BUSINESS
SoftBank-backed Unacademy cuts monthly burn down to a fourth, eyes breakeven by January
Unacademy has slashed its monthly burn to Rs 50-60 crore from more than Rs 200 crore previously, sources said requesting anonymity. This has come on the back of various measures that it undertook as funding slowed down and investors turned cautious.
BUSINESS
‘If this didn’t break us, nothing will’: Byju Raveendran opens up about troubles of last six months
Byju’s has been embroiled in controversies regarding delays in filing financials, sales practices, layoffs and funding troubles. The founder and CEO of the edtech firm talks about it all in an interview with Moneycontrol
BUSINESS
EXCLUSIVE | Ola Electric rejigs roles to unify operations across roles; YS Kim gets larger role
Industry veteran YS Kim will now take on an expanded role of leading sales, D2C and charging network charter for Ola Electric; Vinay Bhopatkar moves on from the company
BUSINESS
MC Exclusive | A new SaaS war: Accel-backed BrowserStack Vs Sequoia-backed LambdaTest face off
In the heat and dust of competition, LambdaTest faces charges of trying to gain unethical access to BrowserStack’s IPR and sensitive client data
BUSINESS
Inflated salaries, falling margins, slowing demand: Why Indian IT companies are cutting variable pay
High levels of attrition, increasing travel costs, and fears of a recession that’s affecting demand for IT services are putting pressure on margins of tech companies.
BUSINESS
Financial services are a basic need like roti, kapda, makaan, says Groww founder Lalit Keshre
In an episode of Bits to Billions, Keshre revealed that his beginnings were humble and that he hails from Lepa, a small village in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone district.
BUSINESS
Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah sees FY23 revenue to top Rs 1,200 cr; to launch new offerings
PhysicsWallah’s comments on profitability and the company’s expansion plans come at a time when edtech companies in India have struggled with softening demand post the pandemic amid reopening of schools, colleges and physical tuition centers.
BUSINESS
SoftBank India head Sumer Juneja elevated to global role, will oversee EMEA bets
Juneja was hired by SoftBank in December 2018 to set up a local presence in India.
BUSINESS
India is in a very good position right now, global geopolitics is in our favour: Nandan Nilekani
MC Exclusive Interview | In a wide-ranging conversation with Moneycontrol, Nilekani opened up on his vision for India, how long he plans to stay at Infosys, why Aadhaar is irreversible and what startups can do to defend themselves against the funding winter
BUSINESS
SoftBank-backed OfBusiness defers IPO plans by 3 months on weak market cues
CEO Asish Mohapatra also said the last round that OfBusiness raised in December 2021 was the company’s last private market fundraise
BUSINESS
Cognizant board has to exercise its fiduciary duty, assess what is going on: Moshe Katri
In an interview with Moneycontrol, leading IT analyst Moshe Katri drew parallels between Cognizant and its Indian rivals such as Infosys and Wipro, where founders tweaked leadership till they found the right candidate for the top job.
BUSINESS
Swiggy, Unacademy, Meesho founders meet top public market investors in Bengaluru
The meeting comes at a time when many unicorns, over the last two years, had openly talked about getting publicly listed in the medium term
BUSINESS
IPO market for India tech startups still nascent: Lightspeed’s Bejul Somaia
Somaia talks about plans for the new $500-million fund, exit opportunities, and the 70% cash-burn reduction at portfolio company Udaan, among other things
BUSINESS
Zomato moving to multiple-CEO structure, will call organisation Eternal: founder Deepinder Goyal
To be sure, sources said this was one of the many ideas that Goyal has been floating on the company's Slack channel and one cannot be sure if it will be implemented. But the messaging gives a peek into Goyal's thinking as Zomato increasingly wants to model itself after Info Edge
BUSINESS
Exclusive | WestBridge Capital raises $1.5 billion in largest-ever commitment for Indian companies
Westbridge Capital joins a growing list of PE and venture capital (VC) firms to raise large funds for India-focused companies
BUSINESS
Profitable and capitalised, it is business as usual for us: Zetwerk CEO Amrit Acharya
“While we also grew a lot last year, we grew profitably. And hence, in some way, destiny is under our control because we can now choose to go aggressive or not, without relying on extreme measures,” he said.
BUSINESS
Can compete with any company, big or small, says Mindtree CEO Debashis Chatterjee
“There’s a steering committee that is working in such a way that it doesn’t distract either organisation (Mindtree and L&T Infotech)… That’s why you still see that Mindtree has been growing. We haven’t lost sight of the big picture. We’re focussing on profitable growth,” he said.
BUSINESS
Growth, not profit, is the lifeblood of a startup: Rocketship VC’s Venky Harinarayan
At a time when some of the world’s largest venture capital (VC) firms, including Sequoia Capital and Y Combinator, are sending out notes to their portfolio companies to prioritise profitability over growth, Rocketship VC’s Venky Harinarayan is advising portfolio startups to stay put on growth.
BUSINESS
Distressed healthcare startup MFine merges with LifeCell International's diagnostics arm
LifeCell’s diagnostics business and MFine will have a combined user base of more than six million. MFine, as a brand, will continue to exist as the consumer-facing platform, under the new entity LifeWell
BUSINESS
Exclusive | SoftBank-backed Unacademy spent Rs 100 crore to poach 30 teachers in Kota
Kota holds significant importance for new-age edtech companies such as Unacademy, as it has been an offline education hub, especially for engineering and medical test preparations, for decades
BUSINESS
SoftBank's Rajeev Misra to step aside from main roles to build and run a new fund
Misra's move to step away from main roles at SoftBank comes six months after the Japanese conglomerate's chief operating officer Marcelo Claure resigned due to disputes over compensation. More importantly, it comes at a time when many of the Japanese investment conglomerate's bets turned sour with technology valuations plunging across the globe over the last six months.
BUSINESS
Pine Labs-owned Setu gets RBI's in-principal approval to operate as account aggregator
The in-principal nod for the Account Aggregator license was received through Setu's subsidiary Agya Technologies.
BUSINESS
Rajesh Nambiar loses ‘executive’ position at Cognizant, takes a pay cut
Nambiar, however, will continue to be a part of the company as the Executive Vice President, Chairman, and Managing Director of Cognizant India, the IT services major informed in an SEC filing in the US on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
SoftBank-backed Ola kicks off cost-cutting exercise, may lay off 400-500 staff
The move to undertake layoffs also comes days after Ola decided to shut down Ola Dash, its quick commerce business, and also recast its cars business to focus more on strengthening its electric division.
