Healthtech startup Cloudphysician has roped in Mandar Vaidya as its India chief executive officer.

Prior to that, Vaidya was regional the CEO at OYO for four years, where he led multiple geographies outside of India (Europe, SE Asia, Middle East, and Japan). He led profitable and transformative growth in these markets via a tech-enabled approach: building scale from India for the world. Additionally, Vaidya is an independent director on the board of Cipla Limited.
the company said in a statement.

With over 20 years of experience in driving global businesses and delivering transformative results, his (Vaidya’s) experience as a former partner at McKinsey & Co., where he led the healthcare practice in Asia and developed strategies for hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, will help Cloudphysician serve partner hospitals effectively and drive growth across India, it added.

Founded in 2017 by Dhruv Joshi and Dileep Raman, Cloudphysician, partners with hospitals to improve ICU and NICU care for their patients. Its unique Care Centre has AI-guided doctors and nurses 24/7; the Care Centrr collaborates with hospitals and their consultants to ensure better outcomes for patients. Cloudphysician has claimed to help manage care for over 1 Lakh ICU patients across more than 200 hospitals.

Recently, Cloudphysician raised $10.5 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from Elevar Equity and Panthera Peak.

“The healthcare landscape in India is evolving and there is a significant opportunity for tech-enabled solutions to establish sustainable models of care delivery. His rich experience and strategic approach to business development will help establish Cloudphysician as the preferred critical care partner, helping us expand our tech-driven solutions to over 5,000 hospitals,” Joshi and Raman said in a joint statement.

Incubated by ‘Google for Startups Accelerator: India’ in 2023, the startup raised $4 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round led by Elevar Equity in 2021. With the recent investment, Cloudphysician has become the latest addition to Peak XV’s healthtech portfolio, which includes Mosaic Wellness, Twin Health, Qure.ai, and Practo.

Overall, the Indian healthtech space continues to grow rapidly. As per an Inc42 report, the homegrown healthtech space is projected to be a $10.6 Bn market opportunity by 2025.

The post Cloudphysician Ropes In OYO Veteran Mandar Vaidya As India CEO appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Even as North India seethed under the sweltering sun, the capital-starved Indian startup ecosystem witnessed a pleasant June 2024 as funding levels recovered to some extent on the back of Zepto’s $665 Mn funding round. 

While the shoots of funding revival brought some respite, the road to recovery, in terms of funding numbers, still seems far. 

Notwithstanding the freefall in funding raised by Indian startups in the past one year, the world’s third-largest startup landscape is slowly climbing its way up, as investor confidence is coming back stronger than a ’90s trend.

Leading the charge of this turnaround from the front is the GenAI boom in the country, which has enticed both global and domestic VC and PE firms. Coupled with the emerging arena of cleantech and ever-growing direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands in the country, the Indian startup landscape appears well-poised to fuel the next stage of growth. 

However, profitability and sustainability still seem to be high on the agenda of investors. The 48th batch of ‘30 Startups To Watch’ is suggestive of the trend – nine bootstrapped startups, yet the whole cohort has raised around $30 Mn between them. What’s more, half of this month’s batch has raised more than $1 Mn in funding.

The June 2024 edition of ‘30 Startups To Watch’ is more mainstream than recent cohorts, with over 75% of the startups coming from India’s three major startup hubs: Bengaluru (13), Mumbai (6), and Delhi NCR (5). 

However, Pune and Ahmedabad also left their mark and incubated a clutch of new-age tech companies featured on the list. 

As we close the first half of 2024, we continue to keep an eye on some of the most interesting ventures nestling in India’s startup ecosystem. Without further ado, here is the 48th edition of Inc42’s ‘30 Startups To Watch’.

Editor’s Note: The list below is not a ranking of any kind. We have listed the startups alphabetically.

AbleCredit

AI To Write Custom Credit Reports

To address the credit gap in India and similar challenges in emerging economies, Utkarsh Apoorva, Harshad Saykhedkar, Ashwini Prabhu, and Anubhab Bandyopadhyay launched AbleCredit in 2023.

The startup is developing GenAI models to transform the underwriting process by generating detailed and tailored credit reports on a case-by-case basis.

The uniqueness of AbleCredit’s approach lies in its ability to assess creditworthiness within the informal sector. By analysing alternative data and adhering to stringent credit policies and guidelines, AbleCredit expands access to credit assessment for sectors typically overlooked by conventional methods.

By enhancing the speed of underwriting by over 20X and reducing operational costs, the platform enables credit teams to significantly increase their throughput.

A team that previously handled 10 loan cases per day can now manage over 120 cases efficiently. This efficiency accelerates the credit approval process and reduces the high underwriting costs that have historically hindered credit access in emerging markets.

In essence, AbleCredit’s innovative AI-driven approach is poised to bridge the credit gap in emerging nations, particularly in sectors like MSMEs where access to credit is critical for economic growth and job creation.

Asaya

Skincare Regime For Melanin-Rich Skin

The rise of direct-to-consumer (D2C) beauty brands in India has transformed the skincare industry with innovative solutions. One of these new brands is Asaya, a premium skincare line specifically designed for melanin-rich skin.

Launched in September 2023 by Neeraj Biyani, the cofounder of Paper Boat, along with Mandeep Bhatia and Eeti Sharma, Asaya has quickly made a mark in the market.

Asaya’s journey began when cofounder Sharma, at the age of 35, woke up with adult acne. Despite seeking expert advice and trying European products, Sharma found no relief. She realised that her dusky skin’s specific needs were missing from the skincare conversation and product formulations.

This insight led to the creation of Asaya, which focusses on deep hydration for hyperpigmentation, acne, lower moisture retention, oily skin care, and other specific needs of melanin-rich skin.

Asaya has rapidly expanded its sales and customer base, selling through its website and major online platforms like Nykaa, Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra. The brand offers over 11 products and 23 SKUs, catering to the unique needs of Indian skin, which structurally differs from the lighter skin tones prevalent in Western markets.

ATICA

Streamlining Hotel Ops

Founded in 2020 by hotel industry veterans Akash Goel and Bonish Gandhi, ATICA specialises in last-mile sales and revenue management, offering innovative solutions to streamline and enhance hotel operations.

At the core of ATICA’s offerings is its proprietary lead generation and CRM tool, which modernises traditional manual sales processes.

The company works in hands-on revenue management and reactive sales, including RFP management, ensuring hotels maximise their revenue from both brand and third-party websites.

ATICA has attracted substantial investment from Titan Capital and DLF. This is the third entrepreneurial venture of its founders, who bring a wealth of industry knowledge and insight to the company.

ATICA’s diverse client portfolio includes hotel owners associated with major brands like Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Hyatt, Choice, Wyndham, Best Western, and more.

Through expert sales management, strategic digital marketing initiatives, and advanced revenue management technology, ATICA delivers measurable results to help clients thrive in a competitive hospitality landscape.

Ayna

Fashion Photography Reimagined

Founded in 2023 by Yash Bansal and Aastha Rajpal, Ayna serves direct-to-consumer fashion and ecommerce brands by offering virtual photoshoots that save time, effort, and cost.

The platform lets brands create custom-built virtual models for their apparel and merchandise using inputs like mannequins, human models wearing the clothing, or designed backdrops. Brands can customise the age, ethnicity, size, and expressions of the virtual models, select suitable backgrounds, adjust lighting and mood, and establish brand profiles.

Ayna is developing a proprietary Compound Foundational Model specifically for the ecommerce industry. They charge based on usage and currently operate in India. Recently, Ayna raised $1.5 Mn in a funding round led by Inflexor.

In the short term, Ayna plans to expand into the US and grow its customer base to over 1,000 by 2024. By 2026, they aim to help global ecommerce players adopt AI, starting with virtual photoshoots, to drive exponential growth.

Benny

Shop With Screenshots

Founded by IIT Roorkee alumni Sanjil Jain and Nikhil Kumar, Benny is an AI-driven shopping platform that allows users to upload any image and instantly find matching apparel from over 160 leading online stores.

This AI-powered platform enables shoppers to compare prices, view delivery and return information, and access ratings and reviews for a wide range of products and brands. By simplifying the search process, Benny ensures users can find the perfect outfit without the hassle of typing descriptions.

Whether users come across an outfit on Instagram, Pinterest, or Netflix, Benny can display matching apparel from a vast array of online stores, including Amazon, Myntra, Ajio, Urbanic, and Newme. The platform’s search capabilities encompass over 11K fashion brands and millions of products.

The core of Benny’s model is its image-based search functionality. Users upload an image of the desired outfit and Benny’s AI technology scans its extensive database to find matching items from various online stores.

This allows users to compare different options and make informed purchasing decisions based on price, delivery options, return policies, and customer reviews.

Benny has already achieved significant milestones, crossing $20,000 in gross merchandise value (GMV) and earning a place in the prestigious Google for AI Startups programme.

By the end of 2024, Benny aims to reach 200K users and achieve $400K in total GMV. By 2026, the platform has ambitious goals of expanding to 2 Mn users, generating $20 Mn in total GMV and achieving $1 Mn in total revenue.

Blip

Blinkit For Fashion

Blip finds its genesis from Ansh Agarwal and Sarvesh Kedia’s fascination of creating a quick-commerce platform for fashion, similar to Zepto or Blinkit.

Founded in 2024, Blip is a hyperlocal quick-commerce platform that delivers clothes in 30 minutes. It partners with various brands specific to localities and operates a series of strategically placed dark stores to ensure quick deliveries.

In the near future, it plans to open retail stores that feature mid-level D2C brands, helping them enter the retail market more easily.

Blip also aims to strengthen its foundation and expand its reach by onboarding more retail brands. In the short term, it plans to cover all pin codes in Mumbai for rapid delivery and expand to other major cities like Bengaluru and Delhi.

By 2026, Blip has ambitious plans to diversify and grow. It intends to open offline showrooms for mid to large-scale apparel D2C brands, positioning itself as the “Shopify for offline retail”.

Blip also aims to become a logistics provider for D2C brands, enabling same-day delivery and streamlining the supply chain. Additionally, Blip plans to expand its marketplace and integrate with ONDC as a buyer app, enhancing the shopping experience and solidifying its market position.

CirclePe

Smart Rental Solutions

CirclePe, founded by Navan Jaiswal and Ankur Yadav, addresses the longstanding challenges tenants face with security deposits when renting properties.

Traditionally, tenants have struggled with hefty security deposits, arbitrary deductions, and delayed refunds upon moving out. CirclePe disrupts this norm with its innovative fintech solution, Smart Renting.

Through CirclePe, creditworthy tenants can move into rental properties without paying any security deposit. Unlike existing models like bonds and insurance, which face significant friction in cash-centric markets like India, CirclePe offers a seamless experience by providing landlords with advance rent for the entire lease term along with damage insurance coverage.

At the heart of CirclePe’s solution is its proprietary in-house credit assessment framework. This technology enables smooth checkouts, allowing tenants to move in without upfront deposits and pay their monthly rent using a no-cost EMI model.

In the next 12 months, CirclePe aims to assist over 10,000 tenants in securing rental accommodations without traditional security deposits.

Clientell

Your RevOps & CRM Dream Team

In 2021, Neil Sarkar and Saahil Dhaka noticed the fast growth of Revenue Operations (RevOps) in the US. They saw that sales and marketing systems were often separate and not integrated. While AI was making software more accessible, the user experience with Salesforce remained unchanged, making SaaS sales harder. This observation led them to create Clientell.

Clientell creates AI tools for RevOps that work with existing Salesforce systems. These tools simplify administration, improve go-to-market (GTM) efficiency, and reduce the workload of RevOps teams. Available on Clientell’s SaaS platform and in Teams/Slack, these tools are offered through a fixed monthly subscription with annual licences.

Clientell’s main products include AI-powered data capture,
on-demand analytics and Salesforce administration. Its revenue model is based on a monthly subscription fee. The startup has already launched its AI agent and Chrome plugin for beta users.

By 2026, it aims to launch a fully autonomous AI Salesforce developer to handle all manual RevOps tasks, potentially reducing RevOps teams to one person and replacing multiple SaaS solutions.

Distil

Your Partner For Speciality Chemicals

Founded by Atanuu Agarrwal, Karan Hirani and Viraj Shah, Distil aims to solve key challenges in the speciality chemicals industry.

With backgrounds in private equity, trade financing, and operational expertise, the founders share a vision to innovate and improve product quality and accessibility in the market.

Distil is an R&D-led platform, which offers custom formulations and manufacturing solutions to meet specific performance and regulatory needs for global manufacturers.

The startup uses advanced technology to streamline purchasing, ensuring consistent quality, varied quantity requirements, and reduced lead times and minimum order quantities (MOQs) through a robust network of stock points in India and international markets.

Its flagship offerings focus on consistent quality, tech-enabled purchasing convenience, on-time delivery, and strong after-sales support. Though its products are not patented, Distil operates on an inventory-based revenue model, primarily focussing on direct sales of speciality chemicals.

In 2024, Distil plans to expand its sales and R&D teams, develop proprietary products and establish a strong presence in the life sciences segment, including flavours, fragrances, food ingredients, pharmaceuticals, and personal care. By 2026, Distil aims to become a global leader in speciality chemicals.

Fourie

Democratising Engaging Content Creation

Fourie Studio, created by SyncSense, is a generative AI platform designed to change how content is localised globally. Named after mathematician Joseph Fourier, it helps businesses dub, subtitle, and narrate content in multiple languages, expanding their reach and impact.

Founded by Vibhor Saran in 2022, Fourie Studio excels in keeping the original emotion, tone, and context of the source material, ensuring that localised content connects well with diverse audiences. The platform supports over 30 global languages and offers more than 500 voices, making it useful for industries like education, media, entertainment, sports, and commerce.

The idea for Fourie Studio was inspired by the need to democratise content access. During the Olympic livestream events, the lack of localised content highlighted a significant gap in connecting digital content with regional audiences. This realisation led to the creation of Fourie Studio.

Using advanced AI technologies, Fourie Studio makes content transformation fast and cost-effective, delivering results in one-tenth of the time and at one-fifth of the cost compared to traditional methods.

Frammer AI

Helping Companies With Highly Discoverable, Monetisable Content

Arijit Chatterjee, Suparna Singh and Kawaljit Singh, former management team members at NDTV, have deep expertise in the news and publishing industry. Seeing the need for publishers to create high-quality short-form content to boost engagement and revenue on digital platforms, they launched Frammer.

The platform is changing the digital content game with its cutting-edge AI technology, designed to generate high-quality short-form content quickly and cost-effectively.

Frammer transforms any video into a format ready for various social media platforms, including YouTube and vertical video formats for Reels and YouTube Shorts. It works with both live stream and edited videos, ensuring high accuracy and editorial integrity in the produced short-form content.

Currently active in India, the US, and the UK, Frammer caters to the specific needs of publishers and media companies. So far, the company has secured three clients in India and is running advanced pilot programmes with major US media conglomerates.

In the upcoming year, Frammer aims to expand its client base by reaching out to more publishers and media companies. Looking ahead to 2026, Frammer has ambitious plans to serve all media content sectors.

Gravity

Hyper-Personalisation Banking Platform

Unlike consumer internet companies that provide personalised experiences, banks often fail to meet modern consumer expectations for tailored services. GRAVITY aims to help banks usher in an era of hyper-personalisation, enabling contextual curation of products and services at scale and speed.

Founded in Mumbai in 2023 by Satish Krishnaswamy and Rohit Maroo, former colleagues at HDFC Bank, GRAVITY addresses banks’ challenges in leveraging their vast amounts of data for personalised services.

The platform identifies the most relevant parameters for differentiating customer services and enables bank teams to build unique criteria tailored to each customer, enhancing personalisation and relevance.

Operating under a Platform as a Service (PaaS) revenue model, GRAVITY completed proof of concept (POC) projects with two reputed commercial banks in India.

It aims to implement its version 1.0 at 4-5 commercial banks in India this year, targeting a minimum revenue of $2 Mn in annual recurring revenue (ARR).

By 2026, the platform aims to introduce version 2.0, fully enabled with advanced AI and DeepTech capabilities, at 10-12 commercial banks in India and 4-5 overseas banks, and achieve a revenue of $10 Mn in ARR.

GreyLabs AI

AI-Powered Speech Analytics Platform

Founded in 2023 by Aman Goel and Harshita Srivastava, GreyLabs AI addresses the inefficiency and inconsistent performance of call centre agents in banks and financial institutions.

It provides a Generative AI-powered speech analytics platform that analyses every interaction between an agent and a customer.

This detailed analysis provides insights and identifies areas for improvement, boosting sales conversions, ensuring compliance in EMI collection calls, and enhancing customer service by ensuring agents follow call scripts and resolve issues effectively.

GreyLabs AI’s business model charges on a per-minute basis for processed recordings, with additional packages available on a per-agent, per-month basis.

GreyLabs AI operates in India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Recent milestones include signing two of India’s top ten largest banks and one of the largest broking firms as clients. They also secured $1.6 Mn in seed funding from Matrix Partners.

In the short term, GreyLabs AI aims to achieve $1 Mn in revenue. Their long-term vision is to reach an annual revenue run rate of $12 Mn by 2026 while maintaining profitability.

InstaAstro

E-Marketplace For Astrologers

Founded by Nitin Verma in 2021, InstaAstro offers a range of services, including horoscopes, tarot readings, and numerology. The platform caters to a broad audience with content available in English, Hindi, and various regional languages.

In just three years, InstaAstro boasts over 2 Lakh monthly app downloads and facilitates more than 50,000 minutes of consultations daily. Its annual recurring revenue (ARR) stands at $5 Mn, as claimed by the startup.

With a user base exceeding 5 Mn and over 20 Mn minutes of consultations in the past year, InstaAstro works with a network of 1,500 astrologers.

Looking ahead, InstaAstro plans to expand into spiritual ecommerce, daily Pooja services, and Reiki healing. With these offerings, the startup aims to enhance user engagement and strengthen the platform’s position as a comprehensive destination for spiritual and astrological guidance.

KarbonWise

Keeping Tab Of Enterprise Emissions

KarbonWise, founded by Arjun Vijayaragavan in 2023, tackles the critical challenge faced by enterprises striving for a ‘Net Zero’ future.

The platform combines advanced technology, climate science, and industry-specific expertise to help businesses achieve substantial carbon reductions and sustainable growth.

At its core, KarbonWise acts as a ‘sustainability co-pilot’, providing enterprises with a comprehensive view of their carbon and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) data.

This enables informed decision-making, strategic action planning, and streamlined compliance processes. By resolving data challenges and accelerating insights generation, KarbonWise guides businesses towards impactful sustainability outcomes.

Vijayaragavan’s vision is to help businesses overcome hurdles such as competing priorities, metric comprehension, and internal capability maturity in environmental action.

The startup aims to create ‘Net Zero champions’ whose sustainability efforts align closely with the overall business strategy.

With a track record of collaborating closely with over 70 enterprises, KarbonWise understands the complexities and constraints of the sustainability journey. By leveraging technology and providing personalised support, KarbonWise not only helps businesses survive but thrive in their pursuit of sustainable practices and environmental stewardship.

Krishigati

Electrifying The Future Of Indian Agriculture

Founded in 2021 by Sonali Weljali and Tukaaram Sonawane, Krishigati is an agritech startup that offers innovative solutions for modern precision farming. The company is dedicated to improving the lives of marginal farmers by providing sustainable and value-added products and services, aiming to reduce farming expenditures by 20-60%.

Krishigati’s flagship product, the self-propelled electric agricultural toolbars, is designed for versatile agricultural tasks in food-grain crops and specific vegetables. These toolbars can operate in fields with crop heights up to 2.5 feet and support various inter-cultivation activities such as precision seed sowing, weeding, pesticide spraying, and soil hilling.

The toolbars’ multi-utility architecture makes them suitable for a wide range of crops, including fruit farms, sugarcane, selective vegetables, and food grains, making them essential in key agricultural regions. By integrating cutting-edge technology and innovative design, Krishigati empowers small-scale farmers to achieve greater efficiency and productivity.

Maino.AI

Now, Accelerate Your ROI With AI-Led Marketing

Founded in 2022 by Abhijeet Kunwar, Rishabh Kumar and Vikas Kersi, Maino.ai addresses key challenges in digital marketing, such as the heavy reliance on manual processes and poor coordination among various marketing channels. These issues often result in inefficient ROI and missed opportunities for optimising campaigns.

To solve these problems, Maino.ai uses AI and ML to provide an automated, smart, and ROI-driven marketing technology platform.

This platform simplifies campaign management across multiple advertising platforms and continuously generates new creatives, ensuring efficiency and scalability for clients.

Maino.ai’s technology has been widely adopted by brands in various sectors, including media tech, direct-to-consumer brands, hospitality, and edtech. By offering a comprehensive solution for all marketing needs, Maino.ai aims to democratise marketing and help businesses of all sizes succeed in the digital age.

Mem0

Sharpening AI Interactions

Founded by Taranjeet Singh and Deshraj Yadav, Mem0 aims to revolutionise AI interactions by creating a sophisticated long-term memory system for Language Model (LLM) applications.

Taranjeet Singh, the CEO, brings extensive experience in software engineering and product management. He has played key roles at Khatabook and Paytm, witnessing the rapid growth of digital payment systems in India. His entrepreneurial journey includes co-founding EvalAI, an open-source platform for machine learning competitions.

Deshraj Yadav, the CTO, has extensive expertise in AI and ML. He has also led the AI Platform at Tesla Autopilot, developing scalable solutions for autonomous driving technology.

Mem0’s core innovation is its smart memory technology, which enhances LLMs with personalised user interactions. This memory system allows LLMs to remember past interactions across different applications and platforms, ensuring a seamless and personalised experience for users.

By offering APIs that enable developers to integrate this memory service into their products, Mem0 empowers AI applications to learn and adapt based on individual user preferences.

As AI evolves, Mem0 positions itself at the forefront of enabling advanced personalisation capabilities, making AI interactions more intuitive and effective across various domains and applications.

Metis

Intelligent Decision-Making For Financial Institutions

Founded in 2021, Metis Intellisystems specialises in intelligent decision-making using AI and ML for the BFSI sector.

Founded by Khushru F. Doctor and Amit Saraswat, the startup’s expertise in AI and ML enables it to create a comprehensive understanding of customers by cross-referencing diverse data sources, enhancing the precision of financial technology solutions.

Metis’ flagship platform, QANAT, uses AI and ML to analyse bank statements and GST data, cross-referencing information from sources like SMS, Bureau, ITR, and financial statements. It detects fraudulent transactions and processes statements from multiple banks, focussing on lending portfolio management — onboarding, risk assessment, early warning systems, and cross-selling.

The startup claims to have secured partnerships with domestic and international financial institutions. Metis has formalised arrangements with multiple companies to implement solutions for risk identification, early warning systems, and automated business rule engines (BRE) for lending.

Neo San

Waste Management Decentralised

Founded by Dhwaj Bagrecha and Alistair Sean D’Rozario in 2022, Neo San addresses hazardous waste management with innovative solutions using proprietary technology.

The startup’s flagship product, Neo-X, is a decentralised waste incinerator that treats waste at the source using clean energy.

Neo-X achieves efficient combustion, reaching 1200°C in under two minutes while consuming only 0.2 units of electricity per burn cycle. This significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 300 times compared to traditional methods like landfill fires or centralised incineration.

Neo San’s approach minimises CO2 emissions by reducing waste transport, which accounts for 60% of waste management costs, and promotes efficient burning processes.

The company is building decentralised networks of people and machines to manage waste locally and efficiently, cutting overall emissions by over 90% compared to current methods.

Nuuk

Bridging Modern Vibe To Appliances

Founded in 2023 by Gazal Kalra and Shalabh Gupta, Nuuk is a Gurugram-based D2C electronics brand. Largely focussed on consumer electronics, the startup sells table fans, circulation fans, personal fans and car vacuum cleaners.

Nuuk claims to draw inspiration from the Nordic countries, including Greenland (whose capital Nuuk is the inspiration for the startup’s name) in its product design and design language. The startup’s fans range between INR 2,599 and INR 10,999, while vacuums are available at INR 3,299.

Currently, the startup seems to be in the building mode, with only 11 people in its team, including the cofounders.

POP

UPI Payments Made Rewarding

Founded in 2023 by Bhargav Errangi, POP aims to establish itself as a premier destination for payments and shopping tailored for today’s discerning users. The cornerstone of POP’s offerings is the POPclub app, a comprehensive UPI payments and shopping platform.

On the POPclub app, users earn 2% cashback on every UPI transaction in POPcoins, which can be redeemed for a diverse array of products across categories like beauty, personal care, electronics, fashion, and home goods—all conveniently accessible within the app.

POPcoins are already utilised by over 200 online merchants as a loyalty currency on their respective ecommerce platforms, according to the startup.

Looking ahead, POP plans to introduce the POPclub credit card in collaboration with Yes Bank. This card will offer enhanced POPcoin rewards for all online expenditures. Cardholders can redeem their accumulated POPcoins for vouchers from prominent lifestyle platforms such as Zomato, Blinkit, and Cleartrip.

Quinn

Transforming Ecommerce With Videos

Founded by Mohit Kinra and Arvind Sasikumar in 2021, Quinn leverages video assets, such as Instagram Reels, to boost Shopify store revenue.

Currently live with over 100 leading brands, including Juicy Chemistry, Faces Canada, Arata, and The Face Shop, Quinn is backed by the founders of Purplle, Snapdeal, Kwench, and Mamaearth.

Quinn’s mission is to transform ecommerce by harnessing the power of video. The company believes that video can create more engaging, personalised, and interactive shopping experiences for customers.

By integrating shoppable videos into online stores, Quinn empowers businesses to showcase their products more effectively, connect with their audience, and drive sales. Its innovative solutions seamlessly merge video and commerce, enhancing the shopping experience and elevating online retail.

rampp.ai

Navigating Digital Transformation Of Enterprises

Founded by Ajay Agrawal and Huzefa Saifee in 2023, rampp.ai leverages the power of GenAI to automate processes, enhance operational efficiency and drive innovation, making it an indispensable partner in the digital transformation journey.

The startup’s flagship product, RADI AI Navigator, is a real-time solution designed to create digital journeys for enterprises. RADI AI synthesises deep industry insights, specific use cases, and technological expertise embedded within the rampp.ai platform, aligning them with stakeholder inputs to bring their digital visions to life. This enables enterprises to streamline their transformation efforts with precision and agility.

Additionally, the rampp.ai Digital Asset Library (DAL) provides customers with essential assets to accelerate their transformation journey, while rampp.ai Academy crafts hyper-personalised talent development programmes using digital journey data and enterprise information. This holistic approach ensures that enterprises have the necessary tools and skilled workforce to leverage these tools effectively.

Currently operating in North America and India, rampp.ai engages in a B2B model, offering the RADI Navigator platform as a SaaS solution. Going forward, the startup aims to position itself as the default transformation partner for enterprises.

Rizzzed

Gaming-Inspired Streetwear Brand

Rizzzed aims to merge the vibrant world of video games with the edgy nature of street fashion. Founded by Hrishav Bhattacharjee in 2023, Rizzzed was born from his desire to fuse the immersive experience of video games with the bold expression of street fashion.

As a gamer and street fashion enthusiast, he saw an opportunity to fill a gap in the fashion industry by creating apparel that resonates with both gamers and style-conscious individuals.

Each piece in Rizzzed’s collections pays tribute to iconic gaming elements, from retro pixel art to modern esports aesthetics. The designs capture the essence of various gaming genres, characters, and cultures while maintaining the cool, understated vibe of streetwear.

Rizzzed offers a unique blend of bold graphics, ergonomic designs and a colour palette that reflects the intensity and artistry of the gaming universe. The brand claims to use premium fabrics and innovative designs to ensure comfort, durability, and style. Additionally, Rizzzed actively participates in gaming events, sponsorships, and collaborations.

Segwise.ai

AI Agents To Increase Game’s Lifetime Value

Founded by Brijesh Bharadwaj and Shobhit Gupta in 2023, Segwise.ai is the byproduct of the duo’s experience at FamPay, where they realised that many tasks aimed at increasing the lifetime value (LTV) of mobile apps and games could be automated with AI.

Notably, Segwise.ai provides AI agents to help game studios optimise their game’s LTV.

The flagship product of Segwise.ai, AI Game Analyst agent, assists game studios by identifying root causes of metric changes and uncovering causal LTV drivers.

The company’s products stand out for their ability to automate daily root cause analyses (RCAs) and uncover hidden LTV opportunities, providing game studios with powerful tools to enhance their operations and revenue generation.

Segwise.ai operates on a B2B SaaS revenue model, offering subscription-based services to game studios and developers in the US and India. In the past three months, the company has started working with over 20 game studios across India, the US, Israel, Jordan, and the UK.

By 2026, Segwise.ai aims to enable lean studios to grow revenues from multiple games, continuing to innovate and expand its AI solutions for the gaming industry.

Sprih

Action-Oriented Sustainability Platform For Enterprises

Founded in 2023 by Akash Keshav, Ravi Singhal, Rohit Toshniwal and Hemant Joshi, Sprih emerged from their volunteer work with a non-profit organisation focussed on reforestation.

Their commitment to sustainability and firsthand experience with corporate challenges inspired them to apply their tech expertise to create a solution. This initiative led to the development of an advanced AI-powered software platform for sustainability.

Sprih specialises in providing organisations with a comprehensive sustainability platform designed to support their sustainability goals. The platform offers a suite of tools, including carbon emissions analysis across all scopes, setting science-based reduction targets, and benchmarking against industry standards and peers.

It also provides actionable recommendations for emission reductions and offsets, integrating global reporting frameworks to facilitate collaboration and generate detailed sustainability reports.

Sprih’s flagship products include an enterprise sustainability platform and a supply chain sustainability platform, both widely adopted by numerous companies. The key USP of Sprih’s products lies in its holistic approach to sustainability.

Currently operating on a subscription-based revenue model, Sprih serves a global market and has recently achieved significant milestones such as securing funding and expanding operations into the US.

Superjoin

Streamlining Real-Time Data Management

Superjoin aims to revolutionise how businesses handle their SaaS data and internal databases in real time. By empowering business teams to automate workflows, streamline forecasting, and build complex reports within the familiar environment of spreadsheets, Superjoin serves a diverse clientele, from startups to publicly listed companies worldwide.

Founded in 2023 by Abhinav Das and Vinayak Jhunjhunwala, Superjoin enhances the appeal of spreadsheets by enabling users to import live data into Google Sheets automatically using AI. With Superjoin, pulling live data from various tools is effortless and code-free.

The platform allows connections to unlimited data sources, enabling users to import data into Google Sheets with just one click.

Additionally, Superjoin offers scheduling capabilities to automatically update Google Sheets with the latest data from various sources, eliminating the need for cumbersome CSV exports.

Wahter

Monetising Water With Advertising

Founded in December 2023 by Amitt Nenwani and Kashiish A Nenwani, Wahter combines packaged drinking water with a unique advertising platform.

Wahter offers high-quality drinking water at INR 1 or INR 2 per bottle, ensuring affordability and accessibility without compromising quality.

Operating in the Delhi NCR region, the startup provides a comprehensive marketing solution from production to distribution.

Each Wahter bottle dedicates 80% of its surface to brand advertisements, with the remaining 20% reserved for Wahter’s branding. This model allows advertising investments to subsidise the cost of the water, creating a win-win scenario.

Wahter bottles feature QR codes, linking offline impressions to online engagement. Each bottle averages 48 impressions before recycling, enhancing brand visibility.

Whatmore

AI-Powered Video Commerce Platform

Founded in 2022 by Shaym Srinivas and Prabhu Dayal Sahoo, Whatmore aims to revolutionise the way ecommerce stores present their products.

Specialising in short-video content, Whatmore creates videos tailored for platforms like Instagram, TikTok, marketplaces, and websites.

Whatmore’s platform transforms product images into dynamic, engaging video compilations within just 60 seconds, seamlessly synced with trending music.

Users can easily create engaging product videos that showcase their collections, turn images into captivating product videos with popular music, and enjoy platform versatility ideal for Instagram, TikTok, ecommerce marketplaces, and websites.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post 30 Startups To Watch: Startups That Caught Our Eyes In June 2024 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has teamed up with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and central banks from four ASEAN nations to launch Project Nexus, a multilateral initiative aimed at facilitating retail cross-border payments. 

Under the initiative, India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will be linked with the respective Fast Payment Systems (FPS) of Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to facilitate instant cross-border retail payments.

“An agreement to this effect was signed by the BIS and the central banks of the founding countries — Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Bank of Thailand (BOT), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and the Reserve Bank of India — on June 30, 2024, in Basel, Switzerland,” the RBI said in a release.

The platform is expected to go live by 2026. Nexus was conceptualised by the Innovation Hub of the BIS, the statement said, adding that the platform can be extended to more countries later.

The pact is part of the RBI’s efforts to link UPI with the equivalent payment systems of other countries to facilitate instant cross-border person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) payments. 

While these bilateral connections have been beneficial, adopting a multilateral approach will significantly enhance the international reach of Indian payment systems and give further momentum to these efforts, the central bank said.

“Once functional, Nexus will play an important role in making retail cross-border payments efficient, faster, and more cost effective,” the RBI added. 

It was reported last year that the RBI was also in discussions with its counterparts in the US, Hong Kong and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) for a fast and cost-effective digital cross-border settlement system using central bank digital currencies (CBDC).

Last year, the RBI signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) to jointly conduct proof-of-concept and pilot(s) of bilateral CBDC bridge to facilitate cross-border CBDC transactions of remittances and trade, and enable innovation in the financial products and services segment.

In February 2023, India and Singapore announced the linkage of their real-time payment system linkage. 

Over the years, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has also signed agreements with a number of countries, including Peru and Namibia, to develop UPI-like payments systems. 

The post UPI To Be Linked With Payment Systems Of 4 ASEAN Nations For Instant Cross-Border Payments appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions saw a marginal decline of 1% month-on-month (MoM) to 13.89 Bn in June from 14.04 Bn in the previous month.

On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the transaction count surged 49%.

As per the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) data, the transaction volume in June stood at INR 20.07 Lakh Cr, 1.9% lower than May’s INR 20.45 Lakh Cr.

On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the transaction volume surged 36%.

The transactions on the UPI rose 5% month-on-month (MoM) to 14.04 Bn in May, and the volume in the same month stood at INR 20.45 Lakh Cr.

Earlier this year, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das said that India accounts for nearly 46% of the world’s digital transactions. He attributed this jump to the increase in adoption of the UPI.

“The share of UPI in digital payments has reached close to 80% in 2023. At a macro level, the volume of UPI transactions increased from 43 Cr in 2017 to 11,761 Cr in 2023,” he said.
PhonePe has retained its leadership in the unified payments interface (UPI) ecosystem with a market share of 48.87% in April across peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchant transactions.

In April, PhonePe logged 6.5 Bn transactions via UPI out of the total 13.3 Bn transactions topping the chart. In terms of value, the company clocked transactions worth INR 10 Lakh Cr.

Meanwhile, Google Pay and Paytm have retained their second and third spots respectively in UPI transactions.

Google Pay processed 5 Bn transactions translating to a market share of 37.5%, while volume on Paytm hit 1.1 Bn translating to a market share of 8.3%.

The Indian payment infrastructure has successfully expanded beyond national borders, reaching countries like Nepal, France and New Zealand.

Both the NPCI and the Indian government have been actively working to promote the use of UPI.

NPCI has introduced several innovative features and services to drive UPI adoption, including UPI Lite, credit lines on UPI, UPI LITE X, Tap & Pay, Hello! UPI and BillPay Connect.

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Nazara Technologies-backed NODWIN Gaming announced that its Singapore-based subsidiary, NODWIN Gaming International Pte. Ltd, will increase its existing 13.51% stake in Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH to 100% in tranches through a share swap valued at up to INR 271 Cr.

NODWIN Pte will initially increase its stake in Freaks 4U Gaming to 57%, with the remaining 43% held by founders Michael Haenisch, Matthias Remmert, and Jens Enders to be swapped at a later time at its option. Existing investors of Freaks 4U Gaming will become shareholders of NODWIN Pte.

This acquisition will enhance NODWIN Gaming’s capabilities, bringing in the expertise, experience and network of the Freaks 4U Gaming team and is expected to contribute materially to NODWINs revenues going forward, the company said in a statement.

Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH is a marketing services company for gaming and esports, delivering its services across the world.

Back in December, NODWIN Gaming had invested INR 33.26 Cr in Germany-based Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH via convertible note. Later in January, NODWIN Gaming announced around INR 71.8 Cr investment in the company.

Since the acquisition of a minority stake in Freaks 4U Gaming in January 2024, NODWIN has been working with the Freaks 4U Gaming management on integration of the two businesses and evaluating the synergies they present.

The two teams have already worked on jointly delivering high-profile projects such as the PUBG Mobile Global Open and Esports World Cup (EWC) and have jointly explored new business vertical opportunities. Based on the outcomes of this exercise and early traction on potential synergies, NODWIN Gaming and Freaks 4U Gaming have decided to proceed with this transaction.

“This acquisition is a pivotal step in our global growth strategy. By integrating Freaks 4U Gaming’s expertise and resources, we are poised to deliver unparalleled services and expand our global footprint in the gaming and esports industries. In Michael, we have a person who is highly regarded across the world for his wealth of experience and expertise in the sectors,” said NODWIN Gaming’s cofounder Akshat Rathee.

Founded in 2014 by Akshat Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN Gaming is gradually emerging as a youth-centric recreational, entertainment company with esports being its primary focus area.

Although NODWIN started with esports tournaments, it has expanded its scope over the years to organise music festivals and other youth-centric events.

In addition to growing its intellectual properties (IPs) organically, NODWIN has also pursued mergers and acquisitions to broaden its reach and influence in the industry. Currently, it has over 50 IPs.

In a bid to expand its presence in the global entertainment landscape and diversify offerings, NODWIN Gaming acquired Comic Con India earlier this year.

The post Nazara’s NODWIN Gaming To Pick Up 100% Stake In Freaks 4U Gaming For INR 271 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

IT services provider Celebal Technologies has raised an undisclosed debt funding from alternative credit platform BlackSoil.

The company will use the fresh amount for working capital and general corporate purposes. It will enable Celebal Technologies to serve its 200 client base better and deepen its market penetration worldwide, the company said in a statement.

Headquartered in Jaipur and cofounded in 2016 by Anupam Gupta and Anirudh Kala, Celebal Technologies specialises in data science, AI, and enterprise cloud solutions. It also assists its extensive clientele with improving business efficiencies and providing tailored solutions primarily in data engineering, cloud innovation, supply chain analytics, and AI-driven chatbots.

In 2022, Celebal Technologies raised $32M in its first institutional fundraising from Norwest Venture Partners.

“This debt financing from BlackSoil is tailored to our unique needs. Providing us flexibility to seize market growth opportunities while limiting short-term volatility in our cash flows without diluting equity or ownership control,” Hemant Mathur, CFO of Celebal Technologies said.

The company claimed to have achieved an annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 105% from FY21 to FY24. During this period, the number of employees grew from 300+ to 2,300+. The growth has been attributed to strategic partnerships with industry giants such as Microsoft and Databricks, fuelling Celebal Technologies’ drive to innovate and expand its client base effectively.

“As a forward-thinking enterprise poised for significant growth, Celebal Technologies is uniquely positioned to lead in the AI sector globally. With their strategic partnership with industry giants Microsoft and & Databricks, they are set to revolutionise the market with cutting-edge solutions. Starting in a Tier II city, the journey of Celebal Technologies is a beacon of inspiration,” Ankur Bansal, cofounder and director of BlackSoil, said.

Last year, BlackSoil raised $25 Mn in funding from multiple banks, family offices, corporate treasuries, and high-net-worth individuals. The debt firm raised the capital through its various debt products. Earlier this year, IPO-bound MobiKwik also raised INR 50 Cr (about $6 Mn) debt from BlackSoil.

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Greg Moran, the co-founder of Zoomcar, has been terminated as CEO after a 12-year tenure, the Bengaluru-based car rental company said in a regulatory filing.

“On June 20, 2024, Greg Moran, the company’s chief executive officer, was terminated from his role. Pursuant to Mr. Moran’s employment agreement, Mr. Moran is required to resign from the board of directors of the company (the “Board”) as a result of such termination,” the filing read.

ET reported the development first.

The company has been facing regulatory scrutiny over the market price of its Nasdaq-listed shares and its revenue projections, as per media reports.

Amid these challenges, the board has named Hiroshi Nishijima, the current chief operating officer, as its interim chief executive officer.

Meanwhile, the company has raised $3 Mn from institutional investors.

“Zoomcar Holdings Inc entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain institutional accredited investors pursuant to which the company issued and sold an aggregate of $3,600,000 in principal amount of notes and warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 52,966,102 shares of company common stock for gross proceeds of $3,000,000. The closing occurred on June 20,” the SEC filing added.

Founded by Moran and David Back in 2013, Zoomcar is a marketplace for renting self-driving cars. The startup connects hosts with guests, who choose from a selection of cars for use at affordable prices.

Zoomcar India’s operating revenue declined 27% to INR 69.1 Cr in FY23 from INR 94.9 Cr in the previous fiscal year. The startup generates revenue from car rentals and subscriptions, among others.

The India entity posted a net loss of INR 237 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), a jump of 221% from INR 74 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Zoomcar started trading on Nasdaq on December 29 after a business combination with Cayman Island-registered Innovative International Acquisition Corp. Earlier this year, Zoomcar roped in former Flipkart and Hindustan Unilever executive Adarsh Menon as its president.

The post Nasdaq-Listed Zoomcar Terminates CEO Greg Moran appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gaming major Nazara Technologies’ publishing arm, Nazara Publishing, has entered into a publishing partnership with nCore to publish ‘Made in India’ mobile game FAU-G Domination.

Developed by Dot9 Games, a studio of nCore, FAU-G: Domination features modern-day military aesthetics with Indian characters, each with unique backstories. This is the latest game from the FAU-G franchise, the previous version of which garnered up to 50 Mn downloads.

Pre-registrations for FAU-G: Domination will open on Google Play and the App Store later
this year.

The mobile shooter game will be marketed and distributed by Nazara Publishing.

“Made in India games have a huge potential to address the growing needs of the Indian gamer with locally relevant content, and we are excited to partner with nCore to bring FAU-G: Domination to all our players,” Nitish Mittersain, founder and CEO of Nazara Technologies, said.

FAU-G: Domination is a free-to-play game. Like most free-to-play shooters, monetisation will happen through in-app purchases.

Last year, Nazara Technologies launched its new game publishing division — Nazara Publishing — dedicated to launching top-quality games for both the Indian and international markets.

The gaming giant plans to collaborate with various Indian and global developers to introduce games to India’s extensive gaming community, while also facilitating the global publication of games created by Indian developers.

For each game, Nazara will invest a minimum of INR 1 Cr, the company said. Apart from financial support, Nazara will offer developers assistance in game design, localisation, data analytics, beta testing, quality assurance, improved monetisation strategies, and robust distribution through smart user acquisition spending and platform partnerships.

Nazara, a gaming and sports media platform, has a footprint not only in India but also in emerging and global markets such as Africa and North America. The company’s diverse portfolio includes interactive gaming, eSports, ad-tech, and gamified early-learning ecosystems.

Nazara Technologies’ consolidated net profit declined 98% to INR 18 Lakh in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 9.4 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Nazara said it incurred INR 11.37 Cr charges due to goodwill impairments, and INR 10.56 Cr for intangible assets related to gaming segment during Q4.

The company’s profit from continued operations was at INR 17.1 Cr for the quarter, as compared to INR 11.9 Cr in Q4 FY23.

Operating revenue declined 8% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 266.2 Cr in Q4 FY24 from INR 289.3 Cr in the same quarter a year ago.

The post Nazara Partners nCore To Publish Made In India Mobile Game ‘FAU-G Domination’ appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Tata Sons has paused fresh investments into its ecommerce and omni-channel electronics ventures, including super app Tata Neu, Croma and Tata Cliq in FY24, for the first time in eight years.

The group is now shifting its focus towards revamping strategies, enhancing accountability, and boosting operational efficiencies to secure profitable growth, as per ET’s report.

It has invested an estimated INR 19,000 Cr till date in Tata Digital, the holding company for the group’s ecommerce businesses.

“There is a strategic reason for not making any equity infusion even as organisational changes are being made,” a source said as quoted by ET. However, new fund infusion will commence after the strategy and organisational changes for better operational efficiencies are in place.

Tata Digital, the holding company for Tata Unistore (which operates Tata Cliq), Innovative Retail Concepts (BigBasket), Tata 1MG Healthcare Solutions, and Infiniti Retail (which runs over 500 Croma stores), also owns the super app Tata Neu.

In FY23, the combined losses of Tata Digital’s key businesses, including Tata Digital, Croma, Tata Cliq, and BigBasket, surged to over INR 4,700 Cr from INR 3,130 Cr in FY22. To address this, new CEO Naveen Tahiliani has enforced strict cost management and is prioritising a data-centric approach to enhance operations as part of the company’s restructuring efforts.

While Tata Sons has strategically allocated significant capital to businesses requiring growth funding, there is now a firm directive to achieve profitable growth within a set timeframe, an executive said.

Businesses need to focus on effective ground execution to scale up. Until this is accomplished, fresh funding will only be considered if absolutely necessary.

Recently, Tata Digital, rejigged the senior leadership team of its super app Tata Neu three months after Naveen Tahilyani took charge as the new CEO of Tata Digital, replacing Pratik Lal.. Hardeep Singh Guru has been appointed as the new chief financial officer (CFO) while Gaurav Motani has been named as the new chief product officer (CPO).

The top-deck rejig was undertaken with a focus on streamlining the existing leadership structure of the company and making the digital juggernaut nimbler and business-focussed.

The change in strategy coincides with Tata Neu struggling to gain traction. Despite the conglomerate investing billions of dollars into the super app, it has not met expectations.

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Shares of C.E. Info Systems, the parent company of MapmyIndia, plunged over 6% during Wednesday’s (June 26) trading session as promoter and founder Rakesh Verma intends to sell 5 Lakh shares of the company in a block deal.

MapmyIndia shares touched a low of INR 2,271 during the early trading hours on Wednesday, as compared to INR 2,416.10 at its previous close. The shares were trading at INR 2,297.95 at 11:40 AM IST.

After reports emerged on Tuesday that Verma was selling 5 Lakh shares, MapmyIndia confirmed the development in an exchange filing today.

“…the Company has received an intimation from Mr. Rakesh Kumar Verma, Chairman and Managing Director of the Company, for an intention to sell up to 5,00,000 equity shares via bulk or block deals on the stock exchanges, which is less than 1% of paid-up capital of the company,” read the disclosure.

“Mr. Rakesh Verma has been doing philanthropy and investing in startup companies as per his passion and commitment to an Aatmanirbhar, Sarvottam Bharat. To continue to do so, this is the first time he is providing liquidity since IPO. On a post-sale basis, the Promoter Group will continue to have 51.9% stake in C.E. Info Systems Limited,” it added.

Around 6.1 Lakh shares, equivalent to 1.1% equity worth INR 142.6 Cr, of CE Info Systems were traded at INR 2,332 per share today.

As per a CNBC report,  Verma said that the promoters have no intention of selling any further shares in the company.

As per the BSE data, Verma held almost 2.32 Cr shares of MapmyIndia, or a 42.84% stake in the company, as of the quarter ended March 2024. Promoters together held a majority 52.91% stake in the company.

On June 21, shares of MapmyIndia touched an all-time high at INR 2,745.05 after Goldman Sachs projected a 40% upside to its share price from the INR 2,000 level.

The brokerage, in its initiation note, also rated the stock with ‘buy’.

Goldman Sachs believes that the company will benefit from an early-leadership position in fast-growth end-markets, including automotive navigation, mapping devices, connected vehicles, telematics and government digitisation.

MapmyIndia’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) surged by 35% in the March quarter of FY24 to INR 38.2 Cr, from INR 28.3 Cr it had posted in the same period a year ago. On a quarterly basis, the startup’s net profit surged by 23.2%, as compared to INR 31.04 Cr it had posted in the December quarter.

The startup’s operating revenue increased to INR 106.9 Cr in Q4 FY24, a 47.5% higher than INR 72.4 Cr in Q4 FY23. On a quarterly basis, its operating revenue increased by 16%, from INR 92 Cr in the previous quarter.

The post MapmyIndia Shares Plunge 6% As Rakesh Verma To Offload 5 Lakh Shares appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Karthik Gurumurthy, the architect behind Swiggy Instamart who helped scale the vertical from scratch in 2020 to a nearly $1 Bn valuation, has reportedly returned the money he raised from a host of investors, including Matrix Partners India. This move signals a halt to his plans for launching a new offline venture.

However, Gurumurthy is already working on a fresh plan and building a new startup, Moneycontrol reported, citing sources close to the matter. 

The new venture is still in a stealth mode and more details are expected soon.

Inc42 has reached out to Gurumurthy for a comment on the development. The story will be updated based on his response.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Gurumurthy secured a funding of $3 Mn (around INR 25 Cr) for his new offline retail venture led by Matrix Partners India and a clutch of angel investors.

Gurumurthy’s new venture was named Convenio, similar to what Aldi, a low-cost physical store model, does in Germany, the UK and other parts of Europe, to sell only fresh produce. It was supposed to mirror Swiggy, in offline space.

In November last year, it was reported that Gurumurthy was set to depart Swiggy to launch his own startup. This announcement came months after Gurumurthy went on a sabbatical in March and subsequently returned to lead the foodtech major’s hyperlocal commerce arm, Swiggy Mall, formerly known as Swiggy Maxx.

An alumnus of BITS Pilani and the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, Gurumurthy has also worked with global consulting firm Kearney, confectionery major Mondelez International, and software giant Oracle.

However, the move to halt the offline venture comes at a time when more people are moving towards quick commerce platforms for grocery delivery. Last week, quick commerce major Zepto raised a funding of $665 Mn at a valuation of $3.6 Bn, more than double from its last valuation of $1.4 Bn.

Recently, Zomato also said that it is planning to invest INR 300 Cr in Blinkit. 

Moreover, JioMart, the digital commerce arm of RIL’s retail subsidiary Reliance Retail, is likely to begin delivering groceries in select cities in under 30 minutes soon, which will increase the competition in grocery segment. Ecommerce giant Flipkart is also gearing up to enter the quick commerce space.

The post Karthik Gurumurthy Returns Money To Investors, Stalls Offline Venture Plan: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Touted as the pioneer of esports in India, NODWIN Gaming has experienced phenomenal growth and diversification since its acquisition by Nazara Technologies in 2018.

When Nazara acquired a 55% majority stake in NODWIN, it was already a trailblazer in India’s nascent esports industry, fostering relationships with global giants like ESL and Valve Corporation. However, NODWIN’s ambitions extended beyond esports.

Recognising the pulse of India’s youth, the company began to spread its wings, venturing into music festivals and other pop culture events. This strategic expansion was fuelled by a combination of organic growth and numerous strategic acquisitions, turning NODWIN into a versatile entertainment powerhouse.

“At the time of the acquisition, NODWIN was already a dominant player in the esports sector, which was one of the key reasons behind our decision. We believed in the long-term potential of this acquisition, and it has certainly paid off,” reminisced Nitish Mittersain, joint managing director & CEO of Nazara Technologies.

He added that since the acquisition, NODWIN’s revenue growth has been exceptional. Today, it contributes 37% to Nazara’s total revenue, having grown 25X in just six years. “This growth is a testament to the foresight of integrating NODWIN into the Nazara portfolio,” he said. Notably, NODWIN’s revenue surged from a modest INR 18 Cr in FY18 to INR 427 Cr in FY24.

Now, before we dive deeper into understanding what NODWIN’s acquisition has meant for Nazara, let’s steal a glance at the company’s early days.

NODWIN’s Early Days 

Founded in 2014 by Akshat Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN Gaming is gradually emerging as a youth-centric recreational, entertainment company with esports being its primary focus area.

Rathee, a gamer at heart, who spent much of his childhood immersed in gaming, began organising esports tournaments at home before the launch of NODWIN. Along with Virk, he set up 30-40 computers in a LAN environment, transforming his house into a hub for gaming enthusiasts. This effort helped the duo build a strong community of gamers, ultimately paving the way for the incorporation of NODWIN Gaming in 2014.

When NODWIN Gaming started, Rathee took the initiative to organise tournaments, which required securing sponsorships. Reflecting on his early days, Rathee said that obtaining sponsorships was challenging and unconventional back then. 

“I often received returnable mousepads as sponsorships, which had to be used for the tournaments and then returned to the sponsors. The concept of turning this into a sustainable business was unclear to everyone, including myself,” Rathee said. 

“During 2010-14, there were not enough marketing companies targeting the gaming market in India. The country’s PC gaming base was too small, and mobile gaming didn’t exist yet. We had to build a fundamentally new category. We sought to redefine the ecosystem by changing its value proposition. Therefore, we focussed on selling to gamers directly rather than people buying a mouse, headset, keyboard, laptop, desktop, or graphics card,” Rathee said.

Fortunately, like many startups, the period of demonetisation (November 2016) provided a significant boost to NODWIN. The esports startup benefited from the wave of digitisation, with everyone turning to digital payments and affordable mobile phones becoming widely available. 

At the time, India had “14 telecom operators”, which were engaged in a desperate cut-throat to slash data prices, which immensely helped them. 

“We were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. Although we had no role in making data prices cheaper in India, this reduction played a crucial role in our success,” Rathee commented.

The cheaper data prices and the rise of the smartphone era gave a significant boost to the gaming industry, and NODWIN was quick to capitalise on this opportunity. 

As per Nazara filings, NODWIN today owns an 80% share of the Indian esports market basis which it garnered INR 427 Cr in revenue in FY24, up 10% year-on-year. 

NODWIN’s Expansion Strategy At A Glance

Although NODWIN started with esports tournaments, it has expanded its wings over the years to organise music festivals and other youth-centric events.

In addition to growing its intellectual properties (IPs) organically, NODWIN has also taken the M&A route to broaden its reach and influence in the industry. Currently, it has 50+ IPs. 

“We are now operating based on a theory we like to call “Timeshare of Mind Share”. This metric spans NODWIN’s entire ecosystem, encompassing gaming and youth culture. Whether it’s Comic Con events, “Playground” on Mini TV, influencers on Instagram, live streams on YouTube, or our tournaments and BGMS play, this approach is integral to our strategy,” Rathee said.

For example, NODWIN’s IP, BGMI Masters Series, is considered India’s biggest esports tournament. It also started broadcasting BGMS on Star Sports in 2022. Another IP is “Playground”, which premiered on Amazon Mini TV and achieved remarkable success. It has reached over 25 Mn unique viewers across all touchpoints, as per Nazara’s investor presentation.

In a bid to expand its presence in the global entertainment landscape and diversify offerings, NODWIN Gaming acquired Comic Con India earlier this year. 

Including Comic Con India, Nodwin has made five acquisitions. While it acquired Publish.Me and Branded in 2023, the Nazara esports arm took over Ninja last week. Earlier this year, it bought a 13.5% stake in a Germany-based marketing services company for gaming and esports, Freaks 4U Gaming, for €8 Mn (around INR 72 Cr).

While these investments are part of its broader strategy to dominate the esports and youth media space, the financial impact from these acquisitions is expected to reflect in FY25 and beyond.

Moving on, as per Rathee, the startup aims to establish its presence not only on traditional media channels but also across all relevant social media platforms and streaming services. 

“We encompass all forms of media — from digital to social and television — ensuring comprehensive coverage. Additionally, our focus extends to esports and sports media, targeting our audience. Currently, NODWIN Gaming’s sweet spot is individuals between the ages of 16 and 35, with our demographic continuously evolving. As time progresses, our core age demographic will shift, growing by approximately two years annually,” Rathee said.

NODWIN’S Beyond-India Aspirations 

In its quest to capture the attention of the youth, NODWIN Gaming is also focussing on emerging markets. With India as its key market, the company is aggressively foraying into other regions. 

Notable growth is happening in Turkey, Central Asia, and South Asia. Additionally, NODWIN has been setting its footprint in African markets such as Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa for the past three-four years. 

“We aim to expand beyond our current 22 office locations. Currently, we are aiming for 40 to 50 locations worldwide,” Rathee said.

Moreover, NODWIN Gaming has plans to acquire at least 5-7 more companies in the coming years. 

“Although substantial revenue potential exists in regions around the Tropic of Cancer such as Japan, China, Korea, Europe, and America, our focus on delivery will be directed towards developing and lower-cost markets. This includes countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Turkey, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and CIS nations like Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. We also see promising opportunities in Latin American markets such as Mexico and Brazil,” Rathee said.

According to him, the Global South as a market will continue to expand, driven by conversations at forums like the G20 and the United Nations. The growth engine of the world, especially among young people, is increasingly shifting towards these regions. 

Nazara’s NODWIN Game Plan

Nazara Technologies, a prominent gaming company, acquired a majority stake in NODWIN Gaming in 2018. Since then, NODWIN has been significantly contributing to Nazara’s revenue stream. Despite witnessing a slow FY24 due to the impact of India’s ban on online games, NODWIN Gaming anticipates a robust resurgence in FY25, particularly in the esports sector.

Over the past two years, the Indian government has banned popular mobile games like Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) and Free Fire, which are widely used in esports tournaments. This ban has significantly impacted the business case for esports organisers. Nodwin Gaming, in particular, has intellectual properties (IPs) linked to BGMI, which has been affected by these bans.

Moreover, it is also imperative to mention that NODWIN Gaming posted a loss of INR 20 Lakh in FY24 compared to a profit of INR 7.1 Cr in FY23 due to the acquisition made during the year. 

Despite this, the Nazara CEO and joint MD Nitish Mittersain is positive about NODWIN. In an investor call, he highlighted positive developments such as the success of the Playground IP, particularly with Season 3 performing exceptionally well and garnering international interest. 

“Overall, we are optimistic that FY25 will be a much stronger year for esports, building on the groundwork laid in FY24,” he said.

As per the Nazara CEO, with a strong focus on expanding esports operations during FY25, NODWIN is all set for significant international activities in the coming quarters.

Interestingly, Mittersain’s optimism emerges from the fact that NODWIN Gaming accounted for 38% of Nazara’s FY24 revenues which stood at INR 1,138.3 Cr. 

All in all, NODWIN is surrounded by enough growth tailwinds. Given its large market share, new monetisation opportunities, acquisitions and backing from gaming giant Nazara, NODWIN Gaming is expected to start generating significant profits in no time, all while giving a boost to its parent Nazara.

The post How NODWIN Gaming Has Become Nazara Tech’s Biggest Revenue Contributor In 6 Years appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Online gaming companies, which are awaiting a review of the 28% tax regime for them, failed to get any relief from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council as the issue was not discussed during the Council’s meeting on Saturday (June 22).

Addressing a press conference after the meeting of the GST Council, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that GST on online gaming was not on the Council’s agenda, and hence there was no discussion on it.

The GST Council’s decision to levy 28% GST on real-money gaming was implemented from October 1 2023. The finance minister earlier said that the decision will be reviewed six months after it comes into effect.

While there were speculations that the GST Council might review the decision in its meeting today, the subject didn’t find a place on the agenda. It is pertinent to note that it has been over eight months since the 28% GST regime for online gaming came into effect on October 1, 2023.

Last year, the GST Council decided to impose a 28% GST on online real-money gaming on the full face value of the bets. This decision faced heavy criticism from industry stakeholders, including gaming startups, industry bodies, and investors, who wrote to the government urging a reconsideration. Despite the criticism, the GST Council remained firm in its decision.

In August, amendments to the Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023 were approved by the GST Council. Later, the Parliament approved these amendments.

For the uninitiated, under the new regulations, a flat 28% tax applies to the total value of bets for online games, irrespective of whether they are games of skill or chance. Previously, a lower 18% GST was levied, specifically on the platform fee for skill-based games. For instance, with a platform fee of 20% on a INR 100 bet, the GST under the previous tax regime was INR 3.6 (18% of INR 20), which has now shot up to INR 28.

Several online gaming startups, including Gameskraft, Delta Corp and others received notices to pay INR 1.12 Lakh Cr GST, following which many have moved courts challenging the tax notices.

More than 50% of online gaming companies in India witnessed stagnant or declining revenues after the government imposed 28% GST, a recent report released jointly by EY and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) said, based on the latter’s survey of 12 such companies.

Out of the 12 companies surveyed, only five were able to record revenue growth, while seven companies saw degrowth or had to face stagnant revenues, the report said. 

“In case of degrowth, the decline is as high as up to 50% for two companies. Such decline in revenue growth stands in contrast to an industry which was recording exponential growth rates,” it added.

In fact, several companies have reported that investors backed out of potential deals due to these challenges. GST now consumes 50-100% of revenue for 33% of companies from around 15% in the previous tax regime, surpassing total revenue for some startups and forcing them to operate at a loss.

Before the new regulation came into effect, the Indian gaming industry saw high growth during FY23, with the number of gamers rising 12% year-on-year to 568 Mn. Of these, 25% were paying users, as per a report by Lumikai. This reflected a strong 17% growth in paying users compared to FY22.

The post GST Council Meet: No Discussion On GST For Gaming Companies, Says FM appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Quick commerce major Zepto has raised a funding of $665 Mn at a valuation of $3.6 Bn, more than double from its last valuation of $1.4 Bn.

The funding round was jointly led by existing investors Glade Brook, Nexus, and StepStone. Goodwater and Lachy Groom also participated in the round, while Avenir Growth, Lightspeed, Avra were the new investors who joined the unicorn’s captable.

Zepto plans to utilise the funds to double its dark store count to 700 by March 2025 from 350 currently.

In a statement, Zepto said its GMV has surpassed $1 Bn, with approximately 75% of its stores achieving full EBITDA positivity as of May 2024. Additionally, the company has reduced the time for its stores to achieve profitability from 23 months previously to just six months today, it added.

“This dynamic of stores turning profitable faster and faster has enabled Zepto to grow rapidly while simultaneously achieving near EBITDA positivity at a company level. We plan to continue operating with fiscal discipline as we scale from 350 stores to 700 stores by reinvesting the capital generated from mature stores back into the business. If we are able to achieve this while continuing to delight customers, I believe we will be ready to go public relatively soon,” Zepto cofounder and CEO Aadit Palicha said.

Zepto cofounder and CTO Kaivalya Vohra said the startup plans to hire top talent across engineering, product, growth, finance, operations, and category management.

Founded in 2021 by Palicha and Vohora, Zepto has grown rapidly on the back of increasing demand for quick 10-minute deliveries. Last year, Zepto became the first unicorn of 2023 after raising $200 Mn in its Series E funding round.

It is pertinent to note that Zepto is looking to shift its base to India and is eyeing a public listing in 2026.

The mega fundraise comes at a time when large funding rounds have become a rarity amid the ongoing funding winter. The fresh capital will help Zepto scale up its presence at a time when the competition in the quick commerce space is increasing rapidly.

Zepto competes against the likes of Zomato-backed Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart. Moreover, JioMart, the digital commerce arm of RIL’s retail subsidiary Reliance Retail, is likely to begin delivering groceries in select cities in under 30 minutes soon. Ecommerce giant Flipkart is also gearing up to enter the quick commerce space.

Recently, Zomato also said that it is planning to invest INR 300 Cr in Blinkit.

Meanwhile, Zepto’s revenue surged 14.3X to INR 2,024.3 Cr in FY23 from INR 140.7 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Net loss grew 3.4X year-on-year to INR 1,272.4 Cr in FY23.

The post Zepto Raises $665 Mn At A Valuation Of $3.6 Bn To Double Dark Store Count appeared first on Inc42 Media.

PhonePe is in advanced talks with two major smartphone manufacturers to pre-install its Indus Appstore on their devices as it looks to onboard 150 Mn users by the end of the year.

Indus Appstore has formed strategic OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partnerships with Nokia and Lava, and is in advanced negotiations with several other major smartphone manufacturers to further expand its reach, Indus Appstore cofounder Akash Dongre told ET.

“Indus Appstore aims to have more than 150 Mn users by the end of the year and is ready to rival the scale of the competition by building deep partnerships with the developer ecosystem, focused on transparent policies, fair commissions and local support,” Dongre was quoted as saying.

The appstore claims to have achieved over 2 Mn downloads to date, with Tier-II cities accounting for 45% of its user base, indicating strong traction in these areas.

The appstore supports 12 Indian languages and includes features like voice and regional search. Video-led discovery features make it more than just a distribution platform, turning it into a consumer engagement and marketing tool, Dongre explained.

He also mentioned that the platform will capitalise on PhonePe group’s experience in developing straightforward and sustainable payment business models for developers.

Fintech giant PhonePe launched Android app marketplace Indus Appstore earlier this year to  take on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

In a statement, the company said that the platform hosts more than 2 Lakh apps across 45 categories. Several Indian brands, including Zomato, Myntra, Domino’s, Flipkart, Dream11, and Swiggy, have published their apps on Indus Appstore.

PhonePe acquired the parent company of Indus Appstore in May 2022 for $90 Mn. It was originally cofounded by Rakesh Deshmukh, Akash Dongre and Sudhir Bangarambandi. While Dongre and Bangarambandi are still working with the app marketplace, Deshmuk resigned in January this year.

The marketplace is currently offering “no app listing fees” for developers till March 2025. The launch of the app marketplace came at a time when Google is involved in disputes with Indian startups over its commission rates and the rollout of its new user choice billing system.

Earlier this year, the app store delisted dozens of Indian apps for not complying with its terms and conditions. While the issue was later resolved temporarily, the dispute remains.

According to a report, Indians spent nearly 1.1 Tn hours on mobile apps in 2023, up from 800 Bn hours in 2022.

India also emerged as the second largest source of app downloads globally, totaling 26.4 Bn downloads in 2023. On average, Indians spent 4.77 hours per day on their mobile phones, surpassing users in the US, UK, Japan, and China in daily usage.

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The shares of coworking startup Awfis jumped nearly 9% to touch INR 543.70 during Thursday’s (June 20) trading session after it turned profitable in the March quarter (Q4) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24).

Awfis shares were trading at INR 523.05 at 1:00 PM on Thursday, as compared to its previous close at INR 499.

The recently-listed startup posted a consolidated net profit of INR 1.4 Cr in Q4 on the back of significant improvements across business verticals. Awfis’ operating revenue also jumped over 45% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 232.3 Cr in Q4 FY24.

It had posted a net loss of INR 13.8 Cr in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal on an operating revenue of INR 160 Cr.

Founded in 2015 by Amit Ramani, Awfis has evolved over the years from being a coworking network to a tech-enabled workspace solutions platform, catering to enterprises, freelancers, startups and SMEs. Awfis claims to be the largest flexible space operator in India with 181 centres, around 1.1 Lakh seats and about 5.6 Mn square feet of chargeable area, as of March 31, 2024.

In an interaction with Inc42 ahead of its IPO launch, Awfis chairman and MD Amit Ramani said that around 65% of the firm’s business comes from corporates, 22-23% from SMEs and mid-corporates, and about 10% from startups.

He said that Bengaluru and Mumbai are the top two cities in terms of revenue contribution for the company, followed by Hyderabad, Pune, and Delhi NCR. Meanwhile, about 10% of Awfis’ business comes from the Tier 2 cities.

This was the first earnings announcement by the startup after its listing on the Indian bourses.
Awfis made its debut on the BSE at a premium of 12.8% to the issue price last month.

On BSE, the company’s share price opened at INR 432.25 per share, 12.8% higher than the issue price of INR 383. Similarly on the NSE, the startup’s shares opened at INR 435 apiece, 13.5 % higher than the issue price.

The coworking startup filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in December last year and received the nod from market regulator earlier this year.

The post Awfis Shares Jump 9% After Strong Q4 Results appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The investment landscape in the country is going through a shift never seen before, with more and more women founders and investors winning themselves a bigger share in the high-octane arena of the Indian startup space. 

Be it Swati Nangalia Mehra of Sixth Sense Ventures, who directly ventured into the world of investing, or the founders-turned-investors Ghazal Alagh and Vineeta Singh, many of these trailblazing women have made their mark in the homegrown startup ecosystem. This is notwithstanding other veterans such as Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and Rekha Menon who have already set examples for many in the past. 

Many of these women investors bring years of experience to the table and have today emerged as role models for the country’s youth. However, things were not the same a few years ago, the founder of She Capital Anisha Singh told Inc42.

“It was hard explaining to people that women are successful as entrepreneurs. Now that we have given mega returns to our investors, they’re excited… and understand that women are great business persons,” she added. 

As sharp as a knife, these new-age women investors have their eyes on the stars and feet on the ground, and they are charging through with great perseverance. With numerous successful exits, Indian women investors are creating templates that will be followed by many in the years to come. 

However, more importantly, women founders and investors possess something really important when it comes to building an enterprise and the world of investing.

“They will call a spade a spade and tell you things exactly as they are and not how they can be,” opines the cofounder and CFO of B2B building material marketplace OfBusiness Ruchi Kalra on what makes women great investors. 

We, at Inc42, have collated some of the names that are making waves in the startup investment world. These are the names of the women that aim to build an equitable world of tomorrow and are leaving no stone unturned in their quest.

If you are a women investor or want to nominate a women investor in the startup ecosystem, nominate us at editor@inc42.com. This is a running list, and we would love to add more women who are changing the investing landscape in the Indian startup ecosystem.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list or ranking of any kind. We have placed investors in alphabetical order. 

Here Are The 44 Women Investors Spearheading The Startup Investment Game In India

1. Aarti Gupta

As a veteran investment strategist, Aarti Gupta has been at the forefront of driving the business of her family office, DM Gupta Family, Jagran Group, for the past 13 years.

Gupta also serves as the chief investment officer at Anikarth Ventures, an angel-investing firm that backs early stage startups focussed on transformative solutions.

She also holds multiple positions ranging from being a National Head for FICCI FLO Startups, which focus on women founders and investors, to her association with Jindal Stainless Steels as an independent director.

Besides, Gupta leverages her investment strategy skills to contribute to several boards of family-owned businesses and startups. Furthermore, she also champions initiatives for women’s financial literacy entrepreneurship and job readiness.

Gupta’s academic credentials include a PhD in Economics from IIT Kanpur, a post-graduate diploma in business studies from Harvard University and a Master’s degree in Economics from Northeastern University.

2. Anisha Singh

Anisha Singh is the founder of women-focused VC firm She Capital. She founded the VC firm in 2020 to stimulate more women founders to enter India’s startup ecosystem. Some of the portfolio companies of the VC firm are Samosa Singh, Spark Studio, Elev8 Sportz, and Nova Nova.

Earlier, she founded ecommerce platform MyDala and also headed B2B startup Kinis Software as its CEO. She has also worked as a manager with Centra Software.

She is mostly seen talking about women’s empowerment and supporting women-focussed businesses and startups.

3. Alia Bhatt

Bollywood superstar Alia Bhatt has also donned the hat of an investor and has quite an interesting portfolio. One of her prominent investments was in beauty ecommerce marketplace Nykaa. Her investment grew more than 10X within months to INR 54 Cr when Nykaa got listed on the Indian bourses.

Bhatt’s portfolio also includes Mumbai-based personal styling platform Style Cracker and Kanpur-based biomaterial startup Phool.

Besides investing in other startups, Alia Bhatt has also set up her startup, Ed-a-Mamma, which operates in the kidswear category.

4. Anjali Bansal

Founder and chairperson of Avaana Capital Anjali Bansal has been actively investing in Indian startups. In 2022, Avaana funded four Indian startups — BambooBox, Gold Setu, and Groyyo, according to the Inc42 funding report.

In addition to the aforementioned startups, Anjali has invested in various startups – Delhivery, Urban Company, Darwinbox, and Nykaa, to name a few.

Currently, Bansal is a member of the ONDC steering committee. She is also on the board of various Indian companies such as Tata Power, Nestle India, and Piramal Enterprises. She has also worked with TPG Growth, Spencer Stuart, McKinsey, and Dena Bank

5. Anjali Sosale

Anjali Sosale, partner at Waterbridge Ventures, plays a pivotal role in shaping the success of early stage technology companies for the VC firm. With a special focus on consumer tech, ecommerce, and marketplaces, Sosale wants to enable the next wave of rural Indian internet users

She is an active investor in startups such as BigFatPhoenix, BimaKavach, BitClass, CBREX, Downtown Club, EloElo, and Yellow Metal. 

Waterbridge Ventures specialises in early-stage technology investments, providing $250K to $3 Mn to seed to Pre-Series A stage companies.

With a portfolio comprising 31 investments and collaborating with over 70 founders, Waterbridge takes a lead role in funding rounds and remains dedicated to supporting its portfolio companies throughout their growth journey, extending investments until Series C. 

6. Ankita Vashistha

Ankita Vashistha is the founder of Saha Fund and StrongHer Ventures, which backs female-led early-stage startups operating in the fintech, health tech, consumer tech, and Web 3.0 segments.

She is currently associated with multiple names such as MySpaces, Tholons Capital, NASSCOM,  Aureos Capital, and Abraaj Group. In her more than 10 years of professional journey, she has worked with tech ventures, private equity and VCs across the UK, the US, and Asia.

She is currently an active investor in Indian Angel Network. Her startup portfolio comprises startups such as Licious, Uniphore, Fitternity, LoveLocal, Zumata, and Insta Health.

She got her master’s degree from the Cranfield School of Management, Stanford University, and is an alumna of Ramaiah Institute of Technology.   

7. Archana Jahagirdar 

Archana Jahagirdar is the founder and managing partner of Rukam Capital, which invests in early-stage consumer products and services companies. 

Earlier, she headed companies like Textron, Angelworks and Espace Corporate and worked as a journalist with media organisations such as Business Standard, The Times of India, Zee News, Outlook, and India Today.

In the last few years, Archana has made more than 10 investments in startups like Yoho, Sleepy Owl Coffee, Anveya, Pilgrim, The Indus Valley, and GoDESi, among others. She completed her masters in English literature from St Stephen’s College.

8. Archana Priyadarshini

Archana Priyadarshini is a founder of Forward Slash Capital, which backs pre-seed to pre-Series A stage tech startups. In 2022, she invested in four startups – Broomees, CogniSaaS, Ekank Technologies, and Threado.

Over the years, she has participated in more than 25 startup deals, which include Metastable Materials, Exprto Live, and VAMA, to name a few.

At the moment, she is working as a general partner at PointOne Capital. She has also worked with companies such as Wells Fargo, Bootcamp Fitness Studio, IBM and CGEY. She has done her B.Tech in chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur

9. Bala C Deshpande

Bala C Deshpande is the founder partner of Megadelta Capital, which is an India-focussed mid-market growth fund. It typically invests $15 Mn to 25 Mn of growth equity in startups across sectors such as consumer, healthcare, and enterprise tech.

Megadelta Capital’s portfolio includes startups such as ecommerce unicorn Firstcry and health tech startup GOQII, among others.

Deshpande has nearly two decades of experience in investment advisory. She started her investing career with ICICI Venture in 2001. Later, she joined global VC firm NEA to set up their India platform where she headed the practice for ten years and helped NEA US in investing and backing startups in the mid-market space.

10. Bharati Jacob 

Bharati Jacob is the founder and managing partner of Seedfund, which invests in startups operating in diverse industries. She holds more than 24 years of experience in venture investing, marketing, and financial services.

Earlier, she worked with venture capital firm Infinity Venture Fund, investment bank Lazard, and aviation company Northwest Airlines.

An XLRI graduate, Jacob completed her MBA in marketing from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

11. Bhawna Bhatnagar 

Bhawna Bhatnagar is the cofounder of We Founder Circle (WFC), which invests in pre-seed to pre-series A-stage startups.

So far, she has invested in edtech OLL and F&B direct-to-consumer (D2C) startup Bored Beverages. Besides, she has also participated in six startup deals, including ParkMate, ParkMate, Quizy, and Commaful.

Prior to founding WFC, she worked with leading companies such as ByteDance, Cheetah Mobile and India Today.

After completing her bachelor’s in biochemistry from Delhi University in 2009, she went to the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and then earned her master’s degree in East Asian studies from Delhi University in 2014.

12. Debjani Ghosh 

Debjani Ghosh is currently the president of NASSCOM, an industry body representing the IT-BPM space. In her career of nearly three decades, she has worked with Intel Corporation and Yes Bank.

She has also been on Cisco’s India Advisory Board and served as an advisor to the FICCI S&T/Innovation Committee.

An MBA from S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Debjani completed her graduation in political science from Osmania University. 

13. Deepika Padukone 

With five startups in her portfolio, Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone has recently worn the investor’s hat. She began her entrepreneurial journey by founding 82°E in 2021.

82°E, which is led by Padukone and Jigar Shah, got $7.5 Mn funding from DSG Consumer Partners and IDEO Ventures, along with multiple ultra-HNIs and Padukone’s family office, Ka Enterprises.

Ka Enterprises mainly backs consumer and consumer-tech companies across the globe. Its portfolio companies include Epigamia, Furlenco, Blu Smart, Bellatrix, Playshifu, Atomberg, Front Row, Mokobara, Supertails, and Nua. 

14. Ghazal Alagh

Mamaearth’s cofounder Ghazal Alagh is an active angel investor. In 2022, she backed 14 startups, including Humpy Farms, unScript AI, and Wishlink. Her startup portfolio also comprises companies like BlissClub, HumpyFarm and Uvi Health.

Before founding Mamaearth, she set up a fitness platform dietexpert.in, which shuttered its operations in 2013.  She has a BCA degree from Panjab University and holds certifications in visual arts from New York Academy.

15. Harsha Kumar

Harsha Kumar is a Partner at VC firm Lightspeed India Partners Advisors. Her journey began as a software engineer and product manager at Persistent Systems in 2009, followed by a stint at the American online gaming startup Zynga in 2012. She pursued an MBA degree from INSEAD while advancing her career.

In 2014, Kumar joined Ola as the product head, contributing to its exponential growth from 3,000 rides per day to a million rides a day by the time she concluded her tenure in 2016. Her instrumental role in scaling up Ola’s product significantly contributed to its unicorn valuation.

At Lightspeed Venture, Harsha has been actively involved in various investments over the past 7 years. Notable investments include API marker Setu, digital ledger OkCredit, vernacular audiobook app PocketFM, and product manager hiring platform Upraised.

16. Ishani Chanana

Ishani Channa, partner investments at Sarcha Advisors, plays a pivotal role in managing family office investments and shaping capital allocation strategies across a diverse spectrum of assets, encompassing equity, debt, and alternative investment opportunities, with a significant focus on startups.

With investments in over 50 startups, including notable names like BluSmart, Josh Talks, STAGE, TrulyMadly, Prescinto, and The New Shop, and active participation in 20+ follow-on rounds, Ishani has been instrumental in nurturing entrepreneurial talent and fostering innovation.

In addition to her role at Sarcha Advisors, Chanana is an angel investor and has stakes in startups like JumpingMinds, BatX Energies, Yatrikart, Newmi, and Jobsgaar.

Prior to her current role, Ishani spent nearly four years at a hedge fund within Edelweiss Financial Services, where she honed her skills in buy-side research. Her work involved in-depth analysis of Indian-listed companies across diverse sectors, making valuable contributions to investment decisions within the fund.

Chanana holds a master’s degree in finance from Warwick Business School. Her investment track record includes successful exits and the ability to attract substantial investments from renowned investors to her portfolio companies, underscoring the prudence of her investment choices

17. Kanika Mayar 

Kanika Mayar is a partner of Vertex Ventures, which infuses money in seed to Series B-stage startups operating in Southeast Asia and India. Vertex’s portfolio companies include Grab, Patsnap, 17Live, Nium, FirstCry, Licious, AsianParent, Validus, and Warung Pintar, among others.

So far, Kanika has participated in four startup deals – Chatty Bao, Proactive For Her, Onato and Karkhana.io. She has also worked with leading companies such as IFC, TechnoServe, Goldman Sachs, and Ernst & Young.

A graduate of economics from the prestigious Lady Shree Ram College, Kanika completed her MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

If you are a women investor or want to nominate a women investor in the startup ecosystem, nominate us at editor@inc42.com. This is a running list (and not a definitive one), and we would love to add more names who are changing the investing landscape in the Indian startup ecosystem. 

18. Namita Thapar

Namita Thapar is the executive director of India Business for Emcure, a pharmaceutical company. Thapar rose to fame after she joined the TV Show ‘Shark Tank India’ as one of the sharks.

So far, Thapar has participated in 11 startup deals, including Medulance, Ubreathe, Snitch, JhaJi Store, and TagZ Foods, among others.

She recently invested in ePharmacy when the startup bagged an investment of INR 2 Cr from multiple investors on Shark Tank India.

A chartered accountant from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Namita holds an MBA degree from the Fuqua School of Business.   

19. Nandini Mansinghka

Nandini Mansinghka is the co-promoter and CEO at Mumbai Angels Network. She is also a founder investor at Digibooster, a content marketplace. Over the years, she has participated in more than 55 startup deals.

Founded in 2006, Mumbai Angels Network invests in early-stage startups in India. The network backs a slew of startups such as Adsparx, Adonmo, and BabyChakra, among others.

After her graduation (BCom) from the University of Calcutta, she completed her CFA from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India

20. Nruthya Madappa 

Nruthya Madappa assumed the role of partner at the early-stage VC firm 3one4 Capital earlier this year, where her primary responsibility is to enhance and fortify the firm’s portfolio.

Her journey at the venture capital firm began in 2020 when she joined as a principal and took charge of growth and capital development.

Demonstrating exceptional leadership and strategic acumen, she swiftly progressed to the position of director for the growth and capital vertical in the subsequent year.

21. Padmaja Ruparel

Padmaja Ruparel is one of the cofounders of the Indian Angel Network. She is also recognised as a key player in the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem.

So far, she has participated in over 16 startup deals, which include names like Phool, Nivesh, Sirona Hygiene, goStops, and Dhruva Space, among others.

Last year, Indian Angel Network launched the IAN Alpha Fund, a SEBI-registered category II venture capital fund, worth INR 1,000 Cr.

So far, Indian Angel Network has invested in over 180 startups. Some of its portfolio companies are Zypp Electric, Crest, Huddle, Elctrifuel, Indium Finance, and Sirona Hyginene, among others.

Before starting her journey in the Indian startup ecosystem, Ruparel worked as the head of corporate communications at the UK-based Xansa.

22. Paula Mariwala

Paula Mariwala has been an early-stage investor for the past 15 years, and is a founding partner of Mumbai-based Aureolis Ventures, and the founder of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs India.

A Stanford alumna, Paula invests in early-stage startups and has been a key investor in Tapchief, Tread, Browntape, Thinklabs, RedBus, and Carwale, among others. In terms of sectors, she has been actively investing in segments like technology, sustainability, social impact, women empowerment, and education.

Paula is a member of the governing council of the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer, IIT Delhi. She is also on the board of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Stanford University.

23. Pearl Agarwal

Pearl Agarwal is a prolific angel investor, with investments in 16 startups across sectors such as web3, fintech, edtech, gaming, and SaaS. Some of her notable investments include InFeedo, BluSmart Mobility, GroMo, Trell, and Redwing Labs.

Pearl is also the founder and MD of Delhi-based VC firm Eximius Ventures, which has its investments in startups such as Eka.Care, Jar, iTribe, Fego, Zorro, KalaGato, Oyela, Flux, Stan, Fleek, and Skydo.

Before becoming a full-time investor, Pearl worked at Merril Lynch. Pearl has also worked in the private equity sector with names like UTIMCO and Global Infrastructure Partners.

She is also the cofounder of DotReview, a platform where first-time investors can learn about startup funding.

24. Pooja Mehta

Pooja Mehta , AVP , investments and investors Relation at Gensol Group, was the chief investment officer (CIO) at JITO Angel Network (JAN), a platform which connects angel investors with startups. She has expertise in evaluating startups, managing angel investment deals, and administering investment operations and mentoring startups on growth stage.

In the last four years, she has invested in over 30 companies, including Blusmart, Batx, HomeCapital, Nexus Power, Uravu, Terra Biware, Matrix Gas Jumping Minds, Oneplay, Magenta, etc.

Currently, she is a venture capital advisor and on the board of multiple companies, including the global advisory council of Tech India Advocates. A seasoned management professional with an MBA degree in finance, Pooja’s skillset ranges from business development, market research, and management to building business strategies and financial analysis.

25. Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra, in her capacity as the COO and managing partner at CIIE.CO, assumes a pivotal role in the startup ecosystem, particularly focussing on digitisation, deeptech, climate tech, and financial inclusion.

With a dedicated commitment to empowering women entrepreneurs, she takes the lead in spearheading accelerator and incubation programmes.

These initiatives are designed to enhance skills, promote technology adoption, establish a robust online presence, drive customer engagement, and facilitate strategic partnerships.

Chopra has significantly influenced over 1,200 startups through various CIIE.CO programmes. Notable startups under her guidance include Razorpay, which turned into a unicorn in 2020.

26. Raakhe Kapoor Tandon

Raakhe Kapoor Tandon runs a family office – The Three Sisters: Institutional Office – with two of her sisters, Radha and Roshini Rana Kapoor. Raakhe, Radha and Roshini are the daughters of Rana Kapoor, the founder and MD of Yes Bank.

Under the family office, Raakhe founded ART Capital (India), an investment vehicle. The Three Sisters also has its investments in Delhi-based Awfis Space Solution, a real estate tech startup.

A Wharton alumna, Raakhe has founded two more ventures under ART Capital – ART Housing Finance (India) and Rural Agri Ventures India.

While ART Housing Finance provides long-term mortgage finance to retail customers, Rural Agri Ventures is an incubation/project development firm focussed on agritech startups. 

27. Rema Subramanian

Rema Subramanian is the co-founder and managing partner at Ankur Capital Fund, which backs early-stage startups in the agritech, fintech, health tech, and edtech segments.

She is currently working as an advisor consultant at DY Works. Earlier, she has worked with various Indian companies such as Dasra, ADTS, Element K India, Zee Interactive Learning, Ion Exchange, Datamatics and JK (Raymonds).

So far, Rema has participated in more than four startup investment deals. These names include SportVot, Josh Talks, MyCaptain, and Banyan Environmental Innovations.

A cost accountant from ICFAI, Rema has worked across education and IT/ITES, taking young companies from scratch to midsize ventures.

28. Renuka Ramnath

Renuka Ramnath is the founder and CEO of Multiples Alternate Asset Management, a Mumbai-based venture capital firm that has supported startups such as Delhivery, ACKO, Dream11, MoEngage, and LivPure, among others.

Ramnath founded Multiples in 2009 with the vision of creating a highly respected, sustainable, and successful institution focussed on alternative asset investments in India. Fifteen years later, Multiples manages nearly $3 Bn in assets and has a portfolio of 30 companies across three funds.

An alumna of Harvard Business School, Ramnath also serves on the board of the Multiples Good Faith Foundation, a scholarship programme that provides financial and skill-development support to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

With over three decades of experience in financial services, Ramnath previously served as the managing director and CEO of ICICI Venture for eight years. Between 1986 and 2001, she held various positions within the ICICI Group.

29. Ritu Verma

Ritu Verma, the cofounder of Ankur Capital, has backed several startups over the years. Some of the companies in her portfolio include names like CropIn, ERC, HealthSutra, Big Haat, Niramai, Tessol, Suma Agro, and Karma Healthcare.

In 2022, Verma took part in more than 13 startup investment deals, including D-Nome, IBISA, Vegrow, Wasabi, and Offgrid Energy Labs, among others.

At present, she is acting as a board observer in various Indian companies such as BigHaat India, String Bio, AgricxLab and Niramai. She is also on the board of Tessol, Health Sutra and CropIn.

Earlier, she worked with Truven, Philips and Unilever. She has a PhD in physics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from INSEAD.

30. Ruchi Kalra 

Ruchi Kalra helms the financial affairs at one of the few profitable new-age tech startups in the country. The CFO of B2B building material marketplace OfBusiness also helped found the startup back in 2016 and has not looked back since then.
An alumna of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Kalra studied chemical engineering and then went on to work at Evalueserve for a couple of years. Afterwards, Kalra enrolled at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad and completed her MBA.

Immediately after that, Kalra landed a job at McKinsey & Company and was entrusted with overseeing the insurance and retail banking sector. After nine years working at the consulting firm, Kalra took the plunge into the world of entrepreneurship and helped found OfBusiness.

Not stopping there, she has helped scale the business to new heights while she has also continued investing in multiple other businesses as an angel investor. She has so far invested in as many as 10 startups, as an angel, including seafood marketplace Captain Fresh, tyre marketplace TyrePlex, women-led lifestyle brand FableStreet, and B2B pharmacy marketplace Saveo, among others.

31. Seema Chaturvedi

Seema Chaturvedi, the Founder and Managing Partner of Achieving Women Equity (AWE) Funds, boasts an impressive 25-year track record in capital markets and financial management. Her primary mission is to drive gender equity in entrepreneurship.

A staunch advocate for entrepreneurship with a specific focus on women’s empowerment, Chaturvedi aims to empower 30 Mn women in India by 2030 through AWE Funds.

She also chairs TiE Global’s prominent initiative, the Project All India Roadshow for Women’s Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship (AIRSWEEE), securing funding from the US Department of State for six consecutive rounds.

Earlier this year, AWE Funds announced the first close of its maiden fund in India – the Achieving Women Entrepreneurs Early Growth Fund I – at $15 Mn. While promoting gender equity and climate action as a strategy, the fund aims to invest in scalable innovations in sectors such as climate tech, agritech, health tech, edtech and fintech.

32. Shagun Tiwary

Shagun Tiwary is a senior principal at Verlinvest, a Belgium-based investment firm. She is equipped with 12 years of work experience and has invested in companies across consumer and healthcare services such as Dr Lal PathLabs, Indira IVF, Epigamia, and Veeba.

Prior to joining Verlinvest, she worked at TA Associates and Nomura in Mumbai, where she focussed on growth equity investment and capital market transactions. She holds a master’s degree in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.

Verlinvest is largely involved in late stage venture capital funding and mid-market private equity. Typically, the firm invests between $20 Mn and $200 Mn in startups, depending on the stage they are in.

33. Shanti Mohan 

Shanti Mohan is the founder of LetsVenture, a Bengaluru-based investor network that allows angels and HNIs to invest in startups. She has also founded trica, a platform that allows people to invest in startups and private equity.

In the last few years, she participated in more than 10 startup deals, which include Minko, Simply Services, Bimaplan, and Aulerth.

With LetsVenture, Shanti has invested in startups such as Absolute Foods, Agnikul, BharatX, CityMall, Dukaan, Trell, Yulu, Blusmart, and The ePlane Company, among others. Her personal portfolio comprises Siply, Minko, and Bimaplan.

Shanti is an active angel investor and part of the SEBI advisory AIF committee. She is also active with the RBI Council on startup funding. Further, Shanti is part of the startup committees of several states in India.

34. Shrishti Sahu

The founder of Hustle Hard Ventures, Shrishti Sahu, has been actively supporting Indian startups and has so far backed 30 startups, including Plum, Kutumb, Rupifi, Chingari, 10Club, Leap Club, Eeki Foods, GrowthSchool, Accacia, Descrypt, and Gold Setu, among others.

Sahu shared that she writes off cheques between INR 3 Lakh and INR 25 Lakh for homegrown startups.

Currently, she is a managing partner and angel investor at Swadharma Source Ventures. She has also worked with multiple companies like Emoha Eldercare, Facebook, Lumis Partners, Aqaya Source Foundation, and Aqaya. She completed her graduation from the University of Warwick.

35. Shruthi Cauvery Iyer

Caha Capital founder Shruthi Iyer is an active angel investor, who is overseeing two early-stage startups’ expansion strategies. She administers Wharton Alumni Angels (South Asia) and HBS Alumni Angels.

Earlier, she worked with international companies such as Agate Medical Investment LP, PT Perintius,  International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Eastern Energy Resources. She is one of the cofounders of the ecommerce startup Blend8.

She did her MBA from the Wharton School and completed her B.Tech from Visveswaraya Technological University, Karnataka.  

36. Sowmya Suryanarayanan

Sowmya heads the impact and ESG functions at Aavishkaar Capital – an impact fund manager that invests in impact enterprises across India, South and South East Asia and East Africa. She is responsible for delivering significant impact, gender and ESG value across Aavishkaar’s various impact funds and portfolio companies.

At Aavishkaar, Sowmya has helped invest in sectors such as agritech, financial inclusion, and essential services. Some of the portfolio companies of Aavishkaar Capital include Nalanda Learning Systems, GoBolt, Milk Mantra, and Seven Ocean, among others.

37. Sunitha Viswanathan

Sunitha Viswanathan is a partner at the early stage VC firm Kae Capital. With over a decade of experience in venture investment, banking, and technology, she brings a wealth of expertise to her role.

Kae Capital, founded in 2012, has backed 81 startups, including notable names like Porter, Zetwerk, Nazara, and Tata 1mg.

Prior to joining Kae Capital, Sunitha spent over 8 years at Unitus Ventures, an early stage VC fund based in Bangalore. During her time there, she served on the boards of Cuemath, Masai School, Salesken, Awign, and Blowhorn, among others. She also gained experience working with mid-market clients at YES Bank.

Sunitha holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore and a Master’s in Finance from S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai.

Her investment focus spans sectors such as fintech, consumer tech, D2C, and Healthtech. Notable companies in her portfolio include Assurekit, Bold Finance, Everheal, Foxtale, Freightwalla, Nua, Supernova, Traya Health, and Wysa.

38. Surabhi Washishth

Surabhi Washishth, the founding partner of Paradigm Shift Capital, has been actively supporting the Indian startup ecosystem.

So far, she has investments in 20 startups, including Ixana, Zeda, Landeed, Praan, 10XAR, Samudai and Arcana Network. In her personal capacity, she writes cheques between $250K and $300K for startups.

At present, she is acting as a ‘Global Shaper’ with the World Economic Forum. She has also worked with multiple companies such as WeWork India, Headout, Target, AOL, and ING Life, among others. She has a B.Com degree from Christ University, Bengaluru. 

39. Swapna Gupta 

A prolific investor, Swapna Gupta is currently a partner at Avaana Capital, a climate-focused VC firm. Before joining Avaana Capital, Swapna spent more than seven years at Qualcomm Ventures, where she led India investments.

She is an investor and board observer in multiple Indian startups, including Locus, Shadowfax, Ninjacart, Zuddl, FabHotels, MoveInSync, Reverie, Stellapps, and attune, among others.

Swapna also launched Qualcomm Women Entrepreneurs India Network (Qwein), a networking, learning, and mentoring programme for deeptech, and early-stage female entrepreneurs in India.

Swapna has recently been recognised by GCV among the Top 50 emerging leaders in the corporate venture community. Surprisingly, she is the only Indian on the list. She is also part of the prestigious Global Kauffman fellows programme.

40. Swati Nangalia Mehra 

Swati Mehra’s tryst with investments began long ago. One of her first jobs was to oversee investment research in the consumer space. The job came in handy when she decided to take the plunge into the world of investing. 

In 2014, she helped cofound Sixth Sense Ventures, the country’s first domestic and consumer-focussed venture fund. Since then, the firm has invested in a host of new and emerging D2C brands that have created a niche for themselves.

Nangalia Mehra has helmed the venture fund, which has invested in a slew of emerging brands, including homegrown beer brand Bira91, men’s grooming and personal care brand Bombay Shaving Company, and gaming and entertainment platform Smaaash. She also has stakes in CarterX, Pariksha, and ProcMart. 

41. Tarana Lalwani

Tarana Lalwani is a founding partner of InnoVen Triple Blue Capital, which has backed multiple startups such as Zetwerk, Chaayos, Ather, slice, and Bounce.

As an angel investor, Lalwani bets on startups working in the consumer, consumertech, health tech, fintech, and SaaS sectors. She also holds expertise in pre-seed to Series D funding rounds via equity and debt instruments.

Presently, she is an advisor at Aureolis Ventures and a senior director at InnoVen Capital India. Earlier, she worked with companies like Anand Rathi Securities, Kae Capital, SeedFund, Edvance Learning, Webaroo, Radian Group, and Morgan Stanley.

She is also on the advisory board of Oscar Foundation and CII. Not only this, Tarana is currently part of the venture capital and private equity committee of IMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India).

She holds an MBA degree from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s degree from La Salle University. 

42. Vani Kola 

Vani Kola is the founder and managing director of the early-stage VC firm Kalaari Capital. She has led over 30 investments at Kalaari. Some of the prominent names include Dream11, Myntra, Cure.fit, and Snapdeal.

Vani is currently on the board of CXXO. She has also worked with Certus Software and RightWorks. She likes mentoring first-time entrepreneurs and ushering them into becoming seasoned business leaders. So far, she has participated in over 63 startup deals. Some of these names include Climbes, Bombay Play, Zocket, StanPlus and Zluri, among others.

After graduating from Osmania University, she completed her master’s degree from Arizona State University.

43. Varsha Tagare

Varsha Tagare is the managing director at Qualcomm Ventures where she manages a $150 Mn fund dedicated to India and cross-border digital enterprise investments.

Prior to joining Qualcomm Ventures, Tagare served as an investment director at Intel Capital, responsible for global equity investments in mobile technology.

At Qualcomm Ventures, she has led and managed investments in Capillary Technologies, Ideaforge, MapMyIndia, among others. 

44. Vineeta Singh

Widely popular for being featured on Shark Tank India, Vineeta Singh is the CEO and cofounder of beauty and personal care brand SUGAR Cosmetics. Singh is an alumna of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Singh is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of FAB BAG, a beauty and grooming subscription startup. Since appearing on Shark Tank India, Singh has shot to fame and has invested in a slew of Indian startups featured on the show.

As an angel investor, Vineeta Singh has participated in multiple fundraisers. Some of her bets include Padcare Labs, JhaJi Store, Snitch, and Josh Talks, among others.

Note: The information has been collected from available public resources and websites.

If you are a women investor or want to nominate a women investor in the startup ecosystem, nominate us at editor@inc42.com. This is a running list (and not a definitive one), and we would love to add more names who are changing the investing landscape in the Indian startup ecosystem. 

Last updated on June 19, 2024 | The list has been updated to include one more women investor. 

The post Meet 44 Women Torchbearers Of India’s Startup Investment Space appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Shares of Le Travenues Technology Ltd, the parent company of online travel platform ixigo, has jumped 20% to INR 194.38 in the early hours of trading on Wednesday (June 19), a day after its listing.

ixigo shares were trading at INR 186.89 at 10:25 AM, as compared to previous close at INR 161.99.

The traveltech company made a strong debut on the stock exchanges on Tuesday (June 18), opening significantly higher than the issue price.

On the NSE, ixigo shares opened at INR 138.10 per share, a 48.5% increase from the issue price of INR 93. Similarly on the BSE, the shares opened at INR 135 apiece, up 45.16% from the issue price.

The ixigo IPO, which included a fresh equity issue worth INR 120 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of 6.67 Cr shares, received a massive subscription of more than 98 times, driven by heavy bidding from non-institutional, institutional and retail investors.

Ahead of the IPO opening, the company raised INR 333 Cr from 23 anchor investors, including the likes of SBI Magnum Children’s Benefit Fund, the Government of Singapore, Tata Investment Corporation Limited and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company.

Founded by Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, ixigo started in 2007 as a travel search website to help users compare flight deals. In FY20, it became an OTA and started selling various travel services like flights, trains, bus tickets, hotel bookings and holiday packages.

One of the startup’s biggest value propositions in the crowded OTA market is its focus on railways and its extensive reach into Tier-2 and smaller cities. This strategic focus differentiates it from competitors like EaseMyTrip, MakeMyTrip, Yatra and Flipkart-owned Cleartrip.

The company initially filed for an IPO in 2021, aiming to raise INR 1,600 Cr. However, due to unfavorable macroeconomic conditions, ixigo postponed its public offer despite receiving approval from the market regulator SEBI.

Since then, ixigo has remained profitable. After incurring a loss in FY22, the company bounced back in FY23, reporting a profit of INR 23.3 Cr. Continuing its financial strengthening, ixigo achieved a profit of INR 65.7 Cr in the first nine months of FY24.

The post ixigo Shares Jump 20% In Early Trading Hours On Day 2 Of Listing appeared first on Inc42 Media.

D2C fashion brand The Pant Project has raised $4.25 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Sorin Investments.

The round also saw participation from MGA Ventures, Huddle, Dexter Ventures, Indian Silicon Valley, along with a clutch of angel investors, including Arjun Vaidya, Avni Biyani, Nikhil Bhandarkar and Vijay Taparia, among others.

Founded in 2020 by Dhruv Toshniwal and Udit Toshniwal, The Pant Project worked as bootstrapped for the past four years. With proceeds from the maiden funding round, it aims to propel the next phase of growth as it aims to be India’s leading bottom wear brand with an omnichannel presence, Toshniwal said.

“Our biggest moat lies in our understanding of the apparel supply chain, with access to best in global quality fabrics and designs for our customers. We have data on custom fit for over 100,000 Indian men, and are using that to constantly improve. With this funding, we plan to grow our team, tech capabilities, brand awareness and retail store presence,” he said.

The brand provides custom-made pants for all Indian body sizes. In 2023, it adopted an omnichannel strategy while also foraying into ready-to-made pants. With options for both men and women, the startup claims to offer pants across 250 styles ranging from formals to chinos, jeans, cargos, joggers, power stretch knit pants, luxury linens, and wools.

The Pant Project’s main sales channel is its website, which accounts for 65% of total sales. It also sells through online marketplaces like Amazon and Myntra, and has stores in Mumbai and Bengaluru. The brand has served over 100,000 customers in the past four years.

With plans to open new stores across the country and expand its casual and athleisure offerings, the company aims to reach INR 100 Cr in revenue in the next 18-24 months.

“Pant Project has created a strong brand recall as a destination for bottom wear for all occasions demonstrated by deep customer love and repeat behaviour. Sorin intends to add value through its network and deep understanding & experience in D2C brands,” said Mandar Dandekar, partner at Sorin Investments.

This comes at a time when Indian startups raised $657 Mn in May 2024, registering a fall of 34% from $1 Bn bagged in the same month a year ago.The funding also fell 24% from $868 Mn raised by the Indian startups in April 2024.

However, seed stage startups raised $107 Mn in funding across 50 deals in May 2024, up 2% from nearly $105 Mn raised across 28 deals in the year-ago month.

Meanwhile, many D2C fashion brands raised funding over the last few months. Last month, D2C ethnic wear brand Libas bagged INR 150 Cr in a strategic funding round from ICICI Ventures. Menswear brand DaMENSCH also raised INR 21.62 Cr (about $2.5 Mn) in an extended Series B round.

The post Fashion Brand The Pant Project Raises $4.25 Mn To Expand Omnichannel Play appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Beauty and fashion ecommerce major Nykaa’s growth plans for its various verticals, disclosed during the company’s annual investor day last week, have received a thumbs up from various brokerages.

ICICI Securities has upgraded the stock’s rating to ‘Add’ from ‘Hold’. The brokerage highlighted that Nykaa is now focusing on growth in the core beauty and personal care (BPC) segment and will reinvest savings from scale efficiencies to usher higher growth. Hence, medium-term BPC contribution/EBITDA margins will likely stay flattish, it said.

“Although short of Street’s expectations, the sharp profit improvement outlook in fashion/eB2B segments is a positive surprise. Also, the rapid scale up of its global store and some of its owned brands – ‘Dot & Key’ and ‘Nykd’ – were definite bright spots in Nykaa’s operating performance. We reckon while material re-rating of Nykaa is contingent on the execution of its ambitions, clarity on growth/margin outlook should benefit the stock,” the brokerage added.

It has also revised its price target (PT) for the stock to INR 195 from INR 175 earlier.

Meanwhile, Kotak Institutional Equities has retained its ‘Add’ rating on the stock with an unchanged fair value of INR 195.

“We now incorporate the GCC business into our projections, resulting in a 24-1% EPS cut for FY2025-27. We are broadly aligned with the company’s guidance on BPC business growth (we model a 20% GMV CAGR for FY2025-27) as well as fashion (we model EBITDA break-even by FY2026), though we believe the superstore B2B business can attract investments higher than $25 Mn projected by the company. Overall, Nykaa has weathered the high competitive intensity environment well in FY2024,” the brokerage said.

Last week, Jefferies said that Nykaa has been able to carve out a niche for itself through its focus on BPC, which differentiates it from horizontals such as Flipkart and Amazon.

The recent years have seen a surge in transacting customers for the company. Nykaa should benefit from the increasing order frequencies and basket values, as the newer customer cohorts mature, Jefferies said.

It expects the company to remain in a hypergrowth phase in the medium term as online BPC and fashion penetration ramps up, the brokerage said in a research note dated June 12.

During its investor day on Friday (June 14), Nykaa said it expects its beauty business to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of mid-to-late 20s% till FY28.

As the online BPC player with over 30% market share in India, Nykaa’s growth strategy in the vertical includes robust customer acquisition, increasing category width and depth, premiumisation of purchasing behaviour, and delivering exceptional on-ground experiences, the company said.

The company also expects its fashion business, Nykaa Fashion, to turn EBITDA positive by the end of the financial year 2025-26 (FY26).

Over the last few quarters, Nykaa Fashion has been seeing higher growth than its BPC business. In FY24, Nykaa’s BPC business’ GMV grew 25% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 8,340.9 Cr. On the other hand, the GMV for fashion business grew 27% YoY to INR 3,270 Cr.

Meanwhile, on the global expansion front, Nykaa aims to extend its Nysaa brand in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) market with a total of 70 stores in the next five years. The company aims to achieve a 7% share in the GCC prestige beauty market in this period.

Besides, Nykaa Global Store aims to increase its total number of brands to 80-100 by FY28 from 39 as of FY24. This segment has grown 5X over the last four years, the company said.

Nykaa posted an 80% YoY jump in its net profit to INR 69 Cr in FY24, while operating revenue grew 24% to INR 6,385.6 Cr.

Shares of Nykaa ended today’s trading session 2.4% higher at INR 175.10 on the BSE.

The post Nykaa’s Growth Plans Get Thumbs Up From Brokerages, ICICI Securities Raises PT To INR 195 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Le Travenues Technology, the parent company of online travel platform ixigo, made a strong debut on the stock exchanges today (June 18), opening significantly higher than the issue price.

On the NSE, ixigo shares opened at INR 138.10 per share, a 48.5% increase from the issue price of INR 93. Similarly on the BSE, the shares opened at INR 135 apiece, up 45.16% from the issue price.

The ixigo IPO, which included a fresh equity issue worth INR 120 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of 6.67 Cr shares, received a massive subscription of more than 98 times, driven by heavy bidding from non-institutional, institutional and retail investors.

Ahead of the IPO opening, the company raised INR 333 Cr from 23 anchor investors, including the likes of SBI Magnum Children’s Benefit Fund, the Government of Singapore, Tata Investment Corporation Limited, and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company.

The IPO of Le Travenues Technology concluded last week with bids surpassing 98 times the number of shares available for purchase.

Investors bid for 4,293.6 Mn shares, which is significantly higher than the 43.7 Mn shares that were available for purchase.

Founded by Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, ixigo started in 2007 as a travel search website to help users compare flight deals. In FY20, it became an OTA and started selling various travel services like flights, trains, bus tickets, hotel bookings and holiday packages.

After a three-year wait, ixigo’s dreams of a public listing have finally come true. The company initially filed for an IPO in 2021 with the aim of raising INR 1,600 crore. However, citing macroeconomic conditions, ixigo postponed its public offer despite receiving approval from the market regulator SEBI.

Since then, ixigo has demonstrated resilience, maintaining profitability. After experiencing a loss in FY22, the company returned to profitability in FY23, reporting a profit of INR 23.3 Cr for the fiscal year. Subsequently, ixigo has continued to strengthen its financial position, achieving a profit of INR 65.7 Cr in the first nine months of FY24.

The post ixigo IPO Listing: Shares Make Stellar Debut, Lists At 48.5% Premium appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Omnichannel jewellery brand Bluestone is currently in negotiations to secure an investment of approximately INR 830 Cr ($100 Mn) from Peak XV Partners, Steadview Capital and Think Investments.

In its pre-IPO (initial public offering) funding round, Bluestone plans a combination of share sales by early investors and fresh capital infusion, which is anticipated to value the omnichannel retailer at around INR 7,500 Cr ($900 Mn) pre-money, ET reported.

Peak XV is set to invest around INR 415 Cr ($50 Mn) in Bluestone.

The round consists of a mix of primary and secondary transactions. Additionally, some family offices, through special purpose vehicles, may participate in the funding, which is expected to close in the coming days.

The latest round values Bluestone at more than double its valuation from the last funding round in September 2023. At that time, the company raised capital from investors, including Manipal Group chief Ranjan Pai, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, and Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath, at a $450 Mn valuation.

Founded in 2011 by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha and Vidya Nataraj, Bluestone is an omnichannel jewellery startup that claims to offer more than 8,000 designs across rings, pendants, earrings and other products. In 2022, the startup elevated its chief operating officer Sudeep Nagar as the cofounder.

Inc42 earlier reported that BlueStone was looking to raise $16.5 Mn in a mix of equity and debt from a clutch of investors such Innoven Capital, Ashwin Kedia and Sankar Bora among others.

Prior to that, BlueStone was planning to raise $9 Mn in debt funding from Trifecta Capital.

The company reported a 1.6X jump in revenue from its operations in FY23 to INR 770.7 Cr, as compared to INR 461.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year. The startup’s loss plunged 86% to INR 167.2 Cr from INR 1,268.4 Cr in FY22.

It is to be noted that the Indian jewellery industry generated revenues of nearly $77 Bn in 2023, surpassing markets in China, the US, Japan and Russia.

In March, D2C jewellery brand Kushal’s raised INR 284 Cr in its Series B funding round from Lighthouse’s fourth alternative investment fund.

Meanwhile, silver jewellery startup Giva secured $35 Mn in a Series B funding round led by Premji Invest last year.

The post Bluestone In Talks To Raise INR 830 Cr In Pre-IPO Funding: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

After grabbing the lion’s share of the Indian food delivery market and entering the quick-commerce segment with Blinkit, the foodtech behemoth Zomato has now set its sights on the events and movie ticketing business. 

Reports first surfaced on Sunday about Zomato being in talks with Paytm for acquiring the latter’s movies and event ticketing business. Both the companies confirmed the development but said that the talks were in preliminary stages and no binding agreement was signed.

The aforementioned reports pegged the deal size at about INR 1,500 Cr.

The development has come within a year after Zomato launched a dedicated Live tab on the app. As per reports, Zomato was planning to expand its Live reach by venturing into new cities and developing fresh intellectual properties (IPs). 

Launched in 2018, Zomato Live initially centred around the Zomaland IP, a food carnival and music festival. This popular event has since grown to encompass eight cities.

Meanwhile, the anticipated acquisition holds significant potential for Zomato and the broader entertainment and event ticketing market in India. 

For Zomato, this move could enhance its existing live event offerings and position it as a formidable competitor to BookMyShow, the current market leader, which posted a net profit of INR 85.1 Cr in FY23. 

By integrating Paytm’s movie and events vertical, Zomato could leverage cross-promotional opportunities, expand its customer base, and diversify its revenue streams.

On the other hand, Paytm’s divestiture of its events business could signal a strategic realignment towards its core financial services and payments platform. This shift might allow Paytm to reallocate resources and focus on strengthening its market position amidst intensifying competition. 

Now, before we dive deeper into understanding what this deal could mean for Zomato and BookMyShow, let’s understand why Paytm may want to get rid of this vertical.

A Quick Look At Paytm’s Movie And Events Biz

In 2017, Paytm acquired a majority stake in online ticketing and events startup Insider.in for nearly $5.42 Mn (INR 35 Cr). A year later, it acquired Alibaba-owned ticketing platform TicketNew to ramp up the business.

For Paytm, movie ticketing and events business has been a part of its marketing services business. Besides, the segment also includes advertising, credit card marketing, and deals and gift vouchers. 

In FY23, Wasteland Entertainment Pvt Ltd, through which Paytm runs its Insider business, posted an operating revenue of INR 191 Cr compared to INR 46.5 Cr in FY22. 

The entity also narrowed its loss to INR 19.2 Cr from INR 26.1 Cr in FY22. Hence, the numbers indicate it is a growing business for Paytm, although it contributes only a small amount to Paytm’s overall business.

While Orbgen, the registered entity of its ticketing service had INR 15.6 Cr revenue in FY23 and reported an INR 4.6 Cr loss. 

The decision to sell the movie ticketing and events business comes at a time when Paytm’s core payments business has been hit by the Reserve Bank of India’s curb on Paytm Payments Bank.

In its clarification to exchanges after the report of the company being in talks with Zomato to sell the ticketing business, Paytm said, “As noted in our earnings call, our focus will be on payment and financial services along with digital goods commerce, which are designed to help our merchants scale their businesses.”

Besides, Paytm is also undertaking a restructuring exercise as it looks to cut costs and optimise its business.

“Paytm, of course, is going through its own set of struggles. Perhaps that’s why they’re looking to exit this business, which may not be a core proposition for them,” Karan Taurani, VP Elara Capital said.

What’s In It For Zomato?

Taurani added that while Zomato’s core proposition has been food, it has performed exceptionally well in the commerce sector. “If the company acquires the Paytm ticketing business and executes well with superior customer experience, it can definitely challenge market leader BookMyShow,” he added.

This will also allow Zomato to build a loyal customer base that can be monetised through various means such as ad revenue and ticket bookings. By partnering with content or event owners and charging a convenience fee for online bookings, Zomato can enhance its revenue streams. Given the shift towards online transactions, this strategy should do well, as customers increasingly prefer buying tickets online rather than from physical locations, according to Taruni.

Notably, if the deal pans out, it will be Zomato’s biggest bet since the INR 4,477 Cr Grofers deal, later rebranded as Blinkit. The successful execution of Blinkit’s operations demonstrates Zomato’s potential to make its bets successful. 

Within two years of coming under Zomato’s wing, Blinkit has emerged as a significant competitor to leading quick commerce services such as Swiggy’s Instamart and Zepto.

Now, with the combined user base of Zomato and Blinkit, its extensive distribution system, and its existing experience in organising live events, Zomato has the potential to push its live business with the Paytm Insider deal. 

Currently, Zomato’s live business contributes a single-digit percentage to its overall revenue. However, if this deal is executed, it could boost this contribution to mid-double digits within the next three years, according to an analyst.

Almost a year ago, Zomato hinted that its Going-out vertical could emerge as an important contributor to its business. In its shareholders’ letter for Q1 FY24, when Zomato announced that ‘Going-out’ would be reported as a separate business segment in its financials from the next quarter (Q2), founder Deepinder Goyal expressed his optimism about the vertical. 

“Our exposure to the live events space, and Zomaland’s success has us excited about how the live-events space in India is evolving… Dining-out + Live =“Going-out”. We believe this combo could be the 4th large business coming out of Zomato, that powers India’s changing lifestyles,” the CEO said then, adding that the company was also mulling spinning out Going-out business into a separate app.

While there has been no update on a separate app since then, it is important for the company to find an alternative revenue stream amid the slowdown in its core food delivery business. 

In Q4, Zomato saw a decline in the gross order value (GOV) of its food delivery business on a QoQ basis. Its GOV fell to INR 8,439 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 8,486 Cr in the previous quarter. 

While Zomato already offers a Gold subscription plan, the move has the potential to give a boost to its dine-out offerings as well.

Should BookMyShow Worry?

There is little doubt that Zomato, in this segment, will have to face tough competition from BookMyShow, which has been in the business for a very long time. 

Founded in 1999 by Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dhar and Rajesh Balpande, BookMyShow’s online ticketing platform for events, movies, sports and plays was launched in 2007.

The company posted an operating revenue of INR 975.5 Cr in FY23, witnessing a 252% YoY jump. However, this growth was largely due to the opening up of the economy after multiple pandemic-induced lockdowns. 

During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in FY21, BookMyShow’s revenue had crashed to INR 74 Cr from INR 563 Cr in FY20.

Despite everything said and done, BookMyShow has several advantages that set it apart. Firstly, it has a significant first-mover advantage in the market. Secondly, it enjoys strong customer recall due to its long-standing presence in the industry. Moreover, it has built solid relationships with event activation companies and offers a wide range of events. 

On top of that, BookMyShow is also said to be inching closer to finalising a $300 Mn round that will enable PE major KKR to acquire a significant minority stake in the startup via a secondary share sale by existing investors. If fructified, the fundraise will help it line up a warchest to further scale up its operations. 

“While Paytm also hosts exclusive events, BookMyShow is more renowned for its extensive variety,” Taurani noted.

According to the industry veteran, BookMyShow’s comprehensive ecosystem — from customers to suppliers to content and event owners — works seamlessly. For instance, in sports and large-scale events like the IPL, BookMyShow is the largest aggregator, benefiting from its robust network and established reputation.

“Online ticketing is clearly a lucrative business if executed efficiently, as evidenced by BookMyShow turning profitable in FY23. However, it’s too early to predict whether BookMyShow will continue to have its monopoly in the market. The key factor will be how these platforms are able to enhance the customer experience,” Taurani said.

Meanwhile, Zomato has plenty to learn from BookMyShow’s mistakes. Last September, it had to cancel the India tour of Punjabi-Canadian singer Shubhneet Singh, also known as Shubh, due to backlash from netizens over some of the rapper’s social media posts featuring a distorted map of India. This incident led to calls for a boycott of the ticket-booking platform on various social media platforms.

Furthermore, officials from the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and BookMyShow were summoned by the Kolkata police in a complaint about the black marketing of tickets for the ICC World Cup match between India and South Africa.

Moving on, Zomato is trying to mark its foray into the Indian live event management space at a time when there is a notable rise in the disposal incomes of Indians. Moreover, the timing of Zomato’s entry into the space seems perfect for two reasons. 

Firstly, the foodtech startup is expected to get enough headroom to grow and expand due to limited competition. Next, it is poised to witness enough sectoral tailwinds, as the industry is projected to become a $2.3 Bn market opportunity by 2025, growing from $1.2 Bn in 2020.

If one were to look beyond the aforementioned advantages then sports such as cricket, soccer, and others foster significant growth opportunities, and if the deal goes through, Zomato will likely have numerous opportunities to expand its Live business.

The post Can Zomato-Paytm Deal Be The Next Blinkit Story In The Making? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Reliance Jio’s gaming platform, JioGames, has roped in former chief executive officer of NODWIN Gaming Sidharth Kedia as its head.

Kedia, who quit Nazara-backed NODWIN Gaming last October, has joined JioGames as senior vice president and head in June.

This is Kedia’s second stint with Reliance group. Earlier, he worked with its media divisions, Viacom18 and Network18 in different roles, from 2015-19.

“In 2015, I had joined RIL’s media business. Jio was in it’s final stages of development. In December of 2015, I was called upon by the chairman’s office to run the PMO for Jio ‘friends and family’ launch. Now that I look back, I swell with pride to have been part of such a momentous initiative,” Kedia wrote on Linkedln.

“A decade later, I feel pretty stoked to be called back in the RIL family and be entrusted with the opportunity to scale Jiogames and build a gaming behemoth that India awaits,” he added.

It is pertinent to note that he joined NODWIN Gaming in 2019 after his Reliance’s first stint, while listed gaming giant Nazara acquired majority stake in the former in 2018. During his stint, NODWIN Gaming grew to be one of the leading esports companies in the country, with diversification in multiple genres beyond mere tournaments.

The appointment indicates that JioGames might now aggressively push its new efforts in the market. The gaming division of Mukesh Ambani’s Jio plans to target both gamers, and game developers.

Last year, Jio inked a 10-year strategic partnership with French firm Gamestream, whose partners include Ubisoft. The French firm offers clients white-labeling cloud gaming solutions, . Jio said the partnership will help it scale its cloud gaming platform JioGamesCloud.

JioGamesCloud is a cloud gaming platform offering a vast catalogue of games, from AAA titles to hyper-casual games catering to various genres, categories, and age groups, the official website says. With JioGamesCloud, users can simply connect to the internet and enjoy a seamless gaming experience on PC, mobile, TV, and web browsers.

As per a Lumikai report, India’s gaming market is expected to hit $3.1 Bn in FY23 and is projected to reach $7.5 Bn by FY28. India continued to be the second-largest gaming market with 15.4 Bn game downloads in FY23, following China.

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