
BUSINESS
Startup sages: Meet Rohit Agarwal, the investment banker turned unicorn CFO
For 12 years, through stints with Credit Suisse, UBS and Avendus, Rohit Agarwal helped connect investors and companies, and worked on deals aggregating to over $20 billion. Then he changed tack and joined Zenoti, a company selling software for salons and spas in a dozen countries, overseeing fundraising and acquisitions, as well as finance and planning. It was a career change rather than a job change, and here’s why he made the shift

BUSINESS
Fireside Ventures closes second fund at Rs 863 crore
The company had raised $60 million for the first close of the fund in November 2019

BUSINESS
Does India have a startup valuation bubble?
Many companies across sectors are being overvalued, valued on shaky metrics, and venture capitalists are more bullish than ever. But, is there a reason to it- method behind the madness, or does India have a startup valuation bubble?

BUSINESS
Exclusive | Want to de-link from China, be a global brand: boAt Lifestyle CEO Sameer Mehta
In an interview with Moneycontrol, Sameer Mehta, CEO of boAt Lifestyle- the headphones and audio brand talks about the importance of local manufacturing, what makes boAt different, and provides insight into one of India's hottest new consumer brands

BUSINESS
Indian startups end dependence on Chinese money
Immediately after the ban, many startups had to reconfigure funding plans and look at different options overnight, but founders acknowledge that the transition has been far smoother than expected.

BUSINESS
Endiya Partners closes Rs 500 crore second fund
Investors in Endiya’s current fund include the International Finance Corporation and the Nippon India Digital Innovation fund- an India-Japan initiative. Nippon is one of Japan’s largest life insurance players.

BUSINESS
Cred raises $81 million from DST Partners, others at $800 million valuation, buys back ESOPs
Existing investors such as Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, General Catalyst also participated in the round. New investors include hedge fund Coatue Management and Satyan Gajwani, Vice Chairman of Times Internet.

BUSINESS
Explained | Section 230: Why a social media law angers Trump and what it means for us
Donald Trump wants to abolish a 26-word law that defines the internet era, and the abolishment of which could destroy many businesses. But, the law may need reworking. Moneycontrol breaks down what is at stake.

BUSINESS
From coding to live classes, 5 young Indian ed-tech startups you should know about
As larger edtech unicorns grab the headlines, Moneycontrol looks at some of the interesting younger online learning startups.

BUSINESS
Exclusive| Billionaire Yuri Milner fund in talks to invest in Rupeek
Milner, along with other top VCs, is in talks to invest in gold loans startup Rupeek, nearly doubling its valuation in less than a year. Its current backers include Sequoia, Accel and Binny Bansal.

BUSINESS
Choose your customers, don’t let them choose you, says Zenoti CEO Sudheer Koneru
India's newest unicorn software startup Zenoti has built a billion-dollar business catering to spas and salons. CEO Sudheer Koneru tells us why he only works with big businesses, how the coronavirus pandemic has proved him right, his IPO plans and more.

BUSINESS
Wakefit raises Rs 185 crore from Verlinvest, Sequoia India
Wakefit was valued at about Rs 1900 crore, a jump of nearly 10 times from when Sequoia first invested Rs 70 crore valuing it at Rs 210 crore in 2018.

BUSINESS
Exclusive | Companies that aren’t tech-centric will be wiped out, says chief of SoftBank-backed Mindtickle
Mindtickle started in 2011 with an aim to gamify the life of boring software companies and make their internal processes more fun. CEO Krishna Depura tells Moneycontrol how the company did this, expanded to the US, pivoted, and even secured funding from Japanese investment giant SoftBank

BUSINESS
Startups look beyond IITs, IIMs for top talent
Top institutions such as the IITs and the IIMs have always been highly regarded in India’s startup ecosystem. They have produced founders who have created multiple billion-dollar companies, investors who were savvy enough to spot them early, and given employment to thousands.

BUSINESS
Shadowfax offers ESOP buyback worth $5 million, elevates two senior execs to co-founder
Employees who have been with Shadowfax for more than four years can sell up to 35 percent of their vested stock options

BUSINESS
HDFC Bank invests in fintech startup smallcase
Existing investors DSP Group, Sequoia Capital India and Blume Ventures also participated in the investment startup's Series B funding round.

BUSINESS
Exclusive | Warburg Pincus in talks to acquire stake in boAt
boAt has sourced parts from China, which it is trying to change by setting up local manfacturing. The China equation, however, is complicated, given 99% of the industry depends on that country and quality at scale is hard to find elsewhere.

BUSINESS
Alteria Capital eyes Rs 1,750 crore new fund, going beyond venture debt
Alteria, whose backers include Binny Bansal and the Azim Premji Foundation, is now looking to go beyond venture debt, a first in India, and has hired two partners from rival firm InnoVen Capital.

BUSINESS
Third Derivative invests in 50 startups, including 3 from India, to battle climate change
Some of the problems D3’s entrepreneurs will look to address are rising surface temperature due to a growing demand for cooling in developing countries.

BUSINESS
Healthcare startup funding could fall globally in Q4: Report
After two strong quarters, healthcare startups are expected to raise less money this quarter and also see fewer deals, a report by market intelligence platform CB Insights says.

BUSINESS
Exclusive | How we use AI will determine our success, says Cars24 CEO Vikram Chopra
Vikram Chopra, CEO of India's newest unicorn Cars24, talks about bouncing back from the pandemic, unit economics, why add-on services are vital to the business and more.

BUSINESS
Kunal Shah's Cred valued $800 million with DST partners funding
Cred, formed in 2018, has raised $80 million at a valuation of $800 million.

BUSINESS
Breaking down Cars24’s billion-dollar valuation and how it got there
The unicorn valuation surprised many in the startup world. But DST Global, which invested $200 million Cars24 recently, is convinced about the company’s growth, having had a close relationship with the used-car buying platform for a while.

BUSINESS
Byju's international head Abhishek Maheshwari joins Aakash as CEO
Abhishek Maheshwari joined Byju's in July 2019, prior to which he was the India head of the Walt Disney Company.