BUSINESS
Zomato-backed Cult.fit lays off 150 employees to lower cash burn
The unicorn, which also counts Tata Digital as an investor, is realigning its business strategy to transition into an offline-heavy gym company, departing from its previous identity as a tech-enabled fitness startup.
TECHNOLOGY
IPO-bound Swiggy likely to double platform fee
Swiggy levies a platform fee of Rs 5 and may hike it to Rs 10 in the coming months as it looks to control costs as it gets ready to launch its initial public offering later this year
TECHNOLOGY
B2B fashion startup Fashinza struggles to find its footing, bogged down by top-level exits
The fashion platform has changed its organisational structure at least two times and is on its third model now in three years.
TECHNOLOGY
DealShare's Sourjyendu Medda quits; Kamaldeep Singh promoted internally as new CEO
Singh joined DealShare in December 2022 after 14 years with Big Bazaar where he held several leadership positions.
TECHNOLOGY
SoftBank to restart India investments mid-2024 as founders reset valuations: Sumer Juneja
As India's second batch of unicorns go public, SoftBank’s Sumer Juneja says the country's mutual funds are the most important cogs in the wheel of pricing IPOs.
TECHNOLOGY
FirstCry CEO Supam Maheshwari offloaded shares worth Rs 300 crore before IPO filing
Maheswhari offloaded over 6 million shares in FirstCry in the 10 days prior to filing DRHP and a total of 9 million shares in the preceding six months
BUSINESS
Invesco raises IPO-bound Swiggy's valuation for second time in a row to $8.3 billion
Other investors in Swiggy, such as US-based Baron Capital, have also adjusted the company's valuation in recent months.
TECHNOLOGY
Flipkart's Binny Bansal launches OppDoor, his latest e-commerce startup
The company is registered in Singapore and was incorporated in May 2021, per filings. OppDoor was earlier called Three State Ventures Pte Ltd, which is Binny Bansal’s venture capital firm that operates from Singapore.
TRENDS
Vandalism over English name boards in Bengaluru raises concern
Pro-Kannada activists target commercial establishments despite Bengaluru civic body’s Feb 2024 deadline. Industrialists say it dents Brand Bengaluru.
TECHNOLOGY
FirstCry IPO: Offer size, financial report card, risk factors and other key takeaways
"We have had negative net cash flows in the past and may continue to have negative cash flows in the future," FirstCry said in its DRHP.
BUSINESS
Strongly believe we're not liable to pay any tax on delivery charge, says Zomato
The tax authority last month said that food delivery is a service and, therefore, Zomato and Swiggy are liable to pay GST on service at a rate of 18 percent
TECHNOLOGY
Fireside Ventures tasted success with Mamaearth IPO. Here’s its recipe for IPO-able startups
The VC firm invests in companies that will eventually get rewarded by public market investors. It puts in place a head of finance from the early days and head of people functions at its portfolio companies, said Dipanjan Basu, co-founder and partner.
TECHNOLOGY
From GoMechanic to ZestMoney: Why thousands of startups shut shop in 2023
While companies such as Zestmoney and Striker saw their business models fail after a tighter regulatory landscape, several others simply couldn’t find their product market fit (PMF).
TECHNOLOGY
SoftBank-backed FirstCry, Ola Electric to file draft IPO papers in the next week
While FirstCry is likely to list only after the general election in 2024, Ola Electric's management has already begun roadshows with domestic and international investors
TECHNOLOGY
Unacademy ex-COO Vivek Sinha raises $11 million from Lightspeed, Matrix for edtech venture
Sinha’s previous bosses, Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal and Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal, are also backing his latest venture
TECHNOLOGY
Udaan fires over 100 employees days after securing $340 million in capital
This is the second instance, in the last 13 months, where Udaan has sacked staffers soon after raising a new round of capital.
TECHNOLOGY
Third Wave Coffee fires 120 employees months after raising $35 million
Employees across teams like tech, finance, marketing, business development and app were let go.
TECHNOLOGY
Omidyar Network to exit India market by end of 2024
Moneycontrol checked with six portfolio companies and none of the founders had a clue about a move of this magnitude.
TECHNOLOGY
Rocky road? Lightrock India partner and CFO Kushal Agrawal to leave by month-end
This comes at a time when Saleem Asaria has also stepped back from daily operations, per sources who added that Raghav Rungta has already left Lightrock. Ashish Garg left in September 2022 to join a startup.
BUSINESS
Dunzo's woes deepen as November salaries remain unpaid
This is despite the company having tied up with OneTap, a revenue financing firm, earlier this year.
TECHNOLOGY
Conflict of interest, harsh deal terms: More skeletons tumble out of SphitiCap
Apart from conflict of interest, the little-known VC firm shares an auditor with two firms of a partner and has demanded ‘sweat equity’ from the founders of startups in its portfolio.
TECHNICALS
The era of operator founder: Why investors love executives leaving startups to start up
While a majority of the departing executives are going back into the ecosystem and starting a new business, a small portion of them have chosen to simply change their sectors. The remaining are going back to safety.
BUSINESS
DealShare gives up office space in Bengaluru, lowers monthly rental cost by Rs 25 lakh
Prior to the shutdown of the HSR office, DealShare was paying a monthly rent of around Rs 40 lakh. DealShare now joins a list of companies like Byju’s and Dunzo which have also given up their office spaces in Bengaluru to cut costs.
BUSINESS
Dunzo moves employees from Google Workspace to Zoho to bring down costs
Google, also one of Dunzo’s largest investors, charges at least Rs 1,600 per user per month for its suite of offerings under the enterprise plan but Zoho charges only Rs 489 for the same arrangement.
