Union minister for railways, information and broadcasting, electronics, and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw will be the guest of honour at ETSA 2024, presenting the country’s most coveted awards for entrepreneurial excellence to the winners.
Speakers: In this milestone year for ETSA, this year’s jury chair, Infosys cofounder and chairman Nandan Nilekani, will hold a discussion with 2018 Midas Touch award winner Subrata Mitra, partner at Accel, this year’s Startup of the Year winner Lenskart’s cofounder and CEO Peyush Bansal, and nominee Zepto’s cofounder and CEO Aadit Palicha.
Aadit Palicha, Peyush Bansal and Subrata Mitra
The other big speaker will be 2021 Startup of the Year winner Zomato’s founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal, who will talk about the company’s journey.
Meet the winners: The high-powered jury tasked with choosing the winners of ETSA 2023 met in Bengaluru on September 11 to pick the winners across eight categories. They are:
What the winners said about their journey and the road ahead | In the run-up to the awards ceremony, we spoke to this year’s winners, asking them to reflect on their journey and disclose their ambitions for the future.
Lenskart to invest $200 million in new manufacturing unit: CEO Peyush Bansal | Lenskart’s plans to invest $200 million in its new manufacturing plant in southern India that would be ‘10x the size’ of its Rajasthan plant as the eyewear retailer hits $1 billion in revenue run-rate for the current fiscal. CEO Peysuh Bansal told us in an interview that for the first time since inception, online growth has been faster than offline.
Mukul Arora aces exit metric to land ‘Midas Touch’ prize: Mukul Arora of Elevation Capital, who won the Midas Touch prize at ETSA 2024, told ET in an interview that a reset in the venture investment industry after the 2021 exuberance is bringing the sector back to basics.
Hardika Shah’s Kinara building a credit bridge for the MSMEs: Hardika Shah, founder & CEO of Kinara Capital, who won the Woman Ahead category at ETSA, is looking to increase the company’s presence in India’s manufacturing regions. Despite initial challenges, the company has grown significantly and now operates in over 100 cities, which account for around 70% of India’s manufacturing output.
ClaimBuddy wins by easing insurance claims pain for all: ClaimBuddy won this year’s Best on Campus category for aiming to solve the major issue of making the health insurance claim process more transparent and efficient. “ClaimBuddy is a commitment to ensure that patients receive the care they need without the added stress of navigating complex insurance processes,” cofounder Khet Singh Rajpurohit said.
Haqdarshak takes government schemes to the needy via consultants: Aniket Doegar’s vision for Haqdarshak, which bagged the Social Enterprise prize, was to create a network of ‘government scheme consultants’ for Indians, similar to how the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) developed a network of insurance agents across the country.
Comeback Kid winner Rentomojo eyes IPO in next 18 months: ETSA’s ‘Comeback Kid’ category winner Rentomojo’s founder Geetansh Bamania spoke to us about weathering storms. Rentomojo turned profitable in FY23 and has stood out among competitors that have faced difficulties in making unit economics work in a sector that Bamania says is akin to “trekking and not a marathon” because of the depth of the industry.
Boult is marching to the beat of its own drum: Bootstrap Champ winner Boult, a brand known for wearables and electronic devices, prioritises profitability over market share. Founded by brothers Varun and Tarun Gupta, Boult has grown rapidly without external capital. The company plans to diversify its product range and expand its offline presence while maintaining strong financial health.
‘Need stronger collaboration between private investors and govt to support deeptech startups’: From navigating multiple rounds with doctors and pharmaceutical companies in 2020, when no one was willing to test its product, to securing a Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) licence and achieving commercialisation in 2024, BrainSight AI has made significant progress. Founder Laina Emmanuel spoke to us about the startup’s journey.
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Peak XV Partners managing directors
Peak XV downsizes its $2.85 billion fund by 16% a year after Sequoia US-India split: Venture capital firm Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia Capital India, has pared the size of its $2.85 billion fund by 16% more than a year after it split from Silicon Valley-based investor Sequoia Capital.
US investor Invesco raises fair value of Swiggy, reduces valuation of Pine Labs: A fund managed by US-based investor Invesco increased the fair value of public markets-bound online food delivery company Swiggy in its books to $13.3 billion as of July 31, according to a regulatory filing made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ashneer Grover, BharatPe settle disputes; cut all ties: Fintech firm BharatPe and its cofounder Ashneer Grover have resolved their more than two-year-long legal battle. The settlement concludes one of the most high-profile disputes in the Indian startup ecosystem that had sparked concerns about the lack of corporate governance in well-funded startups backed by marquee investors.
Clean up those startup corners: This week marked the end of a long-drawn legal battle between BharatPe, a once rising fintech star valued at $2.7 bn (at its peak), and its cofounder Ashneer Grover. What began in January 2022 when an expletive-laden telephone chat between Grover and a Kotak Mahindra bank official leaked, quickly snowballed into one of the ugliest public spats between a new-age startup backed by top-notch investors and its founder. Read the full column here
Sale is live! ecommerce companies on track to hit 20-25% growth this season: Online retailers like Flipkart and Amazon are poised to record 20-25% growth in festive season sales this year, gauging from response to the first three days of sales, according to estimates from Datum Intelligence and senior industry executives briefed on the sale trajectory.
Tier-II SaaS ‘mafia’ flips the script to shift action to the hinterlands: With a strong focus on costs and profitability, many SaaS startups like Responsive in Coimbatore, Supersourcing in Indore, Appointy in Bhopal, DreamCast in Jaipur, Dhiwise in Surat, and CallHippo in Ahmedabad are focusing big time on business.
Fintech News
Consumer-lending fintechs report surging numbers in FY24; slowdown emerging in current fiscal: Fintech firms in consumer lending such as Navi, Kreditbee, Moneyview, and Fibe reported strong profits and revenue growth in the last financial year, recovering from Covid-related challenges.
Paytm parent’s staff costs rise 21% in a challenging year: For One 97 Communications, the parent firm of Paytm, employee costs rose significantly in FY24, despite regulatory challenges and business slowdown. The company increased the remuneration of its CFO, Madhur Deora, by 15%, while the founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, did not receive a raise.
Stockbroking startup Dhan clocks maiden profit of Rs 155 crore in FY24; revenue jumps 600% on year: The startup is in talks with investors for raising a fresh equity funding round and is looking to expand its product offerings. The company expects a 25-30% impact on its gross revenue due to the recent regulatory actions on the highly speculative futures and options (F&O) market by the market regulator.
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IT News
Indian IT companies may earn more from third-party item sales: IT firms in India are increasingly partnering with third-party sellers to boost their revenue. While most of them have a pass-through revenue component, analysts expect top companies like TCS, Infosys, and Birlasoft to announce higher pass-through revenue in the quarterly earnings season that begins next week.
Big IT expects growth momentum to continue in September quarter: India’s software service providers will report their July-September quarter results in the coming week, and analysts expect them to be better than the first quarter on the back of deal revival and an improvement in business sentiment in North America.
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Tech & Policy
Fire at Tata Electronics plant; Apple steps in for aid: A fire at Tata Electronics plant making Apple iPhones in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, disrupted its operations. Apple’s supplier responsibility (SR) team has been at the Tata Electronics facility in Hosur since Sunday to “counsel and advise” its sole Indian vendor, which produces enclosures for iPhones. Partial operations have started at the fire-hit plant, and the workers will continue to receive full pay.
AI is too important not to be regulated well: Google’s Roma Datta Chobey | Google’s strategy in India will continue to be closely aligned with the country’s aspirations of becoming a developed nation in the next two decades, Roma Datta Chobey, Google’s managing director and interim country manager for India, told us in an interview.
