Indian Startups

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is organising the first-ever Startup India Innovation Week from January10-16. This virtual week-long innovation celebration aims to commemorate the 75th year of India's Independence 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' and is designed to showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship across India. Goyal said his ministry is now at a position to recognize at least four startups in an hour, and the government has recognised more than 60,000 startups so far.

The event which also aims to commemorate the 75th year of India's independence 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', will begin on January 10 and continue til January 16. 'Startup India Innovation Week' will have sessions ranging from topics such as enhancing market access opportunities, discussions with industry leaders, best practices by states, capacity building of enablers, reverse pitching by incubators, technology exhibitions, corporate connects and more.

Data monetisation, in-vehicle connectivity, subscriptions, rental, charging, and long-term maintenance packages are expected to command a large share in the profit pool, according to data provided by Bengaluru-based market research firm RedSeer. "Reduced period of car ownership among the millennial demographic has also been observed, and is a key contributor to the growth in the used car segment," the report mentioned.

As the pandemic disrupted the traditional brick-and-mortar education, the ed-tech startups rushed to help schools transition from offline to online. However, there have been various claims made by the students and parents about the companies' duping people with "free services", and even lack of refunds and deficiency of services; and parents being pushed into a debt burden.

According to the report released by the Hurun Research Institute, it is revealed that India has 54 unicorns whereas the UK has 39 unicorns. The USA and China with 487 and 301 such companies, hold first and second spot respectively. India has elevated from fourth place. Last year the USA stood at first with 233, China at second with 227 , UK at third with 24, India at fourth with 21 and South Korea at fifth with 11.

Flipkart invested in Ninjacart for the third time and the fresh produce supply chain company has also been investing in several tech platforms and supply chain infrastructure over the past two years, as per reports.

The global pandemic resulted in a digital transformation and adoption of technology at a societal level. Moreover, tech sector regulatory changes/crackdowns in China, availability of large pools of private capital were all positive factors for the Indian startup ecosystem to grow and produce a record 40 unicorns in 2021 alone. Today, India has 82 unicorns with a total funding of over $38.4 billion (from 2014 till December 4, 2021), according to data provided by leading startups publication Inc42.

The round was led by Tiger Global and New York-based global private equity and venture capital Insight Partners. Slice (Written as slice) is a credit card challenger to pay bills, manage expenses and unlock rewards. New and existing investors including Advent International's Sunley House Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Anfa, Gunosy, Blume Ventures, and 8i also participated in the round.

He made these remarks while addressing the seventh edition of the 'Google for India' virtual event and inviting  Google to help the nation realize its $1 trillion digital economy goal by 2025. Chandrasekhar also said the partnership will serve as a great example to exhibit how the government and industry can work together to promote the growth of local businesses.

With nine out of 10 start-ups failing, Shirish Nadkarni, a serial entrepreneur with 20-plus years of experience in creating consumer businesses that have scaled to tens of missions of users worldwide, challenges that equation in his new book in which he lays down strategic and tactical methods "to change the world".