2021 has been a rollercoaster for all of us, but it has been a watershed moment for the Indian startup ecosystem. Since January 2021, 119 merger and acquisition agreements have been completed, compared to 86 for the entire year of 2020. In 2020, this amounted to $1.3 billion in Mergers and Acquisitions; by 2021, the sum had risen to $3.8 billion. These are simply the agreements that have been made public; the bulk of them have not been made public, and their worth might be far more significant. And, given that we’re a month away from the end of the year, there’s undoubtedly more to come. Here are some of the top startup acquisitions to know about.
Here are listed some of the biggest startup acquisitions of 2021.
Acquisitions by Unacademy
Top Startup Acquisition – Unacademy Acquisition
Unacademy is an EdTech firm located in Bengaluru with a network of over 18,000 educators. It provides Live Classes, both free and subscription-based, for various professional and educational admission examinations. Unacademy has been on a buying frenzy recently.
Kreatryx, a platform founded in 2014 that provides videos, test series, and a postal tracking tool for GATE, CIL, SSC and ESE examinations, was acquired through a cash and stock deal in March 2020. Kreatryx continues to be run by its founder, Ankit Goyal. Unacademy gained a competitive advantage in the GATE and ESE exam prep markets due to the acquisition.
CodeChef
CodeChef, a platform for computer programming, algorithms, and programming competitions, was founded in 2009, was acquired by Unacedemy in June 2020. The acquisition is expected to aid the Facebook-backed company’s development of a coding skills segment for students.
PrepLadder
Unacademy paid $50 million for the acquisition of PrepLadder, a platform founded in 2015 which prepares students for postgraduate medical entrance exams. Unacademy’s prominence in the medical entrance examination categories was bolstered as a result of this move.
Mastree
Mastree, founded in 2019, is a K12 learning platform, which mainly focuses on core curricular subjects. It was acquired by Unacedmy for $5 million in July 2020. This acquisition bolstered the company’s position in the K12 education market. After a year of ownership, unacedamy shut down Mastree in September 2021. It also launched ‘Graphy’ in the same line. Users may utilise photos, videos, quizzes, and audio to study books and unique material.
Coursavy
Unacademy acquired Coursavy in September 2020 to improve its position in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examinations category. Coursavy, founded in 2018, is a platform that offers live lectures, online courses and provides students with handwritten study notes. and comprehensive quizzes.
Scapic acquired by Flipkart
Top Startup Acquisition
Flipkart bought Augmented Reality (AR) company Scapic in November 2020, intending to make shopping on its platform more engaging. Flipkart did not reveal the financial terms of the acquisition. As part of the transaction, it absorbed the Scapic team.
It’s a part of Flipkart’s plan to offer more immersive camera experiences, virtual shops, and new ways for brands to advertise on the site.
EY is a leading provider of assurance, consultancy, strategy and transactions, and tax services worldwide. Spotmentor technologies, an end-to-end skilling platform that helps organisations discover skills necessary for the future of work, upskilling, and reskilling employees at scale, was acquired by EY India in November 2020 for an unknown price. It makes use of cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence and machine learning to help organisations address crucial competence gaps.
Rekrut India acquired by upGrad
Top Startup Acquisition
UpGrad is a Mumbai-based online higher education ed-tech firm that offers data analytics, product management, entrepreneurship, and digital marketing courses. It was named the official education partner for the Startup India learning initiative by the Indian government in September 2016. Rekrut India is a firm that provides recruitment and staffing solutions to help businesses grow their human resources. Rekrut India was acquired by upgrad in December 2020 for an unknown sum. It is the first time that an ed-tech or recruiting business has completed a 100 per cent acquisition.
Rekrut India will continue to function independently following the acquisition.
Directly acquired by ClickIndia
Top Startup Acquisition
Clickindia is a classified website that makes it simple to find, buy, sell, trade, and communicate with others who share the same interests. Directly. Live is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that enables people and businesses to plan meetings by integrating its platform into their systems and allowing them to hold video conversations with one another. In March 2021, Clickindia bought directly. Live for an undisclosed sum in an all-cash acquisition.
Fleapo acquired by Stritmedia
Top Startup Acquisition
Stritmedia is a four-year-old Kolkata-based firm that specialises in advertising and news media houses and affiliate marketing.
In December 2020, it paid an unknown sum for Fleapo Pvt Ltd, resulting in the establishment of a new brand called Sinofled Pvt Ltd. Fleapo works in the software and application development industry. Apart from the acquisition, Strirmedia aims to invest about $100,000 in expansion plans, staff building, and the brand’s services department.
Cure.Fit bought Fitternity, a Bengaluru-based fitness aggregation platform, in February 2021. It’s also one of the country’s largest fitness facility aggregators. Cure. Fit is a health and fitness firm that provides digital and offline experiences in exercise, nutrition, and mental health.
Fitternity will continue to operate independently, allowing Cure.Fit to expand its Cult Pass offering. Cure.Fit has now acquired Fitternity for the sixth time. Cult was acquired in 2016, followed by Tribe and 1000 Yoga in 2017, Fitness First in 2018, and Onyx in 2021.
Samunnati Financial Intermediation & Services, based in Chennai, which provides financial solutions for the agricultural sector, announced on April 12th, 2021, that it had acquired farmer-centric Agri supply chain platform Kamatan Farm Tech, an agricultural-technology startup focusing on the farming logistics and supply chain segment. After agri-tech firms LivLush and Sabziwala, Kamatan was created.
Elevar Equity, an impact venture capital firm, financed both and combined their firms in March 2020.
According to a statement from Samunnati, the acquisition would enhance the company’s market connection outreach activities. Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), small merchants, and agro SMEs would interact with corporate customers through the new company.
DailyJoy acquired by Lenskart
Top Startup Acquisition
In April 2021, Lenskart, a Delhi-based eyeglasses firm that joined the unicorn club last year, bought DailyJoy, a food and necessities delivery business in Tier 1/2 cities like Lucknow and Hyderabad, to strengthen its technological stack and technical capacity.
The acquisition is only to bolster the Acquiree’s team strength and exploit its technological knowledge. To assist its expansion, Lenskart wants to make Hyderabad a centre for high-quality, consistent engineering.
GamingMonk acquired by The Mobile Premier League
Top Startup Acquisition
MPL is an esports and skill gaming platform based out of Bengaluru. In April 2021, it acquired GamingMonk, a Delhi-based esports broadcasting platform that conducts esports competitions on various platforms, including mobile, console, and PC. The competitors include FIFA, Counter-Strike, and Call of Duty, and they are all streamed. MPL has absorbed the whole GamingMonk crew.
FAQs
What is startup acquisition?
Startup acquisition is the process of buying a successful or evolving startup company that has gained grip in the market.
“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.” – Ratan Tata, Tata Group
Ratan Tata is a prolific investor and has made numerous investment in many Startups. His style of investment and funding are revered by many across the globe. And his investments are known to emerge as giants in their respective sectors with time. Ola Cabs is an example.
An investment from Ratan Tata gives a boost to startups in terms of publicity, acquiring finances, and brand-building. Here is a list of the startups that Ratan Tata has funded over the years. Consequently, the behemoth organization of Ratan tata – Tata Group has also infiltrated a number of markets such as telecom, software, groceries, and fashion.
Latest News
22 April, 2021 – Ratan Tata has recently made an undisclosed amount of investment in Mailit which is a Mumbai based logistics startup serving a lot of big corporates including Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, etc.
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The Recent investment by Ratan Tata was in 2021, as he invested in Mailit, a technology-driven mailroom management and logistics company. The terms of the investment are undisclosed but it comes at at a time when Mailit is planning to launch 500 mailrooms across India in addition to establishing fully mechanised warehouses and distribution centres in the next five years.
Tork Motors
Tork motors | Ratan Tata Investment
Tork Motors is a Pune-based electric motorcycle startup. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in Tork Motors in October 2019. He saw potential in the company and found the team to be commendable. Apart from Ratan Tata, Bharat Forge and Bhavish Aggarwal (Ola Cabs’ founder) have also invested in Tork Motors.
Snapdeal
Snapdeal | Ratan Tata Investment
Snapdeal is India’s first online marketplace for multiple categories. It has received funding from Ebay and Alibaba. Snapdeal was launched by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in February 2010. It has over 3 lakh sellers and hosts over 3 crore products across 800+ diverse categories from more than 1,25,000 regional, national, and international brands and retailers.
Ratan Tata made an investment in Snapdeal soon after Flipkart’s acquisition of Myntra. He bought 256 shares from the e-commerce venture’s angel investors. This move not only protected Snapdeal from losing market share but also prevented any potential attempt by Flipkart to monopolize the e-commerce segment.
Cure.fit is a health and fitness startup that has raised $170 million from investors like Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Chiratae Ventures, and Ratan Tata to date.
Cure.fit maintains a chain of fitness centers (under the ‘Cult.fit’ brand), a food delivery platform called ‘Eat.fit’, a chain of healthcare clinics called ‘Care.fit’, and the recently launched online mental-wellness platform called ‘Mind.fit’.
Paytm started out as a mobile recharging platform and later became an online marketplace for multiple categories. It became India’s first payment bank after receiving a license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Ratan Tata Made an investment in Paytm by raising a funding of INR 1 crore in March 2015 for One97 Communications – the parent company of Paytm. This funding fetched him the position of a business advisor on One97 Communications’ board.
Paytm is now among the most successful digital payment companies with millions of subscribers. It thrived when the demonetization scheme was implemented in India in November 2018. At present, the company’s gross merchandise value (GMV) is over $1 billion.
Ola is India’s first home-grown cab aggregator service and one of the nine Indian unicorn startups valued at $5 billion. The app allows users to book a taxi on their smartphone at the best fares. Ola provides cab services across price segments that range from economy to luxury.
Ratan Tata funded Ola in July 2015, 5 years after the company began its operations in 2010. He invested INR 95 lakhs in the company in personal capacity. Ratan Tata made also an investment through his investment company – RNT Capital Advisors – of INR 400 crores in Ola.
Repos Energy
Repos Energy | Ratan Tata Investment
Aditi Bhosale Walunj and Chetan Walunj founded Repos Energy. Repos Energy is a Pune-based startup responsible for the doorstep delivery of fuel to industries. It works using cloud-based technology and IoT devices. Customers can order diesel on the Repos app. A Repos petrol pump operator then arrives at the customer’s location and completes the diesel delivery. Ratan Tata made an undisclosed amount of investment in this startup.
ClimaCell
Climacell | Ratan Tata Funded Startup
ClimaCell is an app developed by Rei Goffer, Shimon Elkabetz, and Itai Zlotnik that provides accurate weather forecast to alert people about upcoming floods. It uses day-to-day devices as environmental sensors. ClimaCell focuses on error-free weather predictions and has garnered a lot of attention.
Ratan Tata participated in ClimaCell’s seed round funding in September 2016. ClimaCell has acquired $70 million over three rounds of funding.
Abra
Abra Logo | Ratan Tata Investment
Ratan Tata has also made an investment in a Silicon Valley based bitcoin startup with American Express where he with American Express invested $12 million in Abra. People can store digital cash and send money to any smartphone using Abra’s app. Abra earns money when users buy or sell digital currency through its app.
CarDekho
CarDekho Logo | Ratan tata Funded Startups
CarDekho is India’s leading car search venture that helps users purchase the right cars. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in GirnarSoft – the parent company of CarDekho, BikeDekho, and PriceDekho portals.
The CarDekho app has rich automotive content that includes expert reviews, detailed specs and prices, comparisons, and the visuals of the different car brands and models available in India.
The company deals with many automobile manufacturers, more than 4000 car dealers, and numerous financial institutions to facilitate the purchase of vehicles. The CarDekho portal accounts for about 30% of the automobile manufacturers’ combined annual sales today.
Holachef
Hola Chef | Ratan tata Funded Startups
Holachef was founded by Saxena and Anil Gelra in 2014. Holachef connects expert chefs with consumers via its website and mobile app (available for both Android and iOS platforms). The platform offers a new menu everyday and delivers food in a state-of-the-art packaging. Holachef received an undisclosed amount of investment from Ratan Tata in September 2015.
Ola-owned food delivery firm Foodpanda has acquired Holachef.
FirstCry is a baby care e-commerce platform. FirstCry is owned by BrainBees Solutions. It follows an omni-channel strategy of selling through online and offline stores. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in this startup in January 2016.
Lenskart
Lenskart Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startup
Lenskart is a popular online retailer for eyewear. It was also been added to the list of companies invested by Tata as it secured funding from Ratan Tata in April 2016; the amount is undisclosed.
Lenskart sells sunglasses, eye glasses, contact lenses, and more. The officials from Lenskart said that Ratan Tata’s role was more of a mentor and an advisor than a financial investor. Some of the investors in Lenskart are TPG Group, IDG Ventures India, and Unilazer Ventures founder Ronnie Screwvala.
NestAway
nestaway logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
NestAway allows users to find, book, and move-in to a rental home of their choice across Indian cities. NestAway’s aim is to provide better rental solutions with the help of design and technology. The company presently caters to more than 35,000 tenants and 16,000 owners, providing homes to over 7000 families in cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and others. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in NestAway Technologies Pvt. Ltd. in December 2017.
Urban Ladder is an online furniture seller. Urban Ladder was founded by Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa in July 2012. It currently offers over 1,000 products across 25 furniture categories such as wardrobes, beds, sofas, dining tables, and coffee tables. The online retailer secured funding from Ratan Tata in November 2015.
UrbanCompany
Urban Company Logo
UrbanCompany, previously known as UrbanClap, is a local services marketplace that raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ratan Tata in December 2015. It is also funded by Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.
The UrbanCompany app allows the online booking of services such as plumbing, electric work, beauty treatments, and salon. UrbanCompany has successfully penetrated the services sector and bridged the gap between workers and consumers. People can now easily overcome the challenges of household hurdles, troubles, fixtures, and anything related through UrbanCompany.
GOQii
Goqii Logo | Ratan tata funded Startups
GOQii makes healthcare watches that are similar to smart watches. It also makes GOQii Stride, a device people can attach to their shoes and keep track of the number of steps, etc. GOQii’s platform provides tools for real-time personalized coaching, scheduling health check-ups, and securing information in a health locker. GOQii was founded in 2014 by Vishal Gondal. It joined the list of Ratan Tata-backed startups after he invested an undisclosed amount in October 2016.
This might come across as an interesting trivia—Ratan Tata is the first Indian to buy a stake in Xiaomiandhe has also made an undisclosed amount of investment in the company. Xiaomi is the world’s fourth largest smartphone manufacturer and is based out of China. The brand is very popular in India. It entered the Indian market in 2014. The Chinese tech giant sells smartphones, laptops, air purifiers, tablets, LED TVs, fitness bands and more.
Some senior executives from Xiaomi were quoted saying that they would seek Ratan Tata’s advice on how to expand globally.
Lybrate
Lybrate Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
Lybrate was founded in 2013. It connects patients and doctors. Lybrate launched an online lab testing facility in May 2016. A patient’s sample is collected right from his or her home and the results are then shared online. Lybrate secured about INR 64.8 crores ($10.2 million) funding from Ratan Tata in July 2019.
Infinite Analytics is a U.S. and Mumbai-based startup founded by two MITians – Akash Bhatia and Purushotam Bolta. It became Microsoft Dynamics AX’s first global OEM partner four months after Ratan Tata has also made an investment in this startup in August 2015.
Infinite Analytics is a cloud-based big data startup that predicts consumer behavior based on information shared by users on social networking sites. Infinite Analytics analyses raw data, maps out a person’s social genome, and then gives personalized recommendations to consumer brands with online presence. This information, which is collected without breaking privacy laws, allows a retailer to identify and recommend products that will appeal to customers. Infinite Analytics has expanded its predictive analytics technology to verticals beyond retail and e-commerce.
CashKaro
Cashkaro Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
CashKaro is a cashback and coupons website that provides 30% cashback to customers who shop on its affiliates’ platforms. These platforms include Amazon, Paytm, Jabong, and ShopClues. The Gurgaon-based company was founded by Swati and Rohan Bhargava in 2013 and raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Ratan Tata in January 2016.
Cashkaro generates revenue by taking commission from retailers and sharing a portion of it with customers in the form of cashback. It is the largest cashback website in India with over 10 lakh registered users and has given net cashback of more than INR 30 crores.
DogSpot
Dogspot Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups
DogSpot is a Gurgaon-based online pet care platform that handles about 60,000 orders on a monthly basis with an average basket size of INR 1,700. DogSpot also promotes pet-centric events, drives, and related content. The startup was founded in 2007 and is run by PetsGlam Services Pvt. Ltd.
Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in his personal capacity in DogSpot in January 2016. Ronnie Screwvala also invested in DogSpot alongside Ratan Tata.
BlueStone
Bluestone Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups
Bluestone.com is an online platform for purchasing jewelry. BlueStone was founded by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha in 2011. BlueStone is backed by Ratan Tata and has also received a funding from him in 2014. It offers over 5,000 jewelry designs and plans to scale to 30,000 designs in the next three years.
Zivame
Zivame Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startup
Bangalore-based Zivame was founded in 2011 by Richa Kar and Kapil Karekar. Zivame is an online platform for one’s lingerie needs. It has raised $48 million in four years. The startup gained popularity through its quirky campaigns and is a well-known name today. Zivame received funding from Ratan Tata in September 2015.
Generic Aadhaar
Generic Aadhaar | Ratan Tata funded Startup
Ratan Tata has invested undisclosed amount in Generic Aadhaar, a Maharashtra-based pharmaceutical startup. Arjun Deshpande founded Generic Aadhaar in 2018. Generic Aadhaar provides generic medicines from reputed pharmaceutical companies at discounted rates—up to 80% cheaper than the retail price. It offers a catalog comprising branded, generic, homeopathy, and Ayurveda medicines from government-approved manufacturing facilities.
Generic Aadhaar aims to partner with 1000 pharmacies through a franchisee model in the coming months and expand its reach to places like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, Goa, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.
What are the names of some Ratan Tata funded startups?
Some startups funded by Ratan Tata are Ola cabs, Zivame, Paytm, Snapdeal, Xiaomi, Urban Ladder, UrbanCompany, Cash Karo, and Abra.
What sector does Ratan Tata like to fund in?
Ratan Tata does not prefer any specific sectors. He has funded startups in sectors ranging from e-commerce and real estate to electric mobility and food delivery.
In the Indian market, every year there are different sets of trends, be it exciting, crazy, or bizarre, the fashion keeps changing. If one wants to remain trendy and up to date, then they need to hold the grip on current trends. This isn’t just restricted to the clothing, footwear, and hairstyles but also the eyewear too.
Today from classic to trendy, the fashion in the eyewear category is too witnessing exciting shifts and rolls. To be updated one needs to get rid of the old-fashioned trends and take a chance to experiment with their frames, sunglasses, goggles, lenses, and much more.
There are many brands in India that are influencing the trends in the eyewear industry and one such market mover is Coolwinks. Know more about these eyeglasses brands in India in this article.
Coolwinks was founded in the year 2016. It is online eyewear stored based Indian startup that deals in various kinds of eyewear products including sunglasses, eyeglasses, and contact lenses.
They have become a brand in India where one can find the latest frame styles, designs, and technologies that are supporting the eyewear industry. Their main focus is to target the audience where they can market their youthful eyewear products.
Currently, they have served more than 30,00,000 lakh customers from various geographic locations. They have more than a million people who have used their application, and have more than 4000 different products to offer to their customers.
Founder of Coolwinks and How it started
Ganesh Iyer is the founder of Coolwinks. Before founding the company he has worked with companies like Goibibo and Akbar Online Booking Pvt. Ltd. He has done his Bachelors in Commerce from Mumbai University and has also completed his Masters in Business Administration in Marketing & IT.
In 2016, when Ganesh was interested to start something on his own he found out that there is essentially a problem that has been unaddressed in our country and that was a poor vision. He thought that there is a huge challenge to get the accessibility of eyeglasses and eyewear’s that are suitable for the human eye.
That is when he envisaged a company that would ensure to provide people with eyewear products that are stylish, affordable, and of high quality. The mission was to enable people to see better and give them a life with a better vision.
Coolwinks – Name, and Logo
Coolwinks is a name that is self-explanatory. The company is a leading online eyewear brand that focuses on the fashion-forward range of cool spectacles, sunglasses, and eyewear products.
The logo of the company is also quite interesting, wherein the semi-colon is wearing a frame depicting what the company offers for its customers.
Coolwinks Logo
With hassle-free deliveries, Coolwinks is driven towards helping thousands and millions of people to improve their vision and in turn lead towards better lives.
Coolwinks – Business Model and How it works
Coolwinks has a wide range of products that are almost non-competitive in comparison to other similar platforms in India. They offer high-quality and affordable products that are in accordance with the target audience, youth, and trends of the industry. The business model of Coolwinks is an e-commerce platform.
Key Aspects of their Business model are:
Quality is a priority
Quality is one of the prime factors of the business model of Coolwinks. Their aim is to provide eyewear products that are of prime quality, so that their customers are satisfied.
Affordable products
Coolwinks aim to provide products that are of high-quality and are affordable at the same time for the people of India. Their aim is to have maximum reach and maximum availability at an affordable price.
Trendy and Youthful products
Fashion trends with low costs are the mantra of Coolwinks. Their products are known to be very youthful and fashionable which is currently in the trend.
Wide range of variety
The business model of Coolwinks introduced a wide range of products that are conceptualized with the changing times and have thousands of varieties in it.
Coolwinks – Competitors
There are various eyewear brands in India now. Though Coolwinks has its own presence in the market, there is tough competition for it too.
Top Competitors of Coolwinks are:
Lenskart
Specsavers
Classic Specs
Waldo
Eyerim
Smart Glasses Buy
Eye Buy Direct
Leoptique
Coolwinks – Product Range
Coolwinks has a diverse and wide range of categories and products. Broadly they have products differentiated for males, females, and kids. Along with that their major categories include Eyeglasses, Sunglasses, and Contact Lenses.
Each of them has a different range of offerings which vary from colors, sizes, types, brands, shapes, etc.
Coolwinks – Marketing Strategies
Coolwinks have had some amazing marketing strategies which have helped them in establishing their brand in the Indian market in a very short span of time. Initially, they went with a strategy where they sold their product at as low as Rs. 5 per sunglass.
Indians bought 2 sunglasses of Coolwinks at just Rs. 10 worth Rs. 800 each by applying a code – SUN20. The customers got a cashback of Rs. 1000 using PayTM and there was similar cashback offers on payment methods like PhonePe and PayPal.
Coolwinks Marketing Strategy
The reasons why they went with this amazing marketing strategies were:
1. Coolwinks wanted to achieve loyalty from the Indian market towards their products.
3. The business model of Coolwinks and their marketing strategies have attracted various investors and have drawn various investments, and They are able to offer various discounts.
4. Coolwinks doesn’t spend huge amounts on advertisements and thus is able to save a lot on advertisement expenses.
FAQ
Who owns Coolwinks?
Essilor International which is a world leader in ophthalmic optics owns Coolwinks.
The huge online eyewear platform, Coolwinks, has been selling multiple types of products for every purpose and for every category of needs. Coolwinks has now become very popular among the Indian market which caters to all customers within the geography and is expanding its customer base each day.
Today, Ratan Tata needs no introduction as he is the most respected business tycoon in India. He is an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, former chairman of Tata Group and Tata Sons. Post his retirement in 2012 he has turned into an avid angel investor who has left an everlasting impact. He is well-known for investing in some of the most successful startups today.
So far, Ratan Tata has invested in over two dozen startups, including top unicorns of India, like furniture e-tailer Urban Ladder, digital payments app Paytm, ride-hailing company Ola and its electric vehicle arm Ola Electric Mobility, Cure.fit, Urban Ladder, etc. His investment may only be a few million dollars, according to industry sources, but what’s invaluable is having the 81-year-old tycoon’s name attached to a young startup.
So, how Ratan Tata: the accidental startup investor turned into an avid angel investor? Let’s take a look.
Name
Ratan Tata
Born
Surat, India
Age
82
Citizenship
Indian
Education
Cornell University College of Architecture, Harvard Business School
Title
Indian Industrialist, Philanthropist, and a Former chairman of Tata Sons
Occupation
Businessman
Net Worth
Rs. 6396 Crore
Awards
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in Business, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan
First Investment made by Ratan Tata
The 81-year-old also said that he became a startup investor by accident. He added that he used to look at the sector as exciting always but somewhat untouchable. Tata further mentioned that with two-three years into the sector, it has become a learning experience for him as he got to learn many aspects regarding investment in startups.
The business magnate, better known as the ”Accidental Startup Investor”, was always interested in the startup ecosystem. He mentioned that his tenure as the chairman of Tata Group as this sector meant conflicts if he would take up any entrepreneurial assignment. But once Mr. Tata retired, he wasted no time in becoming a full-time investor through his private investment vehicle—RNT Associates.
Ratan Tata said that when he retired, at first he started making small token investments in what he considered exciting companies. He admitted that in the beginning, he intended to take some more risks than he might have taken under different circumstances. With two-three years into this, it became a learning experience, as this sector is very active and has the best minds.
The first investment he made was in Snapdeal in 2014 which yielded great results. The CEO of Snapdeal, Kunal Bahl, has high regards for Ratan Tata and considers him to be a lucky charm for Snapdeal. He is believed to have bought a 0.17% stake in Snapdeal in August 2014, when he invested less than Rs 5 crore. Tata bought 256 shares from the e-commerce company’s angel investors, including Kenneth Glass.
Other Investments made by Ratan Tata
Following this, he has invested in 31 startups. After Snapdeal, the online furniture retailer Urban Ladder secured funding from Ratan Tata in November 2015. It was Tata’s second personal investment in an e-commerce firm. It is a popular furniture selling platform based in Bengaluru. It is currently present in 12 cities around India.
Paytm, a Noida-based digital-payments company saw an overnight jump in subscribers by millions, after Demonetization of announced by the government on November 8, 2018. The company had secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Ratan Tata in March 2015. Tata bought a stake in One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm.
Ola Cabs is India’s answer to Uber. Much like Uber, Ola provides cab services across all price segments, ranging from economic to luxury. Beginning its operations in 2010, Ola secured funding from Ratan Tata in July 2015.
Ratan Tata is the first Indian to buy a stake in Chinese tech giant Xiaomi best known for its affordable smartphones. It’s true, the amount Tata invested in Xiaomi was not disclosed. Similarly, services marketplace UrbanClap raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ratan Tata in December 2015. In April 2016, Lenskart, the popular online retailer that sells eyewear secured funding from Tata.
Ratan Tata has invested in More than 30 Start-ups
Tata, while referring to the growth of budding startups said, “We are looking at the India of tomorrow and the day after, and the start-up industry is entering the global field in a manner where competition is open. The fact is we (Indians) are entrepreneurs at heart. Maybe what we need is the opportunity to flourish and I think the startup industry is doing just that.”
Ratan N. Tata has invested in over 30 startups. Among these, there are several technology-based startups too. Tata has made all these investments in his personal capacity. Ratan Tata has not restricted himself to a sector and stepped into a variety of diverse strata, be it clothing, weather, pet care services, etc., but technology catches his attention.
He holds the view that technology can be applied and used in any sector and the future is all about technology. He has recently invested in Tork Motors and Ola Electric. Ratan Tata has been supporting Ola since 2015. He openly expresses his excitement of participating in new areas and encourages young minds to search for domains yet to be explored.
Ratan Tata believes startups should get funded by Indian investors. According to him, the startup sector is growing rapidly with the best of minds involved in it. He regrets seeing such companies having great potential that could add value to the Indian economy but being bound to foreign authorities. Thus, Tata finds it unfortunate that founders get driven by foreign investments in the hope of an eventual acquisition by a larger entity.
He tells his decisions are intuition-driven, but the steps he has taken by now proves his intuitions are calculated risk oriented. He prefers getting into conversation with founders, analyze their personality, skills, their maturity, and the seriousness and most importantly, their zeal and dedication.
And like any other investor, he judges the future scope of pitched ideas. Tata has told in his case selection is more by intuition than by numbers. He further revealed that judging the intent of the founders and their seriousness influenced him more than any other factor.
How to Approach Ratan Tata for Investment?
Is Approaching Ratan Tata Difficult? As a matter of fact, its not. He is as approachable as any other investor. A few things to keep in mind if you plan to seek investment from the business tycoon:
Your idea should be unique and hold great potential.
The startup should have begun its operations, at least on a small-scale.
Tangible feedback on the startup and its product or service is a must. Remember, Ola got funding from RNT Associates 5 years after it began.
He is a man of experience, so it is advisable to be realistic and honest. Sniffing out non-sense is easy for him.
Being a personal investor, he prefers keeping the details of his investment private. He hates it when the media makes such information public. You will find it difficult to find the exact amount of his investments online, even when it comes to the biggest players he’s backing.
When asked what makes a good entrepreneur, he told what probably drives an entrepreneur to start a business is the fire in his belly that there is a better way to do something that has been done or a good opportunity to make a difference because something has not been explored well enough. And the confidence of staying with it is deciding factor of a good entrepreneurs. This is one thing to keep in mind while approaching Ratan Tata for investment.
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Consumers who use eyewear know how expensive and high-maintenance these products can get. To provide a viable alternative to this and make the experience hassle-free and simple, Amman Kumar, Bhavik Kumar, Rohan Kumar, and Shrijay Sheth launched VisionWagon in 2019 to enable consumers to buy eyewear like eyeglasses and sunglasses online.
VisionWagon is an online eyewear and sunglasses company, providing affordable fashion eyewear, with high standards of dispensing. The vision here is to build India’s most valued multi-modal Eyewear solutions company offering availability, accessibility and curative experience to its customers.
Driven by the core belief to provide affordable yet fashionable eyewear for the evolving needs of the customer’s lifestyle, concerning their work and other requirements. VisionWagon is all set to become the number 1 online eyewear company.
VisionWagon’s products provide the kind of protection that your eyes need, in an “always-on” world. No individual is not using a screen today – laptops, tablets, computers, phones etc. All these constitute a significant amount of screen time.
For VisionWagon, each of these individuals is a customer whose eyes will require protection from excessive use of the screen. This goes beyond the scope of consumers having a prescription and continuous education of the customer for this requirement would open the market for a much wider audience.
By using the code “STARTUPTY25” to buy anything on VisionWagon, you can get 25% off.
VisionWagon – Target Market Size
According to Business News Media Sources, the Indian eyewear market is quite complex. With independent opticians commanding 94.02% of the market, organized retail chains form 5% of the pie and Ecommerce accounting for the remaining 0.98%.
In the next 5 years, a big surge of smart eyewear in the affordable range is anticipated. More in line with smart devices like mobile phones, watches & headphones.
VisionWagon was founded by Amman Kumar, Bhavik Kumar, Rohan Kumar and Shrijay Sheth. Amman, Bhavik and Rohan were working in the same business. Shrijay’s success with his earlier Ecommerce ventures made him the natural choice as a partner for the venture – creating a hassle-free eyewear shopping experience online.
How was VisionWagon Started
Three of the co-founders were working in the same business. And Shrijay”s experience in building scalable Ecommerce ventures made him the natural choice as a partner for creating a hassle-free eyewear shopping experience online.
The founders wanted to take their legacy of 60+ years online to reach out to a wider audience beyond the geographical scope of physical stores. The Ecommerce market in India is booming and the online eyewear market is very negligible, hence there is a lot of scope for players who focus on customer-centric eyewear solutions.
Ideation and consultations with the supply-chain partners, end consumers, and business consultants gave them added insights. Ease of shopping online was amongst the core insights the founders derived from the research.
VisionWagon – Name, Tagline, and Logo
VisionWagon Logo
The founders wanted VisionWagon to come across as a wholesome Vision solutions company that carries all relevant eyewear solutions currently available in the market. And also they were geared to embrace any new developments in this ever-changing scenario. Hence they wanted a logo that appealed to the youth.
VisionWagon – Startup Launch
The first few customers of VisionWagon came from friends & family, where the founders actively promoted the brand. Later, they incentivized them to bring their connections to visit the website.
Apart from the organic push, they found social media, both organic and paid – to be an apt traffic source for their brand. Since eyewear is a product that has visual appeal, Instagram, in particular, is observed to be an apt platform for promotions.
Their outreach through various marketing campaigns is backed by re-marketing channels like emails (for registrants) and re-marketing through social media and google are important to get initial traction.
VisionWagon provides 15% discounts to 1st-time sign-up clients. Adding new collections, cash-back on each transaction through PayPal and attractive discounts during festive times. This has helped this venture reach out to more customers through the initial phase.
The revenue model looks simpler for VisionWagon. There are 3 simple price-points (inclusive of lens-prices). Any additional coatings or features that the client wishes to add over the existing lenses can be add-ons for a very nominal cost. VisionWagon is enabled with an online transactional model with secure payment gateways.
VisionWagon – Competitors
Though the online market for eyewear products is minor as compared to the offline market, there are still competitors playing in the minor online market. The major competitors include lenskart.com, eyedo.in, coolwinks.com, Lensbazaar, Titan Eyeplus, Vision Express to name a few.
VisionWagon – Growth
The company is growing steadily in revenue every month, orders per day are growing, repeat customers are assuring that VisionWagon is giving the right quality. With more social mediainfluencers approaching the company to collaborate, the fashion quotient of the eyewear is increasing with every passing day.
“We wish to constantly improve and upgrade the customer experience by embracing new trends & technologies.” Said the founders.
FAQ
Who are the Founders of VisionWagon?
VisionWagon was founded by Amman Kumar, Bhavik Kumar, Rohan Kumar and Shrijay Sheth.
Who are the competitors of VisionWagon?
The major competitors of VisionWagon include lenskart.com, eyedo.in, coolwinks.com, Lensbazaar, Titan Eyeplus, and Vision Express.
What is the Revenue model of VisionWagon?
There are 3 simple price-points (inclusive of lens-prices). Any additional coatings or features that the client wishes to add over the existing lenses can be add-ons for a very nominal cost.
Jeenal Jain
