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ET Startup Awards 2023: search for startup glory begins & other top tech stories this week

ETSA this year comes at a time when the technology industry faces multiple headwinds. The volatility in valuations of publicly listed tech companies, which began in the US in late 2021, has continued to spill over into the private markets. Indian startups, too, have felt this turbulence, with several of them getting valuation markdowns as increasingly cautious investors hedge their bets.

Reliance, Nvidia to develop AI infra in India; Freshworks draws large customers

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has tied up with chipmaker Nvidia to develop India’s own foundation large language model. The petrochemicals-to-telecom conglomerate is also exploring an entry into semiconductor manufacturing.

SaaS firm Zoho crosses 10 crore users globally

Zoho said it has witnessed a three-year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 65% in the upmarket segment in India.

SaaS founders are grabbing talent amid tech layoffs

Hevo Data, a Peak XV Partners-backed data management SaaS startup, was finding it hard to even interview candidates just 6-9 months ago as they demanded to know possible offer and associated pay scales even before being interviewed, said Manish Jethani, cofounder and CEO of Hevo Data.

SaaS startup Actyv.ai fires 60 staffers as market downturn bites

The layoffs were a result of a right-sizing initiative in response to prevailing market conditions, a company statement said.

A Karnataka-based firm is giving Maize, the world’s second-most widely grown crop, an AI boost

The SaaS platform collects data from three main stakeholders — farmers, buyers and logistics — to assess the quality, pricing, sales, delivery and other elements in the maize supply chain.

SaaS firm Wingify to expand presence in APAC and Latin America

While the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Germany, Netherlands are some of the leading markets for the company, APAC is the fastest growing on the back of rapid digitisation triggered by the pandemic.

Investors, fintech companies help out cash­-crunched startups

Look to ease working capital freeze with emergency services for small, mid-stage firms

2022 Year in Review | Slowdown cloud: Value-for-money software is silver lining for India SaaS

Indian Software-as-a-Service companies are bracing for slower quarters as a potential recession in US could hurt topline.

Keka Secures India’s Largest Series A SaaS Funding With Historic $57 million

SaaS company Netcore puts off IPO on 'uncertain market conditions'

Bootstrapped firm to review IPO prospects after examining FY23 numbers as softness in customer decision-making and macroeconomic uncertainty dictate caution.

Meta India may not face brunt of layoffs; IT firms dig deep to catch moonlighters

CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the blame for the company’s first-ever mass sacking, saying he was guilty of over-optimism about its future after growth surged during the pandemic.

ET Startup Awards 2022: Noise wins the Bootstrap Champ award for its scale, profits

Nexxbase Marketing, which runs Noise, a maker of smart wearables, and Himalayan Organics, a plant-based supplement brand, stood out as the top two contenders.

ET Startup Awards 2022: Nominees for Bootstrap Champ

The Bootstrap Champ will have demonstrated the ability to win customers and earn revenue for at least a year. It should possess the potential to scale into a large enterprise.

Can’t throw money at problems when building a business, says Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham

“There are funds that have raised a lot of money and India's seeing a lot of high-quality startups,” he said. “Early-stage valuations in India have not corrected. Maybe it will come down a little but right now, it's still quite expensive.”

Bootstrapped SaaS company Netcore buys US firm Unbxd for $100 million

The company is targeting to reach $150 million within the next 18 months; the company will be filing for IPO in July or August this year, Rajesh Jain, founder and Group MD, told ET.

Tech takes a SaaSsy step out of Bharat

Move over Chennai and Bengaluru, a number of SaaS startups are springing up and creating global products out of Tier II and Tier III cities of India.

Zenwork lands Rs 1,200 crore in funding from US-based Spectrum Equity

The over 10-year old company founded by husband and wife duo Sanjeev Singh and Rekha Singh, had remained bootstrapped until now, but said it required capital to take advantage of the massive growth in the automated tax compliance and regulatory reporting space due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hiring ​platform Spottabl ​raises​ Rs 3.5 crores in seed ​round

The round saw participation from Paradigm Shift VC Binny Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart and xto10x, LetsVenture, and few former top executives from Flipkart like Mekin Maheshwari, founder Udhyam.org, Rishi Vasudev, co-founder G.O.A.T Brand Labs, Anil Goteti, co-founder Protonn, and Nishant Verman, co-founder Bzaar.

Aiming for unicorn status, building SaaS ecosystem in Coimbatore, says Kovai.co

Kumar said Freshworks' Nasdaq listing had fuelled his ambitions to take his own company public, while outlining a roadmap for the winner in the Bootstrap Champ category at the Economic Times Startup Awards 2021.

ET Startup Awards 2021: Kovai wins the Bootstrap Champ award

The SaaS startup, which went head-to-head with Cardinality.ai, eventually ended up becoming the Bootstrap Champ due its financial heft and ability to inspire entrepreneurs to build global businesses from smaller cities and towns.

ET Startup Awards 2021: Nominees for Bootstrap Champ

The Bootstrap Champ will have demonstrated the ability to win customers and earn revenue for at least a year. It should possess the potential to scale into a large enterprise.

The SaaS gold rush

In today's ETtech Morning Dispatch newsletter: BrowserStack have become the most-valued Indian SaaS startup; Twitter's tussle wih the government hots up; and Facebook co-founder bets on Pharmeasy amid Tata-1mg deal.