Mihir Dalal
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Past articles by Mihir:
Dissecting Ola’s audacious electric dreams
In a dramatic pivot, Ola Electric wants to be India’s Tesla. Well, the company has its work cut out. → Read More
Forgive us for asking, but what’s Cred’s business model?
Serial entrepreneur Kunal Shah’s play on credit card users has got a sharp valuation. But there are sceptics aplenty.Only a very small number of Cred’s 6 million users have availed of the company’s credit line and rent payment services so far. Cred also faces stiff competition from bigger firms → Read More
Why vocal for local won’t bother Google
Rather than jingoism, local internet companies should make a strong case against Google on antitrust grounds.The dispute between the app developers and Google should be resolved through dialogue, but if that doesn’t work, developers should approach the government and regulators. → Read More
In a post-covid world, Oyo runs out of room
The pandemic could push India’s hotel unicorn to the brink of disaster, and there’s little it can do about it.Oyo will need another large round of capital if it is to survive the next 12-18 months or so. It may be left to one of its early investors, SoftBank, to bail the firm out → Read More
How the gig economy hurts the small guy
Internet startups have moved to protect employee salaries, but who will take care of the drivers and deliverymen?.As far as drivers and blue-collar workers are concerned, the crisis makes it clear that it’s much safer and more lucrative to seek employment in traditional forms rather than in the gig economy → Read More
After initial spike, online edu startups face falling revenues
Traffic at some leading online education providers has increased by more than 50%.According to a KPMG report, education spending will rise to $1.96 billion in 2021 from less than $250 million in 2016 → Read More
E-tailers still vie for permits to deliver essential goods
Lack of coordination between centre and state is leading to logistics delay for firms.Firms allege that different cities in a single state are citing varying criteria to issue permits → Read More
No-holds-barred Rajeev Misra vs Nikesh Arora fight rocks SoftBank
Misra is said to have conducted a campaign to eject Arora by planting negative news stories, trying sexual blackmail.The scrutiny faced by Misra is reminiscent of Arora’s situation before he was forced to leave SoftBank → Read More
Why India’s women VCs get a raw deal
Prejudice against women investors remains prevalent in a male-dominated investing world. Is change in the air? → Read More
Food fight set to heat up as Zomato buys Uber Eats in India
The all-stock deal allows Zomato to add Uber as a new investor to its shareholder roster as it battles Swiggy.Uber will get a 10% stake in Zomato in a deal that values Uber Eats at $300-350 million → Read More
And now, Paytm faces its moment of truth
As funding slowdown gathers pace, investors are raising doubts about Paytm’s soaring valuation, business model.Paytm has moved to cut spending on cashbacks, redoubled efforts to increase revenues from its financial services businesses, and has even begun charging users for processing some transactions → Read More
It’s showtime as stakes get higher for Oyo
In the post WeWork era, Oyo’s business model and expansion spree are coming under greater scrutiny.No other Indian consumer firm, much less an internet startup, has ventured with such gusto into difficult global markets such as China, the UK and US all at the same time → Read More
Internet startups are feeling the blues
With the number of new startups launched in India falling, internet entrepreneurship may be on the decline → Read More
IITs in Delhi, Mumbai churn out most tech entrepreneurs
IIT-Kharagpur, BITS Pilani also account for most entrepreneurs in past decade: Study.Since 2015, the top 4 engineering colleges have produced 1,066 startups, compared with 914 in 2000-15 → Read More
India’s unicorns find exit doors blocked
The hype is gone with the dramatic fall in valuations of WeWork and Uber. How would that impact India’s startups? → Read More
How B2B e-commerce turned the corner
A positive consequence of GST and demonetization is the coming of age of business marketplaces in India → Read More
How Ola got SoftBank and Tiger to invest in Ola Electric on its own terms
Soon after resisting SoftBank and Tiger, here’s how Ola got the two to invest in Ola Electric on its terms → Read More
Shopping switcheroo: Life after new e-commerce norms
The new rules could hit online expansion, but it is still unclear if offline retailers will reap benefits. Of course, the consumer loses outAmazon, Flipkart are working on new legal structures that will allow the companies to continue discounting and maintain their private brand businesses → Read More
Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy on roadmap for Jabong, Myntra
In a wide-ranging interview with Mint, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy speaks on variety of issues, including the e-commerce major’s growth plans and roadmap for Myntra and Jabong. → Read More
Flipkart to invest in furniture, groceries; claims to be a market leader in e-commerce
Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy says the online retailer is at least ‘twice the size’ of its nearest competitor, implying Amazon → Read More