Category: Uncategorized

Holy Grail of HR

February 19, 2023

One of the most critical aspects of business is talent acquisition. Talent acquisition strategies are expected to evolve as a business grows in size and scale. An early stage startup’s talent requirement is drastically different from a growth stage one.

One of the biggest recruitment & staffing firms in the world – Randstad, pegs the highly fragmented global HR services market at € 475 Bn. The HR services industry is divided roughly into three main segments: staffing, professionals, and executive search.

Given the complexity and volume of the recruitment industry, quite a few startups have emerged, in India and beyond, which can be termed as talent acquisition (TA) technologies. TA technologies aim to deploy tech enabled intelligent decision making to drive efficiency between the talent demand and its supply.

But TA specialists are part of the larger ambit of HR tech space. HR tech is dominated by legacy talent/HR management systems (TMS). For hygiene HR functions such as attendance, payroll, leave management, employee compliance etc; organizations have been using Talent management systems. Often, in big organizations, TMS is a module of their company-wide ERP.

Thus, the majority of the TMS have evolved for a purpose other than talent acquisition. This has led to the proliferation of other set of solution providers, invariably used by all organizations, known as ATS. ATS stands for application tracking system. ATS refers to a software application used to receive, filter, shortlist, track progress of the applications on a job requisition.

ATS is a hygiene functionality now. Every TMS is likely to have an inbuilt ATS or an integration support with popular ATS applications. But ATS in themselves have not been designed for making intelligent talent acquisition decisions, rather they evolved to manage the logistics of the hiring funnel.

Thus, a complex competitor/collaborator ecosystem has emerged in the larger HR tech space. TA technologies and TMS vendors compete with each other, also at the same time, these providers need to offer robust integration with third-party applications that may offer similar services.

A critical question for buyers of talent acquisition technologies is whether or not the solution needs to be part of a broader suite of capabilities, such as learning and performance management, or if the route of a TA specialist vendor is the right path?

In such a complex ecosystem, it is imperative for a new startup in TA technologies to deploy appropriate GTM strategies. The approach to be followed for large clients, with a likely TMS already in place, has to be different for smaller companies or startups. With larger clients, the new TA technology has to augment their existing recruitment process. Whereas, for early stage startups and smaller clients, the new TA technologies have to establish their product’s value addition along with price competitiveness.

At ESV we have been following the trends in the HR tech space for quite some time. In fact, we have recently onboarded a startup in the talent acquisition space with a stellar team spread across three geographies.

Keep following this space for the latest updates on interesting startups in our portfolio.

Startup Funding Summary

InsuranceDekho, Gurugram-based insurance company, has raised $150 Mn in Series A funding from TVS Capital Funds, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Investcorp, Avatar Ventures and LeapFrog – Read More

Garuda Aerospace, Chennai-based drone startup, has raised $22 Mn in Series A funding from SphitiCap and other HNIs – Read More

Venwiz, Bengaluru-based industrial services provider, has raised $8 Mn in Series A funding round from Sorin Investments, Accel and Nexus Venture Partners – Read More

Prozo, Noida-based supply chain management startup, has raised $5 Mn in Pre-Series B funding from Sixth Sense Ventures, JAFCO Asia and other HNIs – Read More

HireSure.ai, Bengaluru-based HR tech platform, has raised $3 Mn in Seed funding from Y Combinator, Three State Capital and Pioneer Capital – Read More

“GoMechanic’s erroneous speedometer”

January 23, 2023

One of the widely dicussed news of the week is a Linkedin post written by the founder of GoMechanic, which acknowledges financial misreporting by the company and the decision to lay off seventy percent of their workforce in coming weeks. A forensic audit, to be conducted by EY, has been announced by the existing investors.

GoMechanic, a multibrand network of car service centers, was founded by Amit Bhasin, Kushal Karwa, Nitin Rana, Rishabh Karwa in 2016. Reportedly, GoMechanic has over 1000 service centres spread across 40+ cities in India. The revenue for FY 22 stood at ₹96.8 Cr as compared to ₹47.2 Cr in FY 21. The losses for the same period had increased from ₹27.4 Cr in FY 21 to ₹114.3 Cr in FY 22.

GoMechanic has raised more than $60 million in funding to date from a clutch of global investors, including Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Orios Venture Partners, and Chiratae Ventures, among others. GoMechanic also counts Pawan Munjal, Managing Director of Hero Moto Corp, as its backer. Munjal’s family trust owns about 0.5 percent stake in GoMechanic, according to private market data provider, Tracxn.

GoMechanic had last raised ~$42 Mn at a valuation of $285 Mn as part of the Series C round in Dec 2021 from Tiger Global and others. As per the moneycontrol report here, GoMechanic was in talks with the existing investors as well as Softbank to raise Series D funds at a valuation of over $1 Bn, which would have made GoMechanic a unicorn. As per the report the founders stressed on a higher valuation of $1.2 Bn.

On paper, it appeared that GoMechanic ticked all the boxes for becoming a unicorn. A pedigree of founders from the prestigious institutes such as IIM A, prominent set of global VC firms as existing investors, unique business model and first mover advantage as automobile service options in India are either the company authorised dealer network, which are far, few and expensive, or the road-side garages which are cheaper but rank low on reliability.

Things started to unravel when SoftBank hired an auditing firm, EY, to do the financial due diligence for the prospective investment, and the findings of EY were shocking for all. Finally, it led to the confession of the founder himself through a LinkedIn post.

Financial misreporting can broadly happen in two ways. Either the company includes revenues which do not exist or it excludes expenses which have been incurred. Apart from outright wilful indulgence of quoting ficticious revenues as alleged in the case of GoMechanic, misreporting also happens due to incorrect revenue recognition principle deployed by the startups. Often, startups book the complete revenue upfront which ideally should have been spread over the service duration. This leads to misleading Monthly/Annual revenue rate (ARR/MRR), on which investors base their valuations on. Similarly, in order to project better gross margins, startups tend to overlook substantial direct costs which may have been incurred to earn the revenue.

Further, the likely reason why misreporting gets compounded over time, is lack of focus on the monthly/quarterly MIS reports by startups & investors, once a round has been raised. Scrutiny of MIS reports during the mandatory board meetings by the investors is critical. The business metrics and the quoted financial numbers should be in sync.
Since its inception, Ecosysten Ventures, has priortized financial due diligence over the speed of deal flow or attractive valuation. It is prudent to defer investment decisions unless all queries related to reported financials are adequately addressed.

Secondly, at ESV, we have instituionalised a structured MIS repoting process with all of our portfolio companies. This includes suggesting and enabling enhancements on MIS template to be followed apart from ensuring startups adhere to the timely schedule of communicating financial updates.

The GoMechanic incident, along with previous corporate governance lapses at celebrated unicorns like BharatPe & Zilingo, cast a negative impression on the overall startup ecosystem in India. An ecosystem which is gaining a wider mass audience, reflected through popular TV Shows such as Shark Tank, would be better served by institutionalising robust financial oversight mechanisms and depriortizing ‘growth at any cost’ mindset.

Startup Funding Summary

PhonePe, Bengaluru-based payment gateway, has raised $350 Mn in a funding from General Atlantic and other HNIs – Read More

Avanse Financial, Mumbai-based NBFC startup, has raised $99 Mn in a funding from Kedaara Capital – Read More

Blue Tokai Coffee, New Delhi-based food & beverages firm, has raised $30 Mn in Series B funding round from A91 Partners, White Whale Ventures, 8i Ventures, Grand Anicut Fund and other HNIs – Read More

Log9 Materials, Bengaluru-based edtech startup, has raised $12 Mn in Series B funding from PTV International Ventures. SiriusOne Capital, Cornorstone Ventures, Anicut Capital and other HNIs – Read More

NeoGrowth, Mumbai-based MSME-focused digital lender, has raised $10 Mn in a funding from MicroVest Capital Management – Read More

M&A Snippets

Kolkata-based conglomerate company ITC will acquire Bengaluru-based food and beverage manufacturer Sproutlife Foods for an undisclosed amount – Read More

Are drones the new Pushpak Viman? Copy

November 21, 2022

Humans love flying as symbolized in eternal stories such as the Pushpak Viman, before modern aircraft technology arrived. But when we remove the human physically, from the flying object, we enter the realm of drones. In this edition we would discuss the innovation and growth possibilities within the drone ecosystem in India.

Simplistically, drones are mechanical flying objects, either self propelled or remote operated, which can aid humans in certain tasks. Tasks which are typically dirty, dull, hazardous and repetitive are best suited to be operationalized through drones. E.g. When humans have to perform visual inspections in either difficult environments (Electric/telecom towers/mines) or over a large geographical area (agricultural farm/forest). Not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively drones can improve the outcomes. E.g. Urban aerial mapping through drones can be of much higher resolution than commercially available satellite imagery.

A stringent permission driven regime was institutionalized since 2014 for drone operations in India. The knee jerk reaction of de-facto banning use of drones was due to threat perception as assessed by the security agencies. One of the marketing gimmicks, in which a drone was choreographed delivering pizzas in a metro city, set off alarm bells within the security apparatus with the obvious argument of a pizza being replaced with an explosive. The unintended consequence of prioritizing threat mitigation was postponement of creation of a value-adding drone ecosystem in India. It slowed innovation in the sector and caused quite a few drone-focused startups to shut shop or move out of India.

This is likely to change as a new set of liberalized rules were notified in Aug 2021. The rules envision a trust based, self certification, non intrusive monitoring mechanism.. This is enabled by classification of drones based on their weight starting from Nano drones (<250 gms) moving up to Large drones (>150 kgs). All airworthy certified drones would possess a unique identification number upon registering with the ‘digital sky platform’.

Digital sky platform envisions the airspace in green, yellow and red. There is no restriction in flying drones up to 400 ft below a certain weight (< 500 Kg) in the green zone. Red & yellow zones (<12 km) are defined based on the proximity to an airport. Prior permission is required for operating a drone in these zones. If you check the digital sky map here, it appears that the first set of drone implementations would happen outside city areas, as invariably a 12 km radius across a tier 2 city covers almost the whole of it.

The rules have also streamlined the certified ‘remote pilot license’ process. This opens a new avenue for youth to be certified as a drone pilot for a class of drones based on his/her training. Given the drone population is going to increase, correspondingly humans required to operate them would increase.

Apart from the drone operation rules, the government has also initiated a production linked incentive (PLI) for the nascent drone manufacturing industry in India. The eligibility criteria is pegged to be a minimum of 40% value addition to be performed by an Indian manufacturer.

Drone enthusiasts claim long term ROI on drone implementation in an enterprise is not only high but also enables capturing a new set of data. It appears that the drone ecosystem in India is again picking up, after the brief interlude. This week two drone

We at Ecosystem Ventures aim to invest in the latest technologically advanced startups which possess the potential to disrupt sectors. Let us know your thoughts.

Ecosystem Ventures This Week

Key Highlights – Clients

We are happy to onboard a Pune-based hyper intelligence SaaS platform.

It is an Information Digitization Technology and SaaS-based platform that can automate any business process and related documents using the technologies such as Image, Text & Video Analysis, Pattern Recognition, Automation using Web & Windows Recorder, Automation over Citrix Environment and powered with RPA, OCR, NLP, AI & Machine Learning.

We look forward to working with them and wish them all the best for a bright future.

Startup Funding Summary

Amagi, Bengaluru-based media technology provider, has raised $100 Mn in a funding from General Atlantic, Accel, Norwest Venture Partners and Avataar Venture Partners – Read More

Clove Dental, Delhi-based healthtech startup, has raised $66 Mn in a funding from Investcorp, Tybourne Capital Management, SeaLink Capital Partners and other HNIs – Read More

Keka, Hyderabad-based HRtech startup, has raised $57 Mn in Series A funding from WestBridge Capital – Read More

Masai School, Bengaluru-based edtech startup, has raised $10 Mn in Series B funding from Omidyar Network, India Quotient, Unitus Ventures, Mithali Raj and Bhaichung Bhutia – Read More

Supertails, Bengaluru-based pet-care startup, has raised $10 Mn in Series A funding from Fireside Ventures, Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners, Kunal Shah, Sanjay Kapoor, Varun Alagh, Ankit Nagori and Shashank Mehta – Read More

M&A Snippets

Riyadh-based a joint stock company SALIC has acquired minority stake in Gurugram-based rice milling company LT Foods for $48 Mn – Read More

Mumbai-based logistics company Allcargo Logistics will acquire Hyderabad-based logistics company Gati Kintetsu for an undisclosed amount – Read More

Can Climate-tech weather human frailties?

November 20, 2022

One of the major world news this week was the conclusion of the 27th annual conference of parties (COP 27) at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. The yearly conference is a continuation of the three decade old global collaborative effort on climate change.

The sustained global effort on climate change makes the climate-tech sector exciting. Climate-tech is a term commonly used for technologies, applications that are focused on reducing green-house gas emissions, or addressing the impacts of global warming.

It would be beneficial to recount the evolution and the inherent paradox of the global climate change mitigation efforts as they would also influence and shape the climate-tech ecosystem.

After decades of climate science research which brought out the alarming long-term effects of fossil fuel powered industrialization, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was formed in 1992. This made every country treaty bound to find ways to reduce GHG emissions globally in an equitable way. To arrive at a consensus about ‘equitable way’ is difficult as historically, the industrialized rich countries of the developed world have been substantially responsible for the carbon emissions rather than the poor and developing ones. Poor & developing countries argued for their right to conventional fossil fuel led economic growth in the short-term rather than limiting their emissions.

After a prolonged period of diplomatic negotiations, amidst worsening climate change impact, global consensus emerged in the 2015 conference, popularly known as the Paris Agreement. It committed to holding global temperature rises to “well below” 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while “pursuing efforts” to limit heating to 1.5°C.

To meet those goals, countries also agreed on non-binding national targets to cut – or in the case of developing countries to curb – the growth of – greenhouse gas emissions in the near term, by 2030 in most cases. These targets are known as nationally determined contributions (NDC), which are to be revisited every five years. This was the context of COP26 last year at Glasgow where countries further committed to focus on the tougher 1.5°C aspirational goal of the Paris agreement. Achieving that would require halving the GHG emissions compared with 2010 levels, in this decade.

Simplistically, the sector wise break-up of global carbon emissions is the following – Mobility & transport (16.2%), Production of Energy (13.6%), Food & Agriculture systems (20%), Industry & Manufacturing (29.4%), Building & construction (20.7%).

If we look at 2021 figures for the clean-tech ecosystem, the Mobility and Transport area continues to receive the largest amount of funding (~$40Bn), as Electric vehicles and transport models captured the investor attention. This was followed by Food & agriculture ($6Bn), Industry & Manufacturing (~$6Bn), Energy (~$4Bn). The lowest of all has been the Building & Construction sector (~$700Mn). Based on the numbers, the construction industry could be the next big climate-tech sector where innovative startups could come up. Apart from these sectors, investments have also moved in the area of capturing, storing and reusing GHGs (~$250Mn) and climate change management & reporting (~$570Mn).

The fundamental paradox in managing climate change is the fact that global commons (optimal land, air, oceanic environment for human life) are public goods. There is no single global authority to enforce rules and provide for these public goods. Each nation state can operate independently prioritizing short term gains over catastrophic long term costs. E.g. Nobody could have predicted last year that a new Russia-Ukraine war would break out disrupting energy markets and supply chains all over the world.

At Ecosystem Ventures, we are closely exploring the climate-tech sector as there exists a potential of Indian startups to disrupt this space. We are doing the fundraising for an innovative EV startup, please read more about the exciting investment opportunity here.

Ecosystem Ventures This Week

Key Highlights – Clients

We are happy to onboard a Mumbai-based AI-backed Video bot Technology platform for professional growth.

It is a platform for personalized guidance from experts in their respective industries. They also provide assistance and help aspirants prepare for their upcoming interviews with colleges and companies along with providing placement in their partnered companies.

We look forward to working with them and wish them all the best for a bright future.

Startup Funding Summary

Lentra, Pune-based fintech startup, has raised $60 Mn in Series B funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, SIG Venture Capital and Citi Ventures – Read More

Lenskart, Bengaluru-based eyewear brand, has raised $40 Mn in a funding from Chiratae Ventures, DSP India Fund and Axis Growth Avenues AIF-I – Read More

BeatO, Delhi-based diabetes care platform, has raised $33 Mn in Series B funding from Lightrock India, Flipkart Ventures, HealthQuad, Orios Venture Partners, Blume Ventures and Leo Capital – Read More

NirogStreet, Delhi-based ayurveda startup, has raised $12 Mn in Series B funding from Jungle Ventures, Spiral Ventures, ICMG Co-Creation Fund, Gokul Rajaram and Rajeev Kannan – Read More

Corrit Electric, Gurugram-based electric mobility brand, has raised $10 Mn in a funding from SphitiCap – Read More

M&A Snippets

Singapore-based urban development company Sembcorp has acquired Mumbai-based renewable energy semiconductor manufacturer Vector Green Energy for $341 Mn – Read More

New Delhi-based super specialty hospital Aakash Healthcare has acquired Uzbekistan-based medical center Taskent Hospital for $4 Mn – Read More

Are drones the new Pushpak Viman?

November 13, 2022

Humans love flying as symbolized in eternal stories such as the Pushpak Viman, before modern aircraft technology arrived. But when we remove the human physically, from the flying object, we enter the realm of drones. In this edition we would discuss the innovation and growth possibilities within the drone ecosystem in India.

Simplistically, drones are mechanical flying objects, either self propelled or remote operated, which can aid humans in certain tasks. Tasks which are typically dirty, dull, hazardous and repetitive are best suited to be operationalized through drones. E.g. When humans have to perform visual inspections in either difficult environments (Electric/telecom towers/mines) or over a large geographical area (agricultural farm/forest). Not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively drones can improve the outcomes. E.g. Urban aerial mapping through drones can be of much higher resolution than commercially available satellite imagery.

A stringent permission driven regime was institutionalized since 2014 for drone operations in India. The knee jerk reaction of de-facto banning use of drones was due to threat perception as assessed by the security agencies. One of the marketing gimmicks, in which a drone was choreographed delivering pizzas in a metro city, set off alarm bells within the security apparatus with the obvious argument of a pizza being replaced with an explosive. The unintended consequence of prioritizing threat mitigation was postponement of creation of a value-adding drone ecosystem in India. It slowed innovation in the sector and caused quite a few drone-focused startups to shut shop or move out of India.

This is likely to change as a new set of liberalized rules were notified in Aug 2021. The rules envision a trust based, self certification, non intrusive monitoring mechanism.. This is enabled by classification of drones based on their weight starting from Nano drones (<250 gms) moving up to Large drones (>150 kgs). All airworthy certified drones would possess a unique identification number upon registering with the ‘digital sky platform’.

Digital sky platform envisions the airspace in green, yellow and red. There is no restriction in flying drones up to 400 ft below a certain weight (< 500 Kg) in the green zone. Red & yellow zones (<12 km) are defined based on the proximity to an airport. Prior permission is required for operating a drone in these zones. If you check the digital sky map here, it appears that the first set of drone implementations would happen outside city areas, as invariably a 12 km radius across a tier 2 city covers almost the whole of it.

The rules have also streamlined the certified ‘remote pilot license’ process. This opens a new avenue for youth to be certified as a drone pilot for a class of drones based on his/her training. Given the drone population is going to increase, correspondingly humans required to operate them would increase.

Apart from the drone operation rules, the government has also initiated a production linked incentive (PLI) for the nascent drone manufacturing industry in India. The eligibility criteria is pegged to be a minimum of 40% value addition to be performed by an Indian manufacturer.

Drone enthusiasts claim long term ROI on drone implementation in an enterprise is not only high but also enables capturing a new set of data. It appears that the drone ecosystem in India is again picking up, after the brief interlude. This week two drone

We at Ecosystem Ventures aim to invest in the latest technologically advanced startups which possess the potential to disrupt sectors. Let us know your thoughts.

Ecosystem Ventures This Week

Key Highlights – Clients

We are happy to onboard a Pune-based hyper intelligence SaaS platform.

It is an Information Digitization Technology and SaaS-based platform that can automate any business process and related documents using the technologies such as Image, Text & Video Analysis, Pattern Recognition, Automation using Web & Windows Recorder, Automation over Citrix Environment and powered with RPA, OCR, NLP, AI & Machine Learning.

We look forward to working with them and wish them all the best for a bright future.

Startup Funding Summary

Amagi, Bengaluru-based media technology provider, has raised $100 Mn in a funding from General Atlantic, Accel, Norwest Venture Partners and Avataar Venture Partners – Read More

Clove Dental, Delhi-based healthtech startup, has raised $66 Mn in a funding from Investcorp, Tybourne Capital Management, SeaLink Capital Partners and other HNIs – Read More

Keka, Hyderabad-based HRtech startup, has raised $57 Mn in Series A funding from WestBridge Capital – Read More

Masai School, Bengaluru-based edtech startup, has raised $10 Mn in Series B funding from Omidyar Network, India Quotient, Unitus Ventures, Mithali Raj and Bhaichung Bhutia – Read More

Supertails, Bengaluru-based pet-care startup, has raised $10 Mn in Series A funding from Fireside Ventures, Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners, Kunal Shah, Sanjay Kapoor, Varun Alagh, Ankit Nagori and Shashank Mehta – Read More

M&A Snippets

Riyadh-based a joint stock company SALIC has acquired minority stake in Gurugram-based rice milling company LT Foods for $48 Mn – Read More

Mumbai-based logistics company Allcargo Logistics will acquire Hyderabad-based logistics company Gati Kintetsu for an undisclosed amount – Read More

Who owns the Vijay Chowk in Delhi

November 6, 2022

“The History of the world is but the biography of great men” – Thomas Carlyle

Tech visionary Elon Musk may or may not be a great man, but the answer to the rhetorical question in the subject line – who owns the vijay chowk? – a public square synonymous with the Indian Republic, is at the heart of the paradox inherent in Elon Musk’s winning statement in April 2022, when Twitter board had accepted his buyout offer of $44 Bn.

With quintessential flamboyance, the charismatic founder of futuristic companies Tesla & SpaceX, reportedly said “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated”

To make sense of the grand statement, let us recap the events as they have unfolded since April 2022.

After making an offer, Musk tried to back off from the deal claiming he was misled about the proportion of bots (fake accounts) on twitter. This led to pressure from the Twitter board to honor the deal and ended up in a lawsuit in July. As the trial was likely, which might have enabled termination clause payout of $1 Bn, Mr Musk literally carried a ‘kitchen sink’ to the Twitter headquarters on 27th October to sink-in the fact that he had finally arrived. Within hours he fired the existing top leadership. Mr Musk further suggested that he would be charging a $8 monthly fee for verified ‘blue tick’ accounts which led to an intense online debate.

On the morning of 4 Nov, nearly half of the ~7500 global Twitter workforce woke up with the news of their employment being terminated. The 200+ member Twitter India team has been majorly downsized.

From a business standpoint, does acquiring Twitter translate into a direct benefit for an existing set of companies such as Tesla? Most likely not.

From a corporate finance point of view, Musk becomes answerable to no one for Twitter. On the contrary Musk is raising funds for the deal by pledging the stocks of his other companies.

From a brand perspective, Musk, unlike other billionaires, has brilliantly used Twitter to build his futuristic personal brand. He is unabashed, minces no words, in articulating his thoughts.

Twitter, on the other hand, unlike its giant social media counterparts – Facebook or Instagram, has not been able to crack the advertisement model to post robust revenue growth since going public in 2013. Characteristically, it’s a place where one argues, ridicules, protests, trolls, or campaigns. Simply put, it’s hard to monetize. Though, it possesses a disproportionate influence to globally shape instant public opinion.

It’s likely that Mr Musk, who previously has been a critic of Twitter’s advertising and content moderation policies, has some aces up his sleeve to unlock its hidden value. It appears he wishes for a less-moderated freewheeling Twitter. But if the platform becomes unhinged on speech, it’s likely to drive away advertisers.

That’s exactly what transpired last week as more companies decided to pause their ad spending on Twitter. Companies are super-conscious about their brand image and hence do not want to feature alongside objectionable content. Mr Musk’s tweet on the issue seemed more political than reassurance – Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.

If the buy-out doesn’t seem to make commercial sense, even after six months when it was made, it leads to the possibility that the richest man on the planet genuinely believes that he is shaping humanity through his hobby endeavors. Nothing wrong with that, may he succeed.

But if Twitter indeed is a digital town-square shaping humanity, then why should it be privately owned by an individual?

A billionaire, however wise, is a human at last. The arch of humanity has gravitated from an unquestionable monarchical order to a messier democratic one, to preempt fallouts from the human frailties of great men.

Democracies are strengthened not by monopolizing control on the avenues of public opinion, but by deepening and diversifying the collective-trust embedded in, and propagated through them.

More often than not, that involves sacrificing profits for patience or efficiency for empathy. Free speech is not a product or a service, waiting to be commoditized. It’s an elusive ethic, beset with the seeds of its own destruction. Unfettered free speech embodies in itself the speech which may end up gobbling all that is cherished by humanity.

In other words Vijay Chowk belongs to all the people who inhabit it and sustain it as a public square, rather than a gated garden for a select elite.

Until next time, please read our abundantly ‘free’ & insightful ‘speech’ on startups and beyond, at our website www.ecosystemventures.in

Ecosystem Ventures This Week

Key Highlights – Events

We are delighted to share that Mr. Abhishek Sanghvi (Partner, Ecosystem Ventures) has been invited as Chief Guest for the Induction Ceremony “Aarohan-2022” of MBA Batch 2022-24 at Acropolis Faculty of Management and Research (AFMR), Indore.

Startup Funding Summary

Amagi, Bangalore-based global media SaaS technology provider, has raised $100 Mn in a funding from General Atlantic – Read More

Hygenco, Gurugram-based green hydrogen company, has raised $25 Mn in a funding from SBICAP Ventures – Read More.

The Sleep Company, Mumbai-based furniture & home decor brand, has raised $21 Mn in a funding from Premji Invest, Alteria Capital and Fireside Ventures – Read More

CashKaro, Gurugram-based cashback and coupons site, has raised $16 Mn in Series C funding from Affle Global – Read More

SolarSquare, Mumbai-based solar startup, has raised $12 Mn in Series A funding from Elevation Capital, Lowercarbon, Good Capital, Rainmatter and Other HNIs – Read More

M&A Snippets

Mumbai-based specialty chemical products and services company Dorf Ketal has acquired Switzerland-based Clariant’s North American (NORAM) Land Oil business for $15 Mn – Read More

Ecosystem Weekly | 29nd Aug’21

August 29, 2021

Zetwerk enters unicorn club after raising $150M
B2B manufacturing startup Zetwerk raised $150 million in Series E round at a valuation of $1.33 billion, making it the latest entrant to the unicorn club. The firm also claims to have become profitable on EBITDA level.
Read More

Khatabook raises $100M Series C funding round
Bengaluru-based fintech startup KhataBook has raised $100 million in Series C funding, at a valuation of $600 million. The round was led by Tribe Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV).
Read More

 

Startup News Snippets

M&A News

Market Pulse

  • Delhi-based fintech startup BharatPe has raised $27 million in debt funding from IIFL Wealth and Asset Management and Northern Arc Capital
  • Chandigarh-based agritech startup AgNext Technologies has raised $21 million in Series A funding from Alpha Wave Incubation, Omnivore and Kalaari Capital
  • Bengaluru-based financing platform Klub has raised $20 million in seed funding from 9Unicorns, Surge, Alter Global and GMO Venture Partners
  • Delhi-based NBFC SATYA MicroCapital has raised $18 million in funding from responsAbility Investments and BlueOrchard Finance Limited
  • Bengaluru-based healthtech Ultrahuman has raised $18 million in Series B funding from Alpha Wave Incubation, Scott Schleifer, Sandeep Singhal, Kunal Shah, Sujeet Kumar, Deepinder Goyal, Gunjan Patidar, Gaurav Munjal, Revant Bhate, Mohit Gupta, Vikram Dhingra and Roman Saini

Ecosystem Weekly | 11th July’21

July 11, 2021

Fintech platform Pine Labs announces $600M round led by Fidelity and BlackRock
Fintech unicorn Pine Labs, on Tuesday announced an investment round of $600 million led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and BlackRock Inc.
Read More

MTG acquires India-based PlaySimple; Chiratae, Elevation Capital exit
Sweden-based Modern Times Group ( MTG) said on Friday it has acquired Chiratae Ventures and Elevation Capital-backed Indian word games developer PlaySimple.
Read More

Startup News Snippets

M&A News

Market Pulse

  • Delhi-NCR based healthtech platform BeatO has raised $6 million in funding from W Health Ventures, PharmEasy, Merisis VP, Orios VP, Leo Capital and other HNIs
  • Bengaluru-based construction management app Powerplay has raised $5 million in funding from Accel Partners, Surge and other HNIs
  • Bengaluru-based marketplace for commercial vehicles Vahak has raised $5 million in pre-Series A funding from RTP Global, Luxor Capital, Leo Capital, Kunal Shah, Jitendra Gupta, Vidit Aatrey, Sanjeev Barnwal, Mohd Farid, Amrish Rau, Harsimarbir Singh, Kunal Bahl and Ravish Naresh
  • Bengaluru-based drone analytics platform startup Skylark Drones has raised $3 million in pre-series A funding from InfoEdge Ventures, IAN Fund, AdvantEdge Founders, Fowler Westrup, Redstart Labs, IKP and Vimson Group
  • Bengaluru-based rewards-based payment network TWID has raised $3 million in funding from BEENEXT, Surge, Kunal Shah, Rajul Garg and YourNest India

Ecosystem Weekly | 02nd May ’21

May 2, 2021

Urban Company enters unicorn club with $2B valuation, following $188M fund raise
Urban Company’s latest funding round had Prosus as the lead investor. The home services marketplace is now valued at $2 billion.
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upGrad raises $120 M from Temasek
upGrad on Monday said it has raised $120 million (about Rs 897.3 crore) from Singapore-based Temasek, making this the first external fund-raise by the edtech major
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StartUp Funding Summary

M&A News Snippets

Market Pulse

  • Gurugram-based fintech platform FypMoney has raised $2 million in seed funding from Liberatha Kallat, Mukesh Yadav, and Dinesh Nagpal
  • Mumbai-based employee healthcare management platform Qube Health has raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A funding from Burman Family Office, Keiretsu Forum and other HNIs
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