Startup Name: Gro Intelligence (Kenya/US, global)

Startup Name: Rario

Founded: 2021

Closed On: January 29, 2024

Business Model:
Rario was a cricket-based NFT collectibles platform that allowed fans to buy, sell, and trade officially licensed digital collectibles (NFTs) of cricket players and moments. The platform partnered with major cricketing entities and offered features like fantasy cricket games (D3), real-money outcomes, and exclusive fan experiences. Users could participate using fiat payment methods such as credit cards and bank transfers.

Reason for Closure:
Rario shut down its flagship product due to a combination of industry headwinds, regulatory changes in Web3, the crash in the NFT sector, and management failures. The NFT market in India saw tepid adoption, and Rario’s model proved unsustainable as:

• The value of NFT portfolios nosedived, leaving many investors unable to exit their holdings.

• The company suffered massive financial losses, spending around ₹600 crore to earn just ₹39 crore in FY23, and writing off NFTs worth ₹458 crore.

• Both co-founders exited in September 2023, leading to new management and a significant reduction in workforce.

• The new management decided to sunset the product, promising to launch a new cricket gaming platform but making existing NFTs unusable on the new platform.

Learnings to Be Avoided by New Startups:

• Validate Market Demand Early: Ensure genuine user demand for new technologies like NFTs, especially in markets with limited adoption.

• Monitor Regulatory Environment: Stay agile and compliant as regulations in emerging sectors like Web3 can shift rapidly and impact business viability.

• Manage Financial Discipline: Avoid unsustainable spending, especially on licensing and marketing, without clear paths to profitability.

• Prepare for Volatility in Emerging Tech: Sectors like NFTs are prone to hype cycles and crashes; build business models that can withstand downturns.

• Communicate Transparently with Users: Sudden product changes or shutdowns can erode trust; keep users informed and offer fair compensation where possible.

• Plan for Leadership Continuity: Founder and key team exits can destabilize a company—ensure succession and crisis management plans are in place.

Summary Table

Rario’s case highlights the risks of building in fast-moving, hype-driven sectors and underscores the need for market validation, financial prudence, and regulatory awareness.

Startup Name: Oxen Farm Solutions

Founded: 2016

Business Model:
Oxen Farm Solutions operated as an agri-machinery sharing platform, offering services such as combine harvester rentals and other mechanization solutions to farmers. The company aimed to make expensive farm equipment accessible and affordable for small and marginal farmers by enabling pay-per-use access, addressing the underutilization and high capital cost of owning machinery. Its offerings included spraying, sowing, and harvesting services, and it was part of a broader wave of agri-tech startups focused on farm mechanization.

Reason for Closure:
Despite raising angel/VC funding (notably a $300,000 angel round), Oxen Farm Solutions failed to secure follow-on capital as it scaled. The business faced severe cash flow issues primarily due to:

• Seasonality of demand: Revenue was heavily dependent on harvest cycles, leading to long periods of low utilization and inconsistent cash flow.

• High dependency on harvest cycles: The business model struggled with demand concentration during certain months, making it difficult to cover fixed costs year-round.

• Inability to scale rapidly: The capital-intensive nature of acquiring and maintaining machinery, combined with fragmented rural markets, made scaling challenging.

• Lack of additional funding: Investors were wary of the seasonal and cyclical revenue patterns, leading to difficulties in raising further capital.
  These factors ultimately led to the company’s shutdown in 2024.

Learnings to Be Avoided by New Startups:

• Mitigate seasonality risk: Build business models that can generate more consistent, year-round revenue streams, or diversify offerings to smooth out seasonal fluctuations.

• Plan for cash flow resilience: Ensure sufficient working capital and financial buffers to withstand off-season periods.

• Demonstrate scalability: Investors seek evidence that the model can grow beyond pilot regions or seasons; focus on repeatable, scalable processes.

• Reduce dependency on single revenue streams: Explore ancillary services or products to stabilize cash flow.

• Communicate the value proposition to investors: Clearly articulate how the business can overcome sector-specific challenges to attract follow-on funding.

Summary Table

Oxen Farm Solutions’ journey highlights the challenges of building sustainable, scalable models in agri-tech, especially when revenues are highly seasonal and capital requirements are high.

Startup Name: OKX (India)

Founded: 2017 (global launch; India operations ramped up in 2023)

Closed On: April 30, 2024

Business Model:
OKX operated as a cryptocurrency exchange, offering Indian users access to spot, margin, and derivatives trading, as well as wallet services and DeFi products. The platform facilitated buying, selling, and trading of a wide range of cryptocurrencies, and was among the largest global crypto exchanges by trading volume. OKX’s India business relied on offshore operations and did not register locally under India’s anti-money laundering laws.

Reason for Closure:
OKX exited the Indian market due to an uncertain and tightening regulatory environment:

• The Indian government intensified its crackdown on offshore crypto exchanges for non-compliance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and failure to register with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND).

• In January 2024, the Ministry of Finance directed the IT Ministry to block URLs of several offshore exchanges, including OKX, and Google/Apple removed their apps from Indian stores.

• OKX proactively notified users to close all positions and withdraw funds by April 30, 2024, after which only fund withdrawals would be allowed and all other trading functions would be restricted.

• The exchange cited “local regulations” and compliance challenges as primary reasons for its exit.

Learnings to Be Avoided by New Startups:

• Prioritize Regulatory Compliance: Operating in financial services without local registration or compliance can quickly result in service bans and loss of market access.

• Monitor Policy Changes Closely: Crypto and fintech regulations can shift rapidly; startups must stay agile and anticipate legal risks.

• Diversify Geographic Risk: Overreliance on a single market, especially one with regulatory uncertainty, can threaten business continuity.

• Transparent User Communication: Proactive, clear communication about service changes and fund withdrawals is critical to maintain user trust during shutdowns.

• Localize Operations Where Required: For sensitive sectors like crypto, local licensing and compliance are often prerequisites for long-term survival.

Summary Table

OKX’s exit underscores the critical importance of regulatory alignment and proactive compliance for fintech and crypto startups in India’s evolving legal landscape.

Startup Name: farMart

Founded: 2016

Original Model:
farMart launched as an on-demand agri-machinery sharing platform, connecting farmers who owned underutilized equipment (like tractors and tillers) with small and marginal farmers needing to rent such machinery. The platform operated via mobile app and call center, aiming to organize the highly fragmented and informal rural rental market, lower costs for renters, and boost income for machinery owners.

Pivot and Reason:
Within two years, farMart’s founders recognized a critical flaw:

• Farm mechanization, while impactful, did not generate daily or consistent cash flow. Demand for rentals was highly seasonal, tied to planting and harvesting cycles, resulting in long periods of low or no revenue.

• Smallholder farmers’ bigger challenge was access to affordable credit. Most lacked access to formal loans, relying on informal lenders at high interest rates, especially during peak agricultural cycles.

In April 2018, farMart pivoted from equipment sharing to agri-fintech, focusing on providing credit-backed agri-inputs. The new model offered smallholder farmers a virtual credit card to purchase farm inputs (like seeds and fertilizers) at farMart’s offline retail channels, addressing the more pressing issue of working capital and input financing.

What Ended:

• The original equipment-sharing model was effectively discontinued with this pivot, as the company shifted focus to financial services and later to SaaS-led B2B agri-supply chain solutions.

Learnings to Be Avoided by New Startups:

• Beware of seasonality: Models tied to agricultural cycles often struggle with cash flow and utilization outside peak seasons.

• Solve the most acute pain point: Deep market research may reveal that the real barrier for your target customers is different from your initial hypothesis.

• Be ready to pivot: Early recognition of business model limitations and willingness to shift focus can be crucial for survival.

• Diversify revenue streams: Relying on a single, highly seasonal service can make it difficult to build a sustainable business.

Summary Table

farMart’s journey demonstrates the importance of listening to the market and being agile enough to pivot when the original business model proves unsustainable.