A few weeks ago, the founder of Flipkart suggested the government find ways to curb foreign rivals. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos, whose firm he aped, met Donald Trump and pitched he was “super excited about the possibilities this could be an innovation administration”. The difference in the public stanc…
Start Up India
Here’s why 2017 will be an interesting year for Indian start-ups
Even as 2016 comes to a close, startups are hopeful that the New Year will bring in some joy. The last two months of 2016, have been a dampener for the Indian startup ecosystem in hyper-local, food tech, software and investment domains. While grocery e-tailing and payment wallets have gained this…
IAN invests close to $50 mn in start-ups during 2016
India’s largest angel association Indian Angel Network (IAN) invested close to Rs 340 crore in seed and early stage deals during 2016. The network invested in about 30 deals, averaging three deals a month, many of which were follow on rounds in existing portfolio startups. IAN has a members…
Droom plans to invest around $10 mn in acquisitions
Online automobiles marketplace, Droom plans to invest around USD 5-10 million for at least three acquisitions during 2017 in order to strengthen the technology platform, according to a top executive of the company. “We may acquire 2-3 companies and have allocated between USD 5-10 million fo…
Start-ups need constant reinvention: Manish Choudhary, Pitney Bowes India
New Delhi: This has been a tough year for start-ups—grappling with multiple challenges from funding squeeze to valuations downgrade. In an e-mail interaction, Manish Choudhary, senior vice president, global innovation & Managing Director, India, Pitney Bowes discusses the start-up ecosystem i…
Israel’s OurCrowd looks to bring more Indian investors on board
Israeli crowdfunding platform OurCrowd is looking to bring Indian angel investors on board to fund companies in Israel and in other countries and has caught the interest of prominent angel investor Mohandas Pai as well as Indian crowdfunding platform LetsVenture. Pai said he is set to join the pl…
This start-up brings light & money to people in hinterland
Vishnu Raghunathan and S Deepak Kumar were working together for the government of Bihar on a World Bank Project from the year 2013 to 2015 at Purnea, in north-eastern Bihar. They were rolling out off-the-grid solar power to the surrounding energy-deprived areas for basic services such as lighting…
Incubate Fund places first bet on ShopKirana
In its first investment in India, Japanese seed-stage investors Incubate Fund has led a bridge round in business-to-business FMCG platform, ShopKirana. The amount of investment is estimated to be between Rs 2 crore and Rs 3 crore, according to people aware of the deal. The Indore based startup he…
Food processing sector gets 5.5k new entrepreneurs across 23 states
Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), an acknowledged national resource Institute for Entrepreneurship Education, Research, Training and Institution Building, has created 5,500 entrepreneurs in the food processing sector across 23 states. Through its Entrepreneurship Development…
Start-up TeamIndus, Japan’s Hakuto combine for Moon mission
TeamIndus is happy to announce a commercial agreement to carry a robotic rover developed by HAKUTO, the Japanese team in the Google Lunar XPRIZE, to the Moon aboard TeamIndus’ spacecraft in late 2017. This is a first of kind collaboration of two private space enterprises competing in the Google L…