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2017 to Be a Better Year For Indian Startups: Qualcomm Ventures

27Feb By AnkitaNo Comments

News

2017 to Be a Better Year For Indian Startups: Qualcomm Ventures

Qualcomm Ventures, the venture investment arm of US-based chip maker Qualcomm Inc which has a USD 150 million India-focused fund, expects 2017 to be a better year for the startup ecosystem, especially early stage companies. "2016 was the hardest year, and that is behind us. 2017 will be a better year. There was a crunch in investment dollars, especially Series C and Series D investments," Varsha Tagare, senior director, Qualcomm Ventures India told Pixr8. "Funding in early stage is not gone down, but there is more selective funding. What is needed is more well-defined companies after the early stage," she said. The USD 150 million fund will be our only funding vehicle for the venture firm, she said. She pointed out that the ecosystem in India is quite mature, as there are several ...

Indian Government Made No Provision to Allocate Funds to Startups Under Startup India Initiative

14Feb By AnkitaNo Comments

INDIA, News

Indian Government Made No Provision to Allocate Funds to Startups Under Startup India Initiative

The government has made no provision for its ambitious India Aspiration Fund, part of StartUp India initiative, for the next financial year and has reduced the allocation to Rs 100 crore from Rs 600 crore made earlier for the current fiscal. In order to provide support to startups through Fund of Fund operations, IAF, with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore, was launched by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in August 2015 to enhance the equity availability to MSMEs. LIC was also made partner and co-investor in the India Aspiration Fund managed by SIDBI. As per the Budget 2017-18 document, the government had made allocation of Rs 500 crore for 2015-16 when the fund was launched. In the following year, a provision of Rs 600 crore was made but reduced significantly to Rs 100 crore as per the ...

Axilor Ventures Plans to Accelerate Investments in Early Stage Startups

11Feb By NitishNo Comments

News

Axilor Ventures Plans to Accelerate Investments in Early Stage Startups

Axilor Ventures today announced that it plans to accelerate its investments in early stage startups. It is looking to double the intake of startups for its 100-day accelerator program, the applications for which are currently open. In the last two years since inception Axilor has supported 30 startups through its accelerator program and invested in over 20 startups through its investment programs. Axilor’s fast growing portfolio now includes startups in AI, Enterprise, Fintech, Consumer Internet and Healthtech. Talking about the outlook for startups, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of Axilor Ventures said, "We are getting ready for the second wave of startups. A fast growing base of online consumers, an enabling public digital infrastructure, growing pool of founders with prior startup e...

Budget Extends Window For Startups to Avail Tax Benefits

2Feb By NitishNo Comments

INDIA

Budget Extends Window For Startups to Avail Tax Benefits

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has proposed extending the window for startups to avail tax benefits to first seven years of existence, a move that will allow new ventures to extract full benefit of the permitted deductions. Earlier, startups were allowed to claim profit-linked deduction for three years out of the first five years of existence. "...the profit linked deduction available to the start-ups for three years out of five years is being changed to three years out of seven years," Jaitley said in his Budget Speech. Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar said, startups could not avail full benefits of the three-year clause as they typically tend to begin making profits only after a few years of operation. "By then, the window of benefit would end. Now even if the startup reports prof...

19Jan By AnkitaNo Comments

CHINA

China May Allow Foreign Company’s and Startups to Launch IPOs

China may allow foreign companies to launch IPOs on its stock exchanges and issue corporate bonds, the government said, after President Xi Jinping promised the world his country was committed to opening its markets. The State Council, China's Cabinet, issued a notice yesterday saying it had granted approval in principle for foreign companies to launch IPOs and issue corporate debt and other financing instruments in order to "support the widening of foreign companies' financing channels". The announcement was the latest in a series of broad liberalisation pledges from China as it braces for the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly blamed China, and globalisation, for the loss of millions of US jobs, raising fears of a trade war between the w...

30Dec By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Fitness App HealthifyMe Raises $1 Million Funding

Fitness app HealthifyMe has raised $1 million (Rs 6.7 crores) from Dubai-based investor Neelesh Bhatnagar whose company NB Ventures has been actively investing in Indian startups, the company said in a statement. Founded in 2012 by Tushar Vashisht, Mathew Cherian and Sachin Shenoy, HealthifyMe claims to be the first app to introduce calorie tracking of Indian dishes. The company delivers measurable results on eating habits, fitness, and weight. With over 200 employees, it has physical presence in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai within India. The app has crossed the one million download mark on the Google PlayStore, and is also available on the App Store. “I am keen on investing in emerging digital first Indian startups that have the ability to expand internationally with an a...

Regtech’ Startups See More Business in Trump Era

24Dec By reutersNo Comments

USA

Regtech’ Startups See More Business in Trump Era

President elect Donald Trump is pro-business and anti-red tape. But what if your business is red tape? Companies whose technology helps banks and investors cope with the welter of post financial crisis regulations and avoid increasingly hefty fines - a sector known as "regtech" - are sanguine about Trump's pledge to dismantle some of those reforms. Their equanimity is based on a belief that if regulations are replaced rather than scrapped and the overall system of rules becomes more fragmented, financial firms will need their systems to navigate the new landscape. "Change is itself a driver of regtech adoption," said David Buxton, the chief executive of compliance startup Arachnys. "Volatility creates opportunity for relatively nimble regtech firms." Founded in London in 2010, Ara...

Amazon Launchpad For Startups- Register For Rs 5000 and Sell Your Product Worldwide

6Dec By AnkitaNo Comments

News

Amazon Launchpad For Startups- Register For Rs 5000 and Sell Your Product Worldwide

E-commerce giant Amazon today rolled out its global programme 'Launchpad' in India to provide startups in the country a platform to market, sell and deliver products across the globe. India is the seventh country where Amazon Launchpad has been made available, and the platform, "tailormade" for startups, is available for a fee of Rs 5,000 a month. Launchpad is already available in the US, UK, China, Germany, France and Mexico. Through the Launchpad page startups and entrepreneurs can sell products on a global scale, overcoming general marketplace challenges like requirements of large investments to get noticed and loss of margins in channels, the company said. Amazon Launchpad will offer startups and small enterprises access to custom pages where sellers can showcase their products th...

Global IT firm Ericsson Willing to Mentor Startups in India

1Dec By AdityaNo Comments

News

Global IT firm Ericsson Willing to Mentor Startups in India

Global IT firm Ericsson today said it is willing to extend helping hand to mentor start-ups in India. "The start-up economy in India is booming. In the next couple of years, it will be huge," Ericsson India Global Services managing director Amitabh Ray told Pixr8 on the sidelines of Infocom ICT seminar here. He said Ericsson is studying how the start-up ecosystem is being built in India. "We want to see how the start-ups are doing and what kind of disruptions can it bring. If we find that any start-up needs mentoring, we can think of it," Ray said. When pointed out 99 per cent of the start-ups were failing, he added VCs hire people who were expert in killing companies which do not have a future in order to stop the drainage of resources. To a query, he said Ericsson does not ha...

7 Indian Startups to Join Google Launchpad Accelerator Program

24Nov By PriyankaNo Comments

News

7 Indian Startups to Join Google Launchpad Accelerator Program

Tech giant Google today said it has selected seven startups from India that will join the third class of its Launchpad Accelerator programme. The shortlisted startups from India include an on-demand wardrobe rentals service (Flyrobe), furniture and appliances rental service (RentoMojo) and tutor help service (HashLearn). Other chosen startups include Curofy (a platform for doctors to discuss medical cases with peers), Happy Adda Studios (offers an Indian word game Jalebi), Playment (allows users to earn money for playing games) and Kapture CRM (helps businesses to do better lead management). These companies will join startups from Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico Argentina, Colombia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam as part of the programme, Google said in a statement. These startups wi...

Bosch India Launched 18 Week Startup Accelerator Programme Called DNA

22Nov By NitishNo Comments

News

Bosch India Launched 18 Week Startup Accelerator Programme Called DNA

Technology and engineering solutions company Bosch India today launched its first accelerator programme for start-ups called DNA - 'discover, nurture and align', to gain a foothold in the country's booming start-up market. This is first time Bosch would be working with external start-ups to mentor and get them investment-ready, the company said in a statement here. The 18 week programme comprises an intense development, mentoring and piloting platform for start-ups. This platform offers start-ups the opportunity of gaining access to Bosch's working environment. "Bosch India is looking to partner and collaborate with start-ups that work on disruptive solutions in the areas of mobility solutions, smart manufacturing, smart cities, meditech, agritech and energy," said Manohar Esarapu, ...

Mohandas Pai Warns Indian Businessmen For Not Investing in Indian Startups

20Nov By NitishNo Comments

Entrepreneurs Talk

Mohandas Pai Warns Indian Businessmen For Not Investing in Indian Startups

With China and the US pumping in massive foreign capital into India's digital economy, a top Indian investor and educationist has warned that the country could become a "digital colony" unless Indian businesses start investing in it. "India could become a digital colony," warned Mohandas Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education, referred to possible consequences of the massive money being pumped into India's digital economy by the US and China. "There is a fight between US and China to dominate digitally. And the Indian capital where they are, buying real estate in California?" he asked. "If you miss this digital revolution, our big companies would be controlled by Chinese capital which is very dangerous," Pai warned. India, which has the world's third largest startup eco system, has ...