Diwali usually means a nice little gift for most office workers. This is usually a box of sweets, or if their company is feeling generous, some dry fruits. But the employees at Square Yards have it a little better than the others come festive season. Their company has decided to fund the downpayment of their brand new homes.
When jokes about Ola Boats began surfacing on the web following the rains in Chennai, the cab hailing company did the unthinkable – it managed to deploy actual boats to help out those in need.
Flipkart is continuing to innovate in the area of HR practices. After announcing generous maternity and paternity leaves, and offering unprecedented leaves flexibility at work, the company has made it easier for its employees to monetize their stock options, which are often a large part of their salaries.
Practo has said that it is tying up with taxi hailing app Uber to ferry patients to their doctors. Across India, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore, those who book an appointment on Practo’s mobile application will be able to view the closest Uber available along with the appointment reminder alert.
In a continuation of the winter wave of startups layoffs, Bangalore based hyperlocal services provider LocalOye has laid off 60 employees.
Online deals site CashKaro has raised Rs. 25 crore from Kalaari Capital in its Series A funding. CashKaro was launched in August 2013 with a funding of $750,000 from a group of UK-based investors who worked as senior executives in companies such as Paypal, Investec and Goldman Sachs.
Ola cabs, India’s largest cab hailing service has launched a dedicated mobile app, Ola Money. “Do more with Ola money for a fast, seamless shopping experience”, the app claims, “because shopping online isn’t exactly a fun thing to do.” It identifies Paytm, backed by Alibaba group and FreeCharge, owned by Snapdeal, as competitors.
I thought I would make millions through my startup, but I failed miserably. I’d read shiny stories of Flipkart and Zomato, but nobody told me that 90% startups fail within two years of starting up, I failed in the first year. Sometimes I feel being cheated but the fault was mine, I believed one side of the story.
Although there is huge outrage of start-ups retrenching employees, actual facts and figures behind these lays offs and shutdowns are not what meets the eye. Dearth of investments may not be the identified cause. Yes, the cheque sizes or amounts being invested in start-ups may be declining but the overall funding story is quite different.