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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Two entrepreneurs into their second innings share a bond that goes beyond business. Each wants what the other has.
Editor's note: It is a late night in 2016 and the party is going strong. Comedian Tanmay Bhat is among friends and peers. His venture, the comedy collective All India Bakchod, is probably at the height of its popularity. Every celebrity in India recognizes the faces of AIB, as do advertisers and marketing agencies. But something is amiss and that’s the conversation Bhat is having with a friend at the party. “I want to play a bigger game, cash out,” he says, or that’s how the friend remembers it now. It has been six years since the conversation. “You see how Arunabh has raised big money, I want to play that venture capital game. There is impact, money there, and there is the X factor too.” Arunabh Kumar is the founder of The Viral Fever, a web series production firm that had raised $10 million from hedge fund Tiger Global earlier that year. The conversation between friends lasts longer, but only a gist of it is what has remained with Bhat’s friend after all these years. That and the fact that Bhat …
The Kunal Shah-helmed fintech needs both growth and profitability to raise capital. But the two goals are contradictory and CRED will soon have to decide between raising at a reduced valuation or delaying the fundraise.
The nearly two-decade-old investment platform will not make any angel or pre-seed investments anymore. Its closure tells the larger story of the state of angel investing in India.
The edtech startup’s four-year journey from ambitious disruptor to shutdown offers crucial lessons on innovation, market realities and the resilience of traditional higher education institutions.
