The engrossing story of tech startups in the year of SoftBank's India invasion Most of the time, numbers hide the real story. But at times, they show the complete picture. Consider this: of the $13.5 billion invested in the Indian tech startup ecosystem last year, about $4 billion was invested by Japanese internet giant Soft-Bank, and the top five funding…
We all know about the unicorns of the startup world — fast-growing companies that appear to be on the road (or have already arrived at) valuations of $1 billion or more — and we hear a lot about the unfortunate ones that either run out of money or fail for another reason. But what about the startups in the middle…
In business, mistakes happen to even the most seasoned of entrepreneurs. As a new entrepreneur, you will be faced with business challenges on a daily basis, and not every decision made will go as well as you might like. Some missteps are small enough that you are left with just a little regret, while others can be monumental in how…
London-based Glint has been pretty stealthy about what it planned to offer, despite several funding rounds and a vague description that it wanted to a create new “global currency” based on gold. Well, today the fintech startup is finally de-cloaking with a staggered launch of its multi-currency account, app and card that does indeed let you store your money in…
THE INTERNET LOVES a good outrage, even over something as mundane as taxes. Over the weekend, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs fumed at a provision in the Senate Republicans’ proposed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that would affect how stock options are taxed. The change threatens to upend the way startups pay their employees, which has historically been a key advantage…
Chinese electric vehicle startup Nio has raised more than $1 billion in its latest fundraising round, led by existing investor Tencent Holdings Ltd, valuing the firm at about $5 billion, two people with knowledge of the matter said. New investors in the round include U.S. hedge fund Lone Pine Capital, Chinese investment firm CITIC Capital and Scottish fund manager Baillie…
Personal finance management startup Fisdom has raised its second round of institutional funding of Rs 25 crore led by Quona Capital. Venture capital fund Saama Capital, which led the first round of Rs 7 crore last October, also participated in this round. Fisdom is a platform that allows users to make financial and investment decisions for long-term financial planning. The…
Paytm, India's largest online payments and mobile wallet company, will invest another Rs 5,000 crore in the business over the next three years, founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, while playing down competition from deep-pocketed global giants including Google. "The biggest threat for us will be us, not anybody else," Sharma said in an interview. But the entry of global companies,…
The country's second-largest private lender, is ramping up its focus on startups and has launched a fund to help them access capital as it seeks to expand its footprint in the growing space. Sources told TOI that the fund has been started with an initial corpus of $25-30 million but approvals are in place to increase it quickly. "It's a…
It may not be a stretch to suggest that we are now into the second wave of the startup phenomenon. The segment has shown consistent high growth in terms of numbers aggregating 5,000 and counting. In the last couple of years, the B2B segment particularly has shown healthy growth. This year, having garnered almost a 40% share (37% in…