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Ex-Google Employee Builds $1.5 Billion Startup In Just 21 Months

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EX-GOOGLE EMPLOYEE BUILDS $1.5 BILLION STARTUP IN JUST 21 MONTHS,Startup Stories,Startup Stories India,Inspiration Stories,2017 Most Read Startup Stories,Colin Huang,Chinese entrepreneur,Alibaba,Taobao,JD.com

Colin Huang, a Chinese entrepreneur, started his career in Silicon valley as an engineer at Google, he worked on early search algorithms for e-commerce and returned back home to start his own company. He is already on his fourth and most progressive startup Pinduoduo.

Pinduoduo or simply PDD is like a combination of Facebook and Groupon, he believes that PDD could transform the e-commerce industry. In less than two years, the company raised $100 million valuing it to more than $1.5 billion (10 billion yuan.)

The idea behind PDD is to change the online shopping experience of the customer, something similar like having fun with friends at a mall and shopping. You are open to sharing your ideas, take suggestions from friends and then if you buy a product, you get a discount. PDD is now one of the largest E-commerce companies in China.

Mr.Huang told Bloomberg, “Many companies tried this before, but no one has done it in real. We feel that we have a competitive advantage.

In 2007, he started his first e-commerce site called ‘Ouku.com’ to sell consumer electronics and mobile phones. Revenues suddenly moved upward, but he realized ‘Ouku.com’ was similar to other e-commerce sites and sold it in 2010. He then started a company called Leqi, which helps companies to market their services on websites like Alibaba, Taobao or JD.com. The second company of Mr.Huang is a gaming company which offers role playing games on WeChat. He became free from both the companies. Due to health problems, he retired when he was just 33.

Eventually, Mr.Huang came forward with the idea of PDD, combining both e-commerce and gaming sectors, by bringing together Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Huang and his team convinced both the companies that there are a numerous number of opportunities with this combination.

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In May 2015, he raised an amount of $8 million from an investor group led by Banyan and launched the application a few months later. The application gives a different shopping experience to the customer, most of the people use PDD on WeChat. You get the discount when your friend join the shopping, as you are already in WeChat, it is easy to get other friends to join you. With the increasing popularity and usage of PDD, it raised about $100 million in 2016. PDD made a rich retailer experience to both merchants and shoppers. It also helps merchants to manage a small group of shoppers and get direct feedback from the customers.

Mr. Huang is aiming to skies, he is improbable to spend his rest of life in PDD. His role models are The founding father of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, and Benjamin Franklin.

Mr.Colin Huang says “As the sun sets over Shanghai, that is a genuine life.”

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Bhavish Aggarwal’s Krutrim Unveils ‘Kruti’ — An Agentic AI Built for Bharat

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Kruti

Bengaluru, June 2025 – Krutrim, the AI startup founded by Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal, has launched its new agentic AI assistant, Kruti. Unlike traditional virtual assistants, Kruti is designed with an Indian-first approach — combining cultural context, multilingual capabilities, and generative AI to offer a more intuitive, task-oriented experience for users.

Kruti is built to do more than just respond to queries — it can independently perform tasks, make decisions, and integrate across platforms for productivity and communication. Powered by Krutrim’s proprietary Indian-trained language model, it brings a deep understanding of local languages and digital behaviors, catering to both personal and business needs in the Indian ecosystem.

Aggarwal described Kruti as “India’s digital brain,” highlighting its role in redefining AI for Bharat. The assistant will be rolled out in phases, starting with enterprise partners and expanding through apps and APIs. As Kruti integrates into various platforms — including Ola’s services — it marks a significant stride in India’s ambition to lead the global AI race.

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Bankruptcy Forces BYJU’S to Offload Epic and Tynker for a Fraction of Acquisition Cost

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BYJU’S StartupStories

BYJU’S, once India’s most celebrated edtech startup, has sold its major US-based subsidiaries Epic and Tynker for a fraction of their original purchase prices, marking a dramatic reversal in its global expansion strategy. The distressed sales, approved by a US bankruptcy court on May 20, 2025, come amid the company’s ongoing financial and legal turmoil. Tynker, a coding education platform acquired by BYJU’S in 2021 for $200 million, was sold to CodeHS for just $2.2 million in cash, while Epic, a digital reading platform bought for $500 million in 2022, was acquired by China’s TAL Education Group for $95 million.

These fire-sale transactions were part of a broader restructuring effort to address disputes with lenders after BYJU’S defaulted on a $1.2 billion loan, which triggered bankruptcy proceedings for its US entities. The company’s US unit, Byju’s Alpha, became the focal point of legal battles, including allegations of mismanagement and the misappropriation of funds by top executives. Court rulings in the US have highlighted instances of fraudulent transfers and breaches of fiduciary duty by suspended directors, further compounding BYJU’S woes.

As BYJU’S scrambles to stabilize its core operations, several of its other high-profile acquisitions, such as Great Learning and Aakash Institute, have started operating independently and distancing themselves from the parent company. The massive losses from the sales of Epic and Tynker underscore the risks of BYJU’S aggressive acquisition spree and the severe impact of its financial mismanagement, leaving the future of the once high-flying edtech giant in question.

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Flick TV Secures $2.3M to Revolutionize India’s Micro-Drama Streaming Scene

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Flick TV StartupStories

Flick TV, India’s first mobile-focused OTT platform dedicated to micro-dramas, has secured $2.3 million in seed funding led by Stellaris Venture Partners, with participation from Gemba Capital and Titan Capital. Founded in early 2025 by Kushal Singhal, Pratik Anand, and Sanidhya Mittal, the platform aims to address the growing demand for high-quality, short-form storytelling tailored for mobile consumption. Unlike traditional user-generated short video platforms, Flick TV produces professionally shot, under-five-minute dramas across genres such as romance, thrillers, and slice-of-life—each crafted for vertical viewing to suit India’s rapidly expanding mobile internet audience.

The newly raised capital will be used to scale up content production, with plans to launch over 100 original titles, enhance the platform’s streaming technology, and expand offerings into four regional languages. Flick TV is also investing in generative AI and advanced workflows to streamline scripting and production, aiming to combine creative excellence with operational efficiency. The founders bring deep expertise from previous roles at ShareChat, EloElo, Meesho, and Pocket FM, positioning the company to bridge the gap between creator agility and cinematic storytelling in India’s nascent micro-drama ecosystem.

Industry observers see Flick TV as a frontrunner in India’s next entertainment wave, which is expected to be mobile-native, emotionally engaging, and built for short attention spans. With the micro-drama market projected to reach $5 billion in India over the next five years—mirroring the $7 billion success in China—Flick TV is poised to set new standards for premium, binge-worthy short-form content and redefine streaming for the modern Indian viewer.

 

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