Business in coronavirus: Decline in funding, a focus on kiranas, rise of edtech
It's been an eventful few days. The lockdown has been extended, venture investments have declined, and the WHO actually said coronavirus may never go away.
It's been an eventful few days. The lockdown has been extended, venture investments have declined, and the WHO actually said that coronavirus may never go away (yes, you read that right!). On a brighter note, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 20 lakh crore economic package, which was lauded by UN economic experts. Then, the PM CARES Fund announced that it has allocated Rs 3,100 crore to fight COVID-19.
Indian startups have been innovating to fight the pandemic in various ways, even partnering with the government to implement their solutions. To know more about how the Centre is helping over 1,000 innovators fight against COVID-19, Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, spoke to Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Health and Family Welfare and Earth Sciences. The minister also highlighted the country's "well-devised, well-planned, and well-implemented" fight against coronavirus.
On Money Matters with Shradha Sharma, we gleaned some much-needed insights from experts across sectors. While Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha revealed everything you need to know about investing and trading during COVID-19, Ajay Bijli of PVR told us that theatres will overcome the worst of times — including coronavirus — and people will go out to watch movies after this is over, and Gaurav Munjal of Unacademy discussed the rise of edtech during this lockdown and how India’s biggest consumer internet company will be an education company.
Today, on Episode 13, Gopal Balachandran of ICICI Lombard GIC will talk about the insurtech space in India and what lies ahead. Join us LIVE at 5 pm using this link.
Last but not least, here are a few ways to take care of your mental health during this lockdown.
General Atlantic invests $870M in Reliance Jio
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani with son and Reliance Jio Director Akash Ambani
Reliance Jio has received its fourth foreign investment in less than a month. PE giant General Atlantic has picked up 1.34 percent equity stake in Jio.
Why JioMart, Amazon, Flipkart are wooing kiranas
Leading ecommerce companies have made big moves to partner with offline kirana stores to acquire and retain customers.
What startups need to do to tackle COVID-19
Dr Apoorva Rajan
Apoorva Ranjan Sharma of Venture Catalysts and 9Unicorns Accelerator Fund on what startups need to do to ensure growth post-COVID-19.
Meet the man behind quarantine favourite Ludo King
Vikash Jaiswal, Founder and CEO of Gametion Technologies (Ludo King)
Vikash Jaiswal, Founder and CEO of Gametion Technologies, hit the bull’s eye amid the coronavirus lockdown with Ludo King, India’s #1 gaming app.
Indian internet is more rural, local, mobile-first than ever
The 450 million Hindi speakers are twice as big a market as India’s 220 million English speakers
The low-cost data revolution and the Indian government’s digital push have made desi internet more diverse and inclusive.
How Jumbotail maintained scale amidst coronavirus
Take a closer look at B2B ecommerce startup Jumbotail, which uses technology to address the inventory challenges of unorganised kiranas.
Meet the startup enabling contact tracing in rural India
Nicholas Boehnlein and Ankit Chaudhari, Co-founders of Aiisma (L-R)
Las Vegas-based Aiisma uses USSD feature for COVID-19 contact tracing in rural India, where users may not have access to phones with 3G, 4G, or 5G networks.
Quote of the day:
"I am banking on the fact that going out is innate human nature, and 10 weeks of lockdown cannot change that."
— Ajay Bijli, Founder, Chairman, and MD, PVR Cinemas
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