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Bengaluru-based Startup Doodhwala Secures $12 million

28Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Bengaluru-based Startup Doodhwala Secures $12 million

Bengaluru-based milk and daily essentials delivery startup called Doodhwala is reportedly securing funds up to $12 million (around Rs 85 crore) in a Series A round of funding. The round is being led by Impact investment firm Omnivore Ventures. Along with this, the company had approached both new and existing investors for the fresh fundraise. “We will be closing the round in January next year as the term sheets are getting finalised and the talks are at a fairly advanced stage,” Doodhwala co-founder Ebrahim Akbari said. “We are looking at a post-money valuation of $40 million.” Also, he stated that American, Chinese and Japanese investors were in the fray. US investors are keen on subscription businesses as they are creating a mark of their own and showing potential growth. With th...

HealthTech Firm Niramai Secures $6-7 million from Exisiting Backers

27Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

HealthTech Firm Niramai Secures $6-7 million from Exisiting Backers

Healthtech startup Niramai has secured funds around $6-7 million in a funding round. The round was led by existing investors Pi Ventures, Axilor, Ankur Capital and Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal. Niramai Health Analytix is building an artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool for a non-invasive, non-touch, non-radiation approach to detect breast cancer. The technology, called Thermalytix, helps remove the technological, logistical and cost barriers for breast cancer screening among women. Niramai was founded in 2016 by Geetha Manjunath, who has 25 years of experience in areas such as data analytics, machine-learning and cloud computing, and Nidhi Mathur, with experience in business planning, strategy and product management. Both the cofounders had previously worked with Xerox Research...

26Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

SaaS Startup Verloop Raises $3 Million in Series A Funding

SaaS customer engagement automation provider Verloop has raised $3 million in Series A funding round led by IDFC Parampara Fund. The other investors who participated in the round include Kris Gopalakrishnan - Infosys Co-founder and Dr Ranjan Pai - Chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG). The Y-Combinator startup said that the fresh funds will be utilized to enhance the Verloop customer engagement platform as the company expands its team and scale operations. The startup’s customer portfolio includes Nykaa, Qtrove, Pipa Bella, Portea, Apollo Munich Health Insurance and Aadhaar Bridge. Further, it has also been used in Indian entertainment including Rajinikanth for his movie Kaala, other mainstream and niche celebrities, publication houses and entertainment magazines...

HDFC Ergo Eyeing to acquire Apollo Munich Health Insurance

26Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

ACQUISITION

HDFC Ergo Eyeing to acquire Apollo Munich Health Insurance

HDFC Ergo General Insurance is in advanced talks to acquire Apollo Munich Health Insurance for around Rs 2,600 crore. This acquisition will see the exit of German reinsurance company Munich Re. Munich Re holds 49% stake in Apollo Munich while Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals, promoted by Prathap C Reddy and his family, holds 51% stake in the second-largest standalone health insurance provider in the country. HDFC Ergo, arm of housing finance firm HDFC, is 49% owned by Ergo International AG, an insurance unit of Munich Re, and 51% by HDFC. In 2016, HDFC Ergo had acquired L&T General Insurance to become the third-largest private sector general insurer in the country. Arpwood Capital is acting as an exclusive advisor to both target and buyer. Separately, UK's development finance...

26Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Tech Firm GOQii Raises $30 million in Equity Funding Round

GOQii Inc, a wearable devices maker has reportedly raised an amount of $30 million (about Rs 212 crore) in its latest equity financing round. The company is based in Menlo Park and Mumbai and is looking to enter into the overseas markets over the next 12-18 months. The funding was led by Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co. The particular round also saw participation from crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital and Denlow Investment Trust. Following this funding round, the valuation of the four-year-old startup has reached $100-125 million. Existing investors DSG Consumer Partners, NEA, Edelweiss Financial Services and Cheetah Mobile also participated in the financing round. Also, businessmen like Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata also par...

Info Edge Invests into B2B Footwear Company ShoeKonnect

24Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

BUSINESS

Info Edge Invests into B2B Footwear Company ShoeKonnect

The parent job portal of Naukri.com and real estate website 99acres.com called Info Edge (India) Ltd has invested an amount of Rs 3 crore ($422,000) more in online business-to-business footwear marketplace ShoeKonnect. This particular investment raised Info Edge’s stake in ShoeKonnect to 27.27% from 20% as stated by the company. This indicates the fresh infusion has come at a higher valuation. ShoeKonnect is a brand run by Bizcrum Infotech which was founded in 2014 by three economics graduates from Delhi University named Siddharth Vij, Chaitanya Rathi and Siddharth Rastogi. Talking about the funding, the startup raised an undisclosed amount from the Indian Angel Network in 2016. It posted revenue of Rs 37 lakh for the financial year ended March 2018. ShoeKonnect brings manufact...

Tech Investor SoftBank Group Invests $450 million in Delhivery

21Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

BUSINESS

Tech Investor SoftBank Group Invests $450 million in Delhivery

The global technology investor SoftBank Group Corp is in its final stage of investing a huge amount of $450 million in Delhivery, which is India's largest e-commerce-centric logistics company by revenue. This particular deal is expected to value the company at over $1 billion, entering into the unicorn club. Through its Vision Fund, SoftBank is set to invest an estimated $350 million (about Rs 2,500 crore) in fresh capital into the company. Along with this, the Tokyo-headquartered strategic holding investor is expected to undertake secondary transactions, estimated at $100 million, to further bump up its stake in the company. As part of secondary exits, the company’s founders are likely to abolish their ownership substantially. SoftBank will emerge as the single largest shareholde...

Cure.fit Acquires a Bengaluru-based Mental Health Platform

20Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Cure.fit Acquires a Bengaluru-based Mental Health Platform

The popular healthcare startup Cure.fit has reportedly acquired a Bengaluru-based mental health platform Seraniti. Following the acquisition, the company will have over 70 centres for this vertical. Also, with this, it is trying to boost its mental wellness business Mind.fit. As a part of the deal, Cure.fit will onboard Seraniti's team of 15 therapists and its 8,000 customers. Seraniti is Cure.fit's second acquisition for the mental wellness vertical after the integration of a1000 yoga in 2017. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, however, Ankit Nagori, cofounder of Cure.fit stated that the company paid off the angel investors who had invested in Seraniti. "We believe the acquisition is a win-win for all our clients, as it will improve convenience (eight addit...

Sweden-based E-scooter Startup VOI Raises $50 million

19Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Sweden-based E-scooter Startup VOI Raises $50 million

Sweden-based e-scooter startup VOI Technology has reportedly raised funds amounting to $50 million in Series A funding round. This round was led by London-based venture capital firm Balderton Capital. Along with this, backers like LocalGlobe, Raine Ventures, and previous VOI backer Vostok New Ventures also participated in the funding. A number of angel investors also participated that include Cristina Stenbeck, Jeff Wilkes (Amazon), Justin Mateen (co-founder of Tinder), Nicolas Brusson (CEO and co-founder of BlaBlaCar), Sebastian Knutsson (co-founder of King), Spencer Rascoff (CEO of Zillow), and Keith Richman. The company is planning to use the funds so raised for expanding into new European markets. Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Portugal ...

14Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Meditation App Simple Habit Raises $10 Million in Series A Funding

US based five-minute meditation app Simple Habit has reportedly secured an amount of $10 million in Series A funding round. This round was led by Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Foundation Capital. With this, the developer’s total funding has reached up to $12.5 million. Prior to this, Simple Habit previously raised $2.8 million from seed investors. Foundation Capital was also an investor in the initial seed round, which included Y Combinator, NEA, Drew Houston, CEO of Dropbox, and Josh Reeves, CEO of Gusto. “Simple Habit has had a remarkable year,” said Yunha Kim, founder and CEO of Simple Habit. “As we welcomed millions of new users to our community, we added more than 1,000 new sessions to our audio content library, doubled the number of experts who contribute content on S...

SoftBank Corp Invests in the Co-working Giant WeWork Yet Again

14Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

BUSINESS

SoftBank Corp Invests in the Co-working Giant WeWork Yet Again

SoftBank Corp has reportedly invested another $3 billion in financing into the co-working major WeWork. The deal comes in the form of a warrant, allowing SoftBank to pay $3 billion for the opportunity to buy shares before September 2019 at a price of $110 or higher. This will value WeWork at $42 billion minimum. In August, SoftBank Corp invested $1 billion in WeWork in the form of a convertible note. Following this deal, SoftBank will pay WeWork $1.5 billion on January 15, 2019 and another $1.5 billion on April 15. SoftBank is far and away WeWork’s biggest investor, with SoftBank Vision Fund having poured $4.4 billion into the company just last year. More than physical land, WeWork wants to be the central connective tissue for work in general. The company often strikes deals with ...

Social Commerce Platform Meesho Raises $50 Million in Series C Round

6Nov By Gauri SinghNo Comments

FUNDING

Social Commerce Platform Meesho Raises $50 Million in Series C Round

A Bengaluru-based social commerce platform Meesho has reportedly raised an amount of $50 million in a Series C funding round. Following this funding round, the valuation of the company has reached between $200 million and $250 million. This particular round was led by Shunwei Capital, Yuri Milner’s DST Partners and RPS Ventures. Along with this, exisiting backers like Sequoia India, SAIF Partners, Venture Highway and Y Combinator also participated in this round. “We want to simulate the exact experience that happens offline,” Meesho co-founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey stated. “Sellers have the liberty to sell to 10 different people at 10 different prices.” The company is planning to use these funds to go deeper into its existing areas of business that includes offering more product catego...