Podcasts about urban company

How do India's top founders actually think through a P&L?  This special episode of #ZeroToInfinity podcast takes you inside Z47's experimental panel event with India's leading consumer founders, including voices from Mamaearth, Urban Company, and Mosaic Wellness.  From CAC to contribution margin, & retention to revenue models, Kishan Kashyap, Avnish Bajaj & Chandrasekhar Venugopal, share insights on what it really takes to build a durable consumer business in India today. Listen for a break down of the P&L as a series of strategic choices: It starts with revenue, where TAM is reframed as a lens on market creation vs. market share, and demand signals emerge from how India vs. Bharat actually spends.  Gross margin becomes a moat, shaped by what you build vs. buy. Contribution margin reveals the true cost of platforms, and why owning your channel matters. And finally at the bottomline, it's about cash, control, and building a business that lasts beyond funding cycles. Explore the full P&L rethink from an operator founder lens only on the #ZeroToInfinity podcast. 00:25 Introduction 02:32 Breaking Down the P&L of Building Consumer Brands 04:37 Reframing the P&L as Strategic Choices for Founders 04:58 The Revenue Rethink - What & Who are We Really Biulding for? 08:58 Market Creation or Market Share? 12:27 Revenue = Clear Articulation of the Opportunity You're Going After 12:39 Gross Margin Isn't Fixed - It's a Function of the Choices you make  18:43 Don't Just Hope COGS Will Fail - Design Margin from Day Zero 21:39 Contribution Margin: The True Cost of your Channels 25:13 Q-comm's Biggest Mistake: Chasing Scale, Not Sustainibility 28:44 Find the GTM Unlock: PLG, Word of Mouth & Retention 32:52 Bottom Line: Where your P&L becomes your Reality 34:14 RoCE Matters more than EBITDA 35:27 The ZIRP Era Skewed Founder Behaviour 41:20 Limit your Highs. Ground your Lows. Build with Zen Mode on Follow us on:  Website www.z47.com/ LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/z47-vc/ Twitter https://x.com/z47_vc Instagram www.instagram.com/z47.vc/

In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover 2 major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:00:04   Intro00:25   Understanding Urban Company12:54   Bajaj Finance Q4 FY2522:20   TidbitsWe also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.

In today's Tech3 from Moneycontrol, Big Tech companies face a steeper tax burden in India as settlement payments lose their deductible status. Infosys lets go of nearly 200 more trainees amid sluggish demand. Plus, Urban Company files for a blockbuster IPO with early investors eyeing big exits. Also in focus: Sedemac Mechatronics gears up for a potential public listing. Stay tuned for more updates from the tech and startup world.

In this episode, Abhishek Kumar, co-founder & CEO of Mygate, takes us on the journey of building India's largest community management platform. From spending a month working alongside security guards to understand their needs, to scaling Mygate to 25,000+ gated communities, Abhishek reveals the key decisions and insights that shaped their success.

We're excited to host Dr. Aditi Surie, a Senior Consultant at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) and a leading researcher on digital labour platforms, worker well-being, and livelihoods in India.At IIHS, Dr. Surie leads the academic and policy research portfolio on technology and society, focusing on how digital platforms shape work, employment, and economic opportunities, especially in the Global South. Since 2015, she has conducted extensive sectoral studies on gig and platform workers, analyzing their working conditions, risks, and experiences with platform design.Her research provides crucial insights into employment in India's fast-growing platform economy, covering workers across delivery, ride-hailing, home services, and other digital labour platforms.Beyond research, she is actively involved in policy discussions on labour rights, digital governance, and platform regulation, collaborating with academics, policymakers, and civil society organizations.Her co-edited book, Platformization and Informality (2023), brings together scholars to develop Global South-specific frameworks for understanding the quality and regulation of platform work.In this episode, Dr. Surie takes us deep into the Platform Economy, examining how companies like Urban Company, Swiggy, Blinkit, and BluSmart generate employment and what that means for workers' rights, job security, and economic inclusion.‘In Solidarity' is the SEWA Cooperative Federation Podcast, dedicated to unpacking critical themes around women's economic empowerment and the challenges facing women-run enterprises.Tune in!

A decade ago, when platforms like Urban Company entered the scene, they were seen the beacon of hope for thousands of women like Selvi and Nisha, two beauticians based in in Bangalore—finally, an avenue that offered them the financial independence and support their families without the cost flexibility. Now, over one third of the platform's workers are female making it the largest employer of women gig workers in India.But in the last few years, the same workers have been raising their voices against the unfair nature of their job—from the one-sided ratings system of the app that makes female gig workers entirely dependent on customers and the arbitrary blocking of their accounts to the lack of basic safety and more.Their requests and demands seem to be falling in to deaf years. The Ken reached out to Urban Company with questions regarding these issues but so far we haven't received any response.In today's episode, we will try to understand why Selvi, Nisha and thousands like them are so angry with the very company that was once a source of freedom for them.Tune in.Episode cover art by Kavipriya OGListen to the latest episode of Two by Two hereDaybreak is now on WhatsApp at +918971108379. Text us and tell us what you thought of the episode!Daybreak 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.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here

Check Out Odoo's Website: https://www.odoo.com/r/PFme Disclaimer: This video is intended solely for educational purposes and opinions shared by the guest are his personal views and should not be considered as advice. We do not seek to defame or harm any person/ brand/ product/ country/ profession mentioned in the video. Our goal is to provide information to help audience make informed choices. Order 'Build, Don't Talk' (in English) here: https://amzn.eu/d/eCfijRu Order 'Build Don't Talk' (in Hindi) here: https://amzn.eu/d/4wZISO0 Follow Our Whatsapp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaokF5x0bIdi3Qn9ef2J Subscribe To Our Other YouTube Channels:- https://www.youtube.com/@rajshamaniclips https://www.youtube.com/@RajShamani.Shorts

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, 18 September 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started.Indian benchmark indices, the Nifty and the Sensex, saw a marginal rise on Tuesday as traders remained cautious ahead of US Fed's policy decision. The Nifty ended the session with a 0.14% gain while the Sensex ended with a 0.11% rise.On Tuesday, we wrote about Brookfield's plans to venture into the semiconductor fabrication sector. The sector is hot — today, Gulveen Aulakh and Shouvik Das report that the Adani Group wants a piece of this pie too. It's planning a joint venture with Israel-based company “Tower Semiconductor”. The JV will be based in Maharashtra's Raigad district. While the chips to come out of this factory will meet the Adani Group's requirements, they will also cater to foreign demand.Millions of investors are trying to make a small fortune in IPOs. Every new listing, irrespective of its size, is oversubscribed dozens of times at least. Why? Cases like Bajaj Housing Finance, which doubled when it debuted on Dalal Street on Monday. Listing day gains aren't a new concept, but it's incredibly difficult to secure an allotment for a new IPO. Sashind Ningthoukhongjam writes about strategies one could adopt if they want better chances at securing allotment. You can apply via the shareholder quota, or the small high net investor quota as well. This is a good read for you if you've missed out on some of the blockbuster IPOs we've had this year.Urban Company's early investors, Steadview Capital, Elevation Capital, and Accel, are eyeing a partial exit, planning to sell off stakes worth $100-150 million. This move is part of a broader trend where early backers cash out before a company hits the public markets, and Urban Company is preparing for an IPO next year. These secondary sales let old investors liquidate at a valuation slightly under Urban Company's estimated $2.6 billion—a strategic move as they near the end of their fund cycles. Mint's Sneha Shah and Priyamvada C report on the secondary share sale at Urban Company - something that reflects a broader trend in the Indian startup scene.What's your portfolio mix?.... Most savvy investors would say stocks, mutual funds, gold and real estate. But there's a new player in town: “Rare Collectibles”. Dipti Sharma writes that Indian investors are diversifying into luxury items like art, vintage cars and luxury watches. Rare Japanese whiskeys are part of such investments too, as the market now has both buyers and sellers. Some experts believe that these collectibles will turn into a key asset class. What rich Indians once bought for personal enjoyments, are now treated as investments that could give you decent returns.Back in 2013, India launched a plan to strengthen small farmers by creating Farmer Producer Companies  or FPCs, giving them the power to negotiate better deals and manage resources collectively, similar to successful dairy co-ops like Amul. Farmers buy shares in these FPCs, which then operate under the Companies Act—this shields them from political and bureaucratic hassles and allows them to tap into government grants. Fast forward to today, and there are over 9,000 FPCs with more than 2 million members, about 28% of whom are women, writes Sayantan Bera. These FPCs have broadened their reach, securing licences to sell everything from seeds to processed foods, helping farmers get better prices and market access. However, it's not all smooth sailing. Many FPCs struggle with getting enough working capital; high interest rates from loans make growth tough. Is Adani's semiconductor play a long term game?Struggling with IPO allotments? Tips to boost your chancesUrban Company's early backers Steadview, Elevation, Accel to sell partial stakeFrom pink dogs to fine wine, India's wealthy diversify into rare collectiblesMicro Amul: Are farmer-run companies the next big idea in Indian agriculture?

In this episode of The Barbershop with Shantanu, we sit down with Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra, Co-founders of Urban Company, and try to understand how to crack service in India. Join us as Varun and Raghav reveal the secrets behind Urban Company's remarkable growth strategy and how they have built and scaled a leading service business in India. From understanding the unique challenges of the Indian market to crafting innovative service offerings such as the variety of Native appliances they offer, Varun and Raghav share their journey and the key tactics that have made Urban Company a household name, and one that many Indians in urban India now trust! Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or simply interested in the service industry, this episode offers valuable insights into the dynamics of building and scaling a successful service business in India.

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, August 6, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Global currents affected the Indian stock markets too: Sensex and Nifty both were down by about 2.7 percent during yesterday's trading session. This was the steepest intra-day drop in nearly two months. Ram Sahgal writes that fears of an economic slowdown in the US and a huge equities crash in Japan prompted the massive sell-off. The worst may not be over yet: Ram also writes that foreign investors have turned bearish on Indian markets, and are betting that they will fall even further. India is a global economy — that means it is also prone to suffering from the headwinds of other economies, in the form of crashes like yesterday's. There's violent trouble with one of our neighbours: yesterday, Bangladesh's newly-elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign by protestors. Most of these protestors were students. She had been in power since 2008, and will be succeeded by an internal government controlled by the country's army. Elizabeth Roche explains the turmoil, its rich history, and why India should keep a close eye on this coup's ultimate result. According to new rules set by the markets regulator, any company in India that has sizeable debt on its books is liable to turn public. That put Tata Sons in hot soup: despite having 16 listed entities, the parent company often leveraged itself to balance out the books of its subsidiaries. After Sebi's ruling, Tata Sons quickly pared this debt down to avoid getting listed. Shayan Ghosh and Varun Sood report that it has now reduced its disclosed debt to just 5 crore rupees. Last year, it had nearly 19,000 crore rupees worth of borrowings. It used its crown jewel, TCS, to repay most of the debt, write Shayan and Varun.  Have you noticed a growing trend of consultants among your peers? While their work remains the same, their designation changes. Mid to senior level employees who are switching roles enjoy a host of tax benefits via this method, writes Shipra Singh. When you earn as a consultant, your income gets categorised as a business revenue. This allows you to claim a lot of deductions. This strategy could help you save tax on more than half your income, tax experts told Shipra. Instead of paying tax at your slab rate, you instead pay a flat 6 percent GST on this income — helping you amass quite a bit of savings. Kunal Bahl is one of the most prolific people in India's burgeoning startup landscape. He is the co-founder of Snapdeal, an e-commerce app. At one point, Snapdeal hoped to topple Flipkart from its position as India's top online seller. That fight didn't turn out so well for Snapdeal and Bahl. However, some would argue that Bahl is a better investor than an executive. Bahl is also the main man behind Titan Capital, which boasts of returns greater than 100x from investments such as Urban Company, Mamaearth, and Ola Cabs. Another acquisition, Unicommerce, is set to IPO today — yet another huge return for the investment company. Mansi Verma and Priyamvada C write a detailed story on how Kunal Bahl became the titan of early-stage investing in India. 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:   Markets reel under global pressure Mint Explainer: Why India needs to have a wary eye on Bangladesh coup Tata Sons goes debt-free as it seeks listing exemption Switch to consultant from employee and you can save tax on half your income Don't do as I did: How Snapdeal's Bahl became the titan of early-stage investing

oin us this week on Moment of Silence, as our co-hosts Naina and Sakshi talk about how they prep for the summer months, the ideal summer and their worst fear regarding Urban Company professionals! Comment your favourite summer memory to win a giveaway from Pursue!

SBI breathing down ICICI Bank's neck in market-cap raceAfter spurning Zee, Sony sets sights on ahaFMCG companies in choppy waters, and there doesn't seem to be any respite soonThe two faces of India Inc.'s Q3 growth storyUrban Company is eyeing profits and an IPO. But gigsters are angry

Order 'Build, Don't Talk' (in English) here: https://amzn.eu/d/eCfijRuOrder 'Build Don't Talk' (in Hindi) here: https://amzn.eu/d/4wZISO0--------------Subscribe To Our Other YouTube Channels:-https://www.youtube.com/@rajshamaniclips?sub_confirmation=1https://www.youtube.com/@RajShamani.Shorts?sub_confirmation=1---------------Timestamps:00:00 - Intro02:39 - His journey05:59 - His first job11:16 - His entrepreneurial journey 17:28 - How Swiggy destroyed his startup19:32 - His journey at Urban Company25:45 - How to build a company?27:06 - How he started Pristyn Care34:42 - What Pristyn Care does?38:48 - Why should doctors be paid more?39:37 - How can India become a developed economy?44:01 - Indian vs US startups49:01 - His startup beatXP53:20 - US vs Indian workforce58:25 - Conclusion--------------In today's episode of Figuring Out we have the founder of Pristyn Care Harsimarbir Singh in conversation with Raj Shamani. He has been the business head of Urban Company and now has 150+ clinics of Pristyn Care in 40 cities in India. His knowledge of business building, business trends, and healthcare is exceptional. In this episode, we talked about his first job as a security guard. He shared about his experience living in the U.S. and the realisations he had while being there. We then discussed his first 3 startups that failed, how he got a job in Urban Company's as business head and, how he helped them scale up and stories about the founders of Urban Company. Then we talked about the story that led to the birth of Pristyn Care, and how he started it with his two friends Dr. Vaibhav Kapoor and Dr. Garima Sawhney.Towards the end, he shared how Pristyn picks up their patients from home, how they help their patients with the insurance coverage process, and all the little things they do that set them apart from the rest in the market. He also talked about how India can become a developed country faster, what are we lacking and what can we do to speed up the process. We talked about why iPhone assembling is a big thing for India and how it will fuel our growth. And we ended with talking about his new company BeatXP whose massagers and weighing scales are on the number one in the Indian market. For more such insightful podcasts subscribe to our channel and join our journey of Figuring Out.Follow Harsimarbir Singh On:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harsimarbir.singh?igsh=MWRhNnQ5MGd0NjdiOQ==Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harsimarbirsingh/Twitter: https://x.com/harsimarbirsing?s=11&t=ao3ypivRJidSUwaAe93PhQCheck Out Pristyn Care: https://www.pristyncare.com/--------------About Raj ShamaniRaj Shamani is an Entrepreneur at heart that explains his expertise in Business Content Creation & Public Speaking. He has delivered 200+ speeches in 26+ countries. Besides that, Raj is also an Angel Investor interested in crazy minds who are creating a sensation in the Fintech, FMCG, & passion economy space.To Know More,Follow Raj Shamani On ⤵︎Instagram @RajShamanihttps://www.instagram.com/rajshamani/Twitter @RajShamanihttps://twitter.com/rajshamaniFacebook @ShamaniRajhttps://www.facebook.com/shamanirajLinkedIn - Raj Shamanihttps://www.linkedin.com/in/rajshamani/•   •   •#Podcast #FiguringOut #RajShamani

We are excited to bring you an insightful conversation between Manish Advani (Vice President, Elevation Capital) and Ankit Agarwal & Varun Limaye (Co-founders, Mesa School of Business), who are building India's first startup-focused B-school to create entrepreneurial leaders of tomorrow. Ankit and Varun observed that companies across India's startup and tech ecosystem were finding it difficult to hire talent with market-relevant skills and hands-on experience in business building, especially for business and leadership roles. Having worked in business functions across leading tech companies like Urban Company and Amazon, they understood the future needs of this growing sector and set out to deliver industry-relevant outcome-focused business education for professionals aiming to build a career in the tech ecosystem. The Harvard and Kellogg alumni discuss their first principles approach to reimagining every aspect of a higher education institution bottom-up and how they constructed a unique curriculum by involving the startup ecosystem. In this episode, you will gain insights on: Why Ankit and Varun zeroed in on higher-ed Closing the skills gap for business roles Offline, full-time program as a design choice Immersive startup-focused program structure and faculty How they built the founding batch Mesa's first 12-month in-person program with 60 handpicked students is currently underway, and applications for its 2025 cohort are now open. Apply here: https://mesaschool.co/

Welcome to another episode of ‘Crack The MBA' show. Our guest today is Shivani Taskar who recently completed her first-year at Kellogg School of Management. Shivani completed her Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from BITS Pilani, where she helped end night curfews for women. Thereafter, she worked with Deutsche Bank, working on an intrapreneurial initiative with the CEO's office, and with Urban Company, pioneering digital transformation by introducing remote consultations in response to COVID-related lockdowns. At Kellogg, Shivani has served as Director of Content, Gender Equity Network, Director of Alumni Engagement at Kellogg Student Association, and Section Leader for Day at Kellogg. Shivani is actively involved with Kellogg Entrepreneurship and VC Club, Kellogg Cares, and the Games Club. In her second year, Shivani will be Co-President of the General Management Club, and leading KSA's new alumni engagement division. She will also be Speaker Chair at Kellogg's first-ever India Business Conference in Spring 2024. This summer, Shivani is scheduled to intern with Baird. Once she returns to Kellogg, she will pursue an in-semester internship at f7 Ventures, which will be her first foray into the world of VC.   00:00:00 Coming Up 00:01:08 Introduction 00:02:40 Fun Fact 00:03:35 Winning Habits & Influences           00:05:50 Experience with CTM 00:07:32 MBA Application Timeline 00:11:10 Advice on Resume  00:12:50 Brave Leaders Essay 00:17:55 Values Essay 00:20:03 Identifying Key Essay Anecdotes 00:23:03 Video Essays 00:24:29 Overcoming Weaknesses 00:25:50 Interview Experience & Advice 00:27:44 Admissions: Evaluation Rubric 00:29:14 Kellogg's Unique Identity 00:31:12 Flagship Events 00:33:43 Experience Living in Evanston 00:36:01 Global Hub 00:38:08 Winter in Evanston 00:40:57 KWEST Trip 00:45:52 Biggest Challenge Faced at Kellogg 00:47:29 Insider Tip 00:48:35 Student Clubs & Activities 00:58:04 MBA Programs at Kellogg 00:59:09 Academic Highlights at Kellogg 01:01:31 Star Professors & Popular Electives 01:03:53 Recruiting at Kellogg 01:14:38 Final Advice for Applicants     Thank you for watching!   —   Nupur Gupta is the founder of Crack The MBA (https://crackthemba.com), India's leading MBA admissions consulting firm. Every year, Crack The MBA's clients attend ivy league, M7 and other top MBA programs globally. Nupur is a graduate of the full-time MBA program at The Wharton School. She has been recognized by Economic Times among the 'Most Promising Women Leaders', by Business Insider among the 'World's Leading Admissions Consultants', along with other honors. Nupur served two terms as president and two terms on the board of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) - the primary industry association in MBA admissions.   Follow Nupur and ‘Crack The MBA' on our social media platforms for more updates: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nupurgupt/ https://www.facebook.com/CrackTheMBA/ https://www.instagram.com/crackthemba/   Disclaimer: The opinions shared by guests in this video in no way, shape or form represent advisory provided by Crack The MBA. Each candidate's circumstances may vary, and our advice is always provided specifically based on an applicant's specific profile.

Nine years ago, Urban Company (then UrbanClap) disrupted the market and eventually went on to become Asia's largest home services marketplace. Last year, the US$2 billion company was ranked as one of the top-rated platforms for gig workers in Fairwork India Ratings.But just a year later now, Urban Company partners are are protesting nationwide against the platform's arbitrary and unfair policies. Meanwhile, customers are growing increasingly unhappy with the services. The company is also grappling with losses and has been cutting costs to achieve profitability. But the rising anger from both ends, customers and partners, is coming in its way and managing both is getting quite difficult.Tune in.RecommendationUrban Company is caught between angry customers and angrier partners Urban Co's three-way balancing act in search of profitabilityDaybreak 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.

Alyssa Lie is a multi-talented Singer-Songwriter, Content Creator (TikTok & IG), and Voiceover Artist from Singapore, known and loved for her vibrant, energetic, and positive personality! A Musical Theatre graduate of LASALLE College of the Arts, she won 1st Place in Singapore's Got Talent (Open) and performed her first two sold-out concerts for her Debut EP at the Esplanade Recital Studio in 2021 and another in 2022. On TikTok and Instagram, she has worked with international brands such as Disney+, Kiehl's, Universal Music, Make Up For Ever, AIA, Guardian, Marc Mirren, Rohto, and local companies such as Young NTUC, who are drawn to her genuine, authentic and relatable content. As a Voiceover Artist, she has voiced radio and internet ads for the global tech giant, Samsung, as well as Urban Company, the largest home service platform in Asia. She has worked on projects with NTUC Learning Hub, Logicalis, Nas Daily, Singapore Zoo, KK Hospital, NUS, NTU, Betsy the Bear Car (Indonesia), and was also the puppeteer and voice of Chatterbox for the Hi-5 Live! mall shows in Singapore and Jakarta. As a host, she has hosted live streams for global fashion brands such as ZALORA as well as local F&B establishments, The Glasshouse, Confetti Snacks, and The Peranakan, being Peranakan herself.

Elon Musk's third ‘Master Plan' for Tesla was a bit of a letdown for investors. So, Musk revealed that the company is going full throttle on its mission to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and promote sustainable energy worldwide. But, there was no sign of a new car.  In other news, Blinkit is all set to challenge Urban Company in the app-based at-home services sector. Do you think it will succeed?  Tune in to The Signal Daily to know more on both stories!  You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android, iOS or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at https://ivmpodcasts.com/. Do follow IVM Podcasts on social media. We are @IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts,  Amazon Prime Music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to #93rd episode of The Startup Operator Roundup. Today we have Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discussing -  ------------------------------------- This episode is brought to you by Park Avenue, shop for their wrinkle free shirts here: https://www.myraymond.com/ ------------------------------------- EP 81 : Early-Stage Investing | Prayank Swaroop, Parter - Accel | The Startup Operator : https://youtu.be/MsWPDaVAwVA ------------------------------------- Mission ISRO with Harsha Bhogle : https://open.spotify.com/show/2JXFCMLGVhTBtdz1WYxd4H?si=bd6c3fd001e345ac ------------------------------------- Joe Rogan | How Studying Dolphins Led to the Creation of the Isolation Tank : https://youtu.be/JLKvKmJbY54 ------------------------------------- Connect with Us: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup ------------------------------------- Topics:00:00 Opening comments04:08 DigiYatra Launched by Aviation minister07:17 Agnikul Cosmos Establishes First Private Launch Pad10:38 Neuralink is about ‘six months' away from first human trial13:35 Park Avenue wrinkle free shirts13:59 BlockFi files for bankruptcy17:02 Urban Company and PhonePe ESOPs19:35 Accel India announces second Atoms cohort21:07 Other headlines 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!

Know what is harder than pivoting when the going gets tough? Pivoting when the going is good. On the surface, most metrics were scaling efficiently for Urban Company (previously UrbanClap) at the end of 2015. The tech company mainly generated leads for at-home service providers. But founders Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan, Raghav Chandra recognized that improving the experience of suppliers and customers would require deeper involvement. They needed to build a full stack marketplace with trained professionals. Eight years later, the company is valued at $2.8 billion. After proving their chops by taking the beauty industry online, Urban Company went on to digitally connect customers with a range of professional services including cleaning, repairs, electrical works, plumbing, and carpentry. When they first looked into the space, at-home services in India had been full of holes. The founders, all three from IIT Kanpur, knew that the problem had the potential to keep them busy for a lifetime. So they joined hands in 2014 to bring in organization and digitization. *** Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3UnptTO *** 0:00 - Introduction 1:20 - Origin story 4:10 - Early days 9:33 - Product-market fit 14:25 - Picking the right service 16:30 - Testbed 17:40 - Zero-to-one phase 21:15 - Scaling the company 24:30 - Key strategic decisions 27:40 - Value to service partners 32:40 - Disintermediation 34:10 - Creating value on both sides 36:30 - Navigating COVID 39:50 - Leadership and culture 43:20 - The future

At their core, marketplaces are in the business of efficiency. Deeply optimized supply was the need of the hour in the world of construction, where access to materials was fragmented and unreliable. Souvik Sengupta of Infra.Market and Prashanth Prakash of Accel talk about transforming the manner in which real estate companies buy for their projects. *** Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3UnptTO

What does it take to build a timeless marketplace? Time. Long-lasting marketplaces have little to do with restless hustling, and a lot to do with clear research and balancing gut calls with data calls. You can trust that bit of wisdom because it comes from Mukesh Bansal who knows the ups and downs of entrepreneurship in India more intimately than most. As founder of Myntra, head of commerce and advertising at Flipkart, and now as founder-CEO at Cult.fit, the relentless entrepreneur has sold fashion, fitness, and almost everything in between. Mukesh was one of the first startup folk to have brought the Bay Area ethos to the Bengaluru ecosystem. Over the last 15 years, he has steered companies through teething problems, pivoting and scaling missions, as well as acquisitions. In this part of a series of conversations sponsored by Accel, Mukesh shares his favourite entrepreneurial hits and misses. Joining him is Subrata Mitra of Accel who has been among Mukesh's earliest backers. He shares wisdom not just for the benefit of founders but also for venture capitalists as they go from backing two to four to 20 companies. Over the course of chatting with Pankaj Mishra, the duo sum up their journey so far in many quotable quotes. *** Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3DqT87o

When Niraj Singh started up Spinny, the used-car market in India was already crowded with cash-rich competitors. More and more Indian buyers were leaning towards buying pre-owned cars because of the better value they offered but the landscape was still full of potholes and barriers. There were few trusted intermediaries, and no convenient way for buyers to go through the sea of options or for sellers to find the right price. That is where Spinny came in. Niraj Singh founded the full-stack platform for buying and selling used cars in 2015, together with friends Ramanshu Mahaur, a fellow alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi, and Mohit Gupta, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad, who moved from Flipkart to join as operations head. A car lover himself, Singh wanted to address the pain points in the sale and purchase of a used car. “When you're buying your first car, it's a very important, very aspirational, very emotional purchase for you, and your entire family. It was very clear that we are not going just after the used-car market opportunity, but we are going to solve (an issue) of trust, experience and aspirations of people,” he said in an interview with Pankaj Mishra, co-founder of the digital media publication FactorDaily, a journalist tracking start-ups, with over two-and-a-half decades of professional experience. Sellers put in a request to sell their cars on the website. If it passes a 200-point test by an inspection team, Spinny sets a price, features the car on the site, and takes over the responsibility of selling the car. Buyers have the assurance of buying a Spinny-certified vehicle and the added benefit of a 1-year warranty. The company takes care of all the paperwork, from registration to title transfers. Among others, Spinny competes with OLX, Quikr and CarDekho in a market that was valued at $23 billion in the financial year 2021-2022 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.5 per cent until FY 2026-27, according to a report by IndianBlueBook, an auto technology platform, and Das WeltAuto, the pre-owned car business of Volkswagen India. After starting operations in the National Capital Region (NCR), centered on Delhi, Spinny has expanded into Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Indore, Coimbatore, Lucknow and Kochi. It became a unicorn with a valuation of about $1.8 billion, when it raised $283 million last year from a consortium led by Abu Dhabi-based ADQ, Tiger Global and Avenir Growth. This interview is part of a special series brought to you by the Indian unit of Accel Partners, which has backed some of the most significant marketplaces that have come up in India including food delivery platform Swiggy, e-commerce company Flipkart, TaxiForSure, which offers ride-hailing services, and Urban Company, a provider of home cleaning, appliance repair, beauty treatment and handymen services to customers at their doorstep. Joining Pankaj Mishra in the chat is Niraj Singh, who at the time of founding Spinny, already had two start-ups behind him – TechMonkey, an Internet media company, and Locus Education, an IIT-JEE prep venture with offline and online presence. They dive into the details of going from a marketplace model to a direct full-stack model, the business of trust, and the basic rules of team building.

This week was quite lukewarm but in another midweek madness episode of Think Fast, Varun & Suchita start off with a little rant about what the hell is happening even at Twitter, Adidas & Ye's situationship, Tiger Global & Nykaa's selling spree, YouTube hitting 8 million subscribers, Ashneer Grover's new book aptly titled 'Doglapan', and Estee Lauder buying Tom Ford. They dive deep into Zomato's latest financials and how food delivery apps in India are faring in general, MyGate's partnership with Urban Company & Acko, FTX's downfall and the general Cryptocurrency scene, Meta announcing layoffs and Mark's communication to employees, and a team in Mumbai dedicated to making the city more entrepreneur friendly. Varun Recommends a podcast: Dhar & Jay Show Suchita Recommends a website: We Are CollinsVarun & Suchita also answer a few listener questions on the show. Do share yours on the below-mentioned handles.You can follow Varun Duggirala on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/varunduggi and on Instagram at https://instagram.com/varunduggiYou can follow Suchita Salwan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/suchitasalwan and on Instagram at https://instagram.com/suchitasalwanCheck out video episodes on the Think Fast YouTube Channel.Find the show across audio streaming apps:Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | JioSaavn | Gaana | Amazon MusicDo follow IVM Podcasts on social media.We are @IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcasts App on Android or iOS. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cutting out the intermediary helps many industries. Not so in manufacturing. It needed a middle layer. Suppliers routinely failed to deliver on time, and customers failed to pay on time. To improve trust and speed, Amrit Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan introduced Zetwerk as a B2B marketplace for manufacturing in 2018. Zetwerk began as a hub for steel fabrication. Within six months, its business went from a topline of ₹1 crore a month to ₹10 crore a month. Since then, the company has expanded into more than 10 categories and is valued at $2.7 billion today. The company has transformed the space with high-quality products, increased transparency, and fewer and shorter delays. The backbone of its operation is technology. It uses dashboards to track each order at various stages in real time so that suppliers can stay on schedule and customers can get regular updates. Manufacturing appealed to Amrit because he had dabbled in it fresh out of college. In several ways, it prepared him for starting up – because ‘building' things from scratch is common to both worlds. In this part of a series of conversations sponsored by Accel, Zetwerk CEO Amrit Acharya participated along with Prayank Swaroop of Accel Partners, who has backed the company right from the early days. They discuss the brass tacks of setting up a B2B marketplace with Pankaj Mishra. * Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3DqT87o

Give someone a fish, you feed them for a day. Give someone reliable access to seafood in a supply-deprived industry, you go on to create a successful B2B marketplace for fish. Take it from Utham Gowda, the founder of Captain Fresh, an investment banker-turned-fisherman, so to speak. Three years after its birth in 2019, the company has raised $126.5 million in funding at a $500 million valuation. In an industry where the average level of spoilage is 20-30%, Captain Fresh manages to minimize waste in seafood shipments to 2-5%. It was in 2015, while scouting for viable sectors as an investment banker, that Gowda embarked on an aquatic adventure. He was helping a seafood player become IPO-ready. Some years of diving deep into fisheries revealed a fragmented, underserved industry begging for scientific solutions. There was a clear entrepreneurial opportunity, but few had even touched the space. Quite frankly, the waters were muddy. There was a combination of problems: High perishability, seasonality, varying tastes by region and so on. Gowda rose to that challenge with a combination of his own: Research, resources, and people. As an investment banker, he knows the importance of due diligence. As a single founder, he knows the importance of finding the right talent. And as someone who started up a little before COVID-19 hit, he knows the importance of planning and stress-testing. In this part of a series produced by Accel Partners, Gowda was joined by Barath Shankar Subramanian of Accel, a vegetarian who strongly backs the fish-fuelled business. In July 2021, after many Zoom calls between Subramanian's and Gowda's teams, Captain Fresh raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Accel. They talk to Pankaj Mishra, co-founder of digital media publication FactorDaily, about their journey. * Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3DqT87o

It's essential to keep things as simple as possible initially, with a total focus on understanding the consumer problem statement. Because when it comes to subscriptions, users drop off a lot — they are commitment-phobic. In the next stage, startups must know how to decentralise well. A founder cannot go on micromanaging a hundred things. Many startups fail because while they thought they solved a problem, they had no idea about its sustainability in terms of how it would scale economically. And as far as possible, until you hit product market fit, keep things as lean as possible. If you start hiring too many people for specific roles, it gets difficult to roll things back when they go wrong. Eventually, it all boils down to two questions: Who are you building for? Do they consumers like your product? In this conversation, Nandan Reddy and Phani Kishan from Swiggy and Accel's Anand Daniel share lessons learned while building and scaling their startup in a crowded market.*** Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys.Learn more: https://bit.ly/3DqT87o

कंपनियों व विशेषज्ञों का मानना है की इंटरनेट अग्ग्रेगेटर कंपनियों के "गिग वर्क" में "फ़्लेक्सिबिलिटी”, या अपनी मर्ज़ी के घंटे उपलब्ध होने के कारण, यह महिलाओं को ख़ास आकर्षित करेगा, और जो महिलायें पहले से घर का ज़्यादातर कार्यभार सम्भालती हों, वह भी इस से आमदनी कमाने के नए अवसर पाएँगी पुरुषों के मुताबिक आज भी महिलायें गिग वर्क में कम संख्या में हैं। जो महिलाएं "प्लाट्फ़ोर्म" या गिग वर्क में आ रही हैं, आज भी सब कार्य क्षेत्रों में बराबरी के बजाय, सफ़ाई, सलोन, ब्यूटी पार्लर आदि, कुछ ही क्षेत्रों तक सीमित हैं। "काम की ज़िंदगी" के तीसरी एपिसोड में अनुमेहा यादव ने पैंतीस वर्षीय सीमा सिंह से बातचीत की, जो एक अनुभवी ब्यूटिशन हैं जिन्होंने खुद सलोन का काम सीख कर, 8-10 साल सवंतंत्र काम कर के, अर्बन कम्पनी से एक पार्ट्नर की तरह जुड़ी।अर्बन कम्पनी आज भारत के सब से बड़े सर्विस प्लाट्फ़ोर्म में हैं। यह घर के काम की सुविधाएँ जैसे की सफ़ाई, बिजली का काम आदि, और घर आ कर सलोन जैसी सुविधा ग्राहकों को देती हैं। October 2021 में सीमा और उनके साथ क़रीब सौ ब्यूटिशन व स्पा महिला वर्कर्स एक ऐतिहासिक सार्वजनिक प्रोटेस्ट का हिस्सा बनी। उन्होंने कम्पनी द्वारा 20 प्रतिषित से ज़्यादा कमीशन काटने का विरोध, महीने कुछ बुकिंग बिना किसी दंड के मना करने की आज़ादी, वह उनकी सुरक्षा वह स्वास्थ्य की बेहतर सुविधा की माँग ले कर अर्बन कम्पनी के हरियाणा में गुरुग्राम ऑफिस पर धरना दिया। सीमा पूछती हैं की “पार्ट्नर" नाम के इस्तेमाल के बावजूद कमिशन, फ़ीस, और कमाई आदि के नियम जब जब कम्पनी बदलती है, तो "पार्ट्नर" से कोई सहमति क्यूँ नहीं लेती? महिला गिग वर्कर्स द्वारा एक प्लाट्फ़ोर्म कंपनी की नीतियों पर सवाल, वह इस स्तर पर खुला विरोध, भारत के किसी शहर में शायद पहली बार दर्ज किया गया। 22 अगस्त 2022 को एक प्रश्नावली का ईमेल पर जवाब देते हुए अर्बन कम्पनी प्रवक्ता मोमिता मजूमदार ने "सुनो इंडिया" को बताया की पहले के मुताबिक़ कयी नियम जैसे की कमिशन, पेनल्टी, बीमा आदि पर सुधार वह बदलाव किए जा चुके हैं और इस वह अलग विषयों पर निम्न ब्लॉग साझा किए: कंपनी द्वारा 29 अगस्त 2022 भेजे गए स्वास्थ्य पर किए गए खर्च राशि के विवरण में पार्ट्नर्ज़ को प्रदान किए – जिस में उन्होंने लिखा है रुपये 20 करोड़ के ब्याज-मुक्त उधार, रुपये 2 करोड़ "कोविड बीमा", रुपये 41 लाख कोविड बीमारी के कारण काम से छुट्टी के एवज में, 32 लाख रुपये कोविड में पार्ट्नर्ज़ की मृत्यु के वियोग में सहायता, वह 13 लाख रुपये आपातकालीन स्वास्थ्य सुविधा में पार्ट्नर्ज़ पर खर्च किए। इस के अलावा: Urban Company announces INR 150 Cr. Partner Stock Ownership Plan (PSOP)Meet our 15 PSOP awardee partners!Partner Earnings up 11% q-o-q | UC Earnings Index (Q3 FY22)See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In this Episode, I (@Jivraj Singh Sachar) speak with Mridul Arora, Partner at Elevation Capital. Mridul has been a venture investor for the better part of the last 12 years, since joining Elevation in 2011 when it was called SAIF Partners. Over the years, Mridul has developed expertise in Financial Services and FinTech, investing deeply across the sector. Some of his phenomenal investments include the likes of Urban Company, Acko Insurance, Clear, FloBiz and Uni Cards. His investing acumen and expertise in the sector is unparalleled and I sit with for an immersive conversation decoding his thought process and learnings across a stellar investing portfolio. We primarily discuss the art of venture investing, including how the funding winter is looking on ground, how he looks at Indian FinTech, how pattern matching works, what his investor persona is like and what are his primary learnings observing the journeys of some generation defining companies. This episode is absolutely fantastic as Mridul shares some of his learnings in the most granular way possible. I am sure all of you listening shall have a great time but before we get started here is a quick word about our sponsor: Stride Ventures, which is one of India's leading Venture Debt Funds, becoming synonymous with innovative startup financing in India. Stride provides comprehensive solutions, going beyond venture debt, to cater to distinctive challenges faced by high-growth and inherently strong businesses, backed by leading institutions. The fund has a portfolio of over 60+ diversified companies, having deployed more than Rupees 1500 Crore to date. In just over two years, Stride Ventures has emerged as the preferred venture debt lender in the Indian Ecosystem. To know more about this phenomenal fund, visit - https://strideventures.in/ Hope you liked the 112th Episode on the Indian Silicon Valley Podcast - Pioneering Indian Food Tech Innovation! That was it from this Episode, thanks again for tuning in! :) If you liked the episode, do share with your friends or drop us a quick review! Also, do follow us on social media to stay updated with all new episodes: Twitter: https://twitter.com/isv_podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/indian-silicon-valley-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indiansiliconvalleypodcast/ Gallery of all Episodes: https://airtable.com/shrTOFf1z5UT0q9p8 You can also subscribe to the YouTube Channel of the Podcast : https://www.youtube.com/c/IndianSiliconValley/ "If you never try, you never know" Stay Tuned, Keep Building.

Membangun bisnis apapun, pasti tidak terlepas dari banyak suka dan dukanya. Dari pengalaman tersebut membuat kita terus belajar dan menemukan strategi-strategi baru untuk membuat bisnis menjadi lebih maju. Begitupun dari pengalaman bintang tamu kita hari ini yang sudah melewati banyak proses-proses bisnis sehingga bisa membangun Urban Company dan MS Glow hingga booming seperti sekarang.

Varun & Suchita begin this week by remembering KK & his music and discussing the Amber Heard- Johny Depp verdict. They further talk about Spotify's White Noise Podcasts and their popularity, Blue Tokai's launch in Japan, the controversial Layer Shots Perfume ads, and some Zomato stats. Further in the episode, they 'Think Fast' about Sheryl Sandberg's 14-year journey in Meta and the news of her exit; Urban Company's business and how it is going strong- the changes made in their MO to accommodate pandemic induced challenges, and striving to build an ethical and sustainable business model; Dream 11- rise in popularity, usage, and revenue; Ola's struggles with juggling the Cab & EV verticals and it's way downward; and Country Delight's recent funding and a look into the company's business. Tune in for all this and much more. Varun recommends a playlist on Spotify: 'Nature Stroll'Suchita Recommends a podcast episode: Invest like the Best ft. Ashwath Damodaran.If you have any questions or feedback, please check us out on the below channels. You can follow Varun Duggirala on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/varunduggi and on Instagram at https://instagram.com/varunduggiYou can follow Suchita Salwan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/suchitasalwan and on Instagram at https://instagram.com/suchitasalwanCheck out video episodes on the Think Fast YouTube Channel.You can follow IVM Podcasts on social media. We are @IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcasts App on Android or iOS.

This week in Indian Startup News Mfine Fires 600 Employees, Ritesh Agarwal-Led OYO Delays IPO, Flipkart Enters At-Home Services Segment To Take On Urban company, Manish Maheshwari and Tanay Pratap led Invact Metaversity shuts down. In funding and acquisition news, Edtech Startup Infinity Learn Acquires Majority Stake In Wizklub, Dairytech Startup Country Delight Raises $108 Mn and more. Mfine Fires 600 Employees: Digital health platform MFine fired around 600 employees, which is around 75% of its total workforce. According to the employees, the main reason behind these layoffs is cash crunch and that company has run out of money to pay salaries. Company through an email, informed its employees that they will be only paid for 20 days in the month of May. Ritesh Agarwal-Led OYO Delays IPO: Oravel Stays Ltd, parent company of hospitality startup OYO, has decided to delay its plans of going public and the company is also looking to lower its valuation by at least 30%. Company is doing this mainly for two reasons - one is the current market conditions, and other is company's losses this year and company wants to show a path to profitability before going to the listing. Flipkart Enters At-Home Services Segment: Flipkart has announced its plans of entering in on-demand at-home services market, and it will start with offering AC cleaning and repair services to consumers. Till now Urban Company was only big player in this market. This new service by company will be offered by Jeeves Consumer Services - a company Flipkart bought back in 2014. Edtech Startup Infinity Learn Acquires Majority Stake In Wizklub: Sri Chaitanya Group's edtech startup Infinity Learn has bought 75% stake in WizKlub - a high order thinking skills platform for children, for $7.5 Million. Infinity Learn till now had its presence in the test preparation segment and with this new acquisition, the company is trying to target students aged 6-14. Founders Spotlight - Manish Maheshwari and Tanay Pratap: Manish and Tanay led ‘Invact Metaversity' - a startup which started in December 2021 and promised a 16-week MBA program in Metaverse, for which they also raised $5 Million, has shut down abruptly and the company is now looking to return the remaining money to its investors. Among the many reasons which resulted in this downfall, the most important factor was the difference of vision between Manish and Tanay. Dairytech Startup Country Delight Raises $108 Mn: Direct-to-consumer (D2C) food essentials brand - Country Delight, has raised $108 million in Series D round taking its valuation to $615 million. With this funding, it is looking to add new categories like pulses, grains, spices, oils, pickles and basic snacking items. Company will also expand its footprint across the country, by moving to new cities.

Angel investor is a high-net-worth individual who provides financial backing for small startups or entrepreneurs, in exchange for equity. In this episode, we take a look at Top 20 Angel Investors in India. #20 Sandeep Tandon: Sandeep co-founded one of India's first mobile payment platforms, Freecharge. He began his journey as an angel in 2015, and his portfolio includes Spinny, Dukaan, Unacademy, and Indiagold. #19 Arihant Patni: Arihant is a Mumbai-based entrepreneur, financial advisor, and angel investor whose father founded Patni Computer Systems. His portfolio as an angel includes companies like Lido Learning, TheMathCompany, White Owl Brewery, BabyChakra, and Fitternity. #18 Alok Mittal: Alok is a founding board member of Indian Angel Network and so far he's made 30 angel investments, including companies like M2P Fintech and Pando. #17 T.V. Mohandas Pai: Mohandas Pai as an angel investor has 30 portfolio companies under his belt, including Zoomcar, YourStory, and Licious. #16 Rajesh Sawhney: Rajesh started his journey as an angel with a 2010 Series A investment into American streaming service Viki, which was later acquired by Rakuten. He has since made 34 other personal investments. #15 Gaurav Munjal: Gaurav is the co-founder and CEO of India's second most valuable edtech startup, Unacademy and he has more than 35 companies in his portfolio as an angel investor. #14 Sujeet Kumar: Sujeet, is the co-founder of Bengaluru-based B2B trade platform, Udaan and he has invested in 38 companies as an angel. His portfolio includes companies like Euler Motors, Newton School, Unacademy, and OneCode. #13 Amrish Rau: Amrish is the co-founder of Citrus Pay, and his investments include fintech company Open, which recently became a unicorn, B2B fish and seafood supplier Captain Fresh, CRED, and KhataBook. #12 Girish Mathrubootham: Girish is the co-founder and CEO of Freshworks, and as an angel investor he has 39 companies including Pepul, traveltech startup PickYourTrail, logistics platform Pando, and social recommendation app Fril. #11 Vijay Shekhar Sharma: Vijay is the founder and CEO of Paytm and he began his journey as an angel in 2010 with a seed-stage investment into Indian crowdfunding platform Milaap, and has since made investments into 40 other companies including Evenflow, GOQii, Unacademy, FloBiz, and Hiver. #10 Ratan Tata: Ratan Tata began his journey as an angel investor in 2014 as a lead investor in Snapdeal and has since added another 39 companies to his portfolio, including GOQii, CarDekho, YourStory, Ola, Paytm, Urban Company. #9 Anand Chandrasekaran: Anand is a partner at American VC firm General Catalyst, and his journey as an angel started around 2014. He has invested in Indian startups like Mudrex, Pesto Tech, Evenflow, SuperK and Oye Rickshaw. #8 Jitendra Gupta: Jitendra is founder and CEO of Jupiter, and he began his investing journey in 2015 and he's added 45 other companies to his portfolio including Open, FarMart, Captain Fresh, and Dukaan. #7 Binny Bansal: Binny started xto10x Technologies to mentor young entrepreneurs and help them scale their startups. His investments include Acko, Curefoods, SigTuple, Unacademy, NIRAMAI, Superplum, Magnifi, and more. #6 Rohit Bansal: Rohit is one of the co-founders of Snapdeal, and he now has 56 companies in his own personal portfolio. It includes companies like Mamaearth, Nat Habit, Bira91, Open Secret, Bewakoof, and Flyrobe. #5 Ramakant Sharma: He began his entrepreneurial journey back in 2012 when he co-founded Zing Ecommerce, and he's invested in 61 companies so far, including Toothsi, Convin, Captain Fresh, Trell, Rupifi, and Wiz Freight. #4 Kunal Bahl #3 Anupam Mittal #2 Rajan Anandan #1 Kunal Shah

In this video, we take a look at India's journey to 100 unicorns, from it's first ever startup unicorn in 2011, in the form of inMobi, to neobanking startup Open becoming 100th unicorn in 2022. The term 'unicorn' was created by American VC and entrepreneur Aileen Lee in 2013, she took all of the U.S.-based software companies that were started in or before 2003 and had achieved a valuation of $1 billion through public or private market investors, and put them in a club: the Unicorn Club. In India's case, it's unicorn journey started in 2011, when InMobi, a company that was founded in 2007, became a unicorn. Following this, Flipkart became a unicorn in 2012, Mu Sigma in 2014 and then Ola in 2014. Snapdeal also became a unicorn in 2014, but they have since exited from this club due to their valuation falling below $1 Billion. Companies like Quikr, Hike and Shopclues also fall in this category. Then we have companies who have been since acquired and also bags the question that should they be counted as unicorn today? Flipkart is an example here, which was acquired by Walmart. Then you have startups like Billdesk, which was bought by PayU, PhonePe getting acquired by Flipkart and BigBasket, which became a unicorn in 2019 and were acquired by Tata Digital in 2021. All this while, India's unicorn growth was pretty slow but steady till 2017, when Jio launched its 4G services, and this brought a mobile internet revolution in the country. From 1 unicorn in 2017, India saw 10 unicorns in 2018: B2C unicorns included Swiggy, OYO, BYJU'S, Policybazaar, Paytm Mall, and Phonepe, and B2B unicorns included Rivigo, Freshworks, Billdesk, and Udaan, which was the fastest company to become a unicorn at the time - it took them just 26 months. Then, in 2019, things slowed down a bit, with just 7 unicorns that year: in the B2C category were Ola Electric, Lenskart, Dream11, Delhivery, and BigBasket, and in the B2B category were Incertis and Druva. In 2020, COVID increased people's reliance upon the internet, and host of Indian e-commerce startups like Firstcry, Cars24, and Nykaa became unicorns. Facilitating these online payments resulted in fintech companies like Razorpay and Pine Labs also achieving unicorn status. B2C startups like Verse Innovation (Dailyhunt), ed-tech startup Unacademy, fintech startup Zerodha, and SaaS startup like Zenoti and Postman also became unicorn in the same year. 2020, was followed by an even bigger year in terms of unicorns in 2021, when 44 Indian companies became unicorns. This year saw 11 E-commerce startups (Spinny, OfBusiness, Moglix, Mensa, Meesho, Mamaearth, Licious, Infra.Market, Good Glam Group, GlobalBees, Droom), 11 Fintech startups (Zeta, Slice, Mobikwik, Groww, Digit, CRED, Coinswitch Kuber, CoinDCX, Chargebee, BharatPe and Acko) becoming unicorns. Then we have 5 enterprisetech and SaaS startups (Mindtickle, MapmyIndia, Gupshup, BrowserStack, Apna), 4 health startups (Cure.fit, Innovaccer, Pharmeasy, Pristyn Care), 4 consumer service startups (Blinkit, CarDekho, Rebel Foods, Urban Company), and 3 edtech startups (Eruditus, Vedantu and Upgrad) also becoming unicorns. Other 2021 unicorn categories include Media and Entertainment startups MPL and sharechat, Logistics startup Blackbuck, Traveltech startup Easemytrip , Real Estate startup Nobroker, and Manufacturing startup Zetwork. Talking about where where these startups coming from, they were all from tier 1 cities. Bangalore is leading this list with 39 unicorns, NCR region with 32 unicorns, mumbai with 16, Pune with 6, Chennai with 5 and Hyderabad with 2. Now we are halfway in 2022 and we have already produced and now it seems that by 2025, India will have upwards of 250 unicorns. So that will be exciting to watch and we will continue to track all of this in our upcoming episodes.

Ilona van Wegen werkte voor Heineken, zat in het venture capital en vergaderde tot voor kort in de bestuurskamer van Google Nederland. Ze stopte daar om GetEase te starten, een app waarmee consumenten dienstverleners als een yogaleraar en masseur aan huis bestellen.Een marktplaats waarmee je thuis een massage, manicure, yogasessie, opruimsessie of andere lifestyle-dienst boekt. Zulke concepten zijn in bijvoorbeeld Azië al groot (Gojek, Urban Company), maar in Europa staat dit nog in de kinderschoenen, De startup ging een paar maanden geleden van start in Amsterdam, met uitbreidingsplannen voor de rest van Nederland.In deze aflevering hebben we het over compagnons; wat zijn de complementaire karaktereigenschappen, en wat mist er nog in de skill set.  branding: hoe bouw je een brand, hoe trek je de aandacht met een gelimiteerd budget en hoe gaan klanten over tot koop.10x denken: hoe werken je hersenen anders wanneer je altijd 10 keer groter denkt, en hoe kan dit jouw bedrijf veel sneller veel verder brengen.Veel luisterplezier met deze nieuwe aflevering!Gerhard te Veldegerhard@groeivoer.nlWil je meer Groeivoer? Dat kan op de volgende manieren!1. Even linken! Zijn we nog niet verbonden met elkaar? Voeg mij, Gerhard te Velde, dan toe op LinkedIn. Ik leer je graag kennen!2. Live kennismaken.  Ben je ondernemer met personeel en wil je met gelijkgestemde ondernemers in contact komen? Ik organiseer elke maand een bijeenkomst met mijn Groeiclub voor Ondernemers. Als je interesse hebt om een keer deel te nemen, laat dan je gegevens achter op http://www.groeivoer.nl/bel-mij-terug/3. Groei.club - de communityIk nodig je graag uit om je in te schrijven voor een gratis account op groei.club. Je maakt daar een Groeiplan op 1 a-4, kunt gratis trainingen volgen, inspiratie video's vinden die nergens anders te vinden zijn en in contact komen honderden andere groeiondernemers.4. Groeiplan op 1 a-4.Wil jij een glashelder en concreet Groeiplan maken voor je bedrijf? Volg dan mijn gratis groeiplan training op groei.club.Voor meer informatie over Groeivoer, ga naar de website of neem contact op via info@groeivoer.nl en 030-2072333.

Ilona van Wegen werkte voor Heineken, zat in het venture capital en vergaderde tot voor kort in de bestuurskamer van Google Nederland. Ze stopte daar om GetEase te starten, een app waarmee consumenten dienstverleners als een yogaleraar en masseur aan huis bestellen.Een marktplaats waarmee je thuis een massage, manicure, yogasessie, opruimsessie of andere lifestyle-dienst boekt. Zulke concepten zijn in bijvoorbeeld Azië al groot (Gojek, Urban Company), maar in Europa staat dit nog in de kinderschoenen, De startup ging een paar maanden geleden van start in Amsterdam, met uitbreidingsplannen voor de rest van Nederland.In deze aflevering hebben we het over compagnons; wat zijn de complementaire karaktereigenschappen, en wat mist er nog in de skill set.  branding: hoe bouw je een brand, hoe trek je de aandacht met een gelimiteerd budget en hoe gaan klanten over tot koop.10x denken: hoe werken je hersenen anders wanneer je altijd 10 keer groter denkt, en hoe kan dit jouw bedrijf veel sneller veel verder brengen.Veel luisterplezier met deze nieuwe aflevering!Gerhard te Veldegerhard@groeivoer.nlWil je meer Groeivoer? Dat kan op de volgende manieren!1. Even linken! Zijn we nog niet verbonden met elkaar? Voeg mij, Gerhard te Velde, dan toe op LinkedIn. Ik leer je graag kennen!2. Live kennismaken.  Ben je ondernemer met personeel en wil je met gelijkgestemde ondernemers in contact komen? Ik organiseer elke maand een bijeenkomst met mijn Groeiclub voor Ondernemers. Als je interesse hebt om een keer deel te nemen, laat dan je gegevens achter op http://www.groeivoer.nl/bel-mij-terug/3. Groei.club - de communityIk nodig je graag uit om je in te schrijven voor een gratis account op groei.club. Je maakt daar een Groeiplan op 1 a-4, kunt gratis trainingen volgen, inspiratie video's vinden die nergens anders te vinden zijn en in contact komen honderden andere groeiondernemers.4. Groeiplan op 1 a-4.Wil jij een glashelder en concreet Groeiplan maken voor je bedrijf? Volg dan mijn gratis groeiplan training op groei.club.Voor meer informatie over Groeivoer, ga naar de website of neem contact op via info@groeivoer.nl en 030-2072333.

In today's video, we look at top 10 Indian startups based in the Delhi-NCR region. #10 Rivigo: In 2014, Deep Garg and Geet Kalra set out to make the profession of truckers more humane and address the growing need of truck drivers in the country by starting Rivigo. The company's innovative relay trucking model not only helps its drivers to go home to their families every day but also makes deliveries for their customers much faster. It is no surprise that Rivigo has become a unicorn and continues to enjoy the support of its investors who have pumped in $268.7 million. #9 GlobalBees: Founded by Edelweiss' former President Nitin Agarwal and FirstCry's co-founder Supam Maheshwari in 2021, GlobalBees invests in and acquires D2C brands that they believe have massive growth potential. GlobalBees then uses their own expertise to help these brands scale their business, turning them into highly successful portfolio companies. #8 MamaEarth: Founded by Ghazal Alagh and Varun Alagh in 2016, Mamaearth is a D2C babycare brand that sells toxin-free babycare products. Today, they have expanded their toxin-free product portfolio to enter the adult personal care market as well. In FY21, Mamaearth's revenue grew 4X to reach ₹461 crore. #7 Pristyn Care: Founded by Garima Sawhney, Harsimarbir Singh, and Vaibhav Kapoor in 2018, Pristyn Care is trying to innovate in India's fragmented healthcare market, and they're focusing on the surgery space specifically. By partnering with around 500 hospitals and clinics – Pristyn Care handles a patient's entire healthcare journey, from doorstep pickup and drop, finding them the right doctor, completing hospital paperwork, getting a diagnosis and submitting insurance documents, and then finally post-surgery recovery and home delivery of medicine. #6 Spinny: Founded by Ganesh Pawar, Mohit Gupta, Niraj Singh, and Ramanshu Mahaur in 2015, Spinny started as an online classifieds platform for buying and selling used cars. However, they soon realised by putting control over the quality of the cars in the hands of sellers, the customer experience on their platform was suffering for buyers. #5 Urban Company: Founded by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra in 2014, Urban Company is India's largest homes services marketplace. The company has a network of more than 35,000 home service professionals. They have also expanded beyond India to countries UAE, Australia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. #4 BharatPe: In 2018, Ashneer Grover joined Bhavikkumar Koladiya and Sashvat Nakhrani to build BharatPe, a solution to the problems that merchants had been facing. By leveraging India's UPI, they were able to launch an interoperable UPI-based QR code – allowing merchants to accept UPI payments from any digital payments provider, and the best part was they didn't have to pay any commission for accepting these payments. #3 Cars24: Founded by Gajendra Jangid, Mehul Agrawal, Ruchit Agarwal and Vikram Chopra in Gurugram in 2015, Cars24 was created to organise the highly fragmented used car market in India. They did this by making it easy for customers to sell used cars on their platform. Cars24 inspects the vehicle, settles on a fair price, and then they handle the documentation, all in less than an hour. #2 Delhivery: Founded by Bhavesh Manglani, Kapil Bharati, Mohit Tandon, Sahil Barua, and Suraj Saharan in 2011, Delhivery is India's leading logistics company with a more than 20% market share in the e-commerce delivery space. #1 OYO: Founded by Ritesh Agarwal in 2013, Oyo Rooms is India's hospitality unicorn that had expanded rapidly to international destinations before shrinking operations due to the pandemic. So far, OYO's investors have poured $3.1 billion into the startup.

Peter Kalmus, a NASA scientist who studies biological systems and climate change, and three others were arrested in Los Angeles on Wednesday after chaining themselves to the doors of a Chase Bank office building, Business Insider reports. JPMorgan Chase has invested more money in fossil fuels than any other bank, according to a 2020 report from the Sierra Club and other climate advocacy organisations. In addition to calling for immediate action to address the climate crisis, the protestors were calling for the bank to divest from coal, oil, and gas, according to Insider. The actions of Kalmus and his companions were part of more than a dozen protests staged in cities across the globe this week. This week's protests followed the release of the United Nations' latest climate report. Amazon is planning to object to the results of the election where workers at a New York warehouse voted to organise with the Amazon Labor Union, according to a deadline extension request the company filed with the National Labor Relations Board, according to The Verge. Infosys and Rolls-Royce yesterday inaugurated their joint ‘Aerospace Engineering and Digital Innovation Centre' in Bengaluru. This centre has been established to provide high-end research and development services integrated with advanced digital capabilities to Rolls-Royce's engineering and group business services from India. Infosys and Rolls-Royce have agreements on strategic collaborations over the next seven years, India's second-biggest software services company said in a press release. Elevation Capital, the early-stage investor that has backed startups such as Swiggy, Paytm, Urban Company and Meesho, has closed its eighth, and largest, India-dedicated fund at $670 million, Economic Times reports. Elevation will look to deploy the money over the next three years. Unacademy, an ed-tech unicorn that was valued at $3.4 billion last year, has laid off around 1,000 employees in the past few weeks, Economic Times reports. These include on-roll staff and teachers on contract. Around 600 people were fired last week as Unacademy, backed by investors including Softbank Group and Temasek, looks to cut costs amid an impending slowdown in venture funding. Instoried, a user-friendly, intuitive web platform designed to help people craft empathetic and more effective written content, has signed an agreement with GEM Global Yield, an alternative investment group for a share subscription facility of up to $200 million, to be drawn at the option of the company, for a 36-month term following a public listing. Omega Seiki Mobility and Log9 Materials have teamed up to deploy 10,000 3-Wheeler Rage+ Rapid EVs in Tier II and III markets of India over the next two years. Supporting these 3W EV Cargo Loaders will be Log9's InstaCharging stations that charge a 3W completely within 35 minutes, Log9 said in a press release. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

First, Indian Express' Associate Editor Shubhajit Roy talks about the significance of External Affair Minister S Jaishankar's visit to Maldives and Sri Lanka, and its highlights so far.Next, Indian Express' Mallica Joshi explains how a recent bill introduced in the Lok Sabha could give the Central government even more control over Delhi (10:20).And in the end, Indian Express' Soumyarendra Barik tells us how service startup companies like the Urban Company are planning to sell their own products to customers (18:58).

Suppose you're a marketer or have a marketer friend/colleague. During an event like IPL or Diwali, you need to get 100+ variations of creatives with 20-30 sizes for each, within a few days and not weeks, so that you can test campaigns on multiple platforms at the earliest. However, traditional software is time-consuming, especially if you have a small design team with limited bandwidth. Our guest, Satej Sirur, Founder & CEO, Rocketium, solves this for 1200+ brands like Bigbasket, cult.fit, Groww, Meesho, Supr Daily, Urban Company, and many more across 95+ countries.During the episode, Satej talks about how customers differentiate between them and Adobe, the fundamental principles he focuses on to include in Rocketium's culture, and much more.Notes - 00:52 - Initial Intro05:13 - Pivoting in early years of Rocketium09:50 - Metrics around ARR & Customer base11:31 - Customers comparing Rocketium to Adobe18:07 - Company building: Attracting the best talent22:36 - Principles in Rocektium's work culture25:51 - What's 8-4-5? 28:02 - Framework while setting internal metrics30:07 - Playbook behind International expansion33:45 - Importance of deeply knowing who your users are39:08 - Fundraising journey: Finding the right investor

This week in Indian startup news, Ola Electric is planning to build a battery cell manufacturing plant, Ashneer Grover resigns from BharatPe, Urban Company announces PSOPs worth Rs 150 crore and Scaler acquires AppliedRoots for $50 million. In funding news, Niyo raises $100 million, Perfios raises $70 million, Pocket FM raises $65 million, Filo raises $23 million and Kuhoo raises $20 million. Ola Electric is planning to build a battery cell manufacturing plant: According to recent Reuters report, it looks like after building the world's largest electric scooter factory, Ola Electric is now planning to build its own battery cell manufacturing plant in India. The reports suggest that they might start by setting up a factory with 1 GWh capacity by 2023 and would eventually expand it to 20 GWh in the next 3-4 years. Ashneer Grover resigns from BharatPe: Ashneer's resignation comes merely a week after her wife Madhuri Jain Grover was sacked from BharatPe. And while Ashneer has claimed he and his family are innocent in all this, BharatPe's board has accused him and his wife of doing financial fraud. Even though Ashneer is no more associated with the day to day workings of BharatPe, he is still the largest individual shareholder in the company with 9.5% stake. Urban Company announces PSOPs worth Rs 150 crore: On-demand home and beauty services provider Urban Company has introduced what it is calling PSOP (Partner Stock Option Plan) worth ₹150 crore. PSOPs are just like ESOPs but instead of giving stock options to employees, Urban Company is giving them to the gig workers and service professionals working with Urban Company - whom they call partners. The company said that they are yet to figure out how these stock options will be disbursed and redeemed but they plan on executing their PSOPs in the next 5 to 7 years. Scaler acquires AppliedRoots for $50 million: Edtech startup Scaler, which offers upskilling courses to college students and tech professionals, has acquired an online learning platform Applied Roots in a stock and cash deal worth $50 million. Niyo raises $100 million: Neo banking startup Niyo has raised $100 million in a round led by Accel and Lightrock India to launch new products in the lending and insurance space and to fund their inorganic growth through acquisitions. Perfios raises $70 million: Fintech startup Perfios has raised $70 million in a round led by Warburg Pincus and Bessemer Venture Partners to fund the acquisition of other companies and meet their capital expenditure requirement. Pocket FM raises $65 million: Indian language audio streaming platform Pocket FM has raised $70 million in a round led by Goodwater Capital, Naver and Tanglin Venture Partners. Filo raises $23 million: Live tutoring platform Filo has raised $23 million in a round led by Anthos Capital to onboard 200,000 tutors in the next 12 months and conduct 2 million live classes daily. Kuhoo raises $20 million: Online student loans platform Kuhoo has raised $20 million in a round led by WestBridge Capital.

The reality is that remote work can be difficult, especially when it comes to team collaboration and communication. Face-to-face communication is hard enough, but it's much harder while working from home. In this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we sit down with Suhail Vadgaokar, Head of People at dezerv. - a technology-led platform that helps people grow their wealth.Suhail joined ITC hotels as a management trainee to be a chef. But during his training, he found more interest in a customer-facing role. He went on to manage F&B operations, and then eventually Sales. Post his tenure at ITC, he joined the Urban Company, an early-stage company that is now a unicorn. He helped build the customer experience operation, brand, and people function.We discuss with Suhail:Evolution of employee wellness programsKey learnings that will drive people strategies in the year 2022Barriers to organizational learning programs and how to overcome themCornerstones of building an inclusive and high-performing digital work cultureHere are some of the sneak peeks of the eye-opening insights shared in the conversation: Evolution in employee wellness programsSince the pandemic, employee wellness has seen some evolution. Focus has moved to rural psychological safety. Organizations are giving people the opportunities and avenues to get the right psychological and medical care.What are some of the challenges faced while delivering a great employee experience?One of the challenges would be the occurrence of natural bias considering a hybrid environment. A manager would be able to bond better with a person they meet every day over a person they meet virtually. This will also affect the results of performance reviews. It's important for HR functions to align closely with the business in order to understand the business and people strategy.What are some of the barriers to organizational learning programs? How to overcome them?Learning has become the biggest driver to join a company, followed by culture and compensation. Leaders need to clearly communicate the importance of learning and pushing one's own limits to the team. Giving time and space to get some external learning can improve performance.Follow Suhail on LinkedIn.Produced by: Priya BhattPodcast Host: Nikita Chowdhary 

Who's the Fairest documents the surprise ending to this season: the wave of protests by beauty care workers in India in late December 2021. We talk to a journalist who covered the protests about how the women found each other, why they organized, and how they are facing unprecedented company intimidation. We also continue our interview with Palak Shah of the National Domestic Workers' Alliance about new strategies for collective action in the US. The season closer also asks what we all can do to support these workers, and a more fair care economy. Guests: Soumyarendra Barik, Indian Journalist and Palak Shah, National Domestic Workers' Alliance Resources: La Alianza (National Domestic Workers Alliance) Follow Soumya's reporting on Twitter: @iamsoumyarendra and check out his December 2021 article about the Urban Company protests. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thegig-podcast/support

The ubiquitous foot-soldiers of India's thriving internet economy are discontented. We're talking about your Ola/ Uber cab drivers and Swiggy/ Zomato delivery partners.  Some of them are now tasked with delivering your bread and milk in just 10 minutes! But as a recent report by the Fairwork Foundation, in collaboration with the Oxford Internet Institute has found the earnings of these app-based platform workers or gig workers in India have declined over the last two years. That's owing to the withering of incentives offered by companies and a reduction in take-home earnings due to a surge in out-of-pocket expenses. The Fairwork India Ratings 2021: Labour Standards in the Platform Economy, now in its third year of publication, serves as an indictment of the work conditions for this growing class of unorganised workers. This year, the report ranks 11 Indian startups which engage contract gig workers. It scores them out of 10, based on their performance against five principles, namely: Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management and Fair Representation.  Notably, Ola's score has come down from 2/10 in 2020 to zero in 2021. This is, at a time, when it has become notoriously difficult to get a cab driver to accept your ride request on Ola platform. Uber has also slipped from one to zero. And Urban Company, which topped the list in 2020 with a stellar score of 8/10, has slipped three-points to five. We reached out to Ola, Uber and Urban Company to understand the reasons behind the fall in their scores, but didn't receive any responses. So, we asked the lead investigator for Fairwork in India, Professor Balaji Parthasarathy.  The decline in Urban Company's score has coincided with ongoing protests by its beauticians.  The first protest was in October last year, as beauticians complained against Urban Company's commissions of up to 30%-35% per job. Urban Company responded with some concessions, one of them being reducing its highest commission for beauty service professionals to 25% from 30%.  However, last month, Urban Company's beauticians again held a protest outside the company's Gurugram office. Their complain was about new work policies, which would have beauticians pay a subscription fee upfront to get ‘gigs' through Urban Company's portal. Beauticians would also have to take a minimum number of jobs each month, thus reducing their gig work flexibility.  This time, Urban Company responded to the protest by suing the protesting beauticians. This remains the first such instance of an Indian gig company suing its own workers.  At the heart of the growing discontent with gig work is the fact that this new model of work hasn't lived up to its core promises. Startups in the ride-hailing and food delivery sectors attracted their first bunch of gig workers with the promises of good pay and work flexibility. By paying these workers per task or ‘gig', companies did away with the burden of having to provide them with social security and other standard employee benefits.   However, wages have reduced over time, and gig work has become a permanent gig for Ola/Uber cab drivers and Swiggy/ Zomato delivery partners. Several testimonies in the Fairwork reports over the last three years highlight how most workers have to work 12-16 hours to make ends meet. And yet, they enjoy little in terms of social security that any employee would get.  A PIL in the Supreme Court by the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT) seeks the classification of gig and platform workers as ‘unorganised workers' under the Unorganised Workers Act, 2008. This would entitle them to benefits such as provident fund, health and maternity benefits and old age protection.  This, even as the Centre has come up with the Code on Social Security which recognises gig and platform workers.  A counter-view to the criticism of gig work conditions in the Indian platform economy, is t

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.

Now and again, news regarding the harsh working conditions of individuals who work for platforms like Urban Company, Zomato or Swiggy comes to light. And recently, over 50 female partners working with home services venture Urban Company, protested outside their offices in Gurgaon on 22 December, demanding better pay, safer working conditions and social security. However, the company responded to these protests by filing a lawsuit against these women for their “illegal protests.” But the issue of compensation, working conditions and social welfare is not isolated to one company or one protest but its about the working conditions within the gig economy itself. This sector is booming in India with a report by ASSOCHAM, which is a non-govt trade association and advocacy group, stating that over 130 million people are working for these platforms and that this industry will grow to $455 billion by 2024. And with the pandemic crippling the economy and companies trimming their staff, in the past two years, many more have turned to the gig economy as a source of employment where these platforms promise “flexibility” as opposed to traditional work systems. But there is a dangerous flip side to working in this sector, with non-existent social security, complete lack of benefits as compared to a traditional workforce. So with millions of workers employed in this sector, how are these constraints affecting them? And is this gig economy creating a scope for labor exploitation? Guests: Gunjan Chowdhury, one of the Urban Company protestors Rajendra Chaddha, a former spa therapist working for Urban Company Shaik Salauddin, the National General Secretary of the Indian Federation Of App Based Transport Workers (IFAT) Shahana Bhattacharya and Archana Agarwal, members of the People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) Vakasha Sachdev, The Quint's legal editor Host and Producer: Himmat Shaligram Editor: Shorbori Purkayastha Music: Big Bang Fuzz Listen to The Big Story podcast on: Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng Castbox: http://bit.ly/2VqZ9ur

With so many Indian startups achieving unicorn status in 2021, the situation begs an answer to the question:  # Is this growth sustainable or are we in a bubble?# What does this mean for foreign and Indian investors? #What does this mean for the next decade of VC and Startups? To understand this better, in today's episode, we've brought Anjali Bansal, founder of Avaana Capital, that invests in innovation-led start-ups creating sustainability and impact at scale while delivering outsized returns. Previously, Anjali has been Global Partner and MD with TPG Growth PE and a strategy consultant with McKinsey and Co. in New York. She's also the former non-executive Chairperson of Dena Bank, where she successfully led the resolution of the stressed bank.She has invested in and regularly mentors various successful start-ups including Delhivery, Nykaa, Alpha Vector, Lenskart, Urban Company, Darwinbox, Coverfox and FarMart.She is closely associated with NITI Aayog's Women Entrepreneurship Platform and Digital Solutions and is on the Expert Advisory Committee for the Start Up India Seed Fund Scheme. She has been appointed as President, Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and serves as an independent director on several leading boards including Tata Power, Kotak AMC, and Piramal Enterprises.During the episode, Anjali talks about the volatility in the Indian startup ecosystem, the opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors; she also shares learnings from her portfolio and much more.Notes - 00:40 - Intro and background02:55 - Working at ISRO and early career04:59 - Ideology behind Avaana Capital08:22 - Is the Indian startup ecosystem in a bubble?17:21 - Common patterns and learnings from the winners20:50 - Mistake: Investing in the idea and not the team22:44 - Ability to move quickly as a fund34:49 - Learnings from early-career at Mckinsey36:29 - Potential in Indian startups41:01 - What all she prefers to read on a daily basis

In this Episode, I (@Jivraj Singh Sachar) speak with Prashanth Prakash, Partner at Accel India. Accel Partners India is one of the most accomplished institutional venture investors of our ecosystem. Accel has funded ground-breaking Indian ventures including the likes of BookMyShow, MuSigma, Flipkart, Freshworks, Swiggy, BrowserStack, Moglix, Urban Company! Through the episode we discuss - 1. (2:14) : The Accel Ideology of Investing ~ Having a Prepared Mind! 2. (05:05) : The Freshworks Deal for Accel

Raghav went to study in the US not knowing what to expect. Living there was an entirely new experience for him. Even simple things like purchasing groceries had some technology involved for increased convenience. He worked in the Bay Area as a software engineer at emerging startups including Yelp & Twitter. After 2 years, he realized the world outside SF was full of opportunities, with many problems yet to be solved, and decided to come back to India. Having witnessed the era of emerging marketplaces like Airbnb, Uber transforming the US service sector, Raghav wanted to do something similar. He started his first business in the ride-hailing space which didn't work out. After a few months, he met Abhiraj & Varun at dinner through a common friend. The 3 of them discussed startup ideas late into the night and arrived at creating a marketplace for gig workers. Thus, Urban Company was born. Being in a highly competitive space with 60+ startups at one point in time, UC eventually emerged as the leader owing to its focus on quality user experience and mission to empower the workforce. Today, UC has 32000+ trained professionals and has served over 5M happy customers. For more visit: ajuniorvc.com/podcast

This week in Indian Startup News, Dream11 suspends operation in Karnataka after an FIR, Women partners of Urban Company protest against ‘unfair work practices', Zostel asks SEBI to suspend OYO's IPO, BharatPe-Centrum gets small finance bank license from RBI, Swiggy to test social commerce with Swiggy Bazaar, MobiKwik's IPO approved and becomes a unicorn, Unacademy's Graphy acquires Spayee for $25 million and Bounce acquires Twenty Two Motors. In funding news, CarDekho raises $250 million to become a unicorn, Hubilo raises $125 million, Open raises $100 million and Fraazo raises $50 million. Dream11 suspends operation in Karnataka after an FIR: Last week, apart from Dream11 all other fantasy gaming platforms had suspended their operations in Karnataka after the state's ban on games of chance. After an FIR was filed against Dream11's founders, even Dream11 has now stopped operations in Karnataka. Women partners of Urban Company protest against ‘unfair work practices': More than 100 women beauticians working with Urban Company went on protest against the startup due to ‘unfair work practices'. After hearing out their complaints against high commissions charged by the startup and high penalty for not completing their mandated 30 jobs, Urban Company has slashed their commissions to 25% for high ticket orders and reduced the penalty by half to Rs 1,500. Zostel asks SEBI to suspend OYO's IPO: After Oyo filed for IPO, Zostel has written to SEBI – requesting the regulator to stop their IPO. According to Zostel, since Oravel's capital structure is not yet final, so Oravel's filing of the DRHP under these circumstances is illegal. BharatPe-Centrum gets small finance bank license from RBI: Four months back, BharatPe-Centrum consortium had received an ‘in-principle' approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a small finance bank. Their joint venture has now been granted the final license by the RBI – this is the first time RBI has granted a banking license in the last six years. Swiggy to test social commerce with Swiggy Bazaar: According to media reports, Swiggy is looking to enter the growing social commerce space with the launch of Swiggy Bazaar in the coming months – which is expected to pilot in Bengaluru and Gurugram. MobiKwik's IPO approved and becomes a unicorn: SEBI has approved MobiKwik's Rs 1,900 crore IPO and the fintech startup also turned after their secondary funding round led by Mathew Cyriac (former Blackstone India head). Unacademy's Graphy acquires Spayee for $25 million: Unacademy's Graphy has acquired a SaaS-based platform Spayee that allows creators to build and sell their online courses in a deal worth $25 million. Bounce acquires Twenty Two Motors: Dockless scooter rental startup Bounce has acquired EV startup Twenty Two Motors – to enter the EV space. This acquisition will help Bounce to launch their own electric scooters – which are expected to launch by November. CarDekho raises $250 million to become a unicorn: Online used car marketplace CarDekho has raised $250 million in a round led by LeapFrog Investments – making them a unicorn at a $1.2 billion valuation. Hubilo raises $125 million: Virtual and hybrid events platform Hubilo has raised $125 million in a round led by Alkeon Capital. Open raises $100 million: Open, a neobanking platform for SMEs and startups, has raised $100 million in a round led by Temasek to add more banking products to their portfolio and expand to global markets. Fraazo raises $50 million: Fraazo, a D2C platform for fresh vegetables and fruits, has raised $50 million in a round led by WestBridge Capital to help them expand their business to new geographies

Boss babes, women in business, female founders and entrepreneurs this episode is for you! This episode is an interview with Modern Entrepreneur Lauren Warwick, the Co-Founder of former beauty app Glamazon which was acquired by Urban Company in 2020. Together we discuss the realities surrounding start-up life as a female founder in a male dominated industry including the many personal sacrifices involved, in addition to how everyone's version of success is different which is why it's so important to "chase your bliss" and live life your way regardless of how challenging it might be.  GUEST LINKS: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lauren__warwick/      https://www.instagram.com/urbancompany_au/ W: https://www.urbancompany.com/sydney If you have an episode idea, DM me on Instagram @single_at_thirty or join the Single at Thirty closed Facebook group to become part of the community where together with other like-minded Modern Women we publicly air the uncomfortable and the unspoken. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's video, we take a look at the top 10 Indian startups that went international. #10 FreshToHome: Founded by Mathew Joseph and Shan Kadavil in 2015, FreshToHome is an online platform that delivers fresh meat. They are now delivering more than 1.5 million orders every month across 28 Indian cities. In 2019, they even expanded internationally to UAE and now plan to make their way to Saudi Arabia as well. #9 Cult.Fit: Founded by Ankit Nagori and Mukesh Bansal in 2016, Cult.Fit had managed to open more than 200 fitness centers across India by 2019. In 2020, after the pandemic swept the world, Cult.Fit was forced to shut down some of their centers but that gave them the opportunity to go international by offering online classes to their users in the US. #8 Moglix: Founded by Rahul Garg in 2015, Moglix is a B2B e-commerce platform that enables businesses to buy equipment and supplies like industrial power tools, chemicals and metals. Apart from operating in India, they also export their products to over 54 countries. #7 Cars24: Founded by Gajendra Jangid, and Mehul Agrawal, Ruchit Agarwal and Vikram Chopra in 2015, Cars24 is a used car marketplace that lets you sell your car through their online auction platform to one of their 10,000 channel partners. Today, they are selling more than 15,000 cars every month. In 2021, they expanded their reach to countries like Australia and the UAE. #6 Urban Company: Founded by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Raghav Chandra and Varun Khaitan in 2014, Urban Company is essentially the Uber or Ola for home service professionals. Today, Urban Company has more than 35,000 professionals offering services to 5 million customers across 35 cities in India. They started their international expansion in 2018 to reach UAE, Abu Dhabi, Australia, Singapore. #5 Lenskart: Founded by Amit Chaudhary, Peyush Bansal and Sumeet Kapahi in 2010, Lenskart is an omnichannel eyewear retailer that has expanded their offline presence to more than 750 stores across India. They first went international by opening their first store in Singapore in 2019 and today they have more than 25 stores in the country and are among the top three players. #4 Ola Cabs: Founded by Ankit Bhati and Bhavish Aggarwal in 2010, Ola Cabs is one of India's leading cab aggregators with more than 1.5 million driver-partners completing over 1 billion rides every year. The startup went global in 2018 by launching in Australia and New Zealand and the UK in 2019. #3 Oyo: Founded by Ritesh Agarwal in 2013, Oyo became the world's fastest-growing hotel chain after it managed to get over 43,000 hotels under its brand across 80 countries in just six years. The hospitality startup had to shut down operations in multiple countries and had to fire hundreds of employees during the pandemic to make their business sustainable. #2 Paytm: Founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma in 2010, Paytm is gearing up for India's largest-ever IPO. While Paytm is a well-known digital payments startup in India, they also have operations across countries like Canada, Japan and Bangladesh. They have raised $4.4 billion from the likes of SoftBank, Alibaba and SAIF Partners for their international ambitions. #1 Byju's: Founded by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath in 2011, Byju's is the world's most valuable edtech startup. The edtech giant has been acquiring startups at an astronomical pace and not all of that acquisition was restricted to India. They acquired Osmo, Epic and WhiteHat Jr to build Byju's Future School to launch in countries like the US, Australia, the UK, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico.

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In this episode of Breaking Changes, Postman Chief Evangelist Kin Lane welcomes Raghav Chandra from Urban Company to talk about the role of APIs in delivering a gig marketplace and establishing a scalable, evolvable, and opinionated microservices approach.

In this Episode, I (@Jivraj Singh Sachar) speak with Harsh Singh, Co-Founder of Pristyn Care. Pristyn Care is one of India's leading healthcare startups, which is transforming the way patients undergo surgeries. Pristyn is slowly becoming the gold standard for patient experience, having reached this point by handcrafting the experience from end to end by doing things that do not scale and bringing operational excellence in the process. Through the Episode we discuss the following - 1. (02:24) : Understanding Harsh's love for Entrepreneurship & How he kept at it! (Three Unsuccessful Attempts at Starting up --> Operator Experience at Urban Company --> Pristyn Care) 2. (09:36) - The Founding Story of Pristyn Care!! - Problem Solving - Listening Carefully - Incredible Execution 3. (19:48) : What's the secret to achieving Operational Excellence and delivering a sublime Patient Experience? - Doing things that don't scale - Technology as an Enabler, Ops at Core - Core hands-on Culture 4. (29:11) : How does Pristyn imbibe strong cultural videos that ensure that the team thrives? - Absolutely knowing what to look for - Hiring the right people who fit the Culture (Culture > Talent) - Codify, Express & Reiterate Pristyn Values: • Extreme Ownership • Doers - In the trenches • Collaboration • Patient Obsession • Integrity 5. (41:33) : How do you deal with exponential growth & ensure it becomes repeatable whiles retaining high-standard quality? - Developing playbooks and executing those ingrained plans with perfection 6. (49:15) : What does success mean for Harsh? - Ingrained happiness by being able to build Pristyn! 7. (55:09) : How does Harsh make decisions? - Build a great team - Make sure you know what you're doing 8. (61:20) : What would Harsh go back and tell his 20-year old self in terms of Starting Up? - Don't do it because your friend is doing it! - Learn to Persevere - You are never bigger than yourself 9. (66:00) : Conclusion Here is the 58th Episode of the Indian Silicon Valley Podcast - Handcrafted! That was it from this Episode, thanks again for tuning in! :) We're available on Instagram & Twitter. Feel free to drop in your feedback! Do not forget to Subscribe to our WhatsApp Newsletter. Do share the Episode with your friends if you liked the content :) I, Jivraj, am reachable on LinkedIn & Twitter! "If you never try, you never know" Stay Tuned, Keep Building.

India's gig economy has the potential to add over 90 million jobs to the economy and add 1.25% to India's GDP. To share more insights on the gig economy and consumer platforms, we had Abhiraj Bhal, Co-founder of Urban Company, on our Hindustan Hamara session on Clubhouse, hosted by Vani Kola, MD of Kalaari Capital.Hindustan Hamara focuses on conversations with the shapers of India's digital future. Every session we talk to individuals who are shaping the future of India's digital innovation landscape. For more updates on our sessions, follow Kalaari on Clubhouse: bit.ly/KalaariClub If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/podcast 

VC Holdings has signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire some of IDreamSky's SaaS-related software and the entire issued share-capital of Dream Impression Holdings, IDreamSky's indirectly owned subsidiary, in an $11.23 million deal (HK $87.32 million).Obviously AI, a no-code platform helping people without a technical platform build and run AI models, has announced an extension of its $3.6 million seed round that it raised in May this year. With the close of this extension round, led by a deep tech investment firm, University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC), the company's seed funding raised to $4.7 million.ExpenseOut, Infiniti Software Solutions' flagship product, has been reintroduced by the company, which provides travel technology service. The product scans invoices automatically and assesses them for accuracy, policy compliance, and legitimacy using artificial intelligence. The program offers options for accurately collecting and reimbursing mileage data using GPS.Antler India has provided early-stage funding to PeakPerformer, a leadership development company. As it builds its AI platform and expands its client base, the funds will be used to hire engineering expertise. PeakPerformer is a tech-enabled executive development platform that helps companies upskill their executives at all levels.TWID, a rewards-based payment network, has raised $2.5 million in a round led by BEENXT and the Surge Fund of Sequoia Capital India. The firm, which is located in Singapore and India, links clients with merchants to pay using points earned through a “Point Issuer” scheme. Surge's fifth batch of 23 companies includes TWID, which has developed unique digital solutions to assist businesses and individuals.In a pre-Series A financing led by IIFL Securities Capital Enhancer Fund, Leegality, a platform for document execution, received an undisclosed sum. The additional funds will be used to recruit more individuals in critical roles, speed up product development, and expand the company's operations. Leegality's e-sign, e-stamp, and document processing technology, launched in 2016, enables Indian businesses to sign and manage documents.MyMobiForce, an AI-powered crowdsourcing platform, has raised ₹10 crores ($1.42 million) in a pre-Series A funding round led by Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund, reports state. The round witnessed participation from angel investors led by Manu Iyer of Bluehill Capital, Acsys Investments, and Ashutosh Agrawal (ex- Urban Company).

Telling my Mum I was gay | Mother and son | brought to you by Urban Company I was fortunate enough to sit down with my friends Kris and Mat to hear their story. Kris and Mat are a Mama Son duo, who have known me since I was a little girl. Today, Mat identities as a gay man and in this episode we dive into their joruney as mother and son. Download the Urban Company app today and use the code UNITED15 for $15 off Follow me over on the gram @zoeyoungmama I'll be back in your ear's next Thursday ✌️

In Episode 3 of Summit Series, Mridul Arora (Partner, Elevation Capital) speaks to Abhiraj Bhal (Co-founder and CEO, Urban Company) on the journey of building a global home-services company out of India. Urban Company was founded in November 2014. In less than seven years, the company has delivered 25 million+ home services and empowered 35,000+ service professionals to run their own businesses across varied categories, such as beauty, cleaning, plumbing, carpentry, and appliance repair. In Part 2 of this episode, Abhiraj speaks about the evolution of his leadership style and the culture of data transparency at UC, how bar raisers positively influence the team, and why it is important for him to take UC public.

Home services marketplace Urban Company said on Wednesday it has raised $255 million in a new financing round and confirmed a valuation of $2.1 billion, joining over a dozen other startups in India that have earned the unicorn status this year.

Edtech platform AdmitKard has announced its plan to future increase its plans to increase its talent pool by 100 percent.  Leading Direct to Consumer home appliance brand Candes has raised $3Million from various marquee family offices of Delhi. This includes the investment from Anuraag and Ruchirans Jaipuria along with Lotus group Joint MD, Nitin Passi, and Redcliffe's Dheeraj Jain. Kale Logistics has raised $ 5Million in series A round funding led by Inflexor Ventures in participation from its existing investors Eyewear retailer ClearDekho has announced its plan to open more than 200 stores and expand across 100+ cities by the end of this fiscal. Blue Ashva Capital has invested $ 4.5 Million in Greenjoules a Pune-based green energy technology through its Blue Ashva Sampada Fund. Urban Company announced the appointment of Amit Das as Vice President of Design & Research, and Rishabhdhwaj Singh as Vice President of Engineering respectively. Dhurina Ventures Private Limited, an e-Learning platform for state and regional competitive exams announced their expansion in Jammu & Kashmir.  That's it from today's news briefing headlines. And to access more interesting news articles and interviews log onto techgraph.co --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techgraph/message

It's Wednesday, June 9th, and this is a morning update from TechGraph. Capital Float has raised Rs 50 crore in debt for a period of 3 years from Triodos Microfinance Fund , and Triodos Fair Share Fund, financial inclusion funds managed by Triodos Investment Management. Stride Ventures has led a debt round of Rs 25 crore in India's leading digital healthcare platform MeddiBuddy. Urban Company, has today announced to  onboard more than 100 engineers in FY2022. Fullerton India Credit Company Limited has today announced the appointment of Deepak Patkar as its Chief Risk Officer, where he will head the Risk, Collections, Information Security, Legal, and Analytics function. India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation has announced the appointment of Mr. Sumit Chadha as Chief Information Officer. That's it from today's morning headlines. To access more interesting news articles and interviews log onto techgraph.co  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techgraph/message

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

This week in Indian Startup News, WazirX launches India's first NFT marketplace, RBI clarifies that crypto trading isn't banned, Delhi allows online delivery of alcohol, Nykaa's IPO plans, Dunzo to deliver medicine using drones, Infra.Market acquires Equiphunt, Byju's acquires HashLearn and xto10x acquires Dockabl. In funding news, Delhivery raises $277 million, Urban Company raises $255 million, OfBusiness in talks to raise up to $150 million and Mensa Brands raises $50 million. WazirX launches India's first NFT marketplace: India's largest cryptocurrency trading platform WazirX has launched India's first NFT marketplace- enabling artists to sell NFTs on their platform using their own cryptocurrency. RBI clarifies that crypto trading isn't banned: Some good news for the cryptocurrency investors as RBI has released a new circular clarifying that banks cannot cite their 2018 circular which banned crypto trading as it was quashed by the Supreme Court last year. However, they still want banks to be cautious. Delhi allows online delivery of alcohol: Delhi government has allowed online delivery of alcohol from apps and websites but it might still be a while before it becomes reality and online delivery startups like Swiggy, Zomato and Dunzo start delivering alcohol in the city. Nykaa's IPO plans: Falguni Nayyar led omnichannel beauty retailer Nykaa is expected to IPO this year – raising anywhere between $500-700 million at a $4.5 billion valuation. Dunzo to deliver medicine using drones: Dunzo has partnered with the Telangana government for their ambitious ‘Medicine from the sky' project to help them deliver medicine to remote parts of the state using drones. Infra.Market acquires Equiphunt: A marketplace for real estate companies to procure construction materials Infra.Market has acquired a majority stake in a contruction equipment rental startup Equiphunt for $10 million. Byju's acquires HashLearn: Byju's has acquired a subscription-based on-demand tutoring platform HashLearn to strengthen its position in the test-preparation segment. xto10x acquires Dockabl: Binny Bansal's xto10x which helps startups in scaling their business efficiently has acquired an HR-Tech startup Dockabl to offer a performance management tool to track and enhance the productivity of employees. Delhivery raises $277 million: Logistics startup Delhivery has raised $277 million in a round led by Fidelity and GIC at a $3 billion valuation and it is expected to go public this year. Urban Company raises $255 million: On-demand home services startup Urban Company has raised $255 million from Prosus Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group and Wellington Management. OfBusiness in talks to raise up to $150 million: OfBusiness is in talks with SoftBank to raise up to $150 million at a $1.2 billion valuation – making it a unicorn.

In Episode 3 of Summit Series, Mridul Arora (Partner, Elevation Capital) speaks to Abhiraj Bhal (Co-founder and CEO, Urban Company) on the journey of building a global home-services company out of India. Urban Company was founded in November 2014. In less than seven years, the company has delivered 25 million+ home services and empowered 35,000+ service professionals to run their own businesses across varied categories, such as beauty, cleaning, plumbing, carpentry, and appliance repair. In Part 1 of this episode, Abhiraj speaks about his journey of transitioning from consulting to the start-up world, his advice to founders on fundraising, Urban Company's value system, and global aspirations, and more. He also talks about how TAM for a category-defining company will always be an open question.

Leading today's briefing is news that Urban Company, a tech-enabled home services marketplace, plans to go public in the next 18-24 months after it announced a fresh $255 million funding round Wednesday. Also in the programme, Clubhouse hires FB's Aarthi Ramamurthy; Locus raises $50 million; and Probhir Roy Chowdhury, a partner at the law firm J Sagar Associates, says cryptocurrency regulation in India will take time, but there is a groundswell of expectation that a ban won't happen

Anand Agrawal is the Co-founder and CTO of Credgenics - India's leading recovery and technology-enabled debt collections platform; servicing 7 Banks, +40 NBFCs and fintech platforms. Ethically reducing the massive bad debts for the clients and ultimately the Indian fiscal scene, they are powered by Accel Partners, Westbridge Capital, Tanglin, Titan Capital and boast of progress in AI and Machine Learning. Anand is an IIT-Delhi alumni with a strong Computer Science background and gained experience as a Lead in the data science team of 1MG and Urban Company.

Last fortnight, Urban Company raised $190M, propelling it to become a $2Bn unicorn, a record-breaking 13th for 2021. Join us for a behind-the-scenes peek at the A Junior VC piece "Can Urban Company Makeover India's Gig Economy?" Article Link: https://ajuniorvc.com/urban-company-clap-services-unicorn-gig-economy/ More info on: ajuniorvc.com

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

This week in Indian Startup News, Ola to set up the world's largest two-wheeler EV charging network, Tvasta builds India's first 3D printed house, Zomato files for IPO, Indian startups fight against COVID19, CCI approves BigBasket-Tata deal, Lenskart acquihires DailyJoy and Instamojo acquihires Showman. In funding news, OneWeb raises $550 million, Urban Company raises $190 million, upGrad raises $120 million, Stanza Living raises over $100 million, ElasticRun raises $75 million, Bizongo raises $51 million and LEAD School raises $30 million. Ola to set up world's largest two-wheeler EV charging network: Ola is setting up the world's largest two-wheeler EV charging network – Hypercharger Network. Their Hypercharger Network will consist of 100,000 charging points across 400 cities – expected to be completed in the next five years at an estimated cost of $2 billion. You will only be able to charge Ola's electric scooters at their hypercharger network and they will be able to charge the electric scooters up to 50% in just 18minutes – giving a range of 75 km. Tvasta builds India's first 3D printed house: Tvasta, a startup by three IIT Madras alumni, has built India's first 3D printed house. This is a 1 BHK house with a built-up area of 600 square feet. It demonstrates the ability of 3D printing in bringing down the time of building houses from 4-5 months to just 5 days but also reducing the cost by 20-30%. Zomato files for IPO: Indian food delivery startup Zomato has filed for the IPO – on track to becoming the first Indian unicorn to go for IPO. Through the IPO, Zomato will be raising $1.1 billion - $1 billion in fresh offering and $100 million coming from Info Edge selling their shares. Indian startups fight against COVID19: A bunch of Indian startups are working to fight the second wave of COVID19 – Delhivery is flying chargers to bring Oxygen concentrators into India, dating app TrulyMadly is using their matchmaking algorithm to match plasma donors with patients, NoBroker is organizing doorstep vaccination drives and MapmyIndia is installing free GPS devices in vehicles that are suppling essential medical equipment. CCI approves BigBasket-Tata deal: CCI has approved the acquisition of BigBasket by Tata Digital – as Tata looks to build their own Super App. Lenskart acquihires DailyJoy: Lenskart has acquihired Hyderabad-based grocery delivery startup DailyJoy to strengthen their Hyderabad tech centre. Instamojo acquihires Showman: Instamojo has acquihired vernacular content startup Showman to strengthen its tech and product capabilities. OneWeb raises $550 million: Satellite internet company OneWeb has raised $550 million from Eutelsat Communications after launching 36 more satellites into space. The company now has 182 out of 648 satellites in space for their constellation. Urban Company raises $190 million: On-demand home services provider Urban Company has raised $190 million at a $2 billion valuation – making it India's 11th unicorn this year. upGrad raises $120 million: Edtech startup upGrad has raised $120 million from Singapore's Temasek in their first external funding round. Stanza Living raises over $100 million: Student housing startup Stanza Living has raised more than $100 million in a round led by Falcon Edge. ElasticRun raises $75 million: ElstaicRun has raised $75 million in a round led by Avataar Ventures and Prosus Ventures to help neighbourhood stores in securing working capital and inventory. Bizongo raises $51 million: B2B platform for packaging products Bizongo has raised $51 million in their Series C round to expand into the Southeast Asian markets. LEAD School raises $30 million: Edtech startup LEAD School has raised $30 million in a round led by GSV Ventures and WestBridge Capital.

The guest for our 101st episode of 100xEntrepreneur is Abhishek Asthana, Founder, Ginger Monkey, and the man behind one of the most followed accounts on Twitter, @GabbbarSingh with 1.3 Million followers. He is amongst the few who have transitioned from an engineer to a successful marketer. He has been the brains behind some of the marketing campaigns at AirAsia, Bounce, Durex, and Urban Company among others.It was in 2019 when he decided to help companies with their branding and marketing strategies by founding Ginger Monkey. In this episode, catch Abhishek talking about starting GingerMonkey, working with AirAsia, Durex India, Urban Company, and much more. For anyone looking to explore digital marketing, this conversation would be of great value. From building an audience by tapping your creative side, to building a brand for a D2C company to reach your customers, this podcast will guide you through it all.Notes - 01:39 - Abhishek's journey as an engineer03:28 - Corrupted by Twitter04:21 - Getting featured in Outlook while doing his MBA06:37 - Founding GingerMonkey as a first-gen Entrepreneur08:02 - Taking calculated risk while setting up the business09:17 - Key milestones of GingerMonkey's journey11:12 - “We don't have a BD team, our clients are our BD team. It's a complete word of mouth.”16:39 - Viral campaigns for Schindler - Getting Ankur Warikoo & Ranveer Allahbadia19:17 - Creating and going viral with @GabbbarSingh on Twitter21:43 - “If you're not able to monetize your hobby, it will die.”32:02 - Indian D2C brands leveraging digital marketing38:18 - Branding without burning money on advertising44:12 - Reaching out to early adopters being a new D2C brand

Our guest for the 100th episode of 100x Entrepreneur Kunal Bahl is best known as the co-founder of Snapdeal & Titan Capital.He co-founded Snapdeal back in 2007 along with his high school friend Rohit Bansal. It initially started as a daily deals platform but soon expanded to become one of the largest online marketplaces in India. Over the years, Kunal has mentored and invested in several early-stage entrepreneurs. In 2011, he decided to formalize it by setting up Titan Capital. Titan Capital has invested in the likes of Ola, Urban Company, Mamaearth, and Bira among others.In this episode, catch Kunal talking about starting Snapdeal, guiding and investing in early-stage founders, having the drive to keep going as an entrepreneur, and much more. For anyone looking to explore entrepreneurship, this conversation is worth its weight in gold. From learning from your own mistakes & failures to keep going even when you want to give up your entrepreneurial dream, this podcast will guide you through it all.Notes - 01:43 - Launching Snapdeal after getting H1-B Visa rejected03:59 - Pivoting from coupons marketplace to a marketplace for physical products05:17 - “Identifying the type of businesses Rohit and I like to build”12:01 - Why not fearing being wrong/failing is important13:29 - “Our greatest powers will come from our greatest wounds”15:04 - What drives Kunal even after 13 years as an entrepreneur18:29 - Tectonic shifts in the Startup ecosystem over the last decade26:42 - Investing in D2C companies; Beardo, Mamaearth, & OZiva, etc39:02 - Investing in Urban Company based on their customer-first approach43:32 - Investing in companies prior to Product-Market Fit 51:48 - Starting up as an Angel Investor and eventually setting up Titan Capital56:59 - What has changed for Kunal after becoming a parent

The one thing we've all missed in many many months is our urge to step out and have our home-services, personal-care services in place but Urban Company, formerly Urban Clap, has changed this dynamic around. And their layered technology works its way through customer satisfaction, insights and more. In this episode we talk to Raghav Chandra, CTO, Co-founder Urban Company about his journey at Urban Company, previously with Twitter, and more. Host: Priyanka Ganwani Producer: Priyanka Ganwani Editor: Dhiresh Thakur Creative Lead: Siddharth Alambayan Catch Season 01 of How They Did It if you haven't already! https://in.mashable.com/podcast/

In this Episode, I speak with Raghav Chandra, Co-Founder of Urban Company. Raghav and I speak about Building an Institution for the future, a dream many aspiring Entrepreneurs hope to achieve. Urban Company is the largest services startup of the Country serving million consumers of customers with presence in 4 Countries, over 20 cities, managing over 30,000 blue collar workers via an organisation of 1300 Employees! Urban Company is known for its precision in terms of service, great culture and constant hustle towards a higher mission. Raghav testifies to all of it, sharing the learnings and insights they've gathered over the years. Through the Episode we touch upon a host of things including: 1. The Role of Culture in building an Institution 2. How should Founders go about Fundraising 3. The importance of a strong sense of Why & Mission 4. Streamlining workflow and aligning with the vision 5. Dealing with the hard problems and not shying away from them 6. Building for the Future and transforming a great organization to an Institution. Tune in to find out! Time Stamps (Coming Soon) We're available on Instagram & Twitter. Feel free to drop in your feedback! Subscribe to our WhatsApp Newsletter! I, Jivraj, am reachable on LinkedIn & Twitter!

In this episode of the #KalaariPodcast, Abhiraj Bhal, Co-Founder and CEO of Urban Company, shares his learnings and insights on:1. Leveraging ESOPs to instill ownership, purpose and #innovation 2. Common pitfalls to avoid while hiring star performers 3. Mental framework to constantly evolve one's #leadership styleWhen it comes to #startups, there is no fast track to #success. Almost all startup teams go through a variety of crises and challenges Behind The Scenes. Having been a part of many startup journeys over the last decade at Kalaari, we believe that there are valuable lessons to be gained from the journeys of others. These episodes from Kalaari come from our continued commitment to empower and encourage #entrepreneurship.If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us, podcasts@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/podcast

Designers that inspire trust in their customers also inspire repeat purchases and lasting business relationships. If your customers trust what you have to say and if the designs you are producing feels credible and reliable, they are more likely to view your company as an authority. And that's why we interact with Rohan Verma, Director of UX design at Urban Company, in this episode. He pushes for quality and delight throughout the service journey for customers and partners, which fuels business growth with impact to bottom-line with user-centered design. Let's know more about his journey and experiences in the latest episode of "Avantika Designeering Series," "Designing Customer Trust." You can connect with Rohan on Twitter @ridder_mark. Don't forget to subscribe to our show and share your comments on ads@avantika.edu.in

Kunal is the Co-Founder and CEO of Snapdeal.com, one of India's largest e-commerce companies. In its journey till now, Snapdeal has partnered with several global marquee investors such as Softbank, Alibaba, Foxconn, BlackRock, Temasek, eBay Inc, Mr. Ratan Tata, Mr. Azim Premji, among others. Kunal is an engineer from the University of Pennsylvania, with a business degree from The Wharton School. At the University of Pennsylvania, he was part of the prestigious Jerome Fisher Management and Technology Program. He was named The Economic Times Entrepreneur of the Year 2015, which is the most prestigious entrepreneurship award in India. He also featured in the 2014 Fortune Global 40 under 40 list and was the recipient of The Wharton Young Leader Award 2018. Kunal and his co-founder Rohit Bansal, now invest in early stage startups in India through Titan Capital. Some of their investments are Ola Cabs, Razorpay, Bira91, Urban Company, Mamaearth. More about Titan Capital on https://titancapital.vc.

Podcasts have been one of the ways we try to bring out untold stories of startup founders. Continuing with this tradition, we at Accel are excited to introduce our new podcast mini-series: Untold Seed Stories. This new show aims to unravel the first 500 days of our founders' startup journey — ranging from how they first conceived the idea and met their co-founders, to details of how they secured their first funding and challenges along the way. For the second podcast of our Untold Seed Stories, we chat with Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Co-founder and CEO of Urban Company. (Gurugram-based home services marketplace that offers services in cleaning, painting, spa & beauty, plumbing, carpentry and so on.) Now having its centers in 22 cities across India, Singapore, UAE and Australia and Singapore, Urban Company boasts of 30,000+ service partners and more than 10,000 beauticians.

EP22: Solving for the services at home segment, 10 millions downloads and $175M fund {Raghav Chandra, Co-founder & CPO of Urban Company} On this episode I chat with Raghav Chandra, co-founder of Urban Company, formerly called Urban Clap, where we discuss building products for millions of engaged users and creating a unique platform that now serves major markets in India and globally. We chat about 1. Building a product for the clients and service providers, 2. Owning the supply by standardizing service & vertical integration 3. The 5 pillars of the products to creating value, and 4. Learning the ukulele during lockdown — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — → Don't forget to subscribe to the Newsletter via stars.substack.com so that you can receive future podcast releases delivered to your inbox! → We also have a coffee giveaway that's still open from EP20! All you have to do is sign up the Newsletter & tag me & the Podcast on social media of your choice, Linkedin / Instagram/FB wherever! Just these 2 things for you to win a bag of coffee from BlueTokaiCoffee! And possibly a Zoom chat with Matt, co-founder of BTC! — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — "We're not tied to any category, it gets pulled down if it doesn't work" "Bookings weren't working, we gave up 50% of the then business to focus n things that worked" Co-founded in 2014 by Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan, and Raghav Chandra, the startup has so far served over five million households across 14 cities in India, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Vadodara, and Visakhapatnam. In the last five years, it also has expanded to Australia, Singapore, and the UAE. UrbanClap is backed by investors like Steadview Capital, Vy Capital, SAIF Partners, Accel and Bessemer Venture Partners and it currently has more than 25,000 individual service professionals (ISPs) on the platform across the seven verticals comprising of services such as beauty, spa, grooming, repairs, cleaning, painting, and fitness and yoga. This episodes Video can be found on YouTube Stay Safe - V (@varunvummidi) Timeline: 03:00- Genesis of the product 05:41 - Validation of the idea 07:07 - Launching the MVP 10:46 - JustDial vs UrbanClap 14:17 - Building Product 15:08 - Directly owning the Supply 18:27 - Standardizing Service & vertical integration 20:29 - UC Fulfilled & the 5 pillars of the product 22:38 - UC similar to a franchising business 24:50 - Build for Supply & for Clients 27:23 - "Semi-literate" Supply using the app 29:58 - Influence of Yelp & Twitter 34:23 - Process of Category creation 36:27 - Killing categories 40:32 - Launching subscriptions 43:10 - Saying no to aggregators controlling supply on the platform 44:18 - Going International 46:20 - Stakeholders in the UAE market to deliver a service 47:43 - 175 million USD war chest 50:32 - Consumers are "Divinely Discontent" 53:40 - COVID & plans for growth

In this episode, we speak to Nikhil Yadav. He is currently working at Gojek as a Product Designer. He has previously interned at UrbanClap (now Urban Company) and has graduated from IIT Roorkee in Production and Industrial engineering. #gojek #uiuxdesign

Lauren Warwick is the Co-Founder of Glamazon which was recently acquired by Urban Company. Lauren shares all about her journey from her initial idea of Glamazon, her startup journey and growth, joining forces as a Co-Founder with someone who was a competitor in the space, to then going through the sale process leading to acquisition and how it feels now being employed again.

Listen hereSpotify                                                        Apple                                            SoundcloudHow are Indian Startups dealing with the COVID-19 situation?This is a special podcast episode that deals with the tough situation that the world is facing today amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and features how the startup ecosystem in India is responding to it.We have 4 guests on the podcast this time around:  Vivekananda Hallekere, CEO & Co-founder of Bounce (two-wheeler scooter sharing solution operating in Bangalore & Hyderabad)  Abhiraj Bhal, Founder and CEO of Urban Company (managed market place for all kinds of home services) Suman Gopalan, Chief HR Officer of Freshworks (Software-as-a-Service company focused on customer engagement) Girish Menon, Head of HR, Swiggy (online food ordering and delivery platform)Podcast SummaryOur guests today represent startups employing over ten thousand employees and take out time from their schedule to share some of the best practices for dealing with the disruption to business operations. Vivek, Abhiraj, Suman, and Girish cover some of the most critical themes for business owners which include communicating within the organization and with the customers, prioritizing the health and safety of all stakeholders, planning for business continuity and dealing with challenges that come along the way. To learn more about how these leading startups are dealing with the COVID-19 situation, tune in to the latest episode of the Insights Podcast by AccelListen hereSpotify                                                        Apple                                            Soundcloud Notes -02:04 – Vivek on dealing with business continuity challenges at Bounce05:48 – Abhiraj on steps taken to continue Urban Company's business line10:24 – Suman on the steps they're taking at Freshworks globally15:12 – Limiting exposure vs. extreme measure at the cost of losing business20:45 – Best practices on communicating to customers21:58 – Girish on educating customers and 2 lakh + delivery executives at scale27:30 – Dealing with challenges in rolling out Business Continuity Plans for work from home35:24 – Keeping employee productivity in check38:40 – Impact of COVID-19 on business plan and runway