Wow! Momo Raises Rs 45 Crore In Debt Financing From Anicut Capital
Finshorts | 14th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
NEW DELHI: Quick service restaurant chain Wow! Momo has raised Rs 45 crore in debt funding from Anicut Capital, the Kolkata-headquartered firm introduced on Monday. The debt financing will probably be primarily utilised in the direction of compensation of a Rs 35 crore mortgage the corporate had raised from Avendus Finance in 2018 Under the phrases of the brand new financing, Wow! Momo has the choice of elevating a further Rs 15 crore by April 2021. Wow! Momo, which owns and operates two manufacturers Wow! Momo and Wow! China had raised Rs 130 crore in fairness financing from New York-headquartered funding agency Tiger Global Management, in September final yr, and which had valued it at about Rs 860 crore on the time, and was the primary client product guess positioned by the storied funding agency in India. The latter, which had invested Rs 14 crore throughout rounds, and had earned Rs 50 crore, or a 70% return on its funding, on the time of Tiger Global’s capital infusion by a secondary transaction that noticed it partially exit its funding. Anicut capital, based and led by monetary companies veterans IAS Balamurugan and Ashvin Chadha, manages each debt funds and an angel fund, in line with VCCircle.
Foodtech And D2C Brand, Anveshan, Raises Rs 1.12 Crore Pre-Seed Funding From Titan Capital
Finshorts | 14th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Foodtech company, Anveshan has raised Rs. 1.12 crore in the pre-seed funding round led by Titan Capital. Talking about the investment and the support from the Titan Capital, Aayushi Khandelwal, Co-founder, Anveshan said in a statement, “We are elated to receive this initial support and investors’ belief in our vision to replace all the unhealthy ingredients in the kitchen that have long-term health ailments with natural and quality food products. We want our customers to take pride while buying Anveshan food products as not only are they contributing to their own health but also impacting the lives of Indian farmers.” “Due to misleading advertisements and false marketing of food products, consumers have lost the feeling of trust in food brands. Customers are being deceived by such campaigns and they blindly trust what is written on the label. We want to be that brand that provides the purest and most natural kind of food with a proof of quality through our traceability solution,” Akhil Kansal, Co-founder, Anveshan, said in the statement. “We are able to see Anveshan solving quality and trust issue in food products. Even customers can trace the origin of products like A2 ghee, spices, and edible oil. Especially, a big need in urban busy population who want to be relaxed about quality of raw material being used in kitchen to remain super healthy and immune in this new world,” Bipin Shah, partner at Titan Capital said in the statement.
EV Startup Ultraviolette Plans To Raise Up To $75 Million In One Year
Finshorts | 14th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
MUMBAI: TVS Motor Company-backed electric motorcycle startup Ultraviolette Automotive plans to raise up to $75 million in the next 12-14 months, across series B and C rounds, three people aware of the plan told Mint. Part of the funds will be raised via equity and a small portion of debt in series C next year, said another person, adding that the four-year old startup is currently valued at $50 million. Ultraviolette is talking to several strategic investors who can help the startup beyond primary funding-related requirements. “Our investors will be strategic as they will bring not only funding but also capabilities around IPR, branding, scaling up operations overseas at the right time, among other areas,” said Narayan Subramaniam, founder and chief executive officer at Ultraviolette, which currently has a team of 55. The Bangalore-based startup had unveiled pre-production versions of its first electric motorcycle-named F77-in November last year. Planned in three variants-lightning, shadow and laser-the founders at Ultraviolette plan to position the bike as India’s first performance-oriented electric motorcycle and price them in a range of ?3-3.25 lakh, on-road. Thus, it cannot look at availing government subsidies granted under the Fame-2 scheme. The startup aims to produce and sell up to 10,000 units of the F77 in the first 12 months of its launch.
Pepper Content Raises $4.2 Million Led By Lightspeed India
Finshorts | 14th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
BENGALURU: Content marketplace, Pepper Content, on Tuesday said it has raised $4.2 million as part of its Series A funding, led by Lightspeed India and angel investors across India and the Silicon Valley. According to Pepper Content, the company plans to use the funds to foray into newer content categories such as video and audio, expand into new geographies including Southeast Asia, while continuing to scale up its current product portfolio for customers and creators alike. Further, Pepper’s curated creators have generated more than 1,00,000 content pieces through the platform, earning $4,00,000 in creator fees in the first two years. “Our mission is to disrupt the entire content creation industry at scale and create a stronger, high quality, and more organised ecosystem for content creators. Imagine us being able to build virtual content teams for any company globally, by providing them a product that simplifies content operations and gives the customer the ability to strategize, create, distribute and manage all their content projects at one place,” said Anirudh Singla, co-founder, and CEO at Pepper Content. “We are proud to partner with Anirudh and his team with a vision to use the Pepper market platform to enable any company around the world to source content on-demand, with high quality, and at scale. Not only is every company a software company these days, but every company is a content company,” said Dev Khare, partner at Lightspeed India.
FreshToHome In Talks For Fresh $130 Million Funding
Finshorts | 13th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
BENGALURU: FreshToHome is finalising a $130-million round from a clutch of investors, including Investcorp, Saudi corporate venture capital firm Raed Ventures, Middle East Oils and Grains and US International Development Finance Corporation, as per three people aware of developments as well as regulatory filings. Existing investors Iron Pillar and Ascent Capital, and new backer David Wehner, chief financial officer of Facebook, also participated, filings showed separately. Ascent Capital has already invested about $16 million, while DFC has committed $20 million, the public disclosures showed. The funding round values the direct-to-consumer fresh foods firm at $380-$400 million post money, one of the people told ET. “The final deal contours are likely to close in the next few weeks,” the person said. The round reinforces investor appetite in the direct-to-home delivery segment, a business that accelerated after the outbreak. Investors have also been attracted by its focus on providing farmers and fishermen with capital and technology support. “They are now looking at expansion of both categories and cities with the new financing round.”
Walmart, Flipkart Invest $30 Million In Ninjacart
Finshorts | 13th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
BENGALURU : US-based retailer Walmart Inc. and Flipkart Group have made an additional investment in Bengaluru-based fresh produce supply startup Ninjacart, the companies said in a joint statement on Monday. According to a person familiar with the development, Walmart and Flipkart have invested around $30 million in Ninjacart. “At the Flipkart Group, we are focused on ensuring that we continue to work towards developing new and innovative ways to meet our customers’ needs in this space through the growth of Supermart and the recent launch of Flipkart Quick,” Krishnamurthy said in a statement. Flipkart has been leveraging Ninjacart’s fresh produce supply chain, and strengthening its direct sourcing for Supermart, its online grocery service as well as its hyperlocal delivery service Flipkart Quick. “The fresh set of investments from Walmart and the Flipkart Group takes us one step closer to our vision of making food safe and accessible for the billion people and changing the way food reaches our plate. We will continue to invest in areas that impact the lives of customers and farmers positively,” said Thirukumaran Nagarajan, CEO and co-founder, Ninjacart.
GIC, Sequoia In Razorpay's $100 Million Round; Valuation May Hit $1 Billion
Finshorts | 12th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Payments company Razorpay has closed a $100 million financing round co-led by GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, and existing investor Sequoia Capital, in the process topping $1 billion in valuation, and becoming the first Indian neo-bank to hit that benchmark. “India has made significant strides in establishing a digital payments ecosystem and Razorpay has established itself as a clear leader, with its strong focus on customer experience and product innovation. GIC has a long track record of partnering with leading fintech companies globally and is delighted to partner with Razorpay in its journey to transform payments and banking,” Choo Yong Cheen, chief investment officer for private equity at GIC, said in a statement. “India’s digital ecosystem is seeing unprecedented growth with online shoppers expected to cross 350 million by 2025. This trend of digitisation is penetrating India across social strata and geography and Razorpay is playing a pivotal role in this transformation by enabling millions of merchants to accept digital payments in a frictionless and efficient manner. They have expanded the breadth of products and solutions rapidly across payments and banking and are becoming a platform for all financial technology needs of their customers,” Ishaan Mittal, principal, Sequoia Capital India, said. According to him, on an annualised basis, Razorpay is processing payment volumes of more than $400 billion, with RazorpayX and Razorpay Capital contributing 15%-20% to its overall topline.
Robotics Startup Miko Raises ₹23 Crore Led By Stride Ventures
Finshorts | 12th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
NEW DELHI: Robotics start-up Miko raised ₹23 crore in a pre-series B round led by Stride Ventures. After the success of their first generation of Miko robot, the company launched Miko 2, a robot that can see, hear, sense, express, talk, recognise faces, remember names, identify moods, initiate a conversation and learn from its own environment to intuitively develop a bond with a child. “Our growth journey till Miko 2 was about creating a product that meets the needs of today’s parents who seek a positive and trusted gateway of technology. Miko 2 has now evolved into a powerful content subscription platform with global content alliances. We are on track to surpass the 100,000-user mark in the coming quarters with Miko,” said Sneh R Vaswani, co-founder and CEO, Miko. Ishpreet Gandhi, founder & managing partner, Stride Ventures said, “At Stride, it is our mission to make the credit ecosystem more accessible to startups. The investment in Miko represents Stride’s commitment to enabling frontier technologies that have the potential to disrupt the status quo. We are proud to be associated with a company that is revolutionizing pedagogy through interactive IoT.”. Stride Ventures launched its maiden fund in 2019 with a target corpus of ₹500 crore and plans to invest in 35-40 startups over the next 3 years.
PlayStation Inventor Starts New Career Making Robots For No Pay
Finshorts | 10th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Ken Kutaragi, the legendary inventor of the PlayStation gaming console, is taking on one of the hardest jobs in robotics. Kutaragi, 70, wants to make affordable robots that can safely move around and do physical work alongside humans in factories and logistics centers, and aims to have a working prototype in about a year. “The Covid-19 outbreak has turned the old argument about robots taking our jobs on its head,” Kutaragi said in his first interview since taking the helm in August. “If you are looking to combine robotics and mobility, you need someone in charge who understands technology,” Kutaragi said. Kutaragi also demonstrated a keen sense of technology trends, famously shipping the PlayStation 2 with a DVD player and spurring the adoption of the new laser disc technology. Kutaragi has served as Ascent’s outside board director since 2018 and took over the CEO post on Aug. 26. Masayuki Ishizaki, who preceded Kutaragi as CEO, has become the company’s chief operating officer.
Law Firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Unveils Second Batch Of Legal-Tech Startup Incubator
Finshorts | 10th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, one of India’s largest corporate law firms has launched the second batch of its legal-tech startup incubator- Prarambh, senior executives at the firm said. The firm plans to pick 3-5 startups and mentor them over a 10 week period to develop solutions that align with the practical requirements of law firms, corporate legal departments, judiciary and independent practitioners. Unlike typical startup incubator or accelerator programs, CAM does not invest money upfront. “We will keep the option to invest later, depending on how these companies turn out. We can take a small stake, 5%, or even consider acquiring later on. The focus is on providing intellectual support now,” said Rishabh Shroff, partner at CAM. In its first batch in February 2019, the law firm received applications from pre-product and idea-stage startups, as well as more mature startups which had a product. Its winners from the first batch were Leegality- which automates documentation needs such as e-signature and stamping; LegalMind- which uses AI to break down legal judgements and provide analytics; and JRTC Intern- which provides a standardized test to for law students to know whether they are ready for an internship. The law firm is also working to ensure post-program support for the startups.
Myntra gets $103 million from Singapore-based parent
Finshorts | 9th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
BENGALURU: Flipkart-owned fashion retailer Myntra has received a fresh capital infusion of $103 million from its Singapore-based parent entity – FK Myntra Holdings – ahead of its seven-day-long festive sale. Regulatory documents sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler showed that Myntra Jabong India issued 10,79,136 shares to FK Myntra Holdings, and 97,058 shares to QuickRoutes International, a group entity, on October 3, at a price per share of 6,427. The investment comes just days before Myntra’s Big Fashion Festival sale that kicks off on October 16, during which it expects to double sales compared to the same period last year. “This festive season is going to be the biggest fashion event, not just for Myntra, but what this country has seen,” said Amar Nagaram, CEO of Myntra. Myntra is also expecting sales momentum from tier-II and tier-III cities – which has improved since Unlock 1.0 – to continue into the festive period, and is anticipating that over 50% of its sales will come from outside Metro and tier-I cities. Overall, the company says it is anticipating a 4X increase in sales over its business as usual.
Amazon Pay Lands A Rs 700 Crore Festival Recharge From US Parent
Finshorts | 9th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
BENGALURU: US-based online retailer Amazon has pumped in a further Rs 700 crore into its Indian digital payments business Amazon Pay, ahead of the festive season when it expects to dole out large cashbacks in order to grow its customer base. The bulk of its latest infusion comes via Amazon Corporate Holdings, the Singapore-based parent entity for all of the US tech giant’s ecommerce units in India, along with a token investment from Mauritius-based Amazon.com Inc, according to regulatory documents sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler. The fresh funding also marks Amazon’s second investment into Amazon Pay this year, after the company pumped in 1,355 crore in January. The firm has raised a little over 5,000 crore since its inception in 2016 and has been making a couple of investments each year. Amazon Pay had earlier this week increased its authorised share capital to 16,000 crore from 6,000 crore, hinting that the company could possibly make a large investment of a few thousand crores in the unit as it looks at scaling up and better competing with rivals Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm. Customers have also been paying digitally even when they do step out. Amazon Pay recently launched credit card bill payments and a train ticket booking service in partnership with IRCTC..
120 Startups To Form Association To Take On Google
Finshorts | 9th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
The heads of more than 120 startups are planning to form an indigenous app developers’ association within a month to lobby against global technology giants such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Apple, said three startup founders. The move comes against the backdrop of discontent among Indian startups against Google. The association, which will be a non-profit, will be independent of existing bodies, such as the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Internet and Mobile Association of India, said Murugavel Janakiraman, founder of Matrimony.com. Interestingly, IAMAI, which represents India’s digital and mobile ecosystem, and has Google India as a member, also held a closed-door meeting on Saturday, to hear the concerns of Indian startups against the Google’s growing monopoly. Google India also continued to maintain its silence on the matter. Google had recently reiterated its Play Billing policy, which makes it mandatory for Indian developers using Play to pay 30% commission for the same. Founders are still not happy and urging the Centre to regulate Google and other big tech firms, while doing away with commissions and arbitrary policies of the Play Store.
Operating Rooms Turn To Zoom-Like Technology For The Age Of Covid
Finshorts | 9th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Avail Medsystems, a Palo Alto-based startup, is promising a better way for managing operating-room crowding in the age of Covid. The Avail console uses mobile overhead cameras to project live images of a procedure up to 30 times their actual size onto an HD monitor. In Avail’s latest Series B fundraiser, expected to be announced later on Wednesday, billionaire Dan Sundheim’s D1 Capital Partners pumped $100 million into the medical technology company with participation from technology-focused firms 8VC, and repeat investors Lux Capital, Sonder Capital and others. Avail’s remote link to operating rooms works on a subscription pay-for-use model. Avail, which leases the consoles from a manufacturer, is selling a package of the equipment and its own software developed specifically for operating room communication. Earlier in the year, he’d used the Avail console to train students on how to perform complex surgeries at various health systems in York, Pennsylvania. Through his iPad, Nicholson has been able to virtually tap into 1 of almost 100 consoles that Avail has in hospitals and out-patient surgery centers around the U.S. At his insistence, Emory Healthcare is installing nine consoles in its facilities next week.
Paytm First Games Relisted On Google Play Store After Weeks
Finshorts | 8th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
MUMBAI: Paytm First Games has been relisted on Google Play Store, the gaming app of fintech company Paytm said in a blog post on Wednesday, nearly three weeks after it was taken down from the dominant app store. “While Google does not allow us to promote our ‘pro’ app on our own free app or Paytm app, we can promote it on Google and YouTube by paying hefty fees to Google,” Paytm First Games said in the blog post, referring to the practice of paid ads on Google search and its video sharing platform. “If the Paytm app promoted Paytm First Games, then Paytm app would also be violating their”policies”. The Paytm First Game app available on Play Store is a non-cash fantasy gaming platform, and its “Pro” version is only available on its website, not on the app store. The fracas began on September 18 when Google took down both Paytm and Paytm First Games from its Play Store for violating its gambling policy, which prevents any registered store app from promoting real money-based fantasy games or skill-based cashback schemes. Paytm’s payments app was restored the same day after it tweaked some requirements to fit Play Store’s policy, but Paytm First Games has only now been listed back.
IIT Guwahati Students' Startup Develops Mobile Application For Offline To Online Business Services
Finshorts | 8th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
GUWAHATI: Sahara, a hyperlocal-tech startup of the students of the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, have developed a mobile application that lets offline business owners create synergy with customers and potential business partners. IIT stated inspired by the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ initiative, this entrepreneurial endeavour is determined to deliver ‘Made in India’ solutions by providing the best services to the people and encouraging existing offline businesses to convert to online business to have diverse opportunities. With the idea of one-stop solution for everything that people require, from food to shelter, the aim is to provide services that stand up to international quality standards at fairly low costs. The features on this app will also guarantee accurate navigating experience, especially to travellers, in the form of local language translation service, security for travellers by providing assistance in establishing contact with respective traveller’s embassy in case of emergency, emergency and SOS service especially for women etc. Sai Vara Prasad, said, “The only aim of Sahara is to provide you best services whenever you go. It’ll be the best app for the whole travel industry, where travellers can indulge in local cultures easily, travel enthusiasts can take their blogging to a whole new level, as they can post media, and can also share to other social media platforms, which will be visible to anyone who visits or search for that place. For the safety of travellers, we have added many features”.
Genrobotics Raises Rs 2 5 Crore In Pre Series A
Finshorts | 8th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Genrobotics, a Trivandrum – based robotics company has raised Rs 2.5 crore in Pre Series A round from existing investors Unicorn India Ventures. Genrobotics has already been working along with the Central Ministry as well as with State Governments in the mission of eradicating manual scavenging from the entire country. Vimal Govind, Co-founder CEO, Genrobotics, says, “We are so happy that Bandicoot is bringing smiles to those innocent ones and we believe that our efforts brought light into the stinking realities of Manual scavenging in India. It was a great moment for us when Mr. Anand Mahindra took a personal interest in favor of robotic solutions for the real crisis hidden in. Mr.Mahindra has offered his full support on implementing Bandicoots in each and every corner of India for putting an end to this dehumanizing activity completely and it has accelerated the process of transforming the Manual scavenging to Robotic scavenging.” Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, “We are happy that we went against our rules of not investing in just an idea in the case of Genrobotics. When we met them 2 years back in Kerala, the prototype was ready and they needed funding for a commercial-ready product. We decided to back them as we saw the potential robotics can bring to certain socially important issues especially if the team backing the business is as passionate as we have seen in Genrobotics. We believe that they have developed a globally relevant product and are already in talks with some international Governing bodies for its deployment. To facilitate their expansion plans, we have decided to back them up with additional funds.”
Edtech Startup Winuall Raises Rs 14.7 Crore To Digitize Coaching Institutes
Finshorts | 8th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Education technology startup Winuall has raised Rs 14.7 crore from Prime Venture Partners, Beenext, LivSpace founder Ramakant Sharma among other angel investors. Going forward, the startup plans to add more than 20,000 coaching institutes and serve more than three million students across India by the end of 2021, the release stated. The shift to online learning has also come at the expense of offline coaching centres as studying from home became the norm. “We believe digital tools will become an integral part of the learning experience and evolve our education system in a massive way going forward,” said Ashwini Purohit, CEO, Winuall. Founded by Ashwini Purohit and Saurabh Vyas in 2019, Winuall provides technology infrastructure to offline coaching institutes and tutors on a subscription model and digitize the whole learning experience for students with online study material, assessments and live classes. The startup has on-boarded more than 3,700 coaching institutes across the country. “The tutoring market is at an inflection point, and there are a lot of tutors who want to manage their own student interactions and develop an independent identity. Winuall is facilitating this by helping tutors and coaching institutes to go digital,” said Shripati Acharya, managing partner, Prime Venture Partners.
Chargebee Raises Rs 403 Crore In Its Series F Funding Round
Finshorts | 7th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Mumbai: Chargebee has raised Rs 403 crore in its Series F funding round, led by Insight Partners. The current round, the biggest so far by the subscription billing startup, comes at a time when brick and mortar companies are adopting subscription models in their businesses, following the Covid-19 pandemic. Existing investors Tiger Global and Steadview Capital also participated in the funding round, bringing the total funding raised by the Chennai-based company so far to Rs 771 crore. Chargebee announced a Series D fundraise of Rs 102 crore led by Steadview Capital in August last year. It also raised an undisclosed Series E round earlier in May. Founded as a bootstrapped Software as a Service startup in 2011, Chargebee’s platform is currently used by over 2,500 companies. The company has also seen traditional businesses across Europe, United States and India signing up for online subscription management during the pandemic. AJ Malhotra, vice president of Insight Partners, said, “Even beyond SaaS and software, we’re seeing a global movement where businesses from cars to coffee pods are launching and scaling with a subscription-first model. The need for an underlying revenue platform that allows businesses this degree of adaptability is paramount today.”
Credit Wise Capital Raises $6 Million From Family Offices, Angels
Finshorts | 7th Oct, 2020 | 1 min read
Credit Wise Capital, a consumer finance NBFC raised $6 million in its seed funding round. “Tech is an enabler and not a panacea for all the ailments. Technology cannot convert a delinquent customer into a good one,” said Hirak Joshi, co-founder of CWC. Currently, present in Mumbai and Pune, CWC has an active dealer network with over 100 dealers and has disbursed 12,000 two-wheelers in a span of 16 months with an average ticket size of 65,000. “We were impressed with the systems and processes that CWC have built. The razor-sharp focus on cost reduction to achieve scalability in this business was one of the primary reasons for our investment in Credit Wise Capital,” said Mayank Shah, Chairman of M.J. Shah Group and the lead investor of CWC. The Indian two-wheeler industry is expected to grow at 8% CAGR over the next 5 years. CWC’s focus is on collection by deploying the right mix of human capital and tech processes while keeping a major check on the costs. “At CWC, the endeavour is to bring complete transparency and enhanced choices for the customer. Dynamic and risk-adjusted pricing, easy to understand offerings and constant customer engagement are the key aspects of this strategy followed at CWC,” added Joshi.