Bengaluru Exodus, Goldman Sachs Sells Stake, and Lenskart Gets SEBI Nod

Bengaluru’s paradox is now impossible to ignore: the city remains the shortest route to capital and talent - and the longest commute to sanity. When a logistics unicorn’s chief publicly complained that the Outer Ring Road had become a gantlet of potholes and dust, it wasn’t just a viral rant; it was a signal that the hub’s network effects have collided with its physical limits. The same week, a founder of an agritech startup explained why he was shifting his headquarters to Bengaluru while keeping R&D in a lower-cost city: climate, market access, supportive agri-laws, even “expat livability.” This strategy of selling in cities and building the business in smaller areas of India is now the main rule for founders who want to get big without losing money on high city costs.

The data is brutally clear about where money still lives. Tier-2 and Tier-3 startups made up a meaningful share of new company formation in 2024 - roughly 45% by volume - but captured just 2.4% of June’s (2024) funding. Even in a buoyant month like October 2024, Tier-1 cities hoovered up ₹6,205 crore across 56 deals while Bharat shared ₹1,743 crore across only eight. The market is outside the metros - about 72% of India’s internet users now sit beyond Tier-1 - but scalable capital, late-stage diligence, and specialized hiring still cluster where the glass towers are. Until those lines cross, founders will keep arbitraging geography: keep a mailing address where term sheets get signed; keep the burn where talent is loyal and leases don’t kneecap runway.

Bharat isn’t theory; it’s a track record. PhysicsWallah went from Allahabad/Kota classrooms to a unicorn by building for middle-India cohorts that metros under-serve. CarDekho scaled from Jaipur without surrendering its center of gravity. These aren’t exceptions; they’re proofs that distribution, not downtown addresses, drives durable demand when your customer is everywhere. What’s changed is that interstate competition now meets founders halfway: some states pitch sector-specific laws (agri, electronics), subsidized workspaces, and cleaner, safer tier-2 cities as a lifestyle moat for teams who’d rather walk to work than inch through a flyover.

The corporate side is quietly following. Global Capability Centers increasingly split footprints - keep leadership and client-facing roles in one hub, move high-quality engineering into second-ring cities where attrition is lower and the talent bench is growing. That is how network effects get re-wired: not by abandoning Bengaluru, but by treating it as one node in a domestic mesh. Founders already do this instinctively - keep fundraising, enterprise sales, and partnerships where VCs, bankers, and legal counsel sit; move ops, QA, and content to the cities that promise reliability over vibe.

None of this absolves the metros. If Bengaluru wants to keep its lead, it must fix the basics - roads, public transit, permissions - because over-concentration turns ecosystem advantage into operational tax. When a top-tier unicorn has to relocate offices within city limits just to claw back a couple of productive hours per day, that’s not founder preference; that’s negative externality compounding. The government’s reflex of announcing a thousand-crore repair plan and bristle about “blackmail” misses the point: capital is loyal to outcomes, not zip codes.

Policy needs to stop tracking business creation and start tracking business growth and longevity. The center has seeded the right pipes - DPIIT recognition, seed funds, agri-incubators - but states win or lose on execution: land and labor clarity, sector-specific rules that unlock pilots and purchase orders, and livability that keeps families rooted. The question for VCs is equally practical: will you put partners on planes to Surat, Kochi, Coimbatore, and Jaipur, or keep waiting for founders to self-select into Koramangala leases? If the aim is to compound national innovation, the fix isn’t to replace one capital with another - it’s to wire them together so a founder never has to choose between funding and functioning.

The path forward is hiding in plain sight. Make coupons, grants, and incentives contingent on building repeatable business where customers live, not where pitch decks are printed. Treat metros as launchpads and Bharat as scale fabric, with a standard operating model that says: raise in the hub, build in the heartland, sell everywhere. The winners will be the founders who master that choreography - and the states and funds that make it effortless to perform.

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

“Mai Chali Mai Chali”: Goldman Sachs Offloads More Eternal Shares Worth INR 355 Cr

Goldman Sachs seems to be on an Eternal selling spree, quite literally. The global investment bank has offloaded another INR 355 Cr worth of Eternal shares, trimming its stake by 0.11% at INR 329 apiece.

Interestingly, BofA Securities Europe swooped in to scoop up the dumped shares, continuing the tug-of-war between Wall Street heavyweights on Dalal Street.

Read more here

“Sapne Dekhe Bade Bade”: Lenskart Gets SEBI Nod For Its D-Street Debut

Lenskart is gearing up to make its grand D-Street debut after securing SEBI’s nod for its IPO. The eyewear unicorn plans to raise INR 2,150 Cr through a fresh issue, alongside an OFS from big names like SoftBank, Temasek, and Alpha Wave.

With a sharp turnaround to a INR 297.3 Cr profit in FY25, Peyush Bansal’s vision for Lenskart seems clearer than ever.

Read more here

“Kayde Mein Raho, Toh Fayde Mein Rahoge”: CCPA Probing Ecommerce Platforms For Cash On Delivery Dark Patterns

The CCPA has set its sights on ecommerce platforms for allegedly sneaking in extra fees on cash-on-delivery orders.

Following a flood of consumer complaints, the ministry is now probing how widespread this “CoD surcharge” practice really is. The move could spell trouble for platforms that aren’t transparent about these hidden costs at checkout.

Read more here

“Abhi Hum Zinda Hai”: Coinbase Set To Restart India Ops, Opens Early Access For Some Users

Coinbase is making a comeback in India, quietly reopening its doors with early access for select users. After a year-long hiatus since shutting down in September 2023, the US-based crypto giant is ready to reboot its India journey.

With its registration now cleared by the Financial Intelligence Unit, Coinbase seems poised for a smoother second innings in the country’s crypto market.

Read more here

1. Zaggle is set to raise INR 60 Cr through the allotment of 10.58 Lakh warrants at INR 567 apiece. The funding comes from promoter group entity RAN Ventures and media giant Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd (Times Group).
   Read more here

2. Digital insurance platform Coverstack is set to raise about $11 Mn (INR 95.7 Cr) in a mix of primary and secondary stake sales. Led by Elevar Ventures, this marks Coverstack’s first major fundraise in nearly six years.
   Read more here

3. Luxury watch retailer Art of Time has raised Rs 175 Cr in a Series B round led by Mithun Sacheti, Siddhartha Sacheti, Plutus Wealth Management, and Freshworks’ Girish Mathrubootham. The funds will fuel its new experiential retail concept, CIRCA, and bolster its offline expansion.
   Read more here