The problem with excessive and premature hype is that the euphoria is often followed by disillusionment. The soaring valuations of copycat e-commerce start-ups in the last three years has been reminiscent of the dotcom spurt at the end of the last century. The dotcom bust, when it happened, was s…
Opinion
Angel investment: What kind of a ball are your angels having?
Despite a slowdown in VC funding, the angel and seed investment landscape in India has witnessed an exponential growth in 2016. Nearly Rs 113.6 crore have been raised by tech startups in the country through 69 deals so far this year, marking a year-on-year growth of 62 percent in overall deal val…
5 reasons why branding should matter to Indian SMEs
There is no discussion or deliberation required on the importance or efficacy of branding and how it enables build competitive advantage. While the significance of the SME sector to India’s economic growth and prosperity is well established; the inherent benefits of branding is one area that Indi…
Automation in MSMEs to drive productivity
As we prepared for our daughter’s dance programme, we had to buy some false jewellery and some tailored clothing. We were in discussion with someone in Kancheepuram for the dresses and quickly realised that their digitisation ended with their website and few photographs sent on WhatsApp. The same…
Start-ups that are clear market leaders will gear for IPOs: Tracxn, Co-Founder, Abhishek Goyal
Venture capital firms have been active in India since 2006. Yet, even after pouring more than $19 billion into Indian start-ups over more than a decade, most venture capitalists (VCs) have struggled to get attractive returns on their investments. Now, VCs will have to increase their focus on comi…
Demand Gap of Rs 2.93 trillion in MSME financing needs to be filled for a double digit growth
With country’s population growing at a rate of about 1.7 per cent, there are few jobs available to the youth today. An economic slowdown too is affecting the job market. The best case scenario to earn a descent living thus, is to start something of your own. It could be a cottage industry, …
Will Reliance Jio revolutionise the start-up & SME sector in India?
One has to only log on to Twitter or drive past a Reliance store to get a sense of the excitement generated by the Reliance Jio launch. At one point, it seemed to be the only thing Indians were talking about. The promise of fast, affordable Internet access really seems to have struck a chord with…
The chronicle of Indian startup ecosystem & the Chinese
India has seen an upsurge in Chinese investments in recent couple of years. The log jam in China’s domestic economy and the newly discovered positive thinking about India’s economic prospects has fuelled this pattern further. A mutual economic relationship which was fixated to a great…
5 things startups should learn from Rio Olympics 2016
Sports by itself teaches us many things. Olympic, which is the biggest sporting event in the world celebrates not only sports but also the sportsman spirit. The recently concluded Rio Olympics has had many memorable moments which can educate entrepreneur with some valuable lessons. In this artic…
The case for venture debt in Indian start-ups
Venture debt is increasingly becoming a fairly common component of funding rounds in India. The thesis for venture debt in mature markets is largely centred on intellectual property-driven tech companies, mostly having patents, which can be easily monetized. But this is rarely the case in India. …