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<ul><li><keyword id="3156357" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rivigo">Rivigo</keyword> is the latest startup to attain the $1 billion valuation.</li><li>This year, India has already seen 8 <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword> joining the unicorn club. </li><li>With 3 months left for 2019, this year could break 2018’s record of 8 unicorns.</li></ul>India’s unicorn club seems to be having a good year as eight startups joined the coveted club In 2018, eight startups turned unicorns basically reached $1 billion in valuation. Here’s a look at all the startups that have crossed the valuation mark so far in 2019. Rivigo The latest startup to join the unicorn club is logistics startup Rivigo. The logistics sector had long been in the limelight after Delhivery turned unicorn. After this, both Rivigo and Blackbuck raised funds, heating up the race to being a unicorn. Now, Rivigo has managed to be a unicorn after it raised $4.9 million from South Korea's KB Platform Fund. After the deal closed, it is valued at $1.05 billion. Delhivery In March this year, Delhivery became 2019’s first unicorn. This was after the logistics tech startup raised $395 million from SoftBank. After its funding in March, it’s valued at $1.6 billion. The logistics solutions company was founded by Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Suraj Saharan, Kapil Bharti and Bhavesh Manglani. They created a stronghold in the market by partnering with e-commerce majors like Flipkart and Paytm amongst others. Big Basket The grocery retail startup became a unicorn in March 2019. Bigbasket closed its Series F round of funding with an investment of $150 million, which valued it at $2.3 billion. The funding was led by Bigbasket’s earlier investor Alibaba, along with a new investor – Mirae Asset. The grocery sector which is now buzzing with new entrants like Swiggy. Grofers too turned its finances around, and has recently turned a soonicorn after the latest round of funding in May 2019. Ola Electric Ola’s subsidiary Ola Electric also turned a unicorn like its parent company. Its growth has also been fast as most of Ola’s existing investors placed their bets on the company. In July, it became a unicorn after raising $250 million from Softbank. In May, Ola Electric also raised funds from former Vodafone Group CEO Arun Sarin. Some of its other illustrious investors include Chairman Emeritus of Tata Group, Ratan Tata. In March, it had raised ₹4 billion from Ola’s existing and early investors – Tiger Global and Matrix India. Dream 11 India’s first gaming unicorn is Dream11, a fantasy gaming startup. It announced a secondary investment from Steadview Capital, an Asia-focused alternative asset manager in April 2011 which gave brought it its unicorn status. The 11-year old startup had a dream run in 2019, after signing up with IPL and the BCCI as its official partners. The cricket world cup along with IPL helped it clock in stellar numbers. In an interview with Business Insider, one of its founders Bhavin Sheth said that the startup hopes to hit 100 million users by the end of the year. Icertis In July 2019, India and US-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform Icertis became a unicorn. It raised $115 million in funding from Azim Premji’s Premji Invest and US-based VC firm Greycroft. The company, which offers contract management, has 5.7 million contracts across 90 countries. Some of its are Adobe, Airtel, Cognizant, Infosys, and Microsoft. Druva The Indo-US startup Druva entered the unicorn club in June 2019. The cloud data protection startup raised $130 million in a round that was led by Viking Global Investors. It also saw participation from funds like Neuberger Berman and Atreides Management. Existing investors Riverwood Capital, Tenaya Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners too participated in the round. Druva is a SaaS (Software as a Service) startup which was founded by Jaspreet Singh and Milind Borate in 2008. Its patented cloud architecture enables cyber governance, improves cyber resiliency, and helps customers gain critical insights. Citius Tech The healthtech company was a lesser known startup which gained unicorn status. The company provides healthcare solutions, using technologies like business intelligence, mobility and IoT, Big Data, cloud computing, predictive analytics and data science. The company was acquired by Baring Private Equity Asia in July 2019, which gave it a valuation of $1 billion.

With Rivigo joining the club, these are the 8 unicorns of 2019 so far

<ul><li>Logistics startup <keyword id="3156357" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rivigo">Rivigo</keyword> has raised $65 million in its Series E round.</li><li>This funding, which came in from Warburg Pincus and <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword>, is a part of its ongoing Series E round. </li><li>The startup’s last reported valuation was $950 million and with this funding it could have crossed the $1 billion mark to be a unicorn.</li></ul>Logistics startup Rivigo raised $65 million in its latest Series E round. The funding came in from PE firm Warburg Pincus and SAIF Partners. Rivigo’s last reported valuation was at $950 million when it raised the earlier tranche for the Series E round, in February. With the new round, Rivigo could have become India’s latest unicorn, although it’s not confirmed yet. “We continue on our mission to make logistics human and digital. Relay trucking is now very well established where relay truck pilots lead better life and customers gets exceptional service. With technology and freight marketplace, we now want to bring relay to every truck in the country,” Deepak Garg, chief executive of Rivigo, said in a <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/warburg-pincus-saif-partners-lead-65-million-funding-round-in-rivigo/articleshow/70171852.cms">statement</a>. Rivigo and its competitor <keyword id="53463" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="blackbuck">Blackbuck</keyword> both have been racing towards the unicorn status. Blackbuck had announced its latest funding in May and it had fallen a few million short of being a unicorn. It is also currently valued at $950 million. Blackbuck had raised $150 million from Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Silicon Valley-based Accel, along with Wellington, Sequoia Capital, B Capital and LightStreet and existing investors Sands Capital and International Finance Corporation.

Rivigo raises $65 million in its latest round as it stands at the door of the unicorn club

<ul><li>Logistics startup <keyword id="53463" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="blackbuck">Blackbuck</keyword> raised $150 million in a series D round led by <keyword id="6361649" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Goldman-Sachs">Goldman Sachs</keyword> Investment Partners and Silicon Valley-based Accel. </li><li>Blackbuck employees have the option to liquidate 25% of their total vested stocks, at the current stock price of the company.</li></ul>In the Indian startup world, talks have been doing the rounds – which one is going to hit the unicorn club next? And if you have been a part of these discussions, two logistics startups names have always come in – <keyword id="3156357" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rivigo">Rivigo</keyword> and Blackbuck. All eyes have been on funding announcements by either of these startups, to know that they have ferried their way into being a unicorn. Well, Blackbuck announced its funding on Wednesday, and although it has fallen a few million short of being a unicorn (it is currently valued at $950 million) – it had another interesting Employee Stock Ownership Plan (<keyword id="120103" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Esop">ESOP</keyword>) round. The online marketplace for trucking has raised $150 million from Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Silicon Valley-based Accel, along with Wellington, Sequoia Capital, B Capital and LightStreet and existing investors Sands Capital and International Finance Corporation. “With this round of financing, we will invest to deepen our presence across the national market. Significant investments will be made into product development and data sciences, both these dimensions are core to BlackBuck’s marketplace approach”, said Rajesh Yabaji, CEO &amp; Co-Founder of BlackBuck. However, along with this round Blackbuck employees had the option to liquidate 25% of their total vested stocks, at the current stock price of the company. According to the company’s official statement, over the last four years, the company’s employee stock option (ESOP) plan created a cumulative value of over $43 million and the company continues to invest heavily in this direction. The logistics startup made this offer available to its employees for the second time. In 2017, when the company was still an early entrant in the today’s $150 billion long haul road transportation industry in India, had offered its employees to liquidate their stocks for <a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/blackbuck-logistics-esop-repurchase-plan/">11X</a> returns. The move comes in to ensure employee growth along with the company’s growth. BlackBuck has over 300,000 trucks and 60,000+ fleet owners on its platform and services major companies including Coca Cola, HUL among others. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/delhivery-raises-395-million-from-softbank-enters-the-unicorn-club-of-india/articleshow/68287009.cms">Delhivery becomes India’s first unicorn in 2019, thanks to SoftBank</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/private-equity-and-venture-capital-deals-in-india-were-worth-10-billion-in-q1-2019/articleshow/68716660.cms">Indian funding deal value in the first three months of 2019 is over half of last year's total</a>

This Indian startup’s latest funding is also going to make its employees rich

Startups are unaffected by getting banned and are recruiting top talent at IIT placements this year. Regardless of the fact that many of the startups are being blacklisted by the institutes, many international companies that have just started in India are providing the students great offers and some big recruiters' individual hiring numbers. 
 Many like <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> are amongst the blacklisted ones, their rival likes <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> and <keyword id="6357120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PayTM">Paytm</keyword> are hiring aggressively at several <keyword id="6386086" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Institutes-of-Technology">Indian Institutes of Technology</keyword>, and commanding premium slots in placements along with the likes of logistics startup <keyword id="3932850" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="rivigo-services">Rivigo Services</keyword> and enterprise software developer CodeNation. 
 Amazon is planning to visit 17 <keyword id="49737" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IITs">IITs</keyword> this year and is looking forward to hiring more engineers than last year. It is making its first Jodhpur, Indore and Bhubaneswar IITs. 
 "We firmly believe that as we expand and grow in the country, talented engineers from these institutes will play an instrumental role in driving Amazon's growth in India. We continue to be aggressive in our hiring outlook as we scale up our operations in India,” <keyword id="662878" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raj-Raghavan">Raj Raghavan</keyword>, HR director for APAC at Amazon, told ET. 
 
Paytm, after being benefited by the government’s demonetisation scheme, is now looking forward to increasing its intake from IITs this year. 
 "Paytm is expanding quickly and we are constantly on the lookout for talent to help us keep the momentum,” <keyword id="214729" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amit-Sinha">Amit Sinha</keyword>, senior VP at Paytm, told ET. 
 
The Noida-based ecommerce and digital payments provider has hired from Guwahati, Roorkee, Madras, Bombay and Varanasi (BHU) IITs this year. Besides these biggies, several smaller startups, too, have joined the rush to attract top talent from the country's premier engineering campuses. 
 
"Startups are far from disappearing from the campus. For us, they hold a good share in the placements this year. Where 55 startups have registered for placements this year, up from 50 last year, and they've already handed out more offers than last year,” NP Padhy, professor-in-charge for training and placement at IIT Roorkee, told ET. 
 
There are many new comers in the placement league and the list includes Smartprix, FlyNava Technologies, Clustr, Hike and Buyhatke. 
 
"There are still many startups coming. While most hire in small numbers, they still find takers, especially among students who have a risk appetite,” a senior person involved in IIT placements, told ET. 
 
The IITs also blacklisted a list of startups over a list of numerous reasons. Despite some startups revoking offers in previous years, several students are still eager to join such firms. 
 "Students are now more aware about the uncertainties associated with startups, and more informed. Many are eager to join them, especially those who want to start something of their own in the future and want to gain the experience,” B Venkatesham, placement-in-charge at <keyword id="922152" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT-Hyderabad">IIT Hyderabad</keyword>, told ET. 
 
Even in campuses where the number of startup recruiters is less than last year, such firms are among the popular recruiters. IIT Madras has given premium slots to companies such as Amazon, Next Education, CodeNation, Rivigo Services and Paytm in the placement process.

Despite getting blacklisted, startups still rock at IIT placements

Logistics is one tricky sector that is surely going to benefit once the Good and Service Tax (<keyword id="6354679" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="GST">GST</keyword>) gets rolled out from July 1. However the results won’t be too quick. Right now, Blue Dart Express, Gateway Distriparks and Allcargo Logistics are running negative return in the market. At such a juncture, logistic industry is waiting for July just like the farmers of Maharashtra awaiting the rain. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Heres-why-this-is-the-worst-time-to-be-in-the-business-of-hospitality-in-India/articleshow/58805542.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Here’s why this is the worst time to be in the business of hospitality in India</a> The current system of indirect taxation in India is very complex and logistics faces it the most. Each of the 29 states levies different magnitude of taxes when goods are moved across their borders. Both central and state taxes sums up to around 25-27% on goods. Pratish Sanghvi, Co-Founder of Grab a Grub Services Pvt. Ltd said that once GST implementation gets in place, existing taxation structure will dissolve and a new unified structure for all states will come into force. Hence, the effective rate is expected to come down to around 19-21%. This reduction of 6% in taxes will count a lot for the final burden bearing consumers. Grab is India’s first and leading last mile delivery service for businesses and merchants to bridge the gap between them and consumers. GST will lead to a total reduction of 20% in other logistics cost like warehousing, freight forwarding etc. However Sanghvi cautions the major challenge before the government is to arrive at a revenue neutral rate to ascertain no adverse effects on the revenues of central and state governments after the implementation of GST. Furthermore, the government has to protect the interests of all the stakeholders including the ultimate consumers. Structural re-engineering of the logistics network GST will remove process bottlenecks. A recent study revealed that out of the total transit time taken by a truck, it remains idle for 40% of the time due to border checks for octroi and other entry barriers. After removal of this hurdle, quicker movement of goods and increased number of deliveries will ensure operational efficiencies. Also, an estimated cost of 25% can be saved, which is incurred due to stoppages and idleness. “Currently to avoid interstate taxes, businesses build warehouses near their manufacturing facilities, ignoring the geographical disadvantages. After GST implementation, businesses will warehouse their goods at most suitable locations without the fear of multiple taxes,” said Sanghvi. Government has also allowed 100% FDI in warehousing. It will be much easier for foreign players to comply with the single point GST norms than with the previous ones. Trucking business: the major blind spot “Trucking business was always unorganized and fragmented, and it hasn’t changed much in recent time. Local businesses are largely dependent on the nearby transporters which usually rip off the users despite poor quality and inefficiencies,” Singhvi informed. There are many startups such as Rivigo and Blackbuck that are eyeing a complete revolution of the industry. A cost effective mix of higher efficiencies and lower transit time is the product they are going with into the market. India vis-à-vis global benchmarks after the implementation of GST GST has received critical acclaim globally. There are more than 160 countries around the world that have already implemented GST. After a delayed roll out, drastic changes will take place in India’s economic future. Globally, the average rate of GST ranges between 15-20%. We are yet to decide a revenue neutral rate, but the vibes are positive for logistics industry. In India, the operational inefficiency exists in the core and costs are on a higher side than other countries. This bullwhips the inflation on other products as well. So, for a crucial industry like logistics, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Heres-why-this-is-the-worst-time-to-be-in-the-business-of-hospitality-in-India/articleshow/58805542.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">GST is the need of the hour.</a> Better logistics = Better nation Logistics is considered as most crucial for any nation’s development. Level of economic activity in country and scale of logistics are positively correlated. Ecommerce penetration and schemes like Make in India will push it even further. If taxation regime is simplified through GST, it will prove to be major reboot for the logistics industry. GST will also be a key enabler for businesses to reorganize their supply chain, in accordance with various business considerations.

Here's how GST is going to be ‘legendary’ for logistic industry in India

The <keyword id="6359833" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Goods-and-Services-Tax">Goods and Services Tax</keyword>, one of the biggest reforms in India’s indirect tax structure is likely to revolutionise the Indian economy in an unprecedented manner. As envisaged, <keyword id="6354679" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="GST">GST</keyword> will propel GDP growth to newer heights, lower income disparity and simplify decision making of businesses. The GST rollout will be a key milestone for the nation as its implementation will have a far-reaching impact on the Indian economy. 
 
It will substantially lower the indirect tax incidence over a period of time which will reduce the costs of manufactured goods. For instance, in the automobile sector, India currently operates at an indirect tax incidence of 32-40% based on class of the cars, whereas China operates at 17% and the global average GST is 16 %. Due to higher indirect tax incidence, our manufactured goods are more expensive. Lowering of indirect taxes will boost domestic consumption of goods by 7 to 10 times as it will bring in disproportionate price elasticity effects which will drive India’s economic growth in the next decade. 
 
As GST paves the path for migration from indirect taxation to direct taxation, it will lower the disparity between income classes as direct taxes take into account who the consumer is. GST is a consumption tax, and hence the tax is passed on till the last stage, wherein the customer of the goods and services bears the tax. So over a period of time, GST will reduce the tax incidence on the poor, promoting the welfare of the general population of India. 
 
For the corporates, it simplifies decision making as companies can now focus on business efficiency rather than tax benefits. GST removes multiplicity of taxes across states and will create a single national taxation system and a single common market. With this move, companies will set up production sites where the most competitive ecosystem of labor, infrastructure, land, suppliers and state incentives exist. Also, they will sell goods closer to the markets, by creating fewer modern and at scale warehouses and an efficient inbound and outbound supply chain from these warehouses. 
 
As the above transformation happens, logistics sector will have to play a bold role to ensure the full benefits of GST flow through the economy. The sector will be required to build efficient asset footprints (warehouse and trucks), adopt immense amount of technology and reduce Turn Around Time with increased predictability. While India is one of lowest transportation cost markets, it’s also one of the most inefficient logistics markets (at 14% of the GDP). The missing piece in the above two seemingly opposite assertions is “inventory”. In US in 1970’s inventory was 55% of logistics spend base, when the logistics spend was 16% of GDP. The spend has now reduced to 7-8% of GDP with inventory cost as only 10% of this spend base. Currently, Indian inventory spend (losses, obsolescence, wastage) can be up to 50-60% of the overall logistics spend. If it were to get to US level of logistics efficiency, significant amount of capital can be unlocked through inventory. For a 2-3 trillion dollar economy, this could mean a potential of USD 200 billion wasteful inventory spend being available to deploy in productive value creation and further propelling economy’s growth. 
 
 
The Indian logistics sector can fulfill India’s GST dream by adopting three bold measures which will have a revolutionary impact on the overall economy. Firstly, it should enable shorter and predictable transportation lead times. In developed markets, trucks cover 600-800 KM per day, whereas Indian trucks cover only 250-300 KM per day due to many factors. India can improve truck efficiency and achieve 800-1000 KM per day of transit through check post time reduction, better truck technology, road infrastructure upgradation and unique driver management techniques, which can lead to significantly shorter lead times and thus massive reduction in safety stocks. Innovative technology can be further used to make transit times more and more predictable and accurate as has been shown by technologies used in cab app companies. 
 
Secondly, logistics sector should adopt zero warehousing as the best warehousing strategy. Indian companies have to rethink and be bold about their plant and warehousing footprint. India is large geography but very well connected and most locations can be reached with 3-5 days of transit with efficient logistics systems. Most successful global players believe in plant fulfilment to provide best logistics efficiencies. Indian companies have to think hard about the need of regional warehousing and gradually eliminate the same. If not fully eliminate, they should build large 1-2 warehouses to reduce storage space and thus inventory in the system. 
 
Lastly, it should build transparency and visibility of inventory through extensive use of technology. Currently, US spends 50% of its total logistics spend (which as highlighted above is 6-8% of GDP) on technology. From 70s to now, US has gradually replaced inventory spend with technology spend, making logistics more reliable and efficient. Through e-commerce and start up ecosystem, India has got to the technology bandwagon. It now has to be used extensively to enable end to end visibility through the supply chains, promoting efficiency by reducing inventory and need of multiple warehousing. 
 
GST reform, along with innovation in logistics sector can be a game changer for Indian economy. It will be a constitutive shift which will propel our economic growth and benefit not only businesses, but also the Indian society in entirety. 
 
About the author: Deepak Garg is the founder of Rivigo, a Gurgaon-based technology-enabled logistics company 
 
<a href="http://www.flatle.com/insights/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/GST.jpg">Image source</a>

GST’s hidden treasure of USD 200 billion

The startup boom in <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, which some say peeked in 2015, is still looked at as the key to innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. Analysing these <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword>, <keyword id="28120" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Linkedin">LinkedIn</keyword> published the 2018 LinkedIn Top Startups List for India. The world’s largest professional network looked at actions taken by more than 50 million professionals on the site and came up with a list of the 25 most attractive startups where people want to work. <keyword id="2808667" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO">OYO</keyword>, India’s largest hospitality company, tops the list. Their aggressive expansion plan has led them into Malaysia, China and the UK in just the last 9 months. Currently the company is in conversation to raise $1 billion which will bring its total valuation to over $4 billion. The health and wellness startup, <keyword id="4506924" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="cure-fit">Cure.fit</keyword> came in second, which isn’t really a surprise considering they offer their employees unlimited leave, fixed increments every six months and a concierge service for personal tasks. It’s followed by <keyword id="6890164" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="dunzo-in">Dunzo.in</keyword>, a concierge services venture, in third place. That being said, Dunzo.in isn’t pan-India yet and only has services available in Pune, Bangalore and Gurgaon. While the list is extensive, there is no set trend to what sector of startups people prefer. <div type="image" title="Orange and Black Vector Job Fair Flyer" tempid="251815" msid="65866696" hostid="261"></div>

 Unicorn club Other than OYO, Rivigo and Udaan.com are two other startups on the list that are near unicorn status. Rivigo, a logistics startup, is almost at $1 billion after recently raising an additional $50 million in funds. Udaan.com is leading the pack, according to the report, with it being valued at over $ 1 billion after its round of September fundraising. Employee engagement matters Some of the startups on the list have made it there because they recognise that it’s important for employees to feel a sense of ownership. For instance, OYO ensures that all new hires are exposed to actual business problems from their first day at work so that they understand their responsibility and accountability. Razorpay, on the other hand, has a unique regulation where every team member has to take fours hours of customer support calls, regardless of seniority or role. Other companies employ innovative appraisal methods instead. Jumbotail, for example, flouts the norm by giving 80% weightage to peer feedback and only 20% to manager feedback while looking at annual reviews. The startups on this list have been measured across four pillars - employment growth, engagement, job interest and top talent. While a lot of disruptive and new startups made it to the list, older names like Flipkart, Swiggy and BigBasket are missing.

These are the 25 most sought after startups in India: Report

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

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

Business-to-Business is fast becoming the next ‘must-invest’ sector in India and 2015 has been the year. With Venture Capitalists pouring in millions of money into <keyword id="6399166" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="B2B">B2B</keyword> ecommerce start-ups this space saw exceptional growth in just one year. It also saw some spectacular decisions being taken with the plan to set up the country’s first B2B international ecommerce platform for manufacturers and exporters to sell any product that is made or valued in India, to overseas vendors. “2015 is the year when B2B became a sector on its own,” said Swati Gupta, founder of <keyword id="2741940" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="industrybuying-com">industrybuying.com</keyword> that is growing at 25% month-on-month since December 2014. Another portal in the space <keyword id="2735270" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tolexo">Tolexo</keyword>.com, India’s first and largest online bazaar for Industrial products, has hit a major milestone with over 1, 00,000 businesses buying from its online platform and records more than 40% growth in the customer base month-on-month, within 10 months of its launch. Further, the brand is expected to serve 1 million businesses by 2020. “The adoption rate has been phenomenal,” said <keyword id="2402415" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Brijesh-Agrawal">Brijesh Agrawal</keyword>, founder of Tolexo. He was leading IndiaMart for 19 years. These portals have also attracted huge <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword>. Industrybuying raised USD 9 million in Series B funding in September 2015. The latest to join the bandwagon is rivigo, which offers on-demand B2B logistics services to companies in the e-commerce, FMCG, auto, pharma and the cold chain industries and has secured a funding of USD 30 million. 

	The numbers have proved well why this sector is going to be the ‘next big thing’ in the start-ups revolution. But what changed in 2015 that made it so huge an industry?
 

	Drivers
 

	“What existed earlier was the classified platform where typically businesses would find out with whom they want to do businesses with. But with these portals, businesses can sell and buy instantly, without having to negotiate as the price and availability of the product are there on the site. Hence the overall buying decision becomes a lot easier and quicker for them to make. These portals not only allow you to find the right product and the right supplier, it also ensures the product is picked up from the supplier and delivered to the doorstep,” said Brijesh.
 

	He further said another added advantage was that the products can be delivered in small cities too.
 

	Tolexo has managed to penetrate into the deepest parts of the nation, with customers from remote locations on its list, from among more than 900 cities, with over 65% of this traction coming from Tier 2, 3 &amp; 4 cities. 
 

	Challenges
 The sector mainly faces four main challenges, <keyword id="6383566" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Taxation">taxation</keyword> systems in different states, supply chain network, adaptability to the new online platform and awareness. 

	1. Taxation
 

	Different states have different taxation for different products. Dealing with that is a bit of a problem as the supplier can come from any city for that matter.
 

	2. Adaptability
 

	“B2B has never been exposed to ecommerce before, both from the seller side and the buyer side. So, the nuances that come along a typical B2B ecommerce business are something that we are experiencing for the first time,” said Brijesh.
 

	3. Supply chain network
 

	The third challenge is with the logistics infrastructure itself. The major traction that comes from Tier 2,3 and 4 cities. The existing supply chain network is not predictable in these areas.
 

	“So delivering within a specified timeframe is big challenge,” said Swati.
 

	4. Awareness
 

	Also, lack of awareness is something that cause lack of trust between the supplier and the customer.
 

	Some predictions for 2016
 A clear supply chain network would be built for <keyword id="3179231" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="B2B-ecommerce-portals">B2B ecommerce portals</keyword>, predicts Brijesh while adding that they are planning to build a credit based payment mechanism for business to buy online in 2016. 

	Swati predicts her platform will witness a growth of 3x in the next six months.

	 
	 
	(Image credits: Indiatimes)

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