to instantly read 150+ free stories & 250-word summaries of all our stories

Sweet and sour

Paytm Lemonade

Over $80 million in combined funding and two years wasn't enough for Little Internet and Nearbuy, two of India's largest hyperlocal deals companies. Ultimately Paytm had to engineer a face-saving, albeit clever, acquisition. What's next?

12/12/17

Arundhati Ramanathan

Paytm is trying to turn a bad investment into a better one by acquiring Nearbuy and merging it with Little  

Considering the vasts sums of money it raised, Little was not able to scale as much as Nearbuy

Couponing startups have an inherent problem. Driven by deep discounts, they end up attracting bargain-hunting customers for merchants

This deal can effectively spell the end for standalone couponing startups

lemonade-stand-2483297_1920-1920x1290.jpg

Want to read a free 200 word summary?

Bad startup investments are par for the course. There’s even a commonly used term for them: lemons. Thus the VC adage, “lemons ripen faster”. Meaning, bad investments tend to become apparent faster than good ones.

Read the full story. Subscribe now.

Also read our exhaustive coverage about Online Grocery, Paytm and Future of Retail

Why subscribe? Let us explain.

Already Registered?

Related stories

More stories in /Analysis & /Reportage

See all in Business & Reportage

This story is for subscribers only.
or

Read the full story. Subscribe now.

Also read our exhaustive coverage about Online Grocery, Paytm and Future of Retail

Why subscribe? Let us explain.

The selected story is available only for paid subscribers. Might want to change your mind!

Subscribe now

Already Registered?

Questions?

What is The Ken?

The Ken is a subscription-driven media site. We write one story a day (weekdays only). These stories have sharp, original insights on technology, business, science and healthcare from India.

Why do I have to sign up to read your stories?

Our stories are not free. Well, some select stories are. But, a significant part of what we write at The Ken is for subscribers only. We put in a lot of effort and resources in writing our stories and believe that you must pay for good journalism.
Hence, our three plans. 1) The annual membership
2) The free sign up
3) The recurring quarterly subscription

On journalism and why you should pay for it, if you haven’t already seen it, here’s a great explainer from John Oliver.

So, one must pay for journalism?

Yes.

How many stories will I get if I take an annual membership?

867+ stories.

And, in the free sign up?

Four stories every month.

Do I get a refund?

We allow you to sample our journalism for free before signing up, and after you do, we stand by its quality. But we do not offer refunds.

I am not getting my daily emails. Do I have to whitelist emails from The Ken?

An added benefit of your subscription (free/paid) are the daily personalised emails. These emails, at times, might end up in your spam/junk folder due to emojis, attachments or images. In case you’re not receiving these emails, it might help to whitelist us. If the problem still persists, write to us at [email protected].

Why am I unable to access the archives?

Full and unrestricted access to our archives is a feature of our annual membership.

My payment is not going through, what can I do?

Please write to us at [email protected] detailing the payment error or queries.

See all FAQs

    See all results for Ken

    No results found for Ken.