Food delivery and e-commerce platform magicpin aims to expand its AI assistant, Vera's, merchant base to over 1 million by the end of 2026. Launched three months ago, Vera already supports over 5 lakh merchants by providing real-time order insights and has facilitated over 50 lakh interactions across various business verticals. The company has invested USD 1 million in its AI stack and plans further enhancements to Vera's capabilities.
Hyperlocal delivery platform magicpin experienced an overwhelming surge in demand at 9 am on Monday, causing its app to crash, leaving users temporarily unable to access the platform. The increased traffic came after the firm announced its "tomatoes @ Rs70" initiative last week in partnership with National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). This led to magicpin's tomato stocks depleting within the first 10 minutes, leaving many buyers struggling to order.
'The conversation is no longer just about securing funds or acquiring customers but about the long-term value of customers.'
'Given a chance, more than 50 per cent of employees would switch to WFH as opposed to working from office.'
There's an average aggregator premium of Rs 46 per dish (in hidden costs) compared to delivery orders placed on restaurants' own channels. Conservatively, this translates into an additional annual financial burden of at least Rs 12,000 for the average Indian household in major metro/Tier-I cities.
Funding winter and corporate governance woes separated the men from the boys in the country's startup space in 2023 that saw funds into the segment tapering to just around $8 billion. All said, investors are hopeful of strong growth of the maturing startup ecosystem in the new year. Edtech and health tech segments that grew exponentially during the pandemic plunged into an abyss of financial uncertainties, with several firms shuttering their business, and valuation of prominent players like BYJU'S and PharmEasy plummeting 85-90 per cent.
The Indian startup ecosystem has lauded the inclusion of startups in the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration for the first time ever in the history of G20. Industry stakeholders say that the move will lead to easier access to capital, reduce regulatory hurdles, and may revive funding activity. The Declaration, through the Startup20 initiative, recognised startups as "natural engines of growth" and key to socio-economic transformation by driving innovation and creating employment.
Online food delivery aggregator Zomato is on an internal rebranding exercise by moving to a multiple chief executive structure for its businesses that will be housed under a larger organisation called Eternal. In an internal message to employees, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Deepinder Goyal said the company is at a stage where it has matured from running a single business to running multiple and large companies. The restructuring is happening after the shareholder approved the Blinkit acquisition.
Byju's, Flipkart, PharmEasy and CRED, among others, have taken the acquisition route to grow
Given that there has been no negative news flow around Zomato, analysts believe it's time to lap up the shares at lower levels.
$47.6 bn capital invested across 921 deals in India in 2020, despite pandemic.
Venture capitalists are leveraging their experience to build something new.
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