Happy Monday!
TikTok is going through a rough patch in India. Fewer people downloaded the Chinese video-sharing app in April and May compared to the previous two months amid reduced marketing and advertising spend due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The platform has been widely criticized on social media following a fight between two content creators, which dragged its Google Play Store rating to as low as 1.2 last month. And now, owing to a growing anti-China sentiment in the country, celebrities are urging people to uninstall all Chinese apps, including TikTok.
On the other hand, ByteDance, which owns and operates popular the short-form mobile video app, is now looking to deepen its roots in TikTok’s biggest market.
New corporate entity
ByteDance is setting up a second corporate entity in India as it looks to provide Information Technology and IT-enabled services support to all of ByteDance’s platforms worldwide. The new entity will work on content generated across its various platforms, issues that the world’s most richly valued startup has been facing across geographies.
Why it matters
The move towards a second corporate entity comes at a time when ByteDance, which counts the likes of SoftBank, General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital China, KKR and Hillhouse Capital among its investors, has been fighting accusations related to national security risk and handling of personal data across its various markets, including in India. India has been the biggest driver of TikTok installs, generating 611 million lifetime downloads to date, or 30.3% of the total, according to a report published by Sensor Tower Store Intelligence in April. Read more.
Discounts are back
Two weeks after lifting of restrictions on sale of non-essential products, e-commerce firms have resumed small-scale promotional events to spur consumer demand. In a sign of normalcy for a sector that typically drives sales through discounts, Flipkart-owned fashion portal Myntra held its month-end sale over the weekend. Baby products retailer Firstcry too started its summer sale.
Testing waters
Industry executives say e-commerce platforms were gauging consumer demand as well as supply-side issues before hosting the next mega sale event. Large e-commerce marketplaces like Flipkart and Amazon are yet to announce their back-to-school sales that typically take place in early June owing to lack of visibility around when schools and colleges would reopen. Read more.
Antler’s new India head
Rajiv Srivatsa, the co-founder and former chief technology and product officer at online furniture and home decor retailer Urban Ladder, has been named partner and India head for Singapore-based early-stage venture capital firm Antler.
What’s in it for startups?
Antler India will look to kickstart its first cohort of startups by the end of the current calendar year. Srivatsa is also tasked with raising an India-dedicated fund that is expected to back an estimated 40 early-stage ventures within its first year of operations. Antler will have two cohorts every six months, starting in Bengaluru, before expanding across the country. The sector-agnostic investment firm will provide stipends for the selected entrepreneurs over a 10-week period. Antler is likely to invest between $100,000-$150,000 in the final selection of startups. Read more.
WFH sheen wears off
WFH had a euphoric beginning. In the initial days of the lockdown, people enthusiastically shared online photos of their home workspaces. Then, Zoom popularised its in-call feature that allows users to change their background wallpaper during video calls — a blessing for those who felt their workspace was nothing to write office about.
The reckoning
At a time when companies are laying off people and cutting salaries, rising electricity and phone bills are hurting monthly finances of many young professionals. Many employees end up working over 13 hours a day as they don’t have a fixed time and are required to attend calls at ungodly hours. Read more.
Inflection point
Has the virus outbreak, which has upended businesses globally, come as a final clarion call for Indian startups, founders and even the risk investors who propped up valuations of young companies? And will this unprecedented global event push many loss-making, bloated and extremely imprudent VC-funded startups to cut flab and brace for the new reality?
ETtech editor Samidha Sharma writes that startups will have to understand that businesses have always been started to make money even if the journey to that goal is long. The endgame is only one, until of course you’re a not-for-profit gig. Read more.
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