Lendingkart Finance, a digital lending platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India, has raised US $7.8 million (INR 50 crore) in debt funding from YES Bank, India’s 4th largest private sector bank. The funds will be utilised to further build the loan book as Lendingkart ex…
Start Up India
UN cites Indian start-up fund for govt policies on developing digital sector
The World Investment Report 2017: Investment and the Digital Economy, released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) cited the ‘India Aspiration Fund’ to say that government policies can actively support investment in local content and services and in the development …
Jindal Stainless, FVCCL launches Incubator for Agritech start-ups
Jindal Stainless Ltd. has formed the collaboration with the Japanese company Future Venture Capital Company Ltd. (FVCCL) to launch an incubation centre for agritech startups in India. The announcement was made at the ‘Krisi Unnati’ event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in …
The Embassy of Israel & Startup India launch Start TLV Competition to encourage women-led tech start-ups
Continuing to encourage women in innovation, the fifth edition of the Start TLV Competition was officially launched in India June 8. The Embassy of Israel in India is following up the competition after last year’s success and will focus on women-led Startups under 25 years of growing partnership …
US launches incubator programme to mentor Indian start-ups
The US government is looking to mentor Indian start-ups, hoping that some of them would scale up their operations and set up shop in that country. The US State Department has begun a start-up incubator programme, Nexus, in association with the IC² Institute of The University of Texas at Austin, i…
14 tech start-ups graduate from Microsoft Accelerator
Fourteen startups which were part of Microsoft Accelerator’s 10th cohort were graduated at the Summer 2017 edition of ‘Think Next’ here, the company said on June 7. Think Next is Microsoft Accelerator’s flagship forum which brings together thought leaders in technology who…
Trend Tracking: Small fashion e-Tailers stitch together new categories
Several second-rung online fashion retailers are introducing categories not core to their businesses expecting to seize a little more of the market not captured by Flipkart and its units or Amazon. But analysts say they might be merely grasping at straws. Flipkart, along with its fashion units My…
Are ad agencies paying heed to start-up needs?
In April 2017, FCB India announced it will cater to start-up clients via its rebranded division Bushfire. Rohit Ohri, Group Chairman and CEO, FCB India, tells us that he took around six months to bring together the right team, to collaborate with businesses that demand fast ideas and quick result…
Coursera secures $64 m in Series-D funding at $800 m valuation
Coursera announced it has closed $64 million in a Series D funding round, taking the company’s total capital raised to date to $210.3 million. Coursera will use the latest round to fund efforts in its fast-growing enterprise business (Coursera for Business), to expand its master’s degree po…
As start-up story goes awry, Esops lose their sheen
Employee stock option plans (Esops) are so yesterday — so much so that almost no high-flyer recruit in e-Commerce now wants them. Once the ultimate wealth-creation vehicle, and part of the start-up lore, Esops have lost their sheen along with the start-up story. Headhunters say executives are neg…