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AI startup Databricks Raises $1 billion from Microsoft, Google & Amazon

2Feb By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

AI startup Databricks Raises $1 billion from Microsoft, Google & Amazon

San Francisco, Feb 2, 2021: AI startup Databricks raises $1 billion in funding in Series G round from Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services. Using this round of funding the startup value soar at a $28 billion valuation. Databricks is an analytics-based cloud computing platform that has 5,000 customers, including 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies. "We see this investment and our continued rapid growth as further validation of our vision for a simple, open and unified data platform that can support all data-driven use cases, from BI (business intelligence) to AI," said Ali Ghodsi, Databricks chief executive and co-founder. "Databricks helps organizations eliminate the cost and complexity that is inherent in legacy data architectures so that data teams can collaborate and...

BharatPe raises $20 Million from Alteria Capital, ICICI Bank

18Jan By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

BharatPe raises $20 Million from Alteria Capital, ICICI Bank

New Delhi, 18th Jan 2021: Indian fintech company BharatPe raises about USD 20 million in debt funding from venture firm Alteria Capital and ICICI Bank that will be used to strengthen its lending business and provide credit to merchants. Founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018, BharatPe offers merchants a single interface for all UPI apps like Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay, BHIM, Mobikwik, Freecharge, and others. BharatPe co-founder and CEO Ashneer Grover said $13 million in debt came from Alteria Capital, while the remaining $7 million was from ICICI Bank. Bharat Pay also facilitates loan facility for its merchant partners. Last week, BharatPe raised around $8 million in debt funding from Innoven Capital. With this, BharatPe has raised a total of USD 28 ...

Quick Heal invest $2 mn in Israel based L7 Defense

15Jan By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Quick Heal invest $2 mn in Israel based L7 Defense

California, 15th Jan 2021: Antivirus firm Quick Heal Technologies invested $2 million in an Israel-based cybersecurity startup L7 Defense. L7 Defense specializes in Application Program Interface (API) Security and Next Generation Web Application Firewall (NG-WAF). This is the second round investment by Quick Heal in L7 Defense. Last Year Quick Heal invested $300,000 in L7 Defense to acquired customers in financial, telecom and IT industries across US and Europe. Dr Kailash Katkar, Managing Director and CEO, Quick Heal said, "L7 Defense has proven its unique capabilities in the area of API Security and NG-WAF which led us to further increase our investment. Simultaneously, this move enables 'Seqrite' to foray into application security and strengthen our solution stack to secure m...

6Jan By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

BoAt raises $100 million in funding from Warburg Pincus

New Delhi, Jan 6, 2020: Indian based famous electronic gadgets brand boAt has raised $100 million (about Rs 731.6 crore) in funding from an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm. While boAt did not disclose the valuation at which the funds were raised, it said the fresh capital will enable it to further fortify its leading market position and widen its Research and development (R&D) capabilities and product portfolio. The funding will also help build on boAt's efforts to create and support a manufacturing ecosystem under the Make-in-India initiative, a statement said. The product portfolio of boAt includes headphones, earphones, smartwatches, speakers, travel chargers and premium cables. Launched in 2016, boAt currently has approximately 150 employees o...

Info Edge Ventures gets $50 Million Commitment from Temasek

18Dec By AdityaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Info Edge Ventures gets $50 Million Commitment from Temasek

New Delhi, Dec 18th, 2020: Info Edge Ventures said China based Temasek committed about USD 50 million to the fund. Info Edge Ventures is a $100 early-stage venture capital fund backed by Info Edge, parent company of Naukri.com. The fund was launched in January this year. "Temasek, a global investment company headquartered in Singapore, has committed about USD 50 million to the fund, which will continue to explore India-focused opportunities enabled by technology," a statement said. Since its establishment, the fund has already invested in nine early stage startups in e-commerce, digital media, fintech, edtech, healthtech, gaming and SaaS segments. These companies include DotPe, Bulbul, Qyuki, Fanclash, Truemeds, Rusk Media, FirstHive, Polymerize and Udayy. "We are del...

Joby Aviation acquires Uber Flying Taxi Business

9Dec By AnkitaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Joby Aviation acquires Uber Flying Taxi Business

Santa Cruz, Calif. and San Francisco, Dec 09, 2020— Joby Aviation, a transportation company developing an electric, vertical take-off and landing passenger aircraft raises $75 million in funding from Uber and acquires Uber Flying Taxi Business 'Uber Elevate. The investment from Uber comes in addition to a previously undisclosed $50 million investment made as part of Joby’s Series C financing round in January 2020. Under the terms of this deal, Joby Aviation will acquire Uber Elevate, while the two parent companies have agreed to integrate their respective services into each other’s apps, enabling seamless integration between the ground and air travel for future customers. Joby Aviation is planning to launch their Air Taxi service in 2023. Established in 2016, Uber Elevate has...

4Dec By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Step Raises $50 Million in Series B Funding from Stripe, Justin Timberlake & others

SAN FRANCISCO, 4th December 2020-- Step, a financial services company built for teens and families raises a $50 million Series B round of funding. The round was led by Coatue, with participation from returning investors Stripe, Crosslink Capital, Collaborative Fund, and Will Smith’s Dreamers VC. Step also added several new investors including Charli D’Amelio, Justin Timberlake, The Chainsmokers, Eli Manning, Kelvin Beachum, Larry Fitzgerald, and Andre Iguodala alongside prominent fintech executives from the likes of Facebook, Square, Venmo, Visa, and others. To date, Step has raised more than $75 million from investors. “Since Step’s launch, we’ve seen massive demand for this new type of all-in-one banking solution, making it much easier for teens to learn about money manag...

AI-powered Home Maintenance Platform Dobby Secures $1.7 Million in Seed Round

3Dec By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

AI-powered Home Maintenance Platform Dobby Secures $1.7 Million in Seed Round

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2020-- Dobby, an AI-powered home maintenance platform raises $1.7 million in the seed round of funding. The capital will use to strengthen the company's growth initiatives, and spotlight its proprietary, automated, AI-first experience to homeowners, service providers, and ancillary beneficiaries such as real estate agents. This equity finance raise comes as Dobby scales to meet strong demand in the home maintenance sector, which, according to a Bank of America spending report, is seeing home maintenance consumer spending 60% above the Jan-2020 level. "During my days at DataRobot, I saw an opportunity to build an AI-first company from the ground up in a large and unsexy industry," said Satadru Sangupta, Dobby's CEO and co-founder. "I chose home maintenance bec...

Y Combinator backed Digital Payment Firm Cashfree raises $35 million

25Nov By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Y Combinator backed Digital Payment Firm Cashfree raises $35 million

Bengaluru-based fintech, Cashfree raises USD 35.3 million (approximately ₹ 260 crore) as part of its Series B round. The investment was led by Uk based Apis Growth Fund II, with participation from existing investor Y Combinator. Cashfree, a payments and banking technology company that enables businesses in India to collect payments online and make payouts, was founded by Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta in 2015. The company is a 2017 alumnus of Y Combinator, the start-up incubator based in San Francisco, and has grown exponentially, processing over $ 12 billion annualised payment volumes as of March 2020, the statement said. Cashfree said it has been profitable since its first year of operations and counts more than 50,000 businesses amongst its merchants including internet compani...

MindTickle raises $100 mn by Softbank Vision Fund 2

16Nov By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

MindTickle raises $100 mn by Softbank Vision Fund 2

Sales readiness platform MindTickle raises $100 million (approximately Rs 745 crore) in a combination of equity and debt financing led by Softbank Vision Fund 2. The existing investors, Norwest Venture Partners, Canaan, NewView Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures, also participated in the round. MindTickle provides data-driven solutions for sales readiness and enablement that fuels revenue growth and brand value for hundreds of companies across the world. MindTickle has offices in Pune, San Francisco, and London. The company will use this new round of funding to accelerate platform activities and expansion of global operations. "As customers become increasingly demanding and remote work becomes more common, organizations realize the need to reskill and upskill their employees on a...

10Nov By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Escooter platform TIER raises $250 mln in funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2

Berlin, 10th Nov 2020: TIER, a Europe-based eScooter platform raises $250 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Existing investors including Mubadala Investment Company’s financial investment arm, Mubadala Capital, Northzone, Goodwater Capital, White Star Capital, Novator and RTP Global also participated in the round. Since its 2018 launch, TIER has established itself as the European market leader through unrivalled capital efficiency and operational excellence as it deployed 60.000 e-scooters across 80 cities in ten countries. The Berlin-based company is already profitable and will use the investment to accelerate the company’s vision to Change Mobility for Good. TIER is revolutionising urban transport with innovative new technologies and micro-mobility solutions...

Reliance Retail Raises $1.3 billion from PIF

5Nov By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Reliance Retail Raises $1.3 billion from PIF

New Delhi, Nov 5, 2020: India's richest man Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Retail raises $1.3 billion (Rs 9,555 crore) from the Saudi Arab based Public Investment Fund (PIF). PIF will acquire a 2.04 percent stake in Reliance Retail. This is the second investment by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund in an Ambani firm. Earlier It had picked up a 2.32 percent stake in Jio Platforms for $1.5 billion (Rs 11,367 crore). The investment values RRVL, the retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd, at a pre-money equity value of $62 billion (Rs 4.587 lakh crore). "This investment will further strengthen PIF's presence in India's dynamic economy and promising retail market segment," the statement said. "The transaction is in line with PIF's strategy as a leading global investor with a prove...