Wednesday, December 25

Tag: investment

Meditation App Simple Habit Raises $10 Million in Series A Funding
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
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
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...
IT Company Viithiisys Technologies Acquires a Delhi-based Startup
ACQUISITION

IT Company Viithiisys Technologies Acquires a Delhi-based Startup

A boutique IT consulting and services company called Viithiisys Technologies has reportedly acquired an on-demand application development startup Actiwate. The particular deal will help the company to expand its product portfolio and list of clients. Based in Chandigarh and founded by Gaurav Saini, Viithiisys didn't disclose financial details of the deal. “This acquisition will help us build a robust and experience-oriented product with the potency to give voice to the people in the visitor management platform,” the CEO said. On the other hand, Actiwate was founded in 2016 and is operated by Delhi-based Partiko Services. The company has developed about 60 software products for various multinational companies as well as startups. The company claims to be profitable with more than 20...
Ad Analytics Startup Edo Raises $12 Million in Series A Funding
FUNDING

Ad Analytics Startup Edo Raises $12 Million in Series A Funding

US-based ad analytics startup Edo has raised funds amounting to $12 million in Series A funding round. The particular round was led by Breyer Capital. Along with this, Vista Equity co-founders Robert Smith and Brian Sheth participated in the round, as did WGI Group. “For more than a decade I’ve watched the data science talent arbitrage transform industries from finance to defense, from transportation to commerce,” Breyer said. “We needed someone to bring these capabilities to bear on the systemic inefficiencies and methodological shortcomings of measurement and analytics in media and advertising.” On the customer side, Edo is already working with ESPN, Turner, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. I wondered whether some of the TV networks might have been worried about what Edo would reveal a...
IT Major TCS Acquires a London-based Digital Design Company
ACQUISITION

IT Major TCS Acquires a London-based Digital Design Company

The global leader in IT services TCS Consultancy has reportedly acquired a London-based digital design company known as W12 Studios. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. This marks as the company’s first acquisition in about four years. With a proper strategy and not following the path of its rivals, TCS stated that it would only look at acquisitions for truly niche technologies, preferring to build the talent in-house. On the other hand, Cognizant, Infosys and Wipro have made a number of digital acquisitions over the last few years. Also, this acquisition signifies that TCS is open to acquisitions instead of only building technologies and talent in-house. Prior to this, the IT major last invested $50 million in a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corp. in Japan in ...
Petcare Startup Captain Zack Secures $1.5 million Funds
FUNDING

Petcare Startup Captain Zack Secures $1.5 million Funds

A pet care grooming startup called Captain Zack has raised an amount of $1.5 million in Pre-Series A round. The particular funding round was led by industrialists Kushal Desai and Chaitanya Desai through their family office. The company is owned by EM Personal Care and is based out of Mumbai. It is planning to use the funds raised in this round in marketing and brand awareness.  Along with this, backers like Naval Bir Kumar – erstwhile head at IDFC Asset Management & Standard Chartered Asset Management, Sunil Agarwal, owner - entrepreneur at Joy Cosmetics and experienced investment banker Ketan Shah, who manages Panini Advisors LLP also participated in this round. Mohit Lalvani, MD & Founder of EM Personal Care stated that this industry currently is not so popular in India...
Financial Research Firm Sentieo Raises $19 Million in Series A Funding
FUNDING

Financial Research Firm Sentieo Raises $19 Million in Series A Funding

Financial research platform Sentieo that is based in San Francisco and Delhi has secured funds amounting to $19 million (about Rs 140 crore) in its Series A round of equity funding. This particular funding round was led by growth equity firm Centana Growth Partners. Along with this, the three-year-old company counts a host of leading corporate executives and investment managers among its backers. The company’s existing investors also participated in this round. “We are incredibly excited to join them as they grow into a major player in the financial research technology industry, a market that is long overdue for the kind of innovation that Sentieo is providing,” Eric Byunn, partner at Centana Growth partners said. The company is planning to use the funds so raised to expand global gro...
Payment Solution AGS Transact Gets SEBI Nod for IPO
Market

Payment Solution AGS Transact Gets SEBI Nod for IPO

AGS Transact Technologies, a payment solutions provider has received SEBI’s official nod to launch an initial public offering (IPO). The company was recently backed by private equity firms TPG Growth and Actis until a few months ago. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued final observations to AGS Transact’s IPO proposal on 26 October. AGS had filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI in mid-August. With this nod, SEBI, as of now, has approved 62 IPO proposals in2018. In 2017, the regulatory authority cleared 46 IPO proposals. AGS’ Rs 1,000-crore IPO comprises fresh shares worth Rs 400 crore apart from equity of promoter Ravi Goyal and other individual shareholders worth Rs 600 crore. Also, AGS Transact may raise Rs 150 crore in pre-IPO placement as...
VC Fund Sixth Sense Ventures Invests in an Edutech Platform
News

VC Fund Sixth Sense Ventures Invests in an Edutech Platform

Early stage consumer-focused venture capital fund Sixth Sense Ventures has reportedly invested an amount that has not been revealed in edutech firm Eupheus Learning. With this, the total investment by the fund in Eupheus is estimated at between Rs 15-18 crore. Sixth Sense now owns about 44% in the edu-tech firm, making it one of the largest stake ownership deals for the venture capital firm so far. Eupheus Learning is a curriculum based content platform. It was founded in May 2017 and was the first investment from Sixth Sense's second fund made earlier this year. The platform aims to bridge the gap between in-school and at-home learning by providing end-to-end education solutions to students. The company has collaborated with publishers and edu-tech firms to provide differentiated...
Indiabulls Ventures Secures $210 Million From Foreign Funds
FUNDING

Indiabulls Ventures Secures $210 Million From Foreign Funds

Indiabulls Ventures Ltd, a financial services company has secured an amount of Rs 1,539.20 crore ($210 million) in a funding round. The particular round was led by four foreign institutional investors, including a private equity firm. The basic purpose of the funding round is to infuse long-term capital into two of its subsidiaries. Indiabulls Ventures will make a preferential allotment of compulsorily convertible debentures to Tamarind Capital Pte, Hong Kong-based hedge fund Steadview Capital, US-based venture capital fund ABG Capital and DF International Partners. The company is planning to use these funds to capitalize on lending arm Indiabulls Consumer Finance Ltd and Indiabulls Asset Reconstruction Co Ltd. The debentures have been allotted at a 35% premium to the company's share...
California-based Oh My Green Raised $20 million
FUNDING

California-based Oh My Green Raised $20 million

In a fresh funding round, California-based B2B company Oh My Green has raised $20 million. This particular funding round was led by Initialized Capital, Powerplant Ventures, Backed VC, ZhenFund, Talis Capital and the Stanford StartX Fund. With this investment, the company plans to expand throughout the U.S. and gradually launch overseas. The basic motive behind this step is to bring healthier foods to offices around the U.S. The startup offers Nashville nutritional snacks and meals to businesses in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Austin, Denver, Boston, New York City and Nashville. The company stocks office snack pantries which is a staple at technology startups and caters events, manages cafes and provides wellness programming. Founded in 2014 by Michael Heinrich...