funding | Pixr8 News

28Jul By AnkitaNo Comments

CHINA

China’s WeWork Secures $500 Million In a Fresh Funding Round

The Chinese subsidiary of coworking space, WeWork has raised a US$500 million Series B funding round led by Trustbridge Partners, Temasek, SoftBank Group, SoftBank Vision Fund and Hony Capital, according to the reports. WeWork's big raise comes days after Hong Kong’s Campfire pulled in $18 million and Awfis in India raised $20 million. The company launched into China two years ago and currently, it covers Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu with nearly 40 locations. It consists of 20,000 members, and it is also active in Hong Kong (Greater China). The new capital comes from Trustbridge Partners, Singapore’s Temasek, SoftBank, SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Hony Capital. WeWork said it’ll be used for expansion into six new cities: those are Shenzhen, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, and Wuh...

Paytm to Raise Millions for Pushing its O2O Retail Business

28Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Paytm to Raise Millions for Pushing its O2O Retail Business

One97 Communications, the company that owns Paytm is reportedly eyeing to raise $300-$500 million for the purpose of pushing its online-to-offline (O2O) retail business and get customers to use its platform for making payments. At present, Paytm is in advanced talks with US-based investors and also its existing shareholder, SoftBank for the latest funding round, which is expected to value the digital payments giant at about $10 billion. The funds raised through the particular funding round will be directed towards the hyper-local O2O business, with an objective to shore up footfalls for offline stores by offering deals and discounts on Paytm's app. The users will pay through QR codes in these stores, and thus, increasing the number of transactions for the company. As of now, the m...

MSME Lender Aye Finance raises $10 Million

27Jul By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

MSME Lender Aye Finance raises $10 Million

Digital money lending startup, Aye Finance has raised USD 10 million in debt funding from Triple Jump BV and MicroVest Funds, through the issuance of non-convertible debentures. This is the 10th financing round for Aye Finance in the year 2018, the company informed in a statement. Since January, it has cumulatively raised ₹255 crore of debt. The Gurugram-headquartered company, founded in 2014 claims to have disbursed ₹ 850 crore worth loans and catered to 60,000 micro enterprises since inception. With the recent funds raised, the company is gearing up to bolster its lending portfolio and offer affordable business loans to a larger number of microenterprises in India. MD and founder of Aye Finance, Sanjay Sharma mentioned “At Aye, we use various data science methods which are...

27Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Guwahati- based Kishlay Foods Raised $15 Million in the Latest Funding

One of the leading snack food manufacturing venture Kishlay Foods announced that it has raised $15 million (Rs100 crore) in the latest funding round. The round was led by equity investment firm Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and D.K. Surana, promoter of Intensive Software Services. Founded in 2003, the company’s investment also features a prominent secondary share sale component. The funds so raised will be utilized in acquiring the existing business partners, and also to expand distribution in North and East India markets. A part of the funds might also be used to launch additional product lines and enhance the management team. Sandeep Bajaj, CEO of Kishlay Foods said, “Kishlay foods is well positioned to penetrate deeper in its home markets and expand further in new geographies and p...

BigData Analytics Iqlect Secures $2.5 million by VentureEast

26Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

BigData Analytics Iqlect Secures $2.5 million by VentureEast

Web analytics solution provider Iqlect has raised funds amounting to $2.5 million (approx ₹17.2 crore). The latest funding round was led by new investor VentureEast and existing investor Exfinity Ventures. The company has plans to use the funds raised from the latest funding round to add leadership team in Bengaluru and also hire more engineering and sales talent. Iqlect is in the process of shifting its headquarters to San Jose, US, and is also looking to add go-to-market and tech talent in the US too. “We are looking to hire VP’s for engineering, product management, marketing and sales and also a country manager for India. Also, we are flipping the company to make it a US company. So, we are hiring go-to-market folks and a few key tech guys for our US office,” said Sachin Sinha, CEO ...

26Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Co-working Space Provider Awfis Space Secured $20 Million in Series C Funding

India’s largest co-working space provider Awfis Space Solutions has secured funds amounting to $20 million in Series C funding round. The round was led by company’s existing investors global venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, The Three Sisters: Institutional Office led by Radha Kapoor and Temasek Group company InnoVen Capital. The funds raised through the latest funding round will be utilized for the expansion plans and the company will follow a managed-aggregation model approach to ensure better capital efficiency. Awfis Space has now increased up to 25,000 seats across 55 centres compared to 5,800 desks across 20 centres in July last year. “The goal is to reach 40,000 seats across 90 centres from current 25,000 desks over the next one year. Deeper penetration into existing markets...

Restaurant Chain Barbeque Nation Raises Pre-IPO Funds From Jhunjhunwala

25Jul By AnkitaNo Comments

Market

Restaurant Chain Barbeque Nation Raises Pre-IPO Funds From Jhunjhunwala

One of the top investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's co-founded firm, Alchemy Capital Management, has recently invested Rs 80-90 crore in CX Partners-backed casual dining restaurant chain Barbeque Nation Hospitality Ltd before the IPO placement. “Alchemy Capital has picked up a minority stake in Barbeque Nation through Alchemy India Fund for a consideration of around ₹80-90 crore. The pre-IPO placement valued the company at ₹2,300-2,400 crore”. According to the reports, The capital will be used to build new restaurants and also for repayment of debt. In 2013, CX Partners had invested in the restaurant chain, Alchemy Capital was set up in 1999. The first Barbeque-Nation restaurant was launched in 2005. The company operated 81 restaurants across 42 cities in India and one in Dubai till 30 J...

25Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Digit Insurance Raises Rs 315 Crore in Second Funding Round

Online digital general insurance company Digital Insurance has reportedly raised an amount of Rs 315 crore in a second funding round. This particular round was led by Fairfax Holdings. Through this funding round, the company aims to expand its footprint across the country even to the smaller regions. A part of the funds will also be utilized to strengthen the technology platform as well. “We are looking at major expansion opportunities for our product line as well as our locations of operation and staff strength, looking at the growth path we felt the need for this second round of funding,” said Kamesh Goyal, Chief Executive Officer and the other major shareholder after Fairfax in the company. Goyal stated that the locations that they are focusing are spread across towns like Siligur...

Healthcare Start-Up LifCare Raises $11 million

24Jul By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Healthcare Start-Up LifCare Raises $11 million

LifCare which is a Healthcare start-up has raised $11 million in its Series B led by Saif Partners & Nexus Venture Partners. Till now the startup has delivered only medicines meant for chronic illnesses to customers who take these medicines on a regular basis, with its infused capital, it will now look to expand further in Northern and central states of the country. The company now aims to become a one-stop place for chronic patients and raise awareness regarding the necessity of taking medicines to stay fit. LifCare was launched in September 2015 by Killa, a former associate at Bain Capital, Rohit Mohta, a former executive of pharma company Cipla and Deepesh, a former executive of Wipro Ltd. The company currently employs around 500 people and will look to expand the team further...

21Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

TVF Raises $6 Million In a Fresh Funding Round

One of the most Popular over-the-top (OTT) platforms, The Viral Fever (TVF) has raised $6 million (nearly 41 crores) in a fresh funding round from the investor Tiger Global. TVF raised the fresh capital at an estimated post-money valuation of around $40 million. The company had raised $10 million from Tiger Global at a valuation of $61 million, in February 2016. TVF has raised more than $20 million in external funding as of now, which includes a $4.97 million investment from Tiger Global in July 2017. According to the reports, the money was raised at a post-money valuation of around Rs 216 crore ($31 million at current exchange rates). Amongst its different YouTube channels, it consists of an estimated collective subscriber base which is close to - 10 million with The...

A Digital Lending Startup Raises $18 million from PayU

21Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

A Digital Lending Startup Raises $18 million from PayU

Mumbai-based digital lending company PaySense has reportedly raised an amount of $18 million in its Series B funding round. This particular round was led by PayU. The funding round also saw the participation of existing investors including Jungle Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners. PayU had also participated in the Series A round, and this time it invested $11.5 million. PaySense has hit the milestone of Rs 50 crore monthly disbursement rate already, and with these funds, it is targeting to make it double within the next few months. Along with this, the company is also planning to use the amount to hire more people to strengthen its tech and data analytics team. “PaySense is leveraging the IndiaStack platform very well to create additional capabilities beyond those of the tradition...

Online Pharmacy ‘PharmEasy’ Eyeing To Raise About $50 Million

19Jul By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Online Pharmacy ‘PharmEasy’ Eyeing To Raise About $50 Million

Online medicine marketplace, PharmEasy is eyeing to carry forward a $40-50 million funding round led by Fundamentum Advisors (owned by Nandan Nilekani and Sanjeev Aggarwal) and Eight Roads Ventures (the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International). This particular funding round is expected to close over the next two weeks, and will possibly witness participation of the existing investors as well including Orios Venture Partners, Astarc Ventures, JM Financial and Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG). “The company is doing well. It is among the top companies in the ePharmacy space. It has a play in both in retail and wholesale. Their average order value is around Rs 1,000. The company is looking to use the money to fuel its expansion and also to finance cash burn in this c...