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Shraeyansh Thakur resigns from Peak XV after a decade

EntrackrEntrackr · 4m ago
Shraeyansh Thakur resigns from Peak XV after a decade
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Shraeyansh Thakur resigns from Peak XV after a decade During his tenure at Peak XV, he was board member and observer for startups like Atlys, Meesho, Cars24, ApnaMart, Unacademy, Zetwerk, Urban Piper, Bijnis, among others. Shraeyansh Thakur, an investor at Peak XV Partners, has resigned after nearly 10 years at the venture capital firm, sources told Entrackr. This marks the fifth high-profile exit from Peak XV in the past year. “Shraeyansh Thakur has decided to quit the firm and is likely to launch his own venture soon,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. Queries sent to Peak XV and Thakur did not elicit any response until publication of the story. "After an incredible 9+ years at Peak XV / Sequoia India, I have decided to embark on a new entrepreneurial journey. The next 10 years are going to be India’s golden digital decade and our founders now have true belief to create the world’s best companies from India," said Thakur in a Linkedin post. Last month, Peak XV’s managing partners, Shailesh Lakhani and Abheek Anand, stepped down after serving for more than a decade. Prior to that, Anandamoy Roychowdhary, a partner at Peak XV's Surge, departed after over 11 years at the firm, while Piyush Gupta, then Managing Director, left after seven years to launch his secondary-focused fund, Kenro Capital. Meanwhile, Rishen Kapoor, co-founder and CEO of SaaS startup Toplyne, has returned to Peak XV Partners after his three-and-a-half-year-old venture shut down. In October last year, Peak XV reduced its $2.85 billion fund by 16% as part of a strategic shift towards investing in a more measured manner amid elevated valuations in the Indian market. This development came a year after Sequoia Capital rebranded as Peak XV.

Kareena Kapoor-backed Pluckk to raise $10 Mn in Series A

EntrackrEntrackr · 3m ago
Kareena Kapoor-backed Pluckk to raise $10 Mn in Series A
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Pluckk competes with Gourmet Garden, Kisankonnect, and, to some extent, Otipy. Its major competitors, Deep Rooted and Fraazo, shut down their operations after raising a sizeable amount. Business-to-consumer fresh produce food-tech platform Pluckk is all set to raise Rs 85 crore (approximately $10 million) in its Series A funding round from Euro Gulf Investment. This marks the Mumbai-based company's first notable fundraising after a three-year hiatus. The board at Pluckk has passed a special resolution to issue 3,023 Series A compulsory convertible preference shares at an issue price of Rs 2,81,383 each to raise Rs 85 crore or $10 million, its regulatory filings accessed from the Registrar of Companies show. The filings further added that the fresh proceeds will be used for aggressive growth, interest payment on debentures, and other corporate purposes. According to Entrackr’s estimates, the company will be valued at around $50-55 million post-allotment. Founded in 2021 by Pratik Gupta, Pluckk is a farm-to-fork platform that delivers fresh, lifestyle-focused produce to consumers. It also offers trendy food options like vegan choices, carb alternatives, and items for gut health and immunity. Before this round, the company had secured $5 million in seed funding from Exponentia Ventures. Following that, it acquired the DIY meal kit platform KOOK for $1.3 million. Last year, Pluckk acquired the nutrition brand Upnourish for $1.4 million. The Mumbai-based company is targeting a Rs 200 crore ARR for the current fiscal year. In the fiscal year ending March 2024, it experienced a 25.6% year-on-year growth to Rs 42.8 crore, compared to Rs 34 crore in FY23, with a loss of Rs 41.03 crore.

Exclusive: Droom India raises funds at $360 Mn valuation

EntrackrEntrackr · 3m ago
Exclusive: Droom India raises funds at $360 Mn valuation
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Exclusive: Droom India raises funds at $360 Mn valuation IPO-bound used car marketplace Droom is raising Rs 25 crore (approximately $2.9 million) in a fresh funding round co-led by India Accelerator (IA), and Rameshchandra Shah. The board at Droom has passed a special resolution to issue 15,62,500 preference shares at an issue price of Rs 160 each to raise Rs 25 crore or $2.9 million, its regulatory filings sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. India Accelerator and Shah both will invest Rs 5 crore each, Shirish Patel, CEO of Prudent Corporate Advisory (wealth management company) will invest Rs 3 crore and the remaining amount will be invested by other individual investors. The firm will use these proceeds for general corporate purposes, the filings said. As per Entrackr’s estimates, the Gurugram-based firm will be valued at approximately Rs 3,097 crore or $360 million post-allotment. “We deliberately kept the valuation very low for the Indian subsidiary as a strategic move to give material upside to Indians who did not have opportunity to participate in the making of Droom in the past one decade,” said Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of Droom, in response to queries about the company's valuation. “We plan to raise a bit more capital in the near term at much higher valuation both in Singapore and India…” Droom is an online marketplace for buying and selling used vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, and electric vehicles. It also offers rental services. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Droom has raised approximately $330 million from investors including 57 Stars, Seven Train Ventures, Lightbox, and Beenext. Droom reported Rs 85 crore in revenue for FY24, a 66% decline from Rs 253 crore in FY23. It managed to reduce its losses by 35% to Rs 40 crore in FY24. Droom is reportedly planning to file draft papers for a Rs 1,000 crore IPO in 2027, targeting a valuation between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion.

Indian startups raise $1 Bn in July: Report

EntrackrEntrackr · 11m ago
Indian startups raise $1 Bn in July: Report
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After closing the first half year on a promising note, Indian startups managed to cross the $1 billion monthly funding run rate in July too. Startups are also anticipating favorable market conditions with many set for their stock market debut in early August, be it Ola Electric or Infra.Market later in the year. Meanwhile, the Indian government has abolished angel tax which is seen as a positive for the entire ecosystem. As per data compiled by TheKredible, Indian startups raised over $1.03 billion across 126 deals in July. This consisted of 28 growth stage deals amounting to $725 million and 72 early stage deals worth $311.83 million. Meanwhile, there were 26 undisclosed transactions mainly in early-stage deals. [Y-o-Y and M-o-M trend] While the last month saw a sharp decline in funding from $1.93 billion in June, this is the highest funding for July in the past three years. The sudden jump in June was steered by Zepto’s $665 million megaround followed by Flipkart, PharmEasy and Lenskart. Indian startups have raked in $8 billion in the first seven months of 2024. If the trend continues, the overall funding is comfortably expected to cross the $11 billion milestone of 2023. To recall, Indian startups saw $38 billion and $25 billion funding in 2021 and 2022, respectively. [Top 10 growth stage deals] There were two $100 million plus deals in July with Purplle and Rapido raising $120 million each. Bike taxi firm Rapido also turned unicorn and became the third company to enter the billion dollar valuation club in 2024 so far. Hospitality firm Oyo’s $50 million came in third position followed by home service marketplace Urban Company, fintech company Navi, electric vehicle firm Matter, and wealthtech startup Dezerv, among others. It’s worth highlighting that Oyo saw a major haircut in its valuation while Urban Company raised the amount in secondary and Navi raised the sum in debt. [Top 10 early stage deals] As many as 72 early-stage startups raised $311.83 million funding last month. Manufacturer of high precision tooling for aero-engines and airframes, Unimech Aerospace led the list with a $30 million fundraise followed by renewable energy services company BluPine, electric vehicle and clean energy startup Simple Energy, gen-Z focused fast fashion D2C brand Newme, and wealthtech startup Stable Money which pocketed $28.8 million, $20 million, $18 million, and $15 million, respectively. Further, artificial intelligence startup UptimeAI, biotech firm Immuneel Therapeutics, community-led mobility app Namma Yatri, wedding service provider Meragi, and NBFC Seeds Fincap also raised funding among others. The list of early-stage startups also includes 26 startups that did not disclose their funding amount. For more information, visit here. [Mergers and Acquisitions] The month witnessed 17 acquisition deals. Gaming company Nazara Technologies acquired an additional 48.42% stake in Paper Boat Apps (PBA) from its promoters Anupam and Anshu Dhanuka for a sum of Rs 300 crore while its gaming arm Next Wave Multimedia acquired the intellectual property rights of Ultimate Teen Patti from Games24X7 for Rs 10 crore. The list further counts acquisition of Excelmax Technologies by IT giant Accenture, OneCare by Acko, Ekagrata by Adda247, Koral by Captain Fresh, Centcart by CASHe, BitOasis by CoinDCX, Galleri5 by Collective Artists Network, SiliConch Systems by L&T, and Munitalks by Melooha, among others. [City and segment-wise deals] City-wise, Bengaluru-based startups maintained the top position with 42 deals, contributing around 37% of the overall funding in July. Delhi-NCR and Mumbai followed with 33 and 24 deals, respectively. The list further counts Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Pune, and Kolkata, among others. Segment-wise, fintech startups led the show followed by e-commerce (including D2C brands) and SaaS with 15 and 10 deals, respectively. Healthtech, AI, and Agritech were next on the list. Visit TheKredible for more details. [Stage-wise deals] Series-wise, equivalent to 36 startups raised funding in the seed round followed by 27 Series A, 15 pre-Series A, 13 pre-Seed, and 4 Angel funding deals. Debt-only funding contributed $160.76 million or 15.5% of the overall venture funding across deals. [ESOP buyback] Adda247 and Swiggy announced ESOP buyback programs this month. Edtech platform Adda247 has initiated its first-ever ESOP buyback benefiting over 130 employees, following its acquisition of Ekagrata Eduserv. Meanwhile, food delivery giant Swiggy has rolled out its fifth ESOP liquidity program worth $65 million, providing an opportunity for employees to monetize their equity. These moves highlight the growing trend of startups rewarding employees through ESOP buybacks. [Layoffs, shutdowns and departures] Edtech major Unacademy laid off 250 employees as part of its cost-cutting measures. Similarly, agriculture supply chain firm Waycool underwent its third round of layoffs, affecting over 200 employees. In the content creation space, Pocket FM laid off nearly 200 contract writers based in the US. The startup ecosystem also saw three shutdowns. Vernacular microblogging platform Koo has ceased operations after failing to secure a buyer or sufficient funding. Apollo Tyres has also reportedly discontinued its doorstep car service, Trumigo, due to a lack of traction. In the edtech space, Bluelearn has shut down and will return a significant portion of its raised capital to investors. Edtech major Unacademy has seen the departure of its COO for offline centers, Jagnoor Singh. Similarly, Simplilearn’s Chief Product Officer, Anand Narayanan, stepped down after an eight-year tenure. Zoomcar’s global president has resigned amidst company restructuring while Medikabazaar’s co-founder Vivek Tiwari stepped down as CEO. Eight Roads Ventures’ Asia managing partner Raj Dugar also stepped down after 17 years with the investor, as per media reports. Visit TheKredible to see series-wise deals along with amount breakup, complete details of fund launches, and more insights. [Trends] It’s raining startup IPOs: This year quite a few internet companies such as TBO tech, Digit Insurance, Awfis and Ixigo have got listed on the Indian stock exchange, with all delivering spectacular returns post listing as well. Three more companies including Ola Electric, FirstCry and Unicommerce are all set to make their stock market debut. Moreover, Mobikwik, Swiggy and Avanse have been waiting for approval from the market regulator. Wealthtech on the rise: A clutch of wealthtech startups have managed to score decent funding in the ongoing calendar year. In July, Deserv and Stable Money raked in $32 million and $15 million respectively. As per reports, more wealthtech startups are on the verge of raising new rounds. Geographic expansion: Traditionally dominated by metros like Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, and Mumbai, the landscape is now witnessing a surge in entrepreneurial activity from smaller cities. Startups hailing from Ankleshwar, Bareilly, Bicholim, Nashik, Rupnagar, and Udaipur have recently secured funding, underscoring the growing potential of these regions. Family offices spreading out: Wealthy families are diversifying their portfolios. Traditionally focused on real estate and fixed deposits, they’re now actively seeking new investment avenues. This shift has led to the creation of separate investment pools and a growing interest in equity markets. In the past month, seven family offices participated in funding rounds. These include the family offices of Sunil Singhania, Jyothi Pradhan (CEO of Kurlon), MS Dhoni, Dr. A Velumani, Vasavi Family Office, Desai Family Office, and a Tamil Nadu-based family office. [Conclusion] As we had predicted in 2023, and earlier this year, the markets are expected to pick up by H2 this year, and here we are. Perhaps the last piece in the puzzle would be an interest rate cut by the Fed, to catalyse a whole chain of events that could lead to a mini-boom yet again. While expecting the highs of 2021 might be too much to hope for ($38 billion), it is not unreasonable to expect the Indian market to attract at least $15 billion in funding in 2025. The strong record of IPOs that is building up will not hurt investor confidence at all. The only thing to watch out for might be a rotation from Fintech and E-commerce to newer and important segments like Healthcare and Climate tech. Both are areas where India has large domestic markets, multiple use cases, and the crying need for solutions that can make a difference. With the kind of huge targets the country has in front, and massive schemes to get close, expect some large deals in the renewables space soon.

Third Wave Coffee’s scale grows 4.5X to Rs 144 Cr in FY23

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Third Wave Coffee’s scale grows 4.5X to Rs 144 Cr in FY23
Medial

Coffee chain firm Third Wave Coffee secured $35 million led by homegrown private equity firm Creaegis in September last year. The funding was followed by its notable growth in scale during FY23. Third Wave’s revenue from operations surged 4.5X to Rs 144 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2023 as compared to Rs 32 crore in FY22, its annual financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies show. Just like StarBucks, Third Wave Coffee offers curated food menus and handpicked coffee, and has over 90 cafes across Hyderabad, Coonoor, Bengaluru, Delhi (NCR), Mumbai, Chandigarh, and Pune. The firm claims to have about 109 stores, of which 50% are operational in Bengaluru. Income from the sale of coffee and food items were the two revenue sources for TWC. The firm also made Rs 2 crore from the interest on bank deposits which took its total income to Rs 147 crore in FY23. For Third Wave Coffee, its employee benefits emerged as the largest cost center accounting for 28.8% of the firm’s overall expenditure. This cost surged 3.8X to Rs 58 crore in FY23 from Rs 15 crore in FY22. Third Wave Coffee’s costs of procurements (coffee and food materials), rent, legal, freight-logistics, marketing, and other overheads took its total expenditure to Rs 201 crore in FY23 from Rs 47 crore in FY22. See TheKredible for the detailed expense breakup. Expenses Breakdown Total ₹ 47 Cr https://thekredible.com/company/third-wave-coffee/financials View Full Data To access complete data, visithttps://thekredible.com/company/third-wave-coffee/financials Total ₹ 201 Cr https://thekredible.com/company/third-wave-coffee/financials View Full Data To access complete data, visithttps://thekredible.com/company/third-wave-coffee/financials Cost of materials consumed Cost of materials consumed Employee benefit Employee benefit Rent Rent Legal professional Legal professional Travelling conveyance Travelling conveyance Transportation distribution Transportation distribution Discounting charges Discounting charges Selling and marketing Selling and marketing Others To check complete Expense Breakdown visit thekredible.com View full data The increase in employee benefits and rent led its losses to increase 3.6X to Rs 54 crore in FY23 from Rs 15 crore in FY22. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin improved to -38% and -25.9% respectively. On a unit level, TWC spent Rs 1.40 to earn a rupee in FY23. Third Wave has raised over $66 million to date including its $35 million Series C round in September last year. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, WestBridge Capital is the largest external stakeholder with 32.62% followed by Creaegis. As per Fintrackr’s estimates, its enterprise value to revenue multiple is 8.86X as of FY23. FY22-FY23 FY22 FY23 EBITDA Margin -38% -25.9% Expense/₹ of Op Revenue ₹1.47 ₹1.40 ROCE -47% -38% Towards the end of current fiscal year (FY24), Third Wave Coffee went through a tough phase as it laid off more than 100 employees soon after the $35 million fundraise. The company’s chief executive Sushant Goel also moved to a board role and Rajat Luthra, former head of KFC India and Nepal, was appointed as the new CEO. Goel had 7.89% stake in Third Wave Coffee. It competes with Blue Tokai, Sabko Coffee, Rage Coffee, Slay Coffee, Sleepy Owl, and Seven Beans Co., among others. Its closest competitor Blue Tokai registered Rs 129 crore in revenue with Rs 42 crore loss in FY23. While the mushrooming of coffee chains is not a surprise considering the rapid urbanization and aspirational whiffs around these, the sector has an unusual amount of volatility for the hospitality segment. Coffee chains by default seek the premium end of the market, leaving an opportunity for smaller setups to grab share in the lower price points, and perhaps even eventually add lower priced coffee to their offerings. Doing it all with an aura of cool can be a deadly combination for the newer coffee chains, and something they should watch out for.

Indian startups mop up $2.77 Bn in March 2024 quarter: Report

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Indian startups mop up $2.77 Bn in March 2024 quarter: Report
Medial

Indian startups registered a steady growth in fund inflow during the first quarter of 2023 as they managed to cross $2.75 billion in funding. Importantly, funding in March stood out for crossing the $1 billion threshold for the first time in 2024. However, even as funding recovers, layoffs, shutdowns and departure of top-level executives continue to loom. Indian startups mopped up $2.77 billion across 326 deals in the March quarter or Q1 2024, as per data compiled by TheKredible. This included 74 growth-stage deals worth $1.87 billion and 213 early-stage deals amounting to $898 million. There were 39 undisclosed rounds. Unlike in the first quarter of 2023, two startups – Krutrim SI Designs and Perfios – entered the unicorn club after their latest fundraise in the first quarter of 2024. [Month-on-Month and Year-on-Year trend] March saw a decent jump in funding to $1.18 billion from $875 million in February and over $700 million in January. However, on a year-on-year basis, Q1 2024 recorded a fall from $12 billion in Q1 2022 and $3.4 billion in Q1 2023. [Top growth stage deals] Biotech startup Engrail scooped up $157 million in its Series B funding round to become the top-funded growth stage company in the first quarter of 2024. Audio series platform Pocket FM and logistics company Shadowfax managed to go past the $100 million funding mark in Q1 2024. Capillary Technologies, Perfios, Vivifi, Lohum, AiDash, ShareChat and Wow! Momo, were among the top 10 growth-stage deals. [Top early-stage deals] Digital lending platform mPokket, AI company Krutrim, energy tech company International Battery Company (IBC), blockchain company Avail, and generative AI startup Ema topped the list of early-stage startups. Check TheKredible for a full list. [City and segment-wise deals] City-wise, Bengaluru-based startups remain on top with 122 deals, contributing around 54% of the overall funding in the first quarter of 2024. Delhi-NCR and Mumbai followed with 77 and 54 deals, respectively. The list further counts Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Thane among others. Segment-wise, e-commerce startups (including D2C brands) led the list with 64 deals followed by fintech (47), healthtech (31), SaaS (26), EV (15), AI (13), and edtech (13) startups. The complete breakdown of the city and segment can be found at TheKredible. [Stage-wise deals] Series-wise, 95 startups raised funding in Seed round followed by 71 Series A, 35 Pre-Series A, and 33 Pre-seed deals. Among early-stage, as many as 4 startups raised funding in their angel round. While 22 startups raised debt funding worth $276.65 million during the period. [Most active investors] Early-stage venture capital firm Inflection Point Ventures and Blume Ventures have emerged as the most active investors in Q1 2024 with 11 and 10 investments, respectively. Venture Catalysts was next on the list with nine deals followed by Fireside Ventures, Anicut, Accel, and Stride Ventures. The full list can be found at TheKredible. [Mergers and acquisitions] The first quarter of 2024 registered 26 merger and acquisition deals. Acquisition of Tapasya Educational Institutions by Veranda, InSemi by Infosys, Qdigi Services by Onsitego were the top 3 disclosed mergers and acquisitions deals. During the period, listed gaming firm Nazara’s subsidiary Nodwin acquired two startups: Comic Con India and Ninja Global FZCO. Among the undisclosed deals, Kuvera was acquired by fintech unicorn CRED, Captain Fresh took over CenSea while OneVerse acquired three startups including Spartan Poker, BatBall11, and Calling Station. Check the full list here. [Layoffs, shutdowns and departures] Layoffs continued in the March quarter as more than 1,100 employees received pink slips. Among them, foodtech company Swiggy topped the list with laying off of 350 employees followed by Cult.fit, InMobi, and Pristyn Care with 150, 125 and 120 employees, respectively. During the first quarter, five companies shut their operations. The list includes Resso, Rario, OKX India, GoldPe, and Muvin. Rario, however, added that it will launch a brand new platform that will enable users to play new and engaging cricket-based games. Besides layoffs and shutdowns, nearly two dozen top-level executives hung up their boots. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm Payments Bank, resigned as the part-time non-executive chairman and board member of the company. Meanwhile, Third Wave Coffee’s chief executive officer Sushant Goel stepped down from his position to become a board member. The list also includes Indus Appstore CEO Rakesh Deshmukh, DealShare’s co-founder Sourjyendu Medda, and Fashinza’s co-founder Jamil Ahmed. [ESOP buyback] Amid all the ups and downs, the startup ecosystem witnessed employees stock buyback by growth and late-stage companies. For context, e-commerce company Meesho rolled out its largest ESOP buyback worth $25 million for 1,700 employees. Community management app MyGate and edtech company Classplus also announced their employee stock buyback program earlier this year. The full list can be found here. Visit TheKredible to see series-wise deals along with amount breakup, complete details of fund launches, and more insights. [Conclusion] As funding revives, it is safe to say that the trend in layoffs will also subside in the coming months, if not weeks. The strength in fintechs continues, and the category will continue to seek more money and throw up the next big startups, as scale arrives faster for many. Newer categories, be it AI, Chip Design, or niche parts of healthtech look set to emerge soon, going by the churning in the markets. The big hope is that the many corporate governance issues that have plagued the ecosystem in the past two years will also take a backseat now, thanks to lessons learnt hopefully. Looking at the numbers, especially for Q1 2022 ($12 billion), many would say that opportunities and capital have been wasted. But that is the very nature of the Startup world, with tiny amounts of money and a dollop of innovation sometimes achieving what no amount of money thrown at a problem doesn’t. We remain optimistic that by Q4 of this year, India’s startup ecosystem will be stronger and more diversified than ever before.

Funding and acquisitions in Indian startups this week [5 - 10 Feb]

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Funding and acquisitions in Indian startups this week [5 - 10 Feb]
Medial

Funding infusion in the startup ecosystem surged 2.4x this week compared to the previous seven days. Of 39 startups which scooped up $240 million cumulatively this week, 29 deals belonged to the early stage startups. Remaining eight deals went to growth stage startups. Two startups did not disclose the amount it raised. Last week, 13 early and growth stage startups collectively raised around $84.5 million, including two undisclosed deals. [Growth-stage deals] This week, eight growth startups raised nearly $140 million funding. Electric vehicle manufacturer River spearheaded the lot with $40 million fundraise followed by real estate consultancy firm Anarock and clean energy firm Lohum which raised $24 million and $23 million B funding, respectively. E-commerce roll-up firm GlobalBees and electric vehicle financing platform Mufin Green Finance also raised notable funding to make it to the top five deals. Agritech startup BigHaat, vernacular news aggregator DailyHunt’s parent Verse Innovation and D2C apparel brand Bombay Shirt Company also raised capital this week. [Early-stage deals] Among the early-stage startups, 29 startups secured funding worth $100 million. Smart home automation firm Keus is on top of the list with a $12 million fundraise followed by two-wheeler electric vehicle finance platform OTO, biotechnology startup Pandorum, creator-focused commerce startup Wishlink and office space provider DevX. The list further includes SaaS startup Attentive, EV firm Vidyut, cleantech company Metafin, healthtech entity Khyaal and home appliance firm Upliance.ai. During the week, the manufacturer of reusable rockets that bring both the stages of the rocket back into earth, EtherealX and digital infrastructure innovations startup PlanckDOT also raised capital but did not disclose the funding amount. For more information, visit TheKredible. [City and segment-wise deals] In terms of city-wise number of funding deals, Bengaluru-based startups again led the list with 12 deals. This was followed by Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, and Chennai. Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Vadodara, Navi Mumbai and Thane are next on the list. The complete breakdown of the city and segment can be found at TheKredible. [Series wise deals] This week, equivalent to 17 startups raised funding in their seed round followed by Series A (11) and Series B (4) deals. The list also counts debt, pre-Series A, Series C and pre-Series C funding deals. [Week-on-week funding trend] On a weekly basis, startup funding soared 184% to $240 million as compared to $84.5 million in the previous week. The average funding in the last eight weeks stands around $251 million with 24 deals per week. [Departures] The week also saw a few notable departures. Ather Energy’s CFO Deepak Jain is departing the company, with Sohil Parekh taking over his role. Swiggy’s independent director Mallika Srinivasan has resigned after a year, and Freshworks’ CRO Pradeep Rathinam is stepping down after almost four years, to be succeeded by Abe Smith as the new global field operations leader. Shinjini Kumar and Manju Agarwal have reportedly quit Paytm’s payments bank board. [Fund launches] Cactus Venture Partners (CVP) closed its first fund at over Rs 630 crore, while GrowthCap Ventures, led by former BharatPe executive Pratekk Agarwaal, has reached the first close of its debut fund at Rs 20 crore. Additionally, Orient Growth Ventures has closed its second fund for India and Southeast Asia (SEA) at $90 million. [Layoffs/Shutdown] This week, Licious and Blissclub laid off a part of their workforce, affecting 3% and 18% of employees respectively. Meanwhile, Muvin shut down operations due to RBI regulations on UPI co-branding. [Merger & Acquisition] The week also witnessed six M&A deals including the acquisition of Spartan Poker by OneVerse, Kuvera by CRED, LotusPay by Juspay, and Qdigi Services by Onesitego. Healthtech firm Thyrocare and logistics firm Deliver.sg also joined the list with the acquisitions of Think Health Diagnostics and BusyBee, respectively. Visit TheKredible to see series wise deals and amount breakup, complete details of fund launches, departures and more insights. [New launches] ▪️ Cleartrip launches Out of Office to foray into the corporate travel space ▪️ Meesho launches logistics marketplace Valmo ▪️ Flipkart introduces 3-hour fresh flower delivery service [Financial results this week] ▪️ Leverage Edu revenue spikes 3.2X to Rs 69 Cr in FY23 ▪️ Infra.Market posts Rs 11,846 Cr gross revenue in FY23; remains profitable ▪️ FabHotels reports Rs 219 Cr revenue and Rs 5 Cr loss in FY23 ▪️ Chingari crosses Rs 100 Cr revenue in FY23; losses decline 70% ▪️ Hike’s revenue soars 8X to Rs 150 Cr in FY23; losses up 24% ▪️ Zomato posts Rs 3,288 Cr revenue and Rs 138 Cr profit in Q3 FY24 [News flash this week] ▪️ Vanguard marks down Ola’s valuation to $1.88 Bn ▪️ Zoho, Juspay, Decentro get RBI nod for payment aggregator biz ▪️ Orios Venture gets 45X returns in a partial exit from Country Delight [Entrackr’s analysis] Evident from the numbers, weekly funding has made a strong comeback with investments worth nearly $240 million. The back-to-back startup focused fund announcements also hint at the optimism in the Indian startup ecosystem. Continuous layoffs and business closures, however, give a hard reality check to the sector, which is trying to recover from the so-called funding winter. US-based asset management company Vanguard has marked down Ola’s valuation, pegging it at less than $2 billion. This marks the third consecutive devaluation of Ola by Vanguard since February 2023. Meanwhile, several prominent players have secured payment aggregator licenses from the central bank. This includes SaaS unicorn Zoho and fintech firms Juspay and Decentro. Additionally, early-stage venture capital firm Orios Venture Partners took a partial exit from dairy startup Country Delight with a 45X return on the firm’s initial investment. In a positive development, publicly traded companies such as Zomato, MamaEarth, and Nykaa have persistently remained in green, indicating their steady progress towards evolving into sustainable enterprises.

Startups rope in new CEOs amid cash crunch, layoffs, profitability and IPO plans

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Startups rope in new CEOs amid cash crunch, layoffs, profitability and IPO plans
Medial

Management rejig and layoffs at several prominent startups have continued to make headlines this year. For layoffs, startups have cited a familiar reason i.e. redundancies, efficiencies as well as getting a step closer to profitability. As far as management changes go, reasons and circumstances vary. For instance, DealShare’s CEO position was vacant for a long time. These changes, however, also bring a fresh wave of optimism in the ecosystem, which has of late faced a host of challenges, ranging from funding crunch to stringent regulatory actions. Data compiled by TheKredible shows that this year more than 10 Indian startups have appointed, elevated or are on the verge of naming their new chief executive officers (CEOs). The list includes the likes of DealShare, MyGate, Inshorts, Cult.fit, Third Wave Coffee, Byju’s, Ola, PhonePe, and Setu, among others. Interestingly, half of them have been elevated to the role of chief executive whereas some founders took charge as the operational leaders after the exit of the existing CEO. [Elevated CEOs] The year 2024 started with a new trend of appointing new CEOs and e-commerce platform DealShare was first when they elevated Kamaldeep Singh as the new chief executive of the company from being the president of their retail business. The firm faced several challenges during the second half of 2023 as its three co-founders left the firm in a short span of time and it also had to shut down its B2B vertical after a flat growth in FY23 with rise in losses. Community management app MyGate, news aggregator InShorts and fitness tech firm Cult.fit also elevated Abhishek Kumar, Deepit Purkayastha and Naresh Krishnaswamy, respectively, as their new chief executive officers. All previous CEOs of these three companies namely Vijay Arisetty, Azhar Iqubal and Mukesh Bansal have now taken the role of chairman. Iqubal recently joined Shark Tank India season III as a judge. Also, InShorts is pivoting from news aggregation to influencer led platform which could be the reason behind this reshuffle in leadership. Cult.fit also faced challenges early this year as it fired more than 150 employees. As per the company, it reduced some redundant positions with the aim of streamlining operations. Meanwhile, fintech unicorn BharatPe finalized Nalin Negi as its full time CEO. Negi, the former chief financial officer of the company, had been working as interim CEO since January last year. Freshworks also went through a reshuffle as the firm’s founder Girish Mathrubootham stepped down from the position of CEO after 14 years. Mathrubootham has transitioned into the role of executive chairman while the company’s president Dennis Woodside has been elevated as the new CEO. Freshworks went public in September 2021. It’s important to note that most of these companies in this list had losses until FY23. Though, a few of them managed to control losses during the fiscal year. For context, DealShare’s GMV remained flat but its losses jumped 14% to Rs 502 crore in FY23. InShorts posted flat scale with 33.6% jump in losses to Rs 310 crore in FY23. MyGate, Cult.fit and BharatPe also managed to control its losses. Check the graph below for more details. [New CEOs appointed in 2024] In January, PhonePe announced the appointment of Ritesh Pai as CEO of its International Payments business while Infibeam Avenues announced the appointment of Rajesh Kumar SA as CEO of its AI business venture Phronetic.AI. These appointments appeared to be a positive sign for both companies which are expanding their businesses. Third Wave Coffee’s co-founder and CEO Sushant Goel stepped down as the firm’s chief executive role and transitioned to a board member in March this year. The WestBridge-backed company named KFC India and Nepal CEO Rajat Luthra as Goel’s replacement. Before the exit of Goel, Third Wave Coffee also went through layoffs, firing more than 100 employees. In April, Aakash Educational Services, owned by edtech company Byju’s, appointed Deepak Mehrotra as its new managing director and chief executive officer. Mehrotra joined Aakash after the exit of its chief executive Abhishek Maheshwari. Recently, the firm raised money from Manipal Group’s Ranjan Pai to clear the debt raised from Davidson Kempner in May last year. Aakash has plans for a public listing this year. Last month, API infrastructure company Setu, owned by Pine Labs, named Anand Raisinghani as new CEO of the company. Raisinghani will succeed Sahil Kini, who is the erstwhile chief executive of Setu. Earlier this month, Paytm Money’s CEO Varun Sridhar also quit the position and Rakesh Singh has been appointed as the new chief executive of the stock trading platform. Before joining Paytm Money, Singh was the CEO of fintech company Fisdom. On Monday, Adda247 appointed Bimaljeet Singh as its chief executive for skilling and higher education business. Like several edtech firms, Adda247 also went through layoffs in the last quarter of 2023. It’s worth noting that Paytm Money and Phronetic.AI are owned by public companies One97 Communications and Infibeam, respectively. In terms of financial performance, Aakash reported profit in FY22 and expected to replicate same growth in FY23. Pine Labs reported more than Rs 1,600 crore revenue with control in its losses to Rs 227 crore in FY23. Third Wave Coffee reported a three fold jump in its revenue with same growth in losses to Rs 54 crore in FY23. During FY23, PhonePe as a group posted revenue of Rs 2,914 crore and Rs 1,755 crore loss. During the period, Adda247 reported Rs 115 crore revenue and Rs 110 crore loss. [Founders, executives took the charge after CEOs exit] Last month, Arjun Mohan, the CEO of Byju’s India operations, stepped down from his position seven months after joining the edtech firm. After his exit, the company’s founder Byju Raveendran returned as the operational leader to see day-to-day functioning. During the process, Byju’s also sacked more than 500 employees. It’s worth highlighting that Byju’s has been facing a cash crunch for a long time and failed to pay the salary of its employees on time. Recently, Ola Cabs’ CEO Hemant Bakshi left the firm after three months of joining. His departure came at a time when Ola is gearing up for an initial public offering (IPO). The company also fired 10% of its total workforce. In the interim, Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal will oversee operations until a new executive is appointed. In January, Indus Appstore’s CEO Rakesh Deshmukh announced quitting the firm. Since then, the firm has been led by ⁠its CPO and co-founder Akash Dongre, and CBO Priya Meenakshi Narasimhan. The firm is yet to announce the name of the official CEO. As per a media report, Beardo’s CEO has gone on a year-long sabbatical from April this year. During his absence, CBO Siddharth Vaya, and Koteshwar LN, head of digital first business, are expected to lead the company. Beardo was acquired by Marico Group in June 2020. In the ongoing calendar year, Sukhleen Aneja, CEO of The Good Glamm D2C vertical and Subramanyam Reddy, CEO of upGrad’s Knowledgehut also announced their departure from the company. While Knowledgehut is yet to name the new CEO, The Good Glamm has decided not to appoint a new CEO for the D2C vertical. As per reports. Ketan Bhatia and Ankita Bhardwaj will lead the brand’s business operations. Last month, The Good Glamm Group resorted to layoffs and went through top level restructuring as it is gearing up for public listing. More recently, Paytm Payments Bank’s CEO and MD Surinder Chawla decided to hang up his boots. He will be relieved from his positions on June 26 while the firm is yet to announce his replacement. Public company Paytm laid off more than 1,000 employees in December 2023 in a cost cutting effort. As per reports, the firm also went through layoffs amid back to back departures of top level executives and the recent diktat by RBI. However, Paytm denied any fresh layoffs at the company. When it comes to financial performance, Byju’s and Ola are in deep losses and Beardo slipped into the red in FY23. Edtech unicorn upGrad reported close to Rs 1,200 crore revenue in FY23 with Rs 558 crore loss in FY23. Good Glamm Group is yet to file its annual financial report for FY23. [Conclusion] For those who have sniped at CEO salaries at startups, the last year should be a good indication of just why salaries refuse to moderate. Besides the high turnover, it is no secret that many investors and even founders have considered CEO’s as a horses for courses option, taking in people with specific skill sets when they were relevant for the organisation. Thus, be it fundraising, cost cutting, or all out for growth mindset, we have seen how different CEO’s bring their own competencies, which, unfortunately, have a use by date in most cases. Many of course can simply struggle to adapt to the startup culture and the unstructured challenges it throws up, which can be the worst outcome for a startup with little achieved during their tenures. Perhaps the toughest ask of a startup CEO is what she is expected to do in what seems like compressed time to most, making it most challenging to attract quality personnel at times. That is also one reason why we see investors take over the job of bringing in the CEO when they feel a founder needs to move on to a more strategic role or simply take a break from the intense pressure. Don’t expect the CEO churn to slow down anytime soon for these reasons.

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