Friday, May 10

Author: Sheldan Rungasamy

Yatra to Raise $100 Mn Over 3 Year Period
5May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
FUNDING

Yatra to Raise $100 Mn Over 3 Year Period

Yatra, the online major travel company is set to gradually raise $100 Mn of funding over the next three years, as recent regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveal. The filings state, “Under this shelf registration process, we may offer ordinary shares, preference shares, various series of debt securities or even warrants to purchase ordinary shares, preference shares and debt securities, either individually or in units, in one or more offerings, up to a total dollar amount of $100 Mn.” According to the company’s group chief financial officer Alok Vaish explained that the company “don’t have immediate need of funds. We can raise money at any point of time over the next three-year kind of time frame. There is no specific description of offering righ...
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Flipkart to Provide ‘Complete Mobile Protection’ For Rs 49 per year
5May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
News

Flipkart to Provide ‘Complete Mobile Protection’ For Rs 49 per year

Flipkart is launching its very own servicing subscription programme along with the sale launch of the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1, which went on sale at noon on Thursday and was sold out within minutes. The servicing subscription programme is currently available for the Asus smartphone currently but the leading e-commerce platform intends expand this service to all smartphones it sells on its platform in the next three months. Despite growing reports of Walmart set to acquire the Bengaluru-headquartered Flipkart, the company is not letting the deal blind it from its other priorities. Especially since the company’s big sale season, beginning with the Big Billion Day Sale, starting 1 October is only five months away and preparations seem to have already begun with what Flipkart is calling a ‘...
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Vodafone and BSNL Go toe-to-toe with Jio’s New Rs 349 Plan
4May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
INDIA

Vodafone and BSNL Go toe-to-toe with Jio’s New Rs 349 Plan

Since Jio’s entry in the Indian telecom market, the competition for the best data plan has been fierce; with ever dropping prices and better data plan deals. Vodafone and BSNL, two major competitors of Mukesh Ambani’s telecom company have announced a new prepaid plan, priced at Rs 349 each. Vodafone subscribers will benefit from 3GB of 4G/3G data per day, unlimited local, STD and roaming calls, and 100 SMS messages per day for the duration of 28 days. As for BSNL users, they will benefit from 1GB data and 100 SMS everyday but for 54 days. The prepaid pack proposed by Vodafone rivals leading telecom company Airtel’s Rs 349 recharge and Jio’s Rs 299 prepaid plans. With a budget of Rs 349, Airtel offers 3GB data, 100 SMS per day and unlimited STD, and national roaming calls for 28 days....
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Flipkart Sell 75% stake to Walmart for $15 Billion
4May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
ACQUISITION

Flipkart Sell 75% stake to Walmart for $15 Billion

Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce giant came to terms with American brick-and-mortar mammoth, Walmart, to sell an equity stake of about 75% for $15 billion, according to a report from Bloomberg which cited anonymous sources. SoftBank, the Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company that holds 20% stake in the e-commerce business agreed to sell its shares of the company to the American firm. Bloomberg added that Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc is also participating alongside Walmart in this deal. Terms are still being negotiated and the deal can even fall apart at any moment, Bloomberg reported. However, the deal is expected to close within the next 10 days. None of the companies agreed to comment on the matter. Earlier this week, Indian TV channel CNBC-TV18 reported ...
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Consumer Electronics Startup Raises Rs 6 Crore Seed Funding
4May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
FUNDING

Consumer Electronics Startup Raises Rs 6 Crore Seed Funding

boAt, a lifestyle brand that delivers consumer technology products raised its seed funding of Rs 6 crore from Fireside Ventures, an early-stage consumer brand-focused investment firm. boAt specializes in providing consumer electronics goods with a touch of fashion. It primarily provides products such as earphones, headphones, speakers, travel charge and premium rugged cables. It aims at providing electronic products that are widely used in the everyday lives of 21st century citizens that can be used as a fashion accessory. The company relied primarily on capital poured by its founders since inception two years ago. The funds raised from Fireside Ventures will serve the purpose of marketing the brand, developing products and widening its distribution across more tech product categ...
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Paytm Mall Partners With Asus, Will Provide PoS Solution
3May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
News

Paytm Mall Partners With Asus, Will Provide PoS Solution

Paytm Mall, daughter company of Paytm Ecommerce Pvt. Ltd announced the launch of a connected Point of Sale (PoS) solution for retail stores in a bid to empower shopkeepers in managing their offline and online customers. To implement this new initiative, Paytm Mall signed a strategic partnership with Asus India. Therefore, the PoS solution will be first available at ASUS retail stores and will subsequently expand to other brands and retail stores. Paytm Mall also unveiled the exclusive online launch of VivoBook X507 on its platform which will be available at Asus offline retail stores. Moreover, Asus is looking forward to install its innovative “Digital Experience Zone” as well as Paytm Mall QR in a bid to encourage customers to order ASUS products while in the store. “We are ex...
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Here is the Easiest Way to Hire Freelancers
3May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
BLOGS

Here is the Easiest Way to Hire Freelancers

We had first heard about InstaTaskers from an entrepreneur friend who was going gaga about it. This friend had recently started up and was constantly plagued by the absence of quality service providers. She could not have hired full time for every skill. Full-time hiring has its own overheads that are impractical to be borne by startups. Also, she did not have sufficient work for employing full-time for every skill needed. When she told me about her easy-breezy experience of hiring freelancers through InstaTaskers, I assumed that it would be one of the many rip-offs of the US startups. But the deluge of appreciation was just not ending. I heard about them from another colleague and then another friend. So, when I needed to urgently hire a freelance finance writer for a friend, I decided...
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FinTech Startup Opentap Raises Rs 3 Crore Funding
3May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
FUNDING

FinTech Startup Opentap Raises Rs 3 Crore Funding

OpenTap, a FinTech startup based in Chennai has received a funding of more than $ 450,000 (Rs 3 crore) from a set of high net-worth individuals, according to a statement from the company. The funds raise will be used to develop its team, strengthen its technological infrastructure, marketing and to widen the reach of its financial services network across the country, the statement added. Opentap which is operated by Vyatta Technology Private Limited, was founded in 2015 by Senthil Natrajan, Harish Devarajan and Suresh Venkataramani. All three co-founders have an experienced background in the finance field for prior to founding the company, Natarajan worked in Barclays and JP Morgan, Devarajan is the chief executive of Deep Value, a US-based cash equities algorithmic trading desk, and...
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Facebook Data Scandal Firm Cambridge Analytica is Shutting Down
3May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
News

Facebook Data Scandal Firm Cambridge Analytica is Shutting Down

Cambridge Analytica, the British political consulting firm that was severely criticized and blamed responsible for extracting personal information from over 87 million Facebook users for ad targeting during the 2016 US Elections, announced that it was shutting down the company. The company still claims innocence to the allegations but states that the reason for shutting down operations is due to the negative media coverage that made it lose its clientele as well as the excessive legal fees it has to pay due to the scandal it got involved in. “Despite Cambridge Analytica’s unwavering confidence that its employees have acted ethically and lawfully, the siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the company’s customers and suppliers,” the company released in a statement. “As ...
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IPL Fails to Drive TV Audience But Wins Big Online
3May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
News

IPL Fails to Drive TV Audience But Wins Big Online

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018, currently aired on Star India network, is unable to attract the viewership it recorded for the 2017 season when aired on Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) channels. Star India network acquired the broadcasting rights of the competition this year after acquiring global media rights for a colossal Rs 16,347.5 crore. According to stats from the Economic Times, the network registered 302.8 million viewers above the age of 20 in India in rural and urban locations throughout 17 live matches. This figure is spread across 10 Star India channels broadcasting the cricket matches, namely, Star Sports 1 (SD+HD), Star Sports (SD+HD), Star Sports 1Tamil, Star Sports Select 1 (SD + HD), Star Suvarna Plus (Kannada), Star Maa Movies (Telegu) and Star Jalsha (Ben...
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The Dark Truth Behind Whatsapp Founders Leaving Facebook
2May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
Story

The Dark Truth Behind Whatsapp Founders Leaving Facebook

Yesterday we published a breaking news stating that billionaire and chief executive of Whatsapp, Jan Koum, was planning to leave the parent company, Facebook. Whatsapp’s Last Remaining Co-Founder Exits Facebook. While the departure seemed friendly between the Chief Executive of Whatsapp, Jan Koum, and Chief Executive of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg but the departure motives suggest otherwise. According to several US media reports, the decision to leave his high position in the ranks of Facebook and its board of directors as well was motivated by disagreements about the company’s future. Reports suggest that Koum disagreed with the social media giant’s plan to weaken the messaging app’s encryption and strategy to use specific user information to earn money from Whatsapp.   ...
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College Event Ticketing Startup Raises $250,000 funding
2May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments
FUNDING

College Event Ticketing Startup Raises $250,000 funding

TheCollegeFever (TCF), a college event ticket booking startup raised a seed funding worth $250,000 (Rs 1.7 crore) from Mumbai-based investment firm 11.2 Advisors. It is the first time that TheCollegeFever is raising funds from external resources and intends on using the capital for customer acquisition and improving technology, its founder Kushal Aralihalli said. The Bengaluru-based company, which is run by Culturo Technology Pvt. Ltd, works in partnership with 2,000 colleges and has sold over 4 lakhs tickets in over 6,000 events amounting to Rs 10 crore, its Aralihalli added. Kushal Aralihalli founded the event ticket startup in 2016 and managed to double its growth since last year. TheCollegeFever operates in a market segment that makes it compete directly with giants BookMyS...
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