Indian Startup News Ep 37: Google's New Play Store Policy, 3 Lakh E-Commerce Jobs & Reliance Funding

This week in Indian Startup News, Google’s new Play Store policy, E-commerce to create 3 lakh jobs during this festive season, Paytm Money launches stockbroking services and Unacademy acquires Coursavy.

In funding news, Reliance Retail raises $1.01 billion from General Atlantic and Silver Lake, Amazon India secures $153 million from its parent, InShorts’ Public app raises $35 million, Smallcase raises $14 million and E-trio raises $3 million.

00:00 Introduction
00:30 Google’s new Play Store policy
02:53 E-commerce to create 3 lakh jobs during this festive season
05:04 Unacademy acquires Coursavy
05:37 Reliance Retail raises $1.01 billion from General Atlantic and Silver Lake
06:19 Amazon India secures $153 million from its parent
07:39 InShorts’ Public app raises $35 million
08:32 Smallcase raises $14 million
09:46 E-trio raises $3 million

Google’s new Play Store policy: Google has just updated its Play Store Policy and as we know every app or in-app purchase on the app store is required to use Google’s billing system and Google charges a 30% commission on those transactions. The search engine giant was previously a little lax in implementing its policy which gave apps like Netflix, Spotify and Tinder an opportunity to use different payment platforms enabling them to bypass that 30% commission. But Google is now changing that and they have also included new app categories into the mix like fitness, education and dating, which means these category apps will also have to use Google’s billing system. Indian startups and entrepreneurs have already spoken out against Google’s monopoly criticizing the move. Google has also said that it will be making it much easier for Android users to download and use a different app store on its Android 12. It essentially means that Google is asking the companies to either pay 30% commission or find a new app store to list their apps. And Indian startups have already started to look for ways to create India’s own digital app ecosystem.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9992660

E-commerce to create 3 lakh jobs during this festive season: Festive season sales like Amazon’s Great Indian Festival and Flipkart’s Big Billion Day are not only responsible for the surge in ecommerce sales but they also provide jobs to thousands of people. According to a recent Redseer report, this year India’s ecommerce is expected to create 3 lakh jobs during this festive season.
https://yourstory.com/2020/09/ecommerce-create-jobs-festive-season-redseer

Unacademy acquires Coursavy: Edtech unicorn Unacademy has acquired a test preparation startup Coursavy for an undisclosed amount. Coursavy is their fifth acquisition this year after Kreatryx, CodeChef, PrepLadder and Mastree. This acquisition will help Unacademy to strengthen its UPSC exam category.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/unacademy-acquires-test-preparation-startup-coursavy/articleshow/78307465.cms

Reliance Retail raises $755 million from General Atlantic and Silver Lake: Reliance Retail raises $755 million from General Atlantic and Silver Lake. Out of the $755 billion, the company has raised $500 million from General Atlantic for a 0.84% stake and Silver Lake now has a total of 2.13% stake after injecting additional $255 million.

Amazon India secures $153 million from its parent: American e-commerce giant Amazon has invested $153 million dollars in its Indian marketplace business Amazon Seller Services ahead of its flagship Great Indian Festival sale.

InShorts’ Public app raises $35 million: Inshorts’ location-based social network platform Public has raised 35 million dollars from Lee Fixel’s Addition, SIG Global and Tanglin Venture Partners.

Smallcase raises $14 million: Bengaluru-based investment tech startup Smallcase has raised $14 million from a host of investors including DSP Group, Sequoia Capital India, Blume Ventures, Beenext, WEH Ventures, Arkam Ventures and Cred’s Kunal Shah.

E-trio raises $3 million: EV startup E-trio has raised $3 million in its series A round from a host of high networth individuals (HNIs) from Singapore. With the latest funding, the company is looking to to add new products to its portfolio, drive customer acquisition and sales and also launch its new electric-three wheeler Touro and eBike Ashva.

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