Traya, founded by Saloni Anand and Altaf Saiyed, had achieved early success in the Indian men''s hair loss category. In just five years, the venture had built a strong presence in the crowded direct-to-consumer (D2C) space by offering not only effective formulations but also an innovative consultation-based product-service system that guided consumers through long and often difficult treatment journeys. This approach helped Traya stand out .....more

As they approach retirement, company founders face a critical choice: Who will own their business next? That decision will reverberate for years, affecting not only them and their family but all the people whose lives are touched by the company. Though it can cement or undo an entrepreneur''s legacy, many owners postpone or avoid making it. And down the road that can lead to enormous tax consequences, family infighting, and instability that .....more

When startups receive funding can have as big an impact on innovation as how much funding they get, according to researchers Harsh Ketkar of the University of Texas at Austin and Maria Roche of Harvard Business School. Using data from the market research firm PitchBook and the data analytics company BuiltWith, they recorded data on 11,853 U.S. tech companies founded from 2010 to 2019. They identified when each company''s earliest funding arrived .....more

Flow Carbon Inc. (Flowcarbon), based in New York City and backed by prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalists, offered a blockchain-enabled trading platform for project developers to sell carbon credits through digital assets known as tokens. Since raising US$32 million in 2022, Flowcarbon had aimed to tap into the growing market of companies offsetting their carbon emissions through carbon credits. However, this endeavour had proved to be difficult .....more

In 2018, Alexandra Breuer and Kimberly Marsh, co-founders of Ezza Nails (Ezza), were preparing to scale their manicure-focused start-up. Operating in a highly fragmented $14 billion nail salon industry, Ezza differentiated itself through a focused service offering, a tech-enabled customer experience, and an employment model aimed at empowering technicians. As they considered raising $1.5 million in growth capital, Breuer and Marsh faced a critical .....more

When Indian college student and anime fan Dev Taneja wanted to build something of his own, he started reviewing anime on YouTube and noticed that many fans were unhappy with the quality and price of anime merchandise. Sensing an opportunity, he began creating and selling anime-themed products to his college peers. The response was positive, confirming that his idea solved a real problem. However, he soon realized that selling high-quality products .....more

In September 2023, the founders of the Indian climate technology start-up Solinas Integrity Pvt. Ltd., based in Delhi, India, were contemplating how to grow and scale up their venture. The company developed robotics and artificial intelligence technology to address water and sewage problems in the country. The company''s client base mainly consisted of urban local bodies, which were local municipal corporations that implemented water and sewage .....more

In February 2025, President Trump''s threat of a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian products dominated Canadian news. Like management at many other Canadian businesses, Jill Conrod and Ciaro Moxey were trying to grasp the impact on their company, Novagevity. Novagevity produced Sperri, a meal replacement beverage that it sold to unwell and health conscious consumers, primarily in Canada. The company had just raised millions of dollars in support .....more

The technical director of Diagn stico de Laboratorio Argentina (DLA), Mariana Vega, was responsible for ensuring that an average of 5,500 samples were processed at the lab daily. The samples had three sources: samples collected on-premises, samples sent from the 40 other DLA labs, and samples sent from external labs. The company had recently been experiencing long lead times and increased costs. Two large customers threatened to switch to competing .....more