With 16 start-ups gaining unicorn status in 2021, India's tally has touched the 50 mark. The newest entrant to this list include Pune-based MindTickle, which is close to finalising a $100-million funding round from Softbank's Vision Fund 2, taking the company's valuation to $1.1 billion.
Pilots typically operate the fuel control switches during two key phases: At engine start-up on the ground and during engine shutdown after landing.
The race for space has got real, and it is attracting funding like never before. In 2022 so far, funding to private players in the space sector has jumped a whopping 61.5 per cent - soaring to $108.52 million compared to $67.2 million in 2021. Propelling it is the government's decision to open up the space sector to private players and the work done by companies like Skyroot Aerospace, the Hyderabad-based start-up behind the launch of India's first privately developed rocket on November 18.
Until now, one of the ways to get Dubai's Golden Visa from India was to invest in property whose value should be at least AED Two Million (Rs 4.66 crore), or invest a large amount in business in the country.
From the launch of the 'Startup India' initiative in 2016, to the abolition of angel tax and easing of reverse flipping norms, the startup ecosystem is evolving.
Indian start-ups raised issues, such as blockages in international wire transfers, disruptions due to threshold limits on withdrawals, lack of communication from US agencies, and the need for preferential access to credit, in a meeting with the government over the fallout of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology, held a virtual meeting with over 450 members from start-ups, venture capitalists, and investors who have been directly affected by the closure of SVB. He assured them that the IT ministry would put together a list of suggestions and give it to the finance minister on behalf of start-ups.
'As much as $4 billion in India's start-up companies has come from Chinese funds.' 'Government policy must not remain indifferent to the problems India's start-up ventures are likely to face after the change in FDI rules,' says A K Bhattacharya.
Startup founders need to sit up and think about how not to take stardom for granted and how not to disappoint their fans who have stood in long queues for those precious selfies with popular entrepreneurs, notes Nivedita Mookerji.
Adarsh Rai, an emotional intelligence coach and the founder-CEO of HR Brain HUB, suggests simple, practical tips that will help you adapt and thrive while working with Gen Z and millennial bosses in today's evolving workplace.
'At Aero India 2025, be prepared to be inspired, awed, and educated,' says Air Commodore Rohith Vijayadev, Air Officer Commanding Yelahanka. 'Aero India 2025 promises to be more than just an air show; it is a celebration of innovation, collaboration, and India's growing leadership in global defence and aviation,' notes Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
'What we need is the cultural encouragement to take risks, to fail occasionally, and to keep questioning.'
The strategic partnership aims to unify the two companies' end-to-end, indigenously-developed capabilities across the upstream and downstream segments of the Space value chain.
Indian start-ups breathed a sigh of relief after the UK government facilitated the acquisition of the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB's) British arm by HSBC. In a bid to allay fears, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC) announced recently that it had transferred all deposits of start-up-focused SVB to a newly created bridge bank and all depositors would have access to their money. President Joe Biden also sought to reassure jittery depositors that they can have confidence that the US banking system is "safe".
A minor fix in tax laws can make start-ups bloom, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
A minor fix in tax laws can make start-ups bloom, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
'You need the drishti, the experience. I am beginning to see things differently.'
'Before you work on your business plan, before you build your team, you should have a clear idea about what your product is, who your customer is, how valuable the product is, and whether the market is deep and wide.'
Dr Ganesh Natarajan, a special guest on rediffGURUS, has been addressing questions from Rediff readers, about how to grow professionally, how women can achieve leadership roles in Indian companies, and what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur.
'The protection of secrecy and anonymity gets lost with this linking.'
Tie-ups and access to infrastructure of a developed ecosystem prompt choice of venue.
'For our traditional membership base, it would be an access to disruptive ideas,' FICCI President Subhrakant Panda tells Asit Mishra/Business Standard.
'We want to make sustainability affordable.' 'We tell everyone, don't just recycle, Craste it!'
India added over 1,300 active tech start-ups to its ecosystem in calendar year 2022, taking the total tally to between 25,000-27,000, according to a recent report. The country continues to be the world's third largest tech start-up ecosystem. The Nasscom-Zinnov Indian Tech Start-up Landscape Report 2022 found that India added the second highest number of Unicorns - companies with a valuation of at least $1 billion - in the world, with over 23 added in CY2022.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday announced a slew of measures to ease the compliance burden in the stock markets ecosystem, encourage more companies to list on the bourses after reverse flipping to India, and facilitate greater foreign fund flows into government bonds.
'Gyanendra back on the throne would be bad news for the Nepali people. He may not have learnt from his experience, but we have.'
The turmoil, if you read the headlines, is about the so-called funding winter. Deep down, though, the question is one of the common direction in which founders and investors need to pull, points out Suveen Sinha.
'...hesitate to support the risk-taking it requires.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a series of bilateral meetings with his global counterparts on the margins of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, with discussions focusing on a range of issues such as trade, investment, counter-terrorism and global challenges.
This is important because he is to be seen as a sure winner before criss-crossing the state to campaign for candidates of the party or an alliance, highlights N Sathiya Moorthy.
Domestic new-age companies are making their presence felt at India Inc. According to a study done by Credit Suisse, only 15 per cent of the companies in the BSE500 index were formed after the year 2000. By comparison, nearly 90 per cent of unicorns - a start-up with a value of over $1 billion - were set up after 2000.
rediffGURU Chandu Nair advises entrepreneurs and enterprises about how to create and build their business.
Start-up entrepreneurs nearly doubled their contribution to philanthropy in 2022 but their numbers shrank. They decreased to only three (from five) in the top 100 of the Edelgive Hurun India Philanthropy List of 2022 which was released on Thursday. Over the year, no new start-up whizz kid joined the list either. The three start-up entrepreneurs who made it to the list contributed collectively Rs 166 crore in FY22, nearly double that of Rs 83 crore in FY21.
India witnessed a record-breaking surge in deal activity in February, with 226 M&A and private equity deals totaling $7.2 billion -- the highest monthly deal volume in the last three years, according to the Dealtracker report of Grant Thornton Bharat. "This represents a 67 per cent increase in volumes and a 5.4-fold increase in values compared to February 2024, while a 14 per cent increase over the previous month," it said.
Tech giant Microsoft on Wednesday launched a new programme Microsoft AI Innovate for nurturing and scaling start-ups that are leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI). The 10-week initiative will support start-ups in India leveraging AI technologies, helping them scale operations, drive innovation, and build industry expertise. Both B2B and B2C start-ups from various industries, including financial services, healthcare, education, agriculture, space, manufacturing and logistics, retail, and e-commerce can participate in the quarterly cohorts of this programme.
'A Mayday at 600-800 feet followed by descent to 450 feet suggests the pilot still had control.'
The Rs 1-trillion Research Development and Innovation (RDI) fund, which was announced in the July budget for FY25, of which Rs 20,000 crore has already been allocated, will be operationalised in the next two to three months, a top official said.
The China threat continues to resonate in the strategic partnership between India and the USA, points out Rup Narayan Das.
'In those 10 seconds, they even made a MAYDAY call -- which is only issued in case of a serious, imminent emergency.'
'I tell young entrepreneurs if you don't have a great idea, if you don't have a good business model, don't think of a start-up.'
A long and bitter funding winter in the start-up world is beginning to take its toll on start-up advertising across properties. Earlier this week, Mastercard replaced Paytm as the title sponsor for all international and domestic cricket matches organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). But this is just one part of the story. The other side is that organisers of high-impact shows and events on Hindi general entertainment channels, too, are feeling the winter chill.
