This round doubled the Mumbai-based company’s valuation to $2.15 billion. 

On the backdrop of this massive funding, Startagist talked to CoinCDX co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta.

Edited excerpts from the interview: 

With the Series D funding round, you have hit the unicorn status. How has been your journey so far?

CoinDCX achieved unicorn status in August 2021, when we concluded our Series C funding round, and the experience was that although it was a fulfilling journey, it was also filled with challenges. 

When we first started CoinDCX, we recall the Reserve Bank of India ordering banks to stop trading with crypto companies. This was especially challenging for us, as it led to an outflow of investors, leaving us without the funds critical to sustaining the company. With a team we could count at our fingertips, we preserved and worked tirelessly to keep the company operational. Our investors eventually came back after the reversal of the ban.

Today, we are an over 400 people-strong team who supported our journey to bring 12.5 million users to the CoinDCX platform and accelerate our growth at breakneck speed to reach unicorn status. 

In India, governments and even individuals have always frowned upon cryptocurrency. Because of these, many early comers could not survive, with some winding up. How did you successfully address challenges, including unfavourable regulations, to grow into a billion-dollar business?

In fronting the country’s pivot towards a digital-first economy, policymakers in India have increasingly demonstrated their receptiveness to crypto-based solutions and willingness to lead stakeholder discussions involving key industry actors and participants. 

As a crypto-focused company in India, we have been proactive in our engagements with regulators, holding frequent conversations with the relevant stakeholders to advance crypto regulations in India.

We are also relentless in our push for crypto education, developing comprehensive training programmes and certifications courses and partnering with multiple universities and higher education institutions to support knowledge building and interdisciplinary learning.

You started in 2018. What was the motivation to start CoinCDX? What is the story behind it?

Neeraj and I have been friends since our college days. Our first achievement was materialising our long-held aspiration of moving to Mumbai and attending the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Together, we had cryptography classes and immersed ourselves in other new-age technologies. While we always had a keen interest in exploring emerging technologies, our passion grew further in university, and we aspired to establish our startup to reach an untapped and underserved market in India. That led to us co-founding CoinDCX to bring crypto to the masses.

How do you work with the central government to allay the concerns around crypto? Do you think the government will legalise cryptocurrency in the near future?

Governmental support is key for digital assets to reach their full potential and impact India’s digital economy. The first step in any regulatory regime is to accept and acknowledge the emergence of a new asset class. We had seen that happening in India when the government classified crypto as Virtual Digital Assets. To us, we believe that this is a step in the right direction. 

Furthermore, digital assets were given greater legitimacy when included in the government’s overall taxation framework – this is an important milestone in recognition of crypto. As one of India’s largest crypto exchanges, we continuously look for opportunities to strengthen policy conversations through public discourse and foster continued collaboration with the government to introduce favourable regulations and education support programmes. We are confident that they are working rigorously to bring greater regulatory clarity to the space.

How do you create awareness among the people of India?

Driving understanding, education and adoption of crypto and blockchain has always been a core part of CoinDCX’s business. That’s why we launched DCXLearn, a full-fledged crypto learning platform with courses on crypto and blockchain, so that more people can understand the importance of digital assets and their position in the future of finance. We have now brought this education to our app as well.

Through continuously addressing misinformation and driving public awareness of emerging technologies, more people in India would also be able to make informed decisions about trading crypto and find confidence in dipping their toes into digital finance. Especially with the growing ubiquity of digital assets in today’s financial landscape, it is vital to have a gasp on crypto or risk losing relevance in the rapidly evolving digital asset ecosystem. 

You claim to have 1,000 users so far and plan to hit a 1 million user base in 18 months? How do you plan to achieve this ambitious goal?

Currently, CoinDCX has over 12.5 million users on its platform. Only earlier in February this year did we announce our milestone of crossing more than 10 million users. In just a few months, we onboarded nearly three million more — setting us on an unusual upward trajectory. As we continue to grow our business, ensuring that we provide a trusted and safe crypto experience has been and will continue to be the impetus to furthering our user base.

What are the other major challenges faced by India’s cryptocurrency sector? How do you currently operate in a challenging atmosphere?

The regulatory hurdles have often been a major challenge for crypto companies in India. From threats of crypto bans to stringent regulations such as the hefty crypto tax and the onerous tax deductible at source, India’s crypto sector’s resilience has been tested time and time again. However, through all these, CoinDCX has remained steadfast, growing and thriving even in the face of regulatory uncertainties and adversities. Being cognizant of the changing policies, strengthening discussions with policymakers and encouraging a greater understanding of digital finance and emerging technologies such as crypto and blockchain has been essential to overcoming the challenges. 

Do you think India has favourable factors to become a fast-growing crypto market?

Yes, definitely. Asia is a fascinating place to be for digital assets right now. It has all the makings to become a hotbed for crypto and mobile-first societies, a growing middle class, and an ambitious young population that is open-minded and willing to be early adopters of innovative technologies.

India, in particular, has greatly surprised market watchers with the rapid adoption of digital assets in recent years. Despite the regulatory back-and-forths happening in the market, India still ranked second on the 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index. This speaks to the strength of the market – its demographics, strength in technology and a general willingness by the Indian population to explore crypto. 

At CoinDCX, we are passionate about how crypto education can raise awareness and unlock the potential of digital assets. We believe that once people understand blockchain technology and how it can revolutionise the finance industry (and others), mainstream crypto adoption will be inevitable. CoinDCX, as India’s first crypto unicorn and the nation’s safest cryptocurrency exchange, will be leading India in this charge towards the new Web3 economy, and a future where crypto is more prominent and easily accessible. 

Why do you need a huge amount of capital of $135M? What are your plans with the capital raised?

With the latest successful Series D funding round, CoinDCX is on track to become India’s first decacorn – a testament to how far we have come since the inception of CoinDCX in 2018. With the latest capital raised, we want to grow our existing business/platforms and focus on nurturing India’s crypto and Web3 industry. Education, Innovation and Compliance remain key cornerstones of CoinDCX’s strategy, and we will continue building on these strengths.

In addition, CoinDCX remains committed to crypto education and spreading awareness amongst Indian investors on crypto and blockchain. We have already launched several educational initiatives and campaigns working closely with universities, and will continue to expand DCXLearn, our educational platform that works towards fostering greater understanding and trust for this emerging asset class. We also have plans to launch an Innovation Center to further Web3 and Blockchain adoption in India.

To help support CoinDCX’s vision, we seek to triple our talent pool to over 1000 employees by the end of the year. We aim to nurture local talent through our various outreach programs, research initiatives, and strategic investments. As we continue to expand both our team and outreach, our goals remain the same – to make crypto accessible to all and lead India into the new digital economy.

The web3 industry has not even kicked off in India. How do you plan to make a change here and popularise web3?

We recently announced the launch of CoinDCX Ventures – with a mission to do just that. CoinDCX recognises the importance of leveraging this space and the unlimited opportunities and potential it brings. We are passionate and serious about enabling the growth of the Web3 ecosystem in India. CoinDCX Ventures will have resources to invest in early-stage crypto and blockchain startups, both in India and globally. The CoinDCX Ventures’s mandate is to nurture the crypto and Web3 industry in India and beyond, hoping to serve as India’s gateway to the broader international crypto ecosystem that has already been established. 

Do you plan to enter web3 and metaverse gaming in the future?

We are continuously seeing an influx of unique, creative and innovative collaborations between the worlds of business, technology, fashion, sport and art — particularly as lines between physical and digital worlds become increasingly blurred.

While we have no concrete plans to enter the gaming market for now, it is something we might consider in the future. The crypto and blockchain industry is moving at such a rapid pace with new innovations disrupting the space every day. CoinDCX wants to be at the forefront of it, spearheading the charge towards a new digital future where finance is increasingly decentralised. 

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Following this association, BikeWo will be looking to expand its EV servicing and charging network across different states of India while leveraging VenkateshDuggibati’s personal brand and by collaborating with him for a series of marketing, outreach and brand promotion activities. This will be a long-term collaboration that will help the brand to grow and scale in order to meet its ambitious target of installing 20,000 EV charging points pan-India by 2025.

Speaking on the collaboration, Vidhyasagar Reddy, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, BikeWo said, “We are delighted and proud to welcome the evergreen legend VenkateshDaggubati as Bikewo’s investor and brand ambassador. Venkatesh’s faith and trust in BikeWo are an inspiration for us, and going forward, we will be working closely with him on a number of strategic aspects. Furthermore, his association with the brand marks a whole new chapter in BikeWo’s commitment to young Indians in the realization of their dreams and aspirations by serving simple and delightful two wheeler service experiences, creating infrastructure for EV with battery swapping and charging points, and enabling entrepreneurship opportunities to BikeWo’s ever-growing network of dealer-partners.”

Venkatesh Daggubati said, “I am elated to be a part of BikeWo’s journey of making the EV bike sector more organized and providing a better user experience.BikeWo is a brand that stands out in the EV space not only by laying infrastructure for EV 2W charging and servicing, but also by encouraging and creating entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs, through its unique franchise network. I look forward to walking the futuristic EV adoption journey with BikeWo, and I’m committed to do my bit in helping the brand in realizing its vision.”

BikeWo has been founded by Mr. Vidhaysagar Reddy — who has studied International Business from West London College, UK, and is a passionate tech and environmental enthusiast who previously has hadan experience of over 6 years in sales and business development with Freshworks.He saw Freshworks grow from a single product to multiple products and from 1M USD revenue to becoming a ‘unicorn’ and then filing for IPO. During his stint there, Vidyhyasagar brought in key strategic accounts and led the sales of their flagship product- Freshsales from 0 to 50mn USD. In 2021, he quit his job and started-up BikeWo — where he is bringing in the Freshworks’ experience and learnings into Bikewo, so that it can also follow a similar growth journey, while bringingtogether technology, environment, and people to organize a largely unorganized sector.

BikeWo is solving critical issues and gaps in India burgeoning EV ecosystem by laying the infrastructure for EV battery swapping and charging points, and thereby paving the path for increased adoption of electric 2 wheelers across India. On the other hand, Tollywood film actor and producer VenkateshDaggubati, popularly known as Victory Venkatesh, is one of the most loved industry veterans who is well-known for his acting prowess and has worked in many award-winning Telegu films in his illustrious career spanning over three decades.

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On World Youth Skills Day, Ms. Manjushree, IAS – the Mission Director, National Livelihood Mission in Karnataka initiated the Code Unnati’s registration drive for women participants from the grassroots to undergo various interventions. This includes continuous experiential training to build enterprise awareness, a development program imparting basic enterprise planning, and Community Cadres (Unnati Sakhi’s) mentorship and handholding support.

One of the major objectives of this initiative which is called Code Unnati is to impart digital literacy to women and youth from rural Karnataka. Digital literacy is one of the key 21st-century skills required to improve their employability. Owing to disruptions in offline learning, the project learning modules were digitalized to provide timely guidance to participants.

Code Unnati engages with academia, government institutions at the state and district level, incubation centers, civil societies, and other bodies to create a sustainable impact. Through the following initiatives the project will reach over 20,000 youth and 5,000 women in Bangalore Rural, Raichur, and Dakshin Kannada districts over the next three years:

• Imparting digital literacy, entrepreneurial skills, and digital financial education for women and youth 
• Connecting youth with government incubation centers and providing them with opportunities to participate in design thinking workshops, innovation challenges, and boot camps
• Women would be supported through community-level mentorship and handholding support to start or scale their micro-enterprises. The project will raise awareness about various vocations, industry and professional linkages, and employee volunteering.

More than 300 women are expected to initiate their own businesses in three years and enhance their income by an anticipated 10 percent within 18 months of the program’s initiation. Karnataka has been at the forefront of creating digital opportunities while nurturing one of the country’s most mature IT and start-up ecosystems. This initiative is further working towards strengthening the enabling ecosystem with a focus on skilling. 

It will also provide 15,000 students with 21st-century skills training coupled with Entrepreneurship Development Programmes in the target districts. These students will have opportunities to attend design thinking workshops, demos, digital skills championships leading to scholarships and employment opportunities. SAP will lead directly lead the strategic mentorship for all the initiatives.

Sindhu Gangadharan, SVP, and Managing Director, SAP Labs India, said, “Technology has enabled everyone to stay connected, especially during the pandemic. The demand for digital skills will increase and a plethora of entrepreneurial opportunities will emerge. Our mission of making the world run better and improving people’s lives well aligns with UNDP’s global goals. We are happy to see ourselves in the role of equipping women and youth in Karnataka to make them future-ready, and thus ensuring diversity and inclusion.”

Ms Nadia Rasheed, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP India, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened many existing inequalities. Empowering women and youth to access sustainable livelihood opportunities is critical to ensuring an inclusive and sustainable recovery. With the Government of Karnataka and SAP, we intend to leverage our collective strengths to expand opportunities for young people and women and to help make communities more resilient.”

About SAP

SAP‘s strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As the market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches a SAP® system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 440,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives.

About UNDP

UNDP works across 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty while protecting the planet. We help countries develop strong policies, skills, partnerships, and institutions to sustain their progress. UNDP has worked in India since 1951 in almost all areas of human development, from systems strengthening to inclusive growth and sustainable livelihoods and sustainable energy, environment, and resilience. UNDP’s programs continue to integrate a global vision for catalytic change with India’s national priorities. With over 30 projects on the ground in almost every state, today, it works to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by transforming traditional models to do development differently.

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●        Meeting oxygen supply via oxygen cylinders and concentrators for the COVID patients

●        Facilitating in-person and telemedicine consultations for those with chronic conditions

●        Procuring and distributing PPE to health professionals and essential workers and others

The mini grid villages in India have observed an intense health crisis in 2021 as compared to 2020. As per the recent surveys conducted by SPI across mini-grid villages, 77% participants expressed COVID care facilities are inaccessible in case of emergency. Last year the main concern for rural households was livelihood. This year it is about access to healthcare. Lack of awareness and COVID appropriate behaviour still exists in the rural community with half the participants surveyed believing that their communities aren’t taking preventive measures like masking and sanitizing.

Commenting on the partnership, Jaideep Mukherji, CEO, Smart Power India, said, “Last year we focussed on providing livelihood support to the rural community. This year, we see an urgent need to address the issue of lack of access to quality medical services. Health and safety of our mini grid customers and ESCO employees are some of our immediate priorities. These partnerships aim to support our ailing health infrastructure.”

SPI had launched a Customer Voucher Scheme (CVS) for mini-grid customers in 2020. It aimed to benefit over 125,000 lives in 200 mini-grid villages in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. CVS enabled the mini-grid customers to redeem the vouchers against their monthly electricity bill issued by Mini-Grid Operators (MGO) for a period of 3 months.  The scheme is believed to impact over 125,000 lives in 200 mini-grid villages. This year, SPI is in the process of planning such health related incentives to ease the health care burden in the catchment areas.

Contribution details:

About Smart Power India (SPI)

SPI, a subsidiary of the Rockefeller Foundation, was established in 2015 to develop and scale sustainable models to accelerate electricity access and spur economic development amongst the rural underserved communities. It is committed to create knowledge and accountability in the public domain through robust evidence-based research and provide field and analytical support to the Government, private sector, implementers and other donors in their pursuits for rural electricity access.  SPI develops and disseminates relevant knowledge in the rural electricity access and services space with an aim to promote research and innovation and partners with policymakers, practitioners and academic institutions to come up with actionable insights and innovative strategies. While SPI’s work covers the spectrum of supply and demand side issues of rural electricity, its focus is the last-mile customer. SPI exchanges knowledge by promoting and facilitating platforms for networking, knowledge sharing and collaborative research, networking, knowledge sharing and collaborative research.

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Board Infinity has again taken a responsibility to continue the learning process making it extremely reasonable for the professionals who may have either lost their jobs or have faced a salary cut during the pandemic. The campaign #TakeChargewithBI aspires to instil hope in learners by communicating that while they might not be able to control everything around them during these uncertain times, the presence of a mentor can help them cope and make better career decisions. On Board Infinity platform, a learner or professional will be able to opt for any live 1:1 coaching session of their choice with an industry mentor. Whether it’s career advice, mock interviews, resume review or upskilling/reskilling in data science, digital marketing, product management & more, one can connect with distinguished coaches on the platform.

Mentors such as Sandeep Kumar Paul, Data Science Vice President at Morgan Stanley, Anand Kulkarni, President at Yes Bank, Ruble Joseph, Vice President at eClerx Anurag Mukherjee, Data Science Consultant at EXL, Amar Sane, Senior VP at HDFC Life, Ashish Anand, Performance Marketing Director at Oyo, Nipun Batra, Management Consultant at Accenture, Honey Bohare, Senior Consultant at Deloitte, Sonal Sapale, Ex-Senior Consultant at KMPG are part of the platform.

One of the coaches, 40 under 40 Data Scientist and Vice President at eClerx, Ruble Joseph says, ” Now more than ever it’s time to support the learner community and provide them with the guidance and essential skills to beat the unemployment pandemic”.

Abhay Gupta, Co-founder & COO, Board Infinity says, “These are highly unprecedented times, and we as an organization have to come forward in whatever capacity to help our country fight the pandemic and other insecurities that are plaguing us, one of them being job losses”.

For the period of the #TakeChargewithBI campaign, the online education platform has slashed the price of all their live 1:1 coaching sessions from INR 1000 to a nominal amount of INR 50 (limited period offer). While all the sessions are priced at just Rs.50, one can opt to generously contribute more if they liked the session. All the proceeds from this initiative will be donated to the Covid Relief Fund.

You can contribute here- boardinfinity.com/take-charge

“I wasn’t able to crack any placement interviews. I wasn’t sure where I was lagging so I took this mock interview 1-on-1 class with Coach Animesh Prasad, an IIM alumnus who works at Flipkart as a Senior Product Manager. His guidance helped me identify the problems and finally, I was able to get a job!” says Ankit, a learner at Board Infinity.

About Board Infinity

Board Infinity is a one-stop solution to career-based needs. They provide assistance in your career transition, finding jobs, campus placement preparation, and much more. They also connect career aspirants with industry experts for focused learning, guidance, mentoring, and support. With 1400+ top industry experts as coaches on the platform, Board Infinity has hosted more than 5000 sessions in the last one year and guided learners to excel in their careers.

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Yuvraj Bhardwaj, Chief Executive Officer, Petonic Infotech said, “Petonic Infotech is partnering with different NGOs from United States and India for COVID relief in India. In this initiative Petonic Infotech has mobilized approximately 2 Crore INR, for COVID relief for the society as of now & also pushing for more. The major intent of this initiative is to procure Oxygen Concentrators & other goods required to fulfil the oxygen requirements in rural parts of India.”

“Different societies and multinationals are also supposed to join the initiative to make this a grand success, and help our country to successfully come out of this pandemic with least fatality. Other than this, Petonic Infotech is also engaged in running different ‘Free of Cost’ helplines for people to consult Doctors telephonically and get themselves treated,” Bhardwaj added.

Mr Yuvraj Bhardwaj is ably supported by his twin brother Yashraj Bhardwaj to take strategic decisions and initiatives in playing a meaningful role amidst the ongoing COVID crisis that India is going through. The brothers have been researchers, ideators and entrepreneurs who started their entrepreneur journey at a very young age. Since then, they had undertaken 36 Research Projects, filed 18 patent applications and launched various innovative, breakthrough products and companies in India and global market. Petonic Infotech is one of the group company of Bhardwaj duo.

The company has its Corporate Headquarters at New Delhi, with a representative office in Hong Kong. The uniqueness of Petonic Infotech as a consultancy firm lies in its collaborative approach with focus on innovative & creative solutions as per organisational needs. Outcome based business model has been success factor for Petonic Infotech. The company also build distinctive and adaptive strategies that help organisation to succeed in today’s complex and uncertain world. Since inception, the company has been able to register a tremendous growth and transformed a large number of Corporates, Societies and Markets. The Company with its business well-established in India and Hong Kong is also aiming to penetrate USA market soon this year.

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“When we opened centres after a time gap of 8 months, in January 2021 we realised that our kids living on the streets and slums had already forgotten basic concepts; book knowledge was far behind,” says Dr. Geetanjali Chopra, Founder & President of Wishes and Blessings NGO.

“Last year when the pandemic hit, all our centres had to abruptly go on hold and there wasn’t any way to continue the education for our kids. This year again, due to the rise in cases the centres had to be shut, however, we decided to continue the training, guidance and counselling through online modes. The shift was executed keeping in mind the need to ensure that the education of these children should continue as smoothly as possible, even during the pandemic,” adds Dr. Chopra.

The NGO, which operates its day care centres in Okhla and Vasant Vihar, Delhi enrolled the children for online education and divided them into groups of 3 on the basis of age, and each group was assigned a teacher in charge. Currently, modules are shared via Whatsapp groups and cover all formal subjects as well as art and craft activities. The teachers of Wishes and Blessings share videos explaining the lessons and then worksheets are assigned to the children, which the students fill in and then send back via the groups. “In cases where children do not have access to the internet, the questions are either shared by children who do have access, or sit in groups and complete the assignments together”, further added Dr. Chopra.

The Wishes and Blessings team coordinates with the teachers to formulate educational modules that ensure that the children are engaged while studying. This involves continuously adapting and evolving the curriculum to capture the students’ attention. At the same time, the teachers are undergoing training of their own so that they are equipped to cater to the needs of their students. The teachers also ensure to hold one-on-one sessions with children who require additional guidance and counselling during these tough times, and support them emotionally as well.

Currently, there are 85 children who are being guided towards brighter futures through the ‘Street to School’ Programme. They primarily belong to two locations: Vasant Vihar and Okhla, Delhi.

Wishes and Blessings NGO launched the ‘Street To School’ Programme through its physical centres in Delhi and NCR in the year 2016 and has been able to successfully send its children to formal schools. The students have excelled not only in academics but have proven their capabilities in other extracurricular activities as well.

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The key India Philanthropy trends are as follows:

1. Family giving deepens in awareness and understanding

With little or no rigid mandates to constrain their giving decisions, families in India have shown a great deal of flexibility and nimbleness in their giving over the last year, acting quickly to deploy both short term relief funding as well as longer term grants to non-profits in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last year, families have taken a step back and invested greater time in reflecting on their approach to giving – both among themselves and with philanthropy advisors – and in better understanding the institutional and sustainability needs of their non-profit partners, through more frequent conversations with organization leadership. Next generation givers are also leaning in to philanthropy now more than ever, even if their interest areas are largely varied compared to that of their families. Overall, family giving is expected to witness an increase in 2021.

2. Restrained global giving due to regulations & local movements

2020 saw a tremendous outpouring of support for Indian non-profits by diaspora givers in the US, the UK and around the world. Interestingly, the pandemic led to diaspora givers expanding their awareness of and giving beyond the top 5-10 large organizations that typically receive disproportionate attention from this group, to now also supporting newer, previously less well-known non-profits in India. As a result of the FCRA amendments however, several international foundations have been rethinking the nature and extent of their activity in India, and it remains to be seen whether or not and how many of these international foundations are here to stay over the long-run. These restrictions and the growing momentum around movements such as Black Lives Matter, have also recently led to a greater diversion of funds among individual diaspora givers to local issues in their home countries.

3. Democratization of giving through rise in retail and the Social Stock Exchange

According to a recent survey by GiveIndia, India’s appetite for giving has radically increased during the pandemic – 85% of respondents plan to increase their giving, with 74% more inclined to contribute to local communities. As normalcy resumes, priorities of retail givers might shift, but at least a fourth of fresh givers are expected to remain active during this year. With the advent of new platforms such as the Social Stock Exchange (SSE) in the coming year, this thrust towards expanding the base of givers is expected to grow even further.

4. Underserved sectors spotlighted: Migrants, public health, urban governance, mental well-being

Indian philanthropy’s focus on India’s migrant workers has been front and centre over the last year. While the response so far has been largely around emergency relief, philanthropy is increasingly beginning to focus on interventions addressing livelihoods, and organizations looking to build long-term strategies that empower vulnerable groups such as youth and women to upskill themselves and accrue sustainable incomes. With a growing recognition that the pandemic resulted in increased anxiety, grief and home-based violence in India, there is an emerging interest to support or include interventions that address mental health and well-being across several cause areas such as education, health and child protection.

5. Place-based philanthropy gains significance

While the idea of “giving in your own backyard” is not new, the COVID-19 pandemic last year has led to family philanthropists adopting a greater focus on proximate giving than ever before. Directly witnessing the impact of the pandemic on local communities has spurred an increased sense of responsibility towards their own cities and communities, pushing them to give where they live. What is interesting however, is that this focus on local giving is not only limited to individual decisions, but is also translating into increased collective philanthropic action, with cities as the units of focus. Among corporates in India, while proximate giving has always been an important emphasis, the pandemic has heightened its significance and further pushed CSR funding towards areas in and around company offices or factories – a trend that is expected continue on this year.

6. Philanthropy puts on a gender and equity Lens

The growing emphasis on creating enabling environments that promote fairness (Justice), ensuring that everyone has access to opportunities (Equity), embracing differences among us (Diversity) and welcoming various perspectives and voices (Inclusion), is not only limited to funding decisions with grantee partners, but is also emerging into an increased incorporation of the J.E.D.I. lens within the culture and principles of grant making institutions. An important part of this push towards equity and inclusion has been the growing recognition among the global philanthropy community that the gendered influences of the current pandemic requires an urgent and nuanced response from funders. As a result, several institutional foundations, have begun building in a strong gender lens to their grant making strategies, adopting more gender intentional practices within their own organizations, supporting more programs to amplify the voices of women and girls, and in some cases even building collaborative funds focused on gender.

7. Rise in regulations and decline in CSR  put non-profits in distress

Over the last year, CSR capital has drastically diminished, international funding has become increasingly restricted due to FCRA regulations, institutional funders are largely deepening their support to existing grantees in the short-medium term rather than finding and funding newer grantee partners, and an increasing number of family givers are looking to own and operate their own programs. Non-profits have therefore found themselves in a difficult scenario concerning financial and institutional health, compelling them to rethink their strategies for future sustainability and resilience. Larger and more well-established non-profits are expected to receive much of the available philanthropic funding. For mid-size and smaller organizations, recovery will be much slower, if at all.

8. Focus on technology & data empowerment to boost efficiency & transparency

Realising the critical need for digital technology adoption in the post COVID-19 world, philanthropists are increasingly interested in supporting technology-based interventions, for last mile program delivery as well as institutional capability building of non-profits. A survey conducted by Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy revealed that most organisations were completely unprepared during the lockdown to enable continuity for their employees and communities through digital adoption. There is also a growing recognition of the limitations of technology in the more remote parts of the country, and digitising service delivery inevitably prevents access to marginalised communities. While this conundrum is being acknowledged, there will continue to be increasing funder focus on supporting digital technology to enable remote service delivery among non-profits, and the recognition of the need to do this in an inclusive manner is stronger than ever before.

9. Surge in 9 collaborative action

While the rise of collaboratives in India was an emerging trend even before last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it an increased sense of urgency and action. Last year saw a significant thrust of several collaboratives quickly moving past design phase – more than 50% of the collaboratives seeded, moved into the implementation stage, with momentum from both Indian and international funders unlike ever seen before. Recognizing the criticality of the government in driving change at the pace and scale that India requires more urgently than ever before, collaboratives are engaging with government more meaningfully – at the local, state and national levels.

10. Increasing investment in innovation and 10 philanthropy scaffolding

The massive challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic have brought with it a growing recognition among the giving community of the urgent need to simultaneously support and push forward multiple layers of India’s philanthropy infrastructure and machinery – whether nascent start-ups and innovative solutions or more mature pillars of the philanthropy ecosystem such as data, knowledge platforms or capacity building. Specifically, the philanthropy sector in India is seeing a rising number of innovation awards, grants, incubation platforms and other opportunities seeking to support disruptive solutions to development problems, with increasing willingness to support start-ups rather than only larger and well-established NGOs. With the sense of urgency only intensifying from here, it is likely that such interest in supporting innovations will continue well into the year.

These 10 philanthropy trends of 2021 highlight the core responsibility of philanthropy towards serving India’s most vulnerable communities, how the external socio-political environment is impacting fund flows, what it means to make philanthropy more participative and broad-based, and how funders, government and non-profits are collaborating. While the shifts last year paint a stark picture of heightened awareness and empathy among the philanthropy community, 2021 will be a telling year in terms of its translation into greater and strategic action.

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In the words of Neeraj Kumar, Founder & CEO SkillingIndia, “During interaction with thousands of students on Career Skills, these questions were found unanswered –  “What do you want to become and what is the Right Job role choice given too many options? What does Industry need and different Skills to Learn to be ‘Future Ready’ for Success ? 85% of the students in college reachout explicitly stated that they needed help with Industry aligned Career & Skills Trends, Career Discovery Counselling & suitable Skills to get their best jobs. The gap is a strong indicator of the realization among the youth that they need to develop a comprehensive set of skills. However they face challenges in knowing what all they can learn and how it would help them”.

In the words of Manish Chowdhary, Founder & Director SkillingIndia, “In today’s world – it is a necessity to know the necessary map for your career & associated skills.YourSkillDost is designed to address this burning need of all the students in the country in an easy and effective manner.

Career is not just finding the ‘Right Job’, but an understanding that it requires high performance and growth at each and every level.  During this journey, different skills become useful at different times. Thus it is necessary to understand these skills as early as possible, and build the desired skills as the earliest.”

YourSkillDost can be availed by all the college students across streams including MBA, BBA, B.Com, B.Tech/ BE etc. The students can opt for a monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly subscription program and can learn as per individual convenience. The program would cover interactive workshops and sessions on relevant career skills trends and learning paths, effective communication skills, corporate etiquette, conflict management, public speaking, aptitude for competitive exams; critical thinking, problem solving, leadership skills, understanding  emotions, managing stress, resume building, group discussions, job portals, management basics, entrepreneurship, among others.

These programs or curriculum has been designed by Industry and Subject Matter Experts from IITs, IIMs and other reputed institutions. YourSkillDost is a blended learning program where students have the flexibility to join live sessions, access their digital library, and be part of a co-learning community as per their interest & convenience.

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As far as Leo will be on his duty, sincerely, everyone would feel contented and alive being around him. He will soon be everyone’s hot favorite and cool friend.  Codleo consulting came up with a blissful thought of making this cheerful being who is few months old Rottweiler, as Chief  Happiness Officer.  He has been assigned with the serious task of spreading happiness, light, love, and life amongst employees, with policies, actions, and of course, his presence. His job profile will also include infusing energy and enthusiasm in the air, unapologetically!!

Alexa might bring happiness to you at home, but Leo will be taking the charge of your happiness when you are at work. Happiness guaranteed!!

While pouring his thoughts regarding the newly appointed Chief Happiness Officer, Mr. Maan says, “Unfortunately, happiness is not a part of India’s work culture. We talk endlessly and do write reams about Nirvana, which in simple terms means a place of actual peace and happiness, just like heaven.”  He believes that happy employees are productive employees who help the company grow and  Leo would be the torchbearer for showing the light and make everyone feel better about themselves at their workplace. The one and only, Leo, Chief Happiness Officer of Codleo Consulting would be a symbolic representation of bliss and open-minded nature, the two golden qualities which every individual should aspire for.  He further adds,  “People do work in stressful environments with looming deadlines, fear of losing the job and working with random strangers.  The 21^st-century workplace is a bubbling pot of mental health issues and dispirited employees. It’s time to change it, and change has to happen now and should come from the top”.

Codleo Consulting is known for keeping its employees at the heart of its planning and operations. They focus on adopting the best practices over the globe and injecting the happiness factor in the work environment by introducing this loyal & happening soul would surely add good vibes wherever he would go! Codleo Consulting is all set to bring in a  PAWWFECT remedy for happiness and will soon witness its employees in a merry pin at their workplace.

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