Mumbai, August 12, 2025 – Weaver Services Private Limited (Weaver) today announced the successful completion of its 100% acquisition of Capital India Home Loans Limited (CIHL), following receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. This marks a significant milestone in Weaver’s mission to build a next-generation, tech-driven affordable housing finance company.
The ₹267 crore transaction was funded through equity raised from Premji Invest, Gaja Capital, and a group of distinguished individual investors. Capital India was advised on the deal by Sanjeev Lall and Devesh Kumar of EIP Financial Services LLP, and Sunil Shukla of CC Chokshi Advisors, while AZB & Partners were legal advisors to the deal on behalf of Weaver Services.
This follows Weaver’s October 2024 announcement of its intent to acquire CIHL, signalling the company’s strategic roadmap to enter India’s affordable housing finance market. With the deal now closed, Weaver is moving quickly to launch a tech-led affordable housing finance platform targeting self-employed individuals in the unorganised sector, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. The company will place special emphasis on financial inclusion for women borrowers, who often face systemic challenges in accessing credit from traditional lenders.
Reflecting on this milestone, Satrajit Bhattacharya, Promoter of Weaver Services, said, “Through this strategic acquisition, Weaver is poised to establish its market presence and drive meaningful change by delivering customized financial solutions tailored to the unique needs of our diverse customer base. Closing this acquisition with all approvals in place transforms our intent into action. We can now focus entirely on execution, building a platform that offers fair, fast, and accessible housing finance to those historically excluded from the system. We would like to thank our investors, the Capital India team, and their advisors, especially Mr. Sanjeev Lall, for their support in completing the transaction.”
Keshav Porwal, Managing Director of Capital India Finance Limited, emphasized the strength of the transition, stating, “We are pleased that both the business and the team at Capital India Home Loans Limited have found a strong new home in Weaver. This handover marks a new chapter for CIHL and its team. Weaver brings the vision and capabilities needed to accelerate growth, expand reach, and deliver meaningful social impact in housing finance. We are confident they are well-positioned for future growth and impact.
Backing Weaver’s next phase of growth, Saravanan Nattanmai, Partner at Premji Invest, highlighted the opportunity ahead , “At Premji Invest, we see a significant opportunity to leverage technology to transform India’s affordable housing finance sector. With the transaction closed and regulatory clearances secured, Weaver is ready to move at speed. The acquisition of Capital India Home Loans marks an important first step toward delivering frictionless, scalable, and inclusive mortgage solutions for underrepresented segments. This investment reflects our commitment to backing differentiated and innovative platforms that use technology to drive meaningful, long-term impact in financial services.”
Sharing a similar outlook, Gopal Jain, Managing Partner at Gaja Capital, pointed to Weaver’s strong market positioning “Weaver is addressing a deep-rooted gap in India’s housing finance ecosystem with a tech-led, customer-first approach. Their sharp focus on the self-employed segment, combined with disciplined execution, positions them well to lead the next phase of inclusive growth in financial services. Strategically, Weaver is well-placed to close a longstanding gap in the market and emerge as a leader in the next wave of inclusive financial growth.”
With this acquisition complete, Weaver Services is set to scale rapidly and reshape India’s affordable housing finance sector. Combining technology with deep local market insight, the company aims to deliver lasting impact for communities that have historically been underrepresented.
Capital India Finance Limited (NSE & BSE: CIFL | 530879 | INE345H01024) is a non-deposit taking Middle Layer NBFC registered with the Reserve Bank of India. It offers customized credit solutions to micro, small and medium enterprises, professionals, and retail customers, combining strong underwriting expertise with a phygital operating model.
Spike AI, the startup building the first autonomous marketing intelligence system, today announced $1.9 million in pre-seed funding led by Sorin Investments, a VC firm co-founded by Sanjay Nayar and Angad Banga, with co-investment from Bay Area-based Principal Venture Partners and strategic participation from investors including GSI.
Founded in 2024 by Deepesh Kumar and Shrestha Pratik, Spike AI replaces fragmented marketing tools and guesswork with a single, self-driving platform. Spike’s MAGI platform operates like an elite growth team analyzing channels, identifying friction, and deploying improvements in real-time.
“The trillion-dollar marketing industry doesn’t need more dashboards and tools; it needs intelligent orchestration,” said CEO Deepesh Kumar. “Spike AI delivers a 24/7 AI growth team, shipping measurable outcomes 10x faster.”
Deepesh and Shrestha combine decades of expertise in growth and generative AI. Deepesh previously led growth and experimentation at multiple tech companies, while Shrestha, a generative AI leader, was team lead at Meta and drove data-led growth at FICO and Swiggy.
“A lot of current AI focuses on speeding up old habits,” said Shrestha Pratik, CTO of Spike AI. “But what if those habits were never ideal? Spike AI’s MAGI is marketing’s AlphaGo: adaptive, explainable, relentless.”
Early Spike AI customers have achieved over 40% conversion increases. One early user even offered to acquire Spike before joining the funding round.
“Spike AI isn’t just another SaaS tool. It’s the first real attempt at building a ‘marketing brain’ that can replace bloated agency workflows and instinct-driven marketing with measurable, intelligent growth,” said Mandar Dandekar, Partner at Sorin Investments. “We’re excited to back a bold, technically sound team that’s not just building software but reimagining the very foundation of how marketing works in the AI age.”
“What drew us to Spike AI was its first-principles approach to a broken system,” said Dr. Songyee Yoon, Managing Partner of Principal Venture Partners. “They aren’t just adding AI to marketing. They’re building an entirely new paradigm. We believe Spike AI’s technology has the potential to be as fundamental to marketing as Salesforce’s was to CRM.”
This funding accelerates MAGI’s default operation system approach across websites, paid media, SEO, email, and influencer marketing.
About Spike AI
Spike AI enables every business to tell their story clearly, powerfully, and at scale by replacing marketing guesswork with autonomous intelligence. Founded by Deepesh Kumar and Shrestha Pratik, and advised by top experts from HubSpot and Meesho, Spike AI combines deep marketing expertise, cutting-edge AI, and a relentless focus on results.
Collaboration is an act of co-working to obtain a certain result or outcome. It can be anything from baking your favorite pie to a new product launch. As easy as it may sound, collaboration has not been that easy for individuals, teams, and businesses, and it is nobody’s fault either.
The ever-changing digital landscape, umpteen social apps, devices & platforms have spoiled us for choice. The wild digital freedom can inhibit collaboration if not used wisely.
Effective team collaboration is crucial for the success of any organization, whether it’s a small startup or a large corporation. Teams want to be able to contact one another to highlight and discuss the shared work that’s taking place within your product. Enabling the ability to add people to projects will help with this collaboration, as well as showing which users are working in which spaces and allowing users to comment and suggest. With the rise of remote work and distributed teams, it has become more important than ever to have the right tools in place to facilitate collaboration and communication between team members. In this blog post, we will explore some of the best online team collaboration tools available today.
Importance of Team Collaboration Tools:
The need for a simplified and single collaboration platform is essential as it is a place where you can:
Get all your team members together (no matter how dispersed they are)
Easily exchange and brainstorm ideas
Real-time review of progress
Ensure everyone understands the same thing. Understanding True Project Requirements!
Everyone does exactly what is required
Best Online Team Collaboration Tools:
Team collaboration tools can help teams to communicate more efficiently, collaborate on projects, and stay organized, no matter where they are located. Whether you are looking for a messaging platform, a project management tool, or a video conferencing solution, there is a tool out there that can meet your needs.
So, let’s see some of the best tools that are available to boost team collaboration:
Asana was founded in 2008 by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and former Google and Facebook engineer Justin Rosenstein. Asana is a highly intuitive project management SaaS that helps teams track and assign tasks, visualize timelines, and report on productivity.
Evidence of Asana’s effectiveness can be found in its explosive growth. Calculated of January 2021, Asana had more than 1.5 million paid users, with a total user count of 30 million users. Asana has joined the list of unicorns with its most recent revenue calculated to be approximately $227 million as of 2021.
Best of all, the tool makes it easy to visualize the progress being made on a diverse array of projects and individual tasks across the organization.
Features of Asana
Boards feature that always prioritizes the most important task by providing an overview of all tasks that need to be completed.
You can use the calendar view to plan for the whole week by simply assigning a task on each day.
It helps to put your workflow on autopilot to save time in creating tasks.
The task cannot be marked as complete until its dependent tasks are completed. To use this feature, you need to create task dependencies.
Provides a powerful dashboard that gives insights into the progress of the task.
Pros:
200+ integration options
The free plan is available
Workflow builder to create a workflow
Templates are available
Live chat support
Simple user interface
Cons:
Limited templates
Copy and paste functionality doesn’t work properly
One of the challenges of having offices and remote teams across the globe is scheduling convenient times for virtual meetings and chats. Calendly eliminates the back-and-forth often associated with scheduling.
With Calendly, each member of your team gets a dedicated URL for a calendar showing his or her availability and allowing other team members to request an appointment at a suitable time.
Team members can also share their availability with clients through Calendly, either through their URL or by embedding their calendar on a website. For Asana users, Zapier offers extensive integrations with Calendly, and Calendly also syncs with all of the popular calendar apps, eliminating both unnecessary data entry and the possibility of double-booking.
Features of Calendly
You can set your availability; it only allows users to book meetings on the date and time set by you.
It automatically converts time zones and makes it easy to schedule meetings with people in different time zones.
You can customize the look of the Calendly landing page with your own brand logo.
It sends email reminders to attendees so that they don’t miss the meeting.
The embed feature of Calendly allows you to embed your appointment booking link on your website.
It allows both one-on-one and group meetings based on your requirements.
Pros:
Seamless integration with other calendars
Helps to ask questions of the invitees
Stripe and PayPal integration to receive payment
A browser extension is available
Easy-to-use
The free plan is available
Video tutorials are available to help you learn the tool
Cons:
Some users experienced that the app crashes occasionally
Atlassian’s Confluence offers much of the functionality of Asana (for project management) and Google Docs (collaboration on text documents), but it is most useful as a knowledge base. For example, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), employee reference forms, and client forms all live in Atlassian’s Confluence.
Confluence also acts as an effective human resources portal. Employees can request time off, perform monthly self-evaluations, and complete many other repeatable processes that an admin defines as being within the Confluence platform.
Features of Confluence
Administrators can set permissions and restrictions on who can view, edit, or create content.
Seamlessly integrates with a wide range of other tools and services, such as Jira, Trello, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.
It provides a flexible and customizable structure for organizing content, pages, spaces, and labels.
Text editor to format the content and add links, tables, and macros.
Pros:
The free plan is available
Knowledge base articles to learn
Ready-to-use templates
Wide range of integration
Provides seamless collaboration
Cons:
Steep learning curve
Limited integration with Office 365
Pricing:
Plan
Yearly Price (Save 20%)
Monthly Price
Free
$0/month
$0/month
Standard
$580/year
$57.50/month
Premium
$1,100/year
$110/month
Enterprise
Custom Price
Custom Price
4. InVision
Website
www.invisionapp.com
Founded In
2011
Headquarters
New York City
Rating
4.6 out of 5
Free Trial
Available
InVision – Online Collaborative Workspace
For digital entrepreneurs, user experience (UX) design is almost always of vital concern. But design is notoriously difficult to talk about, particularly if you have multiple stakeholders involved in giving feedback, and they’re not in the same room.
InVision is a SaaS app used by companies such as Amazon, Airbnb, and Netflix to build interactive and responsive prototypes without writing a single line of code. InVision’s tools are designed to be intuitive even for users without a design background.
Users can mark up design drafts within the InVision app or utilize its integrations with Slack and other messaging tools to easily share feedback directly onto the design draft itself, making it much easier to associate comments with specific UX elements. As Aaron Walter, director of UX at MailChimp, says in InVision’s intro clip, when it comes to UX design, “InVision is a faster way to certainty.”
Features of InVision
Designers can export their designs to developers in a format that can be easily implemented in code.
It helps to create and manage design systems that ensure consistency across the whole design.
Real-time collaboration with teammates and establishing a healthy workflow using comments and feedback.
From its humble beginnings, Google Docs has evolved into a full-fledged word processor worthy of favorable comparison with Microsoft Word, long the industry standard for content creators.
One of the primary strengths of Docs is just how much it facilitates collaboration. The father of Google Docs, Sam Schillace, identified collaboration as “the crown jewel of hard problems.” This is particularly true when multiple people need to work together on a document.
Traditionally, the collaboration required sending a Word document back and forth via email to multiple recipients. Keeping track of which document was the most current and combining comments and revisions from various contributors could quickly turn into a torturous process.
Docs’ version history function eliminates the fear of saving changes. You can quickly and easily revert to any previous version of the document. Additionally, the “comment” function in Google Docs makes it easy to communicate with colleagues directly within the document. Docs also integrate with Slack, so you can receive a notification in your Slack workspace any time a comment is made or resolved within the doc.
Features of Google Docs
It can be accessed on mobile devices via the Google Docs app for easy editing and collaboration on the go.
Google Drive storage stores all the data of documents in the cloud which is accessible from anywhere.
Multiple users can work on the same document in real-time and comment if some changes are required by other team members.
Pros:
Free to use
The mobile app is available
Seamless sign-in using a Google account
Google Drive storage space
A variety of templates are available
Add-ons are available to enhance the functionality
Cons:
Difficult to get customer support
Pricing:
Plan
Monthly Price
Basic
$6.00 per user per month
Business
$12.00 per user per month
Enterprise
$25.00 per user per month
6. Zoom
Website
Zoom.us
Founded In
2011
Headquarters
California
Rating
4.6 out of 5
Free Trial
Free Subscription
Zoom – Best Team Collaboration Tool
Sometimes there’s just no substitute for meeting face to face, even if your team is distributed around the globe. Zoom is a first-in-class video conferencing SaaS app that makes it effortless to host meetings with your team, no matter where they’re located. It also makes in-person presentations location-independent, with its extensive webinar functionality.
Video conferencing can be invaluable for reinforcing company culture. Putting faces to names and being able to do this every week helps build relationships and encourages teamwork.
The Zoom platform integrates various features such as cloud video conferencing, online meetings, wireless content sharing, and team chatting into one unified system. Zoom allows users to seamlessly connect multiple conference rooms, include remote participants, and facilitate in-person meetings with just one touch.
Features of Zoom
The host of the meeting can mute participants, remove participants, and control screen sharing.
It has a chat feature that empowers users to send messages to other participants during a meeting without interrupting the speaker.
You can create polls for getting feedback or making decisions during a meeting.
Participants have the option to create a virtual background that helps to hide the messy background in video calls.
Pros:
Up to 1000 participants can join a single meeting
The free plan is available
Easy to use
Marketing tools to nurture contacts
Cons:
The free plan allows a meeting for only 40 minutes
Pricing:
Plan
Yearly Price
Basic
Free
Pro
$149.90/year/user
Business
$199.90/year/user
Enterprise
Custom Price
7. Trello
Website
Trello.com
Founded In
2011
Headquarters
New York
Rating
4.4 out of 5
Free Trial
Available
Trello – Best Collaboration Tools
Trello is a simple, flexible tool for organizing tasks and collaborating with your team. Its clean design makes it easy to use, even for beginners. You can customize boards, track progress, and connect with apps like Slack, Evernote, and Google Drive.
Features of Trello
Automates tasks, schedules work, and sends deadline reminders.
Switch between Board, Timeline, Calendar, Map, and Dashboard views.
Connect with popular apps for smoother workflows.
Pros:
Easy to use
Highly customizable
Strong app integrations
Cons:
Limited features in free plan
Can get cluttered with many cards
Basic reporting tools
Pricing:
Plan
Yearly Price
Free
$0
Standard
$60/year/user
Premium
$120/year/user
Enterprise
Custom Pricing
8. Slack
Website
Slack.com
Founded In
2013
Headquarters
San Francisco
Rating
4.6 out of 5
Free Trial
Available
Slack – Best Team Collaboration Tool
Slack is a popular platform that gives teams one place to chat, share ideas, and stay connected in real time. It boosts productivity through instant messaging, voice calls, and organized channels for different topics or teams.
Features of Slack:
Built-in voice, video, and screen sharing for quick updates and collaboration.
Works smoothly with tools like Google Drive, Trello, Jira, and HubSpot.
Public or private spaces to organize discussions and keep work focused.
Pros:
Easy real-time communication
Many app integrations
Organized channels for topics
Supports file sharing and calls
Cons:
Can be distracting with too many messages
Limited features in free plan
Search history cap in free plan
Pricing:
Plan
Yearly Price (per user)
Free
$0
Pro
$7.25/month ($87/year)
Business+
$12.50/month ($150/year)
Enterprise Grid
Custom Pricing
Conclusion
Successful collaboration is an absolute necessity for any business as it grows. The right online team collaboration tools can make a huge difference in how teams communicate and work together. We have explored some of the best online team collaboration tools available today, including Asana, Calendly, Confluence, InVision, and more. Hope now you will have a better understanding of the different online team collaboration tools available, and be able to choose the right one to help your team work more effectively and efficiently.
FAQs
What are online team collaboration tools?
Online team collaboration tools are software applications that help teams to communicate, collaborate, and work together on projects or tasks. These tools can include messaging platforms, project management tools, video conferencing solutions, and more.
Why use team collaboration tools?
There are several advantages attached to the use of team collaboration tools, some of them can be counted are transparency, effective communication, increased effectiveness of an employee, etc. These tools can be especially helpful for distributed teams or remote workers who may not be able to collaborate in person.
Which are some of the best free online collaboration tools?
Some of the best collaborative tools are Google Docs, Confluence, Zoom, etc.
How can collaboration tools affect teamwork?
Collaboration tools can improve teamwork by facilitating communication, coordination, and productivity. They provide a central platform for messaging, video conferencing, and file sharing, allowing teams to work together more efficiently.
What should I look for in an online team collaboration tool?
When choosing an online team collaboration tool, you should consider factors such as ease of use, the ability to integrate with other tools, security and privacy features, and the specific needs of your team.
How can I ensure my team is using the collaboration tool effectively?
To ensure your team is using the collaboration tool effectively, you should provide training and support to help team members understand how to use the tool. You should also set clear expectations and guidelines for how the tool should be used, and encourage open communication and feedback from team members.
Mumbai, India,12th August 2025 : Seeds Fincap Pvt Ltd, a high-growth NBFC delivering credit to underserved MSMEs, has raised ₹50 crore in a Pre-Series B round led by existing investors Z47 and Lok Capital. New investors Norinchukin Capital and Alteria Capital join the cap table, marking a strong mix of continued conviction and fresh backing ahead of Seeds’ planned Series B launch.Unitus Capital has been appointed as the advisor for Series B fundraise.
Seeds Fincap, started in 2021 under the leadership of Subhash Chandra Acharya and Avishek Sarkar, is closing India’s ₹30 trillion MSME credit gap by building a differentiated institution through a network of 120 branches across 8 high-growth states. The model is anchored in sharp credit underwriting, data-led operations, and a deep understanding of the realities faced by small business owners—and has consistently delivered superior asset quality.
Seeds closed FY 2025 profitably through a combination of discipline and scale. The company has disbursed over ₹1,000 crore in loans, now manages over ₹500 crore in assets, and has maintained NPAs consistently below 2%. Its cash flow-based underwriting, combined with tech-enabled sourcing to collections, allows for high-velocity lending with robust risk controls. Its branches have reached over 50,000 borrowers, many of whom are first-time formal credit recipients—unlocking capital for working capital, business expansion, and livelihood stability.
Seeds is also building a well-diversified loan book, with Loan Against Property (LAP) expected to contribute nearly 20% of AUM in the near term.
Subhash Chandra Acharya, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Seeds Fincap added: “We see MSME lending not just as financing, but as enabling India’s economic backbone. Our approach—combining advanced analytics, strong field control, and full-stack digitization—allows us to lend responsibly at scale. This round is a strong validation of our model and positions us well for our upcoming Series B.”
Avishek Sarkar, Director and Co-Founder of Seeds Fincap, added: “Serving MSMEs means solving complexity with empathy. We’ve built a culture of execution and contextual intelligence, and we’re seeing that translate into real outcomes on the ground. This funding allows us to continue deepening our reach, expanding our product suite, and scaling responsibly.”
Anish Patil, Vice President at Z47, said: “We are strong believers in the MSME credit opportunity in India. Seeds Fincap’s deep focus on tech-enabled field operations, strong hold on credit underwriting, coupled with rigorous portfolio monitoring and diversified presence, has helped them deliver superlative asset quality in a testing market. The company has demonstrated consistent execution across metrics and we are excited to double down and deepen our partnership. We welcome Norinchukin and Alteria to the cap table and wish Subhash and Avishek godspeed for the next phase of growth.”
Rajat Bansal, Managing Director at Lok Capital, added: “Seeds is delivering the rare combination of high-quality credit, deep market reach, and real impact. In a segment often plagued by high defaults or poor customer understanding, Seeds has demonstrated strong NPA control and consistent execution across geographies. Their ability to bring underserved MSMEs into the fold of formal finance—sustainably and at scale—is what makes them stand out. We’re excited to continue partnering with them on this journey.”
Hiroki Kawabata, Director at Norinchukin Capital, added: “At Norinchukin, we look for partners who can create real-world impact with lasting value, and Seeds Fincap embodies that spirit. Their work with underserved MSMEs reflects not just business potential but a genuine commitment to financial inclusion. What stands out is their ability to stay close to the ground while building scalable, tech-enabled systems. Subhash, Avishek, and the team are driving meaningful change in the sector, and we’re proud to support their vision of empowering small entrepreneurs across India.”
Ankit Agarwal, Managing Partner at Alteria Capital, added: “Seeds Fincap has taken a thoughtful and mission-driven approach to solving the MSME credit gap. What we really value is their deep understanding of customer needs, combined with the discipline to scale responsibly. They’re not just building a lending business, they’re building trust at the grassroots level, one relationship at a time. The team’s ability to blend strong systems, local intelligence, and executional focus is impressive. We’re excited to be part of this journey and support them as they grow into a leading force in inclusive finance.”
With this capital raise, Seeds will invest in expanding its footprint into new and underserved regions, strengthening its technology and risk infrastructure, and further accelerating its mission.
About Seeds Fincap Pvt. Ltd Seeds Fincap Pvt. Ltd. is a Gurugram-based Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) dedicated to promoting financial inclusion and supporting the growth of MSMEs across India. By providing tailored financial solutions and leveraging technology, Seeds Fincap empowers small businesses to overcome financial challenges and achieve sustainable growth. With a focus on promoting the local economy and fostering entrepreneurship, Seeds Fincap is committed to making a positive impact on the communities it serves.
National, 12th August 2025: ELIVAAS, a leading luxury vacation rental platform, has successfully raised INR 87 Crores (approx USD 10.4 Million) in its Series B funding round, led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India. Existing investors Peak XV Partners’ Surge and 3one4 Capital also participated in the round, reinforcing continued confidence in the brand’s growth trajectory and market potential.
Backed by its latest funding round, the company is focused on deepening its market penetration by doubling down on its presence in high-potential leisure and business travel destinations across India. ELIVAAS also aims to expand its global footprint and strengthen brand visibility in India and international markets, reinforcing its position as a leading player in the luxury vacation rental ecosystem. ELIVAAS also plans to invest in cutting-edge technology to fuel its next stage of growth, boosting operational performance, transforming the customer journey, and strengthening brand growth in an increasingly competitive market.
“We are thrilled to partner with Vertex Ventures SAE & India as we enter this new phase of growth and equally appreciative of the trust placed in us by our early backers Peak XV Partners’ Surge and 3one4 Capital . This round will enable us to not only grow aggressively in India but also lay the groundwork for international expansion. Our focus remains on leveraging technology to ensure seamless, high-quality experiences at scale while strengthening ELIVAAS as a trusted brand in luxury travel,” said Mr. Ritwik Khare, Founder and CEO, ELIVAAS.
“We see a fast growing opportunity to leverage second homes supply to provide premium travel experiences in India via alternate accommodation. Elivaas is best suited to capture this market with their technology enabled platform and obsessive commitment to customer experience, which is loved by both home owners and consumers. We at Vertex Ventures SEA & India are excited to partner with Ritwik and Karan on realizing this massive opportunity.” Nikhil Marwaha, Partner, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India.
Founded in 2023 by travel industry veterans Ritwik Khare and Karan Miglani, ELIVAAS aims to redefine second home ownership and luxury travel. In its Series A round in September 2024, the company raised $5 million, led by 3one4 Capital with participation from Peak XV Surge and angel investors. Over the last 2 years, the funding enabled ELIVAAS to enhance its proprietary technology platform, expand its operations, and launch its premium luxury brand, Privé while continuing to expand both ELIVAAS and Alaya Stays.
The brand currently operates in 30 Indian destinations, with 5X year-on-year growth in revenue in FY 24-25.
The Series B fundraise marks a major milestone for ELIVAAS as it gears up to scale sustainably, backed by a strong technology foundation and a differentiated service proposition.
New Delhi, India | August 12, 2025: Pronto, India’s first real-time household help platform, has raised $11 million in Series A funding co-led by General Catalyst and Glade Brook Capital, with continued participation from Bain Capital Ventures (BCV). The investment underscores strong conviction in Pronto’s rapid traction and the vast white space it is addressing in India’s domestic help market. With its 10‑minute, shift‑based model for on‑demand home services, Pronto is building a new urban utility — dependable, trusted, and designed for high-frequency use — at a scale India has never seen before.
Domestic help in India is both ubiquitous and invisible — woven into daily life yet largely absent from the formal economy. For millions of households, finding help still depends on informal networks, uncertain availability, and unverified trust. For workers, the sector often means irregular income and little recognition. Pronto was founded in 2024 to change this equation; to bring predictability, safety, and dignity to a service everyone depends on but few have reimagined. By treating household help as critical urban infrastructure — delivered in minutes, built on training and trust — Pronto is setting a new standard for how cities manage the rhythms of everyday life.
“Pronto is not just another app — it’s architecting an entirely new layer of urban infrastructure for household help,” said Anjali Sardana, Founder & CEO of Pronto. “We’re tackling a sector that has remained unstructured and unreliable for decades — by offering instant, vetted help through a shift‑based model that elevates worker earnings and service trust. With this funding, we’ll deepen operations, build workforce resilience, and prove that household help can scale as a high-frequency utility in India’s most time‑strapped cities.”
Pronto isn’t replicating existing home‑service models; it’s redefining them. Where most platforms act as aggregators, Pronto operates on a shift‑based delivery system that gives workers predictable income and users guaranteed reliability — a first for India’s domestic help sector. Each professional undergoes rigorous training and verification and is equipped to fulfill tasks instantly, creating trust at scale in a category long driven by informal referrals. By embedding quality, speed, and dignity into a single platform, Pronto is carving out a new space in urban life — not just meeting the need for convenience, but turning household help into a high‑frequency utility that evolves with the pace of modern cities.
“Pronto is creating something novel for India: an infrastructure layer for domestic help that brings structure to traditionally informal markets,” commented Neeraj Arora, Managing Director at General Catalyst. “Anjali demonstrates the obsessive focus, clarity of thought, and large-scale vision with urgency that defines what we believe to be exceptional founders. This shift-based model creates predictable incomes for workers while delivering reliability for households, representing the infrastructure-building companies we back: those creating new economic frameworks across India’s expanding urban centers.”
“Pronto’s execution across product and growth is exceptional,” said Paul Hudson, Founder & CIO at Glade Brook Capital. “Anjali and the Pronto team are building stakeholder trust and customer delight through operational excellence and speed. Pronto is not another home-help app – it’s rapidly becoming a consumer infrastructure platform that delivers meaningful work opportunities and helps meet the daily needs of urban families.”
Commenting on Bain Capital Ventures’ early investment in Pronto and their continued participation in this round, Ajay Agarwal, Partner, Bain Capital Ventures said, “When we first invested in Pronto at the seed stage, we saw a rare chance to formalize a service millions depend on yet few had reimagined. In just a few months, Anjali and team have proven that this model can scale — delivering high‑frequency, real‑time help to households while elevating incomes for workers. Our continued support reflects our belief that Pronto is defining a new category of urban utility for India.”
With this milestone, Pronto is accelerating its vision of making household help as seamless and dependable as any other modern utility. Over the next 12-18 months, the company will expand beyond Gurgaon into Mumbai, Bengaluru, and other metros, establishing micro‑hubs across key residential clusters to guarantee sub‑10‑minute fulfillment at scale. The funding will also support the onboarding and training of 10,000 additional professionals, investment in quality‑assurance systems, and rollout of real‑time operations technology that powers Pronto’s shift‑based model. By bridging reliability for families and stability for workers, Pronto is redefining how urban India manages the essentials of daily life — and setting the standard for a category poised for nationwide impact.
About Pronto
Pronto is reimagining domestic help for urban India with its 10‑Minute Househelp App. Launched in 2024 by Anjali Sardana, Pronto connects households with trained, background‑verified professionals for everyday tasks — from cleaning and laundry to utensil washing and basic meal prep — delivered on demand, any time of day. Operating on a hyperlocal hub‑and‑spoke model, Pronto ensures speed and reliability while offering workers guaranteed shifts, higher earnings, and access to benefits often absent in the informal sector.
Backed by Bain Capital Ventures, General Catalyst, and Glade Brook Capital, Pronto blends technology, operations, and worker welfare to bring structure to a long‑fragmented industry. The result is a service that not only simplifies daily living for families but also creates dignified, well‑paying opportunities for thousands of domestic workers.
Elever, a SEBI-registered Portfolio Management Services (PMS) firm, has raised USD 1.1 million in a pre-series A funding round to fuel its next phase of growth.
Elever’s quantitative PMS strategies leverage rule-based and factor investing to deliver superior, risk-adjusted returns. By combining data-driven insights with a systematic investment process, the platform aims to bring institutional-grade portfolio management to a wider base of individual investors and family offices.
The round saw participation from CXOs of global companies, Brand Capital (the strategic investment arm of The Times of India Group), along with existing investors and promoters. This latest round brings Elever’s total funding to USD 4 million to date.
The capital will be deployed to scale Elever’s PMS business, strengthen its brand presence, and deepen investor engagement. The partnership with Brand Capital is expected to play a pivotal role in enhancing Elever’s visibility and building trust among India’s new-age affluent, including HNIs, founders, entrepreneurs and next-generation investors, through its rule-based, tech-driven investment strategies.
“We see Elever as a frontrunner in the evolution of wealth-tech, leveraging automation and factor investing to deliver consistent, risk-adjusted outcomes. Elever’s technology-led, rule-based approach to portfolio management reflects the future of investing in India. Their focus on data, discipline, and disruption aligns well with our belief in backing scalable, transformative fintech companies. We at Brand Capital are delighted to support their next phase of growth through our investment,” said Mr. Srini Vudayagiri – President & Head of Brand Capital.
India’s wealth management market is projected to grow from US$1.1 trillion in FY24 to US$2.3 trillion by FY29, with an unmet demand of US$0.4 trillion, according to Deloitte’s ‘Financial Wealth Management Services in India’ report. In parallel, PMS AUM in India has nearly tripled since FY17, reaching around US$445–450 billion by March 2025, reflecting strong investor traction towards disciplined, factor-based and tech-enabled portfolio management solutions like Elever’s.
Anshul Sharan, Co-founder and CEO of Elever, added: “This funding round comes at a pivotal time as we double down on our PMS offering. Backing from Brand Capital and leading CXOs validates our vision to make institutional-grade, factor-based investing accessible to individuals & family offices — both in India and abroad (NRIs/FPIs). This is not just capital — it’s strategic support to build long-term credibility and scale.”
Anshul brings deep expertise in strategy, product, and risk management. Previously, he served as Head of Strategy at CreditAccess Grameen, where he was instrumental in leading the company’s IPO in 2018 and later became its Chief Risk Officer.
In July this year, Elever launched Factorcapro PMS, India’s first PMS strategy designed to provide monthly income and capital protection, primarily targeting retirees & conservative investors. The offering has already seen strong demand from both investors and distributors.
Elever is now targeting to cross ₹1,000 Cr in AUM within the next two years, and plans to raise a Series-A round within the next 12 months to further accelerate product innovation, distribution, and team expansion.
About Elever
Founded in 2020 by industry veterans Anshul Sharan, Karan Aggarwal, Ram Subramaniam, and Santosh R., Elever is a Bengaluru-based SEBI-registered Portfolio Manager. Elever leverages rule-based investing and machine learning to drive significant, and sustainable alpha generation. With an ambitious target of achieving ₹1,000 crore in AUM within the next two years, Elever is committed to empowering investors with tailored investment solutions to meet their sophisticated financial goals.
Gone are the days of sitting, typing, backspacing, and rewriting the same deleted sentence over and over again till you end up being stuck. You guessed it right, writing an essay. For novices, a 1000-word write-up can take up to a good 4 hours. Again, the more complex the topic, the more time it will take to research. How exciting would it be to type in a few initial thoughts and then let the writing take off on its own? Well, that’s a bit of an oversimplification, since writing is more than just putting words together (especially after AI). It’s about being authentic, being human, and using proper grammar, all while ensuring you don’t sound like an AI (using an AI). Quite a task, of course. Here are the best AI essay writing tools to further simplify writing.
Selectable tones (narrative, persuasive, analytical) and research assistance
PerfectEssayWriter.ai
WEBSITE
perfectessaywriter.ai
Rating
4.3
Free Trial
Yes
Best For
Students and professionals seeking AI-powered essay writing assistance, generating drafts, and improving writing quality quickly.
PerfectEssayWriter.ai – Top AI Tools to Write Essays Faster and Smarter
PerfectEssayWriter.ai is known for its high-quality essay writing among students worldwide. The tool is designed to help with writing at various stages, from brainstorming ideas to structuring and paraphrasing. It is suitable for students, writers, and educators who need quick assistance with essay writing.
Pros
The tool operates in multiple languages.
Quick to get work done.
Offers various types and lengths of writing.
Cons
Risk of plagiarism due to limited writing scope in academic matters.
A lot of effort goes into editing the final output.
The tool is expensive on their premium plan services.
Pricing
Monthly:
Plan
Pricing
Essential
$9.99/month
Pro
$19.99/month
Yearly:
Plan
Regular Price
Essential
$119.88/year
Pro
$239.88/year
Grammarly
WEBSITE
grammarly.com
Rating
4.6
Free Trial
Yes
Best For
Individuals and professionals seeking AI-powered grammar, spelling, and style correction with writing enhancement features.
Grammarly – Top AI Tools to Write Essays Faster and Smarter
To err is human, especially in grammar. Even the best writers have their rough days with grammar, as a lot of effort goes into their work. Grammarly is undeniably one of the top tools for grammar worldwide. Every student and organization uses it to improve their daily digital writing and communication. The tool begins working from the first word you write.
Pros
The tool provides excellent suggestions for sentence enhancement.
Has an inbuilt plagiarism checker.
Detects AI patterns in the essay.
Cons
The tools sometimes lag a lot.
Over-suggestions cause more confusion.
Sometimes flags wrong Grammar right and vice versa.
Writers and editors seeking a simple, distraction-free tool to improve readability, clarity, and writing style.
Hemingway Editor – Top AI Tools to Write Essays Faster and Smarter
The readability of your essay plays a vital role in getting you a good score. Therefore, writing ‘simple’ goes a long way, short sentences, no unnecessary jargon, and avoiding beating around the bush. Sometimes, using AI for writing results in a lot of fluff and long-stretched content. Hemingway Editor helps you refine your essay, sentence by sentence. The tool does text analysis to determine the readability and gives you a score, so you feel self-assured and confident.
Pros
Text clarity, context, and conciseness.
Promotes Active voice in the writing.
Provides a readability score to self-access the content.
Students, writers, and professionals looking for AI-powered paraphrasing, summarizing, and grammar correction tools.
QuillBot – Top AI Tools to Write Essays Faster and Smarter
Since we are talking about writing using AI, a lot of paraphrasing goes into the work. Paraphrasing done manually can take hours, depending on the length of your essay. At this point, manual paraphrasing is not an option. That’s where AI-powered QuillBot comes in, quickly rephrasing your work in seconds.
Pros
The tool offers a variety of writing styles, like formal, creative, academic, and more.
Provides integration with other tools like Word and Chrome.
Inbuilt Grammar corrector.
And effectively summarizes the writing.
Cons
The AI is sometimes inaccurate, citing wrong suggestions.
The tool isn’t the best if you are taking the creative storytelling approach in your essay.
Some users find the premium expensive.
Pricing
Pricing
Billing Cycle
$4.17
Annually
TextHumanizer.org
WEBSITE
texthumanizer.org
Rating
4.2
Free Trial
Yes
Best For
Writers and marketers seeking AI tools to make content more engaging, natural, and human-like in tone and style.
TextHumanizer.org – Top AI Tools to Write Essays Faster and Smarter
Humanizing your essay is a MUST. AI may vary by names, but they all sound the same, write the same (robotic and monotonous). Then how do you stand out? Of course, interpreting the writing by yourself can be tiring, so you would need another AI. The tool TextHumanizer.org helps soften the copy, giving it the essential human touch.
Pros
Gives a crucial human touch.
Most of the time, the content manages to bypass the AI content detector.
Cons
Sometimes the text may sound forced and awkward, in contrast to what it is supposed to do.
Flagging content as AI, which makes it all the more unreliable.
Individuals and businesses seeking an advanced AI chatbot for conversational assistance, content creation, coding help, and more.
ChatGPT – Top AI Tools to Write Essays Faster and Smarter
ChatGPT is ideal for research and idea generation (for better results, share your initial thoughts, e.g., Best AI tools for essay writing, pov of a high school student.) This means less time scrolling through long pages on Google or watching lengthy YouTube videos. The tool quickly gathers all relevant information from the internet with just a simple prompt.
Pros
Aids in deep research
Helps to brainstorm
Quick to respond with the best results
Cons
Lacks critical thinking.
Lacks originality as it just gathers the information already floating on the internet.
Can flag you for plagiarism.
Pricing
Plan
Pricing
ChatGPT Plus
$20/month
ChatGPT Pro
$200/month
Copyleaks.com
WEBSITE
copyleaks.com
Rating
4.4
Free Trial
Yes
Best For
Educators, students, and professionals needing AI-powered plagiarism detection and content originality verification.
Copyleaks – Top AI Tools to Write Essays Faster and Smarter
You are not alone; thousands, if not millions, are using AI for essay writing. Plagiarism in education has peaked since the boom of AI. Therefore, rules will only become stricter. Copyleaks has high standards for protecting intellectual property, and your university or organization does as well, making it essential to check for plagiarism before submitting your work.
Pros
The tool detects unreasonable AI use and plagiarized content in the essay instantly.
Cons
The tool takes a long time to detect plagiarism. Let’s say 250 words, and it takes 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
Pricing
Pricing
Billing Cycle
$8.99/month
Annually
$10.99/month
Monthly
MyEssayWriter.ai
WEBSITE
myessaywriter.ai
Rating
4.1
Free Trial
Yes
Best For
Students and professionals looking for AI-powered essay writing and content generation assistance.
MyEssayWriter.ai – Top AI Tools to Write Essays Faster and Smarter
Wouldn’t it be good if there were a platform only made for students and academics? Well, there is. MyEssayWriter.ai is a trusted AI tool for writing essays, specially designed for students. The tool offers writing from high school level to PhD level.
Pros
The user can select tones like narrative, persuasive, and more.
The tool also provides research features.
Write on any academic subject in 90 seconds.
Cons
High learning curve, users may need more time to understand its functionalities.
Human editing is needed.
Pricing
Plan
Pricing
Starter
$9/month
Power user
$19/month
Ultimate writer
$69/month
Conclusion
AI can help you in writing better essays when paired with other tools. Here we have jotted down only a few to help you get started quickly. But remember, AI is an ever-growing field. New tool updates or new launches are always knocking at the door. We’ll be back with new additions to this top AI tools for essay writing list. Be sure to bookmark us.
What are some Top AI Tools to Write Essays Faster and Smarter?
Some Top AI Tools to Write Essays Faster and Smarter are:
PerfectEssayWriter.ai
Grammarly
Hemingway Editor
QuillBot
TextHumanizer.org
ChatGPT
Copyleaks.com
MyEssayWriter.ai
Which AI tool is best for paraphrasing essays?
QuillBot is one of the most popular AI-powered paraphrasing tools, offering multiple writing styles and integration with Word and Chrome.
Can AI tools replace human writing skills?
No. AI tools assist with speed, grammar, and structure, but human creativity, authenticity, and critical thinking remain essential for impactful essays.
We are all familiar with project management applications at this stage. They are the applications that help project managers, teams, and stakeholders plan, organize, track, and manage their projects more efficiently.
Also, they provide users with tools to help them manage their resources, manage time, track progress, and collaborate with team members.
With the advancements in technology, project management software is becoming increasingly advanced and is now being used by a wide range of industries.
In this article, we will provide you with an overview of the 8 best project management software for 2025. But before we do that, we are going to take a look at the benefits that we can get from project management applications.
Benefits of Project Management Applications
Here are some of the benefits of project management software that we are going to discuss in this article.
1. Improved Collaboration and Communication: Project management software can help teams stay organized and connected, which leads to improved collaboration and communication between team members. It also allows remote teams to stay connected and keep track of progress.
2. Increased Visibility: Project management applications allow project managers to have a better view of the overall status of a project and its progress. This helps in making better decisions and communicating more effectively with the team.
3. Improved Productivity: It also makes it quite easier to assign tasks, manage resources, and track progress. This leads to improved productivity as tasks are completed faster and with fewer errors.
4. Simplified Scheduling: Project management software simplifies scheduling by allowing teams to easily create and manage timelines, schedules, and tasks. It also helps set deadlines and provide visibility into a project’s progress.
5. Reduced Risk: Project management tools also help in reducing risks associated with a project by providing visibility into the progress and status of tasks. This enables teams to make more informed decisions and minimize the likelihood of costly mistakes.
6. More Accurate Reporting: It helps in providing more accurate reporting by allowing teams to easily track progress and provide visibility into the status of tasks. This enables the making of better decisions and the provision of more accurate reports to stakeholders.
nTask is a project management software that helps teams to plan, organize, and collaborate more efficiently.
It provides users with features like task and time tracking, resource management, task dependencies, priority settings, and more.
It also supports integration with popular third-party applications like Google Drive and Dropbox.
2. Asana
Tool
Asana
Rating
4.4 / 5
Platform
Web, Mac, iOS, Android
Project Management Software in India – Asana
Asana is a cloud-based project management software that allows teams to manage their projects easily. It has a range of features such as task and issue tracking, resource management, project timeline view, and more.
It also integrates with popular third-party applications like Slack, Dropbox, Google Drive, Salesforce and more.
3. Monday.com
Tool
monday.com
Rating
4.7 / 5
Platform
Web, Windows & macOS (desktop), iOS, Android
Project Management Software in India – Monday.com
Monday.com is another cloud-based project management software that helps teams manage their projects and collaborate more effectively.
It provides users with features like task and time tracking, resource allocation, progress reporting, collaboration tools, and more.
It also integrates with popular third-party applications like Slack, Dropbox, Google Drive, and many others.
Trello is a project management software that helps teams manage their projects and collaborate more effectively.
It provides users with features like task and issue tracking, progress reporting, resource management, collaboration tools, and more.
It also integrates with popular third-party applications like Dropbox, Google Drive, and Salesforce.
5. Smartsheet
Tool
Trello
Rating
4.4 / 5
Platform
Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
Project Management Software in India – Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a cloud-based project management software that helps teams manage their projects and collaborate more effectively.
It provides users with features like task and issue tracking, progress reporting, resource allocation, collaboration tools, and more.
It also integrates with popular third-party applications like Google Drive, Dropbox, Salesforce, and many others.
6. Basecamp
Tool
Basecamp
Rating
4.4 / 5
Platform
Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
Project Management Software in India – Basecamp
Basecamp is a cloud-based project management software that helps teams manage their projects and collaborate more effectively.
It provides users with features like task and issue tracking, resource allocation, progress reporting, collaboration tools, and more.
It also integrates with popular third-party applications like Slack, Dropbox, Google Drive, and many others.
Wrike
Tool
Wrike
Rating
4.3 / 5
Platform
Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
Project Management Software in India – Wrike
Wrike is a flexible project management tool that helps teams in marketing, design, product, and more work together easily. It fits many workflows, including agile and remote work.
Wrike’s free plan lets unlimited users manage basic tasks. Paid plans add features like time tracking, custom dashboards, workflows, and automation. For big companies, it offers strong security, like single sign-on and two-factor authentication.
The mobile app lets you access everything on the go, even without internet. It syncs your work automatically when you’re back online, so you never lose anything.
Notion
Tool
Notion
Rating
4.4 / 5
Platform
Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
Project Management Software in India – Notion
Notion is an “all-in-one” workspace, mainly made for storing notes and company info. Over time, it added features like linking notes and making databases.
Because it’s so flexible, teams use Notion for many aspects, like project management, task tracking, and CRM. But just because it can do a lot doesn’t mean it’s best for everything. Some teams find that it gets messy when trying to use it for too many things at once.
Conclusion
Overall, there are many different project management software programs available for teams to choose from. Each one offers features such as task and issue tracking, resource allocation, progress reporting, and collaboration tools.
Additionally, many of these solutions can be integrated with popular third-party applications like Dropbox, Google Drive, Salesforce, and more.
Before selecting a project management software for your team, it is important to consider the features and integrations that are available in order to choose one that best fits the needs and requirements of your team and overall organization.
FAQs
What are some popular project management softwares? It provides users with a range of features such as task and issue tracking, resource management, project timeline view, and more.
What are some popular project management softwares that integrate with third-party apps? Popular project management softwares that integrate with third-party apps include Trello, Smartsheet, Basecamp, and many others.
Why Should You Use Project Management Applications? Project management applications are incredibly useful for helping to streamline and simplify many aspects of project management.
It simplifies communication, collaboration, tracking progress, budgeting and resource management, and more. It also helps to avoid potential problems and allows teams to work together better, faster, and more efficiently.
This article has been contributed by Mr. Saurabh Sharma, Founder & CEO at Agile 360 Degree Consulting & Career Mentor
A software engineer who works for a mid-sized SaaS company in Bengaluru starts her day at 11 AM. She works in short bursts, skips meetings that aren’t necessary, and doesn’t feel like she has to stay “green” on Microsoft Teams. Her boss doesn’t care how many hours she’s online; he cares about the quality of her code. She feels trusted and acts accordingly.
Meanwhile, at a fintech startup, the setup is stricter. Engineers log in by 9. Webcams stay on. Software monitors activity. Even small tasks need daily updates. Productivity looks fine on paper, but motivation is running low. There’s little space for creative thinking. Both teams write code. But only ONE really feels FREE. This is not just about location or hours. Professionals today, especially Gen Z and millennials, don’t want to be micromanaged; they want to be free to do their own thing. They don’t want to be watched; they want to be able to change. They want to be trusted, not just told what to do.
What Freedom Includes
What Freedom Includes
Working from anywhere is only one aspect of freedom. It’s about not being micromanaged and having the freedom to think, make decisions, and deliver. However, trust and intention are necessary for it to succeed.
More Than Remote Work
Modern professionals are not only asking for remote options or compressed workweeks. They want the ability to choose how they work, not just when or where. This shift is not rooted in rebellion. It reflects how people work best when given clarity, space, and purpose. Many companies confuse benefits with freedom. Ping-pong tables, weekly pizza parties, and WFH policies do not count when employees are being tracked down to the minute. Surveillance software like Time Doctor or Hubstaff might offer visibility, but they fail to build accountability. Instead, they create a culture of suspicion. One developer admitted to spending hours subtly moving her mouse during breaks just to appear active. That is not productivity. That is performative compliance.
Design for Autonomy, Do not Just Test It
Some companies treat freedom as a reward for tenure or trust earned over time. That approach is outdated. Progressive organisations are designing autonomy into their work cultures. A SaaS firm in Hyderabad introduced four-day workweeks for high-performing teams, not as a perk, but as a built-in incentive for ownership. A creative agency in Mumbai let designers choose which clients to work with. These frameworks promote accountability, not chaos. Freedom works best when it is part of the operating system, not a toggle switch.
Not Everyone Needs the Same Freedom
Freedom in the workplace is not universal. Different roles and individuals call for varying degrees of independence. Long periods of unbroken time might be preferred by a backend engineer. A salesperson may benefit greatly from ongoing feedback. A fresher could need more guidance. A working parent might value fewer late-evening meetings more than a bonus. The best teams do not issue blanket policies. They adapt flexibility based on function, responsibility, and individual need. This kind of modular autonomy helps everyone operate at their best, without forcing uniformity.
Structure Does Not Mean Control
Micromanagement has taken new forms. From frequent Slack pings to screen time trackers, many managers default to control when things feel uncertain. But especially in knowledge-based workcreative, engineering, or research—output rarely correlates with time spent at a desk. Some companies are shifting away from this model. A product firm in Hyderabad adopted an OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework. Instead of focusing on activity logs, they tracked outcomes and encouraged peer reviews. Updates became asynchronous, not forced into daily syncs. As a result, teams felt more empowered, and they got more done. Structure should be like a railway track, guiding direction, not blocking movement.
Give Them a Voice, Not Just a Seat
Freedom is not just about work style. It is also about being heard. Companies that build listening systems, anonymous culture surveys, ombudsman channels, and skip-level check-ins often detect friction early. One AI startup in Bengaluru introduced an anonymous reporting system and saw better team alignment and lower attrition in six months. This is about giving people safe spaces to speak up, share ideas, and express concerns. Psychological safety is a form of freedom, too.
Freedom only works when there is something to anchor it. Without clear goals, support, and ownership, even the best intentions can fall apart.
When Freedom Backfires
A product startup in Pune once gave its team total flexibility, no fixed hours, and no required meetings. It sounded perfect. But soon, deadlines slipped, meetings lost rhythm, and collaboration dropped. Productivity did not suffer due to freedom; it suffered due to a lack of clarity. They adjusted the course by introducing weekly check-ins, setting visible project timelines, and clarifying ownership. Momentum returned. Autonomy does not mean no rules. It means the right rules, paired with mutual understanding.
Freedom Requires Coaching
When the pandemic made working from home the norm, people suddenly got a lot more freedom. But not everyone knew how to handle it. Timelines got fuzzy without coaching or clear roles. People lost focus in meetings. Less responsibility. Workers had a hard time because they didn’t know how to use their freedom well, not because they didn’t want it. A startup in Gurugram dealt with this by giving teams that were moving to outcome-based roles transition coaches. The effect was immediate: fewer delays, clearer goals, and more ownership.
You can’t just give people freedom; you have to teach them how to use it. People need help to manage themselves in ways that matter. Tools should Enable, Not Police. There is a thin line between tools that help you get things done and tools that get in the way. When used for the right reasons, project management platforms, asynchronous communication tools, and dashboards can all be very helpful. But as soon as these become surveillance systems, they lose their purpose. Structure should make independence feel normal, not scary.
Conclusion
True workplace freedom is about trust, not absence. Employees want to be seen, heard, and respected, not just managed. When freedom is structured well, it does not just benefit employees. It unlocks deeper ownership, better outcomes, and stronger team cohesion. Workplace freedom is not just about flexibility or location. It is about trust, clarity, and ownership.
Employees today are not asking to be left alone. They are asking to be trusted. They want to contribute on their terms, but towards shared goals. They do not want to be clocked; they want to be counted. It is not flexibility that drives performance. It is ownership. And organisations that understand this will not only attract better talent, they will build stronger, more resilient teams.
