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March 11, 2016 SBI launches specialized branch for start-ups
Chairperson of SBI Arundhati Bhattacharya and managing director Rajnish Kumar, National Banking Group (NBG) launch SBI Exclusif and SBI InCube. Photo: AP Bengaluru: State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest lender, on Thursday opened a specialized branch—SBI InCube—that will cater to the specific financial needs of start-ups. The branch will assist start-ups in cash management, […]
ALL DEALS March 11, 2016 Domestic venture capital funds proliferate as HNI interest in start-ups grows
Anil Joshi, co-founder of Unicorn India Ventures, says the number of people who see start-ups as an investment asset class has grown in the last one-and-a-half years. Photo: S. Kumar/Mint Mumbai: Domestic early-stage venture capital (VC) funds are proliferating in an effort to tap increasing demand from rich individuals and investment offices of business families […]
ALL DEALS March 9, 2016 The fault in our start-ups
Start-ups will die. 97% will fail. About 1% will get acquired. Another 1% will go on to become paper unicorns. Only the final per cent will actually become sustainable digital-first enterprises. The problem is that they will die for the wrong reasons. Photo: iStockPhoto Visualize the math on this. A friend spotted an employee from […]
NEWS March 9, 2016 Customer support in the time of instant outrage: How start-ups do it
At e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal (run by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd), social media is handled with a set of processes and a large team of 16 constantly monitoring the social chatter. Photo: Bloomberg Bengaluru: No online retailer escaped the backlash sparked by a recent clutch of instances in which customers ordered mobile phones online and were […]
NEWS March 9, 2016 Flipkart’s mark-down augurs lean times for India’s tech start-ups
Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint Bangalore: Cash-hungry Indian star-tups like Flipkart Pvt. are discovering the fundraising party’s winding down. The domestic e-commerce leader became one of the most prominent Asian start-ups to have its valuation slashed by a high-profile investor. Sending ripples through the industry, a Morgan Stanley fund marked down its value by more than a […]
ALL DEALS March 8, 2016 Indian start-ups at risk as investors step back, PM Modi’s fund falls short
Flipkart and Snapdeal have attracted big-name backers like Accel Partners, Temasek Holdings and SoftBank, enthused by growth potential. Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint Mumbai: After pumping billions of dollars into Indian Internet start-ups in the last 24 months, global investors are cutting that flood back to a trickle as dreams of huge online sales are clouded by […]
ALL DEALS March 8, 2016 Tips and tricks by Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick for start-ups in India
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick speaks to students during an interaction at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus in Mumbai on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters Mumbai: The chief executive and co-founder of the world’s most valuable start-up Uber Inc., Travis Kalanick, is in India to kick-start the government’s Start-Up Initiative. The 39-year-old American entrepreneur, whose company […]
ALL DEALS 
March 8, 2016 Start-ups should be realistic about valuations: NVP’s Promod Haque and Niren Shah
NVP senior managing partner Promod Haque (left) and NVP India managing director Niren Shah. Palo Alto, California-based venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) raised $1.2 billion this week for its 13th global fund, dubbed Norwest Venture Partners XIII LP. This is the third time that the firm, which focuses on early- and growth-stage investments, […]
ALL DEALS 
March 8, 2016 So where do hiring start-ups hire from?
A start-up that wants to make the hiring process easier for others, looking for developers on other platforms – is it a one-off or the norm? Photo: Getty Images/AFP Bengaluru: Swapnil Vats, founder of recruitment start-up Valonia (Valonia Learning and Recruiting Solutions LLP), wrote last year on his LinkedIn profile that he was looking for […]
ALL DEALS March 8, 2016 Labour ministry moves to ease compliance norms for start-ups
Start-ups are likely to create more than 100,000 jobs in 2016 and 225,000 jobs in 2018. Photo: Mint New Delhi: The labour and employment ministry on Sunday took steps to relax labour-related compliance measures for start-ups, a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the Start-up India initiative. The ministry has decided to exempt start-ups […]
ALL DEALS March 7, 2016 Start-ups’ focus shifts to conserving cash
Grofers shut operations in nine cities, citing poor demand, just two months after raising as much as $120 million from Japan’s SoftBank Group and Tiger Global Management. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/ Mint Bengaluru: From Flipkart and Ola to Grofers and Peppertap, start-ups across the board are focusing on cash conservation and making their core businesses fitter, […]
NEWS March 4, 2016 RBI eases stake sale rules in start-ups
The RBI said it would clarify certain other issues that are permissible under current rules. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed overseas investors to sell their stakes in Indian start-ups to local companies, potentially giving foreign venture capital (VC) funds an easier exit route. The regulator also allowed start-ups to […]
