From layoffs to cost-cutting, start-ups brace for long funding winter

Favourite haunts of start-up community in Bengaluru and Gurugram reflect the sombre mood

On a cloudy Monday this month, Mohammed Irshad flew from Kochi to Gurugram to attend an exclusive investor networking event. Among a handful of founders selected for the event, Irshad was to pitch his peer-to-peer learning start-up Notespaedia for funding in front of top venture capital investors such as AngelBay, Elevation Capital, and Inflection Point Ventures. He failed to woo them, but the feisty entrepreneur was determined to continue his hunt. On Tuesday, he flew to Bengaluru to attend Nasscom Product Conclave, competing with hundreds of other start-ups for investors’ attention.

“The feedback we got from venture capital investors is that