NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has stated that this year, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) scheme will look to select 1,000 schools. They will receive a grant of about $31K (INR 20 Lakh) each. The money will be utilised to set up tinkering labs to foster innovation, as per a recent report. The repo…
Tag: OYO
IIT-Kanpur extends Rs 25 lakh seed fund to rural job hunt start-up
Supporting the central government’s Startup India project, the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur (IIT-K) pumped in Rs 25 lakh as seed funding in rural job search start-up Eezy Naukari. The Kanpur-based company aims to help job seekers in rural areas find work opportunities in the cities ac…
Funding Revival: Chinese & US tech corporates re-energise Indian start-ups
There’s a start-up funding revival in 2017, and it is being driven by Chinese and US tech companies. In 2015, it were hedge funds and pension funds that played a big role in large funding rounds, and it was their retreat that led to the slowdown of 2016. But now, corporate funds have come t…
India’s start-up ecosystem in a correction mode: Trifecta Capital
Venture debt firm Trifecta Capital plans to invest across 15-20 startups during the current year with the deal size ranging from Rs 5 to 45 crore according to a top executive of the company. “We have made 18 investments in the last 15 months. Of the 18, we have committed about Rs 275 crore.…
Why the newly tweaked Rs 10k cr start-up fund will be a game changer for Indian entrepreneurship
The Indian startup story began over a decade and half back with the likes of Naukri.com. MakeMytrip, Shaadi, Baazee being “backed” by venture capital (VC), a new type of financing product. VC did not take collateral like debt financing did, instead it bought equity in very young but h…
Indian start-ups should focus on sustainability, stop chasing Unicorn tag
The next company that is being greenlighted to enter the prestigious Unicorn club of startups is Oyo Rooms, a SoftBank-backed budget hotel aggregator. Founded by 21-year-old Ritesh Agarwal in 2015, the company is reportedly in talks with the Japanese SoftBank to raise about US $300-500 million. I…
Internet economy: Reality check at start-ups
For Indian Internet start-ups, this year turned 2015 on its head. Valuation markdowns, executive departures, job cuts, market share losses (to American rivals) and a lack of big-ticket fund raises dominated the headlines in 2016. It was a total departure from the previous year, when start-ups tou…
Start-up funding declines, but no let up in deals
India’s start-up ecosystem may have seen a fall in funding this year, but there’s been almost no let-up in the number of deals, highlighting that investor appetite is still strong. Start-ups have attracted roughly $4 billion in funds so far this year, down from a heady $7.55 billion in 2015, whic…
OYO shifts strategy, moves away from ‘minimum guarantee’ model
In a move to reduce cash burn, Softbank-funded budget hotel accommodation provider, OYO Rooms has almost stopped giving minimum guarantee of occupancy, it offered to partner hotels. It now purely operates on a revenue share model, according to a top company executive. “Minimum guarantees have bee…
OYO partners with PayZapp to aid frictionless payment
India’s largest branded network of hotels OYO announced the integration of PayZapp, a complete payment solution by HDFC Bank, on its consumer app. This tie-up will enable customers to directly link their debit and credit card to PayZapp, and book an OYO by making the payment in just one cli…