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Airbnb Seeks For $30 Billion Valuation in New Funding Round: Source

29Jun By reutersNo Comments

News

Airbnb Seeks For $30 Billion Valuation in New Funding Round: Source

Apartment-sharing startup Airbnb is in talks for a new round of funding that would value the company at $30 billion, a source close to the company said on Tuesday. Airbnb intends to use the financing to support new investments and growth opportunities, the source added. Airbnb, which expects to achieve profitability in 2016, raised over $100 million in a round of funding late last year that valued the company at $25.5 billion. The San Francisco-based startup, which operates in nearly 200 countries, also secured a $1 billion debt facility in June from some big U.S. banks to finance its expansion plans. The rise of Airbnb and other such startups have increased the pressure on the hotel bookings business of established travel companies such as Priceline Group Inc and Expedia Inc.

SAIF Partners Invests $1 Million in Online Counselling Platform YourDOST

29Jun By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

SAIF Partners Invests $1 Million in Online Counselling Platform YourDOST

Venture capital firm SAIF Partners today announced that it has invested USD 1 million (around Rs 6.8 crore) in a pre-series A funding deal in online counselling platform YourDOST. "SAIF Partners has invested USD 1 million into the Bengaluru-based venture which offers online counselling and emotional wellness support to users to bolster their mental health," Saif Partner said in a statement. YourDOST has raised a total of USD 1.2 million in the round with the repeat participation of seven angel investors- Venk Krishnan (NuVentures), SubbaraoTelidevara (NuVentures), PhanindraSama (Redbus), Aprameya (Taxi4Sure), Paula Mariwala (Seedfund), Vibhu Garg (Unicommerce), Gaurav Bhalotia (Flipkart). "YourDOST will strategically allocate the funds raised to rope in senior professionals from t...

Mahindra Group Invested in US Based Scoot Networks

28Jun By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Mahindra Group Invested in US Based Scoot Networks

Mahindra Partners, an entity of USD 900 million Mahindra groups private equity arm, today announced closing of a new round of funding in Scoot Networks, an urban mobility solutions provider based in San Francisco. With this deal, Mahindra Partners has now joined other investors including Vision Ridge Capital. This financing round closes simultaneously with Scoots significant network expansion supported by a brand new fleet of 500 Mahindra GenZe electric scooters, Mahindra Group said in a statement. Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said, the partnership will provide a sustainable solution to the growing challenges associated with urban commuting like parking, congestion and pollution. "The GenZe 2.0 is designed to intelligently address these challenges by offering relevant and...

Over $8 Billion Funding in Mobile-Based Startups in 5yrs: Report

28Jun By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

ANALYSIS

Over $8 Billion Funding in Mobile-Based Startups in 5yrs: Report

With mobile phones contributing 40 per cent of all e-commerce sales in India in 2015, startups in m-commerce, video streaming, gaming and m-payment segments attracted USD 8,053 million worth of funding through 394 early stage deals in the last five years, a report said. The highlights of the Annual Indian Mobile Ecosystem Report, by News Corp VCCircle showed startups in these four segments are identified as major contributors to driving mobile data consumption. M-commerce and mobile payments attracted investment deals of USD 7,930 million cumulatively, in the last five years, it said. Across the four segments, 2015 saw a surge in terms of deal volumes with 115 early stage funding deals amounting to USD 2,857.73 million against 87 deals worth USD 3,285 million in 2014. "With a m...

28Jun By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Lendingkart Raises 205 Cr in Series B

Online loan platform Lendingkart Group today said it has raised Rs 205 crore (USD 32 million) in second round of funding led by Bertelsmann India Investments. The fresh round of funding also saw participation from Darrin Capital Management and existing investors - Mayfield India, Saama Capital and India Quotient, it added. With this, the company has raised Rs 260 crore (USD 41 million) till date. "With Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) onboard, we look forward to leveraging its deep understanding of global financial products as well as Internet businesses," Lendingkart Group co-founder and CEO Harshvardhan Lunia said in a statement. Of the Rs 205 crore funding, about Rs 128 crore (USD 20 million) was raised as equity and about Rs 77 crore (USD 12 million) as debt in the second round or...

24Jun By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

SIDBI Ramps Up Start-up Funding Operations

With the Centre approving Rs 10,000 crore Fund of Funds for Startups, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has ramped up its start-up funding operations to boost the sector. "SIDBI has ramped up the start-up funding operations to boost Start-up India initiative with the launch of funds like unique India Aspiration Fund and Fund of Funds operations," SIDBI Chairman and Managing Director Kshatrapati Shivaji said. The lender has so far supported 95 funds, including 11 regional funds, with an aggregate commitment of Rs 2,576 crore. "The Cabinets approval for establishing FFS will help enhance the scale of operations under its Fund of Funds activities with a deeper engagement with startup ecosystem and boost ambitious Startup India initiative. "SIDBI would be using its...

JSW Ventures Gets Sebi Nod For Startup Investments

23Jun By NitishNo Comments

News

JSW Ventures Gets Sebi Nod For Startup Investments

JSW Ventures, the venture capital arm of the JSW Group, today said it has received clearance from markets regulator Sebi to begin investing in the country. JSW Ventures would focus on providing early-stage funding to technology-enabled startups operating in the education, healthcare, financial services, SaaS (software as a service) and enterprise software space. The fund will have an initial corpus of Rs 100 crore which it will invest over a three-year period. "JSW Ventures, the venture capital arm of the JSW Group, has received the mandatory clearances from Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), paving the way for it to begin investing," a statement by JSW said. "Technology innovation is happening across sectors, from old-fashioned verticals like real estate to research-driv...

Finally Indian Govt Approved Rs 10,000 Cr Fund For Startups

23Jun By AdityaNo Comments

News

Finally Indian Govt Approved Rs 10,000 Cr Fund For Startups

The government today approved Rs 10,000 crore Fund of Funds for Startups to support them with an aim to generate employment for 18 lakh persons. "The fund is expected to generate employment for 18 lakh persons on full deployment...A corpus of Rs 10,000 crore could potentially be the nucleus for catalysing Rs 60,000 crore of equity investment and twice as much debt investment," an official statement said. The decision was taken in the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The Cabinet has approved the establishment of Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) at Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for contribution to various Alternative Investment Funds (AIF), registered with SEBI which would extend funding support to startups," it said. This is in line wi...

Payments App Circle Raises $60 million, Open Office in China

23Jun By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Payments App Circle Raises $60 million, Open Office in China

U.S.-based payments app Circle has raised $60 million from Chinese investors and launched a company in China, as it seeks to expand in the world's second-largest economy. The latest funding comes from existing investor and Beijing-based tech investment fund IDG Capital Partners, as well as Chinese firms including Baidu, CICC Alpha and Everbright Investments, Circle's co-founder Jeremy Allaire said. "We're not aiming to compete with the domestic market as that would be a suicide mission given the strength of local players like Alipay and WeChat, but we can connect Chinese consumers with the euro zone and dollar markets," Allaire said. Circle's China unit operates as a separate locally incorporated company and has not yet launched a product, pending a deal with a local banking partner a...

Ken Miyauchi Will Replace Nikesh Arora as Softbank President & COO

22Jun By NitishNo Comments

News

Ken Miyauchi Will Replace Nikesh Arora as Softbank President & COO

SoftBank Group Corp said Wednesday that Ken Miyauchi, head of the group's Japanese telecommunications operations, would become president and chief operating officer to replace Nikesh Arora. Arora, the former Google executive handpicked by the SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son as his successor, has abruptly quit as president after it became clear that Son wanted to remain at the helm longer than first planned. The 48-year-old former Chief Business Officer at Google decided to call it a day as his 58-year-old boss Son said he was planning to quit at the age of 60 but felt he was “still a bit too young”. The development interestingly came just a day after Arora getting a clean-chit from a special committee set up by SoftBank to look into the allegations against him from some shareholder...

Softbank Chairman Nikesh Arora Quits , #Nexit Trends on Twitter

21Jun By NitishNo Comments

News

Softbank Chairman Nikesh Arora Quits , #Nexit Trends on Twitter

In line with trending terms like "Brexit" and "Rexit", now Twitterati have coined a new expression "Nexit" after India-born Nikesh Arora announced his surprise resignation as President and COO at SoftBank. For the past several days, two words Brexit and Rexit have been trending. Brexit in short stands for Britains possible exit from the European Union, while Rexit word came up after RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan decided against seeking a second term. On Twitter, Aroras surprise exit was being referred as #Nexit, in line with the trending terms -- #Rexit (Rajan deciding not to take a second term) and #Brexit (Britains possible exit from the EU). India-born Nikesh Arora, President and COO at Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, today said he is stepping down from his role as Masayoshi ...

Cleartax Raises 80 Cr From SAIF Partners

18Jun By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Cleartax Raises 80 Cr From SAIF Partners

ClearTax , an online tax returns filing platform has raised another $12 million (Rs 80 crore) from SAIF Partners. The new round of funding will use to launch a slew of consumer-focused tax-saving products, including mutual funds and other equity-linked saving schemes. Also as part of the deal , managing partner at SAIF, has joined the board of ClearTax's "A typical agent is very bias. To solve for this, our products will be data driven, and completely transparent, to the extent that we will publish our commissions on the site itself," co-founder and CEO Archit Gupta said. "We are very excited to partner with Archit and team as they translate their market leadership in tax filing space to become one of the largest fintech platforms in India.", Ravi Adusumalli said. ClearTax which opera...