Sunday, April 28

Author: Aditya

Social Media Is The Key For Staffing Companies To Drive Biz: Report
ANALYSIS

Social Media Is The Key For Staffing Companies To Drive Biz: Report

Social media presence is increasingly becoming important for staffing companies to drive business as over 83 per cent corporates depend on this platform while deciding their staffing partner, says a report. According to a report by Indian Staffing Federation, an apex body of flexi staffing industry in India, social media has become an impertinent tool not only for managing networking but also to improve brand recall. Though corporates are depending on social media presence to make business partnership decisions, only 67 per cent flexi staffing companies consider social media as an important tool to engage with their customers for driving business. A little over 17 per cent do not even use social media as an important marketing tool, the report said. Staffing companies, who have...
Why This Agriculture Startup Raised Largest-ever Funding From Softbank Vision Fund
News

Why This Agriculture Startup Raised Largest-ever Funding From Softbank Vision Fund

Plenty, the leading field-scale indoor farming company remaking the global food system, announced today a $200 million Series B funding round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund, making it the largest agriculture technology investment in history. Other participants in the round include existing backers such as DCM Ventures and funds that invest on behalf of Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. (more…)
Pune-Based Vayana Network Bags $4 Mn From IDG, Jungle Ventures In Series A Round
FUNDING

Pune-Based Vayana Network Bags $4 Mn From IDG, Jungle Ventures In Series A Round

Pune-based digital trade financing company Vayana Network Services Pvt. Ltd has raised $4 million ( Rs 26 crore) in a Series A round from IDG Ventures India Advisors Pvt. Ltd and Jungle Ventures Pte. Ltd. “This funding comes at an exciting time with GST driving the digital invoicing ecosystem in India and in the backdrop of increasing velocity for trade-based financing led by third-party platforms, globally. We plan on offering several value-added services for our clients to help them take advantage of the trade data,” said R N Iyer, founder and CEO of the company. Vayana Network provides a digital platform for short-term trade financing which helps corporates to set up programs with financial institutions to help their sellers or buyers to finance purchases or sales. Vayana Network h...
Paytm Acquires Majority Stakes In Mumbai-based Ticketing Platform Insider.in
ACQUISITION

Paytm Acquires Majority Stakes In Mumbai-based Ticketing Platform Insider.in

One97 Comunications owned India's largest digital payments startup Paytm has recently acquired majority stakes in a Mumbai based  online ticketing and events platform Insider.in as per the report. Founded by Shreyas Srinivasan in August 2014, Insider.in will continue running the business by enabling Paytm's  more than 200 million registered customers to discover a wide range of events and book them instantly. The terms of the acquisition are not disclosed for now. “Events discovery and ticket booking is a challenge for customers and organisers alike. We believe that digital discovery and events marketing expertise will increase supply of quality events in India. This is a natural extension for us,” Madhur Deora, chief financial officer, Paytm, said in a statement. Srinivasan sa...
Hyperloop One Makes History With World’s First Successful Hyperloop Full Systems Test
News, USA

Hyperloop One Makes History With World’s First Successful Hyperloop Full Systems Test

Hyperloop One today announced the successful completion of the world's first full systems Hyperloop test in a vacuum environment. This test was Phase 1 of a multi-phase program and was privately conducted on May 12, 2017 at the company's test track, 'DevLoop' in the Nevada Desert. The vehicle coasted above the first portion of the track for 5.3 seconds using magnetic levitation and reached nearly 2Gs of acceleration, while achieving the Phase 1 target speed of 70mph. The company is now entering the next campaign of testing, which will target speeds of 250 mph. "Hyperloop One has accomplished what no one has done before by successfully testing the first full scale Hyperloop system. By achieving full vacuum, we essentially invented our own sky in a tube, as if you're flying at 200,000 feet ...
Mumbai Based Drums Food International Raises Rs 90 Crore
FUNDING

Mumbai Based Drums Food International Raises Rs 90 Crore

Drums Food International, the parent company of Epigamia Greek yogurt, today said it has raised Rs 90 crore in a series-B round of funding. The round was led by Belgium-based consumer focused private equity group Verlinvest and venture capital firm DSG Consumer Partners, with participation from InnoVen Capital, it said in a statement. The company plans to utilise the funds to innovate and launch new flavours, initiate brand-building activities and increase production capacity. "It has been such a pleasure to work with Verlinvest and DSG Consumer Partners, they have been true value-added partners and helped us grow the business with full support and assistance," Drums Food International co-founder and CEO Rohan Mirchandani said. "Partnering again in this round was a no-brainer a...
Droom Raises Rs 130 Crore in Latest Funding Round
FUNDING

Droom Raises Rs 130 Crore in Latest Funding Round

Online automobile e-commerce platform Droom has raised USD 20 million (nearly Rs 130 crore) in latest funding round led by Integrated Asset Management (IAM) and existing investor, Digital Garage. The fifth round of funding also saw participation from other existing institutional investors Lightbox, Beenos and Beenext. "The funds will be used to strengthen the technology platform, tech-focussed acquisitions and strengthen Drooms brand portfolio," Droom founder and CEO Sandeep Aggarwal told reporters here. Droom has so far raised USD 65 million, including from the latest instalment. Aggarwal declined however to comment on the valuation of the company. "We still have funds in bank from our last round. However, the excess capital will help drive growth," he said. Besides, the compa...
Snapdeal Board Rejects Flipkart’s $850 Million Offer
News

Snapdeal Board Rejects Flipkart’s $850 Million Offer

Snapdeal board is believed to have rejected a takeover offer of USD 800-850 million (around Rs 5,500 crore) from larger e-commerce rival Flipkart. According to sources privy to the development, Flipkart has completed the due diligence process and has made an offer of USD 800-850 million to buy Snapdeal. However, the offer was rejected by the Snapdeal board which felt the amount undervalues the company as the due diligence report is clean. "The first offer has been rejected but talks are still on. It is an ongoing discussion," said one of the sources. When contacted, Snapdeal, SoftBank and Flipkart declined to comment. SoftBank, the Snapdeals largest investor, has been proactively mediating the sale for the past few months. The board also has representation from Snapdeal founder...
Americans Constitute Now 50 Percent of the Wipro Workforce in US
USA

Americans Constitute Now 50 Percent of the Wipro Workforce in US

Americans now constitute 50 per cent of the Wipro workforce in the US, making it the first major Indian IT company to cross the benchmark that could help it get rid of some of the punitive provisions of Congressional legislations with regard to hiring foreign workers on H-1B visas. Over the past six months, Wipro hired over 1,600 employees by attracting and nurturing local talent to drive innovation and help transform clients businesses into digital enterprises, Wipro said in a statement. "Wipro has a steadfast commitment towards local communities where we are present. We will continue to build a strong local talent pool with diverse skill sets and make strategic investments in close proximity to our clients to serve them better," said Abidali Z Neemuchwala, Wipros chief executive Of...
Online Financial Technology Marketplace Rubique Raised $3 Million
FUNDING

Online Financial Technology Marketplace Rubique Raised $3 Million

Online financial technology marketplace Rubique today said it has raised USD 3 million (about Rs 19.38 crore) from its existing investors including venture capital firm Kalaari Capital. The company had last year announced that it intends to raise USD 10-15 million in a series B round. The funds will be used to strengthen technology product with data science methods and explore new product territories in insurance and mutual funds. The money has been invested by Kalaari Capital and Udayan Goyal, managing partner at Apis Partners, a financial services-oriented private equity firm, the company said in a statement. In April last year, Rubique had raised USD 3 million in series A from Kalaari Capital, YourNest Angel Fund, Globevestor and Dexter Angel Circle. "We will be leveragin...
Your.MD Closes Funding Round for $10 Million Led by Orkla Ventures
FUNDING

Your.MD Closes Funding Round for $10 Million Led by Orkla Ventures

London based Your.MD, the world's smartest AI health information service, has completed its latest round of funding, having raised $10 million led by Orkla Ventures and with participation from Smedvig Capital AS and other existing shareholders. Orkla is a leading supplier of branded consumer goods to the health, pharmacy, grocery, confectionary, specialised retail and bakery sectors in the Nordics, Baltics and selected markets in Central Europe. The investment will be used to support the growth of Your.MD's health information platform and to consolidate its position at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence (AI) development in the digital health sector. The agreement will also enable expansion of its revolutionary OneStop Health™ platform - a global, AI-powered marketplace of trust...