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Agritech Greenikk shuts down, returns partial capital to investors

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Agritech Greenikk shuts down, returns partial capital to investors
Medial

Agritech startup Greenikk on Monday said that it is shutting down operations due to funding challenges and adverse market conditions. Greenikk had raised around $1 million in total capital from the likes of 100 unicorns (9unicorns), IIM A ventures, Mastermind Capital, Smart Sparks and other angels such as Mayank Tiwari of ReshaMandi. “We picked up capital during 2022 times when low-interest capital was available and while agri tech was at its peak, we chased the wrong metrics to grow and scale up. The industry dynamics changed making it difficult to raise the next round of Series A round which was planned to be $5 Million,” said Fariq Naushad, co-founder of Greenikk. As per the company, it’s returning partial capital to investors. Naushad also highlighted the challenges of defaults in the agri sector.“Stakeholders are not paying back the loans, we extended loans worth Rs 6 crore for which we faced defaults. Huge receivables were stuck from certain clients as they resisted paying after reaching a significant amount. We spend almost 6 months on the ground to collect 80% of the receivables,” said Naushad. Defaults and collections have become a significant challenge in the agri-tech sector. ReshaMandi, once a prominent player in the space, faced difficulties in collecting receivables, which ultimately led to its downfall. The company struggled with high defaults and mounting liabilities, which forced it to shut down. According to Greenikk, it will provide 2 month severance and job offers via reference to almost 25 employees while the founders (Naushad and Previn Jacob Varghese) are looking at exploring their next phase of entrepreneurial life. Check Greenikk’s shareholding and financials at TheKredible. After a significant fundraising boom in 2021 and 2022, agritech startups are now facing challenges in attracting venture capital for larger funding rounds. Data compiled by TheKredible reveals that agritech startups raised around $150 million across more than 30 deals in 2024 so far. Notably, there were no deals in the agritech space in September. For comparison, these startups secured $636 million in 2021, which increased to $772 million in 2022. However, the sector saw a sharp decline in 2023, with funding dropping to just $178 million.

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Tiger Global-backed Toplyne shuts down operations

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Tiger Global-backed Toplyne shuts down operations
Medial

Plug-and-play platform Toplyne is shutting down operations and returning capital to investors, according to sources who spoke to Entrackr. This decision comes as a surprise, given that Toplyne had raised funding from prominent investors like Peak XV and Tiger Global. “Despite securing sizable funding, the startup struggled with scaling beyond a certain point, leading the founding team to make the decision to wind down and reach out to investors to return remaining capital,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. Toplyne is a plug-and-play platform designed to help sales teams at product-led growth companies increase conversion rates among freemium users. Founded by Rishen Kapoor, Ruchin Kulkarni, and Rohit Khanna, this three-and-a-half-year-old startup facilitated lead conversion by integrating actionable insights directly into products, enabling companies to turn potential leads into paying customers. “After 3.5 years of building Toplyne, we’ve made the tough decision to wind down operations and return capital to our investors. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t reach the scale or product-market fit we aimed for,” said Rishen Kapoor in a LinkedIn post. Toplyne has raised over $17 million in total capital from investors including Peak XV, Tiger Global, Surge, Together Fund, and angel investors like Kunal Shah and Harshil Mathur. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Toplyne was valued at approximately $80 million in its latest fundraising round. Sources indicate that one of the co-founders, Rohit Khanna, exited the firm sometime last year due to differences within the founding team. Queries sent to Kapoor and Peak XV didn’t elicit any immediate response. Toplyne joins a group of startups that have shut down operations in 2024 while returning partial capital to investors. Others on this unique list include Greenik, Fashinza, Virgio, Investmint, Bluelearn, Paras Chopra-led Nintee, and Karthik Gurumurthy-led Convenio.

Edtech startup Bluelearn shuts operations, to return 70% of capital

EntrackrEntrackr · 12m ago
Edtech startup Bluelearn shuts operations, to return 70% of capital
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. “We 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,” Bluelearn’s 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.

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