Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu on the allure of ‘money’, Nandan Nilekani to chair RBI's digital payments committee

Daily Capsule | 9th Jan Hello This year began with a major space adventure for China as it became the country to land a probe on the moon! But, what makes this mission even more impactful is that the Chinese probe landed on the dark side of the moon. And guess what? This, itself, is a commendable feat as neither the US nor Russia have pursued it yet. What's more? The probe also sent back pictures of its exploration of the moon's rocky terrain. Called the Yuta 2, meaning "Jade Rabbit", the probe carried a tin with silkworm eggs and various plant seeds, including potatoes, because Chinese scientists want to monitor the effects of the lunar environment on them. Many experts are also saying that China's successful trip to the dark side of the moon could very well trigger the next space race. What do you think? Cheers, Team YourStory Stories you shouldn't miss Sridhar Vembu, Founder and CEO of Zoho Corp, is a man with a mission. He is now looking to expand Zoho's operation into America’s heartland and Mexico. He also has a social vision for Zoho. In a conversation with YourStory, the illustrious CEO spoke about the ecosystem and why [entrepreneurs need to resist the allure of raising money from VCs]( who are just looking at building shareholder wealth, rather than building institutions. Another round for InnerChef! The [online cloud-kitchen platform recently raised Rs 43 crore in a Pre-Series B funding]( from multiple investors including Mistletoe, Saha Capital, Das Capital, Brand Capital and M&S Partners. Founded by Rajesh Sawhney, Sanjeev Singhal and Bal DiGhent in 2015, the startup will strengthen its brand portfolio with the freshly raised funds. After 13 years of actively working in edtech firm LIQVID, co-founder Manish Upadhyay has now taken a step back to focus on mentorship, investing and advisory. Manish sheds light on the sector and the various key aspects of starting up in the edtech space. [On being asked why the sudden change in role,]( he says, “I felt there was a need for a deeper push towards mentoring different edtech startups in the country." Inclusivity and representation: two areas where most industries seem to falter. When Arlan Hamilton, [who built Backstage Capital from the scratch, started]( it wasn’t a cakewalk for her. But Arlan set her heart on the venture capital circuit. She quit her job and learnt all she could about investing. And today, her company has invested more than $4 million in 100 companies founded by underrepresented founders. Israel-based cybersecurity company [Radware is all set to take over ShieldSquare]( a Bengaluru-based startup in the bot mitigation and management space. The acquisition will help Radware expand its portfolio with bot management solutions. The transaction is set to close during the first quarter of this year. With the ongoing edtech boom, Gray Matters Capital (GMC) [conducted a study to shed light on the key trends of the sector](. As per the findings, BYJU'S and Duolingo have the highest brand recall among education apps. Incidentally, BYJU'S is also the world’s most-valued edtech company at $3.6 billion, a feat it achieved in 2018. The RBI has constituted a ‘high-level committee for deepening of digital payments’ and the [five-member committee will be chaired by Nandan Nilekani,]( former UIDAI chairman and Infosys Co-founder. This committee has been set up to encourage the digitisation of payments and enhance financial inclusion through digitisation. -- [Click Here]( to unsubscribe from this newsletter.