Untapped Capital Starvation in Indian MSME Sector a Great Boon for FinTech Startups

#sme #msme #capital #founders #startupindia #startupbharat #aatmanirbharbharat #fintech

With my more than 20 years experience in dealing with thousands of MSME businesses, the reason I have seen for their failure is not lack of talent, market, labour or technology, but starvation due to lack of access to timely and adequate capital.

So FinTech startups in India have huge unimaginable potential and also can do immense yeoman service to our country just by channelising savings and providing timely and adequate finance to MSME sector.

All the best!

Indian Startup Stories: With partners like Delhivery and Shadowfax, Delhi-based startup Pickrr is simplifying logistics

#startups #startupindia #logistics #aggregators #startupstories #startegy #covid19 #founders #ai #ml #artificialintelligence #machinelearning

The logistics sector earned infrastructure status in 2017 when its market size was estimated at $160 billion. According to IBEF, the Indian logistics market was expected to reach $215 billion by 2020, logging a 10.5 percent CAGR over 2017.

Founded by IIT graduates Rhitiman Majumder, Gaurav Mangla, and Ankit Kaushik in August 2015, Pickrr aggregates various logistics players in the country, delivering to more than 26,000 pincodes and adding more every day.

Pickrr uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), specialising in air express, surface express, fulfilment and warehousing, and reverse logistics. Some of Pickrr’s clients include Bosch Household Appliances, Snapdeal, DenSnapdeal, 1mg, Bombay Shaving Company, Shopify, and Archies, among others. On the logistics side, it has partnered with Delhivery, Xpressbees (BusyBees Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd.), BlueDart, DTDC, Ecom Express Private Limited, FedEx, and Shadowfax, among others.

Currently, the logistics startup processes more than 50,000 orders per day; they are managed by a team of 24 employees.

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With partners like Delhivery and Shadowfax, Delhi-based startup Pickrr is simplifying logistics

The logistics sector earned infrastructure status in 2017 when its market size was estimated at $160 billion. According to IBEF, the Indian logistics market was expected to reach $215 billion by 2020, logging a 10.5 percent CAGR over 2017. However, the sector continues to remain highly fragmented and unorganised.

Why Startups Fail: Top 20 Reasons | CB Insights

#startups #failures #founders

A must read for founders!

CBInsights - The Top 20 Reasons Startups Fail

From lack of product-market fit to disharmony on the team, CBInsights break down the top 20 reasons for startup failure by analyzing 101 startup failure post-mortems.

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Why Startups Fail: Top 20 Reasons l CB Insights

From lack of product-market fit to disharmony on the team, we break down the top 20 reasons for startup failure by analyzing 101 startup failure post-mortems. After we compiled our list of startup failure post-mortems, one of the most frequent requests we got was to use these posts to figure out the main reasons why startups failed.

Weekly funding roundup: Startup investments rise to touch $65M during the week June 22-27, 2020

#startups #fundingalert #startupfunding #startupindia #founders

Weekly funding roundup June 22-27, 2020 [YourStory Media]: Startup investments rise to touch $65M

During the week June 22-27, 2020, following startups raised funds, as per YourStory Media -

1. Aye Finance Pvt. Ltd - Rs 210 cr

2. Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. - Rs 50 Cr

3. slice - Rs 46 cr

4. 91springboard - Rs 45 cr

5. Milkbasket - $5.5 mn

6. OZiva - $5 mn

7. Yulu - Rs 30 cr

8. HIGH STREET ESSENTIALS PRIVATE LIMITED - Rs 20.75 cr

9. Bombay Play - $1.5 mn

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[Weekly funding roundup] Startup investments rise to touch $65M

After two weeks, there is a positive uptick for the Indian startup ecosystem as the investments into these young companies have doubled and also the edtech unicorn Byju's received a strong note of endorsement from a leading Silicon Valley-based investor.

Startup Ideas - Blockchain based distributed super-computing technologies

As the quantum of information and also required computing power for #AI and #ML applications has been increasing, there is a need everywhere for faster computing power, which may be costly affair. However, #blockchain technology allows to increase computing power without huge investments in the computing infrastructure. In fact, #blockchain technology can be used to create a super computer by sitting in our office from combining the computing power of all idle computing capacity of desktops, laptops and mobiles located anywhere in the world by using distributed #blockchain technology.

The persons making available these computing capacities are paid based on PoW (Proof of Work) basis. So our old computers or laptops in the backyard or idle capacity during night time can be used to get additional revenues. Of course, the trade off is between revenues and electricity bills for power consumption.

One such white paper can be downloaded from https://conun.io

Startup Strategy: Let us grow and let other startups grow along with us

#Startups! Concentrate on your core strength and leave the rest to other #startups in India!

Every #startup, when spending on anything, can first think of any other startup in that field. For example, for its employees, startups can use all the available startups in India for their well being and financial health. For book keeping, it may use services of another startup in the field. For payments and receivable funding, it may take help of other Indian FinTech startups. For AI marketing, it may avail services of another startup. For online collaboration, it can think of Indian startups in that field. The list is endless.

These type of initiatives by any startup improves the ecosystem for startups in India.

Let us grow and let others grow along with us!

IIFL helps bridge the funding gap for India's fintech startups

IIFL (India Infoline Group), a Mumbai-based financial services company which offers home loans, gold loans and business loans, has launched #IIFLDisrupt – an initiative to help prop up India’s early-stage fintechs during the #coronavirus crisis.

The firm, whose wealth management arm holds roughly $24 billion in assets under management, says it can help founders in one of three ways: it can invest, offer mentorships, or become a fintech’s first client. None of the aforementioned options are mutually exclusive.

As well as helping founders directly, IIFL says it will also give accelerator and incubator partners across India access to funds, and help them facilitate proof of concept testing – which could also lead to IIFL becoming a first client for some of the start-ups.

The programme lists the areas it will help start-ups in: wealthtech, insurtech, robo-advisory, transaction technology, distribution of mutual funds (MFs), wealth management, digital content, lending, data analytics, and payment solutions.

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IIFL helps bridge the funding gap for India's fintech start-ups - FinTech Futures

India Infoline (IIFL), a Mumbai-based financial services company which offers home loans, gold loans and business loans, has launched #IIFLDirupt - an initiative to help prop up India's early-stage fintechs during the coronavirus crisis.

How the growth of SAFE investments can lead to a collapse of the startup market

Trying to save their businesses during tough covid times, startup founders are actively looking for alternative ways to raise funds. To speed up and simplify the transaction process, many have chosen the simple and affordable tool SAFE, which stands for Simple Agreement for Future Equity. However, the dominance of SAFE deals may lead to a market collapse in the next year or two, as venture capital funds will begin to deny startups massive funding in the next rounds. 

To understand why such a scenario is very likely to happen, let’s look in detail at how SAFE works. In essence, SAFE is a subscription to owning shares at a price that will be determined in the future. In the UK, a similar transaction format is called ASA, or Advanced Subscription Agreement, in India, called CCD (Compulsorily Convertible Debenture) and such a deal structure can result in tax relief.

A huge plus of SAFEs for startup founders is that they are the only tool that does not give investors any opportunity to influence the company. Investors can participate in business management as part of equity acquisitions, and in the case of a convertible note even file a bankruptcy lawsuit, but by concluding a SAFE deal, they can only patiently wait for the next round of investments when the company’s valuation is agreed upon. Therefore, it is not surprising that many founders are thinking of pursuing SAFE investments. Today we are seeing more and more SAFE deals on the A round, as a result of which founders are left with less than 50% of their companies.

The dilution of the founders’ share is a serious problem, both for themselves and for venture capital funds, which are considering the possibility of investing in the company during the next stages. With each round, the share of founders will become smaller and smaller, and it is likely that they will begin to lose motivation for developing the business. As a result, the founders will try to sell the company as soon as possible, which isn’t the best exit strategy. Venture funds understand this and try not to invest in such companies. This means that startups with many SAFE investors have very sad prospects, regardless of how successfully they overcome the current crisis.

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How the growth of SAFE investments can lead to a collapse of the startup market

The COVID-19 pandemic has naturally made venture capitalists more cautious. Pitchbook analysts estimate that in the first quarter of 2020, the number of venture deals made in the 10 largest countries in Europe almost halved compared to the same period in 2019, from 1363 to 692, although the total investment by VCs grew by 8%.