It’s now commonly accepted that startups will burn money in their initial days to earn market share, but it’s staggering how much money some startups are willing to burn. Hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo had expenses of Rs. 172 crore last year. But it earned revenues from operations of just Rs. 76 lakh, which meant that it reported a loss of Rs. 168 crore for the period. In essence, Dunzo spent Rs. 225 to earn every…
It’s well known that China’s e-commerce market is far larger than India’s, but it’s breathtaking how wide the gulf really is. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has just sold more goods in 86 minutes than Amazon and Flipkart together sold in all of 2018. One hour and 26 minutes into Alibaba’s flagship Single’s Day sale, Alibaba had sold goods worth $17 billion (Rs. 1,20,000 crore). In comparison, Amazon had sold goods worth $7.5 billion in FY18,…
The smallest of product changes can irk founders who originally created the product, even if they’re no longer involved with the product in question. Jan Koum, who’d founded WhatsApp ten years ago along with Brian Acton, has trolled Facebook after it added a splash screen to the messaging app. WhatsApp’s latest update now causes the WhatsApp logo to briefly appear when WhatsApp is launched, as opposed to directly going to the chats. This development doesn’t appear…
They say lightening doesn’t strike twice, but nobody bothered to tell Travis Kalanick. Kalanick, who led Uber into becoming the world’s most valuable startup before he was unceremoniously ousted from his own company, has hit the ground running with his new entrepreneurial venture. Kalanick’s secretive new startup, CloudKitchens, has quietly raised $400 million from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and the deal has valued his barely-one-year-old company at a cool $5 billion. While CloudKitchens is…
It’s not every day that a VC comes out in public to admit that they messed up real bad with an investment, but a $4.7 billion writedown would have a sobering impact on nearly anyone. Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son has said that he regrets his deal with embattled co-working company WeWork. “My own investment judgment was really bad. I regret it in many ways,” he said at a news conference. Softbank has now officially written down…
Oyo might have quickly expanded into several new markets, but it appears to be realizing that growing these markets might be harder than entering them. Oyo Japan has become embroiled in a “nasty labour dispute in Japan, reports Nikkei Asian Review. Oyo had entered Japan in April, and had supposedly set itself a target of signing up 75,000 rooms by March 2020. However, as of September, the company had managed to sign up only 4000 rooms….
India’s startups could soon spend more time working on building their products and acquiring their users, instead of filling out government paperwork. India has proposed the easing of norms for startups under the Companies Act with a view to boost entrepreneurship in the country, ET reports. Under these changes, startups will not have to make any regulatory filings for a period of 10 years. Startups currently don’t make regulatory filings for 5 years after their…
Snapdeal had raised eyebrows when it had sold off several of its non-core businesses in quick succession a few years ago, and CEO Kunal Bahl has now admitted that those were distress sales. “Whenever you’re in trouble, everyone will try to squeeze the last drop of blood out of you. Especially when you’re selling assets, and people think that the company’s is in a bit of a distress situation,” he said in a recent podcast….
It’s common knowledge that Indian e-commerce companies are currently bleeding money, but it’s hard to appreciate how much money they’re really losing. Two of Flipkart’s largest arms, which run the company’s marketplace and wholesale business, together lost Rs. 5,459 crore during FY 19. This translated into an astonishing loss of Rs. 15 crore per day for the Walmart-owned company. The losses rose 69 percent over the last year, while revenues rose only 44 percent. These are…
Becoming a unicorn is thought to be a badge of honor for a startup — the $1 billion valuation is thought to herald several things, including growth, market dominance, and an eventual blockbuster IPO. But things don’t always go according to the script. ShopClues, which was valued at $1.1 billion and had become India’s third e-commerce unicorn in 2016, has been acquired by Singapore-based e-commerce platform Qoo10 for an estimated $70-100 million. As part of…