Meet India’s 30 most promising startups; Ronnie Screwvala's advice to entrepreneurs

Hello,

For the last 16 years, YourStory has played a pivotal role in highlighting and presenting startups staying ahead of the game.

This year, too, we have curated a list of India’s 30 most promising startups poised to become major disruptors across AI, deeptech, space tech, agritech, fintech, healthtech, and sustainability sectors. With Tech30, YourStory is empowering early-stage startups to become the next generation of changemakers.

You can download the Tech30 2024 report here.

For the second straight day, TechSparks Bengaluru 2024, YourStory’s flagship startup-tech summit, hosted invigorating conversations between entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders from the Indian startup ecosystem. 

From InMobi Group CEO Naveen Tewari sharing adtech secrets, Amagi Co-founder Baskar Subramanian telling what it took to stream the Olympics, to entrepreneurs teaming up to ingrain sustainability into companies’ DNA, Day 2 of TechSparks was all about transforming Bharat.

But the best is kept for last!

The grand finale today will host talks with some of the brightest minds shaping India’s technological revolution.

While Amitabh Kant, India’s G20 Sherpa, will reflect on the role of governance in reshaping India’s future, Ananth Narayanan, CEO of Mensa Brands, will decode how he took brands from zero to Rs 100 crore in revenue. 

The conference will also see Razorpay’s Shashank Kumar, Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl, and Licious’ Ajit Narayanan will speak about the real-world impact of their ventures and how AI will write the next chapter of India’s tech story.

Lastly, to end the day on a high note, Bhavish Aggarwal, the maverick behind Ola, will take us on a journey of grit and audacity.

You can keep a tab on all that’s happening here. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Build in “boring” sectors, says Screwvala
• Swiggy exces on the road to IPO
• Naveen Tewari’s prediction for stock market

Here’s your trivia for today: During the rule of which government was the 'Right to Property' removed as a fundamental right?

TechSparks

Build in “boring” sectors, says Screwvala

At TechSparks 2024, entrepreneur and investor Ronnie Screwvala suggested founders build in the ‘boring’ sectors. 

“Serious businesses—solar energy and all those who work in the environmental space—are being built for the long-term. They need equal amounts of respect…start (up) in these sectors, and nobody will be able to beat you after 15 years,” said the co-founder of edtech unicorn UpGrad and Swades Foundation.

Key takeaways:

• During a fireside chat at the 15th edition of YourStory’s flagship summit, Screwvala shared his thoughts on the ‘big opportunities’, and what the investor in him is betting on. 
• Speaking about AI, he said, “The next 4-5 years will be a work-in-progress…We have to make a business out of AI.” 
• He added that while everyone views the AI space as a tectonic or a technological shift, the focus is shifting away from the fact that building a successful AI company will require much more creativity, innovation, and consumer understanding versus just the output.

<Top Funding Deals of the Week>

Startup: Whatfix

Amount: $125M

Round: Series E

Startup: M2P Fintech

Amount: Rs 850 Cr

Round: Series D

Startup: Qure.ai

Amount: $65M

Round: Series D

TechSparks

Swiggy exces on IPO journey

Swiggy Co-founder Phani Kishan Addepalli believes the foodtech company's relentless focus on putting consumers at the centre of every decision—even at the cost of taking tough calls—has been key to its success, as the startup now prepares to go public.

Swiggy plans to raise a mammoth Rs 10,000 crore from the market, giving exit to some big investors like Prosus and Elevation Capital. 

Foodtech:

• The company is prioritising sustainable long-term profitability over short-term bursts of gains, said Food Marketplace CEO Rohit Kapoor after the company’s latest filing revealed a wider loss in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
• He also said that Swiggy is among the largest and fastest employment generators in the country. The company provides insurance to every delivery partner, he revealed.
• “Swiggy had turned profitable by driving 200 discrete projects ranging from 5 paisa to 50 paisa value,” he said. “We have chiselled business down where each leader understands growth and profitability.”

TechSparks

Naveen Tewari’s prediction for stock market

Tech companies are set to significantly increase their presence in the Indian stock market in the coming years, predicts Naveen Tewari, Founder and CEO of InMobi. Revealing that InMobi will be part of this surge, Tewari said the consumer tech company will go public “soon.” 

Into the future:

• Discussing the evolution of the Indian stock market at TechSparks 2024, Tewari, who is also the founder of two tech unicorns—InMobi and its subsidiary Glance—foresees a substantial increase in the presence of tech companies on the stock exchange soon.
• On the topic of Glance, Tewari noted that successful companies in markets like India will evolve into digital conglomerates capable of generating disproportionate outcomes much faster than their competitors.
• The founder believes that the traditional method of retrieving content from servers through internet searches will become outdated and be replaced by a real-time, personal internet tailored to individual preferences.

News & updates

• Data protection: The lead European Union privacy regulator, Data Protection Commission, fined social media giant Meta $101.5 million for inadvertently storing some users' passwords without protection or encryption. It has so far fined Meta a total of $2.8 billion for breaches.
• Back to office: Dell Technologies said that their global sales team employees who are able to work from the company offices must do so five days a week from September 30. The shift is aimed at leveraging a collaborative environment and “grow skills”  for which the team should be in office.
• Hypergrowth: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman denied that there are plans for him to receive a “giant equity stake” in the company, calling that information “just not true,” according to a person who was in attendance. The meeting followed the board’s decision to consider restructuring the company to a for-profit business.

During the rule of which government was the 'Right to Property' removed as a fundamental right?

Answer: Morarji Desai’s government.

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