While biggies like Flipkart and Snapdeal are figuring out where their next round of funding is coming from and looking at the very real possibility of down rounds, a relatively unknown player is the space is all set to get money from public markets. Infibeam, founded in 2007 by Cornell and MIT Sloan alumnus Vishal Mehta, is all set to IPO on 21st March from which it hopes to raise Rs. 450 crore.
Freshersworld is somewhat of an anomaly in today’s fast-paced startup ecosystem. For starters, it’s barely a startup, having started off way back in 2006. Also, it hasn’t yet joined the funding rat race, and remains proudly bootstrapped to this day. And most importantly, unlike other vaunted, well-publicized startups, it’s profitable – it had revenues of Rs. 19 crore last year.
As I sit down to write this blog entry on why our offline model failed, a realization sets in. All the hundreds of conversations with mentors, friends, colleagues and investors across the globe over the last three years discussing this business is now seeing a closure.
After selling hotel rooms, buses, and even gold loans on its platform, Paytm is now going to be offering movie tickets for sale. The company has tied up with PVR, INOX and multiple other cinema houses to sell movie tickets.
The inspiration to start up came when friends and family who used matrimonial sites to seek matrimonial alliances, often cribbed about fakes and frauds on those sites. While matrimony is quite an important life decision, you often get bumped into a lot of fakes. Having seen this happen with close family and friends, I thought that no matrimonial site was looking at authenticating profiles. This led me to build Truejodi – a reliable place to find a 100% verified match.
Over 80 bike taxis on the Uber platform have been seized after the company hasn’t complied with Karnataka government’s orders which declared them to be illegal. Uber continues to operates its bike taxis in the city, while Ola, Ridingo and Hey Bob have stopped services.
Spinny’s story started from a conversation over coffee. Ramanshu and I were casually remarking on how many of our friends had bought used cars and how the experience has always been a very complex process.
The Karnataka government has come out with a policy that aims to regulate the vehicle aggregators in the state, but Uber doesn’t agree with all its proposals.
Joining the league of startups invoking a “I would love to work there” feeling, is, the customer service and helpdesk management startup Freshdesk’s new office in Chennai. Apart from seriously contemporary international furniture and fixtures, the office boasts of free food, a gym, a table tennis & foosball room and a mini golf course as well. The office is a 60,000sqft addition to an existing office of the same size, also in Chennai and is the 9th Freshdesk office in Chennai. Here’s a glimpse of this beautiful, kaleidoscopic office.