BUSINESS
We are hiring as tailwinds blow behind us: upGrad cofounder Mayank Kumar
Kumar’s remarks come at a time when edtechs in India have been roiled by layoffs and funding crunch. Kumar believes upGrad is largely insulated from the storm since professionals turn to upskilling in a bleak job market.
BUSINESS
How offline became the new online for India’s ed tech unicorns
As the coronavirus pandemic ebbs, parents, students, investors, and startup founders seem to have found a common ground that suits all and offers the best of both worlds—hybrid coaching
BUSINESS
Top executives, senior engineer quit crypto unicorn CoinSwitch Kuber to build Web3 startup
Former CFO of embattled e-commerce startup Zilingo Ramesh Bafna has taken over the reins as CoinSwitch Kuber's CFO. Both Zilingo and Coinswitch Kuber count Sequoia as one of their major investors
BUSINESS
Zetwerk elevates finance head Ankit Fatehpuria as fifth co-founder
Zetwerk has now joined the list of companies like Livspace, Practo, and Zomato, among others to elevate a senior executive to the founder position.
BUSINESS
Hiring activity in India grew by 22% year on year in June 2022: Naukri Job Speak report
The demand for freshers records the highest yearly growth of 30 percent in June, shows the report. The demand surged highest in Mumbai, among other metropolitan cities, with a spike of 93 percent for freshers. Among tier-two cities, Kochi stood ahead, more than doubling its fresher hiring.
BUSINESS
Ecommerce platforms should publish negative ratings, restrict low-rated products from re-listing: Survey
In the survey, 90 percent of consumers who shop on e-commerce platforms responded negatively when asked if a product with a large number of low ratings and negative reviews, should be allowed to re-list without a review of the issues.
BUSINESS
Shattered Dreams, Humiliation, Fight For Survival: How laid-off startup employees are coping
Moneycontrol spoke to 15 people who were laid off in the past six months to understand their hopes and fears as they navigate the new normal. All the names of the laid-off employees have been changed in the story to protect their identities.
BUSINESS
Exclusive: Deep cuts at Byju's: Over 2,500 employees laid off across Byju’s, Whitehat Junior and Toppr
Byju's has laid off full-time and contractual employees from Toppr, WhiteHat Jr, and its core team across sales and marketing, operations, content and design teams
BUSINESS
Bertelsmann India announces $500-million fund for startups
For 2022-23, BII says it plans to focus investments in healthtech, enterprisetech, future of work, fintech and agritech, and also explore disruptive technologies like Web3 and deeptech.
BUSINESS
Byju’s-owned WhiteHat Jr lays off 280-300 employees
Sources have also told Moneycontrol that employees from the sales and marketing team are largely impacted by this round of layoffs.
BUSINESS
Byju's shuffles senior leadership, appoints Tynker CEO Krishna Vedati as leader of global growth initiatives
Earlier in May, Moneycontrol had reported that Byju’s might see a change in its top management with the company elevating COO Mrinal Mohit to a larger role.
BUSINESS
Tech-focused Panthera Growth Partners marks first close of $250 mn second fund
An average of $20 million will be invested in 10-12 individual portfolio companies each across India and Southeast Asia.
BUSINESS
School-based startups defying larger edtech trends; opportunity to double down on growth: LEAD co-founder Sumeet Mehta
Mehta said targeting schools is the best way to improve the learning outcomes of children. The company plans to stay away from tuition and test prep.
BUSINESS
Early-stage venture capital firm Fundamental launches maiden fund worth $130 million
The fund plans to lead investments in pre-seed and seed rounds with an aim to support 30 ventures over the next two years.
BUSINESS
Tea cafe chain Chaayos gulps $53 million in Series C funding led by Alpha Wave Ventures
Chaayos did not disclose the valuation at which the company raised the funds, but reportedly, the company has been valued at $240-250 million.
BUSINESS
Study-abroad platform Leap raises $75 million in Series D led by Owl Ventures
Vaibhav Singh, in a virtual interaction with Moneycontrol, said the company plans to use the fresh funds for innovation in existing products and growing partnerships with educational institutions abroad. In addition, the company also plans new product launches and geographical expansion abroad.
BUSINESS
Sequoia India, SoftBank, others join IAMAI-launched Venture Capital Committee
The new panel will work on public policy consultations, stakeholder engagement, ecosystem enhancement, and building a strong industry network for VC firms.
BUSINESS
25-40% unicorns won’t survive due to foolish models, negative unit economics: InMobi CEO Naveen Tewari
“I am excited about the first phase of creating 100 unicorns by our country, of the big exuberance and the big ambition that we hold. But I think the downturn, in reality, makes it clear who is going to survive, who is going to thrive,” said Tewari.
AUTOMOBILE
Freo starts offering savings account with Equitas Small Finance Bank
Freo’s move is opposite of that to its peers in the consumer neobanking platform space like Jupiter, Fi, Niyo, and others. These players began by offering savings accounts in partnership with banks and are now foraying into lending.
BUSINESS
Startup layoffs cross 10,000 mark as companies restructure, attempt to reduce cash burn amid funding winter
This comes after a year of aggressive hiring by startups and high employee costs as tech salaries skyrocketed in 2021. Startups led the tech hiring and talent war in a year that saw immense investor interest and multiple rounds of fundraises by these companies.
BUSINESS
New ideas, products happen on whiteboard not behind Zoom. Here's why InMobi founder Naveen Tewari wants employees at office
“If you are working on creating cutting-edge, new products or ideas, it doesn't happen sitting behind Zoom or Teams calls. You have to be in front of each other, on a whiteboard exchanging ideas,” said Tewari in a recent episode of Bits to Billions.
BUSINESS
Joy of meeting in person, but some caution as unicorn founders get together after two years amid funding winter
The sentiment suffused thousands of founders, investors, bankers, and advisors among others, who attended the India Unicorn Summit 2022 arranged by TiE Mumbai at the exuberant Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai last week.
BUSINESS
AlphaSense raises $225 million funding led by Goldman Sachs, Viking Global at $1.7 billion valuation
Earlier in September 2021, AlphaSense raised $180 million Series C funding, also led by Goldman Sachs and Viking Global. Recently, in October 2021, the company acquired Stream by Mosaic, provider of a leading library of expert interview transcripts. It also acquired Sentieo, a financial intelligence platform designed for investors in a deal that was closed last month.
BUSINESS
Profitability, revenue forecasting more complex amid rapid technological disruption: Happiest Minds CFO
Less room for predictability has changed the way contracts are negotiated in the digital IT space, Narayanan said.
