With a number of startups, some big names from food tech, shutting shop and over 100 getting snapped up in mergers and acquisitons, the theme at a panel discussion at International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi, for its startup summit Emerge was apt: Is consolidation of startups a sign of market maturity?
Emerge is the second startup summit of IMI. Held in the institute’s New Delhi campus, the summit had two sessions and had a number of startup founders, co-founder, mentors and investors who spoke on issues ranging from funding, shutdowns and mergers.
Firstpost was one of the sponsors of the summit.

Talking about consolidation and mergers, all the speakers on the dias – Saurabh Kochhar, Founder, Foodpanda; Dinesh Homagi, Co-Founder and CEO, Wow! Momo; Abheek Barman, senior editor, ET Now; Angad Bhatia, Founder Mensxp and Head, Times Internet and Neeraj Kumar Singhal, angel investor and CEO, SEMCO Group were unanimous in their view that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) were the rule of the game.
Every industry has a life cycle and as a startup takes off with a business model and at times unlimited growth, they soon will find competitors and the growth pie has to be shared with others. Soon enough,…