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Startup Street: What Does This Cash Crunch Mean For Startups? 

The scramble for currency notes, may leave a dent on startups’ balance sheet  

(Source: BloombergQuint)
(Source: BloombergQuint)

Do you have change for a Rs 1,000 note? No? Dammit.

As India struggles to pay for meagre things like a rickshaw ride home or a packet of milk, a lot is happening in the startup world. From young entrepreneurs giving athletes the importance and recognition they deserve, to veterans playing hop-skip and jump between different posts in the startup world, take a look at how they fared this week, on Startup Street.

What Does The Cash Crunch Mean For Startups?



Bundles of Indian one hundred rupee bills are pictured at a bank in Mumbai (Photographer: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Bloomberg News)
Bundles of Indian one hundred rupee bills are pictured at a bank in Mumbai (Photographer: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Bloomberg News)

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi fights black money with an iron hand, the nation is scrambling, looking out for Rs 100 notes.

Let us ignore the ‘temporary hardship.’ Let us join this festival of integrity and credibility. Let us fight corruption and black money.
Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi’s Demonitization Speech 

But with daily activities getting hit and mile-long queues outside ATMs and bank branches, the temporary hardship might not be easy to ignore by many.

A lack of currency notes may lead to a halt in transactions between young businesses and their suppliers, says Sreedhar Prasad, Partner of E-Commerce & Startups, KPMG. The strain, however, is short term and will remain only till the availability of cash returns to normalcy.

Many of the supply chain transactions (in goods and retails business) like procurement from self-help groups were billed and paid in cash, like labour at warehouses for loading unloading, parcel charges, purchase of samples, small purchases of items at factories, etc. Further, there are many cases where the delivery van boy was collecting cash from these startups at time of delivery of finished/semi-finished products. Till the time the cash availability in the banking system comes back to normalcy, this strain will continue.
Sreedhar Prasad, Partner: E-Commerce & Startups, KPMG.

Shifting focus to the demand side of things now, consumer startups working on primarily on the cash-on-delivery (COD) model would face a larger strain than the established unicorns due to “their inability to quickly implement a short term solution like wallets”, Prasad added.

Giving Atheletes The Edge They Never Had

The Athletes Today team, with Founder Abhishek Sharma in centre (lower) and Radhika Arora (Source: Athletes Today)
The Athletes Today team, with Founder Abhishek Sharma in centre (lower) and Radhika Arora (Source: Athletes Today)

Sports startup, Athletes Today, is looking to mentor professional and budding athletes to give them the edge most Indian athletes lack - a business opportunity.

While a handful of athletes such as Sania Mirza, Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have managed to establish themselves, many even lack the opportunity to build that up for themselves. This young startup, comprising of sports enthusiasts, wants to mentor all kinds of sportsmen and sportswomen to reach their full potential.

Athletes Today has two models, one which mentors and represents athletes from the very beginning of their sports career, while the second one is for the more established athletes, providing them with sponsorship, media representations, branding, etc.

Between the age of 16 to 21, an athlete is either mentored and guided by their coach or family members. We are looking to fill that gap and provide them with the support that will help them achieve their best.
Abhishek Sharma, Co-founder, Athletes Today

Founded by Abhishek Sharma and Radhika Arora, the startup currently focuses on football, hockey and badminton and is collaborating with six professional athletes and several promising ones. Going forward, the company is eager to foray into other sports that do not necessarily always get the spotlight, said Sharma in a telephonic interview with BloombergQuint.

We want to get together with athletes from cycling, skateboarding, track and any other sport that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Moreover, we are looking to get that one top athlete in a sport who will go on to be the future Milkha Singh.
Abhishek Sharma, Co-founder, Athletes Today

Amazon’s Anil Goel Checks Into OYO Rooms

(Source: OYO)
(Source: OYO)

Apart from taking over tonnes of legacy hotels all across India, OYO Rooms has also managed to bag former Amazon Global Head of Technologies, Anil Goel, as their new Chief Technical Officer.

Goel will be responsible for “outlining the technological roadmap” and integrating it with the startup’s forward looking strategy, the company said in a press statement. He will also be overseeing the research and development department, monitoring trends and communicating plans with various arms within the organisation.

Anil’s leadership, vast knowledge and diverse experience will provide added heft to the overall technical drive required in scaling up to the next level.
Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO, OYO.

Goel too, is impressed by the startup’s vast coverage saying, OYO’s created history with its disruptive business model.

Given its innovative, unique platform that offers end-to-end solutions for guests and partners in the online sphere, this is an ideal opportunity to contribute in augmenting the Company’s growth and evolution.
Anil Goel, Chied Technology Officer, OYO

Prior to Amazon, Goel was also the Chief Technology Officer of Hike, founded and run by Kavin Bharti Mittal.