Building for Bharat

Today, India celebrates its 75th year of independence. This year, we are striving to become an 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' and build for the world.

Sunday August 15, 2021 , 3 min Read

Happy Independence Day!

Today, India celebrates its 75th year of independence. This year, we are striving to become an 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' and build for the world. A crucial step in becoming self-reliant is by empowering entrepreneurs, especially from Tier-II cities.

Lately, we have seen that the geographical spread for startup funding has expanded from the Big 3 — Bengaluru, Delhi/NCR, Mumbai — to include cities like Jaipur and Pune, which are fast-becoming startup hubs.

According to YourStory Research, between Jan 2015 - July 2021, Tier-II city startups in India raised approximately $1.12 billion in funding, across 305 deals. Interestingly, in the first seven months of 2021, Tier II startups have already raised $80 million across 39 deals.

One of the major drivers behind the shift is the #vocalforlocal movement that put a spotlight on Indian entrepreneurs. The movement opened many opportunities and changed customer perception of buying ‘Made in India’ goods in the last year, helping these brands shine.

The Interview

The Asia-Pacific region alone sees $17 trillion worth of payment flows that are yet to be digitised. Zip is a rapidly expanding global fintech player that is simplifying the global payment landscape with fair and seamless payment solutions.

Hamish Moline, MD (Asia and Global Payments), Zip, talks to Arvind Ronta, Head of Products, India & South Asia, Visa on solving for the multi-trillion-dollar credit opportunity in India.

Editor’s Pick: Swadeshi Brands

This Independence Day, SMBStory lists five homegrown brands founded before India became a free country and have today grown into some of the biggest and most respected brands. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Wearing patriotism with pride

Rajeeva Mahalinga and Sowjanya S Prabhu wanted to create lifestyle merchandise at a reasonable price point to appeal to a younger generation who took pride in being Indian. In 2018, they founded Bengaluru-based lifestyle clothing brand 1947IND.

The brand celebrates ‘Indian sub-cultures’ with the likes of Ranveer Singh, Danish Sait, Ritviz, Alok Babu of @all_ok_official fame, and Mihir Joshi sporting their designs. Read more.

News & Updates

The South Korean National IT Industry Promotion Agency, also known as NIPA, has announced the NIPA Startup Program, batch of 2021. NIPA’s India office, Korea-India Software Cooperation Centre, shortlisted 10 South Korean SMEs and startups looking to expand into the Indian market.

India witnessed an addition of 16 million jobs in July mainly in the agriculture and construction sectors. However, the number of salaried jobs fell by 3.2 million in the same month, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

Dream Sports, the parent company of India's only gaming unicorn Dream11, has set up a $250 million corporate venture capital (CVC) fund to invest in sports, online gaming, and fitness-tech startups in India.