start-ups | inves4: Indian Equity Investing

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Kunal Bahl, Varun Berry: Meet the mentors of Nikhil Kamath and Kishore Biyani’s The Foundery

Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath and Future Group co-founder Kishore Biyani have come together to introduce The Foundery, a residential business launchpad designed to back early-stage startups. The programme, aimed at helping Indian startups to gain momentum, promises to turn aspiring entrepreneurs into co-founders of funded, launch-ready businesses within three months. The Foundery is a 90-day … Read more

Rural fintech firm Navadhan raises $5 mn from Prime Venture Partners, others

Rural fintech firm Navadhan has raised $5 million (about ₹40 crore) in a pre-Series A round led by Prime Venture Partners. Existing investors Gemba Capital and Varanium NexGen Fintech Fund also participated. The new funds will be used to enhance the company’s AceN tech platform, which connects small, rural businesses with NBFCs and banks, and … Read more

Here Are the 20 Unicorns That Have Plunged the Most in Value in 2023

One way to see how private companies are faring is to look at secondary exchanges. The fallen giants are led by former fintech darling Plaid, which has plunged almost 80% in 2023. Buyers who had been sitting on the sidelines are eager to snap up bargains in battered startups. While investors can measure the value … Read more

I Was Burned Out When I Sold My Startup, but I Started Another

Ankur Nagpal started his first company Teachable in 2013. He enjoyed running Teachable at first, but after he sold it, he was left feeling burned out. Nagpal thought he would never start another company again — until he founded Ocho Wealth. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ankur Nagpal, 34, who founded … Read more

SVB in talks to sell itself, as crisis triggers global banking rout

SVB Financial Group’s efforts to raise money have failed and the troubled bank was in talks to sell itself, CNBC reported on Friday, as a crisis at the tech-heavy lender rippled through global markets and hit banking stocks. Shares of SVB Financial Group were halted on Friday after tumbling 66% in premarket trading. SVB, which … Read more

Revolut Posts First Annual Profits As It Targets UK Banking License

London-based fintech Revolut posted its first annual profit for the year ending 2021. The neo-bank almost tripled its revenue in 2021 amid a boom in cryptocurrency trading. Despite repeatedly missing reporting deadlines, Revolut could soon cinch a UK banking license. Revolut, the London-based fintech firm, has posted its first annual profit after missing multiple deadlines … Read more

GoMechanic to reduce workforce by 70%, says co-founder Amit Bhasin

Car workshop and auto spare parts platform, GoMechanic is going to let go of approximately 70% of its workforce. This was announced by co-founder Amit Bhasin in a long LinkedIn post. GoMechanic, which offers everything from mechanics to carwashing services on an app, bills itself as having India’s largest auto service center network. With its … Read more

We are not trying to be profitable in a hurry: Policybazaar Chairman

In an interview, Yashish Dahiya, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PB Fintech highlighted the following – “We started our new initiatives after the market started focusing on profitability. We are not reducing our new initiatives or killing them. We are only getting a little more efficient, which is exactly what we would do anyway. … Read more

The Pitch Deck Switchboard Used to Raise a $25 Million Series a

Switchboard is a video meeting startup that lets teams collaborate on other software in real time. It went viral on Product Hunt and signed up over 1,200 teams in one week with no marketing budget. They’ve just raised a $25 million Series A led by Icon Ventures to take on Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Switchboard … Read more