Tata NEN Hottest Startups contest winners

In the end, the final results of the much-hyped Tata NEN Hottest Startups contest were not half as disappointing as I had expected, despite the reality television style public nomination and voting process. The Winners The Loot – This Mumbai-based multi-brand discount store chain was easily my favourite. 33 year old Jay Gupta started the company in 2004 and expects…

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The Old Normal

The Trident at Nariman Point was not supposed to be the venue for the AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum/India 2008, but the Mumbai terrorist attacks led to the conference being postponed anyway from December to February. That said, the global financial meltdown rather than terrorism should be held responsible for a noticeably muted conference this year. When I walked…

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Ten reasons why angel investing will not slow down

With the R and D words (recession and depression, for the uninitiated) being bandied about as frequently as we pick up calls on our mobile phones, one wonders what is happening to all sorts of new projects and business ideas in these times. The stock prices of nearly all companies appear to be in a free-fall and all sorts of…

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