When start-ups begin, it’s akin to Joseph Campbell’s mythical hero’s journey. Instead of battling hydras and gorgons alone, entrepreneurs often help each other face obstacles like entrenched markets, financing and abject fear of failure. It is a symbiotic relationship that makes…
DIPP to set credit fund norms for startups
Startups are one step closer to being able to borrow money, with the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) given charge of framing guidelines for a credit guarantee fund for them. “Earlier, the matter was being dealt with by the department of finance. We have started the wo…
Quality standards soon for SMEs to bag private, govt contracts
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) may soon have to step up quality of products and services in order to bag private and government supply contracts. As part of the government’s ZED (zero effect, zero defect) initiative, SMEs will have to compete to get gold, silver or bronze quality certificati…
Karnataka calls for finding tech solution to its problems
As part of its goal to elicit 25 innovative technology solutions with a social impact in sectors such as healthcare, education, food security, and environment, the Karnataka Startup Cell has laucnhed the first call for proposals in association with IKP Knowledge Park under its Grand Challenges. T…
Ola lays off 700 employees shuts down taxiforsure business
Ola has shut down its Taxi-ForSure business and has laid off 700 employees, according to three people directly aware of the developments at India’s largest cab aggregator. The move comes nearly a year and half after Ola acquired its crosstown rival TaxiForSure for $200 million to gain marke…
Cuberoot technologies, Buttercups & Salebhai.com raise funding
Cuberoot Technologies, Buttercups and salebhai.com have raised funding from investors recently. These start-ups are engaged in fields ranging from data technology to e-commerce. We bring you the details involved: Cuberoot Technologies raises nearly $0.5 million in funding: Cuberoot Technologies, …
Universal robots bullish on prospects with SMEs in India
Rapidly growing robot-making company Universal Robots is eyeing the evolving manufacturing practices across industries including automotive. With a focus on increasing productivity and efficiencies on the assembly lines in manufacturing plants that operate 24×7, the company looks to bank upo…
Mjunction gets ready to take on Alibaba
It’s not just e-commerce players like Flipkart and Snapdeal that are gearing up for Chinese major Alibaba’s big India play. India’s largest business-to-business online marketplace mjunction, too, is planning an expansion drive in the west, north and southern regions of the count…
GST platform to become analytics powerhouse
The Goods and Services Tax Network, the information technology backbone that will implement the new indirect tax regime, will become a data analytics powerhouse in the months after the roll-out. “Once sufficient amount of data is generated, we will be able to generate analytics based on the requi…
Enterprise-level IT spawns many efficiencies
A study of 4,500 CRISIL-rated Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) shows that just four per cent of them have deployed business process management systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to generate better profitability and inventory management. Most of them limit their operations to bas…