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Toppr: A Journey into Student-Centric Learning and Innovative Solutions

The worldwide education sector is seeing a major shift towards online platforms in the quickly changing field of educational technology (EdTech), where digital transformation impacts the future of learning. As the need for customized and easily accessible learning experiences grows, EdTech is essential in meeting the many needs of students in today’s dynamic learning environment.

In the evolving EdTech landscape, Toppr stands out as a dynamic platform, redefining learning by placing students at its core. It addresses the changing demands of learners in the digital era by exploring the larger EdTech context. Toppr anticipates a time when learning is an immersive experience and responds to the demands of education today with tailored learning paths and creative solutions.

In this article, let’s explore the world of Toppr—its founders, business and revenue model, funding, growth, and more

Even amidst the unprecedented times of the Covid19, one sector that has seen exponential growth is the EdTech industry. With the nationwide lockdown, as announced at the end of March, and many other successive lockdowns and strictures in numerous Indian metropolitan cities, most industries faced severe roadblocks to barely run their operations let alone, maintain or improve profitability. However, amidst the pandemic, online education and e-learning platforms have seen astonishing adoption and growth. This, however, is not surprising because the educational institutions are shut, making 1.5 billion students resort to a variety of digital education sites like Toppr to ensure learning continues. The company had seen good growth before it was acquired by Byju’s on July 24, 2021, in a deal consisting of cash and equity shares, as it acquired Great Learning.

According to a report by BARC India and Nielson, there has been a 30% increase in the time spent on education apps on smartphones since the lockdown. The Edtech sector worth Rs 15,000 crore, has been battling challenges with the low B2C market penetration. The current surge of usage is thus, proving to be pivotal.

Edtech startups are attracting many more investors in the post-Covid19 world, thanks to the increased adoption of digital learning during the lockdown. The learning app Toppr focused on students in classes 5 to 12 and had managed to raise around $112.1 million till July 29, 2020, it’s Series D funding round. Toppr had previously competed with unicorn companies like Byju, Unacademy, Vedantu, Meritnation and more. However, after it was acquired by the edtech giant, Toppr’s revenue declined. The revenue of Toppr noticeably shrunk by 40% in FY21, as per the reports dated January 19, 2022.

After the lockdown subsided, and the coronavirus became less active in terms of potency and the people affected, the edtech sector has been seeing a huge downfall. Layoffs or job cuts and decreased security now wrap the edtech domain. So, here’s learning about when Toppr was founded, how it has served in the pandemic, Toppr’s funding, Toppr’s business model, Toppr revenue, valuation and more.

Toppr – Company Highlights

Company Name	Toppr
Headquarters	Mumbai, Maharashtra
Founded On	2013
Founders	Zishaan Hayath and Hemanth Goteti
CEO	Zishaan Hayath
Employees	501-1000
Operating Revenue	$6.80 mn (Rs 50.6 crore in FY21)
Products & Services	Toppr Learning App

About Toppr
Growth of Toppr During Covid Pandemic
Toppr – Subscriptions
Toppr – Educational Products
Toppr – Funding
Toppr – Business and Revenue Model
Toppr – Growth and Revenues
Toppr – Layoffs

About Toppr

The logo of Toppr

Toppr is a Mumbai-based Edtech startup, which had seen a 100% growth in paid users on a monthly basis, with free user engagement witnessing a 100% spike. The company was founded in 2013 and offered questions, solutions, concepts, practice tests, videos, and more to students. It also prepared them for competitive entrance exams such as IIT-JEE mains, BITSAT, and NEET.

When the platform announced free access to live classes and video classes, the CEO and Founder of Toppr, Zishaan Hyath said, “in the view of the evolving situation around the Covid19 pandemic, many schools are shut, hence why we are making Toppr live classes completely free for all students in classes 5 to 12. Besides that, our video classes have always been available as a free learning resource”.

Growth of Toppr During Covid Pandemic

The Edtech firms have also taken to the digital media to acquire users and inform people about the free live classes on offer. There had been a 128% growth in digital ad spending by edtech apps during the lockdown, as per the BARC Nielson report. It is not just the big players that spent on advertising as they also acquired an impressive count of users abroad.

Amid Covid, there were more than a dozen Edtech startups including Byju’s, Vedantu, etc., that have raised funding as investors through platforms that have registered strong growth during the pandemic. The learning sessions on its app per month had also witnessed a 2x growth, which was 14 to 15 million before Covid and became 32 million post-lockdown.

Toppr already had around 60,000 students on its learning platform and was aggressively seeking to bring around 2.4 lakh students onboard. The Edtech segment is likely to be on a roll ahead as investors globally are expected to put $87 billion in the world market over the next 10 years. The Indian market is also believed to grow at over 20% per annum to hit $2 billion sizes by 2021.

Though Toppr, which is now a part of Byju’s, showed good growth in FY20’s financials when the company recorded its operational revenues at Rs 84.3 crore from Rs 56.4 crore, which it saw in FY19, FY21’s revenues for Toppr dipped by 40% to stand at Rs 50.6 crore. The last known Toppr valuation was over $100 mn, when it was sold to Byju’s.

Toppr – Subscriptions

The company had emerged as the highest traffic destination for K-12 learning and hosted over 1 million sessions every day. The community of 50,000 educators from across the country had contributed to the platform with over 35 lakh learning pieces, including questions, solutions, concepts, games, and videos curated for the students.

This is was because the annual subscription for the academic year 2020 to 2021 on Toppr started at Rs 20,000, which is cheaper than its competitors. For example, Vedantu’s annual subscription for all subjects for a class 10 student costs Rs 48,599. Given the high costs, the penetration of Edtech platforms was limited, which is why Toppr decided to bring down the cost of their subscription to get more users to the platform.

Some of the well known competitors of Toppr — Some of the well-known competitors of Toppr

Furthermore, the company changed its product strategy and created packages of shorter duration to help people tide over the current crisis. Toppr now has a 3 month and six-month package, starting at just Rs 3000. Both Toppr and Byju’s have registered an increase in paid users during the lockdown, Toppr has seen a four-fold increase, while Byju’s has seen its paid subscriptions double. However, things toppled in FY21, when the company’s operational revenue plunged by 40%.

Toppr – Educational Products

Apart from the main product, which is the school learning app, Toppr also spends on teaching coding to kids and their school operating system (OS) built for teachers and administrators. Toppr School OS is an app for schools and teachers through which they can map curriculum, plan lessons and manage class timetables, automate attendance, assign homework.

Toppr school is an artificial intelligence-based Operating System to run “in school” and “afterschool” learning, creating a standardized and personalized experience. This helps in continuing to engage and explore various features and includes parents and students who are trying online learning as a go-to learning resource in these difficult times.

It also helps in taking tests, correcting test papers, etc. during or after school hours to save time. On the other hand, the coding product, which is called Toppr codr, launched recently, is another opportunity for the company to raise at least $50 million, if let’s say, the overall opportunity for us in digital learning is around $200 million.

Toppr – Funding

Toppr raised a total of $112.1M in funding over 11 rounds. The latest funding of Toppr was raised on Jul 29, 2020, from a Series D round as edtech startups continue to benefit from the pandemic-driven online learning boom. This last round of Toppr funding was worth $44.31 mn. A Dubai-based investment firm, Foundation Holdings, led the fresh investments into the Mumbai-based e-learning platform. Existing investors such as Kaizen Private Equity also participated, according to a statement.

Date	Name of the Funding Round	Deal Value	Lead Investors
July 29, 2020	Series D	$44.31 mn	Foundation Holdings
June 12, 2020	Series C	$189.90K	Kaizenvest
April 10, 2019	Debt Financing	$5.57 mn	Milestone Trustee Services
December 19, 2018	Series C	$35 mn	–
May 9, 2018	Debt Financing	$1.96 mn	Alteria Capital
October 23, 2017	Series B	$5.69 mn	–
April 24, 2017	Venture Round	$336K	WGG International
October 30, 2015	Debt Financing	$2 mn	–
May 7, 2015	Series B	$10 mn	Eight Roads Ventures, Helion Ventures, Elevation Capital
May 24, 2014	Seed Round	$2 mn	–

Toppr – Business and Revenue Model

The Toppr business model is similar to a freemium business model, which remains the same even after it is acquired by the edtech giant, Byju’s. The company offers free live and offline classes, which can be availed full-fledged if the users go for paid subscriptions. The majority of the Toppr income comes from the classes and their subscription fees. The Toppr revenues witnessed a 3X growth between 2016-2019, where revenues received from the students from 5th-12th grade was equally split.

Toppr – Growth and Revenues

The operating revenues of Toppr grew by 49.5% to $11.44 mn (Rs 84.3 crore) during FY20 from $7.65 mn (Rs 56.4 crore) earned in FY19. Furthermore, the income from financial assets of Toppr also witnessed a 46% growth to nearly $814K (Rs 6 crore) during FY20.

Looking at the side of expenses of the company, Toppr spent around $27.63 mn (Rs 203.7 crore) in total during FY20. Thus, it has registered a 31.6% increase when compared to the aggregate costs, which were Rs 154.8 crore during FY19. Coming to the unit level, Toppr has spent Rs 2.41 to earn a single rupee of revenue during FY20, which can be stated as a marginal improvement from what it was during FY19.

However, it is evident that Toppr failed to save its scale in terms of its financial performance in FY21 when BYJU’S acquired edtech startup reported a 6.2X of cash outflow, which increased from Rs 20.74 crore in FY20 to Rs 128.07 crore during FY21. The revenue of the company in FY20 was recorded to be Rs 84.32 crore, which plunged by 40%, thereby recorded at Rs 50.6 crore. The company has also been noted to have lost Rs 128.3 crore in FY21, which increased by 13.1%.

Coming to the unit level, Toppr spent Rs 3.54 to earn a single rupee of revenue. This is reported to be around 46.3% more in contrast to what Toppr spent (Rs 2.42) during FY20. Besides, the acquisition of the company might also be a result of Toppr’s inability to raise follow-on capital, and to scale.

Toppr – Layoffs

Toppr has announced that it would be firing close to 300 employees as of June 30, 2022. This news came when BYJU’S owned WhiteHat Jr. has already reported laying off around 300 employees. The Toppr layoffs would be close to 300 with immediate effect, and this can also go up to 500 later on, according to some reports.

FAQs

When was Toppr founded and who is the founder of Toppr?

Toppr edtech startup has been founded by Zishaan Hayath and Hemanth Goteti in 2013.

Who are Toppr’s competitors?

Some of the top competitors of Toppr are:

Unacademy
Brainly
Meritnation
Vedantu
Khan Academy
TutorVista
Mockbank
Embibe
WizIQ

What is Toppr codr?

Toppr codr is an app for learning coding made specifically for kids.

What is the revenue of Toppr in FY21?

The revenue of Toppr stood at INR 50.60 crore in FY21, which decreased by 40% from INR 84.32 crore in FY20.

Is Toppr acquired by Byju’s?

Yes, Byju’s acquired both Toppr and Great Learning on July 24, 2021. Therefore, Toppr currently stands acquired by Byju’s.

June 30, 2022

5 key trends in the fintech industry

Fintech is a rapidly growing industry. It develops and provides both, new solutions to customers and technology for financial institutions. What does the Polish fintech industry look like right now? What trends are currently key ones in this sector? Find answers to these and other questions in this paper.

What a fintech is?

Before presenting the key trends in the fintech industry, first it should be explained what the word means and how such companies operate. Fintech is an acronym based on the English phrase – financial technology, which is characteristic for companies that develop digital solutions related to the money circulation. Their hallmark is innovation and the fact that they do not have stationary branches serving customers. Hence, they operate online offering digital solutions. What else is characteristic for fintech companies? Worth of mentioning is, e.g., the specific business model that such companies adopt. It is based on provision of one specific service and, as a result, fintechs operate in the areas of online exchange, mobile payments or delivery of technology.

An issue worth emphasizing in the context of fintechs is certainly a flexible approach to communication with customers, i.e., a perfectly designed User Experience (customer experience) strategy. Thanks to this fact fintech companies have been growing rapidly and becoming a real competition for banks. This is possible thanks to solutions tailored to the individual needs of customers and the ability to flexibly modify the offer adjusting it to the current market situation. It is the flexibility, creativity and high dynamics that are the main strengths of fintechs, which have established themselves in the financial market in recent years.

Profile of the Polish fintech industry

Poland is a local leader in fintech solutions, as our country is home to the largest number of fintechs in Central and Eastern Europe. Their total number exceeds 300 and the industry includes both small companies and enterprises that have achieved international success, so that they are now recognized around the world. It is worth noting that the Polish fintech industry has been growing dynamically. It is evidenced by the fact that most of Polish fintechs were established in the last 3-5 years. What else makes them unique? First of all – diversity. Both in terms of the services offered and the operating model as they are Polish start-ups and enterprises that have grown really extensively. It is also worth noting that they not only offer services to end customers, but they also operate as technology suppliers to banks and financial institutions. Meanwhile, development of the industry is determined by trends that systematically appear on the market.

5 key trends in the fintech industry

The dynamic development of the fintech industry is largely effect of competition between fintechs and financial institutions. As a result, these companies have been systematically creating solutions that are offered to customers. What are the current trends in the industry? Here are 5 key ones that are sure to influence the future of the finance sector.

Embedded banking

Embedded banking, or in Polish, literally, “sewn-in banking” is one of the most significant trends in fintech today. What is it? In this case the solution means additional banking or insurance services and products offered by companies that on a daily basis generally deal with something else. This enables them not only to attract new customers and thus, a source of income, but also to keep them for longer. As a rule, these companies usually cooperate with fintechs, which create specific solutions for them and support them on the way of offering such services to customers.

Robo-consultants

Fintechs are companies offering their own solutions to end customers, but they also cooperate with banks or other financial institutions. One of the most important levels in this case is cost optimization. It can be achieved by implementing virtual assistants or bot consultants. Such solutions are created by fintechs and the robo-consultants themselves are able not only to guarantee the highest quality of service, but also to make an impression one talks to a live human being. This is due to the artificial intelligence and machine learning. Big data, i.e. the processing of huge amounts of data, is also important in this case since it enables bots to predict future customer behavior and interact with them.

Technology

Cooperation between fintechs and financial institutions also includes provision of technology. This is mutually beneficial, as fintechs can establish and develop new solutions, while financial institutions or banks implement them into their systems via APIs. As a result, their offer expands to include innovative services, a trend confirmed by experts of X Open Hub, a fintech that provides technology to more than 100 companies in 30 countries around the world.

Fintech solutions in the B2B model have also gained popularity in recent years. Why? B2B start-ups significantly accelerate development of financial architectures of larger enterprises, frequently enabling combining innovative services with existing IT structures in an efficient and secure way due to the APIs. Comment by Sylwester Jezierski, Marketing Manager in X Open Hub.”

Voice payments

One of the most significant trends in the fintech industry is implementation and development of voice assistants. As a result, it is possible to make payments based on the voice-controlled services. This is a very convenient solution, thanks to which it is also possible to check account balances or make traditional transfers. Voice payments are also a great convenience for blind people, who can thus be more independent.

Automation of processes

Fintechs are also making efforts to automate processes in the financial industry. They create solutions that enable, among other things, monitoring of payments or issuing preliminary (system) credit decisions. Result of these activities is not only reduction in operating costs, but also improved efficiency.

In conclusion, it should be said that the key current trends in the fintech sector contribute to development of this sector and moreover, to financial services sector as a whole. They also provide a basis for cooperation between fintech and the banking sector.

June 30, 2022
Top 10 Signup Forms Examples to Take Inspiration From
Anyone visiting a website must have come across the signup forms. The signup form is a synonym for the website’s pop-up or modal. Some of the forms are very simple, while others are not. Users often don’t like a signup form popping up due to how sudden it is and how it delays the website’s experience.

However, no matter the case, these forms are important for a website. These help the website to have your contact details and also keep you updated on everything the website comes up with.

In this article, we will go through some of the best signup form examples.

What Are Signup Forms, and Why Are They Important?
Best Signup Forms Examples
- Google
- Netflix
- Airbnb
- Shopify
- Reddit
- Twitter
- PayPal
- Charlotte Tilbury
- Tasty
- Asana
What Are Signup Forms, and Why Are They Important?

Signup forms are a website’s pop-up or modal that needs to be filled out if the users wish to utilize services from the website. These signup forms usually ask for your name, contact information like email and an account password.

Signup forms are important as it lets the website have a user’s contact and other information that helps them to recommend the best services. Moreover, for subscription-based and shopping websites, signup forms are crucial. They make sure you receive the right service or goods at the right address and on the right account.

What Visual Elements Do Customers Value on a Company’s Website?

Best Signup Forms Examples

Signup forms are necessary and they should be appealing too or at least, they shouldn’t make a user disinterested in the website. These forms often pop up too soon after opening the website. Some even have sayings like, “No, I’m not interested” as an alternative to signing up.

These usually lead to incomplete actions on the website as users start to lose interest. Websites need to make sure their signup forms do not make the user unhappy. They need to have signup forms that make users eager or happy to sign up. Thus, here are some of the top examples of signup forms of popular websites to take inspiration from:

Google

Google – Best Signup Forms Example

When talking about signup forms, Google happens to have one of the best ones. It is a very big company that deals with several websites, but its signup form is very simple.

Google has a very clear signup form. Its base colour is white with tones of blue. When it comes to the actual form, all you need to provide them with is your name, username and password. Google has also updated their security policies in recent years. They ask you to provide a recovery mobile number or email in case you cannot log into your account. All this happens during the signup. Thus, you can create a google account without any hassle, knowing that only you can log into it.

Netflix

Netflix – Best Signup Forms Example

Netflix happens to be one of the most successful and popular streaming platforms in the world. It pleases users with its shows worldwide. Such is the case with their signup forms.

Netflix has a very minimal signup page. Since it is a subscription-based platform, first, you have to choose a plan. After that, all you have to provide them with is your email and the password for your Netflix account. The very last step of this process is choosing your mode of payment. That’s all.

Netflix too keeps their signup form very simple. They keep it on a theme by having touches of red in the signup form. It looks very aesthetically pleasing to the users.

Airbnb

Airbnb – Best Signup Forms Example

Airbnb is one of the most successful companies in tourism. It doesn’t need any introduction regarding its quality of service. Their signup forms are great as well.

Airbnb has a very simple and visually pleasing signup form. They have kept a very minimalistic design. You are asked to provide either your phone number, email, or Apple or Facebook ID first and then, a verification code will be sent to your choice of contact detail. After verification, you have to add in your first and last name, date of birth and email. This is where the signup process ends.

While it might seem like we are asking for too much, it really doesn’t take too long to fill-up the form. There are three different steps to it, but they are easy and quick.

Shopify

Shopify – Best Signup Forms Example

It is a very diverse platform where anyone can sell their goods. They have done very well in the eCommerce sector. Shopify caters to all kinds of people. Their simple and easy-to-use signup form has made thousands of people use their services.

Shopify asks for the basic information when you’re signing up for a trial account. They just ask for your email, the name of your store and the password for your account. Thus, it is barely time-consuming.

Besides, Shopify has made its signup form page very simple. It doesn’t have many animations or complicated designs. Moreover, they have a quote, “Anyone anywhere can start an eCommerce website”. This is a further reassurance to users that they can have a successful eCommerce business on Shopify.

20 Best Practices to Create Email Sign Up Form | Sign Up Form Template

Sign up form design is most important part of a website. Here are some of the sign up form best practices which helps you to boost the Sign up pages design.

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Reddit

Reddit – Best Signup Forms Example

Reddit serves people with varying interests. Whatever your choice of topic might be, you will find content related to it on Reddit.

The app makes it easy for any kind of user to signup on to their website or app. All they ask for is your email and if you don’t want to provide that, you can provide them with your Apple ID as well. Either way, it’s only one contact information they ask for. After that, you’re all set to explore their services. Another interesting thing about Reddit’s signup form is that they tell you that it’ll take a few seconds. Hence, you know that you won’t have to wait long for the signup.

Twitter

Twitter – Best Signup Forms Example

Another signup form from which one can take inspiration is Twitter’s signup form. It’s a straightforward process involving a three-details-filling procedure, which makes it easy for users to enter their details.

Customizing the entire experience where you choose the updates, ads and people you know according to your preferences.

When you are on Twitter, you simply click on the preferences you want and your job is done! All of this makes Twitter’s signup form one of the best ones you can take inspiration from.

PayPal

PayPal – Best Signup Forms Example

It is no news that PayPal provides top-class service to the people. They also deal with private and delicate information on a daily basis.

PayPal first asks you for your mobile number and email. After that, there is other information you have to give in. Since PayPal requires a lot of information, the signup form is split up into multiple steps. It helps the process look clean. Multiple sign-up forms are always better than one lengthy sign-up form. They also show the users how many steps are there in total and how many they have completed.

PayPal, like many others, keeps it simple when it comes to their signup forms. The colours are on theme and the design is not complicated at all.

Charlotte Tilbury

Charlotte Tilbury – Best Signup Forms Example

Anybody aware of the makeup world knows how excellent this brand is. Their signup form is equally satisfying.

They do not ask for too much. The Charlotte Tillbury signup form just asks you for your email. That’s all. Moreover, they provide a discount coupon for just signing up. This is a good trick as it makes users more willing to sign up. Besides, they have an alternate option to signing up, which is, “Not this time”. It is respectful of the user’s choice and does not totally eliminate the chances of signup. By having this option, they are trying to convey that you might want to signup later, and that’s okay.

Charlotte Tillbury has a very simple yet effective signup form page and a highly inspiring one.

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Tasty

Tasty – Best Signup Forms Example

Almost everyone on Facebook has seen videos by Tasty on their timeline. Tasty has become the largest food networking platform.

When you open the website, you will see a bunch of appealing food pictures and that will make you scroll down enough to see the signup form. Unlike other websites, Tasty’s signup form is colourful and thus hard to miss. It also has pictures of food, which makes it very much on theme. The signup form is, however, very simple. They only ask for your email.

Tasty makes users more eager to signup by making the signup form simple and easy to find.

Asana

Asana – Best Signup Forms Example

Individuals working in a particular business, and wanting to have a simple yet effective work experience, shouldn’t miss out on a website like Asana.

Just as simple as Asana’s signup form is, the work experience and systematic approach to document entries are marvellous. Only by filling in your email address on their signup form, you will be able to access the wide variety of features, it offers. With the perfect colour combination and simple design, Asana’s signup form steals away the show anytime.

Conclusion

Signup forms are necessary, but they shouldn’t cause any inconvenience to the users. A user should feel comfortable while filling up a signup form. Unfortunately, many websites fail to provide that ease or comfort. There are a lot of mistakes that they can make when it comes to these forms. But the signup forms of the above-mentioned sites have proven to be easy to read and use. They are also visually pleasing. Hence, they can surely be taken as inspiration while designing signup forms.

FAQs

What is a sign up form?

A sign-up form is a pop-up or web page, where the users of a website are required to fill in the information necessary to utilize the services of a website.

What Makes a Good Sign-Up form?

A good sign-up form is one that is clear and easy to understand by the users. It should include clear instructions to avoid any kind of inconvenience to the users.

How do I improve my signup page?

The following tips will help you increase user sign-ups:
- Make your sign-up form easy.
- Add Call-to-Action.
- Make sign-up forms popup.
- Provide offers and guarantees to the users on sign-ups.
June 30, 2022
Top 10 Common Web Design Mistakes to Avoid in 2022
Do you know the feeling when you visit a website only to close its tab in the next five seconds? The average attention span of a user on a website is eight seconds. Your website could be a business, e-commerce, or your personal blog. Now, in the next eight seconds, you would like to create an impression on your audience or your customer which is positive. And grab their attention

You would not want them to switch to your competitors, make a terrible impression or increase the bounce rate on your website with a shoddy design. Where the color scheme is messy, the typography does not sit right with the brand, or just in general the UI is ineffective.

Basically, your website can be a deal-breaker for you. Every other business has its presence online, and having a website has become an integral part of being in the market and getting potential customers.

A good website with the right components, clean user interface, simplicity, functionality, color scheme, visuals, typography, and consistency can ensure that people will continue to browse, make a purchase or keep reading your blog.

So how can we have a website that has a balance of all of these? Further, we will explain what website design mistakes can be avoided to make sure your audience has a seamless browsing experience.

What Makes a Good Website?
Common Website Design Mistakes

What Makes a Good Website?

To avoid making website design mistakes, first, let’s try to understand what makes a website a good one. You might not be a graphic designer, or perhaps you are paying one to get your website design done. How do you make sure that your vision comes into being?

The design has principles, and again you don’t need to be a wizard to know all of it. Just the basic 6 principles that you can follow to get it right. Let’s take a look at what design principles are.

The six principles of design

Unity/ Harmony

Create repeating patterns with the elements having a regular repetition of elements that suggest movement or again create a rhythm. E.g., like a maze.

Balance

Arrange the elements in symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial forms to establish a sense of balance.

Hierarchy

As the name suggests, here you use the other principles and arrange design elements to how you want your users to view them.

Scale/proportion

Use size, ratio, and divisions to create visual harmony and establish a sense of the relationship between the elements.

Dominance/ Emphasis

Create an emphasis, establish a point of difference and bring the focus of your audience to the important aspects of your website by playing with highlights, color, and size.

Contrast

Group together elements that appear to be similar or share the same visual characteristics

While composing, put together the designs that have differences, e.g., the foreground and the backdrop of the web design with different colors.

Common Website Design Mistakes

Not Having a Call-To-Action (CTA) Button

A call to action can be anything that gives your users proof that you exist as an organization or a person. It further guides and encourages the user to take some kind of action on your webpage.

CTA Button Example

It could be something as simple as a subscribe button, a call, or a sign-up for the free online course that you are offering. In most cases, a call to action is highlighted or made through special buttons.

Too Much Loading Time of the Website and the Images

As mentioned before, the average attention span of a user on a website is 8 seconds. What would you do if you saw a banner ad somewhere and immediately became interested in the brand or the product/service that it is offering?

Following the button, you click on the link, and it takes you to a page that takes too much time to load. You become annoyed and immediately close the tab. It can be terrible for your business, especially if you are dealing in the industry of e-commerce with no app where your website on the internet is the only source available where your presence is.

Similarly, when you upload pictures, make smaller graphics that you use for your web are 300 KB or less with large or full-screen background images being no more than 1 MB.

Not Having Relevant Images and the Content

Let’s say you are an NGO that focuses on the education of less privileged children. But the content written on your website is about the meaning of the song that’s recently released, rather than giving out any information regarding what your organization is doing to make their lives better. It will definitely confuse your audience. Have content that is aligned to the purpose of your main purpose.

The same holds true for your visuals. If the image does not blend well with your content, you need to change it to a relevant one or get rid of it.

Having Complex and Dysfunctional Websites

Your website can be challenging to navigate, with problems with coding, expired or mismatched domain names, and broken internal links creating a dysfunctional website.

Another reason could be that you don’t have a secure HTML website, which makes your viewers doubt the security of your website. Resulting in a bad user experience and frustrating your audience.

Not Secure Website Example

Not Updating Your Content

Refreshing and updating your content is necessary because it indirectly influences response times. You can lose data and have your website crash due to outdated plug-ins and themes, and you might even experience auto-redirects to other websites that will hurt your SEO ranking and might even result in Google blacklisting you.

Lack of a Proper Layout, Color Scheme and Typography for Your Website

Some websites are too crowded with information, graphics, videos, and more. This will only increase the load time for the website and will make it difficult to read. Make use of whitespace, do not have too many elements cluttering your website.

If you have a high-end brand, choose a layout that can be aligned with the industry. Talking about branding, another mistake people make while designing a website is not selecting a proper color scheme and typography. And the whole website ends up looking like a clown with mismatched color palettes and fonts.

Cluttered Website Example

Each color represents something. When designing your website, try to keep color psychology in mind. And select your colors accordingly. The same rules apply to typography; it should suit your brand’s personality. Use fonts that are easy to read unless your brand screams funk, and have an appropriate font size.

Not having mobile-friendly websites

Websites designed just for desktops can be a problem when your user is browsing them from other devices like macOS, mobile devices, or tablets. The user experience is affected, and not in a good way. Have your website optimized for other devices and be mobile-friendly by building a responsive design for your site.

Having No Backlinks, Internal Links, or Links to Your Social Media Accounts

In simple terms, back linking is when a user is directed towards your website from another website to your website. The credibility of your website depends a lot on backlinks, especially for Google’s PageRank and SEO.

It confirms that your site has the relevant content related to the site linking to it and ensures quality. Backlinking is one of the most prominent elements in your SEO.

Internal linking is when your user is guided from one page to another on your website. It’s again important as search engines use these links to navigate your website. Linking your social media accounts to your website is one of the influential social media integration strategies.

It helps your audience connect to you on different platforms as well as makes it easy for them to find out more about you, which can also drive traffic to your page.

Lastly, if you are not using these practices on your website, you are missing out on a lot of actions that can give you an advantage over your competitors.

Not Having a Minimalistic and Clean User Interface

Less is more, and most of the time people underestimate the power of simplicity. But having a website design that is minimalistic in nature started growing around the early 2000s and the concept is booming today. By not having one, you increase the risk of complexity.

A minimalistic design will steer the focus of your viewers quickly to where you want to while cutting back on the clutter. Helping to present your content in a simple and direct way.

Similarly, a clean user interface will be easy in the eyes of the users, easy to read, and well organized. By not having a clean user interface, you make it difficult for your viewers to focus on one thing without getting distracted. You can refer to the principles of design to help achieve a clean and minimalistic user interface.

No SEO or Analytics

If you ignore the strategy of using SEO on your website, you miss out on the organic traffic that comes your way, and the ranking of your page is affected. One should always keep SEO in mind while creating a website, and at least know the basics of SEO.

Another key part of your website is analytics, which helps you understand your audience. Where is your audience from? What type of content do they like on your website the next time? And if you are an e-commerce site, you can use your metrics to scale up your sales game.

In addition, tracking outbound links will provide new opportunities for collaboration. You can also see what questions cause users to reach your site, your click-through rate (CTR), and your average position.

Conclusion

We looked at a lot of things that make a website perform badly. But as we conclude, let’s take a quick revision of the Do’s and the Don’ts, so you can avoid the mistakes while creating a website

What should your website consist of?
- Have a mobile-friendly website with a clean and minimalistic user interface.
- Follow the principles of design while creating your website.
- Have relevant visuals/ graphics and content that is relevant to your website. This also means having no pixelated or distorted images on your site. Optimize your images that have larger file sizes.
- Include SEO and analytics on your website to level up your ranking
- Have inbound and outbound links to your website and integrate linking your social media accounts to your website
- Make it a practice to align your typography and color scheme for your website with your brand’s personality.
- Don’t miss out on the call-to-action button.
- Make use of whitespace, don’t let your website be crowded or complex.
- Have your content refreshed and often updated with a clear message.
FAQs

What are some common website design mistakes

Not adding a CTA button, not having a mobile-friendly website, not having a clean and minimalistic design, and long loading time are some of the common website design mistakes web designers should avoid.

What makes a bad Web page design?

Non-responsive design, cluttered layout, hidden navigation menu, and bad color contrast indicate a bad web page design.

What are 4 common design errors?

Use of too Many fonts, using stock images, not proofreading and bad color contrast.
June 29, 2022
11 Unknown Facts About Oracle That Will Amaze You

The worth of computers and software has reached sky-high in this present era. Technology holds an equal necessity in a person’s life as oxygen. Instinctively the competition to maintain a firm grip in the market prevails too. That’s where the software companies come in. Oracle corporation among them grabs our focus.

Oracle is a computer technology corporation. It’s an America-based company that has its headquarters in Austin, Texas. Initially, Redwood shores, California was where the company had its headquarters. It was in December 2020 when Texas housed its new headquarters.

Software and technology databases, systems usually operable by cloud, and database management systems precisely of its brands are some of the things which this company sells. Now before diving into some of the unknown facts about Oracle, let’s have a look at the stars.

Now every material in this universe has its own story, its history, accurately it’s unknown or interesting facts if we say. So following are some of the fascinating facts that magnets our interest:

1. The Original Name of Oracle
2. The Story Behind “Oracle”
3. Oracle Has More Than One Founder
4. Oracle Founder-Ellison’s Attendees
5. Oracle Faced bankruptcy
6. Co-founder of Oracle- The Richest Man in California
7. The Different Oracle Team
8. Oracle and Its Reach to Java
9. The Prime Oracle
10. The Feud Between Oracle and Google
11. A Difference in the Thoughts of Two Great Personalities

1. The Original Name of Oracle

Oracle Logo

One of the most popular software companies in today’s world addressed as “Oracle” was not intended to be named Oracle. Instead, the name Oracle can be considered the third name was given to the firm.

In 1977 originally the company was addressed as a “Software Development Laboratory”. Following this, in 1979 the name was reshaped to “Relational Software Inc”. Later in 1995 the company finally was named Oracle corporation after a winning success over a project.

2. The Story Behind “Oracle”

The company was renamed Oracle after completing its first assignment in 1995. The earlier company was known as Relational Software Incorporation. However, when the CIA handed the company its first project, the firm went on to change its name after the completion of the task.

The first project was assigned to design a relational database system. The code name assigned for this project was “Oracle” hence the company drew its name from this project.

3. Oracle Has More Than One Founder

Oracle Founders: Bob Miner | Larry Ellison | Ed Oates

Oracle is highly addressed by its former CEO Larry Ellison. However, the company Oracle took more than one person’s effort to be built up. Oracle originally has three founders named Bob Miner, Ed Oates, and Larry Ellison. Yet, the firm is known by the name of its sole former CEO only named Larry Ellison.

4. Oracle Founder-Ellison’s Attendees

Ellison was brought up by his single mother’s uncle and aunt. The status of Oracle was highly maintained and developed by its co-founder Larry. However, the unknown fact about Larry Ellison is that he was not a normal kid and was counted amongst the sick kids.

It is reported that at the age of nine months, Larry fell prey to pneumonia and hence was given up to his aunt for adoption by his mother. Lillian Spellman and Louis Ellison his aunt and uncle officially adopted him and raised him in the middle-class neighborhood. Irrespective of the odds, Larry Ellison made up his future.

5. Oracle Faced Bankruptcy

Irrespective of the name and fame achieved by Oracle today. Oracle also owns some of the downs to get to the position it stands today. In the 1990s bankruptcy hit Oracle with full force due to some legal lawsuits making them discharge employees. However, this phase soon passed by and Oracle grew stronger and better than before.

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6. Co-founder of Oracle- The Richest Man in California

Larry Ellison- The co-founder of Oracle

The 22.5% shareholder of his company, Larry Ellison is titled the richest man in California. The majority of his wealth takes birth from these shares.

Larry Ellison holds a 22.5% share of his company Oracle creates a way for other wealth to be created from the available shares. Along with that, Larry is known to own 98% of an Island. Hawaii’s sixth-largest island, “the Lanai” is estimated to be owned by Larry Ellison.

Along with the beneficiary shares and some splendid properties, Larry Ellison is also known to own two military jets with some number of aircraft. The most interesting point is that he is a certified pilot.

Apart from being rich, Larry is counted amongst the most influential people across the globe. As per the reports, it was rumored that the wedding picture of Larry Ellison and Melanie craft was taken by another most influential personality in the world, “Steve Job”.

Even for a brief period, Larry Ellison topped the list of being the richest person around the world in the year 2000. In addition to that, he was also ranked as the highest-paid CEO on the Forbes list in 2014.

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7. The Different Oracle Team

Golden state warriors team

The Golden state warriors, a professional basketball team, is known to be sponsored by the Oracle. The team is in Oakland, California. With its home court at Oracle Arena previously addressed as Oakland Arena.

The first-ever commercial version of Oracle was titled Oracle 2. This was Larry’s idea to make people believe that any unwanted bugs were already dumped out of the product.

Facts about Oracle

8. Oracle and Its Reach to Java

Computer languages are quite complicated to excel at. However, if to be believed. It is estimated that Oracle was the first company to excel at Java Programming. It is believed that Oracle was the first and foremost company to fully embrace Java programming in 1998.

9. The Prime Oracle

Oracle itself is a huge franchise and now stands on the supremacy of owning 57 different companies. With this Oracle as of today has more than 70 million users worldwide.

Contrary to the time of bankruptcy, Oracle now employs 143,000 employees (2022) around the world.

10. The Feud Between Oracle and Google

Oracle is a well-established company highly acknowledged for its terms and policies. Irrespective of the opposite party, Oracle believes in following the rules. In 2010 Oracle sued the world’s popular Google for using Java APIs without the prior consent of Oracle.

11. A Difference in the Thoughts of Two Great Personalities

A deep unknown fact lives that Larry deeply hated Microsoft. Apart from being a proud former CEO, believed that his reasons for hating Microsoft were justifiable. He thought that Bill Gates and Microsoft suppressed the full use of the internet. Moreover, they failed to provide a complete service on the internet. In other words, they were not using the internet to its full capacity but rather were fooling people by misleading them.

Conclusion

Therefore, can it be concluded that for a super successful company it is necessary to have an arrogant CEO? Yes, probably or probably not. But having a clear vision of what we want, and what we are determined for would always help us achieve our goals in the long run. Check the above context for some mind-blowing facts on Oracle.

At the same time leveling up with our rivals, not making the mistake to underestimate them, or giving them any chance to overtake us is what makes us an ultimate competitor. Hence stands “The Oracle” helping this world to keep up the pace with advanced technology and convert every complex 24 hours into simpler and convenient ones.

FAQs

What is Oracle most known for?

The Oracle company is best known for its Oracle database software, a relational database management system.

How did Oracle get its name?

Oracle got its name from the first successfully completed project of the company. The project was given the code name Oracle and then the company was given the same name after the completion of the project.

Is Oracle a top tech company?

Yes, Oracle can be listed amongst the top tech companies across the globe.

Who invented Oracle?

Oracle was invented by the joint efforts of three people named Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates.

June 29, 2022
Metro AG Selling Its Indian Unit | Why Is Every Big Company Eyeing It?
German retailer Metro AG which is trying to sell its Indian cash-and-carry operations for around $1.5-1.75 billion has caught the attention of a lot of big companies.

Companies like Reliance Retail, Amazon, TATA Group, Avenue Supermarts — which runs the DMart chain, Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, Swiggy, Lulu Group, and PE fund Samara Capital are in the race to buy the Indian unit of Metro AG.

But, why are these companies eyeing Metro AG? What does Metro AG exactly do? To find answers to these questions, keep reading this article till the end.

Metro AG- About
Why Metro AG Wants to Exit the Indian Market?
Companies Wanting to Buy Metro AG’s Indian Unit
Why Big Companies Are Eyeing Metro AG?

Metro AG- About

Relative Market Share of Metro Cash and Carry India from FY17 to FY20

Metro AG is a German international specialist in wholesale and food retail which has made its footprints in 34 countries. The headquarters of this company is in Düsseldorf, Germany. The company operates under the cash and carry wholesale business model.

In the cash and carry model, retailers, caterers, hotels, restaurants and other special businesses purchase the goods from a wholesale warehouse and pay the invoice on the spot in cash. Customers have to arrange the transport of the goods themselves.

The Indian subsidiary of Metro was established in 2003 when the Indian government allowed 100% foreign direct investment in wholesale trade on a cash and carry business model.

The company has a chain of 31 cash-and-carry stores in India under the brand, Metro Wholesale. Only business customers can buy goods from these wholesale centres.

Main Products and Services of Metro AG

Metro Cash and Carry India provides 7,000 products to its business customers across various categories like fruits & vegetables, dairy, frozen and bakery products, general grocery, health and beauty products, media and electronics, confectionery, detergents and cleaning supplies, household goods and apparel – all under one warehouse at wholesale prices.

Target Audience of Metro AG

On Metro’s official website, the company has mentioned that its core customers in the Indian market include small retailers and Kirana stores, SMEs, and all types of offices, companies and institutions. The company also targets HoReCa- Hotels, Restaurants and Caterers.

Why Metro AG Wants to Exit the Indian Market?

Metro AG India

Metro AG generated a whopping revenue of $898 million in FY21 (Oct-Sept) and is likely to close the current fiscal year with more than $1 billion in revenues with an EBITDA growth of 30-40%. Last fiscal the EBITDA growth was 50%.

Even after earning so much revenue, why does the company want to exit the Indian market? The reason is increased competition. When Metro AG entered the Indian market in 2013, there were not a lot of players. But, now the situation has completely changed. Metro AG is facing tough competition from Reliance and Udaan.

To fight the competitors the company has to spend $300 million to stay relevant in the market in the short term. But, the parent company METRO is not ready to spend this huge amount to beat its competitors.

Although tough competition is not the only reason for the company to surrender their Indian unit.

“Selling below cost and free delivery of goods are the issues. Most competitors are operating at negative 20-25% EBITDA,” said an industry veteran who doesn’t want his name mentioned in the article.

“At Metro, we regularly assess our international portfolio, such as our market position in the respective country, the life cycle of our operations, and the growth potential of our business. This is a general approach and normal business applied to all countries, including India,” said Gerd Koslowski, the company’s global director of corporate communications.

Metro wants a profitable business in India which is not possible in the near future and that’s why the company is selling its Indian unit.

Last year the company exited Japan and Myanmar due to increased competition. The company has also closed its business in Russia due to its war with Ukraine.

The company has appointed JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, the most respected investment banks, to find a buyer for their business.

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Companies Wanting to Buy Metro AG’s Indian Unit

In the beginning, the following companies were in the race of buying Metro AG:
- Reliance Retail
- Amazon
- TATA Group
- Avenue Supermarts — which runs the DMart chain
- Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group
- Swiggy
- Lulu Group
- PE fund Samara Capital
- Walmart – Flipkart
- PremjiInvest
But, now Flipkart-Walmart, DMart and Amazon have opted out of this race.

So, now the fight for Metro AG is between Reliance Retail, TATA Group, Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, Swiggy and PremjiInvest.

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Why Big Companies Are Eyeing Metro AG?

Metro AG Selling Its Indian Unit

According to Statista, the Indian retail market in 2020 was worth 800 billion USD. By 2026, this figure will reach 1.7 trillion USD. The Indian quick commerce market will reach $5 billion by 2025.

Since Metro AG already has a huge chain of warehouses, wholesalers and retailers, this gives these companies a big chance to tap into the booming retail and quick commerce market. This is the very reason why all of the big companies are fighting to buy the Metro AG.

The company which is trying to disrupt the retail and quick commerce segment is Reliance. The company has already made huge efforts since 2021 to build a large number of wholesale centres for food and grocery, apparel, electronics, and medicines. Reliance is also integrating numerous small shops into its business strategy. Mukesh Ambani has said that they are planning to onboard more than 10 million merchant partners over the next three years.

The main goal of the company is to supply a range of products to consumers through its eCommerce platform JioMart. Reliance already has a huge chain of warehouses and if they acquire Metro AG they would achieve this goal really fast.

But, let’s look at the bigger picture. Reliance is trying to build its own ecosystem. The company wants Indians to use its services from the morning to the night. Consumers can buy products from their eCommerce platform, JioMart using Jio’s mobile or WiFi networks, watch movies on Jio Cinema and pay the money via Jio wallet. Like this, the customers will stay in their eco-system for a long period of time.

Another company that wants to leverage the retail and quick commerce segment is Swiggy. The company wants to expand its current food delivery business model to the quick commerce segment. By acquiring Metro AG the company wants to accelerate Instamart’s growth.

“Swiggy has evinced interest in the acquisition, and a potential deal would enable Metro Cash & Carry’s wholesale stores to feed Swiggy’s Instamart delivery model,” one of the executives said.

“The idea is to create a hub-and-spoke model where Metro stores will supply to Instamart stores, which could be delivery-only or even stores where consumers can walk in.”

Conclusion

All the companies know the bright future of the retail business and quick commerce segment. The companies know that if they acquire Metro AG, they would be able to capture the market quickly. Now, it’s very tough to predict which company will buy Metro AG but, this race would be quite interesting to watch.

Big players in the quick commerce segment like Zomato and Swiggy are not making huge profits. But, if the companies build a smart business model then the quick commerce field can help generate huge profits for any company.

FAQs

What is a cash and carry store?

In cash and carry stores customers buy products from warehouses and settle the invoice in cash and carry the goods with them. Customers have to arrange the transport of the goods themselves. Usually, these customers are retailers, caterers, hotels and restaurants.

Is Metro cash and carry closing in India?

Yes, Metro cash and carry is exiting the Indian market by selling its Indian operations for $1.5-1.75 billion.

How many Metro wholesale stores are there in India?

Metro has 31 wholesale stores in India.

Is Metro an Indian brand?

Metro AG is a German international specialist in wholesale and food retail which has made its footprints in 34 countries. The headquarters of this company is in Düsseldorf, Germany. The company operates under the cash and carry wholesale business model.
June 29, 2022
Reverse Merger: How Does It Work, Examples, Advantages and Disadvantages
Ever wondered what Reverse Merger means, even though it appears all over the internet? Well, in simple words, it is nothing but a private company holding ownership over already public companies. In this way, the private stocks and assets are now available to the general public.

To understand Reverse mergers thoroughly, one has to understand what IPO means. Initial Public Offering or IPO is a process of offering a private corporation’s share to the public in a new stock issuance.

Here both the private, as well as public parties, are benefitted, such that, Private investors obtain shares through the primary market, whereas, public investors get a chance to be a part of this globalized offering.

What is Reverse Merger?
Advantages of Reverse Merger
Disadvantages of Reverse Merger
Examples of Reverse Merger Companies in India

What is Reverse Merger?

To understand Reverse mergers in-depth, shall we dive in deeper? A reverse Merger is also known as a Reverse Takeover or reverse IPO. It is one of the efficient ways in which a private company can go public and monetize its share effectively.

To put it in more simple words, this process is a blessing in disguise for a weaker or smaller company, that wants to acquire a bigger company. Similarly, it is a reverse merger, when a parent company merges with its subsidiary, or when a company that is losing money acquires a company that is profitable. So, in order to enjoy these perks, a few processes are to be undergone, which are listed below:
- Identification of a Suitable Shell Co.
- Recruiting Financial Staff
- Financial Audits
- Transaction Documents like a letter of intent, agreement, super 8-k
- Issuance of Stock Certificates
Advantages of Reverse Merger

A simple process

A reverse merger is quite a simple process compared to IPO. It takes only a few weeks for a company to become public without raising capital under this process. Meanwhile, IPO does take a lot of months to complete the merging process, but, in the case of reverse mergers, it can be done within thirty days. And for its time and safety management, several companies prefer reverse merging to IPO.

Less risk

IPO is an uncertain process, which cannot assure that a company will go public in the end. However, a reverse merger can promise you that. Because, whenever, stock market conditions fluctuate, the time invested by the managers associated with IPO, in the deal also extends until a favourable outcome is ensured. Accordingly, a reverse merger is a time-saving process, so eventually, it will take down the risk of non-use.

A less reliant on the market

IPOs are considered to be a combination of the public offering and the capital raising function. By virtue of reverse mergers being the only mechanism for converting private companies into public companies, the process is less dependent on market conditions (because the company does not need to raise capital).

In a reverse merger, market conditions are not relevant since the offering is simply a conversion mechanism. In other words, the process attempts to capitalize on the benefits of being a publicly-funded organization.

Perks of a public company

Public companies have a high amount of revenues, which in turn is a key feature to consider converting into one. Over and above, the company’s securities then enjoy higher liquidity when they are traded on an exchange.

By gaining the opportunity to sell their interests, the original investors have a handy exit option other than having the corporation purchase back their shares. Since management may now issue extra shares through secondary offers, the firm has better access to the capital markets.

If stockholders had warrants, which give them the power to buy more shares at a certain price, exercising those rights would bring more money into the firm.

Disadvantages of Reverse Merger

An extensive investigation is needed

It is important to go through every nook and corner of the private and public companies before starting the merging process. Starting from looking into their motives to checking whether the company is neat and clean, pending liabilities, or other things that might disturb the merging. It is therefore imperative to conduct appropriate due diligence and to expect transparent disclosure (on both sides).

Dump of risky stocks

After the merger, the stock price may or may not suffer significantly if the public shell’s shareholders sell a sizable amount of their shares. So it is a must-need merger agreement to have clauses defining necessary holding periods, subsequently, lessening or completely eliminating the possibility that the shares will be dumped.

Insufficient demand shares

There is no assurance of the investors obtaining sufficient liquidity after the merger. Due to financial and operational crises, sometimes, small companies may not be ready to be in public.

In the wake of the reverse merger, the original investors may find that their shares are little in demand. Therefore, a company itself needs to be financially and operationally attractive to be a desirable investment to potential investors for its shares to be worthy.

Regulatory and compliance complexities

Inexperience managers sometimes can harm a potential private company’s journey to a publicly-traded company. In other words, when managers spend a great deal of time on administrative concerns rather than running their businesses, they can result in a stagnant and underperforming company.

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Examples of Reverse Merger Companies in India

Godrej Soaps

Godrej Soaps merger with Godrej

In 1994 Godrej Soaps, a consumer product manufacturing business did a reverse merger with its loss-making subsidiary unit ‘ Gujarat Godrej Innovative chemical’ and named it ‘Godrej Soaps Ltd’.

ICICI Bank, India

ICICI merger with ICICI Bank

Only a few Indian companies have used the reverse IPO, making the reverse merger concept relatively new to India. In 2002, ICICI became the first firm to choose a reverse merger when it merged with its arm company, ICICI Bank, and renamed the combined entity ICICI Bank. ICICI also had two subsidiaries, ICICI Personal Financial Services Ltd. and ICICI Capital Services Ltd.

In order to offer both urban and rural consumers a wide variety of loan services, the ICICI group made the decision to do a reverse turnover. As a result, we could see the new venture’s profitability. ICICI Bank is now among the top financial institutions around the globe.

IDBI Bank

In 2005, the Industrial Development bank of India followed the reverse merge method with its commercial bank IDBI Bank.

IndiaBulls

Indiabulls merger with Indiabulls Housing Finance

Later in 2013, Indiabulls financial services Ltd consolidated capital with its subsidiary Indiabulls housing finance Ltd

REO Motor Car Company

REO merger with Nucor

Ransom E. Olds created an automotive manufacturing firm in 1905; by 1907, it had $4.5 million in total sales and was regarded as one of the richest automakers. The corporation itself turned into a tax loss carryover following the great depression that hit Western nations, and the company’s dissident shareholders coerced it to perform a reverse turnover in order to secure a respectable revenue by buying a minor publicly-traded company called Nucor.

New York Stock Exchange

NYSE merger with Archipelago Holdings

One of the world’s oldest and largest stock exchanges, which is situated on Wall street, New York city since 1792. NYSE had a reverse merger with Archipelago Holdings to go public in 2006.

Aerospatiale

Aerospatiale merger with Matra

Launched in 1970 and operating as a State-owned corporation until 1998, Aerospatiale is primarily known as an aerospace and defense manufacturing company. In order to reclaim its previous status in the market—that of a public limited company—Aerospatiale reverse-merged with Matra’s defense division to create Aerospatiale-Matra.

ValuJetAirline

ValuJet merger with AirTran

An airplane manufacturing company established in 1992 that regularly operates international flights in the eastern United States and Canada. The company experienced many aviation crashes in 1996, which contributed significantly to the company’s downfall. The following year, the corporation bought a tiny company called AirTrainAirways and renamed the new company “AirTrainAirways” to increase its customer base again.

US Airways

U.S Airways merger with America West Airlines

It was founded in 1937 and ceased its operation after the airline company went insolvent in the early 2000s. Later, the government filed for ‘chapter 11 bankrupt’ permitting the airline to reorganize. That’s when American West Airlines was acquired with the goal to remove the chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2005.

ABC Radio

ABC merger with Disney

American Broadcasting Company was an American radio network that was reverse merged with Citadel Broadcasting corporation to spin off its former parent- Disney in 2007.

CBS Radio

CBS merger with Entercom

One of the renowned news radio networks, which was launched in 1928 has more than 1000 radio stations in the United States of America. In February 2017, CBS acquired a majority of shares in Entercom and acquired it for the purpose of spinning off its former parent CBS radio.

T-mobile US

T Mobile merger with MetroPCS

It is an American public wireless telecommunication corporation, which is owned by its parent German telecommunication company- Deutsche Telekom (DT). Later, the company had a reverse IPO with MetroPCS, an American prepaid wireless service provider.

VMWare

VMWare merger with Dell

It is an American cloud computing and virtualization technology company, founded in 1998 by Mendel Rosenblum, Diane Greene, Scott Devine, Ellen Wang, and Edouard Bugnion. VMWare did reverse turnover with Dell, an American technology enterprise for a price with a plan to be back as a public company in the stock market.

Eddie Stobart

Eddie Stobart merger with Westbury Property

Eddie Stobart commenced as an agricultural business in the mid-19th century, which was later turned into the largest privately-owned transport & distribution company by William Stobart and Andrew Tinkler in 1976.

Eventually, the company demerged with two separate public enterprises- Stobart Group and Eddie Stobart Logistics to function their operations under one company ‘Eddie Stobart Logistics’.

In 2007, Westbury Property fund purchased Eddie Stobart Logistics for £137.7 million: £62 million in cash and £76 million in new Westbury Property Fund shares that made Eddie Stobart gain stock market listing.

Fisker Inc.

Fisker Reverse merger with Spartan Acquisition

Recently, in 2020, the famously known American electric vehicle automaker which was established by Henrik Fisker and his wife Geeta Gupta Fisker in 2016 decided to go public after reverse merging with Spartan Acquisition corporations.

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FAQs

What is a reverse merger example?

Some of the popular examples of the reverse merger in India is ICICI merging with its arm ICICI Bank.

Why would a company do a reverse merger?

Private companies acquire a public company to avoid the process of IPO and raising capital.

What is a reverse merger?

A reverse merger is when a private company acquires a public company.
June 29, 2022
Amazon Cloudtail India: Why Did It Shut Down? | Is It Good News for Retailers?

If you have ever tried to buy or sell products on Amazon, you must have come across this brand “Cloudtail India”. It used to be the largest seller on Amazon in India but has recently ceased its operation.

This joint initiative of Amazon and Catamaran Venture was shut down on 19th May 2022 leading to the end of a seven-year-long partnership between the two well-recognized organizations.

Before announcing the end of the partnership Amazon India announced a 100% acquisition of Cloudtail India. The employees earlier working for the joint venture has been given the option to continue at Amazon or take a voluntary exit.

In this blog, we will discuss everything about Cloudtail India, how it worked and why this successful partnership was brought to an end with mutual agreement between the two parties.

If you are associated with Amazon, either as a seller or a buyer, this is important for you. If you are asking “Why”, keep reading this blog till the end.

What is Cloudtail India?
How Did Cloudtail India Work?
What Went Wrong With Cloudtail India?
Is Shutting Down of Cloudtail India Good News for Retailers?

What is Cloudtail India?

Catamaran Venture is a venture capital firm i.e. it funds the startups or other organizations that require capital. The net worth of the company is around $ 127 million. It is headed by N.r. Narayana Murthy has made investments across high-growth sectors such as technology, eCommerce, healthcare, etc.

Amazon started functioning in India in 2013. It was the time when the online market in India was least developed and Amazon had to work hard to get customers.

For this reason, in 2014, Amazon India and Catamaran Venture initiated a joint venture under the name Prione Business Services. The basic objective of this venture was to bring more small retailers and businessmen online.

This on one hand would help the retailers to expand their market and reach more customers and on the other hand, helped Amazon to earn a reputation and recognition in the country.

Prione Business Services contributed quite a lot to advancing the online market in India. It provided support systems for the retailers or merchants by helping them with issues as small as listing or describing their products on Amazon.

According to the statement, Prione enabled more than 300,000 sellers and entrepreneurs to establish their online market. Also, it helped 4 million merchants with digital payment capabilities.

However, in the same year i.e. 2014, Prione also established its very own subsidiary company in India, under the name “Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd.” which was engaged in the B2C retail business.

Under Prione’s ownership, Cloudtail worked as an online retailer and by the end of 2020, it was selling over 30 lakh products under multiple categories such as fashion, apparel, appliances, media, consumables, etc. on Amazon.

No doubt, Cloudtail India became the largest seller on Amazon leaving its other competitors behind with a great margin.

How Did Cloudtail India Work?

At present, Amazon has over four lakh sellers and more than two crore customers registered with it.

The normal procedure for retailers to sell their products on Amazon includes registering themselves on the website. After this, the sellers list their products on the website with the price that also includes the profit share of Amazon.

Generally, this profit share lies between 5-25% depending on the product category and price. This share includes commission, fixed fees, and other similar charges.

As the seller has to earn profit by selling these products, some amount of profit share is included in the price of the product due to which the customer has to buy the product at slightly higher rates.

The price of the product further increases as the vendor also has to pay delivery charges to Amazon which start from Rs. 82/- onwards. Moreover, these sellers also have to bear the promotion charges for their product which again adds to the price of the product. Therefore, the prices at which the customer has to buy the products of these brands are quite higher in comparison to what the seller would offer without including these charges.

However, as Amazon had its own equity in Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd. the company does not pay any commission to Amazon for listing or selling its products. There is no delivery or promotion fee included for any of the products sold by Cloudtail.

Due to this the prices of the products obviously remain quite low in comparison to its competitors. This gave Cloudtail India an edge over other retailers.

Moreover, being the parent company Amazon prioritizes the products sold by Cloudtail India by always listing them at the top of the page. This further increased the sale of products making Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd. the biggest seller on Amazon.

Amazon Cloudtail India Business Timeline

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What Went Wrong With Cloudtail India?

As per the law, India prohibits Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in inventory-based models for eCommerce. This means that the companies such as Amazon and Flipkart are only allowed to work as a marketplace.

These companies are only permitted to provide platforms to other sellers or merchants or businesses to enlist their products and sell them but they cannot list their own products on the platform.

Due to this legal concern, a number of objections were being raised by other retailers and merchants selling their goods on Amazon about the close partnership between Amazon and Catamaran Venture.

In this regard, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a Press Note on 26^th December 2018.

This note clearly disallowed the participation of marketplaces in any type of seller activity even through any “Group companies”. This means that these platforms are not allowed to sell their own products on their platform as this would hamper the business of other small retailers.

Here, Group Company meant two or more enterprises that directly or indirectly exercise 26% of the voting rights in another enterprise or appoint more than 50% of the board members in their entity.

To abide by this law, Catamaran Ventures 2019 increased its stake in Cloudtail India from 51% to 76%. Thus, the stake of Amazon in the joint venture was reduced from earlier 49% to 24% later.

Therefore, as Amazon now had only a 24% share in the joint venture, and the law spoke about 26% or more share, Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd. could still sell products to Amazon without violating any law.

Even after this, the small businessmen and other retailers or vendors on Amazon claimed that the parent company of Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd., i.e. Prione Business Services was established with the intention to help small retailers and sellers to start their online businesses.

However, as the online market has now gained enough popularity in the country, the target has been fulfilled and the company is no longer required.

In 2019, Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh (DVM) submitted a plea with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against Amazon and Flipkart.

In this plea, they accused these marketplaces of abusing their market dominance and preferential listing and deep discounting on products sold by selected vendors in which they control indirect stakes.

They alleged that these marketplaces were drawing indirect benefits from these brands indicating a conflict of interest. Due to this, the online market of small businesses is getting hampered as they are unable to efficiently reach their target customers.

In this regard, the Director-General of the Competition Commission of India launched an inquiry for alleged violation of Section 3 of the Competition Act, in January 2020.

To resolve this issue, Catamaran Venture and Amazon India first approached Karnataka High Court and later the honourable Supreme Court of India. However, both the courts stated that the companies should be open to such anti-trust investigations in their business practices.

In the light of this statement, as well as the changing regulatory environment and unfavourable eCommerce operating guidelines, both the companies announced the end of their seven-year-long partnership.

Hence, Cloudtail India was finally shut down.

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Is Shutting Down of Cloudtail India Good News for Retailers?

Honestly speaking, Yes. This decision will provide small businesses and other online retailers and vendors a level playing field. Strict regulatory rules were required in this field for a long time which have now been implemented.

This will also reduce the monopoly of these marketplaces to endorse a few specific brands that bring more indirect profit to them.

Overall, the small sellers will be benefitted who will now be able to sell their products in a healthy competitive environment.

Conclusion

With the partnership between Amazon and Catamaran Venture coming to an end, this is certainly an issue of concern for Amazon as it has invested around $ 1 billion in India.

Also, the customers might have to buy the products at slightly higher prices as the subsidiary brand is no longer available to provide the products at the least rates.

However, this will provide equal rights and symmetry to the small businessmen, sellers, vendors, etc. who will now have better opportunities to expand their online market.

FAQs

Is Cloudtail India owned by Amazon?

No, Cloudtail India was a joint venture with Catamaran Ventures but Amazon has purchased a 76% stake in the company and now Cloudtail is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.

Is Cloudtail India shutting down?

Yes, Cloudtail India will shut down its operations on May 1.

Who is the owner of Cloudtail India?

Prione Business Services Private Limited was the owner of Cloudtail India.

Why did Cloudtail India shut down?

As per e-commerce regulations, online marketplaces cannot own any direct stake in seller entities which is the reason Cloudtail India has to shut down its operations.

June 29, 2022
List of Best On-Page SEO Checkers to Help You Get Ranked High
Are you one of those who is looking for a good SEO checker online? We all know it is not an easy task to become proficient in SEO, yet we are aware of how search engine optimization filters the quality and quantity of the website traffic we are running from different search engines, also it is quite easy to find the best tools for SEO.

Why do you use an SEO checker?

All the online businesses established are indirectly or directly competing with each other to have a better digital footprint than that of their competitors, SEO checker will help you to optimize your website/web page in a better way, and it also provides a smooth experience for anyone visiting your website, which will increase your brand’s credibility and build a form of trust with the person that visits your webpage

At present there are way many SEO checkers available on the internet, In this article, we will be having a look at the various and the best in the market SEO checkers available online and what makes them a top class in comparison to their competitors, of course, you cant use them all at once. But you can check out which one suits you the best and stick to it.

List of Best SEO Checker Tools
SEMRush

Best for: Keyword Research
Pricing: $119.95 – $449.95 /Free Trial for 7 days

SEMRush on-page SEO checker

Be it a big established corporation or a small mom-and-pop business, SEMRush has never failed to impress them all. it is specially used in weblogs, the main task it conducts will help you find better keywords based on their ranking and relevance to your product/service. The software also gives you a good audit and analysis report in a neat interface so you can make necessary changes to improve the performance of your website

SEMRush offers you a free trial of 7 days of its best tool so you can actually experience it and see if this is something that suits you and your website. SEMRush further offers packages ranging from $119.95 to $449.95 depending on the needs and the tools that you will be utilizing.

How to use Semrush On-Page SEO checker

MonsterInsights

Best for: Bringing Website Traffic
Pricing: $99- $399 Annually

MonsterInsights on-page SEO checker

Used by over 3 million businesses worldwide monster insights can be said to be the top website for bringing quality website traffic from across the web for you. It is also the best google analytical plugin for WordPress available, it will also display all your metrics and scales directly on your webpage. The metrics contain different scales of your impressions, scaling, CTR (click-through rate), clicks, etc. although there is a free version of Monster Insights available it doesn’t offer all of its tools, the advanced version of it provides you with various advanced technical instruments.

AIO SEO

Best for: All in One for Website Search Ranking
Pricing: $49 – $209 Annually

AIO SEO on-page SEO checker

Also known as All In One SEO, AIO SEO is one of the most full-scale SEO kits available on the internet. It provides a total score of your website by examining your website and taking different metrics into consideration.

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Serpstat

Best for: Site Audits & Competitive Research
Pricing: Starts $69 Monthly

Serpstat on-page SEO checker

With the tagline “all in one SEO platform” Serpstat addresses the issue of tracking keyword rank very efficiently. Be it a local, regional or international operation Serpstat can carry out all SEO procedures on each page with great accuracy. Doing site audits, competitive research, and Serpstat keyword tracking on all keywords are the areas where its forte lay the best. One of the most impressive strengths of Serpstat is, that it is very friendly to customers’ pockets. Its pricing system starts from just $69 and goes beyond as per the preferred package. It makes sure it gives the best of service in each package. It simply covers a wide range of SEO solutions because of which it has gathered a good number of loyal users across the globe.

Kazan SEO Checker

Best for: Keyword Suggestions & Improvement
Pricing: Free

Kazan Seo Logo – on-page SEO checker

Kazan tops the list in one of the best free on-page SEO checkers The best ways for optimizing the content you publish are all covered by Kazan.

It is quick in tracking appropriate keyword ranking and suggesting the areas for improvement. It is a simple, quick, and free tool got SEO analysis. It comes very handily during the initial branding phase. Kazan SEO checker provides solutions on a single platform for content marketing techniques, analysis, development, optimization, and research.

Ubersuggest

Best for: Keyword Suggestions
Pricing: Free with a Daily Search Limits

Ubbersuggest on-page SEO checker

Ubbersuggest is curated by a very famous internet personality, Neil Patel. Ubersuggest is a very popular keyword suggestion tool among digital marketing professionals and small business owners due to its clean and clear user dashboard and swift arrival of useful insights. It shows the volume, the CPC monthly searches, SEO difficulty, paid difficulty, and even useful link suggestions that can help speed up the reach of your website. Ubersuggest has been seen to be quite efficacious in driving 100% organic traffic to its user’s websites.

Google Search Console

Best for: Search Performance
Pricing: Free

Google search console on-page SEO checker

Google search console was previously known as google webmaster tools. Google Search Console is an absolutely free tool offered by Google that enables websites, professionals, and developers to know where they stand in front of the audience. It helps in understanding the fundamentals of how google addresses the issues of indexes, crawling, and other errors. It is easy to use and offers its service for free. Small business owners consider it a holy grail as it makes reaching the right audience more viable without costing a dime.

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vidlQ – Exclusively for YouTube

Best for: Bringing Traffic on YouTube
Pricing: Free Plans/ $7.5 – $79 per month

vidlQ on-page SEO checker

vidlQ was launched in 2011. it is one of the most popular YouTube SEO tools for improving reach on YouTube effectively. users exclusively use its chrome extension for improving their video content on YouTube by getting appropriate keywords and content ideas. Ever since it launched, it has been helping millions of users each day to shoot up their YouTube content. VidlQ comes very handy to use as it shows analytics at once on each video on YouTube. To assist YouTube producers, VidIQ suggests the best video marketing insights which are certified by YouTube. It is available free and also has a paid version. One of its best features is showing real-time VPH (views per hour) which helps the creators create content truly welcomed and enjoyed by the audience.

FAQs

What is an SEO checker?

An SEO checker is a tool that scans web pages to find technical errors and SEO issues that can degrade search engine rankings.

What are the best on-page SEO checker tools?

Some of the best on-page SEO checker tools are:
- SEMRush
- MonsterInsights
- AIO SEO
- Serpstat
- Kazan SEO Checker
- Ubersuggest
- Google Search Console
- vidlQ
What is a good On-Page SEO score?

80% or higher On-Page score is considered good.

What are on-page SEO checklist?

Checklists for On-Page SEO are:
- Optimized URL
- Meta Title & description
- Optimized Images
- Schema Markup
- Internal Links
June 29, 2022
Mohammed Zubair – How He Co-founded Alt News and Rose to Prominence?

According to the sources, over 293 journalists have been jailed globally, and India ranks first with the most number of arrests. Over and above, several were killed and attacked for questioning. Thus, it is quite a risky job for a journalist to do their job in India.

As you see, right now Mohammed Zubair is all over the news, so it is no surprise to look into him on the internet too. Mohammed Zubair is none other than the co-founder of an Indian fact-checking website, Alt News.

His arrest was made into a piece of national news after being allegedly accused of spreading fake news about India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Moreover, Alt News has allegedly reported many misinformed news articles regarding Hindu religious beliefs.

On the other hand, several journalists opposed the arrest. So clearly, it is indeed a war of words between the nation and journalists. ‘The nation wants to know!’ does really make more sense now. In spite of all dramas, Mohammed Zubair was lauded for his achievements, investments he made, and career as an Indian Journalist.

Muhammed Zubair- Biography

Name Mohammed Zubair

Birthplace Not Known

Born 29th December 1989

Nationality Indian

Age 33 years old

Position Co-founder, Alt News

Mohammed Zubair – Early Life
Mohammed Zubair – Career
Mohammed Zubair – Personal Life
Mohammed Zubair – The Journey So Far
Mohammed Zubair – Investments
Mohammed Zubair – Controversies
Mohammed Zubair – Awards and Recognitions

Mohammed Zubair – Early Life

Mohammed Zubair was born on 29th December of 1989 in India. Mohammed Zubair has been fond of exposing bogus news to the light since his adolescence years. The birthplace and parents of Zubair are yet to be disclosed. However, it was sure that as an Indian journalist, he has progressed very well. His accounts commenced after becoming the co-founder of Alt News.

Furthermore, the misinformation is analyzed by Alt News, which largely identifies the most widely spread. They monitor Facebook sites that have at one time or another circulated inaccurate news and are on either extreme of the ideological spectrum employing CrowdTangle, a Facebook tool used by publishers to track how information spreads throughout the internet.

Similar content sent on Twitter by users who have a notoriety for often tweeting false information is monitored by them using TweetDeck, a Twitter management application. They further keep an eye on several WhatsApp groups that they have managed to access, and they also get material from individuals who inform them via social media and WhatsApp.

Mohammed Zubair – Career

Alt News is an Indian fact-checking website, founded by former software engineers named Pratik Sinha and Mohammed Zubair. They officially launched the portal on February 2nd of 2017 with headquarters in Ahmedabad.

The ultimate goal of this fact-checker launch was to expose fake news. It all started with Pratik Sinha’s interest in exposing the bogus news, as his parents are both human rights activists.

Pratik Sinha, Alt News Founder

The beginning of Mohammed Zubair’s career started back in 2013 when fake news was at its peak. From keeping tabs on every news involving specious content, Mohammed Zubair has successfully brought several happenings into the open.

Besides, he also received several threats for his work, however, Mohammed managed to still work on his website effortlessly. On the other hand, Zubair is an active Twitter user, who is sometimes criticized for his Hinduphobic tweets.

Mohammed Zubair – Personal Life

Mohammed Zubair as far as we know hasn’t revealed his private life on the internet. He has put in his whole life for the Alt News website. Although, due to the work complexities, he has faced numerous death threats and attacks.

On 27th June 2022, Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police for his Hinduphobia tweet in 2017. Although, many prominent journalists as well as his friend, Pratik Sinha, who is the founder of Alt News stated that his arrest was without notice.

Indeed, a myriad of well-known reporters and writers have come forward to support Mohammed Zubair. Moreover, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool Congress member Derek O’Brien, and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor have extended their support via social media.

Congress Leaders tweet in support of Mohammed Zubair

Mohammed Zubair – The Journey So Far

The Alt News journey features the journey of Mohammed Zubair as well. Besides, his individual work has been much appreciated by several other journalists. This includes exposing the individuals of the Hindu right-wing website DhainikBharat.org, the lynching of a few Muslims, Delhi-based lawyer Prashant Patel’s fake news tweet, and many more.

On the whole, he and Sinha have claimed to have a list of 40 real sources, who are allegedly associated with publishing fake news over the world. Zubair along with his Alt News team published a book titled India Misinformed: The True Story in March 2019.

India Misinformed: The True Story Book

On the other hand, Mohammed Zubair’s tweets are still a controversial matter, which eventually got him arrested. In addition to it, he is an active Indian journalist, who never stops questioning or exposing fake news.

As far as we know, Mohammed Zubair is now in four days of custody under Delhi Police due to an ‘objectionable tweet’ he had posted in 2018 against a Hanuman (a Hindu Deity).

Mohammed Zubair – Investments

Pratik Sinha and Mohammed Zubair, two former IT engineers, started and currently manage the fact-checking website Alt News in India. In an effort to tackle the fake news epidemic, it was created on February 9th, 2017.

How 50 lakhs have recently been placed into Zubair’s account following police questioning is still a mystery to Despite, the co-founder of Zubair who is operating the nonprofit organization “Alt News.”

Mohammed Zubair – Controversies

In recent months, there have been numerous rallies throughout the nation of India. Nupur Sharma, a former BJP spokesperson who commented on a disparage assertion about the life of the Prophet Muhammad, is one such atrocious person. Her comments caused pandemonium and people called for Nupur Sharma to be punished.

Similar to this, in 2018 the infamous journalist from Alt News, Mohammed Zubair, published an article with offensive religious emotions, which was discovered by netizens in 2022.

In that tweet he has shared over the previous four years, he makes disparaging remarks about Hindu deities, adding gasoline to the flames. As a result, again we could encounter Hindu-Muslim conflict all over Indian News networks impulsively spread hoaxes over the world in an effort to capture the public’s attention and believe that doing so is a good idea.

As a result of causing mayhem in the community, they either end up behind bars or get killed in unknown circumstances.

As far as we could tell, Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of Alt News, was detained by Delhi Police for the following four days under sections 153-A and 294-A of the Indian Penal Code for inciting hatred and committing malicious acts with the intent to offend different religious values.

In addition, Alt News was founded to counter inaccurate information, however, it has received criticism for being created in a Hinduphobic manner.

Following his tweet from 2018, Zubair was detained on June 27, 2020, by the Delhi criminal branch on suspicion of allegedly hurting religious emotions. The co-founder of Alt News was given 4-day remand by Delhi police on June 28, 2022, following a day of questioning. After a day in police custody had passed, Zubair was brought before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Savaria.

Another case has been filed against him in a 2020 case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO), police are investigating Zubair after he shared a picture of a young girl whose face was obscured after an online argument with her father. The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) brought a claim against Zubair in connection with this issue in 2020.

Mohammed Zubair – Awards and Recognitions

The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) has included Indian novelist and activist Harsh Mander, his campaign Karwan-e-Mohabbat, and the co-founders of Alt News Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha in its annual nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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FAQs

Who is Mohammed Zubair?

Mohammed Zubair is the co-founder of an Indian non-profit fact-checking website named Alt News. He is a well-known Indian journalist, who has exposed much fake news to the public regardless of the consequences.

Why was Mohammed Zubair arrested?

Besides his journalism, Zubair was so open about certain controversial issues, which as a result got him arrested in 2022. The Delhi Police detained Zubair regarding his Hinduphobia tweet in 2018.

What are Zubair’s achievements?

In 2022, the Alt News co-founders, Pratik Sinha and Mohammed Zubair, alongside influential people, were nominated for Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in its yearly shortlist for the Nobel Peace Prize.

June 29, 2022