Category: Entrepreneurship

How to break into the ‘men’s club’ that is India Inc? Tough but doable

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

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In 2012, investment banker-turned-entrepreneur Falguni Nayar launched Nykaa with the tweet “Beauty gets a new name.” Eight years later, Nayar created history when Nykaa became the first solo-woman founded startup in India to become a unicorn. Last year, the company, FSN E-Commerce Ventures (parent company of Nykaa) also became the first profitable unicorn to go public.

Nayar’s story is inspiring to many young women entrepreneurs out there trying to build their presence in the world of business, which is largely dominated by men.

In fact, according to data by media organisation Inc42 as of May 2022, only 15 percent of Indian unicorns has at least one female founder. According to 2020-2021 report by the Ministry of Small, Micro and Medium Enterprise, only 20 percent of MSMEs are owned by women.

The data also revealed that 79 percent of these unicorns, which have at least one women founder, were incorporated after 2011 showing that the last decade had more women coming into entrepreneurship. This indicates some progress but also highlights the gender divide.

Women’s entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in India’s labour market because it catalyses their participation in the labour force which in 2020-2021 as per the Periodic Labour Force survey stood at 25.1 percent.

“In our country, women are the primary caregivers of the family. Owing to this responsibility, a large portion of the women workforce decide to quit their job post maternity. Many, in fact, don’t come back because of norms in the society and lack of support by the employers,” said Smitha Rao, Co-Founder of Utthunga, an industrial IT firm,.

Also read: These women entrepreneurs are changing the market with their apps

As per data published in 2020 from gender research and advocacy organisation, Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy, only seven out of every 100 entrepreneurs in India are women. In fact, India ranked 57 out of 65 in Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs 2021 global ranking.

Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, addressing a women director’s conclave at BSE headquarters in Mumbai, urged women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders to take up leadership roles and said boards cannot continue to remain as a “men’s club.” The question although here is what’s stopping the women?

What’s stopping the women?

“Among the most obvious or common ones such responsibility of running a household and lack of family/spousal support, there are many other roadblocks that women face when pursuing their entrepreneurial journeys, such as lack of access to robust startup networks, poor funding prospects, lack of business knowledge, and many more,” said Richa Jaagi, Co-Founder at cannabis wellness startup Awshad.

Apart from societal biases, lack representation also plays an important role in women not being able to take the step forward.

“There is a big lack of networks of like-minded, scaled women entrepreneurs. Whenever entrepreneurship is discussed, 80 percent of the room has men with their ideas. I hope that as we grow, we see a wider group of like-minded women entrepreneurs ready to take on the economy, one business at a time,” said Swetha Kochar, Partner at PKC Management Consulting.

Added to this, lack of a proper funding ecosystem also plays an important role. Data by YourStory reveals that of the 482 funding deals in the Indian startup ecosystem in the first quarter of 2022, only 78 were raised by women-founded and co-founded startups, which account for just 16.18 percent.

Also read: Women entrepreneurs: The secret fuel to supercharge India’s economic growth

Moreover, as per data by the 2019 International Finance Corporation (IFC) report, over 70 percent of the total finance requirement of women entrepreneurs in the country is unmet.

“Low involvement from the funding ecosystem is a significant barrier for women-led enterprises. Some factors that can help women entrepreneurs are investments in women-owned startups or businesses, knowledge or skill sharing, community/social networking events, and engaging better opportunities in the business ecosystem,” said Sakshi Vij, Founder, Myles Cars.

Self-imposed biases based on the societal conditioning also hinder their journey as leaders.

As per a recent ‘Women’s Leadership in the Indian Development Sector’ report by India Leaders For Social Sector, 50 percent of emerging women leaders feel that they are, at times, hindered by their own self-limiting biases, like imposter syndrome. At least 61 percent of women believe that lack of adequate family and childcare support is a key barrier for them to achieve their goals.

“Women in leadership face a range of barriers in the workplace; our research showed the continuance of patriarchal bias, with their legitimacy as leaders being questioned by male colleagues. Women are expected to treat their career as secondary to their personal responsibilities,” said Anu Prasad, Founder & CEO, India Leadership for Social Sector (ILSS)

How to have more women in the entrepreneurship game?

According to Deepthi Ravula, CEO, WE-HUB, although the government has many schemes to support women entrepreneurs, the challenge lies in awareness and identification.

“The key thing we need is a platform connecting both the entrepreneur and the financial institutions. The way to fix this is by creating more platforms (both physical and virtual) to enable collaboration between both of them. This will solve the challenge of access. Bridging the digital divide for digital lending is important to identify, support & scale more women-led and micro-SMEs in India,” added Ravula.

Data by IFC report shows that women MSMEs face the credit gap of $158 billion, with 90 percent relying on informal sources of financing — indicating the lack of awareness of schemes and improper implementation.

It is true that the number of bank accounts held by women has increased, but that does not imply that funds are available. In 2020, a study found that women received only 27 percent of the deposits they contributed as bank credit compared to 52 percent for men.

Data from NSS 73rd round shows that the amount of loan accessed by women entrepreneurs in India is 50 percent lower than men.

Addressing the issues at the ground level — providing upskilling opportunities, mentorship and developing a supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem that gives women access to resources, a safe and secure work environment, and social and institutional support — is the best way to address the issues that women entrepreneurs face.

Moreover, experts also feel that encouraging women to come out of the guilt that they are doing something wrong by giving the ‘family time’ to business is also important.

“Women have natural organisational and leadership skills which are an asset in any work. Further, most have empathy and hard work wired into them from the beginning. They should be encouraged to see that,” said Jyoti Dabas, Co-Founder, Fittr and CEO, INFS.

Also read: Women’s Entrepreneurship Day 2022: History, significance and theme of this year

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

Harsh Mariwala says you may be the founder of a company, but you’re not the owner

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

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“The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing…” I strongly believe that it is important to take risks and not be afraid by the fear of failure. Every failure has a learning. And it is this experimentative, thinking out-of-the-box, and risk-taking ability that led me to create a world-class consumer brands company.

When I started working in 1971, Marico was a traditionally family-managed company. I had to start from the ground up. Most of my business learnings came from seeing and observing people and using these insights to address a business need. Thus, revamping the packaging lines to introduce smaller packs of oil, building a more robust sales force, and engaging an advertising agency that went on to create memorable ad campaigns for the various brands — all of these were a result of my efforts to grow the consumer brands business.

Another challenge was hiring reluctant professionals to join a top-heavy family-managed business. Unfazed, I initiated a dialogue with my cousins as I realised that they had difficulties meeting their business aspirations and that we all had a common desire to modernise the business and diversify the product mix. Looking back, this was a watershed moment that led to the birth of Marico as a professionally managed and globally competitive consumer brand company.

I believe in perpetuity, and I think the business should be able to continue to operate successfully even without me. In terms of the organisational culture, purpose, and strategy, I have established mechanisms through the board, which I believe will continue to play a crucial role in the future.

Following are the four mantras that have guided me and ones that emerging entrepreneurs would do well to consider:

Invest in the right talent

Since its inception in 1990, Marico has seen leadership changes and new business acquisitions while expanding into several geographies. However, what remains at the heart of Marico is a lesson I learned early in my career that has guided the company’s journey.

I was clear that if I had to build a sizeable fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business, I had to create the right conditions to help me recruit the best talent — including people who may be better than me. This belief was crucial to Marico’s success. Most entrepreneurs today are not able to take their companies to the next level because they want to do everything themselves and maintain control. I recommend hiring professionals better than themselves who can then be empowered to lead the business successfully.

Also Read: Coach Soch: When co-founders need to stay invested — both in equity and emotions

Shareholder management

Another issue I see among new entrepreneurs is the sense of entitlement where they think the company belongs to them. In running a public limited company, a person can be a majority shareholder or even the founder. That does not mean he can call himself an owner, especially if the company has other shareholders.

When I was at the helm of Marico, I didn’t claim it was my company despite holding a majority stake.  Unfortunately, many promoters and entrepreneurs put their interests ahead of the company. The entrepreneur should create value for all stakeholders, which will trickle down and create a culture of ownership.

Corporate governance and sustainability

High standards of corporate governance boost investor confidence. When Marico was founded, the perception was that it was a family-managed organisation. However, I was very clear that this would have to change, so I set about building a board that would be dynamic and thus become a source of competitive advantage.

In hindsight, I can say that the Marico board has contributed immense value to company strategy, talent acquisition, and building competencies. It is also important that the board’s composition should be refreshed periodically, ensuring a consistent flow of new blood and proficiencies.

Also Read: Coach-Soch: When a startup suffers due to ‘founder’s syndrome’

Need for mentorship

The journey of an entrepreneur is often hard and lonely. Having gone through a similar experience, I felt the need to share my learnings to help budding entrepreneurs with their dilemmas as they go about building their dreams. This led me to start Ascent Foundation in 2012 as a peer-to-peer platform that leveraged the power of the collective through self-facilitated groups — called Trust Groups.

Beyond its cohort, Ascent engages with the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem in India to give them a taste of governed mentoring and peer learning through a yearly flagship Ascent Conclave. Over six years, the conclave has featured over 120 speakers, thought leaders, and innovators interacting with over 4,000 entrepreneurs as part of day-long curated knowledge and motivational sessions. My goal with this is to create a supportive and non-judgmental environment where these change makers can share, inspire and celebrate their experiences and learn from each other. On November 24, we will host the seventh edition of the conclave, themed “Thriving on Change”.

The last two years have been drastically evolving for entrepreneurs worldwide, prompting them to reconsider age-old standard business practices and readying them to adapt to change and thrive. Finally, the legacy I aspire to leave behind through my organisations and foundations is one of creating value and making a difference to all stakeholders.

– The author is co-founder and chairman of Marico.

Also Read: Ashneer Grover says his ‘Doglapan’ autobiography can make you quit job to start up or forever ditch the dream

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

Ashneer Grover says his ‘Doglapan’ autobiography can make you quit job to start up or forever ditch the dream

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

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Ashneer Grover, the former founder of BharatPe and Shark Tank India judge, has penned his memoir, which is set to release next month. Interestingly, the book is titled Doglapan (double standards), is one of Grover’s famous phrases that he used on the sets of Shark Tank India. Published by Penguin India, the book shares “hard truths” about start-ups and life and is “all about the hypocrisy of life – success in failure and failure in success”, according to Grover.

Grover shared the news on Twitter and said that he will provide an insider view into the world of unicorns through this book.

“Is kitab padhne ke baad ya to aap ek dum apni naukri chhod doge ya fir zindagi bhar naukri hi karoge. At least beech mein nahi phase rahoge. To get absolute clarity in life – read my incredible life story !” he tweeted.

Is kitab padhne ke baad ya to aap ek dum apni naukri chhod doge ya fir zindagi bhar naukri hi karoge. At least beech mein nahi phase rahoge.

To get absolute clarity in life – read my incredible life story ! Order your copy of ‘Doglapan’ now on Amazon.https://t.co/snrfbhGRE5 pic.twitter.com/rNhTld8mWr

— Ashneer Grover (@Ashneer_Grover) November 10, 2022

The book is set to release on December 26. According to the book’s blurb, it will cover Grover’s journey from being a young boy growing up in Delhi to becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs and a household name in the country.

“This is the unfettered story of Ashneer Grover-the favourite and misunderstood poster boy of Start-up India. Controversy, media spotlight, garrulous social media chatter descend, making it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction,” the blurb adds.

Ashneer Grover co-founded Indian fintech unicorn BharatPe. He had a bitter exit from BharatPe earlier this year following a bitter spat with its board over accusations of financial irregularities.

Before BharatPe, Ashneer Grover worked with grocery delivery start-up Grofers (now Blinkit).

Grover, who turned 40 earlier this year, is reportedly working on another start-up.

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

Lionel Messi launches investment firm targeting sports and tech

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

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Soccer superstar Lionel Messi is creating a holding company to invest in sports, media and technology globally.

Based in San Francisco, Play Time Sports-Tech HoldCo LLC will be Messi’s main investment vehicle, according to a statement. The company will explore “stage agnostic” opportunities that could include, for example, helping startup founders build football-tech companies or investing in teams.

“I am excited to extend our roots into Silicon Valley, and I am thrilled that Play Time will collaborate with daring entrepreneurs from all over the world,” Messi said in a statement.

Also read: Lionel Messi confirms Qatar World Cup will ‘surely’ be his last

Play Time will be run by Razmig Hovaghimian, partner at venture capital firm Graph Ventures. Michael Marquez, founding partner of investment bank Code Advisors LLC, will be a special adviser.

Hovaghimian is also a co-founder of football venture Matchday.com, which counts Play Time as its first investor and plans to launch before the 2022 FIFA World Cup begins in November. The holding company also holds a stake in football-tech startup AC Momento.

“From the time I met Leo and the Messi family in 2017, it was clear that their vision for the future is bold,” Hovaghimian said in a statement. “They want to continue to have a direct and lasting impact on and off the pitch.”

The statement did not include the amount to be invested.

Also read: Uber looks to boost digital ad revenue with new advertising division

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

Zepto founder Kaivalya Vohra is the youngest richest Indian; he is 19

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

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Zepto’s co-founder, 19-year-old Kaivalya Vohra, is the youngest richest Indian, as per the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022. Vohra is the Chief Technology Officer of Zepto, which has become India’s fastest-growing e-grocery company.

Vohra occupied the 1,036th spot in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022, with an individual net worth of Rs 1,000 crore. Vohra founded Zepto, a grocery delivery app in Mumbai with Aadit Palicha in 2020. Palicha, 20, has also made it to the Hurun India Rich list with a net worth of Rs 1,200 crore.

Zepto nearly doubled its valuation to $900 million in May after receiving an investment of $200 million from a round led by YC Continuity Fund. In December 2021, the company was valued at $570 million.

ALSO READ:  Gautam Adani beats Jeff Bezos to become world’s 2nd richest person: Forbes

Who is Kaivalya Vohra?

Vohra was born in Bengaluru, and he did his schooling in Bengaluru. Vohra can fluently speak three languages, Hindi, English, and French. Before starting his own company, Vohra had enrolled at Stanford University for a computer science engineering program. However, he dropped out to pursue his entrepreneurial interests with his friend Aadit Palicha.

The Zepto duo was living in Dubai when they were admitted to Stanford and after attending online orientation, they decided to head to Mumbai.

Vohra co-founded Kiranakart, a Mumbai-based online grocery delivery start-up that promised 45-minute grocery deliveries across Mumbai, with Palicha and their work together led to the inception of Zepto, which is part of Kiranakart Technologies Private Limited.

ALSO READ: Google confirms the release of Pixel 7 series in India

Vohra making his debut in the rich list is an indicator of the growing influence of start-ups in India, the Hurun Research Institute said.

The Zepto duo has also been featured in Forbes magazine’s influential ’30 under 30′ (Asia list) in the e-commerce category.

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

Amazon-backed BankBazaar CEO says he is ready for a funding round after 2 years to fuel the growth of co-branded credit cards

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

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Adhil Shetty, Chief Executive Officer of BankBazaar.com, told CNBC-TV18.com that the company is planning to raise funds later this year and it will be a growth round.

“We are hoping that it will be a great strategic investor. What we are thinking is this is a 20-30 year business build out. It is not a 5-6 year thing. So we are in it for the long haul,” said Shetty, the CEO of the 13-year old loan aggregator-turned fintech startup, which is backed by WSV, Experian, Eight Roads, Sequoia India, Walden International and Amazon.

The last time, Shetty raised funds, was in 2020, when he raised $6 million from 8 investors, including Amazon and Walden SKT Venture Fund. The next round will be aimed at funding its co-branded credit cards, for which Bankbazaar has tied up with YES Bank and RBL Bank and is looking for other banks to partner with.

BankBazaar.com also has non co-branded business which involves another 10 banks like HSBC, Standard Chartered, HDFC and IndusInd Bank.

Just seven months ago, BankBazaar.com issued its first co-branded credit card FinBooster in partnership with YES Bank. The segment is already the company’s biggest revenue generator and it expects that it will make 80 percent of the topline in the financial year ending March 2023. Shetty aspires to have 3 million BankBazaar co-branded products in the market in the next 3 years.

Also Read | Credit card spends, growth remain strong in Dec 2021

At the end of March 2022, BankBazaar had an annualised revenue run rate of Rs 156 crore, growing at 100 percent compounded annually. Shetty added that the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) exceed the cost.

Here’s how co-branded credit cards work

For BankBazaar.com, it started with providing a platform for people to check their credit score.

The model is simple. Bankbazaar.com has 50 million users, according to the company’s website. Of those, 18 million have signed up to check their credit score. With data at its disposal, the company is able to find and target the customers who are far from the banks’ radar and sell them credit cards.

The money goes from the bank’s pocket and if a credit card bill is unpaid, the risk remains with the bank. BankBazaar merely gets a cut out of the bank’s profit from the co-branded credit cards for helping it find the customer.

Also Read | Explained: How to improve your CIBIL score using credit cards?

The customers who buy co-branded credit cards from BankBazaar already have a credit history, and therefore, they aren’t first-time borrowers or people without access to banks or other kinds of formal lenders.

The risk is cut short by targeting customers with a minimum credit score of 700. According to Shetty, 150 million Indians, in a population of nearly 1.4 billion, make the cut.

For example, folks who can afford to buy appliances online. In May 2022, BankBazaar was running multiple ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ schemes on Amazon for air conditioners, because the demand for the product was huge. The offer could be different from one month to another.

In such a model, both the customer and the bank can gain, because at a 12 percent per year interest rate it is a very reasonable rate of interest but it also benefits the bank, because these customers tend to pay back even if the economy or the situation were to tighten, because they are of high credit, he explained.

Also Read | Credit cards vs personal loans: When to use which and why

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

Happy birthday Lakshmi Mittal: A look at how the steel baron’s net worth changed between 55 and 72 years of age

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

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Steel baron Lakshmi Niwas Mittal was named the sixth wealthiest person in Britain in the Sunday Times UK Rich list last month.

In 2021, he had bagged the fifth spot on the list. The steel tycoon is said to have added around 2.3 billion pounds to his fortunes in the past year through ArcelorMittal steelworks, PTI reported.

ALSO READ | Rishi Sunak and wife Akshata debut on UK’s ‘Sunday Times Rich List’

According to Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Mittal’s current net worth is estimated to be $17.8 billion.

As the steel tycoon turns 72 today, June 15, here’s a look at the ups and downs in his fortunes over the past years.

Starting an empire

A majority of Mittal’s fortune comes from his 36 percent stake in ArcelorMittal, which was the world’s second-biggest steel producer by tonnage in 2020, according to Bloomberg. Mittal serves as the Luxembourg-based company’s executive chairman and is its largest shareholder.

ALSO READ | Mukesh Ambani is 6th on Forbes Richest People in the World list – 3 notches ahead of Gautam Adani

The billionaire was born into an Indian steel family from Rajasthan on June 15, 1950.

Mittal opened his first steel factory in Indonesia at the age of 26 in 1976. In 2004, he created Mittal Steel by combining his publicly-owned Ispat International and closely-held LNM Holdings. The following year, Mittal paid $4.7 billion to buy billionaire Wilbur Ross’s International Steel Group.

In 2006, Mittal Steel acquired Luxembourg-based Arcelor to create the world’s largest steelmaker.

Wealth growth

In 2005, at the age of 55 years, Mittal was named the world’s third-richest person by Forbes. Between 2005 and 2011, Mittal’s wealth grew from $25 billion to $31.1 billion. However, in the next 10 years, he lost half his wealth.

ALSO READ | This industrialist with $3 billion net worth shares his success formula for aspiring entrepreneurs

What led to the fall?

Mittal is famous for his luxurious lifestyle. Mittal has been living in London since 1995 and owns mansions worth at least $350 million in the UK, Bloomberg reported citing purchase records from the UK Land Registry.

In 2004, he spent a whopping 34 million pounds to host his daughter Vanisha’s wedding to Amit Bhatia, a Delhi-born investment banker. Kylie Minogue, Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Saif Ali Khan performed at the extravagant wedding. Javed Akhtar had written a play enacted by the Mittal family on how the couple met.

Mittal also owns a private jet, a couple of yachts and a chauffeur-driven 200,000-pound Daimler Maybach.

Back in business

After suffering a net loss of $733 million in 2020, Arcelor Mittal posted a net income of $15 billion in 2021, buoyed by higher steel prices, Forbes reported.

In January 2021, Mittal ceded the CEO’s position in ArcelorMittal to his son, Aditya Mittal. However, he continues to remain its executive chairman.

ALSO READ | Billionaires’ wealth rose more in first 2 years of COVID-19 than in 23 years combined: Oxfam

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

Ride hailing startup BluSmart receives funds to more than double its fleet to 5,000 electric cars

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

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Electric vehicle (EV) ride-hailing and charging startup BluSmart on Tuesday said it has raised USD 25 million (around Rs 194 crore) in a fresh funding round. The funding is a follow-up to the Series A round that closed in September 2021, bringing the total Series A investment to USD 50.7 million.

The company said it has raised USD 25 million in the Series A1 round, comprising USD 15 million in equity capital and venture debt of USD 10 million. The equity round was led by BP Ventures and Green Frontier Capital, with participation from existing investors. The venture debt funding comes from Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil and UCIC. BluSmart said it plans to use the funds to scale up its all-electric ride-hailing fleet to over 5,000 EVs and expand its network of EV superhubs across Delhi-NCR.

“BluSmart has been able to scale 25x since launch, backed by its founding tenets of innovative supply-side differentiation (backed by institutional EV financing), customer-centric business model (zero ride denials and zero surge pricing) and full-stack EV ecosystem approach (fully electric ride-hailing fleet backed by large scale EV infrastructure),” its co-founder and CEO Anmol Jaggi said in a statement.

BluSmart is creating inclusive and equitable economic opportunities for driver-partners who can drive and earn without the hassles of asset ownership, he added. “We continue to build the next generation EV ride-hailing service and EV charging infrastructure making BluSmart India’s largest integrated and full-stack EV ecosystem solutions provider,” Jaggi added.

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

As Mark Zuckerberg celebrates birthday tomorrow, here’s a throwback at memes sweet & sour

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

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Mark Zuckerberg, one of the most dynamic and recognisable CEOs in the world, celebrates his 38th birthday on May 14, 2022. He became the youngest billionaire in the world at the age of 23 in the year 2008 and has continued to startle the world with his moves ever since.

He was born in White Plains, New York and showed great potential from a very young age. He excelled in school and won multiple prizes in mathematics, astronomy, physics, and classical studies. He attended Harvard University, and it is at the Harvard dormitory where he launched Facebook on February 4, 2004, along with his roommates.

Also read: Meta reportedly working on Zuck Bucks; and no, it won’t be crypto

Today, his estimated net worth is $67.7 billion, according to Forbes, and he is one of the richest people on Earth.

Here are some of the hilarious memes featuring the Facebook top boss to spread smiles on his birthday.

Also read: Meta shares surge after Facebook ekes out user growth

The all-smiles meme

Starting with the recent one, Mark Zuckerberg shared a group selfie in April that took the internet by storm. The photo was morphed and edited, and the outcome was hilarious.

You cannot convince me they aren’t aliens pic.twitter.com/s4lWQB4EKT

— 🧘🏽‍♂️🍄altered consciousness 📷🥋 (@TCastro88) May 7, 2022

Context was also provided.

bugs when you lift up a rock pic.twitter.com/B3OgR5dqLI

— Fred Delicious (@Fred_Delicious) May 9, 2022

Some further modifications

pic.twitter.com/IWQGBRfeiO

— 🔞Power Hctor aventures⚠️ (respaldo) (@HctorPower) May 7, 2022

Zuck vs Tim Cook memes

When Apple announced strict data privacy regulations on its devices, Facebook came out as one of the biggest losers. When Apple released iOS 14.5. with the most anticipated App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature that gave users control over which apps can track their data, Facebook opposed it and the internet grabbed popcorn to watch the showdown.

iOS 14.5 is out. Let the games begin.#iOS145 #Apple #Facebook #techwars #BigTech pic.twitter.com/d3k6Sxsao0

— Atul Gupta (@atulgupta002) April 27, 2021

Mark suffered severe meme burns.

Mark Zuckerberg coming back from lunch to find out iOS 14.5 is live: pic.twitter.com/y7ek99tIW4

— PCMag (@PCMag) April 26, 2021

the iOS 14.5 update in a nutshell pic.twitter.com/EIUZg0j8IX

— Δ Capital™ (@insearchofdelta) April 26, 2021

Meme outrage over outages

Earlier in 2021, there were multiple instances when all Meta platforms suffered outages, leaving only Twitter as the sole globally-popular social media platform that was still working, which was enough fodder for internet trolls.

pic.twitter.com/DhoAlovouj

— تركي الثابت (@tut2b) October 4, 2021

Mark wasn’t spared.

Mark Zuckerberg right now. #instagramdown #whatsappdown pic.twitter.com/TkybG8hay5

— Rofl Gandhi 2.0 🏹 (@RoflGandhi_) October 4, 2021

Losing billions? More memes

In early 2022, Meta’s shares plummeted to a record low of 26 percent and Mark Zuckerberg ended up losing about $30 billion of his personal fortune. On the internet, however, a billionaire’s misfortune is a troll’s treasure.

Zuckerberg on his way to the metaverse after FB’s stock is down 18% pic.twitter.com/9qkD98T36D

— Blockworks (@Blockworks_) February 2, 2022

When you down $25 billion but still have $90 billion. @finkd #Meta #stocks pic.twitter.com/JHhnaSavUH

— IAESCR (@IAESCR) February 3, 2022

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

Microsoft announces two new initiatives to support startups

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Microsoft India on Wednesday announced two new initiatives in line with its efforts to help entrepreneurs and their organisations innovate and grow. Outlining the initiatives, it said Microsoft AI Innovate will introduce its second cohort, while a hackathon for startups is aimed at providing resources and support to developers for creating digital solutions that empower business innovation, social entrepreneurship and sustainability.

The company, in a statement said, it has strengthened support for startups in India with the two new initiatives. Microsoft AI Innovate’s second season is inviting nominations from  Software as a Service (SaaS) startups, whose core applications or services are built using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies.

Supported by ‘SaaS Insider’, the initiative is designed to help startups scale up operations, drive innovation and build industry expertise. “Across the 10 weeks of the programme, startups get to partner closely with Microsoft’s engineering and product teams to build their core AI models,” the statement said.

Also Read: Microsoft security chief on Metaverse: ‘Quantum leap in tech brings various fraudsters’

Besides, there are opportunities to work on relevant scenarios with Microsoft’s industry, research and engineering experts and receive mentorship along with future-proofing entire teams by getting skilled in technologies such as AI and Machine Learning (ML). “Selected startups receive OpenAI preview and credits, access to industry and technology deep-dive sessions and AI masterclasses by experts, mentoring by startup founders and renowned industry leaders, skilling and certification opportunities, among other benefits,” the company said.

Elaborating on the second initiative, it said that in association with Techgig, the hackathon for startups invites teams to turn their ideas into prototypes that are built on Microsoft Azure. “Participating in the hackathon offers startups an opportunity to learn from Azure masterclasses and hands-on training sessions on key technologies such as Serverless, Kubernetes, Data Fundamentals, Java & .NET, Github and Azure AI & ML, among others,” the company said.

The top 100 shortlisted startups will receive USD 300 worth of Azure credits as part of the hackathon to build their prototype on Azure. The top three teams will win cash prizes, while the top 25 startups are eligible to join the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub programme, the company said.

Sangeeta Bavi, Director of Startup Ecosystem, Microsoft India, said, “The disruptive vision of startups is catalysing our country’s innovation engine and we are excited to partner with every startup on this journey.”

Also Read: View: From startup to success, what is the one thing that really matters?

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