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<ul><li>Gojek <keyword id="3822166" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="nadiem-makarim">Nadiem Makarim</keyword> is taking up a position in the Indonesian government. </li><li>His post in the cabinet is not known yet. </li><li>Gojek recently became <keyword id="8692" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indonesia">Indonesia</keyword>’s first decacorn (a startup with over $10 billion valuation).</li></ul>The founder of Gojek, Nadiem Makarim has left his startup to take up a cabinet position in the Indonesian government. Gojek is a ride-hailing and payments platform, which started in 2015 as a motorbike taxi platform. It also recently announced its video streaming service. Started in Indonesia, the startup is also present in India, Thailand, Vietnam and others. It claims to have over 2 million drivers in India. Makarim is the founder of the <a href="https://www.techinasia.com/gojek-decacorn">decacorn</a> (a startup with over $10 billion valuation), which is also Indonesia’s first startup to achieve the status. Makarim himself is one of the country’s richest entrepreneurs. “Nadiem was summoned to the Palace by the President today to accept an appointment as a member of the new cabinet. We are very proud that our founder will play such a significant role in moving Indonesia onto the global stage,” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/gojek-ceo-makarim-says-will-join-indonesian-prime-ministers-cabinet.html">CNBC</a> quoted a Gojek spokesperson. His post in the cabinet is not known yet.

Gojek CEO Nadiem Makarim leaves his startup to join Indonesian cabinet

Jakarta, June 24 (IANS) Ride-hailing and digital payments platform Gojek that received funding from Facebook and Paypal earlier this month has laid off 430 employees, around 9 per cent of its total workforce. The company announced to shut down its lifestyle division GoLife as well as its food court division GoFood Festival, reports The Jakarta Post. Gojek currently operates in five countries in Southeast Asia, said it would focus on its core businesses which are ride-hailing service, food delivery and e-payment solutions. "The biggest challenge is the remaining uncertainties in the future, and the hurtful fact is that this will forever change the way we operate our business and the products we offer," said CEOs Andre Soelistyo and Kevin Aluwi said in a joint statement late Tuesday. In April, the company's senior management cut their salaries to allocate more than $7.09 million to help drivers and employees cope with poor demand during the Covid-19 pandemic. With an aim to cement their position in the fast-growing digital payments market in Southeast Asia, Facebook and Paypal have invested in Gojek. Matt Idema, Chief Operating Officer, WhatsApp, did not disclose the sum the company has invested in Gojek but said the move underscores Facebook's commitment to serving small businesses and helping bring them and their customers into the digital economy. Since its launch in 2015, the Gojek app has helped bring hundreds of thousands of merchants onto its platform, giving them access to more than 170 million people across Southeast Asia. Its payments business processes billions of transactions each year and owns the largest e-wallet in Indonesia. --IANS na/

Gojek lays off 430 employees after Facebook, Paypal investment

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12595581" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="grab" source="Orion">Grab</keyword>, the Uber of Southeast Asia, went public in a $40 billion <keyword id="11908250" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="spac" source="Orion">SPAC</keyword> deal in December 2021.</li><li>But its share price has since tumbled and sources say morale was low in the leadup to the deal.</li></ul>In June 2020, the usually smiling Anthony Tan teared up before his employees. The then 38-year old chief executive of Grab — Southeast Asia's answer to Uber — should have been getting the troops pumped amid COVID-19 lockdown blues."AT," as employees nicknamed Tan, was instead justifying during a town hall why he had to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-16/grab-to-cut-5-of-employees-in-another-setback-for-softbank">cut</a> about 5% of jobs, or 360 roles. He read from a prepared <a href="https://www.grab.com/sg/blog/grab-ceo-note/">note</a>."I remember him saying: 'I did not want to do this at all. It's the last resort,'" a former employee told Insider. "Everyone knew someone who was laid off. Morale was low, and we didn't know what was going to happen with the company next."A Grab spokesperson declined to comment for this article. AT's tears were a shock for some Grab employees, who had prided themselves as staff of Southeast Asia's most valuable startup and a poster child for how the region could match — or at least ape — Silicon Valley innovation. Big-name investors like Japanese investing conglomerate SoftBank had signaled faith in the vision by plowing around <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/29/softbank-is-said-to-invest-2-billion-in-ride-hailing-firm-grab.html">$3 billion</a> into the firm."The older birds remember that not too long ago they had to go around convincing taxi drivers to own a phone so that they could join Grab's platform, be on call with Grab," a second former employee said. Some employees wondered if the company was eventually going to be listed, an idea that felt "nuts," he added.But lockdowns forced Southeast Asia's hundreds of millions of commuters and drivers off the streets, and Grab's ride-hailing arm took a hit. According to an April 2021 <a href="https://sec.report/Document/0001140361-21-012518/">SEC filing</a> made by Altimeter Growth, the blank-check company that would later merge with Grab, the value of transactions for the startup's ride-hailing services in 2020 fell 43% from the previous year. "Overnight, I saw ride numbers going off the cliff," said the first former employee.The pandemic had likewise put Grab's competitors to the test. Across the Pacific Ocean, Uber <a href="https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-details/2021/Uber-Announces-Results-for-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2020/default.aspx">said</a> earnings from its ride-hailing arm fell 44% in 2020. Could Grab bounce back?<h2>Harvard-educated founders pitched their version of Uber</h2><div type="image" title="grab tans" height="2497" width="3330" msid="91940425" hostid="261"></div>Grab <a href="https://www.grab.com/my/press/consumers-drivers/myteksi-celebrates-taxi-drivers/">started life</a> in 2011 as MyTeksi. Founders Anthony Tan, Tan Hooi Ling, and Adeline Chan all studied at Harvard Business School, pitched the concept during a contest, and reached second place. At the time their idea was directly <a href="https://www.hbs.edu/newventurecompetition/winners-and-success-stories/Pages/winners.aspx">compared</a> to Uber, then called <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2010/07/05/ubercab-takes-the-hassle-out-of-booking-a-car-service/">UberCab</a>. With the <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/12/02/grab-ipo-stock-shares-spac-price/">$25,000 prize money</a>, they launched MyTeksi in Malaysia in 2012, about a year before Uber would try to compete in the region.Anthony Tan remains CEO and <a href="https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/garage/grab-founders-stake-sheds-billion-dollar-mark-after-shares-sink-205-by-debut-close">an occasional paper billionaire</a>, while Tan Hooi Ling, or "Ling" as she's called by employees, is chief operating officer. Little is known about Chan after Harvard.The Tans, who are not related, hoped MyTeksi could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/grab-coo-cofounder-on-growth-from-a-ride-hailing-service-to-a-super-app-2021-1">tackle</a> Malaysia's problem with poor and unsafe taxi services. By 2013, it had 2,500 drivers across four Malaysian cities and received a booking every eight seconds, spurring competitors to launch similar services, TechCrunch <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/20/mud-slinging-behind-the-scenes-as-malaysias-taxi-apps-duke-it-out/">reported</a>. MyTeksi started expanding into Thailand, <keyword id="11895291" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="singapore" source="Orion">Singapore</keyword>, and the Philippines, where it was known as <a href="https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/sizzle-fizzle/myteksi-launches-as-grabtaxi-in-bangkok-and-singapore">GrabTaxi</a>. It later made Singapore its base in 2014. Big-name investors such as SoftBank and Temasek invested into the startup and by August 2015, it <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/grab-listing-timeline-idCNL4N2SG0TW">achieved</a> unicorn status after receiving an injection of $350 million. The startup then took on its <a href="https://www.grab.com/sg/press/business/grabtaxi-rebrands-to-grab-to-reflect-market-dominance-in-southeast-asia/">current name</a>, Grab, in 2016 to reflect its growing array of services.Mopeds, tuk-tuks, and taxis are popular modes of transportation on Southeast Asia's congested streets. They're also affordable and readily available in areas where public transport is lacking. Grab latched onto these quirks of commuting in Southeast Asia, and focused on localizing its services in each market it operated.<div type="image" title="TukTuk" height="3280" width="4387" msid="91940427" hostid="261"></div>It also kept prices low: base fares for a <a href="https://www.grab.com/vn/en/transport/bike/">moped</a> ride in Vietnam or a <a href="https://www.grab.com/kh/en/transport/tuktuk/">tuk-tuk</a> commute in Cambodia cost the equivalent of $0.50 on Grab's platform as of April. It also made it easy for users to pay electronically in a region where cash remains king. The app boomed. Grab <a href="https://www.grab.com/sg/press/business/grab-merges-with-uber-in-southeast-asia/">saw off Uber in the region</a>, buying its operations in Southeast Asia. A few months later, Grab <a href="https://www.grab.com/sg/press/business/grab-unveils-open-platform-strategy-to-build-southeast-asias-first-everyday-superapp/">unveiled</a> its ambitions to be Southeast Asia's first "everyday super app." Grab <a href="https://www.grab.com/sg/press/others/grab-reports-first-quarter-2022-results/">now has 30.9 million users</a> across 480 cities in eight countries who use the app to hail taxis, order food, make payments online, or access services like micro insurance and telemedicine. It's "Uber, DoorDash, and Venmo, all in one," in the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-02/singapore-had-a-new-billionaire-for-a-few-hours-before-grab-slid">words</a> of Ling in a Bloomberg interview.<h2>Grab, like other ride-hail businesses, went into fight or flight in the pandemic</h2>The pandemic crippled every ride-hailing business and, after its layoffs in 2020, Grab went into fight-or-flight mode, trying to bolt profitable divisions onto its core ride-hail and delivery offerings.As employees experienced it, this involved pitting different teams against each other and green-lighting and sunsetting projects to find as many that made the most financial and ethical sense, said two sources. "It was like placing their bets on many different horses to see which one would win the race," said another former employee.One floated idea was a so-called "GrabMassage" concept, inspired by a now-shuttered service offered by Indonesian rival Gojek, a person with knowledge of the project told Insider. "The optics weren't that great. Grab wanted to be a family-friendly brand, so we didn't pursue it," the person said. A source close to Grab disputed that GrabMassage was a serious proposition.More successful was the <a href="https://www.grab.com/sg/press/others/grab-completes-acquisition-of-stake-in-jaya-grocer/">acquisition of Jaya Grocer</a>, a supermarket chain in Malaysia. The deal was announced in January 2021 and closed early this year. "We wanted to own the backend of the grocery space so that we lose less margins and not have to hike fees for customers who want groceries," the person said.It's common for young companies to grow fast by trying out many different things to see what sticks, an approach famously characterized by Mark Zuckerberg as "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-mark-zuckerberg-new-values-move-fast-and-break-things-2022-2">move fast and break things</a>."As a result, teams at Grab were set up and then dismantled; projects were pitched and got gunned down; there were constant reshuffles as priorities changed. "It was basically musical chairs," said an ex-employee. There were also campaigns to focus employee attention on projects that would make financial sense. There was "Path to Profitability," which looked at simple profit margin metrics, according to two former employees.This at times zoomed in on how to raise gross merchandise value (GMV), or the total value of what was sold on Grab's platform, for a big part of 2020. Grab, which was at this stage trying to fend off competitors across its ride-hailing, food delivery, and financial payments businesses, looked at this metric to understand how much market share it had.The reason for these changes eventually materialized. In April 2021, Grab <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/grab-public-spac-merger-altimeter-growth-app-nasdaq-2021-4">announced</a> that it would list on Nasdaq via a merger with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Altimeter Growth, and proceeded to tout its 2020 GMV numbers in ride-hailing and deliveries as proof of its market leadership."Grab is the category leader with growth and profitability at scale across segments," it claimed in a <a href="https://investors.grab.com/static-files/f54858d4-3242-4323-9206-12b4c14480e6">presentation</a>.Grab had <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/grab-stock-price-nasdaq-trading-debut-public-spac-southeast-asia-2021-12">planned</a> to close the merger and go public in July that year, but was forced to delay until December because it had to audit its financial records.In the lead up to the deal, the focus became monthly transacting users (MTU), or how many individual users transact on Grab each month. MTU was a metric that made the most sense to Grab's management when they wanted to see how successful the business was, the sources said.Although Grab's SPAC announcement should have felt a coup, morale was low in the runup, the six sources interviewed for this article said, as the pandemic continued to pose a long-term threat to the business.<div type="image" title="Grab's CEO Anthony Tan and co-founder Tan Hooi Ling celebrate as they attend the Grab Bell Ringing Ceremony at a hotel in Singapore, December 2, 2021." height="2342" width="3123" msid="91940429" hostid="261"></div>In December, Grab <a href="https://www.grab.com/sg/press/others/grab-to-trade-on-nasdaq-following-successful-business-combination-with-altimeter/">raised</a> $4.5 billion through its SPAC deal, and its shares hit opening price of $13.06 apiece, briefly making CEO Anthony Tan a billionaire for a few hours, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-02/singapore-had-a-new-billionaire-for-a-few-hours-before-grab-slid">reported</a>. The exuberance was short-lived, as investors peeked under the hood.On March 3, Grab revealed that net losses had widened by 73% to $1.1 billion for the quarter ended December 31, the company <a href="https://www.grab.com/sg/press/others/grab-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2021-results/#:~:text=Fourth%20Quarter%202021%20Financial%20and,52%25%20and%2029%25%20respectively.">said</a> in its first earnings call as a public company on March 3. For the full year, losses had widened by 30% to $3.56 billion. Its stock price <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-03/grab-s-selloff-deepens-to-erase-22-billion-since-spac-merger">fell</a> by 37% and closed at a record low of $3.28 after the results. Law firms spotted an opportunity amid the turmoil: Insider found at least 11 US legal firms that are building cases for class-action lawsuits alleging Grab deceived shareholders. "What took the market by surprise was that they had expected Grab to move away from dishing out incentives, but that increased instead," said Gerald Wong, founder of investment education website Beansprout. Dealing with a driver shortage after lockdowns, Grab's incentives for drivers jumped 58.3% from a year ago to reach $22.8 million in the last quarter, numbers from its March earnings call <a href="https://investors.grab.com/static-files/ac8e3bfa-ab2e-4efd-af9e-02f5cc2c42d0">show</a>. That's more than a third of what was spent in total for the year, at $65.9 million.Grab has also had to dish out more money to retain or attract new passengers or anyone who would buy on its platform. In that same quarter, it spent $300.8 million to lure users, a sum that accounted for more than a third of the full year's expenditure. Peter Oey, chief financial officer, <a href="https://investors.grab.com/static-files/9347ceca-977e-4406-bd86-10983630bf93">told</a> analysts at the earnings call that it may take a quarter or two for Grab to get demand and supply of its services to match together. "It's a marketplace at the end of the day," he said.<h2>Pride, and profitability</h2>As the world opens up, people are back on the streets to eat, drink, or simply to have fun. Uber <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-analyst-day-was-bust-with-wall-street-stock-falling-2022-2">said recently</a> that its ride-hailing business is climbing up to pre-pandemic levels. It's the same tune in Southeast Asia for Grab where ride-share demand is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/grab-shares-crash-revenue-plunges-promotions-driver-incentives-2022-03-04/">recovering</a>. In its <a href="https://investors.grab.com/news-releases/news-release-details/grab-reports-first-quarter-2022-results">latest earnings report</a>, Grab narrowed its loss for the quarter ended March to $435 million from a year ago. User spending on the platform rose 19% over the same period to $155, "as countries eased pandemic restrictions further during the quarter," the firm said.But concerns about profitability continue to plague the firm. Grab is comparable to US peers Uber and DoorDash, but the Southeast Asian company is posting steeper losses than its Silicon Valley counterparts. Its share price is currently $2.66 — a far cry from its $8.75 closing price on its first day of trading."Both Uber and Doordash generate positive adjusted EBITDA while Grab may take at least 24 months to reach positive adjusted EBITDA in our view," said Sachin Mittal, an analyst at DBS in Singapore, <a href="https://www.theedgesingapore.com/news/brokers-calls/dbs-and-maybank-lower-grabs-tp-us293-and-us423-respectively-following-1qfy2022">according</a> to a report from The Edge. For now, employees remain bought into the mission but they're as in the dark as investors on the most important long-term question. "We really do make a difference in people's lives," one of them told Insider. "But do you think we'll be profitable?" he mused.

How Grab, Asia's Uber, stumbled before and after its $40 billion SPAC, with pandemic layoffs and a teary all-hands with its CEO

<ul><li>Speaking at the Business Insider Global Trends Festival 2020, <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>’s President for Mobility in the Asia Pacific region, <keyword id="2672999" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pradeep-Parameswaran">Pradeep Parameswaran</keyword> spoke about the opportunities of having the <keyword id="7094982" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uber-Bus">Uber bus</keyword> in India. </li><li>In July 2020, Uber had officially launched the ‘Uber Bus’ first in Egypt as an initiative to connect different cities in the country. </li><li>Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi too had earlier said that this service would be great for cities like Delhi. </li></ul>Uber may soon bring buses into India as the $60 billion ride-hailing giant prepares for changes in shared mobility post the pandemic. And one of the exciting initiatives could be an Uber bus soon! Speaking at the Business Insider Global Trends Festival 2020, Uber’s President for Mobility in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, Pradeep Parameswaran revealed the plans for the Uber bus in India. “We have trials and tests going on for buses on the Uber platforms, which is already in the launch phase in markets like Egypt and I’m hopeful that we’ll bring it to APAC soon,” Parameswaran told Business Insider. <div type="twitter" handle="BiIndia" handlename="Business Insider India🇮🇳" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1232926719016718336/sfffJHNV_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1" retweetcount="0" status="#WATCH | This is what @uber_india's @PrParameswaran said on #SharedMobility at the #BIGTF2020.@awscloud presents… https://t.co/L8sIpuzPbq" createdat="1603280400000" id="1318879706104483840"></div> Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had hinted at this during his earlier visit to India. “We are testing and learning to understand how the service (Uber Bus service) works. As the product matures, it will be specifically marketed for cities like Delhi," Khosrowshahi had said then. In July 2020, Uber had officially launched the ‘Uber Bus’ <a href="https://www.uber.com/en-EG/newsroom/uber-launches-its-intercity-bus-service-a-global-first-from-egypt/">first in Egypt </a>as an initiative to connect different cities in the country. However, the company had been testing it in the country since 2018 and had expanded it to Ukraine and Mexico as well. There are many who believe that people will prefer private transport going forward as they try to avoid proximity with other people. However that is not for everyone, especially in countries like India. Even the government thinktank NITI Aayog has expressed its wish to see fewer private cars and more players offering shared transport that is affordable. “The idea that there is a shared infrastructure for mobility that meets every single person’s needs, whether you are spending ₹5, ₹15 or ₹50 per kilometre there should be an option for shared mobility,” Parameswaran said. While Uber Bus might take its time to ride into the Indian roads, it has pushed forward with the idea of shared transport. “In India, we have autos and bike taxis as India’s transport minister has spoken about expanding that as Gojek and Grab have shown they can be amazing options in South East Asia,” he said. During Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s visit to India in October 2019, the company had launched its ‘<keyword id="85028" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-transport">public transport</keyword>’ feature. Khosrowshahi had then launched the feature in partnership with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The feature allows one to check schedules for the Delhi Metro, based on pricing as well as timing. Recently, Uber had also partnered with Hyderabad Metro Rail, Larsen &amp; Toubro Metro and the Telangana State Road Transport Corporations’ bus service. Uber has been severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic. For the second quarter of the year, Uber saw its gross bookings come down by 35% to $10.2 billion, while its revenue was down by 29% year-on-year to $2.24 billion. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/why-saif-partners-rebranded-itself-to-elevation-capital/articleshow/78784029.cms">INTERVIEW: Here’s why one of India’s most successful VC firms rebranded itself in the middle of a pandemic</a>

EXCLUSIVE: Uber Bus in India soon? Head of Mobility in APAC says he is ready to import the Egypt experiment

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">UberUber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi driving an Uber.</div></div></div>Technology companies continue to be some of the most valuable private companies in the world, according to <a href="https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/the-30-most-valuable-vc-backed-companies-in-the-world">PitchBook's most recent list</a> of the highest valuations of VC-backed companies. Uber tops the list as of May 2018, but it's followed closely by its Chinese competitor, DiDi. In fact, there are a total of five ride-hailing companies on the list; Lyft, Indonesian GO-JEK, and Singapore's Grab are also on there.Of the 26 tech companies on the list, 12 are based out of the US and 10 are headquartered in China. Eight of the companies' most recent deals were led by SoftBank Capital - the US-based venture capital firm that invests heavily in technology - and ranged from $20 million (Palantir) to $4.6 billion (Didi).Here are the most valuable tech companies in the world, from lowest valuation to highest: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/top-5-disruptive-trends-shaping-transportation-and-logistics?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=transportation_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=transportation_ctgr_leadgen_top-5-trends"></a>

The 26 most valuable private tech companies in the world

<ul><li><keyword id="6354504" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-jio">Reliance Jio</keyword> has raised ₹11,367 from global investment firm <keyword id="6354544" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kkr">KKR</keyword>.</li><li>This is KKR's <keyword id="4877824" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="largest-investment">largest investment</keyword> in Asia. </li><li><keyword id="2003276" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jio">Jio</keyword> has now raised ₹78,562 crore from Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista, General Atlantic and KKR.</li></ul><keyword id="6355199" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-industries">Reliance Industries</keyword> on Friday announced the sale of a 2.32% stake in its digital unit to US private equity giant KKR for ₹11,367 crore, the fifth deal in four weeks that will inject a combined ₹78,562 crore in the oil-to-telecom conglomerate to help it pare debt. This is KKR's largest investment in Asia. "This transaction values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore. This is KKR's largest investment in Asia and will translate into a 2.32 per cent equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis," the company said in a statement. The deal follows Facebook picking up a 9.99 per cent stake in the firm, housing India's youngest but largest telecom company, on April 22 for Rs 43,574 crore. Within days of that deal, Silver Lake - the world's largest tech investor - bought a 1.15 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 5,665.75 crore. On May 8, US-based Vista Equity Partners bought 2.32 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 11,367 crore. On May 17 global equity firm General Atlantic picked up 1.34 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 6,598.38 crore. "Over the last month, leading technology investors, such as, Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista, General Atlantic and KKR have announced aggregate investments of Rs 78,562 crore into Jio Platforms," it said. Diverse marquee investors are becoming long-term shareholders of Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL) because of a unique set of technologies and platforms under one entity. There are no similar opportunities available anywhere else globally. And an endorsement of the quality of the management. Investments by leading global growth investors will enable Jio to scale its ecosystem and reaffirm the firm as a next generation software product and platform company. "Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, is a next-generation technology platform focused on providing high-quality and affordable digital services across India, with more than 388 million subscribers," the statement said. Founded in 1976, KKR has a long history of building leading global enterprises and successfully investing in businesses in the technology sector, including BMC Software, ByteDance and GoJek, through its private equity and technology growth funds. Since inception, the firm has invested over USD 30 billion (total enterprise value) in tech companies, and its technology portfolio currently has more than 20 companies across the technology, media and telecom sectors. In addition, India has been a key strategic market for KKR with a history of investing in the country since 2006. <keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword>, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said, "I am delighted to welcome KKR, one of the world's most respected financial investors, as a valued partner in our onward march to growing and transforming the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians." KKR, he said, has a proven track record of being a valuable partner to industry-leading franchises and has been committed to India for many years. "We are looking forward to leveraging KKR's global platform, industry knowledge and operational expertise to further grow Jio." Henry Kravis, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of KKR, said, "Few companies have the potential to transform a country's digital ecosystem in the way that Jio Platforms is doing in India, and potentially worldwide. Jio Platforms is a true homegrown next generation technology leader in India that is unmatched in its ability to deliver technology solutions and services to a country that is experiencing a digital revolution." "We are investing behind Jio Platforms' impressive momentum, world-class innovation and strong leadership team, and we view this landmark investment as a strong indicator of KKR's commitment to supporting leading technology companies in India and Asia Pacific," he said. KKR is making the investment from its Asia private equity and growth technology funds. The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals. Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Reliance Industries, and AZB &amp; Partners and Davis Polk &amp; Wardwell acted as legal counsel. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP acted as financial advisor to KKR. Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas &amp; Co. and Simpson Thacher &amp; Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel to KKR.

Reliance strikes 5th deal, sells 2.32% in Jio Platforms for ₹11,367 cr to KKR

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Korea Summit Press Pool/Getty ImagesA Samsung executive will attend the upcoming Moon-Kim summit.</div></div></div>Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday.1. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/time-magazine-marc-benioff-salesforce-190-million-2018-9">Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife are buying Time Magazine for $190 million</a>. The announcement comes just eight months after Meredith Corp., publisher of several popular print publications, completed its purchase of Time. 2. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-china-cash-bribes-sellers-investigation-2018-9">Some Amazon employees are reportedly accepting cash bribes from online sellers to delete negative product reviews</a>. The practice, which is especially common in China, has reportedly resulted in an internal investigation. 3. <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/16/facebook-is-hiring-a-director-of-human-rights-policy-to-work-on-conflict-prevention-and-peace-building/">F</a><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/16/facebook-is-hiring-a-director-of-human-rights-policy-to-work-on-conflict-prevention-and-peace-building/">acebook is advertising a new position for a human rights policy director whose job it will be to coordinate an effort to combat human rights abuses on the platform</a>. Facebook has previously come under fire for failing to address hate speech propagated by its platform in Myanmar. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/03/funding-circle-ipo-announcement.html"></a>4. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-to-announce-the-location-of-its-second-hq-by-the-end-of-2018-2018-9">Amazon says it will announce the location of its second headquarters by the end of 2018</a>. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that the company would announce the location of its second headquarters by the end of the year.5. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-leaves-kleiner-perkins-to-start-own-fund-2018-9/#-1">Acclaimed tech investor Mary Meeker is leaving Kleiner Perkins to start her own fund, and she's taking her team with her</a>. She reportedly disagreed with others at Kleiner Perkins over its investment strategy - as well as less material issues like where to hold the annual office Christmas party. 6. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-17/samsung-chief-lee-to-visit-north-korea-for-moon-kim-summit?srnd=technology-vp">A Samsung executive will travel to North Korea to join the Moon-Kim summit</a>. Vice Chairman Jay Y Lee will be part of the delegation accompanying President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang later this week. 7. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/its-really-dangerous-to-demonize-the-media-jeff-bezos-criticises-trumps-war-on-the-press-2018-9">Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos criticized Donald Trump for calling the press the "enemy of the people," saying it's dangerous to demonize the media</a>. Bezos said that elected officials have to get used to and even welcome the fact that they are subject to media scrutiny.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moneysupermarket-billionaire-simon-nixon-deliveroo-investment-2018-9"></a>8. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-16/go-jek-is-said-in-talks-to-raise-at-least-2-billion-in-funding">Go-Jek, Indonesia's most valuable startup, is reportedly in talks to raise $2 billion in funding</a>. The motorbike hailing company is planning to expand into southeast Asia, Bloomberg reports.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-cave-diver-buzzfeed-2018-9"></a><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/03/maoyan-chinas-largest-online-movie-ticket-service-files-to-go-public-in-hong-kong/"></a>9. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-jeff-bezos-makes-decisions-2018-9">Jeff Bezos says all his best decisions involved intuition and gut, not analysis</a>. He also repeated a previous mantra that Amazon's secret sauce is "obsessive compulsive" focus on the consumer, rather than its competitors.10. <a href="https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CA+55aFy+Hv9O5citAawS+mVZO+ywCKd9NQ2wxUmGsz9ZJzqgJQ@mail.gmail.com/">Linus Torvalds, the famously grouchy creator of Linux, has apologised for his behaviour and admitted that he is not an "emotionally empathetic" person</a>. In an email to the Linux Kernel Mailing List, Torvalds said he would take a break from development while he worked on his issues.Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear 10 Things in Tech each morning. Just search for "Business Insider" in your Alexa's flash briefing settings. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-mock-facebook-privacy-woes-iphone-2018-9">Apple took another subtle jab at Facebook during its iPhone XS event</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

10 things in tech you need to know today

New Delhi, Jun 14 () Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries has raised a record Rs 1.04 lakh crore in less than eight weeks from sale of minority stakes in its digital unit Jio Platforms to marquee investors. On Saturday evening, it announced sale of 0.93 per cent in Jio Platforms to global investment firm TPG for Rs 4,546.80 crore and 0.39 per cent to private equity firm L Catterton for Rs 1,894.50 crore. With these, Reliance has now sold 22.38 per cent of Jio Platforms to investors including Facebook Inc, securing Rs 104,326.95 crore in less than eight weeks, a company statement said. The investments in Jio Platforms, which comprises the firm's telecoms arm Reliance Jio Infocomm and its music and video streaming apps, give the unit an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore, it said. It has literally been an investment spree into Jio Platforms ever since Facebook announced its Rs 43,573.62 core infusion on April 22. Besides Facebook, Reliance has attracted some of the leading global investment powerhouses at a time when the world is deeply impacted by the coronavirus pandemic resulting in a recession kind of environment for the global economy. Including Facebook, nine marquee investors on a combined basis hold 22.38 percent stake in Jio Platforms. Facebook holds the largest stake at 9.99 per cent. Within days of that deal, Silver Lake -- the world's largest tech investor -- bought a 1.15 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 5,665.75 crore on May 4. It infused another Rs 4,546.80 crore for additional 0.93 per cent stake on June 5, taking its total holding to 2.08 per cent. Private equity players KKR and Vista Equity Partners have taken 2.32 per cent stake each for Rs 11,367 crore apiece. KKR invested in Jio Platforms on May 22 while Vista invested on May 8. Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co picked up 1.85 per cent in Jio Platforms for Rs 9,093.60 crore on June 5. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) on June 7 invested Rs 5,683.50 crore for a 1.16 per cent stake. On May 17, global equity firm General Atlantic picked up 1.34 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 6,598.38 crore. Reliance Jio is India's biggest telecoms firm by subscribers, with more than 388 million users. It has forced out several rivals and driven consolidation in the sector since entering the market in 2016 with free voice services and cut-price data. "Jio is a disruptive industry leader that is empowering small businesses and consumers across India by providing them with critical, high-quality digital services," said Jim Coulter, co-CEO of TPG -- which has more than USD 79 billion of assets under management including investments in technology companies like Airbnb, Uber and Spotify. The Jio Platforms deals, along with a Rs 53,124 crore rights issue, will help Reliance meet its target of paying off Rs 1.61 lakh crore of net debt by the end of the year, according to the company. L Catterton, which has a partnership with French luxury group LVMH and investment firm Groupe Arnault, concentrates on consumer-focused brands such as Peloton, Vroom, ClassPass, Owndays and FabIndia. Established in 1976, ADIA is a globally-diversified investment institution that invests funds on behalf of the Government of Abu Dhabi through a strategy focused on long-term value creation. Mubadala invests in transformative information and communications technology which include cognitive computing, ICT infrastructure, telecoms, and satellite operations. With USD 40 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital, Silver Lake is the world's largest tech investor. It has invested in some of the largest and most successful tech companies globally such as Twitter, Airbnb, Alibaba, Dell Technologies, Ant Financial, Twitter, Alphabet's Waymo and Verily. Founded in 1976, KKR has a long history of building leading global enterprises and successfully investing in businesses in the technology sector, including BMC Software, ByteDance and GoJek through its private equity and technology growth funds. Since inception, the firm has invested over USD 30 billion in tech companies. General Atlantic has a long-standing tradition of backing disruptive entrepreneurs and companies around the world, including Airbnb, Alibaba, Ant Financial, Box, ByteDance, Facebook, Slack, Snapchat, Uber and other global technology leaders. Vista is a leading global investment firm focused on empowering and growing enterprise software, data and technology enabled companies. It has more than USD 57 billion in cumulative capital commitments and its global network of companies collectively represent the fifth largest enterprise software company in the world. MBI ANZ ABM ABM

Reliance raises Rs 1.04 lakh cr from marquee investors in 8 weeks

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Getty Images AsiaPacSoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>SoftBank has announced commitments of $108 billion to its second super-massive Vision Fund.</li><li>The company has confirmed that Apple, newcomer Microsoft, Foxconn, and others will invest in the fund. Saudi Arabia has not been named as a limited partner, but could still commit funds.</li><li>The first Vision Fund caused shockwaves by dropping hundreds of billions of dollars into unprofitable or unproven companies. </li><li>It has completely changed how venture capital works and has fostered a trend of companies staying private for much longer.</li><li>There is a risk that SoftBank is creating its own tech bubble, especially given the outcome for many companies backed by the first fund remains unclear.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul> SoftBank is about to remold the world of tech startups once again.The company has invested billions into a wide range of fast-growing companies around the world, such as Uber, Slack, DoorDash, hotel franchising firm Oyo, and a number of ride-hailing companies in Asia such as Ola and Grab.The trend will continue, after the Japanese firm <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-108-billion-vision-fund-ii-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">announced investors have committed $108 billion</a> to its second Vision Fund, its investment vehicle for backing promising technology firms.There is a slight alteration in the makeup of the current backers.The first $100 billion Vision Fund was made up of sovereign wealth funds from Saudia Arabia and UAE, SoftBank Group, Apple, Qualcomm, and Sharp. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/aab48036-5429-11e8-b24e-cad6aa67e23e">According to The Financial Times</a>, Daimler, a number of Japanese banks, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, and the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain later closed out the fund.The second batch of investors looks a little different. Microsoft has invested for the first time, while Apple and Foxconn have reinvested. Other backers include a number of Japanese banks and insurers and pension funds. <a href="https://group.softbank/en/corp/set/data/news/press/sb/2019/20190726_01/pdf/20190726_01.pdf">You can see the full list of backers here</a>.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Future Investment Initiative.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.</div></div></div>Saudia Arabia's Public Investment Fund, a major backer of Vision Fund I, is notably missing amid reports <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/02/vision-fund-key-investors-second-fund/">the Kingdom was lukewarm on a second fund</a>. It may yet commit, however, and SoftBank has said it expects the final fund size to increase. One venture capital source believes SoftBank is gunning for a final close of $200 billion. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-108-billion-vision-fund-ii-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">Apple and Microsoft are both investing in SoftBank's newest $108 billion mega-fund for startups</a>Even with SoftBank's refreshed slate of more conservative investors, an additional $108 billion into the tech ecosystem will naturally trigger worries of a bubble.The Vision Fund's investment strategy is to throw huge amounts of money at a perceived market leader - Uber in ride-hailing, WeWork in office-sharing - in order to scale them up rapidly and scare off the competition."Rather than having their capital cannon facing me, I'd rather have their capital cannon behind me, all right?" <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/14/17014762/uber-softbank-dara-khosrowshahi-goldman-sachs">is how Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi explained it last year</a>.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Jason ReedSoftBank has a large stake in Uber.</div></div></div>That creates a number of issues.First, it can encourage startups to scale faster than they can really manage. It takes a disciplined CEO to turn down the offer of millions in funding, especially in these current heady days of easy capital.Business Insider has spoken to at least one CEO who has turned away SoftBank money because it was more than the startup needed and a condition of the funding was to scale quicker than they were comfortable with.There is evidence of this friction elsewhere. A <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/inside-the-turmoil-at-softbank-backed-brandless">report from The Information</a> suggested that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brandless-ceo-reportedly-stepped-down-tension-softbank-2019-6?r=US&amp;IR=T">SoftBank-backed Brandless hit trouble in June</a>, in part thanks to tensions with its main investor over financial targets. Another prominent SoftBank portfolio firm, Indian ride-hailing service Ola, is also reportedly trying to keep some distance from its backer. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-08/why-one-startup-founder-turned-down-a-1-1-billion-softbank-deal">According to Bloomberg</a>, CEO Bhavish Aggarwal turned down an additional $1.1 billion investment from SoftBank earlier this year, in order to retain control of the firm.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Shailesh Andrade/ReutersBhavish Aggarwal, chief executive of Uber's main rival in India, Ola</div></div></div>The influx of funding to one "category winner" in turn creates problems for competitors who feel pressured into raising funding, even if they don't necessarily need it. The Financial Times reported that ride-hailing firm <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/23fcacbe-4e04-11e9-9c76-bf4a0ce37d49">Go-Jek raised an additional $1 billion in funding</a> even though it didn't need it, just to keep up with SoftBank putting $1.5 billion into rival Grab.Giving so much money to earlier stage firms may encourage a lack of financial discipline too. These firms have huge amounts of capital at their disposal, potentially leading to reckless decisions.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-uber-oyo-what-like-living-on-softbank-companies-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">I spent 24 hours living on SoftBank services like Uber, WeWork, and Oyo. It revealed some flaws in Masayoshi Son's grand $100 billion investment vision.</a>WeWork, which remains massively unprofitable, has used its cash arsenal <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-founder-adam-neumann-investments-from-coffee-creamer-to-wave-pools-2019-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">to fund or acquire companies that seem to align to its founder's interests</a>, such as wave company Wavegarden. Why is a shared office company putting cash into an indoor wave pool company? The question would have been unthinkable in a pre-SoftBank world.In SoftBank's defence, the firm said in May that its <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-softbank-group-vision-fund/softbank-groups-108-billion-second-vision-fund-draws-in-microsoft-apple-idUKKCN1UL019">first fund generated a 29% return</a>, though mostly on paper. Apple has clearly seen enough to return for a second helping. Bullish analysts also say there is now greater visibility on how the fund works. "What they have today is a track record," Bernstein analyst Chris Lane <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/technology/softbank-vision-fund-2.html">told The New York Times</a>. "You've got a lot more confidence that it's a robust process."It's not unreasonable to imagine that a second Vision Fund will only exacerbate some of the side-effects of the first fund, all while having wider impacts on the market. Expect unprofitable tech firms to remain private (and thus opaque) for longer, and perhaps for a continued squeeze on traditional venture capital firms, which may themselves raise ever-larger funds to play their role in competitive deals. Valuations will continue to go up, and all the while the SoftBank bubble grows bigger. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-area-51-autec-in-the-bahamas-2016-10">The Navy has its own Area 51 and it's right in the middle of the Bahamas</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

SoftBank launched a whopping new $108 billion fund, and it will only inflate a tech bubble it's creating all on its own

<ul><li><keyword id="3275685" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="dunzo">Dunzo</keyword> has grown 40X as a business and 8X in terms of number of people on its platform in the past 18 months.</li><li>While its present in eight cities currently, it aims to enter 20 cities in the long run because they believe that’s where 70% of the business comes from.</li><li>With half a million monthly transacting users and two million monthly transactions, <keyword id="5016554" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="kabeer-biswas">Kabeer Biswas</keyword>, CEO, is certain they will touch 15-17 million monthly transactions by the end of next year.</li><li>Recently Dunzo raised $45 million in a fresh round from <keyword id="1058387" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lightbox">Lightbox</keyword>, <keyword id="6355629" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="google">Google</keyword>, <keyword id="8178411" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="3L-Capital">3L Capital</keyword>, and <keyword id="8233231" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="stic-investment-stic-ventures">STIC Investment &amp; STIC Ventures</keyword>.</li></ul> It was in 2015, while working at another startup in Gurgaon that the idea for Dunzo first came to CEO Kabeer Biswas. The thought was simple – in a day and age when one can hail a cab by tapping a few times on your phone screen, why can’t the same be done for everything else? The thought primarily came to him because he was working for 15-16 hours everyday and did not want to waste his weekends on running errands. He ran the idea by a few friends in Bangalore, to get a validation on his idea, to get a sense of whether it was viable to run a <keyword id="3179264" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="hyper-local-delivery">hyper-local delivery</keyword> organization, and whether there was any demand for it. He set up Dunzo on a Whatsapp group and asked three of his friends to simply text him the chores they needed to get done. While there wasn’t much to do intially, within four months, it blew up on Whatsapp, Biswas had close to 10,000 users, without spending any money on advertising about the platform. It all happened through word-of-mouth. This was also the time when Biswas was the only person managing everything. It was in 2016 that Karthik Reddy of Blume Ventures was in Bangalore and he heard about Dunzo from the wives of his friends. Curious to know more about the venture, he got in touch with Biswas and that’s how Dunzo raised its first capital. The most part of 2016 was spent in building a team and putting up the product on the store. By 2017, Biswas was clear about the business model, Dunzo would largely do three things for its consumers, the business would be about collecting requests from consumers, the platform would help them place those requests seamlessly, would manage payments and then figure out who the correct person on ground is to manage the request. It was 2018 when Dunzo came under the spotlight, thanks to a $12.5 million funding from Google, its first direct investment in India. Since then, in the words of Biswas, ‘Things have been insane.’ He shares that while 2018 was all about building scale, 2019 has been all about managing that scale. What’s worked in favour of Dunzo so far While coming up with a business plan for Dunzo, Biswas says they were studying global players and seeing if they could find any parallel to what they wanted to achieve with their platform. The one platform that came closest to their offering was Indonesian unicorn Gojek, which is known to be a platform that delivers 'everything'. So what is it that Dunzo is trying to achieve? Biswas says, “We have been told globally that the number of times people use Dunzo in Indian cities is higher than what they have seen anywhere else in the world. The top 10% of our users use us 20 times a month. People are using us to largely deal with the local world around them. Someone told us, think of Dunzo as a browser on the top of the real world. It makes the real world a lot more convenient, exactly how the browser allows you to easily surf the internet. I believe by 2025, local search will no longer exist. It will most likely look like Dunzo, where you won’t want to search but tell the app about a shop and item and expect the app to get the work done for you. And the platform will take care of the payment and the logistics at the same time.” That the business model is working is clear from the fact that Dunzo has grown 40X as a business and 8X in terms of number of people on its platform in the past 18 months. Creating the 2.0 versions of on-demand services platforms Swiggy recently expanded its offering and launched Swiggy Go, an instant pick up and drop service to send packages anywhere across the city, a direct competition for Dunzo. While currently its offering the service only in Bengaluru, its plans are to expand to 300 cities by 2020. However, Biswas is unfazed and hardly looks at Swiggy’s offering as a threat. “Today there are two types of businesses, the 1.0 and the 2.0 businesses. Swiggy looks very much like the 1.0 businesses which went behind scale and built out a massive platform but the utilization ratios don’t work out. Globally, everybody who is a part of a 1.0 business has had to pivot to 2.0. For me, this is, if anything, a pivot at Swiggy, where just delivering food wasn’t good enough to make money. This is not only about Swiggy, but about every 1.0 business out there. They have to figure out the 2.0 version of them. Our utilization numbers are atleast 50-60% higher than any of the other 1.0 businesses.” Dunzo is also clear that they want to enter limited markets, and want to cover those markets extensively. “We believe that 20 cities account for almost 70% business in the country today. Our idea is to enter the top 20 cities in India and enter them deeply. We want to make sure that we are the largest local commerce player in these 20 cities. So we are very happy that Swiggy launched. Now that they have launched, we are still growing, and growing even faster. The only thing I can say is thank you, its helps us raise funds,” add Biswas with a laugh. Dunzo might even think of crossing international borders, in the next two years, shares Biswas. Plans for the next few quarters Currently Dunzo has half a million monthly transacting users and two million monthly transactions. By the end of next year, they expect to have 15-17 million monthly transactions on their platform. To achieve that, the platform will focus on improving their user experience. Biswas explains, “We genuinely believe that if you focus on building a better consumer experience, it leads to a better and sustainable business model. We are not in this business to gain market share but to make sure that we’re able to return our investor’s capital at some point. Every company that raises money has to give the money back and it has to be a sustainable business. So our focus will be to constantly invest on improving our consumer experience.” Currently, an average order takes 28 minutes to get delivered and within the next six months, Biswas expects to bump this number up to 25 minutes. Till today, Dunzo hasn’t spent too much on marketing the platform and it plans to keep it the same way in the foreseeable future. “For every 100 users that join Dunzo, 35-40 % of them are organic in nature. Around 35% come on board through incentivized referral channels, 15% come from BTL and 10% through digital,” explains Biswas. So no plans of using TV? His answer is a firm ‘No’. “I have this concept of ‘funny money’. When you have funny money, you should market big. However, if you are an internet business, why aren’t people talking to each other about you? They are all connected on the internet, so why do you need TV, really? TV is good for when your organic growth is slowing down and we are far away from it. It’s a trillion transactions that ‘we are chasing, and we are at 2 million currently. We have a long way to go,” he adds.

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