5 Minutes Read
Startup Digest: Japan-based Mynavi acquires Awign, Blinkit more valuable than Zomato’s food delivery biz and more
KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)
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Summary
Here are the top headlines from the startup space.
Japan-based Mynavi acquires HR tech startup Awign in an all-cash deal
Japan-based HR solutions provider Mynavi Corporation has acquired a majority stake in human resource tech platform Awign, which as per the firm is the largest HR deal in India in 20 years.
Under the new structure, Awign aims to generate $1 billion revenue by 2030. With this acquisition, few of the Bengaluru-based company’s early investors including Capria, Lumis, MSDF, Amicus Capital and Pankaj Bansal will exit the company.
“Mynavi will hold a significant majority in the company and co-founders of the company will also continue to hold a sizable stake. As part of this acquisition, the board constituency will change because Mynavi will acquire a sizable majority but the operating layer will remain the same. Mynavi is not going to appoint any operator in our company,” Awign Co-founder and CEO, Annanya Sarthak said.
Capria closes Rs 153 crore India Opportunity Fund following multi-fold return from Awign exit
Capria Ventures has announced the close of its India Opportunity Fund at Rs 153 crore (~$19M). This comes on the heels of a full-cash exit from its portfolio company Awign. The venture capital firm has sold its stake in Awign to Japan-based human resource solutions provider Mynavi Corporation. According to Capria, Awign has seen 20 times growth in revenue since Capria first led its seed round investment in 2018.
In February 2023, Capria achieved the first close of India Opportunity Fund at Rs 75 crore. The fund was called Unitus Ventures India Opportunity Fund before Capria and Unitus joined hands to operate as a single brand, Capria, in September 2023.
Capital from the first close of this fund was invested in the breakout leaders of its early-stage funds (Capria India Fund I and Capria India Fund II), such as Awign, BetterPlace, Cuemath, Eduvanz, and Masai.
Blinkit more valuable than Zomato’s food delivery biz: Goldman Sachs
Brokerage firm Goldman Sachs believes that the implied value of Zomato’s quick commerce business, Blinkit, is now larger than the parent’s core food delivery business.
Goldman Sachs is now valuing Blinkit at ₹119 per share at a $13 billion equity valuation. That’s higher than the food delivery business, which is being valued at ₹98 per share.
Zomato has been surprisingly positive on both profitability and the growth front, according to Goldman Sachs and the Gross Order Value (GOV) for Blinkit is nearly 50% higher than their estimate a year ago.
Norwest VP launches $3 billion new fund to back early & growth stage startups
Norwest Venture Partners, that has backed unicorns like Amagi, OfBusiness, Swiggy and Mensa, has raised its 17th global fund of $3 billion. The latest fund brings the firm’s total capital under management to $15.5 billion.
Called NVP 17, the fund will invest in early and growth-stage startups in the US, India and Israel, across sectors such as enterprise tech, consumer and healthcare. The VC has backed 43 Indian companies since entering the country in 2009.
Their investments range across stages – in the early and mid-stage companies the ticket size ranges from $10 – $30 million, and in the growth equity stages the ticket size ranges from $20 – $100 million. Recently, Norwest has also promoted three of its India team members — Nikhil Kookada and Ankit Prasad to principal; and Krish Kapadia to vice president.
FlashAid raises $2.5 million from Piper Serica Angel Fund, SOSV
Healthcare and Insurtech company Flashaid has raised $2.5 million in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Piper Serica Angel Fund and global venture capital firm SOSV. Early-stage investors —Z21 Ventures Fund and ZNL Growth Fund participated in this round.
The startup plans to use the fresh funds for growth and to expand to six new cities. Flashaid said it is building an API-first health cover to make health insurance affordable and accessible to digital India. It is developing a distinctive channel for retail health plan distribution via a B2B2C platform.
Over the last year, Flashaid claims to have partnered with over 20 platforms to distribute 30,000+ health covers and is profitable at the EBITDA level. The company is at an ARR of $ 1 million and is expected to grow to $10M ARR (annual run rate) in the next two years.
MatchLog Solutions gets $1.5 million to enhance sustainability and carbon efficiency in container logistics
MatchLog Solutions, a sustainable container logistics and supply chain optimization player, has bagged $1.5 million in Pre-Series A funding round led by Motion Ventures and July Ventures, with participation from Venture Catalysts, Blue Ashva Capital, and Capital A.
As per the firm, this funding will enable it to shift to a full platform model, emphasising carbon reduction as a core aspect of its offering. The investment will also expand MatchLog’s market presence, enhance strategic partnerships, and deepen collaborations within the global shipping and port ecosystems.
MatchLog said it is set to increase its footprint and scale in India and the growth is projected to handle around 4-5 million containers annually, resulting in a substantial reduction of 200,000 metric tons of carbon emissions each year.
Ideal Insurance bags Rs 8 crore in Pre-Series A funding
Insuretech platform Ideal Insurance has raised Rs 8 crore in Pre-Series A funding round led by family offices of VC Grid with participation from investors including Sagar Daryani of Wow Momo, Atha Group Family office, StyleBaazar Family office, Deven Bhandari and others.
“With a team of more than 300 and presence across 50+ cities, we plan to grow to 500 cities in the next 2 years with a premium collection of more than INR 1,100 crore and an EBITDA target of INR 33 crore,” said Rahul Agarwal, Founder and CEO of Ideal Insurance
Agarwal added, “We plan to raise $10 million this year at a valuation of $70-90 million to achieve our desired growth.”
Control One AI receives $350,000 from a clutch of investors
Control One AI, an AI first Robotics Startup has raised $350,000 from a group of investors in the United States and India. The funding saw participation from Kunal Shah (Founder, CRED), Chaitanya R (Co-Founder,Wakefit) & Amit Singh (Ex-MD, Avendus Capital) and Silicon Valley based Top Supply Chain executives from Tesla, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Mercedes-Benz, and General Electric.
The startup is building an AI specially tailored for Slow Moving Equipments utilised throughout the Supply chain.
The funds raised is aimed at creating a fully functional prototype and conducting successful pilot validations. The firm is also looking to unveil the first fully functional prototype to demonstrate the AI in action which will revolutionise the existing infrastructure and even democratize automation to all.
Ramoji Group invests in FlexiCloud to expand cloud solutions in Kerala
Ushodaya Enterprises, the parent company of the Ramoji Group, has made strategic investment in Kochi-based FlexiCloud Internet, a provider of advanced managed cloud hosting solutions. This investment is part of Ushodaya’s efforts to expand its footprint in Kerala, a statement said.
The fresh capital will be used to augment company’s technological base, expand its research and development efforts, and increase its market penetration.
This investment will also help improve FlexiCloud’s PaaS offerings in the cloud sector and incorporate AI and machine learning into their services. “Thanks to this investment, we can push the boundaries of what our cloud technologies can achieve, offering more to our clients than ever before,” said Binu Mathew, CFO of FlexiCloud.
GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS
Microsoft results top Wall Street targets, driven by AI investment
Microsoft beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue and profit, driven by gains from adoption of artificial intelligence across its cloud services.
The rise in Microsoft shares after the bell lifted the company’s stock market value by $128 billion as profit and revenue growth overshadowed its higher-than-expected capital expenditures.
Microsoft revenue rose 17% to $61.9 billion in the quarter ended March, exceeding the consensus estimate of $60.80 billion, according to LSEG data. Earnings per share of $2.94 topped Wall Street’s target of $2.82.
Google parent announces first-ever dividend; beats on sales, profit
Alphabet has announced its first-ever dividend and a $70 billion stock buyback. The Google parent is returning capital while spending billions of dollars on data centers to catch up with rivals on generative artificial intelligence. The dividend will be 20 cents per share.
Alphabet beat expectations for the quarter in sales, profit and advertising – metrics that are all closely watched. Alphabet’s after-hours share surge of nearly 16% following the report increased its stock market value by about $300 billion to over $2 trillion.
In a call to discuss results, CEO Sundar Pichai touted Google’s AI offerings as a boon to its core search results. “We are encouraged that we are seeing an increase in search usage among people who are using the AI overviews,” he said. Revenue was $80.54 billion for the quarter ended March 31, compared with estimates of $78.59 billion, according to LSEG data.
Snapchat parent soars after beating revenue, user growth estimates
Shares in Snap jumped nearly 25% in premarket trading after targeted ads and new features helped the owner of the photo messaging app beat Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue and user growth.
The Snapchat parent now expects second-quarter revenue between $1.23 billion and $1.26 billion, above analysts’ estimates of $1.22 billion, according to LSEG data. Snap said its business was improving faster than expected due to upgrades of its ad system and higher demand for features that help brands drive sales or website clicks.
Daily active users of Snapchat increased to 422 million during the quarter, above estimates of 419.6 million. The company said first-quarter revenue grew 21% to $1.2 billion, above estimates of $1.12 billion.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail: Report
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., Reuters reported.
The algorithms TikTok relies on for its operations are deemed core to ByteDance’s overall operations, which would make a sale of the app with algorithms highly unlikely, said the sources close to the parent.
TikTok accounts for a small share of ByteDance’s total revenues and daily active users, so the parent would rather have the app shut down in the U.S. in a worst case scenario than sell it to a potential American buyer, they said.
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
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