Startup
Budget 2024 expectations from EV sector; Unlock your inner Sherlock with AyeVee
Hello,
A giant once, BYJU’S is staring at insolvency.
The NCLT has admitted bankruptcy proceedings against the company due to an outstanding debt of Rs 158.9 crore owed to the BCCI for sponsoring the jerseys of the Indian cricket team.
The edtech firm is in deep waters, fighting multiple legal battles with its investors and lenders.
New reporting also shows that the company allegedly hasn’t remitted the TDS to the government since July last year. It has also been reportedly locked out of over 100 tuition centres over unpaid rent and electricity dues.
ICYMI: What edtechs seek from the upcoming Budget.
Meanwhile, trouble is brewing for Paytm yet again as its parent One97 Communications Ltd received a warning letter from SEBI for unapproved related party transactions. The market regulator also warned the company to improve its compliance.
The slap on the wrist cost the company in the stock markets, with its shares diving 2.46% on the NSE.
This follows SoftBank exiting the company just days earlier, incurring a loss of $150 million on its investments.
The investment company has been weighing its investments carefully—exited PolicyBazaar earlier this year—as it looks to step up bets on AI infrastructure and industrial robotics.
Lastly, Tamil Nadu Story 2024, YourStory’s flagship event that strives to empower startups and homegrown brands of Tamil Nadu, is just around the corner.
From former Cognizant CEO Lakshmi Narayanan to space tech startup AgniKul Cosmos’ Srinath Ravichandran, a stellar lineup of speakers will talk about the trends shaping the startup and industrial ecosystem of the state on July 19.
Check out the agenda here.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Subsidies, lower tax on EV sector’s mind
- Unlock your inner Sherlock with AyeVee
- Giftolexia’s way to overcome learning disorders
Here’s your trivia for today: If you suffer from Chirospasm, what do you have?
In-depth
Subsidies, lower tax on EV sector’s mind
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s interim, pre-election Budget offered much-awaited support for EV charging infrastructure, especially on the manufacturing side. It also zoomed in on public EV infrastructure to boost the adoption of e-buses.
With the full Budget 2024 now on the anvil under the newly-formed government, industry stakeholders have renewed their expectations for a new phase of the FAME scheme.
Many asks:
- The EV industry’s biggest expectation from Budget is an advancement on the FAME scheme as the second iteration expired on March 31, 2024.
- The scheme is expected to have a Budget outlay of around Rs 10,000 crore, the same as FAME II, according to two sources YourStory spoke with. It will continue to offer purchase subsidies on electric two- and three-wheelers.
- Beyond manufacturing and sales subsidies, EV players also reckon it would help if the government actively boosted usage, especially in commercial sectors.
Funding Alert
Startup: Tekion
Amount: $200M
Round: Equity
Startup: Namma Yatri
Amount: $11M
Round: Pre-Series A
Startup: Icanheal
Amount: Rs 15 Cr
Round: Seed
Startup
Unlock your inner Sherlock with AyeVee
Chennai-based Asiaville has launched AyeVee Interactive and Gamified Experience, an interactive gaming platform that lets users make choices to shape the narrative in different ways. Currently, the platform has two shows—a whodunnit and an escape feature film.
Features:
- Working on similar lines as Netflix’s Bandersnatch, the AI-powered platform offers immersive 360-degree AR/VR experiences, all while you watch a short film.
- The inspiration for the platform came from a live-streaming session held last year. AyeVee’s team live-streamed a murder mystery to engage with the audience. A scene was enacted, clues were provided, and the audience was asked to solve the mystery.
- AyeVee is available on iOS and Android platforms, and the games are streaming in Tamil and Malayalam, with English subtitles. There are plans to add more languages soon.
Women Entrepreneurs
Giftolexia’s way to overcome learning disorders
After Teena Paul’s son was diagnosed with dysgraphia—a learning disability that concerns impairments in written expression—she came across a gaze pattern-based screening tool from Sweden for learning disabilities.
Paul explains, “One cannot discern a learning disability by looking at a child. This is not an intellectual issue, but a processing difference, and one needs screening to identify this.”
Helping children:
- In 2017, she started Giftolexia with seed funding from NSRCEL to help children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties with methods and tools for early identification and remediation.
- She found a collaborator in Cyclops Medtech—a Bengaluru startup known for its eye-tracking device. The partnership led to an application that captured gaze data, which it initially tried out with children.
- With this deeptech tool, the screening age is reduced to eight years from the current average of 12 years, and the screening time to five minutes per child from 30 minutes taken for a pen-and-paper screening. It can screen for specific learning disabilities.
News & updates
- Tech M&A: Google owner Alphabet is reportedly in advanced discussions to buy fast-growing cybersecurity startup Wiz for roughly $23 billion. A takeover of Wiz, which makes cybersecurity software for cloud computing, would mark the tech giant’s biggest-ever acquisition.
- Design change: Elon Musk granted his engineers at Tesla more time to finish the development of a robotaxi prototype, pushing back the model’s heavily anticipated unveiling. While the CEO has unveiled little information, Tesla will own and operate some of the self-driving vehicles, while others will be privately owned but available for rent through Tesla’s network.
- Protect wildlife: Over 100 companies, including Unilever, L’Occitane, and Iberdrola, have called on governments to enact tougher policies to reach a UN goal of halting nature loss by the end of the decade. In 2022, the world agreed to a landmark deal to protect biodiversity, including a pledge to protect 30% of the world’s natural ecosystems.
If you suffer from Chirospasm, what do you have?
Answer: Writer’s cramp, or a spasm of the hand muscles.
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Startup
RenewBuys pares FY24 losses by 40% amid merger reports
D2C Consulting Services, the parent company of digital insurance startup RenewBuy, pared its losses by 42% to Rs 114.44 crore in FY24 from Rs 197.19 crore in the previous year.
The online insurance aggregator clocked 40% rise in operating revenue to Rs 394.40 crore from Rs 280.75 crore in FY23, according to a filing made with the Registrar of Companies.
D2C Consulting Services is reportedly in talks with its larger peer InsuranceDekho for a potential merger in a cash-and-stock deal. The combined entity is expected to be valued over Rs 8,000 crore, with RenewBuy valued at about Rs 3,000 crore.
The RenewBuy platform offers comparison for motor, health and life insurance. Its total expenses rose 8% to Rs 524.24 crore, mainly driven by higher interest payments and other expenses.
RenewBuy is valued at $364 million according to the data available on data intelligence platform Tracxn. It last raised $40 million in a Series D round from Dai-ichi Life Holdings in July 2023.
The startup was founded in 2016 by Balachander Sekhar and Indraneel Chatterjee. RenewBuy plans to expand beyond India, especially in the Asian markets.
Its peer PolicyBazaar, a unit of listed entity PB Fintech, reported a 43.81% year-over-year jump in operational revenue at Rs 1,167 crore in Q2. During the same period, it clocked a profit after tax of Rs 51 crore, marking a turnaround from a loss of Rs 21.11 crore incurred in the corresponding year-ago period.
Startup
Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (November 7, 2024)
Funding news:
Enlog secures Rs 1.75 Cr in equity funding
Enlog, a Delhi-based startup specialising in AI-powered energy management and IoT solutions, has secured Rs 1.75 crore in equity funding from Vinners.
The fresh funds will be used to boost its operations and accelerate its growth in India’s energy management sector.
Enlog, a Delhi-based energy management startup, was founded in 2019 by Bharath Rnkawat and Jharna Saha, focuses on IoT and AI-powered energy solutions to optimise electricity consumption and reduce carbon footprints. So far, it has managed 11,300 MWh of electricity and reduced over 2,000 tons of carbon emissions.
With over 15,000 users, Enlog aims to reduce carbon emissions by one million tons by 2027. It plans to triple its revenue from Rs 12 crore in 2024 to Rs 40-45 crore by 2025, focusing on expanding into key Indian metro cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Indore.
Pulse bags $1.4M in a seed funding round led by Endiya Partners
, an advanced Agentic AI platform, has secured $1.4 million in seed funding from Endiya Partners, with participation from angel investors, including founders of Zluri and Yellow.ai, and other entrepreneurs and product leaders.
The funding will primarily focus on building a robust core team, enhancing the platform’s development, purpose-built LLMs, and Agentic AI capabilities.
It is launching its MVP in November 2024, following pilots with multiple design partners. The company plans to allocate resources for early go-to-market initiatives to establish a foothold in India and the US, paving the way for long-term growth and leadership in the AI-first product management space.
Hyderabad-based Pulse, founded in 2024, uses Agentic AI to collect customer feedback, analyse structured and unstructured data, and automate key processes like feature extraction, prioritisation, and product hierarchy creation.
Other News
DaveAI secures patent for real-time adaptive digital aisle, transforming customer engagement
, an interactive digital solutions, has been granted a patent by the Government of India for its “System and Method for Real-Time Adaptive Interactive Digital Aisle of Products.”
The patented system leverages DaveAI’s proprietary Affinity Engine, a multi-dimensional AI with an online learning genetic algorithm, powers real-time hyper-personalisation, allowing brands to craft adaptable and engaging digital customer experiences.
DaveAI combines machine learning with genetic algorithms to personalise customer interactions in real time. This allows brands to provide tailored recommendations, adapt to changing customer needs, and build lasting connections.
(The copy will be updated with the latest news throughout the day)
Startup
KL Rahul-backed Boldfit raises Rs 110 Cr from Bessemer Venture
Fitness brand Boldfit on Thursday said it raised Rs 110 crore in its series A round from Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP).
Boldfit, which sells everything from yoga mats and water bottles to protein powers and exercise apparel, plans to use the latest infusion for product innovation and brand expansion.
Boldfit, which was founded by Pallav Bihani in 2019, had earlier announced a strategic investment from cricketer KL Rahul in July. Rahul also joined the company as a brand ambassador.
“We believe sports and fitness is a rapidly growing market in India and Boldfit has emerged as an early leader in the space with its strong focus on product quality, holistic distribution, and strong brand partnerships. We’re excited to partner with Pallav and the team in their next stage of growth,” noted Anant Vidur Puri, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners.
Boldfit had earlier outlined its plans to use the funds for the development of new product lines and enhance customer engagement through targeted campaigns and community development initiatives. Additionally, the company is also looking to optimise its supply chain and improve logistics to reduce delivery times.
Boldfit said it clocked revenue of Rs 73 crore in FY24 and expects to cross the Rs 500 crore threshold by FY26, which it had shared with Yourstory earlier.
The company currently claims to serve over one crore customers annually.
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