Srartup Digest: Dhruva Space bags ₹78 cr from IAN Alpha Fund, Nat Habit crosses ₹100 crore ARR in FY24 & more
KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)
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Here are the top headlines from the startup space.
Investors Vs Byju’s: NCLT defers hearing to June 6
No relief for beleaguered edtech Byju’s as National Company Law Tribunal has deferred the rights case issue to June 6. NCLT is hearing a plea filed by four investors regarding oppression and mismanagement at Byju’s.
The investors have alleged during the hearing that Byju’s had not deposited the money it received from rights issue prior to February 27 in the escrow account.
In its order on February 27, NCLT directed Byju’s not to allot shares to investors participating in the rights issue without increasing its authorised share capital. The company was also asked to keep the proceeds of the rights issue in an escrow account to protect investors’ rights.
Sources at BYJU’S had informed CNBC-TV18 on April 22 that the company planned to request the release of the funds received from the rights issue, which are currently held in an escrow account, to be able to clear its salary and other obligations.
Dhruva Space bags ₹78 cr in Series A2 round led by IAN Alpha Fund
Spacetech startup Dhruva Space has raised ₹78 crore in its Series A2 funding round led by IAN Alpha Fund, with participation from existing investors. With this, the company has brought its Series A corpus to ₹123 crore.
The fresh capital will enable the company to establish spacecraft manufacturing and testing capabilities, and launch customer missions with the larger satellite buses, namely P-30 and P-90. Dhruva Space said it is setting up the first phase (1.2 lakh square-foot) of their 2.8 lakh-square-foot world-class spacecraft manufacturing facility in Hyderabad to invest in continued innovation upon the existing product line to go to the global market.
Dhruva Space has launched eight payloads in the last 2 years, including the Thybolt satellite mission in November 2022 and the LEAP-TD mission on January 1, 2024. Building on this, the coming years will see several customer launches with the company’s P-30 nanosatellite platform and P-90 microsatellite platform.
Nabhdrishti Aerospace raises ₹3 crore in Pre-Seed round
Deeptech startup Nabhdrishti Aerospace has raised ₹3 crore in a pre-seed funding round led by IIMA Ventures (formerly IIMA-CIIE).
Founded in 2023, the startup will design and develop gas turbine engines, beginning with a 350 SHP turbo-prop engine for aviation and power generation use cases. The micro gas turbine (MGT) engines will be indigenously developed and manufactured and will feature fuel flexibility to enable clean fuel compatibility and enhanced efficiency.
The fresh funds will be used to aid the development of a fuel flex combustor prototype via thorough testing on the fuel injector and combustor, enabling the company to showcase the proprietary fuel flex technology.
Flipkart Ventures to fund GenAI-based early stage startups
Flipkart Ventures, the investment arm of e-commerce major Flipkart, has invited applications for its accelerator programme. As part of the Flipkart Leap Ahead (FLA) programme, selected startups will receive equity investments between $200,000 and $500,000, according to a statement.
Announcing the third cohort of FLA, the firm said the programme aims to accelerate the growth journey of early-stage startups. Applications for the programme will be open from April 22 to May 26.
It added that these startups will also receive two-month mentorship, wherein industry veterans, operators, and founders will guide these entrepreneurs to prepare them for hyper-growth.
Nat Habit surpasses ₹100 crore ARR in FY24; aims to be EBITDA profitable in 18 months
D2C natural beauty and personal care brand Nat Habit has announced that it has crossed ₹100 crore-mark in terms of its annualised revenues in FY24. The brand also aims to become EBITDA profitable over the next 17–18 months.
According to the startup, about 55% of its revenue comes from its own D2C site and the balance comes from e-commerce marketplaces. Nat Habit said it is witnessing 30% of its business come from smaller cities and tier-2 markets.
Since the Series B funding of $10.2 million in December 2023, Nat Habit said it had further accelerated its expansion and innovation efforts. “We are poised for an exciting future with investments in R&D, robust in-house tech capabilities and commitment to optimise our supply chain to handle current and new product offerings,” said Gaurav Agarwal, Co-founder of Nat Habit.
BharatPe launches an all-in-one payment device
Fintech company BharatPe has launched an all-in-one payment product that incorporates POS (point of sale), QR, and speaker into a single device.
Called BharatPe One, the product is designed to streamline transactions for merchants, offering versatile payment acceptance options including dynamic and static QR code, tap-and-pay and traditional card payment options.
The company plans to launch the product in over 100 cities in the first phase and further scale it to more than 450 cities over the next six months.
Razorpay announces ‘UPI Switch’ in partnership with Airtel Payments Bank
Fintech company Razorpay has launched its own UPI infrastructure with ‘UPI Switch’, a cloud-based innovation in partnership with Airtel Payments Bank, and said the solution is geared to ensure smoother and faster transactions.
Boosting success rates by 4-5%, the solution is designed to handle up to 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) at any given time, according to a release.
The ‘UPI Switch’ will also enable 5 times faster access to UPI (Unified Payments Interface) innovations for businesses, it added.
Swiggy launches Smart Links to boost orders for restaurants with a digital presence
Food delivery platform Swiggy, has announced the launch of ‘Smart Links’, a tool designed to empower restaurants of all sizes to enhance their online presence and drive growth.
This new tool helps restaurants convert social media footfall to business with just one click. Smart Links has already driven over 4 million menu sessions for over 35,000 restaurant partners, Swiggy said in a statement.
“Smart Links, which Swiggy is customizing for free for all restaurant partners, will be a game-changer by giving restaurants the power to easily access and customize these links. This allows them to measure individual channel performance and compare all in the owner app, thereby promoting themselves effectively, driving actual orders, and gaining a better understanding of their customers as well as spend on online platforms and social media,” said Deepak Maloo, AVP – Supply, Swiggy.
WeWork India adds two new buildings
Flexible workspace provider WeWork India has announced the expansion of their operations in the country by signing lease agreements for two new buildings.
Set to open in the next couple of months, the new buildings — HQ27 in Gurugram and Amanora Crest in Pune — are located in key business hubs and will redefine the workspace experience for professionals and enterprises alike, the company said.
The two buildings will add over 3,100 desks, spread across over 1,83,000 square feet of space to the existing portfolio.
Global Technology & Startup News
Microsoft introduces smaller AI model
Microsoft has announced a cost-effective, small language artificial intelligence model that can perform tasks such as content creation and create social media posts while using smaller amounts of data.
The company introduced an AI model called Phi-3-mini, which can outperform models twice its size across a variety of benchmarks that evaluate language, coding and math capabilities, it said in a statement.
Smaller AI models are designed to perform simpler tasks, making it easier for use by companies with limited resources, Microsoft said.
Adobe to bring full AI image generation to Photoshop this year
Adobe plans to place a tool for full artificial intelligence image generation in its Photoshop software later this year.
Adobe’s image and video editing tools are widely used by creative professionals, but it faces rising competition from startups such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Midjourney and Stability AI, all of which offer services that can generate images from text prompts.
Adobe is developing its own image-generation AI system called Firefly, which is trained on data that Adobe has rights to, in order to avoid copyright infringement claims against users.
Meta opens Quest operating system to third-party device makers
Meta is sharing its Quest headset’s operating system with rival device makers, including Microsoft for the first time, as it works to extend its influence over the emerging virtual and mixed reality industry.
The move will allow partner companies to build their headsets using Meta Horizon OS, a rebranded operating system that brings capabilities like gesture recognition, passthrough, scene understanding and spatial anchors to the devices that run on it, the company said in a blog post.
The social media company said partners Asus and Lenovo would use the operating system to build devices tailored for particular activities. Meta is also using it to make a limited edition version of the Quest headset “inspired by” Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console, according to the company’s statement.
Amazon launches low-cost grocery delivery subscription plan in US
Ecommerce giant Amazon, has launched a new grocery delivery subscription in the United States for members of its Prime program and customers who are recipients of the government food assistance benefits.
The subscription plan would allow Amazon’s Prime members to get unlimited grocery delivery at $9.99 per month on orders over $35 from Whole Foods Market, Amazon Fresh, and other local grocery and specialty retailers on the platform, including Save Mart, Bartell Drugs, Rite Aid and Pet Food Express.
The service will be available in over 3,500 cities and towns across the country.
Injury rates for Musk’s SpaceX exceed industry average for second year: Report
Injury rates at SpaceX facilities continued to exceed an industry average in 2023, according to a Reuters review of safety data reported to U.S. regulators by the space venture controlled by billionaire Elon Musk.
The 2023 records, newly disclosed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, also show that injury rates at some SpaceX facilities grew worse than those the company had reported in 2022.
At its manufacturing-and-launch facility in Brownsville, Texas, for instance, SpaceX reported 5.9 injuries per 100 workers, surpassing its rate of 4.8 injuries in 2022 and topping a space industry average of 0.8.
Spotify’s monthly user numbers miss estimates on lower promotions
Spotify has reported quarterly monthly active users (MAU) below its own estimates, as the Swedish music streaming company chose to boost profit instead of spending more on marketing activities to draw in more listeners.
First-quarter MAUs rose 19%, but missed Spotify’s own guidance and a median of analysts’ forecasts of 618 million. It also forecast current-quarter MAUs at 631 million, missing estimates of 636.3 million, according to IBES data from LSEG.
Premium subscribers, who account for most of the company’s revenue, rose by 14% to 239 million, in line with estimates. Spotify has been cutting costs, including through layoffs and its marketing budget, as it looks to increase margins and profits.
Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout
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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter
KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow
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