Mumbai: The curtain-raiser for trailblazing young upstarts, Young Turks is today India’s longest-running show on startups and entrepreneurship. Young Turks have now marked yet another milestone, the show that is helmed by Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor of CNBC-TV18 has turned 19!
“It has been exciting and gratifying to chronicle the story of India’s startup universe. Over the last 19 years, Indian startups have come of age and Young Turks have been witness to the changes. We start afresh decade, in a milestone year, of IPOs and big deals. We look forward to telling more startup stories and building a robust community of founders, investors, and mentors,” said Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18.
Over the last two decades, Young Turks have nurtured a community of 1,000s of startups and founders, who have shared their innovations with the world on the show. Leveraging the leg-up provided by Young Turks, many startups have gained a support system and potential investors!
Last year, the pandemic upended the way everybody goes about their business. In one of its first ports of call in 2021, Young Turks spoke to startup investors as they crystal gazed into the coming year. Collectively, they indicated that digital is the new dealmaker. Innovations in edtech, fintech, SaaS, and health tech have led to the rise of 16 unicorns in the first half of the year itself. Young Turks is a platform that has launched virtually every Indian Unicorn to date.
So far this year, Young Turks have not only captured the coming-of-age of Indian startups but also kept its ear to the ground as startups joined India’s fight against COVID-19. Through a slew of initiatives from crowdfunding campaigns to importing oxygen concentrators – the startup ecosystem at large stepped up to secure resources as the country gasped for breath.
Going forward, there is a need for a fresh, far more energetic burst of energy as India collectively battles the challenges that still remain. But, this year also promises to be a landmark year for startups as some of our very own Young Turks head to the public markets.
Be it BYJU’s acquisition of Aakash, Groww’s deal for Indiabulls Mutual Fund, BharatPe’s bid for the beleaguered PMC Bank, or PharmEasy’s first-of-its-kind takeover of the publicly-listed Thyrocare- startups are punching above their weight and seizing the highchairs of India Inc.
Now, the old guard has stepped into the ring, giving rise to a new trend in the all-direction consolidation. For them, startups are now becoming the ‘Jewels In The Crown’. Last year, Reliance Retail and Jio lapped up startups for a swifter transition to the digital economy. This year, Tata Digital is on a shopping spree with e-grocer Big Basket, e-pharmacy 1MG, and fitness startup Cult.fit already in its cart.
Surely, this has buoyed investor sentiment as they pumped more money into Indian startups in the first half of 2021 than in the whole year of 2020. So far this year, Indian startups have raised $12.1 billion worth of investments compared to $11.1 billion in all of 2020, as per Venture Intelligence.
On the occasion of stepping into the 20th year of broadcasting of the show, Young Turks hits refresh through a rebranding with its new logo, which is designed by Chumbak – a homegrown brand that crafts all-things-design with a quirky twist.
“CNBC Young Turks has been a leader in spotlighting some of the best and young business minds in the country. Chumbak has been associated with Young Turks for a long time and today on their 19th anniversary we are happy to have worked on their rebranding. The new logo stands for the enthusiasm and clarity that today’s startups exuberate,” said Vivek Prabhakar, Co-Founder, Chumbak.
