India’s <keyword id="4806436" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Former-President-Pranab-Mukherjee">former President Pranab Mukherjee</keyword>, who succumbed to COVID-19 away at the age of 84, leaves behind a goldmine of lessons in leadership, politics, and an irreverent spirit of survival. Former President <keyword id="6359124" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="pranab-mukherjee">Pranab Mukherjee</keyword>'s health deteriorated on Monday Morning and he is in a septic shock due to lung infection, the Army Research and Referral Hospital said. He has been hospitalized for the past 21 days and been critical following a brain surgery. The hospital authorities stated: "There is a decline in the medical condition of Pranab Mukherjee since yesterday." The doctors further pointed out that he is in septic shock due to his lung infection and is being managed by a team of specialists. "He continues to be in a deep coma and on ventilator support," the authorities said. There was a slight improvement in Mukherjee's health condition last week thereafter it deteriorated when he developed lung infection. Mukherjee was also found to be Covid-19 positive when he was admitted on August 10 for life-saving emergency surgery for a brain clot. There has been no improvement in his health status since. The veteran leader was admitted to the hospital at 12.07 p.m. on August 10 in a critical condition. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/indian-pm-lauded-a-bunch-of-businesses-like-paytm-chingari-koo-ask-sarkar-kutukikids-reliance-jio-patanjali-zoho-workplace-for-their-success-/slidelist/77845896.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">From Chingari to Zoho Corp⁠— all the businesses that can boast of accolades from Prime Minister Modi</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/indian-pm-lauded-a-bunch-of-businesses-like-paytm-chingari-koo-ask-sarkar-kutukikids-reliance-jio-patanjali-zoho-workplace-for-their-success-/slidelist/77845896.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/ambani-vs-damani-indias-635-billion-retail-ring-will-see-the-countrys-two-richest-men-battle-with-different-strategies/articleshow/77846555.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Ambani vs Damani ⁠— India’s $635 billion retail ring will see the country’s two richest men⁠ battle with different strategies</a>

Former President Pranab Mukherjee Passed away In Delhi

<ul><li><keyword id="6354720" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ola" source="Orion">Ola</keyword> is now on a lookout for more driver partners, as it plans to expand into new cities and product offering.</li><li>Ola’s revenue declined by 95% in the first quarter of FY2021 due to the pandemic.</li><li>The impact of the pandemic will be long-drawn for Ola as the world is not going to “revert” to pre-COVID era anytime soon, CEO Aggarwal had said last year. </li></ul>Ten million people tried Ola for the first time in the financial year 2021, the ride hailing giant’s chief executive (CEO) Bhavish Aggarwal announced on Twitter on Tuesday, September 7. This coincides with the fact that it crossed its pre-COVID level gross merchandise value (GMV), last week. Ola is now on a lookout for more driver partners, as it plans to expand into new cities and product offering. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> The development does come as a surprise as Ola had been massively impacted by COVID-induced travel restrictions and lockdown last year. The Bengaluru-based startup had to lay off <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/ola-fired-1400-employees-as-revenue-is-hit-by-95-in-the-last-two-months/articleshow/75843656.cms">1,400 employees</a> from its workforce in May 2020 as its revenue declined by 95% in the first two months of the financial year 2021. “Our revenue has come down 95% over the past 2 months. Most importantly, this crisis has affected the livelihoods of millions of our drivers and their families across India and our international geographies,” Aggarwal said in an internal email sent to employees last year. He also mentioned that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be long-drawn for Ola as the world if not going to “revert” to pre-COVID era anytime soon. “Social distancing, anxiety, and an abundance of caution will be the operating principles for everyone,” he wrote in an email to employees while announcing the layoffs. As Ola has managed to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, it has put its initial public offering (IPO) plans back on the table. The company has raised<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/ola-app-raises-500-million-from-temasek-and-warburg-ahead-of-ipo/articleshow/84261607.cms"> half a billion dollars</a> from Temasek and Warburg Pincus in July 2021. It also raised $100 million debt for its electric vehicles (EV) focused arm Ola Electric to finance new projects. Ola was founded by Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati in 2010. The company has its presence across three continents. It has raised more than $4 billion to date from marquee investors like SoftBank, Tencent, Steadview Capital, Eternal, Sailing Capital, China Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund and others. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/zoho-corp-invests-5-million-in-medical-devices-startup-voxelgrids/articleshow/86000656.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Zoho Corp invests $5 million in medical devices startup Voxelgrids</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/logistics-company-delhivery-raises-76-million-ahead-of-its-ipo/articleshow/85997440.cms">Former Tiger Global exec Lee Fixel picks Delhivery as his second bet in India, after Inshorts</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/el-salvador-just-bought-400-bitcoin-and-plans-to-buy-a-lot-more-a-day-before-making-it-an-official-currency/articleshow/85995497.cms">El Salvador just bought 400 bitcoin and plans to buy 'a lot more,' a day before making it an official currency</a>

10 million people tried Ola for the first time last fiscal year, says CEO Bhavish Aggarwal

Zomato, PolicyBazaar investor Info Edge invested in nearly 2 startups every month in 2021

<ul><li><keyword id="9700532" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-saas">Indian SaaS</keyword> segment employs a workforce of over 50,000.</li><li>Indian <keyword id="6395918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAAS">SaaS</keyword> industry has the potential to clock revenue of $75 billion by 2025.</li><li>The SaaS sector, globally, has the potential to surpass IT industry’s valuation this decade.</li></ul>The Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) segment could employ over 260,000 people in the next four years (by 2025), representing a five fold increase from the current employee base of 50,000. This hiring spree would mostly be accelerated by the segment’s fast-paced growth and the influx of global funding. Indian SaaS segment has the potential to clock a total turnover of $75 billion in the next four years and capture a fifth (19%) of the global demand for <keyword id="6361043" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="software">software</keyword> products, as per a report by investment firm Chiratae Ventures and consulting firm Zinnov. The Indian SaaS segment is poised to create a market capitalisation of more than $1.3 trillion by 2025. This is the best-case scenario for India’s fast-growing SaaS industry. Even if the industry continues to grow at the current compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 51% in the next five years, the country’s SaaS revenue could grow as much as $42 billion by 2025. This is about an eight fold increase from the current $5.3 billion in revenue cumulatively. “It’s no secret that the future of business and scale is SaaS driven, more so in the post-pandemic landscape. What’s interesting however is how quickly Indian companies have set a global benchmark for the industry. The exponential growth unlocked in the last 5 years is a testament to how capital efficient the Indian SaaS industry is,” Venkatesh Peddi, executive director and head of SaaS investments at Chiratae Ventures, said. SaaS is a software distribution model in which software is licensed to users on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. This is also known as “on-demand software”. There are over 1,000 players in the Indian SaaS segment, which has received $6 billion in investment in the last decade (2010-2020) as per the report. A few key players in the Indian SaaS segment are Zoho Corp, Freshworks, Browserstack, Postman, Zenoti, Chargebee, HighRadius, Icertis and Druva. The report also adds that sales management platform MindTickle, conversation automation platform uniphore and workforce management software FarEye may be entering the unicorn club soon. Globally, the SaaS segment has the potential to take over the information technology (IT) industry in terms of valuation this decade. The report notes that the SaaS segment will cross $1.8 trillion valuation by 2030, compared to the $1.6 trillion valuation of IT services. “IT Services has been foundational to Indian progress and rising footprint in the global market. We are seeing this sector in SaaS, which is growing and providing India the spotlight that Indians deserve in the global market. So this is the second industry, after IT service, which is really powering through. 2025-2030 will be the year when Indian SaaS would become mightier in terms of market value,” Praveen Bhadada, managing partner at Zinnov, told Business Insider. The revenue per employee for IT services companies in 2020 was around $47,000. Meanwhile, the revenue per employee for SaaS firms grew 30% to $100,000 last year. Notably, Indian SaaS sector earns 70% of their revenue from global markets, and it is bound to grow further to 85% by 2025. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/youtube-is-testing-shopping-feature-on-live-streams-for-select-creators/articleshow/84628204.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/byjus-acquires-us-based-epic-plans-to-invest-1-billion-in-the-north-american-market/articleshow/84612303.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">BYJU's acquires another American startup, plans to spend $1 billion on US expansion</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/youtube-is-testing-shopping-feature-on-live-streams-for-select-creators/articleshow/84628204.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/youtube-is-testing-shopping-feature-on-live-streams-for-select-creators/articleshow/84628204.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/youtube-is-testing-shopping-feature-on-live-streams-for-select-creators/articleshow/84628204.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/youtube-is-testing-shopping-feature-on-live-streams-for-select-creators/articleshow/84628204.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">YouTube is testing shopping feature on live streams for select creators</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/sequoia-capital-india-invests-7-3-million-in-sales-engagement-platform-outplay/articleshow/84617329.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Sequoia Capital India invests $7.3 million in sales engagement platform Outplay</a>

India’s SaaS sector to hire more than 260,000 people by 2025

<ul><li>Shares of <keyword id="80004" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="info-edge" source="Orion">Info Edge</keyword> (India) Limited reached ₹6,692 at 11:56 a.m. on September 8.</li><li>The development coincides with ICICI Securities issuing a buy call on Info Edge (India) with a target price of ₹8,040.</li><li>The analyst expects increase in hiring, real estate rentals and wedding trends to fill Info Edge’s pockets in the near term.</li></ul>Sanjeev Bikhchandani-led Info Edge’s shares reached ₹6,692 at 11:56 a.m. This represents an increase of ₹509 in value compared to the previous close of ₹6,183 on September 7. Over the last one month, Info Edge’s share price has increased by 23%. Each share was valued at ₹5,368 on August 9 compared to ₹6,692 at 11:56 a.m. The development comes as ICICI Securities has issued a buy call on Info Edge (India) with a target price of ₹8,040 today. The analyst expects the share to reach the target price in a span of one year. The analyst had issued a similar buy call in June with a target price of ₹6,300. ICICI Securities have now revised the target as <keyword id="6740899" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="info-edge-shares" source="Orion">Info Edge shares</keyword> have crossed the said target. In its latest report on Info Edge, ICICI Securities has elaborated on the strong points that would lead the company’s stock price to increase. The broking house has also revised the estimated valuations of Info Edge and its subsidiaries. “We value Naukri at 75x [times] financial year 2023 estimates earnings per share. We value 99 Acres and Jeevansathi [Info Edge’s subsidiaries] each at 20x FY 2023 estimated sales. As elaborated in our report, our 1-year forward valuation of Zomato [a portfolio company of Info Edge] stands at $22 billion.” <div type="image" title="Here is how Naukri parent Info Edge’s stock went up 23% in the last one month" msid="86032580" hostid="261"></div> Meanwhile, Info Edge’s portfolio companies — Zomato and Info Edge — are also moving away from the ‘startup’ tag to a maturity stage. Zomato has already hit the public market and bought over <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/info-edges-remaining-stake-in-zomato-is-worth-15000-crore/articleshow/84668883.cms">₹15,000 crore</a> in return for Info Edge, PolicyBazaar has filed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/policybazaar-ipo-all-you-need-to-know-the-details-of-sixth-largest-fintech-startup/articleshow/84967042.cms">preliminary papers</a> to go public soon. Further Info Edge invested in another <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/travel-app-ixigo-files-for-a-1600-crore-ipo/articleshow/85292327.cms">initial public offering (IPO)</a>-bound company ixigo in July. Key points working in favour of Info Edge <div type="image" title="Here is how Naukri parent Info Edge’s stock went up 23% in the last one month" msid="86032598" hostid="261"></div> Strong hiring could benefit Naukri.com Trends in other markets like the US, which publish job market data periodically, hint towards a significant demand-supply mismatch when it comes to hiring. In India, entrepreneurship, preference to work in startups and flexibility of workplace are going to be biggest drivers of this demand-supply mismatch in hiring, as per ICICI Securities. This is likely to benefit job search platforms like Naukri.com for the next 12-18 months. Vibrant job market will push more people to move out ICICI Securities in its latest report noted that several new trends have emerged in the proptech segment — low interest rate, strong pipeline, print to online shift in advertising, recent direct-to-customer (D2C) approach taken by builders to drive traction in online real estate classifieds. The brokerage firm predicted the spike in paid listing going ahead, which will enable Info Edge-owned 99acre.com’s EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation] profitability to exceed the street estimates. ICICI Securities, however, also noted that competitive intensity is one of the key reasons for the suboptimal profitability in this segment for Info Edge. Besides this, the decline of funding in the real estate segment is also pushing Info Edge’s competition to reduce cash burn. “Nevertheless, the full stack aspirations of competitors like Square Yards is a key risk to watch out for,” the report added. Matchmaking is back on the table Easing of lockdown restrictions and best-in-a-decade job security will encourage more people to look for their partners on matchmaking platforms. ICICI Securities is anticipating a sharp increase in paid listings in the near term to also drive EBITDA profitability, in FY23. This will be a surprise to the current street expectation, the ICICI Securities added. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/zomato-policybazaar-investor-info-edge-invested-in-nearly-2-startups-every-month-in-2021/articleshow/86028438.cms">Zomato, PolicyBazaar investor Info Edge invested in nearly 2 startups every month in 2021</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/byjus-bags-another-150-million-to-fund-its-acquisition-spree/articleshow/86027937.cms">Byju’s bags another $150 million to fund its acquisition spree</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/zoho-corp-invests-5-million-in-medical-devices-startup-voxelgrids/articleshow/86000656.cms">Zoho Corp invests $5 million in medical devices startup Voxelgrids</a>

Here is why Naukri parent Info Edge’s stock went up 23% in the last one month

<ul><li><keyword id="2463144" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="BrowserStack">BrowserStack</keyword> has become the most valued VC-backed SaaS company to enter the Indian <keyword id="3009432" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="unicorn-club">unicorn club</keyword>.</li><li>The company is valued at $4 billion, followed by Girish Mathrubootham-led Freshworks valued at $3.5 billion.</li><li>BrowserStack will be accelerating its acquisition plans in order to expand its global presence and product offerings.</li></ul>BrowserStack has become the most valued venture capital-backed software-as-a-service (SaaS) company in India. The Mumbai-based startup has raised $200 million (₹1,474 Cr) in a Series B round led by US-based investment firm BOND, at a valuation of $4 billion. Insight Partners and existing investor Accel also participated in the round. BrowserStack will be joining SaaS firms like Freshworks, Icertis, Druva, Postman, Zenoti and ChargeBee in the ‘unicorn club’. A unicorn is a privately valued company with a valuation of over $1 billion. BrowserStack is going to be a leader in terms of valuation, among the other SaaS unicorns in India. Notably, companies like Icertis, Zenoti, Postman and few others are registered in the United States, but are considered by many as Indian startups due to their Indian roots. Some of these companies also have the majority of their offices and workforce in India. Notably, Sridhar Vembu-led Zoho Corp is also one of the biggest SaaS companies in India and is estimated to be valued at over $1 billion, given it has over 45 million customers across the globe and has earned a profit of<a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/what-the-financials-zohos-profit-streak-continues-as-fy20-revenue-crosses-inr-4300-cr/"> ₹800 crore </a>in FY20. The valuation has, however, never been accorded to the company as it continues to be bootstrapped since its inception in 1996. According to a <a href="https://www.sify.com/finance/indian-saas-firms-may-clock-20bn-in-revenue-by-2022-report-news-news-umbpOObeijgje.html">report</a> by Bain &amp; Company, the Indian SaaS companies have the potential to capture a 7-9% share of the global SaaS market by 2022. Such an expansion would also aid Indian SaaS firms to reach a combined revenue of $18 billion to $20 billion in the same timeline. BrowserStack’s entry into the unicorn club further proves the interest of the investors in the Indian SaaS sector. Commenting on the same, BOND’s general partner, Jay Simons, said, "As software continues to rewire everything, the bar on speed and quality continues to rise, and testing software across the expanding number of browsers and devices is a huge and expensive challenge for development teams to manage on their own." Founded in 2011 by Ritesh Arora and Nakul Aggarwal, BrowserStack is a software testing platform used by developers to test their websites or mobile applications across browsers, operating systems and devices. The company claims to have over 50,000 customers and over four million developer signups. The company’s clientele also includes over half of Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, Twitter, Barclays and Expedia, and claims to power over two million tests every day across 15 global data centres. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td colspan="4" style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#cfe2f3;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">BrowserStack's Raises $250 Mn To Date </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Series </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Funding </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Investors </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Year </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Series A </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$50 Mn </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Accel </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2018 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Series B </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$200 Mn </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">BOND, Insight Partners, Accel </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2021 </td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">*Source: BrowserStack </td></tr><tr></tr></tbody></table> BrowserStack has raised about $250 million in funding till date, with $50 million coming in from Accel as a part of its <a href="https://www.browserstack.com/press/browserstack-announce-50-million-investment-accel">Series A</a> round raised in 2018. It plans to use the latest capital infusion to scale its global presence, expand product offering and also enable strategic acquisitions. Prior to this, the company <a href="https://www.browserstack.com/percy">acquired</a> San Francisco-based visual testing platform Percy in July last year. "We will continue to scale rapidly across functions to accelerate the rate at which we take new products to market. This funding will allow us to explore the different ways in which we can bring new products to market -- via acquisitions, via acqui-hires, or by investing more heavily in our product and engineering teams," Ritesh Arora, cofounder and chief executive of BrowserStack, said in statement. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/bigbasket-makes-more-revenue-than-32-year-old-spencers-retail/articleshow/83570315.cms">Did you know? BigBasket makes more revenue than 32-year old Spencer’s Retail</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/paytm-has-appointed-goldman-sachs-and-jp-morgan-as-the-bankers-for-its-upcoming-ipo/articleshow/83574242.cms">EXCLUSIVE: Paytm ropes in Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan as bankers for upcoming IPO ⁠— there may be more along the way</a>

BrowserStack’s unicorn status further strengthens India’s SaaS club

<ul><li><keyword id="381854" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="indiamart" source="Orion">IndiaMart</keyword>’s share price is now above the ₹8,000-mark, compared to ₹1,800 in March 2020.</li><li>The B2B e-commerce company now sits on a market cap of ₹27,483.8 crore ($3.7 billion).</li><li>IndiaMart competes with Tencent-backed Udaan and publicly listed company Just Dial, which was recently acquired by Reliance Industries.</li></ul>If you invested ₹25,000 in <keyword id="5802502" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="indiamart-intermesh" source="Orion">IndiaMart InterMesh</keyword> Limited last year in March, your shares would now be worth over ₹1,21,000. It wasn’t a long time ago that IndiaMart’s shares were valued at ₹1,846 (March 27, 2020), right after India stepped into the pandemic-induced lockdown. Along with these restrictions came massive supply chain disruption that left Indian industry — from manufacturing to healthcare — in a void. IndiaMart has been gaining from it since then. A business model that allows buyers and sellers to interact and cash in on their product needs — without physical contact — has allowed IndiaMart to garner the interest of more customers and get confidence of retail investors amidst the pandemic. IndiaMart currently competes with Tencent-backed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/indian-b2b-e-commerce-startup-udaan-raises-280-million-valuation-jumps-to-over-3-billion/articleshow/80132753.cms">Udaan</a> (valued at $3 billion) and publicly listed company Just Dial (market cap of $845 million), which was recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/mukesh-ambanis-reliance-retail-to-buy-majority-stake-in-justdial-vss-mani-to-continue-as-md-and-ceo/articleshow/84477000.cms">acquired </a>by Reliance Industries. IndiaMart’s share prices were above ₹8,900 as of September 8, 2021. The company’s share prices have increased 24% in the last month, from ₹7,236 on August 9. It now sits on a market capitalisation of ₹27,483.8 crore ($3.7 billion). <div type="image" title="Indiamart share price has gone up nearly five times in last 18 months and the record profit is only a part of what’s driving it" msid="86058098" hostid="261"></div> Jyoti Roy, equities strategist at Angel Broking, told Business Insider India that COVID-19 has shifted B2B commerce trends, from offline to online, and IndiaMart is strategically positioned to cater to such trends. Structural changes have happened in terms of supply and demand, and how these needs are met, he added. As COVID-19 has forced micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) into the digital arena, all companies that enable such transformation have benefited from it. In general, any newage business — like Affle India or Route Mobile — that lays more stress on digital or digitisation have benefited in the last one year, Roy added. Deven R Choksey, managing director of KR Choksey Investment Managers, noted, “everyone wants to make investments in these kinds of businesses when they are not losing money. In a business-to-customer (B2C) model ecommerce platform loses money.” <div type="image" title="Indiamart share price has gone up nearly five times in last 18 months and the record profit is only a part of what’s driving it" msid="86058074" hostid="261"></div> Founded in 1996, by Dinesh Agarwal and Brijesh Agrawal, IndiaMart currently enables business and discovery for MSMEs. It helps these small businesses with buyer and seller negotiations as well as quotation and invoicing of products. The company has been planning to expand further into the commerce side of the business, with payments, logistics/tracking and transactional financing. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;" class="redcator-table-advance"></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;">Key points to note about IndiaMart’s performance in April to June quarter of FY22 </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;">IndiaMart reported a revenue of ₹210 crore, with a new profit of ₹91 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;">The company had 66 lakh suppliers on its platform. Its traffic grew to 248 million (24.8 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;">It witnessed organic growth and did not incur any advertising spends. </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;">The company had 146,000 paid suppliers. </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;">Average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to ₹49,700. </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;">It reported a revenue of ₹750 crore in FY2021. </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>Source: IndiaMart’s financial report, Motilal Oswal “Apart from collections and revenue growth, IndiaMART has shown higher resilience on the margin front. While we concur that margins at current levels are unsustainable, it would see positive benefits from cost optimisation and operating leverage in the long term,” Motilal Oswal said in a <a href="https://www.motilaloswal.com/site/rreports/637628892983928419.pdf">report </a>published in July 2021. More small businesses are going digital, placing orders and finding new customers online. The company has over 70% market share in the underlying industry, the report noted. What’s better, the buyers and sellers on IndiaMart are less sensitive to pricing by the platform, according to Motilal Oswal, allowing the company to steadily increase its average revenue per user. ALSO WATCH: IndiaMart’s founder Dinesh Agarwal explaining the recent trends in e-commerce <div type="Video" msid="86061546" hostid="261" title="IndiaMart’s founder Dinesh Agarwal explaining the recent trends in e-commerce" dataSource="BUSINESSINSIDER" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=86061546"></div> Motilal Oswal, in the report published before Reliance’s acquisition of Justdial, added, “IndiaMART would continue to work on gaining buyer and supplier traction to emerge as the market leader in this space.” Meanwhile, Roy of Angel Broking said that B2B e-commerce is still at an nascent stage but there is a lot of growth potential for each company over the next three-five years. Therefore, it’s too early to comment on competition at the moment. He also noted that the new age digital businesses have the potential to be valued much higher than the traditional information technology (IT) business that enjoys supremacy today. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/zomato-policybazaar-investor-info-edge-invested-in-nearly-2-startups-every-month-in-2021/articleshow/86028438.cms">Zomato, PolicyBazaar investor Info Edge invested in nearly 2 startups every month in 2021</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/byjus-bags-another-150-million-to-fund-its-acquisition-spree/articleshow/86027937.cms">Byju’s bags another $150 million to fund its acquisition spree</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/zoho-corp-invests-5-million-in-medical-devices-startup-voxelgrids/articleshow/86000656.cms">Zoho Corp invests $5 million in medical devices startup Voxelgrids</a>

Indiamart share price has gone up nearly five times in last 18 months and the record profit is only a part of what’s driving it

<ul><li>Customer engagement platform <keyword id="2970390" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="MoEngage">MoEngage</keyword> is planning to go big on international expansion in the one year.</li><li>MoEngage recently closed a $32 million funding round led by Multiples Alternate Asset Management.</li><li>A part of the funding will be used to set up an R&amp;D center in Hyderabad due to the talent pool crunch in Bengaluru.</li></ul>MoEngage, which helps companies like Domino's engage with their customers, is planning to go big on international expansion in the one year. It has already set up local offices in the UK, Germany and Vietnam over the last one year, and cities like New York and Boston are next in line. The company aims to touch annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $100 million in the next three years, by 2024. Though MoEngage did not share their current ARR, the company claimed that it is higher than $20 million. This would mean that the company is looking to expand five fold in the next three years. The company has also decided to set up another research and development (R&amp;D) center in Hyderabad, MoEngage’s chief executive officer (CEO) Raviteja Dodda said in an exclusive interaction with Business Insider. Currently, it has one R&amp;D center in Bengaluru. These R&amp;D centers are like the backend of any software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, where the products are actually developed and designed. Several SaaS companies even if they cater to customers in the western market, set up R&amp;D centers in India due to the massive talent pool and cheap workforce. Some prominent examples are Freshworks, Zoho Corp and Browserstack. “New office in Hyderabad is to expand the talent pool. Hiring is a big problem right now, across every company. And if you are based in Bengaluru, it's even a bigger problem to hire people. So we are expanding our talent pools that we target,” Dodda said. MoEngage’s four step international expansion strategies <table class="redcator-table-advance" style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"><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;">Plan</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;">Strategy</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;">Stronger Marketing </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;">Building a sales and marketing flywheel to get more customers on board. </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;">Building stronger communities </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;">Investing more in #GROWTH, a peer-to-peer learning community that hosts invite-only events to learn best growth practices from each other. </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;">Product Innovation </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;">Investing in artificial intelligence (AI) driven insights to help its customers design better market campaigns for themselves. </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;">Going Local </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;">Building local teams in each function and market to offer better services to its customers. </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>MoEngage’s aggressive international expansion, comes with aggressive hiring MoEngage — which was founded by IIT Kharagpur alumnus Raviteja Dodda and Yashwanth Kumar — plans to hire over 150 employees across verticals and functions in the next 12-18 months, by the end of 2022. This is in addition to 120 employees hired across vertices in the last seven months. MoEnagange currently has a team of 375 employees. Key hires in last 12 months <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;" class="redcator-table-advance"></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;">Hires </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;">Designation </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;">Meagan White </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;">Senior Director of Marketing for North America </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;">Shalini Devji-Jethwa </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;">Director of Marketing for Europe </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;">Avijit Nanda </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;">Director, Product Management </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;">Roshan Hadal </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;"> Director, Engineering </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>For international markets, MoEngage has focused on hiring for sales, marketing and customer acquisition teams. Whereas Indian hiring has largely focused on product, engineering and other functions. Though the company hasn’t put a number on how many people it plans to hire for its Hyderabad R&amp;D office, it can be expected to be higher than 20. The Bengaluru and San Francisco-based startup would also be looking at acquisitions in the next two to three years to expand its product range and distribution channels. “It will be either for distribution in markets where we want to expand in or products which are complementary to what we do and can add value for our customers,” Dodda added. Closing 2021 with another 200 customers MoEngage startup recently closed a $32.5 million funding round led by Multiples Alternate Asset Management to aid its ambitious international plans. Overall, the seven-year-old startup has raised over $73.3 million since its inception. The company has a user base of 1000 customers, of which 250 were on boarded in the last one year. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;" class="redcator-table-advance"></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;">Customer </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;">Country </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;">Byju’s, Westside, Flipkart, Nestle </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;">India </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;">Mobile telecommunications company XL Axiata </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;">Indonesia </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;">Telekom Malaysia, CIMB Bank </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;">Malaysia </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;">Deutsche Telekom </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;">Germany </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;">McAfee </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;">US </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;">Travelodge </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;">UK </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>Dodda claims that they are adding over 90 customers every quarter and it expects to close this year with another 200 customers. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/whitehat-jrs-ceo-karan-bajaj-quits-exactly-a-year-after-byjus-acquisition/articleshow/85029450.cms">WhiteHat Jr’s CEO Karan Bajaj quits exactly a year after Byju’s acquired the company</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/tiger-global-pumps-enough-money-to-make-bharatpe-a-unicorn-about-a-month-after-it-got-a-banking-licence-with-centrum-as-its-partner/articleshow/85027918.cms">Tiger Global pumps enough money to make BharatPe a unicorn about a month after it got a banking licence with Centrum as its partner</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/adani-ports-shows-a-record-quarterly-volume-growth-while-the-shares-have-already-run-up-over-7-in-last-5-days/articleshow/85005554.cms">Adani Ports shows a record quarterly volume growth while the shares have already run up over 7% in last 5 days</a>

INTERVIEW: MoEngage, which helps companies like Domino's engage with customers, wants an office in New York and 150 techies in India

<ul><li>Wall Street legend Warren Buffett turned 90 years old and <keyword id="45830" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bill-Gates">Bill Gates</keyword> wrote him an emotional note.</li><li>Bill Gates wished Buffett on his birthday with a special Oreo cake bearing Buffett’s face and a written tribute on his blog.</li><li>Here are some of the unique facts that you should miss about Buffett’s and Gates’ 29 years-old friendship.</li></ul>The business tycoon Warren Buffett turned 90 years old yesterday. His close friend and billionaire Bill Gates wished him on his birthday with a special Oreo cake bearing Buffett’s face and a written tribute on his blog’ Gates Notes’. “It’s hard to believe that my close friend is entering his tenth decade,” <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Happy-90th-Warren?WT.mc_id=20200830080000_Happy-90th-Warren_BG-TW_&amp;WT.tsrc=BGTW">Gates said in his blog</a>. “Warren has the mental sharpness of a 30-year-old, the mischievous laugh of a 10-year-old, and the diet of a 6-year-old. He once told me that he looked at the data and discovered that first-graders have the best actuarial odds, so he decided to eat like one. He was only half-joking,” He added on his blog. <div type="twitter" handle="BillGates" handlename="Bill Gates" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/988775660163252226/XpgonN0X_normal.jpg" favoritecount="89301" retweetcount="13900" status="Happy 90th birthday, Warren! https://t.co/8nH2EulTR4" createdat="1598805474000" id="1300110509455282176"></div> These are some of the unique facts revealed by the Microsoft founder about his 29 years-old friendship with Buffett: <ul><li>Warren and Bill Gates love numbers. Bill Gates, on his blog, said “I couldn’t possibly list all the interests Warren and I share. But one thing we discovered the first time we met is that we both love math and numbers.” He further shared various numbers and their importance. </li><li>According to Bill Gates, It has been more than “10,649” days since he met Buffett on July 5, 1991. He also shared number “2” on his blog and said that the number is special because he had set “Melinda’s and Warren’s” number on speed dial “2” at his office. </li><li>Warren and Bill Gates love the book ‘Business Adventures’ by John Brooks. When Buffet and Gates first met, Buffet lent his copy of Business Adventures to Gates, and since then it became Gates favourite book. “Business Adventures remains the best business book I’ve ever read,” Bill Gates told <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/bill-gatess-favorite-business-book-1405088228">The Wall Street Journal.</a> </li><li>“Although Warren works incredibly hard, he always leaves time for extracurricular activities. Here he is throwing out the first pitch at an Omaha Royals minor-league baseball game, and guest-starring on an episode of All My Children opposite Susan Lucci and Jill Larson,” Gates wrote.</li><li>On his blog, Gates recalled how Warren explained to him the meaning of friendship when they both were talking to some college graduates. “Make some good friends, keep them for the rest of your life, but have them be people that you admire as well as like. A person that I admire as well as like—that’s the perfect description of how I feel about Warren. Happy birthday, my friend” Gates signed off on his blog.</li></ul> SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/indian-pm-lauded-a-bunch-of-businesses-like-paytm-chingari-koo-ask-sarkar-kutukikids-reliance-jio-patanjali-zoho-workplace-for-their-success-/slidelist/77845896.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">From Chingari to Zoho Corp⁠— all the businesses that can boast of accolades from Prime Minister Modi</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/indian-pm-lauded-a-bunch-of-businesses-like-paytm-chingari-koo-ask-sarkar-kutukikids-reliance-jio-patanjali-zoho-workplace-for-their-success-/slidelist/77845896.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/ambani-vs-damani-indias-635-billion-retail-ring-will-see-the-countrys-two-richest-men-battle-with-different-strategies/articleshow/77846555.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Ambani vs Damani ⁠— India’s $635 billion retail ring will see the country’s two richest men⁠ battle with different strategies</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/ambani-vs-damani-indias-635-billion-retail-ring-will-see-the-countrys-two-richest-men-battle-with-different-strategies/articleshow/77846555.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/ambani-vs-damani-indias-635-billion-retail-ring-will-see-the-countrys-two-richest-men-battle-with-different-strategies/articleshow/77846555.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a>

Here are some unique facts about billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates' 29-year old friendship

<ul><li>Salaries for software-as-a-service (SaaS) roles in comparison to traditional <keyword id="57650" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="IT-jobs">IT jobs</keyword> are higher by at least 30% if not more.</li><li>Demand for SaaS specific skills is on the rise after the ‘digital transformation’ wave of the pandemic.</li><li>Moreover, small businesses and startups are willing to pay more than bigger MNCs in order to secure the right talent.</li></ul>If you’re an engineer in India, the job market is tough. There’s a lot of competition and companies are selective about who they hire. But one thing that can give you an edge over other candidates is the right set of skills — SaaS-y skills. India’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) market is still young, but that’s where the real money is, if you’re an engineer. The demand is overflowing, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic’s ‘digital transformation’ wave. “COVID-related trail winds have led to a massive leverage using technology and that in turn leading firms to look at incrementing their teams with high quality engineers,” Siddharth Sangwan, the director and head of talent strategy at venture capital company Lightspeed Venture Partners, told Business Insider. Recruitment firm TeamLease told Business Insider that <keyword id="11126922" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="salaries-in-saas">salaries in SaaS</keyword> firms are at least 30% higher than traditional IT services, if not more. “The potential for growth is better as a SaaS firm because product development on this platform is more robust and exposure to technology is higher. Whereas in traditional IT service companies, they tend to stick to one project for longer durations,” explained Siva Prasad Nanduri, the vice president and business head of IT Staffing at TeamLease Digital. Five SaaS skills that have seen the biggest uptake in demand: <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"></colgroup></colgroup></colgroup></colgroup></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;">SaaS skills </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;">Spike in demand from December 2020 to January 2021 </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;">IT security </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;">166% </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;">Full Stack </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;">110% </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;">Android Developers </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;">80% </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;">Data Analytics </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;">44.7% </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;">Angular JS </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;">40% </td></tr></tbody></table>Source: Quess IT Staffing What were once considered to be niche skills before the pandemic are now mainstream, especially with the wave of ‘digital transformation’ as lockdown forced businesses to shut down their physical stores. “Organisations are looking to hire talent with bundled skill sets, rather than just one skill, driving up the salary expectations and offers in the market,” said Vijay Sivaram, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Quess IT Staffing. Having at least two years of experience is all you need to capitalise on your skillset. It doesn’t matter which sector you were in, or what brand you were working on, your knowledge is what companies are looking for when hiring. “If you get a reasonable 2-3 years of experience, salaries have virtually doubled in the last one year. The demand is coming from traditional companies, from startups, from IT, and from global companies,” said Haresh Chawla, a partner at True North, during a Business Insider Twitter Live. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[]]></cdata></div> Sirion Labs, a contract life-cycle management company that has clients like Vodafone, Unilever, Credit Suisse, and EY, agrees that experience is key. Just having the right set of skills is not enough. A potential employee must also know how to use those skills to get the job done. “When it comes to technical hires specialising in AI/ analytics/data science, we look for top talent with practical experience in NLP, streaming applications (Kafka, Rabbitmq), and programming languages such as Python and R,” explained the co-founder and CEO of SirionLabs, Ajay Agrawal. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Startups are pulling talent away from the bigwig MNCs" comment="subhead" text="Startups are pulling talent away from the bigwig MNCs">Startups are pulling talent away from the bigwig MNCs</cmsannotation> It’s not that traditional IT companies aren’t hiring for the same skills. They’re even giving out pay hikes to junior employees to keep them around for longer. But startups and small businesses are willing to offer more money. “I know for a fact that startups are paying more. They’re more discerning in terms of the kind of people they have. Their interviewing style is very different from an IT services company or even some of the MNCs that are out there,” said Lathika Pai, country head of venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) partnerships at Microsoft. According to her, the keyword is ‘passion’. Startups are looking for young employees who aren’t working for money, but from the heart — people who want to shoot for the stars, not just the Moon. "More than the skills, it’s the mindset that differentiates engineers who ship great products. The ability to solve a problem for a customer and then do it at scale is what excites most SaaS engineers," Praval Singh, the vice president of marketing at Zoho Corp, told Business Insider. He estimates that there over 1000 SaaS companies in India. More than 150 have annual recurring revenue of more than $1 million. And, these companies are a hotbed for engineering talent. They have a healthy customer retention rate, which means they willing to shell out the big bucks because they know they will see higher revenue per employee as the business grows. “As far as salaries go, there is a higher percentile of companies in the SaaS space who offer more salaries, but that is linked to the skills and competencies required based on the type of work or role the employee is expected to play,” said Atlassian, one of the biggest software companies in the world. It is currently planning to recruit 300 research and development engineers in India over the next year. Every other company wants to build a mobile app so that they can reach customers on their smartphones. Cloud is the new mantra, and cybersecurity concerns are on the rise. And firms are on the hunt to secure the right talent, which also means paying out big bucks to keep others from poaching talent away. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sports/news/jp-morgan-is-funding-european-super-league-of-chelsea-real-madrid-barcelona-and-others/articleshow/82143811.cms">JP Morgan is doling out billions to fund the ‘Dirty Dozen’ Super League — the biggest disruption in the history of club football</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/whatsapp-users-need-to-update-their-apps-and-report-malicious-links-as-new-malware-makes-the-round-and-cert-in-warns-of-multiple-vulnerabilities/articleshow/82140756.cms">WhatsApp under threat — multiple vulnerabilities in older versions of the app and a new ‘Pink’ malware on the prowl</a>

SaaS-y salaries are 30% more than traditional IT services — and they’re making it tougher for traditional IT service firms to find the right talent

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> today.1. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-is-finally-giving-advertisers-2-things-theyve-been-asking-after-for-ages-2015-9">Facebook is finally giving advertisers two things they've been demanding for ages.</a> Advertisers can now buy 100% "in-view" ads and Facebook has teamed up with analytics company Moat to provide marketers with independent video measurement.2. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ad-blocking-apple-versus-google-2015-9">Ad blocking is really part of Apple's war with Google.</a> And publishers are collateral damage. 3. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/zoho-attacks-salesforces-dreamforce-2015-9">Little-known enterprise software company Zoho has been attacking Salesforce on its biggest day.</a> Zoho launched a guerrilla advertising campaign at Powell St. station in San Francisco during Salesforce's annual Dreamforce event.4. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/zappos-makes-satirical-video-about-holacracy-2015-9">Zappos made a video that spoofs Holocracy, the management experiment that caused 14% of its staff to quit.</a> The Amazon-owned online retailer posted a video entitled "Chaos Reigns at Zappos as Company Moves Toward Self-Organization. Muuuwwaahaahaa :)" 5. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/unruly-co-ceo-sarah-wood-interview-2015-9">The CEO of Unruly, the ad tech company that just sold to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for $176 million, told us why the acquisition is such a huge deal.</a> Sarah Wood says it's a "catalyst" acquisition for News Corp, and said that she expects more deals of this kind across the media sector in the coming months. 6. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/theres-some-new-data-out-on-the-huge-ad-blocking-trend-and-its-a-grim-read-for-online-publishers-2015-9">There's some new data out on the huge ad blocking trend.</a> It's a grim read for online publishers.7. <a href="http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/buffalo-wild-wings-drops-steve-rannazzisi/300431/">Buffalo Wild Wings has dropped brand ambassador Steve Rannazzisi, AdAge reports.</a> The comedian admitted he had lied about being at the Twin Towers during the 9/11 attacks.8. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/twitters-cfo-were-bigger-than-facebook-sort-of-2015-9">Twitter's CFO wants us to rethink the metrics we use for Twitter.</a> Anthony Noto says Twitter's audience may be bigger than Facebook's 1.5 billion users, "depending on how you look at it."9. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/olive-gardens-never-ending-pasta-passes-sold-out-2015-9">Olive Garden's never-ending pasta passes sold out in less than one second.</a> For $100, the passes offer seven weeks straight of unlimited pasta, breadsticks, salad, and Coca-Cola beverages. 10. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ruling-gives-apple-legal-edge-that-might-force-samsung-to-change-its-products-2015-9">A new ruling gave Apple a legal edge that could force Samsung to change its products.</a> The federal court of appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision that District Judge Lucy H. Koh should have granted Apple an injunction banning Samsung from developing or selling any software using three of Apple's patented features: slide to unlock, recognition of phone numbers, and spelling recommendations. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-safari-content-blocking-apps-2015-9">How to make browsing on the iPhone 500% faster</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="M4aHdrdzqN9H4vrX6t7ntk17cEpDk1Qm" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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The metro cities’ congestion, crowds and lack of free space are a big no no for the IT giants in India. They are preferring places where they get facilities of a metro, yet a lot of free space. Guess what? All of a sudden, the tier II cities in Tami Nadu like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=coimbatore">Coimbatore</a> and Madurai are getting big bang investments. Earlier we have reported how <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Move-over-Bengaluru-Coimbatore-is-the-new-start-up-city/articleshow/48553621.cms">Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu is becoming a smart base for the start ups</a> in Bangalore. However, this time not only the start ups, IT giants are like HCL, Cognizant are investing in these tier 2 cities. 
 
HCL Technologies has announced an investment of Rs 6,600 crore. Most of the investment will go into Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Cognizant+">Cognizant</a> will develop delivery centres at an investment of over Rs 1,000 crore in Coimbatore and Chennai and bureaucrats are hopeful about TCS expanding its workforce in the city. Officials with the state <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IT+">IT</a> department said a large portion of the Rs 10,950 crore in IT investments will go into smaller cities and towns in the state. The expansions are in Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, Tirunelveli, and Salem, where the state government has managed to sell land to IT firms. 
 
Zoho Corp is setting up a development centre in Tenkasi, where the Sridhar Vembufounded company will recruit from neighbouring colleges to develop software products for global clients. 
 
"You need to take product building into <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=tier+II+">tier II</a> and tier III towns. It is now a requirement - because IT's skill requirements are changing with the way digitisation is spreading. And the talent that resides beyond the metros is attractive now. The second consideration is costcompetitiveness," Premkumar S, executive vice-chairman and MD of HCL Infosystems told The Economic Times. 
 
However, the constraints lie in public infrastructure such as roads and airport connectivity as the IT business is strongly client-oriented. TCS' rival Cognizant has committed to developing delivery centres in Coimbatore, besides making progress in expansions in Chennai. R Chandrasekaran, executive vice-chairman at Cognizant told the ET, there were cost considerations too about going deeper into Tamil Nadu. "It is cheaper to deliver for a tier II city but that is possible in Tamil Nadu because the education infrastructure in say Trichy, or Coimbatore is comparable to that of Chennai."

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