startups | Pixr8 News

Markets Regulator Sebi Plans to Reduce Minium VC Funding To Rs 25 Lakh From Rs 50 lakh

20Nov By AnkitaNo Comments

News

Markets Regulator Sebi Plans to Reduce Minium VC Funding To Rs 25 Lakh From Rs 50 lakh

Looking to provide an impetus to the early-stage startup ecosystem, markets regulator Sebi plans to reduce minimum angel fund investment for venture capital undertakings to Rs 25 lakh from the current Rs 50 lakh. Sebi may also allow the angel funds to make overseas investments up to 25 percent of their investible corpus, in line with other Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). The move will make such funds to spread their risk by investing across geographies, sources said. There are many start-ups that require a smaller amount of validating proposition and bringing down the limit to Rs 25 lakh will help such companies raise funds at the initial stage of idea generations. Also, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) plans to align its definition of startups with other reg...

Accion Venture Lab Completes First Successful Exit in India

15Nov By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Accion Venture Lab Completes First Successful Exit in India

Accion Venture Lab, the seed-stage investment vehicle of financial inclusion leader Accion, announced today that it has successfully exited an investment for the first time. Venture Lab has sold its stake in Varthana, a company providing specialized loans and support to affordable private schools in India, promoting access to and the quality of education for India's poor and emerging middle class. Venture Lab led the first institutional investment round in Varthana in May 2013. As of August 2016, with Venture Lab's active support, Varthana has supported more than 2,000 schools, 38,000 teachers, and one million students, and has disbursed more than $35 million to schools that serve lower and middle income Indians. "Varthana has reached great heights as an innovative financial services...

Average Size of Startup Funding Up 27% to Rs 4.6 Cr: Report

6Nov By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

ANALYSIS

Average Size of Startup Funding Up 27% to Rs 4.6 Cr: Report

The average size of Startup Funding received from angel investors grew 27 per cent to Rs 4.67 crore in 2015, from Rs 1.06 crore in 2009, a report said. Also, the average investments made by these angel investors individually saw an annual growth rate of 34 per cent from Rs 0.21 crore in 2009 to Rs 1.69 crore in 2015, according to the '2016 India Venture Capital and Private Equity Report on Start-Ups' by Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-Madras). "Start-ups have an important role to play in the modern innovation economy. The national government has recognised this and start-ups have emerged as a focus area for policy making now," IIT Madras Director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said. This report provides an interesting commentary on the trends in start-ups and the start-up ecosyste...

Startup Incubator thinQbate Launches with its First Cohort of 6 Emerging Startups

24Oct By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Startup Incubator thinQbate Launches with its First Cohort of 6 Emerging Startups

The last year has been a landmark year for startups in India. As per the Nasscom report, India ranks third among global startup ecosystems with more than 4,200 new-age companies. Aimed at supporting this growth, thinQbate, a new thinking incubator launched in Mumbai today. Based on a community and entrepreneur first approach to angel investment and incubation, it hopes to create an ecosystem that will identify, nurture, and leverage on the success of a concept. thinQbate aims to help annual cohorts of fresh ideas and minds thrive by providing a physical space to work in, support from its expert partners and showcasing entrepreneurs based in thinQbate and through events, in-house & external, through the year. Focusing on the importance of providing a favorable ecosystem for the s...

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Invested in Two Cancer Startups

4Oct By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Invested in Two Cancer Startups

As per the report, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, founder of Biocon invested in two cancer curated startups. She invested $1.6 million (around Rs 11 crore) in Philadelphia and Mumbai-based UE Lifesciences. UE Lifesciences, founded by Indian American entrepreneur Mihir Shah in 2015, earlier raised $3 million from Aarin Capital and received a grant of Rs 50 lakh from Unitus Seed Fund. Its develop an affordable breast cancer screening device. “Cancer therapy is not one-size-fits-all, if you stratify them based on genomics, among other things. So you can tailor-make therapy, which are less harsh and for that early detection is very important.”, Kiran said. Her bet on UE’s iBreastExam device is based on the uncomfortable experience women face with mammograms. But Shaw calls UE’s scans “intellige...

Jack Ma Appointed as a Adviser of United Nations Trade & Business Group

21Sep By PriyankaNo Comments

CHINA

Jack Ma Appointed as a Adviser of United Nations Trade & Business Group

Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba, has been named Special Adviser to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for Youth Entrepreneurship and Small Business. In his new role as UNCTAD Special Adviser, Ma, 52, will champion initiatives to make it easier for young entrepreneurs and small businesses, particularly in developing countries, to participate in global trade, as well as raise awareness about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. "Ma is an influential and respected pioneer of the internet era, innovator, entrepreneur, and philanthropist," UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said. "He brings a visionary approach to entrepreneurship, a thirst for learning, and a belief in a better world that make him a perfect ...

Bihar Govt Approves Start Up Policy For Entrepreneurs

7Sep By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

INDIA, News

Bihar Govt Approves Start Up Policy For Entrepreneurs

The Bihar government today gave its nod for the launch of a Start Up venture capital fund which will encourage young entrepreneurs in the state to start new ventures. The approval to the Start Up policy, 2016 was given at a meeting of the cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The Start Up venture capital of Rs 5,000 crore formed part of the CMs seven resolves, which the grand secular alliance government has adopted as policy of governance for the next five years. The cabinet gave its nod to 31 proposals of different departments at the meeting this evening, Principal Secretary Cabinet Coordination department Brajesh Mehrotra told reporters. The state cabinet gave its go ahead to Information and Public Relations Department proposal to revise advertisement rates as par...

After IIT Bombay Ban, Job Seekers Turn Cautious Against Startups Offers

4Sep By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

ANALYSIS

After IIT Bombay Ban, Job Seekers Turn Cautious Against Startups Offers

Job seekers have become more cautious while considering offers from startups as it presents substantial risk to their long-term goals, according to experts. "With the premier tech school IIT Bombay blacklisting nine startups, job seekers have become more cautious before accepting offers from them. "There could be more job seekers declining offers from these companies as they will weigh the substantial risk they need to take while making such career moves as they consider their long-term professional goals," hiring consultancy Michael Pages Director Ankit Agarwala said. Recently, IIT Bombay had blacklisted nine startups for one year as a penalty for various violations, including revoking offers to some graduates. Startups are generally hiring cautiously and focusing main...

Decoding: Why Food Tech Startups Are Not Successful in India?

30Aug By NitishNo Comments

Story

Decoding: Why Food Tech Startups Are Not Successful in India?

Last year before Diwali we covered an interview of a 25-year-old Bikaneri sweet shop owner from Noida "What kind of Startup Services a “Bikaneri Sweet Shop” Owner Needs?". Here we mentioned each and every point of a sweet shop owner needs from food tech startups. Though after a gap of one year we still feel that none of the food tech startups taking a lesson from it. Due to lack of perfect business model and strategy, most of the shop owners stop using online food services. Reasons Why Businesses Had to Scale Down Indian market is not mature enough to order food online. They only order food when there is a discount. Sad but true. We saw 100–150 orders from the single restaurant just for dinner on weekends when foodpanda was running a discount. Immediate next week when foodpand...

Bengaluru Most Hospitable to Tech Startups; NCR Next Best

22Aug By PriyankaNo Comments

ANALYSIS

Bengaluru Most Hospitable to Tech Startups; NCR Next Best

(ANI): Bengaluru is host to the largest share of technology driven start-ups, followed by the Delhi NCR and Mumbai while Hyderabad and Chennai are also quite popular among the techies who are budding entrepreneurs, according to an ASSOCHAM study. The study done in association with the thought arbitrage found that in the technology driven start-ups, India has moved up to third position with the US occupying the top position with more than 47,000 and UK with over 4,500. India's tech start-ups number around 4,200 up to 2015. In terms of total number of start-ups, comprising tech and non-tech areas, India again figured among the five largest hosts in the world along with China. The number of start-ups in both India and China was 10,000 each. The US is at the number one position among...

MyTaxiindia Raises $1 Million From Nihon Kotsu

21Jul By RishabhNo Comments

FUNDING

MyTaxiindia Raises $1 Million From Nihon Kotsu

Delhi-based taxi service operator MyTaxiindia has raised $1 million (about Rs 6.7 crore) in bridge round of funding from existing investor Nihon Kotsu, a taxi rental company in Japan. "MyTaxiindia will use the capital for expanding services to tier 2 and 3 cities," a company release said, adding that a portion of the sum will also go towards technology development, marketing and branding. Nihon Kotsu is an 88-year-old service provider that operates limousines across Japan. It has a fleet of over 4,000 black and yellow taxis in Tokyo alone. "MyTaxiindia is currently in talks with other investors to raise USD 5-10 million in a Series A round," Anshuman Mihir, Co-founder and CEO, MyTaxiindia, said. Established in December 2013, MyTaxiindia offers inter-city taxi rental solutions a...

Almost 70% of Startups Globally Will Fail: Kris Gopalakrishnan

19Jul By NitishNo Comments

Entrepreneurs Talk

Almost 70% of Startups Globally Will Fail: Kris Gopalakrishnan

Infosys Co-Founder and former CII President Kris Gopalakrishnan today said almost seventy per cent of startups globally will fail and only five to ten per cent will become large and scale up. "Almost seventy per cent of startups will fail. About 20 per cent will survive but will not grow. They will remain small enterprises, and may be only five to ten per cent will become large and scale up - that is the spastics globally," he told reporters at the announcement of the 12th Innovation Summit 2016 here, of which he is the chairman. This should not, however, be treated as a concern or a challenge, but it is a part of natural process of evolution, he added. "The key is what are the learnings, and how do we continue to nurture this," he said. Asked who has made a mark globally ...