Shark Tank Nepal-Funded Startup Faces Collapse After Social Media Ban, Eyes India Move
भदौ २२, २०८२ १३:३७
Kathmandu: Nepali startup Talent Connect, which secured Rs 3.5 crore in investment from Shark Tank Nepal, is now on the brink of collapse due to the government’s social media ban. With LinkedIn, its core platform, no longer accessible in Nepal, the company is preparing to shift operations to India to survive.
“We have been directly hit by the social media ban,” said Divash Thapa, managing director and founder of Talent Connect. “Our business in Nepal has come to a complete standstill. Contracts with several clients in the onboarding phase have been postponed. Big clients like Golyan and MAW, who were preparing to sign agreements with us, have gone into a wait-and-see mode. Since LinkedIn itself has been shut down, those contracts are now on hold. We are left in limbo, hoping that the process will resume once the ban is lifted.”
Shark investor Ritu Singh Vaidya had committed Rs 3.5 crore to Talent Connect through Shark Tank Nepal. She too has expressed concern over the disruption. Both the founders and investors are still holding out hope that the ban will be lifted within a week or ten days.
“We were moving ahead with a clear plan, but everything collapsed due to the government’s sudden decision. What are we supposed to do now?” Thapa told TechPana. “Our team is small, but if this situation continues beyond 10 days, we are seriously considering relocating to India with whatever we have.”
Talent Connect currently provides direct employment to 10–12 people. While it can no longer serve Nepali clients, Thapa believes relocating to India will allow the company to sustain itself and expand internationally.
“In India, LinkedIn and Meta work normally. That’s why we are planning to shift there, because survival is our only option. We have already invested heavily in technology and brought in investors. What happens if they demand their money back? Who can we sell to in Nepal now? The government is indirectly forcing us to leave the country,” Thapa said.
Sounding deeply discouraged, Thapa criticized the government for undermining its own Digital Nepal campaign. “This decision was made without any consultation and without considering the impact on businesses and ordinary citizens. No one informed us in advance that we might face such disruption. How can we respect such a move?”
He added, “We are being forced to leave Nepal just to survive. Running a business here has become almost impossible. How do we move forward now?”
Talent Connect’s entire hardware and software infrastructure depends on online platforms. Thapa warned that the ban is not just affecting startups like his, but small and large businesses across the country. “We use WhatsApp daily. If platforms like YouTube and Gmail are shut down, even basic email won’t work. Until yesterday, we were managing with VPNs, but now it seems even VPNs won’t work,” he said.
पछिल्लो अध्यावधिक: भदौ २२, २०८२ १३:३७
