FUNDING | Pixr8 News

11Apr By RishabhNo Comments

FUNDING

HackerEarth Raises USD 4.5 mn Funding from DHI Group and Others

HackerEarth, a platform for innovation and talent management, today said it has closed a USD 4.5 million (around Rs 30 crore) investment led by DHI Group. The Series A round also saw participation from Beenext, Beenos, Digital Garage and BizReach as well as HackerEarths current investor Prime Venture Partners. "With this round, we have raised a total of USD 5 million in equity investment to date. With this fresh infusion of capital, we aim to aggressively grow in the space of innovation management," HackerEarth CEO and Co-Founder Sachin Gupta. The company will also use the funds to strengthen its product team and strengthen business internationally in markets like the US, Europe and South East Asia, he added. Founded by Sachin Gupta and Vivek Prakash in 2012, HackerEarth has wo...

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...

IIT Bombay incubated Startup Raises 2 Crore

6Apr By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

IIT Bombay incubated Startup Raises 2 Crore

Nanosniff Technologies, an IIT Bombay incubated company, has raised Rs 2 crore (about USD 300,000) from 1Crowd and its investor community. Nanosniff is a deep technology company working on high impact offerings in MEMS domain with applications in healthcare and security markets. "Nanosniff is an exemplary case where genuine IP has been created from robust R&D to address healthcare and security markets," 1Crowd co-founder Anil Gudibande said in a statement. It had previously raised an undisclosed amount from a group of angel investors.

Venture Capital Aspada Invests in Fruits and Vegetables Distribution Startup Waycool

4Apr By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Venture Capital Aspada Invests in Fruits and Vegetables Distribution Startup Waycool

Aspada Investment Company has made a $2.7 million investment in Chennai-based Waycool Foods and Products PrivateLimited (Waycool) Waycool is a fresh produce distribution company that sources fruits and vegetables from small-hold farmers and aggregators and sells through multiple distribution channels spanning small local shops, modern retail outlets, and HORECA (hotels, restaurants and catering establishments). Waycool currently operates predominantly in Tamil Nadu via a distribution hub in Chennai. With Aspada's investment, Waycool will extend its reach to other major cities, including Bangalore and Hyderabad, build atechnology platform to reduce inefficiencies in the supply chain, and augment the company's existing infrastructure. Aspada's investment in Waycool adds significant op...

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...

Warburg Pincus Invests Rs 500 Cr in Kalyan Jewellers

3Apr By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Warburg Pincus Invests Rs 500 Cr in Kalyan Jewellers

Kerala-based Kalyan Jewellers today announced American private equity firm Warburg Pincus has invested an additional Rs 500 crore in the company. The proceeds will be used for expansion of its network in both domestic and overseas market, a company statement said. With the second round of investment, the American PE firms total investment in Kalyan Jewellers has increased to Rs 1,700 crore. It had invested Rs 1,200 crore in 2014. "The investment by Warburg Pincus is a vindication of the strong growth trajectory of the company," Kalyan Jewellers Chairman and Managing Director T S Kalyanaraman said in a statement. The company plans to nearly double its presence to 200 plus showrooms using a combination of equity, debt and internal accruals, he said. It is also working on a bluepri...

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 ...

Grameen Koota Raises Rs 250 Crore from CreditAccess Asia

2Apr By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Grameen Koota Raises Rs 250 Crore from CreditAccess Asia

Grameen Koota Financial Services Private Limited (Grameen Koota) has raised Rs.250 Cr. from its holding company, CreditAccess Asia (CAA), headquartered in Amsterdam, which is the leading multi-country Microfinance operator in India and South-East Asia. Part of the infusion, Rs.50 crore, will be provided in the form of equity and the remainder, Rs.200 crore will be provided in the form of Compulsory Convertible Debentures (CCDs). The investment will support Grameen Koota in its planned expansion and portfolio growth, and its efforts in increasing financial inclusion, through its local operations, across the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Grameen Koota has recently initiated a new business line for Enterprise Loans (individual loans) for its g...

Trifecta Capital Provides 45 Crores of Venture Debt to Bigbasket

1Apr By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Trifecta Capital Provides 45 Crores of Venture Debt to Bigbasket

Trifecta Capital today announced that it has provided Rs. 45 crores of venture debt to SuperMarket Grocery Supplies Pvt. Ltd. that owns and operates the online food and grocery portal bigbasket.com. The funds will be used to meet the capex requirements of the company, including setting up new warehouses, strengthening the cold chain and setting up facilities for reprocessing of fruits and vegetables. "We have a clearly identified use case for debt. We are present in 25 cities and continue to optimise our supply chain. A significant part of our business is fresh fruits and vegetables, the bulk of which is sourced directly from farms. It is crucial that we maintain the quality right upto the last mile. We are in the last leg of a pilot which will ensure that all fruits and vegetables are ...