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Fino Paytech Plans To Launch Its Payments Bank Within Two Months

11Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

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Fino Paytech Plans To Launch Its Payments Bank Within Two Months

Fino Paytech is seeking help from ICICI Bank to set up its payments bank venture and is aiming to launch the new entity within two months, a top official said. "We are aiming to launch payments bank in one-and-a- half to two months. We're taking assistance from ICICI Bank for setting up the bank," chief executive Rishi Gupta told Pixr8. The ICICI Group owns a 20 per cent stake in the bank. Fino, a banking correspondent company which received the final nod from the Reserve Bank last month, needs one more set of internal approvals before launching the operations which include one from the board for operationalising, he said. Apart from the internal nods, integration with payment systems, which will help interoperability for its customers, will take a bulk of time, Gupta sai...

Flipkart Raises $1.4 Billion From Microsoft, Tencent and eBay

10Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Flipkart Raises $1.4 Billion From Microsoft, Tencent and eBay

Indias largest e-commerce firm Flipkart has raised USD 1.4 billion from Tencent Holdings, Microsoft Corp and eBay Inc amid speculation that the online marketplace is in talks to take over smaller rival Snapdeal. The biggest-ever fund raising by an Indian Internet firm values Flipkart at USD 11.6 billion, the company said in a statement today. With over 100 million customers, Flipkart owns fashion retailers Myntra and Jabong, logistics firm Ekart and payments app PhonePe. The valuation was a decline from Flipkarts USD 15 billion reported worth in 2015. Prior to the latest round of funding, it had raised more than USD 3 billion, mostly from international investors. eBay will invest USD 500 million in Flipkart as the two firms will merge their operations in the country. As part of the de...

Google.org Offers $8.4M Grants to 4 Indian NGOs

9Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Google.org Offers $8.4M Grants to 4 Indian NGOs

Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, today announced grants of $8.4 million to four NGOs in India that offer technology-based learning solutions. The NGOs include Pratham Books StoryWeaver ($3.6 million), Pratham Education Foundation ($3.1 million), Million Sparks Foundation ($1.2 million) and Learning Equality ($500,000). They will receive the grant for two years to expand and scale the work they are doing. These grants are part of a global $50 million commitment that Google.org has made towards supporting non-profit entities that are building tech-based learning solutions. "These grants will be used to scale existing initiatives to reach more children and build more innovative and engaging tech-based learning solutions to close the gap in learning and academic opportunity," ...

Hyderabad Based Startup Smartron Raise Rs 250 Crore

8Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Hyderabad Based Startup Smartron Raise Rs 250 Crore

Technology company Smartron today said it will raise up to Rs 250 crore more and plans to more than double its workforce over the next 18 months. Smartron, a Hyderabad-based start-up today celebrated its first anniversary of the public launch and introduction of tbook, tphone, and ttab devices and tronxIoT platform. The day also marked the expansion of the R&D and other operations with the opening of the new corporate headquarters located in Gachibowli here, which was inaugurated by Telangana’s IT Minister K Taraka Rama Rao. Smartron Founder and Chairman Mahesh Lingareddy said "this expansion is a step towards building a stronger base to support the R&D and innovation to create a smart product ecosystem." Smartron, in the last two years, went from inception to 200 plus team...

Paytm Steps In Healthcare Domain, Invested in Startup

7Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Paytm Steps In Healthcare Domain, Invested in Startup

Paytm, India's leading mobile payment company has invested in healthcare startup QorQI. The funding amount has been undisclosed. The startup offers a solution that gives doctors access to patient’s health and clinical data at the touch of a button. The startup aims to use AI and big data to improve productivity and care quality of doctors and help patients manage their health and existing ailments better. Commenting on the funding, QorQl’s Sanjay Singh said, “QorQL is pursuing the vision to democratise healthcare access. Our connected health applications are leveraging AI and big data to collect, integrate and interpret data for all users. This not only helps us solve tough problems but also helps our users stay healthy.” “Paytm’s investment in QorQl is a huge endorsement of our prod...

An Education Firm Eruditus Raises $8 Million From Bertelsmann India Investments

3Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

An Education Firm Eruditus Raises $8 Million From Bertelsmann India Investments

Eruditus Executive Education today said it has raised USD 8 million (Rs 52.36 crore) in its series B round from Bertelsmann India Investments. The company plans to use the funding to add new programmes with existing and new university partners as well as expand its geographical footprint to China, Latin America and Europe, the executive education programmes provider said in a release. "Bertelsmann is a great partner given its global footprint, its expertise in education and its success in scaling business by working closely with the founding team," Eruditus co-founder and Director Chaitanya Kalipatnapu said. Eruditus has collaborated with top business schools such as INSEAD, Harvard Business School, Wharton, Tuck, MIT Sloan and Columbia Business School in bringing their profession...

3Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Education Technology Startup Testbook Raises Funding From Matrix Partners India

Matrix Partners India announced today that it has invested an undisclosed amount in education technology startup, Testbook. "We are on a mission to reshape the process of how students prepare for competitive exams. Our endeavor is to deliver world class, personalised learning content for students while solving the problem of access and affordability for the masses," Ashutosh Kumar, founder and CEO of Testbook, said. Founded by a team of IIT graduates, Testbook is an online learning platform enabling students to prepare for recruitment exams for Government jobs such as SBI PO, SSC CGL, IBPS PO, Railways and many more, Matrix said in a statement here. Government jobs exam preparation is one of the largest education markets in India with over 40 million students appearing every year ...

2Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

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An Indian Watch Brand TSAR Launches Wood Made Watches

As people from the fashion industry dabble with new textures and materials to come up with different and extraordinary designs in the world of accessories, here is a material that is to stay "WOOD". Open your mind to the possibilities and you will realise that there is no better and more sustainable material than wood as it is one of the most abundant renewable resource available in this day and age with infinite possibilities. It is comparatively an ecological solution to using stainless steel, leather and other limited and morally questionable resources that may perish, deplete or cause harm to the society. Wood has evolved to suit our functional and aesthetic needs. TSAR, the new Emperor in the world of wooden accessories is here to stay. An Indian Watch brand started by two y...

Struggling E-commerce Company Snapdeal Rope in SBI Caps and Kotak Mahindra Capital For IPO in 2019

1Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

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Struggling E-commerce Company Snapdeal Rope in SBI Caps and Kotak Mahindra Capital For IPO in 2019

Struggling ecommerce major Snapdeal has sounded out five merchant bankers, including SBI Caps and Kotak Mahindra Capital, to work on a public offer that is likely to hit the market in the second half of 2019. The third largest marketplace majority owned by Japanese giant SoftBank has also reportedly appointed Swiss investment banking major Credit Suisse as a special advisor for the share sale, people aware of the development told PTI. "The IPO process is on with in earnest and may open in the second half of calender 2019, depending on the market sentiment. The management has zeroed in on five i-bankers incluing SBI Caps and Kotak MahindraBSE 0.82 % Capital,"said the source. The source also said out of the five i-bankers sounded out, it will pick only one lead-banker that could be ...

Reliance Jio Claim To Have 50 Million Paid Subscribers

30Mar By PriyankaNo Comments

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Reliance Jio Claim To Have 50 Million Paid Subscribers

Reliance Jio, India's newest telecom operator, is closing in on 50 million paid users, days before its free voice, free-data offer ends. Out of 100 million-plus free subscribers, nearly 50 million have signed up for its 'Prime' membership by paying a one-time charge of Rs 99 and buying data packs. A company official said that Jio has already achieved more than 50 per cent of the target set for Jio Prime membership. Jio's promotional Happy New Year plan that offered free voice and data ends on March 31. The company has offered customers Prime membership on payment of one-time fee of Rs 99. Data packs for such members is available for as low as Rs 149 per month. Voice calls on Jio will remain free. The official said daily addition are going up exponentially and actual numbers wil...

This is Why India’s EVMs Best in World; Secure, Robust, Tamper Proof

27Mar By PriyankaNo Comments

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This is Why India’s EVMs Best in World; Secure, Robust, Tamper Proof

New Delhi: All of a sudden this month the nifty Indian invention, the unique electronic voting machines that were hailed to be the harbingers of free and fair elections in India, are being made out to be the villains of the piece. So have the machines suddenly become fallible and has anybody ever hacked into them? The machines are the same and nobody has ever hacked them, the problem could lie elsewhere in depleting political values. The independent Election Commission of India (ECI) says "it completely reaffirms its faith in the infallibility of the EVMs these are fully tramper-proof as ever". It adds "baseless, speculative and wild allegations are being made which deserve to be rejected". There is an old saying the "winner takes it all and the loser cries foul"! The stunning resul...

Interior Design Startup Furdo Races to Profitability in Under 14 Months

22Mar By PriyankaNo Comments

Story

Interior Design Startup Furdo Races to Profitability in Under 14 Months

Bangalore-based online interior design platform, Furdo, has achieved what most well-funded startups have struggled to achieve since inception - 'Become Profitable'. Started with an angel investment of $400K, Furdo has been growing at an average of 30% month-on-month since April 2016, that lead to them achieving operational breakeven in September 2016. The key driver to this breakeven story lies in a single word, that everybody at Furdo across verticals and hierarchies, is asked to internalise - 'IMPACT'. "We are an impact focused organisation. Maximum impact from minimum effort/spend has always been the primary goal across verticals," says Ishwar Sundararaman, Co-founder & CEO, on the single-most important thing that has been responsible for Furdo's race to profitability. Foun...