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Markets Regulator Sebi Plans to Reduce Minium VC Funding To Rs 25 Lakh From Rs 50 lakh

20Nov By AnkitaNo Comments

News

Markets Regulator Sebi Plans to Reduce Minium VC Funding To Rs 25 Lakh From Rs 50 lakh

Looking to provide an impetus to the early-stage startup ecosystem, markets regulator Sebi plans to reduce minimum angel fund investment for venture capital undertakings to Rs 25 lakh from the current Rs 50 lakh. Sebi may also allow the angel funds to make overseas investments up to 25 percent of their investible corpus, in line with other Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). The move will make such funds to spread their risk by investing across geographies, sources said. There are many start-ups that require a smaller amount of validating proposition and bringing down the limit to Rs 25 lakh will help such companies raise funds at the initial stage of idea generations. Also, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) plans to align its definition of startups with other reg...

Infosys Invest 14.5 Crores in AI Based Startup UNSILO

18Nov By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Infosys Invest 14.5 Crores in AI Based Startup UNSILO

Infosys a global leader in consulting, technology, outsourcing and next-generation services, today announced that it has made an investment of 14.5 Crores in UNSILO, a Danish artificial intelligence startup focused on advanced text analysis. UNSILO uses a unique combination of machine-learning and natural language processing to analyze large quantities of text and improve the speed and effectiveness of knowledge workers across many industries. “We see Denmark as a global hub of world-class innovation with talented people, a good education system and a track record of entrepreneurial success. UNSILO have built an impressive semantic search engine with best-in-class text intelligence, which powers a range of advanced business processes. We will partner with UNSILO to bring their artifi...

Koovs Gets 92 Crores Investment from TOI Group, Others

17Nov By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Koovs Gets 92 Crores Investment from TOI Group, Others

UK-based online fashion player Koovs plc has raised 10.9 million pounds (about Rs 92 crore) from existing and new shareholders, including 3.9 million pounds from the Times of India Group. "Koovs plc is pleased to confirm a strategic investment in the company of 3.9 million pounds from the Times of India Group and a further 7 million pounds investment by new and existing shareholders, through the issue of 21,700,000 new ordinary shares at 50 pence per ordinary share," the online firm said in a statement today. The capital raise is part of the final tranche of the company's three-year investment programme to raise approximately 35 million pounds that was announced in September 2015. This brings the total amount raised under this programme to 31 million pounds to date. "The company a...

Accion Venture Lab Completes First Successful Exit in India

15Nov By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Accion Venture Lab Completes First Successful Exit in India

Accion Venture Lab, the seed-stage investment vehicle of financial inclusion leader Accion, announced today that it has successfully exited an investment for the first time. Venture Lab has sold its stake in Varthana, a company providing specialized loans and support to affordable private schools in India, promoting access to and the quality of education for India's poor and emerging middle class. Venture Lab led the first institutional investment round in Varthana in May 2013. As of August 2016, with Venture Lab's active support, Varthana has supported more than 2,000 schools, 38,000 teachers, and one million students, and has disbursed more than $35 million to schools that serve lower and middle income Indians. "Varthana has reached great heights as an innovative financial services...

Infosys Invested Undisclosed Amount in US-based TidalScale

11Nov By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Infosys Invested Undisclosed Amount in US-based TidalScale

Country's second-largest IT firm Infosys today said it has invested an undisclosed amount in US-based TidalScale. The California-headquartered firm's solution collates all physical server resources as if it were running on a single large computer to help clients with large computing problems. TidalScale helps companies draw insights from big data faster, more easily and with greater flexibility at improved costs. "Among our client base, we see a need for inventive and cost-effective approaches to derive business value from big data, and our investment in TidalScale underscores our commitment to our clients to bring innovative new solutions across our platforms and offerings," Infosys Executive Vice-President of Corporate Development and Ventures Ritika Suri said in a statement. ...

OnlineTyari Gets Rs 20 Cr Led By Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

8Nov By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

OnlineTyari Gets Rs 20 Cr Led By Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

Mobile-first test preparation platform, OnlineTyari (OT) has raised Rs 20 crore, led by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF). MSDF made an equity investment of Rs 15 crore (USD 2.1 million) in the company, OnlineTyari said in a statement. OT offers a mobile application that allows highly customised, curated and vernacular test preparation content delivered through very low Internet bandwidths. It offers a full suite of solutions, including entrance tests for public sector units, government jobs and higher education institutes. It has recorded nearly 3.5 million downloads and over 400,000 daily active users. "This investment from MSDF will help OT expand its vernacular offering, widen examination coverage and strengthen its technology and analytics engine," the statement said....

8Nov By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Mumbai Based Car Rental Startup Justride Raises 20 Crore Funding From Y Combinator

Mumbai Based Car rental startup JustRide raises 20 Crore (about $3 million) funding from global investors, including Y-Combinator partners. Justride will use funding for expanding the company's car-sharing platform JustConnect and developing Yabber, an IoT device that works on connected car technology and data analytics to analyze the driving skills of the customers. "A vast majority in India do not have access to personal transport, presenting an extensive market for car rentals. The challenge is to build a sustainable car-sharing model to cater to the average urban commuters, while keeping in mind the interests of the car owners, who have a depreciating asset that is their car and does not get any return on it," said Ashwarya Singh, chief executive officer and co-founder, JustRide. ...

Oil India Limited (OIL) Setup Rs 50 Crore Startup Fund For New ideas in Oil & Gas Sector

7Nov By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

FUNDING

Oil India Limited (OIL) Setup Rs 50 Crore Startup Fund For New ideas in Oil & Gas Sector

GUWAHATI: Oil India Limited (OIL) has set up an OIL Startup fund of Rs 50 crore to encourage new "out of the box" ideas related to the oil and gas sector, particularly in the Northeast. The oil exploration major's chairman-cum-managing director Utpal Bora today said in a press conference that the initiative was in line with the Centre's 'Start-up India' initiative. "The OIL Start-Up fund is to encourage students, young entrepreneurs and institutions to come out with out of the box ideas for the benefit of the oil and gas sector that is contributing enormously to the growth of the economy," Bora said. The initiative was to create an ecosystem that was conducive for growth of start-ups in the oil and gas sector, which has a huge scope for application of technology-enabled ideas, he ...

6Nov By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Gurgaon based On Demand Laundry Startup Pickmylaundry Raises Funding

Pickmylaundry, a Gurgaon-based on demand laundry startup has raised $200k in a new funding round from Kedar Lele (a top level executive of a leading FMCG major) and existing investor GHV Accelerator. The startup has raised about $200K and had commitment of another $300K from a couple of angels. The new round of funding will use the newly raised funding in expanding its operations to entire NCR and explore opportunities in other cities. Pickmylaundry will also set up offline stores to reduce the last mile logistics cost, which is at currently around Rs 100 per order. “We will also roll out 24 hours delivery service and overnight service,” said Gaurav Agarwal, Founder, Pickmylaundry. Founded by Gaurav Agarwal, along with Ankur Jain and Samar Sisodia in May 2015, Pickmylaundry had previ...

5Nov By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Delhi Based Food Joint QD’s Has Raised an Undisclosed Funding

Delhi based food joint QD's has raised an undisclosed amount from Chanana Group of Delhi and is all set to expand its chain of restaurants in the city. The capital will be used for new restaurants and strengthening the brand, the company said in a statement. QD's is a popular food restaurant chain in Delhi, famous for its Indian and Chinese cuisine offerings. Currently it has four outlets across the capital (Laxmi Nagar, Kirti Nagar, Satya Niketan and Hundson Lane). QD's was founded in 2010 by Akhil Malik and his team. It initially opened to the public in Satya Niketan and Hudson Lane, better known as South Campus and North Campus of the Delhi University respectively. Later, two more outlets were launched in Kirti Nagar and Lakshmi Nagar due to its rising popularity. "We have r...

5Nov By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

Online Retailer Bonobos Reportedly in Talks to Raise $100 Million Funding

E-commerce menswear company Bonobos is speaking to investors about raising $100 million in a new round of funding that would value the company roughly at half a billion dollars, according to people familiar with the matter. Bonobos is using the new funds to expand its retail footprint, highlighting the crossover that e-commerce companies are making into traditional brick and mortar retail as they push for growth, the sources said on Friday. Bonobos, which is profitable, generates around $150 million in sales and is working with Citigroup to assist with the fundraising, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Citi and Bonobos declined to comment. New York-based Bonobos was founded in 2007 by Stanford business school graduates who wanted ...

Google Capital Rebrands as CapitalG; Discloses Snapchat Investment

5Nov By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

Google Capital Rebrands as CapitalG; Discloses Snapchat Investment

Alphabet's venture capital arm CapitalG, earlier known as Google Capital, disclosed an investment in Snapchat by adding the social networking firm's logo to a page on its investment portfolio website. CapitalG has not made a formal announcement and it was not clear when Google made the investment. The company was not immediately available to comment. Snap, which operates the popular messaging app Snapchat, has hired Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group as lead underwriters for an initial public offering. The banks were notified last month that they had been awarded one of most coveted and potentially lucrative IPO mandates in recent years, as the Venice, California-based company vies for a $25 billion valuation in the stock market. Snapchat, which lets users send smartphone p...