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Lightspeed-backed Frontrow mulls sale or shutdown, months after layoffs, restart
Money Control ยท 2y ago
Medial
FrontRow, a startup backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, is considering options including a sale or shutdown. The company, which offers online learning courses, had recently faced layoffs but restarted operations. However, due to continued challenges and uncertainty in the education sector, FrontRow is exploring strategic alternatives. This development reflects the difficult decisions startups sometimes face in the pursuit of sustainability and growth. The companyโs backers including Lightspeed Venture Partners are looking for potential acquirers for the company, sources said, adding that if these talks fall through, the company might consider to close its operations.
Blume backed Zoplar shuts shop in B2B healthcare exit
Inshorts ยท 2m ago
Medial
Blume Ventures-backed Zoplar shut its operations in February, just a month after it raised $3.4 mn in its Series A funding. The startup is now returning the capital raised in its Series A round to its investors. Zoplar decided to shutter its operations after Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, earlier this year, said that imports of refurbished medical devices aren't allowed in country.
Edtech startup Bluelearn shuts operations, to return 70% of capital
Entrackr ยท 11m ago
Medial
Social learning platform Bluelearn on Sunday announced that it has shut down its operations as the firm found it tough to grow fast. The three-year-old firm will return 70% of the capital it raised to its investors. The Bengaluru-based startup had raised nearly $4 million across two rounds from Elevation Capital, Lightspeed, Titan Capital, 2am VC. Angel investors including Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Awais Ahmed, Vivek Mohan and others also backed the community driven platform. โWe realised that building a venture-scale business with Bluelearn was tough. We had been very conservative with capital, allowing us to return 70% of the capital we raised back to investors,โ Bluelearnโs co-founder and CEO Harish Uthayakumar said on X. Founded by Uthayakumar and Shreyans Sancheti, Bluelearn started off as a telegram channel for students to help each other with common questions. At its peak, the startup claimed to have over 250,000 members from various colleges and startups across India and abroad. Since its inception, the company has helped thousands of students with internships, jobs and make friends through its online community. More than half a dozen startups operating in India shut down their operations in 2024 so far. The list counts Resso (India), Rario, OKX (India), Muvin, GoldPe, Koo and Nintee. However, a few of them have also announced to return a significant capital to their investors. For context, Paras Chopra-led digital health startup Nintee, which shut down its operations in April, said that it will return a majority of the capital raised from its investors. Similarly, trading app Investmint will return 25% of capital as it underwent insolvency proceedings. As per a media report, fashion startups Fashinza and Virgo will also return capital to their investors after a failed pivot. As per data compiled by TheKredible, more than 15 startups ceased their operations due to funding crunch and other challenges in 2023.
WestBridge-Backed Otipy Shuts Down Amid Severe Cash Crunch
StartupTalky ยท 1m ago
Medial
Otipy, a farm-to-fork vegetable supplier based in Delhi NCR, has ceased operations due to a severe cash crunch, leaving around 300 workers unemployed. Founded in 2020 and backed by WestBridge Capital, Otipy failed to secure additional funding and has not paid employee salaries for 1.5 months. The management plans to sell off assets to settle outstanding debts. The abrupt closure follows previous vendor payment delays and an unsuccessful foray into offline sales using electric carts.
Peak XV, Lightrock-backed Yubi's topline rises, net loss narrows
VCCircle ยท 8m ago
Medial
Yubi (formerly known as CredAvenue), a financial services unicorn backed by investors including B Capital and Lightspeed, has seen a rise in revenue from operations and a narrowing of net losses. The company offers debt restructuring, credit assessment, and collections services to banks and fintech companies. Its revenue from operations increased by 47.6% to INR 483.7 crore in the financial year 2024, while its net loss decreased to INR 395.8 crore. Yubi supports over 17,000 enterprises and 6,200 investors and lenders through its credit marketplace.
Bhavish Aggarwal-backed O'Be Cocktails shuts operations
Entrackr ยท 3m ago
Medial
Bhavish Aggarwal-backed O'Be Cocktails shuts operations Bengaluru-based O'Be Cocktails used to claim that its cocktails were perfected through over a hundred iterations to deliver a consistent blend for consumers. Alcoholic beverages startup O'Be Cocktails has shut down its operations after operating for more than five years. โIt was one of the most difficult decisions for myself to shut down the brand; however, in the long run, we couldnโt justify the direction. After extensive retrospection and analysis, it all came down to one key realization: Alcobev is not a consumer-backed but a commoditized industry, which does not align with our vision of creating a premium and convenient cocktail experience for our consumers,โ said Nitesh Prakash, founder and chief executive of O'Be Cocktails in a Linkedin post. โOver the past year, we have made every possible effort to find a suitable buyer for Oโ Be ensuring the flow of cocktails doesn't stop, but we believe we have now exhausted all remaining possibilities for a sale,โ added Prakash. O'Be raised Rs 3.5 crore in an angel round led by First Cheque, Letsventure, Olaโs Bhavish Aggarwal, Tracxn founder Abhishek Goyal, and Sprout Investments in August 2021. The Bengaluru-based startup also raised an undisclosed pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures in November 2023. O'Be Cocktails used to offer a variety of drinks available in Goa and Bengaluru. The brand used to claim that its cocktails were perfected through over a hundred iterations to deliver a consistent blend for consumers. O'Be Cocktails was operational in Bhutan and nine states of India. The company also said that it was supported by a network of 22 private distributors and 2 government contracts, making its products accessible in over 1,700 premium wine outlets.
Paras Chopraโs Nintee shuts down, to return investorsโ money
Entrackr ยท 1y ago
Medial
Nintee, a digital health startup launched by Wingify founder Paras Chopra, has announced shutting down its operations after a year of launch. In a blog post, Chopra said that the majority of funding raised by the company is still remaining and will be returned to investors over the next few weeks. Nintee was backed by the likes of Peak XV Partners, Kunal Shah, and others. โOur original hypothesis was to use AI for helping people build better habits to transform their lives. This attracted a passionate niche, but we couldnโt build conviction that it could be a VC-scale business,โ said Chopra. After abandoning the initial idea, the firm tried another pivot to explore education and learning related ideas, but Nintee team quickly discovered that building a successful consumer app today is very hard. Nintee has provided four months of severance to the impacted employees and also offered them to join Chopraโs other company VWO at the same salary. Nintee was the third company founded by Chopra after VWO and Wingify. His bootstrapped company Wingify reported back-to-back profits in the past fiscal years. Its revenue from operations increased 16.8% to Rs 223 crore in FY23 with Rs 51 crore profit after tax. Around half a dozen startups operating in India have announced shutting down their operations in the ongoing calendar year so far. The list counts Resso (India), Rario, OKX (India), Muvin and GoldPe. In 2023, more than 15 startups ceased their operations over funding and other challenges.
Kalaari-backed Peer Robotics shuts down operations
Entrackr ยท 2m ago
Medial
Kalaari-backed mobile robotics solutions platform Peer Robotics has shut down, as the US-headquartered company is no longer operational and unable to continue its business activities. The board of Peer Robotics has passed a resolution during a shareholdersโ meeting, approving the removal of the companyโs name from the records of the Registrar of Companies (RoC), according to a regulatory filing sourced from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. "The company has not conducted any business activities for the past two years, and the board of directors believes it will be unable to resume operations in the future," the filing further stated. Founded in 2019 by Rishabh Agarwal and Tanya Raghuvanshi, Peer Robotics is designed to work with humans by mirroring workflows in manufacturing operations on repetitive tasks, saving time, increasing efficiencies, and reducing injuries. The platform offers adaptive robots in manufacturing, assembly lines, and warehousing segments. Peer Robotics has raised $2.3 million in a seed round in 2022, led by Kalaari Capital and with the participation of Axilor Ventures, Connecticut Innovation, and Innopact VC. It was also a part of the Stanley+Techstars Accelerator programme. The companyโs financials also indicate a shutdown or inactive status, as it reported nil revenue and a marginal loss in FY24, according to its annual financial statement. Peer Robotics had posted a modest revenue of Rs 34 lakh in FY23, a sharp decline from Rs 1.33 crore in FY22.
OpenAI-backed Ghost Autonomy shuts down
TechCrunch ยท 1y ago
Medial
Autonomous driving software startup, Ghost Autonomy, has shut down its operations due to uncertainties in long-term profitability and funding challenges. The company, which had raised $220 million in funding, employed around 100 people and had operations in Mountain View, Dallas, and Sydney. Ghost had partnered with OpenAI earlier this year and had plans to explore the use of multimodal large language models in self-driving vehicles. However, the startup changed its approach over time and focused on crash prevention technology. Despite completing a highway driving product, Ghost couldn't secure the necessary financing to bring its product to market.
Flight operations affected as Qatar shuts airspace
Economic Times ยท 15d ago
Medial
India's airlines, including Air India Express, Air India, and IndiGo, adjusted operations as Qatar closed its airspace due to regional security concerns. This closure led to flight cancellations, diversions, and delays affecting Indian and international carriers. Qatar's decision, prompted by escalating Middle East tensions following U.S. military actions, disrupted global aviation routes, especially those linking Asia with Europe and North America. Major international airlines also adjusted their operations to Gulf hubs in response to the situation.
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