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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This Clean-Energy Startup, Which Is Helping The Indian Army Battle Covid-19, Is Looking For Series B Funding
Finshorts | 16th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
When the top leadership of the Indian Army was scouting for solutions to keep the equipment used by the forces safe from the highly contagious coronavirus that causes Covid-19, it was a Bengaluru-based startup that stepped up to meet its requirements. “UV rays can help clean air and kill virus and bacteria, thereby helping sanitise bundles of cash, grocery items, masks, gloves, paperwork and many other items,” said Akshay Singhal, cofounder of Log9 Materials. The company is looking for $10 million in equity funding and is already in talks with global funds. Singhal said he is looking for clean energy funds and social impact funds for a strategic round, which will help scale up production and find buyers for Log9’s products. Log9 Materials first shot to fame because of its initiatives in the green energy space. During a previous conversation with Moneycontrol, Saankhya Labs, a semiconductor startup in Bengaluru, had highlighted how it had stopped all conversations with Indian VCs since they hardly understood its business. Indian Oil Corporation has a minority stake in Phinergy as well and the duo is working together to develop clean-energy solutions for the country.
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.
Zomato Gets $52 Million Top-Up From Kora Investments
Finshorts | 16th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
BENGALURU: Foodtech unicorn Zomato, which is in talks to raise almost $600 million, as part of its ongoing funding round, has added $52 million to its coffered from US-based Kora Investments. Kora is expected to make another large investment in Zomato in the coming months, a person aware of the talks told Mint. With this fundraise, Zomato has collected more than $270 million in funding, just this year. In September, it had closed its $62 million funding from MacRitchie Investments, a unit of Singapore state investment arm, Temasek, and also raised $103 million from US-based hedge fund Tiger Global. In January, the company had announced a funding of $150 million from China’s ANT Financial, of which it has only received $50 million, while in March it had raised $5 million from Pacific Horizon Investment Trust, which is managed by UK-based Baillie Gifford & Co. Ltd. The news of Kora’s $52 million investment was first reported by Entrackr. Zomato doubled its revenue to $394 million in 2019-20, even as its losses rose marginally to $293 million from $277 million in 2018-19. In comparison, Zomato’s rival Swiggy had garnered $156 million in the first half of this year, from Naspers and a group of other investors, valuing the startup at $3.6 billion.
India To Have 100 Unicorns By 2025 Despite Covid Impact
Finshorts | 15th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
India is expected to be home to 60,000-62,000 startups, including 100 unicorns, by 2025, despite the huge impact of covid-19 on India’s startup ecosystem, said a report jointly prepared by TiE- Delhi, a not-for-profit promoting entrepreneurship, and Zinnov, a global management and strategy consultancy. Four Indian startups-Nykaa, Unacademy, Postman and Razorpay -emerged as unicorns while the pandemic was at its peak. India is on track to having at least eight new unicorns in 2020, on a par with the 2019 numbers, taking the total number of Indian unicorns to 33. “Although the immediate impact of the lockdowns on the Indian startup ecosystem was severe, we were amazed to witness how quickly Indian founders acted to reimagine their businesses. What has been most impressive is how many startups have reduced burn and improved unit economics very rapidly,” said Rajan Anandan, president, TiE Delhi-NCR. According to the report, the covid-led shift to digital consumption provided the necessary tailwind to education, healthcare, and commerce, while several other sectors such as travel, hospitality and mobility, which were negatively impacted, are now on a recovery path. The number of online learners in India has grown from 45 million in 2019 to 100 million by end-August, with 3.6 times growth in funding raised by edtech platforms in 2020, compared to last year.
EarlySalary Launches Digital Card With RuPay; Eyes 5X Growth In One Year
Finshorts | 15th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Pune-based lending platform EarlySalary is doubling down on issuing fresh loans and targeting strong growth as the country prepares for the festive season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The startup also launched a new digital card in partnership with RuPay to enable a new form factor of payments for its customers who can apply for the card through its mobile app. The digital card will have flexible credit lines for different forms of purchases across categories like shopping, education, consumer durables and others. EarlySalary has set a target to grow their balance sheet by five times over the next one year and is hoping to get 25 percent of the loans from the consumer and personal loan segment. Buoyed by its efficiency of collections and strong asset quality even during the pandemic, EarlySalary has pushed out its check out finance business, card business, and the edtech credit product over the last few months, when the lending sector hunkered down. “We had gone down to doing around 20,000 loans during April to May, which has now come back to 35,000 and by January 2021 we are looking to get back to 75,000 loans per month which was our pre COVID number,” he said. Mehrotra believes the country will bounce back from the economic downturn, consumption will come back during the festive season, and EarlySalary will be able to leverage that opportunity and get good customers going forward.
Avataar.Me Raises $7 Million From Sequoia India
Finshorts | 15th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Me, a 3D and Augmented Reality software that helps enterprise customers create immersive shopping experiences for end-users, has raised $7 million from Sequoia Capital India. Avataar brings spatial depth to the onscreen buying experience – delivering life-like photo-realism, mobile responsiveness, interactivity and personalization, it said. “AR/VR has shown strong emotional connect with GenZ and younger millennial consumers, a segment that brands have struggled to engage with in recent years and a segment that has far more spending power today than they did five years ago,” said Sravanth Aluru, CEO of Avataar. “In 2019, more than 300 million users were actively using AR. Spends on AR tools for creating social engagement for brands along with ‘try-before-you-buy’ experiences is expected to grow 10X by 2023. Undoubtedly, the time for AR/VR is now, with ecommerce being one of the broadest applications,” said Shailesh Lakhani, managing director, Sequoia Capital India. With physical footfalls muted by the Covid-19 outbreak, Avataar has seen higher demand, driven by digital and physical commerce industries investing more in digital and contact-less consumer purchase experiences.
Ahead Of Big Billion Days, Flipkart Ties Up With SBI, Paytm For Offers
Finshorts | 15th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Walmart-owned Flipkart on Wednesday said it will offer credit options through 17 banks, NBFCs and fintech players that will drive credit accessibility for customers during the upcoming festive season. The e-commerce firm has partnered with State Bank of India and with SBI Card, India’s largest pure play credit card issuer – to provide both their Debit and Credit cards holders a 10% instant discount. With the launch of Kotak Mahindra Bank and Federal Bank Debit Card EMI payment option, customers can now avail pre-approved credit from 7 leading banking and fintech players. Flipkart is also launching a Gift Card Store catering to customer needs across 60 brands such as Joyalukkas, Kalyan Jewellers, Croma, FabIndia and KFC, among others. To enable the purchase of gift cards during the festive season, Flipkart will be offering a discount of up to 10%. Ranjith Boyanapalli, Head – Fintech and Payments Group at Flipkart, said, “At Flipkart,customer-centricity is at the heart of all our endeavours, as we create increased shared value for all our stakeholders and partners in the ecosystem. By facilitating credit and insurance access, and simplifying payments for over 250 million customers across the country, we are reinforcing our commitment to helping fulfill their aspirations without the burden of financialconstraints. Through these partnerships and their expansion, we hope to take the promise of The Big Billion Days to more customers to enable meaningful growth.”