Thursday, March 28

Tag: investment

No better time to bet on India than now, says Gautam Adani
INDIA

No better time to bet on India than now, says Gautam Adani

NEW DELHI, 8th June 2020: The recent slump in economic growth notwithstanding, India will be one of the world's top consumption centers and a manufacturing and services hub for the next several decades, billionaire Gautam Adani has said, stressing there is no better time to bet on India than now. India's economic growth slipped to 4.2% in 2019-20 fiscal (April 2019 to March 2020) its slowest pace in more than a decade. International rating agencies as well as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have forecast a contraction in GDP in the financial year that began in April 2020 on account of the coronavirus-induced slowdown. "What we must realize is that there are no absolute right or wrong ideas. What is required during an unprecedented, hard to model, a crisis like COVID-19, is a Governm...
Chinese investment lowest in US since 2009 But Coronavirus is not the reason
CHINA

Chinese investment lowest in US since 2009 But Coronavirus is not the reason

China's direct investment in the United States fell last year to its lowest level since the Great Recession, even before the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of global commerce. The decline in Beijing's investment in the United States reflected tensions between the world's two biggest economies and Chinese government restrictions on overseas investment. A report out Monday from the National Committee on US-China Relations and the Rhodium Group consultancy found that China's direct investment in the US dropped from USD 5.4 billion in 2018 to USD 5 billion last year, the lowest level since the recession year of 2009. Direct investment includes mergers, acquisitions and investments in things like offices and factories but not financial investments like purchases of stocks and bon...
Facebook buys Reliance Jio 9.9% Stake for $5.7 billion
ACQUISITION

Facebook buys Reliance Jio 9.9% Stake for $5.7 billion

Facebook announced an acquisition of a 9.9% stake in India's largest telecom operator Jio Platforms Ltd for USD 5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore). With this deal, the social media giant looks to expand its presence in its largest subscriber-based market. "Today, we are announcing a USD 5.7 billion, or Rs 43,574 crore, investment in Jio Platforms Limited, part of Reliance Industries Limited, making Facebook its largest minority shareholder," the fb said in a statement. Facebook's move to pick up about a 10 percent stake in Jio Platforms will accelerate Jio's digital monetization drive and put Reliance Industries (RIL) on course to turn net debt-free by March 2021, said Indian analysts. It said that Facebook's investment into this entity will further Reliance Industries' digital in...
Spaciya Advisors Raises USD 0.5 million Pre Series Funds
FUNDING

Spaciya Advisors Raises USD 0.5 million Pre Series Funds

New Delhi, March 2, 2020: Realty firm Spaciya Advisors has raised Pre-Series funding from Indian angel investor Alok Grag, an investor to many real estate startups in India. Spaciya will utilize the raised capital to expand to newer regions, build its brand through collaborative marketing and make technological advancements. Spaciya, which was started in the year 2016, works entirely on data analytics, research and market intelligence. The market intelligence has helped the company to introduce the office lease SPY REPORT which is custom-tailored for any start-up or corporate to know the inside information before they decide to take a new office. Spaciya’s transactional services arm enables the companies to execute the transactions. Mr. Alok Garg, serial entrepreneur and investo...
Blume Ventures Raises $102 mn in final close of Fund III
BUSINESS

Blume Ventures Raises $102 mn in final close of Fund III

India based early-stage venture capital firm, Blume Ventures announced the final close of Blume Ventures Fund III at USD 102 million (about Rs 730 crore). After a first close in late 2018, the final close was completed in December 2019, a statement said. "We are very proud of our founders and team who have delivered outstanding performance over the last three years, thereby strengthening the Blume brand and track record immensely," Karthik Reddy, co-founder and managing partner at Blume Ventures said. Blume started in 2011 raising an entirely domestic Rs 100 crore fund from HNIs (high net-worth individuals) and subsequently raised a USD 60 million fund (Rs 400 crore) in 2016. It claimed that its the first entirely homegrown fund to raise a third fund and raise over USD 100 millio...
Hyundai and Kia Invest $110 Million in Electric Vehicle Startup
Automobile, FUNDING

Hyundai and Kia Invest $110 Million in Electric Vehicle Startup

SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 16, 2020 -- Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation invest USD $110 million in a new partnership with Arrival, a UK-based electric vehicle startup. Through the partnership, Hyundai and Kia plan to introduce competitively priced small and medium-sized electric vans and other products for logistics, on-demand ride-hailing and shuttle service companies. Arrival's scalable electric platform can be adapted for multiple vehicle categories and types which Arrival, Hyundai and Kia will explore for the development of a range of Purpose Built Vehicles (PBV). The partnership with Arrival will help Hyundai and Kia meet the rapidly growing demand in Europe for eco-friendly commercial vehicles, and accelerate the brands' transformation from car mak...
Blockchain Startup Proof of Impact Raises First Investment
FUNDING

Blockchain Startup Proof of Impact Raises First Investment

Amsterdam & San Francisco - Proof of Impact closed its seed round led by Franklin Templeton, a global fund manager managing around $700 billion in assets. Proof of Impact is building a global marketplace on the blockchain where one can donate or invest directly into measurable impact outcomes. After this investment, a member of Franklin Templeton will join Proof of Impact board. Proof of Impact’s co-founder Fleur Heyns will be pitching the company during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020. Ausum Ventures (San Francisco, USA), Crypto Valley Venture Capital “CV VC” (Zug, Switzerland) and Pangea Blockchain fund (Switzerland) have also participated in this funding round. The investment follows a growth trajectory that has seen Proof ...
Saudi Aramco Launched World’s biggest IPO
Market

Saudi Aramco Launched World’s biggest IPO

Saudi Oil company Aramco launched its initial public offering (IPO), which will be the biggest in history. Aramco priced its IPO at 32 riyals ($8.53) per share, raising $25.6 billion and beating Alibaba’s record of $25 billion NYSE listing in 2014. However, the IPO valuation is still significantly short of $2 trillion valuations sought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Aramco has declined to comment on the IPO pricing until the article is going live. Aramco market valuation of $1.7 trillion overtaking Apple as the world’s most valuable listed firm. As per the news, Saudi Arabia relied on domestic and regional investors to sell its 1.5% stake because of climate change concerns, political risk and a lack of corporate transparency put foreign investors off the offeri...
My Intuition decides in Which Startup I have to Invest: Ratan Tata
Entrepreneurs Talk

My Intuition decides in Which Startup I have to Invest: Ratan Tata

Tata Group patriarch Ratan Tata, who has invested in over a dozen startups since he hanged up his boots from the Bombay House, becoming an investor in upcoming new-age companies has been "an accident." The chairman emeritus of the $110-billion salt to software Tata Group, arguably one of the most successful investors of all-time, was an early backer of Ola, and Paytm since 2015 when he made these investments in a personal capacity. He also has a small stake in One97 Communications that owns Paytm, and took on the role of an advisor to the firm. He made his maiden eCommerce investment in Snapdeal. Tata's other top investments in the startup space include fitness startup CureFit; weather forecaster ClimaCell; auto portal CarDekho; online furniture mart UrbanLadder; etailer of eyew...
Most SoftBank Vision Fund investors want to join second fund: Masayoshi Son
Entrepreneurs Talk

Most SoftBank Vision Fund investors want to join second fund: Masayoshi Son

Most investors in SoftBank's $100 billion Vision Fund want to join the group's forthcoming second fund, founder and Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday, adding discussions would begin soon.  The entrepreneur said in May a second fund would launch "soon", with SoftBank likely to be the only investor initially. Raising further funds is essential if Son is to extend his spending spree on late-stage startups around the world. Investors in the first fund include the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, Apple Inc and Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd. The Vision Fund will ramp up its employee numbers to 1,000 from 400 currently, Son said at the group's annual general meeting. The fund's head, Rajeev Misra, said he sees i...
Bollywood Actor Ajay Devgn to infuse Rs 600 crore in his multiplex chain NY Cinemas
BUSINESS

Bollywood Actor Ajay Devgn to infuse Rs 600 crore in his multiplex chain NY Cinemas

Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn is planning to invest Rs 600 crore in his multiplex venture NY Cinemas Llp (based on the names of his children Nysa and Yug Devgn) over the next five years. The 50-year-old actor said that he is aiming to open at least 250 screens across the Northern and Western parts of India. Devgn added that the first launch of his multiplex venture is slated in June in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh. The NY Cinemas will target people who don't have access to modern theatres and live in remote parts of the country, said Ajay Devgn. Although he has not revealed much about the project but said that it will be unlike any other multiplex in the market. Till now, the actor has bought two single-screen theatres in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur and Ghazipur. According to Rajeev Sharma, Ch...
Ninjacart Raises $89.5 Million funding from Tiger Global
FUNDING

Ninjacart Raises $89.5 Million funding from Tiger Global

After CEO Lee Fixel exit, Tiger Global takes first investment opportunity in Indian B2B startup Ninjacart. America based venture capital invested $89.5 million in agritech startup Ninjacart as per the data shows in regulatory filings from registrar of companies (RoC). NinjaCart which delivers and market agricultural produce given 26.5% stake to Tiger Global. After this round of funding, Ninjacart valued close to $320 million. This is the biggest one time investment by Tiger global in an Indian startup, previous large initial investments were Ola ($57.5 million), Delhivery ($43.6 million) and Hike ($43.2 million). Founded in 2015 by Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Ashutosh Vikram, Kartheeswaran K.K., Sachin Jose and Sharath Loganathan, NinjaCart connects farmers to end retailers a...