Byju's is planning to raise $500-600 million from Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds and existing investors, according to sources, as the start-up world is facing a funding freeze. The educational technology (edtech) giant targets profitability by March next year. "There is no change in Byju's valuation. The new fundraising process is still going on," said a person familiar with the matter. "Any new valuation would be determined in the futureByju's is planning to raise $500-600 million from Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds and existing investors, according to sources, as the start-up world is facing a funding freeze. The educational technology (edtech) giant targets profitability by March next year. "There is no change in Byju's valuation. The new fundraising process is still going on," said a person familiar with the matter. "Any new valuation would be determined in the future as it is very tough for investors to do that in this environment." as it is very tough for investors to do that in this environment."
Edtech giant Byju's is set to lay off nearly 2,500, or 5 per cent, of its employees as part of an "optimisation" plan. The move by India's most valuable start-up comes amid a funding winter and steep losses. "To avoid redundancies and duplication of roles, and by leveraging technology better, around 5 per cent of Byju's 50,000-strong workforce is expected to be rationalised across product, content, media, and technology teams in a phased manner," said the company in a statement. In June, Byju's laid off about 600 employees at its group companies -WhiteHat Jr and Toppr.
Meesho has emerged as the second-largest player by order share in this year's festive sales till now, surpassing Amazon, while Flipkart Group platforms topped the market in both orders and gross merchandise value (GMV), according to according to a report by consultancy firm Redseer. It said Flipkart Group maintained its leadership position with a 62 per cent market share in terms of GMV during the first week of the festive season, followed by Amazon which had 26 per cent share, while the remaining 12 per cent was distributed among other e-commerce players. In terms of order volume, Flipkart Group again leads the market with about 49 per cent share and SoftBank-backed Meesho ranks second with about 21 per cent order share, according to Redseer.
Rapidly changing geo-political scenarios such as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war have made a significant impact on cybersecurity. Despite their best efforts, cybersecurity teams of enterprises may not be able to plug all vulnerabilities, according to a report by Indusface, a software-as-a-service security firm.
The Director General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) has slapped its heftiest tax notice of Rs 21,000 crore on Bengaluru-based Gameskraft Technology (GTPL) for allegedly evading GST on the betting amount. Gameskraft has dubbed the notice a "departure from the well-established law of the land". The company is accused of promoting online betting through card, casual and fantasy games like Rummy Culture, Gamezy and Rummy Time.
E-commerce companies managed to beat the odds by adopting a flexible approach in terms of transforming their business models and leveraging emerging technologies. They had to constantly align their objectives with evolving customer needs. With companies hiring thousands of temporary workers, expanding to smaller cities, and launching new products, e-commerce giants gird up to celebrate the peak festival season without Covid restrictions after a three-year time-out.
'We have gone through more than what any company will go through.'
When Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was conceived last December, the idea was to reduce the dominance of e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart. It was also to bring in a level-playing field for small merchants in India's fragmented but fast-growing $1-trillion retail market. However, those goals have changed now as large e-commerce players such as Flipkart, Amazon and Ecom Express are in various levels of talks with the ONDC team. They want to form partnerships like integrating with the network as well as providing their expertise to build it, according to the industry sources.
Tucked away at a lane in Arehalli Guddadahalli, a small village in Bengaluru Rural district is a nondescript factory of LaundryMate, one of India's first organised technology-led online laundry services firms. The company has built the country's largest laundry facility, which is spread across 53,000 square feet - the size of a football field. Inside the hangar-like building, one can hear the whooshing and humming sound of big hi-tech washing machines being operated by the newly-recruited staff of LaundryMate.
After a recent fall in profit, Masayoshi Son of SoftBank announced that the Japanese tech investor will look at dramatic cost-cutting. Before he does that, investments in India for calendar year 2022 (CY22) will fall radically, observed sources in the know. Last year, the company had invested around $3.2-3.5 billion in the Indian start-up ecosystem - almost 10 per cent of the total investment the sector received. For CY22, the investments may not even touch $1 billion.
Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder of ride-hailing firm Ola who disrupted the electric scooters market in the country, is planning to launch an electric sports car in 2024. The plan will put it in competition with Indian players, such as the Tata group and Mahindra & Mahindra, and global giants like Tesla and Hyundai. Aggarwal, recently, took a group of reporters to the firm's design studio at the Ola campus in Bengaluru where his teams are working on several EVs, including scooters, motorcycles, sedans, and SUVs - and even robotaxis.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Wednesday said it has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on e-commerce firm Flipkart for allowing sale of substandard domestic pressure cookers on its platform, in violation of mandatory standards. Headed by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare, the CCPA has directed Flipkart to recall all such 598 pressure cookers sold on its platform, reimburse their buyers, and submit a compliance report within 45 days. The central government routinely notifies the Quality Control Orders (QCOs), specifying compulsory conformity to a standard and use of the standard mark for a product to protect consumers from the risk of suffering injury and harm and in the interest of the public at large.
Uber has come up with a technology integration feature called "emergency assistance" that aims to provide public safety authorities with real-time actionable data in case of an emergency during a ride. In the event of an emergency, riders or drivers will be able to share their live location, which shall be updated every four seconds, along with their name and contact details at the swipe of a button on the Uber app with the police. This will lead to saving critical time by providing potentially life-saving assistance by the police.
'For all of us at Amazon, it is 'Bharat first'.' 'We are keeping the Indian customer at the centre of what we are doing.'
In continuation of the recent trend, another edtech major has issued pink slips to hundreds of employees. Bengaluru-based Byju's - valued at $22 billion - has laid off about 500 employees at its group companies -WhiteHat Jr and Toppr. It's a move to drive cost efficiency, according to the company. The number of layoffs, cutting across various department functions, may increase, sources said.
Udaan - India's largest business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce company - has laid off about 180 employees, or 4-5 per cent of its workforce of 4,000, in a move to drive cost efficiency, revealed sources. They said the layoffs have happened across various department functions. The layoffs have happened at a time when the Bengaluru-based firm is trying to turn into a publicly listed entity in 18-24 months.
The reopening of schools and colleges has sparked a crisis in the edtech sector with falling valuations, slowing funding rounds and faltering investor sentiment. In a totally altered, post-pandemic landscape where students are back at school and colleges, companies are scrambling to revert to bricks-and-mortar tuition centres and adopting a hybrid model of offline and online education. Demand for online tuition has fallen, affecting the revenue of edtech companies in recent months. After two years of booming revenues, some experts say the sector is looking at a possible meltdown.
Flipkart has promoted several of its leaders into newer roles at a time when the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant has internally raised its IPO (initial public offering) valuation target to about $60 billion and aims for a US listing in 2023, according to the sources. "I am delighted to announce the promotion of some of our exemplary leaders," said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Flipkart Group, in an internal note, and which has been reviewed by Business Standard. "Each of them has been instrumental in delivering impact and creating long-term value for Flipkart.
'Think of the poorest retail investor before you decide to go for an IPO'
Byju's is set to promote its chief operating officer (COO) Mrinal Mohit to a bigger role, including leading the India operations, according to people familiar with the matter. This is because Byju Raveendran, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the edtech giant - which is valued at $22 billion - is planning to focus on global expansion and acquisitions. Among the global regions, Raveendran may look at markets such as the US and the Middle East.
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