Tag: Grofers

Startup Digest: Paytm plunges in market debut, Zomato a good investor in us: Grofers CEO, Google’s new initiatives for India & Alibaba profit falls 81%

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Here are the top headlines from the startup universe.

Paytm plunges in market debut; VSS says share price not a true reflection of Co’s scale

Even as shares of One97 Communications continued to trade sharply lower after a weak market debut, Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that today’s stock price is not a true reflection of the company’s opportunity and scale.

“Today’s share price or any day’s share price will actually never be a true reflection of our opportunity and our scale. It is simply an opinion of few buyers and sellers of that day,” Sharma said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

The CEO said that while people know about the Paytm ‘product’, they may not necessarily understand the company’s business model.

“People will take time to understand the business model. The fact that a payment company can do financial services like private insurance and wealth is something new to the Indian stock market… Over the period it will show up what this business model and scale is,” Sharma said.

Also Read | Startup Street: Grofers’ Albinder Dhindsa on opportunities, challenges in India’s quick commerce space

Paytm shares fell sharply after they made a weak market debut at a discount of 9 percent to the issue price. At the time of writing, the stock was trading 26.37 percent lower at Rs 1583.10 on the BSE.

Zomato a very good investor, will always keep dialogue open, says Grofers CEO Albinder Dhindsa on merger reports

E-commerce firm Grofers’ co-founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa tells CNBC-TV18 that “Zomato is a very good investor in us and will always keep the dialogue open (on potential merger).”

Dhinsa’s comments come amid reports of food delivery giant Zomato investing approximately $500 million in the e-commerce firm.

The investment will likely value Grofers at around $1.5 billion, up from $1 billion when Zomato first invested in the startup earlier this year with a $100 million cheque, ET reported.

The big bet on Grofers comes after Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal a few weeks ago announced the company’s investments in startups such as Curefit, Shiprocket and Magicpin, and said the company will invest another $1 billion into more companies over the next couple of years.

Cryptocurrency should not end up in wrong hands, can spoil youth: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that democratic nations need to work together to ensure that cryptocurrency does not go in the wrong hands. The remarks came during his keynote address at The Sydney Dialogue on the theme of India’s technology evolution and revolution.

“It is important that all democratic nations work together and ensure it does not end up in wrong hands, which can spoil our youth,” PM Modi said on cryptocurrency or bitcoin.

Also Read | VIEW: RBI concerns on bitcoin valid, but official cryptocurrency a silly idea

Modi said India is building the world’s most extensive public information infrastructure, adding that the country has created a robust framework of data protection, privacy, and security.

PM’s speech comes as the government is considering a regulatory framework to manage and oversee investments made in cryptocurrency.

Google steps up product focus to drive digital inclusion in India

Google on Thursday announced a slew of new product features and partnerships as part of its efforts to drive digital inclusion in the country.

The tech giant announced the first-ever Google Assistant-enabled, end-to-end vaccine booking flow in India which will guide users through the process of booking a vaccination appointment on the Co-Win website with voice guidance in English and eight Indian languages at each step. This feature will be available in Chrome on Android and will begin rolling out in early 2022.

In order to help local language speakers find high-quality information by translating the best results from across the web, Google launched a new feature in ‘Search’ that will give users an option to access web pages from other languages and view it in their preferred local language.

It also announced the launch of 100,000 Google Career Certificate scholarships and joins hands with leading companies to drive the hiring of Google certified professionals.

The announcements underline Google’s growing focus on product innovations that will help new Internet users in India.

“Last year, we launched the USD 10 billion Google for India Digitisation Fund. Today’s announcements aim at bridging more gaps and further broadening the inclusive base of India’s digital economy so that the advantages of this crucial transformation are accessible to everyone,” said Sanjay Gupta, Country Head & Vice President, Google India.

Accenture, Microsoft expand Project Amplify to support 10 startups, social enterprises in India

Accenture and Microsoft will support 10 startups in India that focuses on social impact and sustainability, by helping them to scale their emerging solutions and business models. The joint initiative ‘Project Amplify’ is Asia Pacific-wide and accelerates the growth of 33 startups from across the region.

The initiative extends activities launched in South Asia in 2020 welcoming business ventures from Singapore, Australia, Japan, Sri Lanka, and other countries.

Also Read | Defy raises $5.5 million to build India’s first social crypto exchange

The initiative has a long-term goal of accelerating Asia’s potential and improving millions of lives in the region and globally, by addressing diverse societal challenges, the companies said in a statement.

Purpose-driven startups from India participating in Project Amplify include Jaljeevika, eKutir, Everwell, Fluxgen, Docturnal, BrainSight AI, Fresh On Table, FreshR, Rocket Learning and Blink Foundation, it added.

Through Project Amplify in India, all 10 startups will have the opportunity to access the latest technologies, as well as know-how, expertise and mentoring from both Accenture and Microsoft. The companies will help startups test and validate proof-of-concepts to re-envision and expand the impact and social benefit of their solutions.

Antler launches fellowship programme worth $20K for student founders in India

Global venture capital firm Antler India has launched a fellowship programme in the country that will provide student founders an equity-free grant of $20,000 to turn their startup ideas into a business.

The fellowship aims to fuel the growing entrepreneurial talent by providing a platform for experimentation, building, and scaling with the support of equity-free capital, mentors, and a peer network. The grant will be equity-free, the company said in a statement.

Fellows can use the grant to scale their startup idea or pay off their student loans should they choose to pursue entrepreneurship full-time. They can also gain access to a hands-on programme by domain experts and founders, spanning idea validation, user research, product, engineering, and marketing, the firm said.

Antler India will select 10 student founders for the 16-week programme that will offer workshops, mentorship with top founders, and a peer community for them to lean on during and after the programme.

Nandini Vishwanath, Programme Director, Antler India said that the organisation spoke with hundreds of college students in the past year and realised the immense potential of student entrepreneurs that is yet to be unlocked. “Indian students want to start up but end up not pursuing their ideas because of the lack of guidance and mentorship,” Vishwanath added.

Post the programme, fellows will be provided an opportunity to raise pre-seed funding from Antler India and will receive support in raising subsequent funding rounds thereafter.

Social commerce platform Frontier Markets partners with U.P govt to promote rural women entrepreneurship in the state

Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission (UPSRLM) a registered society promoted by the state government, mandated to implement the National Rural Livelihoods Mission has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rajasthan based social commerce company Frontier Markets to support rural women with livelihood and income generation.

UPSRLM collaboration with Frontier Markets will help rural women entrepreneurs earn enhanced income as sahelis. The partnership will focus on institution and capacity building with technical and implementation support to promote women entrepreneurship, accelerate financial independence through job creation at scale and facilitating door-step delivery of rural friendly products and services.

Also Read | Startup Street: Accel’s portfolio companies set for D-Street; growth story of Belora Cosmetics

The partnership also aims to onboard 2000 rural women as Frontier Markets Sahelis with Self Help Groups (SHGs) and train them to leverage technology through the Frontier Markets e-commerce platform “Meri Saheli” and generate an income of Rs 50,000 – Rs 60,000 per annum, a statement said.

Leveraging Banking Correspondent Sakhi (BCs), the organic part of the SHGs trained in conducting financial transactions will be trained to generate sales leads and data collection. These women entrepreneurs will also support the implementation of government’s schemes and programs in the catchment areas.

“We are on a mission to onboard 1 million sahelis. Rural women are trusted influencers of the community driving change and development and through this expansion we are focusing on enhancing livelihood with our gender centric approach,” said Ajaita Shah Founder and CEO Frontier Markets.

Northern Arc Capital partners with Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO

IPO-bound debt financing platform Northern Arc Capital has partnered with Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO.

Through this deal, Northern Arc Capital will support FMO by providing services including research on macro trends, assessment of the financial landscape, transaction monitoring, performance reporting, and modelling support for securitisation of transactions in sub-Saharan Africa and countries neighbouring Europe, for all transactions guaranteed by FMO under the NASIRA programme, the company said in a statement.

NASIRA is a risk-sharing facility provided by FMO for local financial institutions lending to underserved segments. The programme aims to allow local financial institutions to provide loans to young women and COVID-19-affected and migrant entrepreneurs, who financial institutions normally would perceive as too risky.

Northern Arc Capital filed its DRHP with the market regulator Sebi to raise funds through an IPO. The company will issue fresh equity shares of up to Rs 300 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 36.52 million equity shares by existing shareholders and promoters.

Mumbai Angels Network collaborates with FreeFlow Ventures as a part of The Co-investment Program

Startup investment platform for early-stage venture investments Mumbai Angels Network has partnered with FreeFlow Ventures, a startup incubator and accelerator to co-invest in select startups that display a high growth potential.

Also Read | Funding Rundown: Disprz raises $13 mn in Series B round, Foodlink secures $8 mn

Startups chosen for the co-investment program will receive benefits, including being a part of Mumbai Angels Network’s outreach for next-level investment conversations with eminent VCs, Strategics, and Family Offices. Additionally, the startups will be included in Mumbai Angels Network’s Multiplier Program, a new, exclusive marketplace for its portfolio companies. The co-investment program will also offer startups the chance to raise their next round of funding from Mumbai Angels Network, depending on their performance and capital efficiency, the company said in a statement.

“This partnership will offer an unrestricted pass to startups for co-investment deals from both Mumbai Angels Network and FreeFlow Ventures, allowing them to scale their business and reach greater heights,” said Nandini Mansinghka, Co-Founder & CEO – Mumbai Angels Network.

Entropik Tech launches beta version of its conversational intelligence platform ‘Decode’

Entropik Tech,a  SaaS-based Emotion AI company, has announced the beta launch of its new conversational intelligence platform, Decode.

This new platform gathers conversation data and creates a layer of intelligence on top to turn conversations into actionable insights that will increase the efficiency and productivity of organizations, the company said.

Users will be able to host, record and upload conversations, avail playback with transcription capabilities, index videos, tag conversations and get access to Emotion AI and sentiment analysis. Additionally, users will have the ability to integrate with video conferencing platforms, including Zoom, Google Meet and Teams, the firm added.

Entropik Tech helps brands understand their customer experience from the lens of their emotional behaviour. It tracks their facial expressions and eye movements as they scroll through and record engagement levels as well as reactions like happy, sad or excited.

The firm’s clients include Procter & Gamble, Flipkart, Tata Consumer Care, Accenture and ViaCom18 to name a few.

92% SMBs in 48 countries reported jump in cloud usage during peak of pandemic: DigitalOcean Survey

65 percent small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) have reported an increased dependency on cloud solutions due to Covid-19, as per a report by Cloud computing company DigitalOcean.

The finding was based on the company’s research report involving 2,400 interviews in 48 countries, including 300 from India. The report added that 92 percent respondents who switched to cloud solutions reported a jump in cloud usage during the peak of the pandemic that continued to increase in 2021.

The report noted that apart from the challenge of having limited technical staff to manage cloud solutions, cost, technical training and education, and time required to manage services were the barriers to cloud adoption. Lack of cloud knowledge among SMBs was also reported in the report.

For example, 48 percent of respondents from traditional SMBs were not familiar with the term “cloud-native,” compared to the 5 percent of respondents from enterprises who are not familiar with the term. Also, 56 percent of respondents from traditional SMBs were not familiar with the term “digital native,” compared to 18 percent of respondents from enterprises who are not familiar.

As per the report, the Covid impact has led to an increased reliance on the cloud. Of the respondents who reported increased cloud usage in 2020 due to Covid-driven digital acceleration, 82 percent of traditional SMBs, 82 percent of tech SMBs, and 92 percent of enterprises said their cloud usage has continued to increase this year. 69 percent percent of respondents believed the cloud has helped their business recover from the ongoing pandemic.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Alibaba says profit falls 81% as China tech crackdown bites: Report

Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group said that its profit for the most recent quarter tumbled 81% as a government crackdown on the country’s big tech champions bites.

According to AFP, Alibaba said its profit came in at 5.37 billion yuan ($833 million) for the July-September period.

The company’s revenues, generated mainly by its core e-commerce operations, reached 200.7 billion yuan, up 29 percent, roughly in line with previous years’ growth rates.

Alibaba’s earnings results have been keenly anticipated for a gauge of how one of the country’s highest-profile companies was faring under the government’s drive to rein in big tech.

US FTC says court should allow antitrust lawsuit against Facebook to proceed

The US Federal Trade Commission said that a federal court should allow an antitrust lawsuit it filed against Facebook to go forward as the company has “interfered with the competitive process by targeting nascent threats through exclusionary conduct.”

In August the FTC refreshed its antitrust case against Facebook, now Meta Platforms, adding detail on the accusation the social media company crushed or bought rivals and asking a judge to force it to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.

As per Reuters, in a filing with the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the FTC said that for more than a decade, Facebook’s market share – for example, more than 70% of daily active users – exceed the levels needed to establish monopoly power.

It said that Facebook sought to maintain its monopoly position by buying photo-sharing app Instagram and secure messaging app WhatsApp. However, Meta disagreed.

“The FTC has once again brought a monopolization case without a monopolist. Its claims ignore the reality that people have more choices than ever before in how they share, connect, and communicate, and its second complaint should be dismissed just like the first,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

Apple to sell spare parts to consumers to repair iPhones, Macs

Apple said it will for the first time start selling spare parts and tools to the general public to perform their own repairs on some iPhones and Mac computers, according to Reuters.

The self-service repair program comes after years of pressure from consumer groups have resulted in Apple providing greater access to repair manuals and genuine parts.

In 2019, Apple started a program where independent repair shops can buy its parts, tools and manuals. Apple said there are now 2,800 independent shops in its program in addition to its 5,000 directly authorized repair providers.

Under the self-service program, Apple customers will be able to buy those parts directly to perform their own repairs after reading a manual. Apple said the online store will start with about 200 parts and tools aimed at fixing the most common issues with displays, batteries and cameras on iPhone 12 and 13 models.

The program will eventually extend to Mac computers that use Apple’s M1 chip and later to less common repairs. Customers will be offered the same pricing on parts and tools as independent repair shops and will be able to return their used parts to Apple after completing a repair to receive a discount.

Apple said the program will begin early next year in the United States and expand to more countries later in the year.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk exercises more options, sells $973M for taxes

Tesla boss Elon Musk sold another $973 million in stock to pay taxes after exercising options on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Musk acquired 2.1 million shares worth $2.2 billion at the Tuesday closing price and sold 934,091 for $973 million to pay taxes, the SEC filings showed.

In a sector surge spearheaded by Rivian Automotive Inc and Lucid Group Inc, Tesla Inc rose 4.1% to close at $1,054.73, leaving its market capitalization down about $187 billion since before Musk began selling shares last week.

Over the past week, Musk has sold about 8.2 million Tesla shares for around $8.8 billion. Those sales fulfill almost half of his pledge on Twitter to sell 10% of his stake in Tesla.

Musk began selling shares last week after floating the idea in a Twitter poll.

With electric-car makers increasingly in demand on Wall Street, Tesla’s stock has surged more than 150% in the past 12 months.

Bezos’ Blue Origin hires lobbyist with ties to Obama administration after space tax proposal: Report

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space tourism company has hired a lobbyist with ties to former President Barack Obama’s administration after a Democratic congressman proposed a tax that could make traveling to space a little more expensive, according to CNBC.

Bezos’ Blue Origin recently hired Mac Campbell from Capitol Counsel to lobby on behalf of the company to “monitor and evaluate proposed changes to the Internal Revenue Code being considered by Congress as part of the budget reconciliation process,” according to a lobbying registration form. Campbell registered to lobby for the company in October.

Campbell was an assistant U.S. trade representative for congressional affairs while working in Obama’s executive office before moving on to the powerful Senate Finance Committee. His other clients include Lockheed Martin, Las Vegas Sands and Pacific Mutual, as per data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Blue Origin has already spent over $1.3 million on lobbying this year alone. In 2020, the space company invested nearly $2 million trying to influence lawmakers.

China’s WeRide to launch robotaxis on GAC’s Ontime ride-hailing app

China-based autonomous driving startup WeRide plans to make its robotaxis available for booking by the public on Guangzhou Automobile Group’s Ontime ride-hailing app by next year, as per Reuters.

Backed by Nissan Motor, WeRide said in a statement it plans to offer test rides for the public at the Guangzhou Auto Show, which begins in the southern Chinese city on Friday. It added that its robotaxi has been integrated into the Ontime platform and they were conducting testing.

Automakers and technology firms are investing billions of dollars in autonomous driving, aiming to take an early lead in what many consider the future of mobility.

On Tuesday, Chinese autonomous vehicle startup AutoX, which is backed by Alibaba Group said it had expanded its robotaxi zone in China’s southern city of Shenzhen to become the country’s largest fully driverless robotaxi zone, at 65 square miles (168 square km).

China’s Baidu wants to launch its driverless robotaxi service in 100 cities by 2030: Report

Baidu plans to launch its driverless taxi service in 100 cities by 2030, as the Chinese search giant looks to diversify its business beyond advertising.

According to CNBC, currently, Baidu operates its Apollo Go robotaxi service in five Chinese cities. Users can hail an autonomous car via an app. The company wants to expand Apollo Go to 65 cities by 2025 and then 100 cities by 2030, Baidu CEO Robin Li said in an internal letter that was made public.

Baidu’s driverless car announcement comes after the company reported revenue of 31.92 billion yuan ($4.95 billion) for the third quarter, which was ahead of market expectations.

Amazon may drop Visa as partner on US credit card

Amazon is considering dropping Visa as partner on its US co-branded credit card after earlier confirming it would stop accepting Visa credit cards in the United Kingdom as a dispute over payments intensified, Reuters reported.

The e-commerce giant is in talks with several payment networks including Mastercard Inc, American Express Co and Visa as part of what it called its standard process for reviewing its co-branded credit card agreement, a spokesperson said.

Earlier, shares of Visa closed 4.7% lower after Amazon said it would stop taking payments from Visa credit cards in the UK from January 19, 2022. In a statement, it said such charges should be “going down over time with technological advancements, but instead they continue to stay high or even rise.”

In recent months, Amazon has introduced surcharges on customers using Visa credit cards in Singapore and Australia, citing high fees, as the relationship between the two firms deteriorated.

Amazon customers can still use Visa debit cards, Mastercard and Amex credit cards, and Eurocard, in the UK, Amazon said in a note to customers.

EU lawmakers agree on rules to target big tech- FT

European Union lawmakers have reached a deal on how to target big tech companies, as part of a move to limit anti-competitive practices in the digital economy, the Financial Times reported.

The European Parliament’s main political parties agreed to a deal that would apply to companies with a market capitalisation of at least 80 billion euros ($91 billion) and offering at least one internet service, such as an online search.

The rules would draw more companies than previously thought into the EU’s planned Digital Markets Act (DMA), the newspaper said, adding that the EU plans to implement the act next year.

The DMA, proposed by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager last year, aims to curb the powers of big tech companies with a list of dos and don’ts.

The act will also help national competition authorities scrutinise tech companies’ acquisitions of smaller rivals, amid fears of them acquiring competitors cheaply, according to the FT.

Companies including Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft would fall under its scope, along with China’s Alibaba Group Holding and Netherlands’ Booking.

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

STARTUP DIGEST: Sebi’s green signal to Nykaa’s IPO; Paytm earmarks Rs 100 cr for marketing campaigns

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Nykaa gets Sebi nod for IPO

Beauty and fashion retailer Nykaa has received an approval from market regulator SEBI for its IPO. It was of the most awaited IPOs, the largest multi-brand beauty and personal care (BPC) platform in India.

E-commerce beauty aggregator platform Nykaa filed preliminary papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering (IPO) in August. Nykaa is looking to raise Rs 525 crore through a fresh issue of shares and an offer for sale of up to 43.1 million shares by existing shareholders and promoters.

The online beauty retail startup is looking to raise Rs 4,000 crore from the IPO and is likely to be valued at over Rs 40,000 crore.

Most of the Rs 4,000 crore raised from the IPO will be used to pay existing investors selling their stakes. Sanjay Nayar, TPG, Lighthouse and Sunil Munjal are among the selling shareholders.

Nykaa posted revenue of Rs 1,860 crore in FY20, making it possibly the only profitable unicorn that is going public.

Paytm earmarks Rs 100 cr for marketing campaigns during festive season

Digital payments and financial services firm Paytm has earmarked Rs 100 crore for marketing campaigns during the ongoing festive season, which include cashback offers, promotion of UPI, postpaid service of ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ and wallet businesses.

The company has started ‘Paytm Cashback Dhamaka’ as part of the marketing campaign for users in all districts of India, with special focus on the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.

“The company and its partners will allocate Rs 100 crore for marketing activities during the festive season. These campaigns will be aligned to promote digital payments in India and educate users about Paytm UPI for money transfers, Paytm Wallet and Paytm Postpaid (Buy Now, Pay Later) for spends, to drive financial inclusion across the country,” Paytm said in a statement.

The campaign will continue till November 14. “During the peak festive season, everyday 10 lucky winners will win Rs 1 lakh each, 10,000 winners will get Rs 100 cashback, while another 10,000 users will win Rs 50 cashback. Closer to Diwali (November 1-3) users can win up to Rs 10 lakh daily,” the company added.

The cashback will be provided on using Paytm for their mobile, broadband DTH recharges, utility bill payments, money transfer, booking travel tickets, paying credit card bills, booking movie tickets, FASTag payments, transactions at online and offline kirana stores etc.

According to the company’s draft red herring prospectus filed for IPO, Paytm has reported the highest gross merchandise value of Rs 4.03 lakh crore in the payments industry.

Unacademy in talks to acquire Swiflearn: Report

Edtech startup Unacademy is in talks to acquire Swiflearn in a deal worth $15-20 million, sources told Entrackr.

The transaction will be a mix of cash and stock. Swiflearn’s founders will join Unacademy along with the team members, the report added.

This will be the 11th acquisition for Unacademy since its inception. The company had acquired Handa Ka Funda, TapChief, NeoStencil, PrepLadder, Mastree, CodeChef, Coursavy, Kreatryx, Wifistudy and Rheo TV.

Grofers likely to enter horizontal e-com; plans to deliver anything in 10 minutes

Online grocery delivery platform Grofers said it continues to look for local entrepreneurs who are keen on building businesses in the instant commerce space; and has so far, partnered with 86 ‘dark store owners’ in 13 cities.

In August, Grofers had started a 10-minutes grocery delivery service in 10 cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Jaipur.

The Zomato-backed company is working with local partners to power this initiative.

Grofers founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa tweeted: “We continue to look for local entrepreneurs who are keen on building exciting businesses in the instant commerce space.”

In a blogpost, Dhindsa said the company believes its 10-minute delivery service will help consumers in India save time and fulfil their needs in a way that is frictionless. Grofers plans to build community entrepreneurship by partnering with aspiring business women and men who will run so-called dark stores where inventory will be stored.

He noted that the company is using its platform to create markets for products that help users live healthier and more sustainable lives, while giving hundreds of Indians a chance to start their own businesses.

So far, Grofers has already partnered with 86 dark store owners in 13 cities and logged more than one million orders in the last three months after the launch of its instant delivery service.

“These partner-operated dark stores are the online equivalent of the local market stores accessible now on your phone,” Dhindsa added.

We Founder Circle announces Global Accelerator Programme – EvolveX

Founders-led startup investment platfor We Founder Circle (WFC) has announced We Founder Circle Accelerator Programme- EvolveX. The accelerator programme will provide guidance and seed funding to early-stage growth-driven companies.

With the help of an extensive network of seasoned mentors and exceptional entrepreneurs, the programme will catalyse the overall growth of budding startups, the company said in a statement.

The programme is expected to work at the strategic level of the startup. A mix of more than 30 global mentors that include global VCs like SOSV, CXOs from KPMG, Accenture, and Samsung, and founders like Ankit Mehrotra of Dineount, Akash Gupta of Zypp Electric and Vikas Bagaria of PeeSafe will be mentoring the startups, the company added.

Additionally, the accelerator programme also promises a fully customised acceleration roadmap for the business model. Furthermore, unlike any other accelerator programme, the startups will receive upfront funding of $20,000, and $150,000 worth of credits to take their business to the next level.

The global accelerator programme has got noticeable partners on board to address each and every requirement of startups like SOSV, MOX, Accathon Capital, The Labs, Ladies who tech, Startup Grind and Founders Lair.

Salman Khan launches Chingari’s crypto-token $GARI

Bollywood actor Salman Khan has unveiled $GARI, a crypto-token launched by micro-content, short video application Chingari.

The actor has also announced his collaboration with the app as a brand ambassador for its NFT marketplace and token reward programme in a tweet.

“The creators are shaping the future of entertainment. With the incorporation of the $GARI reward programme, the creators will further get motivated to create newer and more engaging videos on the Chingari app. It’s going to be an interesting journey hereon,” Khan said.

With this foray, Chingari, which currently offers customised videos, an extensive song library, hyper-realistic AR filters, and content in more than 20 languages and has around 50 million monthly active users and almost 85 million downloads to date, has reportedly become India’s first social network to issue crypto tokens.

The token will be built in partnership with the Solana blockchain.

GoPaisa eyes clocking GMV worth Rs120 Cr in festive season sales

Cashback website GoPaisa has announced targeting a GMV worth 120 crore for the festive season alone concluding on November 4.

The brand is eying 400 percent of growth compared to previous year’s festive season, as per the company.

“For any e-commerce player, the festive season is the peak time, and can be a game changer in terms of traction. Cashback industry has been growing in sync with e-commerce, and in the last one year, the growth rate has only accelerated. To understand its impact, this festive season will be on watch for the entire industry. We ourselves are expecting it to contribute to over 20 percent of the entire year’s sales, given that we also have some major brands on the portfolio as an added advantage,” said Ankita Jain, Co-Founder, GoPaisa.

The brand had recently announced the target to cross a GMV of Rs 200 crore by the end of FY22. The website claims to be enabling 10,000 transactions daily, serving over 3.5 million registered users on its platform.

T-Hub appoints new CEO, announces new plans of growth

Startup incubator T-Hub has announced its growth plans under its new Chief Executive Officer, Srinivas Rao Mahankali (MSR), ahead of the launch of T-Hub’s new campus sized 5,82,689 square feet.

MSR recently joined T-Hub from GAME — The Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship, where he was the Chief Executive Officer, the company said in a press note, adding that he brings in 33 years of experience in the information technology industry.

T-Hub announced a number of plans including that of globalising the innovation hub under the new CEO. As per the company, the new CEO plans to create a funding ecosystem at T-Hub and plans to expedite the T-Fund initiative, which will get operationalised in 2021. The incubator also plans to set up a Funding Desk.

T-Fund is being given to the Telangana startups from various sectors and it is a co-investment fund that shall invest alongside VC’s and angel networks to further support the Telangana startups.

As per the company. T-Hub will also have nodal officers working with the central government to help startups receive grants, and curated efforts will be made to expose pre-series A and series A startups to venture capitalists across India and worldwide.

The incubator has helped over 300 Indian startups and more than 200 international startups scale globally through various 10+ market access programmes and 18+ international interventions in partnership with global ecosystem players across over 42 countries, the company said.

97% of Indian companies bet on CX innovation to protect businesses from competitors: Zendesk Report

More Indian enterprises are investing in customer experience (CX) as a means to grow their business as compared to other countries in the Asia Pacific region, according to a study by Zendesk, in partnership with Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG).

More Indian organisations (88 percent) accelerated their CX projects over the past 12 months compared to their counterparts in South Korea (67 percent), Australia (65 percent), Singapore (62 percent), and Japan (37 percent), the report added.

The study found that the number of Champions within midsized and enterprise companies in Asia Pacific has increased from 6 percent to 8 percent since 2020, with India (16 percent) and Australia (12 percent) having the highest proportion of Champions. The greatest gains in the region were tied between India, Australia and Singapore, which all saw a six percentage point increase from 2020.

The 2021 State of CX Maturity Report surveyed more than 3,400 CX decision-makers globally — of which 921 were from APAC.

Indian organisations lead globally in their enthusiasm for a conversational future, with 79 percent of them agreeing that chat and social channels are most used by customers today and 100 percent predicting this will remain the case in the future, as per the report.

The vast majority of respondents in APAC (90 percent) agree that CX innovation is required to protect their business from competitors. And in India, 97 percent of midsize and enterprise-sized Indian organisations agree with this sentiment. In fact, three-quarters of them recognise the strategic imperative of CX innovation, significantly more so than their counterparts in South Korea (49 percent), Japan (45 percent), Singapore (42 percent) and Australia (41 percent).

Over three-quarters of larger Indian organisations (77 percent) achieved greater cross-channel visibility, a significantly higher percentage than their counterparts in Australia (36 percent), Singapore (29 percent), South Korea (23 percent), and Japan (17 percent). Around 64 percent of Indian organisations feel they made the right CX investments to increase their business resilience in the future, the report added.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Facebook plans to hire 10,000 in EU to build ‘metaverse’

Facebook plans to hire 10,000 in the European Union over the next five years to help build the metaverse — a nascent online world where people exist and communicate in shared virtual spaces, Reuters reported.

This would be a significant step by the company towards the concept, something top boss Mark Zuckerberg has touted in recent months.

In September, Facebook committed $50 million towards building the metaverse, where companies like Roblox Corp and ‘Fortnite’ maker Epic Games have an early foothold.

Facebook also said in July it was creating a product team to work on the metaverse which would be part of Facebook Reality Labs, its augmented reality and virtual reality group.

“This investment (in new jobs) is a vote of confidence in the strength of the European tech industry and the potential of European tech talent. “Europe is hugely important to Facebook,” the company said.

Square CEO Jack Dorsey says looking to build a Bitcoin mining system

Square CEO Jack Dorsey said that the fintech firm is looking to build a Bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon and open source for individuals as well as businesses.

This would add to Square’s existing Bitcoin-focused projects, including a business to build an open developer platform, as well as a hardware wallet for the cryptocurrency.

“If we do this, we’d follow our hardware wallet model: Build in the open in collaboration with the community,” Dorsey said in a tweet.

A team led by Square’s hardware lead, Jesse Dorogusker, will investigate requisites for Square to take on the project to build a Bitcoin mining system.

In his Twitter thread, Dorsey also said that silicon design or chip design is too concentrated into a few companies, leading to supply constraints.

South Korea targets Apple over new app store regulation

Apple was on a collision course with South Korea on October 15 over new requirements that it stop forcing app developers to use its payment systems, with a government official warning of a possible investigation into the iPhone maker’s compliance.

The development comes after South Korea amended the Telecommunication Business Act in August to try to curb tech majors’ market dominance and stop big app store operators such as Apple and Alphabet Inc’s Google from charging commissions on in-app purchases.

The law went into effect last month but Apple had told the South Korean government that it was already complying and did not need to change its app store policy, a Korea Communications Commission (KCC) official in charge of the matter told Reuters.

The regulator would ask Apple’s South Korean unit for a new company policy giving greater autonomy in payment methods, and if Apple failed to comply, would consider measures such as a fact-finding probe as a precursor to possible fines or other penalties.

Google had informed the KCC that it planned to comply with the law, including allowing third-party payment systems, and would discuss the matter with the regulator starting next week, the KCC official said.

“Differences between Apple and Google in willingness to give ground may be because Apple controls everything from hardware to operating system (OS) to app market to payment system,” he told Reuters.

Amazon may have lied to Congress, five US lawmakers say

Five members of the US House Judiciary Committee wrote to Amazon’s CEO and accused the company’s top executives, including founder Jeff Bezos, of either misleading Congress or possibly lying to it about Amazon’s business practices.

The letter also states that the committee is considering “whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate.”

Addressed to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, the letter followed a Reuters investigation last week that showed that the company had conducted a systematic campaign of copying products and rigging search results in India to boost sales of its own brands — practices Amazon has denied engaging in. Jassy, a longtime Amazon executive, succeeded Bezos in July.

The letter states that “credible reporting” in the Reuters story and recent articles in several other news outlets “directly contradicts the sworn testimony and representations of Amazon’s top executives — including former CEO Jeffrey Bezos.”

“At best, this reporting confirms that Amazon’s representatives misled the committee. At worst, it demonstrates that they may have lied to Congress in possible violation of federal criminal law,” the letter states.

In response, an Amazon spokesperson issued a statement that said: “Amazon and its executives did not mislead the committee, and we have denied and sought to correct the record on the inaccurate media articles in question.”

It added: “As we have previously stated, we have an internal policy, which goes beyond that of any other retailer’s policy that we’re aware of, that prohibits the use of individual seller data to develop Amazon private label products. We investigate any allegations that this policy may have been violated and take appropriate action.”

Since 2019, the House Judiciary Committee has been investigating competition in digital markets, including how Amazon uses proprietary seller data from its platform, and whether the company unfairly favors its own products.

Amazon-owned Twitch says source code exposed in last week’s data breach

Amazon-owned Twitch said that last week’s data breach at the live streaming e-sports platform contained documents from its source code.

Passwords, login credentials, full credit card numbers and bank details of users were not accessed or exposed in the breach, as per Reuters.

The platform, which is used by video gamers for interacting with users while live streaming content, had blamed the breach on an error in the server configuration change. Server configuration changes are performed during server maintenance. A faulty configuration can expose the data stored in the servers to unauthorised access.

Twitch said it was “confident” the incident affected only a small number of users and that it was contacting those who had been directly impacted. The platform has more than 30 million average daily visitors.

Video Games Chronicle had reported that about 125 gigabytes of data was leaked in the breach, including details on Twitch’s highest-paid video game streamers since 2019.

Netflix’s Squid Game estimated to be worth about $900 mn: Bloomberg News

Squid Game, Netflix’s biggest original series launch, is estimated to be worth almost $900 million for the streaming giant, Bloomberg News reported.

The nine-episode thriller, in which cash-strapped contestants play childhood games with deadly consequences in a bid to win 45.6 billion wons ($38.58 million), became an international hit after it launched last month.

In comparison to its estimated net worth, the show cost just $21.4 million to produce, Bloomberg said.

According to the report, about 132 million had watched at least two minutes of the show in its first 23 days, easily breaking the record set by UK costume drama Bridgerton, which was streamed by 82 million accounts in its first 28 days.

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 to stop grocery delivery service from September 17

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

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Foodtech company Zomato has decided to stop its grocery delivery service from September 17 due to gaps in order fulfillment, leading to poor customer experience. The company said that it believes that its investment in Grofers will generate better outcomes for its shareholders than in-house grocery efforts.

In an email to its grocery partners on September 11, Zomato said, “At Zomato, we believe in delivering best in class services to our customers and largest growth opportunities to our merchant partners. We don’t believe that the current model is the best way to deliver these to our customers and merchant partners. Hence, we intend to stop our pilot grocery delivery service effective September 17, 2021”. The email mentioned that “store catalogues are very dynamic and inventory levels change frequently. This has led to gaps in order fulfillment, leading to the poor customer experience”.

When contacted, a Zomato spokesperson said, “We have decided to shut down our grocery pilot and as of now, have no plans to run any other form of grocery delivery on our platform. Grofers has found high-quality product-market fit in 10-minute grocery and we believe our investment in the company will generate better outcomes for our shareholders than our in-house grocery effort.”

Earlier Zomato had said that it had invested US $100 million (around Rs 745 crore) for acquiring a minority stake in grocery delivery platform Grofers. In July Zomato CFO Akshant Goyal had said , “It (grocery) is a large opportunity. The online grocery is nascent right now but is growing rapidly not just in India but across the world…”

Zomato had launched the pilot grocery delivery service in July in select markets offering grocery delivery within 45 minutes to its customers.

With inputs from PTI

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

Why e-commerce companies are on expansion spree in India

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

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Buoyed with increased online spending in India, e-commerce firms are aggressively ramping up operations to dominate the space. While several big conglomerates are investing in e-commerce startups, already established online shopping platforms are ramping up their presence pan-India. Besides, some foreign brands are also planning to enter the Indian e-commerce space.

According to a report by India Brand Equity Foundation, the Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow to US $200 billion by 2026 from US $38.5 billion in 2017. The report revealed that India’s e-commerce orders volume increased by 36 percent in the last quarter of 2020, with the personal care, beauty and wellness segment being the largest beneficiary.

“The growth for the industry has been triggered by an increase in internet and smartphone penetration. As of September 2020, the number of internet connections in India significantly increased to 776.45 million, driven by the ‘Digital India’ programme,” the report added.

E-commerce bigwig Amazon is in the process of setting up several delivery centres in India. The focus is on increasing presence in tier II and tier III cities. In April this year, Amazon announced it will have more than 43 million cubic feet of storage capacity across 15 states, supporting around 8,50,000 sellers across India.

Last month, Amazon India announced the expansion of its fulfilment network in Tamil Nadu by almost doubling the storage capacity this year.

Talking to CNBC, tech investor Gene Munster had predicted that India could potentially contribute between 15 percent and 20 percent to Amazon’s growth over the next five years. The tech giant hopes to export $10 billion worth of India-made goods around the world by 2025.

Amazon’s major rival Walmart-owned Flipkart is also expanding its grocery and last-mile delivery programmes. The group has decided to focus on accelerating growth for millions of small and medium Indian businesses, including kiranas.

Earlier this year, Flipkart Group raised $3.6 billion from investors, including SoftBank. Subsequently, the company announced to make “deeper investment in people, technologies, supply chains, and infrastructure to address the requirements of a rapidly growing consumer base in India”.

The e-commerce platform, as of April 2021, was valued at $37.6 billion.

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Limited is also planning to take on other online retailers and e-commerce giants. The group is acquiring several local online retailers. In a BSE filing last month, Reliance Retail revealed that it has acquired a majority stake in online pharmacy Netmeds for approximately Rs 620 crore.

Significantly, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited is planning to convert its MyJio mobile application into a super app by including the offerings of Just Dial, an online classified and retail services provider. This super app is expected to be a ‘one-stop window for every imaginable consumer need’.

In June this year, Grofers, the grocery delivery start-up, entered the unicorn club after raising US$ 120 million from Zomato, the food delivery platform. The eight-year-old company has 280 stores in 12 Indian cities. According to Grofers co-founder and chief executive officer Albinder Dhindsa, the company is planning to expand to 25 cities.

Meanwhile, Singapore-headquartered e-commerce firm Shopee has launched a recruitment campaign for vendors to sell on what it called “Shopee India”.

The company is also ramping up hiring in India. Shopee posted a slew of India job ads in recent weeks for positions ranging from seller operations to compliance.

“Shopee is coming to India!” announced an official video on YouTube in August. In the video, the company promised free shipping and no commission fees for sellers and buyers. However, the firm’s launch date in India has not been finalised yet.

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

STARTUP DIGEST: Facebook India launches ‘Small Business Loans Initiative’, MyGlamm acquires BabyChakra, Apple delays return to office

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

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Here are the top stories that made headlines in the startup universe this week.

Facebook enters lending business

Facebook has entered the lending business after announcing a new initiative to provide loans to small and medium businesses that advertise on its platform across 200 cities and towns. India is the first country where Facebook is rolling out such a programme.

The social media giant has partnered with Indifi, who will bear the risk of the loans and decide the eligibility criteria.

Facebook, on its part, will point its advertisers towards the programme that allows businesses to apply for a loan between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 50 lakh. Businesses partly or wholly owned by women will get an additional 0.2 percent reduction in applied loan interest rate.

The company had announced a $100 small business grants programme last year, which was meant to help SMBs affected by the pandemic. Facebook’s India head, Ajit Mohan said $4 million of that has been deployed in India across over 3000 businesses.

The new Small Business Loans initiative was announced at an industry event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), on Friday. Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer of government think-tank Niti Aayog, called the initiative a “step in the right direction”.

Intel India & SINE-IIT Bombay launch Plugin Alliance, startups to play key role

Intel India and the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE)-IIT Bombay have launched Plugin Alliance that seeks to fast-track the adoption of smart technologies by Indian industries. It primarily aims to enhance the attractiveness of Indian manufacturing globally in the digital era.

With a focus on accelerating Industry 4.0 transformation in India, the Plugin Alliance brings together members representing large enterprises, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), technology solution providers, systems integrators, and startups. The alliance currently has a total of 53 members with 25 startups figuring in the list.

The key focus will be on advancing and scaling emerging technology solutions such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine vision, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), robotics, cyber security, 5G & edge, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), mobility and other future emerging technologies to help accelerate digital transformation.

The Plugin Alliance’s initial focus will be on manufacturing, warehousing, and supply chain.

HealthifyMe announces ESOP, equity buyback programme worth $12 M

Health-tech startup HealthifyMe on Monday announced an equity buyback programme worth $12 million (Rs 90 crore).

The development comes close on the heels of a $75 million (about Rs 559.6 crore) fundraise by the company from investors including LeapFrog and Khosla Ventures.

“Through this buyback, the company will provide liquidity to almost 100 of its key current and former team members,” the firm said.

Prominent angel investors like TVS Capital Funds MD Gopal Srinivasan and Micromax will also receive up to 15X returns on their investment, it added. The company said the shares of the investors are being bought back by its treasury.

Ola Electric incorporates a new entity and infuses Rs 250 cr: Report

Ride-hailing giant Ola has incorporated a new entity – Ola Electric Technologies Private Limited in June, Entrackr reported.

This new company has been used to receive the $100 million in debt from the Bank of Baroda. Ola Electric Mobility is the holding entity of the newly incorporated entity and it controls 100 percent stake in Ola Electric Technologies.

Ola Mobility has also infused Rs 250 crore in a mix of debt and equity round in Ola Electric Electric Technologies, the report added.

Ola Electric had turned unicorn in July the same year with a $250 million worth Series B round led by SoftBank. The company recently unveiled the features, launch, delivery and pricing of its S1 and S1 Pro scooters.

MyGlamm acquires BabyChakra to build India’s largest parenting platform

DTC beauty and personal care company, MyGlamm has acquired parenting platform BabyChakra to further expand its 3C (Content + Community + Commerce) company in South Asia.

With this acquisition, MyGlamm and BabyChakra will invest Rs 100 crore to build India’s largest Mom-Baby Content to Commerce platform over the next three years.

Naiyya Saggi, founder and CEO of BabyChakra, will join the MyGlamm group as Co-founder and President and will spearhead the Mom-Baby vertical while also building out the overall Community vertical for the Group. Naiyya will also join the MyGlamm Board.

Grofers launches 10-minute grocery delivery in 10 cities; Dunzo forays into e-grocery space

Newly-minted unicorn Grofers has planned to reduce the delivery time for groceries from 15 to 10 minutes as it expands its services to 10 cities in India.

In a blog post, Albinder Dhindsa said “As we sign up more partners and keep building out our network, we are confident we will be under 10 minutes for the majority of the customers within the next 45 days.”

Grofers is offering customers 7,000 items of daily essentials in Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Ghaziabad, Noida and Lucknow.

Meanwhile, hyperlocal delivery platform Dunzo has entered into the online grocery space, with its offering Dunzo Daily in Bengaluru, through which it will deliver essentials in 19 minutes.

The firm will deliver over 20,000 products in 19 minutes. It aims to scale the service in the top 20 cities of the country.

Dunzo Daily will compete with Swiggy’s Instamart and Zomato-backed Grofers.

India, Mexico markets push Walmart global business grow 13% in Q2; Flipkart continues to grow

Flipkart’s parent company Walmart saw its operations in markets such as India, China and Mexico push international business growth by 13 percent in the second quarter that ended on July 31. The company saw its total revenue rising 2.4 percent to $141 billion in the second quarter.

The revenue of Walmart International – which includes operations in markets such as India, China, Japan, Africa, UK, Mexico, Canada and Chile – stood at $23 billion in the second quarter.

Talking about Flipkart’s performance, Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon said the Indian e-commerce marketplace continues to drive strong growth in GMV (gross merchandise value) in line with its “high expectation”. He added that the platform continues to see improving trends and monthly active customers and users.

Walmart said it was prioritising the holiday season in major markets including India where it is expected to launch the country’s biggest e-commerce sale – Big Billion Days, around Diwali.

McMillon highlighted that the recent $3.6 billion funding in Flipkart – which saw participation from Walmart and other marquee investors valuing the company at $38 billion – has positioned the Flipkart group for future growth.

India’s e-retail market to overtake modern trade in 5 years: Bain & Co

India’s e-retail market has surged 25 percent to reach $38 billion through FY21 despite the overall retail market shrinking by 5 percent and a 7.3 percent contraction in GDP, according to a recent report by consultancy firm Bain & Co and e-commerce platform Flipkart.

The report states the e-retail market is likely to grow at 30 percent per annum to reach $120–140 billion by 2026 and is expected to be higher than modern trade by that year.

According to the report, the e-grocery segment grew by as much as 80 percent as grocery, household, and personal care items saw continued accelerated growth. Electronics, on the other hand, witnessed one-time growth whereas fashion and travel products saw slower growth.

At $810 billion, the Indian retail market is the fourth largest in the world. India has the third-largest online shopper base of 140 million, only behind China and the US.

Twitter sets up new physical contact address in Bengaluru to comply with IT rules

Social media platform Twitter has set up a new physical contact address in India in Bengaluru to comply with the IT rules for intermediaries.

Twitter has changed the physical contact address in India that was mentioned on its website, and sources said this new address is meant to receive communication from users.

As per the IT rules, significant social media intermediaries that have over 50 lakh users in India need to have a physical contact address in the country for receiving communication.

Twitter had informed Delhi High Court in July that it was in the process of setting up a liaison office in India. Twitter had so far shared the address of lawyer Sajan Poovayya’s office in Bengaluru on its website as its contact address.

Incidentally, Twitter’s new address is in the same building as Poovayya’s office, which is in the Estate Building on Bengaluru’s Dickenson Road.

Earlier this month, Twitter as well as the central government had told the Delhi HC that the company was compliant under IT Rules. Twitter had also told the Delhi HC that it did not have a corporate presence in India.

Twitter allows users to report fake news

Microblogging platform Twitter is all set to take on the fake news menace with the introduction of a mechanism for users to flag such posts.

Twitter users in some countries, including the United States, South Korea and Australia, will now be able to report tweets to the social media platform that contain misinformation.

The social media giant noted that it may not take action on every post that is reported and “cannot respond to each report” in the experiment, but the company expects the experiment to “identify trends” that help scale and speed up its broader misinformation work.

Global technology and startup news

Amazon plans to open large physical retail stores in US: WSJ

Amazon is planning to open large physical shops in the United States that will operate like department stores, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, as the e-commerce giant expands its footprint in brick-and-mortar retail.

Some of Amazon’s first department stores are expected to open in Ohio and California, the report said, adding that the shops will be about 30,000 square feet in size and will offer products from well-known consumer brands.

Amazon, which dominates the online shopping space, had made its biggest bet in the brick-and-mortar format with its acquisition of upscale grocer Whole Foods in 2017.

The e-commerce giant also experimented with small physical stores for books and groceries in at least 13 US states including California, Colorado, and Washington.

Apple delays office return to at least January over COVID-19 surge

Apple is delaying its return to corporate offices from October until January at the earliest because of surging COVID-19 cases and new variants, according to Bloomberg News.

The company told staff it would confirm the re-opening timeline one month before employees are required to return to the office. Apple had previously aimed for all staff to return to corporate offices by early September before delaying that until October.

When employees are required to return, they will be expected to work at the office at least three days a week — Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays — with remote work on Wednesday and Friday available.

The memo to staff added that the company does not currently expect to shutter its offices or retail stores but strongly encouraged staff to get vaccinated.

China eyes pushing US IPO-bound firms to hand over data control-sources

Chinese regulators are considering pressing data-rich companies to hand over management and supervision of their data to third-party firms if they want US stock listings, Reuters reported.

The regulators believe bringing in third-party information security firms, ideally state-backed, to manage and monitor IPO hopefuls’ data could effectively limit their ability to transfer Chinese onshore data overseas.

That would help ease Beijing’s growing concerns that a foreign listing might force such Chinese companies to hand over some of their data to foreign entities and undermine national security, sources told Reuters.

A final decision on the IPO-bound companies’ data handover plan is yet to be made. The regulatory officials have discussed the plan with capital market participants, as part of moves to strengthen supervision of all Chinese firms listed offshore.

Chinese govt takes stake, board seat in ByteDance’s key local entity: Report

The Chinese government has taken a stake and a board seat in TikTok owner ByteDance’s key Chinese entity, The Information reported.

On April 30, Beijing ByteDance sold a 1 percent stake to WangTouZhongWen (Beijing) Technology, which is owned by three state entities. The deal also allowed the Chinese government to appoint a board director at Beijing ByteDance.

The deal does not give the Chinese government any stake in the firm’s hit short-video app TikTok because of ByteDance’s complex corporate structure, the report added.

ByteDance told Reuters the Chinese subsidiary referenced in the report only related to some of its China market video and information platforms, and held some of the licences they require to operate under local law.

Tencent second-quarter profit rises 29%

Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent has posted a 29 percent rise in the second-quarter profit, Reuters reported.

Net profit for the three months through June came in at 42.6 billion yuan, above an average Refinitiy estimate of 34.4 billion yuan. Revenue climbed 20 percent to 138.3 billion yuan, in line with expectations. Sales from mobile games grew 13 percent.

The results follow a number of setbacks Tencent has experienced as a result of regulatory actions Chinese authorities have unleashed on the tech industry and other sectors.

Intel discloses small stake in crypto exchange Coinbase

Intel has disclosed a stake worth less than a million dollars in US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global, Reuters reported.

The chipmaker held about 3,014 shares of Coinbase’s Class A common stock as of June 30, Intel said in a regulatory filing. The Coinbase shares would be worth around $788,191, based on trading price of $261.51 at 15:01 pm on Friday.

Coinbase went public through a direct listing in April, which saw its valuation rise to as high as $112 billion on the first day of trading.

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: Zetwerk turns unicorn, BharatPe garners Rs 200 cr in debt, Microsoft invests $5 M in OYO

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

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Here are the top deals locked in the startup universe this week.

Zetwerk becomes unicorn, raises $120 M

Zetwerk has raised $120 million in a Series E funding round led by D1 Capital Partners.

The fundraising pegs the company’s valuation at over $1 billion, making it the latest entrant to India’s coveted unicorn club.

Existing investors including Kae Capital, Sequoia Capital India, Accel India, Lightspeed Ventures too participated in the latest round of funding.

This comes six months after the company was valued at around $600 million in Series D funding led by US-based Greenoaks Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners in February this year.

Grofers turns unicorn after CCI allowed Zomato to buy 9.3% stake

Grofers has entered the coveted unicorn club after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved Zomato’s proposal to acquire a 9.3 percent stake in the e-grocery platform.

Zomato and Tiger Global have invested $120 million in e-grocery player Grofers turning it into a unicorn with a valuation of over $1 billion.

Meanwhile, the deal would bring back grocery ordering on Zomato after close to a year.

API-platform Postman’s valuation shoots up to $5.6 bn in Series D fundraise

Postman, an application programming interface (API) platform, has secured $225 million in a Series D funding round at a valuation of $5.6 billion. That’s close to 3X jump since the previous fundraise at a valuation of $2 billion last June.

It is now the most-valued Indian SaaS (Software As A Service) platform after BrowserStack, which has a valuation of $4 billion. Postman turned unicorn – startups with a valuation of $1 billion or more – in 2020.

The current funding round was led by Insight Partners, Coatue, Battery Ventures, and BOND with participation from existing investors CRV and Nexus Venture Partners. DoorDash Product Leader Gokul Rajaram and Freshworks Founder Girish Mathrubootham joined as individual investors.

The company has now raised more than $430 million across four rounds. The fresh capital will be used to expand its teams and invest in the API ecosystem across the globe.

BharatPe garners Rs 200 crore in debt from IIFL Wealth, Northern Arc

Fintech startup BharatPe has raised Rs 100 crore each in debt from IIFL Wealth and Asset Management, and Northern Arc Capital.

This is the seventh round of debt funding for the company. BharatPe raised a total of over Rs 500 crore (about $ 70 million) in debt at competitive rates in the year 2021. It plans to raise $250 million in debt by the end of FY22, the company said.

Earlier this year, BharatPe raised over Rs 300 crore from venture debt funds (Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital and Trifecta Capital), banks (ICICI Bank and Axis Bank) and an NBFC (Northern Arc Capital).

”BharatPe’s lending vertical has grown exponentially over the last 1.5 years. BharatPe has already disbursed over USD 300 million in unsecured loans to over 2 lakh merchant partners and has an outstanding loan book of over $ 100 million,” the company added.

Microsoft invests $5 M in OYO

Global tech giant Microsoft has invested $5 million in hotel and hospitality business OYO at a valuation of $9.6 billion, according to regulatory filings.

Under the deal, OYO has allotted five equity shares and 80 preference shares to Microsoft at an issue price of $58,490 per share to raise $5 million.

An extraordinary general meeting of OYO on July 16 approved the issue of the equity shares and Series F2 compulsory convertible cumulative preference shares (Series F2 CCCPS) for “an aggregate consideration amounting to rupee equivalent of $4,971,650 to Microsoft Corporation on a private placement basis”, according to the filing.

Moreover, the meeting approved the issue of 80 Series F2 CCCPS of the face value of ₹100 each for cash at an issue price of rupee equivalent of $58,490 per Series F2 CCCPS.

The investment is likely to be part of a larger round that may see more infusion from Microsoft in the near future.

Last month, OYO raised $660 million in debt from undisclosed institutional investors to repay its past debts, strengthen balance sheets and boost product technology.

PhonePe closes $700 M round from Tencent & Tiger: Report

PhonePe has secured a $350 million fundraise from new and existing investors, according to Entrackr. Walmart led the fresh tranche with $283.5 million while Tencent has put in $50 million. Tiger Global also joined this tranche with $16.5 million.

This is the first fundraise for PhonePe in 2021 and is part of a $700 million round that the company announced in December last year.

With this, PhonePe has raised $700 million from these three investors across two tranches in the past eight months. The company had raised $350 million from the trio in a similar ratio in December 2020.

Rapido raises $52 M to expand operations across India

Rapido, a bike taxi platform, has secured $52 million in its latest round of funding.

The round saw participation from new investors including Shell Ventures, Yamaha, Kunal Shah, founder of CRED, Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, Spotify India and Positive Moves Consulting. The round also saw continued support from existing investors – Pawan Munjal, Hero Group; Westbridge; Nexus Venture; and Everblue Management.

With its latest round of funding, Rapido will make strategic investments in innovation, technology, people, and supply. This would help it to further boost growth in the country and make affordable transportation a reality for masses, the company said.

UpScalio raises $42.5 M in another boost for Thrasio-style model

The rush to build a Thrasio-type platform in India is getting massive investor interest and highlighting this new trend is an e-commerce roll-up company – UpScalio.

The five-month-old firm has raised $42.5 million as part of its Series A round, led by Presight Capital and an undisclosed global hedge fund, with participation from Heliad Equity Partners, MPGI, 468 Capital, Whiteboard Capital.

The funding round also saw capital commitments from a consortium of lenders including freshly-minted unicorn OfBusiness, Innoven Capital, and Alteria Capital. Some of the company’s angel investors and advisors include Suhail Sameer (CEO, BharatPe), Radhika Ghai (Co-Founder, ShopClues), Rohit Kapoor (CEO, OYO India & SEA), Arjun Vaidya (Founder, Dr Vaidya’s), and Erik Podzuweit (Founder, Scalable Capital).

UpScalio aims to be an e-commerce brand investor and operator by partnering with digital-first brands that sell on e-commerce sites such as Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and Nykaa.

The startup said it will help the brands with multi-marketplace management, digital marketing, branding, logistics, sourcing, finance and business operations, all optimised using advanced analytics. It aims to help the companies’ profitably scale by 5-10x.

Fintech Smallcase raises $40 M from Faering, Amazon & others

Fintech startup Smallcase has raised $40 million in Series C funding, led by Faering Capital as well as new investors Amazon Sambhv Venture Fund and Premji Invest. With this, Amazon has forayed into India’s wealth management sector.

The round also saw participation from existing investors including Sequoia Capital India, Blume Ventures, Beenext, DSP Group, Arkam Ventures, WEH Ventures and HDFC Bank.

The round brings the total capital raised by Smallcase to over $60 million. Sameer Shroff, co-founder and Managing Director at Faering Capital, will join the board of the company.

The funds raised will be used to build investment products and platforms that enable individual investors to participate in the capital markets. The company said it aims to continue building simple, transparent and delightful experiences and platforms while delivering more value to its users and partners.

Gaming platform Zupee raises $30 M in Series B funding

Online skill-based gaming platform startup, Zupee has raised $30 million at a pre-money valuation of $500 million in its Series B funding round. This round of funding was co-led by Silicon Valley-based WestCap Group and Tomales Bay Capital.

This round comes within six months after its Series A round at a $100 million valuation and over 5x increase in the company’s valuation.

With total funds raised now at $49 million, Zupee is backed by WestCap Group, Matrix Partners, Smile Group and Orios Partners. The company has an existing user base of over one crore and the new round of funding will be used to enable scaling efforts through an expanded product portfolio, deepening market reach, and hiring global talent.

Agritech startup AgNext raises $21 M in Series A round

Agritech startup AgNext has raised $21 million in Series A round of funding led by Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI), with participation from existing investors Omnivore and Kalaari Capital.

The funding round provided a 5X exit to a-IDEA, an agribusiness incubator managed by the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), according to a statement from the company. AgNext, which was founded in 2016, had received seed funding from a-IDEA.

The startup plans to use this capital to enter into newer commodities and international markets such as the Middle East, Europe, and South Asia. The funds will also be used for the development of the company’s tech platform Qualix to enable quality-driven trade transactions across the food value chains.

Klub raises $20 M in seed round

Fintech startup Klub has raised a seed funding of $20 million from existing investors 9Unicorns and Sequoia Surge. The funding round also saw the participation of new investors Alter Global and Japan’s GMO VenturePartners.

The company had raised $2 million in a pre-seed round in January led by Surge and multiple angel investors. The new round—which is a mix of equity and capital commitment—makes it one of the largest seed rounds to date in India’s startup ecosystem, according to the company.

Klub said it will deploy Rs 500 crore over the next few quarters in local brands and digital small and medium-sized enterprises. The startup plans to use the fresh capital to expand its team, accelerate development of its tech and data platform, and expand product offerings and market segments.

Healthtech startup Ultrahuman raises $17.5 M, touting a wearable glucose tracker

Fitness startup Ultrahuman has announced a $17.5 million Series B fundraise, with investment from early-stage fund Alpha Wave Incubation (backed by DisruptAD and managed by Falcon Edge), Steadview Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Blume Ventures and Utsav Somani’s iSeed fund.

Marquee founders and angel investors who also participated in the funding round include Tiger Global’s Scott Schleifer, Deepinder Goyal (CEO and co-founder of Zomato), Kunal Shah (CEO of Cred), and Gaurav Munjal and Romain Saini (Co-founders of Unacademy) among others.

According to Ultrahuman, over a billion people in the world suffer from a​ metabolic health disorder, which contributes to 85 percent of all chronic diseases in the world.

The startup aims to re-invent fitness-tech via its glucose-tracking device. The product branded ‘Cyborg’ is a wearable and subscription service that helps people optimise their exercise and nutrition, based on glucose biomarkers.

True Balance”s NBFC arm raises $15 M in debt funding

True Credits, a Reserve Bank-licensed NBFC of True Balance, on Wednesday said it has raised $15 million in debt funding from investors across India and Korea.

With this, the total debt fund raised by the company stands at $25 million. The second round of investment has come from Pace and E-clear, as well as other investors in Korea to support the company’s expansion in India, the company said.

Clear invests $15 M to build MaxITC for businesses to save input tax credit

Fintech SaaS firm Clear has invested $15 million to build Max ITC for businesses to maximise their savings with ITC claims.

In India, enterprises are paying an extra Rs 8,000 crore in GST payment every month. As per a survey of 200 enterprises by Clear, big enterprises are losing up to 8 percent of their working capital. Vendor non-compliance and delay in filing GST by vendors is the biggest reason for this inefficiency.

Clear built MaxITC, an end-to-end automated solution, to manage input tax credit claims efficiently. Earlier this year, Clear also launched ClearOne, a billing and e-invoicing software for SMEs.

Hashnode raises $6.7 M in Series A fundraise led by Salesforce Ventures

Blogging platform Hashnode has raised $6.7 million in a Series A fundraise led by Salesforce Ventures.

Venture capital investors Sierra Ventures, Sequoia Capital India’s Surge and Accel Partners, as well as angel investors Naval Ravikant (co-founder, Angellist), Des Traynor (co-founder, Intercom), Guillermo Rauch (co-founder, Vercel), Salil Deshpande (general partner, Uncorrelated) and Ed Roman (managing director, HackVC) also participated in the round.

The funding, which follows a $2.1 million seed funding round in December 2020, will be utilised for growing the platform’s user base.

1K Kirana Bazaar raises $7 M in Series A round

Hyperlocal omnichannel grocery chain 1K Kirana Bazaar has raised $7 million in its Series A round led by Info Edge Ventures and Partners of Falcon Edge.

Existing backer Kae Capital along with other investors, including founders of startups such as Blackbuck and BigBasket, also participated in the funding round.

The funds will be used in building technology and expanding its presence of 150 touchpoints to over 1000 kirana store partnerships in the upcoming year, the company said.

Yellow Class raises $6 M from Elevation Capital

Edtech startup Yellow Class has raised $6 million Series A funding led by Elevation Capital.

The round also saw participation from existing investors India Quotient, Titan Capital and First Cheque. The other angel investors include Vidit Aatrey (Co-founder, Meesho), Alok Mittal (Founder, Indifi), Vivekananda Hallekere (Co-founder, Bounce), Maninder Gulati (Global CSO, OYO) Abhinav Sinha (COO, OYO), Dhruv Agarwala (CEO, PropTiger) and Alvin Tse (Country Director, Xiaomi Indonesia).

The startup will use the fresh capital for improving the product experience for both parents and children, and developing more holistic content, building brand awareness, hiring for leadership roles across the product, technology and engineering verticals.

The company aims to expand in over 500 cities in India and international markets.

Rage Coffee raises $5 M in Series A funding from Sixth Sense Ventures

Rage Coffee, which manufactures, markets, and distributes coffee products globally, has raised around $5 million of growth capital as part of its Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures.

The company plans to expand its online presence and offline footprint across India and will utilise the fresh capital for marketing and distribution purposes. The funds will also be used to scale up production, launch innovative new products and add senior management talent.

According to the company, the Rs 7,000 crore Indian packaged coffee segment is dominated by two players — Nestle and HUL (Nescafe and Bru) — controlling over 65 percent market share of the industry. The lack of innovation in the space is helping Rage become the brand of choice for the next generation of coffee consumers, the company said.

AI job search startup Hiration secures Rs 21 crore

Hiration, an AI-powered job search platform, has raised Rs 21 crore ($3 million) from Prime Venture Partners, Venture Highway and Y Combinator.

The company will use the fresh capital to further develop its product, scale its operations in India and the US and hire across functions.

As per the company, it has already served over 500,000 customers and more than 75 universities globally. It is currently operational in India and the US and apart from directly helping professionals, the company also works with over 75 leading universities.

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

Grofers set for 10-minute grocery delivery in 10 cities

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

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Online grocery delivery platform Grofers is looking to reduce the delivery time from 15 minutes to below 10 minutes for every customer in India.

“Today, we launched our 10th city with the promise to deliver groceries within minutes to your doorstep. While our average delivery times are still hovering around the 15 minute mark, our eventual vision is to be below 10 minutes for every customer in India,” Albinder Dhindsa, co-founder and the chief executive officer said in a blog on August 17.

He added that the firm, which recently turned into a unicorn, has a goal to bring the delivery time to below 10 mins for the majority of customers within the next 45 days.

Grofers’ services are available in Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Ghaziabad, Noida and Lucknow.

Dhindsa’s blog comes days after the Competition Commission approved Zomato’s proposed purchase of a 9.3 percent stake in Grofers India on August 13. Zomato, last month, said it has invested $100 million (around Rs 745 crore) for acquiring a minority stake in the grocery delivery platform as the company looks to have more exposure to the online grocery segment.

25 unicorns and counting: A look at India’s billion dollar startups of 2021

The recently-listed Zomato will acquire a 9.3 percent stake in Grofers India Pvt Ltd and Hands on Trades Pvt Ltd (HoT). Grofers International Pte is the holding company of Grofers India and HoT.

The deal would bring back grocery ordering on Zomato after close to a year.

Zomato CFO Akshant Goyal had in July said, “It (grocery) is a large opportunity. Online grocery is nascent right now but is growing rapidly not just in India but across the world… We are actively experimenting in that space and recently invested USD 100 million for a minority stake in Grofers, with the idea of getting more exposure to that space and building our strategies and plan around that business.”

(With agency inputs)

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

FUNDING RUNDOWN: Grofers turns unicorn, Rapido raises $52 M, SleepyCat secures $3.8M, Chime valued at $25 bn

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

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Here are the top deals locked in the startup universe on August 16.

Grofers turns unicorn after CCI allowed Zomato to buy 9.3% stake

Grofers has entered the coveted unicorn club after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved Zomato’s proposal to acquire a 9.3 percent stake in the e-grocery platform.

Zomato and Tiger Global have invested $120 million in e-grocery player Grofers and that has turned it into a unicorn with a valuation of over $1 billion.

Moreover, the deal would bring back grocery ordering on Zomato after close to a year.

Rapido raises $52 M to expand operations across India

Rapido, a bike taxi platform, has secured $52 million in its latest round of funding.

The round saw participation from new investors including Shell Ventures, Yamaha, Kunal Shah, founder of CRED, Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, Spotify India and Positive Moves Consulting. The round also saw continued support from existing investors – Pawan Munjal, Hero Group; Westbridge; Nexus Venture; and Everblue Management.

With the latest fund, Rapido will make strategic investments in innovation, technology, people, and supply. This would help it to further boost its growth in the country and make affordable transportation a reality for the masses, the company said.

The rapid scaling of quick commerce and hyperlocal delivery has driven Rapido’s expansion into on-demand logistics with Rapido Local and Rapido Store. The company’s Auto service launched in 26 cities has also recorded a 4X growth. Overall, Rapido has witnessed a strong recovery of 85 percent as compared to pre-COVID period.

SleepyCat raises $3.8M from Saama Capital and others

D2C sleep solutions brand SleepyCat has raised $3.8 million in a funding round led by Saama Capital. The round also saw participation from existing investors DSG Consumer Partners and Sharrp Ventures.

This marks the company’s second external fundraise since inception, following a $1.6 million round led by DSG Consumer Partners and Sharrp Ventures in September 2019.

“We are excited to partner with Saama Capital along with the continued support of DSG Consumer Partners and Sharrp Ventures in our journey. SleepyCat is disrupting an existing category with purpose-driven products designed to increase the comfort and self-care quotient further up for Indian consumers,” said Kabir Siddiq, Founder and CEO, SleepyCat.

With the new round of funding, SleepyCat plans to increase its research and development efforts to manufacture better products and process innovation.

Wishup secures $1 M funding from Orios Venture Partners

Remote work platform Wishup has raised $1 million from Orios Venture Partners in a recent funding round.

The funds will be utilised to strengthen the supply end of the platform in India. The firm aims to engage more entrepreneurs and companies across India and internationally, it said.

The company claims to have grown 10 times over the past two years by supplying the right remote-working employees to employers.

Fintech startup YPay raises $400k in bridge round

YPay, a fintech startup, has raised $400,000 from early-stage investment platform We Founder Circle. The bridge round also saw participation from Amit Tyagi, Gaurav Juneja, Safexpay founder Ravi Gupta, and Pragatii Bhargava.

The fresh funds will be used to hire staff to scale up and to develop technology.

YPay targets youth and corporates to make online and offline payments with its prepaid cards. The startup also aims to help kids to learn money management.

YPay founder and CEO Navneet Gupta said, “YPay card has already facilitated over 35,000 transactions in a short time. We are overwhelmed with the response received so far and aim to serve a larger customer base of 100,000 individuals by the end of this fiscal year.”

Fintech firm Chime valued at $25 bn after $750 M funding

Chime Financial has raised $750 million in its latest funding round led by Sequoia Capital Global Equities, valuing the financial services startup at $25 billion.

According to a Reuters report, Chime’s latest fundraise is likely to be a precursor to its stock market listing in the United States early next year.

The company held preliminary talks with investment banks for a stock market floatation that could value it at more than $30 billion, Reuters had reported in March, citing people familiar with the matter.

Other major investors in the Series G round include SoftBank Vision Fund 2, General Atlantic, Tiger Global and Dragoneer Investment Group.

Launched by former Visa executive Chris Britt and Comcast Corp alumnus Ryan King in 2012, Chime makes money by earning a fee from payment processors such as Visa every time a customer uses a Chime debit or credit card.

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

26 unicorns and counting: A look at India’s billion dollar startups of 2021

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

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By Aishwarya Anand & Akhil V

The list of India’s 2021 unicorn startups is far too long to name in a single breath. In under eight months since the turn of the year, India has already witnessed record-breaking 26 startups newly-valued over a billion dollars. In total, there are 62 unicorn startups in India.

The pikes of the pandemic punctured economies worldwide, but the rise of these startups is a testament to the big offline to online shift during the turbulent ‘Zero Contact’ period. Investors have given the booster shot by pumping over $20 billion into Indian startups in more than 580 deals so far this year. That’s more than what they did in an entire year over the last three, according to Venture Intelligence.

While China is trying its hands at edtech startups, India has created two more e-learning unicorns – upGrad and Eruditus – alongside the earlier unicorns BYJU’s and Unacademy.

This year, social commerce platform Meesho has become a one-of-its-kind unicorn. So did regional social media network ShareChat. FirstCry, UrbanCompany, Droom, PharmEasy and Grofers are the e-commerce startups that raised funds with a valuation of over $1 billion. GupShup, which helps e-commerce firms chat with consumers, is on the list too.

Following 2021’s first unicorn Digit, several fintech and insurtech startups made it to the list, namely, CRED, Groww, Zeta and BharatPe. Plus, CoinDCX became the first unicorn from the realm of cryptocurrency. This year, the club also welcomed its eldest member in lender Five Star Business Finance, which was founded in 1984.

On the business side, as supply chains came to a halt during the pandemic, newly-turned unicorns Moglix, Infra.market, OfBusiness and BlackBuck scaled their online marketplaces for the purchase of anything construction or industrial from cement and drill guns to trucks for goods transport. Now, B2B marketplace for contract manufacturing Zetwerk has joined the club too.

Alongside were the SaaS (Software as a Service) providers, who plug gaps and unify operations digitally for enterprises. Following Mu Sigma’s unicorn round in 2013, only five SaaS startups entered the club until 2020. This year alone, there are four entrants – Innovaccer, ChargeBee, BrowserStack and MindTickle. A trend that is making India a provider of tech products, not just services.

Here’s a brief on India’s newly-minted unicorns in 2021 (so far!):

Zetwerk

About: Founded in 2018 by IIT alumni Amrit Acharya, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Rahul Sharma and Vishal Chaudhary, Zetwerk is a B2B platform that matches buyers with contract manufacturers, who will handle everything from prototyping and production to shipments.

It has over 200 global customers who operate in industries across aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, energy, cement, steel and more. It works with a global supplier network, with a special expertise in India, China and South-East Asia.

Unicorn Round: Unicorn Round: Zetwerk is the 26th startup to enter the unicorn club in 2021. It raised $150 million in a Series E funding round led by D1 Capital Partners. The fundraising pegged the company’s valuation at $1.3 billion. New investors Avenir and IIFLE, along with existing investors including Kae Capital, Sequoia Capital India, Accel India, Lightspeed Ventures too participated.

In February, the startup had raised a $120 million at a valuation of $600 million in its Series D funding round led by US-based Greenoaks Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Grofers

About: A competitor to BigBasket and JioMart, Grofers took its form as an online grocery delivery platform in 2015. Now, founder Albinder Dhindsa leads Grofers after co-founder Saurabh Kumar left the startup earlier this June.

Currently, Grofers home-delivers groceries in more than 35 cities in India. During the pandemic, which came as a boost to e-grocers, the platform reportedly acquired close to 3 million users. Grofers is now piloting its 15-minute delivery service in select cities.

Unicorn Round: Grofers is now a unicorn after monopoly watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved Zomato’s $100 million investment in the e-grocery platform. This round of funding worth $120 million co-led by Zomato and Tiger Global values the startup at a little over $1 billion. Now, Zomato will hold a 9.3 percent stake in Grofers and its wholesale arm Hands on Trades.

Previously, Grofers has raised funds from SoftBank and Sequoia Capital.

Eruditus

About: Edtech startup Eruditus was founded by Ashwin Damera and Chaitanya Kalipatnapu in 2010. The firm works with universities like Columbia, Harvard, UC Berkeley and Cambridge among others to offer six to nine months-long executive-level courses to students present across 80 countries.

These courses are available for on-campus, off-campus and online modes. Last year, it had acquired iDTech in a $200 million deal to expand its offering in the K12 space.

Unicorn Round: Eruditus became the 4th edtech firm to enter the unicorn club on August 12, after raising $650 million funding in a Series E funding round at a valuation of $3.2 billion.

The funding round was led by Accel US and SoftBank Vision Fund II and existing investors, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia India, Bertelsmann, Prosus, and Leeds Illuminate too participated in the round.

CoinDCX

About: CoinDCX is a cryptocurrency exchange platform which was founded in 2018 by Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal. CoinDCX helps people buy and sell crypto tokens. Besides its main exchange catering to retail investors, CoinDCX also provides trading and lending services for enterprise customers, traders and has a global trading platform and blockchain academy for education.

Since its inception, the crypto exchange firm has onboarded over 3 million users on its platform and aims to make 5 crore Indians as investors in crypto.

Unicorn Round: CoinDCX became India’s first cryptocurrency unicorn on August 10, after the exchange raised $90 million from investors led by B Capital Group. Existing partners Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Block.one, and Jump Capital also participated in the round. The latest funding round values the firm at $1.1 billion.

UpGrad

About: Edtech major Upgrad was co-founded by ex-media baron Ronnie Screwvala, Phalgun Kompalli, Mayank Kumar and Ravijot Chugh by investing just over Rs 170 crore in 2015. The six-year-old UpGrad offers students over 100 courses in data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, blockchain, finance, programming and law.

More than a million users from over four dozen nations have accessed the platform’s courses since its inception. The startup recently acquired an upskilling platform KnowledgeHut for an undisclosed sum. upGrad is also looking to hire 1,000 people in three months to fuel its expansion plans.
Unicorn Round: upGrad was the 3rd edtech firm to enter the unicorn club on August 9, after investment giant Temasek led a $185 million round along with World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and IIFL. The recent funding pushed the startup’s valuation at $1.2 billion.

MindTickle

About: MindTickle is a Pune and San Francisco based tech startup that provides sales readiness technology. It helps companies build sales capabilities including training, onboarding, working on each aspect of sales, practising and improving it using technology. The startup was founded in 2011 by Krishna Depura, Deepak Diwakar, and Nishant Mungali. MindTickle has over 2000 customers including Snowflake, Johnson & Johnson and Merck.

Unicorn Round: Mindtickle is the eighth Indian SaaS startup to enter the unicorn club. On August 6, the firm raised an additional $100 million in a Series E funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund II. Existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Canaan, NewView Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in the funding round. The funding reportedly valued the startup at $1.2 billion.

BharatPe

About: Merchant payments and financial services provider – BharatPe was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018. The same year it launched India’s first UPI interoperable QR code, the first zero MDR payment acceptance service.

The company is currently serving over 70 lakh merchants across more than 140 cities. BharatPe recently acquired PAYBACK India, the multi-brand loyalty platform to facilitate its offline merchants to roll out rewards and loyalty programmes for its customers. The company is also mulling the launch of ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ services through the PAYBACK platform.

Unicorn Round: The B2B fintech platform BharatPe entered India’s unicorn club on May 11, after it raised $370 million in a fresh funding round led by Tiger Global Management, taking its total valuation to $2.85 billion. The company is one of the youngest startups in the coveted club.

Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital also participated in this funding round. Tiger Global will be investing $100 million in the company whereas Dragoneer and Steadfast will be pumping in $25 million each.

OfBusiness

About: Founded in 2015 by Asish Mohapatra, Ruchi Kalra, Vasant Sridhar and Bhuvan Gupta, OfBusiness is a B2B commerce platform that facilitates raw material procurement and credit for SMEs. It also has a lending arm – Oxyzo – that provides loans of up to Rs 2 crore to merchants.
OfBusiness currently has a revenue run-rate of $1.1 billion, according to its July revenue. The firm is also looking to acquire companies that have revenue in the range of Rs 20-200 crore, as per an ET report.

Unicorn Round: The B2B startup entered the unicorn club on July 31, after raising a $160 million round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. Existing investors Falcon Edge Capital and Matrix Partners also participated in the round. The funding was raised at a valuation of close to $1.5 billion.

Droom

About: Droom was founded in 2014 by Sandeep Aggarwal, who had co-founded e-commerce portal Shopclues. Droom is a tech and data science-driven online automobile marketplace, which offers an e-commerce platform as well as technology solutions for buying and selling automobiles in India. Droom currently has over 6.5 lakh automobiles listed on its platform and has an 80% market share of the automobile transactions online.

The startup has also acquired an AR company, Visiolab to enhance the customer experience in their vehicle buying research. The firm has plans to be listed either on US-based NASDAQ or in India in 2022.

Unicorn Round: On July 29, Droom closed the first round of its upto $200 million pre-IPO funding round. The round has valued the company at $1.2 billion, making it the latest entrant into the unicorn club. The round was raised from existing and new investors such as 57 Stars and Seven Train Ventures.

BlackBuck

About: BlackBuck, an online trucking platform was co-founded in 2015 by Rajesh Yabaji, Chanakya Hridaya, and Rama Subramaniam B. BlackBuck digitises fleet operations for the truckers and operates a marketplace to help match trucks with relevant loads.

The platform has close to 700,000 truckers and 1.2 million trucks on its platform, and it sees over 15 million in monthly transactions. Currently, the company has over 10,000 customers including SMEs and large corporations such as Hindustan Unilever, Reliance, Coca Cola, Asian Paints, Tata, Vedanta, L&T and Jindal.

Unicorn Round: BlackBuck drove into the unicorn club on July 22, after raising $67 million in a funding round led by Silicon Valley-based venture fund Tribe Capital, IFC Emerging Asia Fund and VEF. Existing investors Wellington Management, Sands Capital, and IFC—the World Bank’s investment arm also participated in the round.

BrowserStack

About: BrowserStack is a global player in software testing on the cloud, with 50,000+ customers and four million+ developer signups. Founded in 2011 by entrepreneurs Ritesh Arora and Nakul Aggarwal in Mumbai, Browserstack lets developers test their software, websites or mobile apps across various devices and browsers through the cloud instead of having to set up their own infrastructure.

The startup, which has been profitable since its inception, counts tech behemoths Google, Amazon and Microsoft among its customers.

Unicorn Round: BrowserStack raised $200 million in a funding round that valued the company at $4 billion, joining the unicorn club for startups on June 16. The funding round was led by San Francisco-based technology investment firm BOND and included venture capital firms Insight Partners and Accel.

Zeta

About: Founded in 2015, by Bhavin Turakhia and Ramki Gaddipati, banking tech firm Zeta has developed a technology stack that helps it engage with banks and fintech startups, as well as other online consumer platforms. Banks, which have licenses to offer financial services to customers, use Zeta’s cloud-native API and SDKs to launch credit cards, debit cards and loans.

The startup today serves 10 banks and 25 fintechs as its customers, across eight countries, including Sodexo, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, RBL Bank and SBM Bank India.

Unicorn Round: On May 24, Zeta raised $250 million in its Series D round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund II. Existing investor Sodexo also participated in the round. The deal valued Zeta at $1.45 billion making it the 14th Indian startup to turn unicorn this year.

Moglix

About: Moglix is a B2B commerce platform, bringing tech-first solutions for the manufacturing sector. This includes procurement, contracting, supply chain financing, logistics, etc. It was founded by Xoogler and IIT Kanpur-ISB alumnus Rahul Garg in 2015. Moglix claims to have a network of over 500,000 small, and medium-sized businesses and 3,000 manufacturing plants across India, Singapore, the UK, and the UAE.

In addition, the company also offers an end-to-end procurement solution including resource planning and financing. Among others, the company counts Hero MotoCorp, Vedanta, Tata Steel, Unilever, and Air India, and NTPC as its customers.

Unicorn Round: On May 17, the company entered the coveted unicorn club, after it raised about $120 million in Series E funding, at a valuation of $1 billion. Its backers include Falcon Edge Capital, Accel, Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global Management, Ratan Tata, and Jungle Ventures. In all, the company has raised $220 million so far.

Urban Company

About: Urban Company is a home services provider with a presence across India. Started by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra in 2014, the company roughly has 35,000 professionals offering at-home services ranging from grooming to plumbing. The startup rebranded from UrbanClap to a name with a “universal appeal”. It has also expanded into international markets such as Australia, Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Unicorn Round: The home services platform became this year’s 12th unicorn on April 27, with its valuation touching nearly $2 billion. The company has raised Rs 1410 crore in its latest funding, according to filings sourced from Tofler. The round saw participation from Prosus Ventures (earlier Naspers), Tiger Global via its funds Internet Fund V, along with Wellington management and DF Capital.

ChargeBee

About: In 2011, the SaaS startup was co-founded by Krish Subramanian, Saravanan KP, Rajaraman Santhanam and Thiyagarajan T in an apartment in Chennai. The platform helps businesses automate billing, invoices, payments and revenue management across verticals such as SaaS, e-commerce, e-learning and more. It has over 3,000 clients ranging from startups to enterprises in at least 60 countries. The startup claims to have the ability to move large enterprises to a subscription model within days.

Unicorn Round: ChargeBee became the second SaaS startup to turn unicorn in 2021 after healthcare data analytics firm Innovaccer. It raised $125 million in Series G funding led by Sapphire Ventures with participation from existing investors Tiger Global and Insight Venture Partners. The valuation went up to $1.4 billion – a 3x jump since its Series F funding round in October, 2020.

Gupshup

About: Founded by Beerud Sheth in 2004, the conversational messaging platform helps businesses chat with consumers. Gupshup is used by over 39,000 brands across BFSI, retail and e-commerce sectors. The platform powers over 6 billion messages per month globally. Besides India, it is present in some of the largest emerging economies from South East Asia to Latin America.

Unicorn Round: In April, the U.S.-based Gupshup turned unicorn after raising $100 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion from Tiger Global.
In July, the company raised an additional $240 million in follow-on funding from a group of investors including Fidelity, Tiger Global, Think Investments, Malabar Investments and Harbor Spring Capital. Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers, White Oak and Neeraj Arora were among the other participants in the round.

ShareChat

About: Social media network ShareChat along with the short-video platform Moj form the bedrock of Mohalla Tech – an app development startup founded by Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Pratap Singh & Farid Ahsan in 2015.

ShareChat runs on user-generated regional content with regular features such as private messaging, video sharing, chat room and more. On the other hand, Moj rose to popularity as an alternative to TikTok following the ban on Chinese apps in India. Both ShareChat and Moj have over 160 million monthly active users each.

Unicorn Round: In April, ShareChat became a unicorn after raising $500 million at a valuation of $2.1 billion. Tiger Global led the round with participation from LightSpeed Ventures, India Quotient, Snapchat’s parent Snap Inc and existing investor Twitter.

In July, the startup secured additional $145 M at a valuation of $2.8 billion in Series F round Led by Temasek, Moore Strategic Ventures & Mirae-Naver Asia Growth Fund.

Groww

About: Founded in 2017, the investment platform is the brainchild of four ex-Flipsters (Flipkart employees) – Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh and Ishan Bansal. It enables users to digitally invest in stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, IPOs, and gold. The platform claims to have more than 1.5 crore registered users across 900 cities in India.

Unicorn Round: In April, Groww raised $83 million in Series D funding round at a valuation of more than $1 billion. Tiger Global led the unicorn round with the participation of Groww’s existing investors — Sequoia India, Ribbit Capital, YC Continuity and Propel Venture Partners.

PharmEasy

About: Founded by Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah and Mikhil Innani, PharmEasy is one of the largest e-pharmacies in India alongside 1MG (now owned by the Tata Group) and Netmeds (acquired by Reliance Industries). Currently, the six-year-old PharmEasy works with a base of about 15 million monthly users, over 80,000 pharmacies and 6,000 plus doctors.

In June, PharmEasy carried out a one-of-its-kind deal, becoming the first unicorn to acquire a publicly-listed Indian company. It acquired diagnostic chain Thyrocare Technologies for over Rs 4,500 crore. That brings into its fold Thyrocare’s chain of 3,300 diagnostic centres across 2,000 towns and cities in India.

Unicorn Round: In April, PharmEasy became the first e-pharmacy unicorn after raising $350 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion in Series E funding led by Prosus Ventures and TPG Growth. Existing investors Temasek, CDPQ, LGT Lightrock, Eight Roads and Think Investments also participated in the round.

In June, PharmEasy raised about $420 million at a valuation of about $4.1 billion, according to a Bloomberg report. The company is planning to go for an IPO sometime in early 2022.

CRED

About: Cred is one of the youngest members of the Unicorn club. Founded by Kunal Shah in 2018, the credit card bill payments platform rewards its members for clearing their dues on time. Currently, the platform has over 6 million members, whose credit score stands above 750. It claims to host over 35 percent of premium credit card holders in India.

Cred has expanded to include allied products such as Rentpay (monthly rent on credit card for a small transaction fee), CRED Cash (Instant credit line), STORE (an ecommerce marketplace to use CRED coins) and CRED PAY (merchant payments).

Unicorn Round: In April, Cred entered the billion-dollar club after raising $215 million in Series D funding round at a valuation of $2.2 billion – a 3-fold jump since its earlier fundraise in January. The unicorn round was led by Falcon Edge Capital (new investor) and Coatue Management (existing investor). Existing investors DST Global, RTP Global, Tiger Global, Greenoaks Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Sofina also participated.

Meesho

About: Set up by IIT Delhi graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in 2015, Meesho is a social commerce platform, which helps small businesses and individuals to sell clothing to accessories on Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook. In 2019, it became one of the first Indian startups to draw an investment from Facebook. The platform has over 10 million resellers and 70 million customers.

Unicorn Round: In April, Meesho became the first social commerce startup to enter the unicorn club. It raised $300 million at a valuation of $2.1 billion in a funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Existing investors Prosus Ventures, Facebook, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway and Knollwood Investment also participated in the round.

FirstCry

About: The omnichannel marketplace for baby products took birth in Pune over a decade ago in 2010. Started by IIM-A graduate Supam Maheshwari after facing difficulties in sourcing baby products as a first-time parent, the platform currently offers more than 2,00,000 unique baby products across 6,000 brands with over 400 brick-and-mortar stores in India. From running online parenting communities to developing children’s apps – FirstCry is expanding, albeit within its forte.

Unicorn Round: FirstCry was reported to have turned a unicorn in 2020, but the filing only came in 2021. SoftBank led the unicorn round, committing $300 million in funds, to be delivered in tranches. Masayoshi Son’s investment fund valued FirstCry at $1.2 billion. In March, TPG, ChrysCapital and Premji Invest invested about $300 million at a valuation of $1.9-$2.1 billion, the Economic Times reported.

Five Star

About: A non-banking finance company with a focus on lending to small businesses in South India, it is one of the eldest members of the unicorn club. Founded in 1984 by VK Ranganathan, the Five Star Business Finance claims to have over 1.5 lakh customers and more than Rs 4,000 crore worth of assets under management. It has over 250 offline branches.

Unicorn Round: Five Star Business Finance became the 4th unicorn of the year after raising $234 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion. The funding round was a combination of primary investment from KKR and TVS Capital and secondary sale by Morgan Stanley. Norwest, Sequoia Capital and TPG Capital were some of the investors who participated in earlier rounds.

Infra.Market

About: Founded by Souvik Sengupta and Aaditya Sharda in 2016, Infra.Market is an online marketplace to order construction material – cement, sand, construction chemicals, fly ash and ready-mix concrete. The startup expects to cross $1 billion in sales by the end of 2021 with more than two-third of the sales coming from the company’s own brands.

Currently, it is present across 10 states with major focus on west & south India. It is planning to expand across east and north India soon. As of now, the startup has over 300 customers (institutional and retail) and over 250 manufacturing partners carrying more than 700 projects across four countries, including India.

Unicorn Round: Infra.Market became the third unicorn in 2021. It raised $100 million at a valuation of $1 billion in a funding round led by Tiger Global with participation from Accel & Nexus Venture Partners. The unicorn status was achieved within 20 months of securing seed funds from Accel Partners in June, 2019.

In August, the startup raised $125 M in Series D round led by Tiger Global. This latest funding round valued the company at $2.5 billion.

Innovaccer

About: Silicon Valley-based healthcare SaaS company Innovaccer was one of the earlier startups to join the coveted billion-dollar valuation club this year. Founded in 2014 by Sandeep Gupta, Abhinav Shashank, and Kanav Hasija, Innovaccer streamlines data from health plans, primary care providers, pharmacies, labs, and hospitals.

Innovaccer has four offices with over 600 employees across the US and India, which includes a large base in Noida. The startup claims to have grown dramatically and expects a five-year CAGR of over 100 percent by the end of 2021, with growth across providers, payers, and life sciences sectors.

Unicorn Round: The company became the first Indian healthtech unicorn earlier this year. On February 24, Innovaccer announced the closing of its Series D funding round, led by Tiger Global Management, during which it raised $105 million, taking its valuation to $1.3 billion.

Digit

About: Founded by industry veteran Kamesh Goyal in 2017, the insurtech platform sells policies under health, motor vehicle & emergency categories. The company uses technology to simplify processes for customers with tools like smartphone-enabled self-inspection and audio claims.

Since inception, Digit says it has gained over 2 crore customers with more than 4 lakh claims settled. In addition, it has tie-ups with over 30,000 corporates with more than 36 lakh lives covered under corporate health insurance. For the 2020-2021 period, Digit’s gross premium collected stood at Rs 3,243 crore.

Unicorn Round: The InsurTech startup was the first unicorn of 2021. It raised Rs 135 crore at a valuation of $1.9 billion in a funding round led by existing private equity investors – A91 Partners, Faering Capital and TVS Capital. It became the second insurtech startup after PolicyBazaar to enter the unicorn club. Earlier in 2020, Virat Kohli & Anushka Sharma had invested in Digit. It is also backed by the Canadian-Indian billionaire behind Fairfax Financial Holdings – Prem Watsa.

In July, the company had announced plans to raise $200 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion in a funding round led by existing investor Faering Capital with participation from new investors Sequoia Capital India, IIFL Alternate Asset Managers & others. This is said to be one of the biggest rounds of funding in the insurance sector.

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