Inc42

𝘊𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦-𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 — 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩.” Nitya Sharma, Founder of Simpl, drops gems at Fast42 by Inc42! He applauds how Lenskart didn't just build a business — they transformed how we see glasses. 🚀 Once uncool, now a statement! 🎥 What’s your take? Watch the reel to get insights #Inc42 #FAST42 #Simpl #reel

MedikaBazaar’s spectacular rise in the B2B healthcare space has now turned into one of Indian startup ecosystem’s biggest cautionary tales👇 Once a soonicorn backed by marquee investors like IFC, CDC Group, HealthQuad, and Lighthouse, the company is now facing serious allegations of financial misreporting and fraud. The unravelling began in December 2023 when a whistleblower complaint alleged revenue inflation and fake inventory. This triggered a forensic audit and led to PwC uncovering 50% revenue inflation—before resigning as the company’s auditor. Cofounder resignations followed, and in 2025, founder and CEO Vivek Tiwari was removed from the board. Now, with a ₹279 Cr indemnity claim filed by Series C investors, the situation echoes the BYJU’S saga and once again raises tough questions about governance in high-growth startups. MedikaBazaar’s meltdown isn’t just an isolated incident—it highlights deeper issues of opacity and malpractice in India’s B2B and supply chain segments. And for global investors, it could shape how Indian startups are viewed for years to come. To read the in-depth article, click here: https://t.co/hmm0hg8sPL #MedikaBazaar #StartupGovernance #VivekTiwari #Startup #Fraud #B2B #IndianStartups #DueDiligence #Funding #VC #India #Inc42

Amid the US tariff war, the Centre is reportedly planning to cap Chinese investments in electronics joint ventures at 10%, contingent on technology transfer, prioritising local manufacturing development. A Thread🧵:(1/3)

The preference will be given to electronics contract manufacturers or supply chain firms from the neighboring country, rather than Chinese brands, when it comes to equity ownership. (2/3)

“As the Indian firms need technology transfer, the government is likely to allow 10% Chinese equity in joint ventures. But there won’t be open gates for Chinese investments in electronics or other sectors,” an official said. #USTariff #India (3/3) https://t.co/hYZn2n1iFO

India’s startup ecosystem is rapidly transforming as startups integrate GenAI into their core products, services, and value propositions A Thread🧵:(1/3)

Adoption has swiftly moved beyond early experiments, now cutting across industry verticals with a growing number of startups operationalising use cases across analytics, product development, customer experience, and talent engagement (2/3)

Most startups are no longer treating GenAI as a peripheral tool, they’re deploying full-stack GenAI strategies to carve out competitive advantages, strengthen market positioning, and future-proof their innovation pipelines #GenAI #Profits #Revenue (3/3) https://t.co/1Ik5dhPjQR

Startup initial public offerings (IPOs) were a rage in India in 2024. As many as 13 new-age tech companies listed on the bourses last year and cumulatively raised INR 29,070 Cr via their public listing. From sector giants Swiggy and FirstCry to SME maverick TAC Infosec, 2024 was abuzz with healthy activity on the IPO front. Not just this, public listings also proved to be money makers for the early backers of these companies, with some VCs and PEs minting returns of over 30X. While 2024 was a blockbuster year for Indian startup listings, will the momentum seep into 2025 too? It definitely seems so. As per Inc42 data, 23 startups were in various stages of undertaking their IPO preparations at the start of 2025. 🔗Read the full article here - https://t.co/nooN6zUOnZ #IPO #startups #Inc42 #India

In less than three months into his second stint as the US President, Donald Trump has thrown dozens of startup IPOs in India into a bit of confusion with his tariff wars. The US tariff changes and the potential impact on foreign investors has compelled many Indian startups to rethink their public listing timelines, valuations and IPO sizes. As per Inc42’s IPO tracker, 36 Indian startups are in various stages of their IPO journey, with some such as Ather Energy, PhysicsWallah, boAt, OYO and others waiting for the right market timing and SEBI approvals. How will the tariffs and the potential geopolitical implications on foreign investors affect these Indian startup IPOs? 🔗Read the full article here - https://t.co/X7QCOdJpuZ #IPO #DonaldTrump #USTariff #startupnews

South Korean gaming major KRAFTON’s India arm has reportedly picked six game studios across the country for its second cohort of incubation programme. A Thread🧵:(1/3)

The studios, selected from around 350 applications, include Madurai-based Kleanup Games, Mumbai-based Singular Scheme, Hyderabad-based Unwind Games, Kolkata-based Advaita Interactive, Delhi NCR-based Ginger Games and Bengaluru-based Smash Head Studio. (2/3)

KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator (KIGI), will offer up to $150,000 in grants to each game studio. KIGI is looking to expand its footprint to emerging gaming hubs like Kolkata and Madurai, among others in India #Krafton #gaming #gamingindusrty (3/3) https://t.co/FDYqWrItwH

After taking a beating for most of this year and giving a negative return of over 36% YTD to its investors, shares of listed travel tech company TBO Tek surged 8.64% to reach INR 1,133.00 during the trading hours on the BSE today. A Thread🧵:(1/3)

The company posted a 52-week low figure of INR 985.70 on April 7, the day Indian bourses collapsed after the US announced tariffs on all countries worldwide. (2/3)

At 1:30 PM, the stock traded 7.4% higher at INR 1120.00 on the BSE, and the market capitalisation stood at INR 12,161.83 Cr. #TBOTek #shares #stockmarket (3/3) https://t.co/xIGiPFwZ5U

🚨Inc42 Exclusive🚨 Tiger Global-backed house of brands startup https://t.co/zcF1HWBWlp (formerly @MensaBrands ) is raising INR 48 Cr (around $5.6 Mn) debt funding from existing investor Stride Ventures. The unicorn’s board passed a resolution in March to issue 4,800 non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to raise the sum, as per its filings sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The house of brands unicorn plans to use the capital to meet its working capital requirements and general corporate purposes. 🔗Read the full article here - https://t.co/FdZDRON2wG #news #Inc42 #exclusive #startupnews #startup #india #Houseofmensa #funding #investment #growth #expansion #debt #funding

If there’s one consistent theme in business, it’s that everything moves in cycles. We have a funding and growth boom followed by a slump in the markets, and then a new inflection point starts the cycle anew. But between these ups and downs, we can spot another pattern — corporate governance lapses, allegations of fraud against founders. The past two weeks have thrown up two such incidents which have been boiling away for some time. The first one is the widely publicised troubles for BluSmart in connection with allegations of embezzlement against its founders in their other company, publicly listed Gensol. Read the full article here - https://t.co/hmm0hg8sPL #MedikaBazaar #marketnews #startupnews

Tech giant Google, which has been under regulatory scrutiny in India in a number of cases, has agreed to settle a smart TV Antitrust case with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) by paying a settlement amount of INR 20.24 Cr. A Thread🧵:(1/3)

Besides the settlement amount, the company has also agreed to provide a standalone licence for Play Store and Play Services for Android smart TVs in India #tech #Google #CCI (3/3) https://t.co/mWPVhtgPMF