Let's target 75 unicorns in 2022: Piyush Goyal

Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal said that 2021 will always be remembered as the year of unicorns or startups valued at $1 billion or more. He pointed out that India now has the world's third-largest number of unicorns — 82 in total, with more than half of them added to the list over the last 12 months.

"Let's target to nurture additional 75 unicorns in this year," said Goyal while addressing the inaugural session of the first-ever Startup India Innovation Week — a week-long event which seeks to bring together India's startup ecosystem for the sharing of experience and ideas.

"Startups have turned COVID-19 into an opportunity from a crisis" he said, highlighting the rise of unicorns during the pandemic. "Our startups can play a very important role to socialise and democratise the availability of healthcare across the world," he added.

In Goyal's opinion, startups are the key reason behind India's meteoric rise in the Global Innovation Index from 76 in 2014 to 46 in 2021. "We have broken into the ranks of Top-50. But, we should all now collectively aspire to breach the top-25 ranks in the Global Innovation Index," he said.

He also said that entrepreneurs should also focus on strengthening the make in India programme, innovating in India and mentoring young startups. "Today, four startups are being recognised — every hour — in my department, with 45 percent of them belonging to tier-2 and tier-3 cities", he said, adding that 46 percent of startups have women co-founders.

Talking about some of the steps taken by the government to ease the process of starting up in India, Goyal highlighted the impact of reduction in patent filing fees, relaxation in the public procurement norms, fund of funds, and seed fund scheme. From 2018 to 2021, more than six lakh jobs were created by startups, he said.

Discussing the government's initiative on the open network for digital commerce, he said it has the potential to be a game-changer and provide huge opportunities for emerging startups. Comparing it to the Unified Payments Interface, which transformed the fintech ecosystem, he said, "I am confident the open network for digital commerce will play a similar role for our commerce startups."

Object to inappropriate language used by BharatPe's Ashneer Grover: Kotak Group

Kotak Group has confirmed in a statement today that it has placed on record its objections to inappropriate language used by BharatPe co-founder and MD Ashneer Grover against one of its employees.

The firm also confirmed that it had received a notice from Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Grover, accusing the bank of failing to secure financing and allocation of shares in an IPO launched by beauty firm Nykaa.

"This notice was received by us and was replied to appropriately at the time, including placing on record our objections to inappropriate language used by Mr. Grover. Appropriate legal action is being pursued…We would like to confirm that there is no breach or violation by the Kotak Group in any manner whatsoever," the company said in the statement.

Earlier on Wednesday, a tweet by an account named ’@BabuBongo’ said ’how rich founders treat poor bank employees’ and included an audio clip. The clip, which is about 4:29 minutes, includes an exchange between three people: two male and a female voice.

In response, Grover claimed that the viral audio clip claiming to be of him verbally abusing a bank employee for not getting share allotment in Nykaa’s initial public offering (IPO) is ”fake” and is an attempt for extorting money.

Paytm shares slump to fresh low after Macquarie cuts target price

Paytm parent One97 Communications shares hit a fresh low on Monday after Macquarie lowered its target price for the stock to Rs 900 from Rs 1,200. The brokerage retained its 'underperform' rating on Paytm, raising its loss projections for the company by 16-27 percent for FY22-25 on lower revenue and higher employee as well as software costs.

The Paytm stock fell as much as 6.6 percent to an all-time low of Rs 1,151 on the BSE -- a discount of 46.5 percent to its issue price of Rs 2,150. It settled at Rs 1,157.9 apiece for the day, down six percent from its previous close.

Paytm is one of the worst Dalal Street debutants of 2021. Its IPO was the biggest of all time in India.

Macquarie also revised its revenue CAGR estimate for Paytm to 23 percent for FY21-26E from 26 percent, citing lower distribution and commerce/Cloud revenue. It lowered the price-to-sales multiple for Paytm to 11.5 times from 13.5 times.

After various business updates and earnings, Macquarie said, its revenue projections particularly on the distribution side are at risk.

"We are roughly cutting revenue estimates for FY21-26E on an average by 10 percent every year due to lower distribution and commerce/Cloud revenues offset partially by higher payment revenues," it said, adding that several regulatory and business-specific challenges exist for the company.

The brokerage said the Paytm stock trades at 17 times its FY23E sales, which is expensive.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella invests in Groww, joins as advisor

Tiger Global-backed Groww on Saturday said Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella has joined the company as an investor and advisor.

"Groww gets one of the world's best CEOs as an investor and advisor. Thrilled to have @satyanadella join us in our mission to make financial services accessible in India," Groww's co-founder and CEO Lalit Keshre tweeted. However, he didn't disclose the financial details of the investment.

Groww had raised $250 million in October last year in a funding round led by Iconiq Growth, which valued the mutual fund and stock investment platform at $1 billion, turning it into a unicorn.

RBI to set up new Fintech department

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a fintech department to focus on the rapidly growing financial sector, as per an internal circular of the central bank.

"With a view to give further focus to the area and facilitate innovation in fintech sector in keeping pace with the dynamically changing financial landscape, it was decided to set up a fintech department in the Bank," states the circular.

The department has subsumed the FinTech Division of Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, Central Office (DPSS, CO), with the new entity coming into effect from January 04, 2022.

The department will not only promote innovation in the sector but also identify the challenges and opportunities associated with it and address them in a timely manner, the circular stated.

It will also provide a "framework for further research on the subject that can aid policy interventions by the Bank."

Flint, a platform which provides passive exposure to crypto, opens its waitlist

Flint, one of India's first passive cryptocurrency investment platforms, has opened its waitlist without any lock-in period. Started by Ex-CRED team, Flint’s early access is now available to over 25,000 customers via the waitlist.

The platform aims to solve the three problems consumers face around the adoption of investing in cryptocurrencies: losses due to price fluctuations, complex process to invest in innovative de-fi protocols and the absence of a consumer-friendly mobile application.

“We have found that sophisticated investors are not comfortable with gambling in the crypto market. They need passive exposure to crypto that can provide high returns at low risk without market fluctuations. With Flint, they can now enjoy the upsides of the crypto markets but with the comfort of low-risk investments," said Akshit Bordia, co-founder, Flint.

Through diversification of crypto investments, the platform says it offers returns of up to 13 percent per annum. It converts the user’s deposited funds to only stable cryptocurrencies, which are free from price fluctuations.

“We are targeting close to 500 million users globally across various customer segments," said Anshu Agrawal, co-founder, Flint. "We want to acquire users with a high velocity between the ages 25-40 in tier-1 cities, who are already comfortable with mutual fund investments and are looking to diversify their wealth towards crypto without much effort.”

Y-Combinator backed Betterhalf.ai announces ESOP for its employees

Betterhalf.ai, a new-age matrimony platform, has announced its employee stock option plan (ESOP) for its employees.

With the ESOP buyback option, the startup aims to encourage its existing employees while promoting external hiring.

The Y Combinator-backed startup claims to be among the few to offer ESOP buyback at pre-Series A stage. In 2021,

Betterhalf.ai raised $3 million in Pre-Series A funding from S2 Capital and Quiet Capital with participation from angel investors such as Kunal Shah, the founder of CRED. Now, it is heading to its Series-A fundraise, the company said in a statement.

"We have not seen companies doing buyback in an early stage but we think this is the right thing to do for the employees that contribute to the fast-paced growth of a startup like ours," said Pawan Gupta, co-founder, Betterhalf.ai.

Founded in 2016, Betterhalf.ai is a matrimony app which runs on an advanced compatibility algorithm powered by AI. Currently, it is facilitating 200,000 connections & recording over 4.4 million messages exchanged on a monthly basis.

(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)

First Published:Jan 10, 2022 9:25 PM IST