A synopsis of some top controversies in 2017

However, in hindsight, it has been observed that controversies play a major role in future shaping the startup ecosystem despite providing no respite from disastrous endings and downfalls. A quick trip down the memory lane of 2017 will help analyze some of the biggest and impactful controversies that rocked the Indian startup ecosystem last year. The Stayzilla - Jigsaw Fiasco was one such startup money swindling fiascos where the former’s co-founder and CEO Yogendra Vasupal was accused of money fraud and cheating by Aditya of Jigsaw Solution who claimed to have proof of how the Stayzilla founders were siphoning money into their personal accounts from the Jigsaw’s company accounts. With as many law-breaking twists and turns that later followed the entire episode, it finally ended up with how Yogi was in Jail for 25 days and then finally issued bail on April 11, 2017, by the Madras High Court on condition that he would have to deposit nearly INR 40 lakhs with the court. ( Image courtesy - YouTube.com ) The year of 2017 had been an awful year for Snapdeal. It is to anyone’s guess, quite the biggest newsmaker in the Indian startup ecosystem in 2017 when speculations about the most awaited Flipkart-Snapdeal merger first came to surface in March 2017 at the time SoftBank was seeking out buyers but notwithstanding it fell through in spite of continued efforts by SoftBank. The merger was finally renounced amidst shareholder uncertainty. The feud between Snapdeal’s parent Jasper Infotech and Quickdel Logistics which is the owner of e-commerce logistics company Gojavas started in this year on June 23 when Snapdeal filed an FIR against Gojavas with the Delhi Police’s Economic Offenses Wing. As per the complaint in 2014 which was filed on charges of cheating, forgery, conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation of valuable securities along with defrauding Jasper Infotech to the tune of crores of rupees, the promoters of Quickdel had rendered its services to Snapdeal. Taking the cake as one of the topmost controversies in the Indian startup ecosystem in last year was the spat that broke down between Swiggy and its former employees have ironically spanned only 2 days. An anonymous blog post with the title “Swiggy, A House Of Cards” was published in Tumblr towards the end of July marks the start of a rumpus that is unwilling to leave Swiggy’s shadow to this day. The four anonymous bloggers who claimed to have worked previously for the online food delivery startup wrote in great detail about the business practices adopted by Swiggy by alleging how the company was deceiving its restaurant partners by hiking commissions at warp speed along with infringing upon contractual obligations and promises made to partners. They also accused the Indian startup of cheating online visitors by pulling down genuine reviews by other users and planting its own good reviews on social media as well.        ( The Tumblr blog professing on how Swiggy cheats its restaurant partners - Dailyhunt.com )