News Roundup: Top 5 startup stories of the week

The government putting an interim ban on 59 Chinese app, under section 69A of the Information Technology Act. This list includes applications like TikTok which is easily one of the most popular video-sharing apps in India, file sharing app ShareIt, UC Browser and CamScanner.

This move is helping many Indian content startups come forward to showcase their products and are gaining attention from many VCs. One such app is the homegrown video-sharing platform, Mitron that raised its first venture capital funding from 3one4 Capital.

The startup looks to gain ground in the space after market leader TikTok was removed from Google and Apple’s app stores on Tuesday following the government’s order that banned 59 apps originating from China. Ex-Yahoo executive Arun Tadanki's private syndicate also contributed to the round through angel investing platform LetsVenture.

Ride hailing app Uber has closed down its office in Mumbai as part of a global move to wind up as many as 45 offices around the world, sources privy to the developments told CNBC-TV18. The ride-sharing service, however, will continue for users in the city.

The decision to close and consolidate offices was taken by the ride-hailing giant in May as a response to the COVID-19 crisis and the impact on its business.The Mumbai office, located in the Kurla region of the city, was the centre for the Western region for Uber, though its India headquarters is based in Gurugram.

Uber’s Mumbai office employed about 25 permanent employees and over 150 contract staff, most of whom will be impacted by the move, sources said. Some of the employees, however, will continue with the company, especially in the roles of operations and policy. The company in a statement to CNBC-TV18, said, "Uber continues to provide a high level of service to all its riders in Mumbai."

Wellness & fitness platform Cult's pivot has turned into a flourishing online ​fitness platform clocking 500 thousand sessions every day and has signed up 1.5 million new users with 50,000 paid subscribers.

Cult.fit that started monetising its online product in May, has already clocked a revenue of Rs 10 crore. The company is now working to add a million subscribers within the next few months and has also forayed into the US in the last month. Its application for users in US is reporting nearly 5,000 subscriptions on the platform every day

The recent ban on Chinese apps by the government has led to many Indian players creating their own version of the TikTok app. In a recent interview to Young Turks, Mukesh Bansal, co-founder and CEO of Cure.fit, has some words of advice for startups tapping on this opportunity , 'as the B2C journey goes, it's a multi-year journey, sometimes it's five years or even 10 years.

So no matter whatever the situation is - a player is there or not there and whoever is coming to build the next TikTok for the country has to believe that they are going to be there for the next 4-5 years and that the landscape is going to change. No one will become TikTok in the next two weeks or a few months. It doesn't happen that way. Before founding a one of kind homegrown health & wellness platform with international ambitions, Bansal founded the e-commerce fashion platform, Myntra.

Wow! Momo Foods that owns and operates two quick-service restaurant brands Wow! Momo and Wow! China has entered into a strategic partnership with India’s largest homegrown coffee chain, Café Coffee Day.

Under the partnership, Wow! Momo kiosks will be placed in Café Coffee Day outlets in the country to create a wider reach and network. The two homegrown brands also plan to offer a wider palate of innovative food offerings. Wow! Momo is set to serve its products in all three traditional formats – dine-in, takeaway, and delivery – in select Café Coffee Day outlets in the country.

The project is geared to be piloted across 30 plus outlets in three major Indian cities of Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Mumbai by end of July. Wow! Momo envisions ramping up this number to more Café Coffee Day outlets across the nation.