indian startups

Increase in Indian startups as Blue-collar workers enter the startup ecosystem

Due to the ongoing pandemic, many have been prompted by job loss and reverse migration. To cope up with the loss, many of blue-and-grey collared workers have started their own business in tier II and tier III cities. This has increased the number of startups catering to the new segment which is backed by Y Combinator and Sequoia Capital.

Apna which is a recruitment platform for the grey and blue-collar jobs, Lokal which is a hyperlocal news and classifieds platform, Aiisma which is a data marketplace app and ReadyAssist which is roadside assistance startup are all included.

Their aim is to upskill and reskill the newbies of micropreneurs across some states such as Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. They hope to become the helping hand for the new breed entrepreneurs to understand business dynamics, soft skills like marketing and communication as well as community and distribution networks.

Apna has approximately 60 skill-based vertical groups or communities that assist workers such as plumbers or electricians who wish to start their own business as well as help them to learn about various market opportunities after setting up the business.

Pune-based Kishore Patra, 36, who worked in a company for about 20 years. He recently lost his job after the closure of the company. Patra slowly took a turn towards business. It also included the one which dealt with eco-friendly pencils wherein it used Apna to hire around 200 people for the business from February. To the Apna peer groups, the skills and jovial personality of people that Patra had, made him an influencer which inspired to launch his own YouTube channel, ApnaBizPandit.

“On the app, inter-vertical skills are quite common, which otherwise is difficult to see in the real world as these people do not cross paths. This helps these informal workers expand their services and assist each other to provide business leads, share their challenges and communicate,” said the head of Apna, Nirmit Parikh. Apna has received funding of nearly $2 million from Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Capital.

To build their distribution networks, micro-entrepreneurs use the hyperlocal news and classifieds platform, Lokal. In November 2019, Lokal has raised $3 million in seed funding from Y Combinator and others. Lokal is currently available in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi.

An executive said, “Through Lokal Ganesh who is a small-time seller from Warangal found delivery personnel to ship 1,500 hearing aid devices to others and his community.” The executive added, “We have helped facilitate the sale of vegetables, homemade ornaments, and even a goat in Tamil Nadu.”

Most of the sellers are new to the business world and all infrastructural challenges and that’s where Lokal comes into the picture. “Many of them are private employees who have started selling essentials as they have not been paid salaries during the lockdown. More than 90% of local MSMEs have been adversely affected. Local beauty parlours and saloons are now selling and delivery beauty packages to sustain their income,” said co-founder of Lokal, Jani Pasha.

Utsav Somani’s microstartup iSeed helps startups in India connect with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs

iSeed is named as a bridge between Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Indian founders. The Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are those already established entrepreneurs and Indian founders are those who are in search of money as well as expertise and knowledge of startup.

Utsav Somani, a well-known name familiar in Indian start-up environment is strengthening the investor ecosystem in India with yet another early stage fund. Somani who is already being credited for bringing AngelList to India, is now all set to launch his own micro fund ‘iSeed’ to help Indian startups to get their initial investments.

Somani revealed, “The fund is going to be sector agnostic but will invest mainly in startups leveraging technology for SaaS, remote work enabling tools and tech enterprise software. The new fund is going to invest in around 32 to 35 Indian startup at an average check of $150K. The fund will be deployed for around three years.”

Bridge between Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Indian founders

Somani added, “Founders of Silicon Valley can interact with their peers in India while Indian founders can get the expertise. The aim of iSeed is to build a bridge between these two. We are not talking only about capital but also about knowledge sharing.”

Not only capital but knowledge sharing too

The US market has a good lot of investors who are in a place where they can easily write from $100K to $500K cheques for Indian startups. Many of them have been eagerly waiting to participate in Indian tech boom so that they can access the early stage deals.

“Investors selected based on their knowledge, network and willingness to help portfolio companies scale. These investors can also guide Indian startups looking to target International customers and investors.” Somani said.

Some of the notable investors in iSeed include AngelList Naval Ravikant, Hike founder Kavin Bharti Mittal, Thumbtack’s co-founder Jonathan Swason, WikiHow’s CEO Jack Herrick, Polychain Capital’s general partner Niraj Pant. DSG Consumer Partners MD Deepak Shahdapuri, eDreams co-founder James Hare, NBA star Matthew Dellavedova, 500 FinTech founding partner Sheel Mohnot, and Spearhead’s partner Jake Zeller have backed the fund. Bolt’s Eric Feldman, Flutter founder Josh Hannah and TaskUs confounders Bryce Maddock and Jaspar Weir, along with senior leaders at DST Global, Matrix Partners India and Xiaomi also pooled their capital in the fund mop-up.
Somani said “iSeed is powered by AngelList back office, which makes it easy for full time founders to run venture funds on the side. My day job remains CEO of AngelList India while I run iSeed on weekends.”

COVID-19 pandemic and the side effects

“I would have raised more funds if it would have launched your earlier as investors have also taken hit in their investments in public markets, portfolio startups and private placements.” Somani on how covid-19 situation has complicated fundraising for iSeed.

Somani considered himself lucky because the investors have trusted his judgement to some extent which helped iSeed raise funds for the next couple of years or three.

“I have already invested in more than 40-50 startups personally and this fund powers me to give larger cheques in 30-35 startups. Raising the fund was much easier than what’s coming next.” Somani said.

However, a larger fund would have spread the investments and would force Somani to step out of his comfort zone which is to work with VCs and angels rather than compete. ” I think I like this space where I operate $100K to $150K cheques. That’s a sweet spot to play,” he added.

‘Crisis never stops innovations.’

Somani urged startups to use this time to build while focusing on continuity and creating market value.

“Crisis never limits innovations but it’s actually the opposite. The last decade was exemplary of capital abundance but now people need to make Ventures where they a don’t buy users but will make products that users will love to buy without much incentive attached to them. It was a much-needed reset for the ecosystem.”

6 reasons Indians choose not to become entrepreneur

Check out six listed reasons why Indians choose not to become entrepreneurs.

The start-up scene has taken a major soar in the last couple of years. However, Indians still prefer to work in an office and go the 9-5 route rather than starting their own business venture.

Here are a few reasons why Indians choose not to become entrepreneurs:

1. High Risk Affair

Indians do not go for the whole starting up their own business and turning into entrepreneurs scene because there is a lot of risk involved. Even with a brilliant idea and correct marketing techniques, there is quite a possibility that the business might not do well. And, nothing is more disappointing to an Indian entrepreneur than failure because there are loans to pay and most do not want to deal with the distress of a failed start-up. Instead, an Indian would rather take up a job that pays well and stay put for years.

2. Family vs Startup

Most Indians consider themselves as family people and believe that becoming a entrepreneur can hamper their family life as they’ll have to work for long hours which might detach them from their family. Women in particular, prefer to take up a job instead of their own venture because of the whole juggle between family and professional life.

3. Don’t want to Lead

This is another reason why Indians are so scared to become entrepreneurs. They might be great at their jobs but when it comes to assuming the role of a leader and delegating jobs, they aren’t very comfortable. A start-up’s sole responsibility falls on the entrepreneur and so does the success or failure which is why even though they might be capable, they don’t want to be solely responsible for a start-up.

4. What about the years of fancy Education

Some people stand by the belief that they have spent a lot of energy, time as well as money on their education and it is rendered worthless if they don’t actually take up a job in their respective field. The money and time spent on gaining education is considered futile if one goes and starts up his/her company. Great entrepreneurs were college drop-outs which is a common belief amongst Indians and since Indians value education highly, they don’t want it to be considered a waste.

5. How to Make the Idea work

It is not a cake walk to become an entrepreneur. The task requires a lot of hard work, determination and research to make a company work. Even with a great idea, if a single set of skills is missing, it can lead to the whole start-up crashing down.

For instance, an aspiring entrepreneur might have an innovative idea but he didn’t promote it enough on social media. Thus, because of lack of research as to how one reach a specific target audience can lead to the downfall of his whole company.

6. Where is the Funding?

Another major and important issue which is hardly addressed is the difficulty to garner funds for a company. A person might have a great idea but because of lack of investors or required sponsorship, he or she decides to scrap it and stick to their job. However, things are changing on this front as budding entrepreneurs are now being looked at as assets by huge companies who can provide funds. Also, the current Prime Minister supports the idea of start-ups which can prove to be a huge boost to entrepreneurs.

However, things on the start-up front are changing as with evolving market strategies, SEO tools, funding schemes and more will to become the boss, people are actually giving start-ups a chance.

The OYO success story: Ritesh Agarwal world’s youngest self made billionaire after Kylie Jenner

Ritesh Agarwal’s net worth is around INR 7253 crore which is $1.1 billion dollars as per the Hurun Rich List 2020 making him the world’s youngest self made billionaire after the famous Kylie Jenner.

OYO rooms has been one of the most successful start-ups in India being the country’s largest budget hotel chain. OYO has over 23,000 hotels, 8,50,000 rooms and 46,000 vacation homes across the globe. In the Oyo model, hotels are not owned, instead Oyo ties up with certain hotels and acquires a few rooms to be given to people who want to avail the services of OYO. It focuses on standardizing the hotels in the non-branded hospitality sector. Oyo rooms has been one of the most successful ventures as it has managed to solve the issue of affordability, cleanliness as well as availability of budget hotels across all Tier-I and Tier-II cities in the country.

Well, it is all the brainchild of the man with the OYO vision, Ritesh Agarwal, a successful entrepreneur is just 26 years old and has had several accolades to his credit. Born to a humble family in Cuttack, his journey of becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs wasn’t a walk in the park. In fact, in the era of start-ups, he had to face several difficulties in trying to make his unconventional idea work.

Ritesh Agarwal gained enough success by understanding business needs and building something that people want. It’s not always easy to get a start up funded. But nowadays you don’t have to travel to silicon valley and have lunch with venture capitalists to get money. Try looking for an online loan broker for funding your start up.

Here’s some more you should know about the man behind OYO rooms:

1. Ritesh Agarwal is a college drop-out

To pursue his passion of becoming an entrepreneur, he enrolled into Indian School of Business & Finance, Delhi however he did leave college mid-way to start his own company. He was hesitant about his decision but he took some tough choices to accomplish his dreams.

2. Before OYO, there was Oravel

Ritesh Agarwal has been a wayfarer himself and travelled across the country before launching OYO and during such travels he discovered the problem with budget hotels. Thus at the mere age of 17, he launched Oravel travels, which he modelled after Airbnb. However, it later branched out to become OYO rooms. He had discovered that the problem with budget hotels was bigger than just availability, so, to counter other issues, he launched OYO.

3. The sole resident Asian to have won a Thiel fellowship

The year he launched Oravel travels, he was nominated for the Thiel fellowship. The fellowship is designed by Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal and provided a college drop-out, less than 22 years of age, a sum of $100,000 to pursue a start-up dream. Needless to say, he has been the only Indian to receive it.

4. He has certain accolades to his credit

Ritesh Agarwal who is merely 26 years old, has certain awards and credentials to his name, some of which are:

– Forbes “30 under 30” in the consumer tech sector
– Top 50 entrepreneurs in 2013 by TATA First Dot powered by NEN awards
– TiE-Lumis Entrepreneurial Excellence award in 2014
– Business World young entrepreneur award

5. Apart from an entrepreneur, he is an author, a coder and a great orator

At a young age, his book- A complete Encyclopaedia of top 100 engineering colleges, was published and soon became a best seller. Agarwal started coding at the tender age of 8 and at the age of 16, he got a chance to be one of the 240 students who were a part of an Asian camp held at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He was the youngest speaker in the panel of Think EDU panel,2014 and is a constant at VCCircle events.

6. World’s Youngest Self Made Billionare after Kylie Jenner

Oyo rooms raised $1 billion in September 2018, even a year after that in July 2019 Ritesh Agarwal bought $2 billion in shares in the company, which tripled his shares. In the year 2020, Agarwal’s net worth is around INR 7253 crore which is $1.1 billion dollars as per the Hurun Rich List 2020 making him the world’s youngest self made billionaire after the famous Kylie Jenner.

COVID-19 impacting Indian startups both negatively and positively

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Indian startup ecosystem is facing the brunt of this economic slowdown.

Now-a-days, startups are laying off jobs, delaying promotions, and employee bonuses have taken a backseat due to the recession in the economy.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, people are more worried about remaining employed, more than anything else.

The Indian startup ecosystem is facing the brunt of this economic slowdown.

While the “quarantine economy” has promoted the use of video conferencing platforms like Skype and Zoom, to make the most of these tools, a strong internet connection is mandatory and not everyone is blessed with one.

Dewaker Baset, Founder of Gangtok-based educational travel startup Invacations, says, “Mobile networks are not great in the hills and the odds of coordination are more for us. Remotely working is not as smooth as working from the office is.”

Dewaker also feels that the travel industry is going to face a setback for the next six months. “We had established certain targets; those have been shattered. It is like starting a business from ground zero,” he says.

FareFirst, a Kannur-based travel startup, has a similar opinion. CEO Yajnesh T says the travel industry is facing the maximum burn. The startup’s monthly flight searches have gone down from 4.5 lakh to almost nil. “We will not be able to survive the next three months unless we do a pivot,” Yajnesh says.

Companies like LegalWiz is keeping unnecessary expenses in check, and shrinking its marketing budget.

ExpertRight reports that there has been a decline in the demand for freelance writers in the hospitality and travel industry.

Despite the turmoil, Biofie, which uses video resumes and AI-powered matching processes to make the job search and hiring process efficient, has seen more traffic on its website, from the applicant side.

“People have more time to think about and explore newer opportunities. Most of us tend to delay the job searching process because we are busy, but being at home, people seem to be more interested,” Biofie Founder Mrityunjay Sharma says.

Therefore, we can say that where on one hand companies are laying off jobs and experiencing a recession, on another hand they are experiencing new opportunities to grow their business.

SoftBank’s renewed focus on early-stage companies in India

In India, SoftBank with its $100 Bn Vision Fund has led to several new entries in the unicorn club in the past few years.

Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Tokyo, SoftBank has international operations across broadband, fixed telecoms, e-commerce, finance, media, and marketing.

The unit was born in 2000 at a boom time for South Korean startups, expanding its focus beyond that country in 2011. Around half of its investments have been early stage.

The firm is now looking to set up a fund which focuses exclusively on early-stage startups. At present, there are over 416 venture funds who have a focus on the early-stage startups in India.

In India, SoftBank with its $100 Bn Vision Fund has led to several new entries in the unicorn club in the past few years. It has already roughly deployed over $10 Bn in Indian startups to date out of its $65 Bn- $70 Bn active investments of the vision fund.

After missing out on companies such as Swiggy and Zomato, it wants to identify future stars early and back them while they are half-unicorns. “We would like to invest $100 million in a firm with $500-million valuation,” said senior SoftBank executive.

SoftBank and its Vision Fund have invested more than $600 million in SenseTime, valuing it in the most recent round at $7.6 billion, a source familiar with the matter said, declining to be identified because the information is not public. SenseTime declined to comment.

MSME lender Aye Finance raises Rs 233.6 crore in the Series D resulting into two fund raise in the same year

Aye Finance raised Rs 233.62 crore in a Series D equity round led by Falcon Edge Capital

“We are privileged to have closed Series D funding within a year of the last equity round. The funds will help us continue the strong growth in lending to micro enterprises. Our enhanced focus on machine learning has benefited from the mentorship of Google Launchpad programme and this has enhanced our ability to create a transformative change for the excluded micro enterprises,” said Sanjay Sharma, Managing Director, Aye Finance.

Aye Finance is a MSME lender and it raised Rs 233.62 crore in a Series D equity round led by Falcon Edge Capital, a New York based investment firm.

Within a year of raising money from CapitalG, Aye Finance raises Rs 233.6 Cr in Series D.

Other existing investors in Aye Finance like CapitalG, LGT and MAJ invest also participated in this Series D fund raise round.

Aye Finance was founded by Sanjay Sharma and Vikram Jetley in 2014. It has around 104 branches in 11 states and has served more than 1,00,000 micro enterprises. They have a loan book of over Rs 1,000 crore.

“The funds raised will be utilized to drive business growth and develop its technology and data mining capabilities”, said the company.

“We focused on MSME and SME lending as a significant yet under-served financing opportunity with healthy unit economics and a large, fragmented addressable market. We are pleased to partner with Aye Finance on this next leg of growth as they bring credit to India’s under-served MSMEs via a thoughtful and risk adjusted cluster-based approach.” said Navroz D. Udwadia, Co-Founder of Falcon Edge.

“Since our investment eight months ago, Aye has almost doubled its book and proven its ability to scale branches profitably. We are excited to continue to support the company to help them achieve their goal of extending credit to microenterprises.” said Kaushik Anand, Head of India Investments at Capital.

Journey of ‘Hoopoe on a Hill’, selling organic honey products

‘Hoopoe on a Hill’, processes, packages, and sells organic honey and related products online and offline.

Nishita Vasanth and Priyashri Mani initiated a startup in 2015 named ‘Hoopoe on a Hill’, that processes, packages, and sells organic honey and related products online and offline.

They came to the region while they were working for a non-government organisation, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

Named after the hoopoe bird, a frequent visitor at their home in Kodaikanal, the startup offers natural and unpasteurised honey. The founding duo began with offline retail by collecting the honey from the community and storing it in a small room in their house. They hired four women from the region to help them.

Logistics may have been a challenge, but one of the biggest advantages of starting up in a small town is costs: the rentals and labour are cheaper. Priyashri says they spent approximately Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to set up operations.

Hoopoe on a Hill currently ships its products across India from Kodaikanal.

“We began collaborating with India Post’s parcel service. It is perfect for small-town business owners who have small scale. It is reliable, reaches the length and breadth of the country, and is safe” Priyashri says.

In the near future, Hoopoe on a Hill is looking to scale operations by employing more women, and adding more products.

With Rs 53.4 Cr revenue in 2018, Grofers achieved way less than the projected revenue of Rs 100 Crore

Grofers expects its revenue to cross Rs 2,500 crore this fiscal year (2019) however Grofers last year revenue was Rs 54.3 Crore as compared to the projected revenue of Rs 100 Crore.

Grofers is an Indian online grocery delivery service. It was founded in December 2013 and is based out of Gurugram. As of 2018, the company has raised about $442.5 million from investors including SoftBank, Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital.

Grofers expects its revenue to cross Rs 2,500 crore this fiscal year (2019) however Grofers last year revenue was Rs 54.3 Crore as compared to the projected revenue of Rs 100 Crore.

Online grocer Grofers has narrowed its losses marginally to Rs 258 crore in FY18, helped by sales that doubled during the year indicating a growing preference for online grocery-shopping in India.

Grofers one of the biggest competitors Bigbasket also raised USD 300 MN in 2018 by Chinese e-tailer giant Alibaba and others.

Also read: Japanese payments firms invest INR 50 Cr ($7 Mn) in India’s digital payment platform Instamojo

Flipkart, one of the India biggest online store also announced their plans to expand its online grocery service named as ‘Supermart’ in few of the major cities in India in 2018. Online retailer Amazon also re-branded its groceries service to ‘Amazon Now’ and has been very aggressive in its strategy.

Grofers currently operates in a total of 18 cities across India: Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Noida, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Kochi, Faridabad, Madurai, Bhubaneshwar and Kanpur.

Also read: Truecaller crosses 100 million daily active users in India and 5,00,000 Premium subscribers

Japanese payments firms invest INR 50 Cr ($7 Mn) in India’s digital payment platform Instamojo

Bengaluru based company Instamojo raised INR 50 Cr ($7 Mn) in a Series B round of funding.

Businesses use Instamojo to instantly start, sell, manage and grow using our wide range of products & services like payments, free online store, logistics, credit & financing and more across the mobile & web. Briefly, Instamojo.com is a digital payments platform bundled with tons of e-commerce features to enable any business or individual to sell, manage & grow effortlessly, securely and cost-effectively.

Over 600,000 Indian businesses from 29 States and 7 Union Territories with 10+ million customers use Instamojo.

Bengaluru based company Instamojo raised INR 50 Cr ($7 Mn) in a Series B round of funding. It was led by existing Japanese investor AnyPay. The first-time investor was Gunosy Capital while the other existing investors included venture capital firms Kalaari Capital, Beenext, and angel investor Rashmi Kwatra.

“This funding will help us become the defacto fintech platform for MSMEs, rehashing our numbers. Having achieved most of the 2018 milestones, we have set new milestones for FY19. We are looking to grow 3X-5X, launching a slew of products under mojoExpress (logistics solutions) and mojoCapital (credit and lending). In the case of mojoCapital, we plan to achieve annualised disbursal run rate $100 Mn in the next 12 months against the existing $30 Mn.” sid Sampad Swain, CEO and co-founder, Instamojo.

In August last year, Instamojo launched mojoExpress and mojoCapital. While mojoExpress provides a logistics solution enabling delivery of products sold on its mojoEcommerce platform, mojoCapital provides credit and lending solutions to micro-merchants.

For deliveries, the company has already partnered with FedEx, Delhivery and Ecom Express and intends to add more soon.

Glamrada, the product discovery platform for Indian beauty enthusiasts

An open-to-all online community, where members can explore and review products.

It’s strange how when we go shopping for beauty products, we rely on word of mouth. The recommendations that we receive are usually not relevant to us at all. After all, when you look for a product for yourself – there are number of factors that need to be taken into consideration! Your age, your skin type, your concerns, budget etc. Of course, you can always go to a brand counter or connect with an expert. But this leads to very brand specific suggestions.

This is the problem that two women decided to address when they launched Glamrada.com. “It’s funny how when we went shopping for beauty products, we had to rely on word of mouth advice, which may be limited to a few products and worse still, not relevant to our skin type ”, says Divya Sethi, co-founder of the online portal.

Glamrada aims to eliminate such biases by providing a platform to not only discover beauty products suited to one’s beauty profile but also share those experiences with brands and fellow beauty enthusiasts.

With increasing awareness and disposable incomes, people are spending more time and money on looking good. The beauty sector is already a multi-billion dollar business in India, with double digit growth expected in the short term. Beauty companies are capitalizing on this growth through expansion, diversification, and differentiation of brands and products across the country.

With multiple brands and products flooding the beauty market regularly, finding the right product is a challenge. It is often preceded by a series of experiments with the wrong ones.
ands.

What is Glamrada

Put simply, it is an open-to-all online community, where members can explore and review products. Glamrada provides a comprehensive listing of close to 10,000 products, while its socially savvy members generate content through genuine reviews, discussion forums, social sampling and digital challenges. Members use Glamrada to explore latest products, gain fresh insights and share their opinion with others.

These members are micro-influencers i.e. they are not necessarily experts but beauty enthusiasts. The collective data of such enthusiasts are segregated by brand, budget, age, and skin profile to provide end users with a handy companion for beauty purchases.

Glamrada caters to everyone. While it helps makeup newbies discover the right products, it provides professionals with a platform to engage with members, showcase their talent and be identified as influencers. At present, Glamrada partners with make-up artists and beauty experts to provide users with editorial content in the form of video tutorials, articles, advice etc.

How it works

Joining Glamrada is a simple process. A first-time visitor on the Web site (Glamrada.com) needs to register, create a beauty profile and start his/her beauty journey. To keep our members engaged, there are a lot of activities on the website – editorial content in the form of videos and articles, product sampling I, digital challenges, membership benefits etc. Tethered is also a reward system as you attain different membership tiers.

The founders admit that Glamrada is still a new kid on the block, but they will continue to add new functionalities every month, keeping the end-users of this Web site at the center of their growth plans.

“We do partner with brands for marketing, but Glamrada is and will always continue to remain brand agnostic for product reviews”, says co-founder Kini Ohri.

You can start your beauty journey with Glamrada through various social handles as well. The founders are also looking at scaling up the initiative, including providing their end-users with the added convenience of an App in the near future.

The founders hope- that the website can bring a genuine change in women’s lives. Where they stop experimenting and buying products that wreak havoc on their skin. They hope to revolutionize the beauty industry by bringing to the fore genuine brands and products – and cutting through the marketing hype that is created around them.

Reliance Jio and Paytm from India join Fast Company’s world ‘50 most innovative companies list’

Reliance Jio has been given 17th rank, while Vijay Shekhar Sharma led Paytm has got the 31st position in the table.

Amid tussle between the leading telecom service providers in India, Mukesh Ambani – controlled Reliance Jio sneaks into Fast Company’s World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies for 2018.

American business magazine who released its annual report has given 17th rank to one of the cheapest cellular networks in its seventeen months of commercial launch in India.

The Fast Company’s latest edition of the World’s Most Innovative Companies spans more than 350 enterprises across 36 categories. iPhone maker Apple has topped the list followed by global online streaming giant Netflix and San Fransisco-based payments company Square.

Chinese Internet giant Tencent and US-based e-commerce major Amazon stands at number four and five respectively. The ranking also includes The Washington Post and Spotify who are in the top 10 list, while Instagram, SpaceX, and Walmart have managed to keep themselves in top 15 most innovative companies.

India and China contribution to Fast Company’s 2018 edition

Apart from Reliance Jio, the Vijay Shekhar Sharma led Paytm is the only player included as an Indian entity in the list. The Alibaba-backed payment-cum-e-commerce firm has got the 31st position in the table.

The magazine firm also released the top 10 Indian firms in Most Innovative Company’s country wise list. Reliance Jio has topped the chart followed by Paytm. Mobile advertising and discovery platform InMobi who acquired Los Angeles-based startup AerServ for a whopping $90 million got 3rd place in the list.

Interestingly agritech startup EM3 AgriServices stayed ahead of Oyo Rooms, who got 10th position on the chart. However, only two of the top 10 Indian firms on the Fast Company’s list made it to the top 50 table at world level.

Besides, Indian American venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, founder of Palo Alto-based VC firm Social Capital and former executive of Facebook, has also been selected and ranked 19th in the Fast Companies list. Social capital recently invested in SaaS-based startup WebEngage.

Fast Company, which holds a majority of players from the US in its list, Tencent, Bytedance-parent company of news app Toutiao, VIPKid, drone startup DJI are four players from China who made to the list of 50 companies selected by the American business magazine.

While Shenzhen-based DJI being the only drone startup in the Fast Company’s 2018 edition, Beijing-headquartered VIPKid and US-based Duolingo are the two startups who got the entry from ed-tech category.

How Reliance Jio made it to the table

Since its inception, Jio, the VoLTE-only operator in the country with coverage across all 22 telecom circles in India has been on the expansion spree. After acquiring the wireless assets of Reliance Communications (RCOM) and its affiliates, the firm has been investing in all possible area.

Recently, it left behind countries leading mobile selling brand Samsung to become number one feature phone brand.

The firm is eyeing a huge opportunity in the field of artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things (IoT) and blockchain technology. The company is also planning to launch its own cryptocurrency JioCoin the future.

After giving a tough competition to the incumbents such as Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, the firm is planning to go public by the end of 2018.

Within 15 months of its launch, Reliance Jio turned profitable and posted a net profit of Rs 504 crore for the fiscal third quarter.

Jio success can be imagined with a report based on consensus Street estimates via Mint, which says that Jio took only 16 months to reach a revenue of Rs 6,879 crore for the December quarter, whereas Idea Cellular took 17 years to achieve the figure.

Through his venture, FairPencil, founder Yatish Jain, helps create aesthetically brilliant architectural spaces

FairPencil, aims to help people solve the various challenges faced in terms of house designs/architecture and provide design solutions.

FairPencil: Catering to your perfect house design solutions through a blend of modern architecture and innovative ideas

Yatish Jain is a young entrepreneur who hails from Udaipur and through his entrepreneurial venture, FairPencil, aims to help people solve the various challenges faced in terms of house designs/architecture. Jain is a graduate in the field of architecture from DY Patil, Pune. Recognising the problems people faced on the architectural front while setting up a house, led him to involve technology in the field of traditional real estate business owned by his father, Mr. Kalu Lal Jain, Arihant Property and taking his passion for the field a step further by setting up FairPencil.

FairPencil is a unique house design solution app which looks to help and guide people by providing them aesthetic architectural options which are original and modern. It also aims at simplifying the process of designing and creating these designs more hassle-free through its one-of-a-kind calculator which provides requirements of plot area by making use of a few simple inputs. Keeping the different kind of audiences in mind, the app has been divided into the Design Blog, the Vastu Blog and the Project Showcase which are essentially knowledge hubs for architects.

“It is an initiative created with an aim to give all type of ideas and details about the designing of a house and other spaces. Initially, if you will take a look at FairPencil, we intend to add guidelines, blogs, and even more for the people who are related to designing of space and construction. Or, the ones who are thinking to construct and design their house in an entirely new way.” -Yatish Jain

For people looking for unique designs and decorations for their home, FairPencil, is boon as by making use of accurate measurements, the app offers them decor ideas and designs to choose from. The designs suggested by the app are nothing short of a visual delight and the range offered is varied and scintillating.

The initiative also extends a horizon of opportunities for architects and interior designers who can appeal to a wider audience base by simply contributing to the FairPencil blog. Apart from providing solutions, the app is beneficial to students and budding architects as it imparts tips by experienced architects and also provides them with a platform to showcase their talent.

Log on to www.fairpencil.com for more information.

These are richest startup founders for India in 2017

Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal are no longer in the top 15 richest entrepreneurs.

A recent study on Indian startups by the IBM Institute for Business Value and Oxford Economics found that 90% of startups in India fail within the first five years. Thousands of internet entrepreneurs are being minted in India every year. Billions of dollars were poured into the new ventures by investment firms. However, only a few have stood out with their startups. Many of those are on the way to achieving unicorn status. India’s list of richest startup founders in 2017 still contains many familiar names, but some have slipped off — Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal are no longer in the top 15 richest Indian entrepreneurs.

Below is the complete list of the richest startup founders in India.

Bhavin Turakhia, Directi/Media.net

Bhavin Turakhia is an Indian entrepreneur, CEO and co-founder of Directi. He is also the founder and CEO of Flock, Radix, CodeChef, and Ringo, as well as the co-founder of Media.net and Zeta.In 2016, Bhavin Turakhia was ranked as the 95th richest person in India, with a net worth of US$1.3 billion, along with his brother Divyank Turakhia. Bhavin Turakhia has jumped to first place after seeing a four-fold increase in his wealth in 2017. With a net worth of Rs. 11,500 crore, Bhavin Turakhia is currently India’s richest tech entrepreneur.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm

Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an Indian entrepreneur and founder of mobile payments company, Paytm. In 2005, he started One97 Communications which offered mobile content like news, cricket scores, ringtones, jokes and exam results. One97 is the parent company of Paytm, which was launched in 2010. In 2017, Vijay Shekhar Sharma was featured in the World Billionaire’s List by Forbes, and became India’s youngest business man to be featured on the list.

Softbank has made its biggest investment by sealing a funding round of Rs 9,000 crore ($1.4 billion) in One 97 Communications which owns mobile payments provider Paytm, making it the country’s second most valuable startup with worth $8 billion. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, now has a net worth of Rs. 9,000 crore.

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, Flipkart

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, co-founders of India’s most valuable internet firm Flipkart, lost their billionaire status after the e-commerce firm’s valuation fell in its latest funding round. The Bansals became the first internet billionaires in 2015 when Flipkart raised $700 million at a valuation of $15 billion. Their fortunes were then estimated to be worth roughly $1.3 billion each, according to Forbes magazine. Now, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal have worth of Rs. 5,400 crore each.

Ganesh Krishnan, Portea Medical

Ganesh Krishnan is a successful serial India entrepreneur with four successful green field ventures and exits. Ganesh’s last venture, TutorVista was acquired by Pearson for $213 million. His current venture, Portea Medical, provides technlogy-led home health care to the Indian consumer. He also mentors, incubates and funds startups and is strategic investor and promoter of several Indian consumer Internet and ecommerce companies including Bigbasket.com, Bluestone.com, and Avagmah.com. Ganesh Krishnan has a net worth of Rs. 5,100 crore.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Info Edge

Sanjeev Bikhchandani is an Indian entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Info Edge which owns Naukri.com. In 1990, Sanjeev Bikhchandani started two Internet companies Indmark and Info Edge, along with a partner. Info Edge is India’s premier online classifieds company in recruitment (Naukri.com, NaukriGolf.com, Quadranglesearch.com, FirstNaukri.com), matrimony (Jeevansathi.com), real estate (99acres.com), education (Shiksha.com) and related services. Currently, the company has investments in Zomato Media Private Limited (Zomato.com), Applect Learning Systems Private Limited (Meritnation.com), Etechaces Marketing and Consulting Private Limited (Policybazaar.com), Kinobeo Software Private Limited (MyDala.com), Canvera Digital Technologies Private Limited (Canvera.com), and many others. Sanjeev Bikhchandani has now net worth of Rs. 4,800 crore.

Vishal Mehta, Infibeam.com

After working for Dell and Amazon in the US for five years, Vishal Mehta returned to India in 2007 and started Infibeam along with a group of Amazon employees. He funded the company by selling his personal assets rather than opting for external equity funding. Infibeam.com started as an automobile portal in 2007, but later turned into an online retailer. In 2017, Infibeam has merged with CCAVenue, in a deal that valued the payment gateway at $289 million. Now, Vishal Mehta has a net worth of Rs. 3,500 crore.

Dhiraj Rajaram, Mu Sigma

Dhiraj Rajaram is the founder and chairman of Mu Sigma Inc,an Indian multinational data analytics company. After completing his education, Dhiraj worked as a management consultant at PwC in the US and Booz Allen Hamilton India. After quitting his job from Booz Allen Hamilton India, Dhiraj started data analytics company Mu Sigma Inc in 2004. Dhiraj Rajaram was named to Fortune Magazine’s list of 40 under 40 in 2013, and won The Economic Times “Entrepreneur of Year” award in 2014. Currently, Dhiraj has a net worth of Rs. 2,500 crore.

Rahul Sharma, Micromax

Rahul Sharma is an Indian entrepreneur, founder of YU Televentures and the co-founder of Micromax Informatics. Rahul is currently serving a CEO of Micromax Informatics since April 1, 2007. While the impact of demonetisation had its impact on Indian players, Chinese smartphone brands – OPPO, Vivo, Lenovo and Xiaomi – continued to grow at the expense of Indian brands. However, in terms of overall Indian smartphone market share in 2016 Micromax still stood at No.2 spot with a 11% share. Hence, Rahul Sharma still has net worth of Rs. 1,400 crore.

VSS Mani, Just Dial

In 1996, VSS Mani started Just Dial, which provides online and telephone business listings service. In 2006, after two unsuccessful attempts, Just Dial finally got in private equity investment through SAIF Partners. US hedge fund Tiger Global put in Rs 77 crore. In 2012, Just Dial raised a further Rs 327 crore from Sequoia and SAP Ventures before it went public in 2013 and its investors partially cashed out. In 2012, Just Dial obtained approval from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its proposed Initial public offering (IPO). In May 2013, Just Dial went public. VSS Mani has now net worth of Rs. 1,100.

Byju Raveendran, Byjus

In 2003, during his two months break from an overseas job as a service engineer, Byju Raveendran decided to help some of his friends appearing for CAT in Bangalore. It was an informal way of helping, and he also took the exam, and scored 100 percentile. He started teaching some of his friends, and took up the test yet again in 2005 without any preparation, and scored a perfect 100 percentile yet again. This time he also appeared for IIM-A, B, C interviews and cleared all of them. However, decided against pursuing MBA and instead saw potential in teaching students how to crack CAT, and started Byju’s.

Byju’s recently raised $50 million co-funded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s investment arm The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), Sequoia Capital, Sofina, Lightspeed Ventures and Times Internet Ltd. Now, Raveendran Byju has a net worh of Rs. 1,000 crore.

Online hotel aggregator Treebo Hotels secures Series C funding

Treebo Hotels, a Bangalore-based online budget hotel aggregator has raised $34 Million (Rs 220 crore) in its Series C funding.

Treebo Hotels, a Bangalore-based online budget hotel aggregator has raised $34 Million (Rs 220 crore) in its Series C funding round led by Hong Kong-based investment firms Ward Ferry Management and Karst Peak Capital. Existing investors, SAIF Partners, Matrix Partners India, and Bertelsmann India Investments also participated in the round.

Treebo said in a statement that it will invest the fresh funds into enhancing customer experience, building a stronger brand, strengthening its technology team, and expanding its footprint in existing and new cities. The platform currently has close to 300 franchisees operating under its brand across in about 50 cities.

Treebo’s previous funding

With this round the company has raised a total of $57M in three rounds from multiple investors:

Series B: In July last year, Treebo secured funding of Rs 112 crore (~$16.7M) and said that it will use the funding for expand to more than 60 cities and increasing its inventory 12,000 rooms. It said that it plans to launch a product extension including mid scale and leisure rooms, expanding from its current portfolio of budget rooms.

Series A: In June 2015, Treebo raised around $6 million in funding from SAIF and Matrix.

The company was started in the same year by former Myntra executives Siddharth Gupta and Rahul Chaudhary, along with Kadam Jeet Jain.

Competition

Treebo competes with numerous place in budget hotel space, which include OYO Rooms, FabHotels, MakeMyTrip – GoIbibo, Paytm, Booking.com, Hotels.com, Yatra, Airbnb, and others to name a few.

Last month, Gurgaon-based online budget hotel aggregator FabHotels secured Series B funding of $25 million from Goldman Sachs and Accel Partners. With the fresh funding, the company is looking to double the number of hotel rooms on its platforms, and strengthen its presence in select cities.

In June, Airbnb tied-up with Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) to list MTDC home stays on its platform. It also had signed a MoU with Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA) to expand its network of homes in rural India, in November last year.

In May, OYO Rooms also forayed into hotel chain segment. Also, OYO Rooms is reported to close its second round of funding of $250 million from Softbank soon.

Lists of important government schemes for the startups in India

Run through the list to know more about Startup India schemes.

Government tweaks startup resolutions by introducing comprehensive list of schemes! Startup India action plan which was launched on January 16, 2016 by PM Narendra Modi opened doors to many knowledge based and technology driven innovations in diverse industries. In the past few months Indian Government has introduced innumerable schemes providing funds, loans and other benefits to startup. These Startup India schemes support new ideas and research programmes methodically by following standard regulations.

Unlocking astonishing facts & figures:

• India’s rank in number of startups-3rd place behind Britain and US

• Technology startups that exists in India- Around 4,400

• Expected number of startups by 2020-Over 12,000

Run through the below list to know more about Startup India schemes:

1. Support for International Patent Protection in Electronics & Information Technology (SIP-EIT)

Headed by: DeitY (Department of electronics and Information and Technology)

Industry: IT services, analytics, enterprise software, technology hardware

Fiscal Incentives: Up to 15 Lakhs per invention or 50% of expenses (whichever is lesser)

SIP-EIT scheme under digital India provides financial support to Startups and MSMEs for international patent filing, funding for inventions and leverage growth opportunities.

2. Multiplier Grants Schemes (MGS)

Headed by: DeitY (Department of electronics and Information and Technology)

Industry: IT services, analytics, enterprise software, technology hardware

Fiscal Incentives: Maximum INR 2 Cr per project within duration of less than 2 years and INR 4 Cr with 3 years for industry consortiums

Multiplier Grants Schemes (MGS) is the main growth drivers of ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) and IT companies and aims to initiate collaborative R&D between industry and institutions.

3. New Gen Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centre (New Gen IEDC)

Headed by: New Gen IEDC

Industry: Chemicals, technology hardware, healthcare & life sciences, aeronautics/ aerospace, defence, agriculture, automotive, construction, nanotechnology, food &beverages;, textiles & apparel etc.

Fiscal Incentives: Limited, one-time, non recurring financial assistance, up to maximum of INR 25 Lakhs.

IEDC projects are promoted in educational institutions to develop to create an entrepreneurial culture. New Gen IEDC strives to uplift knowledge based and technology driven startups by harnessing young minds.

4. Aspire (Scheme for promoting innovations and entrepreneurship)

Headed by: Steering Committee, Ministry of MSME

Industry: Agriculture, Pets & animals, health care & life sciences, social impact

Fiscal Incentives: Based on the existence of incubator project

Aspire promotes development of rural economy by supporting Agro industry which is promoted by MSME (Ministry of micro, small & medium enterprise). Aspire is one of the Startup India scheme initiative which is not only focused on solving problems, but also creating employment.

5. Single Point Registration Schemes (SPRS)

Headed by: National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC)

Industry: Agnostic

Fiscal Incentives: Micro and small enterprise will be issued tender sets for free, which means they get exemption from EMD (Earnest Money Deposit)

MSEs willing to register under Single Point Registration Schemes can either do nsic registration online or contact nearest NSIC office for registration.

6. Infrastructure Development scheme

Headed by: National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC)

Industry: Agnostic

Fiscal Incentives: A deposit of 6 months refundable rent and an office space of 465 sq.ft. to 8,657 sqft is provided. The allotment process of leasable space is based on first come, first serve basis.

This scheme by Indian Government was initiated to solve office space issues of MSMEs. The Corporation also provides office space on a lease rental basis of perspective units.

7. International Cooperation (IC) Scheme

Headed by: Office if the Development Commissioner (MSME)

Industry: Travel & tourism, human resources, events and advertising

Fiscal Incentives: The amount may differ depending on the organization category

Under this scheme the department supports travel and marketing expenditures relating to the development of MSME sector. This initiative contributes in making MSME’s capable of competing internationally by leveraging technology and other resources that are provided by Indian Government.

8. Sparsh (Social Innovation programme for products which are affordable and relevant to Societal Health)

Headed by: Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)

Industry: Healthcare & life sciences

Fiscal Incentives- The loan and grant are provided according to the startup stage

BIRAC initiated financial and technical support social innovators who make efforts to identify the needs and gaps in healthcare. This is a promising step towards making revolutionary changes in the healthcare industry, and also giving boost to many young social innovators who bring life-saving changes with the help of various technologies.

Some Important points keep in mind:

• Most of the above scheme required a registered entity. Means you have to require a private limited company registration or some other license like GST Registration etc.

• Some scheme also required the recommendation letter from the government of India authorized incubators regarding validation of the ideas.

Final thoughts:

Apply for Startup India registration to avail these schemes or simply download startup India app and even now there a new portal as Startup India hub. Flipkart, Paytm, Snapdeal, Ola, Zomato, Quickr and Hike are few popular startups that inspire Government and innovators to shed light on such result oriented schemes. It remains to be seen what startup schemes will be coming up in future to bring new developments.

About the Author :

Devyash Patel is CEO, Founder at myonlineca which deals in online legal services across India at your fingertips.

Over 200 startups closed down in 2016

2016 is a year of harsh reality for the country’s startup ecosystem: 212 startups have not survived to see 2017. And the number is 50% higher than last year, when about 140 startups were shut down.

While 2015 was a year of big-ticket funding rounds, 2016 is a year of harsh reality for the country’s startup ecosystem: 212 startups have not survived to see 2017. And the number is 50% higher than last year, when about 140 startups were shut down, according to data analytics firm Tracxn.

The biggest casualty in 2016 was grocery delivery startup PepperTap, which was dubbed the biggest competition to BigBasket last year. It topped the list of startups that were closed down after having raised the highest funding from investors. The company, which started operations in 2014, had raised more than $51 million from a league of big investors, including Sequoia Capital, Saif Partners and e-commerce major Snapdeal. In April, its founder Navneet Mishra announced the decision to close the grocery business.

Seven out of top 10 startups that were shut down after raising sizeable funds were founded in or after 2014. These included online courier booking platform Parcelled, which wound up business in June 2016, and DoorMint, which shut its on-demand laundry service in September due to lack of funds.

“This is a natural progression,” “When you look at the ecosystem, not more than 20% of the startups succeed. Two to three years after a startup’s inception is a time when you see high mortality. There is too much competition, and only a few survive,” says Mohan Kumar, ED, Norwest Venture Partners India.

Since a lot of startups were founded during 2013, 2014 and 2015, it’s natural many have shut shop, Mohan Kumar adds.

The list also includes Buildzar, an e-commerce marketplace for construction material. It stopped services this month, just 11 months after raising $4 million from Puneet Dalmia, MD of Dalmia Bharat.

“There is a growing intolerance for companies which are not performing; and there is increasing pressure from investors who are closely seeing what works and what doesn’t. Investors know that there is credible capital that this country can’t afford to waste, so there is very little merit in allowing such companies to continue running,” says Ajay Hattangdi, CEO of venture debt provider InnoVen Capital.

The Temasek-backed InnoVen Capital, had lent $4 million to PepperTap last December. Hattangdi says the lender was supportive of PepperTap’s decision to shut down. The founders made sure the loan obligation was repaid in full.

“Entrepreneurs will try rebooting, bootstrapping and running the company with minimum expenses; but if there is strong case for it to shut down, then it doesn’t deserve life support,” he adds.

This article was originally published in Times of India

BigMyGig: your online artist search ends here

This online artist search and discovery tool aims to quest your search for the best artist for any kind of event.

Started by two students from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management studies, Mumbai, this online artist search and discovery tool aims to quest your search for the best artist for any kind of event. Pratik Rathod, the co-founder of this start-up is a musician whilst his partner Ramalingam is an event manager who came together to put their expertise into play to make this tool successful.

Started with a single focus, the founders realised that artists do not get enough shows because of poor outreach and lack of research from the sponsors’ side. They decided to bridge this gap through BigMyGig. Their ideas were fuelled by the appreciation received by an angel investor who had visited their college campus and encouraged them to continue working on their idea. Thereon, they started building on the tool with determination and relentless passion. Currently, it is an online solution which helps event managers finds the best talent to suit their event.

For the business model of this tool, the founders decided to go for a “bamboo model” which is popular in China and stresses on the fact that an average bamboo tree takes 5 years and 3 months to grow completely. For five years, we see only a shoot which sprouts into a healthy and full-fledged tree in the last three months. Similarly, BigMyGig, which started out as an idea went on to grow into a strong network which consists of over 1200 artists and they’ve managed to successfully reach out to over 650 event managers across Mumbai.

Related Post: Helpmebuild: revolutionising homes

With the growth of their company, the founders have also introduced packages on their website which allows the client to book a complete entertainment package. Also, specified in detail are the digital portfolios of all the artists in their network to simplify the task of event managers. On the artist front, the tool uses a three-stage filtering process, known as the Invitation Model. Artists are supposed to send requests to join BigMyGig on the website, post which a screening process is undertaken. Artists become a part of the network when they meet the required parameters. This guarantees authentic and verified artists in the website.

For more information, log on to http://bigmygig.com/

The Great Khali to enter the entrepreneurial scene

He along with Franchise India, announced the launch of The Great Khali Gym & Fitness Club, an exclusive chain of luxury gym and fitness centres, which led to his entry in the field of entrepreneurs.

Dalip Rana popularly known as The Great Khali who has won accolades in the field of wrestling for the country. Recently, he along with Franchise India, announced the launch of The Great Khali Gym & Fitness Club, an exclusive chain of luxury gym and fitness centres, which led to his entry in the field of entrepreneurs.

The first gym is to be opened up in Jaipur followed by Delhi and the partners aim to open up a hundred centres in India in the next three years. Some fitness centres will be present in Tier-II and Tier-III cities as well.

“The Great Khali Gym and Fitness club aims to establish itself as a unique player in the crowded India fitness industry. We desire to present gymnasiums as family friends places by incorporating dedicated kids and lounge areas.” -Dalip Rana

About the gym:

What sets the gym apart from other fitness centres is that it will be modelled around the theme of wrestling and an automated recording of The Great Khali will welcome everyone who enters the gym. The gym is spread across a sprawling 5000 sq feet approximately which allows enough space for heavy machinery. Each gym will also have the following facilities:

A marathon track
Jaccuzzis
Spas
Kids area
Sweat room

The project is huge as there is an initial investment of a few crores but the each gym looks forward to 700 members each year and recovering the investment in two years.

“Khali is a brand in himself and has a large dedicated following in India. We are happy to be associated with his entrepreneurial venture and we are sure it will get a strong foothold among fitness lovers across country.” – Franchise India Chairman Gaurav Maria

Richa Kar founder Zivame: Making her way to glory and success

Lingerie for the longest time has been a taboo topic in India. However, with Richa Kar starting up her own e-commerce portal which deals with different types of lingerie, women are coming forth to buy new and more cutting-edge brassiere.

Richa Kar had an engineering degree from Pilani post which she worked in an IT firm. However, she was always interested in learning how businesses worked which is why she went ahead to get a MBA degree from NMIMS. After completing her MBA, she worked in the retail sector where studying a global lingerie brand was her job. This got her thinking about the category in India which was underdeveloped and unexplored due to various reasons like presence of male salesmen, unavailability issues etc.

However, this idea wasn’t completely accepted by her parents initially as selling bra-panties in the country isn’t considered to be a respectable profession. With passing time, the apprehensions started wearing off and her idea started blossoming.

In 2011, Kar started the website called Zivame with 35 lakhs which were her own savings and contributions from friends, however, soon she got funding from Kalaari Capital and IDG Ventures. Post the initial funding, Zivame has been able to raise $48 million from Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Zodius Technology Fund, Unilazer Ventures, IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital. This money has been used to up the ante when it comes to customer service by developing new products and marketing.

Zivame, in Greek, means the radiant me and has grown leaps and bounds in the past five years with sales rising by 5x in 4 years. Currently, the brand has a fitting salon in Bangalore and plans to launch many more across the country. In the future, she plans to make the company bigger and fill the existing gaps in the lingerie sector.