Indian startups raised $102.93 million across 25 deals this week, with healthtech, cleantech, and SaaS sectors attracting major investments. Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR led activity. Early-stage firm Kult secured the highest funding, while Metafin and QNu Labs stood out among growth-stage ventures. The trend highlights sustained investor confidence in India's innovation-driven economy.

Sarojini Nagar isn’t just a flea market; it’s a masterclass in frugal, high-margin entrepreneurship. With smart sourcing, zero marketing spend, and rapid inventory turnover, its sellers earn more sustainably than many VC-backed startups. Powered by organic footfall, local systems, and savvy pricing tactics, Sarojini proves that absolute business scale often thrives beyond the startup spotlight.

90% of Indian startups fail within five years due to avoidable missteps, unsustainable growth, poor financial controls, legal non-compliance, weak leadership culture, and lost customer trust. Real cases like Snapdeal, GoMechanic, BharatPe, and WhiteHat Jr. highlight how ambition without discipline can backfire. Long-term success demands balance between innovation, governance, ethics & resilience.

D2C brands need agile supply chains. From inventory to fulfilment, speed matters. Owning logistics or partnering with tech-led players reduces delays and improves margins. When operations move as fast as demand, brands can launch, test, and scale with far less friction. Operations must match the velocity of customer expectations.

Despite global uncertainties, FIIs are increasing bets on India, driven by resilient growth, a diversified economy, and shifting global supply chains. DSP's Jay Kothari notes that India is benefiting from US-China trade tensions, with inflows likely to grow. Recent weeks saw net positive flows, and India's limited export exposure makes it attractive amid global turbulence.

India's big-city housing crunch is worsening as rents soar 16-20% annually, far outstripping salary hikes of around 10%, per AON's 2024 report. In this episode, we explore how young professionals-despite decent incomes-struggle to afford urban living, leading some to rethink city life and seek new ways to manage rising costs.

Maharashtra leads India's states in CareEdge's 2025 rankings, excelling in financial development and scoring high across economic, fiscal, and social pillars. Gujarat and Karnataka follow in the top three. The report, covering 50 indicators across seven pillars, highlights western and southern states' dominance, while Goa ranks No.1 among smaller states for balanced growth.

Indian companies are hiring fewer entry-level roles that automation can handle. From data entry to support desks, bots are replacing what freshers once did. The future lies in training students on analytical thinking, not just theoretical degrees. Entry jobs need to evolve beyond repetition.

Automation in India isn't about wiping out roles, it's about evolution. Repetitive tasks are vanishing, but new roles in AI ops, data, and systems thinking are emerging. The workforce challenge isn't just loss, it's transition. Reskilling is the bridge between redundancy and relevance.

Most churn happens in the first 7 days. That's not a retention issue, it's a broken onboarding one. If users don't find value quickly, they leave. Onboarding is your chance to deliver a 'quick win', show relevance, and build confidence. Fixing churn starts where the journey begins.

On marketplaces, your product competes your brand doesn't stand out. D2C changes that. It gives full control over storytelling, packaging, and service. Strong brands aren't just discovered; they're remembered. And in D2C, that memory leads to margin and repeat business. The brand becomes the moat, not just the marketing.

In D2C, the buying journey doesn't end at checkout. From tracking to returns, support to packaging, every touchpoint matters. Great experiences turn one-time buyers into brand advocates. Experience isn't a department, it's a full-stack retention strategy. In D2C, service speed is as critical as product quality.

Urban talent adapts faster to automation. But in rural areas, lack of infrastructure and training access puts workers at higher risk. If India doesn't bring tier-2 and tier-3 towns into skilling programmes, automation could deepen the economic divide rather than fix it. Bridging this gap is key to inclusive and balanced growth.

Customer onboarding isn't a checklist, it's your first real impression. Done right, it reduces churn, builds loyalty, and boosts retention. Users decide early whether to stay. If they don't feel guided, they drop. Good onboarding turns buyers into believers. It's a silent sales engine post-purchase.

Automation is impacting sectors at different rates across India. Manufacturing leads with robot-driven assembly, while IT and BFSI adopt bots for service and compliance tasks. Agriculture remains less affected, but urban industries face growing pressure to retrain as sector readiness determines resilience to disruption.

B2B onboarding often needs more handholding, demos, role-based access, team rollouts. B2C onboarding should be fast and self-serve. The expectations differ. The outcome doesn't. Both need to deliver value fast. Matching the flow to user context is key for activation success. A mismatch in flow can cost you users before they even start.

D2C is booming in India. With rising digital access and changing consumer habits, brands are skipping middlemen and going direct. This shift gives them control over pricing, experience, and customer relationships. D2C isn't a niche, it's the new way to scale, connect, and sustain.

Completion rate isn't enough. Look at time to value, user activation, feature adoption, and early support requests. These reveal how effective your onboarding really is. Metrics must show whether users get value not just whether they reach the end. Success means habit, not just signup.

Performance marketing powers D2C growth, but only if backed by data. Smart brands test creatives, optimise funnels, and measure LTV vs CAC constantly. It's not about loud campaigns. It's about knowing which clicks convert, and doubling down on what truly works. Without ROI clarity, ad spend is just noise.

Automation may impact women in India differently. Sectors which have high female employment like BPO, retail, and textiles face task automation risk. But flexible tech-enabled jobs could open new paths. The outcome depends on digital access, skilling, and inclusive workplace design.

Not all users have the same goals. Smart onboarding adapts. Based on use case, industry, or user type, the flow changes. Personalised checklists, content, and tips make users feel seen. In a world of choice, relevance is the differentiator. Personalisation helps you retain what you've acquired.

Hike Education CEO Rahul Sharma denied ex-employee Piyush Kumar's claims of being mentally harassed and humiliated by his Senior Manager Ruchi Parashar. Rahul, who's married to Ruchi, stated that Kumar made the allegations to damage their reputations and the video of his "stair punishment" was a "voluntary, informal team-fun activity". "[My wife Ruchi] is now receiving threats," Rahul added.

Swiggy has paused its Genie delivery service in major cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi NCR, citing a temporary break with no return date. The move comes as Swiggy focuses on food delivery and Instamart, just ahead of its Q4 results. Losses are expected to rise due to aggressive expansion and competition in the fast-growing quick commerce space.

Uber has called off talks to integrate BluSmart's 5,000 electric cars into its platform, the Mint reported. The ride-hailing major reportedly withdrew its interest in making BluSmart its fleet partner because the price being asked was not matching its valuation. There were also regulatory concerns, as BluSmart partner Gensol Engineering is currently under multiple probes.

Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal plans to transfer the intellectual rights (IP) for the Ola brand to a holding company controlled by his family office, ET and Moneycontrol reported. The IP is currently held by ANI Technologies, which has licensed it to Ola Electric. The plan has reportedly sparked concerns among ANI investors, who fear losing out on royalty income.