STARTUP DIGEST: Top startup stories of the day

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

From three startups receiving funding to Paytm making new developments to bidding farewell to Yahoo, the startup industry had a pretty industry day today.

Here are the top startup stories of the day:

• Funding of the Day

Wow! Momo raises Rs 45 Cr debt funding from Anicut Capital

Wow! Momo Foods which owns and operates two quick-service restaurant brands Wow! Momo and Wow! China has raised Rs 45 crores in debt funding from Anicut capital with an option to raise another Rs 15 crores by April 2021. The debt goes towards old loan repayment of Rs 35 crores to Avendus Finance raised in 2018 and fresh influx of growth capital.

Pepper Content raises $4.2 M led by Lightspeed India

Content marketplace platform, Pepper Content has raised $4.2 million in Series A funding, led by Lightspeed India and leading angels across India and Silicon Valley. Pepper aims to leverage this funding to enter into newer content categories such as video and audio, expand into new geographies like Southeast Asia while continuing to scale up its current product for customers and creators alike.

TeaMonk raises Rs 6.5 Cr from Inflection Point Ventures & other investors

Premium tea brand, TeaMonk has raised Rs 6.5 crore in Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures, one of India’s largest angel investment platforms in India. It plans to use the current funding for further market expansion in global markets like the US, UK and Canada. Will also launch a subscription-based platform in India to further strengthen their presence in the home market.

• IIFL Wealth Hurun India 40 & under self-made rich list 2020

With a combined wealth of Rs 24,000 crore, Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath tops IIFL Wealth and Hurun India’s ’40 and under self-made rich list 2020′. The Kamath brothers are followed by Divyank Turakhia with a net worth of Rs 14,000 crore.

Udaan’s founding team of  Amod Malviya ,Sujeet Kumar and Vaibhav Gupta are at number three. While, Devita Saraf (39), founder of Vu Technologies is the only woman in the list.

With a wealth of Rs 7,800 Cr, Riju Ravindran, 39, of online education platform, Byju’s secured the 6^th spot in the list. With a wealth of Rs 7,500 Cr each, co-founders of Flipkart, Binny Bansal, 37, and Sachin Bansal, 39, shares seventh position in the list. Bhavish Aggarwal, 35, and Ankit Bhati, 34, co-founders of ride-hailing company Ola Cabs ranks 10^th and 14^th in the 40 and under list with a wealth of Rs 3,500 Cr and Rs 1,600 Cr respectively,

As per the list, the entrepreneurs cumulatively added a wealth of Rs 44,900 crore, registering an increase of 59 percent compared to last year. Bengaluru is the city that houses the business headquarters the most individuals on the list – nine, followed by two each in Delhi and Gurugram.

Average age on the list is 37 and the youngest entrepreneur is Oyo Rooms’ Ritesh Agarwal (26). Logistics and Retail are the major contributors of wealth for entrepreneurs.

• Ather Energy to set up public charging infrastructure with Ather Grid across India

Ather Energy has begun setting up public charging infrastructure with Ather Grid across India. Phase one of installation of Ather Grid to be live across 135 + locations by December 2020.

Ather Grid fast charging network can be used by all electric two-wheelers and electric four-wheelers and can charge the Ather 450X at 15 km in 10 minutes. The company has signed MOUs with partners like VR Mall, PPZ mall management, restaurant and cafe chains like Little Italy, Blue Tokai, Chai Kings, retail outlets like Sangeetha mobiles, and now has access to more than 250 locations across the country.

The installations of the Ather Grid Points will begin before deliveries of the Ather 450X in November 2020.

Ather Energy has 37 fast charging stations in Bengaluru and 13 in Chennai, taking the total count to 150 fast charging stations across India.

• Paytm starts same-day settlement on its payment gateway

Digital payments major Paytm has started same-day settlement facility for all kinds of fund transfers on its payment gateway. The same-day settlement feature will help businesses that depend upon immediate availability of funds for their business. This includes e-commerce companies, government institutions, and all businesses involving inventories.

As a norm digital payments made to a merchant is usually not settled on the same day. Industry standard is that settlement happens after one day or two days, depending on the specific day of the week. However, payment startups have been innovating on same day settlements to encourage small merchants who need cash in their bank account daily to start accepting digital payments.

From Rs 50 up to Rs 2 lakh, everything can be settled daily to even three times every day depending on the requirement of the merchant.

• SoftBank Vision Fund seeking cash for blank-cheque firm: Report

SoftBank Group Vision Fund is targeting external funding for a blank-cheque acquisition company it plans to launch, according to a report by Reuters. SoftBank is likely to put also its own capital into the company, whose size is undetermined as per the report. Details of the vehicle will be revealed in the next two weeks.

• Yahoo to bid goodbye on December 15, 2020

Yahoo to shut down Yahoo Groups on December 15 as the platform usage declined over the last several years. According to a statement, creation of new groups will be disabled on October 12 and on December 15 people will no longer be able to send and receive emails from Yahoo Groups & the website will no longer be accessible.

• Amazon workers in Germany strike on ‘Prime Day’: Reuters

As per Reuters report, a German trade union called on workers at seven Amazon warehouses to go on strike on Tuesday to coincide with the global “Prime Day” promotion event that was postponed due to operational challenges from the coronavirus pandemic.

Verdi said it was organising the two-day strike as part of a long-running battle with Amazon in Germany over better pay and conditions, noting that a coronavirus bonus introduced for workers in Germany in March had been scrapped again in May.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

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