Tag: startup

Beauty startup Nykaa's founder Falguni Nayar has become India’s wealthiest self-made female billionaire, who owns almost half of Nykaa’s shares is now worth $6.5 billion as shares surged as much as 98% when they started trading Wednesday.Nayar, who formerly led a top Indian investment bank, founded Nykaa in 2012.Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad graduate Nayar has previously worked with AF Ferguson & Co and Kotak Mahindra Group. Heading a team of over 1600, Falguni has built beauty and lifestyle retail empire Nykaa which has emerged as India’s leading beauty retailer with a portfolio of 1500+ brands, including its own private label, available online and across 68 stores in India. Nayar owns her company stake through two family trusts and seven other promoter entities. Nykaa’s (FSN E-Commerce Venture Limited) shares were offered within a price range of ₹1,085 to ₹1,125, but the company made its stock market debut ₹2,001 earlier today. Read more

Social commerce startup Meesho today(30th Sept.2021) said that it has raised $570 million led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and B Capital Group, a venture capital firm co-founded by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Existing investors Prosus Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Facebook also participated in this round. Other new investors include Footpath Ventures, Trifecta Capital and Good Capital, and others. Following the rise, the company’s valuation has more than doubled to $4.9 billion in less than five months. Meesho aims to reach 100 million monthly transacting users by December 2022. It expects to utilise the fresh round of funding to grow its technology and product talent by 2.5x, increase its roster to over 50 million products, and become the platform of choice for customers, entrepreneurs, and sellers from all corners of India. Read more

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her third budget speech on Monday, extended the tax holiday for startups by another year to March 2022. The capital gains exemption given to startups was also extended by a year more. According to experts, since most startups are loss-making, tax holiday will have limited immediate impact on them.“In order to incentivise startups in the country, I propose to extend the eligibility for claiming tax holiday for startups by one more year to March 31, 2022…In order to incentivise funding for the startups, I propose to extend the capital gains exemption for investment in startups by one more year to March 31, 2022,” Sitharaman said. There have been many steps taken by the government to help startups, which include broadening the definition of startups, simplifying regulations, providing income tax exemptions and setting up a Rs 10,000 crore Fund of Funds run by Sidbi.

Internet businesses in 2012-13 helped form a new wave of entrepreneurship in India. India emerged as the next big frontier for global investors hoping it would become the next China. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the budget that “Knowledge Translation Clusters” would be set up across different technology sectors, including new & emerging areas. John Chambers, founder & Chief Executive of JC2 Ventures, which has invested in 16 startups around the world, feels India’s startup ecosystem is on the right track, with positive government initiatives and incentives. The government has focused on fostering startups and entrepreneurship. It has made policy changes easing scaling up for startups and put a renewed focus on helping citizens become fluent in the language of technology. But with some of the biggest unicorns being asked hard questions on business feasibility, massive losses and how they will clock profits, 2020 is surely a critical year for the highly capitalize.