1947 Tech 🇮🇳: 130

Once a week newsletter: Insights on Tech, markets, startups, venture capital, and foreign investments in India

1. India’s engineers have thrived in Silicon Valley. So has its caste system.

This is a fascinating read! I wouldn’t have imagined this.

Whenever Benjamin Kaila, a database administrator who immigrated from India to the United States in 1999, applies for a job at a U.S. tech company, he prays that there are no other Indians during the in-person interview. That’s because Kaila is a Dalit, or member of the lowest-ranked castes within India’s system of social hierarchy, formerly referred to as “untouchables.”

India’s engineers have thrived in Silicon Valley. So has its caste system.

2. Unfazed by COVID, these top Indian startup executives take the entrepreneurial plunge

COVID-19 has been a blessing in disguise for the Indian tech ecosystem. The executive-level employees are leaving and starting up, the number of repeat founders in the ecosystem we are seeing is at an all-time high.

It’s probably the best time to build or/and invest in India.

Harsh Upadhyay @upadhyay_harsh1

Over 50 2nd/3rd-time founders raised funds for their new startup in 2020 Lalit Mangal - Airmeet Paavan Nanda - WinZo Jitendra Gupta - Jupiter Kunal Shah - Cred Ashish Kashyap - INDmoney Amit Lakhotia - Park+ Saurabh Saxena - Uable [List includes startups founded betwn 2017-20]

Kunal Bahl @1kunalbahl

The quality of entreprenuerial thinking and ideas have gone through the roof this year. The challenges of the pandemic have unlocked the best ideas in the brightest minds.

Unfazed by COVID, these top Indian startup executives take the entrepreneurial plunge

3. Walmart’s PhonePe zips past Google Pay in India as UPI tops 2B monthly transactions

India surely has built the world’s most sophisticated real-time payment infrastructure.

The entire country is going cashless.

UPI, a four-year-old payments infrastructure built by India’s largest banks, surpassed 2 billion transactions last month, exactly a year after hitting the 1 billion monthly transactions milestone.

UPI has become so revolutionary and successful that it is looking to eye the rest of Asia — link

Walmart’s PhonePe zips past Google Pay in India as UPI tops 2B monthly transactions

Worth your attention:

1. Investors now can’t seem to get enough of fresh food startups Link

2. The rising demand for buying homes among Indian millennials Link

3. Netflix India revenue doubles on mobile plans, local shows Link

4. Now, just say what you want to shop online Link

5. How K-pop and Korean drama had their biggest breakthrough in India amid the pandemic Link

Funding:

1. BigBasket in talks to sell majority stake to Tata Group Link

2. Rivigo kicks off Series G round with Rs 84 Cr tranche from SAIF Link

3. DocsApp secures $8 Mn in fresh tranche; valuation crosses $150 Mn Link

4. Flipkart acquires gaming startup Mech Mocha Link

5. Exclusive: GlowRoad valuation touches $75 Mn with $7 Mn fresh infusion Link

6. Teachmint gets $3.5 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed India Link

Thank you for reading. Please share any feedback, questions or comments with me on Twitter :)