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<ul><li>Gurugram-based home services startup <keyword id="2811049" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="UrbanClap">Urbanclap</keyword> has signed an MoU with <keyword id="161653" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Skill-Development-Corporation">National Skill Development Corporation</keyword> on World Skills Day.</li><li>With the partnership, Urbanclap will train 30,000 professionals and aims to create 1 million micro-entrepreneurs.</li><li>NSDC will help Urbanclap be a Skill India certified company.</li></ul>Indian home services startup Urbanclap has partnered with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) on World Skills Day. Under the signed Memorandum of Understanding, NSDC will help Urbanclap become a 100% Skill India certified company. The startup meanwhile promises to create micro-entrepreneurial opportunities under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana and will train 30,000 partners over the next year. “UrbanClap is committed to the vision of creating 1 million plus successful micro-entrepreneurs for India and contribute to the Skill India mission. Our association with NSDC will give this mission a boost and will enhance our capabilities in on-boarding and training new service partners,” said Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Co- founder, UrbanClap. NSDC falls under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and supports the skilling and upskilling of working professionals in the country. "As our cities grow smarter, the demand for professional services will increase further. This presents a huge opportunity for skilled workforce at all levels. Platforms like UrbanClap are a great example of e-market place which can support sustainable livelihood," said Manish Kumar, MD &amp; CEO, NSDC. Urbanclap has over 20,000 professionals in its network with over 6 lakh users. It claims that professionals like electricians, beauticians and carpenters earn better on their platform. “We told them you keep 80% of the earnings, Urbanclap keeps 20%. Overnight their earnings went up. Today, every other service professional through Urbanclap earns makes an average of ₹40,000 per month. Hundreds of our beauticians make more than ₹1 lakh a month,” co-founder Varun Khaitan had told Business Insider. UrbanClap recently raised ₹16 million from Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, according to paper.vc, a business intelligence firm. It has marquee investors like Ratan Tata, SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners on board, and raised a total funding of $110 million. Recently, Urbanclap <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/urbanclap-revenue-up-309-losses-down-25-in-fy18/articleshow/64008938.cms?from=mdr">reported </a>a 309% jump in its operational revenue to ₹450 million for 2017-18. The losses however were at ₹750 million. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/urban-clap-founder-reveals-new-business-plans/articleshow/69951901.cms">INTERVIEW: Urbanclap claims it can turn profitable in 3 months but it won’t – here’s why</a>

Urbanclap to become Skill India certified, will create a million micro-entrepreneurs in the country

<ul><li>Gurugram-based home services startup <keyword id="2811049" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="UrbanClap">Urbanclap</keyword> plans to launch in 4 Indian cities in the next quarter. </li><li>The startup recently announced its plan to expand to Abu Dhabi.</li><li>Two new services – men’s grooming and on-demand maid for cleaning – which are currently live in Delhi will soon be launched across India. </li></ul>Urbanclap was a small startup based out of Gurugram in 2014, offering home services digitally. Today, it has operations across 10 cities in India, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It recently announced its Abu Dhabi expansion, and plans to grow its UAE business twice over, on a monthly basis. What’s more, the company has plans to become a ₹100 billion company! In an interview with Business Insider, <keyword id="3012564" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Khaitan">Varun Khaitan</keyword>, co-founder, Urbanclap said that there are many plans in store for their India business as well. Urbanclap will soon launch in four more cities by the next quarter. Two new services – men’s grooming and on-demand maid for cleaning – which are currently live in Delhi will be launched across India. “Our investments are on constantly improving the business,” said Khaitan. Profitability vs Scale UrbanClap recently raised ₹16 million from Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, according to paper.vc, a business intelligence firm. It has marquee investors like Ratan Tata, SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners on board, and raised a total funding of $110 million. The startup has about 6 lakh users per month with 20,000 service professionals on-board. But the main question is – how far is profitability? “If we want to, we can turn profitable in the next three months. Instead, we want to invest in our future and build our scale to one day make Urbanclap a ₹100 billion company,” said Khaitan. Recently, Urbanclap <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/urbanclap-revenue-up-309-losses-down-25-in-fy18/articleshow/64008938.cms?from=mdr">reported </a>a 309% jump in its operational revenue to ₹450 million for 2017-18. The losses however were at ₹750 million. “In the last three years, our jump in revenue has been significant while the losses in quantum have remained flat. The amount of burn remaining flat with revenue increases, is a sign of scale. If you want to keep growing, you will have to be investing for tomorrow’s growth,” said Khaitan. An offer they couldn’t refuse All the founders Abhiraj Bahl, Raghav Chandra and Khaitan, came back from the US hoping to build a business. They had the common goal of solving a problem for the masses. After extensive research, the idea of helping people run their homes appealed to them. They also realized that professionals like electricians and beauticians too barely make any money due to middlemen or employers. “We realised very early on that the problem that we were solving was not just building a marketplace and connecting users. We ended up removing the middlemen and transitioning these employees or service professionals into microentrepreneurs,” said Khaitan. Service professionals like electricians, beauticians and carpenters had nothing to complain as Urbanclap made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. “We told them you keep 80% of the earnings, Urbanclap will keep 20%. Overnight their earnings went up. Today, every other service professional through Urbanclap earns makes an average of ₹40,000 per month. Hundreds of our beauticians make more than ₹1 lakh a month,” said Khaitan. Making a difference to professionals also improved service quality to consumers. When they started, the founders were hoping to have at least 100 users per day, by the end of 2015. However, they had 1000 per day. The founders got what they wanted – solving a systemic problem in the country – as opposed to building a business, to sell and chill in a yacht. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-This-Indian-startup-has-made-a-profit-solving-1100-police-cases-with-just-one-round-of-funding/articleshow/69871636.cms">EXCLUSIVE: This Indian startup has made a profit solving 1,100 police cases with just one round of funding</a>

INTERVIEW: Urbanclap claims it can turn profitable in 3 months but it won’t – here’s why

After investing in a slew of startups, Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus <keyword id="6360722" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ratan-tata">Ratan Tata</keyword> has now invested in <keyword id="2811049" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="UrbanClap">UrbanClap</keyword>. 
 
However, the amount invested in the service marketplace could not be ascertained. 
 
Tata’s investment after UrbanClap recently raised $25 million by Bessemer Venture Partners, including the existing Accel Partners and SAIF. 
 
UrbanClap is new on Tata’s itinerary after he invested in personal capacity in Ola, Snapdeal, CarDekho.com and Urban Ladder. 
 
"UrbanClap is building a services marketplace, one which stands firmly for trust. Our conversations with him have always revolved around what it takes to build a sustainable valuable business," Abhiraj Singh Bhal, cofounder and CEO at UrbanClap, told ET. 
 
UrbanClap is a service marketplace that lets consumers hire professionals from yoga instructors to plumbers to beauticians to wedding photographers.

Ratan Tata adds UrbanClap in his long list of investments

<keyword id="2685411" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="mobile-marketplace">Mobile marketplace</keyword> <keyword id="2811049" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="UrbanClap">UrbanClap</keyword>,that brings services ranging from beauty services at home to wedding photographers to the customers’ doors, has raised about Rs 165 crore ($25 million) led by <keyword id="290936" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Bessemer-Venture-Partners">Bessemer Venture Partners</keyword>. Existing investors Accel Partners and SAIF also participated in the round. 
 
This fund infusion — that has valued the one-year old startup at more than $100 million — gives the company sufficient cash to dominate the home services business 
. 
So far, it has raised a total of $37 million. 
 
Currently UrbanClap is serving 5,000 customer requests per day with an active seller base of more than 20,000 professionals. It is present in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune and the company plans to extend its offering to 25 cities and 100 categories over the next one year.

UrbanClap raises Rs 165 crore in new funding round!

<ul><li><keyword id="2811049" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="UrbanClap">UrbanClap</keyword> has reportedly raised ₹1.6 crore from <keyword id="6379357" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="kalyan-krishnamurthy">Kalyan Krishnamurthy</keyword>. </li><li>This is Kalyan’s second personal <keyword id="6355120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="investment">investment</keyword>, while the first one was B2B <keyword id="138263" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> Moglix. </li><li>The home services startup includes Ratan Tata, SAIF Partners, Accel Partners among others in its list of existing investors. </li></ul>Gurgaon-based home services startup UrbanClap has raised ₹1.6 crore from <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, according to <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/after-moglix-flipkart-ceo-kalyan-krishnamurthy-bets-big-on-urbanclap-119040900054_1.html">paper.vc,</a> a business intelligence firm. The Gurgaon-based home services startup UrbanClap has a list of existing marquee investors like SAIF Partners, Ratan Tata, Accel Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. Prior to this investment, the startup had raised funding of $50 million in a Series D round from Steadview Capital Management and existing investor Vy Capital in November 2018. UrbanClap had also recently <a href="https://bestmediainfo.com/2019/03/urbanclap-unveils-new-campaign-with-ayushmann-khurrana-as-brand-ambassador/">announced</a> that Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurrana is its brand ambassador. The startup, which was founded in 2014, offers services at home for its customers. In almost five years in the business, the startup has garnered more than 35,000 trusted and verified professionals on the platform that serve more than 500,000 customers each month, across 10 cities in India (including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune). The startup also made its international debut by expanding its offerings into Dubai. Meanwhile, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy has been upping his investment game. He made his first solo investment in the B2B startup Moglix. The investment amount remains undisclosed. Kalyan during his earlier stint as Managing Director at investment firm Tiger Global had made investments in Nestaway, Curefit etc. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/here-are-the-25-most-popular-workplaces-in-india-according-to-linkedin/articleshow/68704338.cms">Here are the 25 most popular workplaces in India, according to LinkedIn</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/large-ticket-deals-drive-rise-in-private-equity-investments-in-india-this-year/articleshow/68296615.cms">Large ticket deals drive rise in private equity investments in India this year</a>

Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy places his bets on home services startup UrbanClap

<ul><li>In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, the million dollar men Mukul Arora, Deepak Gaur and Mayank Khanduja, of <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword> sit down to discuss how they invest in <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword>.</li><li>They are now willing to go as early as possible in the fund cycle of a startup. </li><li>SAIF Partners has been an early investor in <keyword id="6357120" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="paytm">Paytm</keyword>, MakeMyTrip, Swiggy, Firstcry, BookMyShow, Rivigo, Meesho, Sharechat, Urbanclap and multiple others. </li></ul>In one of Gurugram’s hottest properties, in a swanky new space, we walked into the office of SAIF Partners. Huddled in the conference room were Mukul Arora, Deepak Gaur and Mayank Khanduja, men who have made million dollar bets in the Indian startup ecosystem – most of which have taken off and how. SAIF Partners has invested early in most top startups that saw a meteoric rise— like Paytm, MakeMyTrip, Swiggy, Firstcry, BookMyShow, Rivigo, Meesho, Sharechat, Urbanclap and others. The investment firm stood with them through the growth phase of these startups. Investing at the seed stage and Series A round has always been their strategy. They are now more leaning towards investing early. They meet more than 100 companies in a week, but with few breakthroughs. We sat down with Arora, Gaur and Khanduja, as they discussed what they look for in a company. “Our approach is to invest in the best team in place. We have a very focussed approach to investing - unlike some other funds which invest in multiple companies in the sub sector, we map out each sector and try to invest in the best in them, and come in as early as possible,” said Gaur. SAIF Partners invests across sectors – consumer tech, education, finance, healthcare, internet and IT services, logistics, mobile and SaaS companies and more. The second leg of their approach to investing is a fundamental one – looking for the right business model. They look for companies that are customised for India, rather than replicate what’s happening in other countries. The third aspect is that they continue to support and invest in those companies as their horizons are fairly long. “We invest for 7-9 years. We try to invest as much we can according to our fund circumstances across multiple rounds,” said Gaur. So what’s the trick to getting funded by them? A team that has a very fundamental approach to problem solving, where it understands how to solve a real problem in the right manner. It has to be a strong and ‘rightly motivated’ team – which is not creating short term goal or scale but sustainable impact. And of course, capital efficiency in the initial stages. How they cracked Swiggy SAIF Partners invested in Swiggy, when the foodtech unicorn had just a landing page. They had met over 50 teams in the foodtech space, including some of the large names out there today. What they liked about Swiggy was that they understood the problem deeply – the only way is to deliver food on your own, when you have your own logistics in place and — not just build an app for ordering. “First time, we pinged them even before they were live, they just had a landing page in July or August 2014. Then we saw the progress – they were very customer-obsessed even at a small scale, their retention was very strong, they were not offering discounts, charging a convenience fee on every order. They also have a complimentary founding team - Harsha is a very strong business leader, Nandan is great in operations and Rahul is a strong tech guy. Then we invested in the seed round,” said Arora. Could they have predicted then that Swiggy would today be a marker leader? “No,” comes the answer. “But that’s true for the entire consumer tech market, acceleration has happened much faster than we could have imagined in the last four years. But given their building blocks we were sure that this is the team that is likely to be a leader. We had a strong conviction,” said Arora. Why do they go after seed-stage startups As the internet penetration in India has gone deeper, so has a startup’s ability to reach out to more consumers. This has also led to investors going in after startups at an early stage, catch them before they become the hotshot company that everyone’s after. “We are now willing to go even earlier than in the past. We are even talking to companies that are in the pre-launch phase,” said Arora. A big reason for that is that the adoption of these new products or services by consumers is so much faster. “People are so much more open to trying out some of these new products and see if they are satisfying. We had invested in No Broker long time back, we knew that there would be a market for a real estate transaction without a broker. They took two-three years to build a user base but when they started to monetise, I think everyone was pleasantly surprised to see how many people were willing to pay the money. If there’s a high quality service out there, consumers are now more willing to pay,” said Khanduja.

SAIF Partners invested in Swiggy when they just had a landing page – today they are going after more seed stage startups, here’s why

If you’re a startup, I guess you won’t mind getting noticed and coached by tech giant Google (to put it mildly). Mumbai-based home services start-up <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=TaskBob&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">TaskBob</a> got through recently, along with 5 others from across the country including Programming Hub, RedCarpet, MagicPin, ShareChat and PlaySimpleGames. 
 
These six start-ups will join 18 new companies from Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Google+Headquarters&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Google’s Headquarters</a> for a two-week all-expenses paid boot camp starting June 13, 2016. Each will we allotted mentors, and will try and find solutions to their unique problems. The six-month-long mentorship programme will also include a fat cheque of $50,000 in funding. 
 
Business Insider sat down with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Aseem+Khare&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Aseem Khare</a>, the CEO of <keyword id="2810947" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Taskbob">Taskbob</keyword> to understand what it takes to get noticed by Google. 
 
How did the idea come about? 
Usually we don’t participate in competitions, but this was <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Google&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Google</a>. We invested our time in this because we really wanted to learn from the experience. 
 
What was the questionnaire like? 
It was a pretty long. There were questions around what problem we’re solving, how big it is, whether we’re tech-driven or not, what our strengths and weaknesses are and past and possible future challenges. 
 
They (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Google&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Google</a> execs) evaluated our answers, and we made it. There were no face-to-face interviews. 
 
What are you looking to get out of these 2 weeks? 
We want to know how great tech companies are built and how they think. We also want to learn how to make world-class products, and develop a company culture that ensures innovation happens even at scale. These are core to creating a successful business. 
 
Do you see any future consolation in India’s services space? 
A lot of consolation will happen in India over the next 2-3 years. However, companies that are create a superior experience for customers and offer a quality value proposition for service providers will survive. 
 
Your plans to differentiate against segment-leader <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=UrbanClap&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">UrbanClap</a>. 
Customers want a uniform experience at scale. That’s only possible if you’re solving a big problem and have a really strong tech backing that’ll allow you to scale easily. 
 
Over 80% of our customers are repeat users, and over 95% customers give us over 4 stars. We believe that’s a strong differentiator. 
 
What are your plans for the $50,000 you’ll get? 
There are no special plans. We’ll invest that in the regular scheme of things - spending on suppliers and marketing. 
 
Your advice to young startups 
There are multiple factors on which startups get selected to Google’s program. Firstly, you must solve a big and real problem. Secondly, you need to be able to solve the problem at scale via technology. The third is your team. You need a strong team to address these issues. What, how and who’s solving the problem matters.

Here’s how to make it to Google's Launchpad Accelerator
Program

Mumbai, Mar 26 () Amid a lockdown across the country to curtail the spread of COVID-19, there are many apps that are trying to make life more involved and a little easier with contactless delivery options, maintaining health and wellness, gaming, navigation guidance and even providing seamless education.MapmyIndia Move app is one such app that aims to empower citizens to help authorities about lapses in enforcement related to COVID-19."In these difficult times every bit, even the smallest action taken in the right direction, counts. We are enabling the citizens to help authorities. Our objective is to facilitate better governance through better coordination or cooperation amongst citizens and authorities," MapmyIndia CEO and Executive Director Rohan Verma said.With limited resources and many constraints, the government authorities are doing their best to maintain calm and keep Indians safe and sound and using resources like the Move app and MapmyIndia maps citizens can act as force multipliers for the authorities, he added.Another app HealthifyMe is an artificial intelligence (AI)-led health and fitness app that launched a slew of initiatives to help people improve their immunity and adopt a healthy lifestyle during the 21-day lockdown. The company has launched Immunity Assessment Tests which can be taken by anyone free of cost.Those who score low on the test will also receive a free consultation by a trained coach. HealthifyMe has also launched home workouts on its app and daily live workouts with coaches, along with trackers for sleep, smoking and handwashing, factors that are the bedrocks of long-term immunity. These offerings are available for all users under the "Immunity Tab" in the HealthifyMe App.HealthifyMe CEO Tushar Vashisht said that it takes 21 days to build a habit and the app aims to use the lockdown to build healthier habits and improve their immunity."So we have launched the biggest ever upgrade to our app with several new features centered around eating balanced diets, exercising at home, sanitizing hands and sleeping better. We are also giving away free nutritionists and exercise consultations to anyone who needs help and together I am confident we shall overcome this virus and this crisis," he added.Meanwhile, edtech platforms like Edubrisk are also rising up to the occasion to help solve the educational crisis in the country. They are running free learning sessions for teachers or institutions so that they can take online classes for their students. Also, they are providing free demo entries for students who need to finish their courses on their platform.The dating and gaming industry is also not far behind as during this time of lockdown, dating apps like Gleeden are providing alternatives for individuals to spend their time at home doing something that they find pleasurable. The platform has registered a hike of over 70 per cent on its platform during this period. The gaming platforms are also not far behind and are giving lucrative offers to woo the customers. Falling the suit, Fantasy and online gaming platforms like the Baazi Games have also witnessed a hike of 8-10 per cent on its online poker platform, PokerBaazi. These platforms are proving to be very handy in order to divert the attention of the masses locked at their homes.As the social distancing measures in the wake of the COVID-19 are critical for both delivery executives and consumers, leading security and community management solution MyGate has partnered with Swiggy, Licious, Grofers, Dunzo and other leading e-commerce companies to enable contactless deliveries of essential services.The company's Leave at Gate feature, which establishes a clear process for contactless deliveries, is being made available proactively to all the 1.5 million homes on its platform. The over 7,000 gated communities on MyGate can now also elect to make it mandatory for their residents to pick up their parcels at the gate.Urban Company, formerly UrbanClap has partnered with Srinidhi Foundation to set up a relief fund to support gig workers and independent contractors on its platform during the COVID-19 crisis.This fund will be used to provide sustenance support to deserving individuals and their families over the next few months, till the situation comes back to normalcy. Shared living start up Stanza Living has also set-up a dedicated 'employee contingency fund' of nearly Rs 10 lakh to cover basic medical expenses for any employee in case of contraction of COVID19.The fund includes voluntary contributions from employees across over 10 cities, who have pledged a part of their salaries to the fund, with the co-founders pledging 50 per cent contribution to the fund collection. SM MKJ

COVID-19 lockdown: Many apps trying to keep people engaged

<ul><li><keyword id="1417364" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shark-Tank">Shark Tank</keyword>’s <keyword id="360018" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kevin-Harrington">Kevin Harrington</keyword> spoke to Business Insider about his bet on the Indian <keyword id="138263" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> ecosystem. </li><li>Retail store chain <keyword id="7512923" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-New-Shop">The New Shop</keyword> has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from American entrepreneur Kevin Harrington. </li><li>The New Shop currently has 30 stores in Delhi NCR. </li></ul>Kevin Harrington, the original shark in the famous reality show Shark Tank, where aspiring entrepreneurs meet top investors to pitch their businesses for funding, came to India for the first time in 1994. He tried to expand his business of infomercials but the infrastructural challenges forced him to pack up and leave soon. 25 years since, Harrington is back in India and has announced his first investment in the country in The New Shop, a retail chain that could pop-up anywhere like workplaces, residential complexes, and gyms. The New Shop works on a scalable concept where it puts up retail outlets in alternative locations. “I know if you can get the right product mix and put it in front of people who need these products, it will work well,” Harrington told Business Insider and added, “Seeing how things have changed here in India is very impressive.” While The New Shop currently has 30 stores in Delhi NCR, with Kevin Harrington on board (who has launched over 500 products and generated over $5 billion in sales over the world), the two-year old startup aims for 10,000 stores soon. And for Harrington, India is special. When he got here for the first time in 1994, Harrington who is known to have invented infomercials, was in the business of finding products and putting them on television direct to the consumer. “The US was a sophisticated market. I could hire phone centres, take calls, ship products, have a customer service etc. I did the same thing in Europe, Latin America and parts of Asia. But when I came to India, a billion plus market, we couldn’t get phone or fulfillment centres. It was very difficult, we pulled out and went back home,” he said. For him, India is one of the markets that he has not been able to conquer. “It’s the last place I have to figure out,” he said. Harrington was one of the original panel members and investors on Shark Tank - one of the most grilling shows on the startup ecosystem. So, when he met The New Shop he had multiple questions – first one being what is the cost of opening up a new shop. “Their current shop is pretty affordable. I also wanted to know what kind of success in sales, volumes, they are looking at. Shark Tank is always about the sales and profits. You have to be able to take a look at what’s happening and get the vision of the future,” said Harrington. So, while he is open to more investments in India, his focus is currently on scaling up The New Shop. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/urbanclap-raises-funding-from-flipkart-ceo-kalyan-krishnamurthy/articleshow/68789902.cms">Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy places his bets on home services startup UrbanClap</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/18-indian-women-just-got-funding-for-their-technology-startups/articleshow/68671163.cms">18 Indian women just got funding for their technology startups</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/large-ticket-deals-drive-rise-in-private-equity-investments-in-india-this-year/articleshow/68296615.cms">Large ticket deals drive rise in private equity investments in India this year</a>

Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington is back in India after 25 years to invest in a pop-up store chain

<keyword id="6360722" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="ratan-tata">Ratan Tata</keyword>, Chairman Emeritus of <keyword id="46894" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tata-Sons">Tata Sons</keyword>, has recently invested an undisclosed amount in <keyword id="2779670" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tracxn">Tracxn</keyword>, the Bengaluru-based startup intelligence platform. 
 
With this development,Tracxn has joined the list of almost two dozen startups and tech companies that Tata has backed in the past two years, including Snapdeal, Ola Cabs, Paytm, Urbanladder, Xiaomi, UrbanClap and DogSpot. 
 
He is also involved with venture capital firms like Kalaari Capital, IDG Ventures India and Jungle Ventures in the capacity of an advisor. 
Talking of Tracxn, it has raised angel funding from Flipkart's co-founders Sachin and Binny Bansal, Delhivery's CEO Sahil Barua and $3.5 million in series-A funding from SAIF Partners. 
 
The company was founded in 2013 by former venture capital investors Neha Singh (ex-Sequoia Capital) and Abhishek Goyal (ex-Accel Partners), and tracks over 100 sectors including enterprise infrastructure, enterprise applications, technology, consumer, mobile, digital marketing, health, education. 
 <keyword id="2928014" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tracxn-Labs">Tracxn Labs</keyword>, an angel invest fund, and <keyword id="3401467" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tracxn-Syndicate">Tracxn Syndicate</keyword>, an angel investment group are also run by Tracxn, putting it in competition with Let's Venture, which is another fundraising platform that has been backed by Tata. 
 
In its clientele, Tracxn boasts of venture capital funds, private equity firms and corporate development teams who use the services provided by the company it to spot investment, merger and strategic partnership opportunities in different sectors. Some of these names include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, SoftBank, Google Capital, VMWare, GE and LG. 
 
In the past one year, Tracxn has increased its number of analysts assigned to exclusively tracking startups from 25 to 125. The client base has also seen a 400% increase to over 300 customers across 20 countries in the past 12 months. 
 
"Ratan Tata is a trusted household name &amp; his way of building things has played a critical role in how our thoughts shaped up in early days of our lives," Goyal told ET. "As we rapidly expand across geographies, his unconventional ways of building large companies with high diversity will be very useful," he continued. 
 
<a href="http://www.in.techradar.com/photo/47922351.cms">Image source</a>

Ratan Tata just invested in this startup intelligence platform!

<keyword id="4380499" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Haptik">Haptik</keyword> Inc, the makers of chat-based personal assistant service available on Android &amp; iOS, have announced a raised strategic alliance and fundraising from <keyword id="51757" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="TIMES-INTERNET">Times Internet</keyword>. As per the announcement, the funds will be used for product development, improving artificial intelligence capabilities and business operations. 
 
Haptik will also try to make use of Times Internet’s reach of over 150 million engaged users, so that the service can be offered to a wider audience. 
 
Using Haptik, users can get their daily tasks done by chatting with assistants, which can ease tasks like online shopping, travel bookings, food delivery, restaurant reservations, and best mobile plan recharges. 
 “We started Haptik so that consumers could get the most out of their phones, without the huge learning curve of navigating hundreds of different apps. Ordering food or checking into a flight should be as easy as asking for it, and that’s what Haptik can do,” said <keyword id="2208055" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Aakrit-Vaish">Aakrit Vaish</keyword>, CEO of Haptik. “With Times Internet as a partner, we’re excited to offer what we’ve built over the last two years to millions of consumers across India.” 
 
Talking of Haptik, Gautam Sinha, CEO of Times Internet, said, “Haptik is a magical experience for consumers, and it’s part of a growing global trend towards chat-based commerce. They have great affinity amongst their current users, and we hope to help them continue to innovate on the service, while expanding their userbase.” 
 
Within the last year, Haptik has grown multifold, and now processes over half a million requests monthly, out of which 25% are completed using artificial intelligence. 
 
Its fulfillment partners include Flipkart, Cleartrip, Via.com, Urbanclap, Dineout, etc.

Times Internet invests in personal assistant app Haptik

How would you feel if your company allows you to get your pet at work, or what if they organize a cake-fight for all the employees in the office itself? 
 
Sounds fun right? This is what <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Indian+startups">Indian startups</a> are currently doing to make their employees imagine more and brainstorm for innovative ideas. What else? On-demand service company, UrbanClap has specially formed a team of four members to organise<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-25-Most-Creative-Companies-In-The-World/articleshow/26221035.cms"> fun activities for the employees</a>. 
 
As reported by The Economic Times, startups like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=TinyOwl">TinyOwl</a>, LivSpace, DogSpot, Junglee Games and Intellipaat belong to a separate generation of startups with a goal of having greater work engagement and more <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/12-Weird-Things-That-Tech-Companies-Do-To-Make-Their-Employees-More-Creative/articleshow/21096431.cms">out-of-the box ideas</a> that help the startups stand out. 
 
This new breed of startups, fuelled by liberal doses of funding, is basically designing a work culture that emphasizes on creative thinking and collaboration among different departments, which doesn’t happen on a daily basis. To do this, they provide a plethora of activities including health and wellness sessions, team outings, hobby classes, provisions for indoor games, movies, book clubs and much more. 
 
Suresh Bhagavatula, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore says, "I have a feeling it's a function of boom time. 
 
In a boom time there is a lot of exuberance and positive thoughts or energy around; then people may want to invest in all this. If there is a recession, all this will become much more serious—it's a reflection of what is out there in the economy." 
 "China is not doing too well and I am sure Chinese startups won't be doing the same thing <keyword id="982553" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-startups">Indian startups</keyword> are currently doing," Bhagavatula added. 
 
Bhagavatula, personally, isn’t much convinced with the idea of workplace fun. Bringing in light the other side he says, "It needs to be studied in greater detail than to just say that cool culture leads to better work. There has not been much research done to see whether it is actually a distraction. I assume so at some point it will become." 
 
Recently, DogSpot, a four-year-old pet supply store, has allowed its employees to bring their pets along at work. As per the company’s co-founder Rana Atheya, “it helped fill gaps in inter-department communication.” 
 
For gaming company Junglee Games, one of its periodic poker nights led to the creation of a new variant of the popular three-card game 'teen-patti', called Royal Teen Patti, which has attracted almost 2 million users. 
 
Not just this, but LivSpace, a home design and decor platform held a 48-hour design hackathon that included beer and pizza in the office. The designers were presented 1,000 photographs and design software and "we asked them to create beautiful imagery," said co-founder and CEO, Anuj Srivastava. The company revamped its website with these images, and has been attracting at least 10,000 page visitors since June, from about 3,000 earlier. 
 
"Designers haven't worked in the crazy internet world. They come from partner-driven firms where the culture's different, where owners are God. They take calls from them and here we ask for ideas," said Srivastava 
 
Anand Lunia, founder of seed-stage venture fund IndiaQuotient and also an investor in DogSpot however says, "Startups have realised (that) in their world it's not the number of people but amount of efficiency and effectiveness of each employee (that matters). This needs an environment that is conducive. Ordinary people have to perform extraordinary tasks and have to go beyond their past results." 
 
Even so, investors, too, are beginning to ask entrepreneurs about how they plan to build their startup's work culture, although this is not a prerequisite to signing a cheque. "Smart, experienced investors understand that apart from numbers and metrics it's important to build an organisation, especially at a time where companies are growing fast," said Varun Khaitan, co-founder of UrbanClap, which is backed by SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. 
 
But the litmus test will be when the chips are down, said entrepreneur-turned-investor Ronnie Screwvala. "If you are 15 days late with salary, will it make a difference if you have a dart board in the office, are eating 'pani puri' on Wednesdays or going to the pub on Fridays? I don't think so," said Screwvala. 
 
"No one has gone through that right now, because they are still in their multiple funding rounds," he added. 
 
Image: thinkstock

Get your pet to work and enjoy a cake fight; things that startups are doing to retain talent

Sumit Chhazed, Co-Founder, CredR 
 
"The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/StartupIndiaStartups-and-investors-are-smiling-their-way-out-of-Vigyan-Bhawan/articleshow/50606389.cms">startup plan</a> is quite a promising one and we are happy with few initiatives proposed by the government such as tax exemption for 3 years, no inspection for compliance under labour law and starting start- up in 1 day via mobile app. Also the government acknowledges failures to be part of building great start - ups and promises 90 days exit plan, which is well received by the start - up community. Efforts to seed entrepreneurial culture and supporting it through incubation set ups in universities should really propel product innovation. 
 
Government is looking to accentuate the Make in India and Make for India efforts. Plans to create 1000cr fund over next 4 yrs with incentive for tax capital gains to investors would really boost start - up risk appetite in the whole ecosystem. This is indeed a wonderful move from the government and we hope to see these initiatives executed in the near timeframe." 
 
Samar Singla, CEO and founder, Jugnoo 
 
Immense potential for entrepreneurship in India can be forseen with this campaign. By making the taxation and compliance norms easier, the government has taken some very positive steps in this direction. 
 
Raghav Chandra, Co founder, Urbanclap, 
 
This initiative of PM Modi is the right step in making the environment friendlier for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/StartupIndia-Standup-India-Softbanks-Masayoshi-Son-ishaving-a-roaring-love-affair-in-India-and-hes-in-no-hurry-to-move-on/articleshow/50601754.cms">entrepreneurs</a> and thus encouraging them to start up. We will wait for the fine print to understand exactly what the next steps will be. However, I can only say that outcome will be in the positive direction and we are very excited! 
 
Krispian Lawrence, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Ducere Technologies – Makers of the world’s first haptic footwear Lechal 
 
The government's initiative to fast track start-ups patent applications is a very beneficial move to encourage start-ups. In addition, 80% rebate on patent filing and prosecution deals will allow start-ups to file and create intellectual properties which in the long run will end up being additional sources of revenue. This will spur product innovations in the country and allow Indian product companies to compete globally. Other encouraging aspects of the plan include self certification on labour and environment for all Start-Ups to be up in three years. 
 
Start-ups face a lot of challenges when setting up a business and if the government can ease smaller issues; it will help us to focus on scaling up the business. 
 
Shailesh Jain Co-founder, Mirraw.com 
 
It is delightful to know that our Prime Minister has taken into account small and medium size Start-ups that are not funded by huge investments. Specially, the tax benefits policy and ease on patent fee will extensively support a bootstrapped company like us where single money counts. India is a breeding ground for innovation and this intiative will give <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Startup-IndiaOla-Cabs-Bhavish-Aggarwal-is-conscious-thatsecurity-is-a-concern-more-measures-need-to-be-taken/articleshow/50602554.cms">opportunitie</a>s to many young minds to explore unique ideas. 
 
Anupam Tulsyan co-founder and managing director, Peachmode.com 
 
"We are going to witness a revolution in Start-up culture, with our country's PM validating the governing rules. Elimination of regulatory burden, faster certification and easy exit policy will encourage many youngsters to join the wagon. Tax redemption for 3 years is an important move by our Government that will help the new entrants to scale their business without VC's money. These tax redemptions will allow a bootstrapped company like us to be self-reliant and make profitable in the long run We have high hopes with Startup Indiamovement and sincerely believe that it will lead to many job creation in future. " 
 
Shaifali Agarwal Holani, founder and CEO, EasyFix 
 
What an initiative and a great day for India. Most populated India has sharpest brains of all times and this initiative will give a platform to many enthusiastic but under confident talents to come out of their ordeal. Encouraging privatisation will speed the pace at which India is developing and we will become a developed country soon. 
 
For us, EasyFix is a labour development &amp; construction focussed company, PM Modi said "he is trying to foster innovation and incubation" and our startup is looking forward to collaborating with Modi Govt for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Exclusive-Practo-Foundersays-Modi-govt-should-do-away-with-regulatory-hurdles-in-the-healthcare-sector/articleshow/50604175.cms">skill development</a> and labour development initiatives. We want to be able to contribute to the society &amp; transform the unorganised labour market by doing things right, and that is by better execution of skill development programs. 
 
Swati Gupta, CEO and Founder, Industrybuying.com 
 
Patent fee reduction of 80% will be huge for IP based startups who can not only protect their intellectual property , but patents once registered add to tangible valuation increase" 
 
"No inspections for 3 years will very much reduce the regulatory burden related to VAT set up in new states, warehouse procedures , new factory set ups and much more physical infrastructure related start ups. 
 
Puja Bansal, Founder &amp; Director, Myheera.com 
 
Listening to action plan today I m most exited about the tax exemptions which will release the maximum burden on a startup like us. Self certification compliance in which for three years you are not disturbed from the govt end and you are at ease of doing your best to perform and more focused on the idea and its implementation. Today a start up can register themselves in one day which truly will show more minds and ideas coming quickly and getting jumpstarted. The fund of 10,000 cr which has been created to boost the startups will bring so much confidence as this is coming from our own country. 
 
Incubation centers getting promoted along with pre incubation centers will surely again prevent many failures in startups. Now when we see the entire ecosystem is contributing to 'Make in India' the sentiments of manystartups will change with much more deliverables and may more opening and changing the world. India is full of talents and now when our govt has finally joined hands we will see it as a big game changer with entrepreneurs emerging from every corner of the country. Faster exits were again a breather for many startup who again feel morally down with their failures. It will not be late when india will become world’s largest start up hub. 
 
Manish Kumar, co-founder and CEO of GREX 
 
“The Prime Minister’s announcement of the Startup Policy had quite a few important and measurable benefits that the startups can gain from. Most importantly, the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister outlined a change in the principle approach of the government towards the economy – that the government wants to stay away from deciding and directing on what needs to be done. Instead, the Government looks at a policy of arm’s length enablement. This stand is a bold new change in the government policy and disruptive in its own right. 
 
Venture debt was miserably missing in the ecosystem. Startups have only been used to equity as a mode of capital. GREX is completely poised to launch venture debt in a few weeks’ time. This will help our partner Banks and NBFCs walk the road along with us more aggressively as credits become guaranteed. 
 
Another big thing that was anticipated but not announced is the addressal of concerns around notional valuation gains to investors over and above the fair market value. The incidence of such tax deductions today lie at startups’ end. The ecosystem will expect more details on this front. However, the Prime Minister’s assurance on this is welcome. Some other welcome steps in favor of companies and therefore their investors are retention of profits by the company for three years.” 
 
Kulpreet Kaur, Co-founder, Shop Pirate Coupons

	“The Indian government has kick-started ambitious Start-Up India mission that envisages technology business incubators and research parks. This was for the first time a government in India has launched an exclusive program for startups and the expectations were really high. The vision to set up 75 such startup support hubs in the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIEPRs) will help India to develop local brands that can create global footprints. In the past India has been a market for technological innovation created overseas. The time has come now that the Indians create technological products at home that can be marketed globally. 
	We have the skills and need a platform. 
	Start-Up India is going to go a long way in filling up this void. I would say today is the day, that will take new and young entrepreneurs to a next level as the issue from incorporation to talent to infrastructure, all have been discussed. Its appreciable that the major concern of B2B business which is 10% TDS and 14.5 % ST, have been noticed and government saying they will rationalize the same. <o:p></o:p>

	Also as rightly said by Anisha Singh, it’s important that women entrepreneurs should be looked upon as entrepreneurs, not just women entrepreneurs. It’s our work that should get noticed not our gender. However the change is need of time and to give this equality government has to encourage women entrepreneur. It’s good to see that certain provisions are made where there are funds allocations for women entrepreneur. Ecosystem is getting changed and allowing more women to work, which is a highlight of Start-Up India Initiative. Apart from this startup sector becoming unregulated will be better for the sector. Instead of looking at Singapore, we will now have our ecosystem in India. Hoping the budget session will further revolutionize the startups in India. Now the only concern will be 'Sell it India" that is a challenge that needs to be addressed next.<o:p></o:p>

	Amit Ramani, founder and CEO, Awfis Space Solutions Pvt Ltd
Honourable PM Modi's action plan demonstrates a startup like thought process. It provides simple yet innovative policies that can catalyse a revolution to transform India as the most innovative country and major player in global GDP, a feat India enjoyed around 300 years back.

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