Venture Catalysts, India’s leading integrated incubator and accelerator platform, has participated in BlackCarrot’s seed funding round, an innovative dinnerware brand redefining the Indian dining experience with a focus on health and contemporary design. The round also saw participation from notable investors, including We Founder Circle, EvolveX Accelerator, GX Ventures, and Suraj Nalin, Co-Founder of PlaySimple Games, alongside celebrity investors Neha Dhupia and Agnello Dias, who bring valuable expertise and visibility to support BlackCarrot’s growth trajectory.
Founded by Yadupati Gupta (Ex-J.P. Morgan and Avendus Capital Investment Banker) and Vishal Gupta (former Head of Marketing and Sales at Wipro Consumer Care and VIP Luggage Group Company), BlackCarrot has quickly established itself as India’s first mass premium dinnerware brand dedicated to health-conscious consumers. The company offers a comprehensive range of products, including bone china (animal bone ash)-free ceramics, lead-free glassware, and 304 food-grade stainless steel cutlery, serving a growing customer base through a robust omnichannel presence across leading e-commerce platforms such as Tata Cliq Luxury, Myntra, Amazon, Flipkart, and Nykaa Fashion, as well as offline retail chains like Nature’s Basket and Food Square. The company has also partnered with Zepto for fast delivery through quick commerce.
Commenting on the investment, Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder and Managing Director from Venture Catalysts++, said, “BlackCarrot represents a new wave of consumer brands in India that combine health consciousness, design innovation, and scalable business models. The company’s impressive progress in building a strong omnichannel presence and its commitment to eliminating harmful materials from everyday dining products position it well for rapid growth. With the Indian dinnerware market undergoing a shift toward wellness and sustainability, we see immense potential in BlackCarrot’s vision to become the go-to brand for modern households. This investment aligns with our strategy of backing companies that are transforming traditional sectors through innovation and consumer focus.”
Yadupati Gupta and Vishal Gupta, Co-founders of BlackCarrot, said, “At BlackCarrot, our mission is to make every dining experience safer and more enjoyable for Indian families. With the support of our investors, we are poised to accelerate our expansion, invest further in product innovation, and reach new markets nationwide. We are grateful to Venture Catalysts and our investor partners for believing in our vision and joining us on this journey to redefine how India dines. This funding will be used to accelerate growth across D2C, marketplaces, offline retail, and quick commerce. We have already initiated conversations for a larger fundraise in our next round to support the fast-scaling momentum.”
India’s tableware market is witnessing significant transformation, with increasing consumer awareness around health and material safety driving demand for premium, sustainable products. The dinnerware sector is poised for significant growth over the next few years, with mass premium dinnerware emerging as one of the fastest-growing categories in the broader home lifestyle segment. This growth is being driven by consumers seeking high-quality, design-forward options that do not compromise on safety or aesthetics. BlackCarrot’s product philosophy aligns with this demand, providing safer, toxin-free alternatives to conventional dinnerware. The company’s innovative approach has earned it recognition from the Government of India as a promising startup, further validating its vision and potential in a rapidly evolving market.
The seed funding will enable BlackCarrot to expand its footprint across key markets, enhance its product offerings, and strengthen its position as a leader in the health-conscious dinnerware segment. The company plans to focus on scaling its distribution, deepening its retail partnerships, and investing in new product development while maintaining its commitment to quality and consumer well-being. Venture Catalysts’ strategic backing of BlackCarrot aligns closely with the firm’s mission to cultivate groundbreaking ideas and propel high-potential ventures shaping the Indian as well as international marketplace.
About Venture Catalysts
Venture Catalysts is India’s first integrated incubator. It typically invests $250K – $2 Mn in early-stage start-ups with the potential to create enduring value for over a long period of time. Founded in 2016 by Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Anuj Golecha, Anil Jain and Gaurav Jain, Venture Catalysts has invested in over 300+ startups since inception. The cumulative valuation of the startups invested by Venture Catalysts is $10 Bn+. Venture Catalysts has its presence across 55 cities in 9 countries and is one of the most active early-stage investors globally.
Titan Capital, one of India’s most active seed-stage venture capital firms, has announced the launch of a specialised investment vertical to fund startups innovating in India’s defence and strategic technology space.
While India has made notable strides in digital infrastructure, semiconductors, and space, defence-tech remains a critical frontier where public R&D and procurement still dominate. With rising geopolitical uncertainty and rapid advances in AI, drone warfare, and satellite-based systems, Titan Capital believes private capital must now step in to catalyse the next era of indigenous military innovation.
With this program, Titan Capital is actively seeking to invest in startups working at the intersection of advanced hardware, aerospace, cybersecurity, and manufacturing. The focus is not only on national security but also on fostering deep-tech innovation, creating high-value jobs, and helping India become a net exporter of strategic technologies.
Kunal Bahl, Co-founder of Titan Capital, said,“We are at a historic inflection point where national security, deep-tech innovation, and startup agility are converging. India cannot achieve true self-reliance in defence by relying on imports or public funding alone. We need to back our brightest minds—engineers, researchers, and builders—to create sovereign, dual-use technologies that can shape not just India’s future, but the future of global defence. At Titan, we’ve always been a founder-first firm. This vertical extends that ethos into a sector that has national consequences.”
As part of this initiative, Titan Capital is also looking to collaborate with veterans from the armed forces, scientists, and experienced technologists who can help assess and guide these investments with strategic insight and domain expertise.
Globally, venture capital is accelerating its focus on defence tech. U.S.-based Anduril Industries recently raised $1.5 billion for its AI-enabled combat systems, while Europe’s Helsing secured €450 million in backing from General Catalyst to develop defence AI. India is now at the brink of a similar inflection, and Titan Capital wants to ensure that the ecosystem doesn’t miss its moment.
The Indian government has increased the defence budget to INR 6.81 lakh crore for FY 2025–26 and launched schemes like iDEX and the Technology Development Fund (TDF) to support homegrown solutions. But capital gaps remain for early-stage companies working on complex, high-risk, high-reward technologies, precisely where venture capital firms like Titan Capital can play a catalytic role by unlocking speed, conviction, and long-term support that traditional systems often lack.
Titan Capital has backed over 250 startups to date, including Ola, Razorpay, Urban Company, OfBusiness and Giva. With this new initiative, it hopes to shape the next generation of strategic innovation at the intersection of purpose, tech, and nation-building.
Defence-tech founders and collaborators are encouraged to reach out at: startups@titancapital.vc
About Titan Capital
Titan Capital backs world-class entrepreneurs building transformative companies. As one of India’s most prolific seed-stage investors, Titan has supported startups across sectors, helping visionary founders scale from idea to IPO.
Zomato, a key player in the foodtech industry, has allegedly begun collecting a new “long-distance service fee” for orders that are delivered more than four kilometres. The company would now charge its clients INR 15 for deliveries within a 4- to 6-kilometre radius if the order value exceeds INR 150, according to a media report that cited people familiar with the situation.
Depending on the city, the fee for orders over 6 km will range from INR 25 to INR 35. According to the report, the foodtech giant assured its restaurant partners that, excluding other expenses, the total service fees, including this additional distance charge, would not exceed 30%.
However, according to some eateries, their overall commission fees may reach 45%. The news occurs weeks after the company’s fourth quarter financial results were released, which showed that despite a solid topline growth, its bottomline suffered greatly due to rising competition in the rapid commerce industry and stubbornly high expenses.
Zomato Realigning its Business Strategies
While operating revenue soared 64% to INR 5,833 Cr in the quarter under review from INR 3,562 Cr in the previous year, Zomato parent company Eternal’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) fell 77.8% to INR 39 Cr in Q4 FY25 from INR 175 Cr in the same period last year.
In an effort to boost its bottom line, the foodtech behemoth founded by Deepinder Goyal is reportedly raising prices and taking away some privileges from its customers and restaurant partners.
Zomato Also Altering its Gold Membership Benefits
Zomato recently introduced a significant modification to its Gold membership benefits: starting on May 16, users who were already enrolled in its Gold membership plan will be subject to an extra rain fee.
The platform cost, which is now INR 10 per order, was previously increased by the corporation four times in the last year alone.
In light of this, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) declared in April that the foodtech giant’s platform fees, food prices, and delivery fees did not constitute unfair or discriminatory conduct.
Competition is Getting Tougher as Swiggy Rolls Out New Scheme for Corporates
To further strengthen its food delivery business, listed foodtech firm Swiggy has established a corporate rewards programme, just days after unveiling a new initiative to attract students.
The CEO of Swiggy’s food marketplace segment, Rohit Kapoor, stated in a LinkedIn post that the new programme will provide corporate personnel with a number of advantages, such as lower Swiggy One membership costs and order discounts.
Kapoor went on to say that Swiggy’s new Corporate Rewards programme truly excites him. A wealth of advantages can be accessed with just a basic email verification. Customers can receive at least INR 125 off simply by using their work email, or they can have a Swiggy One subscription that offers unlimited free deliveries for a full quarter.
Corporate personnel will receive “a minimum of INR 125 off on food orders”, “flat INR 1,000 on top of pre-book offers”, and Swiggy One membership at “INR 30” (with “free” delivery for 3+1 months).
According to a media source, the US retail giant Walmart intends to eliminate some 1,500 corporate positions as part of a reorganisation initiative to streamline its business practices.
Divisions like Walmart Connect, its advertising business, e-commerce fulfilment in US stores, and worldwide technology operations will all be impacted by the layoffs.
According to a memo seen by a media house, “We must sharpen our focus to accelerate our progress delivering the experiences that will define the future of retail.”
A media outlet was previously informed by a source with knowledge of the matter that the biggest retailer in the world would lay off about 1,500 employees and replace them with new positions that better fit its long-term objectives.
Walmart Currently Employs 2.1 People Globally
Walmart employs over 1.6 million people in the US and 2.1 million worldwide, making it the largest private employer in the nation, according to its website. Given that the company’s supply chains have been disrupted and costs have increased due to President Donald Trump’s trade war, the action comes after another significant announcement to hike prices on a few products by the end of May.
Interestingly, it is the biggest importer in the nation, importing almost 60% of its goods from China, mostly toys, electronics, and apparel. The company is happy with the progress the [Trump] administration has made on tariffs from the levels that were announced in early April, but they’re still too high, CFO John David Rainey stated in a recent interview with a media source.
As part of a plan to move employees to its main centres in California and Arkansas, the corporation laid off employees and closed its North Carolina headquarters in February.
“The brand values and culture are strategic differentiators for us as a company, and they are fostered by being together,” stated Donna Morris, Walmart’s chief people officer, in an internal memo that US media outlets were able to get in February.
Layoffs have Become a New Normal for Bigger Players
This layoff announcement coincides with employment cuts by a number of multinational corporations, such as Amazon, Intel, and Goldman Sachs. Such developments are happening mainly owing to the growing impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and uncertainties in the global economy. Intel is getting ready for a massive restructure following a large financial loss in 2024.
Similarly, Amazon also plans to eliminate about 14,000 administrative roles in order to save $3 billion yearly.
Companies are increasingly focusing on cost optimisation and automation as a result of the rapid growth in AI adoption. This adoption is resulting in job losses across a number of industries.
Goldman Sachs is also getting ready to lay off employees, with intentions to trim staff by 3–5% after an annual performance review. About 150 junior banker positions were recently cut by Bank of America; nevertheless, the majority of impacted workers were offered opportunities outside of investment banking.
Shiprocket, a rapidly expanding logistics technology firm supported by Temasek and Zomato, has filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with Sebi in confidence through the pre-filing process, marking the first official step towards becoming public.
It is anticipated that the proposed IPO will cost between INR 2,000 and INR 2,500 crore. A new issuance component of around INR 1,000 to INR 1,200 crore will be part of this. Existing stockholders will make an offer to sell the remainder.
The offering is being advised by investment banks Bank of America, JM Financial, Kotak Mahindra Capital, and Axis Capital.
Shiprocket Opting for Confidential Filing Mechanism
Shiprocket has chosen to use the Sebi confidential filing process, which enables businesses to postpone making sensitive business information publicly available until closer to the initial public offering. Swiggy, Boat, PhysicsWallah, and other well-known firms have already taken this approach.
Established in 2012, Shiprocket offers complete logistics services to more than 100,000 small sellers and direct-to-consumer (D2C) firms throughout India. More than half of its merchant base currently resides in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, where the company has established itself as a leader in facilitating e-commerce shipments.
According to one of its investors, Shiprocket achieved an estimated 20–25% increase and turned cash-flow positive in FY25, even though the growth of e-commerce as a whole slowed.
Although its net loss increased to INR 595 crore in FY24 as a result of the financial impact of integrating several acquisitions, including RocketBox, Omuni, and Pickrr, it reported operating revenue of INR 1,316 crore, up 21% from the year before.
Shiprocket Focusing on Three Startegic Areas
These days, Shiprocket is concentrating on three key areas: rapid commerce, cross-border shipping, and digital payments. It is incorporating logistics platforms such as Porter, Borzo, and Shadowfax under its fast commerce vertical to enable hyperlocal delivery for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Additionally, it has started collaborating with Swiggy Instamart and Zepto to oversee stock replenishment for dark businesses.
In a funding extension round last year, Shiprocket raised INR 219 crore at a valuation of $1.2 billion, adding new investors Koch Group, MUFG Bank, Tribe Capital, and Susquehanna to its current backers Temasek, Bertelsmann, PayPal, and Info Edge Ventures.
IPO Getting Popular Among Indian Startups
According to a survey by venture debt firm InnoVen Capital, despite global obstacles, a number of high-quality startup companies are expected to go public in 2025, and the funding environment is also expected to improve this year.
Additionally, it stated that 47% of the 100 startup entrepreneurs who took part in the study anticipate hiring to pick up speed this year.
According to the India Startup Outlook Report, 63% of people who tried to raise money in 2024 had a positive experience. 79% of founders believe that by 2025, the fundraising climate will improve.
According to the report, 73% of startup founders now choose domestic initial public offerings (IPOs) as their preferred exit strategy, up from 64% in 2023.
As per the report, 28% of respondents think AI would significantly affect their business models over the next two to three years, mainly in the fintech and enterprise sectors, given the speed at which AI capabilities are developing. Hiring is also anticipated to increase in 2025.
New report urges India Inc. to rethink skilling strategies as participation gaps, generational divides, and ROI concerns widen
upGrad Enterprise, the corporate skilling division of Asia’s leading integrated lifelong learning company, upGrad has launched a groundbreaking industry report titled ‘Skilling Smarter: A Strategic Guide to Training Across Generations’.
Based on insights from 12,300+ professionals across sectors, the report exposes the growing disconnect between employee needs and existing corporate training frameworks, driven by the evolving expectations of a multigenerational workforce.
Despite widespread recognition of upskilling as a business imperative, the report reveals that 50% of India’s workforce remained untrained in FY24- 25, while 75% of employees engaged in learning only when mandated. Nearly 1 in 2 Indian workplaces still lack formal skilling strategies, resulting in inconsistent access and widening capability gaps. The findings highlight a lack of personalisation, access, and relevance in training models across generational cohorts, be it the pragmatic Gen X, the independent Gen Y, or the digital-first Gen Z.
Key findings include:
1 in 4 workplaces lack formal strategies: 50% of professionals receive no training in FY24–25; only 16% engaged in quarterly learning
Mandates outweigh motivation: 75% train only when required; top barriers include irrelevance (51%), limited access (43%), and lack of time (42%)
Mismatch in priorities: Organisations invest in technical and industry-focused skilling, while employees seek leadership, soft skills, and strategic thinking
One workforce, many learners: Gen X values expert-led formats, Gen Y prefers structured flexibility, and Gen Z wants immersive, on-demand learning — yet 63% of HR leaders do not tailor programs by generation
Skilling design vs learner preference: While 80% of GenZ train under managers, nearly 50% prefer self-paced or third-party learning formats
Low investment, low ROI: 60% of HR Leaders allocate under 5% of HR budgets to skilling; 61.5% of CHROs report no measurable impact
Format fatigue: 50% of GenZ equate skilling with preset digital modules, but 45% want interactive, real-world learning
upGrad Enterprise Report Highlights
“There’s a serious skilling gap emerging; we see companies budgeting annually but there’s very little to no skilling provided to employees. Let’s not forget that the pace of technology is outstripping organisational readiness, and we are not ready for the ripples it’s going to create very soon. With this report, we want to go out with a strong message that in a multigenerational workplace, skilling — AI-focused and embedded with soft skills — must adapt to the learner’s needs, and not the other way around,” said Srikanth Iyengar, CEO, upGrad Enterprise.
“Without personalized, real-time, and career-aligned learning, training becomes a checkbox activity – ineffective at best, costly at worst. This is where, our decade-long experience has been enabling us to design industry-relevant pedagogy and content, rooted in deep learner intelligence. We leverage workforce data effectively to craft adaptive learning journeys that align individual career aspirations with organisational goals, and ensure skills are not just acquired, but applied meaningfully for business impact,” highlighted Iyengar.
“Our goal with this report was to spark action, not just conversation, by grounding our insights in unassailable data and living our belief that ‘data or it didn’t happen.’ What sets ‘Skilling Smarter’ apart is its dissection of the multifaceted challenges of a multigenerational workforce, built upon insights from over 12,300 professionals. This was a deliberate effort to ensure diverse representation and bring serious numbers to bear on serious issues. This rigorous foundation allows us to provide concrete, actionable frameworks for India Inc. As a leader in lifelong learning, upGrad understands the imperative of tailoring education to the learner. This report is our contribution to helping CHROs, L&D heads, and CXOs unlock the full potential of their talent investments by fostering a culture of relevant, outcome-linked, and truly impactful learning” added Shirin Rai Gupta, Director – Marketing, upGrad Enterprise.
The report serves as a strategic guide for CHROs, L&D heads, and CXOs, offering practical frameworks to future-proof their talent investments. It advocates for deeper personalisation, cross-generational thinking, and outcome-linked learning.
About upGrad Enterprise
upGrad Enterprise, the Corporate Skilling and Development division of upGrad, Asia’s leading integrated skilling and workforce development company with over 10 million learners enrolled to date, creates impact at scale through its world-class learning programs and tailor-made training solutions. upGrad Enterprise partners with mid and large organisations to equip their workforce with market-ready skills and mindsets that drive success.
With a network of 3000 corporate partners and an impressive 90%+ training completion rate, upGrad Enterprise excels in delivering tailored skilling programs in high-demand fields such as AI and technology. Its offerings include corporate upskilling, government projects, and a train-and-deploy model for Global Capability Centres (GCCs) of leading and Fortune 500 brands, strengthening organisational leadership with new-age skill sets as they spread their footprint across Indian metropolitan cities.
These solutions span the employee lifecycle to facilitate digital and business transformation in alignment with organisational goals, leading to capability building and value generation. A two-gold Award recipient at the Brandon Hall, upGrad Enterprise trained over 600,000 professionals in a single year during FY24.
This article has been contributed by Kinjal Vora, Founding Team & Growth Leader, Drona HQ.
Launching a new SaaS product can be overwhelming, but with the right framework, messaging, and go-to-market (GTM) plan, marketers can set the stage for a successful rollout. In this guide, I’ll share a detailed blueprint to help you navigate your product launch, using real-life examples from how we approach launches at DronaHQ.
Launching a SaaS Product: A Step-by-Step Guide for Marketers
Step 1: Identify Your Target Audience & Stakeholders
Start by understanding your ecosystem. A product may have multiple stakeholders:
Users: Developers, backend engineers, business users
Also, study your indirect competition. Sometimes you’re not just competing with other SaaS tools—you’re competing with spreadsheets, outdated processes, or custom codebases built in React or Angular.
Example from DronaHQ: We discovered that many of our users were backend engineers who were struggling with frontend tasks. Instead of competing just with platforms like Retool or Salesforce Lightning, we also competed with Excel sheets and a homegrown UI built on React.
Step 2: Understand Pain Points and Craft Targeted Messaging
Every stakeholder feels pain differently:
Developers might struggle with React or frontend frameworks.
Engineering managers might be frustrated that backend engineers are being pulled into frontend grunt work.
CTOs might worry about scalability and tech debt.
Avoid focusing only on features. Instead, frame your messaging around emotional triggers and value outcomes, like saving time, avoiding burnout, or reducing tech debt.
Tip: Build separate messaging frameworks for each stakeholder.
Step 3: Choose Your Go-To-Market Strategy
Is your product suited for product-led growth (PLG)? Or do you need a sales-led motion? Often, a hybrid approach works best.
GTM Motions:
Freemium: No credit card required, limited features
Free Trial: Full access for a limited time (e.g. 15/30 days)
DronaHQ Example: We started with a 15-day trial, but learned it wasn’t enough for teams to build meaningful apps. We extended it to 30 days, coupled with engineering support to help backend developers quickly achieve their “aha” moment.
Step 4: Build a Thoughtful Inbound Motion
Key decisions to make:
Will you allow Gmail or only business email sign-ups?
Do users need to enter credit card details to try the product?
What qualifies a lead as high-intent?
Build journeys that help users self-discover the product. Support them with contextual nudges, in-product chat, or expert intervention when needed.
Step 5: Define Whether You’re Vertical or Horizontal
Understanding whether your product is vertical (industry-specific) or horizontal (function-specific) will guide your targeting, positioning, and channels.
Vertical SaaS: E.g. Clinic management, KYC automation
Horizontal SaaS: E.g. HRMS, CRM, support tools
DronaHQ’s Case: We’re industry and function-agnostic. Users build everything from HRMS to logistics tools on our platform. This means our content and outreach must cater to a wide variety of roles across industries.
Step 6: Create a Multi-Layered Content Strategy
Based on your stakeholder map, plan different types of content:
Developers: API docs, tutorials, how-to videos
EMs & CTOs: Thought leadership, use cases, ROI calculators
Business Users: Walkthroughs, solution explainers
Each content piece should:
Target a specific stakeholder
Be optimised for relevant channels (e.g. Reddit, LinkedIn, Discord, Product Hunt)
Don’t wait for GA to build momentum. Start early with a waitlist landing page. Tell people:
Why you’re building this
Who it’s for
What problem it solves
Promote your beta waitlist via:
Product Hunt, Hacker News
Developer communities
Existing user base
DronaHQ Example: Before launching DronaHQ AI, we created a separate site (dronahq.ai) and built a waitlist from our website and community. Early feedback helped us prioritise features and fine-tune messaging.
Step 8: Run Events and Community Activities
Create different types of engagement for different personas:
Live builds for developers (e.g. “Bring your own API”)
Hackathons and workshops with tech partners like MongoDB
Meetups for SaaS founders, engineering leaders, and business teams
Podcasts & PR featuring real customer stories
Referral programs to spread the word organically
Step 9: Set Up a Flexible Martech Stack
Avoid bloated setups early on. Start simple:
Visitor tracking
Lead scoring & CRM
Email automation (inbound + nurture)
Product usage insights
Performance marketing integrations
At DronaHQ: We built many tools ourselves using our platform—including CRM, lead scoring system, onboarding flow, ticketing, and even email automation. This helped us reduce tool overhead while customising the stack to our workflow. We might have started with other tools and slowly replaced them with our very own custom tool, but we still use some ready SaaS marketing products too.
Step 10: Performance Marketing (Start Lean, Then Scale)
Email is a high-leverage channel if used right. Segment your communication by journey stage:
Inbound leads: Educational sequences
Cold leads: Re-introduction and credibility-building
Customers: Feature launches, product updates
Churned users: Re-engagement and feedback
Final Thoughts
Launching a SaaS product is not a one-time campaign—it’s an evolving process. From identifying spreadsheet users as indirect competitors to building our own Martech stack, every step at DronaHQ has taught us to:
Focus on clarity over complexity
Iterate fast based on real feedback
Build for stakeholders, not just users
Start lean, stay customer-obsessed, and don’t be afraid to rework your playbook. That’s how we do it—and it’s how you can too.
According to a renowned media outlet, OpenAI is purchasing io, a gadget firm that CEO Sam Altman and renowned Apple designer Jony Ive have been secretly working on for two years, in an all-equity deal valued at $6.5 billion.
Ive and his design company, LoveFrom, will now oversee creative and design work at OpenAI as part of the unique agreement that was revealed on May 21. In a post on X on May 21, Altman said he was excited to be working with Jony, the world’s best designer. “I am eager to try to develop a new generation of AI-powered computers,” he continued.
New Partnership all Set to Transform AI World
One of Apple’s past design leaders, renowned for creating numerous iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Apple Watches, is now at the leading edge of the newest technological trend, generative AI, thanks to OpenAI and Ive’s partnership.
OpenAI has greatly increased its consumer business since the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. Fidji Simo, the CEO of Instacart and a former Meta executive, was hired by the company earlier this month to head its consumer applications. In the consumer hardware market, Ive might enable OpenAI to directly compete with Apple, increasing pressure on the iPhone manufacturer.
Apple has had difficulty creating AI features in recent years that can compete with the newest OpenAI and Google technologies. According to a report published by a media house, Io employs about 55 engineers, scientists, researchers, physicists, and product development specialists, all of whom will join OpenAI.
Numerous workers at io are former Apple designers who contributed to the creation of the company’s most recognisable products, such as Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan. Ive is still in charge of his design company, LoveFrom, which will carry on on its own.
Io will create AI-powered consumer electronics and other initiatives under OpenAI. According to reports, Altman and Ive have been developing a tool that takes users “beyond screens.” The first products from Ive and Altman are expected to launch in 2026, according to a media outlet. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ive will play a wide range of responsibilities, contributing to ChatGPT’s future iterations and more.
OpenAI to $5 Billion to Fully Acquire io
According to a source in a prominent media outlet, OpenAI already possessed a 23% ownership in io as part of an agreement between the two businesses last year. Accordingly, OpenAI will make the largest acquisition in its history by paying $5 billion to entirely acquire io, the company that makes ChatGPT.
According to reports, last year, the OpenAI Startup Fund invested separately in io. Altman stated in an OpenAI video that the goal of io is to develop a line of AI tools that will enable users to create “all sorts of wonderful things” using AI. He is certain that all he has learnt “over the last 30 years has led me to this place and this moment,” Ive stated.
Ive claimed that the first AI gadget he is developing has “completely captured” his imagination. AI technology is still in its early stages of development.
Altman was an early investor in Humane, another AI hardware startup that created an AI-powered “pin” and was started by former Apple employees. Humane was sold to HP, and its gadgets were sunsetted following a string of missteps.
Data Sutram, a B2B SaaS firm with a focus on Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), has raised $9 million (about INR 77 crore) in Series A funding, headed by Lightspeed Venture Partners and B Capital. There were both primary and secondary agreements in the round.
Rajit Bhattacharya, the founder and CEO of Data Sutram, told a media outlet that several of the original angel investors have also partially left the current fundraising effort, although he would not reveal their names.
With the new funding, the Kolkata-based business intends to improve its fraud detection system. It also seeks to serve a broader range of high-risk industries, such as insurance, e-commerce, gaming, real-time payments, cryptocurrencies, and fast commerce. The company’s previous concentration was only on the banking and lending industries.
With about 65 employees now, Data Sutram also wants to increase its personnel. Bhattacharya stated, “This investment will enable us to expand our customer base, improve our product offering, and fortify our global presence in order to serve more businesses and institutions worldwide.”
Growing Fraudulent Activities in BFSI Sector
The banking industry has seen an increase in fraud instances involving mule accounts. Additionally, the number of non-performing assets in NBFCs has increased to a concerning level.
In order to provide risk and fraud detection services to the nation’s BFSI industry, three college friends—Bhattacharya, Ankit Das, and Aisik Paul—founded Data Sutram in 2018. The firm protects consumer onboarding and gives banking and financial institutions a “Trust Score” with its flagship product, DS Authenticate.
Data Sutram’s AI-powered tool, which is supported by data gathered from over 250 sources, alerts its clients to any fraudulent behaviour when they open accounts or disburse loans. Additionally, the startup offers a suite of products called DS Find, DS Markets, and DS Collect, which aid in client acquisition, offer superior market insights, and create opportunities for cross-selling and upselling, respectively.
According to the IIFL-backed business, its clients have seen a 45% decrease in fraud instances. Among the clients are companies such as HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Tata Capital, and Amazon Pay.
Financial Outlook of Data Sutram
In 2023, under the direction of the Bharat Fund, Data Sutram last raised $3 million. To date, it has garnered over $15 million in fundraising, with investors including Indian Angel Network, IIFL Fintech Fund, and 100X.VC.
Financially speaking, Tofler reports that the startup’s standalone operational revenue increased by about 23% to INR 5.4 Cr in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2024 (FY24), from INR 4.4 Cr in the prior fiscal year. Nonetheless, Data Sutram’s net loss more than doubled from INR 4.75 Cr in FY23 to INR 10.83 Cr over the reviewed period.
According to Bhattacharya, the firm has successfully decreased its increasing deficit in FY25 and plans to break even within the next year. As investors rush to support AI-driven SaaS firms, SaaS startups in India raised $2.1 billion in funding last year, a 31% YoY increase, according to the “Indian Tech Startup Funding Report 2024”. In addition, the SaaS industry in India is anticipated to expand quickly.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations.
Anything that has to do with real estate, specifically as a purchaser has always been convoluted and annoying. The constant push from the sellers, nagging from the middlemen, lack of fluid communication, and running helter-skelter to get the paperwork done are some of the common horrors in the world of real estate. Was it meant to be this way?
Yes, many of us have pondered on the scene on several occasions but without any outcome. Akhil Gupta, Amit Agarwal, and Saurabh Garg also thought of improving this gloomy scenario and found a solution in the form of NoBroker. Founded in 2014, NoBroker is aBangalore-based startup in the real estate search domain, that connects flat and property owners with tenants and buyers directly through their platform, thereby making buying, selling, and renting properties simpler, transparent, and affordable.
NoBroker claims to handle around $2 billion worth of transactions on its platform each year and saves INR 130 crores of brokerage monthly. The platform helped Indian real estate customers save around INR 1,100 crores worth of brokerage in 2020. The company further strives to help the Indians usher in a new era of smooth and easy real estate transactions minus the “brokers.” The startup became a unicorn on November 23, 2021.
StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Saurabh Garg, Co-Founder & CBO of NoBroker to get insights on the Startup Journey and the Growth Story of NoBroker. Read on to learn about NoBroker company, its owner, business model, revenue model, competitors, founders, revenue, funding & more.
NoBroker is a disruptive force in the real estate sector that uses innovative technologies to connect property owners, buyers, and renters with the help of a single platform.
Here’s what NoBroker has to say about their mission:
Our mission is to lead India’s real estate industry towards an era of doing real estate transactions in a convenient and brokerage-free manner.
NoBroker – Real Estate Industry Details
India’s real estate market was worth $477 billion in 2022. It is projected to grow to $1 trillion by 2030 and $5.17 trillion by 2047. Furthermore, the market size of the real estate sector in India, which was estimated to be around US$ 120 billion in 2017, will be expected to grow to US$ 1 trillion by 2030 and will contribute nearly 13% to the country’s GDP by 2025.
In FY23, India’s residential real estate market experienced unprecedented growth, with home sales reaching a record high of INR 3.47 lakh crore ($42 billion), marking a substantial 48% year-on-year increase. This surge underscores the sector’s potential, with forecasts suggesting its contribution to India’s GDP could rise to 15.5% by 2047, expanding the real estate sector to a projected $5.8 trillion.
Besides, Indian firms are also expected to raise more than $48 billion with the help of infrastructure and real estate investment trusts in 2022 when compared to raised funds, which are worth $29 billion to date, according to ICRA.
NoBroker company was founded by Amit Kumar Agarwal, Akhil Gupta, and Saurabh Garg.
“I first met Akhil when we were studying at IIT Bombay and Amit at IIM Ahmedabad. Convincing them was not tough, as we all had our fair share of hassle when looking for properties” says Saurabh Garg, Co-founder & CBO, NoBroker.
Amit Kumar Agarwal: Co-founder and CEO of NoBroker
Akhil Gupta: Co-founder, Chief Tech and Product Officer of NoBroker
Saurabh Garg: Co-founder and CBO of NoBroker
NoBroker company currently operates with a team of 1000+ highly motivated individuals consistently working to offer better services to over 30 million registered users across Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Delhi-NCR.
Amit Kumar Agarwal: Co-founder & CEO, NoBroker
Amit Agarwal is a banking and finance veteran, with over 15 years of experience in the banking and finance sector in management consulting and strategy. He had previously worked with leading global entities like PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he collaborated with numerous renowned Indian and foreign banks. Besides, he also garnered considerable experience of working with the top CXOs on several critical aspects, including the formulation of business strategy and the enhancement of on-ground profitability. He also displays a successful track record of guiding entry and portfolio strategy along with large-scale policy implementation and has won several industry accolades for his accomplishments.
In his role as the CEO of NoBroker.in, Amit spearheads the organization’s overall vision and direction and is responsible for defining and gilding its corporate strategies. Amit is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and IIM, Ahmedabad.
Akhil Gupta: Co-founder & CTO, NoBroker
Akhil is the Co-founder and Chief Tech and Product Officer of NoBroker and has been instrumental in building the foundation for NoBroker’s spectacular growth. Akhil holds a dual degree (B.Tech & M.Tech) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
He leads the entire tech vertical of the company and is responsible for building, scaling, and managing teams along with overseeing the business growth of NoBroker to promise a heightened customer experience. His commitment to efficiency and finding disruptive solutions to the most crucial business challenges has helped NoBroker offer some ground-breaking features like the AMP/PWA, and WhatsApp chat feature, along with the use of AI and ML to provide rent prediction and recommendations. These were some of the firsts in its league. Many of the products built at NoBroker serve as successful case studies at Google and Facebook.
Furthermore, Akhil also monitors the products of the company and is continuously engaged in making necessary amendments and improvements to them. Akhil had over a decade’s worth of experience before setting forth with NoBroker. He had previously worked with Oracle, where he had led several products in Siebel, Oracle Ebiz, and Oracle Sales Cloud, and was also responsible for filing a couple of patents for the same. He is currently associated with the world’s largest customer-to-customer real estate portal and is anticipating massive growth in the upcoming years.
Saurabh Garg: Co-founder & CBO, NoBroker
Saurabh Garg was also a student of IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad and as soon as he finished his studies, he set out with Hindustan Unilever Limited as a fresh graduate. Saurabh worked for the Sales and Marketing team of HUL and left the company after 3 years. Next, he founded Four Fountains De-Stress Spa, which was his first entrepreneurial leap. Saurabh is still serving as the Co-founder and Director of the Four Fountains Spa, which he founded back in May 2007.
His experience with Hindustan Unilever and as an entrepreneur helped him gain considerable experience. This has further benefitted him in his role as the Chief Business Officer at NoBroker.in. Saurabh’s role in the revolutionary real-estate platform is mainly to pursue strategic alliances with real estate developers and corporates to bring high-quality supply and demand at a low cost, thereby expanding the revenue stream. Saurabh contributed largely to building the marketing team from scratch and empowered them to take on new challenges and try new and disruptive solutions without fearing failure. This freedom to experiment is one of the reasons why NoBroker.in has achieved over 1 million app downloads within the first 3 years with surprisingly less marketing costs. The platform also has the lowest customer acquisition costs in the competitive Indian real estate sector.
Amid mounting social media criticism from dissatisfied customers, Saurabh Garg stated that the company is actively addressing concerns and harnessing artificial intelligence to resolve issues efficiently.
NoBroker – History and Startup Story
Reminiscing the startup journey of NoBroker.in, Saurabh Garg (Co-founder & CBO of NoBroker) says:
“We established NoBroker.in when we realized that the real estate search and discovery process was fragmented, opaque, inefficient, and full of hassles for the customer. The idea first germinated after the awful experiences that we personally had with brokers while looking for a property. All the other online platforms are also marketing platforms for brokers and it is very difficult to contact the owner/seller directly. This dependence on the broker made the experience horrible for the customer. Brokers subject customers to biases, pressures, and manipulations”
He continued –
“Through NoBroker.in, we wanted to empower Indian home-seekers to find a home of their choice in a hassle free manner without paying a hefty brokerage. We did not have a prototype or a model to copy from as this was a solution built for a problem unique to Indian real estate. Brokerage has been an accepted norm for generations and therefore, penetrating the market with as disruptive a solution was not easy. The idea was simple yet bold but we knew that there was a huge scope for it. We launched the website in March 2014. Once the customer understood the unique proposition, there was no turning back for us”.
NoBroker – Products and Services
NoBroker.in addresses the gap of information asymmetry that the Indian homebuyers face in its real estate market. Its disruptive solution connects property seekers with property owners, a process that earlier used to cost as much as 1-2 months of rent or 4% of the transaction amount as brokerage. The platform also provides personalized recommendations and assists with decision-making based on real-time data.
“We are the only platform in the C2C space that directly connects tenants and buyers with owners and sellers” Saurabh mentioned.
The platform offers end-to-end one-stop solutions for property seekers including services such as rental agreements, movers & packers services, home loans, interiors, special packages for NRIs, relocation services for corporates, remote property management services, etc. It also facilitates online rent payment via credit cards, debit cards, net banking, and UPI wallets.
NoBroker also promises to be a one-stop-shop for processing the paperwork and documentation, associated with the lease agreement registration, bank franking, police verification, and society approvals.
NoBroker Home Services – Along with serving as an excellent solution for home buyers and renters, NoBroker also extends a list of useful services for homes, which are:
Painting services
Cleaning services
Home sanitization services
AC repair services
Pest control services
Carpentry services
Plumbing services
NoBroker Furniture – NoBroker also offers a wide range of furniture to buy/rent and ease the process online. It helps in installing and free relocation of furniture, swapping old ones with new ones, and maintaining them.
The platform’s visitor and community management super app- NoBrokerHood is currently optimizing society living across 11,000 societies in Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Jaipur, and Kochi.
CallZen
CallZen, a platform for conversational AI, has been introduced by NoBroker on October 12, 2023. The Bengaluru-based company has already ventured into other verticals, such as apartment management software, home services, and beauty, so this is an entirely new business line for NoBroker.
NoBroker – Name and Logo
“The name had to be simple, self-explanatory and direct. So, when I saw that name NoBroker.in is available I booked it immediately back in 2007” says Saurabh.
NoBroker Logo
NoBroker – Business Model and Revenue Model
The business model of NoBroker acts as a digital peer-to-peer platform that allows homeowners/sellers and prospective tenants/buyers to connect directly without the involvement of a broker. It provides a subscription business model to customers who are looking to buy, sell, or rent a property.
NoBroker has 3 revenue models:
Freemium model for tenants
Freedom plan
Relax plan
MoneyBack plan
Apart from that, NoBroker also offers an array of home services like packers and movers, home cleaning, home painting, interiors, and a lot more. These are also among the notable sources of revenue for NoBroker.
Real estate is a huge sector and a vastly unorganized one. For generations, it had relied on traditional processes, which involved a third party. The history of brokerage services can also be traced down to the earliest establishments of real estate. The team, therefore, focused on the most fundamental challenge faced by real estate customers: the service they were receiving was not commensurate with what the customer paid for it.
As there was information asymmetry, people had no option but to rely on broker services. Real estate platforms have been around for decades and have tried to solve the issue of information asymmetry. However, they couldn’t keep brokers away from the system. This led brokers to exploit the system to their benefit.
“When I – along with my Co-founders Amit and Akhil – formed NoBroker.in, we were determined to use technology to address the gaps in the property discovery creating a platform that was 100% brokerage free” Saurabh added.
Their approach differed from the other online real estate platforms in that they were essentially tying up with property brokers and getting them to list properties on their platforms. On the other hand, the team connected owners with sellers and tenants with buyers directly. Because of this approach, NoBroker’s value proposition found a favorable reception from the customers. NoBroker has the highest number of owner-listed properties.
It bootstrapped for quite a few months. Getting investors to believe in its proposition was a challenge because the team did not have an existing successful model to convince them to back it.
“But we were sure of our resolve and our solution, and the needle moved when we raised our first $20 million”, Saurabh exclaims proudly.
The pandemic ironically offered a shot in the arm as people could not use offline services and relied heavily on online platforms to search and finalize a house. One way or the other, the value-conscious Indian customer has realized and appreciated NoBroker’s unique proposition and helped it grow.
NoBroker has raised a total funding of $430.9 million to date. The company raised INR 400M from its Series-E funding led by Google, dated March 1, 2023. This has shot the valuation of the startup to over a billion dollars, thereby making it India’s first proptech (property tech) unicorn startup and the 38th Indian startup to be a unicorn in 2021.
It also raised $210 mn from its Series E funding led by General Atlantic and Tiger Global Management, dated November 23, 2021, where the US-based Moore Strategic Ventures also joined later on.
Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Anand Chandrashekharan, ex-Facebook are among the angel investors in the company. Google, Tiger Global, General Atlantic, and BEENEXT are some of the popular investors fueling the brand.
With the successful completion of the upcoming round, the company is estimated to be valued at over $1 billion. However, the startup managed to raise more than that and eventually emerged as a unicorn.
The Funding and Investors’ details of NoBroker are as follows –
Date
Amount
Stage
Investors
March 1, 2023
INR 400 million
Series E
Google
November 23, 2021
INR 15.8 billion
Series E
General Atlantic, Tiger Global Management
April 16, 2020
$30 million
Series D
General Atlantic
November 5, 2019
$10 million
Venture Round
General Atlantic
October 1, 2019
$50 million
Series D
Tiger Global
September 11, 2019
$51 million
Venture Round
Tiger Global Management
June 5, 2019
$51 million
Series C
General Atlantic
June 4, 2019
$2.5 million
Debt Financing
Trifecta Capital Advisors
December 19, 2016
$7 million
Series B
KTB Ventures
February 24, 2016
$10 million
Series B
BEENEXT
February 23, 2015
$3 million
Series A
Fulcrum Ventures India, SAIF Partners
March 1, 2014
–
Angel Round
–
NoBroker – Shareholding
NoBroker’s shareholding pattern as of July 2024, sourced from Tracxn:
NoBroker Shareholders
Percentage
Amit Kumar Agarwal
6.8%
Akhil Gupta
6.8%
Saurabh Garg
5.3%
General Atlantic
31.1%
Tiger Global Management
13.9%
Elevation Capital
16.3%
Moore Ventures
4.6%
Beenext
4.4%
Beenos
1.4%
DG Incubation
1.3%
VD Investments
0.9%
KTB Ventures
1.6%
Rocketship
0.5%
Qualgro
0.4%
Youngmonk Trust
–
Fulcrum PE
–
DST Global
–
Trifecta Capital
–
Google
0.5%
Angel
1.2%
ESOP Pool
3.0%
Total
100.0%
NoBroker Shareholding
NoBroker – Financials
NoBroker has shown significant revenue growth over the years, but expenses have also increased, leading to continued losses. Below is a detailed financial breakdown from FY24 to FY20.
Particulars
FY24
FY23
Revenue
INR 803 crore
INR 609 crore
Expenses
INR 1299 crore
INR 1190 crore
Profit/Loss
INR -411 crore
INR -506 crore
NoBroker Financials
NoBroker EBITDA
NoBroker Financials
FY24
FY23
EBITDA Margin
-66.55%
-42.5%
Expense/INR of op Revenue
INR 1.62
INR 1.95
ROCE
-37.12%
-34.12%
NoBroker – ESOP
NoBroker announced the completion of its employee buyback worth INR 32.2 crore in a report dated March 15, 2022. The buyback program of the proptech unicorn promises to allow 95 former and current employees of the company to liquidate their stock options, which make up for 57% of total employees with ESOPs.
NoBrokerHood acquired Society Connect on February 11, 2020, to integrate the financial module with its services on one single platform and make society’s living easy and hassle-free.
NoBroker – Competitors
“As mentioned above, what differentiates us from other online real estate platforms is that ours is the only platform that is 100% brokerage free. We are not just enabling property discovery. We are a transaction platform and provide end to end solution. In that sense, we don’t have competition” says Saurabh.
NoBroker.in is a market leader in customer-to-customer real estate transactions and leading third-party endorsements have recognized the same,
NoBroker.in was part of the elite ‘Champions of Change’ with the Prime Minister of India organized by the NITI Aayog.
NoBroker.in has been recognized as the “Coolest Startup” by the India Today Group.
The company was distinguished as the most promising startup for 2017, a recognition that it received from the Govt. of Gujarat.
NoBroker was also recognized by Forbes Japan as one of the 20 hot startups in India.
NoBroker was listed as one of the top 100 startups (36 on readers rating) with gravity-defying momentum to look up to in 2017 by YourStory.
NoBroker bagged the Digital Marketer of the Year award by IAMAI in 2018.
Most recently, the company received an award at the Emerging Awards by Tracxn where it was declared as one of the topmost companies in Real Estate Tech from across the globe.
NoBroker won for Disintermediation of Real Estate Transactions in the category of Innovation in Real Estate at the 14th AGBA in April 2024.
NoBroker plans to expand its presence significantly in the Indian real estate market. They aim to reach 50 cities within the next three years, moving from their current base of 6 cities. This expansion is driven by strong demand and a focus on improving services through technology. NoBroker is actively pursuing AI-driven B2B services to increase profitability and eventually consider an IPO.
FAQs
Who are the Founders of NoBroker?
NoBroker was founded by Amit Kumar Agarwal, Akhil Gupta, and Saurabh Garg.
What is NoBroker?
NoBroker is a Bangalore-based real estate search portal, which helps connect flat owners with tenants/buyers directly and makes the buying-selling of real estate simpler. NoBroker removes the need for brokers in real estate-related dealings.
When was NoBroker founded?
NoBroker was founded in 2014.
What is NoBroker net worth?
NoBroker net worth as of March 2023 is $954 million.
How does NoBroker make money? What is NoBroker revenue model?
Around 70% of NoBroker’s revenue comes from the subscription plans it offers on various packages. Advertisementsfrom furniture start-ups also contribute significantly as NoBroker claims over 2.5 million users visit its website per month. NoBroker also earns revenueby offering services, such as connecting tenants with movers and packers, drafting rental agreements, and extending a wide range of home services.
What is NoBroker business model?
NoBroker follows a freemium model, offering broker-free real estate transactions. It earns revenue through subscription plans, advertising, home services, and financial products like rent payments and home loans. Its AI-driven platform connects buyers, sellers, tenants, and landlords directly, eliminating middlemen.
How NoBroker works?
NoBroker is a broker-free real estate platform that connects property owners with buyers or tenants directly. It uses AI-powered matching to suggest suitable listings and allows users to communicate without middlemen. The platform also offers value-added services like home loans, rent payments, legal help, and movers. It follows a freemium model, earning from subscriptions, ads, and services, while keeping basic property listings free.
Muskaan Kapoor
