In the start-up world, hitting the $1-billion mark, which accords the "Unicorn" tag, is a milestone. Enterprises typically reach the milestone only by series C or series D, or three to four funding rounds later. Zeta achieved it at the first one. On May 25, the six-year-old banking tech firm raised $250 million from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, at a post-money valuation of $1.45 billion. "This is the first time we have raised institutional money," Zeta co-founder Bhavin Turakhia beamed on the conference call. This trajectory is uncommon in start-ups.
Everyday consumerables, such as grocery and order-in food items are the key buyout sector, analysts say, and a major reason for kirana stores' digitisation push.
Google is going ahead with a policy revision mandating 30% charge on in-app purchases across all apps on Play Store. This has left developers' community worried about tighter squeeze on their earnings, says Yuvraj Malik.
Indian firms selling SAAS products have got a bonanza as companies meet, manage and sell remotely. The top five firms - Zoho, Freshworks HighRadius, Druva, and Icertis - account for 33 per cent of the market share. Chennai, India's SAAS centre, alone generates $1 billion in annual revenue. Yuvraj Malik explains how these companies are planning their next phase of growth.
Chinese mobile brands are deeply entrenched in the Indian market. A move to bar them may send a bold diplomatic message. But its cost for the local industry is anybody's guess. In the event that Chinese brands face curbs, two handset makers - Samsung and Apple - squarely stand to gain.
'One good thing that has come out of all this is that it shown people that online ordering is the way forward.'
Its entry will increase competition especially when WhatsApp too has received approvals to launch payment service.
The two parties did not share the deal size but said MavenHive's two founders and 40-odd team members have joined the Bansal-owned firm. MavenHive was started by Bhavin Javia and Anandha Krishnan in 2012.
This September, Sachin Bansal picked 94 per cent stake in microfinance company Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services. His immediate plan is to scale up the company's operations as quickly as possible without making much investment in physical infrastructure and by leveraging technology.
The proposals are mostly based on a report submitted by Justice B N Srikrishna in July 2018. The draft Bill has since gone through at least two updates based on inputs received from industry, report Yuvraj Malik and Peerzada Abrar.
After posting double-digit growth for the fourth consecutive quarter, chief executive officer and managing director Salil Parekh tells Yuvraj Malik and Debasis Mohapatra that the firm is not facing any delay in ramping up of large deals.
Even at early stage, start-ups are raising more money faster owing to the rise of a lot of specialised early-stage VCs and emergence of seed-stage programmes.
Bansal has picked up a majority stake in Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services, a company which runs microfinance institution Chaitanya India Fin Credit.
While the Saudi drone strike has put the focus back on anti-drone measures, caution also stems from the fact that India has a number of large oil refining assets close to India-Pakistan border.
The Qatar Investment Authority deal follows Byju's raising money from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which was also the first direct investment by the Canadian pension fund in an Indian start-up. In March, Byju's had raised $540 million at a valuation on $5.4 billion, making it the most-valued ed-tech company in the world.
With razor-sharp focus on deliveries and customer experience, powered by strong in-house technology built ground-up, Swiggy is emerging as the food ordering platform of choice.
Valued at $5 billion, Byju's has seen growth sky rocket in the last two years on the back of mega VC top-ups.
Agriculture, social services, education, defence and so on will be brought into the digital fold and every gram panchayat will be connected to the internet.
'India has over 300 million online sports fans, of which over 60 million use fantasy sports as their primary tool for engagement with their favourite sport.'
'Young people are digital natives.' 'Hence, their ability to learn coding and to become a full stack engineer is far more.' 'The demand for such people is more as we feel that if we hire people from campuses, we can train them to become what we want.'
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances