Saturday, December 21

Tag: startup funding

India beats Pandemic, created 53 Unicorns in 2021
INDIA

India beats Pandemic, created 53 Unicorns in 2021

Indian startups received about $6.5 billion in funding in the April-June 2021 quarter, while 11 of them entered the coveted unicorn club, a report by Nasscom-PGA Labs said. During the second quarter, 160 funding deals were closed up 2% from the January-March period. "Q2 2021 has been impeccable for the start-up growth story. From being the most funded quarter, it has also added the most number of unicorns. Standing tall during the pandemic second wave headwinds, the Indian start-up ecosystem has shown strong resilience in this quarter," the report said. Funding raised in the June quarter was at $6.5 billion, up by 71% quarter-on-quarter. The biggest deal during the quarter was the $ 800 million fundraisings by food delivery platform Swiggy, followed by ShareChat ($502 million),...
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 million...
Techbooze Consultancy Raises $15M Funding from Space Capital
FUNDING

Techbooze Consultancy Raises $15M Funding from Space Capital

New Delhi, 12th Jan 2020: Techbooze Consultancy, a leading Business Development, Consulting and “Funding” facilitator for Startups & Enterprise raises Series A funding of $15 million, led by Space Capital. Techbooze Consultancy Services has been in the market for over 4 years now, and has been raising capital for over 22 startups within the last few years. The company, according to Founder & CEO, Mr. Subhashis Kar, initiated this round of funding in order to expand its operations and raise the company valuation to over $300 million. The company anticipates this funding round to fuel its startup growth ambitions with the ultimate goal of creating an ecosystem friendly for the growth of the startups. As of now, Techbooze Consultancy Services facilitates investment rou...
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 eyewe...
Twitter Co-founder Invest in an Indian Startup
FUNDING

Twitter Co-founder Invest in an Indian Startup

In a first major initiative in Kerala, microblogging and social networking platform Twitter’s co-founder Biz Stone said he would invest in a startup mentored by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM). Announcing this through video conference of a global meet near here, the Twitter’s co-founder and angel investor Biz Stone said he would be investing in the Kochi-based startup Sieve. The occasion was the inaugural ceremony of the second edition of 'Huddle Kerala 2019', one of Asia’s largest congregations on startup ecosystem. The two-day event, organized by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) in association with Internet and Mobile association of India (IAMAI), is being held at nearby Kovalam. Founded by Sanjay Nediyara, a hearing-impaired entrepreneur, Sieve is a complete platform for free...
Caribu’s New Funding round Passes Neil Patel’s 1000X Formula
USA

Caribu’s New Funding round Passes Neil Patel’s 1000X Formula

MIAMI-- Caribu is on a mission to better connect young children with their parents and grandparents by allowing them to read and draw together in an interactive video-call, no matter how far apart they are. By opening up an equity crowdfunding campaign this summer on Wefunder, a leading investment platform that only accepts the top 1-2% of startups, Caribu has allowed customers and community members to join their mission. Neil Patel, one of today's most successful angel investors, developed a "1,000X Formula" for finding the most successful startup investments the ones with unicorn potential. Today, we announce that Caribu has been selected as one of a handful of companies to pass Neil Patel's 1000X formula. Angel investing used to be off-limits to the average American… but Shark ...
LQI raises funding from Indian Singer Sukhbir Singh
FUNDING

LQI raises funding from Indian Singer Sukhbir Singh

August 7, 2019: Indian Singer Sukhbir Singh announced his first investment in Gurugram based beverage startup, LQI. LQI, is selected as the first startup by Mr. Singh for investment, out of 5 startups shortlisted by startup incubator company Startup Buddy for pitching. LQI is in the process of raising USD 200K and the Funds will be deployed to increase the production capacity and the geographical expansion to newer markets. As per the news, Singer Sukhbir investment amount is between 10 to 25 Lakhs. Founded in Mid-2016 by Shubham Khanna, Palak Kapoor, and Kapil Kumar, LQI uses their proprietary technology to manufacture Smoothie, Milkshake and Fruit Water frozen packs made with 100% raw fresh fruit with an increased shelf life of 2.5 months without use of any colors, flavors, ...
Samsung Venture invests in 4 Indian startups
FUNDING

Samsung Venture invests in 4 Indian startups

Samsung Venture Investment Corporation (SVIC), the investment arm of the South Korean tech giant in its maiden investment in India invested $8.5 million (approximately Rs 58.28 crore) in four Indian startups. SVIC, which has invested in a number of startups globally and has over $2.2 billion in assets under management, hopes to make 100 investments in Indian startups over the next three-five years. The startups chosen by SVIC include system apps company OSLabs that runs Indus operating system, speech technology startup Gnani.ai, IoT solutions provider Silvan Innovation Labs and an early-stage computer vision startup. Samsung closely works with a host of startups that are committed to building innovative and purposeful technologies across the globe, Aloknath De, Corporate Vice...
Indian Government proposes Tax-free investment from Accredited Investors
INDIA

Indian Government proposes Tax-free investment from Accredited Investors

An official from Indian government said that funds received by startups from accredited investors may be exempted from angel tax subject to complying with certain net worth criteria. This provision is considered by the government as part of an exercise to define 'accredited investors' with a view to increasing investment flow in startups. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is working on the definition, which would be submitted to the finance ministry for approval. "Accredited or genuine investors can invest any amount but we will make some criteria for that. It should be liberal enough so that all such people can come under its purview. But it should not be over liberal and extra-stringent," the official said. "How much a genuine investor is inv...
Jeff Bezos backed Cancer Startup to Raise $1 Billion Ahead of IPO
FUNDING

Jeff Bezos backed Cancer Startup to Raise $1 Billion Ahead of IPO

Grail Inc, the cancer-detection startup backed by two world's wealthiest men is planning to raise $1 billion to push growth much ahead of its Initial Public Offering in Hong Kong. The very first product that will focus on screening test for nasopharyngeal cancer will be launched this year informed Grail Incorporation.Nasopharyngeal cancer is a type of cancer prevalent in Southeast Asia and southern China The company which is backed by Amazon Incorporation founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is working on advisers on the new round that is ongoing a preliminary phase and might change in timings and date, said two people involved with the matter. Charlotte Arnold, a spokeswoman for Menlo Park at Grail said that the company doesn’t comment on market speculation or i...
E-commerce Platform Udaan Raises $500 Mn from Lightspeed India And More.
FUNDING

E-commerce Platform Udaan Raises $500 Mn from Lightspeed India And More.

The business-to-business electronic commerce platform Udaan has raised $500 million in a Series B round of funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lightspeed India and DST Global founder Yuri Milner’s personal investment vehicle Apoletto.  It also involved Ravi Mhatre from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Bejul Somaia from Lightspeed India also took part in the transaction. This funding is recognised to be one of the biggest funding rounds at an early stage in the Indian startup ecosystem.  The company is going to use the current funding's to hire more engineers and sales executives, expand its logistics network, to add new sellers and buyers and to introduce new services. “B2B ecommerce is a big market opportunity with 500 million SMEs doing annual trade worth of $600-800 billion. In...
Nasscom Expresses Concern Over Fall in Angel, Series A Funding into Indian Startups
News

Nasscom Expresses Concern Over Fall in Angel, Series A Funding into Indian Startups

Nasscom, the software industry lobby has once again expressed concern over the falling funding into indian startups and called for added focus to galvanise the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) had last November shared its concern over the taxation issues in the startup scene, which led to a steep 50 per cent fall in angel investments and a significant decline in series A funding. "While angel investments are the critical first piece that gets a startup going, series A funding is the one where the angel investors really make their exits and make money. Thats what incentivises them to continue their investments," Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar said. "We had pointed that out and felt that corrective measures are needed. ...