Startups News

The humble millets are now popular as ‘superfood’ for their rich source of protein, fibre, minerals, iron, calcium and low g...

Masayoshi Son, Founder and CEO of Japanese investment group Softbank, on Monday warned unicorns and startups to prepare for a harsh and longer funding winter ahead, as the company posted disastrous results for the second straight quarter this year. In the earnings call after reporting $23.4 billion net loss in the June quarter, Son said that unicorn leaders "still believe in their valuations and they wouldn't accept that they may have to see their valuations go lower than they think".

Online higher education platform upGrad on Monday said it has raised $210 million (about Rs 1,670 crore) in a round that saw participation from ETS Global, Bodhi Tree, Kaizen Management Advisors and others -- at a time when the Indian edtech companies are busy sacking employees amid the ongoing funding winter.

Silicon Valley-based online trading app Robinhood has sacked 23 per cent of its workforce, just three months after the fintech platform reduced its headcount by 9 per cent amid the global economic turmoil. A 23 per cent reduction would amount to about 713 employees being laid off, leaving nearly 2,400 employees at the company, reports TechCrunch.

BharatPe’s founder Bhavik Koladiya has resigned from his position at the fintech company, a few months after Ashneer Grover was terminated from the company. The four-year-old has confirmed the development, saying Koladiya has been associated with BharatPe as an “Independent Consultant”. According to reports, Koladiya’s departure followed a disagreement between him and the company.

Higher edtech platform upGrad on Tuesday said it has acquired Exampur which is a test-prep provider for government jobs, for an undisclosed sum.

The ongoing funding winter has already caused a slowdown in the unicorn creation trend of India. Only four companies entered the billion dollar unicorn club in the April-June quarter of 2022, compared to 13 in the preceding January-March quarter. India had added 12 unicorns in the comparable quarter last year.

Bengaluru-based social commerce-focused technology platform for individual and small-sized sellers, Windo, on Tuesday said it has raised $1.5 million in a round led by Unicorn India Ventures. Rapido India’s CEO Aravind Sanka, Portea co-founder K Ganesh and CapriGlobal also participated in the round, along with a few other investors.

Founded by Sarosh Waghmar and Shikhar Agarwal, the platform has raised over $100 million in two years, doubling its employee to over 200 people and the majority of them work in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai.

Swiggy’s rift with its delivery workforce might be getting bigger in the coming week, and could affect its food and grocery orders. As many as 30,000 delivery partners, as Swiggy calls them, threatened to go on a strike in Bengaluru if their demands are not met by the end of this week, Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT) said.

Founded by Jhunjhunwala and Nikhil Naik, the ed-tech start-up raised $7.5 million in Series A funding.The company will use the funds to scale up and accelerate hiring across the teams in multiple geographies.It was recently listed by HolonIQ on its annual list of the 100 most promising EdTech start-ups from India & South Asia.

India is undergoing rapid digitization, transforming all areas of life including the way in which consumers find products, m...

Indian burger chain Burger Singh on Thursday said that it has raised ₹30 crore in a funding round led by Negen Capital, LetsVentures, Mumbai Angels, Old World Hospitality and singer Jasleen Royal. Existing investors RB Investments, Rukam Capital, KCT Family Office and V.M. SALGAOCAR family office based in Goa also participated in the Series A round, the company said.

The startup delivers diesel to MSMEs right at their doorstep for a minimum order of 100 litres – and can be ordered via an app.

Indian startups have laid off a little over 11,600 people in the last six months as the flow of capital is expected to remain...

Online interior design services startup Modsy has quietly shut operations and several customers have been left with unfinished renovations and project orders in process. San Francisco-based Modsy has abruptly ceased offering design services, laid off its designers and left its customers in disarray, reports TechCrunch.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal citing sources, payments giant Stripe, last valued at $95 billion, has cut the internal value of its shares by 28 per cent.

A dosa-making tava and relaunch of chapati -- iD fresh food has an aggressive expansion plan for this year. iD Fresh Food al...

Google-backed artificial intelligence (AI)-powered mental health app Wysa has raised $20 million to expand its presence across India and international markets like US and UK, the company’s co-founder Ramakant Vempati told Business Insider. The Series B funding round was led by HealthQuad, the company said on Thursday. British International Investment (BII) also participated in this round, along with existing investors Google Assistant Investments.

Some of India’s biggest entrepreneurs like WeWork India’s CEO Karan Virwani, CRED’s Kunal Shah, Mamaearth’s Varun Alagh, Droom’s Sandeep Agarwal and OfBusiness’ Nitin Jain have invested an undisclosed amount in real estate investment platform PropReturns on Tuesday. Gokul Rajaram, a board member of CoinBase and Pinterest, also participated in this round.

Edtech giant Unacademy would be shutting down its global test preparation business as it is not able to fund the right product market fit, the company’s founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal reportedly told employees on Monday, July 11. Munjal — in an internal note to employees — highlighted that Unacademy’s founders and top management will take pay cuts in order to accelerate its path to profitability and reduce cash burn.

Homegrown fresh food brand ID Fresh on Thursday announced its seventh round of employee stock option plan (ESOP) tranche for 27 employees. The company has granted ₹300 crore worth of ESOPs in the last six years. The company claims that these ESOPs have been distributed across functions and job roles. Nearly half of them are offered to the junior management, which also includes service staff.