This week in tech: What the Swiggy episode teaches Indian startups

It's been a tumultuous week for food tech venture Swiggy. A bunch of anonymous writers (supposedly former employees) put up a Tumblr blog post accusing the company of lying to investors, overstating growth, manipulating app reviews and other aggressive practises. However, the Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety was quick to rubbish the blogpost by giving a paragraph-by-paragraph response to the allegations. Majety said that the company’s numbers have been verified by external auditors.

Though the veracity of the anonymous allegations cannot be verified, a cross section of LinkedIn members opine that several Indian startups are guilty of fudging numbers. Some, even seem to have their investors’ blessings.

A big takeaway is that disgruntled former employees can be the biggest threat to a company’s brand. However, the Swiggy management also found support from fellow entrepreneurs; this founder tears into the blogspot writers for defaming Swiggy’s hard work and playing on mass hysteria. Interestingly, some experts write that overpaid employees are the biggest reason for a startup’s fall.

We hope that Swiggy can bounce back from this PR crisis and emerge as a stronger unit. What advice would you give to the Swiggy management? Join the conversation using #Swiggy.

Freecharge finally has a new house. In what looks like a fire sale, the payments company was acquired by Axis Bank for $60 million. Remember, Snapdeal had acquired Freecharge for $400 million in 2015. The transaction has been sealed at a time when Snapdeal itself is in the last leg of negotiations to merge with bigger rival Flipkart. Though Flipkart has made a revised $850 million offer for Snapdeal, the new term sheet has riders that imposes legal liability on Snapdeal board members post-deal completion.

Meanwhile, co-founder Kunal Bahl penned an emotional letter to employees in which he vowed to keep fighting for Snapdeal. Will the Freecharge deal finally pave the way for a Flipkart-Snapdeal transaction? Share your thoughts with #FlipDeal.

On deal street, internet ventures seem to be taking giant strides. E-tutoring company BYJU’s has raising an undisclosed amount from Tencent Holdings. The Chinese internet giant is also close to pumping $400 million in cab aggregator Ola. Meanwhile FabHotels has raised $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Goldman Sachs. Will FabHotels emerge as a credible rival to OYO Rooms? Share your views as comments below.

Infosys co-chairman and LinkedIn influencer Ravi Venkatesan is optimistic of steadying the ship at Infosys.  He believes it is possible to get the company’s promoters and management to work together as "one Infosys". The comment assumes significance in the backdrop of the very public spat between Infosys promoters and the company’s board members. Remember, Infosys has been seeing a stream of senior-level exits. Yusuf Bashir, MD of the $500-million Infosys Innovation Fund, resigned early this week while the firm's executive vice president Ritika Suri quit in the last fortnight. Can the Infosys promoters and board members bury their differences? Or is the relationship damaged beyond repair? Chime into the conversation.

Credits: VCCircle

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