News Roundup: 7 Indian Startup Stories You Don’t Want To Miss This Week

Amidst sale talks with Flipkart, Snapdeal started initiating payouts to the employees it laid off two months back. In February 2016, Snapdeal fired around 600 employees amidst cost-cutting woes. The company also launched its revamped app with more personalised content and product recommendations; making the consumer’s experience faster and more relevant, in line with their past buying behaviour and persona.

Also, Uber’s on-demand food app – UberEATS finally entered India. The app claims to have partnered with 200 restaurants. UberEATS has a delivery time of 35 minutes, out of which 20 minutes are taken to prepare the food at the restaurant. The company also added a new feature in its ride-hailing app – which allows riders to update their pick up location after they’ve requested a ride if they happened to request from the wrong place.

Important Developments Of The Week

Amazon To Double Storage Capacity

With this move, Amazon claims to provide employment opportunities to about 5,000 people. Post this move, Amazon India will have 41 FCs across 13 states in India with a storage capacity close to 13 Mn cubic feet.

Odisha State Govt. Launches Startup Web Portal

The portal aims at promoting ease of doing business for budding entrepreneurs and creating an ecosystem for startups in the state. The portal will help connect startups with angel investors and incubators and will upload all revised provisions of the Odisha startup policy.

BPL Cuts Ties With Flipkart

Popular consumer electronic brand BPL has ended its three-year partnership with ecommerce retailer Flipkart. The duration of the agreement was till 2018. Also, BPL has just launched its products on Amazon India to sell large appliances such as TVs, air-conditioners, washing machines and more.

Google Launches ‘Solve For India’

The Solve For India initiative aims to back the new wave of entrepreneurs from Tier II cities like Pune, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Indore, Nagpur, Nashik, Madurai, Kanpur, and Chennai. The programme further aims to push developers to create solutions for these cities and enhance connectivity across areas.

Facebook Rolls Out Express Wi-Fi Project In India

As stated by Mark Zuckerberg, this project aims to help more people get online. As part of the initiative, Bharti Airtel has joined in as a partner Internet service provider to launch 20,000 hotspots in the country.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai Took Home $200 Mn In Salary Last Year

This included a monthly salary of around $650K and a stock award of $198.7 Mn. In 2015, the CEO’s final compensation was $100.5 Mn – half of what he received now.

Other Developments Of The Week

Network 18 Joins The Colombia Audience Network

Times Internet’s publisher network Colombia Audience Network powers over 55% of page views across top 10 news content publishers on mobile. It is also working with Network 18’s premium publications such as News 18, Firstpost.com, and other leading news publications like Punjab Kesari, Sandesh, Dinakaran, Udayavani, The Tribune, India TV, Bartaman Patrika, Andhra Jyothy and more.

Zerodha Introduces Balance App

Balance is an app that will help users save up in clever ways using the pre-installed Kite connect APIs. Also, it has collaborated with ICICI Prudential (AMC) where Balance will invest the savings with its ICICI Prudential Money Market Fund — Growth.

LaundryAnna Set To Open Its First Retail Store

Bengaluru-based doorstep laundry provider LaundryAnna announced the opening of its first physical store as a part of its expansion strategy. After operating as an exclusive online laundry service for almost two years, LaundryAnna was growing at a rapid pace and ended FY 16-17 on a profitable note.

U2opia Mobile Partners With Nigeria Based Etisalat

The partnership will help U2opia to launch its sponsored data suite FonePass in the Nigerian market. As part of the deal, the company will offer subscribers to discover free data offerings on the most popular ecommerce, online classifieds, and taxi apps in the region.

FinMomenta Launches P2P Platform Tachyloans

With this launch, the Singapore-based fintech startup aims to directly connect lenders with borrowers and pass on savings to the lenders in the form of high returns and to the borrowers in the form of low-interest rates

Satvacart Launches ‘Kill-Bill’

Kill-Bill is a unique ecommerce feature targeted at FMCG players and consumers. Satvacart has also digitised its entire operations resulting in a scalable and replicable business model to expand into newer geographies. The company now plans to raise $1 Mn for controlled expansion in NCR while achieving complete profitability.

KartRocket Launches KartRocket Lite

KartRocket Lite is an easy and affordable plan designed primarily for the emerging ecommerce entrepreneurs to set up their online store in just INR 2000. It will offer affordable last-mile logistics, simpler payment systems and personalised assistance at every step of the building process. KartRocket Lite will also assist entrepreneurs’ in building the social selling process.