Founders Unfiltered

Last fortnight, Ather Energy raised $60M in its newest round, as Tesla got courted by Indian states to set up a manufacturing plant  

Last fortnight, MapMyIndia had a blockbuster IPO, becoming a $1Bn company as it listed after 3 decades.  

For more details Visit - https://ajuniorvc.com/mapmyindia-story-india-startup-ipo/

Banks, across geographies, have been slow to catch up with technology. Customers who are exposed to new age, high quality services are often frustrated when left to deal with complex, irrelevant communication and poor consumer experience. Virender Bisht, who interacted closely with banks for payment solutions, was shocked to see the pace of technology adoption. He started looking for ways to disrupt the traditional approach.   Virender developed a fascination for computers and software during his mechanical engineering days. This continued as he worked at TCS on some transformational technology projects across large and small clients. Along the way, he discovered that he enjoyed working with smaller teams and transitioned to the startup world.   The idea to disrupt banking came when he led the technology vertical at Makemytrip. He was introduced to Vinay Bagri in 2015, when the duo set out to build disruptive financial products under the name Niyo.   Virender talks to us about their journey of building products ranging from employee benefit solutions to full-fledged banking services in an over-arching effort to simplify finance with technology. As always, don’t miss out on the gems of unfiltered advice at the end!

For more details visit - https://ajuniorvc.com/2022-predictions-2021-recap-ipo-d2c-fintech-indian-startup/

A famous World War II term ‘Blitzkreg’ was used to describe scenarios where armies moved very fast, surprised enemies, and won. You either won big or lost big. ‘Blitzscaling’ in the startup world, while on a positive note, has a similar perspective. Companies find their space in a market and move extremely fast to expand their user base and revenue. Like the armies, this is often done on unfamiliar paths in spite of lurking risks and adversity!  Such an approach led CoinSwtich Kuber to become the largest crypto trading platform in India with 10M+ users in just 15 months. Stay with us until the end as this promises to be an engaging conversation for anyone observing the crypto or startup space!

In today’s episode, Prashant talks about this journey of navigating a web of regulatory hurdles, riding through the pandemic, and most importantly -  building trust into the DNA of 1mg! We also learn about his transition into the TATA group and how this cements his aspiration of building India’s largest and most admired healthcare brand! As always, we leave you with a gem of unfiltered advice at the end!  

Last fortnight Chargebee appointed its Chief Financial Officer, a few months after turning unicorn in an incredible year for Indian SaaS

When Pandemic struck in 2020, the banking industry was ready for disruption- the act of physical visits to bank or ATMs had to be done away with - which gave a golden opportunity to a new form of Banking to emerge- known as Neo Banking.

Jitendra Gupta- our guest for today -is the one of the most known faces in the Fintech space – he is also the co-founder of Jupiter- a mobile first neo banking platform targeted at millennials.

In todays podcast we discuss the Jitendra's journey so far- and get insights on how he managed to bring Jupiter from Ideation to reality.

Last fortnight, Paytm opened India’s biggest IPO.

Join us for a behind-the-scenes peek at the A Junior VC piece - Will Paytm’s Rollercoaster hit IPO Gold?

Link to article - https://ajuniorvc.com/paytm-ipo-fintech-rollercoaster-mall-wallet-business-unicorn-startup-india/

Jaynti was born and brought up in a small town in Ahmedabad. He studied at a local college, where students’ ambition was limited to getting a job at TCS. Jaynti too followed a similar path and took a job at an Indian corporate.

A friend introduced him to YC’s Hacker News - a website focusing on technology and budding startups.

Jaynti came across bitcoin and was drawn to the endless possibilities the technology offered. Diving deeper into blockchains, he discovered the limitations of existing tech. Ethereum had made it possible for anyone to make apps on blockchain, but as the network grew transacting on ETH became increasingly slow and expensive - with cost of 1 transaction rising even higher than $80.

Today, Matic’s worth more than $10B and is used by companies worldwide for applications including NFTs, DeFi