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Blowhorn Raises Rs 25 Crore From IDG Ventures & Others

7Mar By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Blowhorn Raises Rs 25 Crore From IDG Ventures & Others

Intra-city logistics start-up, Blowhorn, has raised USD 3.65 million (about Rs 25 crore) from IDG Ventures India, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and existing investors Draper Associates and Unitus Seed Fund. The company plans to utilise the proceeds from the Series A funding to expand operations to eight cities in the next 24 months, with over 25,000 daily active drivers, Blowhorn said in a statement. Founded in 2014 by Mithun Srivatsa and Nikhil Shivaprasad, Blowhorn offers a tech-enabled platform to connect customers to mini-truck owners, enabling intra-city, sub 2-tonne deliveries. The company has 50 full-time employees and is present in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. "We have been able to leverage technology and operational innovation to emerge as a market leade...

28Feb By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Hiring Platform Belong Raises $10 Million in a Series B Funding By Sequoia India

Predictive outbound hiring platform provider Belong today announced it has raised USD 10 million in a Series B funding (second strategic round) led by Sequoia Capital India. Existing investor Matrix Partners India also participated in the round and the company said it will use the funds to accelerate product development, expand sales and support operations, and hire new talent across engineering, data science, enterprise sales and customer success. Gautam Mago, Managing Director at Sequoia Capital India Advisors, has joined the Belong Board of Directors, which includes Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India, and Raju Reddy, Founder and ex-CEO of Sierra Atlantic. Founded in 2014, Belong provides outbound hiring Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution to industry leaders...

2017 to Be a Better Year For Indian Startups: Qualcomm Ventures

27Feb By AnkitaNo Comments

News

2017 to Be a Better Year For Indian Startups: Qualcomm Ventures

Qualcomm Ventures, the venture investment arm of US-based chip maker Qualcomm Inc which has a USD 150 million India-focused fund, expects 2017 to be a better year for the startup ecosystem, especially early stage companies. "2016 was the hardest year, and that is behind us. 2017 will be a better year. There was a crunch in investment dollars, especially Series C and Series D investments," Varsha Tagare, senior director, Qualcomm Ventures India told Pixr8. "Funding in early stage is not gone down, but there is more selective funding. What is needed is more well-defined companies after the early stage," she said. The USD 150 million fund will be our only funding vehicle for the venture firm, she said. She pointed out that the ecosystem in India is quite mature, as there are several ...

Tech Groups Softbank and Foxconn to Deepen Ties With Joint Venture

26Feb By reutersNo Comments

BUSINESS

Tech Groups Softbank and Foxconn to Deepen Ties With Joint Venture

Japan's Softbank Group and Taiwan's Foxconn will soon begin operating a joint venture that deepens ties between two of Asia's biggest technology companies, they said on Friday. The move will give Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, a 54.5 percent stake in one of Softbank's existing subsidiaries for $600 million and comes as both groups step up investments in the technology sector and consider expansion in the United States. Under the arrangement, a subsidiary of Foxconn will buy new shares in Softbank Group Capital Apac Pte Ltd for a controlling stake, transforming what had been a wholly-owned Softbank unit into a joint venture, the companies said. The deal is expected to take effect on March 1, reducing Softbank's holding to 45.5 percent. The joint ventur...

Canadian Pension Fund Manager Eyes Logistics Investment in India

25Feb By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Canadian Pension Fund Manager Eyes Logistics Investment in India

The real estate arm of Canada's second-largest pension fund manager is looking at India's logistics sector following the announcement this week of its first investment in the country for more than six years, President Daniel Fournier said on Friday. Ivanhoe Cambridge, the real estate unit of Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, announced a USD 250 million residential investment in India on Thursday, the first in the country since Fournier was put in charge of the division in 2010. "We're starting with multi-residential opportunities, so let's see where it takes us," Fournier said in an interview on the sidelines of a media conference at the Caisse in Montreal. "Logistics ... could be the next one." India's real estate logistics sector, which includes warehouses, distribution...

Times Group Acquires Small Stake in Flipkart For 260 Crore

18Feb By NitishNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Times Group Acquires Small Stake in Flipkart For 260 Crore

Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL) also known as Times Group acquires a small stake in India’s leading e-commerce firm Flipkart. As per the Times of India acquisition strategy, Flipkart’s stake dilution to BCCL is for cash and advertising space in the latter’s media properties. The story was first reported by Mint. Times group made a private investment about Rs 260 crore to buy a warrant for Class B equity shares in Flipkart as per the sourcing documents filed with the Registrar of Companies and from Tofler, a company research platform. The nature of the Flipkart-BCCL transaction is commonly known as a private treaty deal. Rs 26 crore hard cash will be paid instantly to Flipkart, the rest of the amount will be paid when it converts the warrant into equity shares of Flipkart. BCCL...

UAE-India Venture Capital Fund Idein Ventures Recruits Ex-Co-founder of Zoomcar as an Advisor

14Feb By AdityaNo Comments

News

UAE-India Venture Capital Fund Idein Ventures Recruits Ex-Co-founder of Zoomcar as an Advisor

The Co-Founder of Zoomcar, David Back has Been Tapped to Advise the UAE-India Venture Capital Fund and its Portfolio Companies. Idein Ventures is a seed-stage VC fund with offices in the United Arab Emirates, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. David Back co-founded Zoomcar, the first company in India to offer 'self-drive' car rentals with no chauffeur. Zoomcar launched in Bangalore exactly 4 years ago today, on February 14, 2013. When David left India almost 3 years later, Zoom had grown from 7 cars to almost 1,500 vehicles in 6 cities. It continues to expand and now has about 2,500 vehicles in 17 Indian cities. David has worked as a consultant at McKinsey, as an investment manager at Goldman Sachs, and as a research analyst at the Kauffman Foundation. He is currently an Expert Advisor with Alph...

14Feb By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Delhi-NCR Based Startup Cloud1 Enterprises Raises Funding From JLL India

Property consultant JLL India's arm has invested an undisclosed amount in the NCR-based Cloud1 Enterprises, a technology platform for bringing efficiency in employee transportation. In October last year, JLL India had launched a real estate technology investment vertical and made first investment into Foyr.com. This structured vertical makes proprietary investments into early-stage technology companies with the potential to disrupt the real estate business. JLL India today announced its investment in Cloud1 Enterprises, which it said is "an end-to-end cloud based platform that enables corporates to deploy telematics technologies to bring efficiency to employee transportation." "Estimated at USD 2 billion in India alone, the employee transportation sector is currently highly fragme...

SoftBank Considers Investment of Over $1Bn in WeWork: Report

31Jan By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

SoftBank Considers Investment of Over $1Bn in WeWork: Report

SoftBank Group is considering an investment of more than $1 billion in office-space sharing start-up WeWork, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal could be among the first from SoftBank's $100 billion technology fund, the report said. SoftBank and WeWork declined to comment. WeWork is currently valued at nearly $17 billion and SoftBank's valuation of the company is expected to be at or above this figure, the publication said, citing sources. Citing sources, it also said SoftBank had earlier discussed an investment in WeWork before pulling out and added that talks may not result in a deal this time. Some SoftBank executives have reportedly raised questions whether the WeWork deal is overvalued, saying a company in the business of offi...

TK Kurien named Managing Partner & CIO of Premji Invest

27Jan By AnkitaNo Comments

News

TK Kurien named Managing Partner & CIO of Premji Invest

Premji Invest, the investment arm of Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, on Thursday said it has appointed TK Kurien as its Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) with effect from February 1. Kurien is Wipro's Executive Vice-Chairman and is set to retire from that post at the end of this month. He succeeds Prakash Parthasarathy who has decided to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations, a release said. "I am delighted to announce the appointment of TK Kurien as Managing Partner and CIO of Premji Invest," Premji Invest Chairman Azim Premji said. "TK, with his decades of experience in running startups and established enterprises and deep financial acumen, is best positioned to take Premji Invest to the next level." "Prakash has built an excellent organisation at Premji Invest as...

Moneyfront – An Online Platform That Helps You To Invest in Mutual Funds Without Any Middleman

25Jan By NitishNo Comments

Story

Moneyfront – An Online Platform That Helps You To Invest in Mutual Funds Without Any Middleman

In 2013, SEBI introduced a new concept of investing in Mutual funds. Aptly named as ‘Direct plans’ it offers an alternative to investment in mutual funds where investors can skip the middlemen and invest directly with the fund house. An investor friendly option, Direct plans enable the investor to earn up to 1.5% more returns on their investments, because the distributor commissions are not deducted from the invested values. However, despite its benefits the awareness regarding Direct plans of mutual funds is really low. Few who are aware perceive it to be a time consuming and complicated task. “One of the advantages of Direct Plans is that these come with a lower expense ratio.” The Solution MoneyFront is a key to the act of investing in MFs through direct plans. Being new in the ma...

Alibaba Led UCWeb to Invest Rs 200 Cr in India

20Jan By NitishNo Comments

BUSINESS, CHINA

Alibaba Led UCWeb to Invest Rs 200 Cr in India

Alibaba Mobile Business Group firm UCWeb plans to invest Rs 200 crore in India and Indonesia over the next two years to push distribution of user generated content through its UC News platform. "We will invest Rs 200 crore over the period of 2 years in India and Indonesia to push user generated content like blogs, short videos, non conventional news feeds. Around 60 percent of it (Rs 120 crore) will be invested in India," Kenny Ye, General Manager, Overseas Business for Alibaba Mobile Business Group told Pixr8. He said that the earmarked investment does not include hiring and other business expenditure but will focus only on content generation and distribution. "We will provide people with We Media platform where anyone can register and start publishing content. We are seeing huge...