Startups

Representative image Lightspeed Venture Partners -backed edtech startup Teachmint has laid off 45 employees or about 5 percent of its workforce across departments in a restructuring exercise as it looks to build 'long-term efficiencies' amid a funding winter, people aware of the matter told Moneycontrol. Teachmint, a classroom management platform, has offered a severance package of three months and health coverage to the laid-off employees, the people said, requesting anonymity. Teachmint would also expedite the vesting of ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans) for the affected employees and the laid-off employees can apply for different roles within the organisation, the people said. News agency Inc42 first reported the development saying employees from sales and operations teams were affected. "In an effort to build long-term efficiencies and address redundancies, we have restructured some teams. As a result, unfortunately, some roles have been impacted. The impacted … [Read more...] about Lightspeed-backed Teachmint becomes latest edtech startup to lay off employees

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin It’s a known quantity in the world of startups that your failure is your credit. Please re-read the previous sentence. While failure in most walks of life hangs over those who failed sometimes in career-limiting ways, this isn’t true in startups. Precisely because they’re pursuing what seems impossible, the entrepreneurs who create businesses eager to take us in an all new direction aren’t haunted by their past. Quite the opposite. If you have no stupendous blow-ups to point to, you’ve likely not been reaching very high. All of this came to mind while reading Sophie Theen’s new book, The Soul of Startups: The Untold Stories of How Founders Affect Culture . Not a founder herself, Theen has many years of high-level HR experience inside startups. Which explains why the book intrigued me. I wanted to better understand the culture of startups through the eyes of someone who has long been the Chief People Officer (or name … [Read more...] about Book Review: Sophie Theen’s ‘The Soul of Startups’

(Illustration by Suneesh K.) With schools, colleges, and physical tuition centres reopening, India's edtech startups have struggled to raise funds from investors this year. To make matters worse, the much-discussed funding winter has made it difficult for edtech startups to raise funds. Despite this, a niche category of online learning - higher edtech and upskilling - appears to have found favour with investors due to continued growth in demand for their offerings. Higher education and upskilling startups have raised $1.1 billion in private equity and venture capital funding so far this year, slightly less than the $1.25 billion raised in the first 11 months of 2021, according to data by Tracxn Technologies. K-12 (kindergarten through class 12) and test preparation platforms, on the other hand, have seen a 60 percent decline in funding during the same period. According to the data, K-12 and test prep startups have raised $1.78 billion so far this year, compared to … [Read more...] about Investors favour upskilling platforms as other edtechs struggle with funding winter

Anand Daniel, Partner at Accel India. Photo: Accel website At a time when start-up funding rounds are not going through as founders and investors are in a logjam on valuations, Anand Daniel, a partner at venture capital firm Accel, is of the view that start-up founders should rather think about survival if push comes to shove. “Flat or down rounds don’t matter. Survival and being alive is the most important thing. If you are not there on the other side, then what is the point of holding on to a lot of stock,” he told Moneycontrol . “If they have capital for the next two, three years, and build a profitable company, then they don't have to go out and raise a downround. On the other hand, if they didn't raise enough capital last year and they have to raise money today, all these valuations don't matter,” he added. Daniel is considered to be one of the star investors of Accel’s India arm. He has led early stage investments in unicorns like Swiggy, Vedantu and Spinny, and … [Read more...] about ‘Valuations don’t matter… If you don’t survive, what’s the point?’, says Anand Daniel of Accel

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Henrike Von Platen has been an equal pay activist for as long as she can remember. In 2016, however, she decided to change her approach. Instead of organizing campaigns to raise awareness, she started to work directly with companies to ensure fair pay. Von Platen launched the Fair Pay Innovation Lab, a nonprofit working with companies of any size to provide Fair Pay certification. That’s how she believes she can have the biggest impact. “I prefer talking positive and looking into making things better,” she said. “And that works and that's why it's so enjoyable.” FPI is a German-based organization, but Von Platen is not shy with her ambitions. “I want to certify the world to make sure the world pays fairly,” she said in a video call. To date, FPI has certified 11 German companies, and two in Iceland. Many more are currently going through the application process. To get one of FPI’s three certifications — … [Read more...] about This German Startup Wants To ‘Certify The World’ For Fair Pay

Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. (Photo: ANI) The digital economy has created 88 lakh direct jobs till now which is set to cross the 1-crore mark over the next two years, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on November 30. "The trend that we have observed over the last eight years is that India is becoming a technology producer rather than being a mere consumer of technology," the minister said. "We are the second biggest manufacturer of mobile phones now. The electronics manufacturing sector has created 25-30 lakh direct jobs, IT services have crossed 55 lakh jobs and the startup sector has contributed 8 lakh jobs," he added. Vaishnaw was speaking at the launch of a government-backed initiative under which 40 startups have been selected to exhibit their products in the US and seek financing from venture capital fund managers there. The minister exhorted the startup founders in the audience to prepare for any possible line of questioning by the US fund managers. … [Read more...] about Digital economy job creation to cross 1 crore mark in next 2 years: Ashwini Vaishnaw

K-12 (Kindergarten through 12) and test prep edtech unicorn Vedantu, last month, picked up a majority stake in offline test preparation platform Deeksha for $40 million, in an attempt to strengthen its hybrid play. This acquisition comes at a time when consumer-facing K-12 edtech startups, including Vedantu, are struggling with falling demand as offline classes have opened up after the pandemic. With its core vertical, online K-12, witnessing a fall, Vedantu decided to hedge its bet with hybrid learning by acquiring Deeksha , a brick-and-mortar education company. Co-founder and chief executive officer Vamsi Krishna told Moneycontrol acquiring Deeksha is an “aggressive” move by the unicorn, which has been less aggressive in terms of acquisitions, compared to larger rivals such as Byju's and Unacademy. "On one hand we are looking at where all we can consolidate and rationalise, given the situation externally but that does not mean that we are not aggressive on growth. … [Read more...] about Can edtech unicorn Vedantu pull an Aakash with Deeksha buy?

VerSe Innovation , the parent company of news aggregator Dailyhunt and short video platform Josh , has announced pay cuts and layoffs, people aware of the development said, as startups grapple with an increasingly challenging macro environment. The company, which had raised $805 million at a valuation of $5 billion , has cut salaries up to 11 percent for employees earning more than Rs 10 lakh per annum, the people said, requesting anonymity. The company has also laid off about 150 employees or about 5 percent of its workforce. These measures were unveiled in a town hall meeting, addressed by the company’s co-founders Virendra Gupta and Umang Bedi. They told employees that the next year will be tough and these measures will help make the company more sustainable. Bedi confirmed the development and said, “given the current economic climate, like other businesses, we’ve evaluated our strategic priorities. Considering the long-term viability of the business and our people, … [Read more...] about Dailyhunt and Josh parent VerSe lays off 150 staff, announces company-wide pay cuts

Swati Vasudevan Khan Academy India, a non-profit online learning platform, appointed Swati Vasudevan, former chief operations officer of Gates Foundation India as its country director on December 1. In a statement, the company said Vasudevan will oversee India operations and be responsible for driving further growth for Khan Academy in India. Starting India operations in 2017, Khan Academy is an online learning platform offering free education that focuses on making learning content accessible in regional languages in India for students to learn in their preferred language. The institute caters to over 10,00,000 monthly users in 2022. Khan Academy said it has partnered with the state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Maharashtra, among others to make quality education accessible in public schools. The organisation said it is focusing on the 'next level of growth,' and Vasudevan will be instrumental in helping drive it. “We are delighted to have Swati … [Read more...] about Khan Academy India appoints former Gates Foundation executive as country director

SentBe CEO Alex Choi speaks during an interview with Korea JoongAng Daily in the company office in Gangnam, southern Seoul, on Nov. 22. [PARK SANG-MOON] SentBe, a remittance provider, started offering transfer services from the United States on Monday. It also offers outward remittance services to Singapore and Indonesia. “I’ve learned that different countries have different standards and market practices,” said Choi in an interview with Korea JoongAng Daily at the company office in Gangnam, southern Seoul, on Nov. 22. Choi said different markets all have very different business environments for overseas foreign exchange remittance. In the United States, SentBe had to be “particularly cautious about information security.” Choi added, “there are so many unicorn startups competing, but a lot of their primary markets are South America or Europe. They don’t seem to consider Southeast Asia as a primary market." He named Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand as some … [Read more...] about SentBe offers U.S. remittance services