News Archives - Finsights Solutions

Oct 21

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ProfitBoard Ventures to infuse $100 million into startups through consortium

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ProfitBoard Ventures to infuse $100 million into startups through consortium

Finshorts | 21st Oct, 2020 | 1 min read

Taxmantra Global has announced the launch of its standalone investment banking arm and private investment arm, ProfitBoard Ventures, to back technology-enabled startups in India and Southeast Asia.Headquartered in Singapore, ProfitBoard Ventures would assist early- and growth-stage startups in fundraising through its consortium of investors, TMG said in a statement. It has already onboarded a consortium of global investors to inject $100 million into selected startups in the next 18 months, it said. Our medium term three-year goal is to nurture 100-plus startups from India and Southeast Asia, said Alok Patnia, Managing Partner of ProfitBoard Ventures. Startups would be required to share their Business Plans on ProfitBoard Venture’s platform, which has been specifically curated to focus on startups from India and Southeast Asia. The plans would be reviewed by Profitboard’s global advisory board and the selected startups will get a chance to pitch their businesses to the ProfitBoard Consortium of global investors in a Virtual Hot Pitch.

Oct 21

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ITC, Paper Boat Mull Buyout Of Juice Brand Raw Pressery: Report

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ITC, Paper Boat Mull Buyout Of Juice Brand Raw Pressery: Report

Finshorts | 21st Oct, 2020 | 1 min read

Premium cold-pressed juice maker Raw Pressery is in talks with multiple packaged consumer goods firms, including ITC and the Paper Boat brand, to divest stake or get on board a strategic investor for the juices division, officials said.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report. Having raised over Rs 200 crore in equity and debt from the likes of investors like Alteria Capital, Sequoia Capital, Saama Capital, and DSG Consumer Partners, the juice maker is now facing headwinds as consumers in key urban markets downtrade and opt for cheaper juices, according to an official cited in the report. Raw Pressery had planned to diversify its range of offerings which also includes fresh foods, but has been unable to achieve the scale in the newer businesses, the report said. For a firm like ITC, a premium juices brand matches its stated objective to build a diversified FMCG portfolio and reducing its dependence on the cigarette business. B Natural, one of its juice brands operates in the mass-premium segment. Another competitor for the buyout could be Hector Beverages, according to the officials, which produces Paper Boat, a range of ethnic fruit-based drinks.

Oct 20

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B2B Commerce Startup ShopUp Raises $22.5 Mn Led By Sequoia, Flourish Ventures

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B2B Commerce Startup ShopUp Raises $22.5 Mn Led By Sequoia, Flourish Ventures

Finshorts | 20th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read

BENGALURU: Bangladesh-based B2B e-commerce startup ShopUp has raised $22.5 million as part of its Series A round co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Flourish Ventures. ShopUp offers small businesses easy access to B2B sourcing, last-mile logistics, digital credit, and business management solutions. Indian e-commerce platform Voonik also recently merged with ShopUp, with both founders of Voonik joining ShopUp as co-founders, earlier this year. “COVID-19 has further underscored the need for digital transformation for the country’s smaller businesses,” said Afeef Zaman, Co-founder & CEO of ShopUp. “ShopUp is empowering its customers through high quality and timely product sourcing, reliable deliveries and accessible financing. Sequoia India has been a strong supporter of the company since it was part of the first Surge cohort in early 2019 and it’s been exciting to see the company become a trailblazer facilitating digital transformation in Bangladesh,” said Klaus Wang, VP, Sequoia Capital Singapore. “Small businesses were amongst the worst hit during the pandemic and it’s heartening to see how ShopUp adapted to the crisis and is accelerating inclusion of hundreds of thousands of small businesses, including a large number run by women,” said Smita Aggarwal, Global Investments Advisor, Flourish Ventures. The number of neighborhood shops transacting weekly on the ShopUp platform has grown by 8.5 times between April and August.

Oct 20

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Dukaan Raises $6 Million In Seed Funding Co-Led By Matrix And Lightspeed India

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Dukaan Raises $6 Million In Seed Funding Co-Led By Matrix And Lightspeed India

Finshorts | 20th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read

BENGALURU : Dukaan, a startup that helps local stores to sell their products online, on Tuesday said that it has raised $6 million as a part of its seed funding round co-led by Matrix Partners India and Lightspeed India Partners. “Our mission is to enable each and every small retailer to launch, compete and grow their business online, without ever worrying about technology. Our customers love us and we are excited to continue to pursue our mission, with support from Lightspeed, Matrix and our angels,” said Suumit Shah, chief executive officer and co-founder of Dukaan said. With covid-19 accelerating the shift to digital, Dukaan has already onboarded over 2.7 million merchants onto its platform across India, since its launch. “What got us most excited about Dukaan was the team and their missionary zeal in enabling small retailers to go online. We are proud to support the Dukaan team from day one, as they create this platform and leverage the digital tailwind that almost every industry and sector is seeing today,” said Akshay Bhushan, partner, Lightspeed India. “Dukaan aims to digitize millions of Indian merchants and empower them to take their business online. Small businesses are turning to technology faster than ever to survive the pandemic, and Dukaan® makes it easier than ever to start, run and grow a business online. We’re excited to partner with Suumit and the team on this journey towards a Digital India,” said Tarun Davda, managing director, Matrix India.

Oct 19

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Nokia USA Wins NASA Contract For 4G Network On Moon

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Nokia USA Wins NASA Contract For 4G Network On Moon

Finshorts | 19th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read

Nokia USA has been awarded a $14.1 million deal by NASA to provide 4G cellular network on the moon. The contract is part of 14 deals under ‘Tipping Point’ announced by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine at the virtual fall Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium meeting on October 14. Nokia’s Bell Labs announced the news on micro-blogging site Twitter stating: “We are excited to have been named by NASA as a key partner to advance”Tipping Point” technologies for the moon, to help pave the way towards a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface. Pioneering innovations to build and deploy the first wireless network on the moon, starting with 4G/LTE technologies and evolving to 5G. >> Network created with partner Intel Intuitive Machines will be the critical communications fabric for data transmission applications, including the control of lunar rovers, real-time navigation over lunar geography and streaming of high definition video. Developed mission-critical LTE network is specially designed to withstand the extreme temperature, radiation and vacuum conditions of space, as well as the sizable vibrational impact during launch and landing on the lunar surface.

Oct 19

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Razorpay Leads Startup Show As Deal-Making Gathers Steam

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Razorpay Leads Startup Show As Deal-Making Gathers Steam

Finshorts | 19th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read

Deal-making is on in full swing in the VC and startup ecosystem after the lull that followed the coronavirus outbreak. From early-stage rounds to growth-stage funding, multiple deals are getting signed across the spectrum. Last week, Razorpay broke into the billion-dollar valuation club with a $100 million round led by GIC and its existing investors. Razorpay co-founder Harshil Mathur told Moneyconrol that the business jumped 300 percent in the last few months, buoyed by many offline businesses choosing to work with the company to sell online. Paolo Alto-based Acceldata raised $8.5 million in its Series A round. Along with these, augmented reality startup Avataar. Me, robotics firm Miko and Mumbai-based content platform Pepper all raised series A rounds from large VCs like Chiratae Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia and others.

Oct 17

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Mask, Sanitisers, Touchless Attendance, Cure.Fit Is All Set To Restart

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Mask, Sanitisers, Touchless Attendance, Cure.Fit Is All Set To Restart

Finshorts | 17th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read

“The average revenue per user for offline is much higher, compared to online, but the good thing for online is that it opens a much larger pool of users,” said Naresh Krishnaswamy, head of growth at Cure.Fit. Within the country, the target is to reopen all 200 centres by January, and, may be, after the second quarter of next year, the leadership will evaluate opportunities around opening new centres again. Fit is working on a specific strategy to join hands with partner gyms and create an ecosystem, where consumers can buy a common membership for multiple centres. These centres will be affiliated with Cure.Fit, and consumers will be able to choose which centre they intend to visit for which activity. The manner in which COVID-19 has hit the local small-scale fitness centres, Cure.Fit believes these partnerships will help them get footfalls, and, in turn, help Cure.Fit expand their footprints across new geographies. Fitness enthusiasts who could not go to gyms were looking for classes online and Cure.Fit grabbed the opportunity. Now, with centres slowly opening and even with 40 percent occupancy, Cure.Fit is confident a turnaround is set to happen.

Oct 17

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Easy To Pitch Launches India’s First Helpline For Founders

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Easy To Pitch Launches India's First Helpline For Founders

Finshorts | 17th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read

NEW DELHI : Easy to Pitch has recently launched India’s first helpline number for founders’ grooming. The newly launched feature provides expert assistance to aspiring and existing founders and entrepreneurs with the right solutions to take their business to the next level. Thus, Easy to Pitch’s helpline number brings an instant solution to the challenges faced by the start-up founders and entrepreneurs due to lack of mentorship, and experience. Commenting on the launch, Ms. Priyanka Madnani, Co-founder of Easy to Pitch, said, “We are thrilled to announce the launch of our groundbreaking feature – India’s first-ever helpline number for founders’ grooming, support, and start-up success. It works as a centralized source of guidance to the founders that makes them move ahead in their entrepreneurial journey instantly.” Easy to Pitch has an in-house team of financial experts, analysts, designers, and mentors with extensive experience across multiple domains in the market, actively available to meet the needs of founders- from making the pitch ready to reach the next level in their business. Easy to Pitch’s exclusive helpline number intends to remove the roadblocks in the journey of inception and success of the start-ups.

Oct 16

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Unacademy Plans To Launch ₹30 Crore-ESOP Buyback Offer

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Unacademy Plans To Launch ₹30 Crore-ESOP Buyback Offer

Finshorts | 16th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read

NEW DELHI : Edutech platform Unacademy on Thursday said it will undertake an ESOP buyback programme of ₹25-30 crore in December this year. “All vested ESOPs until December 10, 2020, will be eligible for the buyback and current and exited employees may liquidate between 25% to 100% of vested ESOPs based on a specified scheme,” it added. The company said the size of the buyback pool is likely to be around ₹25-30 crore, based on the number of ESOPs liquidated by employees. Unacademy had conducted its first ESOP buyout in September 2019 and at that time, the buyback pool was about a tenth of the current buyback size, the statement said. Unacademy employees who have been granted ESOPs and have completed more than one year with the company will be eligible to participate in the latest liquidity round, the statement said. Last month, Unacademy had announced raising around ₹1,125 crore in a funding round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 along with participation from existing investors, including Facebook. The fund infusion had valued Unacademy at around ₹10,900 crore.

Oct 16

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Kapil Dev Invests Undisclosed Sum In Tech Company Harmonizer India

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Kapil Dev Invests Undisclosed Sum In Tech Company Harmonizer India

Finshorts | 16th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read

Mumbai: Former cricketer Kapil Dev has invested an undisclosed amount in power sector-focused technology company Harmonizer India. The former pacer and World Cup-winning captain will be holding an undisclosed stake in the company’s artificial intelligence, machine learning and internet of things-focused energy efficiency solutions technology, as per a statement. Dev has been investing in the startups’ space since 2015 and his bets include grocer peopleeasy.com, Samco Ventures, online market network Wizcounsel and cab aggregator Vaoo, as per reports. “I have invested in Harmonizer India to support the Indian brainpower and technocrats who have done so well to acquire 14 patents,” Dev said in a statement released after his latest investment. There are tremendous opportunities for further growth and Harmonizer is aiming to achieve a significant portion, its Chief Executive Manoj Soni said, adding that the IoT market alone is pegged at USD 15 billion as of now. Its Chief Technology Officer M R Srinivas said the company has a research and development unit in Bengaluru and will be filing for more patents on technologies like artificial intelligence/ machine learning for industries.