<ul><li><keyword id="830092" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="zomato" source="Orion">Zomato</keyword> posted a net loss of ₹1,222 crore for the March quarter — which swelled by ₹400 crore since last year.</li><li>The company had given too many discounts during the quarter loading its expenses which is nearly 40% more than the revenues it earned in FY22.</li><li>Both Zomato and its rival Swiggy together hold 90-95% market share in India’s food delivery business.</li></ul>Zomato has been losing steam ever since PayTM’s listing debut took the wind off all tech startup valuations. But today, the stock gained 18% even as it posted a net loss of ₹1,222 crore for the March quarter — which swelled by ₹400 crore since last year. The secret of this investor interest does not come from its revenues which nearly doubled either. The company had given too many discounts during the quarter loading its expenses which is nearly 40% more than the revenues it earned! <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </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;">FY2021 </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;">FY2022 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Revenue </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;">₹1,994 crore </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;">₹4,192 crore </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Expenses </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹2,609 crore </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;">₹6,205 crore </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Loss </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;">₹816 corre </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;">₹1,222 crore </td></tr></tbody></table>Source: Zomato’s financial statement Prashanth Tapse, vice president of Research at Mehta Equities noted that the reason behind Zomato’s increased expense were high discounts that company has been giving to overcome tough competition. “I believe at this juncture, accumulated losses would remain a high concern and it only requires more capital to keep the business going,” Tapse noted. Zomato’s CEO Deepinder Goyal, and CFO Akshant Goyal too noted that discounts was one of the major levers of the company’s expense, along with delivery and other variable expenses. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Commissions, ad sales and delivery charges" comment="subhead" text="Commissions, ad sales and delivery charges">Commissions, ad sales and delivery charges</cmsannotation> However, with the market share it enjoys, Zomato has found key levers on the revenue side like restaurant commissions, ad-sales and customer delivery charges. Zomato and its rival Swiggy together hold <a href="https://theprint.in/theprint-essential/are-zomato-swiggy-helping-restaurant-business-or-hurting-it-why-cci-has-ordered-a-probe/905581/">90-95%</a> market share in India’s food delivery business - while Zomato is a dominant player in North India. It had 204,000 active monthly partners at the end of March 2022, and 316,000 delivery partners. It is also preparing for the next stage of growth with reduced losses, and has expanded its presence at another 300 cities between January and March 2022 to tap into 1,000 cities in total. Zomato also has a four-pronged strategy ahead — focus on customers, business expansion, profit making/reducing burn, quality and speed of execution. “These four high level priorities haven’t changed over the last couple of years, and I know that they are generic and apply to almost every business. However, this is a framework of prioritization for me, and the actual how-to’s (read: to-dos) keep changing based on the environment, or when I get new information about our business,” Goyal added. Brokerage firms seem to believe in Zomato’s vision and have a ‘buy’ rating on them — though most of them have been reversing their ratings in loss-making startups after PayTm’s failure. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Brokerage </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;">Rating </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;">Target Price </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Jefferies </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;">Buy </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;">₹100 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">JP Morgan </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;">Overweight </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;">₹130 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Morgan Stanley </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;">Overweight </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;">₹135 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">UBS </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;">Buy </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;">₹130 </td></tr></tbody></table> Zomato made a stellar debut on the stock market, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/zomato-makes-a-strong-public-market-debut-at-51-premium-shares-open-at-115/articleshow/84667265.cms">at a premium of 51%</a>, as the company was listed at ₹116 against the issue price of ₹76. However, its share prices have been on a decline ever since the start of 2022 due to sharp corrections in the market. The Gurugram-based company’s shares have fallen around 54% since January 2022. They closed for trade at ₹65 on May 24. SEE ALSO <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/banks/news/an-indian-credit-card-user-spends-14500-a-month-on-average-20x-more-than-debit-card-users/articleshow/91759657.cms">An Indian credit card user spends ₹14,500 a month on average – 20x more than debit card users</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/indias-first-self-driving-cars-startup-minus-zero-bags-1-7-million-from-uber-rival-lyft/articleshow/91743004.cms">India’s first self-driving cars startup bags $1.7 million</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/former-twitter-india-head-is-looking-to-wind-down-his-metaverse-college-in-less-than-six-months/articleshow/91743472.cms">Former Twitter India head is looking to wind down his metaverse college in less than six months</a>

Zomato posted a ₹1,222 crore loss but its stock gained 18% — reasons behind the surge

<ul><li>Kae Capital, All-in Capital, Goodwater Capital etc participated in the round. </li><li>Targeted towards kids aged 4-12, <keyword id="517558" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="supernova" source="Orion">Supernova</keyword>’s live quizzes aim to cover subjects through interactive 30-minute sessions. </li><li>The online education market in India – which includes K12, higher education and lifelong learning or upskilling – is presently worth around <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/higher-education-lifelong-learning-to-drive-edtech-market-growth-says-redseer-report/articleshow/90475148.cms">$1.9 billion</a>. </li></ul>Supernova, an <keyword id="14007740" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-edtech" source="Orion">Indian edtech</keyword> startup, on Thursday said it had raised $1.1 million in a pre-seed funding round that was led by <keyword id="10412751" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lumikai" source="Orion">Lumikai</keyword>, an Indian gaming and interactive media venture capitalist. Other investors who participated in the round include Kae Capital, All In Capital, Goodwater Capital and prominent angel investors – Nandan Reddy and <keyword id="12193414" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="phani-kishan" source="Orion">Phani Kishan</keyword> - founders of Swiggy; <keyword id="225455" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="nitin-gupta" source="Orion">Nitin Gupta</keyword> - founder of PayU and Uni; Prashan Aggarwal - ex-CEO of Gaana; and Tanay Tayal - founder of Moonfrog labs. The funding comes at a time when Indian startups funding has hit a <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/business/indian-startup-funding-hits-2-year-low-in-q3-of-2022-at-usd-2-7-billion-pwc-india-news-229677">two-year low</a> at $2.7 billion in Q3, according to PwC report Startup Deals Tracker-Q3 CY22. However, <a href="https://www.pwc.in/assets/pdfs/services/startups/start-up-perspectives-india-start-up-deals-tracker-q3-cy22.pdf">PwC</a> states “funding in the Indian edtech segment has shown a positive trend in Q3 CY22 compared to the previous quarter (in value terms).” Supernova was started by Anirudh, Nawin and Maharishi in 2021. Targeted towards kids aged 4-12, the edtech firm aims to redefine the current passive forms of learning by making learning more engaging and fun. Supernova makes live quizzes in interactive gaming formats on various subjects of CBSE for students from class 1 to class 8. Live quizzes, “Byte-Sized” lessons and worksheets on CBSE topics can be accessed on Supernova. “Today's kids are born into a world of smartphones and highly engaging digital experiences, so they look for the same levels of engagement from their learning experiences. As a result, education is undergoing a generational shift towards user-centricity,” Maharishi RB, co-founder, Supernova said. Their live quizzes aim to cover subjects through interactive 30-minute sessions. The online education market, which includes K12, higher education and lifelong learning or upskilling in India is presently worth around <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/higher-education-lifelong-learning-to-drive-edtech-market-growth-says-redseer-report/articleshow/90475148.cms">$1.9 billion</a>. “We believe that systems of play and gaming best practices have the potential to unlock massive disruption in edtech. Supernova is taking a first-principles approach to a massive opportunity with a new platform that re-imagines kids' education by leveraging the power of experiential, game-based “learning by doing”,” Justin Shriram Keeling, founding general partner, Lumikai Fund said. With the amount raised, Supernova will further develop and scale the product to incorporate multiplayer formats, strengthen its leadership team and deploy strategies that will amplify product lead user acquisition over the next 18 months. ”Traditional edtech models characterised by high customer acquisition costs, prohibitively expensive courses, and poor learning outcomes are unsustainable,” <keyword id="15254689" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sunitha-viswanathan" source="Orion">Sunitha Viswanathan</keyword>, Partner, Kae Capital said. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/soon-you-wont-be-able-to-fake-your-age-on-instagram/articleshow/94853597.cms">Soon, you won't be able to fake your age on Instagram</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/after-a-credit-card-apple-launches-savings-account-service-in-partnership-with-goldman-sachsheres-what-it-means/articleshow/94852629.cms">After a credit card, Apple launches savings account service in partnership with Goldman Sachs—here’s what it means</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/mindtrees-q2-net-profit-rises-7-9-sequentially-to-509-crore/articleshow/94838575.cms">Mindtree’s Q2 net profit rises 7.9% sequentially to ₹509 crore</a>

Indian edtech startup Supernova raises $1.1 million in pre-seed funding even as Indian startup funding hits a 2-year low

<ul><li><keyword id="6354445" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="open" source="Orion">Open</keyword> raises $50 million in its Series D round from IIFL, Temasek and others.</li><li>Open offers business banking, payments and expense management services to SMEs across India.</li><li>The company claims to have over 2.3 million SMEs, which allows it to process transactions over $30 billion annually.</li></ul>Neobank Open on Monday announced that it is the 100th Indian startup to have entered the unicorn category, which represents companies valued over a billion dollars. While Open claims to be the 100th unicorn, a Venture Intelligence report noted that it is the <a href="https://www.ventureintelligence.com/Indian-Unicorn-Tracker.php">96th company</a> to enter the unicorn club. The development comes as Open raised $50 million in its Series D round. IIFL — along with existing investors Temasek, Tiger Global and 3one4 Capital — participated in the round, Open said in a press release. Founded by Anish Achuthan, Ajeesh Achuthan, Mabel Chacko, and Deena Jacob in 2017, Open offers business banking, payments and expense management services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across India. The company claims to have over 2.3 million SMEs, which allows it to process transactions over $30 billion annually. Open further claims to add over 100,000 SMEs to its clientele every month, making it the fastest-growing SME-focused neobanking platform globally. The startup competes against the likes of IPO-bound Navi, Nubank, CredAvenue and Oxyzo to name a few. The five-year-old company is now looking to launch three new products — revenue-based financing platform Open Flo, early settlement offering Open Settl and working capital lending company Open Capital. The company plans to disburse loans worth $1 billion in the next 12 months through its Open Capital offering. “We see a lot of synergies with IIFL especially on leveraging the lending book, as we are getting ready to launch innovative products like revenue-based financing, early settlement, working capital loan and business credit cards to SMEs on our platform,” Anish Achuthan, cofounder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Open, said in a press note. SEE ALSO <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/the-big-boss-of-indias-largest-consumer-company-is-worried-about-stagflation-and-unprecedented-inflation/articleshow/91251341.cms">The big boss of India's largest consumer company is worried about stagflation and unprecedented inflation</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/no-one-can-be-forced-to-get-vaccinated-vaccine-trial-data-should-be-put-in-public-domain-says-supreme-court/articleshow/91252857.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">No one can be forced to get vaccinated, vaccine trial data should be put in public domain, says Supreme Court</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/byjus-swiggy-and-ten-other-startups-raised-the-biggest-round-last-quarter/slidelist/91251672.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Byju's, Swiggy and ten other startups raised nearly $4 billion last quarter</a>

It's Open — India now has a century of unicorns

<ul><li><keyword id="1106616" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="truecaller" source="Orion">Truecaller</keyword> is now looking to introduce a set of features that will allow users to respond to business calls without really picking them up.</li><li>The upcoming feature would allow the customers to let such businesses know whether they are interested in their offering.</li><li>The company had also launched the ‘reason for call’ feature for businesses last year to enable effective communication between customers and companies.</li></ul>The constant unsolicited calls from insurance companies, credit card companies and loan providers are extremely annoying, to say the least. In a bid to improve business communication, Truecaller is now looking to introduce a set of features that will allow users to rate such calls and respond to them without really picking them up. Priyam Bose, the Global Head for Go to Market at Truecaller for Business, noted several businesses keep on blindly calling the customers and such feedback could help them optimise their communication in a much more efficient manner. The upcoming feature would allow the customers to let such businesses know whether they are interested in their offering through automated messages like ‘please don’t call me back’ or ‘call me back later’. This feature will make it much simpler for users to let businesses know whether they are the right target audience for them. Such a feature does exist on Truecaller and phones for peer-to-peer calls. However, the customer service numbers of companies are usually one-way and do not allow customers to send messages or call back. Truecaller’s latest feature would be targeted for those customer services only. Secondly, the feature would be enabled for verified businesses that are represented by the green popup on the Truecaller app. Companies pay for this verification to let the customer know that they are a verified business and gain their trust. The feature is a part of Truecaller’s plans to enable reverse communication, which will reduce spam and allow both businesses and their customers to communicate with each other in an optimized manner. The company had also launched the ‘reason for call’ feature for businesses last year, where businesses could cite their reason for calling the customer. Bose told Business Insider, “today we are solving for the first leap of it, where business is making that communication by calling. Then tomorrow the tools will further enable the users to communicate back to those businesses.” The company is still working on the feature and has not decided on a timeline to launch it. Notably, India is the biggest market for Truecaller. About 73% — or 205 million — of its 278.1 million monthly active users are from India. It also counts companies like Uber India, Swiggy, Airtel, Flipkart, Byju’s, Urban Company, HDFC Bank, and Unacademy, among others, as its key customers. The country contributes about 69% to its overall revenue. SEE ALSO <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/hdfc-to-sell-10-stake-in-its-private-equity-real-estate-firm-to-abu-dhabi-investment-authority/articleshow/90950731.cms">HDFC to sell 10% stake in its private equity real estate firm to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/banks/news/hdfc-out-of-top-10-largest-companies-in-india/articleshow/90933474.cms" style="">HDFC twins wipe out ₹2.5 lakh crore investor wealth, push HDFC out of top 10 largest companies in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/jiofiber-plans-with-free-installation-free-set-top-box-and-free-router-announced-plan-details-prices-and-everything-else-you-need-to-know/articleshow/90939082.cms" style="">JioFiber plans with free installation, free set top box and free router announced – plan details, prices and everything else you need to know</a>

Truecaller is working on a new feature to help tackle unsolicited calls from insurance companies, loan providers

<ul><li>This feature will allow users of the <keyword id="9163190" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharatpe-app" source="Orion">BharatPe app</keyword> to lend money to each other at an interest rate of up to 12% annually.</li><li>The company aims to generate a capital pool of $100 million and lend up to $50 million from this product by March 2022.</li><li><keyword id="7349800" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharatpe" source="Orion">BharatPe</keyword> has disbursed over $300 million in business loans to over 2 lakh merchant partners under its P2P offering.</li></ul>Fintech startup BharatPe, which largely focuses on merchant payments, has forayed into consumer lending with the launch of its latest peer-to-peer (P2P) lending app named 12% Club. The platform will allow users to invest their savings — within the range of ₹10,000 to ₹10,00,000 — in a <keyword id="11937195" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="12-club-app" source="Orion">12% Club app</keyword>. The company will increase the upper limit of investment to ₹50,00,000 over upcoming months. This amount will later be used to give out loans of up to ₹10,00,000 to customers at a 12% annual interest rate. The loan will be collateral-free for the first three months and the company will charge no processing or pre-payment charges on these loans. The consumers investing via the 12% Club app can put in a request to withdraw their investment anytime, partially or completely, without any withdrawal charges. The loan eligibility will be defined based on several factors such as customer’s credit score, shopping history using multi-brand loyalty programme PAYBACK or payments done through BharatPe QR code. The company aims to achieve an investment asset under management/capital pool of $100 million and a lending of $50 million from this product by March 2022. Suhail Sameer, chief executive officer (CEO) of BharatPe said, “In the pilot phase, we have seen great traction with $5 million of monthly investment run rate and $1 million of monthly borrowing run rate. We are confident that this product will be well received in the market and will play a key role in driving financial inclusion in the country. This is just the beginning and we will be adding new customer products during the rest of the financial year.” Sameer further noted that their P2P lending product for merchants has witnessed a gross investment of close to $700 million by 6.3 lakh merchants. The company claims to have disbursed over $300 million in business loans to over 2 lakh merchant partners. Earlier this month, Kunal Shah-led credit card payments app CRED enabled a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending feature called CRED Mint for its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/cred-launches-peer-to-peer-lending-option/articleshow/85477419.cms">7.5 million members</a>. The feature will allow users of the CRED app to lend money to each other at an interest rate of up to 9% annually. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/khatabooks-valuation-touches-600-million-with-zero-revenue-to-show/articleshow/85586956.cms">Khatabook’s valuation touches $600 million with zero revenue to show </a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/hike-raises-money-for-the-first-time-in-five-years-to-experiment-with-crypto-gaming/articleshow/85588768.cms">Hike raises money for the first time in five years to experiment with crypto and gaming</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/swiggy-sharechat-byjus-lead-the-funding-race-as-indian-startups-raised-6-5-billion-between-april-and-june/articleshow/85583697.cms">Swiggy, ShareChat, Byju’s lead the funding race as Indian startups raised $6.5 billion between April and June</a>

BharatPe forays into consumer lending with latest peer-to-peer feature

<ul><li>The most common financial mistake is forgetting that the earlier you start, the easier it is to reach your goals. It is like laying the foundation for your future.</li><li>By avoiding some <keyword id="3187694" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="financial-mistakes" source="Orion">financial mistakes</keyword>, you can save more over time and achieve long term financial goals easily.</li><li>Here are 8 mistakes you can rectify to help you balance your finances.</li></ul>The 30s are a crucial period of one’s life. At this point in life, most of you must be juggling several things at the same time -- making the last few payments of your student loan, saving for a wedding or even planning to start a family, slogging for a promotion and so on. In this phase, most of you have started taking additional responsibilities that would require you to be financially stable. For this, you need to be disciplined with your savings and investments for the long term and avoid common money mistakes. Here are 8 <keyword id="12005793" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="common-financial-mistakes" source="Orion">common financial mistakes</keyword> that one can easily avoid in their 30s: Getting into credit card debt Yes, credit cards are convenient and do offer attractive benefits to buy bigger stuff like a car or so. But if you are using it for every single shopping purpose, it means you are making it a habit and getting into a debt trap. If you think this is a hoax, just check the enormous amount of interest rates charged by credit cards especially if you miss an equated monthly installment (EMI). It can feel like a solution at the moment but at the end of the day, it is just making you fall in debt more and more. Delaying investments Whether you have started investing or not, you must have come across names like billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch and Indian investors like Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Radhakishan Damani. Interestingly, Buffett started investing when he was 11 years old. This is not to tell you to do the same. Starting to invest regularly would also do the work. The sooner you invest in equities, the more time you have to earn returns. And the more time you get, more returns are earned. Suppose you started investing ₹10,000 every month in a mutual fund with an expected return rate of 10%. After 10 years you have ₹20.65 lakh. Lack of financial goals Not setting goals is the biggest mistake people can make in their 30s. Setting up goals provides a certain financial direction to your life. It sets up timelines for achieving great things in life such as financial independence, buying a home, having kids and starting a business etc. Avoiding retirement savings Saving for retirement may sound too boring and unnecessary at this age. But with the growing age of life expectancy and if you plan to retire at 60, means you have 3 decades to save for your retirement. And imagine what a regular investment in these 3 decades can do to your retirement. Delaying the thought of saving for retirement will negatively impact your ability to accumulate sufficient savings for your golden years after retirement. Not keeping track of your spending The biggest mistake of all is not keeping a track of your expenses. Mindless spending can destroy your wealth over time. The key to accumulating more savings is by spending less on unnecessary things and saving it for the future. There are tons of mobile applications for free that help you manage your budget and master your cash flow. Use it and keep a tab on where your money is going. Ignoring insurance It is difficult to think about sickness and life threatening incidents at this stage in life, but the truth is you need to be prepared to protect yourself and your loved ones from such situations. Just buying a term life insurance policy can provide good financial security for your loved ones. In addition to it, you can also start buying health insurance for your family members. Conservative investment approach In your 30s you have plenty of time to take risks that you wouldn't in the age of 50. You can allot more of your portfolio to more volatile investments like equities and real estate for that matter, which generally requires 5-10 years to deliver strong returns. You can also make a balanced portfolio of either 60% equity and 40% fixed income investment. Also, if you do not understand investments as such, you can consult a financial advisor. Not creating an emergency fund In your 30s, you have more responsibilities and liabilities than your 20s like household expenses, loans etc. This is why it becomes crucial to avoid the mistake of not having a financial plan in place for unexpected emergencies like COVID-19, job loss, expenses for house repairs etc., by creating an emergency fund for 6 months. This can be your 6 months’ salary you have saved for a rainy day. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/uber-has-ola-zomato-has-swiggy-but-whos-urban-company-competing-with/articleshow/85835674.cms">Uber has Ola, Zomato has Swiggy but who’s Urban Company competing with?</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/skit-which-helps-barbeque-nation-and-axis-bank-automate-call-centres-has-raised-23-million-in-funding/articleshow/85834063.cms">Skit, which helps Barbeque Nation and Axis Bank automate call centres, has raised $23 million in funding</a>

Common financial mistakes to avoid in your 30s

<ul><li><keyword id="6587619" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Upasana-Taku" source="Orion">Upasana Taku</keyword> of <keyword id="143842" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mobikwik" source="Orion">Mobikwik</keyword> believes that it's not as easy as some companies are making it out to be.</li><li>The company claims to be the largest <keyword id="9522245" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bnpl" source="Orion">BNPL</keyword> fintech company in India with 24 million pre-approved BNPL users.</li><li>According to Redseer, digital BNPL players’ GMV could scale up 15 times to $45-50 billion in the next four years.</li></ul>‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ (BNPL) has become the new buzzword in the Indian fintech ecosystem that everyone has been chasing. From Paytm to Ola Money, everyone has been looking to get deeper into the fintech space and generate revenue out of this simple form of micro loans. However, Upasana Taku of Mobikwik believes that it's not as easy as a few companies are making it out to be. Mobikwik – which has been in the BNPL space since the last two years – noted that there is a lot that goes behind the scenes in order to build these BNPL processes. “Lending as a feature the whole world is making. Don’t worry, mein bhi yahin hoon, aap bhi yahin hoon. 2024 mein baat karein gaye, vo sab band ho gaya hoga... Log na excitement mein aa kar posuting, prespetion aur valuation k liye cheezein shuru kar dete hain phir usmeine grand opening and grand closing ho jati hai [We are here, we’ll talk in 2024, till then all these new businesses will be shut. People get excited and start new vertices for posturing, perception and valuation. Then there is a grand opening and a grand closing],” Taku said. She also gave examples of how Flipkart, Ola, Amazon and several other non-traditional players entered the wallet payments in 2015 as it became a fad, but later exited since they had no expertise in the domain. Even MakeMyTrip has a wallet, but it is now only used for cashbacks, she added. “Kuch cheezein fashion mein aati hain, jitni jaldi aati hai utni jaldi fashion se nikal bhi jaati hai… Ultimately kya hota hai ki yeh sab khulta hai, ek-do saal paise bhetein hain. Phir 1-2 saal mein yeh sab baand bhi ho jata hai kyunki sabko realize hota hai ki hum apne core business mein leadership position to manage nahi kar paa rahe hain. Hum ek aur side business mein bina focus ke kya karna cha rahe hai. [These are just fads that come and go. Ultimately, the companies flow a lot of cash in these fads for 1-2 years and then shut it down as they realise that they are not able to manage leadership positions in their core business and it makes no sense for them to enter a new vertical without focus,” she added. <div type="image" title="INTERVIEW: Mobikwik’s Upasana Taku says all the companies that made their grand entry into BNPL will have a grand exit too" msid="89960638" hostid="261"></div> Taku has zeroed down on three major problems that any new fintech company planning to get into consumer-facing BNPL products might face. First, where to get the customer. Second, where to get the data from. Third, who to partner with so that the customers can spend the credited amount. How to get consumers? “You need consumers, and consumer ko acquire karne ke liye customer acquisition cost lagti hai [to acquire consumers you need to spend on customer acquisition cost], which if you're acquiring from a Google or a Facebook or a partner, it is going to be ₹1000 or higher per person. That’s a massive problem for any new fintech that is starting, because it will cost them a lot of money to acquire new customers,” she added. Where to get the data? Citing this as a “chicken and egg” problem, Taku explained that the Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL) only has data of the top 50-60 million people in India. These are the type of users that top banks and credit card companies have been chasing for loans. A BNPL product usually focuses on users, who usually don’t have any credit history or data on them, but are transacting digitally. These platforms don’t just need this data to know who to lend to, but also to know how much to lend. Another issue for new BNPL companies is that if they acquire 1000 customers, only a part of it would be creditworthy. However, since the companies have spent so much capital on acquiring these users, they can’t really reduce the ticket size of these BNPL credits. “Now most fintechs are giving ₹10,000, ₹30,000, ₹40,000 on a three months EMI [equated monthly installment] kind of product. But that is when they are able to make money on it. They can’t reduce the ticket size because it is a problem that they spent so much on acquising the total users,” Taku noted. Where will customers spend this credit? The third and another major challenge is setting up a BNPL business is getting merchants to use the payment feature so that the customers have enough options to spend the credited amount. Several companies like Zomato, Swiggy, Amazon and Flipkart currently accept BNPL whether directly or through third party platforms like Simpl, LazyPay, ZestPay and others. There is not much sense to borrowing capital from fintech startups if you are not able to spend it. “As an example, there is a company called Simpl. They also have a <keyword id="4585897" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="buy-now-pay-later" source="Orion">buy now pay later</keyword> product. They are not into the payments business. So they don’t have millions of merchants unlike us. Therefore, their PayLater product is available in a few hundred ecommerce platforms or apps. That is a problem,” Taku added. “In a platform play [it is easier], because you already have millions of merchants, you already have millions of customers,” Taku explained. The company claims to be the largest BNPL fintech company in India with 24 million pre-approved BNPL users. <div type="image" title="INTERVIEW: Mobikwik’s Upasana Taku says all the companies that made their grand entry into BNPL will have a grand exit too" msid="89960671" hostid="261"></div> “This is where a platform like Mobikwik has a serious upper hand,” Taku added, explaining that 50 million users have completed ‘know-your-customer’ (KYC) with Mobikwik so they have all customers' details. Secondly, they also have the customers’ spending and financial data given they have used Mobikwik’s app across their products. SEE ALSO <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/upl-wipro-vedanta-future-retail-and-other-hot-stocks-on-march-3/slidelist/89959123.cms">UPL, Wipro, Vedanta, Future Retail and other hot stocks on March 3</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/expect-your-household-budget-to-go-up-sharply-as-prices-of-essential-items-take-a-plunge/articleshow/89954724.cms">Expect your household budget to go up sharply as prices of essential items shoot up</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/google-is-calling-employees-back-to-some-us-offices-for-3-days-a-week-starting-april-4-with-flexibility-like-work-from-anywhere-weeks/articleshow/89956286.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Google is calling employees back to some US offices for 3 days a week starting April 4, with flexibility like 'work from anywhere' weeks</a>

INTERVIEW: Mobikwik’s Upasana Taku says all the companies that made their grand entry into BNPL will have a grand exit too

<ul><li>Ola scooters were launched last month on August 15.</li><li>They are available in two variants- S1 and S1 Pro.</li><li>S1 is priced at ₹99,999 while S1 Pro retails at ₹1,29,999. </li></ul>Ola’s e-scooters are going out on sale from today onwards. The e-scooter launched on August 15, India’s 75th Independence Day. The pre-booking of the scooters began in July and, as per the company, it received over 100,000 registrations. If Ola’s electric scooter has got your interest, then you’re at the right place as we take a look at what it offers and how to buy it. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Price and Specifications" comment="subhead" text="Price and Specifications">Price and Specifications</cmsannotation> Ola launched the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/ola-scooter-launch-date-set-for-august-15/articleshow/84997219.cms">scooters in two models</a> — S1 and S1 Pro. While the S1 model will cost you ₹99,999, the S1 Pro model will carry a retail price of ₹1,29,999. These are ex-showroom prices that include Centre’s FAME II subsidies but exclude any subsidies from the state government. So the vehicles may cost you less if you are living in a state that provides subsidies on electric vehicles. The <keyword id="10402715" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ola-scooter" source="Orion">Ola Scooter</keyword> S1 model is said to reach a maximum speed of up to 90kmph while the S1 Pro can hit a maximum of 115kmph. In terms of mileage, the S1 is claimed to offer a distance of 121km on a full charge of 4 hours and 48 minutes. The S1 Pro should take you up to 181km on a single charge. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Additional features" comment="subhead" text="Additional features">Additional features</cmsannotation> Both the scooters are claimed to feature a 7-inch touchscreen, anti-theft alert, multiple connectivity options, built-in speakers and more. The S1 Pro is said to feature cruise control and voice assistant features. The S1 will be available in five colour variants, while you can select from the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/ola-electric-scooter-coming-in-ten-different-colours/articleshow/84638709.cms">10 colour variants </a>for the S1 Pro. These scooters will come packed with a 750W charger and the company has promised to develop charging points in about 400 cities across the country. The Ola scooters will not be available for sale at an outlet or retail store. All the bookings and transactions are completely online. If you are looking to get your hands on the newly launched Ola scooter, follow the steps below to purchase the model you like. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Here’s how to buy Ola scooter S1 and S1 Pro." comment="subhead" text="Here’s how to buy Ola scooter S1 and S1 Pro.">Here’s how to buy Ola scooter S1 and S1 Pro.</cmsannotation> <ul><li>Go to the <a href="https://olaelectric.com/">Ola website</a> click on the ‘Reserve for ₹499’ option.</li><li>Next, you will be redirected to a custom selection page, where you can select between S1 and S1 Pro.</li><li>You can also select the colour variant for the model you want to purchase.</li><li>Once done, click on ‘Reserve for ₹499’ button.</li><li>You will now be redirected to a mobile number registration page. Enter your mobile number.</li><li>You will receive an OTP. Enter the OTP and you will be redirected to the custom selection page.</li><li>Select the model and colour again and click on the ‘Reserve for ₹499’ to complete the payment.</li><li>You can pay ₹499 by using a debit or credit card, net banking or UPI methods.</li><li>Once this is completed you would have completed the pre-booking process.</li></ul>After this, you have to keep checking the waiting list to check your order status. Once the sale goes live, you will be able to complete the purchase by paying the remaining amount. Ola will begin the home delivery of scooters in October. It is on a first come, first reserve basis and the sooner you book, the earlier you will be able to receive the scooter. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Financing" comment="subhead" text="Financing">Financing</cmsannotation> Ola has tied up with several banks to provide loans and EMI options to its buyers. With Ola Financial Services, you will be able to EMIs starting from ₹2,999 per month for S1 and ₹3,199 per month for S1 Pro. If you do not require any financing, you can pay an advance amount of ₹20,000 or ₹25,000, depending on the model. You can pay the remaining amount after receiving the invoice for the scooter. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/10-million-people-tried-ola-for-the-first-time-last-year-says-ceo-bhavish-aggarwal/articleshow/86008684.cms">10 million people tried Ola for the first time last fiscal year, says CEO Bhavish Aggarwal</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/uber-has-ola-zomato-has-swiggy-but-whos-urban-company-competing-with/articleshow/85835674.cms">Uber has Ola, Zomato has Swiggy but who’s Urban Company competing with?</a>

Ola e-scooters go on sale: Here’s how you can purchase it

New Delhi, Mar 6 () Paytm Payments Bank took a dig on its rival PhonePe in the wake of obstructions it faced due to using cash-strapped Yes Bank platform for transactions. PhonePe founder and CEO Sameer Nigam said there has been an outage of service on its payment application due to restrictions on its banking partner Yes Bank and the service will be live soon. "Inviting you to @PaytmBank #UPI platform. It already has huge adoption and can seamlessly scale manifold to handle your business. Let's get you back up, fast!," Paytm Payments Bank tweeted. PhonePe shot back to say that Paytm Payments Bank platform is not seamlessly scalable otherwise the company would have themselves approached it. "Dear @PaytmBank Inviting you to consider that if your #UPI platform was so 'seamlessly scalable', we'd have called you ourselves. No point getting back up faster, if we have to desert our long term partners when they're down. Form is temporary, class is permanent," PhonePe's official twitter handle said. PhonePe, one of the country's largest digital payment platforms, is dependent upon Yes Bank to process its transactions. "We sincerely regret the long outage. Our partner bank (Yes Bank) was placed under moratorium by RBI. Entire team's been working all night to get services back up asap (as soon as possible)," Nigam tweeted on Friday morning. He added that the app hopes to be live in "a few hours". Yes Bank placed under a moratorium on Thursday evening, with the RBI capping deposit withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account for a month and superseding its board. The bank will not be able to grant or renew any loan or advance, make any investment, incur any liability or agree to disburse any payment. For the next month, Yes Bank will be led by the RBI-appointed administrator Prashant Kumar, a former chief financial officer of SBI. According to the National Payments Corporation of India, several apps such as Flipkart, MakeMyTrip, Myntra, Jabong, Cleartrip, Airtel, Swiggy, Redbus, Hungerbox, MudraPay, Udaan, Microsoft Kaizala and PVR use Yes Bank's UPI platform. Digital payment gateway firm Instamojo said it has temporarily withheld payouts to merchants having Yes Bank accounts. "We will be temporarily withholding payouts to merchants having Yes bank accounts until further clarity on the situation. This is to ensure that no merchant's funds get blocked. As an alternate, we have provided our merchants the option to change their registered bank from Yes bank to another account," Instamojo Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Sampad Swain said. A Bharti Airtel official said there is no impact on the company's transaction as it uses many other payment gateways. E-commerce firm Myntra said, "Transactions on Myntra have not been impacted, except for payments through PhonePe. Our customers can continue to transact on Myntra using other UPI payment service provider apps in addition to credit and debit cards and net banking until services of PhonePe are restored." Start-up firm Kredx said that following the government's decision to impose a moratorium on Yes Bank on Thursday, the company has stopped all inward and outward transactions with the bank's with immediate effect. PRS KPM HRS

Paytm Payments Bank takes a dig on PhonePe over Yes Bank restrictions

<ul><li>In the last decade, marketers have started focusing a lot on personalization and using advanced targeting technologies to woo their consumers. </li><li>However, there is an increasing awareness around <keyword id="803848" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Data-privacy">data privacy</keyword>. In a panel discussion organised by Mobile Marketing Association APAC, experts discussed how marketers can offer personalised user experience in the age of data privacy. </li></ul>Imagine your local retail store owner knocks on your door late in the evening to ask if you need dry snacks for your party you never invited him for and have never shared personal details of your life with him. That would be immensely creepy, right? But if he made a note of every purchase you make to offer a better, new product that is available in the market when you visit, that would make you feel special, like the seller cares enough to notice and improve your buying experience. Mondelez India’s latest personalised Diwali ad was one of the most appreciated ads in the ecosystem that set a benchmark in our industry. It was the first hyper-personalised ad tailored according to different pin codes in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Indore, Ahmedabad and Lucknow and targeted different sets of consumers sitting there. So, treading this thin line between hyper-personalization and snooping can be difficult. In an era where consumers want to be seen and spoken to personally within a short amount of time and at the right time, it is highly challenging for marketers to understand how to use data available to create the right media plan. It doesn’t take a lot for a new-age brand to turn from cool to creepy. Offering an exceptional customer experience (CX) has become an important differentiator for a brand’s success. As data has become the new oil, consumers now exist in the form of cookies, email addresses, date of birth, mobile numbers, social addresses, etc. in a marketer’s database. So, how does a marketer strike the right balance? A panel organised by MMA with Jahid Ahmed, Head - Digital &amp; Content Marketing HDFC Bank, Rakesh Jaitly, Senior Sales Director - Oracle Applications, Gaurav Kaushik, Global Vice President-Ad Platform, JioSaavn, Umesh Krishna K - Marketing and Head of Media, Swiggy and Raman Kalra - Partner, PwC India explored this question. COVID’s impact on consumer targeting and data processing With COVID, many marketers shifted a larger chunk of their monnies on digital marketing and started exploring new ways of reaching out to consumers. Kaushik noticed a key difference in consumers. A lot of them shifted from cities to their hometowns. He said, “One major shift that we noticed was the definition of WFH and of people from Tier I to Tier II. To their hometown and work from there as they just need the internet. With this, brands who would target people in Tier I and II, have shifted their focus to the whole of India. People would listen to music when they commuted. Now, our media mix has changed because they are using multiple devices like speaker, smart TVs for the same task because you have those devices available.” So, as a marketer, Kaushik suggested that one should reach out to the same consumer via different devices and moments in life. It is the same user but how and where they consume the content should be taken into consideration, which is a different mix now. “We have over 5,000 branches but our website is the biggest branch now after COVID. The kind of business we have seen is phenomenal. With this, the expectation from digital marketing has changed. Consumer end-to-end journey have become more developed. Digital is now an end-to-end conversion source for you,” said Ahmed. Consumers’ expectations have also increased. They expect marketers to take notice and speak to them personally, which is why marketers need more data to personalize their campaigns. “After the pandemic, there are three words used very often: digital engagement and contactless, which has given different meaning to lots of business models. Marketers nowadays emphasize on these three points with the changing time: Connected data, connected intelligence and connected experience. It is not just about name, email address or mobile number but both implicit and explicit data. For us, it is important to recognise key differences between individual consumers, even outside the digital ecosystem -- are they frequent travellers, are they going to buy a car, this is what we track. We can bring commonalities from data that lead to personalization,” said Jaitly. Striking balance between privacy and customization Kaushik highlighted that consumers often pretend to be someone they are not in real life to assimilate themselves in a social group. However, data never lies. Speaking on how JioSaavn uses data to trace consumer journey, Kaushik said, “It is one thing to listen to music and another thing to look at the data and it tells you a different story altogether. For example Baby Doll was one of the biggest hits when it launched. So, music is personal and a companion and medium, these together become a really powerful tool to customize the journey for the user. Music creates a true profile for you and that helps to understand the user better. All we do at JioSaavn is to understand how people consume music and focus on that part because that is the only type of content that has a repeat button to it! And because it is on repeat, it starts creating patterns. There was a user who listened to ‘I wanna break free’ 64 times in a day and you can imagine what their state of mind is. Music goes hand-in-hand with your mood. With age, the romantic genre goes down and religious genre goes up. Nobody likes to accept that but that’s the reality. So music becomes a powerful tool to understand the user, which helps us understand the consumer journey at a customised level.” In a diverse country like India, for a brand like Swiggy it is difficult to find the right mood and understand their consumers' taste buds based on their behaviour. So how does it divide them into different cohorts and target them? Krishna K said, “For meaningful segmentation, you need to have a finite set of segments in the range of 3 to 7, not 20 to 30. But within those segments, we personalise our communication in terms of what imagery should go through which would fit a certain consumer of one profile. For this, a lot of third-party data helps us in re-targeting and branding.” Speaking on how <keyword id="2366412" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="personalisation">personalisation</keyword> helped push digitalisation and shape consumer behaviour, Ahmed said, “One of the parts of personalization is the product. From the 30 million base that we have, we are ensuring that we are serving our customers in the best way possible. Hence, I have to personalise the product for one person, what is that they would be interested in -- that is the first level of personalisation. Second is intent -- I have made this product, but the consumer intends to buy something else, how do I understand that? Then serving a campaign according to their intent. For example, if I know a consumer who doesn’t have a credit card, I would offer reward points to lure them. So, we subtly nudge them. We need to nudge the consumers at the right time and right set of creatives. Data also has to be married properly with storytelling.” He further highlighted how every website has added a notification informing consumers about data tracking and seeking their consent. He said that people don’t have a problem if they consent to it and they see concrete results in exchange for data. Jaitly told us the question every consumer asks before they consent to sharing data. He said, “Do you treat me and understand me better if I share my data? Organisations need to prove how they are balancing it. Building trust is important.” Conclusion Experts suggested gaining consumer confidence about how the information was gathered, giving them control of their personal data, and offering fair value in return. Lastly, they said that brands should use first-party data to analyse user behaviour and while using third-party data, they try and segment their requirements into different cohorts like time of the day, genre and location. Communication, therefore, should not be at a user level, but should resonate with the consumer at a larger group level so that it doesn’t cross a line.

How brands can provide personalised user experience without violating their privacy

<ul><li>The <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword> policy portal received $238 million in a funding round led by <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">Softbank</keyword>. </li><li>The deal involved the sale of a 20% stake in <keyword id="696009" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Policybazaar">PolicyBazaar</keyword>. </li><li>PolicyBazaar will use the funds to achieve its growth and acquisition targets. It plans to reach 10 million customers by 2020. </li></ul>Swiggy had barely settled into its spot on the list of India’s newest unicorns and it’s already been unseated by PolicyBazaar. The online aggregator, which helps consumers compare different insurance policies, has received a $238 million investment in a funding round led by Japanese <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="tech">tech</keyword> giant Softbank, facilitated through its Vision Fund. Softbank is no stranger to India’s technology sector, becoming something of a unicorn-builder with investments in Paytm, Flipkart and OYO Rooms. The funding round involved the sale of over a 20% stake in PolicyBazaar by its owner, ETechAces Marketing and Consulting. As part of the investment, Softbank took a 14% stake in PolicyBazaar for around $150 million. EtechAces also owns PaisaBazaar, which compares different loans and credit card rates from banks. Reports first surfaced in January 2018 that Softbank was in talks to invest in PolicyBazaar. At the time, the funding round was said to value the portal at around $800 million. A company with big plans Founded in 2008 by three IIT alumni, PolicyBazaar nullifies the role of agents and intermediaries by allowing consumers to pick and choose between different policies from all of India’s major insurers. It reportedly earned close to ₹20 billion in revenue in fiscal 2018 and currently has around 300,000 transactions per month. As insurance penetration in India increases and the ecosystem develops, PolicyBazaar will be of great help to millions of people looking to purchase a policy online. It is looking to reach 10 million customers by 2020 and is also planning to expand into the healthcare consultation space. Prior to the latest funding round, PolicyBazaar had raised around ₹10 billion from investors, having reportedly earmarked ₹5 billion for acquisitions and growth initiatives, particularly in the reinsurance space. Reinsurance involves insurance for insurance companies. In December 2017, it was said to be mulling an initial public offering (IPO) as part of a plan to triple its valuation from $500 million. Following the Softbank investment, it still maintains that it will go public in the near future. A decision on an IPO is expected by September 2018.

You Searched For "swiggy credit cards" and got 11 results

Zomato posted a ₹1,222 crore loss but its stock gained 18% — reasons behind the surge

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Indian edtech startup Supernova raises $1.1 million in pre-seed funding even as Indian startup funding hits a 2-year low

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It's Open — India now has a century of unicorns

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Truecaller is working on a new feature to help tackle unsolicited calls from insurance companies, loan providers

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BharatPe forays into consumer lending with latest peer-to-peer feature

Kritti Bhalla

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