Siddharth Sharma owns a startup in Noida in north India called ZipZapDeals, a consumer discount app for students, and the 25-year-old says it is a good time to be an entrepreneur in Asia's third-biggest economy.
“I think the market has become more mature now - before it was just a bubble,” says Mr Sharma.
Startups are hitting new highs in terms of their valuations. Global investors are ploughing funds into the sector and culturally there's a greater acceptance of entrepreneurship in the country, inspiring Indians to try their hand at setting up the next potential billion-dollar company.
“The scene in India right now is pretty exciting,” says Ravi Jakhar, an investor in food, health and technology ventures, who this year launched an organic food company based on nutrition science called Truefarm Foods. “Ten years ago, we were only talking about IT startups, but now it cuts across everything, ranging from e-commerce to fitness to art.”
This trend is largely being driven by India's expanding economy, rising disposable income, and the technology boom. India has seen a wave of entrepreneurs - from students quitting university to seasoned professionals giving up their jobs – trying to tap the market with new ventures. India's GDP grew at 7.7 per cent in the first three months of this year, making it the world's fastest growing major economy.
“Everything is changing - the way we shop, the way we travel, the way we commute,” says Mr Jakhar. “This is why there's a tremendous opportunity.”
The home-grown success stories of startup ventures like Flipkart are adding to the attraction for future entrepreneurs as more and more of them jump on the startup bandwagon, experts say.
US retail giant Walmart in May announced plans to buy a 77 per cent stake in Bangalore-based online shopping website Flipkart for $16 billion (Dh58.7bn). Flipkart started out in 2007 as an online bookseller, launched by two young Indian entrepreneurs Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal, out of an apartment in Bangalore with just a few thousand dollars.
Binny Bansal thinks the deal is groundbreaking. It is “the dawn of a new era for India's #StartUp ecosystem”, he wrote on Twitter after the transaction was announced.
Indian food delivery app startup Swiggy proves Mr Bansal's point. It has just become a $1bn company, after South Africa’s Naspers and investment house DST Global led a round of funding feeding $210 million into the venture.
It is the second “unicorn” - commonly used terms for a company with a valuation of over $1bn – to emerge in India's online food ordering space, alongside New Delhi-based Zomato, which received $150m from Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Financial in February. Morgan Stanley earlier this year valued the firm at $2.5bn.
“Post the Flipkart deal, people have now started to realise that these are not just paper values,” says Bhaskar Majumdar, the managing partner at Unicorn India Ventures, a venture capital fund. “The muted valuations that were there have started to shoot up, primarily because people are realising India is one of those few markets where there's still the possibility for large home runs.”
However, one look at the data on startup funding in India, shows have not been very rosy for this budding sector of the economy as far as the recent past is concerned.
Figures from Inc42, an Indian information platform, show that funding into the Indian startup sector stood at $1.17bn in the first quarter of this year, down 50 per cent compared to the previous quarter, as investors have become more discerning and are not throwing money at any idea.
“Investors are more constrained and relying on sustainability metrics and profitability for making an investment,” according to Inc42.
Seed stage funding however, has improved, according to the figures, with the number of deals up 43 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of last year. The fintech and health tech segments are attracting the most interest from financiers, according to the firm.
Despite the overall funding decline, things are looking up for those with novel ideas with potential of commercial success.
_______________
Read more:
India's GST bottlenecks are a pain for businesses
India's consumer spending set to boom
_______________
“We are seeing an explosion in high quality ideas among Indian startups,” says Shripati Acharya the managing partner at Prime Venture Partners, a seed stage venture capital fund based in Bangalore. “It is no surprise that the investor interest is getting stronger as well as seen from a number of new fund launches and participation in funding rounds from overseas funds and strategic investors.”
But what is being poured into startups is still a drop in the ocean and much more need to be done in terms of funding in India for the sector to fulfil its potential.
“While we see sufficient capital in early stage, growth stage funding for mature startups is still inadequate as compared to the opportunity," he points out.
It helps that the likes of Softbank and Tencent have taken an interest and are now betting big on the success of Indian startups.
Japan's Softbank has ploughed capital into homegrown tech companies in India, including Flipkart, mobile wallet company Paytm, and the ride-hailing app Ola, with its investments into the country totalling more than $8bn in less than five years, according to figures from data analytics firm Tracxn.
India's government has also thrown its weight behind the sector in India, with prime minister Narendra Modi, in 2015, unveiling a campaign called Startup India that includes a fund of funds specifically for startups.
Mr Jakharr explains that India has now become more supportive of entrepreneurship, whereas previously there was a lot more pressure for well-educated Indians to take conventional jobs and avoid risks.
“That's been one of the key driving factors, the change in our societal values and how we value entrepreneurship in the country,” he says. “I remember when I passed out of my college in 2004, I was the only one ..... to start a company and not appear for a job placement. But now, there is a large numbers of people starting companies from college, so that's a significant change.”
Ashwin Ramesh, 27, started an online marketing startup called OrganicApex at the tender age of 14 when he was still at in school. He made the company profitable by the time he was 18, and he dropped out of college to pursue entrepreneurship, setting up a firm enabling businesses to manage their online presence called Synup in Bangalore in 2014.
It has has been a tough journey - like most entrepreneurs learning from his mistakes along the way - but he says there is a definite transition taking place in India's startup scene.
He raised a series A funding for Synup in September of $6m and his firm launched a New York office in December.
“I think the environment is extremely good to raise funds,” he says. “There is a general bullish environment right now because a lot of tech companies are starting to mature. If you look at India, the problem was a lot of money was being pumped in into sectors like e-commerce but we had a big graveyard of e-commerce companies that went nowhere. But recently interesting things are happening in the space and a lot more capital is getting deployed.”
Mr Ramesh says he does not know if this will last a long time, but he expects it to prevail for a couple of years, and he thinks aspiring entrepreneurs in India should take advantage while it lasts.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20Z%20FLIP%204
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WORLD RECORD FEES FOR GOALKEEPERS
1) Kepa Arrizabalaga, Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea (£72m)
2) Alisson, Roma to Liverpool (£67m)
3) Ederson, Benfica to Manchester City (£35m)
4) Gianluigi Buffon, Parma to Juventus (£33m)
5) Angelo Peruzzi, Inter Milan to Lazio (£15.7m
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Sting & Shaggy
44/876
(Interscope)
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The biog
Favourite Quote: “Real victories are those that protect human life, not those that result from its destruction emerge from its ashes,” by The late king Hussain of Jordan.
Favourite Hobby: Writing and cooking
Favourite Book: The Prophet by Gibran Khalil Gibran
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETamer%20Ruggli%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENadine%20Labaki%2C%20Fanny%20Ardant%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
Key Points
- Protests against President Omar Al Bashir enter their sixth day
- Reports of President Bashir's resignation and arrests of senior government officials
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Jawan
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WITHIN%20SAND
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Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
DIVINE%20INTERVENTOIN
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The biog
Name: Capt Shadia Khasif
Position: Head of the Criminal Registration Department at Hatta police
Family: Five sons and three daughters
The first female investigator in Hatta.
Role Model: Father
She believes that there is a solution to every problem
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
more from Janine di Giovanni
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
