News Roundup: 10 Indian Startup Stories You Don’t Want To Miss This Week [10 April – 15 April]

After the Stayzilla and TVF incident, founders of media startup Scoopwhoop have now come under fire. A former female employee has accused co-founder Suparn Pandey of sexual harassment and sexual assault during her two-year tenure at the company. Pandey’s application for anticipatory bail has already been denied. In order to gain team support, CEO and co-founder Sattvik Mishra wrote an email to the entire ScoopWhoop team highlighting various incidences during the complainant’s tenure at the company.

On the other hand, TVF founder Arunabh Kumar moved for anticipatory bail. He got relief from getting arrested in an ongoing sexual harassment case against him by the Dindoshi Sessions Court.

Next on, amidst media reports of SoftBank proposing the sale of Snapdeal to nemesis Flipkart, Kunal Bahl has reached out to his employees to clear the air. In an email sent to the team, he ensured that their well-being continues to be “top priority” for the founders. With this deal, Snapdeal co-founders are expected to receive $25 Mn each by selling their shares in the company. On the flip side, Kunal was also the target of a Twitter rant from CouponDunia’s Sameer Parwani over Payment woes.

Important Developments Of The Week

Flipkart Founders Exit Billionaire Club

With a new round announced earlier this week, Bansal co-founders now have 6.5% stake in Flipkart with a net worth of $650 Mn-$750 Mn each, dethroning them from their billionaire status. Also, as the deal gets closed, the company plans to compensate its employees and will issue differential stock options to its eligible employees.

Furthermore, Flipkart is once again betting on the $400 Main Indian grocery segment. Moreover, as per a recent  Mint report, it will be focussing a major part of newly raised funds in the fintech space and in the growth of its digital payment platform PhonePe.

Future Group To Shut FabFurnish

Reportedly, the acquisition  did not work out for the  Future Group as planned and they will finally concentrate on one brand – HomeTown. Future Group acquired FabFurnish in April 2016 from Rocket Internet for around $3 Mn.

Amazon To Enter Payments Space In India

The Indian arm of ecommerce company Amazon.com, Inc. has secured a license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate a prepaid payment instrument (PPI). It secured the license late last month.

Google Launches Hyperlocal Services In India

Google has launched a new hyperlocal services app in India – Areo. Aero will deliver food and home services for residents in Bengaluru and Mumbai. Home services include services from local electricians, painters, cleaners, plumbers and more.

Ola CEO Takes U-Turn On Capital Dumping

After taking sides with Flipkart on creating a lobby group against foreign players like Amazon and Uber, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has taken a U-turn about his concerns over ‘capital dumping’. In line to raise another $100 Mn, he now believes that it is up to relevant government agencies to decide whether capital dumping should be prevented or not.

Stayzilla Co-founder Granted Bail

Yogendra Vasupal received bail from Madras High Court after spending 25 days in jail. As per conditions laid by the court, he should deposit about $62K (INR 40 Lakhs) with the court. The money is not a bail payout but a surety that Stayzilla and its co-founders have sufficient funds to pay off Jigsaw in case the aforementioned allegations of fraud and cheating prove to be true.

Paytm Mall Launches O2O Commerce

With this move, Paytm Mall aims to partner with the large offline merchant network of Paytm and will adopt QR code technology to bring efficiency in product discovery and supply chain. Under this initiative, consumers can visit the Paytm Partner stores in their neighbourhood and scan the QR code using their Paytm or Paytm Mall app to browse and order products. This will enable shopkeepers to sell products online without having to tackle with inventory management and deliveries. Additionally, consumers can also avail of same day deliveries from local shopkeepers, helping partners generate new lines of revenues.

Other Developments

Akshay Kumar Launched Bharat Ke Veer

The celebrity actor launched an app and website to provide financial help to the family of Indian soldiers.The platform will allow users to donate money into the bank accounts of selected soldiers.

Benow Enrols Over 1K Merchants

Named as ‘BHIM-Enablement Service,’ it allows merchants to accept payments directly into the merchant’s bank account, eliminating the issue of dealing with cash on a day-to-day basis. The platform and app are powered by YES Bank’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) systems.

Bosch Announces New Indian And Global Apps On mySPIN

The move aims to provide users with a complete connected experience in the car. Bosch provides a smartphone integration solution. mySPIN will be able to provide location-based personalised recommendations and services in the future.

Yahoo! Launches Yahoo! Storytellers In India

It is a content marketing solution for brands and agencies that leverages Yahoo’s editorial expertise, extensive data, and native advertising through Yahoo! Gemini. This will let marketers in India engage with Yahoo! Storytellers to successfully develop, distribute and measure premium branded content that meets consumers’ high expectations and drives engagement.

Quikr Partners With Truecaller

The move will enable an enhanced customer service experience and an increase in call pickup rates across all verticals of Quikr. Truecaller Priority will help consumers identify a ‘priority call’ because of the integrated branding with Quikr and the unified look of the interface will assure consumers that the call is from a reliable source and not spam.

Postman Announces New Mock Service Feature

The solution is designed to enable engineering teams in split stack architecture environments to simulate a back-end server, allowing front-end and back-end developers to work independently, accurately and more quickly.