Chauffeur provider DriversKart has acquired startup Driven in a cash and equity deal. Consequently, DriversKart is in the drivers’ seat to become market leader in India’s on-demand driver marketplace.
Rahul Yadav, who’d earlier claimed that his new startup would be unlike anything that the Indian industry had ever seen, and had said that it would be 10x bigger than any other internet company, has said that his new startup idea is not working out.
There was a time the founder of the deals and coupons site Groupon would go to great lengths to tell prospective candidates how they didn’t have a swanky office or crazy perks but thrived on challenges and hard work. That seems to be a thing of the past. Groupon has since become Nearbuy, and along with the name and city change, has come a swanky office in Gurgaon, which could rival any of the biggies in the hood. Here’s a peek at this office that the founders like to describe as “Where playstations meet workstations.”
After reports that HSBC had slashed Zomato’s valuation by 50%, valuing it at just $500 million, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal wasted no time in clearing the air. In an email sent this morning to Zomato’s global employees, Goyal talks about Zomato’s numbers, points out how HSBC’s report might have overlooked certain aspects, and urges his team to “get back to work.”
It’s the season of markdowns. After Flipkart has seen its valuation being marked down by as many as 4 separate investors, HSBC has valued Zomato at about $500 million, a full $500 million short of the $1 billion valuation at which it had raised funds last year.
After lots of small startups had proliferated the Indian hyperlocal services space, the biggies are now coming in in droves. After Quikr had launched its hyperlocal arm, and Facebook had made a bold play in the space, India’s 2nd biggest e-commerce company, Snapdeal, has launched its own version of hyperlocal services.
If cabs can do it, why should food startups be any different? In what is possibly a first for the food delivery industry, Swiggy is now charging surge prices for certain orders.
Nearly 100 Ola drivers have been protesting at the company’s office in Chennai. The drivers are unhappy with Ola’s policies which have recently come into effect.
It’s getting increasingly likely that Flipkart isn’t quite worth the $15 billion it was last year. After Morgan Stanley had marked down its shares by 27%, and T Howe had snipped its valuation by 15%, two mutual firm investors have now valued Flipkart at less than the $15 billion valuation it enjoyed in August last year.