Tag: STARTUP

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‘India third-largest startup nation today’

Thakur emphasized the remarkable growth of the nation’s startup landscape….reports Asian Lite News

Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Singh Thakur said on Monday that India has solidified its position as the third-largest startup nation with over one lakh startups.

Thakur also emphasized the remarkable growth of the nation’s startup landscape.

Speaking at the Rozgar Mela in Punjab’s Jalandhar, Thakur said, “More than one lakh government jobs were provided today through Rozgar Mela organized at 47 locations across the country. PM Modi has fulfilled his promise of providing 10 lakh jobs in a year.”

He further highlighted that in addition to this achievement, loans totalling Rs 34 crore were distributed under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY), providing employment opportunities to crores of people. Similarly, 78 lakh street vendors benefited from loans provided under the PM SVANidhi Scheme.

“Likewise, under the startup movement, India stands as the third startup nation with over one lakh start-ups,” he added.

During the Rozgar Mela, Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed appointment letters to newly recruited individuals via video conferencing on Monday.

While addressing the event through video conferencing, the Prime Minister congratulated the youths and their families, stating, “Today, more than 1 lakh youth have received appointment letters for government jobs. You have achieved this success through hard work. I congratulate you all and your families very much.”

Hitting out at the previous government over job delays, PM Modi said, “The right to give jobs to the youth in the Government of India is continuously progressing at a fast pace. In earlier governments, it used to take a very long time from the issue of job advertisement to the issuance of appointment letters. Taking advantage of this delay, the game of bribery was also rampant during that time. We have now made the recruitment process in the Government of India completely transparent.”

“Not only this, the government is very insistent that the recruitment process be completed within the stipulated time. With this, every youth has started getting equal opportunities to prove his ability,” he added.

The Prime Minister applauded the central government for making the recruitment procedure transparent. Prime Minister Modi launched the ‘Rozgar Mela’ campaign on October 22, 2022, marking the beginning of the initiative to provide 10 lakh government jobs. (ANI)

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Business Economy STARTUPS News

Startup Tax Benefits Extend to March 2025

As many as 2,975 government-recognised startups have been granted Income Tax exemptions so far…reports Asian Lite News

In a respite for the startup ecosystem, the Centre on Thursday announced to extend tax benefits for startups and investments made by sovereign wealth and pension funds to March 2025.

Certain tax benefits to startups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds as also tax exemption on certain incomes of some International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) units are expiring on March 31 this year.

“To provide continuity, I propose to extend the date to 31.3.2025,” said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Interim Budget on Thursday.

“As for tax proposals, in keeping with the convention, I do not propose to make any changes relating to taxation and propose to retain the same tax rates for direct taxes and indirect taxes including import duties,” she added.

Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, said that the extension of tax exemption to startups is a good gesture and provision for Rs 1 lakh crore toward sunrise segment at nominal or zero interest rate will certainly help small businesses.

“No change to direct and indirect tax was also expected, however we may see new rates in full budget to be proposed in July 2024,” he said.

Rishabh Goel, Co-Founder and CEO, Credgenics, said that in a bid to sustain the growth momentum of existing startups, the government has extended tax benefits by an additional year.

As many as 2,975 government-recognised startups have been granted Income Tax exemptions so far, according to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

Under the ‘Startup India’ programme, the government provides Income Tax exemption.

In September last year, the government notified new angel tax rules that comprise the mechanism to evaluate the shares issued by unlisted startups to investors.

Startups registered with the DPIIT were exempted from the new norms. The government highlighted that the exemption will benefit over 80,000 startups.

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India News STARTUPS News

India Slips to Fourth Global Ranking in Startup Funding for 2023

The last quarter (Q4) this year recorded the lowest funding of $957 million to date, marking it the lowest-funded quarter since Q3 2016…reports Asian Lite News

Making a dent in India’s startup growth story, the country slipped to fourth position in the global ranking among the highest-funded geographies in 2023, as it recorded lowest funding in five years.

After grabbing the third spot globally in 2021 as well as in 2022, India ranked fourth behind the US, the UK and China this year, receiving only $7 billion in total funding (till December 5), according to data compiled by global market intelligence platform Tracxn.

In the third quarter (Q3) this year, India even slipped to fifth position among the highest-funded countries — behind the US, the UK, China and France.

Q3 2023 raised a total of $1.5 billion, which is a 30 per cent drop from Q2 2023 and a 54 per cent drop as compared to Q3 2022.

The last quarter (Q4) this year recorded the lowest funding of $957 million to date, marking it the lowest-funded quarter since Q3 2016.

“India continues to experience the effects of the funding winter. Following an increase in funding in Q4 2022, India Tech is seeing a decline in funding every quarter, with a third consecutive drop in funding in Q3 2023 making it the least funded quarter in 2023 and also the least funded quarter in the last 5 years,” the report showed.

Despite the declining funding inflow, India has maintained its position in top 5 geographies in terms of total funding this year.

For 2023, the funding declined across all stages, with late-stage funding dropping over 73 per cent, followed by early-stage funding (70 per cent) and seed-stage funding (60 per cent).

The decline is primarily due to the biggest drop in late-stage funding, by over 73 per cent to $4.2 billion in 2023 from $15.6 billion in 2022.

The number of $100 million+ rounds recorded were only 17, dropping by 69 per cent compared to last year, said the report.

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India News STARTUPS News

Digital Public Infrastructure Fuels Decade of Startup Growth in India

Neel Mehta, Director and Co-founder, Asteria Aerospace Ltd, said that sectors such as defence, space, AI/ML and biotech, among others, are key beneficiaries of Deep Tech…reports Asian Lite News

The development of digital public infrastructure (DPI) in India in the last decade has steered the growth of startups in the country, industry leaders said on Saturday.

Addressing FICCI’s annual general meeting and annual convention Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder of Info Edge India Ltd, said that research and development in India is currently in a better position than it was a decade ago, which has spurred a cluster of startup IPOs in the Delhi-NCR region.

“While there is no shortage of funding for early-stage startups, support from the government in providing potential client markets in sectors like defence-tech, drones are, however, pertinent since government is the main buyer,” he told the gathering.

Ghazal Alagh, Co-founder of Mamaearth (Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd), said that the startup ecosystem is evolving in favour of entrepreneurship.

“The rising middle class in India has been a large enabler for consumer facing companies. State-level incubation centres, setup by the government, are a remarkable step to empower students to build their startup,” she said.

According to Rohit Bansal, Co-founder, Titan Capital and Ace Vector Group, measures such as providing a level-playing field between public and private companies in terms of taxation are essential to boost the startup ecosystem in the country.

Neel Mehta, Director and Co-founder, Asteria Aerospace Ltd, said that sectors such as defence, space, AI/ML and biotech, among others, are key beneficiaries of Deep Tech.

“Public awareness with reference to the use of drones has improved significantly in India over the last decade. The deeptech sector had also seen new-age job creation, and building on the right theme and ensuring proper execution can be the key for a startup’s success,” he noted.

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-Top News India News USA

India, US sign MoU to connect startups in emerging tech

Piyush Goyal in a post on X said the MoU is poised to positively impact –economic activity, attract investment, and generate employment…reports Asian Lite News

An MoU between India and the US was signed with the objective of connecting both the countries’ dynamic startup ecosystems, particularly in critical and emerging technologies (CET).

The understanding named ‘Enhancing Innovation Ecosystems through an Innovation Handshake’ was signed by Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal from the Indian side, who is on a 4-day US visit.

Piyush Goyal in a post on X said the MoU is poised to positively impact –economic activity, attract investment, and generate employment.

Minister Goyal also held a bilateral meeting with his US counterpart Gina Raimondo on the sidelines of the IPEF Ministerial Meeting and discussed the growing India-US commercial cooperation and business engagement.

Piyush Goyal also co-chaired the industry roundtable titled, ‘Decoding the Innovation Handshake: US-India Entrepreneurship Partnership’ along with Raimondo.

CEOs of various Information Communication Technology (ICT) companies, startups and investors in the critical and emerging technology space discussed how to enhance US-India technology collaboration.

During his ongoing visit, India joined the United States and 12 other Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) partners to ink the IPEF supply chain resilience agreement. Goyal said it will “fortify and strengthen” global supply chains.

India and the US are among the 14 supply chain resilience partners of IPEF along with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

This global supply chain resilience agreement is seen as a counter to reducing massive reliance on China, particularly after severe supply disruptions after the COVID-19 shock.

Under the proposed agreement, the IPEF partners seek to provide a framework to build their collective understanding of significant supply chain risks; and improve crisis coordination and response to supply chain disruptions.

It will also seek to ensure that workers and businesses, especially micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises benefit from resilient, robust, and efficient supply chains; ensure the availability of a sufficient number of skilled workers in critical sectors and key goods, including by upskilling and reskilling workers, among others.

In a post on microblogging site X, after the signing of the agreement, Union Minister Goyal who is currently on a four-day visit to the US said that the first-of-its-kind international agreement will “fortify and strengthen” global supply chains, and “foster adaptability, stability and sustainability.”

Goyal thanked his US counterpart Gina Raimondo for her leadership and personal commitment to ensuring the “truly historic” moment towards a more resilient future.

Earlier, in an interactive session held in San Francisco as part of the first leg of the tour in the US, the Union Minister held wide-ranging discussions with the participants and highlighted the various steps taken by the government of India to improve the ease of doing business. He has so far held various bilateral meetings with his counterparts of various countries.

“…highlighted how the country offers promising opportunities for investors, thanks to the unique combination of our demographic dividend, manufacturing capabilities & conducive business environment,” Goyal posted on X, contending that India is an attractive investment destination for the world.

The Commerce and Industry minister kicked off his US official tour with a visit to the Tesla Factory Unit in Fremont and interacted with the senior executives of the Tesla group.

In a post on X Goyal said that the US electric car maker is on its way to double its component imports from India.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk had in June this year said that he was planning to visit India next year, adding that he was confident that the electric carmaker will be in India and will do so “as soon as humanly possible.” (ANI)

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Indian Startups Hold the Potential to Boost Gender Equity

The fact that 200+ startups stepped forward to share their vulnerabilities and contribute to this report gives us immense hope that the startup community is committed to tangibly igniting meaningful change for India’s women.”…reports Asian Lite News

Startups in India have the potential to create 2 million new jobs for women by 2030, suggests the Women in India’s Startup Ecosystem Report (WISER), adding that the ecosystem is uniquely positioned to attract female talent.

The report, led by ACT For Women in collaboration with The Udaiti Foundation, finds that women made up 35 percent of the startup workforce in 2022 (the corresponding figure for the corporate sector was 19 percent) and indicates that, with careful introspection within the startup community which enables timely and targeted action, that number can rise to 50 percent by 2030.

WISER shows that startups offer women a highly conducive growth environment, by way of faster career progression and higher autonomy, which enables female employees to meet their career goals at different stages. Women-led startups in particular are observed to perform even better on gender equality, with startups that have at least one female founder seen to have 2.5x women in senior roles as compared to male-founded startups.

Says AakankshaGulati, Director – ACT, “We launched WISER in January 2023 with the foundational belief that, given their appetite for innovation and bias for action, Indian startups are uniquely positioned to lead the way in changing the game for women at the workplace. The fact that 200+ startups stepped forward to share their vulnerabilities and contribute to this report gives us immense hope that the startup community is committed to tangibly igniting meaningful change for India’s women.”

She adds, “WISER has found that stand-alone programs or DEI initiatives are just not enough. Startups that have been most successful in advancing gender equity, are also ones that understand that an inclusive workplace culture alongside enabling practices, policies, and people, together, are key to purposefully hiring, retaining, and advancing women. We acknowledge that there is much that needs to be done but are also optimistic about this ecosystem’s potential to build a case for why employers must prioritise gender equity at work.”

The report notes that startups are currently faring better than traditional enterprises, with 32 percent of women in managerial positions vis avis 21 percent in corporates. This gap widens further at the CXO level where corporates have only 5 percent of women in leadership positions against 18 percent in startups. However, while the overall figures are promising, significant work lies ahead – 10 years into their careers, 8 out of 10 men in startups occupy Director-level positions or higher, compared to only 5 in 10 women.

It is poignant to note that contrary to popular perception, women’s motivations to join startups are no different from men, with both preferring accelerated learning & advancement, fast pace of work, and innovation as key drivers.

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OpenAI CEO Backs Indian-Origin Teenagers’ AI Startup

The startup Induced AI, founded this year, has raised $2.3 million in its seed-funding round led by Altman and VC firm Peak XV, along with “an incredible set of investors”….reports Asian Lite News

ChatGPT developer OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman has invested in an artificial intelligence (AI) startup, founded by two Indian-origin teenagers Aryan Sharma and Ayush Pathak in the Silicon valley in the US.

The startup Induced AI, founded this year, has raised $2.3 million in its seed-funding round led by Altman and VC firm Peak XV, along with “an incredible set of investors”.

“We let anyone create virtual AI workers that can automate the execution of workflows on a browser in the cloud with human-like reasoning,” Sharma said on Wednesday.

Other angel investors include Balaji Srinivasan (former CTO Coinbase), Julian Weisser (Co-founder, On Deck), Tyler Willis (Co-founder, Unsupervised), Cory Levy (Z Fellows), Nakul Gupta (ex-Coinbase), Ankur Nandwani (Founder, ZetaChain), Sudarshan Sridharan (Founder, Pipeline), Rahul Agarwal (Co-founder, Valent), Enzo Coglitore, Daksh Miglani (Co-founder, Valent), Rahul Rai, Sanat Kapur (Dragonfly Capital), Kyler Wang and Karan Dalal.

Induced AI allows automation of workflows that require real-time reasoning or dynamic judgement (filtering leads, cross-referencing documents, memory.etc) — things that are hard and painful to set up with traditional browser automation/RPA.

Automation of browser tasks has so far been restricted to deterministic and ruleset-based workflows that are run on old RPA (Robotic Process Automation) software.

“Our automated workflows run on a purpose-built browser environment that is designed specially for autonomous navigation. Web interactions, authentication, reasoning, memory — all are embedded in this underlying browser layer,” informed Sharma.

Induced AI is also part of AI Grant’s Batch 2.

“We’re thrilled to have Nat Friedman (former CEO, Github) and Daniel Gross (ex-YC and Pioneer) join us as well,” according to the startup.

The startup has taken an infrastructure-centric approach, and instead of running on a standard browser, “we’ve purpose-built a browser that is designed for running automated workflows

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Business Fashion Kerala

FAWOW: Kerala’s Fashion Game-Changer

FAWOW surfaces as a precisely designed business-to-business app, exclusively catering to the unique demands of the fashion and textile domains..reports Asian Lite News

The unveiling of the FAWOW app marks a transformative milestone, ushering in a realm of fresh prospects within the apparel manufacturing and selling domain.

This revolutionary application was ceremoniously introduced to the world by the esteemed Executive Directors of FAWOW Ventures: Ashwaq Nikottin, Abbas Addhara, and Shiju T. Alongside them, the assembly included the accomplished Directors Rejin Gaffar, Sajith UK, Shameer PA, and the proficient General Manager Noufal Ali. This significant event unfolded during an press conference hosted in Ernakulam, Kochi.

FAWOW emerges as a meticulously tailored fashion-centric business-to-business app, meticulously architected to cater exclusively to the distinctive needs of the fashion and textile sectors. The inception of this groundbreaking app was nurtured by Sigma, an influential association that synergizes apparel manufacturers and traders alike.

The driving impetus behind the FAWOW app is none other than FAWOW Ventures, an influential conglomerate comprising 130 stakeholders deeply enmeshed within the fabric of the apparel trade industry.

With ingenuity at its core, the application has been meticulously developed to serve as an empowering platform, empowering individuals in the clothing domain to invigorate their enterprises by tapping into an expansive realm of online business prospects.

In its nascent phase, the FAWOW platform is poised to host around 100 distinct brands. This revolutionary conduit will serve as an invaluable catalyst, enabling retail proprietors to swiftly acquaint themselves with the latest market offerings and seamlessly integrate them into their stores.

Alongside the luminary figures, FAWOW Ventures directors Mahin PA, Habil K Meeran, Safan Saleem, and Shabeer Mohammed, each a driving force in their own right, graced the press conference with their presence, underscoring the gravity of this momentous occasion.

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Business Economy STARTUPS News

Funding spring soon?

Startup funding slows but strong core policies will help tide over uncertainties, say experts(IN)

The number of registered startups has grown 9X in the last four years, from about 10,000 startups in CY18 to about 90,000 startups in CY22….reports Asian Lite News

One in two investors (50 per cent) are positive that the startup funding spring will return over the next 6-12 months in India, a report showed on Wednesday.

Nearly 17 per cent of investors surveyed think the funding winter may end even sooner and the rest believe it would be 12-18 months or more before the funding winter passes, according to the report by Bengaluru-based market research firm Redseer.

In all, the US, EU, the UAE and Japan are the largest source of funding for Indian startups, making up 5 per cent of total global funding and 20 per cent of total APAC funding.

According to the report, the next set of unicorns would emerge from sectors such as D2C-BPC, D2C-health and wellness, diagnostics and clinics, gaming and app studios.

“The expectation with funding patterns so far is that 2023 will revert to the long-term trends in line with the years CY17 to CY20, and hover between $12 to $15 billion, beyond which it is expected to be bullish into CY24 and touch $15-20 billion,” said Kanishka Mohan, a partner at Redseer.

The number of funding deals which dropped early in CY23 to 700-900 deals from 1,519 deals in CY22 is also expected to shoot back in CY24 to 1,000-1,200 deals.

“Moreover, VCs today have more dry powder than ever, also signalling a positive outlook are the total number of deals this year, 90 per cent of which are likely to be seed or early-stage deals similar in trend with what was seen since CY17,” Mohan noted.

The number of registered startups has grown 9X in the last four years, from about 10,000 startups in CY18 to about 90,000 startups in CY22.

At the same time, the number of active investors has grown 2X from 400 investors in CY18 to about 900 investors as of FY22, said the report.

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Business Tech Lite Technology

Japanese firm Mixi to empower startups

With his fund, the company aims at empowering early-stage entertainment startups in the country….reports Asian Lite News

Leading Japanese mobile entertainment company Mixi on Tuesday announced the launch of its India-first $50 million Corporate Venture Capital (CVC).

With his fund, the company aims at empowering early-stage entertainment startups in the country.

The newly-launched CVC will serve as an investment vehicle for MIXI to identify and help promising startups in the country.

The focus of the CVC will be on startups in the entertainment sector and consumer services, it said in a statement.

“We believe in India’s startup ecosystem especially in the sector of digital entertainment. We are committed to contribute to startups’ growth with our industry knowledge and assets, and positively impacting the startup ecosystem in India,” said Tomoharu Urabe, Principal Partner, Mixi Global Investments, Inc.

From FY2019-FY2022, the company made investments totalling around 70 billion yen.

“We plan to use 30 to 50 billion yen on M&A and capital and business alliances in the three years from FY2023 to FY2025,” said Mixi.

“We’re focusing investments on overseas markets, including emerging markets, and are aiming to create global businesses and strengthen global synergies,” it added.

The company said it will continue promoting overseas investment while aiming for global business growth and the creation of global synergies.

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