Page 28 - Startups

'How bad is the job market?': Applicants spooked, experts optimistic

A start-up receiving 3,000 job applications in 48 hours reflects how substantial the churn is

Saarthi.ai fires employees in batches, withholds salaries; cites 'pressure'

Bengaluru-based AI tech support startup Saarthi.ai has fired some employees buckling under "investor pressure" to become profitable, and has allegedly withheld salaries of several employees since March 2023. While an employee took to a social media platform to claim that withholding of salaries has affected a substantial chunk of staff, the numbers could not be independently verified. Responding to queries, Founder and CEO Vishwa Nath Jha said the company has "let go" of employees in batches owing to "investor pressure" to become profitable, but declined to divulge the number of employees affected by the move. "Our team has been restructured in light of technological advancement and many team members were let go in batches as a result. We had to automate low level professional cognitive skills of our staff due to investor pressure to become profitable," he told PTI. Addressing concerns of withholding salaries, he said that the full and final settlement for early batches of the ...

Shark Tank Season 1: Which shark honoured most number of deals? Check here

In total, out of a total of 65 deal commitments, only 40% (28) deals were honoured by seven sharks

Startups have obligation to take India's flag to other countries: Paytm CEO

Startups have an obligation to take the Indian flag to other countries, founder and CEO of Paytm Vijay Shekhar Sharma said on Tuesday. "Right now we have reached the stage in the startup ecosystem where the mature companies should start to think that which countries we can export to, if we could export for our IT services," Sharma said at an event by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Sharing his optimism about the rising global presence of Indian startups, Sharma said that he aspires for an anti-trust regulation by America and other nations on an Indian company. "I really wish in my lifetime that America is thinking of sanctioning us...multiple countries, and then you go for negotiations - don't do it!," he said. He also spoke on value creation for startups, the divide between traditional industries and startups and the next phase of generative technology and AI. Announcing that AI-first offerings will be in the forefront of operations, Sharma termed AI as the "biggest ...

VC firm CoinFund raises $158 mn to back early-stage crypto startups

The New York-based firm had initially aimed for $125 million, but received more interest than expected, said Chief Executive Officer Jake Brukhman

Dukaan lays off 90% staff for AI bot: It's absolutely necessary, says CEO

E-commerce startup Dukaan has replaced 90 per cent of its customer support team with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, founder and CEO Suumit Shah informed on Tuesday. Attributing the decision to prioritising profitability, he said customer support costs reduced by 85 per cent while resolution time went down from over two hours to three minutes. "We had to lay off 90 per cent of our support team because of this AI chatbot. Tough? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely," Shah tweeted. Several Twitter users criticised the tweet, deeming it insensitive. "Given the state of economy, startups are prioritising "profitability" over striving to become "unicorns", and so are we," Shah added. He explained in detail about Lina, the AI assistant which he claimed, replaces generic and delayed responses, as well as limited availability of resources and poor communication. After 12 tweets, Shah said that the company is hiring for multiple roles. When asked by a Twitter user about the assistance prov

Indian start-ups money for little: Here's a look at ecosystem's finances

Funding raised by start-ups in H1 2023 was $5.4 billion, down 71.5 per cent compared to $19 billion raised in H1 2022

Byju's crisis prompts top India VC firm Blume Ventures to shift strategy

Perceived corporate governance lapses are sending shockwaves through the South Asian nation's fledgling startup economy

Tamil Nadu's Atsuya secures spot in Google's Startup Accelerator Program

Under the program, tech companies using artificial intelligence/ machine learning (AI/ML) get access to Google's resources, programs, people, products and technology

PharmEasy to raise Rs 2,400 cr, Manipal Group likely to invest Rs 1,000 cr

The fundraising will be done via a rights issue where the stock will be sold at a 90 per cent discount at Rs 5 per share

Digital consulting firm KaarTech raises $30 mn in funding from A91 Partners

Chennai-based B2B company says it will use money to expand business in international markets

IBM throws weight behind Japanese chip startup it sees as crucial

Rapidus, a venture backed by some of Japan's biggest electronics firms, is turning IBM's 2-nanometer chip design into production-ready silicon and aims to fabricate such chips

Startups Intellectual Property Rights Protection to promote innovation: MoS

Jitendra Singh said, there is a huge round of encouragement and promotion both for StartUps in terms of being innovative and entrepreneurs, the press release said

Lot of global investor interest in India right now: Arkam Ventures MD

We expect more foreign limited partners to put money into India, says Bala Srinivasa, MD, Arkam Ventures

Why can fintech sector ecosystem in India survive funding winter

The fintech space has witnessed a 60 per cent year-to-date slump in funding

Meta announces a fund for Indian startups building XR apps

Up to five Indian developers 18 years or more, and startups will receive a financial grant, along with dedicated mentoring and guidance from the Meta Reality Labs experts

Lenskart investor Epiq Capital's Fund II oversubscribed at $225 million

Venture capital firm Epic Capital on Wednesday said announced raising USD 225 million under its Fund II which would invest a major part of the proceeds in technology start-ups. The company is an investor in unicorns such as Lenskart, Pristyn Care, Cure.fit, Dailyhunt and Builder.ai. "Epiq Capital II has been oversubscribed at USD 225 million," Epiq Capital, Founder and Managing Partner, Rishi Navani said. Epiq Capital had set a target to raise USD 200 million for Fund II. It plans to invest a major portion of the Fund II in technology start-ups. The Fund II has marquee domestic and global investors including leading tech entrepreneurs, industrialists, sports & entertainment leaders, family offices, sovereign wealth funds and other institutions. Epiq Capital said that it will continue to invest in exceptional entrepreneurs targeting the large USD 5 trillion digital India opportunity in the next decade. "Most funds have 20-25 companies in their portfolio. We tend to have 8-10 ...

Need to raise MSMEs contribution for India to be 3rd largest economy: Rane

There is a need to increase the contribution of India's micro, small and medium enterprises to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030, Union Minister Narayan Rane on Tuesday said. The MSME minister also said that a survey should be conducted to ascertain the number of micro-enterprises that have been shut in the country. According to the Udyam Registration Portal, 97 per cent of the MSMEs registered are micro units. "Even if we make efforts to increase the productivity of micro-enterprises we can become the third largest economy in the world by 2030," Rane said. The minister said at present, Japan (USD 4.3 trillion) and Germany (USD 4.03 trillion) are third and fourth largest economies, while India has a GDP of USD 3.46 trillion. He asked officials to make more efforts for entrepreneurs' transition to small from the micro category. Rane also said the latest technology needs to be adopted and related information must be disseminated among entrepreneurs. Various ...

NFT startup Tegro raises seed funding from Polygon at valuation of $100 mn

In a press release, the company said that the Tegro exchange enables bulk trading of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) across Ethereum, Polygon, and other EVM-compatible chains

GO EC Autotech announces installation of 1,000 EV charging stations

Kerala-based start-up GO EC Autotech Pvt Ltd has announced the installation of 1,000 electric vehicle (EV) super-fast charging stations across the country. The company is currently operating 70 charging stations in Kerala and over 33 across India. "With the new project, we plan to expand our footprint by strategically positioning the charging stations in capitals, state highways, and national highways along with Tier-2, and Tier-3 cities and rural places in the country," the company said in a release. The company also aims to cater to the needs of customers residing in remote locations, making it easier for them to adopt electric vehicles, it said. "This momentous project marks a significant milestone for the startup, which has already established a remarkable track record by deploying over 103 charging stations within a year in India. GO EC is committed to transforming the EV charging experience and has partnered with major restaurants and shopping malls, to ensure that EV users .