Podcasts about grofers

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Tuesday, June 18, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started:We have no market updates for you today, as the markets were shut on the occasion of Bakri Eid on Monday.Looking for a new property? You might soon be buying from insurance giant LIC. Anirudh Laskar reports that the Life Insurance Corporation of India is looking to sell some plots and commercial buildings. LIC is India's third-largest landlord, and hopes to net at least 6 billion dollars from these transactions. It has properties in marquee areas such as Delhi's Connaught Place and Kolkata's Chittaranjan Avenue. Since these have been with LIC for decades, a sale valuation of the properties will need to be carried out. Anirudh writes that ascertaining the value of these properties seems to be the biggest hurdle for LIC. Additionally, some of these properties are part of litigations against LIC, complicating the sale process.Last week, financial services company 360 One announced its acquisition of ET Money, a direct investment platform. Neil Borate writes that it's a puzzling transaction. Just FYI, 360 One was earlier known as IIFL Wealth. But now that ET Money, a mutual fund investment platform, will come under the ownership of a mutual fund, the operations get murky. ET Money might be incentivised to sell the products of its parent company but the markets regulator Sebi prevents such cross-selling or preferential treatment. ET Money also has a paid feature named Genius, an advisory service used by more than 75,000 people. How will this new acquisition play out under Sebi's regulations? ET Money's founders have maintained that no such conflicts will occur, Neil writes.When the pandemic set in, most industries came to a standstill, and took a while to get back on track. But the logistics sector wasn't one of them. In fact, with everyone stuck at home, more deliveries took place, propelling logistics to another level. Mahindra Logistics, a third-party logistics provider, was a beneficiary of the boom. The company now rakes in an annual revenue of more than Rs 5,000 crore. By FY26, it wants to double that figure. Madhurima Nandy writes that Mahindra's logistics arm is expanding at a dizzying pace to accomplish that. But it has also started a worrying trend: Mahindra Logistics has recorded a net loss for the first time since it listed on the markets in 2017. E-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart, and Meesho have beefed up their own logistical arms. How will Mahindra Logistics achieve its targets while maintaining profitability? Madhurima explores the possible answers.Ever since Jet Airways and Go First shut down, flight ticket prices have skyrocketed. But the new civil aviation minister has vowed to control these prices. Is this even possible? Anu Sharma explains that the Indian aviation market is quite seasonal. Fares aren't established or regulated by the central government. But the aviation regulator has a unit that monitors airfares on certain routes to not charge beyond a certain range of prices. The government already had regulated an upper and lower limit on airfares during covid — Anu writes that it might resort to the same measures if prices get out of control during the current peak summer season, when leisure travel is at its highest.The genesis of quick commerce in India was rapid: First there was Zepto. Swiggy's Instamart followed suit. Grofers turned into Blinkit after Zomato acquired it. Dunzo was forced to adapt. Others such as Big Basket also sped up their processes. But a couple of years later, we have a new entrant: Flipkart is ready to roll out its quick commerce arm, reports Suneera Tandon. Flipkart's quick commerce venture would be available in select metro cities in the next few weeks. The company will offer home appliances in addition to groceries. Will Flipkart be able to catch up to its established rivals? To find out, you might want to be ready to download yet another app.We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at feedback@livemint.com. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes:LIC mega sale: Insurer to sell land, buildings to raise up to $7 billionET Money's acquisition by 360 ONE: Should you be worried or excited? After slipping into the red, can Mahindra Logistics execute a U turn? Mint Explainer: Can airfares be regulated? Flipkart's q-commerce entry weeks away, will take on Zepto, Blinkit, Instamart 

Zomato, the food delivery giant is all set to infuse more than $35 million into Blinkit. But not too long ago, Blinkit, the grocery delivery platform that was formerly known as Grofers, was on the verge of dying. It was the first year of the pandemic and the demand for quick commerce was at its peak. Grofers wanted to join the bandwagon but it didnt have the money.A year later in June 2021, it got its shot in the arm with a $120 Mn infusion from Zomato. A year later, in 2022, Zomato decided to go all the way in and acquired Blinkit for nearly $600 million. It was not been all smooth sailing even after that.But somehow, Blinkit has managed to crack the quick commerce market and become a leader.  How?Tune in.*This episode was first published on March 6, 2024Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India's first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Dhruv Arora is the Founder and CEO of Syfe, Asia's leading holistic digital wealth management platform empowering people to build their wealth for a better future. Built on the pillars of access, advice and affordability, Syfe caters to the different wealth needs of individuals with diversified proprietary portfolios, cash management solutions and brokerage. Syfe has grown quickly since launching in 2019, with nearly 5% of adult Singaporeans using the platform to achieve their financial goals.Licensed and operational in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, Syfe has customers from 60+ countries. The company has raised $52M and is backed by leading global investors including Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, Unbound, and partners from DST.Before starting Syfe, Dhruv was part of the early core team that built Grofers (now Blinkit)—a Softbank and Sequoia-backed e-commerce company acquired by Zomato for US$570M—where he led the Product, Growth and Consumer verticals.Topics:[00:00:02] – Dhruv's Childhood and Interests[00:09:35] – Career Path Discovery in Finance[00:11:06] – Navigating Career Challenges in Finance[00:19:04] – Investing Journey and Career Transition[00:27:34] – Career Transition and Entrepreneurship Exploration[00:31:35] – Startup Growth, Transition, and Learning[00:39:47] – Entrepreneur's Journey to Starting SAIF[00:48:33] – Navigating Startup Challenges and Employee Retention[00:56:22] – Finding Purpose Through Work and GrowthLike the show? Subscribe to the BackScoop newsletter to stay updated with the latest news in Southeast Asian startups in minutes: backscoop.com.Visit BackScoop's social media pages and show your support!BackScoop (Linkedin): https://www.linkedin.com/company/backscoop/BackScoop (Twitter): https://twitter.com/BackScoopHQBackScoop (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/BackScoopBackScoop (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/backscoopVisit Amanda Cua's social media pages:Amanda (Linkedin): https://ph.linkedin.com/in/amanda-cuaAmanda (Twitter): https://twitter.com/itsAmandaCuaVisit Dhruv Arora's social media pages:Dhruv (Linkedin): https://www.linkedin.com/in/arora-dhruv/Syfe (Website): https://www.syfe.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A few years ago, Blinkit, the grocery delivery platform that was formerly known as Grofers, was on the verge of dying. It was the first year of the pandemic and the demand for quick commerce was at its peak. Grofers wanted to join the bandwagon but it didnt have the money.A year later in June 2021, it got its shot in the arm with a $120 Mn infusion from Zomato. Next thing we knew, Grofers had become Blinkit and also a unicorn company. And then in 2022, Zomato decided to go all the way in and acquired Blinkit for nearly 600 millions dollars. However, it was not been all smooth sailing after that.But somehow, Blinkit has managed to crack the quick commerce market and now, Blinkit is leading in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV). It currently boasts of close to a 40% share.  How?Tune in.

Join us as we talk to Varun Khurana, the Founder of Otipy about their story. Varun completed his B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Delhi in 2001. Following this, he held the position of a lead engineer at a network appliance company. Subsequently, he established Wirkle Technologies, which was later acquired by Location Labs. Afterward, Varun held the role of Head of the India Development Centre at Location Labs. He then co-established MyGreenbox, which got acquired by Grofers, now known as Blinkit, and subsequently served as Grofers' CTO. Additionally, he is the founder and CEO of Crofarm. Finally, in 2020, he founded Otipy.

Hi, thanks for stopping by! You're listening to #TheBarbershopWithShantanuS2: #RaisersEdge. In today's episode, we have a one-on-one conversation with Albinder Dhindsa, founder of Blinkit, fka Grofers. Stay tuned till the end of the episode to know how he came up with the idea of 10-minute deliveries, and how it became a category-defining business, the Zomato acquisition, how Blinkit has changed habits for thousands of Indians, and much more!_____________________________________________________ APPLY NOW We are looking for early stage stage companies with: - Amazing Founders - Operating in large markets - Are post revenue - TBWS will put in the first or second institutional cheque! Email us about you and your start-up on barbershop@bombayshavingcompany.com. _____________________________________________________ ABOUT OUR CHANNEL My name is Shantanu and I am the founder of Bombay Shaving Company and Bombae. I LOVE entrepreneurship. Personally, I would rate myself as an average (at best) entrepreneur, but I love great ones. The BarberShop with Shantanu S2: Raiser's Edge goes beyond our conversations from S1 on our podcast to tangible help. With the help of our sponsors at BSC and Bombae we have put together a season which brings together a corpus of 50+ equity seekers looking to support 20+ start-ups in their growth and success. We will be releasing an episode every Friday at 9 pm. Tune in and hope you enjoy. :) _____________________________________________________

Varun is a 3x entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in technology, startups and general management. He was selected by the Businessworld magazine as one of India's top 3 youngest entrepreneurs in 2011. He is Currently Founder at Crofarm / Otipy, a community group buying startup aimed at improving the supply chain for fresh produce. Previously, he was the CTO at Grofers, India's leading on-demand grocery delivery service connecting consumers with their local merchants. Prior to that he co-founded Mygreenbox that was acquired by Grofers. He had previously co-founded Wirkle Technologies that was acquired by Location Labs, a silicon valley company and a leader in location based services.  In this episode he spoke about making the shift from Tech to Agritech and the mindset changes it requires, how to scale an Ops intensive business, the nuances of optimizing operations and more in his conversation with Roshan Cariappa. Topics:00:00 Sneak Peak00:44 Introduction02:11 Shifting from Software to Agritech05:15 Mindset changes needed to go from Tech to agritech07:09 Going from Idea to Product to Company with Crofarm09:41 What is Crofarm and its use cases14:37 Nuances of Optimizing Operations18:51 Scaling an Ops intensive business21:25 Working with Farmers23:20 B2B v/s B2C25:24 Hiring for this industry27:02 Policies that can help transform the agri sector29:55 Advice for aspiring Agri tech entrepreneurs31:08 Books and podcasts ----------------------------------- Click here to get regular WhatsApp updates:https://wa.me/message/ZUZQQGKCZTADL1 ----------------------------------- Connect with Varun :Linkedin: https://in.linkedin.com/in/varunkhuranaTwitter: https://twitter.com/khurana_varun ----------------------------------- Connect with Us: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/star...​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​ ----------------------------------- If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!

Join us as we talk to Manish Jethani, the Founder of Hevodata about their story. Manish Jethani hails from a small town in India called Shahdol. He finished his graduation from IIT Roorkee and ventured straight into entrepreneurship. Prior to starting Hevodata Manish also founded SpoonJoy which was later acquired by Grofers (now Blinkit). In addition to being an entrepreneur, Jethani has also worked in product management for companies such as Grofers and FashionandYou.com. About Hevodata: Hevo is an end-to-end data pipeline platform that enables businesses to easily pull data from all their sources to the warehouse, run transformations for analytics, and deliver operational intelligence to business tools. For more visit - https://ajuniorvc.com/podcast/

India's central government is planning to create an appeals body where people can complain against social media posts, instead of having to go to the courts, according to a press release on Monday by the country's ministry of electronics and information technology. The appeals body will be called the ‘Grievance Appellate Committee'. Users will have the option to appeal against the grievance redressal process of the intermediaries before this new appellate body, according to the press release. ‘Intermediaries' refers to companies such as Google, Meta and Twitter, which own and operate platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Apple started its annual worldwide developer conference, or WWDC, yesterday and announced a brand new MacBook Air, new software for the iPhone, iPad and watch, and a new 13-inch MacBook Pro laptop and also a buy-now-pay-later service on Apple Pay. The laptops run on Apple's own M-series chips, including the new M2 processor, all of which are said to offer longer battery life than the previous models that used Intel's chips. The new software includes iOS 16, iPadOS 16, MacOS Ventura and WatchOS 9. iOS 16 will be available around September, for iPhone 8 and higher models. Zomato's board will likely meet on June 17 to clear a proposal to acquire the quick delivery startup Blinkit, formerly the online groceries venture Grofers, almost two years after the two first discussed a potential deal, Economic Times reports. Under the proposal, Blinkit's shareholders are expected to get about a 10 percent stake in Zomato. Blinkit's largest investor, SoftBank Vision Fund, will get close to a 4 percent stake in the loss-making food delivery company that went public last year. Blinkit's investors may have to compulsorily hold Zomato's shares for at least six months, according to ET. Solid Power, a US-based battery technologies startup, is a step closer to commercialising its solid-state batteries, TechCrunch reports. The company has opened up a new facility that will turn out what are called ‘B-samples' of 60Ah and 100Ah cells. B-samples are close-to-commercial products. Solid Power is aiming to deliver the B-samples in the first half of 2024, and according to the company's timetable, a commercial solid-state battery that is ready to go into an EV could be available as early as 2028, according to TechCrunch. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

Online food-delivery platform Zomato is set to take over Blinkit -- which had pioneered the 10-minute grocery delivery as Grofers. And it looks like a win-win deal for both. It marks Zomato's foray into e-grocery space, where its rival Swiggy is already there. And the pact will also give a leg up to Blinkit which is struggling to raise funds and has shuttered over 50 warehouses recently and laid off hundreds of employees.  Meanwhile, there is another acquisition which is in the news for a while now. The takeover of Air India by Tata group. The airline is now in the midst of an overhaul. Last week, Natarajan Chandrasekaran was appointed its chairman, about a fortnight after former Turkish Airlines chairman Ilker Ayci declined to be CEO over a row on his political links. Even if the appointment of Chandrasekaran -- who is already heading the mighty Tata Sons -- is a stopgap arrangement, it will give the airline a leg up ahead of resumption of international flights later this week. So, how his on-boarding and that of some other independent directors will help the airline? After the skies, let us see what is happening on Dalal Street. Markets staged a strong rebound last week, buoyed by a rally in global equities and a dip in commodity prices. The week also saw the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates after a gap of four years. This week, investors will watch out global macros as the UK is slated to release their retail inflation data on March 23. US President Biden is also expected to meet European leaders at the NATO conference on March 24 to discuss ways of punishing Russia.  Not just the markets, but the dissemination of correct information has also suffered in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Both sides have been using manipulated media to further their interests. Recently, deep-fake videos of presidents of both sides hit social media. In one video, Russian President Vladimir Putin was purportedly seen declaring peace. While in the older one, the Ukrainian president was talking of surrendering to Russia. But this is not something new. Let's understand what deepfake is and more in this episode of the podcast. Watch video

Less than a year after investing $100 million in Blinkit for a 9.3% stake, Zomato is reportedly in talks to merge with the online grocery company in an all-stock deal. Blinkit shareholders will get a 10% stake in Zomato A Business Standard report said that Blinkit would be valued at around $750-800 million dollars, which is much lower than the unicorn status it had achieved last August with the funding round where Zomato participated. Blinkit is going through a severe cash crunch, bringing the unsustainability of the quick commerce model into focus even as competition is increasing in this space. This has prompted Zomato to extend a $150 million loan to Blinkit to support its capital requirements in the near term. The loan amount is in line with Zomato's stated intent of investing up to $400 million in quick commerce in India over the next two years. Formerly called Grofers, the start-up rebranded into Blinkit in December as it pivoted to 10- minute grocery delivery, entering the quick commerce segment. So, what is behind Zomato's plan to acquire Blinkit? Zomato has become a strategic investor in the hyper-local e-commerce segment and has picked up stakes in smaller start-ups. While Zomato says its core food-related businesses that include food delivery, dining-out and B2 supplies unit Hyperpure will remain its key focus, it wants to invest in building the ecosystem around the food delivery business so that the cost of running a better food delivery business goes down with time. In the past year, it has made cash investments worth $225 million in Blinkit, Shiprocket and Magicpin towards its objective of building out quick e-commerce in India. However, Zomato is still a loss-making company. While its Average Order Value has increased over the last three years to Rs 400, in Zomato's own words, the food delivery business is only showing early signs of maturity. Its contribution margin as a percentage of the Gross Order Value is 1.1%, although this is an improvement from negative 15% in 2019. Zomato estimated that a 5% contribution margin in its food delivery business at the current scale can ensure break-even at the EBITDA level. Moreover, Zomato will continue to fund the growth in its core food businesses till they become profitable. ​​Zomato has previously said it stands ready to infuse additional capital into the hyperlocal e- commerce companies in which it has taken minority interest, and consolidate its stake, leading to a potential merger in the future. However, the quick timeframe between Zomato's first investment in Blinkit and the potential merger has raised eyebrows. This could also mark the beginning of the consolidation in India's ultrafast grocery delivery space. Watch video

Zomato is looking to merge with Blinkit, formerly known as Grofers, as it looks to up its game in the very rapidly growing quick commerce sector. Who will this deal benefit? What does this mean for the investors, quick commerce, and food tech? Ratna Bhushan decodes the deal and sector dynamics with Jaspal Sabharwal, Co-founder, TagTaste Foods, Samir Kuckreja, Founder & CEO, Tasanaya Hospitality, and Tarush Bhalla, Senior Assistant Editor, ET. Credits - CNBC-TV18

Wipro and Pandorum Technologies, a biotechnology company working in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, have teamed up to develop technologies that shorten time-to-market and maximise patient outcomes during R&D and clinical trials of regenerative medicine; Walmart Global Tech and IIT Madras will collaborate on research, and continued education for Walmart associates; And Blinkit raises money from Zomato, ET reports. Wipro and Pandorum Technologies, a biotechnology company working in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, have teamed up to develop technologies that shorten time-to-market and maximise patient outcomes during R&D and clinical trials of regenerative medicine, India's fourth biggest IT services company said in a press release yesterday. Walmart Global Tech is partnering Indian Institute of Technology Madras to accelerate research in new areas of technology, provide Walmart associates with continuing education and collaborate on projects for Corporate Social Responsibility for their India operations, the retail giant said in a press release. IITM students and WGT associates will work on research projects together, facilitated by the Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (IC&SR) at IITM. Blinkit (formerly Grofers), has closed an additional $100 million in financing as a part of its ongoing fundraise, Economic Times reports. The funds are being raised through convertible notes from Zomato, which will later be converted into equity, according to ET. This is a part of a larger $400-million funding Blinkit is looking to raise from Zomato and other investors, which is expected to close in the next two quarters, according to ET. Ninjacart, an agri-platform provider, has acquired Tecxprt, a company with expertise in integrating cloud software. Ninjacart didn't provide any financial details. Ambee, an environmental intelligence company that supplies hyperlocal environmental data in real-time, has launched ‘SmartFarming Data', a new offering that brings data science techniques to farmers and agribusinesses to improve the health of their farms. ‘SmartFarming Data' by Ambee will help farmers understand their farms better, mitigate the impact of climate change on agriculture, take measures to monitor and mitigate soil degradation, and increase agricultural productivity using environmental data, according to a press release. Loco, a game streaming startup, has raised $42 million as it looks to build what it has described to some investors as “Twitch for India,” TechCrunch reports. The startup — run by Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh, who previously co-founded content platform Pocket Aces — has raised about $51 million to date. Pocket Aces acquired Loco in 2018. Kuku FM, an audio content platform provider, has secured Series B funding of $19.5 million led by South Korean gaming giant KRAFTON, according to a press release. The round also saw participation from its existing investors including 3one4 Capital, Vertex Ventures, and India Quotient, with Founder Bank Capital and Verlinvest joining as new investors. Mentor Match, an ed-tech startup, has raised $1 million in its pre-seed round of funding from Sapient Fund a US-based seed-stage venture fund led by Karthik Sundaram, according to a press release. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

In this video, we look at Ashneer Grover's journey of building BharatPe into a unicorn to the controversy that led to his resignation. BharatPe wasn't Ashneer's idea: Back in March 2018, Bhavikkumar Koladiya and Shashvat Nakhrani had founded BharatPe. But coming from a small town, neither of them had the connections to secure the kind of funding they'd need to build and scale BharatPe. So in July 2018, they reached out to Ashneer Grover to seek angel investment but they also got their third co-founder – who had the perfect founder profile and had already helped Grofers raise $170 million. Over the next three years, Ashneer helped BharatPe raise over $700 million and helped make BharatPe into a $3 billion unicorn. The leaked audio recording that changed everything: An audio recording of a phone call was leaked on 5th January 2022 and in this clip, someone was heard berating and threatening to kill an employee of Kotak Mahindra Bank - this male voice also hands the phone over to a female voice, who talks with the Kotak employee as well - the reason? Not being able to get allotment in Nykaa's IPO. According to the leaker, this person was Ashneer Grover and his wife, Madhuri Jain Grover. Ashneer, of course, quickly tweeted that the clip was fake, but later on, he deleted this tweet, and the leaked audio clip was also removed soon after. It was later revealed that Ashneer and Madhuri had, in fact, sent a legal notice to Kotak Mahindra Bank for the same issue - not getting allotment in Nykaa's IPO. Things escalated to the point where Kotak initiated legal action against Ashneer and Madhuri over the leaked audio clip. The entire issue might have flown under the radar of a lot of people if Ashneer hadn't been a judge of Shark Tank India. He was in the public eye now, at precisely the wrong moment. It was the perfect storm, and his rude and abrasive behaviour while talking to entrepreneurs on the show didn't sit well with many of Shark Tank India's audience members. Ashneer and Madhuri go on a ‘voluntary leave': All this controversy was not good for BharatPe's business and so the board asked Ashneer to go on leave until the end of March – hoping things would settle down by then. But soon after Ashneer was sent on leave, his wife Madhuri was sent on leave as well. With the Grovers out of BharatPe, The startup's board announced an independent audit to look into their internal systems and processes. While Ashneer went right ahead and hired himself a team of lawyers to protect his interests and shareholding at BharatPe. In response to this, BharatPe's board hired PwC to conduct the independent audit. And PwC is one of the Big 4 accounting firms, and according to BharatPe's Articles of Association, a founding member of the company can be removed and their equity can be bought back by the company at fair market value if one of the Big 4s can show any kind of gross negligence or wilful misconduct involving that founding member. So now BharatPe's intentions were clear: they were looking for any kind of financial fraud that might have happened while Ashneer was heading BharatPe. And according to the leaked reports in the media, they found not one but two instances of financial fraud. Madhuri is fired and Ashneer resigns from BharatPe: On the 23rd of February Madhuri Jain Grover was fired on allegations of financial fraud and misappropriation of funds at BharatPe .And a week after this happened, Ashneer Grover decided to put down his resignation in a scathing letter to the startup's board and investors. And this was the end of Ashneer's journey with BharatPe.

In this video, we take a look at why 10-minute delivery startups are taking over India's grocery space. And can these instant delivery startups generate profits? Zepto changed the way groceries are delivered in India: In September 2021, two 19-year-old students, who were pursuing their bachelor's degrees in computer science at Stanford, decided to drop out and start an online grocery delivery startup in India. It was a bold move, a risky move, but in less than a year's time, this company took India's startup ecosystem by storm by irreversibly changing the way that groceries are delivered in the country. They've already raised almost $160 million at the time of us filming this video, and are currently valued at $570 million. This startup's name, of course, is Zepto, India's biggest trendsetter in the exciting world of instant grocery delivery. Why is every startup chasing instant delivery right now: Before 2020, and specifically before the COVID-19 pandemic, grocery shopping was an offline activity. That's the way that the world, and in this specific case India, thought about it - you go to the grocery store, the kirana, the market, you fill up your basket or your polybag, and you bring it home. That's how grocery shopping has been done for decades. Ola Store, Ola Foods, Flipkart Nearby and PepperTap – all failed to change this get people to switch from offline to online grocery shopping. Everything changed in 2020, when lockdowns kept people indoors for months and even after that, a lot of people were choosing not to go to crowded, indoor spaces where they were likely to contract COVID-19. And so suddenly, from a struggling industry, online grocery delivery exploded, it became one of the hottest markets to be in, to the point where two of the largest online grocery players, BigBasket and Grofers, were getting more orders than they could handle. Can 10-minute delivery startups make profits: It seems like many of these companies, both in India and abroad, are fairly confident that they'll be able to generate profits. Take the example of Turkey's Getir, which started in 2015, or The Czech Republic-based Rohlik which started in 2014 - these guys have already become profitable, both of them, in 2021, and are now expanding overseas. One aspect of this lies in the way these instant grocery delivery startups operate. In fact, instant grocery delivery startups operate on margins as high as 10% compared to offline stores which operate on 1-3% margins. That's because instant grocery delivery startups use dark stores which don't need to be set up in premium locations with high costs. As deliveries get faster, they get cheaper: The faster you do deliveries, the cheaper they get. That's because once you've achieved the optimal distribution of dark stores in a given area, those areas do become profitable, whereas with food delivery like Zomato and Swiggy, the distance between restaurants and the end customer are wider and with the exception of cloud kitchens, outside of the startup's control, and so you lose time, you lose money, and you lose the opportunity to be profitable. One big idea excites VCs: In the past, VCs were hesitant to pour money into online grocery delivery startups because so much money was required. The cost of changing consumer behavior was just astronomical, and so the long-term prospects of grocery delivery startups, the likelihood of them quickly 10Xing their investor's money, was slim. Now though, with the pandemic doing all of the work on the consumer behaviour front, the path to skyrocketing valuations, lucrative exits, and even diversification is a lot clearer for VCs, and so they're far more interested in investing.

In this podcast - What Ashneer liked about being a judge at Shark Tank India?How did Ashneer become a judge at Shark Tank India?Why is he so straightforward in his approach?Why is it important to make sure you don't become indifferent?How to say NO up-front?How does Ashneer approach his investment?What are the top 3 advice of Ashneer to entrepreneurs?Timestamps00:00 - Intro03:00 - Ashneer being a Teetotaller09:05 - Starting with Entrepreneur Venture16:05 - The problem with MRP of a Product22:10 - Ticket Size Matters Most27:40 - How to Build A Brand?35:00 - Ashneer's Major Role in BharatPe44:20 - Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship50:35 - Ashneer's Mindset in Shark Tank57:55 - His Brutal Honesty01:07:10 - How to Say No to People01:10:40 - Investor's POV01:21:20 - Upcoming Big Industry in India01:25:30 - OutroIn today's episode of Figuring Out, Raj talks with Ashneer Grover, MD, and Co-Founder BharatPe. He is also among the judges in the reality show Shark Tank India. He has completed his graduation from IIT Delhi and MBA from Indian IIM Ahmedabad. Ashneer shares that it is really ironic that Bira has been his biggest portfolio investment even when he is nowhere near drinking! He elucidates why he left 9-5 work and joined an entrepreneurial venture and explains why the MRP of a product is problematic for India.Ashneer shares his experience of working with different companies and startups like Kotak Investment Banking, Amex, Grofers, etc. and talks about his experience of being a part of Shark Tank India.Ashneer explains how can one build a brand in India with an example of his own experience of building BharatPe. He also discusses some fundamentals that should be clear to anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur. —————————————————————————————————————————Subscribe to my YouTube channel:  

Pandemic left lakhs of people jobless in the last two years. But, at the same time, it also generated lakhs of jobs in some sectors, including in the gig industry. We now get our food and other essentials within 15 minutes of ordering. What started out as a necessity has now become a convenience. Grofers rebranded to Blinkit and pivoted to instant commerce. Zepto bagged $100 million and Dunzo raised funding from Reliance Industries. And now, Swiggy has turned a decacorn. It is planning to go big on quick commerce. Find out how Swiggy doubled its valuation in just six months. Pandemic threw a set of challenges which companies had never confronted before. It led to a marked shift in the way they worked. After Swiggy and the gig industry, let us now see how the IT sector dealt with these challenges? In an interview with Surajeet Das Gupta, Accenture's senior managing director and lead for India business Piyush Singh shared his company's experience and more. After Accenture, let us now turn our focus to Indian stock markets, which finally saw some upward momentum after several days of losses. The US Fed's signal that it would begin raising rates as soon as this March is the main reason behind the stock markets' volatile start to the year. And while the US Fed may not begin hiking rates just yet, the central bank is expected to maintain a path to tighter policy this year. Delve into what the markets expect the Fed to deliver later tonight, and outlook for Indian equities in the near-term. Experts believe that the upcoming Union budget will offer some respite to the bourses spooked by US Fed uncertainty and rising crude oil prices. Money bill is the most crucial part of any Union budget. It comes under the Finance Bill and tells us about the taxation and government spending. Know about Money Bill and more in this episode of the podcast.  Watch video

Do Yu feel guilty while consuming packaged foods owing to their artificial ingredients, added preservatives, synthetic taste or nutritional deficiency? Keeping you in mind, Yu has re-imagined packaged foods and developed wholesome Instant Meal Bowls while eliminating ALL of the above adversities. Eating clean is increasingly becoming a lifestyle. Consumers today are conscious about their health, dietary intake and nutrition in the foods they consume. Keeping these consumer preferences in mind, Yu has crafted a range of delicious Instant Meal Bowls that contain ZERO preservatives, additives, artificial flavourings or colours. Developed using advanced lyophilization technology, chef-curated artisan recipes and natural ingredients only, Yu's meal bowls retain their original taste and aroma while enjoying a non-refrigerated shelf life of 12 months. The brand's philosophy is to bring Yu – the consumer, healthy packaged foods that are wholesome, delicious, full of nutrition, preservative-free and made using recognizable, natural ingredients only. This disruptive consumer foods brand “Yu” is Founded by Bharat Bhalla and Varun Kapur, two serial investment professionals who share a common penchant of discovering delicious foods while remaining conscious of what they eat. Their lifestyles often entailed significant travel but they tried not to compromise on the quality of foods they consumed. This passion for discovering wholesome foods that were easily accessible led them on a journey to re-imagine consumer packaged foods. While exploring and experimenting with various food technologies, they identified a significantly advanced bio-chemistry process used in the 2020 NASA Space X mission to the International Space Station that provided healthy everyday meals to its astronauts in outer space! Their curiosity to better understand this advanced lyophilization technology led them to invest in a lab-scale equipment. By combining the most advanced food science technology and culinary arts of expert chefs, they were able to re-imagine the future of consumer packaged foods – ‘Instant Meal Bowls' that combine gourmet flavours and nutrition without the use of any preservatives or artificial ingredients! What started in a 12 ft by 8 ft make-shift R&D facility with small lab-scale equipment in mid-2020, has now culminated into a commercial scale fully integrated 12,000 sq ft advanced, state-of-art, commercial-scale food-lab in Gurgaon, India. ‘Clean Label' Foods crafted by Culinary Chefs and preserved using Advanced Technology The Yu Differentiator ● 0% usage of preservatives, additives and artificial ingredients ● 100% taste, aroma and texture ● 100% natural ingredients ● Wholesome and full of nutrition ● Refrigeration free shelf life of 12 months ● Ready in under 5 minutes by simply adding hot water Customers can spot Yu'sproducts on shelves of Reliance Smart & Signature, Spencers, SPAR, Modern Bazaar, Needs Supermarket and several other modern / general retailers in Delhi NCR. Apart from an e-commerce enables proprietary website, customers pan-India can purchase Yu's products on partner e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Cora Health and in Delhi NCR on platforms like Big Basket, Grofers, Swiggy.. www.yufoodlabs.com

2021 has been a pretty incredible year for India's startup ecosystem - with everything that's happened in the year let's take a look at the 10 biggest highlights of India's startup ecosystem in our 2021 Rewind video. Younger Indian startups acquiring older companies: We witnessed this really interesting phenomenon where young startup companies were acquiring traditional businesses that'd been around for decades. For example, 5-year-old stock trading unicorn Groww acquired the mutual funds business of India Bulls, a 21-year-old company, for ₹175 Crore. We also saw India's only online pharmacy unicorn Pharmeasy acquiring a majority stake in India's largest diagnostic solutions provider Thyrocare, which is 25 years old, in a deal worth ₹4,546 crore. Byju's acquisition spree worth $2.5 billion: In 2021, Byju's took their acquisition spree to new heights by pouring in $2.5 billion to acquire 10 companies including the $1 billion acquisition of the offline coaching institute Aakash. Crypto unicorns are born despite the uncertainty: Despite all the uncertainty that surrounds India's crypto industry, we saw CoinDCX and CoinSwitch becoming India's first and second crypto unicorns respectively. Another great example of the crypto revolution in India is Polygon - a layer 2 protocol for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks which began its journey in India. Skyroot Aerospace prepares for space launch: Skyroot Aerospace, the first Indian startup to successfully test a rocket engine last year, in 2020, and this year they set another record too, becoming the first Indian startup to successfully test a cryogenic rocket engine, taking India one step closer to launching privately-built rockets into space the same way American companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are in the United States. Byju's edtech, lawsuit and controversy: Byju's was shrouded in controversies throughout the year bringing into focus their alleged unethical practices and the $2.6 million lawsuit that was filed against Pradeep Poonia. Ola Electric's grand EV plans for India: They announced their S1 and S1 Pro electric scooters back on India's Independence Day, and started taking orders in October. During the first two days of this booking period, Ola received orders worth Rs 1,100 crore - that's more than 80,000 scooters! Ola single-handedly tripled the size of India's electric two-wheeler market, and on top of that, they started work on what was supposed to be the world's largest electric scooter factory before Simple Energy announced that they were gonna build an even bigger one. Superfast grocery delivery takes the front seat: Thanks to two 19-year-old Stanford dropouts building a startup called Zepto, 10-minute grocery delivery is becoming more and more commonplace in India's metros. Following Zepto's lead, Grofers, which has been around since 2013, rebranded themselves to Blinkit, ensuring that everyone knew they were as serious about super fast delivery as Zepto, and these kinds of high-speed deliveries are also happening now with Swiggy Instamart, too. Mensa Brands - India's fastest unicorn: The Thrasio-style D2C house of brands - Mensa Brands became the fastest Indian startup to join the unicorn club, entering the club in just six months. Nykaa's IPO: Nykaa's IPO was arguably the most successful startup IPO of 2021. Anyone who got an allotment in this IPO saw their investment double when Nykaa hit the stock market, and it also made Falguni Nayar, the nayika of Nykaa, India's wealthiest self-made woman. Zomato - the startup that kicked off the IPO craze: Zomato was the first Indian startup to IPO in 2021 and also became the first-ever Indian unicorn to IPO.

This week in Indian startup news, Blinkit temporarily shuts down 18 locations, Urban Company sues women partners for protesting, Byju's in talks to go public via SPAC, Snapdeal files for IPO to raise Rs 1,250 crore and Cult.fit acquires four fitness equipment brands. In funding news, Cars24 raises $400 million, Razorpay raises $375 million, OfBusiness raises $325 million, Bizongo raises $110 million and Zepto raises $100 million. Blinkit temporarily shuts down 18 locations: Last week, Grofers rebranded themselves as Blinkit to reflect their pivot to 10-minute grocery delivery. With the pivot to Blinkit, the startup has announced that they are temporarily shutting down operations in 18 cities where they are unable to serve their customers in 10 minutes. Urban Company sues women partners for protesting: Urban Company, which offers home services to their customers, has filed a lawsuit against their own women gig workers for protesting against their ‘minimum guarantee plan'. After failing to remove them from the premises, the company filed a lawsuit against the protestors calling their actions ‘illegal' and ‘unlawful'. Byju's in talks to go public via SPAC: According to a Bloomberg report, India's most valuable startup Byju's is in talks with Churchill Capital to go public via SPAC or a blank cheque company in the US at a valuation of over $45 billion. If the deal goes through, it will be the biggest SPAC deal - overtaking Singapore's super app Grab. Byju's is also considering listing in India after they've listed in the US. Snapdeal files for IPO to raise Rs 1,250 crore: Snapdeal, an e-commerce platform now focused on tier 2 and beyond users, has filed for an IPO in a bid to raise ₹1,250 crore. Snapdeal was once a unicorn before it crashed and burned in a bid to out-compete Flipkart and Amazon - both of which are rich in cash. While Snapdeal on the other hand has failed to raise funds from investors since 2019. So going public might have been their only option to raise some cash. Cult.fit acquires four fitness equipment brands: Health and fitness startup Cult.fit has acquired three at-home fitness equipment brands - RPM Fitness, Fitkit and Onefitplus. And also an outdoor fitness brand called Urban Terrain - which makes bicycles. These acquisitions will enable Cult.fit to strengthen their at-home fitness product offerings and also create an umbrella brand for D2C fitness brands - riding the at-home fitness trend kicked by the pandemic and the growth of D2C brands in India. Cars24 raises $400 million: Cars24, an online platform for buying and selling used cars, has raised $400 million in a round led by Alpha Wave Global at a $3.3 billion valuation – raising their valuation almost 2X in just three months from $1.84 billion. Razorpay raises $375 million: Payment gateway provider for SMEs and large enterprises Razorpay has raised $375 million in a round led by Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital and TCV at $7.5 billion valuation – making them India's most valuable fintech startup. OfBusiness raises $325 million: B2B commerce platform OfBusiness, which helps businesses in procuring raw materials like steel, cement, chemicals and leather, has raised $325 million in a round led by Alpha Wave Global, Tiger Global Management and SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 at a $5 billion valuation. Bizongo raises $110 million: B2B packaging solutions provider Bizongo has raised $110 million in a round led by Tiger Global Management at a $600 million valuation to help digitize their entire vendor ecosystem. Zepto raises $100 million: 10-minute grocery delivery startup by two 19-year-old Stanford dropouts – Zepto has raised $100 million in a round led by Y Combinator's Continuity Fund at a $570 million valuation.

Inspired by Chinese internet behemoths Alibaba and Tencent, recently listed food-tech startup Zomato has chalked out an ambitious plan to invest $1 billion over the next two years in other startups. There are reports that the company may invest $500 dollar in Grofers, as it sees opportunity in quick commerce  Zomato is well-positioned from a capital perspective too after raising $1.2 billion in its IPO in July this year. This, it hopes, will help the company emerge as a major force in the hyperlocal e-commerce ecosystem. Over the past six months, Zomato has committed $275 million across four startups. In August, it invested $100 million in online grocery store Grofers. A month later, it shut down its own pilot grocery delivery service. The company cited gaps in order fulfilment, leading to poor customer experience. Zomato believes that its investment in Grofers will deliver better outcomes to its shareholders than its in-house efforts. It is also investing $75 million in logistics firm Shiprocket, $50 million in savings and neighbourhood discovery app Magicpin. Zomato is also divesting its recently-acquired sports platform Fitso to Curefit Healthcare for $50 million and also investing an additional $50 million in the fitness and well-being startup. In the process, Grofers and Curefit have turned unicorns with Zomato's funding. Each one of these deals is being seen as strategic by Zomato. It has made its intentions clear, Zomato is not looking to be a financial investor who sits on the sidelines. The company is ready to infuse additional capital into these businesses as they scale and consolidate its stake, leading to a potential merger in the future.  In the worst case scenario of an acquisition not panning out, Zomato is still expecting windfall gains from its investments. Laying out its strategy, Zomato said it is only investing in companies that have the ability to become market leaders in their category. This way, it is looking to add multiple large core businesses to its mainstay of food delivery.  Zomato has hinted that a large chunk of its future investments will go into quick commerce, which refers to delivery of products in under 30 minutes. The competition is hotting up in this space, with Grofers, Swiggy, Dunzo and Zepto vying for market share. Such diversification does not mean that Zomato is ignoring its core business of domestic food delivery. It had 15.5 million monthly transacting users at the end of September. And it feels that there is an opportunity to grow the food delivery market by at least 10 times in the next few years. To sharpen its focus in this area, it has also shut down its nutraceutical business that sold health and fitness products, ended its grocery delivery program and pulled out of all international markets.  After a hiatus of two years, Zomato is launching food delivery in new cities again and is heavily investing in smaller and emerging cities to enable market creation.  Since Zomato's focus is purely on the long term, we must wait for a few years to see how its strategy of diversification through investments will play out. For now, Zomato is adamant that it will not let its IPO morph it into a QSQT business, that is, ‘Quarter Se Quarter Tak' or from quarter to quarter. Watch Video

­This week in Indian startup news, Ola's ridehailing business turns profitable for the first time, Nykaa's successful IPO – oversubscribed 82X, Delhivery is going public – plans to raise $1 billion through IPO and Unacademy acquires Swiflearn. In funding news, Purplle raises $75 million, Zepto raises $60 million and Fi raises $50 million. Ola's ridehailing business turns profitable for the first time: Ola's ridehailing business posted their first operating profit in a decade. During the pandemic, Ola's revenue was down 95% which meant that they had to fire 1,400 of their employees. This was one of the reasons they were able to bring their expenses down and turn a profit despite declining revenue. The startup is also in the middle of planning their IPO which is expected to come out next year. Nykaa's successful IPO – oversubscribed 82X: Online beauty retailer Nykaa closed their IPO successfully with 82X oversubscription. What's worth noting is that Nykaa is the first profitable Indian unicorn to go public, which could explain the reason behind its success. Delhivery is going public – plans to raise $1 billion through IPO: India's logistics giant Delhivery has filed their draft papers for IPO as they plan on raising $1 billion at a valuation of around $6 billion. What's worth noting is that while Delivery is still a loss-making startup, they have been growing constantly on the back of the rising e-commerce in India and are now even bigger than traditional logistics giant Blue Dart. Unacademy acquires Swiflearn: Edtech giant Unacademy has acquired Swiflearn, a live online face-to-face coaching platform for grade 1-10 students. This will allow Unacademy to strengthen their K12 coaching play as they compete with the likes of Byju's in the segment. Purplle raises $75 million: Online marketplace for beauty products Purplle has raised $75 million in a round led by Kedaara Capital – valuing them at $630 million to roll-out new brands and products and expand their business through acquisitions. Zepto raises $60 million: 10-minute grocery delivery startup Zepto has raised $60 million in a round led by Glade Brook Capital to compete with the likes of Dunzo, Grofers, Swiggy and BigBasket in the quick commerce segment. They plan on expanding their grocery delivery service to four new cities in the next 30 days. Fi raises $50 million: Neobanking startup Fi has raised $50 million in a round led by B Capital to help them build more customized investment products for their customers including – mutual fund and stock investment.

Visa Kannan is a Partner at Saison Capital, a single LP fund backed by Credit Saison Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. that invests in Pre-Seed to Series B companies globally, but with a focus on South East Asia and India. Investing across all verticals, including but not limited to SaaS, marketplaces, fintech, Saison Capital has a deep fondness for embedded finance – non-fintech companies and industry leaders that are looking to build fintech arms within their ecosystems. Visa comes with a wealth of experience in the startup space, having previously held leadership roles at 2 unicorns - Grofers and Lazada. She also has a background in consulting and law. In this episode, Visa talks about Saison Capital, its investment thesis, Saison's portfolio companies in Pakistan and India, scaling startups, and more!

India has evacuated nearly 540 people, Biden will meet his G7 counterparts to discuss the developments in Afghanistan, Grofers plans to deliver groceries within 10 minutes and other news in the bulletin.

This week in Indian Startup News, Karan Bajaj quits WhiteHat Jr, e-RUPI explained, Food delivery partners protest against exploitation from Zomato and Swiggy on Twitter, Zomato's grocery delivery and Zomato Pro Plus, CarTrade IPO date, Policybazaar files for IPO, Nykaa files for IPO and UpGrad acquires KnowledgeHut. In funding news, Unacademy raises $440 million, BharatPe raises $370 million to become a unicorn, OfBusiness raises $160 million to become a unicorn, Infra.Market raises $125 million and MindTickle raises $100 million to become a unicorn. Karan Bajaj quits WhiteHat Jr: After selling WhiteHat Jr to Byju's in a massive $300 million all-cash deal last year, Karan Bajaj has decided to quit the startup as he plans on taking a sabbatical before starting some public service work. e-RUPI explained: e-RUPI is a digital prepaid voucher that can be used by the beneficiary to avail a specific service without the need of an app, internet connection or even a bank account. This is going to be primarily be used by the government to ensure that the money allocated to a beneficiary not only reaches them but is also used for the purpose it was intended. Food delivery partners protest against exploitation from Zomato and Swiggy on Twitter: According to the latest report by ET, food delivery partners have taken to Twitter to raise their voices against the exploitation by Swiggy and Zomato. Their complaints include lack of compensation for rising petrol prices, absence of first-mile pay, lack of long-distance return bonus and daily earnings cap. Zomato's grocery delivery and Zomato Pro Plus: After stopping grocery delivery services, Zomato has restarted grocery delivery on their platform after their investment in Grofers and they have also introduced Zomato Pro Plus - offering services like free delivery to their customers. CarTrade IPO date: Online marketplace for used cars CarTrade's IPO is all set to go live on 9th August. This profitable startup is planning to raise $400 million during the IPO. Policybazaar files for IPO: PB Fintech, the parent company of Policybazaar and Paisabazaar, has filed their DRHP and are planning to raise $800 million through the IPO. Nykaa files for IPO: Nykaa has filed for an IPO and they are planning to be the first profitable unicorn to go public. They are looking to raise $540 million at an expected valuation of $5-$5.5 billion. UpGrad acquires KnowledgeHut: Professional upskilling platform UpGrad has acquired another professional certification course provider KnowledgeHut to strengthen their upskilling and reskilling portfolio. Unacademy raises $440 million: Edtech unicorn Unacademy has raised $440 million in a round led by Temasek Holdings. BharatPe raises $370 million to become a unicorn: Digital payments and lending startup BharatPe has raised $370 million in a round led by Tiger Global – turning them into a unicorn. OfBusiness raises $160 million to become a unicorn: B2B e-commerce and financing platform OfBusiness has raised $160 million in a round led by SoftBank – turning them into a unicorn. Infra.Market raises $125 million: B2B marketplace for construction materials Infra.Market has raised $125 million as its valuation climbs to $2.5 billion. MindTickle raises $100 million to become a unicorn: SaaS startup MindTickle has raised $100 million to be the third Indian startup to turn unicorn this week.

This week in Indian Startup News, Grofers' 15-minute express delivery, Zomato's successful IPO, Ola could launch a used car marketplace, Byju's acquires Great Learning and Toppr for $750 million, Unacademy acquires Rheo TV and Unacademy offers stock options to teachers. In funding news, GupShup raises $240 million, Droom raises $200 million to become a unicorn and Sharechat raises $145 million. Grofers' 15-minute express delivery: Online grocery startup Grofers announced that they had fulfilled more than 7,000 deliveries in Gurugram in just under 15 minutes on a single day – marking their entry into the express delivery segment. Zomato's successful IPO and listing: After a successful IPO which was subscribed 38 times, Zomato's stock was listed on the stock markets at a 50% premium – raising their valuation to a massive $13.5 billion and ranking them among the top 50 most valuable publicly traded companies in India. Ola could launch a used car marketplace: There have been reports that Indian ridehailing startup Ola could go for an IPO next year and looks like they are planning to enter the online used car retailing business to boost their revenues ahead of the IPO. Byju's acquires Great Learning and Toppr for $750 million: World's most valuable edtech startup Byju's has acquired two Indian edtech startups, Great Learning and Toppr, worth a whopping $750 million expand into the professional upskilling market and to strengthen their exam preparation vertical. Unacademy acquires Rheo TV: Edtech unicorn Unacademy has acquired live game streaming platform Rheo TV and as a part of the deal, Rheo TV founders will be joining their team at Relevel. Unacademy offers stock options to teachers: In a first of its kind move, Unacademy has decided to announce stock options for the teachers on their platform. More than 300 of their teachers are already eligible for the grant and they plan on allocating Teacher Stock Options or TSOPs worth $40 million in the coming years. GupShup raises $240 million: GupShup has raised an additional $240 million – taking their total series F funding to $340 million. Droom raises $200 million to become a unicorn: Online marketplace for automobile Droom has raised $200 million at a billion-dollar valuation – making them the 16 Indian unicorns this year. Sharechat raises $145 million: Mohalla Tech, the owner of Sharechat and Moj, has raised $145 million at a $2.88 billion valuation.

Welcome to another episode of The Startup Operator Roundup, where Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discuss -

This week in Indian Startup News, Online pharmacy startup PharmEasy acquires 25-year-old Thyrocare, Update on Ola's electric scooter and Futurefactory, PolicyBazaar IPO and expansion into offline insurance space, Shuttl to shut down, and Lenskart's expansion and their new startup fund. In funding news, PharmEasy raises $300 million, Acko in talks to raise $200 million, Fourth Partner Energy raises $125 million, Grofers raises $120 million and Classplus raises $65 million. Online pharmacy startup PharmEasy acquires 25-year-old Thyrocare: India's only pharmacy unicorn PharmEasy's parent company API Holdings has signed a deal to acquire 66.1% stake in a 25-year-old diagnostics company Thyrocare for a whopping $613 million. This deal is huge for the Indian startup ecosystem, considering this is the first time ever that an Indian unicorn startup has acquired a publicly listed company. Update on Ola's electric scooter and Futurefactory: Ola's electric scooter manufacturing facility called Futurefactory is nearing the completion of its first phase – which means they will be able to start rolling out 2 million of Ola's electric scooters soon every year soon. While not much is known about Ola's electric scooters yet, they are expected to offer a range of 150 km. PolicyBazaar IPO and expansion into offline insurance space: PolicyBazaar's parent company Etech Aces Marketing and Consulting is planning to file for IPO as soon as this month and the company could go public by the end of this year. They are expected to raise $400-500 million at a $4-5 billion valuation. The insurtech startup has also forayed into offline insurance space by setting up 15 stores and they plan on increasing the number to 100 in the coming months. This move is critical for their business because despite being the leader in India's online insurance space, more than 90% of the insurances are still sold offline. Shuttl to shut down? App-based on-demand bus service for daily office commuters Shuttl was doing over 100,000 rides every day before the pandemic. However, with the offices shut down and employees largely working from homes, their business has been at a standstill for the last year. Shuttl has already let go of most of their employees and they are now planning to sell whatever is left of the company to a larger player. Lenskart's expansion and their new startup fund: Omnichannel eyewear unicorn Lenskart which already has more than 750 stores is now planning to add 300 more stores to strengthen their offline presence. The startup has also set up a ‘Vision Fund' – which will be used to invest in smaller startups in the eyewear tech space. PharmEasy raises $300 million: Online pharmacy unicorn startup PharmEasy has raised $300 million from their existing investors to help them fund the acquisition of Thyrocare. Acko in talks to raise $200 million: Online insurance startup Acko is in talks with the likes of General Atlantic, Warburg Pincus, Multiples Alternate Asset Management and TPG to raise $200 million. If the deal comes through, Acko will end up being a unicorn. Fourth Partner Energy raises $125 million: Solar energy startup Fourth Partner Energy has raised $125 million in fresh capital from Norway's state-owned Norfund and TPG. Grofers raises $120 million: Grofers has raised $120 million from food delivery giant Zomato and Tiger Global Management. Zomato is seeking CCI's permission to acquire a 9.3% stake in the startup. Classplus raises $65 million: Edtech startup Classplus has raised $65 million from Tiger Global Management to help offline tutors set up their online business.

In November 2016, demonetisation was announced by the Indian government and the market witnessed an immediate surge in digital payments. And this was further propelled by the United Payments Interface (UPI). While fintech giants like Paytm and PhonePe were the flagbearers of this movement, BharatPe has been looking to change the way SMEs view payments in India. In a candid conversation with Akshay Datt, Ashneer Grover, Co-founder and CEO, BharatPe, takes us through his amazing journey. Ashneer is an alumnus of prestigious IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad. Post that, he has worked for eminent companies like Kotak Investment Banking and American Express. He moved on to serve as the CFO of Grofers and this is when the desire to set up his venture started to set in. With an elaborate experience in the finance domain, he started BharatPe in 2018 along with Shashvat Nakrani with the vision to make financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants, which at present has reached more than 4 million merchants with its interoperable UPI QR code and processes around 60 million transactions a month. Tune in to this episode to hear Ashneer talk about how this soon-to-be unicorn is on its way to building a robust and easy to use fintech platform that empowers the SMEs in India. Key takeaways: Feet on street business model vs digital acquisition. Importance of branding for a fintech venture. Take on regulatory guidelines by RBI.

This week in Indian startup news, CarTrade gears up for an IPO, Ziffyhomes is in trouble – might shut down soon, Oyo announces four-day work week, Zerodha says no to work calls after 6 P.M., Groww to acquire Indiabulls' mutual fund business and FuelBuddy acquires MyPetrolPump. In funding news, Flipkart is in talks to raise $1 billion, Acko looking to raise $200 million, Grofers could get $100 million from Zomato, Mamaearth in talks to raise up to $80 million, Rapido raises $43.4 million and Cron AI raises $4 million. CarTrade gears up for an IPO: CarTrade, an online platform for selling used cars, is expected to file for IPO this month – which would make it the first online classified company to go public in the country. The startup was founded in 2009 by Vinay Sanghi and over the years it has expanded its offerings to become a one-stop-shop providing everything from loans and insurance. They are also among the few startups that are actually profitable. Ziffyhomes is in trouble – might shut down soon: According to a report by Entrackr, Ziffyhomes is in the final stages of shutting down its operations. At the moment, their website and app are non-functional and their customer care number isn't working either. While the company's co-founder Saurabh Kumar has said that they are scaling down their operations but not shutting down altogether. However, things are looking pretty grim for Ziffyhomes. Oyo announces four-day work week: OYO is moving towards a four-day work week to ease their employees' mental stress and they are also implementing a “no questions asked flexible infinite paid leave” policy. Zerodha says no to work calls and chats after 6 P.M.: Online stock trading unicorn Zerodha's founder Nithin Kamath took to Twitter to announce that they have “killed all work-related chats post 6 P.M. and holidays”. Groww to acquire Indiabulls' mutual fund business: Online investment platform Groww has signed a deal with Indiabulls to acquire their mutual fund business for Rs 175 crore. This will allow Groww to create its own mutual fund products and use its network of 15 million users to grow the business. FuelBuddy acquires MyPetrolPump: On-demand fuel delivery startup FuelBuddy has acquired another online fuel delivery platform MyPetrolPump as it looks to expand into new geographies. Flipkart is in talks to raise $1 billion: E-commerce behemoth Flipkart is looking to raise $1 billion at a $30 billion valuation ahead of its expected IPO via SPAC. Acko looking to raise $200 million: Online insurance platform Acko is in the market looking for a $200 million investment. Grofers could get $100 million from Zomato: Online grocery delivery startup Grofers could get a $100 million investment from food delivery giant Zomato as it looks to expand into grocery. Mamaearth in talks to raise up to $80 million: Direct to consumer personal care brand Mamaearth is in talks with Sofina to secure anywhere between $60-80 million in a new funding round. Rapido raises $43.6 million: Bike taxi aggregator Rapido has raised $43.6 million in a round led by WestBridge Capital. Cron AI raises $4 million: Deeptech startup Cron AI has raised $4 million in a round led by VenturEast and Kitaki Ventures.

You're listening to daily dispatch by YourStory. A show that tells you about all things making news in the start-up, tech and digital ecosystem. In this episode, we catch up with Bikram Bedi, President - Strategy and New Initiatives, Grofers. Daily Dispatch By YourStory | Monday, 11th January Read more at: https://yourstory.com/video/daily-dispatch-by-yourstory-monday-11th-january Follow us on Social Media: Facebook: www.facebook.com/yourstorycom Instagram: www.instagram.com/yourstory_com Twitter: www.twitter.com/YourStoryCo YouTube: www.youtube.com/yourstorytv Write to us: podcast@yourstory.com Hosted by Priya Sheth on January 11, 2021. Presented by Julius Sharma!

The conditions prevailing in the post-COVID world have benefitted online grocery players. With customers still hesitant to venture out unnecessarily, they've migrated to buying online to fulfill their daily needs. Founded in December 2013, Grofers is India's leading online grocery app with a vision to empower middle-income families to live a better life. Grofers runs a fast and lean supply chain to help their customers save on their everyday essentials, they manage a network of 12,000 partner stores to deliver quality products in 28 cities across the country. To understand how e-commerce brands have combated pandemic-related user retention challenges and scaled by leveraging the power of data-driven marketing and personalized CX, we caught up with Vakul Agarwal, Head- Revenue & Retention at Grofers. Vakul highlights the following: The genesis and growth story of Grofers as a leading player in India's e-commerce space The key consumer behavior trends in the aftermath of the Pandemic and lockdown 3 engagement and retention challenges faced by e-commerce brands How Grofers has leveraged personalization to drive higher platform stickiness and revenues Future of technologies like mobile marketing, use of AI/ML, predictive analysis in the online grocery space Tune in to gain insights on how the digital grocery industry is continuing to delight customers at scale.

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Anup Dhalwani, one of the sharpest product minds I know in Silicon Valley. Anup is originally from India, and has spent over a decade working both at high growth startups and some of the world’s most important tech companies like Facebook, Uber, and Snap. Having lived and work in both India and the US, Anup has true East West perspective and I’m happy to share our conversation. You can find Anup on Twitter —> @__anoop and here’s an introduction from Anup…I’ve created technology products from the ground up as an entrepreneur starting with Ospinet, a consumer healthcare product many years ago. The last few years I’ve invested time in shipping products in the consumer space at Facebook, Uber, Snap and other companies. As a startup advisor I help about 2-3 startups at any point in time scale their offerings or find product-market fit. I came to the US in 2008 as an engineer and have built startups and worked in tech my whole career, except a couple of years at McKinsey & Co. after business school. Over my many years shipping products I’ve developed a sense for what makes successful tech companies in the Valley tick and what features separate the winners from everyone else. The other area I’ve gained a lot of insight on is what makes a consumer product successful. There are some higher order features that are a must but then there is always some secret sauce. I love spending time with my family, watching foreign language movies, and generally building products and helping other entrepreneurs build and ship successful products.What are the most exciting trends you are seeing in Asia today?Many come to mind but a couple standout: 1) Innovating from Asia for a global market and 2) Adapting a global trend for the Asian market. Both of these are meta-trends but I feel capture the key trends in a Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive (MECE) way.On 1) I think the single best example is Postman [which was founded in Bangalore]. If you’ve ever dealt with startups that have an API layer, you’ve seen this be a key part of their API strategy. Postman recently raised a massive private round and I think it serves as great proof and inspiration for an entirely new crop of startups from Asia building for a global market. Postman used many of the best practices that’ve made Silicon Valley SaaS type companies successful, including the classic ‘Freemium Model.’On 2) We see the other end of the spectrum. Taking a concept like Instacart and making an Asian version of it successfully. My friend Albinder started Grofers in India and it’s a massive hit because he and his co-founder could tailor it for the Indian market. This is an example of the second key trend I am seeing. I anticipate both of these trends to continue and fork over time, spawning new models.How has the coronavirus affected your business and other businesses in your industry?It’s an understatement to say there has been a massive impact of the virus on all industries. Within consumer tech though, it’s a different story. It’s been a boon for many of the core consumer companies. The reason is simple. As people are staying at home and are not able to spend time with friends and family in real life, they’ve had to expand their use of social media (which was already quite high) and similarly we’ve seen people start using Robinhood for trading in record numbers. So the companies that were well poised to benefit from a pandemic did just that. There is another crop of companies that got hit hard though, especially in the travel space. From AirBnB to TripActions to expense reimbursement cards and others. Not to mention WeWork, which was already in a tough spot. So it's a case of haves and have nots even within the consumer technology space.What is one thing that people outside of Asia misunderstand about the region?The number one thing would be how upwardly mobile the region is. People, especially the younger ones, are very focused on increasing their standard of living and until the pandemic hit, they were executing quite well on that. Now the employment picture has become a bit bleak. However, I am confident this will be a short term hit and the region will come roaring back.The other thing people might misunderstand is that building technology products for the Asian market isn’t as easy as it is in the USA. The reason is the amount of diversity from language to local regulations is quite a lot. While many might know about the amount of diversity in the region, its impact on shipping products might go unnoticed. For example, alcohol and age related laws are different state to state within the same country sometimes, and if you are a food delivery app for example, you’d need to account for that diversity.What are some companies you admire in Asia?In technology, Flipkart, Oyo, Grofers are some of the modern ones but there are a lot of companies from the 90s and 00’s that laid the foundations albeit from a services standpoint, like Infosys.Outside of technology, I think there is a vast range of companies and industries I admire. One example is Sula Wines in India. They’ve done an amazing job of fusing the wine business with lifestyle and culture. There are many, many such examples I feel aren’t as known outside.What is the single most important piece of advice you would give to someone trying to get their business to thrive in this time period?Borrowing from Taleb, the one thing I’d say is try to be antifragile. The world is only going to get more volatile in the coming years and simply being robust won’t help you thrive. If your startup’s business model isn’t one that will benefit disproportionately with volatility, it’ll be hard to thrive. More and more it seems the world is living in the ‘tails’ of a distribution where Black Swan events come from and have driven almost all of the outcomes in human history. We’ve already seen this with the pandemic (which isn’t even a Black Swan as it was predictable and predicted) and even there we saw companies like DocuSign benefit and those like AirBnB get hit (the antifragile vs fragile model).Quickfire Questions…A - What’s the best thing you have watched recently? (Film, TV Show, Ted Talk, Youtube Video, etc.)I’ve seen some recently uploaded old Steve Jobs clips from the 80s and 90s, which to this day are some of the most outstanding marketing examples I’ve seen.B - What’s the best thing you have read recently? (Book, Article, Research Report, Tweetstorm, etc.)I’ve been spending a lot of time exploring the art world and there's a bunch of really great art podcasts I’ve been discovering. There isn’t one specific channel or podcast but rather a collection I’ve been curating and thats’ been a lot of fun.C - What’s the best thing you have listened to recently? (Song, Album, Artist, Podcast, Audiobook, etc.)The Biggest Bluff, it’s a great book about Poker and how it applies in life. And then, Kings of Crypto on Audible. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit eastwesthurricane.substack.com

In this episode, we speak to Ivy Mukherjee. She is a Product Design Lead and has previously worked at GRAB Singapore, Shopify HQ Canada, OLA Cabs, and Grofers. She is also the Co-Creator of Indians Who Design, a living directory of thriving Indians in the design industry. #designlead #indianswhodesign ❓⏰ Questions: 0:00 Introduction 01:43 How did you get started in design? 12:04 What was your experience in getting a Design scholarship to Jerusalem? 19:37 How to prepare when applying for an international Design job? What are the differences in the hiring process in India vs Abroad? 28:58 How did you decide the teams do you want to work in at Ola and Shopify? 30:38 Working on the Drivers-Partners projects at Ola 32:44 Working in the Insights and Growth teams at Shopify 35:53 Working in the Customer Support Experiences Team at GRAB 38:29 What it means to have a growth mindset 45:24 What to look for in every opportunity or experience – People, Product and Professional growth 51:59 When do you realize it's time to level up and move on? 55:27 Future plans for Indians Who Design – https://indianswhodesign.in/ 58:44 Is the Design industry getting saturated and competitive? Indians Who Design: https://indianswhodesign.in/ Ivy's website: https://ivymukherjee.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivy.mukherjee/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JellyIvy This podcast is part of the #10kdesigners Network. Home: https://10kdesigners.com Browse bite-sized learning in business, product, UI/UX design, freelancing and more: https://booklets.io Get real design inspiration from the world's best-designed apps: https://uisources.com Brought to you by your host, Mayank Khandelwal. Instagram: https://instagram.com/mayankk98 Twitter: https://twitter.com/mayankk98

In this week's episode of The Data Stack Show, Kostas Pardalis connects with Satyam Krishna, a data engineer at Grofers, India's largest low-price online supermarket. Grofers boasts a network of more than 5,000 partner stores, a user base with three million iOS and Android app downloads, and an efficient supply chain that allow it to deliver more than 25 million products to customers every month. Satyam offers insights into how he helped build the data engineering function at Grofers, how they developed a robust data stack, how they're turning production databases into live event streams using Change Data Capture, how Grofers' internal customers consume data, and the company made adjustments due to the pandemic. Topics of discussion included:Satyam moving from a developer to a data engineer (2:43)Describing Grofers' data stack and data lake (6:41)Who is consuming data inside the company and what are some of their common uses specific to Grofers? (12:03)What are the biggest issues day-to-day as a data engineer? (18:21)COVID's impact on business practices and the data stack (21:28)The big problem of data discoverability and metadata cataloging (27:44)Completely changing architecture to something that can scale up (33:16)The Data Stack Show is a weekly podcast powered by RudderStack. Each week we'll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.RudderStack helps businesses make the most out of their customer data while ensuring data privacy and security. To learn more about RudderStack visit rudderstack.com.

Product management unearths the customer's current and potential needs - insights that fuel into the eventual product roadmap to drive greater product adoption, user growth, and retention. This assumes even greater importance for B2C brands. To understand the finer points of product management, we caught up with Gagan Mahajan, Senior Product Manager at Grofers, India. Founded in December 2013 , Grofers is one of India's leading digital grocery e-commerce players . A pioneer in this space, Grofers operates across 28 cities with about 5000 partner stores; helping customers retain some sense of normalcy even during these times. Gagan shares insights on the following: The 3 most important qualities a Product Manager (PM) should possess The need for PMs to focus on personalization to drive user retention The key OKRs to focus on and the prerequisites to achieve them The framework to follow in order to ensure process prioritization and management The need for PMs to have a digital-first mindset in order to tackle a post-COVID-19 era Tune in to learn how an ambitious Indian e-commerce player is curating delightful personalized user experiences, with product management playing a pivotal role in this growth story!

We talk to Jayesh Sidhwani, Director of Engineering at Hotstar. Jayesh has previously worked with Grofers, TinyOwl, Fynd, including his own start-up stint. Hotstar is a diverse platform in terms of content and language catalogue. Recently, it broke a world record of 25.3 Million concurrent users in IPL 2019. We talk about managing variability of concurrent users, minimising latency & provide personalised journeys through data. Towards the end, we talk about Blitzscaling, a powerful strategy to grow businesses exponentially. ---- We write at deconstruct.in Follow Ankit at twitter.com/AnkitBareja Follow Tejas at twitter.com/tejas_singh Follow Jayesh at twitter.com/JayeshSidhwani