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Snapchat Raises $1.81Bn For a Reported $20Bn Valuation

26May By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

Snapchat Raises $1.81Bn For a Reported $20Bn Valuation

Messaging app Snapchat has raised $1.81 billion in an equity offering, indicating strong investor interest in the company despite concerns that it is struggling to attract advertisers. Snapchat did not disclose its valuation in the latest round of funding in its filing on Thursday but technology website TechCrunch reported on Monday, citing sources, that the company could be valued at about $20 billion. Snapchat, which makes a free mobile app that allows users to send videos, photos and messages that vanish in seconds, has faced concerns that the company's estimated valuation is not justified because of its uneven revenue stream. Investors in this round included General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price, Lone Pine and Fidelity, among others, TechCrunch reported on Thursday,...

24May By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Fxkart.com Looks To Raise USD 5 mn Series A Funding

Fxkart.com, an online aggregator of authorised foreign exchange dealers, is looking to raise USD 5 million in Series A funding by the end of this quarter. "We are in advanced stage of negotiations and by end of this (June) quarter, we hope to raise USD 5 million," Fxkart Business Development Head (East and North) Dhruba Khatua said. The fund will help Fxkart.com in marketing, technology and increased dealer participation. Fxkart.com FZ LLC is a UAE-based Free Zone Company, having its research and technical base at Bengaluru and had received a seed funding of USD 2 million in March 2015. The start-up, claimed to be Indias first forex aggregator, operates through over 200 money changers catering to over 1,000 locations in the country. Khatua said they get a commission from the dea...

Anand Mahindra Invested in SheThePeople.TV

23May By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Anand Mahindra Invested in SheThePeople.TV

Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group has invested into India’s largest digital storytelling platform for women SheThePeople.TV, founded by award winning journalist Shaili Chopra. Mr Mahindra has invested in his private capacity in the video platform, which is building a much-needed digital media space and ecosystem for women achievers and is dedicated to championing and promoting their success stories. Regarding his decision to support the platform, Mr Mahindra said ‘Women need a space that quenches their intellectual hunger, engages, and empowers them with relatable content. With Shaili as founder possessing a solid understanding of both conventional and digital media over 15 years, I have great confidence that SheThePeople.TV will become a focal point of inspiration for tomor...

Funding Squeeze Causing Stricter Evaluation of E-commerce Models

21May By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

ANALYSIS

Funding Squeeze Causing Stricter Evaluation of E-commerce Models

A tightening funding environment has prompted Indian e-commerce ecosystem to adopt stricter evaluation norms for business models, with focus on profitability and consolidation, a report said. "We believe this (e-commerce) shake-up may intensify further, leading to the emergence of one or two strong companies within each sub-sector," said the research report by Kotak Institutional Equities. A lack of fresh funding as well as stricter focus on profitability by investors is leading to swift business model changes by companies, it said. Further, the current wave of consolidation among e-commerce players may intensify, leading to fewer, stronger players emerging within each category. "Low valuations may prompt brick-and-mortar companies to take over some e-commerce rivals, in a bid to mak...

20May By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

i2ifunding, Leading Peer-to-Peer Lending Platform Raises Angel Funding

i2ifunding , one of the leading peer to peer lending platforms in India, today announced that the company has secured Angel funding from a group of industry veterans. Company plans to utilize the fund towards technology expansion and also towards increasing its presence geographically. "We are delighted that this distinguished group of investors has chosen to support i2ifunding in our mission to increase financial inclusion in India by helping the borrowers access loans for various needs at lower than market rates and at the same time provide an alternative high return investment option to retail investors," said Vaibhav Pandey, the CEO of the company. "This investment could not have come at a better time as RBI has talked about 2 Cr capital requirement for P2P players in the concept pa...

Ratan Tata Invested in Medical Startup MUrgency Inc

17May By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Ratan Tata Invested in Medical Startup MUrgency Inc

Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus has invested in San Francisco-based medical emergency response MUrgency Inc. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. "He (Tata) clearly wanted us to launch and grow the network in India first before taking it overseas. Mr Tata's investment in MUrgency will help attract leading talent to the company and major partnerships beyond India," MUrgency Inc Fonder Shaffi Mather said in a statement. Founded in 2014 in Silicon Valley and incubated out of Stanford ChangeLabs, MUrgency recently received investments from Kris Gopalakrishnan and S D Shibulal led Axilor Ventures. The company launched its service in Tricity area in Punjab on February 16, with a responder network of 36 hospital emergency rooms, over 40 ambulances and more than 350 me...

16May By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Apple Raises One Billion Funding From Warren Buffett Led Company Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc revealed a more than $1 billion stake in Apple Inc, a rare foray into the technology sector that the billionaire has largely shunned, apart from a poorly performing investment in IBM. Shares of Apple got a boost from the Berkshire imprimatur, rising more than 3 percent on Monday. Berkshire made its investment in the first quarter, before the iPhone maker in April reported its first quarterly revenue decline in 13 years. In a regulatory filing detailing most of its stock holdings, Berkshire said it held 9.81 million Apple shares worth $1.07 billion as of March 31. The value has since fallen into the low $900 million range. Berkshire's largest technology bet has been Buffett's $12 billion stake in International Business Machines Corp. Apple...

16May By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Smartivity, an Augmented Reality Based Education Technology Startup Has Raised Rs 6.6 crore Funding

An augmented reality-based education technology startup Smartivity, has raised about Rs 6.6 crore in a pre-Series-A round of funding led by publishing firm S Chand and early-stage investment firm AdvantEdge Partners. The round also saw participation from Singapore-based fund CFG Offshore Holdings, Silicon Valley-based fund Tandem Capital and a clutch of angel investors. The company said the funds will also be used to expand its reach and aim for the global market. “With this round of funding, we want to expand our current portfolio in STEM and augmented reality products to provide interactive learning to kids and also develop IoT (internet of things)-enabled toys and robot-led learning for kids,” said Ashwini Kumar, cofounder of Smartivity. “Smartivity has shown tremendous gro...

16May By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Alibaba’s Online Ticketing Platform Raises $260 million Funding

The listed movies unit of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, China's biggest e-commerce company, has raised the valuation of its O2O distribution and promotions subsidiary which operates an online ticketing platform after a new round of fundraising, it said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing released on Sunday. Alibaba Pictures Group Ltd said that its O2O platform was now worth 13.7 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) based on the new financing raised from a group of investors led by CDH Investments, Ant Financial Services Group and Sina.com. The statement said the O2O platform raised 1.7 billion yuan ($260 million) from the investors, who will hold approximately 12.4 percent of its equity. Alibaba Pictures was formed through the acquisition of ChinaVision Media Group in 2014. The online ticket...

14May By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Saas Startup Zarget Raised $1.5 million Seed Funding

Founded in 2015 by three ex-Zoho employees Arvind Parthiban, Naveen Venkat, and Santhosh Kumar, Zarget has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from global venture capital firms Accel Partners and Matrix Partners, and angel investors such as Girish Mathrubootham, CEO of Freshdesk. The company launched its Zarget platform, a conversion rate optimization tool built as a Chrome plugin and intended for use by marketers, product managers and web designers. The new platform is a much needed solution for firms that previously used multiple software products to complete A/B testing, funnel analysis, and heatmaps. Zarget provides all of these tools in one platform with the added simplicity of a Chrome plugin, so users no longer need to waste time and valuable resources loading websites into an...

13May By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

Apple Invests $1 Billion in Chinese Ride-Hailing Service Didi Chuxing

Apple Inc said on Thursday it has invested $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, a move that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said would help the company better understand the critical Chinese market. The tech giant's rare investment gives it a stake in two burgeoning waves of technology - the sharing economy and car technology - as the iPhone business that propelled it to record profitability shows signs of maturing. Apple is trying to reinvigorate sales in China, where it has come under greater pressure from regulators, and Cook is traveling to the country this month. The move aligns Apple with Uber Technologies Inc's chief rival in China, as automakers and technology companies forge new alliances and make cross investments. General Motors, for example, recently...

13May By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Online Hotels Aggregator Startup Stayzilla Raises $13 Million Funding

As per the mint report, Stayzilla has raised $13 million Series C funding from existing investors Matrix Partners and Nexus Ventures, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies. In report the funding round of online aggregator of budget hotels split into three tranches of $8.8 million (Rs.58.5 crore), $1.9 million (Rs.13 crore) and $2.4 million (Rs.16.3 crore), between November 2015 and March 2016. About Stayzilla - Stayzilla was founded by Yogendra Vasupal, Sachit Singhi and Rupal Yogendra. The company which started off by offering travelers stay options in budget hotels, last year forayed into home stays, connecting travellers with homeowners with spare accommodation in their houses. Earlier, Stayzilla raised close to $20 million from Nexus Venture Partners...