🚨Exclusive | I am not building Girish’s company, I’m building a global products company says Freshworks' founder
@mrgirish
In a candid chat, he opens up about the new role as exec chairman, his journey & more . Read full intw ⬇️
@moneycontrolcom
🚨New: "A Freshworks and Zoho moment is brewing in India's diamond city Surat", said almost every investor and SaaS enthusiast I spoke to. Is Surat taking a leaf out of Chennai's SaaS playbook?
Decided to delve deeper and here's a small 🧵
@chandrarsrikant
@moneycontrolcom
🚨 Software company
@Zoho
has a no-layoff policy and will take a profit hit to manage the tight macro conditions, said
@svembu
in an exclusive interview with
@moneycontrolcom
in Tenkasi.
Vembu also spoke about the SVB collapse and more. A 🧵
🆕🚨Asia's oldest industrial region of Peenya in Bengaluru is becoming a perfect, cozy hub for emerging manufacturing startups
🔸Why Peenya
🔸Is there a difference for startup building here vs anywhere else
🔸How is the infra and what's attracting talent here
A small 🧵
Career Update: I'm joining the
@moneycontrolcom
team as a Senior Correspondent and will be covering Saas, Mobility and Cleantech startups. DM's open and will be happy to connect for any tips and leads :)
🚨Important story: RBI's crackdown on banks, NBFCs with new AIF rules may turn catastrophic for the VC and startup ecosystem.
@deepsekharc
,
@AnandJRAnand
and I spoke to multiple VCs to understand what's happening. Here's a 🧵
🚨Here
@Zoho
's Tenkasi tech hub today.
@moneycontrolcom
@chandrarsrikant
The hub that started off in 2011 is said to employ more than 800 staff here. In the coming days Zoho is planning to set up more such facilities across TN and UP. Details here 🔽
Breaking: Steelmaker, JSPL is planning to divest its power biz, Jindal Power to bring down the company's debt and to reduce carbon emissions significantly.
@EconomicTimes
Surat has more than 150 SaaS Startups and they are all building unique products for India, very specifically for India's manufacturing hub and for the world too. Among the prominent SaaS startups in the city are Dhiwise, Trezix, Ezee, VideoSDK and Wishbook.
🛺 New: Been using
@nammayatri
in Bengaluru for sometime now and chatting with the drivers to understand the many Whys and Hows. Here's a detailed feature we did on how Namma Yatri works and whether it has got it all to take on Ola and Uber. A small 🧵
@moneycontrolcom
@hrprya
Also cofounder Swapnil Jain said that the firm is mulling a new plant with a capacity of around 1 million. In fact it is in the final stages of approval from a state govt. This could make Ather the biggest manufacturer!
Read more
@moneycontrolcom
Time just flies ✈️
Today, I complete one year at
@moneycontrolcom
and the journey has been nothing but exhilarating and warm and all thanks to
@chandrarsrikant
and the amazing team who support each other in ways that I have never even heard ❤
🚨Anil Goteti, Flipkart's Former SVP has just launched Scapia. The new startup has rolled out a visa travel credit card along with Federal Bank that rewards users with Scapia coins which can be used to book flight tickets or hotels. More deets ⬇️
This is the very first experiment project getting built. A fuel vehicle converted to an EV to carry farm supplies, paddy - an alternative to Mini trucks. Built in a small garage behind Zoho Schools
Ather's Head of Manufacturing, Sanjeev Kumar took us through the new capacity which can make around 4.20 lakh EV scooters per annum. While the present capacity utilisation is 50%, the co. plans to use the full capacity by the end of this financial year.
Data shows that Surat has more than 2,530 startups, of which 164 are SaaS-based startups offering services such as financial management, export-import management and cloud-based solutions.
Apart from EV making, the company has also ramped up its batter making capacity to 4.30 lakh units from around 1.2 lakh units presently. FYI: The cell for the batteries is brought in from China and Korea.
There five areas where the opportunities will boom in the coming years for startups. Says
@AshwiniVaishnaw
#ETStartupAwards
@ETtech
@EconomicTimes
1. 5G
2. Logistcs and Agri
3. Railways
4. Semi-conductor
5. Electronics and Telecom Manufacturing
My weekend read was Ola Electric's DRHP :) and here's a small 🧵 on some key highlights on the company's financial metrics, some very interesting risk factors and some details on the company's board and more
@moneycontrolcom
⬇️
🚨New and exclusive: Ola co-founder Ankit Bhati, who prefers to stay away from the media glare, spoke to Moneycontrol about his new SaaS startup 'Amnic' in what was his first media interview in years.
@moneycontrolcom
@chandrarsrikant
The firm had a workforce of around 350 and with the new capacity the workforce has gone up to around 1100 employees. Kumar explained that the employees go through a rigourous training of around 2-3 weeks before entering the plant.
Also a single vehicle after complete assembly goes through a min lf 4 tests like speed test, on road test, dyno test etc. Apart from this the product goes through unique monitoring at each phase. Why? So the defect rate is super low. For Ather it is at the industry low of 0.5%
My
@peakbengaluru
moment! Auto anna turns on neon lights every Friday evening itseems 😁
#partyvibe
on the wheels!
He says "Sumne oru maja feel barathe madam"
Ruling out the possibility of Zoho going for an IPO, Vembu said that the company is still growing and will be focusing on building both it's business and the rural society hand in hand.
Interview excerpts:
Ather is also ramping up its grid or power charging facilities to around 1400 units by end of the present financial year. Presently the firm has a capacity of the grid of 600 units.
@dhiwise
's Vishal Virani in a very candid conversation said that he takes inspiration from Freshworks' Girish Mathrubootham.
"We are, in fact, the first company in Surat to have grabbed the attention of VCs like Accel and Together fund,” says Virani.
"The next big thing will be credit in India and getting a loan will be as easy as making a payment in the next 3-4 years," Said
@NandanNilekani
@moneycontrolcom
At the Bharat Inclusion Summit today
🆕RBI granted the final authorisation to operate as Payment Aggregators to a handful of firms yesterday including Razorpay, Cashfree, Google Pay, Enkash, neobank Open and fintech firm Paymentz. What will this mean for these firms who were waiting for this for a long time?
The facility has 2 assembly lines - one that is automated, one manual. Ather aims to make all its assembly lines semi-automatic in the near future for efficiency improvement.
@TherukuralArivu
instantly makes one feel warm and comfortable with his words, also a big
#fangirl
moment for me.
@CizzyOfficial
had so many interesting things to say. Tune in to know their journey and what's pushing them to sing on topics that are always brushed under the carpet
JSPL reports net profit of Rs 268 crore in Q1 of FY 21, while the company reported a net loss of Rs 87 crore in Q1 of FY 20, mainly on the back of better volumes and lower RM costs.
@EconomicTimes
@JSPLCorporate
Its very interesting to know what really led to the SaaS and in turn a SaaP (Software as a Product) boom in Surat.
➡️Leg up from traditional manufacturers
➡️ Low cost of running biz
➡️ Best Engineering and coding talent
➡️ Great Founder Community
➡️ Government Initiatives
To many firsts, many learnings and meeting amazing people every day. Here's to the best 1 year at this place with my faves
@Himanshi_ET
@mohantyET
and
@GauravNoronha
❤️
And Just as IIT Madras and many leading engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu played a pivotal role in producing talent for deep-tech and SaaS firms in Chennai, many founders say that Surat-based SVNIT university has played a big role in making many quality engineers.
The promising Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ecosystem is starting the feel the heat of the global recession. Companies are starting to announce stringent cost-cutting measures including layoffs. Is there a rough ride ahead? A 🧵
“Traditional industries are looking at modernisation or digitalisation. For example, there is a SaaS product built for textile manufacturers to manage their warehouses,” says Arjun Kava, CEO of VideoSDK another startup from Surat.
"I travelled to Central and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, I saw firsthand that no one is there. These are some of the most demographically rich regions of our nation — demographics is destin, " Vembu said.
Talking to MC, CEO of SaaSBoomi Avinash Raghava said “These guys (Surat founders) are very smart. They don't understand the VC business; they only know that ‘there is X amount of money going into the investment, there is some profit, and I must make this profitable',”
The hub and spoke mode:
The hub offices are ones that can accommodate 1000 or more employees, while the spoke offices are smaller offices of up to 100 employees. Eventually, each hub office will have a few spoke offices associated to it for infrastructure support.
"Zoho's Tenkasi model can be replicated across India with right leadership and enthusiastic entrepreneurs" says
@svembu
, cofounder and CEO of
@Zoho
. Click on the link for more.
P.S: Also here's to my very first video interview for
@moneycontrolcom
🙈
SaaS major
@Zoho
Founder & CEO,
@svembu
speaks about creating rural tech hubs in India using a hub and spoke model, the impact of local tech hubs, AI regulation & much more, with
@BhavyaDKumar
.
Watch the full interview here📹👇
Creating a 'Messi from Madras' is my vision, says
@mrgirish
of
@FreshworksInc
. With his newly-built Rs 100 crore Football Training Academy. What Inspired him to build one. Read to know more
@moneycontrolcom
🚨Important: Chennai SaaS firms take precautions to keep business running, announce WFH for employees as the city comes to a halt due to cyclone Michaung. SaaS majors are readying up business continuity plans too.
SaaS major
@FreshworksInc
reported its Q1 results yesterday highlighting
➡️First ever non-GAAP operating profit ➡️Declining recurring customer revenue.
CEO
@mrgirish
spoke to
@moneycontrolcom
on decoding the Q1 numbers, outlook and much more.
Small 🧵 on the detailed interview
Floods spared no one this time!
@patwardhannn
and I visited the billionaire's street in Bengaluru which has properties like Epsilon Residential Villas and Divyasree. A small 🧵
First off, Peenya is home to many large and small manufacturing companies in industries like precision goods, engineering and electrical goods, fabrication products, EV motors, generators, and textile and rubber moulding.
Why are SaaS firms at high risk? Almost 80-90% of all the SaaS firm's biz are from The US, the UK, and a very small portion from India. Now in a recession environment, the SaaS firms' customers (esp SMBs) will turn judicious, cut down costs, and may not spend on software.
🧵A lot of buzz around auto Namma Yatri and its model. Decided to curate all our coverage from inception to the very latest development on Namma Yatri
@moneycontrolcom
. Here it is 👇
Typically, most startups in the city are concentrated in pockets such as Koramangala, Indira Nagar, HSR, Bellandur and Whitefield. However, Peenya's vintage as a manufacturing hub makes it attractive to startups which want to grow in this space.
Ola, Uber and Rapido have reduced their base fare to Rs 30 from Rs 60 per ride in Karnataka, with effect from October 8, amid the state transport department’s notice. Read for more details
@moneycontrolcom
Stood for literal 30 mins outside the
@tdkarnataka
office for an auto to finally get a running auto for Rs 350 (metre stopped working for almost all the autos) to a place in Vasant Nagar which is like 4.9 kms on google maps. It's 7.30 pm!
Zoho is planning to set up more such hubs in Madurai and Tirunelveli and in UP. "We are visiting UP often and in the next two months we will decide the place. It will mostly be in central or easter Uttar Pradesh and not in Noida, " Vembu said.
Manufacturing startups prefer Peenya for multiple reasons
➡️ Cost of building a startup is cheaper here
➡️Access to resources
➡️ Surrounded by ancillary industries
➡️ Road and Rail connectivity
➡️ In close loop with government and knowledge sharing hubs like BIEC
🆕 Here's an interesting trend: India's top SaaS firms (that are slowly becoming 'AI SaaS' firms) are gearing up their workforce in various ways to stay ahead of the curve. Also huge investments are going towards training and development. Here's a small 🧵👇
@moneycontrolcom
Talking about the macroeconomic condition, Vembu said that the impact and the blow was much lighter to Zoho as the company was very cash conservative and did not spend much on marketing.
"Peenya is now creating a holistic ecosystem where there is no need to set up a factory and head office in different places…Talent across junior and senior levels want to work here,” said
@saurabhchandra
, cofounder and chief executive officer, Ati Motors.
Over the past six months, Saas giants
@Microsoft
and
@Google
have hiked their prices for their business suites Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace respectively. This has led to MSMEs seeking alternatives like
@Zoho
.
💻AI: "LLMs are generating human sounding, plausible text but it can sometimes be a fiction and it is a problem... At least the current wave of hype is reached. Now, the long tough slog to make the tech useful for enterprises has begun", says
@svembu
at
@manageengine
's CIO meet
BharatPe fight escalates as Ashneer Grover writes to NPCI and BharatPe's independent director alleging data theft of more than 150 million BharatPe UPI users by Bhavik Koladiya (now CEO of OTPLess). A small 🧵
Coming to India impact: SaaS bizs are dependent on the US market. Top firms have atleast 80-90% biz happening in the US. So given the SVB was a popular name and a trusted partner many had millions of deposits parked in SVB.
The Tenkasi office is spread across 15 acres and is expanding. There are several significant projects including the Sanskrit Language Tool is getting developed in this facility.
Interesting fact by Ruchir Sharma "20% of all dollars in circulation today is just printed last year. in India too RBI was forced a print a lot of money to revive the economy. To expect no consequence out of it is not possible" Only at
#ETAwards
@EconomicTimes
@ETAwards
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari recently called for a regulator to check if Steel and Cement cos are running a cartel. Here's an infographic to help understand the price movements and what led to the hikes, industry voices and the user industry pain points.
@EconomicTimes