Shutdowns, job losses, distress acquirements, and many more! The year of 2017 has been a spectator to various downturns in entrepreneurial bionetwork of India, which started separation of the water from the milk, making the job of beginning a new company a rather burdensome one. And only those with the firmness to look through the hurdle till its very end are probable to survive.
Take for example the tale of Dunzo, a hyperlocal delivery and concierge company that began in 2015, just when the climate of funding turned off. It was one of the handful of companies in its sector to last and grow up to almost 3,500 orders each day with only almost $2 Million of funding. On the other hand, when Kabeer Biswas, its founder, went out in January to lift funds, it was nothing but a challenge.
The firm wrote to various investors in the country as well as all over the world. But it was not simple. Venture capital sponsors located out of the country had previously lost a lot of funds, supporting firms such as Opinio and PepperTap in the hyperlocal segment, and while they were overwhelmed by capital competence of Dunzo, the wounds were still fresh. After more than 6 Months of the procedure, Dunzo had got a couple of acquirement proposals, but it made a decision to refuse them.
“When we replied no to them we did not have any other associates for funding. We did not contain a backup plan. Starting up is not a financial move, you do it due to the fact that user experience must continue living,” claimed Biswas. But a couple weeks later, a proposal materialized from unanticipated quarters. Google invested a sum of $12 Million in Dunzo, its first direct spending in a startup of India, as per the sources.