Sunday, December 22

Tag: e-commerce

Indian Startups get $8.4 bn funding in 2015; Nearly 1k deals inked
FUNDING, News

Indian Startups get $8.4 bn funding in 2015; Nearly 1k deals inked

Making it a year of startups, Indian and foreign investors have pumped in a whopping USD 8.4 billion in new Indian startup ventures, including e-commerce platforms in 2015 through close to 1,000 deals, even as questions have begun to be asked about their hefty valuations. Those opening the purse for Indian start-up s included industry titans like Ratan Tata and N R Narayana Murthy as also marquee global investors like Alibaba and Softbank. According to data compiled by domestic technology and startup blog, as many as 936 deals worth over USD 8.4 billion have been inked this year -- up from 304 deals worth USD 5 billion that took place in 2014. The industry is looking at a promising 2016, though experts and even the investors anticipate correction on the valuation side. The sectors...
Accel Partners sells fractional stake in Flipkart to Qatar Investment Authority for $100 million
News

Accel Partners sells fractional stake in Flipkart to Qatar Investment Authority for $100 million

Accel Partners has sold a fractional stake in Flipkart to Qatar Investment Authority for $100 million (about Rs 650 crore), in a deal that values India's biggest online marketplace at $15 billion, according to two people aware of the transaction. Accel, the first venture investor in Flipkart, remains the second-largest shareholder in the e-commerce company behind New York-based hedge fund Tiger Global Management. Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of the Arab nation, was one of five new investors in Flipkart in December 2014 when the online retailer raised $700 million at a valuation of $11 billion. Flipkart, in a recent regulatory filing, posted a loss of about Rs 2,000 crore for the fiscal year ended March 2015. Valuations of Indian internet companies are be...
Sanjiv Goenka (owner of Pune IPL Team) led Spencer has acquired Gurgaon-based Online Grocery Platform MeraGrocer.com
ACQUISITION

Sanjiv Goenka (owner of Pune IPL Team) led Spencer has acquired Gurgaon-based Online Grocery Platform MeraGrocer.com

Spencer’s Retail has forayed into online space with the acquisition of 100 per cent stake in meragrocer.com at an undisclosed sum to grab 10 per cent of revenue in 4-5 years.The deal is a mixture of debt and equity. This acquisition makes meragrocer.com a subsidiary of Spencer’s, and will form the starting point of Spencer’s online retail business, Spencer’s said in a statement. “With the acquisition we will be able to enter the online channel for Spencer’s soon. However, this does not stop us from tying with other hyper local delivery startups”, sector head Shashwat Goenka said. “Currently we will be in Gurgaon and Delhi as the acquired company is present in these markets. By April-June quarter of 2016, we will launch the service in Kolkata”, he said. Spencer’s, he said, is workin...
Flipkart buys stake in MapmyIndia to improve delivery operations
News

Flipkart buys stake in MapmyIndia to improve delivery operations

India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart has bought a minority stake in digital maps provider MapmyIndia to improve its supply chain efficiency. The companies didn’t disclose the financial details of the deal. Flipkart will license map data and location technologies from MapmyIndia (promoted by CE Info Systems Pvt. Ltd) and deploy location intelligence capabilities across its logistics network to strengthen its delivery operations. Flipkart plans to introduce services such as real-time shipment tracking and theft minimization. “With this strategic investment, we are taking another concrete step toward transforming the supply chain ecosystem in India, making technology and information the driver of our supply chain and logistics solutions,” Flipkart chief operating officer Binn...
Shocking: India’s Biggest Ecommerce Platform Unable To Find a Chief Financial Officer Since February
News

Shocking: India’s Biggest Ecommerce Platform Unable To Find a Chief Financial Officer Since February

India’s most respected and loved E-commerce site, Flipkart founded by two college friends who studied together at IIT-Delhi and worked together in Amazon.  It's revenue is estimated to be somewhere between $500 million to $1 billion, to create which it has had to pull in around $200 million in venture funding over four rounds till now. But since February this year, Flipkart been unable to find a Chief Financial Officer after its erstwhile CFO Karandeep Singh resigned unexpectedly. Singh, an experienced professional had joined Flipkart just over a year before his resignation. He was widely regarded as sort of the “grown up” hired to steer Flipkart towards a successful IPO, akin to, say, Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook. Needless to say Singh’s exit came as a huge shock to entrepreneurs, inve...
MyLeastPrice launches new online price comparison website offering lucrative Cashback on every purchase
Story

MyLeastPrice launches new online price comparison website offering lucrative Cashback on every purchase

MyLeastPrice, an online search and price comparison website has launched their operations in India. With over 1.5 Crore products from all the leading online stores, MyLeastPrice is a surprisingly easy to use search engine that helps its user find the best prices and deals on products available online. Moreover, they offering lucrative Cashback on every purchase made through their website. MyLeastPrice is a young company started by a group of Indore based IT enthusiasts. The goal of the company is to provide quick and unbiased information about all the products available on different online stores, and set themselves as the most trusted and efficient destination to help buyers make their purchase decision. Where most of the websites are offering Reward Points, their Cashback feature make...
Alibaba lobbies to stay off U.S. blacklist list for fakes
News

Alibaba lobbies to stay off U.S. blacklist list for fakes

Reuters - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is lobbying hard to stay off the U.S. Trade Representative's blacklist after coming under renewed pressure this year over suspected counterfeits sold on its shopping platforms. Re-inclusion on the USTR's annual list of the world's most "notorious markets" for sales of pirated and counterfeit goods, while not carrying direct penalties, would be a blow to the company's efforts to shed perceptions that its sites are riddled with fakes and that its anti-piracy policies are inadequate. It could also hurt Alibaba's beleaguered share price.   Two Alibaba sites - the business-to-business platform Alibaba.com and the hugely popular Taobao Marketplace - were on the USTR's "Notorious Markets" list from 2008.Alibaba.com was...
This website tell you where to buy cheap products
Story

This website tell you where to buy cheap products

Ticnpic is India's first Network based Product search which takes into account both e-commerce and local commerce and includes augmented reality to make search easier. It lets you pick any product from any online shopping website and post it on your account and enjoy your own shopping space to compare, share and buy. You can follow people to get connected with new trending products, and to select the best choice for you. In this way you can buy the best product by comparing and sharing, thus making shopping easier. Pixr8 caught up with Saurabh Gupta, the Operational Manager & Head Automobile Department (R&D) of Ticnpic. Here is the story of Ticnpic -  (more…)
Deliver in 3 Hours, This Lucknow Based Startup Beats Snapdeal and Flipkart
Story

Deliver in 3 Hours, This Lucknow Based Startup Beats Snapdeal and Flipkart

SpinKart is a startup operating from Lucknow that has a lot of research work behind it. They understand that usually, shoppers have a harrowing experience in India - going for groceries, running through aisles with their carts, waiting for hours during checkout, add to that the chaos of traffic, parking and fuel costs. Online shopping is a far better experience. So Spinkart asks you to just Spin all your requirements into the online cart and checkout with a few clicks – and this convenience is highlighted in the name ‘Spinkart’.   Getting off the Ground Spinkart started operations in Oct 2014. Operating from Lucknow, UP, they took a little time to get the basic formalities completed – the registration of the company and obtain other licences and they were up and running. S...
Paytm Now Backs A Bus Ticketing Service & An Income Tax Filing Startup!
News

Paytm Now Backs A Bus Ticketing Service & An Income Tax Filing Startup!

Powered by One97 Communications Ltd., the online mobile wallet and E-commerce website Paytm has recently invested in AbhiBus, a bus ticketing service and ClearTax, an income tax filing website. According to the sources, the invested amount is not yet disclosed and no official announcement has been made. AbhiBus is an online platform, founded back in 2007 for booking of bus tickets, that has become India’s fastest growing platform with over 1,500 operators and 15,000 routes running through the major cities like Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore etc. Today, AbhiBus is also the preferred Information Technology Partner for State Transport Corporations and Private Bus Fleet Operators. AbhiBus is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company. (more…)
E-commerce bubble will burst soon, says former Network18 MD Raghav Bahl
News

E-commerce bubble will burst soon, says former Network18 MD Raghav Bahl

The e-commerce bubble is likely to burst sooner than later as businesses run on profits and not on ideas, former MD of Network18 Raghav Bahl said. “The bubble is going to burst. History has been witness to this time and again. For the past 100 years, these bubbles have been created from the Tulips, to the dotcoms and now e-commerce. Ultimately, businesses run on cash flows and profits and not on ideas that can be valued at astronomical figures”, he said at the India Retail Forum (IRF) in Mumbai. (more…)