Monday, December 23

Author: Priyanka

Mumbai Based OrderZapp Goes Eco-Friendly; Starts Electric Bikes Delivery
News

Mumbai Based OrderZapp Goes Eco-Friendly; Starts Electric Bikes Delivery

OrderZapp, a recently launched app which offers traditional snacks across Mumbai is taking multiple initiatives to support environmental causes and concerns. The company will initiate its delivering via electric bikes across Mumbai. The idea behind using electric bikes is not limited to support only the environment, but it also helps the start-up manage its operational costs. By taking this step, the company will provide vehicles to the delivery boys, who will now not have to use their own bikes. Along with this, OrderZapp also kick starts tree plantations drive in the drought struck areas of Maharashtra. The drive which begins from Sunday will go on across the months of monsoons. "We are very glad to implement these environment friendly initiatives in our organization. These ...
Airtel Payments Bank appoints Shashi Arora as CEO and MD
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Airtel Payments Bank appoints Shashi Arora as CEO and MD

Airtel Payments Bank today announced the appointment of Shashi Arora as the CEO and Managing Director of the company. His appointment is subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India. He will replace Manish Khera, CEO, who resigned from his post to pursue his entrepreneurial journey. "I am delighted to announce the appointment of Shashi Arora as the CEO and MD designate of the bank. Shashi is a seasoned professional with over 26 years of experience across sectors including FMCG, Telecom, Media and Banking," Airtel Payments Bank Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said in a statement. On April 11, 2016, Airtel Payments Bank became the first entity in India to receive a payments bank license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The company plans to start rolling out its banking netw...
Online Automobile Marketplace Droom Raises 200 Crores Funding
FUNDING

Online Automobile Marketplace Droom Raises 200 Crores Funding

Online automobile marketplace Droom today said it has raised an undisclosed amount from BEENEXT, Digital Garage and other existing investors to expand its presence in the South East Asian countries like Indonesia. However, according to sources, Droom has raised nearly Rs 200 crore in this round of funding. The company will also use the proceeds of the Series B funding to expand its domestic operations and strengthen its technology platform. "The amount raised for the new round of funding is significantly higher than Series A that we raised last year," Droom founder and CEO Sandeep Aggarwal told reporters. He declined to comment on the funding raised and the valuation of the company. Previously, Droom has raised seed funding of USD 1.5 million and USD 4 million in May and October 20...
1mg Raises Additional Series B Funding From HBM Healthcare
FUNDING

1mg Raises Additional Series B Funding From HBM Healthcare

1mg, India’s leading consumer health platform, has raised has raised an undisclosed amount of additional Series B funding from HBM Healthcare Investments AG, the company said in a statement. In April, the company raised Rs.100 crore in the Series B round from Maverick Capital Ventures, the venture capital (VC) arm of US-based hedge fund Maverick Capital Ltd, besides existing investors Sequoia Capital and Omidyar Network. 1mg initially raised $6 million from Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, Omidyar Network and Deep Kalra, co-founder of travel portal MakeMyTrip. The funding will help 1mg fend off competition from rivals such as Sequoia Capital-backed Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which has so far raised $124 million from investors such as Tencent Holdings Ltd, Sofina SA, Google Capital ...
Housing.com Target $10 mn Revenue in 2016
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Housing.com Target $10 mn Revenue in 2016

Housing.com , which has raised over $ 100 million from various investors including Softbank and has restructured the business, today said it expects $ 10 million revenue in the current fiscal. Last November, it had decided to monetize its products as part of the restructuring exercise. "Housing.com is receiving an overwhelming response to the products it launched in January with revenue growing 200 percent month-on-month and the company on track to achieve $10 million in revenue this fiscal year," it said in a statement. After the company decided to focus its business on home buying and selling, Housing.com said it has started a series of digital advertising products for developers and brokers to provide maximum customer exposure and return on investment for their home sal...
News

Flipkart Row Will Affect Startups Hiring Market

Darling of jobseekers till recently, the startup space may lose some sheen in the job market as management and tech graduates might prefer joining safer companies after the Flipkart fiasco, say experts. The e-commerce major has deferred joining dates for campus hires from IIM Ahmedabad and IITs citing restructuring of its businesses, for which it has got a lot of flak from the colleges as well as the industry. Reports suggest Flipkart is not the only company from e-commerce and related sectors to have deferred the joining dates for their campus hires and there are many others including InMobi, CarDekho and Hopscotch. According to industry and HR experts, it might also bring a lot of pressure on reputation, success and unpredictability of the educational institutions concerned as it di...
Zuckerberg to Use Facebook Live to Chat With ISS Astronauts
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Zuckerberg to Use Facebook Live to Chat With ISS Astronauts

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will chat live with three astronauts currently living on the International Space Station and ask them questions posted by viewers on NASAs facebook page. In a 20-minute Facebook Live video call with two NASA astronauts - Tim Kopra and Jeff Williams - and a European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake, Zuckerberg will ask questions and use the service to enable viewers to livestream themselves. Zuckerberg will speak with astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station (ISS) at 12:55 PM (local time) on Wednesday, June 1, NASA said in a statement. The interesting questions from the facebook viewers include - What is the outcome of Newtons bucket experiment on ISS?, Who provides the food eaten on the space station? The ISS serv...
Online Learning Startup EdCast Acquired Online Sales Training Company Sales University
ACQUISITION

Online Learning Startup EdCast Acquired Online Sales Training Company Sales University

Online learning startup EdCast acquired online sales training company Sales University, previously known as WAGmob, for an undisclosed amount. This is the first acquisition the education platform has made after closing a $16 million Series-B round led by GE Asset Management in April. Sales University, founded by former Microsoft engineering executives, is headquartered in Seattle, US and Indore in India. "Besides innovative features like video role play and product training, Sales University provide access to some marquee influencers like Tom Hopkins and Ken Thoreson. Most importantly, they have the best mobile-first sales training app that we could find," said Karl Mehta, founder of EdCast. However, Mehta refused to disclose the terms of the deal. Sales University claims ...
Online Tax Returns Filing Platform ClearTax Raises $2 million (Rs 13.3 crore) Funding
FUNDING

Online Tax Returns Filing Platform ClearTax Raises $2 million (Rs 13.3 crore) Funding

Online tax returns filing platform ClearTax, has raised $2 million (Rs 13.3 crore) from FF Angel, and Sequoia Capital. The company will use the proceeds from the round to launch a slew of consumer-focused tax-saving products, including mutual funds and other equity-linked saving schemes. "We have taken the long route, and now we are extremely excited to have some of the biggest thought leaders and investors on board as our partners," Archit Gupta, co-founder of Cleartax said. "We are an instrument-agnostic platform that will allow consumers to choose their rate of return and select what to have in their tax savings basket." ClearTax has over 1 million consumers e-filing their tax returns, and the company is targeting bringing on board 5 million users by the end of the current fiscal,...
One More Down, Tech Mahindra Pulled Out From Payments Bank Race
News

One More Down, Tech Mahindra Pulled Out From Payments Bank Race

IT firm Tech Mahindra today said it will not pursue its plans to set up payments bank operations in the country, becoming the third player to pull out from the race. "With reference to the earlier communication dated August 20, 2015, about the in-principle approval granted by RBI for setting up a payments bank, Board of Directors of the company have decided that the company will not pursue this opportunity," it said in a filing to the BSE. Sun Pharma founder Dilip Shanghvi who along with IDFC Bank and Telenor got in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank for payments bank, also pulled out of the race last week. A couple of months back, Cholamandalam group also dropped plans of setting up a payments bank. "It was a conscious decision that we wanted to be in this business. We ...
Tata Cliq Tie-up With Genesis Fashion Brand
News

Tata Cliq Tie-up With Genesis Fashion Brand

Tata Groups upcoming e-commerce platform TataCLiQ.com today entered into a strategic partnership with Genesis Luxury Fashion to sell a wide range of international luxury brands exclusively in India. Genesis is the marketing and distribution partner for more than 14 international brands, including Burberry, Hugo BOSS, Jimmy Choo, Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, Armani Jeans, Canali, Michael Kors and Paul Smith, in India. This alliance will make TataCLiQ.com the only authorised partner to offer several international luxury brands in India that the Genesis represents, the company said in a statement. Partnering with Genesis will help TataCLiQ.com get some of these brands online in an authentic and authorised manner to the consumer. TataCLiQ.com CEO Ashutosh Pandey said: "Together,...
Exclusive: Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank Withdraw From Payments Bank
News

Exclusive: Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank Withdraw From Payments Bank

Telenor Financial Services, IDFC Bank and Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi have decided to withdraw their licence to set up a payments bank. They are the second applicant to withdraw from the licence after Cholamandalam group pulled out of payments banks race a couple of months back. In a joint press statement, the partners said: "Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor Financial Services jointly agree to withdraw plans to establish a payments bank venture and consequently the payment bank licence will not be pursued." Last September, Dilip Shanghvi, Chairman of Sun Pharma, as lead applicant along with Telenor Financial Services and IDFC Bank, was granted in-principle licence by Reserve Bank to form a payments bank. "Following the mutual decision to withdraw from setting up a payments bank,...