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24Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

CHINA

China to Expand Advanced Manufacturing Domestic Market

China's top economic planner has pledged to strengthen the advanced manufacturing sector and foster a stronger domestic market amid efforts to stabilize economic growth. He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said China will narrow the gap in major technical equipment capabilities to tap into the huge domestic market potentials in this sector. Efforts will also be made to accelerate upgrading of traditional industries to make them more digitalized, connected and smart, which will also unleash gigantic domestic market potentials. China will also speed up development of world-class technological innovation centers to foster new growth drivers, and expand investment in infrastructure related to key areas such as poverty relief, agriculture and energy to s...

SoftBank Group to Close $1.5 billion Investment in a Cab Aggregator

22Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

BUSINESS

SoftBank Group to Close $1.5 billion Investment in a Cab Aggregator

SoftBank Group is in advanced talks to invest $1.5 billion in Grab, three times a previously expected $500 million, as Southeast Asia's biggest ride-hailing firm looks to expand, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Six-year old cab aggregator Grab has so far raised over $6.5 billion, led by SoftBank, Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing and Toyota. After a fund raising in August, Grab was valued at around $11 billion. SoftBank first bought a stake worth $250 million in Grab in 2014 just as Grab began competing with Uber Technologies in Southeast Asia. Its latest funding in the ride-hailing firm will be made from its Vision Fund, which after raising more than $93 billion last year is the world's largest private-equity fund. A source stated that SoftBank is expected to finalise i...

20Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Diptab owned LetsTransport Secures Rs 100 crore in Series B Funding

Diptab, the owner of trucking logistics company LetsTransport has secured funds amounting to Rs 100 crore ($14.2 million) in Series B funding. This round was led by Bertelsmann India Investments and a Japanese-origin investor. Fosun RZ Capital, the venture capital arm of Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, participated in the round earlier this year. It has been reported that the developments pegged the valuation of the company, which provides intra-city logistics services, at $80-100 million. “We will use the proceeds to move into newer segments such as pharmaceuticals, consumer durables and cement, among others… We will also expand our presence to 20 more towns and cities, up from our current seven, by 2020,” Singh stated. Founded by IIT ...

D.light Raises $41 million from an Africa-focused Investment Advisory Firm

18Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

D.light Raises $41 million from an Africa-focused Investment Advisory Firm

D.light, a distributed solar provider has reportedly raised $41 million in equity financing. This round was led by an Africa-focused investment advisory firm that specializes in the energy sector known as Consortium Inspired Evolution. Consortium partners include the Dutch Development Bank FMO, and also the government-sponsored investment funds Swedfund and Norfund. This latest funding which enables expansion of the company’s solar and Pay-Go consumer finance business in Africa has brought the total amount of equity and debt that the company has raised in the past two years to over $100 million. The funding round also enabled some of the company’s earliest investors to achieve an exit. “We are thrilled to have Inspired Evolution as the newest fu...

17Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Drivezy to Raise $60 Million in Series C Funding Round

Sharing economy-focused startup Drivezy is close to finalising a $60 million funding round (about Rs 432 crore), as it looks to double down on its vehicle sharing platform, particularly its two-wheeler segment. The Bengaluru-based on-demand startup, which announced i.ts $20 million Series B round last month, expects to close the latest round by end-January, and which is likely to value the three-year-old company about $400 million, a four-fold jump from its November valuation. Drivezy currently counts Das Capital, the investment firm founded by Japanese serial entrepreneur and investor Shinji Kimura, Bain Capital, the multi-asset alternative investment firm co-founded by former US presidential candidate Mitt Romney, European investment firm Accent Equit...

Agri-tech Startup Ninjacart Secures Rs 250 Crore

13Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Agri-tech Startup Ninjacart Secures Rs 250 Crore

Agri-tech startup Ninjacart has raised Rs 250 crore in a series B round of funding. This round was led by Accel US and Syngenta Ventures which is dedicated to invest in the agriculture sector. Others like Korean investment company Neoplux, Jo Hirao, founder of ZIGExN, HR Capital and Trifecta Capital. Along with the new set of investors the company said that its existing ones like Nandan Nilekani, Accel India, Mistletoe, Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this round. The RainMaker Group was the financial advisor to Ninjacart for this funding round. Ninjacart which is in the business of supplying fresh fruits and vegetables directly from farmers to urban retailers intends to use the funds to enter new cities like Mumbai and Delhi and expand its d...

VC Firm Sequoia Capital Invests Rs 65 Crore in Wakefit

11Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

BUSINESS

VC Firm Sequoia Capital Invests Rs 65 Crore in Wakefit

Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital has invested Rs 65 crore in Wakefit which manufactures mattresses, at a post-money valuation of Rs 210 crore. Through this round, Sequoia Capital has picked up 31.9% stake in the previously bootstrapped startup.The startup will leverage 10-15% of the acquired funds primarily to strengthen its manufacturing arm by introducing automation and boosting its production capacity from 250 mattresses per day to 700 mattresses per day and also plans to invest in innovation and launch newer product ranges,including bed sheets fabricated with wood pulp fibers, comforters, pillows, and sleepwear.“Wakefit has been at the forefront of high quality sleep solutions since 2015, democratizing great sleep and changing the way India sleeps. We are very keen to initiate the...

The Organizational Tool Trello Acquires Butler

11Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

ACQUISITION

The Organizational Tool Trello Acquires Butler

Theorganizational tool Trello has announced the acquisition of Butler. Thefinancial details of the deal have not been disclosed. With this acquisition, the company will bring he power of automation, stringing together a bunch of commands to make something complex happen automatically. Trello’s Michael Pryor stated that the company is used to tools like IFTTT, Zapier and AppleShortcuts, and this will bring a similar type of functionality directly into Trello. “Over the years, teams have discovered that by automating processes on Trello boards with the Butler Power-Up, they could spend more time on important tasks and be more productive. Butler helps teams codify business rules and processes, taking something that might take ten steps to accomplish and automating it into one click,...

Singapore-based Grab in Advanced Talks to Invest $100 Million in OYO

3Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

BUSINESS

Singapore-based Grab in Advanced Talks to Invest $100 Million in OYO

Singapore ride-hailing company Grab is in advanced talks to invest $100 million (Rs 697.7 crore) in OYO Hotels & Homes as part of the Indian hospitality chain’s ongoing $1 billion funding round. Grab is expected to close the deal over the next few days, according to two people briefed on the matter. Grab and OYO, both of which count SoftBank as one of their primary investors, have identified Indonesia as a key market for growth. Grab, which has been going head-to-head with Indonesia’s ride-hailing and logistics startup Go-Jek, has stated its intention of entering sectors ranging from grocery delivery to healthcare, according to a report by Bloomberg. OYO announced the launch of its operations in Indonesia in October last year. At the time, the Ritesh Agarwal-led company starte...

Brazil-based QuintoAndar Secures $64 million Funds

3Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Brazil-based QuintoAndar Secures $64 million Funds

São Paulo-based rental marketplace called QuintoAndar raised an amount of $64 million (R$ 250 million) in a fresh funding round. The particular funding round was led by General Atlantic to accelerate expansion in Brazil. The other backers that participated in the round were Kaszek Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and QED. The site provides the listings, allows users to schedule tenant visits to the property (the founder says more than 86,000 property showings were booked in October), and processes the transactions. The company believes there’s a big opportunity to make renting in Brazil more efficient. “20% of the population in Brazil lives in rented properties, and the sentiment toward buying homes in Brazil is changing,” says Braga. Brazil remains undercapitalized relative to othe...

Mobility Sharing Firm Drivezy Secures $20 million

29Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Mobility Sharing Firm Drivezy Secures $20 million

India’s mobility sharing platform Drivezy has secured funds amounting to $20 million Series B financing round. The particular round was led by existing investor Das Capital. The round also saw participation from backers like automotive giant Yamaha, Axan Partners and IT-Farm. With this funding, the total amount of funds the company has raised so far reaches $31 million. Along with this, the startup has also inked a $100 million asset financing deal backed by Japan’s AnyPay, which will see new cars and motorbikes added to Drivezy’s fleet over the next year. Initially, the company was known as JustRide. It claims to have a fleet of around 8,000 vehicles that includes 5,000 two-wheelers (motorbikes and scooters) and 3,000 cars, which probably attracts around 37,000 customers every mo...

Ballooning United States Deficit is Good News for Indian Gold Investors

28Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Market

Ballooning United States Deficit is Good News for Indian Gold Investors

The United States federal deficit for October ballooned up to more than $100 billion, which is almost 58 percent more than the figures we had for last year. In October of 2017, the United States saw a monthly deficit of $63 billion, but the figures have gone even higher this year. The net spending by consumers in October rose by some 18 percent, whereas the receipts collected showed a meager increase of 7 percent. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has said that due to current ongoing projects, the federal deficit in the United States is expected to go up over the $1 trillion mark. Last time we saw the United States federal deficit cross the $1 trillion mark, gold prices made a massive jump to end at over $1,800 per ounce. Gold has not yet participated in this deficit, because ...