‘They started from scratch’: Harsh Goenka backs India’s start-up community

RPG Enterprises chief Harsh Goenka has appreciated the start-up community for creating job creation and creating value for customers and investors. He also mentioned that it was important to note most of these start-up founders ‘started from scratch’ and had neither inheritance nor any backup options.

“Hats off to our start-ups Paytm, Zomato, Byjus, Ola, Zerodha, Oyo, Pharmeasy, and so many -- they have created value for their customers, their investors and so many jobs. Most importantly, they started from scratch. No inheritance, no backups. Just BLOOD SWEAT and TEARS,” Goenka tweeted.

Goenka’s appreciation for the start-up community may come as a surprise to many. The 60-year-old entrepreneur had roasted Zomato on the success of its IPO. The business mogul had said that he is looking to start an app like Zomato or its competitor Swiggy and will provided at 40 per cent discount with a loss of Rs 3,000 crore.

“My newest corporate venture: I am starting a Swiggy/Zomato like app. I will provide food at 40 per cent discount with a loss of only Rs 3,000 cr. If you think the loss is less, I will give 60 per cent discount. I will then list it at Rs 1 lakh cr. Looking for suckers to invest,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, PwC India has released a report saying that India has the second largest number of unicorns, followed by economies like Canada, China and Hong Kong, and the UK. Total 29 start-ups entered the billion-dollar valuation club in India during the first three quarters of 2021. Some of these start-ups are Moglix, CRED, CoinDCX, Groww, BharatPe, Licious, and upGrad, among others.

Edited by Mehak Agarwal

Also read: 'Will provide food at 40% discount with only Rs 3,000 cr loss': Harsh Goenka takes swipe on Zomato IPO

Also read: India has second largest number of unicorns; Sequoia top investor, says PwC India report