Indian Startup News 230: Bhavish Aggarwal Made a Big Mistake

Notion database: meadow-pillow-7fa.notion.site/BwM-Startup-Funding-…

This week’s funding: meadow-pillow-7fa.notion.site/W2-Q3-FY25-11908566a…

Funding over time: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10-sWaL38VYz--CqQNM…

00:00 Bhavish Aggarwal and Ola Electric
3:04 Ratan Tata’s Legacy
4:38 Shark Tank India: In With Kunal Bahl, Out With Deepinder Goyal
5:56 Government of India's New Drone PLI Scheme
6:56 Funding News

Bhavish Aggarwal and Ola Electric

A single tweet cost Ola Electric ₹3,500 crore as the company's stock dropped 9% in one day. It started with Bhavish Aggarwal posting a picture of Ola Electric's gigafactory on X. In response, comedian Kunal Kamra, who has 2.4 million followers on X, posted a photo showing dozens of Ola electric scooters outside a service center, waiting for repairs. Kunal Kamra highlighted that these scooters are essential for daily wage workers and encouraged his followers to share their experiences with Ola Electric scooters. Hundreds of people flooded the replies, sharing their issues with Ola Electric scooters. Instead of addressing the complaints, Bhavish Aggarwal fired back, accusing Kunal Kamra of writing a paid tweet. Bhavish Aggarwal even offered Kunal Kamra a job at Ola Electric's service centers, promising to pay him more than his "flop shows." Bhavish Aggarwal was criticized as he focused more on his spat with Kunal than on the service issues raised. Customers had been voicing concerns about Ola Electric's service delays for a while. Some frustrated customers even burned their scooters, and one person set fire to an Ola Electric showroom. Reuters reported last year about these delays, revealing that Ola receives over 80,000 complaints monthly. Despite growing complaints, Ola Electric's service centers have barely increased from 400 to 500. Although Bhavish Aggarwal announced plans to double the centers by the end of the year, we’ll have to see if he delivers on this promise.

Ratan Tata’s Legacy

India has lost one of its most respected industrialists, Ratan Tata. While most people know him for his work with the Tata Group and his philanthropy, many might not be aware of his active role as an angel investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. Over the past decade, Ratan Tata invested in more than 40 Indian startups. His first investment was in 2014 with Snapdeal, the startup of Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. Although Snapdeal’s journey didn’t unfold as he might have hoped, Tata wasn’t investing to grow his wealth. He had a deeper reason. When Snapdeal’s founder Kunal Bahl asked Ratan Tata why he invested, Tata revealed that after retiring, he realized the potential of the digital world, driven by handheld devices. Today, we are grateful not only for what Ratan Tata built at Tata Group but also for the opportunities he created for countless entrepreneurs.

Kunal Bahl Joins Shark Tank, Deepinder Goyal Leaves

Shark Tank India is shaking things up this season. Kunal Bahl, co-founder of Snapdeal, is joining as a new shark, replacing Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal. But this isn’t just a simple replacement. Deepinder Goyal is reportedly being pushed out of Shark Tank due to Swiggy. Deepinder Goyal revealed that Swiggy, which is sponsoring Season 4 of Shark Tank India, made it a condition that he cannot appear on the show. Swiggy is rumored to be paying ₹40 to ₹60 crore for this sponsorship deal, which is likely tied to their upcoming IPO. Shark Tank provides a great platform to generate excitement among retail investors. Swiggy is also ramping up other initiatives before their IPO, such as launching Bolt, a 10-minute food delivery service, and rolling out an electric fleet to handle larger orders, similar to Zomato.

PLI Scheme for Drones
The Government of India is set to launch a new drone PLI scheme to boost domestic drone manufacturing. In 2021, the government introduced a drone PLI scheme, allocating ₹120 crore over three years. But the first scheme encountered several challenges. The Civil Aviation Secretary admitted that it was too complicated, especially for startups and MSMEs, with inefficiencies bogging down the process. To address this, the government plans to simplify the new PLI scheme, making it more efficient in terms of implementation and documentation. FICCI has suggested that the government increase the outlay to ₹1,000 crore—a significant jump that could provide the needed boost to India’s drone industry.

Funding News

Indian startups raised a total of $96.7 million this week. Pune-based Haber raised $38 million in its Series C round. Hyderabad-based spacetech startup XDLINX Space Labs raised $7 million in its seed round. Pune-based BioPrime Agrisolutions raised $6 million in its Series A round. Delhi-based Nayan Tech raised $2 million in a pre-Series A round. Gurugram-based AI-healthcare startup Jivi AI has raised an undisclosed amount.