Need free legal advice? This startup can help

Good morning!

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose uncertainty for businesses, affecting fundamental strategic and operational decisions. Things are even more challenging for startups and SMEs. One small mistake could lead to a major catastrophe.

Last year, amid the lockdown, founders reading contracts with key stakeholders like vendors and customers were astounded by the legal impact of what they had signed up for, says Vijay Sambamurthi, Founder and Managing Partner, Lexygen. 

To help these startups, Lexygen launched a COVID Pledge — offering top-quality legal advice for free of cost (up to a specified limit of value) — to help them deal with these issues.

“Our advice has real monetary and strategic value, and the fact that we not only provide it free, but provide it with the same commitment to quality as if it is a paying deal, has been highly appreciated by our service recipients last year,” says Vijay. 

Last year, Lexygen donated approximately 50 lakh worth of legal advice to a mix of startups and later-stage Indian businesses. This year, the COVID Pledge 2.0 has been increased to Rs 1.10 crore worth of legal advice.

Read all about how the Indian startup ecosystem is battling the second wave of COVID-19 here.

Here are some useful tools to help you find the nearest vaccine centres in real-time.

You can also share a tribute to COVID-19 warriors, saviours, and survivors here.

The Interview

In India, people use most of their life savings to buy a semi-furnished home, and sometimes even lack facilities such as the kitchen, wardrobe, and paint. 

Ramakant Sharma, Co-founder and COO of Livspace, talks about how the startup connects interior designers, vendors, and customers to provide end-to-end home interiors.

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Seeing a huge gap in the healthcare segment and how small towns are underserved as compared to metro cities, Ayush Mishra set out to solve this and launched Tattvan E-Clinic in 2017. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Enabling students from Tier-II, III cities to access higher education

While students across the world have turned to edtech startups and companies to continue their education amid the pandemic, many students from Tier-II, III cities, and beyond are still unable to access online learning. 

To solve this, Chandrabhanu Pattajoshi and Sonam Choudhary started Goseeko in 2018. The edtech platform offers courses by 68 other universities, also provides online classes, private live tuitions, and career guidance by facilitating internships and job opportunities to young graduates. Read more.

News & Updates

• Tata Digital has acquired a majority stake in online grocery delivery startup Bigbasket. With the deal that was approved by CCI in April, Tata Digital will directly compete with Jio Mart, Amazon, and Flipkart. 

• Vedantu set up a Rs 15 crore fund under its 'Help India Learn' initiative to assist in providing education to nearly 12,000 children who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• In a first in India, spacetech startup Bellatrix Aerospace has successfully tested the country's first privately built Hall Thruster, a highly efficient electric propulsion system that's ideal for micro-satellites. 

• The Centre approved a proposal to provide financial assistance to families of 26 more journalists who lost their lives to COVID-19, with the total number of beneficiaries reaching 67.

• Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the government will now start lifting the lockdown gradually in Delhi, with the resumption of construction activities and reopening of factories for one week from Monday.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has turned out to be not just one crisis, but a series of constantly evolving crises. In such a scenario, what most founders don’t even anticipate, let alone plan for, is how to avoid stepping on legal landmines.”

— Vijay Sambamurthi, Founder and Managing Partner, Lexygen

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