The top executives of a company are some of the most important people for their business. The CEOs, CFOS and other executives are actually responsible for the overall success of a company, all the significant decisions are taken by them and they are the people that keep the business together. However, we all know ‘Teamwork makes the dream work.’ Apart from the executives being the brain of the company, the employees are also the heart and a business needs both for their survival.
An employee can be said to be the most important asset of an organization, they are the ones with whose help the proper functioning of a business can happen. Although, they are the subordinates of the top executives they are as important as them. Plus the executive’s behaviour in real life shows their actual character; their behaviour makes them the person they are. Recently, a few actions of some top executives with people of lower rank have created big controversies and they are on the end of receiving backlashes. Companies are surely suffering because of that, images of those companies are crumbling down and investors are now in turmoil about who to trust and who to not.
Therefore Investors now have decided to launch investigations to examine the behaviour of founders, CEOs and other executives of a startup in their daily lives. In this article, we will find out what has led to this situation and how investigations are conducted. So without any further ado, let’s get started.
“The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don’t feel valued, neither will your customers.” -Sybil F. Stershic
This entire situation started when an audio clip of Ashneer Grover, the co-founder of BharatPe was seen doing rounds on social media where it can be heard that Grover is insulting, threatening and abusing a bank employee. Although the co-founder of BharatPe denied the accusation, Kotak has decided to take legal action against Grover for hurling abuses and using inappropriate language while communicating with the bank’s employee.
A few days later an email exchange between Hashjit Sethi of Sequoia India came up where again Grover was seen using abuses while conversing with the former. Post this scenario, Ashneer Grover decided to take a leave of absence for two months.
Similar Past Incidents
The case of Ashneer Grover was not the first one and it is certainly not going to be the last, as similar incidents are surfacing recently. As we dwell deeper, there are instances where these types of the same situations have occurred in the past. Some of the incidents are:
The former CEO of Flipkart, Binny Bansal shocks the world when he resigns from his position after he faced allegations of serious personal misconduct in 2018, an investigation was conducted followed by the allegations.
In 2018, ICICI Bank’s then CEO and managing director Chanda Kochhar faced allegations of nepotism and multiple agency probes against her, this situation led to her quitting her job.
Another instance happened when Manu Sawhney, the CEO of ICC was instructed to go on leave when an investigation by a UK based agency happened where it shows his behavioural misconduct. He was allegedly behaved arrogantly and was firing employees without any proper reason plus he was also bullying many staff members. This led to an investigation and he was asked to go on leave.
In 2022, fashion E-commerce site, Zilingo suspended Ankiti Bose, the Chief executive and Indian founder of the E-commerce site for some alleged irregularities in the accounting part of the company. This has led to her suspension which is valid till 5th May 2022.
Why Investors are Investigating Top Executives?
The step was taken after the controversial situation of BharatPe’s Co-founder Ashneer Grover arose. Investors are now concerned so they are taking the help of investigating firms and forensic teams of known accounting companies to conduct an investigation on the behaviours of top executives. These things are done to make sure:
There will be no controversies regarding their behaviour which may lead to a bad image of the startup.
To decrease the chances of fraud-related issues in the company in the future.
Misbehaviour of top executives is actually a red flag for the investors that things might go wrong in the near future if they carry on with their behaviour. If a wrong executive is hired, it will harm the brand image of the company.
What Are the Important Things Investigators Are Investing?
A person behaviour’s toward their subordinates or the people who are of lesser rank shows the actual personality of a person. A startup depends on the hard work and the passion that can be found in the executives but its image also depends on the character of the key executives. The work culture of a company is extremely important. The key things of executives that are getting investigated are:
Their behaviour with their subordinates.
Their social media behaviour and if they are getting into petty arguments that are not necessary.
If they have any illegal substances with them or consume them.
If there is any traffic violation done by them.
Conclusion
Just because someone is in a higher position doesn’t mean that they have the right to misbehave with others. Being humble and kind is never a mistake; in fact, it gives a safe feeling to your subordinates that they are in the right company. Toxic culture will only lead to bad performance as well as a bad image of the . also helps in strengthening the brand image of the company.
FAQs
Why are investors investigating top executives?
After the Ashneer Grover controversy, many investors were worried about getting their brand image tarnished which led them to investigate top execs’ behaviour.
What are the things investigators are investing against the top executives?
Investors are hiring firms to investigate the behaviour of founders and top executives on social media and their behaviour towards their employees.
Every week, it seems like a new startup wants to be a leader in the autonomous driving sector. Interestingly, most startups that want to lead this industry don’t have an option to buy their technology from companies like Waymo and General Motors. This means that these new startups need to develop the technology themselves. This is why so many startups are entering the autonomous driving market and why the sector is growing so quickly. Quite a few companies are creating autonomous driving technology, and they certainly aren’t all going to survive, though. Instead of trying to persuade you about who the best companies are, We’ve narrowed down our list of the most prominent autonomous driving startups in the US. Here you go!
Headquarters: Mountain View, California, United States
Waymo – Top Autonomous Driving Startups in The US
In the race to develop a self-driving car, it’s hard to talk about autonomous driving startups without mentioning Waymo. Waymo is not a car company. It’s a self-driving technology company. And it’s the most well-funded of all the autonomous vehicle startups out there. The company started life as an independent entity named Google Self-Driving Car Project before becoming a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc. in December 2016.
Waymo is the undisputed leader in autonomous vehicles, with over 3 million miles driven on public roads and another 5 billion miles driven in computer simulations every year. In 2016, the company introduced its first fully driverless car prototype — a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan equipped with Waymo’s proprietary sensors and software.
The company maintains that its objective is building a self-driving car that can operate safely, reliably, and successfully. As part of this effort, Waymo has made its software and hardware stack open source and is working with partners such as Jaguar to bring new self-driving cars to market.
Waymo Driverless Car
Cruise
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Cruise – Top Autonomous Driving Startups in The US
Cruise is one of the most well-known autonomous vehicle startups in the US. The startup has raised nearly $6 billion in funding and is currently valued at almost $20 billion.
The Cruise was founded in 2013 in San Francisco, California, by Daniel Kan and Kyle Vogt. It began as an autonomous vehicle company specializing in self-driving car hardware and software. Still, it evolved into a company that exists to develop autonomous vehicles for mass production and use.
The startup’s mission is “to bring safe, clean, and affordable transportation to everyone, everywhere.” Cruise has developed a self-driving system that can be applied to multiple vehicle platforms to achieve its mission. It also created a Cruise Anywhere app that allows users to summon self-driving cars from their smartphones. GM acquired Cruise Automation in 2016 for over $1 billion.
In 2018, General Motors invested another $2.25 billion into Cruise Automation to increase its equity stake to 75%. In February 2019, Honda announced it would invest $2.75 billion into the startup and take a 5% stake in Cruise Automation.
Zoox
Headquarters: Foster City, California, United States
Zoox – Top Autonomous Driving Startups in The US
This startup is a pioneer in the autonomous vehicles space. It is developing a self-driving ride-hailing service using its driverless electric vehicle. The vehicle doesn’t have a steering wheel or pedals and is designed to carry up to four passengers and travel 75 mph. The company envisions its autonomous driving service as an on-demand mobility solution that provides consumers with safe, low-cost urban transportation around the clock.
Zoox has a different objective from other autonomous driving companies. It’s not just making “an SAE Level 4 self-driving car.” Instead, it is building a fully autonomous, zero-emissions vehicle designed for ride-hailing that seats four passengers in a way that makes them face each other.
Unlike traditional self-driving cars, Zoox’s vehicle is bi-directional. As a result, it can drive forward and backwards in the same direction, enabling it to do more efficient U-turns.
Zoox was founded by Tim Kentley-Klay and Jesse Levinson in 2014 and has raised $290 million from investors including DFJ, Lux Capital, Greylock Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Blackbird Ventures.
May Mobility – Top Autonomous Driving Startups in The US
One of the first movers in autonomous vehicles for public transportation, May Mobility is a startup already operating a fleet of driverless shuttles in downtown Detroit. The company’s primary focus is “first- and last-mile” transport — connecting people who live or work on the outskirts of a city with public transit hubs like train stations or bus stops.
The company first raised seed capital in 2017 and has since raised an additional $11.55 million — including a Series A round led by BMW Ventures in 2018 and a follow-on round led by Toyota AI Ventures and Maven Ventures in 2019.
May Mobility launched its first commercial service this summer, carrying passengers between two parking lots at the University of Michigan’s Mcity facility for autonomous vehicle testing. In addition, it partnered with the Detroit Department of Transportation to launch a shuttle service that moves commuters from the city’s QLINE rail line to their nearby offices each morning.
Aurora
Headquarters: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Aurora – Top Autonomous Driving Startups in The US
Aurora is the only company on this list that’s not actively pursuing a product. Instead, it’s building the tools used to build self-driving cars. Aurora aims to create an open platform for self-driving tech, which it will license to other companies. That means Aurora isn’t aiming to compete with any of the companies on this list. Instead, its goal is to help them all succeed in their efforts.
Aurora is on a mission is to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly. Self-driving technology could save hundreds of thousands of lives and remake cities.
Their safe and pragmatic approach is to build self-driving technology that will move people and goods worldwide one day. They bring together an incredible team with diverse backgrounds and experiences with a singular objective – to deliver on the promise of self-driving technology.
Aurora is working with several partners, including VW Group and Hyundai, and ride-hailing companies like Lyft and Uber. The company’s biggest claim to fame came in 2019 when it acquired Uber’s ATG division in a deal worth $4 billion.
Aurora has raised more than $1 billion in funding from investors like Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners.
Nuro
Headquarters: Mountain View, California, United States
Nuro – Top Autonomous Driving Startups in The US
Nuro is one of the most prominent autonomous driving startups in the US. The startup was founded by two former Google engineers, Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, in 2016. In June 2018, the company was granted a permit to test self-driving vehicles on California’s public roads in June 2018.
Nuro aims to build a self-driving vehicle that can help people with their daily tasks. Unlike most other autonomous driving startups, Nuro doesn’t aim to revolutionize personal mobility; instead, it tries to enhance the efficiency of delivery services. The company demonstrated its prototype in 2017, which didn’t have a driver’s cabin as any human operator would have limited the vehicle’s potential.
Nuro’s mission is to make local commerce more convenient for everyone through the instant delivery of goods and groceries.
Lyft
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Lyft – Top Autonomous Driving Startups in The US
Lyft is perhaps the most aggressive startup in autonomous driving technology.
The company put down a $300 million investment in the self-driving car startup Drive.ai to put the startup’s technology in Lyft cars by 2022. The two companies expect to launch test programs over the next three years as they work to integrate the technology into Lyft’s fleet.
Lyft also partnered with Waymo, Alphabet’s subsidiary developing self-driving cars, back in 2017 and has been allowing Waymo’s autonomous vehicles on its ride-hailing platform since then.
Lyft’s objective is to build an open-source autonomous driving system that will allow any car manufacturer to integrate it into their vehicles for free. To achieve this goal, Lyft has been working on gathering the necessary data and building a high-definition map that will help self-driving cars understand the roads they travel on.”
The company said it extends the program across more cities and even allows riders to hail vehicles without a safety driver.
Autonomous driving tech will be advancing rapidly over the next few years. These companies are among the leaders in this field.
There are a lot of companies poised to do something big in the world of autonomous driving. As with any major technological trend, it’s important to keep a close eye on the companies in this space. As they grow, they could emerge as some of the most powerful players in the massive field of autonomous driving. The next decade will likely see many of them launch exciting new products and services and maybe even be acquired by some big tech giants. Don’t be surprised if Apple or Google snaps up one or more of these companies, although there’s no reason to believe that they won’t continue growing on their own just as well. In any case, it’s important to keep your eye on these startups to see how they’re faring in years to come.
FAQs
Which are the top autonomous driving startups in the US?
Most prominent autonomous driving startups in the US are:
Cruise
Zoox
May Mobility
Aurora
Nuro
Waymo
Lyft
Which company is leading autonomous driving?
Top companies that develop AI for self-driving cars are:
Cruise
Waymo
Agro.ai.
Is self-driving market growing?
According to researched data, the self-driving market is projected to grow from $54.23 billion to approximately $555.67 billion in 7 years.
What company makes chips for self-driving vehicles?
Companies that make chips for self-driving vehicles are:
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by VenueLook.
Finding a good venue for any event has always been a challenging task. Checking out various venues and finding the right one in terms of budget, facilities, and size is quite time-consuming and tiring too. However, thanks to the online venue booking platforms, now the scenario is totally different. Venuelook is an online platform that makes venue booking super easy for you.
VenueLook is a Noida-based O2O platform for venue aggregation, recommendation, and booking. Founded in 2014, Venuelook is making venue booking seamless and awesome across 30 cities in India.
What is Venuelook?
Venuelook is an O2O platform for venue aggregation, recommendation, booking, disrupting the venue discovery and booking process for weddings, and other social and corporate events.
The facilities that Venuelook offers in the B2B segment, i.e to the venue owners are-
A multi-platform friendly dashboard to manage their business pipeline with booking calendar and option to create promotional offers
A mobile app for business on the go
An option to promote and sell tickets for events hosted at their venue on Venuelook.
Besides, Venuelook’s product offerings for venue seekers include –
Assistance for venue discovery and shortlisting with the availability confirmation
A communication channel to engage with one or more shortlisted venues in an easy, hassle-free way
Venue Seekers can buy tickets for upcoming events from the Live events section of Venuelook
VenueSeekers can also review the venue(s) on the platform
Venuelook has recently enabled the creation of e-invitations also for all event hosts, who are visiting the website
Evolving as a DIY platform with easy to use features and content that aid in decision-making, online booking and providing reviews and recommendations for venues
One venue property might have multiple event spaces like banquet halls, party lawns, restaurants, conference rooms, rooftops, pool-side. These spaces are independently bookable inventories, and suitable for various different kinds of events. They need to be showcased individually and mapped with the right kind of event types. The USP of VenuLook is that it enables and markets each individual space within a venue for all kinds of events it is suitable to host. These events could be social like baby showers, birthday parties, alumni events, social get-togethers; wedding-related; or corporate events like conferences, farewells, and offsite corporate events to name a few. The other services provided by Venuelook are catering services, wedding planning, event planning, and birthday planning.
VenueLook serves all kinds of social, wedding and corporate events throughout the year. Annual event distribution on the platform is – 35% wedding-related, 35% birthday parties of all age groups, 30% corporate events, get-togethers, parties, and festive celebrations.
Venuelook – Industry
Venue and catering, which mostly comes along, is the starting step of event planning and consumes 50-70% of the total event budget. According to researches cross birthday parties, wedding-related events, social mixers and corporate events, the opportunity across 10 major cities in India is roughly around INR 250,000 Crores ($35 Billion).
Again, taking into account event services and commerce as well, the total Industry size comes to about INR 360,000 Crores ($50 Billion).
In the first phase, by 2021, we believe 10% of venue and catering opportunity will come online, which makes our target market size as INR 25,000Crore ($3.5 Billion).
Ruchi is a B.E in computer science and holds 15+ years of experience in building products and team. She started her career with STMicroelectronics and her first startup was Eventeve.com. Being a passionate entrepreneur, Ruchi loves fixing business problems using tech and processes. Besides, reading and writing, watching sci-fi movies with her kids helps her rewind and relax.
Ruchi Garg – Founder and CEO of VenueLook
Sovit Upadhyay
Sovit Upadhyay is another founder of Venuelook. He is, as Ruchi revealed, a friend of the Founder-CEO Ruchi Garg, who started together to found Venuelook.
Venuelook has a team of 50+ young and energetic professionals.
Our team’s core belief is that we can add a lot of value on both sides of the event marketplace. We believe in trying, learning and building solutions to cross every new roadblock we encounter. Even after 4 years of brainstorming and hard work, we feel we are at Day 0 when we look at the humongous value that is yet to be delivered and tapped. We are always hungry for more!
Venuelook Team
Venuelook – Venuelook Startup Story | How was Venuelook Started?
Events, as a sector, was always close to Ruchi’s heart. She realized that finding the right venue was quite painful and cumbersome and the use of technology could simplify the task. So, team Venuelook white-boarded all possible ways of making the venue booking process easy and figured revenue generation ideas around it. After all the planning Venuelook was launched in 2014.
There was no glamorous launching of Venuelook. We performed religious rituals with the initial team to get started on Venuelook. When the MVP was ready, we enabled the Inquiry buttons, made our phone no. available on the website and ran some Google Ads. SEO worked best for us.
Venuelook – Mission and Vision
Venuelook’s mission is to “build the #1 technology enabled Social Events platform of India.”
Our long term mission is to become a single stop platform for all event management needs. Starting from venue discovery and booking, invitations, event supplies to event entertainment, we want to help event hosts and planners at every step in their event planning journey.
The vision of the company is to lead the event service industry of India.
Venuelook – Name, Tagline and Logo
According to Ruchi, finding a good domain name was not easy. The name Venulook is a close match to the services offered by the company. And domain name was also available for the same. Hence the name Venuelook was finalized.
Venuelook’s tagline is – “Making Happy Occasions Happier”.
In the initial days, some people thought we were saying “When You Look” when we were actually saying “Venuelook”. Venuelook came closest to what our family and friends liked from the available domain names.
Venuelook Logo
Venuelook – Business Model
Once on the site, a user can browse, filter and shortlist one or more venues for their event or just leave their event requirements on the company’s site. Venuelook’s technology and team help match the right venues as per the user’s preferences with confirmed availability. Soon, the shortlisted venues share their best proposals for the event. The platform further enables users and venue managers to communicate at their ease, schedule venue visits, and book.
Venuelook – Revenue Model
The Venuelook revenue model is lucid. It earns from the venues that pay for promotion on the platform. In Venuelook marketing service for B2B users (Venue Owners), the sign-up cost varies from 3500 to 200000 INR depending on the city, size, and tenure a venue chooses. While, for B2C users (Venue Seekers) who need assistance in discovering and shortlisting the best-suited venues for their events, VenueLook service is totally free.
Venuelook – User Acquisition
While speaking about Venuelook’s user acquisition, Ruchi said that Venuelook acquires its customers mostly online, both in an organic way and through paid ads. Users came first, partners followed and premium partners came 9 months after MVP (Minimum Viable Product) launch. While the company has many growth hacks in place now, in the early days, the entire focus was only on serving the first set of users and partners in the best possible way, giving them real value for money, and that eventually helped VenueLook in terms of establishing trust and good reputation in the industry.
When you are bootstrapping, you have to be very resourceful as the constraints and risks are many, you don’t have the luxury to make mistakes and learn from them. Every communication/pitch matters, every meeting is important, every conversion and every penny counts.
For Venuelook there have been multiple challenges – hiring being the biggest one. According to Ruchi, It is still difficult to find the right people with the right kind of values and entrepreneurial spirit.
We kept ourselves afloat by following lean principles, keeping our costs strictly under control and breaking-even.
Venuelook – Funding and Investors
Venuelook has recently raised pre-series A funding from a group of Angel investors.
Getting funded is a wonderful experience, quite motivating, providing us the exact levers we needed to grow Venuelook faster.
Venuelook – Growth
Venuelook is emerging as the fastest-growing venue booking marketplace. The company, which was earlier distinguished as an O2O platform for venue aggregation, recommendation, and booking, has further forayed one step further into the event-planning industry on January 24, 2020. With the addition of this new wing, Venuelook started to provide end-to-end event planning services right from venue booking to organizing an event with just some clicks. The company announced this development through a press release dated 24th January 2020.
Often while planning an event, the biggest hindrance one faces is the time taken to finalize and book an event venue and then there is the hassle of running behind various vendors (often freelancers) to organize and deliver the event without any gaps, on time. As a solution to the unorganized segment of event planning and event management, VenueLook has come up with a platform where people connect instantly to a professional Event Manager who helps them get end-to-end event experience – dream venue and event planning services – decoration, catering, artists, return gifts, etc. all under one roof, as per their needs and budget. Event planning services are currently customizable and will soon be standardized for booking through the platform with 100% transparency and commitment to a quality experience.
Commenting on their expansion, Ms.Ruchi Garg, CEO, Founder, Venuelook said, ‘We have received a lot of love from our customers since we began our journey. Often our customers asked us whether we also provide event planning services. After creating a strong foothold in the venue booking industry, we are glad to announce that now we are extending our existing portfolio by venturing into event planning services.”
The company is constantly working towards making event organization simpler for its customers. In 2019, it added e- invitation facilities for the users so that they can easily invite their guests. Also, VenueLook is using proprietary aggregation and AI-backed algorithms to help identify and match customer requirements with the best venue options available, thus simplifying the venue discovery and booking process for weddings, social and corporate events.
The growth milestones achieved by the company to date are –
20000+ venues listed on the platform
3 Lac+ happy customers
Presence in 30+ cities
Currently, the company is headquartered in Noida with a regional office in Mumbai.
Future is definitely very exciting and we are looking forward to it.
Venuelook – Competitors
Top competitors of Venuelook in India are:
OYO’s Weddingz
BookEventz
Megavenues
Venuelocus
VenueMonk
VenueFinder
Hire Space
Venue Khojo
Besides, team Venuelook looks up to international players in the event space like Cvent, XOXO group, Honeybook and Kapow.
Venuelook – Future Plans
The company plans on going deeper in Tier-I cities and expanding in Tier-II cities soon.
FAQs
What is VenueLook?
Venuelook is an O2O platform for venue aggregation, recommendation, and booking. It makes venue discovery and booking process easier for weddings, and social and corporate events.
When was VenueLook founded?
VenueLook was founded in 2014.
Who is the CEO of VenueLook?
Ruchi Garg is the CEO and Co-founder of VenueLook.
Who founded Venuelook?
Venuelook was founded by Ruchi Garg and her friend Sovit Upadhyay.
Chinese investors have had a significant presence in the startup ecosystem In India. After the recent dispute at the Indo-China border, the Indian public is actively participating in the #BoycottChineseProducts movement. This has also resulted in the boycott of the services and products offered by different startups that have received investments from different Chinese companies.
However, there are many different Chinese companies that have invested huge amounts in many startups across the country. Many startups in India have been receiving investments worth millions of dollars from different Chinese companies that wish to establish themselves in the Indian market. And they have been quite successful in this by investing in big and popular startups and companies in India.
In this article, we discuss the top Chinese investors in the Indian Startup Ecosystem and their investments.
Alibaba Group is probably the topmost Chinese company that has invested in many Indian startups over the years, this multinational tech company was founded in the year 1999. Some of the biggest Indian startups and companies in which The Alibaba Group has invested include the Online Food Ordering and Delivery startup Zomato, Payments startup PayTM, and e-commerce startups such as Paytm Mall and SnapDeal and online grocery Store BigBasket.
Startup Name
Startup Founder
Amount
BigBasket
Hari Menon, VS Sudhakar and Vipul Parekh
$246 million
PayTM
Vijay Shekhar Sharma
$1.1 billion
Snapdeal
Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal
$150 million
Zomato
Deepinder Goyal
$512 million
Tencent Holdings
Tencent Holdings, or simply Tencent, is another Chinese technology and entertainment conglomerate that has hugely invested in Indian startups. It was founded in the year 1998. This company has invested in many different startups and companies such as PolicyBazaar, e-commerce store Flipkart, Online Taxi Booking startup Ola and Food Delivery Company Swiggy.
Startup Name
Startup Founder
Amount
MX Player
Karan Bedi
$110 million
PolicyBazaar
Yahishis Dahiya, Avaneesh Nirjar and Alok Bansal
$150 million
Ibibo
Ashish Kashyap
Undisclosed
Doubtnut
Tanushree Nagori and Aditya Shankar
$15 million
Swiggy
Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimini and Nandan Reddy
Undisclosed
Flipkart
Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal
Undisclosed
Byju
Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath
$40 million
Hike
Kavin Bharti Mittal
$175 million
Dream11
Bhavit Sheth and Harsh Jain
$100 million
Ola
Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati
$400 million
Fosun Group
The Fosun Group has been investing in Indian startups for a long time, keeping its main focus on Tech-based startups. It has invested in many startups including Delhivery, LetsTransport and others. Instead of investing large in big startups like the others that are already mentioned, Fosun Group mainly focuses on small tickets for relatively small startups. The group has its presence all around the world.
Startup Name
Startup Founder
Amount
MakeMyTrip
Deep Kalra
Undisclosed
Delhivery
Sahil Barua, Suraj Saharan and Kapil Bharati,
$30 million
LetsTransport
Pushkar Singh, Sudarshan Ravi and Ankit Parasher
$12 million
Shunwei Capitals
Shunwei Capitals has invested in many startups over the past years. It is a venture capital firm situated in Beijing, China. It was founded in 2011 by Lei Jun. In November of 2008, they raised around 1.2 billion dollars for investments in Indian startups.
Startup Name
Startup Founder
Amount
ZestMoney
Lizzie Chapman and Ashish Anantharaman
$13.4 million
Vokal
Mayank Bidawataka and Aprameya Radhakrishna
$6.5 million
Hillhouse Capital Group
Hillhouse Capital Group is one of the most famous private equity firms in Asia. It has invested in some well-known startups in India. The company was founded in the year 2005 by Zhang Lei.
Startup Name
Startup Founder
Amount
Udaan
Amod Malviya, Vaibhav Gupta, Sujeet Kumar
Undisclosed
Swiggy
Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimini and Nandan Reddy
Undisclosed
Conclusion
China has maintained a firm grip on the Indian market by funding and investing in various startups and companies all across the country. Even after the tension regarding the Indo-Chinese dispute, Chinese companies are associated with some Indian startups. Some of the most popular and well known Indian startups got funds from these Chinese companies and with their promising future, more and more Chinese companies are looking forward to investing in them and other startups
FAQs
Have Chinese companies invested in Indian companies?
There are multiple Chinese companies that have invested in Indian startups.
Is BYJU funded by China?
Chinese conglomerate Tencent Holdings has invested in the Indian ed-tech startup Byju.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Excess2Sell.
Verticals and domains dealing with the supply chain—where manufacturers, vendors, distributors, wholesalers, dealers, and resellers are involved— tend to have some unsold, overstock, and aging inventories left over. As per industry estimates, at least 20-30% of goods worth $500 billion – $600 billion in the Indian retail segment, end up as overstock.Excess2Sell is making the most out of this unsold inventory valued at approximately $30 billion.
Excess2sell.com is an e-commerce platform where vendors, manufacturers, dealers, and wholesalers alike can put up their excess inventory for sale. The catalog of offerings includes, but is not restricted to, electronics, computers, industrial Goods, LED electrical, and home appliances, among others.
Excess2Sell has grown at 150% CAGR since 2016. It has liquidated excess inventory of over Rs 2.23 billion (over $29 million) across India. With a revenue target of Rs 2000 crore ($267 Million) by 2023, Excess2sell is rapidly redefining the concept of selling excess inventory in India.
StartupTalky interviewed Excess2Sell CEO Rajan Sharma to know the Success Story of Excess2Sell and also get a glance at the Excess2Sell Business Model, Funding, Revenue, How it started, competitors & more…
Excess2sell.com is a comprehensive B2B platform marketplace for excess inventory management across verticals such as computer hardware and software, telecom, security, home appliances, apparels, lighting, kitchen items, etc.
The platform acts as a bridge between the seller who is stuck with unsold inventory and the buyer who may be keen to stock or has a high demand for a given product in their domain. It provides sellers the opportunity to liquidate anywhere in India and helps them transact in a confidential, anonymous, and neutral manner.
Rajan Sharma, Anant Chaturvedi and Navinder Chauhan are the founders of Excess2Sell. While Rajan Sharma is the CEO of the startup, Anant Chaturvedi, and Navinder Chauhan are the Directors of Excess2Sell.
Anant and Rajan have been working together since 2003. They were at D-LINK (India) and then at its subsidiary GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY till 2011. Post this, they were a part of Smartlink Networks wherein Navinder joined them.
Rajan Sharma
Rajan Sharma – Founder and CEO of Excess2Sell.
Rajan Sharma has been the Founder-CEO of Excess2Sell. He was previously associated with Priya Ltd. / PEAC SINGAPORE, in which Rajan closely worked with Intel, LG, WDD. It was a time when the PC market was in its nascent stage. D-LINK and GIGABYTE were two other companies in which Rajan spent a major part of his professional tenure.
Anant Chaturvedi
Anant Chaturvedi – Founder-Director at Excess2Sell
Anant Chaturvedi is a Director of Excess2Sell. Chaturvedi has previously served more than one company and has taken up key leadership positions in them. He served as the Asst Manager Channels at Intex Technologies; Regional Manager – Channel Sales at DLink India; Sales and Distribution Head of India at Gigabyte. He also worked with Smartlink Network Systems and iRevo Multimedia as DGM – Sales & Distribution and Sales Head respectively.
Navinder Chauhan
Navinder Chauhan – Founder and Director at Excess2Sell
Navinder Chauhan is another Founder-Director of Excess2Sell. Chauhan has a Bachelor’s degree in Science with a majors in Botany and Chemistry from Bundelkhand University. and then obtained an MBA in Marketing from the same university. Chauhan also has a work experience at DLink and iRevo, where he served as the Marketing Head and the Vice President of Marketing. Apart from that, Chauhan also worked with many other companies like Aditya Infotech, Rashi Peripherals, Panduit International Corp., Smartlink Network Systems, and Cisco Systems, where he held several managerial positions in Marketing. CyberMedia was the company Chauhan started his career with, where he served as a Senior Marketing Executive.
Amit Kundra, who heads Excess2Sell’s tech division, has been supporting the trio in reviewing the company’s progress. His experience in a hyperlocal vertical at a Sequoia-backed start-up was immensely helpful. He formally joined Excess2Sell in 2018 and lent hand in designing and developing the mobile app. It is Rajan, Amit, and Anant’s cumulative cross-functional experience in product management, business management, brand building, and marketing, that has been pivotal to the success Excess2Sell is enjoying today.
The idea behind Excess2Sell was conceived sometime at the end of 2015. It was to find a way and means to deal with inventory that remained unsold. Prior to founding the company, Rajan Sharma faced a force majeure situation in his last professional stint. It had to do with the product inventory at distribution points which in turn affected an entire location. The ageing inventory of stockists led to blocked capital and a slow turnaround time for sales. This was a problem faced by almost every stockist and wholesaler in the country and it was an opportunity that called for remediation.
Excess2Sell was then conceived as a solution to overcome this situation. It was launched four years ago to tackle the issue that plagued the large Indian B2B segment: unsold and unwanted inventory.
Post ideation and finalizing the business model, Rajan Sharma took almost 6 months to develop the back-end and front-end before the first transaction took place at the end of August, 2016. The team had been clear from day one about the need to build up its business through an organic approach. Excess2Sell focused on digital marketing and electronic marketing to reach out to its B2B database. This helped the venture kick start and scale up its transactions.
Excess2Sell – Vision And Mission
Excess2Sell wants to assist retailers and wholesalers across trade networks and channels in optimizing costs through excess inventory management using its portal, and provide an extensive store for buyers across India.
The venture’s long-term vision is to provide a proven universal solution to businesses for liquidating unsold inventories and become a leader in the segment with its current business model.
The core belief and ethos, which drives us is hard work, honesty and ethics.
The team wanted a name that would instantly signify its service and Excess2Sell seemed just right for accomplishing the objective. It firmly believed that this concept would be an enabler for the current ecosystem of vendors, distributors and dealers to re-distribute inventories from locations where they would languish, to locations where there would flourish; hence the tagline, ‘excess inventory marketplace’.
excess2sell logo
Excess2Sell – Business Model And Revenue Model
The Excess2Sell platform follows a ‘zero’ inventory model where sellers upload the details of their liquidation inventory online. The portal comprises registered buyers and sellers. Once the buyer confirms the off-take and makes the payment, the inventory procurement and dispatch are done. The platform generates revenue from the sales activity of goods. Every category has a pre-determined percentage of fees that is deducted as a procurement price from sellers. The average transaction is in the range of INR 5 to 8 lacs.
The revenue stream is being explored further with the launch of a E2S Premium Membership in 2o18 where a dedicated buyer-seller ecosystem is being built on a subscription model.
In the initial phase, the most challenging aspect was to ensure that buyers paid in advance for their orders. It took immense goodwill in addition to the credibility of the founders and the team to gain their trust and confidence. Today, word-of-mouth publicity is the biggest factor behind Excess2Sell consistently scaling up its operations. With over INR 150 crore worth of liquidations, Excess2Sell has proved the sustainability of its business model.
Excess2Sell – Competitors
Of late, many B2B companies have begun building their own platforms to tap into this relatively less explored market of excess inventory liquidation which is expected to reach $700 billion by 2020. However, Excess2Sell has taken the lead as India’s largest pure B2B online marketplace for liquidating ageing and unsold assets.
Excess2Sell has distinguished itself by creating the only tech-enabled enterprise that connects the B2B overstock market across India. It has the largest network of dealers and distributors on its online platform which are referred to as buyers and sellers.
When Excess2Sell was conceived, the market was fragmented and largely catered to the unorganized segment. At that time, deals occurred one-on-one between sellers and buyers. As of today, there is no other universal platform-specific to ‘excess inventory liquidation’ like Excess2Sell. As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest advantages Excess2Sell offers to both sellers and buyers is confidentiality, anonymity, and neutrality in transactions.
The fact that buyers and sellers transact Confidentially, Anonymously and Neutrally (CAN) has helped the platform grow from strength to strength. It is extremely critical in the company’s LoB( Line of Business) that the seller gets to offload their products anonymously and without disclosing the reason for their liquidating them. Liquidating products in the B2B space is often misconstrued as something being wrong with the product or with the demand for it, which is not at all true. It is mostly that the market, which may be in a specific geographic location and has not warmed up to it which is leading to blocking up the vendor’s operating capital. Excess2sell recognizes this pain point of the seller and hence CAN is a big plus for the user base. Excess2sell’s repeat buyer – seller rate is close to 70 per cent.
In the last three years, excess2sell.com has liquidated over INR 150 crore worth of inventory. In 2018 alone, the company mobilized excess inventory valued at over INR 85 crores.
The platform has a business reach of more than 200,000 B2B partners across India and the registered partner base is around 30,000 today. An average of 3+ transactions occur every day with 3,600 active buyers and sellers. Excess2Sell currently operates from Navi Mumbai and is present in New Delhi and Pune as well.
India’s B2B business base is 50 million strong and while it is a direct supplier of goods to the country’s 14 million retailer base, its reach remains stunted. E-tailing in India grew rapidly to become a $525 billion industry because it enjoys the advantage of being in the B2C marketplace. But the B2B e-commerce market is yet to realize its full potential and what it needs right now is a solutions based tech intervention. By offering a solution to address the pain points of the otherwise tech reclusive sector, Excess2Sell has given players in the B2B segment a reason and an incentive to come aboard.
Excess2Sell has already achieved a turnover of Rs 100 crore in the three quarters ending December 31st, 2019. Starting from a revenue base of Rs 41.58 lakhs in 2016-17, it jumped an astonishing 3000% in 2017-18 to Rs 12.9 crores. The revenue for 2018-19 clocked at Rs.70 crores, which was again over 500% jump from the previous year.
Speaking on the achievement made by the startup, which is just 3 years old, excess2sell founder and CEO Rajan Sharma said, “We have touched the magic figure of Rs.100 crore in our third year of operations, with one quarter still to go. Also with the 24×7 NEFT transaction facility made available from December 12th last year, we expect the next quarter growth to be significantly higher than the previous three quarters. We are increasingly upbeat about our performance this year, with the economy seeing signs of a revival from the slowdown. Though its early days to talk on the impact of NEFT transactions being made available 24×7, from whatever little data we have post-December 12th, it seems to have made a small positive impact on our sales figures. This has to be studied over the next quarter to actually assess the impact of the move on the industry.”
Excess2Sell is still working towards achieving even greater revenues in the upcoming years and has a revenue target set at Rs 2,000 crore ($267 million) by 2023.
The majority of buyers and sellers are reputed manufacturers, vendors, wholesalers, and dealers. Vendors of companies like Dell, HP, D-LINK, Intel, Acer, Apple, Motorola, and Samsung are among the authorized sellers on the Excess2Sell platform.
Excess2Sell successfully closed FY19 with liquidation deals worth INR 70 crores and is looking to close FY20 at INR 200 crores with projected successful transactions worth INR 900 crores for FY21. Excess2Sell is also looking forward to increasing the number of its registered partners by 100% to reach 50,000.
Our estimate of the branded packaged goods market size is $500 billion in the $2.8 trillion Indian economy. Even if we address only around half of this market and considering that we take 20 per cent of this as slow moving, that still is a $50 billion opportunity and the numbers are expected to double in six years from now.
FAQs
What is Excess2Sell?
Excess2sell.com is a comprehensive B2B platform marketplace for excess inventory management across verticals such as computer hardware and software, telecom, security, home appliances, apparel, lighting, kitchen items, etc.
Who are the founders of Excess2Sell?
Rajan Sharma, Anant Chaturvedi, and Navinder Chauhan are the founders of Excess2Sell.
How much is Excess2Sell revenue?
Excess2Sell posted revenue of Rs 100 crore in the 3rd quarter of FY 2019-20. It has a target of achieving Rs 2,000 crore ($267 million) in revenues by 2023.
The days when we had to go to various retail stores to buy things for ourselves are going away. The increasing technology has given a massive rise to retail startups.
With the expansion of digitization, everything is going online. Be it classes, courses, jobs, shopping, or more, all these can be done just with the internet and an internet supporting device.
Many players like Amazon have been in existence for quite a long time. But the increasing adaptation of Indian customers towards online shopping has given a rise to more players in the market.
Now, there are various retail startups in India that are going super well and making great progress. These include Nykaa, MeatRoot, Generico, and many more.
These are the startups that deal in the sale of goods and services to customers. These are responsible for providing the products and services that we need from clothing, food, home appliances, labor, etc.
Some retail startups may also be the producers themselves. The others, however, connect the producers with consumers. The online retail industry has seen a great expansion in the past decade.
These are mostly involved in the retail sale of stuff through electronic shopping which means through their sites and applications. They may or may not have store retailing.
Begging a retail startup can be super challenging for any entrepreneur. This is because of the increasing rise in the competitors and risks in the market. Such businesspersons are the ones who are good at multi-tasking, willing to handle risks, and also survive and thrive in a competitive environment.
Which is The Largest Retailer in India?
Reliance Retail
Reliance Retail Revenue Growth
The name that every Indian is familiar with is Reliance. Reliance Retail is the largest retailer in India. In 2006, the enterprise decided to enter the retail industry by initiating its subsidiary, Reliance Retails. Mukesh Ambani founded this and when it comes to profit it is known to be the largest retailer in India. The headquarters is in Mumbai.
It includes Reliance Fresh, 7 Eleven, Reliance Trends, and Reliance consumer brand.
Top Retail Startups in India
Retail startups have now been existing in India for quite some time. The pandemic gave a great rise to retail industry. It not only strengthened the existing startups but also paved way for the new ones.
The following are the top retail startups in India:
It is a beauty retail startup that sells beauty, wellbeing, and apparel products. It was founded in the year 2012. The founder is Falguni Nayar. The headquarters is in Mumbai. It provides products from brands like Maybelline, Lakme, Loreal, and more. Along with these, Nykaa offers a wide range of products under its name as well.
Its products are available on its website, application, and offline stores. It is one of the most successful retail startups that has now acquired the status of a Unicorn Startup in India.
It is a marketplace over the internet that belongs to the industry of retailing. Myntra was founded in 2007 and has headquarters in Bengaluru. The founders are Mukesh Bansal, Ashutosh Lawania, Sankar Bora, Raveen Sastry, and Vineet Saxena.
It enables the customers to purchase a great range of products. The products include apparel, lifestyle, accessories, mugs, and more.
Flipkart
Founded: 2007 Founder: Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal Headquarters: Bengaluru
It is another digital retail startup founded in the year 2016. Paytm mall provides many domestic and foreign products. Vijay Sharma is the founder. The headquarters is in Bengaluru.
The platform allows the customers to purchase many products at reasonable prices. The products include apparel, furnishing, electronics, and many more.
Blinkit
Founded: 2013 Founder: Saurabh Kumar and Albinder Dhindsa Headquarters: Gurugram
Blinkit (previously known as Grofers) is an online supermarket established in the year 2013 by Saurabh Kumar and Albinder Dhindsa. The headquarters of the startup is in Gurugram, Haryana. This grocery delivery platform links the consumers with local stores.
When it comes to retail startups, Blinkit is sure to be a prominent name. It provides a great variety of products. These include foodstuffs, fruits and vegetables, bakery, beauty, and more.
Lenskart
Founded: 2010 Founder: Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, and Sumeet Kapahi Headquarters: Faridabad
It is an Indian eyewear marketplace established in the year 2010. The founders are Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, and Sumeet Kapahi. The headquarters is in Faridabad, Haryana. This allows customers to have direct access to their preferable eyewear.
Founded: 2012 Founder: Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee Headquarters: Mumbai
It is an operator of an online retail platform for cosmetics. It came into existence in the year 2012. Founders are Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee. The headquarters is in Mumbai. The products offered by Sugar Cosmetics are available online and in offline stores too.
It offers a great collection of cosmetic products like lipsticks, eyeliners, concealers, and many more. It is the quickest growing startup in the field of beauty in India.
Bombay Shaving Company
Founded: 2015 Founder: Shantanu Deshpande and Rohit Jaiswal Headquarters: New Delhi
It is a specialty retailer of grooming products for both men and women. It was founded in the year 2015 by Shantanu Deshpande and Rohit Jaiswal. The operational center is in New Delhi.
The startup’s products have become a popular choice of many. Its products include razors, lotions, grooming kits, and more.
Chumbak
Founded: 2010 Founder: Vivek Prabhakar and Shubhra Chadda Headquarters: Bengaluru
It is a design-based retail startup established in the year 2010. The founders are Vivek Prabhakar and Shubhra Chadda. The main center of operations is in Bengaluru. The products are influenced by the world’s different forms of art and culture.
It also has various offline retail stores. It provides an enormous variety of products. These include home décor, gifting and lifestyle, apparel, and more. The retail startup is super popular for its fun and colorful products.
FirstCry
Founded: 2010 Founder: Amitava Saha and Supam Maheshwari Headquarters: Pune
It is an online retailer that offers more than two lakhs of baby care and kids products. It came into existence in the year 2010. Founders are Amitava Saha and Supam Maheshwari. The main office is in Pune. Firstcry offers products through both online and offline stores.
The customers get to have its products easily and at reasonable rates. It offers many different products. These include children’s apparel, footwear, toys, gifts, accessories, and many more.
Founded: 2011 Founder: Ashish Shah and Ambareesh Murty Headquarters: Mumbai
It is a retail startup that deals in furniture and home merchandise. Ashish Shah and Ambareesh Murty established it in the year 2011. The headquarters is in Mumbai. It provides products from its own brand as well as from others.
Founded: 2016 Founder: Ajai Thandi, Arman Sood, and Ashwajeet Singh Headquarters: New Delhi
It is an internet retail startup established in the year 2016. It deals in coffee products. The founders of it are Ajai Thandi, Arman Sood, and Ashwajeet Singh. The main office is in New Delhi.
Its coffee products are super famous and relished by many as these are made from arabica beans. It sells its products online and also has many outlets in different cities in India.
Licious
Founded: 2015 Founder: Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura Headquarters: Bengaluru
The specialty retail startup offers top-quality meat products. It came into existence in the year 2015. The founders are Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura. The headquarters is in Bengaluru.
It is an Indian retail tech startup established in the year 2016. Khushnud Khan and Rishi Raj Rathore are the founders of Arzooo. The operational center is in Bengaluru. The startup is a provider of a great collection of electronic products.
The platform supports opposite auctions where instead of buyers, the sellers tend to propose the price for which they are ready to sell. This helps people to have a fair price for their selected products.
Faasos
Founded: 2011 Founder: Jaydeep Burman and Kallol Banerjee Headquarters: Pune
It is a retail food-providing startup started in the year 2011. Founders are Jaydeep Burman and Kallol Banerjee. The headquarters is in Pune. Faasos offers a cloud-kitchen and dark kitchen model that provides food.
It runs more than 160 kitchens to provide meals to consumers. Whether you want biryani or your favorite dessert, the startup enables you to get it in no time.
It is a retail and food-tech venture founded in the year 2019. The founders are Vaibhav Singhal, Nikhil Monga, and Swati Agarwal. The headquarters is in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It enables people to straight-up place orders from the partner stores through the app.
As the name suggests, it eases up the shopping experience for users without waiting in the checkout queues.
MeatRoot
Founded: 2014 Founder: Mohit Bhonde, Vrushali Babar, and Shrikant Babar Headquarters: Pune
It is a retail startup for meat products founded in the year 2014. The founders are Mohit Bhonde, Vrushali Babar, and Shrikant Babar. The headquarters is in Pune. The startup is an online store for fresh, frozen, and processed meat.
It offers products like seafood, chicken wings, exotic meat, pork, duck, goat meat, boneless chicken, and more.
DealShare
Founded: 2018 Founder: Vineet Rao, Sourjyendu Medda, and Sankar Bora Headquarters: Jaipur
It is an online purchasing startup founded in the year 2018. Its main office is in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Vineet Rao, Sourjyendu Medda, and Sankar Bora are the founders. Its platform provides a great variety of products to the customers.
It allows people to purchase products easily and at cheaper rates. The products offered include fruits, vegetables, accessories, furnishings, etc.
Healthkart
Founded: 2011 Founder: Sameer Maheshwari and Prashant Tandon Headquarters: Gurugram
It allows customers to get everything related to fitness at one stop. It offers protein, vitamin supplements, products for weight loss, personal trainers, and more.
Zeno Health
Founded: 2017 Founder: Siddharth Gadia and Girish Agarwal Headquarters: Mumbai
Zeno Health (earlier Generico) is a pharmacy retail startup established in the year 2017. The founders are Siddharth Gadia and Girish Agarwal. The headquarters are in Mumbai. It operates a chain of retail pharmacy stores to offer generic medicines at a reasonable price.
It offers great-quality medicines and also has a team of drugstore advisors at its stores. The main aim of this retail startup is to make healthcare more reachable and economical.
Conclusion
The startups are growing strong in India. One of the most important industries that have been seeing a great rise in terms of startups is the retail industry. In modern times, Indian customers are becoming more and more comfortable with online shopping. This helps them to have more variety and also cuts the role of middlemen.
Over the years, many retail startups like Myntra, Nykaa, Pepperfry, and the other above-mentioned have made great progress. These startups are transforming the traditional ways of retail business. These are sure to grow further and also inspire new startups in the field.
FAQs
Which are the top retail startups in India?
Top Retail startups in India are:
Nykaa
Myntra
Flipkart
Paytm Mall
Blinkit
Lenskart
Sugar Cosmetics
Bombay Shaving Company
Chumbak
FirstCry
Which is the largest retailer in India?
Reliance Retail is the largest retailer in India.
Which is the world’s largest retailer?
Amazon and Walmart are the world’s largest retailer.
Over the past few a long time, Google has discharged a few upgrades to their look motor calculation, of which Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird were the greatest. Those overhauls set increased rules on how proprietors ought to structure their locales for connect building, both construct approaching joins and utilize grapple content for active links. Even in the presence of the overhauls, the conventional on-page SEO is still intact. Each on-page SEO errand is truly for the user’s advantage. But a majority of SEOs do not agree with that.
On-page SEO is one of the foremost important forms you’ll be able to utilize for accomplishing higher rankings in a look engine’s natural comes about and running fruitful SEO campaigns. A site is the central point of all SEO forms and in case it’s not appropriately optimized for both search engines and clients, you minimize your chances of getting activity from search engines. In this article, we will talk about some SEO tricks that are important and which help in making your website rank higher in the search engine results. So let’s get started.
On-page SEO is mainly the process of improving various elements that are present in the website, to make it rank higher in the search engines so that they can experience more and more traffic to the website. The On-page SEO components are content elements, HTML elements and site architecture elements.
Meta Title and Description
Usually the foremost imperative on-page SEO figure. The reason for usually that the more alluring and optimized your title is, the more individuals will click on it. And in common, the more clicks your post gets, the higher it’ll rank. Also, take note to restrict the word limit of the headline to 65 only.
Dodge auto-generated meta depictions – Indeed even though Google may not utilize your depiction, it’s continuously the best hone to dodge utilizing auto-generated depictions that some of the time don’t make sense.
Content Optimization
Content is the spine of flourishing commerce and on-page SEO is the spine of substance showcasing. You’ve likely listened to the saying, “content is the king.”
However, there are many more aspects tied to fruitful marketing than just the matter that you write. You’ve got to distribute the kind of substance that will drive activity and develop your business. This includes utilizing particular watchword state components that incorporate long-tail grapple words. Use sufficient dispersing between the passages to form the text simpler to read.
URL Optimization
The URL – Universal Resource Locator – is the address of the net page on your location. It’s a vital SEO best hone. So why has no one cracked the process and provided an in-depth guide yet?
In the process of URL, optimization keeps in mind not to change or alter the URL of your previous posts because doing so will cause breakage of the interface. This will result in the non-accessibility of your content as the clients will not be able to find it after tapping the URL that was previously mentioned.
Blog page URLs are meant to supply a few data and significant encounters to people and computers alike. Make use of categories – Bunch your pages into categories to assist clients and look motors discover what they need faster. It’s like having a stockroom with parts of uncategorized things versus a distribution centre with all the things relegated to a committed category.
Usage of Heading Tags
You ought to utilize heading labels to highlight different headings, sub-headings, and vital points. In WordPress, the title tag is set at H1. You don’t truly get to utilize any more H1 labels anyplace within the article. One is sufficient. For segment breaks, adhere to H2 and H3 tags.
External Linking
Separated from connecting to your possess web journal posts, it may be an extraordinary thought to interface out to outside websites as well. Once more, it did this in case the data on the outside site is important to the data in your post.
While connecting out to outside websites, you ought to link to trusted websites as they were. And on the off chance that you’ve got questions about the specialist or notoriety of a website, you’ll be able to utilize a nofollow tag to maintain a strategic distance from passing your connected juice to possibly terrible sites. You ought to utilize dofollow joins for trusted websites and nofollow joins for those that are less trustworthy.
Image Alt-text
Now, your content also includes images, image alt-text is the SEO of your images used in the content. It informs and helps Google understand, what your images are all about. When you search for something in Google, it also offers image-based results, which means potential customers also can find your site through images.
Internal Linking
Internal linking means hyperlinking other important pages of the website with the current one. It helps in making Google realise that your page is valuable and important. Apart from that, it also aware readers of your other content on the website. This way, your website gets to rank higher on the result page of search engines.
Conclusion
On-page SEO is approximately more than shoehorning a couple of catchphrases into meta tags. It’s almost satisfying to look at expectations and give searchers what they need. That’s the foremost critical step. If you don’t drag that off, no sum of “optimization” will assist your rank.
FAQs
Is SEO important in 2022?
Yes, SEO is a priority and it will help you drive organic traffic to your website.
Is SEO easy to learn?
SEO is easy to learn but hard to master.
What are some popular SEO Tools?
Some of the popular SEO tools are, SEMrush, Moz Pro, SpyFu, AWR Cloud, Ahrefs.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by WizKlub.
Technological advancements today have changed the way we communicate, educate, carry out financial transactions, the way we shop, and numerous other horizons of our lifestyle. To create the kind of technology that can solve both access and quality problems associated with the education sector across the world Amit Bansal launched WizKlub in 2018.
Hailed as an innovation platform for kids, WizKlub offers a wide range of ways to nurture complex and critical thinking in the minds of children between 6 and 14 years of age in a simplified way.
Here’s the success story of WizKlub that includes everything about WizKlub, its Founders and Team, Startup Story, Business Model, and Revenue Model, Challenges, Funding and Investors, Growth, and more.
WizKlub is a research-based education company that has combined technology with research in cognitive learning to empower K-8 students with smart reading and problem-solving programs and skills required to succeed in the coming decade. WizKlub’s HOTS and SmartTech programs develop cognitive skills in children aged 5-15 years through an AI-powered tech platform that delivers a personalized learning path for every child.
WizKlub’s vision is to provide high-quality education to school children through advances in science and technology and impart skills needed to succeed in the future along with creating a million thinking minds who are lifelong learners, adept problem solvers, and would build technology for a better future.
WizKlub offers a wide array of products including:
HOTS – Higher Order Thinking Skills across Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Logical Reasoning, and Problem Solving. The WizKlub HOTS Program develops higher-order thinking skills to ensure that every child is a smart reader and a smart problem solver.
YPDP – The Young Product Designers Program offered by WizKlub is designed to help children build and code tech products.
Connected Learning (STEAM Learning) – The Connected Learning for Kids, as offered by WizKlub, helps children between 6-14 years learn an integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math, which is designed to nurture co-curricular activities in them.
Alexa Skill Development for Kids – This wing that helps kids learn programming, empowers them with Blockly-based WizKlub’s Voice Developer Tool, which will help them build their own Conversational AI – Alexa Skill.
Machine Learning for Kids – This program of WizKlub extends adequate knowledge to the children to help them build their own Machine Learning engine.
Wiz Web Design for Kids – The Web Designing program of WizKlub helps the children to learn the basics of web development with HTML and CSS.
WizKlub has also launched a SmartTechprogramme, which caters to children, even those who are aged 6 years, and helps them develop lifelong skills and confidence by empowering them to create tech products by applying cutting-edge technologies of coding, robotics, smart devices, and AI. WizKlub also boasts of its programmable smart device, ‘WizGear’, which helps a child get a new product module that they can use for coding and building every month.
In the coming future, it is expected that 7 out of 10 school-going students would be working on roles that don’t even exist today. The implication is that these students would be required to solve NEW problems. Further, this generation needs to be lifelong learners as technology is changing every industry making the roles obsolete every 3-4 years. However, more than 90% of the students in the Indian school system learn and solve problems using “Rote Memorization” which means that they would be a misfit for the workforce in the coming decade or may end-up doing extremely low-end tasks.
WizKlub products solve this problem by raising the core aptitude of every child and making them smart learners and adept problem solvers. The students of the WizKlub system are trained to become Creators of Technology than just being passive consumers of technology.
Product designed with research in Cognitive Learning.
Personalized learning path for every learner based on existing levels.
Hybrid learning cutting across facilitator, app, and conversations through Artificial Intelligence.
Hybrid learning environment cutting across facilitator, app, and conversations through Artificial Intelligence.
WizKlub – Target Market Size
WizKlub is targeting k-8 school students. The k-12 supplementary education sector in India itself is $15 billion (Rs 100,000 crores). Several k-12 students are 350m and half of them are in the k-6 segment itself. According to a report by KPMG in India and Google, the online Education market is expected to cross $2bn by 2022 and $4bn by 2025.
WizKlub – Founders and Team
The founder and CEO of WizKlub is Mr. Amit Bansal. Other team includes Manohar Kashyap, Jaspal Singh, Swarup Vijh, and Pramod.
Amit Bansal
Amit Bansal – Founder & CEO WizKlub
Amit Bansal is the Founder and CEO of WizKlub. Amit has a Master’s degree in Marketing from XLRI, Jamshedpur. Before founding WizKlub, he was an Advisor at IndiQube. Also, this is not his first startup, before WizKlub, he has also co-founded startups like Xcelerator and PurpleLeap.
Swarup Vijh is the Senior Vice President. He has a Master’s degree from the University of Pune. Swarup was working with iStar as a National Operations Head before collaborating with WizKlub. Vijh held some other key leadership positions in several organizations including Pearson Education, ICFAI, HED-X, GMMCO, and more.
The startup onboarded Pankaj Bande (Jain) as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO) on May 4, 2021. Some other notable employees of WizKlub are Manohar Kashyap, Jaspal Singh and Pramod N.
Team WizKlub
WizKlub – Startup Story | How did it start?
This EdTech company for School Children is the third EdTech venture of this team. The earlier two ventures were in the higher education space where the team worked with over 50,000 engineering students across India. “We realized that at that stage we could create the maximum impact by skilling students on specific tools. However, at that age, the basic aptitude of a student is pretty much cast in stone and cannot be changed significantly. So, if a student does not have programming aptitude, one cannot be trained to become a good programmer.” Said Amit Bansal.
More research established that the core aptitude of a person that defines one’s suitability for different career roles is pretty much defined in the first 12-13 years of their life. And unfortunately, the Indian schooling system is still focused on curriculum, instead of focusing on core aptitude that makes one smart learner and adept problem solver. Hence the team decided to address this issue by providing a scientific program to build these skills when the age is right. They worked on the product for 6 months including prototyping and pilots to establish product efficacy. The product has an 83% efficacy rate which is quite remarkable for a learning product.
“WizKlub is on a mission to create a million thinking minds,” says the mission statement of the company.
WizKlub – Name, Tagline, and Logo
The logo of WizKlub is essentially centered around a tick mark which denotes students making the right choice. WizKlub is a club of Wizards. Essentially, the creators of tomorrow are the wizards of the future. They are going to look like they have magic powers compared to everybody else.
WizKlub Logo
WizKlub – Business Model and Revenue Model
The business model of WizKlub is subscription-based and the investment ranges from 10k to 25k per year depending on the program.
WizKlub – Funding and Investors
The funding amount of WizKlub stands at $1.96 mn (Rs 15 crore), which was raised via an Angel round followed by a Seed round that poured in Rs 2 crore and Rs 7 crore respectively, after which, WizKlub raised another Rs 6 crore via a Pre-Series A round of funding.
WizKlub has last raised a Pre-Series A funding round led by Incubate Fund India. Before this it raised a seed round of funding of Rs 7 crore, which was led by Incubate Fund India with participation from Insitor Impact Asia Fund. The company planned to use the fresh capital for product and market expansion.
Date
Stage
Amount
Investor
February 16, 2021
Pre-Series A
INR 6 crore
Incubate Fund India
January 2020
Seed
INR 7 crore
Incubate Fund India and Insitor Impact Asia Fund
January 2019
Angel
INR 2 crore
Saurabh Chandra, Hardeep Singh, Pankaj Goel, and Pradeep Singh
WizKlub – Growth
WizKlub’s distribution model is centered around neighborhood facilitators who impart the program to the students in the apartment or community areas. The team launched the program through events in these apartments and found the early adopters. The customer experience and product efficacy have been extremely important to the team ever since its inception, and the growth has been through positive word-of-mouth from our existing users. “We have moved the core aptitude (IQ) of more than 3000 students!” says Amit Bansal.
The startup has 150+ centers in Bengaluru and has progressed 3000+ children through its programs. The company also offers HOTS and SmartTech programs on a subscription model and is on track to on-board 10,000+ children over the next few months.
The subscription-based online programmes offered by WizKlub are empowering students globally. With the help of these programs, WizKlub boasts of having delivered 100,000+ hours of personalised learning to young students across the world.
WizKlub – Startup Challenges
One major challenge that WizKlub faced initially was that the product was delivering results in terms of improved learning and problem-solving aptitude but ONLY those parents who were involved with their kid’s learning journey were able to witness the results. The involved parents could see that the child has become an active reader, can read between the lines, is asking intelligent questions, is more inquisitive, is not scared of unseen problems, which was not the case before joining the program. However, the other set of parents were not able to appreciate the difference as they were expecting results in terms of visible output. The team solved this problem by demonstrating the improvement of the world’s most popular IQ test for children, WISC ( Weschler’s Intelligence Scale for Children). They were able to demonstrate similar efficacy of 85% improvement on the third-party assessment WISC as well.
WizKlub is planning to grow further in the boom of the edtech startups that we are witnessing in India. The startup is also planning to hire 150 more tutors to enhance its learning programs.
FAQs
What is WizKlub?
WizKlub is an Edtech company that caters to the K-12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) segment focusing on developing skills in children that will help them succeed in competitive exams and beyond.
Who is the founder of the Wizklub?
Amit Bansal is the founder of WizKlub.
What is HOTS Olympiad?
HOTS Olympiad is the World’s First Olympiad series that focuses on the Core Aptitude and IQ of a student. HOTS Olympiad is designed by Practitioners working in the area of Cognitive Excellence for children in classes 1 to 8.
What are the competitors of WizKlub?
Some of the most notable competitors of WizKlub are:
Volkswagen is a very familiar name for all automobile enthusiasts across the world. This German motor vehicle manufacturer has fared on the path of success and popularity due to its uncompromising quality and commitment. It was founded on 28 May 1937, by the German Labour Front and is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Going by the factual pieces of evidence it can be seen that the Volkswagen group has played a significant role in making cars a product of the middle-class by being a very elitist possession, especially during the second world war. However, it is important to note that Volkswagen is not just a single popular brand. They in fact own many other brands as well. This article will look into the various companies that are owned by the Volkswagen group
It is an independent automotive software company under the Volkswagen Group that consolidates and expands the software competencies of the firm. With a goal to make the best use of technology to benefit the automotive industry, this company is on its way to developing more sustainable automotive services. It was established in 2020.
Volkwagen Group Components
Volkswagen Group Components Logo
This company was founded in 2019 as a part of Volkswagen group strategy 2030. They aspire to improve the potential and viability of component activities through cross-brand management. They are divided into new business areas that are known as Engine & Foundry, Gearbox & Electric Drive, Battery Cell & Battery System, Charge & Energy, Chassis and Seats. Today, they manage over 75,000 people across the globe.
Volkswagen Financial Services
Volkswagen Financial Services Logo
It was founded in the year 1949 and since then has been performing well even during the Covid 19 pandemic. They focus on finding better services with regard to the digital spaces. Their primary focus area revolves around dealer and customer financing, leasing, bank and insurance activities, fleet management and mobility services. They are represented in over 48 markets across the globe.
MOIA
MOIA Logo
MOIA is a company under Volkswagen that focuses on offering mobility services to city dwellers. It was founded in December 2016 and since then has been working towards its primary goal of recruiting the nuances of mobility amongst the people in urban areas. They develop on-demand services including ride pooling. With the Volkswagen group, they are able to thrive under an experienced company while having exposure to a startup culture.
SEAT
Seat Logo
Seat is the first car manufacturing company in Spain and was founded on 9 May 1950. Since then they have been demonstrated evidence that stands as a testament to the robust technology and industrial competence that the firm maintains consistently. Today the company has marked its presence in more than 75 countries employing over 15,000 people. They sell vehicles under two brands namely SEAT and CUPRA.
Skoda
Skoda Logo
Skoda is a Czech Republic company that was founded in 1895 by Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement. It is one of the oldest car manufacturers in the world that is functional even today. For the last 30 years, Skoda auto has been a very important part of the Volkswagen group. Skoda has also not forgotten their commitment to creating a sustainable environment like all other brands under Volkswagen. They are driven by the exporters of a well-construed sustainability advisory board.
Scania
Scania Logo
The Swedish brand was founded in 1891 by Philip Wersen and Surahammarsbruk, which is a centuries-old ironworks. Over the years, they ran into many financial difficulties before they became the general agent for Volkswagen in Sweden. By 2008, Volkswagen owned over 68% of the voting rights and 37.73% of share capital. By 2014, Scania was wholly owned by the Volkswagen Group. The company has grown so much under Volkswagen that in 2020, Scania released its fully electric truck to become one of the topmost companies in the commercial vehicle industry.
Ducati
Ducati Logo
Headquartered in Bologna, Italy, Ducati has never failed to impress motorbike lovers. It was founded by Antonio Cavalieri in the year 1926. Ducati was taken over by Volkswagen in 2012 for $1.2 billion. Through Ducati, Volkswagen has been able to maintain a stronghold in the motorcycle industry as well.
Porsche
Porsche Logo
This popular brand that is known for its premium qualities was founded by Ferdinand Porsche in 1931. It is said that the Beetle designs by Volkswagen were influenced by Porsche. Although the companies agreed to merge in August 2009, it was only towards the end of 2015 that Volkswagen had the majority shareholding in Porsche.
Audi
Audi Logo
This famous automobile brand became an important part of Volkswagen in 1965. It has been offering premium vehicles since its inception in 1909. Today Audi cars have become a measure of the quality of life and place their owners in a certain class of society.
Lamborghini
Lamborghini Logo
Lamborghini was founded by Ferruccio Lamborghini in the year 1963. Since the founding of this Italian company, it has been a competition to Ferrari due to its uncompromising design and quality. The firm shot to fame within a few years. However, due to financial burdens, Lamborghini had to shut down in 1973. After several changes of ownership Volkswagen finally took over the firm in the year 1998. Through the deliverance of unique hybrid technologies, they have generated billions in the automobile industry today with no turning back since the acquisition.
Bentley
Bentley Logo
Bentley was founded in 1919 and Crewe of United Kingdom. Today Bentley is an end to end net carbon neutral company which adds to the unmistakable reputation of the firm. They have been a part of the Volkswagen group since 1998.
It is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen group that was founded in the year 1998. This luxury brand of hyper sports cars is based in Molsheim, France. Today strong brands like Porsche and Rimac have agreed to formulate a joint venture with Bugatti wherein they will produce hypercar models. Right now the two hypercar models that are planned are the Bugatti Chiron and the all-electric Rimac Nevera.
Traton
Traton Logo
Under the umbrella of Volkswagen, Traton has emerged as one of the largest commercial vehicle manufacturers across the globe. Recently they merged with Navistar which has further elevated the prospects of the firm. They aim to become the leading brand in the field of commercial vehicles by giving importance to sustainability and digitalisation.
MAN
MAN Logo
The MAN Truck and Buses are two of the most popular additions of this brand under Volkswagen. However, to focus on the global plans for the premium end of the market, MAN trucks exited the Indian markets 2 years ago.
IAV
IAV Logo
Volkswagen AG and IAV is an auto parts maker that has created standards to follow for latecomers. Volkswagen owns more than 50% of its stake in IAV. It was founded in Berlin in 1983 by Dr Hermann Appel. Over the years they have developed electric vehicle rechargers that are built into the road for which they have submitted patents.
Renk
Renk Logo
It was a subsidiary of MAN since 1923. As Volkswagen acquired MAN in 2011, Renk became a direct subsidiary of Volkswagen. However, the latter happened in 2019. Renk is a remarkable automotive company that is into the manufacturing of engines for trucks, ships and combat defence vehicles.
WirelessCar
WirelessCar Logo
In 2018 Volkswagen group acquired a 75% of stake in WirelessCar which was owned by Volvo information technology AB. it will help the parent company to further extend its mission of improving connectivity. This Swedish telematics specialist is expected to accentuate the growth of the digital ecosystem and thereby provide extensive connectivity for vehicle generations to come. It is expected that WirelessCar technology will ensure a stable and safe exchange of data between various platforms.
From being one of the pioneers in bringing cars into the midst of middle-class households, Volkswagen continues to be the baton bearer of various other important milestones since then. Today, Volkwagen’s electric vehicles are the most frequently delivered passenger car across the world.
Through digitalisation, they have transformed the present and future of the company. They have brought in relevant software updates through which the company have been able to remain customer friendly.
Inadvertently, these efforts have helped them remain focused on their goals to be the best in the industry. The zeal of Volkswagen to not only focus on the present but also invest intelligently in the future is something that has to be appreciated and looked up to.
FAQs
What subsidiaries does Volkswagen own?
Bugatti, Traton, MAN, IAV, Renk, WirelessCar, Lamborgini, Porsche, Ducati, Scania, Skoda, Audi, Seat, and MOIA are some of the subsidiaries of Volkswagen.
Is Bugatti Owned by Volkswagen?
Yes, Volkswagen acquired Bugatti in 1998 for $50 million in an all-stock deal.
With the Economy of India badly affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic add the loss of jobs for lakhs of migrant workers during the lockdown, a scheme by the name of ‘Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan‘ or ‘Rural Job Scheme’ was launched by the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi in the district of Bihar on 2oth June 2020 to cope up with this problem. The scheme will support migrant workers and other rural workers by giving them jobs and livelihood support. The scheme was launched by the PM via video conferencing. The Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar was also present at the video conference when the scheme was launched.
After the scheme was launched, Nitish Kumar informed the PM that he interacted with the migrant workers who came back to their homes in Bihar during the lockdown. He said that the workers now want to work in Bihar only and do not want to leave as migrant workers to other states. He also said that the scheme will be greatly beneficial for these workers and that it is a gift from the Central Government to them. He also promised to include these workers in other schemes of the Bihar State Government.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi interacted with some of these migrant workers and tried to understand the problems that they are currently facing. According to Prime Minister Modi, he got the idea from migrant workers that were quarantined in a school building in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. Instead of wasting their time, they utilized their skills and painted the whole school as an act of gratitude. The PM addressed all the migrant workers of Bihar and informed them that they will be getting jobs in their own state under the scheme, and urged them to use their talents and skills for taking their villages forward and for the overall development of Bihar.
PM Modi Launches Garib Kalyan Yojana
What Will the Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan Provide?
The scheme will provide 125 days of employment under 25 sub-schemes to the migrant workers of 116 districts. These 116 districts are spread across 6 states including Bihar. The other states are Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Odisha. The scheme aims to provide guaranteed employment to about 6.7 million migrant workers.
The scheme will mainly focus on the development in rural areas. It will contain projects such as the building of roads, the building shelters for animals, drinking water supply, house constructions, the building of community toilets, and more in which the workers will be employed. The scheme has been launched with a budget of ₹50,000 Crores which is roughly half the budget for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), previously known as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) which aims to provide 100-day employment to almost 140 million workers of rural areas. Some of the state governments have requested to increase the employment period to 150 days to provide jobs to many workers who have returned to their native places all over the country amid the lockdown. In 2021-2022 the budget of th scheme increased and become ₹98,000. In 2022, total 3.62 billion person days of work were provided. The MGNREGA has seen a sharp rise in the number of people applying for jobs since May, the reason that many people have lost their jobs due to the lockdown. The new ‘Rural Jobs Scheme’ or the ‘Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan’ will help overcome the unemployment in rural areas to a large extent. This scheme will also give a boost to the Indian economy which is currently at a standstill. It will help many workers by giving them employment in their own states.
Benefits of Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan
Some of the benefits of Garib Kalyan Roazgar Abhiyan schme are:
It will create employment opportunities for migrants.
It will create good infrastructure and the rural area will experience developement.
There are number of different works that are given to the workers according to their skill and they will have employment for 125 days.
The rural livelihood will experience a development with the help of the scheme.
FAQs
When was Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan launched?
Garib Kalyan Rijgar Abhiyaan was launched in 20 June 2020.
Who launched Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana.
What is Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana?
Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana is a scheme that will provide migrants and rural workers with job or livelihood for 125 days.
