Tag: News

VP Weekly | 27 Jan '19

January 27, 2019

Half Of Google India’s $154 Mn Ad Spend In 2018 Went To Offline Activities
Global search giant Google reportedly spent $154 Mn on advertising in India in 2018, making it one of the top advertisers in India. Read More

OYO Expands To Phillippines, Begins Partnering With Hotels In Manila
Homegrown hospitality unicorn OYO has entered yet another global destination in its bid to expand its customer base and extend its reach in the international tourism sector. Read More

                                        Startup News Snippets

                                                  M&A News

Editor’s Weekly Pick

From last week’s coverage of agri-tech, this week let’s look at some of the game-changing innovations in industrial robotics. Here is WSJ covering the new industrial revolution.

 –Abhishek

 Market Pulse

  • Gurugram-based automobile repair and service solution startup GoMechanic raised $4 – 5 Mn in a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital.
  • Tamil Nadu launched its Startup and Innovation policy 2018-2023 with a mission of providing an enabling ecosystem for startups registered in the state and to make Tamil Nadu a global innovation hub for startups’ by 2023. 
  • Assam Chief Minister launched the Assam Startup initiative, including state-level hub for entrepreneurship development, The Nest. 
  • Maruti Suzuki announced the launch of its Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab as part of a program to promote innovation in India for automobile and mobility space. 
  • Hyderabad-headquartered IT park developers Meenakshi Group launched its venture fund, Meenakshi Multiples Startup Fund to invest $10 Mn in promising startups. 
  • Delhi-based early-stage consumer technology venture capital fund AdvantEdge Founders announced its second fund, AdvantEdge Founders Fund II with a target of raising a corpus of $42 Mn with a focus on mobility.
  • Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India launched its startup accelerator and incubation programme called Surge. The Surge will pick up 10–20 early stage startups twice a year and invest $1.5 Mn in each of them at the start or very early stage of the programme.
  • Espark-Viridian is back with the fifth edition of #AccessXcceleration, inviting early-stage startups across all sectors to participate. 
  • Mumbai-based POWERED accelerator has announced nine women entrepreneurs participating in its second cohort to develop their businesses and deliver access to energy solutions across India. 
  • Gastrotope, the agrifood startup accelerator founded by Taizo Son’s Mistletoe, Rajesh Sawhney, and Infobridge, has picked five startups for its first cohort.

VP Weekly | 20 Jan '19

January 20, 2019

Reliance Retail, Jio To Jointly Launch Ecommerce Platform: Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Ltd, has said that the group companies, Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio Infocomm, will be launching a new e-commerce platform in India. Read More

SoftBank Vision Fund to pick up 38% stake in Delhivery in latest India bet
MasayoshiSon-owned technology conglomerate SoftBank has sought approval from the Competition Commission of India to acquire a 37.87% stake in logistics company Delivery. Read More

Startup News Snippets

M&A News

Editor’s Weekly Pick

Addressing potential food crisis due to ever-increasing global population is on every country’s agenda. This video captures the most fascinating and impactful developments in agri-tech, from Robo farmers to genetic mutations and artificial food.

-Abhishek

Market Pulse

  • Kerala has launched the country’s largest startup hub with a 1,000-seat capacity on January 13 in Kalamassery, Kochi. Named ‘Integrated Startup Complex,’ the facility is built to provide top quality infrastructure for incubation and acceleration for the state’s startups.
  • The Jammu & Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute along with Bari held a meeting to further promote innovation-based startups in the State of Jammu and Kashmir under the J&K Startup Policy 2018. Brahmna Industrial Association 
  • NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission, in partnership with Dell and Learning Links Foundation, has launched “Nayee Dishayen, Naye Nirman” programme to celebrate the top six innovations of the country under Atal Tinkering Lab.
  • Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology is setting up a Centre of Excellence for fintech startups in Chennai at an estimated cost of INR 23 Cr.
  • Mumbai-based online furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry may raise funding of $100 Mn fromits existing investors Goldman Sachs, Norwest Venture Partners, and Bertelsmann India Investments.
  • Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is reportedly set to invest $400 Mn in Pune-based online baby products retailer FirstCry for more than 40% stake in the company, valuing it at around $600 Mn- $700 Mn .
  • New Delhi-based online travel website EaseMyTrip is planning to raise $211.08 Mn via an initial public offering. The founders are expecting the business to value around $844.3 Mn and $1.05 Bn.

VP Weekly | 13 Jan '19

January 13, 2019

Ola Becomes $6 Bn Unicorn With $74 Mn Funding From Steadview Capital
Homegrown online cab aggregator Ola is now reportedly worth $5.5- $6 Bn after it raised $74 Mn (INR 520 Cr) from its existing investor, a Hong Kong-and London-based hedge fund, Steadview Capital, through preference shares.
Read More
Amazon Pay Receives $42.6 Mn From Its Parent Company
E-commerce giant Amazon has yet again invested $42.6 Mn in fresh funding in its digital payments arm Amazon Pay. This latest funding comes right after reports stated that Amazon Pay is rolling out doorstep KYC services for its mobile wallet users in line with the Supreme Court’s Aadhaar verdict. Read More

    Startup News Snippets

                                                      M&A News

Editor’s Weekly Pick

Jan is a great time to start reading up on the ventures that are likely to attract the most action during the year. Here are the top 50 identified by Entrepreneur India, with many new names making the list.

 -Abhishek


Market Pulse

  • Bengaluru-based early-stage seed fund and startup accelerator Axilor Ventures announced the names of 20 startups who will form its Winter 2018 cohort.
  • Shell has announced its second cohort of startups under the E4 aegis. The eight startups have been selected to be incubated at the Shell Technology Centre Bangalore (STCB).
  • Matrix Partners India, an early stage venture capital firm, announced its third fund of over $300 Mn (INR 21.19 Bn), eight years after it raised its second fund. The fund plans to invest in early-stage startups across emerging sectors and expand its current investment team.
  • Fintech company SmartOwner launched SmartOwner Capital Growth Fund I, a SEBI-registered Category II Real Estate Alternative Investment Fund. The fund has a target size of INR 500 Cr with a greenshoe of INR 500 Cr.

VP Weekly | 6 Jan '19

January 6, 2019

Zomato In Talks For New $1 Bn Fundraise To Counter Swiggy’s Latest Funding
Gurugram-based food tech company Zomato is in talks to raise funding round of $500 Mn to $1 Bn from Chinese PE major Primavera Capital and Alibaba payments affiliate Ant Financial, along with other investors.
Read More
Foreign fund outflow from India, other Asian markets hits seven-year high in 2018
Foreign outflows from Asian equities were the biggest in at least seven years in 2018 as the Sino-U.S. trade war and slowing profits battered regional stocks last year. Read More

Startup News Snippets

M&A News

Editor’s Weekly Pick

The value of Bitcoins and crypto-currencies may have tanked during the last year, but there are compelling reasons for why ICOs may make sense to fuel entrepreneurship in the future. Here’s a recent TED talk with some interesting ideas.

-Abhishek

Market Pulse

  • Ahmedabad-based Infibeam Avenues dissolved the deal to acquire Unicommerce eSolutions from Snapdeal. According to the company, the deal has been terminated because the precedent conditions for the deal were not fulfilled in the time period agreed on during negotiations.
  • Mumbai-based edtech startup Fusion Klassroom Edutech Pvt. Ltd. is looking to raise $2 Mn to cater a network of more than 450 Klassroom centres within 12 months including 325 smart centers and 130 flagship centres building up capacity of 50K students across 5 cities to become the largest network of branded coaching classes in India.
  • Kerala has approved its departments and autonomous institutions to invite startups registered under the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) to implement their IT projects that cost upto $143K. 
  • YES Bank, India’s fourth largest private sector bank, launched its YES SCALE accelerator programme for cleantech and agritech startups in November 2018. 

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