the COVID-19 pandemic made companies question whether they needed physical office spaces, many other changes – that will affect the future of work – were already brewing in the background.

“The salary arbitrage in the world is going away…Why can’t it happen in future that many large companies will decide that they can hire anywhere in the world? This will put a lot of stress on cities, which rely on attracting good people with high paying jobs to grow, Kumar said.

On how fresh graduates today need to continually hone their skills through their working lives, Kumar said many people may see this as a negative, but they just need to add a new skill every few years that is becoming easier with online courses these days.

Sharma of Livspace said these changes were driven by need, which he saw in the early days of the e-commerce industry in India while at Myntra. He founded Livspace after being unable to find a good interior design service that could set up his home after he relocated to India from the US.

“It’s kind of a circular loop. We start with anticipating demand and sometimes ready demand is not there,” Sharma said. There is also a supply problem in India, he said, adding that this was one of the things that he had learnt over the last 15 years of being at the forefront of India’s internet economy.

BigBasket cofounder and chairman VS Sudhakar concurred with Sharma, adding that people’s mindsets need to change. Asked how e-commerce can replace the experience of ‘touch and feel’, Sudhakar said superior service could help change that behaviour.

“One of the things we did on Day One at BigBasket is we had fruits and vegetables in our catalogue. You can call this category the epitome of what you would want to touch and feel. But today, 70 per cent of our orders have fruits and vegetables, and about 75% of our customers buy vegetables online,” Sudhakar said.

Today’s generation will see a lot more changes in their lifetimes, be it electric cars, autonomous vehicles or other things that cannot be imagined now, he added.

International marathon swimmer Meenakshi Pahuja, who also held a session, shared her secret sauce for success: endurance, hard work and passion. “You are beginning your first step towards unveiling your future by entering this University… At this stage, it’s just important to remember that there is no substitute for hard work,” said Pahuja, who was awarded the 2018 Nari Shakti Award by President Ram Nath Kovind.

Pahuja, 42, compressed her decades worth of learning into a virtual session, but a single advice stood out: test your limits. “There should be a hunger and passion to do things. Obstacles will keep coming your way, but it’s important to continue chasing your dreams,” she said.

Pahuja, who also works as a physical training lecturer at Lady Shri Ram College, rose above financial constraints, beat emotional lows and fought stereotypes, to follow her dreams.

“I wanted to swim the oceans, while living in a landlocked place, but that did not stop me from pursuing my passion. I always tell people that we can be like water. When water flows, it carves out a path for itself, no matter how difficult the terrain… You can be gentle, but determination can take you a long way,” she said.

Philem Rohan Singh, who has been promoting several social justice causes through his cycling expeditions, also interacted with the students. Hailing from Imphal, Singh told the students to place “service before self”, a mantra he follows to ensure happiness.

Bennett University started onboarding students from October 19 for the academic year 2020-21 with the Freshers Welcome Week.

However, considering the delayed admissions in state and central universities and the flood of applications received by Bennett University, the late admission opportunities had been extended till October 31. Two motivational speakers – Vineet Tandon and Major General Vikram Dev Dogra – shared their experiences with the audience.

“I have a five-step formula to success that involves identifying the dream, persevering to follow the dream, maintaining a timeline towards the main goal, ensuring positive pressure, and following the 21-day rule to form good habits, Dogra said at the webinar.

Positive pressure, he explained, was being in the company of people who put a ‘positive pressure’ on you to follow your dreams. Tandon, who as musical motivational speaker blends the two in his sessions, spoke on the ‘hidden curriculum of life’ that includes lessons that are not taught in schools but must be learnt anyway, making his point as he strummed his guitar and sang ‘Teeja tera rang tha main to’, from the movie ‘Chak De! India’.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

STARTUP DIGEST: Top startup stories of the day

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Interesting developments kept the Indian startup ecosystem on its toes today — Google to meet with the Indian developers to Paytm launching 2 million cards and Ant Group getting nod — here is all you need to know.

The top startup stories of the day:

Google PlayStore Policy: Global team to hold first industry meet with Indian developers

Google will hold its first industry meeting with Indian app developers and startup founders this week regarding its PlayStore policy, which received massive backlash over the 30% commission proposed for in-app purchases of digital goods.

The company is organizing a ‘Google Play Policy Webinar’ on Wednesday, October 21, and once again on November 3, as part of its outreach following complaints by startups, many of whom also approached the IT Ministry and the Competition Commission of India on the issue. Google’s global Play team will address queries and concerns of Indian app developers, a source said.

Google did not respond to CNBC-TV18 queries.

Some founders in the industry confirmed that they had received the invite but did not want to be identified, while others said they had not received it. Google has also held one-on-one discussions with several startups over recent weeks to discuss the issue, as per sources. They have reached out to players such as PhonePe, Razorpay, and several others.

This follows Google’s announcement on October 5 that it was deferring policy for Indian developers by six months to April 2022. The policy will come into effect in other regions from Oct 2021.

Online retailers see brisk demand as the annual festive sales kick-off

Online retailers see brisk demand as the annual festive sales kick-off, with a surge in participation from tier two and three cities.

Amazon kicked off its ‘Great Indian Festival Sale’ with a bang, getting the biggest ever opening and orders from all over the country. Manish Tiwary, VP of Amazon India, said that ‘Close to 91 percent of new customers in 48 hours were from tier 2 cities and beyond.”

While Myntra’s Amar Nagaram said that ‘So far tier 2 and tier 3 cities have accounted for 50 percent of their revenues’

Amazon witnessed that Category-specific, smartphones, large appliances, fashion, grocery, and home and kitchen have done very well.

Paytm to issue 2 million cards in the next 12-18 months

Financial services unicorn Paytm to partner with multiple credit card issuers to introduce co-branded cards. Paytm is designing an innovative digital experience on its app, allowing users to manage their overall spending and have full control over card usage. It will be partnering with various card issuers to introduce co-branded cards and is aiming to issue two million cards in the next 12-18 months.

Paytm’ Next Generation Credit Cards’ will be equipped with instant one-touch services such as change of the security PIN, updating the address, blocking the card in case of loss or fraud prevention, issuance of a duplicate card, and viewing outstanding credit-limit. It will also have options to safeguard users against fraud by switching off the card for contactless payments or international transactions when not required.

Alibaba to buy controlling stake in hypermarket chain Sun Art in $3.6 billion deal

Alibaba Group to invest $3.6 billion to acquire a controlling stake in hypermarket operator Sun Art Retail Group, gaining further ground in China’s retail market. The e-commerce giant hopes to leverage its digital presence further to support Sun Art’s 481 hypermarkets and three mid-size supermarkets in China. Alibaba, which already owned 21 percent of Sun Art through a unit, will raise its stake to around 72 percent by acquiring a similar stake in ART Retail Holdings, who owns 51 percent of Sun Art.

Ant Group gets Chinese nod for Hong Kong leg of $35 billion dual listing

Ant Group gets approval from the Chinese securities regulator for the Hong Kong leg of its $35 billion dual IPO, moving it one step closer to listing as per CNBC. The financial technology giant, which is 33% owned by Alibaba and controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, is seeking to list in Shanghai and Hong Kong in a concurrent IPO.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

News roundup: Top startup stories of the week

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The week has been exciting for the startup fraternity across the country. We have a new Unicorn, a self-made rich list with 12 under 40 Indians, a new iPhone launch — among many other exciting developments! Let’s have a look at the startup ecosystem in the middle of October.

The top startup stories of the week:

Razorpay turns Unicorn with $100 million from GIC, Sequoia Capital India and Existing Investors

Fintech company Razorpay has raised Series D funding of $100 Million, which the company said has given it more than $1 Billion in valuation. This round was co-led by GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund and Sequoia India, along with participation from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, Y Combinator and Matrix Partners.

Razorpay plans to use the new funding to strengthen further and accelerate its two new product lines – RazorpayX, and Razorpay Capital. The funds raised will also be used towards hiring additional 500 employees by FY’21.

Startups likely to engage CCI in a tussle against Google – tech giant’s fifth anti-trust action in India: Reports

As per reports startup founders in a virtual meet held on October 10 have decided to approach the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against Google’s alleged anti-competition policies in India. The meeting involved 15 startup founders who discussed Google’s imposition of 30 percent commission on sales made through its Android Play Store and billing system for developers, two startup founders — part of the talks

The plan is to put together industry views and convey their grievances via written complaints to the CCI and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) this week, as per the report.

This will not be Google’s first brush with the CCI. In 2018 the Silicon Valley giant was slapped with Rs 1.36 billion fine for abusing its dominance with Google Search. The watchdog is currently also investigating Google in two other cases — dominance in the smartphone segment and abuse of market position to promote Google Pay app.

India’s startup ecosystem is recovering faster than expected – ‘COVID-19 and the Antifragility of Indian Startup Ecosystem’ Report

TiE Delhi-NCR has released ‘COVID-19 and the Antifragility of Indian Startup Ecosystem,’ report in partnership with Zinnov, a global management and strategy consulting firm. The report provides an in-depth understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian startup ecosystem, by assessing multiple dimensions like funding and M&A landscape, sectoral impact, entrepreneur and investor sentiments, and changing market behaviour.

The report highlights how COVID-19 took a toll on Indian startups as 15 percent have had to halt operations, and 44 percent have cash runway for less than six months. While the impact has been severe, several sectors have recovered to pre-COVID level.

However, as the economy opened, the report suggests that the pace of recovery – both in demand and in investor sentiment – has been faster than expected. Shift to digital consumption has provided the necessary tailwind to sectors such as education, healthcare, and commerce; while several sectors like travel, hospitality, and mobility, that were negatively impacted, are now on a recovery path.

Further, deal activity – both in terms of total investments and the number of unique funded startups – has recovered to pre-COVID levels during the quarter that ended in September 2020. Interestingly, four Indian startups have become unicorns amidst COVID-19, and India is on track to have eight unicorns in 2020 – almost the same number of additions as in 2019.

IIFL Wealth Hurun India 40 & Under Self-Made Rich List 2020

With a combined wealth of Rs 24,000 crore, Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath tops IIFL Wealth and Hurun India’s ’40 and under self-made rich list 2020’. The Kamath brothers are followed by Divyank Turakhia with a net worth of Rs 14,000 crore.

Udaan’s founding team of Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar and Vaibhav Gupta are at number three. While, Devita Saraf (39), founder of Vu Technologies is the only woman in the list.

With a wealth of Rs 7,800 Cr, Riju Ravindran, 39, of online education platform, Byju’s secured the 6th spot in the list. With a wealth of Rs 7,500 Cr each, co-founders of Flipkart, Binny Bansal, 37, and Sachin Bansal, 39, shares seventh position in the list.

Bhavish Aggarwal, 35, and Ankit Bhati, 34, co-founders of ride-hailing company Ola Cabs ranks 10th and 14th in the 40 and under list with a wealth of Rs 3,500 Cr and Rs 1,600 Cr respectively,

As per the list, the entrepreneurs cumulatively added a wealth of Rs 44,900 crore, registering an increase of 59 percent compared to last year. Bengaluru is the city that houses the business headquarters the most individuals on the list – nine, followed by two each in Delhi and Gurugram.

The average age on the list is 37, and the youngest entrepreneur is Oyo Rooms’ Ritesh Agarwal (26). Logistics and Retail are the significant contributors of wealth for entrepreneurs.

PE/VC investments recorded a 21 percent y-o-y decline during Jan-Sept 2020: IVCA-EY report

According to the IVCA-EY monthly PE/VC roundup, the Jan-Sept period recorded investments worth US$28.9 billion across 686 deals, on the back of US $11.7 billion invested in Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail by a group of PE/VC funds.

For the period Jan-Sept, exits declined by 54 percent in terms of value in 2020 (US $3.6 billion vs US $7.8 billion in 2019) and is the lowest value in six years for the period under consideration. In terms of volume, exits declined by 13 percent compared to 2019 (100 deals in 2020 vs 115 deals in 2019). The decline was mainly due to fewer large deals.

The period Jan-Sept, 2020 saw US $4.4 billion in fundraising; 45 percent lower compared to the same period last year (US $7.9 billion in 2019). There were only nine fundraises of over US $100 million in 2020 (year-to-date) compared to 19 in the same period last year.

The largest fundraise in 2020 saw Sequoia raise a US $1.4 billion venture fund for investments in India and Southeast Asia followed by Nalanda Capital’s US $748 million fundraise.

Unacademy to buy back shares worth Rs 25-30 crore

Edtech startup Unacademy to buy back shares from current and former employees worth Rs 25-30 crore, the latest in a series of quickly maturing companies which are giving employees some liquidity and rewarding their loyalty.

As many as 145 current and former employees are expected to exercise their option to sell their Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs), given to early employees who join a startup as part of their salary.

All options vested till December 10 will be counted for the buyback. Unacademy had also done a smaller ESOP buyback of about Rs 2.5 crore in September last year.

Apple launches new iPhone 12

Tech Giant Apple launched four new iPhone 12 phones as part of its 2020 series — iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro & a Max variant of the Pro.

All new iPhones support 5G technology and are packed with the latest A14 Bionic under the hood. In terms of the India process, these devices start from INR 69,900 iPhone 12 Mini, going all the way up to Rs 129,900 for iPhone 12 Pro Max. Apple also unveiled a compact smart speaker called the HomePod mini.

Zoom will start rolling out phase 1 of end-to-end encryption from next week

Video conferencing platform Zoom will begin rolling out end-to-end encryption for users starting next week, the company said in a blog post. Zoom has seen a huge upsurge in its user base, owing to the boom in remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Zoom’s fortunes came with doubts over the platform’s security. Further, misleading claims of having end-to-end encryption when it didn’t make the concerns over Zoom’s privacy and security more prominent. Now, end-to-end encryption is on its way to Zoom, for real this time.

The rollout next week will be a technical preview, meaning that Zoom will take feedback from customers for the next 30 days to make sure its encryption is intact. “Zoom users – free and paid – around the world can host up to 200 participants in an E2EE meeting on Zoom, providing increased privacy and security for your Zoom sessions,” the company said in its blog post.

YouTube bans conspiracy theory content targeting individuals or groups

YouTube is tightening its rules on conspiracy theory content, including QAnon & pizzagate, that targets individuals and groups. The company announced that it is expanding its hate and harassment policies to ban videos “that [target] an individual or group with conspiracy theories that have been used to justify real-world violence,” according to a statement.

Instagram agrees to curbs on paid influencers, says UK watchdog: Reuters

Instagram has agreed on measures to crack down on hidden advertising by so-called influencers on its photo and video platform as per Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Influencers with thousands of followers can earn large fees from companies to promotes a product on Instagram. In what the CMA described as an important behaviour shift by a major social media platform, Facebook Ireland, which operates Instagram in Britain, has committed to a package of changes.

“This will make it much harder for people to post an advert on Instagram without labelling it as such,” the CMA said in a statement.

US court agrees to expedite government TikTok app store ban appeal: Reuters

A US appeals court agreed to fast-track a Justice Department appeal of a ruling blocking the government from banning new TikTok downloads from US app stores.

US District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington issued a preliminary injunction on September 27 that barred the US Commerce Department from ordering Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google app stores to remove the Chinese-owned short video-sharing app for download by new users.

A US appeals court in Washington said all briefs are due by November 12 with oral arguments to follow. The government’s opening brief is due on Friday

Dropbox becomes ‘Virtual First’ company

Cloud storage company Dropbox will now allow all its employees to work from home as we advance to June 2021.

The company in a blog post said ‘Starting today, Dropbox is becoming a Virtual First company. Remote work (outside an office) will be the primary experience for all employees and the day-to-day default for individual work.’

The moves come after the company conducted an internal survey where they found that most employees say they’re able to be productive at home (nearly 90 ) and don’t want to return to a rigid five-day in-office workweek. 

The company also announced that it would convert its existing real estate properties into flexible co-working spaces called ‘Dropbox studios’ to facilitate collaborative & team building work.

SOFTBANK: In Headlines

SoftBank Vision Fund seeking cash for a blank-cheque firm: Report

SoftBank Group Vision Fund is targeting external funding for a blank-cheque acquisition company it plans to launch, according to a report by Reuters. SoftBank is likely to put also its capital into the company, whose size is undetermined as per the report. Details of the vehicle will be revealed in the next two weeks.

Softbank invests in ed-tech startup Kahoot

Softbank has invested $215 million in ed-tech startup Kahoot. SoftBank took a 9.7 percent stake in the company, as demand for online learning platforms skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Oslo-based firm plans to use the funding to accelerate the growth through value-creating non-organic opportunities and to build the platform.

Over the last 12 months, the ed-tech startup claims it has witnessed 45% percent growth in users with over 20 million active accounts and reached 360,000 paying subscriptions in Q3 2020, a 160 percent year-on-year increase year over year. The company aims to reach 400,000 before the end of the quarter.

SoftBank in talks to back SaaS startup Mindtickle, valuation to double in a year: Moneycontrol

Japan’s SoftBank Group is in advanced discussions to lead a $100 million round in software-as-a-service firm Mindtickle, marking its first SaaS deal from its India team, said two people aware of the matter, requesting anonymity.

The investment will value Mindtickle at $500-600 million, double the $250 million it was valued at in July last year when Norwest Venture Partners led a $40 million round.

TOP FUNDING NEWS OF THE WEEK

• Foodtech Unicorn Zomato raised INR 380 crore from US-based Kora Investments as per filings sourced from Tofler. The capital was raised as part of an ongoing funding round that is expected to raise as much as $600 million.
• Wow! Momo Foods which owns and operates two quick-service restaurant brands Wow! Momo and Wow! China raised Rs 45 crores in debt funding from Anicut capital with an option to raise another Rs 15 crores by April 2021. The debt goes towards old loan repayment of Rs 35 crores to Avendus Finance raised in 2018 and a fresh influx of growth capital.
• Walmart and the Flipkart Group made a fresh round of investment in Agri tech startup Ninjacart. This follows the investment made by Walmart and the Flipkart Group in December 2019, as the companies continue to focus on ensuring access to high-quality fresh produce for consumers and retailers while creating economic opportunities for farmers through the continued use of technology.
• 3D and Augmented Reality (AR) platform, Avataar.me that helps large enterprise customers create shopping experiences for their end-users, raised its Series A of $7 million from Sequoia Capital India. With this funding, Avataar aims to bridge the gap between offline-online experiences by replacing the current 2D visuals with life-size and hyper-realistic 3D XR/AR experiences.
• Content marketplace platform, Pepper Content raised $4.2 million in Series A funding, led by Lightspeed India and leading angels across India and Silicon Valley. Pepper aims to leverage this funding to enter into newer content categories such as video and audio, expand into new geographies like Southeast Asia while continuing to scale up its current product for customers and creators alike.
• Stride Ventures led an investment round of Rs 23 crores in robotics startup, Miko. Existing investors including Chiratae Ventures, YourNest Venture Capital & a distinguished group of Angels led by Former Chairman of Nasscom, Mr Keshav Murugesh participated in the round. The company will use the new capital to fund product development and global alliances.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

STARTUP DIGEST: Top startup stories of the day

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

From three startups receiving funding to Paytm making new developments to bidding farewell to Yahoo, the startup industry had a pretty industry day today.

Here are the top startup stories of the day:

• Funding of the Day

Wow! Momo raises Rs 45 Cr debt funding from Anicut Capital

Wow! Momo Foods which owns and operates two quick-service restaurant brands Wow! Momo and Wow! China has raised Rs 45 crores in debt funding from Anicut capital with an option to raise another Rs 15 crores by April 2021. The debt goes towards old loan repayment of Rs 35 crores to Avendus Finance raised in 2018 and fresh influx of growth capital.

Pepper Content raises $4.2 M led by Lightspeed India

Content marketplace platform, Pepper Content has raised $4.2 million in Series A funding, led by Lightspeed India and leading angels across India and Silicon Valley. Pepper aims to leverage this funding to enter into newer content categories such as video and audio, expand into new geographies like Southeast Asia while continuing to scale up its current product for customers and creators alike.

TeaMonk raises Rs 6.5 Cr from Inflection Point Ventures & other investors

Premium tea brand, TeaMonk has raised Rs 6.5 crore in Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures, one of India’s largest angel investment platforms in India. It plans to use the current funding for further market expansion in global markets like the US, UK and Canada. Will also launch a subscription-based platform in India to further strengthen their presence in the home market.

• IIFL Wealth Hurun India 40 & under self-made rich list 2020

With a combined wealth of Rs 24,000 crore, Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath tops IIFL Wealth and Hurun India’s ’40 and under self-made rich list 2020′. The Kamath brothers are followed by Divyank Turakhia with a net worth of Rs 14,000 crore.

Udaan’s founding team of  Amod Malviya ,Sujeet Kumar and Vaibhav Gupta are at number three. While, Devita Saraf (39), founder of Vu Technologies is the only woman in the list.

With a wealth of Rs 7,800 Cr, Riju Ravindran, 39, of online education platform, Byju’s secured the 6^th spot in the list. With a wealth of Rs 7,500 Cr each, co-founders of Flipkart, Binny Bansal, 37, and Sachin Bansal, 39, shares seventh position in the list. Bhavish Aggarwal, 35, and Ankit Bhati, 34, co-founders of ride-hailing company Ola Cabs ranks 10^th and 14^th in the 40 and under list with a wealth of Rs 3,500 Cr and Rs 1,600 Cr respectively,

As per the list, the entrepreneurs cumulatively added a wealth of Rs 44,900 crore, registering an increase of 59 percent compared to last year. Bengaluru is the city that houses the business headquarters the most individuals on the list – nine, followed by two each in Delhi and Gurugram.

Average age on the list is 37 and the youngest entrepreneur is Oyo Rooms’ Ritesh Agarwal (26). Logistics and Retail are the major contributors of wealth for entrepreneurs.

• Ather Energy to set up public charging infrastructure with Ather Grid across India

Ather Energy has begun setting up public charging infrastructure with Ather Grid across India. Phase one of installation of Ather Grid to be live across 135 + locations by December 2020.

Ather Grid fast charging network can be used by all electric two-wheelers and electric four-wheelers and can charge the Ather 450X at 15 km in 10 minutes. The company has signed MOUs with partners like VR Mall, PPZ mall management, restaurant and cafe chains like Little Italy, Blue Tokai, Chai Kings, retail outlets like Sangeetha mobiles, and now has access to more than 250 locations across the country.

The installations of the Ather Grid Points will begin before deliveries of the Ather 450X in November 2020.

Ather Energy has 37 fast charging stations in Bengaluru and 13 in Chennai, taking the total count to 150 fast charging stations across India.

• Paytm starts same-day settlement on its payment gateway

Digital payments major Paytm has started same-day settlement facility for all kinds of fund transfers on its payment gateway. The same-day settlement feature will help businesses that depend upon immediate availability of funds for their business. This includes e-commerce companies, government institutions, and all businesses involving inventories.

As a norm digital payments made to a merchant is usually not settled on the same day. Industry standard is that settlement happens after one day or two days, depending on the specific day of the week. However, payment startups have been innovating on same day settlements to encourage small merchants who need cash in their bank account daily to start accepting digital payments.

From Rs 50 up to Rs 2 lakh, everything can be settled daily to even three times every day depending on the requirement of the merchant.

• SoftBank Vision Fund seeking cash for blank-cheque firm: Report

SoftBank Group Vision Fund is targeting external funding for a blank-cheque acquisition company it plans to launch, according to a report by Reuters. SoftBank is likely to put also its own capital into the company, whose size is undetermined as per the report. Details of the vehicle will be revealed in the next two weeks.

• Yahoo to bid goodbye on December 15, 2020

Yahoo to shut down Yahoo Groups on December 15 as the platform usage declined over the last several years. According to a statement, creation of new groups will be disabled on October 12 and on December 15 people will no longer be able to send and receive emails from Yahoo Groups & the website will no longer be accessible.

• Amazon workers in Germany strike on ‘Prime Day’: Reuters

As per Reuters report, a German trade union called on workers at seven Amazon warehouses to go on strike on Tuesday to coincide with the global “Prime Day” promotion event that was postponed due to operational challenges from the coronavirus pandemic.

Verdi said it was organising the two-day strike as part of a long-running battle with Amazon in Germany over better pay and conditions, noting that a coronavirus bonus introduced for workers in Germany in March had been scrapped again in May.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

When does a startup stop being a startup?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The past few years have been eventful for the startup sector — from tech to biotech — as a sharp rise has been witnessed in new companies making a mark each year. India has gone on to become the third-largest startup hub in the world, with the city of Bengaluru in Karnataka playing the role of the country’s Silicon Valley.

But there’s one question that may have not crossed your mind! When does a startup, stop being a startup? Well, this depends on various factors. To understand it better, it’s important to know what constitutes a startup.

When is a company called a startup?

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, an entity that is registered as a private limited company as defined in the Companies Act, 2013 or registered as a partnership firm under section 59 of the partnership act, 1932 of a limited liability company under the LLP Act of 2008 in India is called a startup if:

• Its period of existence from the date of incorporation is less than 10 years,
• Its annual turnover does not exceed Rs 100 crore in a financial year.
• It is working towards innovation, development, improvement of products or processes or services.
• Or, if it is a scalable business model with a high potential for employment generation or wealth creation.

When are you not a startup?

Two questions that stand out are: Should the number of years a startup has been around be a deciding factor, or should it based on growth and profitability?

Some quantitative and qualitative factors decide when a startup has leaped.

Growth and Development: According to Dr Bhavya Soni, Assistant Professor, Entrepreneurship & Marketing, FMS, University of Rajasthan, and startup mentor, “In technical terms, a startup stops being a startup as soon at it crosses 100 crores turnover or ten years of incorporation. But I believe it happens when a startup stops learning and innovating.”

Size of the team: You enter in the corporate culture when your team grows to 50-100 people.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm, told Quartz, “A startup becomes a company when the founder doesn’t know what’s happening – so when teams can make independent decisions without including the founding members.”

Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of the dating app TrulyMadly, said, “When I don’t know the name of all the employees in my workplace, it is no longer a startup. It’s a company then.”

Business Model: An entity struggling with its business model continues to remain a startup until it decides on a business model they want for the long term.

Funding: According to Sanat Rao, partner for mergers and acquisitions at Indian software industry think tank iSpirt and a former Intel Director believes a startup is a company that hasn’t found a scalable business model. So once a company has raised angel or seed funding and done two rounds of large venture capital or private equity investment, it is not a startup anymore because it has found its business model and is just expanding. These companies are in growth mode, not startups.

However, having met all of these factors, some entities still like to call themselves startups and not companies. The label of being a startup, comes with a halo effect. It is widely believed that the audience or market is patient with startups and they excuse their mistakes, while a company loses this advantage.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Lenovo bets big on small business segment

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Tech giant Lenovo on Tuesday said it is lining up products that are relevant for small and medium enterprises (SMBs), which are looking for agile and dynamic solutions to stay competitive in the post-COVID-19 world. “The biggest challenge that SMBs are faced during the lockdown and are facing these days is the impact of the pandemic on their decision making. Today, work happens anywhere mostly at home, maybe in offices or shared spaces, and even on the move,” Lenovo India Director (SMB) Ashish Sikka told PTI.

He added that work from home is bound to increase in the post-COVID-19 world. “With the economic constraints, they are looking at solutions that are immediate and equally agile and dynamic. There are certain concerns that are taking precedence for SMBs and what makes the products and solutions we announced today even more relevant,” he said.

Sikka noted that during the lockdown, the company saw an exponential increase in demand from sectors such as edutech, e-commerce and logistics as these SMBs saw high customer demand and were relevant to the pandemic dynamics. “Lenovo is the No. 1 SMB brand for PCs (personal computers) in India with 32 per cent market share in Q1 FY2021 with a growth of 14.7 per cent year-on-year (IDC data),” he said.

The SMB segment is growing at a rapid rate and the company is equipped to partner with SMBs in their end-to-end lifecycle of IT decision making, Sikka added. He also said the company has spent a lot of time in understanding the challenges that SMBs face and it will continue to develop its prowess in enabling a smooth IT journey for addressing all their concerns.

Lenovo on Tuesday unveiled a host of services and solutions enabling Indian SMBs for their current IT needs in the post-pandemic time. It also introduced their latest product offering for SMBs, ‘ThinkBook Plus’, which it said is the world’s first dual screen notebook with an E-Ink display. ThinkBook Plus is priced Rs 99,990 onwards.

Sikka said the Lenovo Premier Support is a priority service support providing round-the-clock direct access for advanced hardware and software customer support. Lenovo ThinkShield is a custom solution that secures the most critical data and business technologies with comprehensive end-to-end protection, making it an ideal secure service for SMBs, he added. Sikka said Lenovo Smart Fleet Services is an IT asset management service which is designed to help SMBs gain control of their endpoints (both hardware and software), increase security and compliance, optimise end-user experience, and automate routine manual tasks.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

PUBG ban: Akshay Kumar, nCore Games to launch FAU-G

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Days after government banned PUBG and 117 other apps, actor Akshay Kumar partners with Vishal Gondal’s nCore Games will launch an action game called FAU-G.

In a tweet the actor said: “Supporting PM Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar movement, proud to present an action game,Fearless And United-Guards FAU-G. Besides entertainment, players will also learn about the sacrifices of our soldiers. 20% of the net revenue generated will be donated to the ‘Bharat Ke Veer Trust’.”

Supporting PM @narendramodi’s AtmaNirbhar movement, proud to present an action game,Fearless And United-Guards FAU-G. Besides entertainment, players will also learn about the sacrifices of our soldiers. 20% of the net revenue generated will be donated to @BharatKeVeer Trust #FAUG pic.twitter.com/Q1HLFB5hPt

— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) September 4, 2020

Bengaluru-based nCore Games will soon launch a new multiplayer mid-core gaming title, “Fearless and United: Guards (FAU:G)”.
Addressing the nation through his ‘Mann Ki Baat’, PM Modi had urged Indian citizens to support homegrown apps. Against the backdrop of the Aatmanirbhar movement, the Prime Minister had also urged and called upon Indian game developers to create world class intellectual properties.

The game is based on real scenarios encountered by the Indian security forces to deal with both domestic and foreign threats. Players will be able to, in teams of 5, collaborate and unite to fight the forces of evil!

The game is expected to launch at the end of October with its first level set in the Galwan Valley backdrop followed by third person shooting gameplay in the subsequent releases. The game will be available on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

The company says under the mentorship of actor Akshay Kumar, nCore is dedicating the game to “Bharat Ke Veer”. Bharat Ke Veer Trust gives homage and support to India’s Bravehearts. Twenty percent of the net revenue generated from the game will be donated to Bharat Ke Veer Trust, conceptualised by Akshay Kumar and implemented by the Ministry of Home Affairs, to support the families of armed forces martyrs.

Akshay Kumar says, “For youngsters in India, gaming is becoming an important form of entertainment. With FAU:G, I’m hoping that as they play the game they will learn about the sacrifices of our soldiers and also contribute to the families of the martyrs; and with this each one of us has the ability to support PM Modi’s vision of Atmanirbhar. ”

nCore Games founder and chairman Vishal Gondal says, “It is a matter of great pride to respond to PM Modi’s call and present the world a world-class game, which will not only help gamers in a virtual setting fight the forces of evil; but also positively contribute to nation-building by supporting our martyrs.”

“nCore team has in depth experience in different genres specially midcore games. We managed genre defining MOBA games like Vainglory of SuperEvil Megacorp for the worldwide audience. We have also worked with global studios like Rovio. nCore has an experienced team and is constantly expanding to bring the best talent together to create games that Indian gamers can relate to while playing,” adds Dayanidhi MG, co-founder and CEO of nCore Games.

Co-founded by Vishal Gondal and Dayanidhi MG, both veterans of gaming world, nCore Games’ core focus will be to match the scale and grandeur of popular global games and customise the content to suit the local brand. nCore says it will also bring to India and publish games from top global studios for the Indian market.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Global Patent filings 2019: China tops the list, filings by Huwaei more than total of India

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China has surpassed the US to become the top source of patent applications filed globally, the position previously held by the US each year since the PCT began operations in 1978, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

In 1999, WIPO received 276 applications from China. By 2019, that number rose to 58,990, which is an increase of 200X. The top 5 countries to file patent applications included China, the US, Japan, Germany and Korea.

What is interesting to note is that India filed 2,053 applications, which is a meagre 2.6 percent increase compared to 2018, and is half of the 4,411 applications filed by Huwaei, the top corporate filer in 2019.

India’s filings are lower than the other corporate filers in the list including Mitsubishi Electirc Corp of Japan (2661), Samsung electronics (2334) and Qualcomm (2127). India’s contribution to world filings is just 0.77 percent and it did not feature in the top 50 corporates that contributed to patent filing.

Top 5 patent applications
China: 58,990 (22% of total)

US: 57,840 (21.7%)

Japan: 52660 (19.8%)

Germany: 19353 (7.2%)

Republic of Korea 19085 (7.2%)

India: 2053 (14th Rank, 0.77%)

India didn’t feature even in the list of top 10 educational institutions to file for patents. IIT made 58 patent filings, which is a 21 percent increase from last year.

This, however, is much lower than University of California topping the list with 470 applications, followed by Tsinghua University (265) , Shenzhen University (247), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (230) and South China University of Technology (164).

The top 10 applicants from India included IIT (58), Council of Scientific and Industrial research (45), Dr. Reddy’s laboratories ltd (22), Indian Institute of Science (22), UPL limited (22). Cipla limited(18), Hero Motocorp limited (15), Meril life sciences pvt ltd.(14), Reliance industries limited (14) and PI industries ltd (13).

And it’s not limited to patents, India needs to step up in applying for trademarks as well, which was just 0.7 percent of total world filings at 460 applications. The USA topped this list with 10,087 applications followed by Germany (7,700), China (6,339), France (4,437) and Switzerland (3,729).

The Indian top applicants for trademark included:

NIRSAN CONNECT PRIVATE LIMITED (124),

Welspun (19).

UPL (16).

Birla Century (10),

Saregama (7),

Welspun Flooring (7),

AUREA BIOLABS PRIVATE LIMITED (5),

BIOTECH VISIONCARE PRIVATE LIMITED (5)

BRAINBEES SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED (5)

DATAR CANCER GENETICS LIMITED (5)

In industrial designs, having filed for only three designs, against 21,807 globally, the country has almost no presence. Germany, Korea, Switzerland, Italy and Netherlands were the top applicants in this list.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Stride Ventures invests Rs 15 crore in ZipLoan

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Stride Ventures on Wednesday said it has provided a debt fund of Rs 15 crore to ZipLoan, a technology-enabled lending platform that provides loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“This is Stride’s first foray into fintech (financial technology) lending, and the amount will be disbursed in two tranches. The investment underlines the firm’s commitment to leverage traditional banking capital to cater to the start-up ecosystem,” according to a statement.

ZipLoan caters to the need of working capital loans for kirana stores and micro industries. Its proprietary platform ZipScore, which tests credit worthiness of a borrower, has helped maintain non-performing assets at under 3 per cent, the statement said.

“We are excited to partner with ZipLoan in their pursuit to revolutionise lending to small business owners. It is our endeavour at Stride to make credit accessible and efficient, as we try to prevent equity dilution and make entrepreneurs truly ‘Aatmanirbhar’,” Stride Ventures founder and Managing Partner Ishpreet Gandhi said.

Gandhi added that the company has exhibited tremendous growth without compromising the quality of the loan book.

Kshitij Puri, co-founder and CEO of ZipLoan, said the MSME segment is the most important contributor to India’s economy, but still continues to be credit-starved.

“Even during the current crisis, the MSME segment has shown great resilience demonstrated by strong collections we have had,” he added.

Venture capital firm Stride Ventures launched its maiden fund in 2019 with a target corpus of Rs 500 crore and plans to invest in 35-40 start-ups over the next 3 years.

Till date, ZipLoan has disbursed about Rs 400 crore of loans across 10,000 borrowers. It is present in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Dehradun.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow