Tag: Blume Ventures

Blume Ventures leads $10 million funding round in Interview Kickstart

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

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Edtech platform Interview Kickstart has secured $10 million in a funding round led by Blume Ventures. The fresh capital will aid the startup in strengthening its position in the US market and expanding its platform globally.

“Interview Kickstart presented a unique opportunity. The company has been bootstrapped and profitable for several years and the founders have built an incredible proposition and community. The investment is a testament to our belief in Interview Kickstart’s mission and track record of delivering career-shifting impact to professionals. They’ve had a huge impact on professionals arming themselves with new skills and opportunities to thrive in the fiercely competitive tech industry,” said Karthik Reddy, Managing Partner at Blume Ventures.

Interview Kickstart claims to have been profitable for several years and said it has trained 20,000 experienced working professionals through its training programs, including AI, Machine Learning, Data Science, Engineering and Product Management.

The firm, in a statement, highlighted that its graduates have secured top jobs at Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix, Airbnb, Uber, Apple, Lyft, and LinkedIn. It added that its customers have received job offers in excess of $250,000, with the highest compensation received being over $1.2 million.

“Interview Kickstart, with our instructors and partners, aims to help working tech professionals prepare for these compelling opportunities. For instance, a working professional, Christian, recently got an offer of $380k at a FAANG company, which was more than double what he earned before going through Interview Kickstart. Our constant focus on profitability and strong unit economics, along with this growth investment from Blume, will help us amplify and expand this mission,” said co-founder Ryan Valles.

“In a world where Big Tech is the force behind the rapid pace of tech innovation, including the significant platform shift that Generative AI brings about, there has never been a more substantial need for the 22 million software engineers worldwide to focus on building the essential skills that are emerging out of top tech companies to stay relevant and Level Up,” added Soham Mehta, co-founder at Interview Kickstart.

The firm allows software engineers to keep pace with the industry and reach the highest bar in their careers, securing jobs at tech companies with application acceptance rates of 2% – 5%.

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

Unacademy-backer Blume Ventures’ inaugural fund clocks 5x gross returns

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

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Venture Capital firm Blume Ventures which has backed unicorns including Unacademy, Slice, Purplle, and Spinny— has announced that its inaugural fund (Fund I) along with its extension Fund IA, has realised ~5x of the invested capital so far, and is on track to realise ~6x gross returns by its full lifecycle in 2024.

Launched in 2011 with an initial capital of ₹98 crore, followed by ₹24.5 crore for Fund IA in 2013, the funds were “backed entirely by over 80 domestic investors”, including TDB – Technology Development Board (Fund I) and SIDBI (Fund IA).

Blume invested Fund I and IA in 70+ startups between 2010 and 2015, with the idea of ‘Institutionalized micro VC’. 17 companies (~20% of portfolio) generated 98% of the fund’s gross returns. These include GreyOrange, Carbon Clean, Turtlemint, Cashify, Purplle, Zopper, BeaconStac, E2E Networks, Mettl, Exotel, IDfy, Intrcity (Railyatri), Taxi For Sure, Promptec, Zidial, WebEngage and Infollion.

The top 3 made ~3x of the entire fund. These include GreyOrange, Carbon Clean, and Turtlemint. “The loss ratio of this early vintage is close to 50% on the count of startups but significantly lower on the capital,” the firm said in a statement.

“We’ve always believed that while the returns of a VC fund are typically discussed amidst much secrecy, there’s immense value in sharing these figures more broadly with the ecosystem,” added Karthik Reddy, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Blume Ventures.

Reddy further noted, “The strong performance of our Fund I, conceived and executed during the nascent stages of India’s venture and startup ecosystem, stands as a testament to the resilience and innovation of Indian startups. It is crucial to acknowledge and celebrate these successes, not only as a milestone for Blume but as a clear indicator that dispels any misconceptions about the potential for exits and liquidity in the Indian market.”

Founded by Karthik Reddy and Sanjay Nath, in 2010, Blume has raised successor funds in 2015-16 and 2018-19, culminating in $60 million Fund II & $102 million Fund III. In late 2022, the firm raised Fund IV, valued at over $290 million. Blume also manages Opportunity Funds and Continuity Funds, which have elevated its total assets under management to over $600 million. In June 2023, the VC had raised ₹200 crore in the first close of its new opportunity fund, Fund 1Y.

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

Blume Ventures raises Rs 200 crore in the first close of its new opportunity fund

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

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Venture Capital firm Blume Ventures which has backed unicorns including Unacademy, Slice, Purplle, Spinny and Ola — has raised Rs 200 crore in the first close of its new opportunity fund, Fund 1Y.

Blume, through its third growth fund, is looking to raise Rs 400 crore for the remaining corpus. The three-fourths of the corpus would be used to buy assets held by its current funds, providing investors with an exit strategy, Blume said in a statement.

Fund 1Y has received backing from high-quality LP base, with existing LPs in Blume Ventures’ other funds participating again, the statement said, adding that it has visibility for the remaining corpus.

Also read: Healthcare edtech startup Virohan raises $7 million in funding led by Blume Ventures

Blume Ventures said it will invest part of the capital from the new fund to include nine firms in the portfolio of the Rs 400 crore Blume Ventures opportunity fund. Of this, the VC will buy out four companies —Intracity, Cashify, Carbon Clean, and Zopper—from their legacy Fund I and allied investment vehicles and use the remaining to invest in the existing five winners of their other funds. The VC firm has already completed its investment from the fund in online beauty product retailer Purplle.

“We have a fabulous set of winners in our portfolio, and I am glad that we have been able to raise additional capital to stay invested longer and go deeper in our winners. We believe in the power of public markets and are confident that businesses such as Purplle, Zopper, Cashify and others in this portfolio are well entrenched on the path,” said Vikram Gawande, Vice President, of Growth Investments, Blume Ventures.

The first close of the new fund comes six months after Blume Ventures closed its fourth flagship and largest-ever fund of $250 million. It is looking to back around 30-35 startups from its fourth fund and has already made over a dozen investments.

“It’s a global practice for Fund Managers like Blume to provide exits to the existing LPs by finding new investors who can buy out a combination of assets from the original Fund. Blume is one of the first VCs in India to have executed this structure with the new investors also being onshore,” said Karthik Reddy, Co-founder and Partner, Blume Ventures.

Prior to this, Blume had raised a similar-sized opportunity fund in 2021. The VC firm said that the last fund brought out strong performers from Fund 1, and a majority of the portfolio’s underlying metrics have grown at 35 percent + CAGR (compound annual growth rate), resulting in follow-on rounds even in this market. Blume has also raised similar-sized Opportunity Funds in 2018, 2021 and 2022 to invest across startups such as Exotel, Grey Orange Robotics, Smallcase, slice, Unacademy and WebEngage.

Blume said through these continuity and opportunity funds, the VC buys out stakes of high-performing companies from its legacy funds at pre-validated price points discovered by follow-on investors and holds on to these positions as they brace up for a path to profitability and eventual public listing.

“The current environment and our unique strategy allows us to balance the interests of our current and incoming investors and hold the best of our companies for another 3-4 years before eventual public listing and create wealth for the local ecosystem. It’s a win-win solution for all involved,” added Reddy.

The VC said it also invests additional capital into break-out businesses on the back of follow-on investors, thereby continuing to create effective ways for its LP base to participate in certain high-performing businesses.

Several investors have launched or closed funds this year to invest in Indian startups — B Capital closed its first healthcare-focused fund worth $500 million corpus, Avaana Capital marked the first close of its climate and sustainability fund at $70 million, Aeravti Ventures launched a Rs 100 crore fund to focus on early-stage startups in DeepTech, AgriTech, and Emerging Sectors and Capria Ventures marks first close of $100 million Global South Fund II.

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

Zomato-backer Blume Ventures closes its largest-ever fund at over $250 million

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

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Zomato & Unacademy-backer Blume Ventures sets up its largest-ever fund, announcing the close of Fund IV at over $250M. The venture capital fund has been an early-stage investor more than 100 startups, including unicorns Spinny, Purplle, Slice and the now-listed Zomato. Fund IV looks to back 30-35 technology-driven startups.

With the launch of the new fund, the firm’s assets under management has surged over $600 million with support from Indian family offices, global family offices, sovereign wealth funds (India and overseas), and emerging market Fund of Funds.

“It has been satisfying to see the brand scale and be able to raise a fund size that is finally commensurate to its needs and more so when there is an overall gloom around fundraising and liquidity globally,” said Ashish Fafadia, Partner, Blume Ventures.

One of India’s earliest home-grown micro venture capital funds, Blume Ventures raised $20 million in Fund I and invested in over 60 startups, including Purplle, Grey Orange, Turtlemint, Carbon Clean, Exotel, Cashify, Zopper, Webengage, and IDfy.

Also Read: Shankar Sharma-backed drone startup’s IPO opening on December 13 priced at Rs 52-54

With two successor funds between 2015 and 2019 — Fund II ($60 million ) and Fund III ($102 million) — Blume Ventures went onto back Unacademy, Slice, Spinny, dunzo, Classplus, Servify, Lambdatest, Koo, Locus, Healthifyme, smallcase, Euler, Jai Kisan and Pixxel, amongst others.

Blume Fund IV will be managed by investment team led by Sajith Pai, Arpit Agarwal, Ashish Fafadia, Sanjay Nath and Karthik Reddy. The fund’s investment mandate covers edtech, fintech, health, commerce and consumer internet, robotics, artificial intelligence, SaaS and enterprise software.

Besides the above mentioned funds, Blume Ventures manages ‘continuity’ funds, which include secondary funds (Fund I winners), opportunity funds (Fund I and II winners) and SPVs.

“Thanks to an increasing reality of IPO and M&A exits, there is a resurgence of 2x founders and operators, as well as higher quality first-time founders. We’re excited for Blume to become the preferred seed partner of choice for both categories,” said Sanjay Nath, Partner, Blume Ventures.

Blume’s Fund-IV follows rapid India-dedicated fundraises this year by some of the largest early-to-growth stage investors including Sequoia Capital, Accel, and Matrix Partners, which has resulted in over $16 billion worth of drypowder ready to be deployed over the next 15-18 months.

Also Read: Byju’s seeks easier terms on its $1.2 billion loan amid steep losses and cost cutting targets

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

Battery Smart raises $25 million in Series A round led by Tiger Global

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

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Battery Smart, which runs a battery-swapping network for electric vehicles, has raised $25 million in its Series A funding round led by Tiger Global with participation from Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures.

Operationalized in June 2020, Battery Smart’s battery-as-a-service model enables battery swapping for electric two and three-wheelers. The Delhi NCR-based startup claims to have completed over 2.5 million battery swaps through its network of more than 200 live swap stations across 10 cities in India.

With fresh capital, Battery Smart is planning to enter new territories, strengthen its Battery Assignment Technology, and ramp up hiring to continue scaling operations.

Also read: One-stop car service and repair startup Fixcraft acquires VMotive

The startup’s fundraise follows a favourable policy move. Last month, the government think tank NITI Aayog released the draft battery swapping policy to standardise the interoperability of electric vehicle batteries.

Explaining that battery swapping reduces the up-front investment borne by a consumer by up to 60 percent, Battery Smart’s co-founder Pulkit Khurana said, “Battery swapping has incredible potential to fast-track the country’s EV adoption, as it solves major deterrents like range anxiety, high up-front costs, and long-charging downtimes.”

“With this investment, we are focused on bringing our offerings to even more EV users pan-India, by increasing the number of Swap Stations and continuing to partner with OEMs and fleet operators,” he added.

With electric two and three-wheelers expected to contribute up to 30 percent of first and last-mile vehicle sales by 2027, Tiger Global’s Connie Lee sees Battery Smart’s battery-swapping network as the solution to adoption of EVs for food delivery and e-commerce.

Founded by Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka, Battery Smart had last raised $7 million in pre-Series A funding round led by Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures along with angel investors in November, 2021.

Also read: Amazon-backed BankBazaar CEO says he is ready for a funding round after 2 years to fuel the growth of co-branded credit cards

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

Excl: IVCA gets new top team; Karthik Reddy of Blume Ventures to take over as chair, Ashley Menezes of ChrysCap is vice chair

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

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The Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA) has announced a new crack-team at the helm to set the agenda for India’s thriving venture capital (VC) ecosystem.

Karthik Reddy, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Blume Ventures, is the new chairperson of the executive committee while Ashley Menezes, Partner & COO at ChrysCapital, is the new vice chairperson.

Reddy is taking over from Renuka Ramnath, Founder, MD and CEO of Multiples Alternate Asset Management.

The last couple of years have been unprecedented for the startup ecosystem in India, one where startups reached for the stars. VC funding hit a record $38.5 billion in 2021, with 44 companies joining the coveted unicorn club.

Yet after a historic year of turning India into the world’s third largest unicorn creator, venture investors for their part are not locking, but refilling their war chests. As per a Bain & Company and IVCA report, investing momentum in India is being driven by a pivotal convergence of tailwinds. Digital infrastructural fundamentals (e.g., cheap data access, UPI, eKYC via Aadhar) opened enormous economic opportunities that are increasingly being addressed by the deepening startup ecosystem in India.

“As a thriving startup economy, India is now entering an exciting phase of growth in the PE and VC ecosystem, which continues to fuel FDI and job growth in the country, the contribution being ever larger than before. The IVCA’s goals are aligned with the nation’s desire to grow rapidly and the most fundamental goal of the investments are to create digital infrastructure, efficiencies across value chains, and skill the nation into developing and adopting the latest technologies in the world, propelling the work force to becoming the most competitive in the world and creating millions of jobs for the country,” Karthik Reddy, Chairperson of IVCA told CNBC-TV18.

With 228 members on board including top domestic and global PE/VC funds, LPs, Family Offices and other stakeholders, IVCA represents the India PE/VC industry at government, policymakers and regulatory authorities. Over the last few years, IVCA has worked with the policymakers on issues that impact the investment ecosystem in India. In fact, Union Budget 2022, announced the setting up of an expert committee for PE/VC Investors to address issues ranging from taxation to opening up large stock of domestic capital for AIFs and startups, supporting sunrise sectors and more. ​

Mobilising the large pools of domestic capital is going to be high on agenda for the new IVCA executive committee. This will be done through the Fund of Funds as well as by easing additional inflows from domestic and global investors.

“With the new expert committee announced in the Union Budget, we intend to work closely with the government on the existing regulatory matters. The current government and policymakers have been engaging with the industry body frequently and have acted on several pressing policy matters in the past, and together we intend to create a ‘frictionless economy’, accelerating the 2047 goals for the country,” Reddy added.

IVCA’s new executive committee consists of a panel of investors who have and are helping build some of the most innovative and successful businesses in India like Prashanth Prakash of Accel Partners (Swiggy, Urban Company, Vedantu, Amagi), Sequoia India’s Rajan Anandan (Surge, Polygon, Mamaearth, Rebel Foods), Sandeep Naik of General Atlantic (BYJU’S, Unacademy, Pine Labs), Vineet Rai of Aavishkaar Capital (AgroStar, Vortex GoBolt), Nipun Sahni of Apollo Global Management, 3one4 Capital’s Siddarth Pai (Licious, DarwinBox) and Amit Jain of Carlyle India Advisors.

Everstone Group​’s Pratibha Jain, Rema Subramanian of Ankur Capital (CropIn, Captain Fresh, Niramai), Padmaja Ruparel of IAN Fund (Druva, Wow Momo, FarEye) and Rochelle D’Souza at Lighthouse Funds (Nykaa, Capital Trust, Kama Ayurveda) also join the committee.

Even as the Indian startup ecosystem reached an inflection point in maturity in 2021, fuelled by VC investments, global headwinds are likely to affect the funding outlook for the rest of 2022, according to the Bain & Company-IVCA study.

While investments in 2022 will remain in a similar range as 2021, the pace and quality of deals is likely to shift. A more measured pace of deal-making could see investors doubling down significantly on quality assets with larger rounds.

Exits via public listings may also witness some moderation as IPOs in the pipeline may adopt a wait-and-watch stance given global headwinds in public markets.

Some India-specific trends may further affect momentum in 2022 including stricter IPO norms that are expected to be rolled out by SEBI, specifically focused on capping investor share offloading at IPO. Regulatory shifts are likely to continue to affect a few sectors such as online gaming, cryptocurrency, and fintech and lastly talent attraction and retention will continue to remain top of mind for scaling startups, the report 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

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Funding Rundown: Dream 11 parent Dream Sports raises $840 million, Blume Ventures marks the first close of fourth fund at $105 million & Park+ bags $25 million from Sequoia and Matrix

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

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Dream Sports raises $840 million at a valuation of $8 million

Sports technology company Dream Sports, the parent firm of fantasy sports platform Dream11 has completed an investment of $840 million at an $8 billion valuation, led by Falcon Edge, DST Global, D1 Capital, Redbird Capital and Tiger Global.

The round also saw participation from existing investors like TPG and Footpath Ventures. Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to Dream Sports on the transaction. This comes after Dream Sports closed a $400 million secondary funding round in March, which valued the company at around $5 billion.

“Our vision and mission is to create an entrepreneur-led virtuous cycle of investment, innovation and wealth creation for all stakeholders in the sports ecosystem, from fans to athletes, teams and leagues,” said Harsh Jain, CEO and co-founder, Dream Sports.

In the gaming sector in India, investments have crossed around $1.6 billion in the first nine months of 2021 and exceeded what was invested in the last five years, a report by boutique investment bank Maple Capital Advisors and All India Gaming Federation said.

Blume Ventures marks first close of fourth fund at $105 million

Early-stage venture capital firm Blume Ventures has made the first close of $105 million of its fourth fund. The company is looking to close the fund at about $200 million by March-April next year, making it Blume’s largest fund so far.

Also Read: Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath warns retail investors against ‘buy now pay later’. Here’s why

From the new fund, the firm will continue investing in pre-seed to Pre Series A technology startups in sectors such as consumer internet, small and medium business marketplaces, as well as global opportunities in software and enterprise technology. The firm’s Fund-III had mopped up $102 million last year along with a $41 million Opportunity Fund to back a select group of companies.

Parking solutions platform Park+ raises $25 million from Sequoia and Matrix

Parking solutions platform Park+ has bagged $25 million as part of its Series B funding round led by Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India, and Epiq Capital. Existing and new investors, including AdvantEdge, Fund II, and Motherson Lease Solution, also participated in the round.

The company said it plans to utilise the funds raised to strengthen its core technology and build out innovative solutions for cars and car owners that can solve all their pain points on a single platform. In less than 12 months since its inception, the platform said it has witnessed over two million app installs. It has 90,000+ bookable spots in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore.

Indifi raises Rs 340 crore in Series D equity and debt funding

Online lending platform Indifi has raised Rs 340 crore in a mix of equity and debt as part of its Series D round. CX Partners and OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I, along with existing investors CDC Group, Omidyar Network, Flourish Ventures, Elevar Equity and Accel, have invested Rs 140 core. in Series D round of Equity Capital raise for Indifi Technologies.

Indifi has also secured Rs 165 crore in debt financing from Vivriti, Northern Arc, SIDBI, along with other lenders. Additionally, the United States International Development Finance Corporation has guaranteed Rs 35 crore of funding to Indifi.

Also Read: Paytm IPO listing: Most HNIs escape losses despite stock hitting lower circuit

According to the company, the funds raised will be used for serving more customers, identifying additional segments of MSMEs, and towards technology and product development.

Zenwork bags Rs 1,200 crore in funding from Spectrum Equity

Zenwork, a SaaS platform for digital tax compliance and regulatory reporting for global businesses, has raised over Rs 1,200 crore from a US-based growth equity firm. The funding comes at a time when the company is looking to expand its operations beyond the US and into Europe and Asia.

As per reports, the company said it will invest heavily in growing the capabilities of its Tax1099 and Compliancely platforms, while hiring between 100-150 people across roles of engineering, sales, product management to help make this happen.

Spinny turns unicorn with $285 million fundraise

Online used car marketplace Spinny has turned unicorn after raising $285 million in its Series E funding round, led by Abu Dhabi-based ADQ and New York-based investment firm Tiger Global.

Tiger Global and Abu Dhabi Growth Fund have invested Rs 739.7 crore each. Somerville SPV and Aveni Spinny have put in the remaining amount, as per Entrackr. Spinny is expected to use the capital to invest in developing tech and product capabilities, for branding and to expand geographical reach, the report added.

EV maker Simple Energy gets $21 million funding

EV maker Simple Energy has raised $21 million (around Rs 156 crore) in a funding round. The aim was to raise $15 million in fundraising, but immense investor interest resulted in the company mopping up more capital in the pre-series investment round, the firm said in a statement.

The over-subscribed funding round was driven by the company’s current investors and board members, Manish Bharti of UiPath and Raghunath Subramanian, Non-executive Chairman, UiPath India, respectively. This round also witnessed participation from new investors such as Sattva Group, Athiyas Group and several high net-worth individuals (HNIs).

Also Read: NaBFID chairman KV Kamath says tech platforms critical, important to ensure regulatory compliances

This fresh capital will be utilised to increase manufacturing capacity, accelerate new product development, and expand experience centres, consequently bolstering the company’s expansion plans, the company stated.

GlobalBees adds three more new-age brands to its portfolio

Thrasio-style direct-to-consumer (D2C) venture GlobalBees has added three more startups to its portfolio list. The company has picked up a majority stake in Healthyhey (dietary supplements maker), Rey Naturals (hair care products brand) and Intellilens (eyewear brand) for undisclosed amounts.

With the current investments, the company now has a portfolio across homecare, personal care, nutrition and wellness, health and sports supplement and intelligent eyewear categories. Global Bees has earlier this month onboarded Yellow Chimes, a leading fashion jewellery brand, and Absorbia, an innovative home care brand, to its portfolio.

Prior to that, it had invested in homegrown millennial skincare brand – Prolixr, women’s health solutions company – &ME, and home care products company – The Better Home – in August this year, this will take its total acquisitions to 8 in just four months.

In the next three years, GlobalBees is looking forward to investing in 100 brands across verticals, including fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), sports, home organisation, and lifestyle, it said in a statement.

Zenity raises $5 million for low-code/no-code security

Tel Aviv-based Zenity, a developer of a platform for securing increasingly prevalent low-code/no-code applications, has emerged from stealth with $5 million in seed funding.

Also Read: MobiKwik IPO: Fintech company may defer plan amid weak investor sentiment, concerns on biz model

The round was led by Vertex Ventures and UpWest, and also included investments from Gerhard Eschelbeck, formerly the vice president of security at Google, and Tom Fisher, the former CIO of SuccessFactors.

The startup said the funding will go toward the expansion of R&D, marketing, and sales activities. Zenity currently has a staff of 15 and plans to double its headcount in 2022.

Credit Fair gets debt funding from Northern Arc Capital

Consumer lending fintech startup Credit Fair has secured an undisclosed sum as debt from Northern Arc Capital. It plans to use the debt fund amount to offer specific financing for education, medical, electric vehicles, and home renovations, the company said in a statement.

The firm is also looking to expand its portfolios with products and services by partnering with other non-banking financial companies. The B2B2C lending-focused startup aims to build a credit ladder for 550 million underserved Indians.

It offers lending solutions to both businesses and private individuals. The ticket size ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20 lakh and tenure from three months to three years.

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