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Edtech major BYJU'S on Wednesday announced several measures to bolster its <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> business, saying that its K-10 business, which includes Toppr, <keyword id="1573710" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="meritnation" source="Orion">Meritnation</keyword>, <keyword id="192259" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="tutorvista" source="Orion">TutorVista</keyword>, <keyword id="14957" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="scholar" source="Orion">Scholar</keyword>, and HashLearn platforms, will now be consolidated as one business unit. To avoid redundancies and duplication of roles, the move will result in five per cent of its 50,000-strong workforce (about 2,500 people) being "rationalised across product, content, media, and technology teams in a phased manner", the company said in a statement. Aakash Educational Services and Great Learning will continue to function as separate organisations, the company said in a statement. "As a mature organisation that takes its responsibility towards investors and stakeholders seriously, we aim to ensure sustainable growth alongside strong revenue growth. These measures will help us achieve profitability in the defined time frame of March 2023," said Mrinal Mohit, CEO, BYJU'S India business. At a group level, BYJU'S said its top priority is to achieve "overall profitability by March 2023". Over the last three years, BYJU'S acquired multiple companies whose integration with its core business is now complete. BYJU'S said at the group level, it will continue to hire across all levels and will end this financial year as a net hirer. The company plans to hire a total of 10,000 more teachers in the coming year, adding to its current strength of 20,000 teachers. It said it is expanding its teams along with hiring senior leadership to further build operational strength. The company said there will also be re-targeting of the marketing budget towards more efficient growth. "Since significant brand awareness has been created in India over the past few years, there is a scope to optimise marketing budgets locally and prioritise spending to increase brand awareness in overseas markets," the company said. BYJU'S said it is also reinventing its sales model to focus more on inside sales, using video calling platforms which in turn will enhance customer experience and reduce operational costs. Multiple inside sales hubs will now be created across India from where BYJU'S sales associates will reach out to incoming leads through calls, email, and <keyword id="10296" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="zoom" source="Orion">Zoom</keyword> meetings. Inside sales will lead to higher customer satisfaction and lower costs. "None of these measures will have any impact on our revenue run rate," said Mohit. After six stressful and tough months, the company's Co-founder Byju Raveendran recently said that "the worst is finally over" and there is only "growth ahead" as seen in the company's FY22 financial results, where it logged Rs 10,000 crore in gross revenues. BYJU's last month paid the remaining dues of nearly Rs 1,983 crore (over $245 million) to global VC firm Blackstone in the $1 billion acquisition of Aakash. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/hcl-techs-net-profit-rises-6-3-sequentially-increases-fy23-revenue-guidance/articleshow/94813269.cms">HCL Tech’s net profit rises 6.3% sequentially, increases FY23 revenue guidance</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/intel-plans-major-layoffs-this-month-as-pc-sales-nosedive-report/articleshow/94813156.cms">Intel plans major layoffs this month as PC sales nosedive: Report</a>

BYJU's consolidates India business, 5% workforce to be 'rationalised' across teams

Education start-ups in India seem to be the hottest targets right now, going by the kind of <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> they are attracting from local and global investors. A couple of days ago, Delhi-based start-up <keyword id="1974964" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Avanti-Learning-Centres">Avanti Learning Centres</keyword> raised an undisclosed amount in <keyword id="948731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="seed-funding">seed funding</keyword> from <keyword id="1894311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Pearson-Affordable-Learning-Fund">Pearson Affordable Learning Fund</keyword> (<keyword id="1954796" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="PALF">PALF</keyword>). Two more <keyword id="6365770" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="angel-investors">angel investors</keyword> also took part in the round. Avanti will use the <keyword id="1974977" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Seed-round">seed round</keyword> to develop an <keyword id="1974975" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Online-offline-learning">online-offline learning</keyword> &amp; monitoring system, create more <keyword id="755302" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="educational-content">educational content</keyword> and build new <keyword id="68244" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Learning-centres">learning centres</keyword>. Currently, the <keyword id="1044076" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="education-start-up">education start-up</keyword> operates stand-alone and in-school centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur, Roorkee and Puducherry, besides helping the <keyword id="3216" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="students">students</keyword> in three Tibetan schools in Uttarakhand and Karnataka. 
 
This is the second investment in India that Pearson has made through PALF, and the third overall since the fund was launched in July 2012. 
 In November this year, <keyword id="1954793" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Global-education-leader">Global education leader</keyword> Pearson’s inaugural <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/These-2-Peer-selected-Start-upsShared-150K-Investment-To-Boost-Low-cost-Education/articleshow/26512179.cms">edupreneur programme</a>, jointly launched by PALF and US-based investor Village Capital, came to a close with <keyword id="1954794" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Experifun">Experifun</keyword> and <keyword id="1467859" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sudiksha-Knowledge-Solutions">Sudiksha Knowledge Solutions</keyword> walking off with a seed funding of $75,000 each. The <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> will enable the start-ups to further develop their low-cost education ventures and assist underprivileged school children. 
 Pearson launched PALF in July 2012 with a capital of $15 million. Investments are made into private companies that offer <keyword id="1974987" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Affordable-educational-services">affordable educational services</keyword> and schooling in Asia, <keyword id="12925" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="80" keywordseo="Africa">Africa</keyword> and Latin America. 
 Set up as a <keyword id="456748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="non-profit">non-profit</keyword> in March 2010 by <keyword id="258061" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Akshay-Saxena">Akshay Saxena</keyword> and <keyword id="1974967" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Krishna-Ramkumar">Krishna Ramkumar</keyword>, Avanti Learning Centres supports students from low-income families (those with a family income of $5,000 per annum or below) and prepares them for <keyword id="1974989" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="College-entrance-exams">college entrance exams</keyword>, especially the highly competitive engineering and medical entrance tests. Students can study up to 18 hours a week at a centre and need to pay only $20 per month. Costs are kept low as a large network of volunteers and partners, including universities, public schools, policy makers and private sector businesses, help with teaching and administration. 
 Instead of traditional lectures, Avanti follows a comprehensive programme including <keyword id="1951606" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="book-learning">book learning</keyword>, <keyword id="144248" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Videos">videos</keyword>, <keyword id="1974990" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Peer-learning">peer learning</keyword> (developed by Dr <keyword id="1974994" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Eric-Mazur">Eric Mazur</keyword>, the company’s chief academic advisor and a physics professor at <keyword id="53675" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="harvard">Harvard</keyword>), <keyword id="956032" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Self-study">self study</keyword> &amp; <keyword id="969316" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="group-work">group work</keyword>, <keyword id="1974991" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Recorded-lectures">recorded lectures</keyword>, <keyword id="140811" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="mentoring">mentoring</keyword> and doubt-solving. Students are enrolled after a highly selective two-stage process. 
 “It was the commitment from Akshay and Krishna to focus on improving the <keyword id="1974995" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Education-of-low-income-communities">education of low-income communities</keyword>, combined with an <keyword id="1974993" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Innovative-learning-model">innovative learning model</keyword>, which was the most attractive aspect of the <keyword id="718769" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="investment-opportunity">investment opportunity</keyword>,” said PALF executive director, <keyword id="1974962" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Katelyn-Donnelly">Katelyn Donnelly</keyword>. 
 “Avanti is particularly exciting because it is a non-traditional pedagogy with very strong initial results. Our investment allows us to partner with a mission-led company to bridge a crucial gap between secondary and <keyword id="6375224" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="higher-education">higher education</keyword> for low-income learners. PALF is enthused to support the Avanti team to successfully grow across India, and we look forward to working with them to deliver on their long-term vision,” she added. 
 Commenting on the funding, Saxena said, “Once we decided that a <keyword id="1975001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="For-profit">for-profit</keyword> model was the best way to reach scale, we knew we would need expert strategic insight and advice. We are incredibly excited to be working with the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund as they bring unrivalled education expertise to the table that can help us achieve our long-term objectives. We look forward to building upon the relationship with Pearson as we improve outcomes for low-income learners in the years to come.” 
 
Recent fundraising by education start-ups 
uFaber: Mumbai-based <keyword id="1975002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="uFaber-Edutech">uFaber Edutech</keyword> (http://www.ufaber.com/), which runs an <keyword id="1975003" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Online-education-marketplace">online education marketplace</keyword> for <keyword id="1975006" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Professional-skill-development">professional skill development</keyword>, hobbies, crafts, academics and vocational training, got Rs 37 lakh from <keyword id="1975007" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ah-Seeders">Ah! Seeders</keyword>, the seed funding network of <keyword id="1975008" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Club-Ah">Club Ah!</keyword> It is the network’s maiden investment in India after its launch in the country. Ah! Seeders puts its money into very early stage companies and typically invests in the range of Rs 25-50 lakh. 
 
<keyword id="1573710" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Meritnation">Meritnation</keyword>: Delhi-based <keyword id="1962741" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Applect-Learning-Systems">Applect Learning Systems</keyword>, which runs the online education and assessment site Meritnation.com (http://www.meritnation.com/), secured Rs 10 crore from <keyword id="80004" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Info-Edge">Info Edge</keyword> (India) Ltd, the biggest consumer Internet company in India by market value. With this fresh round, Info Edge has put in a total of Rs 71.5 crore and holds around 55.81% stake in Applect (on a fully diluted and converted basis). 
 
<keyword id="900714" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="InOpen-Technologies">InOpen Technologies</keyword>: Mumbai-based InOpen Technologies (http://inopen.in/), a start-up developing educational content and <keyword id="1975016" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Teachers-training-solutions">teacher’s training solutions</keyword>, received an undisclosed sum in Series A from <keyword id="1975017" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Japanese-education-firm">Japanese education firm</keyword> Benesse Holdings, Inc. In August 2011, the company raised $500,000 in seed funding from <keyword id="1975018" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ventureast-Tenet-Fund-II">Ventureast Tenet Fund II</keyword>. 
 
MangoSense: The Pune-based edutainment start-up (http://mangosense.com/) got an undisclosed amount from <keyword id="164924" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mumbai-Angels">Mumbai Angels</keyword>. Its products include <keyword id="1975022" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="MangoReader">MangoReader</keyword>, <keyword id="1975023" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="MangoReach">MangoReach</keyword> and <keyword id="1975025" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="MangoSocial">MangoSocial</keyword>, through which users can create a fun and social environment for reading books and sharing them with friends. 
 
<keyword id="1975033" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="K2-Learning">K2 Learning</keyword>: Bangalore-based hybrid (online-offline) start-up K2 (http://k2learning.in/) secured Rs 8 crore in angel funding from <keyword id="244269" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Radheshyam-Agarwal">Radheshyam Agarwal</keyword>, founder and director of <keyword id="1975034" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Calcutta-Tube-India">Calcutta Tube India</keyword>. The start-up specialises in <keyword id="1975035" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Commerce-content">commerce content</keyword> and plans to set up <keyword id="1974968" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tab-Labs">Tab Labs</keyword> in more than 100 <keyword id="37181" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="colleges">colleges</keyword> that will get special tablets with <keyword id="1975036" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Pre-loaded-commerce-data">pre-loaded commerce data</keyword>. 
 
<keyword id="1309724" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Simplilearn">Simplilearn</keyword>: Bangalore-based <keyword id="1974963" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Simplilearn-Solutions">Simplilearn Solutions</keyword> (www.Simplilearn.com), a company offering <keyword id="1309739" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="professional-certification-courses">professional certification courses</keyword> online, secured $10 million in <keyword id="1095983" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Series-B-funding">Series B funding</keyword> from <keyword id="309606" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Helion-Venture-Partners">Helion Venture Partners</keyword> and existing investor <keyword id="1397792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kalaari-Capital">Kalaari Capital</keyword>.

Another Education Start-up From India Gets Seed
Round From Pearson Affordable Learning Fund

<ul><li>BYJU's is an <keyword id="1464841" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="edtech" source="Orion">edtech</keyword> platform founded in 2015 with a current valuation of $22 billion. </li><li>Management of the edtech platform says cost-cutting is being done to “achieve overall profitability by March 2023”. </li><li>Many edtech firms have resorted to layoffs this year. </li></ul>Indian edtech decacorn BYJU's announced yesterday that it has laid off 2,500 employees as it has consolidated the many platforms it has acquired – like Toppr, Meritnation, <keyword id="192259" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="tutorvista" source="Orion">TutorVista</keyword>, Scholar and HashLearn. This move, the company said, is a way to avoid redundancies in job roles and the layoffs constitute 5% of its workforce. “These measures will help us achieve profitability in the defined time frame of March 2023," said Mrinal Mohit, CEO, BYJU'S India business. As per the audited FY21 financials that it released last month after an 18-month delay, its losses widened by 20 times to ₹4,589 crore. In the last three years, the company has been on an acquisition spree. Its biggest one so far is that of offline test preparatory services provider Aakash for $1 billion in 2021. The payments to PE major Blackstone, which owned 38% in Aakash, were eventually <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/business/byjus-clears-230-million-dues-to-blackstone-for-aakash-acquisition/article65931486.ece">cleared by the company, albeit after delays</a>. It has also purchased Singapore-based <keyword id="6559242" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="great-learning" source="Orion">Great Learning</keyword> for $600 million in 2021. Both these entities will function independently, <keyword id="3320944" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="byjus" source="Orion">Byjus</keyword> had said. Edtechs in trouble This year, many edtech companies have been suffering from loss of clientele after offline classes have commenced and screen fatigue. Since July this year, many edtech companies like Unacademy and Vedantu have been laying off <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/60000-jobs-in-startup-companies-may-lose-their-jobs-this-year-in-india-experts-say/amp_articleshow/91804572.cms">employees</a>. Byju’s which has by then also made its presence felt in offline coaching, is also known to have gone down the same path. As per reports, <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/byju-s-owned-whitehat-jr-lays-off-300-employees-in-latest-round-of-job-cuts-122062900323_1.html">WhiteHat Jr, owned by Byju's</a>, laid off around 300 employees in June from the code-teaching and sales teams. However, various <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/business/byjus-lays-off-over-2500-employees-in-toppr-and-whitehat-jr-to-cut-costs-5463853.html">media reports have pegged the layoff </a>number between 1,500-2,500. The company vehemently denied the numbers, but did admit to retrenchments. “To recalibrate our business priorities and accelerate our long-term growth, we are optimizing our teams across our group companies. This entire exercise involves less than 500 employees from across Byju's group companies,” the company spokesperson said after denying the 2,500 layoff number. In good shape says management The edtech giant, which is valued at around $22 billion and is the first edtech unicorn in India has also been under scrutiny for various reasons. The company management however insists that it is in good shape. <keyword id="5563078" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="divya-gokulnath" source="Orion">Divya Gokulnath</keyword>, the company’s co-founder also came out in defense of the company saying that a lot has happened since its FY21 results and its widened losses have already been cut by half in FY22. “It’s easy to forget that we are 18 months post FY21, and that BYJU’S has grown more than 4 times in this span,” she wrote in an open letter on LinkedIn. For this year, the company has set a target to achieve $2 billion in revenues. The company founder has stated time <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/byju-s-focusing-on-profitable-growth-2-bn-revenue-within-the-sights-ceo-122092001266_1.html">and again that this</a> “revenue within sight”. On the other end of the spectrum, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58951449">Byju’s users have been complaining </a>about aggressive sales tactics and its effects on learning abilities. Moreover, a few of its employees too <a href="https://twitter.com/malpani/status/1379826997598121987?lang=en">publicly spoke of its</a> high-pressure tactics and practices that’s turned almost exploitative to Indian parents who place a lot of value on their children’s education. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/investments-in-real-estate-touched-3-6-billion-in-jan-sep-period-colliers/articleshow/94833113.cms">Investments in real estate touched $3.6 billion in Jan-Sep period: Colliers</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/it-cos-go-slow-on-hiring-despite-high-attrition-rates-hiring-down-57-in-q2/articleshow/94832706.cms">IT cos go slow on hiring despite high attrition rates, hiring down 57% in Q2</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/elon-musk-jokes-he-is-selling-perfumes-to-fund-twitter-acquisition/articleshow/94832660.cms">Elon Musk jokes he is selling ‘Burnt Hair’ perfumes to fund Twitter acquisition, changes bio to “Perfume Salesman” as sales cross 20,000</a>

The many troubles at BYJU’s that goes beyond the recent layoffs

New Delhi, Jan 6 () Entrance test preparation services provider Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) on Monday said it has acquired ed-tech company Applect Learning Systems for Rs 100 crore.
 The company has entered into a definitive agreement with Info Edge (India) Ltd and other selling shareholders to acquire ALSPL, which offers learning programmes under brand name 'Meritnation' catering to students of class I to XII, AESL said in a statement.
 When asked about the value of the deal, a company official said, "it is Rs 100 core for the entire stake."
 In October last year Blackstone had picked up 37.5 per cent stake in Aakash Educational Services for Rs 1,350 crore and announced the intention to create a digitally enabled, omni-channel test preparation company. 
 "As part of this strategy, AESL plans to acquire Meritnation to accelerate the growth of its online live tutoring business and continues to evaluate potential acquisition opportunities," the company said in a statement.
 Commenting on the acquisition, AESL Director and CEO Aakash Chaudhry said, "Meritnation's decade long EdTech experience and leadership in live tutoring technology, will further strengthen AESL's competitive positioning not only in digital education but will also further enable its offline student offering across its 200 classroom centres, teaching over 2,50,000 students".
 Chaudhry further said the company is "continuing to evaluate several acquisition opportunities in the ed-tech space as part of our digital growth strategy, so that we can make our well-crafted student performance journey more productive". RKL DRR

Aakash Educational Services acquires Applect Learning for Rs 100 cr

New Delhi, Nov 15 () Info Edge (India), which runs naukri.com, on Friday said it has invested Rs 5 crore in digital logistics platform Shipsy.
 The Gurugram-based startup will use the proceeds of the pre-series A round towards sales and marketing as well as for broadening product offerings of its EXIM platform, a statement said.
 This will also allow it to prepare itself for the series-A round by early next year for an organic geographical expansion beyond Indian market, it added.
 In a regulatory filing, Info Edge (India) said it has agreed to acquire 2,005, or 0.01 per cent, Series A1 compulsorily convertible preference shares having a face value of Rs 10 each.
 "The aggregate shareholding of the company, post this investment, in the said entity would be 10 per cent on a fully converted and diluted basis," the filing added.
 Info Edge (India) has invested in a number of companies including Zomato, Applect (meritnation.com), Etechaces Marketing and Consulting (Policybazaar), Kinobeo Software (mydala) and Happily Unmarried among others.
 Founded in June 2015, Shipsy was founded with the vision to digitise the logistics ecosystem. The enterprise initially provided solutions for both courier agencies and shippers. Later, it diversified and expanded its services to the broader logistics ecosystem.
 The company was co-founded by Soham Chokshi and Dhruv Agarwal, and were later joined by Himanshu Gupta and Sahil Arora. In 2018-19, Shipsy had a turnover of Rs 5.6 crore. SR SHW
SHW

Info Edge invests Rs 5 cr in Shipsy

Mumbai, Apr 27 () After record USD 6 billion inflows into the country in the December 2019 quarter, VC investments plunged to a meagre USD 2.2 billion in the March 2020 quarter due to the coronavirus-driven uncertainties, according to a report. However, despite these challenges, the domestic market saw a number of large deals during the period under review, according to the report by KPMG. Though initially India was not as affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as China in the reporting quarter, concerns grew later because India receives a significant amount of venture capital (VC) from international firms and corporates. As a result, many deals got deferred as these investors wait to see how the pandemic affects their businesses. "While the pipeline for deals is expected to remain relatively robust, deal flow is expected to become very slow, particularly in Q2 (second quarter). Though VC investments may be challenging in the short term, it is expected to remain robust over the longer term," Nitish Poddar of KPMG India said in the report. Education technology (edutech) is expected to remain a very hot sector for venture capitalists, in addition to auto-tech, and health-tech related to fitness. Gaming can also see an uptick in interest, said the report and underlining the USD 400 million fund raising by Byju's in the quarter, USD 110 million by Unacademy, and Aakash Educational announcing its acquisition of Meritnation during the quarter. Then there was the mobility firm Bounce raising USD 150 million, the report noted. "With the lingering COVID-19-spawn uncertainty, (venture capitalists) are expected to become even more risk averse now and will take time to re-evaluate their portfolios given the current situation. However, with the pandemic basically slamming the IPO (initial public offering) market door shut at least for the short term, some companies may require bridge funding to get through the market turbulence where comes the role of the VCs," Poddar said in the report. The report also noted that given the travel and movement restrictions, cross-border VC investment will be very challenging heading into the second quarter. The inability to conduct in-person due diligence and face-to-face meetings will likely curtail a significant amount of cross-border activity, with some VC investors choosing to stick closer to home. BEN HRS

VC inflows tumble to just USD 2.2 bn in Mar quarter

<ul><li>According to a <keyword id="2496484" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="KPMG-report">KPMG report</keyword>, VC <keyword id="1391756" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Investments-in-India">investments in India</keyword> dipped to $2.2 billion in the first quarter of 2020. </li><li>In the last three months of 2019, the number was as high as $6 billion. </li><li>India’s VC deals were affected as a significant amount of investments in the country come from international VC firms and corporates.</li></ul>In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, businesses around the world have been impacted. Investments have halted as businesses went into a ‘wait and watch’ mode. But the impact of coronavirus in India began even before the lockdown was put in place. According to a KPMG report, <keyword id="502164" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="VC-investments">VC investments</keyword> in India dipped to $2.2 billion in the first quarter of 2020. In the last three months of 2019, the number was as high as $6 billion. But with the coronavirus panic only growing in India and the number of cases rising despite a lockdown, the future seems grim for VC investments. “VC investors are already starting to ask the question, ‘How will your business be impacted by COVID-19?’ This is a question everyone will be asking for the next few quarters. Here in India, we are beginning to feel the full impact of the virus. Over the next quarter, while the pipeline will likely remain strong, deal flow is expected to slow down. A lot of deals will probably get deferred to the later half of the year,” said Nitish Poddar, partner and national leader - Private Equity, KPMG in India in a statement. India’s VC deals were affected as a significant amount of investments in the country come from international VC firms and corporates. Sectors to watch out for In the first three months of 2020, edtech emerged as the clear winner as investors pinned hope on the sector that is seeing growth and transformation. Some of the biggest investments were unicorn startup Byju’s raising $400 million, Unacademy getting a $110 million cheque, and Aakash Educational’s acquisition of Meritnation. All edtech <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword> have opened up their courses and classes for free and have already seen a surge in the number of users. In March alone, Byju’s saw 6 million new students on its platform, while Unacademy crossed one billion minutes of watchtime of its content on its platform and across its YouTube channels in the month of March 2020. In addition to edtech, sectors like gaming, autotech, healthtech especially fitness could witness an uptick in investments, says the KPMG report. Because of the lockdown, the gaming sector has already seen a massive jump in the number of players. Paytm First Games expects it to cross 10 lakh in coming weeks, while Winzo has seen concurrent users increasing by 30%-40% day on day and the paid conversions have increased by 20% on the platform. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/as-malls-continue-to-stay-shut-retailers-turn-to-the-government-for-support-for-rent-waivers-gst-concessions-and-more/articleshow/75405599.cms">As malls continue to stay shut, retailers turn to the government for support for rent waivers, GST concessions and more</a> <a href="http://businessinsider.in/india/news/rice-miller-krbl-has-enough-supply-and-demand-but-little-material-to-pack-them-in-due-to-coronavirus-lockdown/articleshow/75406664.cms">India's top rice miller KRBL has enough supply and demand but little material to pack them in</a>

VC investments in India dipped to $2.2 billion in the first three months of 2020, and experts see a grim future

<ul><li>InfoEdge’s net revenue grew to ₹316.6 crore from ₹265 crore in the same quarter previous year. </li><li>The revenue push came in from its <keyword id="6354553" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="real-estate">real estate</keyword> aggregator platform <keyword id="1336736" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="99acres">99acres</keyword>.com.</li></ul>One of India’s first internet companies InfoEdge reported a 19.5% jump in net revenues in the second quarter to ₹316.6 crore from ₹265 crore in the same quarter previous year, thanks to its real estate aggregator platform 99acres.com. “We continue to witness strong quarterly operational performance in terms of billing, revenue, total income and operating EBITDA growth, which are in high teens on year-on-year basis, supported by 99acres which grew over 20% in terms of billing and revenue during the quarter on a year-on-year basis,” said Chintan Thakkar, chief financial officer of InfoEdge. Thakkar spoke to Business Insider to share how the revenues on 99acres, in spite of an economic slowdown. “99acres has been consistently growing in the last six quarters. The last quarter we grew by 19%,” he said. The real estate aggregator business is divided into two parts – the first being the developers and businesses about new projects and the second one being resale retail. The second aspect has been the one to turn the story around for 99acres. “The growth could be because of the velocity of transactions – if there are more and more transactions in the market the business goes up. There are more green shoots around resale rental business and that is helping brokers with a good return on investment, which in turn helps our business,” said Thakkar. The company’s net profits also fell by 88% due to an exceptional item – impairment in a company called Meritnations due to gap in valuation. However, Thakkar informs us that there actually has been a 31.4% jump in profit margin. Along with 99acres.com, <keyword id="80004" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Info-Edge">Info Edge</keyword> is the parent company for popular sites like <keyword id="218117" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Naukri-com">Naukri.com</keyword>, JeevanSathi.com, and Shiksha.com. On the Naukri portal, they have over 60 million resumes, half a million recruiters and over 13-14 lakh applicants for jobs. The company also invests in startups and was also an early investor in the foodtech unicorn Zomato. Info Edge also recently invested ₹21 crore in edutech platform Adda247 and ₹5 crores in real estate startup Terralytics Analysis. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/naukri-jobs-is-using-artificial-intelligence-to-take-on-linkedin/articleshow/69751271.cms">An Indian internet company older than Google is using Artificial Intelligence to reinvent itself</a>

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