Page 21 - Startups In India

Jitendra Singh urges J-K youth to avail unexplored StartUp avenues

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said Jammu and Kashmir has a huge potential for StartUps in every sector and emphasized upon youth, men and women for availing unexplored StartUp avenues in the Union Territory.The minister was addressing the youth and women convention at Patnitop in Jammu on the theme '8 years of Modi Government for youth'."Because of the impetus given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which began with his call for "StartUp India StandUp India" from the ramparts of Red Fort in 2015, the number of StartUps in India has grown to 70,000 from about 300 to 400 which is something to be cherished by the youth of J & K who want to have a career in different StartUps. This shows that the Start-Up ecosystem is going to determine India's future economy including that of Jammu and Kashmir and will act as a key pillar for the world economy as well," said Singh.The Union Minister maintained that the historic decisions taken by this government over the last 8 years are ...

Maruti Suzuki invests Rs 2 cr in AI startup Sociograph Solutions

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Friday said it has invested around Rs 2 crore in Sociograph Solutions Pvt Ltd (SSPL), a startup specialising in artificial intelligence. The investment is part of the company's MAIL initiative to support startups with promising mobility solutions, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) said in a statement. The company plans to use the visual artificial intelligence (AI) platform of SSPL called Dave.AI, with an aim to enhance the digital sales experience of its customers, it added. "Our investment in SSPL demonstrates our resolve towards improving business metrics using contemporary technology," MSIL Managing Director & CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said. The company has undertaken the ambitious Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) programme since 2019 to empower the mobility startup ecosystem in the country. The Maruti Suzuki Innovation Fund has been set up with an aim to invest in early-stage startups which are part of Maruti Suzuki

BlackBuck bounces back from Covid, reimagines its trucking business model

The Tiger Global and Sequoia-backed unicorn plans to deepen its reach from 100,000 villages currently to over 300,000 villages, and scale its existing businesses 3x by 2023

Railways to invest Rs 50 cr a year in startups; innovators to retain IPR

Indian Railways will invest more than Rs 50 crore annually to fund startups, Ashwini Vaishnaw said, adding that unlike other such collaborations, IPR for innovations will remain with the innovator.

HSBC India to lend $250 million to high-growth, tech-led startups

Foreign lender HSBC India on Monday announced that it will lend USD 250 million to startups in the country. The bank did not specify the timeframe for disbursal of the amount The lending will be done to high-growth, tech-led startups in the third largest startup ecosystem in the world, the lender said in a statement. The lending, which comes amid increased focus on startups' debt needs by financial intermediaries locally and a 'funding winter' impacting equity funding to the sector, will be managed by the lender's commercial banking vertical. The commercial banking vertical in India had witnessed a 42 per cent jump in its profit for 2021 at USD 265 million as against USD 187 million in the year ago period. Loans to small and medium enterprises tripled to USD 1 billion in 2021 as against USD 300 million in 2018, the bank said. "...we recognise the need for startups to access finance to support their growth ambitions and scale up their business. This segment is poised for significa

Maharashtra to launch Rs 200 cr fund to invest in women-led startups

Maharashtra will launch a Rs 200-crore fund to invest in deep tech startups from the state, which are preferably led by women and socially relevant, a senior official said on Friday.

India's 'bio economy' grew by 8 times in last 8 years, says PM Modi

India's 'bio economy' has grown eight times in the last eight years and has reached $80 bn from $10 bn, Prime Minister Modi said on Thursday

Angel platform IPV offers retail investors a play in startup funding space

Today Angel platform IPV has close to 7,000 investors, over 4,000 of whom actively invest in the Indian startup ecosystem. These investors, largely Indian diaspora, come from 48 countries

India's 101st unicorn: Edtech startup PW raises $100 mn in Series-A funding

Firm valued at $1.1 billion in funding round led by Westbridge and GSV Ventures

France woos Indian cos after topping attractive investment rank in Europe

France is wooing Indian companies, particularly startups, for investments after it topped for the third year in a row an EY survey on most attractive investment destinations in Europe.

Our competition is with the Silicon Valley: Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai

Silicon Valley in the US continues its reign as the world's pre-eminent startup ecosystem, according to experts

Sourav Ganguly joins hands with Noida-based edtech startup Classplus

Ending all speculations after sending a cryptic tweet, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly joined hands with Noida-based edtech startup Classplus to promote thousands of educators and content creators.

Bengaluru to host international conference for startups from June 2

An international conference for startups -- the India Global Innovation Summit (IGIC) -- will be held here from Thursday. The inaugural edition of IGIC is organised by strategic advisory firm Smadja & Smadja in a partnership with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission and the support of founding sponsors Catamaran Ventures and Tata Digital. The inaugural meeting will host more than 80 speakers from India and countries like Singapore, Israel, Switzerland, the US, Japan, Korea, and Germany, the organisers said in a statement. The two-day conference will have 22 sessions with more than 40 international speakers deliberating over themes relevant to entrepreneurs, innovators, and top venture capitalists, it said. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, is expected to join as the chief guest at the conference. Some of the other notable speakers include Karnataka IT Minister Dr. C N Ashwath Narayan, co-founder of Infosys Limited N R Narayana Murthy, and technology forecaster and ...

Ashneer Grover tells VC firms to 'right size' before advising startups

Ashneer Grover, co-founder and former managing director of fintech platform BharatPe, has advised venture capital and investment firms to first think about "right-sizing" themselves in the wake of current economic slowdown before telling their portfolio companies and startups to do so.

Start-ups in India created value, wealth even during pandemic: PM Modi

In his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' radio broadcast, the prime minister said that on the fifth of this month the number of unicorns in India reached the 100-mark

'Startup founders may find it difficult to raise funds in coming months'

With a capital crunch creeping into the market, startup founders may find it difficult to raise funds at attractive valuations in the coming months, according to industry players. During a joint programme with Meta, formerly known as Facebook, Kalaari Capital's Founder and Managing Director Vani Kola on Wednesday said that customers may defer their purchase decisions and startup founders will need to tighten up their belts and look for alternative opportunities for the business. "There is going to be a period where customers are going to delay certain kinds of decision making, but maybe there are other decisions that they make. I do think, and added to that liquidity that has overleveraged, funds in public markets will flow down ... While we only recently celebrated the 100th unicorn, any of those 100 unicorns today if they have to raise capital will perhaps get a haircut of 30 if not 50 per cent," Kola said. Kola said she has seen four to five financial downturns and whenever there

You can't raise cash to blow it up: Ronnie Screwvala on layoffs at unicorns

In a Q&A, the upGrad chief said it is a 'lame excuse' for founders for tech unicorns to blame the situation on factors like the war in Europe and funding crunch

Vedantu lays off 424 employees as it expects a scarcity of capital

Citing headwinds, CEO Vamsi Krishna says capital will be scarce in upcoming quarters

Byju's in talks to acquire US-based reading platform Epic: Report

Deal could help acquirer deepen US footprint. Epic's platform has 40,000 popular, high-quality books from 250-plus publishers. It aims to fuel curiosity and reading confidence in kids 12 and under

Indian edtech giant Byju's expands globally, launches Future School

Byju's Future School will be available in the US, UK, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico in May and will progressively expand to more geographies in the near future