Don't moment-market this crisis; there's a special place in communication and marketing hell reserved for that: Mayur Hola of OYO

<ul><li>As of April 29, there are 18 million active Covid cases in India.</li><li>To help our country grapple with the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic, many brands have stepped forward to do their bit.</li><li>Apart from financial aid, there’s another powerful tool that brands can use today -- advertising. It can influence consumers to act and remind them that we are in this together.</li><li>We reached out to experts to understand how should a brand use its marketing tools today: should they halt their advertising to give consumers space or launch empathetic campaigns as a reminder of togetherness and better tomorrow.</li></ul>As we stepped into 2021, consumers were hopeful about their lives returning back to normalcy. There was hope and enthusiasm for a better tomorrow. We were almost towards the end of it. Consumer sentiment also picked up with the announcement of India’s biggest sporting event IPL and advertisers were optimistic about bouncing back to normalcy. Advertising agencies worked on IPL pitches for months, risked their lives to execute them and even started thinking about campaigns for Mother’s Day. However, the country now is in the midst of one of the worst calamities it has faced in recent times. Our country’s healthcare system and our brave healthcare workers continue to be under tremendous pressure. It has impacted our mental health because we are living in constant fear of us or someone close to us contracting the virus. People are either mourning someone’s loss or dealing with the anxiety that they might have to, soon. Despite the despondency in the air, citizens have taken it upon themselves to help each other out. Many brands and organisations have also come to our rescue. They are using their social media reach to amplify requests for hospitals beds and oxygen supply. They have also donated money to government bodies and NGOs. There’s another powerful tool that brands can use today -- advertising. It can influence consumers to act. Apart from facing the truth of what’s happening around us, we need empathy and kindness to get through this tough phase. It is only in socially-distanced unity and togetherness that we can find courage to face the reality. Consumers also need compassion, more than ever today. They need brands they follow to set an example and encourage them. Afterall, they are a huge part of our country. Many brands, however, have chosen silence to give their consumers enough space to heal. A few are using their social media to help everyone out -- left, right and centre. Some have chosen to focus on the fact that consumers still need products and services to survive and have continued advertising like nothing has changed. At the same time, these ads remind us of good, old days and serve as a great escape from the grim reality. So, we reached out to experts to understand how should a brand use its marketing tools today. Here is what they had to say: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Karthik Srinivasan, Social Media Expert and Independent Brand Consultant:" text="Karthik Srinivasan, Social Media Expert and Independent Brand Consultant:">Karthik Srinivasan, Social Media Expert and Independent Brand Consultant:</cmsannotation> I would say that silence is definitely not the best way for brands now. It could be construed as disinterest or worse, callousness. A better way could be one of the two, or both, depending on the size and scale of the brand. 1. Make yourself directly useful - use your reach: Brands have media budgets, social handles with a sizable following, and access to media. They could put this to good use by helping in the coordination of essential medical supplies including oxygen. This would take time, effort, and coordination, but it would also be a visible example of the brand trying to help as against one donation done once and announced. This is particularly useful for brands that cannot reposition their own products/services as a way to help people manage their lives during a pandemic. For instance, a movie production house. Or a fashion brand. Or a Cola brand. Or IPL teams. 2. Make yourself indirectly useful - use your product/service context: This is useful for brands that can reposition their own products/services as a way to help people manage their lives during a pandemic. For example, a book retailer (or an audiobooks retailer, like Audible) could make a selection of their repertoire free/cheaper and pick those titles that can calm minds, or those that can help engage children (helping the parents who are recuperating). Or a retailer or producer of audio equipment could become a curator of calming music, podcasts, or audiobook titles. This way, they are not selling their products, but merely making them a backdrop to a far more contextually useful curation effort that is related to their category. Or food brands that could help offer recipes to gradually overcome the loss of sense of taste and smell. <div type="twitter" handle="beastoftraal" handlename="Karthik" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1140493276316745734/WH-6N17h_normal.jpg" favoritecount="8" retweetcount="2" status="Nice idea - &quot;A cook book to inspire those experiencing changes in taste and smell as a result of Covid&quot; (free digit… https://t.co/UU5s258eOf" createdat="1619440585000" id="1386660436552994821"></div> It is important that brands do not force-fit or contort themselves to become relevant within the COVID-19 context - that would be seen through and exposed very soon, and backfire badly. The connection has to be entirely natural and more importantly, purposeful. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Lloyd Mathias, Business Strategist, Investor and former APAC Marketing head of HP:" text="Lloyd Mathias, Business Strategist, Investor and former APAC Marketing head of HP:">Lloyd Mathias, Business Strategist, Investor and former APAC Marketing head of HP:</cmsannotation> I think a brand cannot completely isolate themselves from the reality on the ground. Given the grim situation because of the Covid surge, it is appropriate that commercial objectives take a back seat and a brand communicates sensitively. Staying silent is a safe and acceptable strategy but if a brand can help people cope in any way appropriate, this will be a good time to do so. This could mean using the brand’s assets – communication spends or social media assets to communicate help messages or using logistical resources to move healthcare related equipment. These need to be devoid of any commercial motive or seem like virtue signalling. So staying sensitive to large humanitarian tragedy is paramount. Also, collaborating with a competitor on any social project would seem like a mature and positive thing to do. Many fondly remember Nike’s support to the Back Lives Matter movement when they said ‘For once, don't do it.’ Seeing this heartfelt message, Adidas shared the sentiment saying together we can move forward and change. This worked wonderfully for both brands. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Vani Gupta Dandia, Founder, CherryPeachPlum Growth:" text="Vani Gupta Dandia, Founder, CherryPeachPlum Growth:">Vani Gupta Dandia, Founder, CherryPeachPlum Growth:</cmsannotation> What can brands do in all of this crying chaos? Quite simply help, for no other reason, but for humanitarian reasons. Corporates can respond in one of three ways: 1) Support the efforts to fight the virus directly e.g. by providing infrastructure (ambulances, cold chains for supply chain management), volunteers, disseminating information on hygiene protocols etc. Last few days, for example, OYO has converted its rooms into isolation centres. Can an Airtel or a Truecaller take on the task of separating fake vs real/verified numbers amidst the zillion different covid related forwards? Can a company set up a leasing system of oxygen concentrators? Patients need one for only a few hours, at best a few days. Why don't we have them available on hire? Saves consumers money and lives, while those who lease can actually make more money than through a single sale. Can some company come forward to set this up? 2) Providing support to those impacted by the pandemic e.g., smartphones to students for online learning, community food kitchens in slum areas to support daily wage labourers etc; and 3) Helping NGOs e.g. Give India by providing cash and expertise. Will it reap any benefit on brand equity or more sales later... Who knows? But my bet is it will! People are hungry for stories of good amidst this grim desperation. And one great way of standing out just now is to simply come forward with courage and say "Screw strategy, let's help where we can.” It's war -- just of a different kind. Not all good work by companies need be categorised as 'purpose-driven' or 'CSR'. When brands stand up at such times people remember. It doesn't need to have any link at all with the brand proposition. But I see that there is an ongoing debate on whether IPL should be pulled down, given the gravity of the ongoing crisis. I don't see why it shouldn't go on. All of us as consumers need to keep our sanity too - and cricket is a welcome distraction. And because we're watching cricket, advertisers will continue to sell their wares - and I don't see why not. Normal life also must go on to the extent possible. Lives and livelihoods both matter. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ronita Mitra, Founder and Chief Strategist, Brand Eagle Consulting:" text="Ronita Mitra, Founder and Chief Strategist, Brand Eagle Consulting:">Ronita Mitra, Founder and Chief Strategist, Brand Eagle Consulting:</cmsannotation> While we are faced with a large scale and challenging humanitarian crisis, corporates and brands, as responsible citizens, should consider contributing actively in order to alleviate the situation. This phase is not about advertising products and services unless it is for a new category which needs immediate awareness building. Actions, especially empathetic ones, that contribute towards bettering the lives of people during these challenging times, will have far more meaningful impact than mere communication. Corporates have the clout to make a significant impact and they should consider diverting their CSR funds towards helping citizens in various possible ways - be it funding supply of medical products, food for the lower socio-economic classes who are impacted by the lockdowns, education for children who have been impacted by the inadequate infrastructure at home, facilitating vaccination for those who are not adept with the systems, and much more. Brands can use social media and other media platforms to communicate the same. Meaningful actions during these times will have a memorable impact on the consumer psyche too and will help strengthen consumer connect in the long term more than anything else now. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Harish Bijoor, Brand-strategy specialist &amp; Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc:" text="Harish Bijoor, Brand-strategy specialist &amp; Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc:">Harish Bijoor, Brand-strategy specialist &amp; Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc:</cmsannotation> In moments such as these, very very tough times when fear and chaos is the norm, I do recommend a dignified brand silence. Brands must not add to the clutter of personal communication. Staying away from the melee of tumult is a good thing brands with commerce on their minds can do. At least for now. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="82260905" title="From CRED to Google, here’s how brands are helping India fight against COVID-19" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>

Experts share the ideal ways in which brands can advertise during the second Covid-19 wave in India

<ul><li> <keyword id="2808667" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO">OYO</keyword> has announced that it received commitments of close to $1 billion from leading investors.</li><li>Fidelity, Citadel Capital Management and Varde Partners have reportedly participated in the round.</li><li><keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword>’s Rajeev Misra has announced that OYO was nearing a breakeven point last year as its revenue and expenses dropped.</li></ul>Hotels and hospitality company OYO has raised $660 million in debt from undisclosed institutional investors as the Gurugram-based startup continues to grapple with the pandemic. The funding has been raised through the Term Loan B (TLB) route, the firm said in a statement. TBL is a term loan made by institutional investors whose primary goals are maximising the long-term total returns on their investments. The company, in its press note, highlighted that its debt financing offer was oversubscribed by 1.7 times and it has received commitments of close to $1 billion from leading investors. The company did not disclose the investors. However, an ET <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/eye-on-revival-oyo-secures-660-million-debt/articleshow/84459901.cms">report</a> citing sources has highlighted that Fidelity, Citadel Capital Management and Varde Partners have participated in the round. JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Mizuho Securities have served as the lead arranger for this financing. The financing will help OYO to repay past debts, strengthen balance sheets and boost the product technology. "Oyo is well capitalised and on the path of achieving profitability. Our two largest markets have demonstrated profitability at the slightest signs of industry recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic," the company’s chief financial officer Abhishek Gupta has said. The year 2020 has been pretty bad for the entire hotel and hospitality industry, as the world stepped into a lockdown with COVID-cases on the rise. This year was expected to be somewhat better, but the destruction caused by the second wave of the pandemic made matters worse. OYO’s founder Ritesh Agarwal had come on record in April 2020, confirming that the company recorded a 50 to 60% drop in OYO’s occupancy rate and revenues. However, chief executive of <keyword id="11654262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="softbank-investment-advisers-rajeev-misra">SoftBank Investment Advisers Rajeev Misra</keyword>, in September 2020, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/clampdown-on-chinese-investments-indian-startups-will-miss-the-know-how-says-softbanks-rajeev-misra/articleshow/78280038.cms">highlighted</a> that OYO’s revenue was at about 30% of its pre-Covid levels. Misra, during ET Global Business Summit held in September 2020, also noted that was nearing a breakeven point as its monthly expenses and revenue dropped down to around $30 million. The decline in OYO’s revenues have led to the salary cuts,<a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/oyo-sends-thousands-of-employees-on-leave-as-revenue-dips-60/"> furloughs and layoffs </a>across all 80 countries it was operating in. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/the-political-flip-flops-of-superstar-rajinikanth-over-the-last-three-decades/articleshow/84463947.cms">The political flip-flops of Superstar Rajinikanth over the last three decades</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/iron-man-vijay-shekhar-sharma-put-his-own-money-on-the-line-to-launch-paytm/articleshow/84468805.cms">‘Iron Man’ Vijay Shekhar Sharma put his own money on the line to launch Paytm — and ten years later the company is ready to go public</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/paytm-has-filed-for-2-2-billion-ipo/articleshow/84465551.cms">Paytm files draft prospectus for a $2.2 billion IPO</a>

OYO raised $660 million in debt funding to repay past debts

<ul><li><keyword id="12106550" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ayu-health" source="Orion">Ayu Health</keyword> to help digitise <keyword id="6371888" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="private-hospitals" source="Orion">private hospitals</keyword> and manages their operations.</li><li>It also offers technology for patient management, procurement and insurance processing.</li><li>The company has bagged $6.5 million to expand its network of 20 <keyword id="6365858" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hospitals" source="Orion">hospitals</keyword> to newer cities.</li><li>The Series A round was led by Singapore-based Vertex Ventures and Stellaris Venture Partners.</li></ul>After selling their used furniture ecommerce platform to online classifieds firm Quikr three years ago, the founders of <keyword id="3036307" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zefo" source="Orion">Zefo</keyword> have now brought in a unique healthtech offering to help digitise private hospitals and manage their operations. Ayu Health, founded by Himesh Joshi, Arijit Gupta, and Karan Gupta in 2019, currently works with 20 hospital chains spread across Bengaluru and Chandigarh. The company started its journey with five-six hospitals in Chandigarh to aggressively test out its offering and expanded to another fifteen hospitals around the second wave of COVID-19 in April-May 2021. The company now wants to expand its services to six cities by the end of 2022. These cities include Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad and more, Ayu Health’s cofounder Joshi told Business Insider in an interview. Ayu Health has bagged $6.5 million to turn this dream into reality. The Series A round, announced on September 16, was led by Singapore-based Vertex Ventures and Stellaris Venture Partners. Serial entrepreneur Ashish Gupta, Mamaearth’s cofounder Varun Alagh, EyeQ founder Rajat Goel also participated in the round. The latest fundraise will help Ayu Health expand its hospital network to incorporate 5,000 beds compared to the existing 1,200, Joshi told Business Insider. A part of the funding will also be used to upscale the company’s existing product suite such as insurance processing, procurement of products and clinical quality management at network hospitals. Joshi claimed that Ayu Health’s partner hospitals use its technology platform to improve clinical quality, procure medicines and consumables, and process insurance claims. This results in better clinical outcomes, a smooth in-hospital experience and transparent pricing for patients, he added. The company has also digitised the entire consultation, medicine prescription and payments procedure to offer better experience to customers and avoid hospital visits. It helps its partner hospitals create a more asset-light network, where Ayu Health manages end-to-end administrative operations and the faculty looks into the clinical treatments. Ritesh Agarwal-led budget hotel chain OYO also follows a similar model when it comes to the hotel and hospitality segment. The company partners with hotel chains across 80 countries offers tech solutions to digitise their business and claims to further enhance their business preposition. "The OYO analogy is fine, primarily this being a similarly asset-light model. We are also doing a lot more than just demand generation for our partners - technology for patient management and experience, procurement and insurance processing," Joshi added. Joshi believes that India's healthcare space is still fragmented and the patients aren't always unsure about where to go and the quality of clinical services. “We felt very strongly whether there was a need to create a branded hospital that could solve for three pain points, transparency and pricing consistently good clinical outcomes and high quality experience,” Joshi said. According to the Human Development <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/2020-report">Report </a>2020, India has only five hospital beds for 10,000 people. The lack of healthcare facilities and the onset of COVID-19 was one of the factors why India decided to introduce Telemedicine guidelines and National Digital Health Mission in 2020. More digitised solutions in healthcare can help companies like India tackle the lack of healthcare services and also strengthen the existing healthcare system. According to the Weforum report, the four digital themes in healthcare would include smart care, care anywhere, empowered care and intelligent healthcare enterprise. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtel-vodafone-idea-and-jio-welcome-telecom-relief-package-but-analysts-are-divided-on-whether-it-is-enough/articleshow/86252002.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Jio welcome telecom relief package, but analysts are divided on whether it is enough</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/telecom-auto-tata-group-and-other-top-stocks-to-watch-out-for-on-september-16/articleshow/86250470.cms">Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Tata group and other top stocks to watch out for on September 16</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/telecom-relief-package-airtel-vodafone-idea-get-four-year-moratorium-on-agr-dues/articleshow/86227218.cms">Indian government dials M for moratorium – Airtel, Vodafone Idea get a four-year relief on AGR dues</a>

After selling their previous startup to Quikr, Zefo founders are building an OYO for hospitals

<ul><li>The tech industry has seen more than 200,000 <keyword id="6357067" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="layoffs" source="Orion">layoffs</keyword> since the start of 2022.</li><li>Instead of performance, the focus for layoffs is more on eliminating redundant roles that no longer add a major value to the organization.</li><li>Some of the red flags an employee should look out for are a decrease in hiring, budget cuts and changes in management.</li></ul>Bipin Singh, a business development manager at Byju’s with over 11 years experience in the EdTech industry was laid off last month after a stint of 1.5 years at the company. In his LinkedIn post he mentioned about the layoff and urged everyone to reach out to him with job offers or if not, like share and comment on his post to increase reach. Anil <keyword id="906861" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sahani" source="Orion">Sahani</keyword>, a software engineer, lost his job in Accenture recently .“I was one of the first ones to let go as I was a contract employee and also did not have any notice period. The layoffs are still on.” Singh and Sahani are among the thousands of employees who have been affected by tech layoffs in India. Google trend data, which reflects what people search for, shows that between January 22-28 this year, the term ‘layoff’ was at its peak popularity of 100, while between January 23 to January 29 last year, it was just at five. This is not surprising because layoffs are being reported majorly in the media and almost every other post on Linkedin is talking about layoffs. It all started with the news that the big tech giants like Amazon and Google parent Alphabet were laying off in large numbers. While Alphabet laid off 12,000 people, the Amazon layoffs affected more than 18,000 people. Microsoft said it will lay off 10,000 people by the end of the third quarter of 2023 and even SAP and IBM have started laying off employees. It seems it is almost like a contagion that is spreading rapidly like wildfire. The Indian situation: Which brings us to the question: Is the situation as bad in India? Layoffs are now a reality in India too. Reports suggest that around 21,000 techies have lost their jobs in the last three to four months. In the third week of January, Wipro fired more than 400 freshers for failing performance tests. While Amazon has laid off 1,000 of its employees in India, IBM and SAP are also laying off employees, affecting their employees in India as well. Very recently, Byju’s laid off 1,000 people, in a second round of layoffs in February. Sivaprasad N, vice president &amp; business head, TeamLease Digital, a staffing solutions company, puts the number of layoffs in the tech industry at more than 2,00,000 since 2022. Over 21,000 employees <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/70-plus-indian-startups-show-exit-door-to-21k-techies-more-pink-slips-coming/articleshow/97411761.cms?">have been laid off </a>by 70 startups in the past 3-4 months including from unicorns like BYJU'S, <keyword id="6354720" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ola" source="Orion">Ola</keyword>, MPL, Innovaccer, Unacademy, Vedantu, Cars24, OYO, Meesho, Udaan and many more. Anuj Gupta, who has over 10 years of experience in SEO, has lost his job in edtech company upGrad and is a part of the current tech and marketing layoff wave. The layoff situation in India is currently more of a spill-over effect of shake-ups in the West. Unlike the funding winter that hit the Indian funded tech startups cohort in 2022, the current layoffs by big labels are largely corrective talent adjustments. “Despite potential opportunities coming our way due to global shakeups, it is prudent for India Inc. to treat the current layoffs as a tip of the iceberg,” says <keyword id="138078" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="kamal-karanth" source="Orion">Kamal Karanth</keyword>, CoFounder, Xpheno, a specialist staffing company. He adds that enterprises, especially in tech, will benefit from remaining alert and conservative on costs for at least two quarters. Agrees Sivaprasad, “Companies are battling a slowdown in demand after a hiring frenzy. No company is certain to avoid significant cutbacks in such an economic environment. We are witnessing a significant drop in tech hiring unlike previous years as companies are only doing selective hiring for critical projects. It looks like the trend will continue for some time.” Many IT majors have announced mass layoffs in the last couple of months, quoting factors like overhiring, an impending recession and geopolitical conflicts. “We expect businesses to exhibit caution in hiring and workforce management through a major part of 2023,” <keyword id="13896318" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sachin-alug" source="Orion">Sachin Alug</keyword>, CEO, NLB Services - a global technology &amp; digital talent solutions company. Delhi-based Pankaj Kumar, laid off from a software company this month, says that one day he got a message saying that the company was restructuring and that it was his last day. “However, we were forced to resign and also we received very little in the name of assistance as promised.” Kumar feels that most startups today have no clue about manpower requirements and just hire to show their investors that they are doing well without having an idea of how they can sustain themselves in crucial times. Tech jobs have been the most affected: As discussed, tech companies, especially IT firms, are very vulnerable to an impending recession in the US. “The tech sector has always been highly sensitive to economic cycles, and the current economic downturn could have a significant impact on these companies. A recession could lead to decreased consumer spending, reduced corporate investment, and layoffs, which could all hit tech companies hard,” says <keyword id="328697" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sandeep-budhiraja" source="Orion">Sandeep Budhiraja</keyword>, Co-founder, Executive Director and Chief People Officer - BYLD Group which provides HR and Business productivity solutions, Additionally, the US market is a major source of revenue for many tech companies, so a recession here could have a widespread impact on global operations. Finally, any disruption to the global supply chain could further disrupt tech companies, as many rely on components and materials sourced from around the world. “The sectors that may be most affected, other than the technology, are telecommunications, financial services and retail. The telecommunications sector could be hit by reduced investment in infrastructure and lower customer demand. The financial services sector could be adversely affected by a decrease in credit availability and tightened lending standards, while the retail sector could suffer from decreased consumer spending,” adds Budhiraja. Everyone is vulnerable: “Instead of performance, the focus for layoffs is more on eliminating redundant roles that no longer add major value to the organization. Usually, mass layoffs affect employees invariably regardless of their performance but in organizations that choose to let go of a selected few, performers at a certain level tend to be the target,” says Alug. The primary causes of layoffs are the foreseeable recession and the geopolitical scenario which have led to inflation, impacting many industries. Prominent players in the IT and Technology domain are being cautious to ensure profitability and better predictability of business. Agrees Karanth, “The larger layoffs related to enterprise strategy and austerity are mostly across the ranks and ratings of performance. Such layoffs related to macroeconomic movements are typically steamrollers on entire divisions, geographies and business units. While each enterprise has their own pattern of priority on the layoffs, the high cost and high volume headcounts typically come under the lens faster.” Look out for red flags: “Layoffs in a situation like now are largely written on the wall. It is often the speed and style of a layoff that's a surprise to talent, and not the layoff by itself,” says Karanth. Some of the red flags an employee should look out for are a decrease in hiring, budget cuts and changes in management. “Additionally, if a company is reducing or eliminating certain departments or projects, it may be a sign that layoffs are coming. If there are rumours of layoffs or if employees are being asked to take unpaid leave, this could also be a sign that layoffs are imminent. Finally, if the company is not meeting its financial goals or is experiencing a downturn in business, layoffs may be a possibility,” says Alug. Hiring remains slow: “Many of those who lost their jobs are still looking for work, as nearly every major corporation has put a freeze on new hiring due to global macroeconomic conditions and recession fears. We are witnessing a significant drop in tech hiring unlike previous years as companies are only doing selective hiring for critical projects. Looks like the trend would continue for some time,” says Sivaprasad. However Karanth feels that while tech hiring has slowed down, there are opportunities for talent who are flexible and agile to look beyond their domain. The non-tech sector's talent demand has been compensating well for tech's hiring slowdown. <keyword id="2838370" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shraddha-jain" source="Orion">Shraddha Jain</keyword>, who is also known as 'Aiyyo Shraddha' on social media, posted a hilarious video on Instagram, where she slammed companies for laying off employees despite making a profit. "At the company offsite, we celebrated the company tripling its profit in a year. What happened? A month later we are so poor. Who robbed us?" she asked. While these are questions that reflect the grim reality of large scale layoffs, employees should brace themselves for tough times ahead. 2023 will be a turbulent ride.

Tech layoffs to continue for sometime thanks to a slowdown in demand and an uncertain economic environment

<ul><li><keyword id="9771244" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="teachmint">Teachmint</keyword>, a live tutoring platform, has raised $3.5 million – its second investment in the last two months.</li><li>The startup was launched in May 2020, just as the coronavirus lockdown brought in a wave of <keyword id="23248" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Online-learning">online learning</keyword>.</li><li>Teachmint helps teachers to digitize their classes as a mobile-first, video-first platform.</li></ul>Teachmint, a live tutoring platform, has raised $3.5 million from <keyword id="2590446" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lightspeed-India">Lightspeed India</keyword> and its existing investors Better Capital and Titan Capital (the VC firm founded by Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal). Interestingly, Lightspeed India has invested in this platform even as the VC firm backs India’s biggest edtech startup BYJU’S. This is also the second funding that this five-month old startup has received in less than two months. Teachmint helps teachers to digitize their classes as a mobile-first, video-first platform. With a focus on regional customization, the startup is already present in 10 languages. The startup was launched in May 2020, just as the coronavirus lockdown brought in a wave of online learning. The startup was founded by IIT Delhi and IIT Mumbai graduates Mihir Gupta, Payoj Jain, Divyansh Bordia and Anshuman Kumar, who have earlier worked at <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword> like OYO, Swiggy etc. “Teachers are at the center of a great education experience, and this is what will truly unleash the power of EdTech.Our mission is to enable millions of outstanding tutors in India to take their classes online by leveraging Teachmint as their tech backbone,” said Mihir Gupta, Co-founder &amp; CEO at Teachmint. Teachmint’s presence <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; width: 468pt; table-layout: fixed;"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><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;">120,000 tutors </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;">1,000 cities </td></tr></tbody></table> “India’s tutoring and coaching market is estimated to be over $25 billion, is fragmented into millions of tutors and coaching centers, and Teachmint is ideally placed to not just enable this market but potentially expand it further,” said Harsha Kumar, Partner at Lightspeed India. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/byju-raveendran-on-byjus-us-expansion-and-how-white-hat-jr-wont-just-be-about-coding-anymore/articleshow/78904109.cms">'India can provide teachers to the world, just like software engineers,' says Byju Raveendran as he plans to take his $11 billion edtech startup to US shores</a>

BYJU'S backer Lightspeed India invests in a live tutoring platform Teachmint

<ul><li>IPOs like Indigo Paints, Mrs Bectors Food, Chemcon Speciality Chemicals which got huge institutional demand during IPOs are down 14%-27% since listing.</li><li>Some of the IPOs where institutional players subscribed for more than 100 times the shares on offer, are in deep red right now.</li><li>Ujjivan Small Finance is one among such stocks, which is down 44% after more than a year of going public.</li></ul>Initial public offerings (IPOs) that get huge demand from institutional players are believed to be more valuable as investors trust their stock picking skills. However, this does not stand true in some cases. The Zomato IPO, for instance, saw institutional investors oversubscribing the issue by over 52 times. The shares of Zomato have gained over 6% since the listing. While one has to wait and watch if the stock lives up to the expectations, there are many other examples that show that the excitement of institutional investors does not assure good returns for retail investors who buy and hold shares. Some of the recent superhit IPOs like Indigo Paints, Mrs Bectors Food, Chemcon Speciality Chemicals, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank received more than 110 times subscription from qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). Commercial banks, public financial institutions, mutual fund houses and foreign portfolio investors registered with India’s market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) fall under this category. These stocks ⁠— where institutional players subscribed for more than 100 times the shares offered to them during the IPO, are in deep red right now ⁠— did see a bumper listing. However, not all of them have gone on to create wealth over a longer period of time. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;" class="redcator-table-advance"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><col /><col /><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Stock </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Oversubscription by institutional investors </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Change since listing </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">No of months since listing </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">185.23x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">7% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Two days </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Clean Science &amp; Technology </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">156.37x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">6.4% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">11 days </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">G R Infraprojects </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">168.58x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-0.6% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">11 days </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Shyam Metalics </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">155.71x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">15.23% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">1 month </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Nazara Technologies </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">103.77x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">10.85% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">4 months </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Laxmi Organic Industries </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">175.43x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">59% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">4 months </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">MTAR Technologies </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">164.99x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">33.86% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">4.5 months </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Indigo Paints </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">189.57x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-16.59% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">6 months </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Mrs Bectors Food </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">176.85x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-27.89% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">7 months </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Chemcon Speciality Chemicals </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">113.54x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-14.37% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">10 months </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Ujjivan Small Finance Bank </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">110.72x </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-44.42% </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">19 months </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>Note: ‘x’ denotes the number of shares subscribed for, over and above the total offered Among others, Indigo Paints’ IPO also made a strong listing on exchanges as the prospects of the paints industry looked good. And it is good for players like Asian Paints, whose stock has surged 71% in the last one year. <div type="image" title="asian paint and indigo paint chart" height="900" width="1200" msid="84964395" hostid="261"></div> However, for Indigo paints the bummer came from the over $50 billion <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/birla-is-making-asian-paints-and-berger-paints-change-colours-and-its-bad-news-for-those-who-got-shares-in-indigo-ipo-too/articleshow/80451063.cms">Aditya Birla Group</a>, which announced its intent to enter the paint business soon after the IPO. Aditya Birla group’s flagship company Grasim has announced to foray into the paint business with capital infusion of ₹5,000 crore over three years. <div type="image" title="grasim indus chart" height="900" width="1200" msid="84964418" hostid="261"></div> It was the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic that dented the stock of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, which listed at over 50% premium to the issue price. The shares of the company have slipped 44% since listing as investors feared that many of its borrowers may not be able to repay their loans. A similar pain is visible in the bottomline of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/britannia-tata-motors-maruti-suzuki-and[%E2%80%A6]tocks-to-watch-out-for-on-august-2/slidelist/84962973.cms">Bandhan Bank</a> ⁠— which leads in lending to the microfinance segment ⁠— which shrank nearly a third in the April-June 2021 quarter. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/mrs-bectors-food-ipo-investors-saw-their-money-double-on-listing-day/articleshow/79934860.cms">$73 million IPO</a> of the biscuit and bakery products maker Mrs Bectors Food was a hit⁠ — subscribed over <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/mrs-bectors-shares-are-down-32-from-the-peak-post-listing-analysts-say-it-is-still-overpriced/articleshow/80430865.cms">198 times</a>. It was the top IPO by subscription in 2020. After its listing on December 24, the stock had started declining. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/mrs-bectors-shares-are-down-32-from-the-peak-post-listing-analysts-say-it-is-still-overpriced/articleshow/80430865.cms">Analysts </a>had said the stock was overpriced and even expected correction. <div type="image" title="bector foods" height="900" width="1200" msid="84964433" hostid="261"></div> According to an Axis Securities’ IPO note released in December, the company holds mere 1% of the market share in the branded biscuit segment, whereas its other listed peer Britannia has about 28% share of the pie. And as feared, the April-June quarter was bad even for Britannia, which saw its profit shrink by nearly 29% despite measures to curb costs. Meanwhile, Laxmi Organics has gained 59% since its listing on March 25, 2021. The company is the largest manufacturer of ethyl acetate ⁠— used as a solvent in paints and perfumes, for instance ⁠— with over 30% market share in product category. <div type="image" title="Laxmi organic" height="900" width="1200" msid="84964453" hostid="261"></div> In July, Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem, G R Infraprojects and Clean Science and Technology made a strong listing with over 100% premium. Let us see how these stocks turn out to be in the coming months. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/oyo-founder-ritesh-agarwal-and-zomato-founder-deepinder-goyal-invest-in-unacademy-valuation-crosses-3-billion/articleshow/84963709.cms">The founders of OYO and Zomato pump in money to make edtech startup Unacademy worth $3.4 billion ⁠— a ten fold jump in 18 months </a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/exclusive-indias-largest-zinc-miner-is-eyeing-a-share-of-the-bangladesh-economic-boom/articleshow/84963388.cms">EXCLUSIVE: India's largest zinc miner Hindustan Zinc is eyeing a share of the Bangladesh economic boom </a>

Don’t subscribe to an IPO just because it saw great interest from institutional investors ⁠— Indigo Paints, Mrs Bectors Food, and Ujjivan are examples to look at

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d3ad5e18d664204a85869a8-2400/gettyimages-1162712479.jpg" border="0" alt="Masayoshi Son" data-mce-source="Getty Images AsiaPac" data-mce-caption="SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son" />Getty Images AsiaPacSoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>SoftBank has announced commitments of $108 billion to its second super-massive Vision Fund.</li><li>The company has confirmed that Apple, newcomer Microsoft, Foxconn, and others will invest in the fund. Saudi Arabia has not been named as a limited partner, but could still commit funds.</li><li>The first Vision Fund caused shockwaves by dropping hundreds of billions of dollars into unprofitable or unproven companies. </li><li>It has completely changed how venture capital works and has fostered a trend of companies staying private for much longer.</li><li>There is a risk that SoftBank is creating its own tech bubble, especially given the outcome for many companies backed by the first fund remains unclear.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul> SoftBank is about to remold the world of tech startups once again.The company has invested billions into a wide range of fast-growing companies around the world, such as Uber, Slack, DoorDash, hotel franchising firm Oyo, and a number of ride-hailing companies in Asia such as Ola and Grab.The trend will continue, after the Japanese firm <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-108-billion-vision-fund-ii-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">announced investors have committed $108 billion</a> to its second Vision Fund, its investment vehicle for backing promising technology firms.There is a slight alteration in the makeup of the current backers.The first $100 billion Vision Fund was made up of sovereign wealth funds from Saudia Arabia and UAE, SoftBank Group, Apple, Qualcomm, and Sharp. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/aab48036-5429-11e8-b24e-cad6aa67e23e">According to The Financial Times</a>, Daimler, a number of Japanese banks, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, and the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain later closed out the fund.The second batch of investors looks a little different. Microsoft has invested for the first time, while Apple and Foxconn have reinvested. Other backers include a number of Japanese banks and insurers and pension funds. <a href="https://group.softbank/en/corp/set/data/news/press/sb/2019/20190726_01/pdf/20190726_01.pdf">You can see the full list of backers here</a>.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d3ad63b100a2442fe3bb842-901/mohammed bin salman.png" border="0" alt="mohammed bin salman" data-mce-source="Future Investment Initiative." data-mce-caption="Saudi Crown Prince at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh on October 24." />Future Investment Initiative.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.</div></div></div>Saudia Arabia's Public Investment Fund, a major backer of Vision Fund I, is notably missing amid reports <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/02/vision-fund-key-investors-second-fund/">the Kingdom was lukewarm on a second fund</a>. It may yet commit, however, and SoftBank has said it expects the final fund size to increase. One venture capital source believes SoftBank is gunning for a final close of $200 billion. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-108-billion-vision-fund-ii-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">Apple and Microsoft are both investing in SoftBank's newest $108 billion mega-fund for startups</a>Even with SoftBank's refreshed slate of more conservative investors, an additional $108 billion into the tech ecosystem will naturally trigger worries of a bubble.The Vision Fund's investment strategy is to throw huge amounts of money at a perceived market leader - Uber in ride-hailing, WeWork in office-sharing - in order to scale them up rapidly and scare off the competition."Rather than having their capital cannon facing me, I'd rather have their capital cannon behind me, all right?" <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/14/17014762/uber-softbank-dara-khosrowshahi-goldman-sachs">is how Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi explained it last year</a>.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c8bee35401d5856da324cf6-2400/2016-09-02t120000z243896849s1aetywqrpaartrmadp3australia-tech-food.jpg" border="0" alt="Uber Eats delivery" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Jason Reed" data-mce-caption="An Uber driver takes delivery of bags of donuts destined for a customer via Uber Eats in Sydney, Australia." />REUTERS/Jason ReedSoftBank has a large stake in Uber.</div></div></div>That creates a number of issues.First, it can encourage startups to scale faster than they can really manage. It takes a disciplined CEO to turn down the offer of millions in funding, especially in these current heady days of easy capital.Business Insider has spoken to at least one CEO who has turned away SoftBank money because it was more than the startup needed and a condition of the funding was to scale quicker than they were comfortable with.There is evidence of this friction elsewhere. A <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/inside-the-turmoil-at-softbank-backed-brandless">report from The Information</a> suggested that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brandless-ceo-reportedly-stepped-down-tension-softbank-2019-6?r=US&amp;IR=T">SoftBank-backed Brandless hit trouble in June</a>, in part thanks to tensions with its main investor over financial targets. Another prominent SoftBank portfolio firm, Indian ride-hailing service Ola, is also reportedly trying to keep some distance from its backer. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-08/why-one-startup-founder-turned-down-a-1-1-billion-softbank-deal">According to Bloomberg</a>, CEO Bhavish Aggarwal turned down an additional $1.1 billion investment from SoftBank earlier this year, in order to retain control of the firm.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a8c36dcd03072d40a8b45c8-1013/screen shot 2018-02-20 at 145359.png" border="0" alt="Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal" data-mce-source="Shailesh Andrade/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Bhavish Aggarwal, chief executive of Uber's main rival in India, Ola" />Shailesh Andrade/ReutersBhavish Aggarwal, chief executive of Uber's main rival in India, Ola</div></div></div>The influx of funding to one "category winner" in turn creates problems for competitors who feel pressured into raising funding, even if they don't necessarily need it. The Financial Times reported that ride-hailing firm <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/23fcacbe-4e04-11e9-9c76-bf4a0ce37d49">Go-Jek raised an additional $1 billion in funding</a> even though it didn't need it, just to keep up with SoftBank putting $1.5 billion into rival Grab.Giving so much money to earlier stage firms may encourage a lack of financial discipline too. These firms have huge amounts of capital at their disposal, potentially leading to reckless decisions.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-uber-oyo-what-like-living-on-softbank-companies-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">I spent 24 hours living on SoftBank services like Uber, WeWork, and Oyo. It revealed some flaws in Masayoshi Son's grand $100 billion investment vision.</a>WeWork, which remains massively unprofitable, has used its cash arsenal <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-founder-adam-neumann-investments-from-coffee-creamer-to-wave-pools-2019-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">to fund or acquire companies that seem to align to its founder's interests</a>, such as wave company Wavegarden. Why is a shared office company putting cash into an indoor wave pool company? The question would have been unthinkable in a pre-SoftBank world.In SoftBank's defence, the firm said in May that its <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-softbank-group-vision-fund/softbank-groups-108-billion-second-vision-fund-draws-in-microsoft-apple-idUKKCN1UL019">first fund generated a 29% return</a>, though mostly on paper. Apple has clearly seen enough to return for a second helping. Bullish analysts also say there is now greater visibility on how the fund works. "What they have today is a track record," Bernstein analyst Chris Lane <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/technology/softbank-vision-fund-2.html">told The New York Times</a>. "You've got a lot more confidence that it's a robust process."It's not unreasonable to imagine that a second Vision Fund will only exacerbate some of the side-effects of the first fund, all while having wider impacts on the market. Expect unprofitable tech firms to remain private (and thus opaque) for longer, and perhaps for a continued squeeze on traditional venture capital firms, which may themselves raise ever-larger funds to play their role in competitive deals. Valuations will continue to go up, and all the while the SoftBank bubble grows bigger. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-area-51-autec-in-the-bahamas-2016-10">The Navy has its own Area 51 and it's right in the middle of the Bahamas</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/XwzxJ81L-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

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

<ul><li>The current coronavirus pandemic isn’t unlike the second World War according to billionaire <keyword id="6360722" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ratan-tata">Ratan Tata</keyword>.</li><li>In an interview with Sudhir Sethi, Founder and Chairman of Chiratae Ventures, shared exclusively with Business Insider, Tata explains how the pandemic is a time for investing in new ideas.</li><li>“It's not a world war but it's like a world war,” he said.</li></ul>The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted society and has everyone wondering about what the ‘new normal’ will be once the lockdown finally ends. The mindset isn’t unlike what the world had to experience during the second world war, according to billionaire Ratan Tata. Just as the effects of the war weren’t limited to the western hemisphere, the effects of the lockdown won’t be limited to India. “I think it's not limited to India, what I'm about to say, I'd say with some degree of concern. You compare our situation to a World War, which was destructive, cities got bombed, manufacturing industries were disabled and yet it was in those times that many new technologies were developed. Many scientific, some of them dramatically horrible in terms of what was done to human beings but science was taken to a new height,” Tata told Sudhir Sethi, Founder and Chairman of Chiratae Ventures in an exclusive interview shared with Business Insider India. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="75676805" title="EXCLUSIVE: Billionaire Ratan Tata's advice to entrepreneurs — how to set up 'disaster proof' business in the post-COVID world" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> “Out of it came rockets, came other forms of enterprise and other forms of destruction, both were an issue of application. But the entrepreneurs who were supported by their governments to open new doors if you might. That could be the case again,” explained Tata. “It's not a world war but it's like a world war,” he said not unlike UN Secretary Antonio Guterres in April, who also pointed out that the current pandemic is the biggest challenge that the world has had to deal with since World War Two. The only difference is that, at the time, efforts were directed to a wartime effort and, this time, they’ve been redirected to ensuring people can stay at home. In a way, that’s actually better but the economic pressures on the economy are along the same lines. “There's a dramatic need for vaccines, there's a dramatic need for solutions. And strange things happen and I think we really have to look back and say with so and so innovativeness really has its roots quite often at a time of crisis like the crisis we have on our hands today,” explained Tata. Nothing is ‘too far out’ “And so there's an initial ‘throw your hands up’ you have this crisis and then there is our own innovativeness that comes to play. That's a time we need to support to invest. To not dismiss something as being too far out, but being something we should look at,” Tata said explaining how a crisis can give birth to innovation. “Well, I think investors should be keeping their powder dry and that might seem to be very prudent. It may also be very self-defeating. That now might be the time when investors should be looking at opportunities like they did in the 70s and 80s. Where it was driven by the creation of the integrated circuit or it was created by moving to a digital world or looking at nanotechnology as the means or looking at biology or sub nano driven projects, whatever it was the 70s and 80s were those kinds of heavy times when those things happen,” he explained. In today’s day and age, it’s already pushing AI-enabled drones and robotics to the forefront as a way of enforcing social distancing more effectively. “So today one could have a bunch of investors who would say I'll back this company because it's being driven to do something differently rather than say the right now is not the time to look at something new,” said Tata. “And I would like to say that to me the virus will disappear and in a period of time but the innovativeness that we bring during these difficult times would be something we could look back on and say there was a good part of what we faced the hardship that we went through, had its up moments which we availed of,” he explained. Governments have a major role to play in Journalists, politics, and economists have all made comparisons that compare the current crisis to the second World War, regardless of whether it’s with respect to the scope of challenges that are presented or the scale of economic dislocation. In addition to taking advantage of existing expertise that entrepreneurs can offer, one lesson to take away from the time is that there needs to be a centralised and coordinated government response. “Yes, to take an example, if you look at the US. Then you look at what organizations like DARPA have done as the government supporting new technologies in biotechnology or integrated circuits or in the total variety of things the government has supported - three, four, five billion dollars which the private sector would not have been able to do. They have ushered in new industries because of their ability to come up with the funds earmarked for a particular development,” Tata said. “And if we had at a time like this had a way of marshalling some funds. In certain areas, we could have another wave of innovativeness arising out of a problem just like we've had in World War 2 or the Cold War. We could look at the plus side of that which caused innovation to take place with or perhaps not have happened or taken much longer to do than they have done,” Tata concluded. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/86-indian-consumers-are-worried-about-repaying-loans-after-moratorium-says-a-new-bcg-survey/articleshow/75687575.cms">86% Indian consumers are worried about repaying loans after moratorium, says a new BCG survey</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/70-of-oyo-hotels-in-china-have-reopened-and-bookings-are-rising-slowly-the-company-says/articleshow/75687657.cms">70% of OYO hotels in China have reopened ⁠— and bookings are rising slowly, the company says</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/bandhan-bank-share-price-and-impact-on-rural-india/articleshow/75677008.cms">Bandhan Bank shares have gained 54% since lockdown started⁠— but the numbers will reveal the real damage to rural India from COVID-19</a>

Ratan Tata’s advice to investors — 'Don't dismiss anything as being too far out'

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/49289334.cms" /> 
Having Mittal as a surname may come off as a burden to a bright 27 year old willing to make a mark in the global market. However, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Kavin+Mittal">Kavin Mittal</a> is determined to not let his father’s fame blur his own .Master Mittal is the founder-CEO of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Hike+Messenger">Hike Messenger</a> and the son of Bharti Mittal, the head of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Bharti+Airtel">Bharti Airtel</a>, India’s largest telecom company. 
 
BI India chatted up with this young and enthusiastic <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=entrepreneur">entrepreneur</a> to know what gets him going. 
 
BI: Your biggest lessons as an <keyword id="6359301" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Entrepreneur">entrepreneur</keyword>. 
Kavin: I think the biggest lesson is you've got to keep your ego in check. I believe the success of a company is directly proportional to the learning curve of the founder-CEO. My learning curve in the last three years has been literally vertical. What did I know about building a messaging app? Nothing. You've to stay ahead of the curve, and the curve is moving so fast that there's less time in figuring out how this stuff works. 
 
Second is you need to have a strong mind. Perseverance is very important. One of the biggest reasons why startups fail is perseverance. Not very long ago Hike was all set to shut down. Back in Jan 2013, this was before we raised our first round of funding. Germany became very big for us, but India was still zero. By March we had 3 million users as targets, and we had zero in India that Jan. We were freaking out. With our back pushed up against the wall we launched talk-time rewards, which incentivized people to get friends on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Hike">Hike</a>, and the user-base went from zero to 5 million in 3 months. If we didn't have the determination to make this a success, it would not have happened. 
 
Third is a healthy body and a healthy mind. It's been a very stressful period, the last three years. You go through ups and downs. More downs than ups, and it's very important to be fit to actually stay in a state of mind to make good decisions, even in the worst times. I only have 24 hours a day, I could really use 48 hours. But the only way to expand this is to work out, stay healthy so that your 24 hours feels like 48 hours. 
 
BI: Your father, Sunil Mittal, is a self-made man, and he's had life lessons galore. How often do you go to him for any kind of advice and how often has his advice made any impact in the business you're in? 
Kavin: The simple answer to that is that every great successful entrepreneur has great mentors. I have a mentor who happens to be my father, whose experience in life happens to be tremendous. 
 
BI: Who are the people you look up to in the business world as role models, as people you can emulate and learn from? 
Kavin: You know there's a saying - you're born original don't die a copy. I love that. I think you can borrow from people you look up to, but never try to copy. You got to be your own person. Of course, I've looked up to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Steve+Jobs">Steve Jobs</a> my whole life. I was very inspired by him. There are very few people in the world with five big breakthroughs. 
 
The second one has to be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Niki+Lauda">Niki Lauda</a>. I'm a big <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Formula+One">Formula On</a>e fan. If you've read the Lauda story, it's a much more real version of the Rush movie. Hats off to the guy, the way he changed the sport, the accidents that he had, the perseverance that he had after that. Came from a very wealthy family, still went his own way. 
 
There are a common set of qualities in these people. They have a very, very clear state of mind and they want to change the world around them. 
 
BI: What are the biggest challenges young entrepreneurs in India face today? 
Kavin: To sum it up in a sentence everybody seems to be looking for a quick fix. Everybody wants to go from start to finish tomorrow. It does not happen. Building businesses and products take time. You'll go through more downs than ups in your life while building a startup. Don't build a company to be successful and famous. If you do that you'll face a quick death. Start a company if you're inspired by an idea. 
 
BI: Are there books that have left an impression on you? 
Kavin: The most recent one is called The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. He's a great guy. Talks about life as a journey, his startup and so forth. It's like my Bible. 
 
The other one is a book that I've read again for the second time. It's called Zen Mind Beginner's Mind. It stems from the Zen Buddhist philosophy that I personally follow. It's just changed the way I look at the world completely. When you realize the world around you is simply an illusion of your mind, it's a very, very powerful thing. These two books have had the biggest impacts on my life in the last 3 years. 
 
BI: What is the one thing that really makes you happy after a hard day at work? 
Kavin: Sleep *Laughs*. Just getting 7 hours of restful sleep will make you the happiest person on the planet. 
 
BI: Given your sweet tooth, won’t some Rasmalai and Rabri also make you happy *laughs*! 
Kavin: I really like the Magnum Almond. I can go through three or four of them in a day. I avoid them like a plague. You have to build a life that offers you balance. I work out really hard so that I can cheat and eat some Chocolate, and because I eat chocolate I have to work out. It balances itself out in many different ways. You have one life to live. 90 years is not a lot of time, and I've already almost gone through one-third of my life. Time flies by, each year becomes a smaller part of your life. So each year goes by faster. 
 
BI: We read a lot about people like Elon Mask. Where are we lacking in India. Why don't we have people like these? More than 60% of software engineers in the US is Indian! 
Kavin: You can see the first wave of Internet startups in India happening today. There are a lot of people working on ground-breaking technology in this country. More importantly it's the environment, the mindset. In <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Silicon+Valley">Silicon Valley</a> it's OK to have 10 failures. Here you have half a failure and they'll put you in a pit and shame you. You really should see failure in a company as a comma, not a full-stop. You have to allow people to iterate and fail, and that's the only way to grow. 
 
BI: You think the push to startups will only come when we're more open-minded? 
Kavin: I think it's already happening in such a big way. However, there are still people who fear failure. Fearing failure is a good thing as long as it drives and motivates you. It should not be the dominant thing. The pressure of success is so high that that itself can detriment a lot of people to talk about ideas. Hope we can provide inspiration to the next generation of companies. Look at Ritesh Aggarwal from Oyo Rooms for instance, a very smart guy. This is happening and we hopefully will see more of this sooner.

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