Category: Startup

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Startup Strategy

Happiest Minds Technologies IPO Receives Great Response After Going Public Amid COVID-19 Pandemic; Here Why Ashok Soota’s Second Startup Saw Huge Demand

Happiest Minds Technologies (Photo Credits: Wikimedia commons)

Mumbai, September 10: The coronavirus pandemic has brought over a gloom to the Indian economy and Happiest Minds Technologies took the brave step of launching IPO amid the lockdown.

Ashok Soota was 68 when he started Happiest Minds. He had quit as the Chief Executive Officer of Mindtree — a company he co-founded and took public in 2000. In 2011, Soota left Mindtree and co-founded Happiest Minds.

Happiest Minds IPO was oversubscribed 150 times. According to experts, the Happiest Minds Technologies IPO was a good opportunity for an investor at a time when the entire IT space is witnessing a huge demand for a digital solution. The Rs 702 crore issue was subscribed 151 times, as per data available on NSE.

According to a Business Standard report, The impact of heavy subscription in Happiest Mind was also felt in the subscription data for another IPO that opened this week — Route Mobile. Ashok Soota, the promoter, wants to sell around 84.14 lakh shares. Also, there were reports that investor CMDB II, which owns 19.4 percent in Happiest Minds, is looking to exit after the IPO.

 

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Business motivation Motivational Startup

Post-COVID-19 Business: 73% Small And Medium-Sized Businesses Confident of Bouncing Back Post-Coronavirus; Here Are 4 Key Aspects Which SMBs Are Looking at, Says Report

Growth (Photo Credits: Pikist)

New Delhi, September 9: The coronavirus pandemic has affected everyone, from businesses being shut, to workers being fired, the economy of the country is in the doldrums. Amid the gloom, a new report- “HP Asia SMB Report 2020” has been published which gives a ray of hope. According to an IANS report,  73 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in India are confident that they will survive and bounce back post-COVID-19.

The report highlights that Indian SMBs are more confident than their Asian peers in bouncing back after the pandemic as the regional average stood at 60 per cent. The Indian SMBs are confident that they will bounce back and believe that this period is giving them a good opportunity to reformulate the business strategy.

The respondents are hopeful that the pandemic would bring business opportunity, but it will take some time. Here’s how the SMBs believe to bounce back and fight the pandemic:

4 Key Aspects Which SMBs are Looking at:

The report mentioned that Indian SMBs have recognised four key aspects that will help them best to bounce back – using online tools, flexible work options, advice on strategy and innovation at work.

Doing digital: SMBs in India recognised the importance of going digital to revive the business. The report mentioned that the respondents believed that digital adoption was essential for the revival of the business.

For the study, 1,600 SMBs completed the survey between May 26 and June 7, which comprised 200 interviews in each of the markets- Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

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Startup

Startup India Scheme: Here’s How to Apply And the Eligibility Criteria to Avail Government of India’s Startup Business Loan

Loan, Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay.com)

Bangalore, September 8: India is home to several startups and it has the third-largest startup base in the world.  Startups require loan to help them to boost their business initially giving the necessary machinery and equipment. So startup loan is the business loan which basically caters to the main funding of a business with which you wish to start.

Eligible companies can get recognised as Startups by DPIIT, in order to access a host of tax benefits, easier compliance, IPR fast-tracking & more. In order to avail the benefit of Startup India, the company should have an annual turnover not exceeding Rs. 100 crore for any of the financial years since its incorporation. The entity should not have been formed by splitting up or reconstructing an already existing business. Period of existence and operations should not be exceeding 10 years from the date of incorporation.

Here Are Details About Start-Up India Business Loan: 

The Stand-Up India Scheme offers Government loans for business ranging between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to at least one Scheduled Tribe or Scheduled Caste borrower to set up a Greenfield enterprise. It is also granted to at least one woman borrower per bank branch to promote woman entrepreneurship among the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe. The tenure of the loan is 7 years.

Startup India scheme was launched on April 5, 2016, by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the backing of Department of Financial Services and is being monitored by the Ministry of Finance.

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Startup

Repos Energy, a Ratan Tata-Backed Energy Distribution Company in Pune, Registers Over 150 Fuel Startups in Less Than a Month

Startup (Representational Image Only, Photo Credits: NeedPix.com)

In a major milestone and a step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat, Repos Energy, a Pune-based energy distribution company, has registered over 150 fuel startups in less than a month. Reports inform that these startups would carry on door-to-door delivery of diesel through mobile petrol pumps. Repos Energy startup, which was founded in 2017, is based out of Pune in Maharashtra. It has been funded by Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata. At present, the firm operates in over 150 cities of India. The firm said that as per industry experts, this move is expected to garner around Rs 9,000 crore of investment.

According to a report by IANS, Repos Energy will call them ‘fuel startups’ and will provide them with the entire support system. Repos will provide these new startups with end-to-end solutions for buying the mobile petrol pumps along with sharing the know-how. Some of the fuel startups that have registered with Repos include- Easy Diesel from Pune, Nuvera Energy from Mumbai, Auro Fuels from Bengaluru, AMA Fuels from Kolkata, Echological Fuels from Guwahati, Future Fuel Services from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.

Talking about the growth of the firm, co-founders Chetan Walunj and Aditi Bhosale Walunj, empowering startups through the dynamic model of doorstep diesel delivery through mobile petrol pumps will change the game of fuel distribution in India. “With the goal to reboot the economy and making India Atmanirbhar, Repos Energy has been working extensively to create a startup ecosystem of its own in the energy sector,” a company statement said.

“These fuel startups will be registered with us and featured on our app. We will also provide them with the necessary infrastructure. This will include a back-end team to build their entire brand identity. We will make sure that they become successful startups,” Chetan Walunj said. Meanwhile, Aditi Bhosale Walunj said, “We have built an entire ecosystem of fuel distribution that consists of IoT and AI-driven Repos Mobile Petrol Pumps (RMPP). These RMPPs are being designed at our IoT facility in Chakan, Pune, and comply with PESO norms.”

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Startup

BYJU’s, Medlife, Big Basket And More; Start-Ups That Bloomed During COVID-19

The pandemic unfavourably affected small, medium, and micro-enterprises across the world. India, known as the third-largest start-up ecosystem of the world, hasn’t been saved from it either. In this crisis time, start-ups are facing an umpteen number of challenges to sustain their business in terms of cash flow, resources, etc.

During this downbeat scenario, a few Indian start-ups are blooming well. These companies are rapidly growing and making a benchmark for other start-ups who are struggling during this time. As per a survey done in February in 2020, many Indian start-ups had made growth as a priority over profitability, but thanks to COVID-19 this strategy had taken a back seat.

But few start-ups in some sectors have bloomed well during this period. Here are the top three sectors which flourished during this pandemic time.

Growth of E-learning Platforms

We all know e-learning platforms were flourishing before the COVID -19 hit us, but after the first phase of lockdown in March 2020 it gained 3 times surge. Platforms like BYJU’s, Whitehat Jr, Unacademy, Toppr, Vedantu have flourished to a great extent. Due to schools, college shuts digital platforms seem to be the best option for a source of education, therefore, the usage of digital education increased. As per the reports that e-learning firms, which have seen monthly visits increased from 102.2 million to 128.8 million in April.

This is one sector that continues to see great growth in these unprecedented times. As lockdown started, these platforms made a smart move by making free access to students, which lead them to new users at a double rate. BYJU’s saw 7.5 million new users since it started free access to content. Similarly, Unacademy, Toppr, and Vedantu noted similar growth in March itself.

Booming E-pharmacy Startups

In current times E- pharmacy has become the backbone of our country under lockdown to stand against the pandemic. Online delivering pharmacies like Medlife, 1mg, and PharmEasy is making for a significant role in providing contact-less medicine delivery.
As people trying to avoid going out, therefore, more and more people are buying medicines and essential supplements from these platforms. Referring to the high demand for online pharmacies, they have store consumer data, which helps in planning various public health policies.

With the aid of the onset of the technological era, consumers buy medicines form E-pharmacies like Medlife, 1mg, and PharmEasy have their app, which sends frequent reminders for medicines too.

Flourishing Grocery Startups

When pandemic limited us in our homes, there were only a few industries that were expected to grow. One of them is grocery delivery companies like Big Basket, Grofers, and now many new players have also come into the picture like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Zomato few others have entered the grocery delivery space. As more consumers are trusting buying essential items online rather than stepping out of the home, which made the doubled the demand of the consumer.

Grocery delivering apps Big Basket and Grofers have admitted that they have already duplicated the number of daily deliveries compared to before the pandemic hit us. Due to the high requirement for online grocery startups are ramping up with brands and manufacturing partners to meet consumer demands. The high demand for supplies made a high demand for a workforce which leads to new job openings.

It’s true that the future is a little foggy for many but, few startups are shining even in the cloudiest of weather. Once the storm of COVID-19 storm passes these startups, will be standing tall on the grounds. These are the top three sectors that are surviving during this time, and our government of India has been developing new strategies and action plans for startups.

It’s true that the future is a little foggy for many but, few startups are shining even in the cloudiest of weather. Once the storm of COVID-19 storm passes these startups, will be standing tall on the grounds. These are the top three sectors that are surviving during this time, and our government of India has been developing new strategies and action plans for startups.

 

 

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Startup

Vedantu to Nykaa; 5 Startups That Raised Amid COVID-19

The new normal in today’s world is with the least physical contact, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, when everything is unpredictable similarly, seeing the change in consumer behavior is natural. Fighting with odds, many Indian startups continued to raise funds in tough times.

That’s true, the pandemic has unquestionably changed the funding scene in India, but truly has created many new possibilities for those startups that can adapt to the current environment. There are some startups that have already shown a trend- defying growth, which created a benchmark and ray of hope to many startups.

In current time two situations were going on in the startup ecosystem, one where a handful of startup able to raise funds, and the other hands a few startups is still struggling. Hence, we are going to list a few startups which successfully raised millions of funds and blooming in their sector.

Vedantu

The ed-tech sector has come into the spotlight since the lockdown started. Vedantu is one of the online class venture, founded in 2014 by Pulkit Jain, Anand Prakash, and Vamsi Krishna. They provide online tutoring classes from class 1st to 12th and even for medical and engineering exams.

As per this ed-tech startup has raised $100 million and valuing the company at 600 million. The startup owner claimed they have recorded growth of 220% in the period of lockdown, with 2 million students subscribed.

InCred

Mumbai based NBFC InCred, founded in 2016 by Bhupinder Singh, which started with operations with consumer lending then expanded into small business lending in 2017. As per the company stated, they have a loan book over Rs 2,000 crore.
As per the latest reports of April 2019, the digital lending platform has successfully raised Rs 600 crore in led by the Dutch development finance institution FMO.

Dunzo

Dunzo is a hyperlocal delivery app founded in 2015 by Kabeer Biswas currently, Dunzo has a firm place in the hyperlocal delivery space their services available in eight cities Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Gurugram, Pune, and Jaipur. Initially, they started with delivering individual sources, but with time they expanded in categories like groceries, fruits, and vegetables, fish and meat, etc.
In the current scenario, Dunzo has raised $28 million, and their funding round led by Google and Lightstone Fund. If we speak about an existing investor in the company is Google, and it was their first investment in an Indian start-up in 2017.

Nykaa

Mumbai – based e-commerce platform of fashion and beauty, founded by Falguni Nayar in 2012. They have played an instrumental purpose in shaping the beauty and lifestyle industry through its curated product in The Indian market in a great price range.
As per the latest reports in may Nykaa raised Rs 66.64 crore from their primary investor Steadview Capital. Later on, this round of investment company became valued at $1.2 billion, therefore, entering the startup unicorn club.

Unacademy

Another Ed-tech platform Unacademy founded by Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh, and Roman Saini in the year of 2015. The platform was built for educators and new-age learners by focusing on producing educational videos and providing interactive classes to students. During the outbreak of pandemic and complete lockdown, they bulged with 20,000 Free Live Classes on their platform.

Recently, Unacdemy entered the Unicorn club by raising $150 million by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank valuing it at $1.45 billion, in just six months. Which got to them the second Ed-tech startup in the country after Byju’s.

In the gloomy sky, these startups’ growth acted as the silver lining as in these difficult times, not only these, but many more startups from Delhi, Mumbai, Banglore, and other cities were able to raise funds through hard work. We believe after reading the article you find motivation and see the silver lining in these puzzling times.

 

 

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Business motivation Startup

IITs to Help Indian Agarbatti Sector Become Atmanirbhar, 4-Point Agenda Drawn Up by Centre to Extend Support to the Incense Stick Industry

Incense Stick (Photo Credits: Needpix)

Lucknow, September 7: In order to help the agarbatti (incense sticks) industry, the Centre has decided to rope in IITs to extend their support. According to an IANS report, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Ministry has expanded its reach and support to artisans, involved in making agarbattis, as well as to the industry, by its new guidelines issued on September 4.

The Centre has drawn a 4-point agenda for extending support to the industry, which it believes will help in strengthening India`s MSME sector. The Ministry is working to  The centre has decided to continuously support the artisans through training, by providing raw material, marketing and financial support.

It has also worked on all aspects of this product, like innovation in the fragrance and packaging, use of new or alternate raw materials like re-usable flowers, coir pith, and supply of bamboo sticks by closely working with the Ministry of Agriculture to help the industry flourish.

What is the Centre of Excellence?

A `Centre of Excellence` is also being set up in the Flavour and Fragrance Development Centre in Uttar Pradesh`s Kannauj, which is known to be India`s fragrance capital.

The Centre has also decided to set up 10 clusters with proper marketing linkages under SFURTI (Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries) scheme of the MSME Ministry at a total cost of about Rs 50 crore.

The Centre believes that these projects will give a boost to the agarbatti industry and help in further building indigenous capability in all areas of agarbatti manufacturing with increased exports, and enhanced employment opportunities to the artisans and entrepreneurs. This is expected to benefit about 5,000 artisans for their sustainable employment.

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission, one of the statutory organisations under the MSME, will implement the programme and will “handhold the artisans” with proper backward & forward linkages and support, the Centre claimed.

 

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Startup

What is a Unicorn? Here Are 4 Ideas to Help Startups Become a $1 Billion Company

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

A unicorn is a term used in the venture capital industry to describe a privately held startup company with a value of over $1 billion. The term was coined in 2013 by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, choosing the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful ventures.

According to Investopedia, companies with valuations of over $10 billion are sometimes referred to as decacorns.

According to the Hurun Research Institute’s Global Unicorn List 2020, India is home to 21 unicorns, valued at $73.2 billion. Paytm is India’s highest-valued unicorn, at $16 billion. Top 10 Indian unicorns make up 78 percent of the total value of unicorns, while Paytm alone claims nearly 22 percent of the total valuation share of these unicorns.

Find the right idea

The most essential work of your startup if you are aiming to become a unicorn is to find the right idea for your business. The idea has to be innovative and should have the potential to work. The idea should create a change in customer behaviour and also improve their lifestyle.

Understand the potential of your product

It is very important to understand whether your product will fit the crowded and the cluttered market and has the potential to stand out. Your product should also be attractive enough to encourage customers to pay a premium price on a regular basis.

Keep your customers in the centre 

The job of a startup is to find a solution to a problem that customers want to solve.

Recognise your weakness & Keep an eye on the competition.

Never lose sight of how the industry and competitors are evolving, especially start-ups with new and potentially disruptive ideas. If you have to succeed, along with your strength, it is also very important to identify your weakness. If you understand your gaps and imperfections, you can always make away with them. This ability defines the success of a startup.

 

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Finance MSME Startup

98% Exporters, Especially from MSMEs, to Benefit Under Merchandise Exports from India Scheme, Says Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal

Union Minister of Railways, Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal. (Photo Credit: PIB)
Union Minister of Railways, Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal. (Photo Credit: PIB)

New Delhi, September 2: The Union Minister of Railways, Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that 98 per cent of the exporters — especially Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) — will benefit under Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) with reward cap of Rs 2 crore per Importer Exporter Code (IEC) from September 1 to December 31, 2020.

Issuing a circular, the Union Minister took to Twitter and wrote, “98% of exporters esp MSMEs will benefit under Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) with reward cap of Rs. 2 Cr/ Importer Exporter Code from 1st Sep to 31 Dec 2020. This will remove uncertainty & protect genuine exporters while ensuring Make in India-Make for the World.”

Here’s what the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry said:

The notification stated, “In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 read with Para 1.02 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-20 and the enabling para 3.13 of the FTP, the Central Government hereby makes the following amendments in the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 with immediate effect.”

The notification spoke about the insertion of two new paragraphs — 3.04A and 3.04B — in the Foreign Trade Policy. As per 3.04A, the total reward which may be granted to an IEC holder under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) shall not exceed Rs 2 crore per IEC on exports made in the period September 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020.

Adding more, the para says those who have made any export with LEO date during the period September 1, 2019, to December August 31, 2020, will not be eligible for submitting any claim for benefits under MEIS for exports. However, para 3.04B says benefits under MEIS will not be available for exports made with effect from January 1, 2021.

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Startup

Checklist for Your Dream Restaurant!

If you are planning to get into the food business in India, you should start by acknowledging major factors like time, efforts required, and of course, the capital and the market research. Above these, you have so many options for you to enter into the food and restaurant business.

Beyond these, you have so many options for you to inscribe into the food and restaurant business. Simply start preparing the checklist of the requirements and the resources needed for any restaurant idea to go on the floor. Once you make your mind to get into this business, you require to keep a close eye on the next basic steps.

Let’s have a look at the top 4 steps required to be on the top list of your checklist.

Legal requirements
Any commercial enterprise, first and foremost, requires to have legal documentation. For opening restaurants, you need to take in the right knowledge regarding the licenses you need. For opening restaurants, you need to get permission from the local bodies and a license for the area where you want to set up your restaurant.

Along with this, you need to have an FSSAI license for making food safer for the customers, a GST registration, and a business registration to file the ITRs.

Cost to Evaluation
While setting up a restaurant, you need to look at the cost as it is a major factor when it comes to opening a restaurant. These costs are to be further divided into food costs where you need to make an inventory of raw material daily.

Another most significant factor for evaluating cost is infrastructure costs, this is one time during or periodical an investment like rent, interiors, kitchen equipment, and engineering cost.

Fixing Technology Requirements

Technology is your best friend in this fast-paced world. When you open a restaurant, you will need some or the other kind of software which will facilitate you to ease your operations and management process. Careful investment in technology will help you add meaningful value to your job.

Technology not just helps to manage or operate a business; it also helps you connect with your customers in the best possible ways. Therefore, make technology the most significant factor to work on while building your restaurant.


Marketing is important

To gain traction for your restaurant, online or offline, you need your marketing and promotion game stronger than ever as it will bring cash flow in your business. Invest your hard work in marketing your restaurant and menu in the best possible way.

In terms of digital promotion, you need to register your business with all websites where you can attract your customer. This will not only increase visibility but also will give an option to your customers to order online. Don’t forget to be your most active self on social media and run as many campaigns as possible. When you think about offline promotions, you need to have posters and pamphlets with some attractive offers and discounts on them.

When moving forward with any business, you need to have a checklist that could facilitate you to ease out this mammoth of a task. We hope after reading this article, you can be one step closer to your dream restaurant. Start creating a checklist to give wings to dream restaurant.