<ul><li>Banking technology startup <keyword id="702953" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zeta">Zeta</keyword> is the latest to join the Indian <keyword id="152045" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Unicorn">unicorn</keyword> club.</li><li>The company has been valued at $1.45 billion after raising $250 million in its Series C round of funding.</li><li>Zeta plans to use the fresh infusion of capital to expand its presence in the US and European markets where banks are moving away from branches to offering their services online.</li></ul>Zeta, a banking technology startup based in Bengaluru, is the newest Indian startup to attain the ‘unicorn’ status. In its Series C round of funding the company raised $250 million from Softbank Vision Fund II at a valuation of $1.45 billion. A ‘unicorn’ is a private company that is valued at $1 billion or more. The deal more than quadruples Zeta’s valuation since 2019, when Sodexo SA valued the startup at $300 million. With new money in its pocket and a brand new unicorn tag, Zeta plans to use the new funding to expand in the US and European markets. “They [banks] have been slow to innovate and provide poor user experiences,” said Bhavin Turakhia, co-founder of Zeta. According to him, Zeta is poised to capture the markets where banks are moving online and away from the conventional branches. It provides backbone technology for credit and credit-card processing, core banking, loans, mobile banking and personal finance management. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“Banking software is a $300 billion industry globally. Most banks still employ technology, which is significantly older than their customers, impacting user experience and engagement." auname="Munish Varma, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers"></div> The company is banking on its simplified approach being different enough to attract customers. Rather than work with numerous supplies, as banks and financial institutions typically do, Zeta wants to combine all of those services and provide one cloud-based offering. So far, Zeta has 10 banks and 25 <keyword id="2461546" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="FinTech">fintech</keyword> companies across eight countries among its customers. This includes bigwig Indian banks like HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Axis, and others. Sodexo, an existing investor, is also a customer. It participated as a minority investor in the Series C round of funding. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="List of startups that have entered the unicorn club in 2021:" comment="subhead" text="List of startups that have entered the unicorn club in 2021:">List of startups that have entered the unicorn club in 2021:</cmsannotation> <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Startup </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Valuation </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Digit Insurance </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.9 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Innovaccer </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.3 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Meesho </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2.1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Infra.Market </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">PharmEasy </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.5 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Cred </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2.2 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Groww </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">ShareChat </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2.1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Gupshup </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.4 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Chargebee </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.4 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Urban Company </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Five Star Finance </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.4 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Moglix </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Zeta </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.4 billion </td></tr></tbody></table> Turakhia doesn’t normally rely on external funding. In fact, most of the startups he’s been involved in, in the past, have been without institutional funding. Zeta’s move to raise capital marks a departure from his preference for bootstrapping his businesses. Zeta founder, 41-year old Turakhia, launched the startup in 2015 after already having dipped his toe — more like submerged his toe — in multiple startups with his brother, Divyank. He was already coding at the age of 10 and had attained millionaire status by the time he hit 20. By the time he was 26, he shared a billion-dollar fortune with his brother. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/environment/news/indias-silicon-valley-bengaluru-is-awed-by-the-rainbow-coloured-halo-in-its-skies/articleshow/82909806.cms">India's Silicon Valley is awed by the rainbow-coloured halo in its skies — but take pictures at your own risk</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/indias-prime-minister-narendra-modi-gets-a-unique-proposal-via-a-newspaper-advertisement/articleshow/82908689.cms">India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets a unique proposal via a newspaper advertisement</a>

This banking tech startup is the newest Indian unicorn with a $1.45 billion valuation

<ul><li><keyword id="9903157" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="route-mobile-600-crore-ipo">Route Mobile ₹600 crore IPO</keyword> opens tomorrow. </li><li>In an exclusive chat with Business Insider, Non-Executive Director Sandip Gupta and the Chief Strategy Officer Gautam Badalia revealed details about the company’s growth prospects, roadmap, and opportunities.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/">Check out the latest news and updates on Business Insider.</a> </li></ul>COVID-19 brought about a pause in the primary market, but the action is heating up again now. And the next one in line is <keyword id="3519758" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="route-mobile">Route Mobile</keyword>, the company behind your banking OTPs to Uber messages and automated calls. Route Mobile’s IPO opens tomorrow. The company is looking to raise ₹600 crore, which it plans to use for business expansion. This is going to be the second IPO this month. Here are the <keyword id="9903155" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="route-mobile-ipo-details">Route Mobile IPO details</keyword>: <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IPO </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Specifics </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Opening date </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">September 9 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Closing date </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">September 11 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IPO target </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹600 crore </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Price Band </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹345-350 per share </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Minimum bid </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.9907650000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> 40 equity shares </td></tr></tbody></table> Founded in 2004, this Mumbai-based cloud communication platform services provider offers digital token services from Whatsapp to Viber and Wechat to automated calls. And now they are in talks with Apple to increase its business footprint in every corner of the world, the company told Business Insider. The Managing Director Rajdip Gupta and Non-Executive Director Sandip Gupta are the promoters of the company. Both the promoters will sell ₹180 crore worth of shares through this IPO. In an exclusive chat with Business Insider, Non-Executive Director Sandip Gupta and the Chief Strategy Officer Gautam Badalia revealed details about the company’s growth prospects and opportunities going forward. These are the edited excerpts from the chat. Can you detail us more about your company? You cater to enterprises, (OTT) and mobile network operators (MNO); what are the big brands or companies that are associated with you? We are an enterprise that provides digital communication channels to the enterprises. Our customer base is from retails, banks to cab operators, and e-commerce. And whichever company wants to communicate with its customers, we provide them with a channel. And this channel can be SMS, voice call; it may email, it may be WhatsApp, it may be Viber, or can be a video. So these are the channels we provide to the enterprises so that they can efficiently communicate with the clients. For example, when you swipe your card, you get a debit alert, so that is done mostly by our SMS channels. Or you are on their OTT platform, and you need an OTP to download the content. So that OTP goes from our channel. We also provide a second layer in that. That is a voice channel when the client opts for an OTP via voice. How are you planning to use the IPO money? So we are looking at expanding both vertically and horizontally. Either entering into new geographies or consolidating into the existing one. We are also looking at expanding our product line. How has been the lockdown period for the company? So when you say lockdown, it has propelled our business more, as a lot of digital transactions happened during the period. So lockdown has given more value addition to our portfolio. So the overall lockdown period was better for us. Even our revenue growth was much better compared to the same quarter last year. <div type="image" title="RouteMobile" msid="77996794" hostid="261"></div> You have subsidiaries globally. What percent of your operation's revenue comes from foreign, and how much of it is from Indian companies? So in terms of revenue, 20% of our billing comes in Indian currency. The rest of the billing is in foreign currency. A large part of which is in USD and Euro. Total India revenue will be somewhere around 40% export and domestic business. Rest of which is outside India in foreign places like the UAE, UK, Malta, and Nigeria. <div type="image" title="Reserves RouteMobile" msid="77996834" hostid="261"></div> Are there any directly listed peers for competition? And if there are, what makes you stand out compared to them? So we are a global player. When it comes to the competition, we compete globally with companies like Infobip and others. In India, wherever we go, we have local competitors. In India, we have competition from Gupshup and few others. As people mostly stayed home during the lockdown, and that led to the growth in your business, what are the forward-looking business strategies that you have in mind to keep the momentum going? During the COVID-19 (lockdown), digital transactions have grown. And at the same time, many businesses were shut too, like hospitality and tourism businesses. Now when the economy is opening up, digital transactions will be much more needed. So with more transactions, it will add more value to the business. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/happiest-minds-technologies-ipo-opens-today-grey-market-offering-over-60-premium/articleshow/77970729.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Happiest Minds Technologies IPO opens today — grey market offering over 60% premium</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/ashok-soota-backed-happiest-minds-techs-702-crore-ipo-what-works-for-it-and-what-doesnt/articleshow/77909427.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Former Wipro and Mindtree exec’s firm Happiest Minds Tech’s ₹702 crore IPO⁠ — what works for it and what doesn’t</a>

INTERVIEW: Route Mobile, the firm behind your OTPs, promoter reveals plan to tap the Apple ecosystem⁠

Shiv Sena may have shared power with ideologically-opposite Congress for the first time, but the saffron party is known to have cosied up with it before and posters with old pictures of bonhomie between their leaders Bal Thackeray and Indira Gandhi taken in the seventies were put up in different parts of the city. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray took oath Thursday evening at the historic Shivaji Park supported by the Congress and the NCP. Besides late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, NCP President Sharad Pawar also figured in the posters. Those aware of its past, the Shiv Sena, known for its firebrand Hindutva politics, seeking support of the Congress and the NCP does not come as a surprise. From backing Congress candidates in presidential polls to not fielding any contender against Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule to even tying up with ideologically opposite Muslim League, the Shiv Sena has had a history of flirting with 'frenemies'. In the assembly polls held last month, the BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena bagged 56, followed by the NCP (54) and the Congress (48) in the 288-member House. The Shiv Sena, founded by Bal Thackeray in 1966, in its more than five decades long journey has allied with the Congress, formally and informally. In its initial days, it was often supported directly or indirectly by many Congress leaders and its different factions. Noted political analyst Suhas Palshikar in an article in the Economic and Political Weekly writes that senior state Congress leader Ramrao Adik was present at the first ever Shiv Sena rally. Dhaval Kulkarni, the author of "The Cousins Thackeray-Uddhav and Raj and in the shadow of their Sena", said that in the 1960s and 70s, the party was mostly used by the Congress to counter influence of the Left on the labour unions in the city. The party in 1971 allied with Congress (O) and unsuccessfully fielded three candidates for Lok Sabha in Mumbai and the Konkan region. Thackeray backed the Emergency in 1977 and did not field any candidate for the Lok Sabha polls held in that year. "In 1977, it also backed Congress' Murli Deora in the mayoral polls," said Kulkarni. So much so that the party was also mocked as 'Vasantsena', the army of the then Vasantrao Naik who was the state chief minister from 1963 to 1974. Palshikar writes that in 1978, when attempts to ally with the Janata Party failed, the Shiv Sena allied with the Congress (I), the faction led by Indira Gandhi. It fielded 33 candidates for the assembly polls. All 33 lost in the anti-Indira wave. In one of the most unlikely alliances, the Sena also allied with the Muslim League. Veteran journalist Prakash Akolkar, in his book on Shiv Sena titled 'Jai Maharashtra', writes that for winning the Mumbai mayoral polls in the 1970s, Shiv Sena also allied with the Muslim League. For this, the Sena supremo also shared stage with Muslim League leader G M Banatwala at Mastan Talao in Nagpada in South Mumbai, Sena's first chief minister Manohar Joshi writes in his book 'Shiv Sena-Kal-Aaj-Udya' (Shiv Sena-Past-Present and Future). If it was used by the Congress to end the Left dominance on trade unions in Mumbai, the Sena allied with Madhu Dandavate's Praja Socialist Party in 1968. The bonhomie between the Congress and the Sena ended in the 80s after the death of Indira Gandhi and the ties between the two were not the same. The relations only deteriorated during the terms of Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and later Rahul Gandhi. Incidentally, Uddhav's son and Sena's Youth Wing chief Aditya Thackeray met Sonia on Wednesday to extend invitation to oath-taking ceremony. The mid-80's was also the time when the Sena tilted towards Hindutva and gravitated towards the BJP. The late 80s and 90s changed the character of the party which moved towards hardline Hindutuva. In the later years, the Shiv Sena, however, broke ranks from the BJP-led NDA and voted for Congress backed Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee in presidential polls. The equation between the Thackerays and the Pawars goes back to more than five decades both were fierce rivals separated by conflicting ideologies but thick friends in private life. Pawar often termed Thackeray as a large-hearted opponent. In his attacks, he would often call him 'maidyaacha pota' (sack of flour). Sharad Pawar in his autobiography 'On My Terms' writes that despite being fierce rivals, how he and his wife Pratibha would visit Matoshree for "gupshup" and dinner. He also recalls that when he was suffering from cancer in 2004, Bal Thackeray gave him a list of "several commandments" related to diet. In private, Pawar says, Thackeray addressed him as 'Sharadbabu'. In 2006, when Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule contested the Rajya Sabha polls, Thackeray did not field any candidate. "Sharadbabu, I have seen her (Sule) since she was a knee-high girl. This is a big step in her career. My party will make sure that she goes to Rajya Sabha unopposed," Pawar said quoting Thackeray's telephonic conversation with him. When Pawar asked about the BJP's opposition, the NCP President says the senior Thackeray told him, "Oh, you don't worry about Kamlabai (the BJP)". Incidentally, the NCP fielded a lightweight against Thackeray's grandson Aditya, who was the first in his family to enter electoral politics. He won by a margin of over 67,000 votes in the recent Assembly election.

Shiv Sena and Congress share power for the first time -- but they have a history of being allies despite ideological differences

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> is opening its floodgates. 
 
Last year at its F8 conference, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> merely teased the prospect of businesses hopping onto Messenger. This year <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> founder <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Mark+Zuckerberg&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Mark Zuckerberg</a> is likely to announce many more business plans with its 1 billion monthly active users. 
 
Gupshup, an offering by Webaroo is a smart messaging platform that companies like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=MakeMyTrip&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">MakeMyTrip</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal</a>, Axis Bank, and many more you to send you SMSes. 
 
With global players like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> and Slack already realizing the potential of smart messaging, Business Insider caught up with co-founder and CEO of GupShup to discuss the future of smart messaging in India. 
 
How has the enterprise messaging scenario changed since back in 2010? 
From 2010 to now, our journey reflects how the messaging platform has evolved. In the feature phone world, all messaging was SMS. 
 
We built the largest SMS based messaging platform with over 4 billion messages. That includes messages from e-commerce companies, banks, taxi companies and so on. Most of that volume in India goes through our platform. 
 
Meanwhile, new channels have emerged. 
 
Today there’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=WhatsApp&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">WhatsApp</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a>, WeChat and Line. Unlike the telco ecosystem that was very location specific, the IT based channels transverse national boundaries. 
 
Where does the bulk of the enterprise messaging platforms lie? 
P2P has moved substantially from SMS to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=WhatsApp&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">WhatsApp</a>, etc. Enterprise messaging, not so much. That has primarily been via SMS. 
 
Do you see that trend changing anytime soon? 
It’s going to change soon. With the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> F8 conference, that change has already begun. 
 
I can bet at about this time next year, IP based messages will be growing much faster. 
 
How does IP-based messaging get an edge over SMS? 
SMS mechanism in India is totally messed up. It’s messed up at a regulator and operator level alike. 
 
The cost per message on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook+Messenger&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook Messenger</a> is zero. Also, the sender ID on SMS is not a regular number, so you can’t reply. On <keyword id="790242" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="WhatsApp">WhatsApp</keyword> or <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> you can. 
 
Also, these are world-class platforms where developers can build to APIs. 
 
For SMSes, there are complicated rules about who can send messages, what messages they can send. There are penalties if you violate these rules. They can even shut you down, and it’s difficult to argue against that. 
 
SMS has been rendered completely sub-optimal. Messaging can be a lot more. It’s currently only used for one-way broadcasting. It should be a two-way interactive channel. 
 
SMS in India is nowhere close to that. 
 
There’s an alternate view that telemarketers will be even more difficult to control. 
I trust <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> and WhatsApp to handle spam better than any regulator anywhere. 
 
Spam is a highly technical issue, and most regulators tend to have a black-or-white point of view. They have a clear and simple rule of what’s spam and what’s not. 
 
The reality is it’s not easy to define spam. If a brand sends me random marketing messages every day, its spam. If I go to that store every weekend, it’s not spam. 
 
You can’t have a one-line rule that defines what’s spam, what’s not. The regulator has no idea whether you’ve been to the store or not. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

Flipkart, Snapdeal and Ola SMS
you today. That may change, and soon!

Rohan Shravan was 24 years old when he founded Notion Ink, a <keyword id="138263" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> that designed India’s first tablet computer Adam. The device was launched five months before Apple placed the first version of the iPad on store shelves. 
 
At its international debut in the Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas in January 2010, one of the first to place an order for Adam was an employee at Apple headquarters in Cupertino. However, in the ensuing months as the iPad gained iconic status, Adam dropped by the wayside, felled by the lack of risk capital to grow the business. 
 “When I told venture capitalists that our product will be a challenger to <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword> and Apple, they laughed at me,” said Shravan, a mechanical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur who initially bootstrapped the firm with personal savings of around Rs 6 lakh. 
 
Shravan’s experience is hardly unique. In the midst of an unprecedented entrepreneurial boom, several of those starting up say there are more hurdles than advantages in the Indian startup sector. Apart from the red tape and the lack of policy support there is also a shortage of true risk capital that can back edgy new ideas. 
 
Customers are unwilling to pay for untested products and many entrepreneurs choose the middle path fearing failure. “I was very aggressive, arrogant and fought like a warrior, the so-called experts advised me to tone down and be nice, which led to our downfall,” said Shravan who trained engineering students to work on Adam as a way to minimise staff costs. “Around 80 per cent of the employees were final year students; they were later snatched by Samsung and Motorola.” 
 
In recent years, several ventures including short messaging service GupShup, personalised news service Frrole and language keypad maker Luna Ergonomics have altered business models when faced with regulatory hurdles or the fear of rejection from investors and customers. 
 This at a time when many global technology companies including WhatsApp, <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword>, caller identification service Truecaller, home rental marketplace Airbnb, and question and answer site Quora count India as one of their fastest growing markets. 
 
Nearly 40 million of WhatsApp’s global user base of 450 million is in India. “India is our largest market with about 30 million users and continues to demonstrate great opportunities for us,” said Nami Zarringhalam, cofounder of Sweden’s Truecaller. When Amarpreet Kalkat started his company Frrole in 2011, he wanted to build a product that was tailored to a user’s area of interest. 
 
“I believed it could rival Google News,” said the 35-year-old entrepreneur. Eight months later, Kalkat started looking for funds and he had to answer the dreaded question, over and over again: “How do you make money?” Two years of running the company without external funding almost made him bankrupt. Kalkat was forced to start a new by changing his model to an enterprise product. 
 
At about the same time when Frrole was launched in Silicon Valley, a text and photo sharing app called Snapchat was born. It received $60 million (Rs 361 crore) in initial funding and was handling 150 million photos every day. 
 
Last year, the company rejected a $3 billion (Rs 18,000 crore) buyout deal from Facebook. “There is a very high chance that Frrole would still have been a social newspaper, if we were based in Silicon Valley,” said Kalkat whose company now has a dozen of enterprise customers. 
 
Parag Dhol, managing director at Inventus Capital Partners, said he has some sympathy with the entrepreneurs’ point of view. “But let me throw the question back at them—let us find at least one product from India where there are at least 100 million users,” said the investor who has backed firms such as Savaari Car Rentals, online bus ticketing site redBus and technology company TELibrahma. 
 
<div style="page-break-after: always;">
	&#xa0;</div>
Angel investor Sharad Sharma, who pushed Kalkat to alter his business model, is of the view that in Silicon Valley entrepreneurs can afford to not have a paying business. “Because they have the confidence that they will get bought over, here there is no such scene. It’s all about viability of the business,” said Sharma who participated in a $245,000 angel (Rs 1.4 crore) funding round in Frrole this April. 
India has a far worse ratio of venture capital exits as compared to Israel and the US, according to data compiled by think tank iSpirt and investment bank Signal Hill. Few large companies are interested in buying out startups or using their products, impeding growth of local companies. 
 
“We had all the ingredients to become a large global company,” says Abhijit Bhattacharjee, 43-year-old founder of Luna Ergonomics, the maker of the Indian language keypad Panini. 
 
Named after an ancient Sanskrit grammarian, the technology makes it possible to type quickly and easily in all Indian languages on the mobile phone. The company which has received patents for its Korean language interface did not find takers amongst Indian telecom companies. 
 
“Supporting Indian scripts on digital devices does not suit the strengths and roadmaps of these companies,” said Bhattacharjee, whose company last released an Urdu keypad for iOS, Android, and PC in 2013. “Which large enterprise buys cutting edge technology from startups? When there are not early customers, how can you expect to have $1 billion companies?” asked Ashish Gupta, a senior managing director at Helion Venture Partners that backed group text messaging service GupShup. 
 
The Mumbai-based firm was launched just six months after microblogging site Twitter was launched in the US in July 2006. Within a year of inception the service had racked up 15 million users. 
 GupShup was a free, social, short messaging service that allowed users to communicate and connect with family, <keyword id="343" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="40" keywordseo="Friends">friends</keyword> and followers using ordinary mobile handsets. But the telecom ecosystem and policies were a problem. 
 
“The regulations did not allow advertising. The operators kept the short messaging service rates high,” said Beerud Sheth, cofounder of Webaroo maker of GupShup product. The company had to shift focus from retail consumers and instead offer the messaging platform for enterprises. 
 
“They (government) should invest money in big ideas. They need to stop protecting big industries and start encouraging disruption and risk taking,” said Rahul Sood, partner at Microsoft Ventures and a technology entrepreneur, who sold the luxury computer business VodooPC to Hewlett Packard in 2006. 
 
Compare this to China, where the startup ecosystem is accelerating faster than anywhere in the world. There are around 1300 incubators and accelerators across the country compared with about 35 active accelerators in India. Shravan of Notion Ink has not lost hope yet. 
 
The entrepreneur is placing another bet. This time a personal computing robot called EVE, which he thinks will disrupt the market and will be in the market by 2017. “I will be jealous of my kids, they will be enjoying the rewards our hard work and same is true for the next generation of entrepreneurs,” he said.

Indian Startup Sector: Why New Businesses Face More Hurdles Than Advantages

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">TechCrunchA screenshot from the startup Viv, which was created by the founders of Siri</div></div></div>Bots are hot in Silicon Valley. Everyone's obsessed with "conversation as a platform," or the idea that you should be able to interact with a service with natural language, spoken or written, instead of in the traditional click-an-icon way you'd interact with a computer. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-assistant-2016-5">Google</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-launches-its-messenger-platform-for-bots-2016-4">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-on-conversations-as-a-platform-and-chatbots-2016-3">Microsoft</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-inside-story-of-how-amazon-created-echo-2016-4">Amazon</a>, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-creators-of-siri-just-unveiled-a-new-virtual-assistant-that-blows-their-old-creation-out-of-the-water-but-theres-one-thing-companies-should-be-worried-about-2016-5">a slew</a> <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/hound-voice-assistant-app-blows-siri-away-2016-3">of startups</a> all rushing to find new ways to make it easier for users to connect to all the services they need through a single interface. Just this week, The Information reported that<a href="https://www.theinformation.com/apple-opening-siri-developing-echo-rival"> Apple plans to open up its virtual assistant, Siri,</a> to third-party developers who want to integrate their services. We've entered the <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/6/10718282/internet-bots-messaging-slack-facebook-m">age of bots.</a>But with the explosion of new companies and initiatives, there are some of the challenges and lessons learned: <h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">www.flickr.com</div></div></div>Less C3PO, more R2D2</h2>Evernote founder and partner at VC firm General Catalyst, Phil Libin, believes that bots are the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/evernote-founder-phil-libin-creating-incubator-for-bots-2016-3">most exciting tech he's seen since the iPhone</a> and that they'll rewrite the tech space like apps did in 2008.Libin, who leads incubator within the firm to experiment and build bot companies and has already announced his first investment - a <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/08/general-catalysts-phil-libin-eyes-bots-with-his-first-investment-in-stealth-bot-startup-begin/">company called Begin</a> - says that everything he's seen has taught him that the "first law of chatbots' ought to be that they shouldn't try to deceive you into thinking you're talking to a real person. If they do, people will just end up disappointed.In Star Wars terms, bots should be more like R2D2 than C3PO: You talk to R2D2 naturally, but it doesn't sound like a human in response, whereas C3PO does talk like a proper human despite being a robot. "I think most bot developers have this C3P0 model stuck in their heads, where they're trying to make bots speak like humans and give them jokes and personality, but I think that's really misguided," he said.Beerud Sheth, CEO of a bot developer called Gupshup, agrees:"A bot that pretends to have human-like natural language processing and AI capability raises the user's expectations, which inevitably leads to disappointment," he says. "A bot that sets clear expectations about its capabilities (and limitations) will have a better shot at engaging and delighting the customer." <h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Shutterstock</div></div></div>Be a guide, not a butler </h2>That underscores another problem right now: Most <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/businesses-are-skeptical-about-chat-bots-2016-4">bots aren't that smart.</a> Or, as Libin puts it, we're still stuck in the "fart and flashlight" era of usefulness. So, bots need to make it clear what their limits are and try to help people get as much use out of them as possible. In other words, they should be guides not butlers. "A chat bot shouldn't just be responsive; it should also guide the conversation in the 'right' direction," Sheth says. Right at the beginning, the bot should introduce itself explaining its capabilities. If it can't answer something, it should respond with alternative suggestions about what it can answer. <h2>Don't bother me</h2>Especially in this early period, bots that send too many notifications are likely to get blocked. "Chatbots shouldn't proactively contact users unless they are providing some really valuable insight, otherwise, they come off as spammy," says Rob Mob, CEO of a Talla, which makes intelligent assistants for business. "In general people prefer reactive bots, but proactivity is fine in cases where the information is useful."He added that the most surprising thing Talla has learned is that bots shouldn't respond too quickly. People prefer a small delay, to make the interaction feel more like normal communication. <h2>Early days </h2>Although chatbots are "very weak" right now, Mikhail Naumov, president of the bot company Digital Genius, says that with time they'll grow up and be able to learn more quickly and deeply."I think right now we are in the 'Valley of Disillusionment' part of the hype cycle," Libin agrees. "The early stuff was all trivial and disappointing, so the people who were chasing trends are now skeptical. While people who are serious haven't even begun to deliver what they're working on. I think the people who are serious about them, it's going to take another several months for even the early work to start coming out. It's an exciting time." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pilot-smart-earpiece-translator-bluetooth-waverly-labs-indiegogo-2016-5">This smart earpiece translates languages as they are spoken</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Q0eTdrMzE6Y7MKLq3gL6QxT3mPxisL02" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

You Searched For "GupShup" and got 6 results

This banking tech startup is the newest Indian unicorn with a $1.45 billion valuation

BI India Bureau

INTERVIEW: Route Mobile, the firm behind your OTPs, promoter reveals plan to tap the Apple ecosystem⁠

Navdeep Yadav

Shiv Sena and Congress share power for the first time -- but they have a history of being allies despite ideological differences

PTI

Flipkart, Snapdeal and Ola SMS you today. That may change, and soon!

Saikat Pyne

Indian Startup Sector: Why New Businesses Face More Hurdles Than Advantages

Economic Times

Why chatbots should be more like R2D2 than C3PO, and other lessons for Silicon Valley's hottest trend

JILLIAN D'ONFRO