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.

Towards the fag end of 2023, most stakeholders of the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem concurred that funding activity will start returning to normalcy in the latter half of 2024. Interestingly, the homegrown startup ecosystem is making a slow but steady headway in that direction. 

According to Inc42’s ‘H1 2024 Startup Funding Report’, Indian startups cumulatively raised investments worth $5.3 Bn in the first six months (H1) of the calendar year 2024, down a mere 1.8% from H1 2023’s $5.4 Bn. In contrast, funding numbers declined 10% year-on-year (YoY) in the first half of 2023.

However, in some silver lining, the H1 2024 funding numbers improved sequentially, by more than 20%, from $4.4 Bn in H2 2023. Startup funding declined by nearly 13% sequentially in H1 2023. Notably, H1 2024 witnessed a sequential growth in funding numbers after a two-year lull. 

Moving on, the deal count in H1 2024 improved 7% to 504 deals compared to 470 in the year-ago period. Sequentially, the deal volume improved 15%. 

Leading the charge from the front were fintech and enterprise tech sectors, which took the lion’s share of funding during the period under review. Region-wise, there were no surprises either — Bengaluru retained its crown as the abode to the most funded Indian startups in H1 2024. 

Meanwhile, the median ticket size declined by 8% YoY to $2.8 Mn in the first six months of the ongoing calendar year but zoomed 87% from $1.5 Mn in the second half of 2023.

On the consolidation front, 37 mergers and acquisitions (M&As) took place during the first half of the ongoing calendar year, down from 67 M&As in the year-ago period.

Despite the mixed performance of Indian startups in wooing investors during the first six months of 2024, the almost flat funding numbers could be pointing at VCs’ wait-and-watch strategy before they start to deploy dry powder in droves.

While it may be some time before we see the funding winter finally wane, let’s delve deeper into H1 2024 funding trends.

Fintech & SaaS Startups Bagged The Maximum Funding

A sector-wise breakdown of the funding numbers revealed that the fintech and enterprise tech sectors bagged the most funds in the first six months. 

On the back of Perfios’ $80 Mn unicorn round, the fintech sector accounted for a cumulative funding of $1.02 Bn across 84 deals. 

Hot on the heels were enterprise tech startups, which raked in $813 Mn across the same number of deals. Increased investments in artificial intelligence (AI) startups drove the uptick in SaaS funding during the first half of 2024, led by the likes of names such as Unikon.ai, GreyLabs AI, and Vodex.

What was also interesting is that the ecommerce space saw the most number of deals (102) in H1 2024. Moreover, consumer services sector managed to raise $805 Mn during the period under review, with quick commerce unicorn Zepto accounting for more than 82% ($665 Mn) of the total sectoral funding.

Late Stage Funding Staggers But Seed & Growth Stage Amaze 

Per the Inc42 H1 2024 report, seed and growth-stage companies drove the funding trend in H1 2024 and late-stage ventures saw investors practising caution. 

Interestingly, the advent of AI helped the Indian seed-stage startup funding receive a booster shot, catapulting it 23% YoY to $589 Mn across 229 deals in H1 2024. Within this space, the enterprise tech sector emerged as the strongest. 

Similar traces of investor interest were also present in growth-stage startup funding, with H1 2024 clocking a 21% YoY jump in funding to $1.7 Bn across 135 deals.

However, with only five mega deals (over $100 Mn) in the first half of the year, late stage funding fell to a seven-year low. Late-stage startups could only secure $2.7 Bn, enduring an 18% YoY decline. However, the deal count zoomed 47% YoY to 72 in H1 CY24. 

Bengaluru Hub For India’s Most-Funded Startups

Bengaluru continued its reign as the most-funded startup hub in India in the first half of 2024, bagging $1.57 Bn across 134 deals. 

Following its lead was Mumbai, which piped Delhi to clinch the second spot on the top-funded startup hub list in H1 CY24. Helped by Zepto’s unicorn round, new-age tech ventures based out of the country’s financial capital raised over $1.5 Bn across 114 deals.

Meanwhile, Delhi NCR had to make do with the third spot on the podium $1.06 Bn raised across 91 startup deals in H1 2024. 

The Inc42 report also notes that the first six months of the ongoing calendar year saw the participation of more than 915 “unique” investor participation in funding deals. The number signifies the growing allure for Indian entrepreneurs from a constantly growing horde of backers, beyond the usual VCs and PEs.

Come that as it may, unlike the VC capital-fuelled era of 2020 and 2021, investors today remain sharply focussed on supporting profitable and sustainable ventures. It is this mantra that has become the buzzword for Indian startups and the H1 2024 numbers could also be seen as a testament to the same. 

[Edited by Shishir Prasher]

The post At $5.3 Bn, Indian Startup Funding Stays Flat YoY In H1 2024 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Indian new-age tech stocks witnessed a mixed week, with major block deals pulling down some of them, despite the broader domestic market continuing its rally. Analysts believe that investors are currently following the ‘buy on dips’ strategy in the Indian equity markets.

Ten out of the 24 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage gained this week in a range of 0.03% to almost 20% on the BSE. 

TBO Tek emerged as the top gainer, with its shares surging 19.8% during the week after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on it with a ‘buy’ rating and projected a meaningful upside. The shares touched an all-time high at INR 1,938.75 but ended the week at INR 1,903.2, only 3.5% lower than Goldman Sachs’ price target for the stock.

PB Fintech was the second-biggest winner this week, with its shares gaining 4.6% on the BSE. It was followed by Awfis, which gained 4.2%.

Zomato, Nykaa, IndiaMART, ideaForge, Go Digit, Delhivery, and Nazara were the other gainers this week.

On the other hand, TAC Infosec emerged as the biggest loser, as its shares nosedived 13.7%. It was followed by Fino Payments Bank, which fell 11.3%.

Yudiz, ixigo, CarTrade, MapmyIndia, Mamaearth, and RateGain were among the total of 14 new-age tech stocks that declined this week.

Among these, CarTrade saw some major block deals this week as some of its top investors – Highdell Investment, MacRitchie Investments, and JP Morgan’s CMDB II – offloaded shares worth over INR 535 Cr.

MapmyIndia shares also declined amid a block deal initiation announcement by the company’s promoter and founder.

In the broader market, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 gained 2.4% and 2.2%, respectively. After touching fresh all-time highs on Friday (June 28), Sensex ended the week at 79,032.73 and Nifty 50 closed at 24,010.60. 

Speaking about the market sentiment, V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said earlier this week that high valuations might prompt selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and profit booking by domestic institutional investors (DIIs), but the exuberant retail investors are likely to buy every dip since the ‘buy on dip strategy’ has worked well in this bull market.

On Friday, Vijayakumar said, “The market momentum has the potential to take the Sensex to 80,000 levels. The healthy trend in the recent rally is that it is driven by fundamentally strong large caps. However, corrections can happen any time since the market is in the overbought zone and DIIs are booking profits.” 

“The elevated valuations in the market continue to be a concern but the market is not yet in bubble valuation territory,” he added.

Meanwhile, the trend of FIIs selling their holdings has also started seeing some reversals.

Siddhartha Khemka, senior group VP, head of research at broking and distribution at Motilal Oswal, expects the positive momentum that the market saw this week to continue at a steady pace with stock-specific action. 

“However, the release of economic data points next week would keep a little volatility in the market,” Khemka added.

Overall, the 24 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage ended the week with a total market capitalisation of $58.42 Bn.

Now, let’s take a deeper look at the performance of the new-age tech stocks in the market.

MapmyIndia Promoter To Pare Stake

Shares of MapmyIndia, which ended last week at a historical highest close of INR 2,532.7, fell 9.12% this week after its promoter and founder Rakesh Verma announced selling 5 Lakh shares of the geotech company in a block deal.

The company said that Verma was selling a part of his stake for philanthropy. However, the shares declined in two consecutive sessions mid-week. The stock ended Friday’s session 2.6% higher at INR 2,301.8 on the BSE.

It is also pertinent to note that brokerage JM Financial started its coverage on MapmyIndia with a ‘buy’ rating and a price target (PT) of INR 2,900, which implies an upside of almost 26% to the stock’s last close.

The brokerage said that its constructive view on the stock is based on a few top-down rationales, including location intelligence as a service (LaaS) becoming ubiquitous across industries and the company’s well-established moats to not only ride the rising adoption trend but also gain market share.

Speaking on MapmyIndia’s performance, Jigar S Patel, senior manager of technical research analyst at Anand Rathi, said that the stock’s support is at INR 2,200.

“Investors can use ‘buy on dips’ strategy for the next week,” said Patel, adding that the trading range is expected to remain between INR 2,200 and INR 2,450 in the near term.

Nazara’s Business Expansion Continue

After a slightly slow start to the week, shares of Nazara jumped almost 7% during Friday’s trading session, ending the week at INR 868.95 on the BSE.

The rally took place after Nazara’s esports subsidiary NODWIN Gaming announced increasing its existing 13.51% stake in Germany-based Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH to 100% in tranches through a share swap valued at INR 271 Cr.

Besides, earlier this week, Nazara’s publishing arm, Nazara Publishing, also entered into a publishing partnership with nCore to publish ‘Made in India’ mobile game FAU-G Domination. The pre-registration of the game will open on Google Play and the App Store later this year.

Overall, the gains for the week were marginal.

It is pertinent to note that after witnessing a sharp slump from the beginning of the year till May, shares of Nazara have witnessed a significant rally over the last one month and have jumped over 41% so far since May 27, after the company published its FY24 earnings.

Anand Rathi’s Patel said that the upside for the stock is seen till INR 935-INR 940, while the support is at INR 800 zone. 

Brokerages More Bullish On Zomato After Swiggy’s 2023 Performance Update

After Prosus published IPO-bound Swiggy’s 2023 operating performance, multiple Indian and international brokerages turned more bullish on Zomato’s market share and performance in food delivery.

For instance, Goldman Sachs said that Zomato now likely holds a 56-57% market share in the food delivery market.

It is to be noted Zomato’s biggest competitor in the food delivery market, Swiggy saw a 26% year-on-year (YoY) increase in gross order value (GOV) in 2023. Its core food-delivery business GOV grew by “double digits”, as per Prosus’ disclosure.

“At a 31% FY24-27 GOV CAGR, Zomato is the fastest growing food delivery company within our global coverage and also one with the highest margin profile,” Goldman Sachs said.

Meanwhile, JM Financial also said in a research note that while Swiggy confidentially filed its pre-DRHP with the SEBI earlier this year, a successful public listing of the company largely hinges on the management’s ability to arrest market share losses in both food delivery and quick commerce businesses. Besides, they will also have to demonstrate a clear path to adjusted EBITDA break-even at a consolidated level for the company.

Emkay, CLSA, and Kotak Institutional Equities also reiterated their ‘buy’ rating on Zomato, with most of them highlighting that the company’s growth is faster than Swiggy’s.

Following the brokerages’ bullish stance, shares of Zomato ended above INR 202 level on Tuesday (June 25) for the first time. However, the stock ended the week at INR 200.35, gaining 3.22% overall during the week.

Anand Rathi’s Patel said INR 205 is a crucial resistance level for the stock. A further upside is possible only above this level, he said, adding that the support is at INR 90.

The post TBO Tek Emerges The Top Gainer In A Mixed Week For New-Age Tech Stocks appeared first on Inc42 Media.

US-based investment firm Matrix Partners’ Indian arm will rebrand into a new avatar under the name of Z47 starting July 1. 

In a statement, the investment firm said that the name change is part of the larger renaming and organisational update to clarify the local approach and the organisational independence of the local teams. 

As part of the larger rebranding exercise undertaken across the globe, Matrix Partners China will be rebranded as MPC while operations in the US will continue under the name Matrix.

“The decision to rename is driven by a shared commitment to clarity in the marketplace, responsiveness to regional market dynamics and a continued focus on competing locally, which will benefit each organisation’s respective portfolio companies, investors, and partners,” Matrix Partners added. 

In a separate statement, Matrix Partners India said that the name Z47 is inspired by India’s journey towards becoming a developed country by 2047, with the country’s founder and digital ecosystem at the heart of its growth story.

The Indian subsidiary also added that the rebranding will not lead to any change in the firm’s operation and strategy in the country and it will continue to invest in early-stage startups. 

Matrix Partners first entered India in 2006 and has since then grown to manage investments to the tune of $1.5 Bn. It has backed more than 100 startups and counts the likes of A23, CreditVidya, Captain Fresh, DailyHunt, Foxtale, and Country Delight in its portfolio.

With this, Matrix India has become the second foreign investment firm to rebrand its India operations. In June 2023, Sequoia Capital spun off Sequoia India & Southeast Asia as a separate entity and rebranded it to Peak XV Partners. 

While Peak XV had inherited more than $9 Bn worth of investments in over 400 companies stretching across 13 separate funds, Matrix said its India entity has been independent from the outset. 

Back home last month, early stage VC fund 9Unicorns also rebranded itself as 100Unicorns and launched its second fund, 100Unicorns Fund II, with a corpus of $200 Mn. 

The rebranding exercise comes over a year after Matrix India rolled out its fourth fund with a size of $525 Mn. As a result, it has been deploying the capital in multiple homegrown startups and has backed the likes of B2B home decor brand Trampoline, GenAI startup Grey Labs AI, and D2C brand Foxtale in recent times.

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After a big funding week, investment activity across the Indian startup ecosystem has entered into the slow lane again. Between June 24 and 29, startups cumulatively bagged $196.47 Mn across 17 deals, a 75% decline from $800.5 Mn raised across 21 deals in the preceding week.

However, it would be unfair to say that funding trends plunged drastically this week. Of the $800.5 Mn secured last week, around $665 Mn was raised by quick commerce unicorn Zepto alone. Hence, the rest of the startup ecosystem only saw $135.5 Mn capital infusion in the week. 

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [ June 24 – June 29 ]

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

• The week’s largest funding round saw NBFC Northern Arc bagging a debt funding of $75 Mn from FMO. On the back of this, fintech emerged as the investors’ favourite this week. Startup’s in the space cumulatively raised $77.4 Mn across three deals.
• The highest number of deals materialised for ecommerce startups this week as players in the space raised $48.3 Mn via five deals.
• However, seed funding dipped this week by 69% to $6.9 from last week’s $22.7 Mn. 

Other Major Developments Of The Week

• Moving towards a public market debut, electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ather Energy’s board passed a resolution to convert the startup into a public company from private. The startup’s name has changed to Ather EnergyAther Energy from Ather Energy Pvt Ltd earlier, its regulatory filings revealed.
• Within a week of raising big bucks, quick commerce major Zepto has initiated conversations with multiple investors to raise $400 Mn at a likely valuation of $4.6 Bn. This will be 25% higher than the $3.6 Bn at which it raised $665 Mn last week.
• UK-based private equity (PE) firm Finnest has invested $160 Mn to acquire a majority stake in cloud kitchen startup Kitchens@. The fresh capital will be utilised to fuel the startup’s business operations and expand its footprint.
• Gold loan provider Rupeek is close to bagging $24 Mn in another down round. The funding is expected to be a mix of primary and secondary transactions and will be raised at a valuation of $250 Mn, a 60% cut.
• US-based ecommerce giant Amazon has infused $72 Mn in its Indian fintech arm Amazon Pay India. Amazon Pay allotted 59.99 Cr shares to Amazon Corporate Holdings and 59,952 Cr shares to Amazon.com for INR 10 apiece.
• Nazara-owned gaming company NODWIN has completed the acquisition of marketing services company Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH through a share swap valued at up to INR 271 Cr.
• Edtech unicorn upGrad is planning to allot 25 Lakh NCDs and 3.75 Lakh OCDs to EvolutionX Debt Capital to raise a debt of $34.4 Mn. The capital will be used to fuel growth and fund operating expenses.

The post From Northern Arc to Bluestone – Indian Startups Raised $196 Mn This Week appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Centre has rolled out a new initiative to facilitate onboarding of 5 Lakh micro and small businesses on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform.

The MSME Trade Enablement and Marketing (TEAM) scheme was launched by Union Minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Jitan Ram Manjhi with a budget of  INR 277 Cr for three years.

“The MSME TEAM Initiative aims at facilitating five lakh micro and small enterprises for onboarding onto the Open Network for Digital Commerce by providing financial assistance for onboarding, cataloguing, account management, logistics, packaging material and design,” Manjhi said. 

Notably, half of these beneficiary MSMEs will be women-owned enterprises, he added. 

Last week, it was reported that the government was looking to launch a new scheme to help MSMEs join the ONDC network and start selling their products online. 

Besides, MSME TEAM, another initiative, Yashasvini, was also launched, aimed  at formalising women-owned informal micro-enterprises and providing capacity building, training, handholding and mentorship to the women-owned enterprises.

“A series of campaigns will be organised by the Ministry of MSME in collaboration with other Central Ministries/Departments/State Governments and Women Industry Associations during FY24-25, focusing on tier 2 and 3 cities in the country,” the ministry added.

Manjhi further outlined six pillars that would drive the MSME sector growth. 

These include formalisation and access to credit, increased access to market and e-commerce adoption, increased productivity through modern technology,  enhanced skill levels and digitalisation in the service sector, boosted khadi, village and coir industries and empowerment of women, and artisans, through enterprise creation. 

These initiatives come at the heart of ONDC introducing several initiatives to onboard small businesses. 

In February this year, it rolled out the DigiReady Certification Certificates DRC portal for MSMEs to help them assess their preparedness to join the ONDC network as sellers. 

Before this, ONDC even partnered with Meta to educate MSMEs to build conversational buyer and seller experiences on WhatsApp through Meta’s business and technical solution providers.

Besides, a push for MSMEs using the ONDC network was also among the priorities outlined in the BJP manifesto for general elections. 

It is pertinent to note that ONDC aims to democratise ecommerce by providing services at lower costs compared to other online marketplaces. 

Launched in 2021 under the aegis of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ONDC is an open protocol-based network to enable local commerce across multiple segments, including grocery, mobility, among others.

Not to mention, the Indian e-commerce market is poised to reach a size of $400 Bn by the end of 2030 growing at CAGR of 19% during the period. 

The post Govt Rolls Out Scheme To Facilitate Onboarding 5 Lakh MSMEs On ONDC appeared first on Inc42 Media.

With India’s increasing emphasis on technological advancement and self-reliance, the nation has experienced a significant surge in emerging technology startups over the past decade. 

From the expansion of electric vehicles to the integration of drones and from the ascent of private players in spacetech to a notable influx of private funding in technology, these achievements very well underline the vibrant landscape of India’s tech sector.

Similarly, India’s semiconductor ecosystem has gained substantial momentum, bolstered by the government’s support for fabless chip manufacturing startups, semiconductor design, and packaging companies.

In 2021, the Indian government sanctioned the Semicon India programme, allocating INR 76,000 Cr to provide incentive support to companies engaged in silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors/sensors fabs, and semiconductor packaging and design.

Subsequently, in 2022, the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) was launched to build a vibrant semiconductor and display ecosystem to enable India’s emergence as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design. 

The government introduced the ‘Semicon India Future Design: Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, which offers financial incentives and design infrastructure support for various stages of semiconductor development and deployment, including Integrated Circuits (ICs), chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems and IP cores, and semiconductor-linked design.

Further, the ‘Make in India’ initiative, aimed at reducing dependence on imported components and bolstering the domestic tech ecosystem, has been a driving force behind these initiatives in recent years.

Presently, India has forged agreements with several global semiconductor manufacturing giants to establish manufacturing facilities in the country. With companies like Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Micron, and Qualcomm making investments in India, alongside the emergence of more venture capital-backed startups, the semiconductor industry in India is poised for further expansion.

Amid all this, the Union Cabinet on February 29 approved the country’s first semiconductor fab to be set up by the Tata Group in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC). 

It is imperative to mention that the country’s bend towards growing its semiconductor ecosystem dates back to 1976 when the then Cabinet of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, granted its assent to the formation of Semi-Conductor Laboratory in Mohali, Punjab.

Since then, we have come a long way in fostering India’s semiconductor ambitions. Joining in this endeavour are the country’s new-age tech startups.

As per Inc42’s report, the Indian semiconductor market is expected to reach $150 Bn by 2030, up from $33 Bn in 2023, witnessing a 24% CAGR.     

In this piece, we have tried to compile some of these companies that have the potential to be remembered in the times to come for laying the strong foundation of the country’s impending semiconductor boom.

With that said, here is the list…

(Note: The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. We have listed the Indian semiconductor startups in alphabetical order. We will be updating this list periodically if you would like to refer any startup, write to editor@inc42.com)

AGNIT Semiconductors

Established in 2019, AGNIT Semiconductors specialises in Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company focusses on designing and producing GaN materials (wafers) and electronic components primarily tailored for radio-frequency applications.

AGNIT’s GaN components find extensive applications in the defence and telecommunication sectors.

In 2023, the Ministry of Defence inked a contract with AGNIT for the design and development of advanced GaN semiconductors, slated for integration into the next generation of wireless transmitters for defence applications, including radars and electronic warfare jammers.

The founding team comprises Digbijoy Neelim Nath, Hareesh Chandrasekar, Madhusudan Atre, Mayank Shrivastava, Muralidharan Rangarajan, Shankar Kumar Selvaraja, and Srinivasan Raghavan.

According to the company’s website, AGNIT’s proprietary technology stems from over 15 years of research and development conducted at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

Aura Semiconductor

Founded in 2011 by Srinath Sridharan, Aura Semiconductor or Aurasemi is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and supplies the industry with mixed-signal IC solutions for various applications. 

The startup specialises in high-performance products for markets, including IoT radios, enterprise timing, and portable audio. 

It makes products in categories such as timing, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), power, RF, IoT and sensors. Recently, Nasdaq-listed precision timing company SiTime Corporation acquired all time-related products from Aurasemi.

Headquartered in Bengaluru, Aurasemi also has its offices in China, the UK, and the US. Celesta Capital is one of the VC investors in the startup.

Cientra

Founded in 2015 by Uday Joshi and Sandip Kadtane, Cientra is a semiconductor solutions company, specialising in VLSI, ASIC, FPGA, SoCs, catering to telecom (4G, 5G, IoT), automotive (SDV, ADAS, connectivity, EV) and embedded software.

The semiconductor design solutions of the company include register-transfer level (RTL) design, design verification, physical design, and analogue design and layout offering.

Cientra is a multinational company with offices in India, the USA, and Germany. Last year, the company launched a vendor-agnostic 5G IoT aggregator solution in partnership with Amantya Technologies, which they claimed to be the ‘world’s first’.

FermionIC Design

Founded in 2020, Bengaluru-based FermionIC Design is a fabless semiconductor startup developing ICs for high-speed wireline and RF communication market. Its current product portfolio includes a highly integrated beamformer core chip in silicon-germanium (SiGe) process that enables the X-band millimetre-wave communications for active electronically scanned array (AESA), sat-comm applications, and others. 

The startup’s mixed signal product family includes ultra-low-noise low dropout (LDO)-ICs, low-phase noise crystal oscillators and Serialiser/Deserialiser (SerDes) products. 

Founded by Gautam Kumar Singh, Prasun Bhattacharyya, Abhra Bagchi, and Shabaaz Syed,  FermionIC Design has remained bootstrapped so far. It claims to have multiple global and Indian OEM customers who are building their SoCs and systems using FermionIC products. 

Last year, the Minister of State for Electronics & IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced FermionIC Design as one of the first set of startups selected under the government’s Semicon India Future Design DLI scheme. 

Incore Semiconductors

Founded in 2018, InCore Semiconductor is building 5th generation RISC/RISC-V processor cores in India. RISC or reduced instruction set computer is a microprocessor architecture that utilises a reduced number of computer instruction types, hence enabling systems to operate at higher speeds. 

InCore, founded by Arjun Menon, Gautam Doshi, GS Madhusudan, and Neel Gala, is headquartered at the IIT Madras Research Park. In 2023, the startup raised $3 Mn from Peak XV Partners.

The startup aims to make India a powerhouse in the RISC-V solution space. Its processor cores power high-performance application-class processors, area/power-optimised embedded processors, and more.

The startup claims to bring a high degree of automation to the processor and SoC design process.

Mindgrove Technologies

Mindgrove Technologies is a Chennai-based semiconductor startup founded in 2021. It works in the space of design and production of SoCs. 

Incubated at IIT Madras, Mindgrove uses the indigenous RISC-V Shakti cores to power its chips. 

The startup is currently working on its inaugural chip, Secure IoT, which is designed for a range of consumer electronics devices, including TVs, washing machines, air conditioners, and refrigerators. Its multi-processor chip comes with security accelerators, a true random number generator, and one-time programmable memory.

Founded by Shashwath T R and Sharan Srinivas J, the startup secured $2.32 Mn in seed funding in 2023 led by Peak XV Partners. Its other investors include names like Speciale Invest and Whiteboard Capital. 

Morphing Machines

Morphing Machines is a fabless semiconductor startup building IP products and solutions. Its patented product ‘REDEFINE’ is a many-core SoC platform, in which domain-specific architectures (DSAs) for mixed critical application tasks are instantiated on demand of any event. DSAs are specialised and optimised hardware designs tailored to specific application domains or industries. 

Its technology serves various industries, including avionics, automobile, and telecom. Besides, ‘REDEFINE’ helps accelerate a host of applications for Big Data Analytics, Genome Analytics, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, Large Scale Scientific Simulations, and immersive gaming and visualisations.

Morphing Machines has also received projects under the DLI and Chips2Startup (C2S) schemes from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Launched through the Technology Entrepreneurship initiative of the Indian Institute of Science at Bengaluru in 2005, Morphing Machines is a bootstrapped startup. Its founders are Dr S.K. Nandy, Dr Ranjani Narayan, and Deepak Shapeti. In June 2024, Morphing Machines secured $2.76 Mn in a seed funding round led by Speciale Invest.

Netrasemi

Founded in 2020, Netrasemi is a Kerala-based Edge AI semiconductor technology company building SOCs to enable the new-age need for optimal computing for smart IoT products. Netrasemi has a power-efficient deep-neural AI acceleration core (NPU) and a rich portfolio of silicon IPs to enable this. 

Its key target segments are surveillance, smart sensors, smart infrastructure, machine vision and industry 4.0, robotics, drones, and autonomous vehicles, among others.

The company’s domain-specific architecture (DSA), IP-rich SOCs, AI development tools,  flexible SDKs, and platform reference designs help IoT product and solution makers to go to market with cost-effective and power-efficient advanced AI chipsets catering to their specific domains.

Its A2000 SOC has smart vision capability with advanced real-time video analytics and vision processing capabilities. On the other hand, NETRA-R1000 is a RISC-V-based SOC for smart sensor applications.

Netrasemi is also a beneficiary of the Central government’s DLI scheme.

Oakter

Oakter is an Original Device Manufacturer (ODM), which designs and manufactures electronic smart devices, including fintech giant Paytm’s revolutionary soundboxes.

Launched in 2015 by a founding team from IIT Delhi, the Noida-based Oakter soon became a leading name in the smart plugs market. In 2017, the startup became the launch partner for Amazon Alexa in India. 

In 2019, the startup pivoted to contract manufacturing. Over the years, Oakter fulfilled multiple B2B contract manufacturing orders from the likes of Sony (for its BRAVIA TV), Saregama (for Carvaan), and Syska, among others.

In 2020, Oakter collaborated with DRDO to manufacture Covid safety products.

With the emergence of new-age technologies, the startup has also collaborated with EV charging aggregation platform, ElectricPe, to develop its charge points.

Its early backers include IndiaQuotient and Flipkart founder Binny Bansal. As per publicly available data, the company is expected to have raised over $500K in total funding over the years.

Saankhya Labs

The 2007-founded Saankhya Labs claims to be the country’s first fabless semiconductor solutions company. Based in Bengaluru, the startup manufactures integrated circuits (ICs) and other components for various satellite and broadcast applications, including 5G New Radio, direct-to-mobile (D2M) broadcast, rural broadband connectivity, and satellite communication modems for IoT applications.

The startup also claims to have developed the world’s first production Software Defined Radios (SDR) chipsets, which enable converting radio signals into electronic signals and vice versa for a wide range of applications, including, but not limited to, smart TVs and set-top boxes.

Founded by Parag Naik, Vishwakumara Kayargadde, and Hemant Mallapur, Saankhya Labs is a subsidiary of listed broadband and wireless networking company Tejas Networks. Its former backers included the likes of Intel and General Motors, who exited the company a few years ago.

Recently, in February 2024, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) approved Saankhya Labs’ application to the Centre’s semiconductor Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme for the development of a System-on-Chip (SoC) for 5G telecom infrastructure equipment. 

As per publicly available data, the company is expected to have raised around $18 Mn in total funding. However, Inc42 couldn’t independently verify the exact amount of funds raised so far.

Sensesemi

Founded in 2014 by Vijay Muktamath, Sensesemi builds the next-generation secured connected AI Edge chip for varied applications in the field of Industrial IoT such as smart appliances, healthcare, and automotive. Its flagship product is named SenseSoC.

By embedding AI capabilities directly onto the chip, it claims to enable edge inferencing, bringing real-time decision-making to the devices.

Sensesemi also won financial support under the Centre’s DLI Scheme earlier this year. 

On winning the government support, company founder Muktamath said, “As part of the DLI Scheme, Sensesemi will be developing the SoC for IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) and IoT devices, that shall have MCU and wireless IP integrated with ultra-low power analogue front end with AI inferencing IP.”

SignOff Semiconductors

Founded in 2015, Signoff Semiconductors is one of the pioneering Indian startups in semiconductor design services. 

Involved in very-large-scale integration (VLSI) services, the company has developed in-house capabilities to help customers with the designs of ICs — both application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) — that function in the areas of AI, ML, Edge IoT, as well as general-purpose processors.

Signoff claims to serve its clients with a range of services, including physical design, full custom analogue and digital custom layout and verification, register-transfer level (RTL) design, verification, embedded, and firmware.

The semiconductor company has served domains such as automotive, medical, connected edge, and consumer electronics.

Signoff currently has offices in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Toronto, and the US.

Silizium Circuits

Hyderabad-based Silizium Circuits is an analog radio frequency (RF) IP focussed company. It develops indigenous IPs for a range of wireless applications, including 5G, IoT, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), smart mobility, AI, and ML.

Founded in 2020, the startup aims to replace analogue RF IP imports in India with indigenous Silizium Circuits’ IPs by 2025 and become the largest analogue, RF, mixed signal IP exporter from India by 2030.

In 2021, Silizium Circuits became one of the eight NXP FabCI 2021 cohort qualifiers, which is a two-year incubation and acceleration programme.

Founded by Rijin John and Dr Arun Ashok, Silizium Circuits also provides a faculty upskilling programme to guide, train, and upskill the electronics/electrical faculty community in the country. 

Terminus Circuits 

Founded in 2010 by Dr Sankar Reddy, Terminus Circuits designs and develops high-speed serial links, which are a type of communication protocol that transmits data in a single differential signal, enabling data and clocking information to be sent simultaneously.

The startup claims to offer a one-stop solution for all Serialiser/De-Serialiser (SerDes) designing. Besides, ethernet SerDes, it is also a leading provider of PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express), USB (Universal Serial Bus), and MIPI (mobile industry processor interface) to OEMs for big data, AI, ML, server chips, and 5G applications.

Terminus Circuits has a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the biggest chip producers in the world. 

Vervesemi

Incorporated in 2017, Vervesemi is a fabless semiconductor company developing application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for sensors and wireless devices.

The company has two business verticals – Analog-RF ASIC-Data converters and Analog IPs. It develops products and analogue IP solutions for various semiconductor application markets, including energy, 4G/5G market, medical, consumer, and smart power.

Noida-based Vervesemi currently has two design centres in India. Earlier this year, it announced the launch of India-made semiconductor ASIC.

Last year, MeitY announced Vervesemi among the first set of startups selected under the Semicon India Future Design DLI scheme.

The startup claims to have over 25 patents in its kitty.

This is a running article, we will keep adding more names to the list. If you would like to refer any startup, write to editor@inc42.com.

Last updated on June 28, 2024

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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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The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has now reportedly sought details of the cashback given by online gaming companies to their users since the 28% goods and services tax (GST) regime came into effect on October 1, 2023. 

The DGGI has sought information in this regard from the likes of Delta Corp, which owns Adda52.com, and others for the period between October 2023 and June 15, 2024, the Economic Times reported. 

The report said that the directorate detected reimbursements of taxed money back to players as cashback in a separate promotional account by online gaming companies. The agency noted that these reimbursements were made post the implementation of the 28% GST on online gaming.

For the uninitiated, an online gaming player typically has three accounts — a deposit wallet, a payment wallet and a promo wallet. The companies, in question, were transferring taxed money as cashback in the promotional wallet of these players as cashbacks are not subject to GST.

“Investigation detected that the real money gaming companies were offering cashback to the players in their promo account for which summons had been sent,” a source was quoted as saying. 

As per the report, multiple gaming companies are being probed in connection with the matter. It added that the fresh summons is unrelated to the tax demand notices sent to these companies in the past.

In 2023, the GST Council announced the imposition of a 28% GST on online real-money gaming on the full face value of the bets. Despite criticism from multiple quarters, the Centre went ahead with the proposal and passed amendments to the Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in August last year. 

The mandates came into effect from October 2023. Right after that, authorities began sending tax notices to several online gaming startups, including Dream11, Gameskraft and Delta Corp, totalling INR 1.12 Lakh Cr. 

Many gaming companies have since moved the courts and urged the Centre to reconsider the mandates. The GST Council was expected to review the 28% tax regime last week during its meeting last week, but the issue did not feature on the meeting’s agenda. 

Meanwhile, online gaming startups continue to seethe under the impact of the new tax levy. As per a report by EY and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), more than 50% of online gaming companies in India witnessed stagnant or declining revenues post the implementation of the new levies. 

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Karnataka’s information technology and biotechnology (IT/BT) and rural development and panchayati raj (RDPR) minister Priyank Kharge expects the state to attract investment of $6.2 Bn in technology sectors such as biotechnology, AI, semiconductors, AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming, and comics), and healthtech from the US and Europe. 

Following the visit of a delegation of the IT/BT department to the US, the UK, and Europe to attract investments, Kharge said that the deals with the companies, institutions in these places are at various stages, ranging from signing a letter of intent to proposals pending before the State High-Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC).

Responding to Inc42’s query on the materialisation of these deals, the minister said, “We have set a deadline of 180 days for the key conversions.”

During its trip, the delegation held meetings with companies like SAP Labs, Bloom Energy, Ambient Photonics, Arm Holdings, and Waters Corporation. Besides, the members also met Vinod Dham, the founder of IndoUS Venture Partners, which has invested in Indian startups such as Snapdeal and Myntra in the past.

According to a statement issued by the state’s IT/BT department, the delegation also had discussions with several German companies that are looking to expand to India in the areas of semiconductors, electronics, and heavy industries.  

The department reached out to these companies for investment in Karnataka and is optimistic about attracting mega investments. The IT/BT department also conducted roadshows across four countries – the UK (in London), France (in Paris and Annecy), Switzerland (in Geneva), and Germany (in Munich).

Besides, while 25 French SMEs have already their presence in India, 50 more are in the queue to expand their presence here, thanks to anchor investors such as Airbus, Capgemini and other companies, said an IT/BT official.

The ministry organised the trip to pitch Karnataka as an investment hub for companies across sectors like electronics, IT, and biotech. Besides, one of the key agendas for the visit was to get more international investors at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2024, which will be held in November this year.

The delegates also participated in the London Tech Week and the International Animated Film Festival at Annecy.

Kharge told the media that the idea behind such visits is to solidify Karnataka’s position as the number one investment destination and skill development and innovation capital.

Besides, Karnataka is likely to sign a memorandum of understanding with Stanford Biodesign for the latter’s medtech startup mentorship and accelerator programme. The initiative is part of the plans of the biodesign department of Stanford University to expand its ‘Founders Forum’ initiative to Bengaluru. A team from Stanford Biodesign is expected to visit Karnataka next month for this.

Meanwhile, the department of IT/BT said that it is currently working on preparing a ‘Startup Directory’, which will have details of all the startups in the state, their brief profiles and turnover. Besides, it is also working on an online startup platform to connect with VCs.

“The startup portal that will help connect startups and investors will go live within a month,” said Kharge. 

In a previous conversation with Inc42, Kharge said that the Karnataka government is engaging directly with VCs to discuss funding, exits, and more

“We have asked VCs what steps we should take to ensure better collaboration and support for startups. It may require bringing them together on a single platform for assessing ideas or providing mentorship and networking opportunities beyond just funding,” he said, adding that the state would announce a new collaboration framework for startups and VCs within the next few months after the Lok Sabha polls.

Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru is hailed as the Silicon Valley of India, with startups based out of the city dominating funding trends over the years. However, the trend witnessed a change last month, when Delhi NCR took the top spot in terms of funding. Bengaluru-based startups cumulatively raised $115 Mn in May, trailing Mumbai and Delhi NCR. 

The post Karnataka To Attract $6.2 Bn In Tech Investments From US, UK, And Europe: Priyank Kharge appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Looking to recoup its operating costs, the government-run Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) will likely start levying transaction charges in the current financial year.

T Koshy, managing director and chief executive of ONDC, told Business Standard that the quantum of the fee has not been decided yet, however, it is likely to be small and levied on each transaction.

“We will evaluate the network growth and decide the right time. We have not decided how to structure it,” he said.

While ONDC currently has no revenue model, its costs are low as it does not have a central platform or software that it needs to maintain.

“We are just a Section 8 company performing the role of a digital transformation provider. There is no system or platform that we need to maintain. Thirdly, demand generation is a collaborative effort among the buyer app, seller app, sellers and ONDC. All these keep our costs minimalistic,” Koshy added. 

Launched in 2021 under the aegis of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ONDC is an open protocol-based network to enable local commerce across multiple segments, including grocery and mobility among others. 

It aims to democratise ecommerce by providing services at lower costs compared to other online marketplaces. 

This comes at a time when the ONDC has been seeing a rapid traction, clocking a record 89 Lakh transactions in May across retail and ride-hailing segments. This was an increase of 23% month-on-month (MoM).

The network comprises over 5.35 Lakh sellers spanning 1,200 cities. 

Back in December 2022, Koshy said that ONDC would likely start charging a ‘small fee’ from platforms and the fee will contribute towards the ‘maintenance and development’ of the network.

Meanwhile, startups in the ecommerce ecosystem are lining up to join the ONDC to shore up their business operations. Major companies such as Paytm, Ola, PhonePe, and Shiprocket have joined the ONDC network recently. 

Additionally, the likes of Delhivery, Dainik Jagran, Uber, IDFC Bank, Kotak, Dunzo, and Tata Neu have also integrated some of their services with the ONDC.

The post ONDC May Start Levying Small Fee On Each Transaction From This Fiscal : CEO Koshy appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Non-banking lender Northern Arc Capital has raised $75 Mn (INR 620 Cr) through non-convertible debentures (NCDs) from Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO.

The Chennai-based fintech platform said in a statement that the debentures will be listed on the BSE for a tenure of five years. It also plans to deploy the fresh proceeds to fuel its retail microloans, MSME loans and green loans. 

“By channelling these funds into microloans, SMEs, and green projects, we aim to create a cascading effect that promotes sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion. Our innovative platforms, such as nPOS and Nimbus, play a crucial role in this mission by ensuring seamless loan processing and effective debt management,” said Northern Arc’s managing director and CEO Ashish Mehrotra. 

nPOS and Nimbus constitute Northern Arc’s tech and analytics offerings. While the former is a cloud-based API-enabled platform that streamlines loan processes for partnership and co-lending businesses, Nimbus provides comprehensive end-to-end debt transaction management. 

Founded in 2009, Northern Arc provides credit facilities to MSMEs, Indian households, financial institutions and emerging businesses, including startups. It has backed startups like Rebel Foods, ProsParity, slice, BharatPe, among others. 

It claims to have financed INR 1.5 Tn since inception across India and handles an AUM of over INR 10,081 Cr.

The company’s total revenue for financial year 2023-24 (FY24) stood at INR 1,890 Cr, a 44% increase from INR 1,304 Cr in the previous fiscal year. It reported a profit of INR 317.69 Cr for the fiscal. 

The Dutch investor first backed Northern Arc back in 2022 with an investment of $50 Mn. 

“This local currency facility to Northern Arc, supports entrepreneurship and innovation and encourages the formalisation and growth of SMEs and microenterprises,” Northern Arc’ CIO Huib-Jan de Ruijter said.

Besides FMO, the firm counts the likes of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, LeapFrog, 360 ONE, Accion, Augusta Investments, among others, as its backers. 

The development comes precisely two months after the NBFC announced the raise of $80 Mn from International Finance Corporation (IFC). Back then, it had expansion plans on its mind.

The debt raise comes at a time when Northern Arc is gearing up for public listing. Back in February, the company had filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Its IPO will comprise INR 500 Cr fresh issued shares along with an offer for sale (OFS) component of 2.1 equity shares.

The post IPO-Bound Northern Arc Bags $75 Mn Debt From Dutch FMO appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In recent years, the private equity and venture capital investment landscape in India has witnessed substantial shifts. Despite a decline in the overall deal value of investments in India, the number of deals in the startups has seen a considerable increase. 

May 2024 saw Indian startups raise $657 Mn through 100 deals, up 11% month-on-month (MoM) and 25% year-on-year (YoY)., However, this growth is not without its challenges.

The Rise of Governance Concerns In Startups

The surge in investments has been accompanied by an uptick in reports of regulatory non-compliance, impropriety and operational lapses. In 2023 alone, reports emerged highlighting governance lapses in at least five sizable Indian startups operating in areas such as edtech, multi-brand car servicing, technology and commerce, partner-model hospitality, food delivery etc.

To navigate the complexities inherent in the investment landscape, it has become essential for investors to effectively employ pre-investment forensic due diligence measures.

Corporate governance-related issues not only pose challenges for the businesses themselves but can cause significant financial and reputational loss to investors and other stakeholders associated with the businesses. To navigate these complexities, a majority of investments usually go through due diligence measures, before investors deploy funds.

Why PEs and VCs Must Prioritise Pre-Investment Due Diligence

In response to the evolving risks, investment committees have started demanding thorough pre-investment forensic due diligence to be conducted for internal compliance and to identify critical risks relevant to the target’s operating model and financial performance.

A forensic due diligence enables investors to identify areas of risk and obtain answers to questions which would typically not be addressed or may remain unidentified from other types of due diligence, such as a review of financial information and operating data. This is particularly true in the case of early-stage businesses, where such information is limited and not readily available.

Identifying Red Flags In Startups: A Due Diligence Checklist

Some key risks for early-stage businesses include reputational risk, risk of unknown political exposure, governance risks – such as the sanctity of numbers, unreported related party transactions, overstatement of financial and operational performance, and risk of unknown or unreported regulatory exposure.

Some indicators that should be checked in a well-executed pre-investment forensic due diligence include:

• Ambiguity regarding the sources of seed capital
• Understanding if the founder/promoter has a pattern of excessive control, weak interpersonal skills and rejects any advice given (including that provided by partners or investors)
• Changing industry or economic conditions
• Intense recent regulatory action in the industry
• Delays in the filing of financial statements / corporate records with the relevant authorities
• Frequent changes in statutory auditors or qualified opinions of auditors
• Availing statutory audit services from audit firms with limited experience, track record and reputation
• Appointment of family members and friends in important management positions, and second-tier management personnel lacking the necessary expertise, qualifications and experience
• High attrition of newly appointed senior executives (particularly in the first two years of employment) 
• A high degree of reliance on very few customers coupled with a high volume of related-party transactions
• Disproportionate concentration of business in certain territories or regions; and
• Any governance/ethical concerns associated with past business ventures or past employment of the founder/promoter 

In addition to protecting the financial interests of investors, proactive forensic due diligence also protects investors and their stakeholders from any reputational or financial damage arising from a sunk investment. 

In a market where information on early-stage businesses can be limited, pre-investment forensic due diligence acts as a sound safeguard, offering a comprehensive understanding of potential risks. 

At such a time, staying vigilant by using thorough due diligence for decision-making, is crucial to ensure the long-term success of investments in young businesses.

The post Why Pre-Investment Due Diligence Has Become Essential For PEs & VCs appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Healthcare is one of the major contributors to India’s economic growth and has been rising at a steady pace with an influx of capital, better services, and technological innovations. However, the same cannot be said about the health insurance ecosystem as it continues to face market volatility, complexities, and ambiguity. 

Given the sector’s decentralised approach, the insurance penetration stands at a staggering low with nearly 400 Mn people failing to access health insurance.

Against this backdrop, the health insurance industry has been reinventing itself by moving the needle on technological advancements. By seeking a different approach to survive and thrive in this evolving world, the insurance sector is actively harnessing AI algorithms and is shifting the focus to a data-driven insurance underwriting process. 

The digitisation of health insurance is also being driven by government initiatives like Ayushman Bharat Health Account which is bringing uniformity to the overall process.

The development of Health Insurance 2.0 is only possible with the power of AI and data-driven insurance procedures.

Easy Customer Onboarding With An Emphasis On Advanced Data Collection 

Insurance sector has long followed conventional models which involved mostly manual processes. The pre-medical check-up which serves as the basis for insurance eligibility is no longer paper-based as modern health monitoring platforms help insurers onboard customers with a quick facial scan. 

This technology eliminates paperwork and complex procedures which in turn improves efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The previous insurance model had major setbacks in the data-first insurance landscape, which led to the emergence of AI-based facial scanners. These face scanners are capable of capturing vital health parameters like heart rate, BMI, diabetes, and others which provide insurers with detailed insights into an individual’s health profile. 

With the assessment of these vitals, one can seek out potential health risks which will enable insurers to make informed decisions about coverage, overall well-being and risk management strategies.

Improved Customer Experience Backed By Cost Effectiveness

The insurance industry has always been committed to enhancing the policyholder experience at each touchpoint. Amidst this profound revolution, health insurers leverage data-driven insights to offer a superior customer experience. 

In tandem, policyholders can benefit from customised insurance plans, proactive health management support, transparent pricing based on their actual health risks, and personalised recommendations for improving their well-being.

India’s low insurance penetration can certainly be accredited to hefty premiums and mismanagement in the claims settlement process. Having understood the insurance industry’s primary concerns, platforms that stand at the intersection of fintech and healtech are actively combining the two by helping insurers reduce claims via preventive measures and right risk assessment. 

With early identification of high-risk individuals, insurers can implement targeted intervention, thereby reducing claims costs, improving profitability, and offering cost-effective premiums to attract more customers.  

Risk Profiling And Personalised Underwriting

From an insurer’s point of view, one has to go beyond traditional risk assessment methods. By analysing collected data, insurance providers can create comprehensive risk profiles for each individual, whilst keeping in mind factors like lifestyle, genetic predispositions and current health status. This in-depth profiling helps insurers accurately assess the level of risk associated with each policyholder.

It has become possible to redesign the credit underwriting process by using AI algorithms to offer personalised underwriting based on the individual’s unique health profile. Turning a new leaf over the previous paper-based process, this personalised approach ensures fair pricing. Simultaneously, the coverage is also tailored to the specific needs and risks of each policyholder, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Predictive Analytics Promoting Preventive Care  

Through the widespread adoption of machine learning capabilities, individuals are more than prepared to face potential health risks that might pose significant threats in the future. By analysing historical data and patterns, one can forecast the likelihood of specific medical conditions and take preventive measures accordingly.  

In fact, by identifying potential health risks early on, insurers can incentivise policyholders to adopt healthier lifestyles, participate in wellness programs, and undergo regular health screenings. 

This proactive approach to promote preventive care will be instrumental in improving overall health outcomes, whilst enabling insurers to anticipate future claims and make adjustments accordingly.   

Closing Thoughts

The move to achieve IRDAIs vision “Insurance for All” by 2047 starts by integrating technological innovations, primarily AI, data-driven solutions, and predictive analytics in a predominantly manual insurance model. 

With a cohesive blend of strategies and cross-functional collaboration between diverse players, the health insurance sector can pivot towards a more inclusive model, ensuring each household in the country is protected against unforeseen health complications.          

The post Navigating The Transformative Power Of Data-Driven Health Insurance & AI appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Riding on the back of the rally in the broader market following the return of the NDA government to power, Indian new-age tech stocks witnessed yet another week of gains.

Fifteen of the 23 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage gained in a range of 0.05% to about 29% this week. MapmyIndia emerged as the biggest gainer this week, with its shares surging 28.89%.

Fino Payments Bank (16.68%), Tracxn (10.47%), Yudiz (5.76%), Zomato (4.24%), and Nykaa (1.52%) were among the other winners this week.

Coworking space provider Awfis reported its first financial results this week since its listing on the exchanges. The startup turned profitable in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), posting a consolidated profit of INR 1.4 Cr. Following this, the stock jumped 9% to INR 543.70 during the intraday trading on Thursday. Eventually, Awfis ended the week 0.92% higher.

On the other hand, DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations emerged as the biggest loser this week. Its shares ended 3.79% lower at INR 149.60 on Friday. 

Among the other losers this week were Paytm (3.20%), PB Fintech (2.81%), and Delhivery (1.91%). 

Meanwhile, this week, online travel aggregator ixigo became the latest new-age tech startup to go public, becoming the 24th stock under Inc42’s coverage.

The startup’s shares were listed at INR 138.10 per share on the NSE, a premium of 48.5% 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.

Following the listing, shares of ixigo continued to gain and ended the week over 25% higher from the listing price at INR 169.18 on the BSE.

In the broader market, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 gained 0.28% and 0.15%, respectively. While Sensex ended the week at 77,209.90, Nifty 50 closed at 23,501.10. 

It is pertinent to note that the stock exchanges were closed on Monday (June 17) on the occasion of Bakri Id. 

Commenting on the market performance, Geojit Financial Services’ research head Vinod Nair said, “With a coalition government in place, there is optimism that the upcoming Budget will strike a balance between growth initiatives and populist measures. Additionally, expectations are high for government actions aimed at stimulating consumption, a critical area to focus on.” 

 Now, let’s take a deeper look at the performance of some of the new-age tech stocks this week.

Overall, the 24 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage ended the week with a total market capitalisation of $54.95 Bn as against 23 stocks ending the last week with a valuation of around $54.94 Bn.

Zomato Gains On Paytm Insider Acquisition Bid

On Sunday (June 16), foodtech major Zomato and fintech Paytm intimated the bourses that they were in discussions for the former to acquire the latter’s events and movie ticketing business, Paytm Insider.

While the companies only said that the discussions were at a preliminary stage, reports pegged the deal size at around INR 1,500 Cr. 

If it materialises, the deal can shore up Zomato’s revenue by bolstering its ticketing and entertainment segment revenue. It will also position the foodtech company as a challenger to BookMyShow.

Buoyed by the acquisition talks, shares of Zomato jumped 4.24% to end the week at INR 194.10 on the BSE. 

Meanwhile, brokerages continue to be bullish on the stock. In a research report this week, JM Financial retained its ‘Buy’ rating for the stock but reduced its price target (PT) for the stock to INR 250, from April’s INR 260. It said that acquisition of Paytm’s ticketing business will strengthen Zomato’s ‘Going-out’ business, 

“The deal could catapult Zomato to second position in the events & movie ticketing space, behind only BookMyShow,” the brokerage added. 

Meanwhile, Bernstein also maintained its ‘Buy’ rating on the stock, along with a PT of INR 230. 

“Zomato is a market leader in key segments it operates in, driven by its solid execution in selected under-penetrated end markets. Going forward, we believe quick commerce which has shown exponential growth — growing over 100% YoY in 2023, will be the most attractive segment from a growth and margin perspective,” Bernstein said in a report.

Paytm Loses Steam 

The fintech giant ended its three-week winning streak, with the stock falling 3.2% this week. The company was in the news for a number of different reasons this week.

• Amidst ongoing layoffs, several ex-Paytm employees have complained to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, alleging “unlawful termination” without compensation. The ex-employees have sought the reinstatement of their employment, alleging unfair and unethical termination by the Paytm management.
• Adding to the top level churn at the company, Paytm’s non-executive independent director Neeraj Arora resigned this week. The company replaced him with former Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) whole time member Rajeev Krishnamuralilal Agarwal.
• The series of block deals continued at Paytm this week, with Goldman Sachs (Singapore) PTE selling shares worth INR 183 Cr and Marshall Wace Investment Strategies – Eureka Fund offloading shares worth INR 25 Cr.

While JM Financial remains bullish on Zomato, it gave a ‘Sell’ rating and a price target of INR 300 for Paytm. 

On the potential deal with Zomato, JM Financial’s BFSI analyst Sameer Bhise said that it is in line with Paytm’s stated strategy of focussing on the payments and financial services business.

“Incrementally, cash realisation from this sale should aid Paytm as it reenergises its marketing spends,” he said. 

MapmyIndia Soars To All-Time High

The geotech company’s shares soared to an all-time high of INR 2,745.05 on June 21. Eventually, the stock ended the week nearly 29% higher at INR 2,532.7 on the BSE. 

The sharp rise came on the back of Goldman Sachs initiating its coverage on the stock with a ‘buy’ rating and a price tag of INR 2,800. 

The brokerage highlighted MapmyIndia’s advantageous early market position in high-growth sectors such as automotive navigation, mapping devices, connected vehicles, telematics, and government digitisation.  It also forecasted a CAGR of 38% in the FY24-FY27 period, with a steady EBITDA margin in the 38% to 41% range.

The company reported a 35% increase in its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) in the March quarter of FY24 to INR 38.2 C from INR 28.3 Cr in the same quarter a year ago. Operating revenue grew 47.5% to INR 106.9 Cr from INR 72.4 Cr in Q4 FY23.

The post New-Age Tech Stocks Continue Their Bull Run; MapmyIndia Biggest Gainer This Week appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Centre is reportedly looking to launch a new scheme to help micro and small enterprises (MSEs) join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and start selling their products online. 

The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) ministry has proposed the Trade Enablement & Marketing (TEAM) scheme with a corpus of INR 277 Cr to help MSEs expand their business operations beyond traditional physical stores by using ONDC, Economic Times reported.

Citing an official, the report said that the initiative will help MSEs compete in the digital space at low costs as they would not have to pay high commissions to online marketplaces.

The government is looking to support 5,00,000 MSEs under the scheme, expected to run till 2026-27.

The MSEs will be provided subsidies via seller network participants (SNPs) to help cover costs for services like creating catalogues, managing accounts, packaging, and logistics, an official was cited as saying. 

SNPs help connect sellers to the ONDC network and provide services like creating product catalogue, managing accounts, and managing payments. 

Launched in 2021 under the aegis of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ONDC is an open protocol-based network to enable local commerce across multiple segments, including grocery, mobility, among others.

The network aims to democratise ecommerce by providing services at lower costs compared to other online marketplaces. The Indian ecommerce segment is currently dominated by behemoths like Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho.

ONDC has been continuously expanding its services by entering new segments and onboarding new participants. As a result, it clocked a 23% month-on-month increase in the transaction on the platform in May. It posted a record 89 Lakh transactions across retail and ride-hailing segments last month.

Besides, it has taken a number of steps to onboard small businesses. In February this year, ONDC launched the DigiReady Certifications (DRC) portal for the MSME sector by partnering with the Quality Council of India (QCI). 

The DRC portal helps MSMEs self-assess their preparedness to join the ONDC platform as sellers. 

Last year, ONDC also partnered Meta to educate small businesses to build conversational buyer and seller experiences on WhatsApp through Meta’s business and technical solution providers.

Amid all these, startups like Paytm, Ola, PhonePe, Meesho, and Shiprocket have integrated some of their services with ONDC.

At the heart of all these is the lucrative Indian ecommerce market, which is expected to clock a CAGR of 19% during 2022-2030 to reach a size of $400 Bn by the end of this period.

The post Centre To Launch Trade Marketing Scheme To Help Small Enterprises Join ONDC appeared first on Inc42 Media.

After months of speculations, quick commerce unicorn Zepto finally announced the close of its mega funding round this week. The startup raised $665 Mn at a $3.6 Bn valuation, making it one of the largest cheques bagged by a company in recent history. For context, Zepto’s funding alone exceeds the cumulative $512 Mn raised by Indian startups in January 2024.

Overall, Indian startups cumulatively raised $800.5 Mn across 29 deals this week. This was a 296% increase from the $201.8 Mn secured by the startups last week across 21 deals. 

Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [ June 17 – June 22 ]

Key Startup Funding Highlights Of The Week

• Zepto’s funding round took the consumer services to the top of the sectoral funding charts.
•  Trailing consumer services was the fintech sector, which saw startups raise $50.3 Mn across nine deals.
• Peak XV Partner, IndiaQuotient, Matrix Partners India, and Dr. Vaidya’s Arjun Vaidya were the most active investors this week, backing two startups apiece.
• Seed funding shot up again this week, zooming 141% to $22.7 Mn from last week’s $9.4 Mn .

Updates On Indian Startup IPOs

• Education-focussed non-banking financial company (NBFC) Avanse Financial Services has filed its DRHP with the SEBI for an INR 3,500 Cr public issue. The IPO will comprise a fresh issuance of shares worth INR 1,000 Cr and an OFS component of INR 2,500 Cr.
• Fintech unicorn Pine Labs is deliberating a public offer of $1 Bn at a valuation of over $6 Bn, a couple of years after shelving its $500 Mn IPO plan.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has cleared the IPO of Ola Electric Mobility. The markets regulator issued its observation letter to the company on June 10.
• With plans to go public this fiscal, logistics unicorn BlackBuck converted into a public company. The company’s name has been changed from Zinka Logistics Solutions Private Limited to Zinka Logistics Solutions Limited. It is now seeking to raise $300 Mn.
• Online travel aggregator (OTA) ixigo made a stellar debut on the bourses. The stock listed at INR 135 apiece on the BSE, a 45.16% premium from its issue price of INR 93. Similarly, the shares opened at INR 138.10 per share on the NSE, a premium of 48.5%.

Startup Acquisitions This Week

• Picking up an additional 49% stake for INR 98 Lakh, NSE listed OTA Yatra Online agreed to acquire Adventure and Nature Network Private Limited (ANN). The transaction raised its shareholding from 50% to 99%.
• Zomato is looking to acquire Paytm’s movie ticketing and events business, Paytm Insider. While the talks are in preliminary stages and no binding agreement is signed as of now, reports speculate the deal size to be about INR 1,500 Cr.
• Venture capital (VC) firm Ananta Capital’s beauty and wellness arm Guardian acquired a 55% stake in D2C personal care startup Anveya Living in an undisclosed deal. Guardian plans to increase its stake in the startup in the near future.
• Supply chain financing startup Veefin Solutions picked up a 26% stake in GST compliance startup Regime Tax Solutions. The stake acquisition integrates Regime’s GST compliance and accounts automation solutions, TaxGenie and PayInvoice, with Veefin’s platform.
• Aditya Birla Group’s fashion arm TMRW acquired a 16% stake in the Virat Kohli-backed WROGN for INR 125 Cr in an all-cash deal. The fresh funds will be used to expand WROGN’s offline footprint.

Other Major Developments Of The Week

• NBFC UGRO Capital raised INR 1,265 Cr ($151.6 Mn) by allotting compulsory convertible debentures (CCDs) worth INR 258 Cr and warrants worth INR 1,007 Cr to investors.
• Omnichannel jewellery brand Bluestone is looking to raise $100 Mn from Peak XV Partners, Steadview Capital and Think Investments in its pre-IPO round. The deal will value the startup at $900 Mn.
• US-based venture capital firm General Catalyst will soon be merging with Delhi NCR-based early stage investment firm Venture Highway to expand its presence in India. Post the merger, the Venture Highway brand will cease to exist, creating a combined entity named General Catalyst India
• Logistics startup Ecom Express is in talks with existing investors Warburg Pincus, CDC Group, and Partners Group to raise INR 350 Cr -INR 400 Cr ($41 Mn-$47 Mn) at a unicorn valuation.
• Shortly after withdrawing its IPO papers, hospitality major OYO is about to raise around INR 1,000 Cr from family offices of Mankind Pharma’s promoters Ramesh Juneja and Rajeev Juneja and stock market expert Anand Jain.
• SoftBank-backed B2B SaaS startup Whatfix is looking to raise $100-150 Mn in a mix of primary and secondary transactions. The round is expected to be led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
• VC firm GVFL has marked the first close of its seed stage fund, Prarambh Fund, at INR 100 Cr. It will be backing 25-30 seed startups across B2B SaaS, healthtech, agritech, climate tech and deeptech sectors with an average ticket size of INR 1-3 Cr.
• 8X Ventures announced the first close of its INR 200 Cr DeepTech Fund with commitments for INR 60 Cr. It aims to back 18-20 early stage deeptech startups with an initial ticket size of INR 2-5 Cr each and total investments of up to INR 20 Cr each in 8-10 startups.
• VC firm VentureSoul Partners launched its maiden debt fund, VentureSoul Capital Fund I, with a target corpus of INR 600 Cr. It will primarily focus on investments in tech startups in diversified sectors, including fintech, B2C, B2B and SaaS.

The post From Zepto to Bira 91 – Indian Startups Raised $800 Mn This Week appeared first on Inc42 Media.

US-based venture capital firm General Catalyst has announced its merger with Delhi NCR-based early stage investment firm Venture Highway to expand its presence in India.

However, the financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

Founded in 2015 by former WhatsApp executive Neeraj Arora, Venture Highway counts Meesho, MPL, Moglix, ShareChat and SigTuple among others as portfolio companies.

Post the merger, the Venture Highway brand will cease to exist, creating a combined entity named General Catalyst India, which will invest $500 Mn to $1 Bn in early and growth stage startups in the country, Economic Times reported.

“We are excited to announce that Venture Highway (VH) is merging with General Catalyst (GC) to lead GC’s initiatives in India and to seek to create one of the most powerful venture platforms to support the next generation of entrepreneurs in India,” GC said in a blog post.

This merger unites one of the world’s largest and most respected platforms with a highly reputed Indian seed investment team, reflecting perfect alignment in culture, people, and vision, it added.

Priya Mohan, managing director of Venture Highway, reportedly said that the transaction doesn’t involve a purchase of the fund’s existing portfolio companies. Along with Arora, Mohan will head General Catalyst’s India efforts.

With over $25 Bn in assets under management, General Catalyst has backed more than a dozen Indian startups, including CRED, Spinny and Orange Health.

It’s not the first time a global venture fund has acquired an Indian VC to broaden its presence in the Indian startup ecosystem. In 2013, US-based Accel Partners joined hands with Bengaluru-based seed stage VC Erasmic Venture Fund to launch Accel India.

The development comes at a time when multiple global venture funds have either pulled out of the Indian market or pumped the brakes on their investments in the country. 

While Sequoia India spinned off from its US parent to rebrand as Peak XV Partners,  Omidyar Network, backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar India will completely transition out of the Indian market by the end of 2024.

According to Tiger Global partner Scott Shleifer, the main reason behind the investors’ change of heart is the lack of big returns from India.

However, notwithstanding with the exits, Saudi Aramco’s venture capital arm is building a team in India and is looking to invest in early-stage startups in the country.

Apax Partners is also planning to accelerate its investments in India across pharmaceutical, consumer, consumer derivative and tech services markets.

The post General Catalyst Merges With Venture Highway To Expand India Play appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mohit Gulati, managing partner of ITI Growth Opportunities Fund believes in the power of purpose, the raison d’être, to be precise. He may not have been the brightest student as a kid, but he was a dreamer with an in-depth understanding of people’s aspirations. Growing up with doctor parents, he also understood the importance of performance and delivery.

Given this mindset, Gulati wanted founders to succeed and knew he must become a jack of all trades to help people with different aspirations. This philosophy is also reflected in his work at ITI GO.

An MBA from IIT-Bombay, he launched Fund I worth INR 62 Cr in 2018 in partnership with the Investment Trust of India (ITI). The financial services conglomerate is led by Sudhir V. Valia, cofounder and director of Sun Pharma, and owns more than 15 businesses in key sectors such as lending, broking, wealth management and more. As a result, the group provides significant cross-synergies for ITI GO across various verticals, including equity funding, venture, debt, investment banking and IPOs.

The fund has performed well in the past five years, investing in 22 startups and returning half the capital to investors. Gulati is working on his next endeavour, ITI Growth Opportunities Fund II, which has a corpus of INR 200 Cr and a greenshoe option of INR 100 Cr.

“We did it in record time. We got the SEBI approval in October 2023 and have already closed INR 80 Cr of our target. We are now ready to deploy the capital,” said Gulati in an interaction with Inc42 as part of our ongoing Moneyball series.

According to him, the entry of new limited partners (LPs), including a major family office and other veteran investors, is critical to this success. Having a seasoned partner like the ITI Group is another key criterion. The VC firm also leverages the presence of a competent board of advisors, including large asset managers and market players, providing strategic insights into business development.

“Most of our LPs are mature investors seeking diversification. With ITI’s support, we can help them invest across assets to maximise returns,” he added.

Historically, most LPs partnered with big VC funds for secure and profitable investments. But with the private investment scenario undergoing a tectonic change in a post-pandemic world, where agility and adaptability matter most instead of set pieces, smaller but efficient VC firms are gaining traction rather than the VC leviathans.

Let us take you through ITI GO’s investment playbook, its intriguing potential and the measures taken to deliver attractive returns amid economic volatility.

Fund I Investment Thesis And How It Performed In Tough Times  

Gulati is sticking to a consistent investment thesis for both funds, believing that successful venture capital investment often requires swimming against the tide and backing resilient founders who can survive against all odds. This has led to early investments in startups such as the all-in-one mobility app Bolt, logistics drone specialist Redwing Aerospace Labs and D2C skincare brand Cureskin, among others.

The VC emphasises that their investments have always been in areas they like and understand. During the funding frenzy of 2021 and 2022, ITI GO made only two investments from Fund I due to skyrocketing valuations and subsequent market corrections.

“However, we made six investments in 2023 when the markets stabilised and we are launching the second fund now,” he said.

The first fund was well-aligned with Gulati’s vision, weathering the test of time and delivering significant returns. ITI GO made 22 investments and exited agritech startup Fasal within a year apart from partially exiting another startup. The fund has an IRR (internal rate of return) of 33% and a DPI (distributed-to-paid-in capital) ratio of 0.45, while four portfolio companies have seen more than 3x valuation markups.

Overall, the fund has achieved a 4.9x valuation markup on deployed capital within 60 months of inception.

While the fund’s core focus areas were consumer internet, healthtech, edtech and the new-age economy, it also invested in aerospace, agritech, fintech, electric vehicles and enterprise tech.

Fund II From ITI GO To Remain Sector-Agnostic

As with Fund I, Gulati prefers not to commit to any specific sector to ensure broader access. While freezing investment and deployment principles for Fund II, the VC has adopted two more strategies.

“About 35% of our fund will be allocated for pre-seed and seed stage investments, while 65% will be reserved for Series A, selective Series B funding and pre-IPO opportunities. In fact, we will have a preferential allotment for some of our portfolio companies heading for IPO. These will ensure a broad deployment spectrum and necessary liquidity to recycle capital,” he said.

Redeploying capital mid-fund will allow ITI GO to opt for fund distribution, returning the money to investors early on. “We are one of the few VCs in India that has managed to return at least half the capital in less than five years while running the first fund. We want to set up a practice where we can return principal investment capital within 5-5.5 years,” added Gulati.

ITI GO Is Not Bullish About Three Popular Sectors

The deal pipeline for Fund II currently features four startups in agritech, wealthtech, consumer internet and edu-fintech. But this time, Gulati is wary of the direct-to-consumer (D2C) space.

“We will approach this sector cautiously while allocating capital from Fund II. D2C is still trying to find its path to scale, and it has been difficult for most brands to progress beyond the initial stage,” he said.

With the emergence of GenAI and the rapid integration of ChatGPT-like technologies across the knowledge industry, Gulati feels that the edtech sector may witness a dip in investor interest. He also has reservations regarding deeptech, believing execution will be difficult in India.

Deeptech startups built on top of intellectual property (in the form of patents, data, know-how, or expertise) may still have potential. However, non-IP products/services (tech commoditised for scale and simplicity) are price takers, not protectable and often lack business control. Spacetech is an exciting area, but Gulati believes the valuations need to adjust for more venture capital investments.

“Nevertheless, we foresee India as a $10-12 Tn economy by 2030, which makes wealthtech a key focus area. India’s wealth is expected to compound at 14-16% annually in the next five to six years, creating numerous opportunities for capital allocation. So, alternative investments are particularly attractive for us,” Gulati pointed out.

AI & Other Tech Tools Assessing Deals, Managing VC Operations

As Gulati and his team soon discovered, running a SEBI-registered fund would offer many learning opportunities. They went through all the nitty-gritty when raising Fund I and strengthened the firm’s internal processes through tech enhancements. These processes help identify focus areas, evaluate strategic investments and time exists effectively as market cycles change.

“We have a comprehensive tracking system for our deal flow and integrated several advanced AI solutions into our evaluation process. It enables us to reach out to entrepreneurs much faster than most VCs in the industry,” he added.

The ITI GO team has also developed an internal ERP for day-to-day VC operations, including deal sourcing, portfolio monitoring, value addition and network expansion. This team will continue to explore and implement advanced technology tools based on AI, data analytics and SaaS to maintain a competitive edge.

Small And Targeted Funds Work Better In India

Globally, the venture capital market is not exactly booming due to an exit drought even after billions of dollars were put into startups in recent years. But for Indian VCs, it can be fairly comfortable going ahead.

Gulati says that venture capital firms in India are uniquely positioned at this point. These are well-capitalised (the country’s PE/VC firms are reportedly holding dry powder worth $20 Bn) and looking for the right investment opportunity.

This capital advantage, coupled with the absence of overseas giants like Tiger Global, SoftBank, Accel and others from the Indian market, presents a promising opportunity for Indian VCs. After a FOMO-driven funding frenzy during the pandemic, major global funds became cautious and rarely took part in mega deals here, given the volatility across the Indian startup ecosystem.

“The next two to three years will be pivotal for Indian venture capital practices. The surge in domestic SIP inflow to INR 18-19K Cr per month makes the capital markets less dependent on foreign investments, although the latter was significantly higher in the past. I see a similar transition in the Indian venture capital market,” said Gulati.

Incidentally, the total amount collected through SIP during May 2024 stood at INR 20,904 Cr per an AMFI report, compared to INR 14,749 Cr in the year-ago period, a 41.73% jump. If this indicates improved risk appetite at the retail level, it is hardly surprising that 270+ Indian investors, with a cumulative corpus of $33.72 Bn announced during 2021-2023, will only be too eager to track bright business plans and hit landmark moments.

The ITI GO founder also anticipates further development of patient capital, as investors are willing to adopt a long-term approach and build businesses from the ground up. LPs are also more proactive, driving the investment momentum. Raising INR 80 Cr for Fund II with zero distribution speaks amply of active commitments from LPs, says Gulati.

Moreover, a non-distributed fund (where fund managers need not split their fees with external entities), even if it is a small one, ensures a higher margin and enables quicker capital returns due to better performance. In contrast, it is challenging for an INR 2K Cr fund to be fully invested and returned, given the limited depth of the Indian market. Only one or two funds in India can do this.

“Therefore, our strategy is to focus on raising smaller, targeted funds. We plan to raise INR 300 Cr for Fund II and will continue to raise similar amounts for the next funds. This will ensure healthy cash flows across all funds, which is difficult to achieve when pursuing an ultra-large fund,” concluded Gulati.

[Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal]

The post ITI GO Fund’s Mohit Gulati On INR 300 Cr Fund II, Indian VCs’ ‘Dry Powder’ Advantage & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Aditya Birla Group’s fashion and lifestyle venture TMRW has acquired a 16% stake in Universal Sportsbiz Private Limited (USPL), which operates Virat Kohli and Accel-backed youth fashion brand WROGN, for INR 125 Cr (about $15 Mn) in an all-cash deal.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail said in an exchange filing on Wednesday (June 19) that the minority investment comes with an option for a majority stake acquisition later in USPL.

In a separate statement, TMRW said the fresh capital will help WROGN strengthen its presence on fashion platforms such as Myntra, expand its offline footprint and scale up its direct-to-customer (D2C) business.

WROGN is targeting sales worth INR 1,500 Cr in the next five years, the statement added.

Founded in 2014 by the brother-sister duo of Anjana Reddy and Vikram Reddy, WROGN is a D2C omnichannel men’s fashion brand, which sells a wide range of casual wear, footwear and accessories.

TMRW is the house of brands set up by the Aditya Birla Group in June 2022, and at the time, the company said it would build a portfolio of 30 fashion and lifestyle brands by 2025 either through acquisitions or incubating the brands. The house of brands is led by cofounder and CEO Prashanth Aluru.

TMRW acquired majority stakes in seven D2C fashion brands since its inception in 2022 for a total investment of INR 444 Cr. It is a majority shareholder in brands including The Indian Garage Co., Bewakoof, Nauti Nati, Juneberry, Urbano, Veirdo, and Nobero. The brands are sold through marketplaces as well as offline multibrand fashion retailers. 

The investment in WROGN coincides with D2C fashion brands seeing heightened interest from investors. Earlier this month, D2C fashion brand The Pant Project secured $4.25 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Sorin Investments.

In May, High Street Essentials, which owns and operates women’s fashion brands Indya and FabAlley, raised INR 50 Cr ($6 Mn) in a funding round led by JSW Foundation chairperson Sangita Jindal.

At the heart of this is India’s fashion ecommerce industry, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25% to surpass the $112 Bn threshold by 2030, as per a report by Inc42 and Emiza.

The post Aditya Birla Group’s TMRW Picks Up 16% Stake In Virat Kohli-Backed WROGN 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.

With the key ministry positions and the council of ministers now finalised for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term, the Indian startup ecosystem is looking at real action to address long-held concerns.

Startups have laid down their expectations from the government even before the interim Budget was released earlier this year. And with no major changes to the key portfolios, the ministers in charge would also be well-versed with what the ecosystem wants.

For instance, those in the fintech sector sought much-needed relief from the high regulatory and compliance burden, while startups across sectors want angel tax to be taken off the table. And these issues continue to persist.

The key points raised by others include a broader focus on domestic artificial intelligence (AI) development and IP creation, as well as clearer directions on subsidies for EV and semiconductor manufacturing. There were also some expectations such as creating new policies specifically for AI as well as a new fund for seed startups.

What Startups Want From Modi 3.0

With the cabinet ministers in the Modi 3.0 government expected to submit their 100-day plan for each portfolio, startups will once again be looking for improvements in the ease of doing business in specific sectors as well as other reliefs.

Based on our conversations with founders and investors before the interim budget earlier this year and close to the General Election results, here is the wishlist of Indian startups from the Modi 3.0 government’s first 100 days.

The below list is in no particular order. 

• Repeal Angel Tax Altogether And Dispose Of Pending Cases

Angel tax has been a constant blot in what has otherwise been a bright decade for India’s startup ecosystem. “The opposition included its removal in their manifesto, despite being the ones to introduce it. The Modi government should repeal the law to eliminate angel tax,” T.V. Mohandas Pai, the former CFO of Infosys and partner at Aarin Capital, told Inc42 a day after the election results.

Pai also believes that the government must resolve all disputes promptly and refrain from harassing people with unnecessary complications.

• Establish INR 50,000 Cr Fund Dedicated To Emerging Technologies

Highlighting that subsidies have been extended to farmers and MSMEs, key stakeholders such as Pai have questioned the lack of discussion over a new fund for startups.  “We must establish an INR 50,000 Cr fund through various entities in the next five years. With the economy at $3.6 Tn this year, we’re lagging behind in AI and other frontier technologies due to inadequate investment,” the Aarin Capital partner added.

• Improve Commercialisation Route For Indian R&D In Climate Tech

Climate tech is one sector that is seeking a major impetus from the government as the VC ecosystem continues to remain hesitant about backing Indian companies in a big way. As a result, India’s rich R&D culture and talent pool is migrating overseas, taking value and IPs with them.

The government needs to enable a culture of R&D that has outcomes and a scope of commercialisation within India. This will have a major impact on the country’s role in the fight against climate change and its ability to meet the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030.

• Focus On Agri Food Life Sciences To Boost Food Production 

Climate resilience is a major focus area for the agriculture industry, as food production is expected to be impacted by climate change. To solve this, the Indian government needs to encourage adoption of cutting-edge agri food life sciences (AFLS) to increase food production in a sustainable manner.

Encouraging crops and agri techniques that have a lower carbon footprint is an essential first step, along with backing R&D in crop genetics, low-water agriculture methods and creating better market linkages.

• Modi 3.0 Needs To Expand Startup India Seed Fund Scheme

Initially introduced in April 2021 with a corpus of INR 945 Cr, the Startup India Seed Fund is set to conclude in 2025 and key ecosystem stakeholders want significantly larger allocation for the fiscal year FY26, compared to the INR 175 Cr seen in FY25.

Stakeholders believe the total fund size needs to be doubled to cater to the fast-growing startup ecosystem. Besides, early-stage founders say credit guarantee schemes will help fill the gap when it comes to VC funding, as many business models have an impact on grassroots growth, which is not always the focus of VCs.

• Specalised Funds For Untapped Sectors Like Semiconductor Manufacturing

Launched in December 2022, the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) is poised to become a major focus for the government over the next five years, and a roadmap for the ISM’s evolution needs to be a priority for the government, according to several stakeholders that we have spoken to over the past few months.

The Modi 3.0 government will have to ensure that the INR 76,000 Cr ($9 Bn) incentive package announced for the ISM is deployed in the right manner, and does not become a barrier for startups in the field. While the overall allocation is encouraging, founders and investors believe that a dedicated seed or startup fund needs to be carved out from this allocation to enable semiconductor and ESDM startups.

A similar approach is needed for robotics and EV component manufacturing, where startups typically have to toil away for years before investors are ready to back them. A government-backed fund would fill the capital gap at the right stage and accelerate growth and innovation, which is critical to building long-term value.

• Regulatory Oversight To Protect Limited Partners 

Given some of the major lapses when it comes to governance practices at venture capital firms and due diligence of investments, many limited partners (LPs) and investors in funds have called for a mechanism or framework that protects the interests of LPs, just like SEBI does for the public markets.

As more funds come into the market, it widens the base of LPs and increased transparency on individual partner performance is only going to strengthen the case of startups as an investment asset for the future. This is no different from various fund managers of public market mutual funds being under the scanner individually.

Besides this, other ecosystem stakeholders believe that as a regulator, SEBI could step in to bring more transparency in commercial agreements between partners in a fund, which are shrouded in secrecy. The terms of these agreements can lead to conflict within the leadership of a VC firm, and this directly impacts the portfolio as well as the LP’s investment in the fund.

PE and VC industry insiders believe that AIFs need to disclose agreements between partners that can have a material impact on investments by LPs. For example, LPs often don’t know whether the partner is actively involved in deal evaluation and sign-off, and there’s also secrecy around management fee sharing and carry sharing, which often are the root cause of conflicts inside a fund.

• Resolve Issues In The Ministry Of Corporate Affairs Portal

Several startups have struggled with their compliance requirements due to technical challenges with the Ministry Of Corporate Affairs’ website. This has resulted in delays in financial disclosure, uploading board resolutions and key documents needed for fundraising.

While the government launched MCA 3.0 to solve the challenge of catering to lakhs of startups, the portal has routinely suffered from outages, weeks-long issues in uploading filings and loss of precious manhours. Startups would hope that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, which falls under Finance MInister Nirmala Sitharaman, would spruce up the website in keeping with the times.

• Promoting Self-Regulation In AI To Preserve Innovation

AI regulations will become a major theme for the Indian government — as it has for other authorities around the world — in the coming year. As seen at Inc42’s recent The GenAI Summit, the industry has called for broader frameworks and a self-regulation approach rather than sweeping regulations banning certain models and AI products.

“Startups cannot wait for regulations because that will take its due course of time. Instead, the idea should be to practise responsible AI development and self-regulate so that innovation can keep happening,” said Tanuj Bhojwani, head of People+ai, which is looking to create digital public infrastructure around AI.

While the threat of regulations has spooked some startups already, the industry would be hoping that the government is in alignment with the self-regulation push so that existing businesses and new startups are not hurt. “If a national AI agenda is set – similar to Digital India, Startup India, and Make in India – we are sure to see Indian startups rally and make this a success,” noted 3one4 capital partner Pranav Pai.

• Curb Disproportionate Response To Minor Transgressions By Startups 

“Make regulatory agencies less coercive in nature, every small default does not indicate fraud. With the collection process of TDS, PF, ESI, GST becoming so strict… when receivables are delayed due to genuine reasons, there should be a lenient approach of nominal fines with no future repercussions as long as the default is of a short period of time,” said Amit Prasad, founder and CEO of SatNav Technologies.

He added that at times the language of government communication is alarming. Even minor violations or routine inquiries are called show-cause notices or demand notices, which creates a lot of panic among younger founders.

• Clear Ambiguity For Ecommerce Marketplaces With Dedicated Policy

For years, ecommerce marketplaces have become targets of protests and antitrust cases filed by retailer bodies. Despite 15-plus years of operational history in India for Flipkart and 10-plus years for Amazon India, both marketplaces continue to be accused of bias for large sellers, favouritism for private labels and generally outpricing retailers. With the ONDC, the government has looked to break this duopoly but that has not had a large impact as yet.

Many expect that 2024-25 will bring about a change that can not only soothe the woes of retailers but also eliminate ambiguity for Flipkart, Amazon and other marketplaces, which have foreign investments. Besides these two giants, even Reliance Retail — with JioMart, Tira, AJIO and other marketplaces — will benefit from clarity in this matter.

• Review Key Concerns In Personal Data Protection Act

While the Indian startup ecosystem has welcomed the DPDP Act, many have highlighted that it falters on the potential loopholes in implementation and the high compliance burden for startups.

The implementation fine print of Europe’s GDPR seems to be missing from the DPDP Act, 2023. “One significant consequence of this Act could be an increase in the expenses related to implementation and compliance, potentially demanding more resources and a heightened level of awareness,” said fintech startup Niro’s founder Aditya Kumar.

• Enforce Rules For Financial Disclosures By Private Companies

While founders have complained about the problems with the MCA website and filing paperwork, investors bemoan the lack of transparency when it comes to startup financials. Well-publicised cases such as the delay in BYJU’S FY23 filings and other instances have only sharpened these concerns.

Investors believe that not all shareholders have the same information rights which leaves some of them on unequal footing when it comes to their portfolio. To solve this, investors are seeking more stringent enforcement of late fees and other penalties for the violating startups.

• Higher Government Spending To Boost Agritech Adoption

Agritech startups have been knocking on the government’s doors for many quarters looking for improved credit access to farmers, which would in turn boost the adoption of agritech products and services to increase crop yield, supply chain and reduce wastage.

In the 2023 Union Budget, the central government provided a gift of sorts to agritech startups by announcing an agriculture-focused accelerator fund to encourage such startups in the rural parts of the country. But tax incentives, which many players were hoping for, was given a skip by the finance minister.  While no such incentives were announced in February, startups are hoping the issue will be taken up once again in July when the next Budget is presented.

• More Clarity On FAME-III Subsidies For EV Startups

Among the biggest expectations is the extension of the existing FAME scheme and clarity on which parts of the EV ecosystem the scheme would apply to.

For instance, while vehicle manufacturing and charging infrastructure companies could reap the benefits of FAME thus far, the expectation now is for the same enablement for battery and ancillary component manufacturing, reducing import duties, GST rates, and introducing demand incentives or incentives to increase EV penetration.

Many in the industry believe that it would be revised to increase focus on electric buses, trucks, and electric cars, while electric two and three-wheelers might take a backseat. The government’s push to electrify large commercial vehicles might manifest through Fame-III whenever it is announced.

In a recent interview with Inc42, G20 sherpa for India, Amitabh Kant, said the EV sector would need the government’s support till 2030. “The INR 10,000 Cr subsidy under FAME-II pushed the EV sales growth. Hence, there is a need to continue subsidies and incentives under FAME-III, with a focus on public transport and charging infra for the next five years,” Kant said.

• Incentivising Domestic Investments In EV Infrastructure

With subsidies for EV manufacturing proving ultra successful for two-wheelers, many in the EV ecosystem want a similar approach to component manufacturing as well as new investments in manufacturing facilities and plants.

“Ola has launched a massive Gigafactory in Tamil Nadu for its own manufacturing but boosting manufacturing of key components would allow the ecosystem to grow faster through collaboration. Startups would also require lower capital for manufacturing if such a collaborative environment is fostered,” a mobility-focussed investor told Inc42.

• Incentivising Global OEMs To Partner With Homegrown Players

In a similar vein, companies want the government to not just court foreign OEMs such as Tesla and others to manufacture in India but also incentivise partnerships with Indian players. Joint ventures between global and Indian companies would allow for knowledge sharing and would help create new IPs that will belong to Indian entities.

While investments in EV manufacturing will have a linked exemption in import duty, encouraging partnerships will be more beneficial for the Indian EV players and the larger manufacturing industry in India.

• GST Standardisation For Charging, Battery Swapping Models

Currently, the EV original equipment manufacturers have to pay a 5% GST on the sale of vehicles while the GST rate on batteries and certain services continues to be 18%. The industry had kept its demand earlier as well for making a 5% GST standard for all EV players, which has remained unfulfilled.

Varun Goenka, CEO and cofounder of Chargeup, told Inc42 earlier, “We expect the government to reduce GST applicability on EV products and services, and to include the EV as well as battery development, charging networks, and allied services in the priority sector lending list. This would open the doors for investments in the ecosystem, and accelerate India’s EV adoption.”

• Improve Drone Adoption By Formalising Drone Loan Frameworks

Despite the rise of drone tech startups, the industry is plagued by lack of adoption as businesses are unable to get loans and working capital advances for drone-based operations. The industry as a whole is seeking lower interest rates for loans to procure drones as well as service-linked incentives besides incentivising production.

Just like EV loans are a problem area that many companies are looking to solve, the drone tech industry is hoping for innovative lending and underwriting models that will help increase the loans for drones. In this regard, government guidance will become key, particularly the RBI, which has heavily regulated lending tech operations in the past few years.

• Expedite Approvals For Mobility And Aviation Applications

Drone tech startups are also seeking further simplification of the rules and faster approval processes for drone operations, especially those pertaining to urban air mobility solutions which encompass use cases such as food and medicine deliveries.

“In the context of urban air mobility, drone startups may also expect regulatory support for testing and implementing urban air mobility solutions. This could involve collaboration with urban planning authorities and the development of appropriate infrastructure,” Prateek Srivastava, founder and managing director, DroneAcharya told Inc42 in January this year.

• Lower GST On Drone Components To Boost Domestic Manufacturing

Just like the EV ecosystem, India’s drone industry has also benefitted from the push for local manufacturing. The ban on import of drones or knock-down kits brought in some challenges but pushed the industry in the right direction.

In line with this, startups have also pitched for an extension of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components.

The central government’s Ministry of Civil Aviation disbursed INR 30 Cr to manufacturers of drone and drone components under the PLI scheme in FY23 out of a total allocation of INR 120 Cr between FY23 and FY25. Now, startups seek a bigger piece of the national expenditure in the upcoming budget in July.

• Modi 3.0 Can Streamline Disparate Labour Laws For Startups
  

Contrary to popular perception, labour law compliance for startups is not just about ensuring fair working conditions for employees. In fact, with ESG (environmental, social and governance) goals and new business models, startups need to think deeper.

For instance, the rise of quick commerce has brought establishment compliances into the picture for consumer startups. Factory and plant compliances will become key for D2C brands, semiconductor makers as well as the host of EV and electronics manufacturers coming up. Environment, health and safety compliances vary from business to business and new startups often fall short on some of these aspects.

Given the proliferation of startups, it would be prudent for the government to look at a single-window clearance pertaining to labour law for many of these sectors, which would not only increase ease of doing business by several degrees, but also promote growth of new ventures.

• Increased Tax Benefits To MSMEs For Ecommerce Participation

India’s MSMEs are seen as the backbone of the economy — not just for the present but also for the future, given the government’s big focus on boosting exports. While ecommerce adoption has driven exports, startups believe there is a lot more value that the government can extract by enabling MSMEs to scale up without operational overheads.

For instance, Zameer Malik, the CEO of Kaya Kalp, is seeking a bigger allocation from the government for the ‘Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance’ (RAMP) scheme, which is built around tech adoption.

“This would help MSMEs upgrade their technology, adopt digital solutions, improve quality standards and access new markets. Measures to promote ecommerce among MSMEs such as simplifying the regulatory framework, providing tax benefits, and creating infrastructure for logistics and digital payments will be welcome,” Malik told Inc42 earlier.

He also expects that MSMEs can scale up while keeping operational costs low if there is enough incentive to continue using digital tools. The introduction of ONDC was one such policy, and startups argue that the government could incentivise MSME digital transformation leveraging ONDC’s reach.

• Ease On-Ground Logistics Hurdles In Ecommerce Value Chain

Logistics is one of the biggest drains on brands leveraging ecommerce. Government initiatives such as PM Gati Shakti and the National Logistics Policy have made it a lot easier to ship across India and out of India, but on-ground hurdles and nagging issues persist. These issues have to be cleared to bring in MSMEs to the ecommerce fold and make online selling more sustainable for smaller operations.

While so far the government has looked to increase expenditure on ports, roads and digitisation, it has not had as big an impact on intracity or intercity logistics as expected. A lot of the logistics development is designed to connect large cities and India to other countries, but connectivity to smaller towns is still patchy, which limits the reach of ecommerce deliveries.

While delivery companies claim to have a wide network, most deliveries to smaller towns go through two or three players, which hurts the sentiment of consumers in markets where ecommerce needs to build trust the most.

• Ease Taxation Rules For Startups Reverse Flipping To India

In March 2024, commerce minister Piyush Goyal said Indian startups mulling reverse flipping will have to bear tax liabilities. The government’s view is that it would be difficult to justify exemptions for certain startups or companies from paying taxes, solely because they are moving back to India.

While most startup founders may find this a bitter pill to swallow, what they would seek is some water to go with it. For instance, after redomiciling to India, PhonePe’s CEO Sameer Nigam said the taxes can become a huge burden for a startup that is still early and not scaled enough to handle the costs. “It [taxes] worked for us because we have very long-term investors. We have people like Walmart and Tencent and other balance sheet investors who can take a multi-decade view. But we have about 20-odd unicorns who (have) already reached out to us asking us how we can get this changed,” Nigam said.

After PhonePe, a bunch of companies have decided to reverse flip to India, but their plans have been delayed as they look to minimise their tax burden. For instance, founders claim that startups should be allowed multiple fiscal years to settle the taxes instead of a one-time expense which can be a major overhead.  Will the Modi 3.0 government ease the path back to India for startups that cannot afford the big tax bill?

• Bolster GIFT City Physical And Financial Infrastructure

India’s maiden IFSC (international financial services centre) at GIFT City, Gujarat, has created a lot of buzz in the past couple of years as the newfound hub for alternative investment funds (AIFs), fintechs and a diverse range of international financial services. But as Inc42 reported, it’s not all smooth sailing for businesses coming to GIFT City.

Sumir Verma, the head of Merisis Opportunities Fund (a Cat I AIF) and founder & managing director of Merisis Advisors, said, “GIFT IFSC has been successful so far and will continue to be, given it’s a new enterprise. But certain issues must be addressed to provide better clarity to AIFs and boost the project’s overall impact in promoting economic growth. There can be challenges galore such as inadequate [physical] infrastructure, difficulty in INR conversion, long settlement periods or stringent rules around certain overseas transactions. Again, meeting all regulatory requirements may take time and delay operations.”

Plus, despite being an IFSC, GIFT is currently subject to many local laws that are not considered business-friendly, including the lack of open alcohol sales in Gujarat as well as high-speed rail connectivity to major metros, which is important to ensure high levels of employment in the city. Authorities are still working to resolve some glaring conflicts, but this is bound to be a time-consuming process, which many startups and investors would be hoping gets accelerated in the next few months.

• Clarity On RBI Action Against Fintech Players

In line with the call for transparency in regulations, several fintech players have called for RBI to reduce the opacity of its actions. The months-long saga involving Paytm in early 2024 created panic in the fintech ecosystem, leading to unwanted speculation and fears.

Since then, founders have asked for transparency from the RBI and other regulators when taking action against fintech players. Many feel that the RBI needs to allow startups more time to course-correct in case there are issues in their models or compliance. And others pointed out that it can be painstaking to deal with regulators once any official action is taken.

At the same time, fintech ecosystem stakeholders are also increasingly realising that startups cannot just focus on customers, but also need to align with regulators too. As Siddarth Pai, founding partner of 3one4 Capital, said at a recent event in Delhi, founders should not treat regulatory entities as their enemies, and that startups need to be more cognisant of the relationships they have with the regulators and their consumers.

• Final Clarity On RBI’s Stance On Cryptocurrencies

Even though the finance ministry has imposed taxation on cryptos, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) remains a steadfast opponent of digital currencies. Citing financial risks associated with cryptos, the top officials of the central bank have multiple times called for a ban on them.

However, the government has so far not cleared its stance on the sector. As a result, there is a cloud of uncertainty hanging over cryptos, and startups want this to be addressed as soon as feasible. As they see it, regulations will only serve to encourage crypto startups and their customers instead of the grey status quo.

• Reduce TDS From 1% On Crypto Transactions And Virtual Assets

Another long-standing demand from the crypto ecosystem: reduce the TDS on crypto transactions to spur on investments and economic activity. Manhar Garegrat, country head, India and global partnerships at Liminal Custody Solutions, 1% TDS in 2022 has led to an estimated loss of $420 Mn in government revenue in FY23, primarily due to migration of Indian crypto traders to overseas platforms.

Crypto exchanges also believe that since TDS is a way for the government to monitor the number of transactions, a lower levy would also suffice. However, the crypto ecosystem has been waiting for changes in taxation for more than two years with no success. Will this change under the Modi 3.0 government?

• Create Fraud Protection Frameworks For Crypto Exchanges

Crypto fraud is still a major challenge and only expected to grow with the rise in crypto trading activity. As Inc42 reported recently, India’s crypto startups are on the cusp of another major surge, and this calls for regulations and frameworks to protect investors and exchanges.

Many believe that bringing crypto startups under a regulatory umbrella will serve investors better than spending years unearthing money syphoned off via crypto fraud — just like SEBI regulates public markets and trading platforms to protect investor interest.

• Relief From Retrospective GST Collection From Online Gaming Players

When talking about sectors hit badly by regulations, online gaming is not far behind the crypto industry. The clarity around 28% GST on the full entry fee paid by users in real money gaming has changed the fortunes of the industry. Many believe that while the government is unlikely to change its view on the GST levy going forward, it needs to pay heed to the industry’s demands in relation to retrospective taxation.

Gaming giants like Dream11 and Games 24×7 have received tax notices for thousands of crores, adding complexity and uncertainty to the tax landscape for these entities. Hence, the industry is seeking clarity on the taxation policy now.

• Push Game Development Ecosystem Through Grants, Talent

The online gaming industry is not just about entertainment, but it actually offers job opportunities across content development, game design, animation, programming, engineering, testing, UI & UX design, analytics, marketing, and sales.

One of the reasons why game development hasn’t taken off in India is the shortage of talent across all these areas, especially as startups in other sectors can compete on the basis of VC money, unlike game development.

Consequently, gaming cos are seeking the announcement of skill-building programmes with a focus on the industry in the upcoming budget. “The government should create a SEZ for game development with special incentives to promote and assist skill-building programmes in game design and development,” Nitish Mittersain, MD and CEO of Nazara Technologies, told us in Feb.

Mobile Premier League COO Namratha Swamy believes that dedicated courses in universities and colleges that seek to position gaming as a lucrative career opportunity will help the Indian ecosystem a great deal. MPL runs game development studio Mayhem. “These courses will play a pivotal role in nurturing the next generation of game developers and professionals, ensuring a steady supply of skilled talent to fuel the industry’s growth,” she said.

• Follow Through On Budget Allocation For Animation & Special Effects Industry

The Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comic (AVGC) task force was constituted in April 202 as part of the National AVGC Mission and had a dedicated budgetary outlay to promote the sector. The task force was said to be looking at sweeping changes to develop the burgeoning sector, but there has been no further update on this for the past two years.

Naturally, AVGC startups, including game development studios, are again seeking clarity and allocation of funds for the AVGC sector in the upcoming Budget in July, once again to be delivered by Nirmala Sitharaman.

Reacting to the lack of action on this front Games24x7 CFO Rahul Tewari told Inc42 in February, “We anticipate the government will continue its support for the burgeoning online gaming industry, in line with previous commitments such as the formation of the AVGC task force. This backing is crucial for fostering innovation in game design and development in addition to nurturing a pool of globally competent resources coming out of India.”

• Opening Up Path For Public-Private Partnerships For Edtech Platforms

The government cracked down on educational institutes, colleges and universities partnering with edtech companies. The University Grants Commission and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) barred colleges from running quasi-franchises through edtech platforms.

While both the bodies had issues with quality control, edtech platforms had called for regulated partnerships rather than a complete bar. With the market for K-12 learning being more or less dead from an edtech point of view, most companies are left with test prep and skill development as the only viable verticals.

Many want to add higher education courses from Indian universities which would be a lot more affordable for students than the current situation where platforms offer courses of overseas universities through their platforms.

• Introduce Production-Linked Incentive Schemes For Spacetech Manufacturing

The space tech Industry wants to borrow the PLI playbook that has worked so well for electronics, EVs and drones. Specifically, startups have called for policy and schemes that would boost manufacturing of space-grade components in India, which would also eliminate supply chain hurdles for current players.

Plus, while Indian space tech is already renowned to be ultra efficient, PLI schemes would help reduce import dependencies by encouraging domestic manufacturing either by global giants or Indian players.

Ahead of the interim budget in February, some industry stakeholders told Inc42 that besides PLI, the government can boost spacetech by extending GST exemption to all rocket vehicles, satellites, and ground equipment manufacturing.

The post 35 Startup Expectations From Modi 3.0’s First 100 Days  appeared first on Inc42 Media.

With the rise of the subscription economy across various business models and industries, several startups now have their valuations based on subscription charges. 

This shift marks a departure from traditional pay-per-product models to those that generate recurring revenue through subscriptions, a concept eloquently encapsulated by Aswath Damodaran’s insight on the complexities of modern valuation. 

Here, we explore how businesses and investors navigate this landscape, focussing on key metrics like Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) and Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).

The Foundation Of Subscription-Based Models

Companies in a subscription economy rely on recurring revenue streams, primarily measured through MRR and ARR. These metrics provide a steady income flow and a clearer picture of a company’s financial health and potential for growth. 

Understanding these metrics is crucial for the founders and the investors, as they offer insights into revenue stability, customer retention, and long-term profitability.

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

MRR represents the total monthly income from subscriptions. It’s a snapshot of a company’s recurring revenue, providing a straightforward metric to track growth on a month-to-month basis. However, MRR can fluctuate due to seasonal changes or promotional spikes, potentially leading to overestimated revenue if used in isolation.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

ARR is derived by annualising the MRR, giving a broader view of expected yearly revenue. This metric is useful for assessing long-term financial health and making strategic decisions. ARR incorporates several components:

• • ARR from New Customers: Revenue generated from new subscriptions.
  • ARR from Renewals: Revenue from existing customers who renew their subscriptions.
  • Incremental ARR: Revenue from upgrades or add-ons.
  • ARR Losses: Revenue lost from downgrades or churn.

Key Considerations For Choosing Metrics

When deciding between MRR and ARR, businesses should consider:

• Subscription Length: ARR is ideal for businesses with long-term contracts (one year or more), whereas MRR suits models with shorter, more flexible terms.
• Business Model Complexity: ARR offers a comprehensive view, useful for complex models and long-term planning. MRR provides more immediate, granular insights.
• Investor Preferences: Investors often favour ARR for its predictability and reliability over longer periods, aiding in assessing a company’s growth potential and market positioning.

Evaluating Recurring Revenue Quality

Beyond the sheer volume of revenue, investors and stakeholders must assess the quality of recurring revenue. This involves examining gross margins, revenue costs, and growth rates.

Revenue Quality: High gross margins indicate efficient operations and potential profitability. For instance, a company with 90% gross margins is generally more attractive than one with lower margins, as it retains more revenue after covering the cost of goods sold.

Revenue Cost: This metric evaluates how much a company have to spend to generate each unit of revenue. A lower cost-to-sales ratio signifies a more efficient business. For example, spending $1 to generate $1 in ARR is better than spending $2 for the same return, with the ideal scenario being even lower acquisition costs.

Revenue Growth: Rapid revenue growth suggests a strong market position and potential for future expansion. Investors often pay willingly a premium for companies that demonstrate consistent and significant revenue growth. This indicates a higher likelihood of achieving desired valuations.

ARR Multiples In Valuation

Once recurring revenues are measured, ARR multiples are used to determine a company’s valuation. This simple yet effective approach involves dividing the company’s valuation by its ARR. For instance, a company worth $100 Mn with an ARR of $10 Mn has an ARR multiple of 10.

Balancing The Metrics

It’s important to recognise the interplay between these factors. Companies may sometimes prioritise revenue growth at the expense of revenue quality or incur higher costs to drive growth. A balanced approach, considering gross margins, acquisition costs, and growth rates, is essential for sustainable valuation.

The subscription economy offers a dynamic and profitable model for startups and established companies alike. By focussing on key metrics like MRR and ARR, and evaluating the quality and cost of revenue, businesses can achieve robust valuations. 

Investors, in turn, gain a clearer, more reliable perspective on a company’s long-term potential, making the subscription model a win-win for all stakeholders. Also, remember that ARR is only one of the methods to look at valuation.

The post Evaluating Opportunities Within A Subscription Economy appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In today’s fiercely competitive, data-driven marketing landscape, the pursuit of accurate customer insights is critical for businesses aiming to thrive. Customer data serves as the cornerstone of modern business strategies, offering a window into the customer’s world, encompassing a wide array of information from basic demographics to complex trends.

The evolution of consumer data reflects the changing dynamics of consumer interactions, particularly with the widespread use of internet and mobile technologies.

Real-time databases are now equipping businesses with instant insights into customer behaviour, encompassing online browsing activities, social media engagement, and even sensor data from smart devices. The value of customer data lies in its capacity to facilitate informed decision-making. 

By comprehending customer needs, wants, and pain points, companies can customise their strategies to enhance customer satisfaction and drive growth.

Mending The Existing Gaps

The value of consumer data is accompanied by challenges, particularly in terms of privacy concerns and data security. 

Regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) underscore the importance of ethical data processing, necessitating a delicate balance between insights and consumer privacy.

Here are a few areas wherein caution needs to be maintained:

Protecting First-Party Data: On this front, first-party data emerges as a pivotal asset, providing direct insights gleaned from customer interactions with the brand. While its accuracy and relevance are unmatched, companies must tackle challenges such as limited availability and compliance with data protection laws. 

Investing in a robust assessment process and transparent consent from consumers are crucial steps to harnessing the power of first-party data responsibly.

Aiming For Cookieless Marketing: In response to growing privacy concerns and regulatory amendments, the shift towards cookieless marketing presents opportunities for greater consumer confidence and compliance with privacy obligations. However, this also requires the adaptation of new and commercially viable technologies in terms of data granularity.

Traditional Survey Vs Passive Data Collection Strategies

Traditionally, consumer insight providers have relied on a variety of methods to gather information, including probability-based sampling, recall-based surveys, and traffic-based analysis. While these approaches have advantages, their drawbacks compromise their effectiveness and reliability.

Recall-based surveys are conducted among specific target groups to gather comprehensive data on consumer behaviour, preferences, and demographics. These surveys employ methodologies such as the diary method, where respondents or panel members record their responses either through Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI) or physical diaries. Businesses gain detailed insights into their target audiences, facilitating the development of more effective marketing strategies tailored to specific consumer segments. 

This data collection method is widely adopted by major entities in the consumer insights market, such as TGI, IRS and RAM, which play a crucial role in providing comprehensive and accurate data for informed decision-making in marketing and media planning.

In addition to traditional data collection methods, passive data collection emerges as a significant approach to understanding consumer behaviour. This involves gathering data without direct interaction with consumers, often through tracking online activities, sensor data from devices, or monitoring user behaviour in digital environments. 

Companies like Comscore, VTION.AI, Data.AI  utilise passive data collection methods to provide real-time insights into consumer behaviour, without relying on self-reported data or surveys, thus offering a more accurate depiction of consumer habits and preferences.

One such passive approach is panel-based data collection used by VTION.AI, which involves recruiting groups of individuals and collecting full consent to share their online activity through an app installed on a Panel member’s phone for which they are rewarded. 

This approach allows marketers to gain detailed insights into consumer journeys, engagement levels across various Ad exposures as well as Ecom buying behaviour across NCCS, Demo and Geo.

In Conclusion

The growth of consumer data underlines the importance of responsible data practices and adaptability in a changing regulatory environment. By leveraging first-party data and embracing cookie-free marketing strategies, companies can address these challenges while creating personalised marketing campaigns and building customer trust. 

Advancements in data analytics and machine learning offer promising solutions to these challenges. By using predictive models and advanced analytics techniques, marketers can identify patterns and trends in consumer behaviour without relying on cookies. This allows for more accurate audience segmentation and targeting, improving campaign performance and ROI.

Moreover, with growing concerns about people’s privacy and data security, companies are adopting a more selective and transparent approach to gathering information to build trust among consumers.

The post Redefining Consumer Insights: Understanding Modern Data Collection Challenges & Opportunities appeared first on Inc42 Media.