Indian Startup News Ep 15: Udaan Fires 3000 Employees, Paytm Contactless Ordering and Jiomart Launch

This week in Indian Startup News, Udaan fires 3,000 employees, 47% of Indian startups and SMEs could shut down after one month, ShareChat acquires Memer, Paytm introduces ‘Contactless In-Store Ordering’ for restaurants, and JioMart pilots WhatsApp-based online shopping. In Funding News, Indian technology startups raised $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2020, DMI Finance raises $123 million, Flipkart invests $90 million in PhonePe and its marketplace business, Bira 91 raises $30 million.

Top Startup News

00:36 47% of Indian startups and SMEs could shut down after one month: According to a survey by LocalCircles, 47% of Indian startups and SMEs have either already run out of cash or have cash reserves for only one month. 74% of these startups are looking to scale down their operation or looking at total shut down if the situation continues to get worse.
https://www.localcircles.com/a/press/page/covid-19-startup-sme-survey#.Xqq5Rp4zbIU

02:38 Udaan fires 3,000 employees: Indian B2B e-commerce unicorn Udaan has fired at least 3,000 of its contractual employees, reported ET. Confirming the report, the company said that it will provide up to one month’s salary to the fired employees as severance and they will also receive insurance benefits for three additional months.
https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/udaan-lays-off-at-least-3000-contract-workers/75393544
https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/udaan-lays-off-several-contractual-staff-offers-one-month-compensation-120042600013_1.html
https://twitter.com/EmployeesUdaan

04:07 Paytm introduces ‘Contactless In-Store Ordering’ for restaurants: After Zomato, Paytm is looking to help restaurants transition to contactless dining by introducing ‘Contactless In-Store Ordering’ feature. Just like Zomato’s contactless dining feature, the customers will be able to order their food by simply using Paytm’s QR code to access the menu and order their food and they will also be able to pay digitally using Paytm wallet.
https://medium.com/m/global-identity?redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.paytm.com%2Fintroducing-contactless-in-store-ordering-technology-4e0e086ca7a4

05:14 JioMart pilots WhatsApp-based online shopping: Days after the Facebook and Jio deal, JioMart has started using WhatsApp to test its ordering system. Users will be able to order their groceries using JioMart’s WhatsApp business account.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/26/reliance-and-facebook-pilot-jiomart-orders-on-whatsapp/

07:54 ShareChat acquires Memer: Regional language social media platform ShareChat has acquired a meme sharing and discovering platform Memer. Post-acquisition, Memer’s product suite will be integrated with ShareChat and its 8-member team will join ShareChat in Bengaluru.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/sharechat-acquires-kae-capital-backed-meme-sharing-app-memer/articleshow/75409607.cms

Funding News

09:00 Indian technology startups raised $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2020: According to the latest report by a research and consulting firm HexGn, technology startups in India raised a total of $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2020. Comparing the numbers against the first quarter of 2019, this is a 14% increase in total funding and the number of funding deals increased by 30% from 210 to 277 this year.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/indian-startups-attract-funding-worth-usd-2-5-billion-in-q1-2020-report

10:07 DMI Finance raises $123 million: DMI Finance has raised $123 million from South Korean gaming company Nexon, through parent NXC Corporation. The funds raised will be used to finance the growth of digital consumers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).
https://yourstory.com/2020/04/funding-delhi-nbfc-dmi-nexon-south-korea-gaming

10:56 Flipkart invests $90 million in PhonePe and its marketplace business: Flipkart Private Limited, which owns and operates Flipkart’s marketplace business and PhonePe, has invested $90 million in its marketplace business and digital payments platform PhonePe, according to an ET report. Out of the $90 million, $62 million has been invested in Flipkart’s marketplace business, while the rest $28 million in PhonePe.
https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/mobile/flipkart-pumps-28-million-into-phonepe/75404084

11:44 Bira 91 raises $30 million: B9 Beverages, which owns the craft beer brand Bira 91, has raised $30 million in a funding round from Sequoia Capital, Sofina, Sixth Sense Ventures and Neoplux.
https://yourstory.com/2020/04/funding-alert-bira-91-sequoia-india-sofina.

Startup News Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z29IRS-K_jE&list=PLW_KdmQM-qwDpyzDKhnLFzaNOHv_6xrp-

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