Two months after listed logistics giant Delhivery approved 6.15 Lakh equity shares, the company has announced the allotment of 8.6 Lakh equity shares, under its employee stock option plans. 

In an exchange filing on October 9 (Wednesday), Delhivery said it has received approval from its board to allot 8,63,645 equity shares of face value INR 1 each.

“The stakeholders’ relationship committee of Delhivery Limited (‘Company’) on Wednesday, October 09, 2024, approved the allotment of a total of 8,63,645 (Eight Lakh Sixty‐Three Thousand Six Hundred Forty‐Five Only) equity shares of face value Re. 1/‐ each fully paid up against the exercise of vested options, Delhivery said in its filing. 

Of these, 1,21,545 equity shares are allotted under Delhivery employee stock option plan 2012 (ESOP 2012) and 3,50,000 equity shares under Delhivery Employee Stock Option Plan II 2020 (ESOP II 2020). 

The remaining 3,92,100 equity shares were allotted under Delhivery employee stock option plan III 2020 (ESOP III 2020).

“The equity shares so allotted shall rank pari‐passu with the existing equity shares of the company in all respects,” the company’s filing said.

Under the ESOP 2012, the startup has set the exercise price at INR 0.1 for 1,500 stock options, INR 1 for 22,900 options, INR 16.28 for 815 options and INR 29.85 for 96,330 stock options. 

Delhivery under ESOP II 2020 has fixed the exercise price at INR 0.10 for 3,50,000 stock options and INR 0.10 for 3,92,100 stock options under ESOP III 2020. 

Based on the stock’s closing price on Wednesday, the total value of the new allotted stocks translates to INR 35.8 Cr. 

Following the allotment of the aforementioned shares, the paid-up share capital of Delhivery increased to INR 74,09,01,946 from INR 74,00,38,301, it reported 

Meanwhile, shares of Delhivery closed at INR 414.75 in the last trading session and opened at INR 420.95 on Thursday. 

Founded in 2011 by Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Bhavesh Manglani, Suraj Saharan and Kapil Bharati, Delhivery is a transportation, supply chain and logistics company. The logistics giant competes against the likes of Xpressbees, Blue Dart, Flipkart’s Ekart Logistics and Amazon Shipping. 

Notably, the recent ESOP expansion comes right after a month of Delhivery approving the allotment of 6,15,930 equity shares of face value INR 1. Besides this, it allocated 63,538 stock options to eligible employees on September 02. 

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Micro venture capital (VC) firm Gemba Capital has appointed publishing platform Pratilipi’s cofounder and CEO Ranjeet Pratap Singh as its consumer tech venture advisor. 

In a statement, Gemba Capital said that Singh will aid its investment team in evaluating consumer tech deals along with mentoring its portfolio companies.

“His (Singh’s) operating experience further augments our investment capabilities and portfolio value-add. We are super bullish on the consumer tech domain and continue to partner with resilient founders building in this space,” Gemba Capital’s principal Govind Lohia said on the new appointment. 

In July this year, the firm floated its second fund with a target corpus of INR 250 Cr, including a green shoe option of INR 50 Cr. Gemba Capital plans to back 30 seed and pre-seed stage startups in the fintech, consumer tech, and B2B platforms space. 

It is looking to back the startups with an average ticket size of INR 5 Cr and will reserve 30% of the corpus for making follow-on investments.

Founded by Adith Podhar in 2018, Gemba Capital invests in seed and pre-seed startups. It counts startups like Plum, Grip, Threado, Zuper, LightFury Games, Volt Money, MoMoney, Docube, among others, in its portfolio. 

Meanwhile, this would be Singh’s first association with an investment firm. The FMS alumni has been helming the Indian language story-telling platform Pratilipi since 2015. 

Founded by Singh, Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, Rahul Ranjan, and Sahradayi Modi, Pratilipi connects readers and writers in 12 languages, including Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Hindi and Marathi. The startup has raised over $80 Mn since inception and counts the likes of Alteria Capital, Nexus Venture Partners and TLabs as its backers.

Pratilipi narrowed its loss by 22% year-on-year (YoY) in FY23 to INR 152.64 Cr. 

The development comes at a time when seed stage funding has been seeing strong growth. Seed stage funding in the Indian startup ecosystem surged 126% to $360 Mn in Q3 2024 from $159 Mn in Q3 2023, as per an Inc42 report.

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Bengaluru-based product design startup Figr has raised $2.25 Mn (about INR 18.8 Cr) in its seed funding round led by venture capital firm Kalaari Capital. The funding round also saw participation from Antler, VC firm Golden Sparrow, and angel investors. 

In a statement, the startup said it would use the funds to improve its custom AI-powered models for UI/UX designing and bolster its product and growth teams.

Founded by Moksh Garg and Chirag Singla in 2023, Figr is an AI-driven design platform that helps customise UI (user interface) and develop personalised design token and language on the basis of user’s input. The startup claims to save both design time and cost with the help of AI and automation. 

Figr claims to have over 75,000 users, of which 80% are based outside India. It was among the startups selected for Google’s first cohort of ‘Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First’ earlier this year.

The startup also featured in Inc42’s ‘30 Startups To Watch’ edition of October 2023.

Commenting on the fundraise, cofounder Singla said, “Our vision is to empower every design team to create beautiful and functional interfaces without being bogged down by tedious, repetitive work. This funding gives us the momentum we need to continue refining our AI technology and to expand our offerings globally.” 

Figr is targeting freelancers, design studios and design teams at startups to further expand its user base. It aims to cater to teams of all sizes in the future with the fresh capital. 

The development comes at a time when AI, particularly GenAI, has taken the world by storm. As a result, a number of GenAI startups have emerged in the country over the last few years. These startups are leveraging AI to provide various services.

India has more than 100 AI startups that raised more than $600 Mn between 2019 and H1 2024. As per Inc42 data, the Indian GenAI ecosystem is projected to become a $17 Bn market opportunity by 2030 on the back of the growing adoption of the emerging technology. 

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Finance management startup ZenStatement has secured $1.62 Mn (around INR 13.4 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Bengaluru-based venture capital firm 3One4 Capital and early-stage SaaS investor Boldcap VC. The round also saw participation from Dynamis Ventures and Atrium Angels.

The fresh proceeds will be deployed to expand its product line, acquire new customers in India as well as overseas markets. 

Founded in 2023 by Sourabh Nolkha and Ankit Narsaria, ZenStatement (called SimpliFin formerly) offers AI-driven financial analytics and cash flow management solutions to enterprises handling high transaction volumes and multiple sales channels. 

As per its website, the startup is looking to launch payable management and cash flow forecasting products that will help finance teams automate processes. At the moment, it offers a receivable management solution geared towards reconciliation, chargeback management, dispute resolution and more. 

ZenStatement claims its product can help businesses monitor leaks and optimise cash flows, while also providing financial insights. 

Besides the institutional backers, ZenStatement has raised funds from angel investors including former Apple treasury head Michael Boyd, Pierian Services’ founder Chetan Venugopal, Curefoods founder Ankit Nagori, Onsurity cofounder Kulin Shah, Zetwerk cofounder Ankit Fatehpuria, as well as Shop-up and Voonik cofounders Sujayath Ali and Navaneeth Krishnan. 

Sonal Saldanha, VP of investments, at 3one4 Capital claimed that ZenStatement is solving a key problem for large enterprises since its solution can help prevent revenue leakages. “Reconciliation is a surprisingly hard problem to solve and businesses often tend to put some brittle solutions in place for the lack of viable alternatives, and a great starting point for a product like ZenStatement,” she added.

The startup’s customer base consists of scaled up enterprises, large startups as well as digital commerce and fintech startups. It claims to have processed approximately 10 Mn transactions per month in the first year of inception. 

With generative AI becoming the focal point for all SaaS and enterprise tech startups, investors are flocking to back startups that are catering to enterprises and large operations. As per Inc42’s report on India’s generative AI startup landscape, the market for GenAI products and solutions is projected to cross the $17 Bn mark by 2030. 

In particular, enterprises are leveraging AI solutions to save costs and identify revenue leaks and other gaps in their operations. 

Just last month, finance automation startup Bluecopa raised $1.8 Mn (INR 14.9 Cr) in a Pre-Series A round led by Blume Ventures and Dallas Venture Capital, among others to cater to large enterprises and small-cap companies. 

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Evenflow Brands, a Thrasio-style marketplace aggregator floated by former Uber executives, has strengthened its leadership team with four new appointments across business, category, supply chain and sourcing verticals.

The company has roped in Priyesh Singh to scale up its supply chain, Aparajitha Vijayaraghavan to lead the quick commerce segment, Prashant Agarwal to spearhead D2C business and Ruchi Shaikh to oversee the BabyPro and CRED channels at the platform.

With these appointments, Evenflow looks to further grow its profit by 6X in the next three years. 

Founded in 2021 by Utsav Agarwal and Pulkit Chabbra, Evenflow acquires and scales third-party sellers on marketplaces through operational intelligence across the value chain. 

Prior joining to Evenflow, Priyesh Singh was with sports equipment chain Decathlon, while Aparajitha Vijayaraghavan was associate director, category & monetization at quick commerce platform Dunzo. 

While, Prashant Agarwal previously worked with Hopscotch, ABFRL and Titan, Ruchi Shaikh was formerly serving HP as a project manager.

Evenflow counts GlobalBees, Mensa Brands, Upscalio, 10Club, GOAT Brand Labs and Powerhouse91 among its competitors in the ecommerce rollup segment.  

Evenflow is actively making changes in its leadership as the development follows its executive Shashank Ranjan being elevated to cofounder, last month. Ranjan, who joined Evenflow in 2022, was the head of sourcing at the company.

It acquired seven brands Xtrim, Yogarise, Rusabl, BabyPro, Trendy Homes, Cinagro and Frenchware. 

The ecommerce rollup model is gaining traction in India with two Thrasio style ventures – GlobalBees and Mensa Brands achieving unicorn status within a year of inception. In the model, a company acquires and invests in a number of smaller, independent brands.

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Nayan Tech, an AI-laden startup offering smart city solutions for traffic monitoring, has raised $2 Mn (around INR 16.7 Cr) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by BEENEXT, along with participation from We Founder Circle, Venture Catalysts, LetsVenture and FAAD Capital.

The startup will use the fresh capital to further bolster its AI and IoT (Internet of Things) solutions in both domestic and overseas markets.

Apart from this, it also aims to address challenges in traffic management, road safety, infrastructure monitoring and driver behaviour monitoring via its AI-powered Dashcam.

Founded in 2018 by Jayant Ratti, Nayan Tech offers AI-powered solutions and real-time insights on road conditions for urban planners, city administrators, and in B2B, B2G and B2C segments.

“Nayan’s AI-powered Dashcams are designed to provide city administrations and businesses with precise, real-time data that can help tackle the most pressing challenges of urban infrastructure, road safety and fleet management. Our technology ensures safer roads, more responsive city management, and optimized traffic flows through smart data utilization,” said Ratti. 

The Delhi-based startup competes against the likes of Nota, Hayden AI and GridMatrix. 

The development comes at a time when generative AI (GenAI) has emerged as the flavour of the season. Building on top of large language models from Google and OpenAI, new-age tech startups are leveraging the emerging technology to build new use cases and cater to customers across various domains. 

This has spawned the rise of more than 100+ GenAI startups that call India home. As a result, the AI space has witnessed renewed interest from investors as these homegrown players have raised more than $600 Mn between 2019 and H1 2024. 

Last month, AI-powered finance operations automation startup Bluecopa raised $1.8 Mn (INR 14.9 Cr) in a Pre-Series A funding round from Blume Ventures, Dallas Venture Capital and Venture Catalysts.

In the same month, adtech startup Crackle Technologies raised $1.7 Mn (around INR 14 Cr) in a pre-seed funding round co-led by We Founder Circle and AC Ventures.

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Listed fintech SaaS startup Zaggle has bolstered its board with an appointment as it aims to drive growth in the fintech space.

The company has roped in Kotak Mahindra Bank’s consumer banking head Virat Sunil Diwanji as an additional director to its board. 

In his new role, Diwanji, who has over two decades of experience with Kotak Bank, will help in fuelling Zaggle’s innovation and customer engagement, the startup said in a statement. 

“I look forward to working closely with Zaggle’s leadership team to drive the next phase of growth and create sustainable value for all stakeholders,” Diwanji said. 

Zaggle’s founder and executive chairman Raj Narayanam said, “Diwanji’s vast experience in banking and leadership will complement Zaggle’s Indian and global expansion efforts. His insights will be instrumental as we continue to strengthen our position in the retail and commercial segments, and we believe his expertise will help guide us through the rapidly evolving fintech landscape.”

Diwanji has over 30 years of experience in building, managing and growing businesses cutting across liabilities and assets.

Prior to joining Kotak Group, he was managing director at Ford Credit (financial service arm of Ford Motor) for more than two years. Before that, he has worked with the management consultancy division at A. F. Ferguson & Co for six years. 

Last week, Zaggle allocated 44,161 additional stock options under its Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) 2022.

Founded in 2011 by Narayanam, Zaggle offers spend management solutions for businesses as well as other SaaS tools such as expenses, payments, and rewards management software. 

Last month, the startup picked up stakes in two companies – Span Across IT Solutions and Mobileware Technologies. While it acquired a 26% stake in Mobileware Technologies for INR 15.6 Cr, it also received board nod to pick up 98.32% shareholding in Span Across IT Solutions for nearly INR 32 Cr.

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Listed fintech SaaS startup Zaggle has allocated 44,161 additional stock options under its Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) 2022.

In an exchange filing, the Mumbai-based startup on Friday (October 4) said it has received approval from its board to grant the additional stock options to eligible employees.

“This is to inform you that the… compensation committee in its meeting held on Friday, October 04, 2024 has inter-alia approved granting of 44,161… options to eligible employees of the company under the Zaggle ESOP 2022,” the company said. 

Based on the stock’s closing price on Friday, the total value of the new stock options translated to INR 2.03 Cr.

The company has set the exercise price at INR 335 per stock option.

In the filing, the company said that each stock option will be convertible into “one fully paid up equity share” with a face value of INR 1 each and can be exercised within 10 years from the first date of vesting of options, barring certain exceptions. 

Founded in 2011 by Raj Narayanam, Zaggle offers spend management solutions for businesses as well as other SaaS tools such as expenses, payments, and rewards management software. 

Zaggle has expanded its ESOP pool a week after it picked up stakes in two companies – Span Across IT Solutions and Mobileware Technologies. While it acquired a 26% stake in Mobileware Technologies for INR 15.6 Cr, it also received board nod to pick up 98.32% shareholding in Span Across IT Solutions for nearly INR 32 Cr.

The fintech SaaS startup saw its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) jump 716% to INR 16.73 Cr in the first quarter (Q1) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) from INR 2.05 Cr in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, revenue from operations zoomed 113% to INR 252.2 Cr in the quarter under review from INR 118.4 Cr in Q1 FY24. 

Shares of Zaggle closed the day 3.14% higher at INR 460.25 on the BSE on Friday.

The post Zaggle Expands ESOP Pool With 44.1K Stock Options appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Private equity behemoth Blackstone has started raising its third Asia-focussed private equity fund, targeting at least $10 Bn.

As per Reuters, the new buyout fund will primarily focus on India with the largest percentage of capital allocated there. However, China will not be a focus market for the new fund.

Japan and Australia will be two other significant markets for Blackstone while it continues to look at other countries such as South Korea and Singapore, the report said, citing sources close to the matter.

The world’s largest alternative asset manager has initiated marketing the fund in September and is looking to have its first closing in January 2025, Bloomberg reported.

This comes on the heels of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal holding bilateral meetings with Blackstone and global private equity firm Warburg Pincus to discuss investment opportunities in India in electronics and renewable energy sectors.

Both global as well as emerging domestic investors’ are actively engaging with the Indian investment ecosystem. In August, two new funds joined the pool of micro VC funds in India and over two dozen such funds announced or raised this year alone. While Gujarat-based Volt VC launched its maiden early-stage fund with a target corpus of INR 45 Cr, former lead investor in SaaS,Aviral Bhatnagar launched a new venture capital fund called AJVC. 

In a decade, India startups have raised more than $154 Bn in funding between 2014 and September 2024. Indian startups cumulatively raised $5.3 Bn in the first half (H1) of 2024. During the period under review, funding numbers surged 7% year-on-year (YoY). 

Anticipating a positive uptick in investments, more than 90% of startup investors said they expect a funding revival in H2 2024, as per an Inc42 survey.

Last year, Blackstone held talks with Walt Disney to acquire a stake in the Indian arm of the entertainment giant. 

The post Blackstone Aims $10 Bn For Third Asia Fund With Focus On India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India for establishing a startup incubator in Gujarat.

To be established at the air conditioner manufacturer’s unit in Gujarat’s Kadi, the upcoming  incubator will offer technical support as well as its R&D facilities to emerging startups. It will also help startups in developing prototypes, building marketing strategies and undertaking project viability assessment, the company said in a statement. 

The incubator will offer funding support and provide legal and intellectual property (IP) filing assistance to enable startups to market their products.

Commenting on the collaboration, DPIIT director Sumeet Jarangal said that the partnership will provide “much needed nurturing and guidance to the young innovators and entrepreneurs of the country”.

Chiming in, managing director (MD) of Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India said that the incubator will pave the way for spawning “countless unicorns” in the manufacturing sector. 

The company’s manufacturing facility in Kadi develops a range of products, including room air conditioners, commercial air conditioners, and custom air conditioning solutions for specialised applications.

The development comes at a time when a number of companies are establishing incubators and accelerators to foster startups in the country. 

Last month, South Korean game developer KRAFTON’s India arm expanded the first cohort of its KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator with the addition of two new startups. Prior to that, internet service provider Excitel’s cofounder Vivek Raina launched an incubator to foster startups in Jammu & Kashmir.

At the heart of all is the burgeoning Indian startup ecosystem, which has raised more than $154 Bn in funding between 2014 and September 2024. 

The country is home to 118 unicorns and 112 soonicorns. With a vibrant ecosystem comprising nearly 10,000 investors, as many as 31 Indian startups have gone on to list on the bourses. 

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Early-stage focused venture capital firm Trillion Dollar Ventures (TDV), which counts TRADE X, Rupicard, Siftly, Spintly and Nector among its portfolio companies, has floated its second fund with a target corpus of NR 50 Cr ($5.9 Mn).

The fund, which targets pre-seed and seed stage startups, seeks to back firms with an average ticket size of INR 1-2 Cr. It will likely make 10-12 investments annually starting the third quarter of financial year 2024-25. 

The new fund will back startups with business models around platform plays, marketplaces, and exchange businesses across various consumer tech (B2C) categories. This would include spiritualitytech, fintech, gaming, creator economy, social and consumer upgrade. 

Launched in 2021 by Ujwal Sutaria, TDV Partners help startup founders in ideation, finding Product-Market fit (PMF), training and fundraising. 

“Our proven track record with the last fund has encouraged us to double the target corpus with the second fund and increase the average investment size too. With our first fund, we have provided an exit opportunity within 2 years of investing in the company and generated over 60% IRR. The Fund I MOIC is 3 within two and a half years. We are confident of continuing our track record with the new fund as well,” said Sutaria.

The Hyderabad based VC firm claims to have backed over 30 companies in the last three years and nearly half of them have raised subsequent funding rounds. TDV Partners has TRADE X, Rupicard, Siftly, Spintly and Nector among others in its portfolio. 

In 2021, the VC firm launched its first fund with a total of INR 25 Cr corpus. Inc42 has also learnt that they invested in consumer tech, ecommerce, gaming, consumer brands, fintech, creator economy from their first fund. 

It is pertinent to note that Indian startups cumulatively raised $5.3 Bn in the first half (H1) of 2024 as against $5.4 Bn raised in the first six months of 2023, as per Inc42 data. However, on a positive note, funding numbers surged 7% year-on-year (YoY) in the first half of 2024.

Fintech and enterprise tech sectors took the charge in taking the most share of funding during the period under review. 

Earlier in May, TDV backed Bengaluru-based jewellery marketplace Eternz in its $1.15 Mn funding round, which also saw participation from Kae Capital, Gemba Capital, IIMA Ventures and Venture lab.

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With an eye on diversifying its product mix, fresh fruits and vegetables platform Pluckk has acquired D2C nutrition brand Upnourish for $1.4 Mn. 

In a statement, Pluckk said that the acquisition will enable it to expand its offerings and focus on the “growth of a new vertical focused on nutrition”.

Founded in 2021 by the husband-wife duo of Aayushi Lakhpati and Kuonal Lakhapati, Upnourish sells on-the-go-meals such as smoothies, soups and bars, as well as personalised nutrition plans. 

Commenting on the acquisition, Pluckk founder and CEO Pratik Gupta said, “… We are thrilled to welcome Upnourish into the Pluckk family as this move directly benefits Pluckk customers. Their products have truly transformed the lives of their customers by making it easy to solve on-the-go nutrition needs through their meal replacement smoothies, soups and bars.” 

Founded in 2021 by Gupta, Pluckk sells fruits, vegetables, meal kits, juices, dips, soups, smoothies, and salads through ‘farm-to-table’ concept. It has operations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Pune. It sells the products via its own app and website, as well as platforms like Amazon, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, Blinkit, and Flipkart Minutes. 

Pluckk claims to deliver more than 20 Lakh products every month to 5 Lakh households. 

Upnourish cofounder and business head Kuonal Lakhapati said on the acquisition, “… We are thrilled to join hands with Pluckk in this exciting new chapter. Pluckk’s commitment to delivering clean, fresh, high-quality produce, combined with Upnourish’s innovative and convenient nutritional products, positions us to make people leaner, fitter, and bolder.”

Last year, Pluckk raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor Khan. It is also backed by Exponentia Ventures.

The acquisition comes at a time when the Indian health-focussed D2C space has been witnessing the rise of new players as consumers have become more health conscious in the aftermath of the pandemic. 

The increasing smartphone penetration and affordable internet has further given a major boost to India’s D2C economy. As per an Inc42 report, the homegrown D2C market is likely to reach a size of $100 Bn by 2025.  

Within this, the food and beverage (F&B) industry is projected to grow to a size of $68 Bn by 2030, as per another Inc42 report. 

Just last week, D2C bread brand The Health Factory secured $3.5 Mn (INR 29.2 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Peak XV Partner’s accelerator programme Surge. Prior to that, D2C health food brand Alpino also bagged $1.2 Mn funding from actor Shilpa Shetty and other angel investors.

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Singapore-based angel investment network ThinKuvate has marked the first close of its maiden India fund at INR 25 Cr. 

The platform made the first close of its INR 100 Cr-target ThinKuvate India Fund – I, within four months of its launch. 

The fund, which invests in early stage startups from seed to Series A, has already backed four startups, which include autonomous vehicle technology Rosh.ai, same-day delivery platform Zippee, cybersecurity startup Pantherun and workforce management solutions provider NymbleUp.ai.

The fund aims to invest in 30-40 startups with an average ticket size of INR 1.5 – 4 Cr. It claims that more than half of investors in the fund are NRI’s from various countries, including Singapore, US and UK among others.

ThinKuvate looks to co-invest with top venture capital firms and family offices to portfolio companies. 

Ghanshyam Ahuja, managing partner, ThinKuvate, said, “As ThinKuvate continues to raise its target corpus, the fund plans to invest in 30 – 40 startups with an average investment size of INR 1.5 – INR 4 Cr. The fund has also attracted top tier General Partners globally, to manage the deal flow, due diligence, and overall portfolio management.

Mayank Jain, CEO, ThinKuvate, said, “The profile of Limited Partners, who are working professionals with senior roles in large corporates, would be a huge differentiator for the companies we back. Our vast network will not only bring in quality capital but provide access to the founders to accelerate their growth journey post funding from ThinKuvate.”

Launched in 2015, ThinKuvate was started by a group of close friends with an interest in angel investing with a pooled corpus of $1.5 Mn. It has been an active investor in India and SEA for the last seven years. Today, the angel network has grown to 150+ mid to senior professional NRIs.

The network predominantly focuses on investing in B2B and B2B2C startups across sectors, including healthtech, fintech, IoT, AI-ML, consumertech and martech. They have a portfolio of 24 startups across India and Southeast Asia. 

The post Singapore’s ThinKuvate Marks First Close Of Its Maiden India Fund appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gaurav Munjal-led edtech startup Unacademy has elevated its executive Abhishek Pipara as the chief financial officer (CFO) of its offline centres business.

In his new role, Pipara will focus on driving efficiency, unit economics, growth and profitability at a Centre level, the company said in a statement.

With an overall 16 years of experience in fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, setting up systems and processes, he has been working with Unacademy for over six years.

Munjal said, “Pipara has been an instrumental part of our journey, driving financial efficiency and strategic growth. With his leadership, I’m confident we will continue to scale and excel as we move forward.” 

Previously, Pipara worked in various roles in startups and consulting firms such as Little App, Zovi and Deloitte. He was the head of finance at online to offline (O2O) service company Little App from May 2015 to February 2018. Earlier, he served as the finance head at retail apparel and fashion brand Zovi from 2013 to 2018.

Before that, Pipara was the deputy manager at Deloitte from 2008 to 2010. 

Founded by Munjal, Hemesh Singh and Roman Saini in 2015, Unacademy runs both offline and online learning centres. The Bengaluru-based edtech startup claims to have centres in nearly 40 cities across the country with a network of over 91k registered educators and over 99 Mn learners.

Unacademy has been undergoing a major restructuring for quite some time now. In July, Inc42 learnt that the company’s chief operating officer (COO) for offline centres, Jagnoor Singh, would be moving out. 

It was just a little over a month after Unacademy cofounder and chief technology officer Singh announced his decision to take a back seat after being with the startup for more than eight years.  

Unacademy’s partner Sumit Jain replaced Singh as the cofounder and also has a seat on the startup’s board. 

Earlier this year, Unacademy announced its entry into the language learning space with the launch of its Unacademy Language Learning App. 

The Peak XV Partners-backed edtech startup reduced its loss to INR 1,678.1 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 2,847.9 Cr in the previous fiscal. 

The post Unacademy Elevates Abhishek Pipara As CFO Of Its Offline Centres Business appeared first on Inc42 Media.

National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) overseas arm NIPL has partnered with Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Digital Transformation (MDT) to develop a real time payments platform akin to Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

This makes Trinidad and Tobago the first Caribbean nation to adopt UPI.

With this move, the Caribbean nation looks to develop a reliable real-time payments platform for both person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions. 

“Trinidad and Tobago is taking significant steps towards advancing its financial infrastructure, and we are proud to support them in building a secure, sovereign and scalable payments platform. Our experience with UPI in India has demonstrated how real-time payments can transform economies by improving access to essential financial services and reducing reliance on cash,” said Ritesh Shukla, CEO, NPCI International.

“Fashioned on India’s UPI, the digital payment platform will facilitate innovation in the fintech sector, enhance the technical resiliency of the current payment infrastructure by providing a complementary, non-competing digital payments platform with increased security through the reduced use of cash. Moreover, successful implementation will contribute to the financial inclusion of our unbanked citizens,” a Trinidad and Tobago’s MDT spokesperson said.

This comes at a time when India is in discussion with countries in Africa and South America to help them build a digital payment system along the lines of UPI. The initiatives in these countries are expected to take shape by early 2027. 

India aims to explore interoperability and connectivity in the domestic and international payment networks with such tie-ups. For instance, NPCI has signed an MoU with Maldives’ economic development and trade ministry to roll out Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the Indian Ocean archipelago. 

Launched in 2020, NIPL is a wholly owned subsidiary of NPCI to develop NPCI’s real-time payment system-UPI and card scheme (RuPay) outside of India. 

Meanwhile, UPI has registered nearly 15 billion transactions till August 2024 with an estimated value of $245 Bn. 

The post NPCI To Build UPI-Like Payments Platform In Trinidad & Tobago appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Healthcare NBFC Care.fi has secured a total of INR 8 Cr in debt funding from Wint Wealth (INR 5Cr) and an impact investment of INR 3 Cr from Caspian Debt.

The Gurugram-based NBFC plans to utilise the funds to enhance its market presence and operations, all while focussing on providing financial support to the healthcare sector. With the infusion, the NBFC also plans to increase its workforce.

Care.fi was founded in 2021 by Sidak Singh and Vikrant Agarwal to provide financial assistance to hospitals, doctors, and healthcare service providers. The company claims to have secured the NBFC licence in October last year. 

“Our focus currently is on two major building blocks — strengthening the team with the right talent and focusing on expansion and growing the business. This funding will help us increase our presence in the market and invest in the betterment of healthcare fintech, especially for optimising the operational end of hospital management,” Agrawal said.

Care.fi claims to have witnessed a 4X growth in disbursals, reaching cumulative disbursals worth INR 400 Cr in FY24. Since its inception, the company claims to have worked with over 50 hospitals and has helped more than 2,000 patients with their claims. 

Meanwhile, Wint Wealth is a fintech startup that secured an NBFC licence last year. Caspian Debt is a corporate lending financial service company that offers custom debt products to startups.

In July, Care.fi raised $2.6 Mn (around INR 21 Cr) in debt from Trifecta Capital and UC Inclusive Credit for business expansion and talent acquisition. The NBFC counts Peak XV Partners as one of its marquee investors.

Healthcare financing has become a major segment in financial services with new entrants raising both equity and debt funding. A case in point is healthcare financing startup HealthCRED, which raised $1.2 Mn in a seed funding round last month. 

Another healthcare startup Icanheal has secured INR 15 Cr (around $1.8 Mn) in a seed funding round led by IvyCap Ventures in July. 

The post Healthcare-Focussed Fintech Startup Care.fi Bags Debt Funding From Wint Wealth, Caspian Debt appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Days after reports surfaced that a hacker was using Telegram chatbots to leak personal data and medical reports of Star Health users, the listed insurer has now reportedly sued both the messaging app as well as the hacker.

Quoting a public notice by the insurer in a newspaper, Reuters reported that a Tamil Nadu court, in an interim order, has directed Telegram to block any chatbots or websites in India that make Star Health data available online. 

The insurance company’s notice reportedly detailed the incident as “illegal hacking and unauthorised accessing of confidential, sensitive” information. 

This comes a week after a hacker, with the handle “xenZen” took responsibility for creating the Telegram chatbots and distributing Star Health data to the public. Last week, reports surfaced that the chatbot had stolen the data of more than 31 Mn customers of Star Health. 

The app’s chatbot was disclosing the private details of numerous individuals upon asking, as per a Reuters report. 

At the time, Star Health & Allied Insurance had expressed concerns over alleged unauthorised data access to local authorities. However, it had reportedly assured users that their sensitive data was secure and there was no widespread compromise.

However, when Reuters experimented with the bots, policy documents mentioning names, phone numbers, addresses, tax details, copies of ID cards, test results and medical diagnoses were reportedly available for download on the chatbot.

Meanwhile, the insurance major has filed a complaint with the cybercrime department of Tamil Nadu and federal cyber security agency CERT-In .

The development follows the arrest of Telegram CEO and founder Pavel Durov nearly a month ago in Paris. It was alleged that the company was complicit in distributing child sexual abuse images and facilitating money laundering and drug trafficking. 

The post Insurance Major Star Health Sues Telegram Over Data Leak appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mumbai-based bread brand The Health Factory has bagged $3.5 Mn (INR 29.2 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Peak XV Partner’s accelerator programme Surge. 

The round also saw participation from a host of its existing investors, including Kartik Mehta, (head of equity sales at ICICI Securities), Aliasgar Tambawala (head, family office at Klay) and Sunil Tulsiani (managing partner at Prodigitz) among others.

The company plans to deploy the fresh proceeds to expand its offerings beyond protein and zero maida breads and scaling up its operations. 

Apart from this, the capital will also be used to fuel the startup’s research and development (R&D), logistics, workforce expansion and operations growth.

Founded in 2018 by Vinay Maheshwari and Mohit Sankhala, The Health Factory produces bakery products focused on consumer’s health and wellbeing. The company claims that the products are available on quick commerce platforms like Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, and BlinkIt.

With its presence across Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Hyderabad and Chennai, the startup is looking to penetrate into retail chains across tier I and II markets.

It also aims to onboard new products to its portfolio amid rising demand for nutritious bakery products among the consumers.

Maheshwari said, “This investment will enable us to disrupt additional markets with our health-focused offerings. We have received interest from numerous tier I and II cities, and this funding will allow us to expand our reach to more pin codes, ensuring our products are accessible to more consumers seeking healthier options.”

The company claims to have witnessed a 65X growth in its sales over the past two years and aims to increase its retail footprint. 

The investment comes at a time when new age startups are focusing on healthier alternatives to existing array of food products. For instance, last week, D2C health food brand Alpino, which offers a range of peanut-based products, has secured funding from actor Shilpa Shetty and other angel investors, including Paresh Ghelani. 

Notably, India’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) market is likely to reach a size of $100 Bn by 2025 as per a report by Inc42. In the D2C space, the F&B industry commands a 27% share, just after the beauty and personal care segment at 28.6%, according to Inc42’s analysis. 

Homegrown entrepreneurs have found the food and beverage market lucrative with the increasing cravings and interest in different cuisine, hence, it is expected to to $68 Bn by 2030, as per Inc42. 

The post Bread Brand The Health Factory Nets $3.5 Mn From Peak XV’s Surge, Others appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Autotech company CarDekho has invested in chatbot startup Girnar AI Innovations Lab to help it build voicebots, chatbots and conversational AI tools for scaling up customer outreach. 

CarDekho made the pre-seed investment via its arm Girnar Vision Fund (GVF), a fund which claims to support startups that are at the forefront of innovation with the help of disruptive technologies. 

The fresh proceeds will help Girnar AI Innovations lab in improving its services to businesses with the help of its product Uservox.ai, a voice based agent to assist sales and support functions.  

Girnar AI Innovations lab launched in April this year by Saurabh Mathur and Shraddha  Srivastava develops virtual assistants with the help of natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms for businesses. The AI-driven chat assistant addresses one of the significant challenges of customer interactions in multiple languages across different industries. 

The collaboration will assist Girnar AI Innovations Lab in developing efficient mechanisms for primary customer support and lead verification processes. The strategic partnership will further support the startup in gaining expertise in the automotive, insurance and lending sectors. 

Amit Jain, Cofounder and CEO of CarDekho Group, said, “With Girnar Vision Fund, we aim to nurture such innovative startups, providing the resources and mentorship needed to revolutionize not just the automotive sector but the entire technological landscape of India.”

The strategic partnership also brings in industry-specific solutions for Girnar AI Innovations Lab to excel in training its AI-powered chatbots, as per the official statement. 

Saurabh Mathur, Co-founder of Girnar AI Innovations Lab, said, “We are excited to partner with CarDekho Group, a leader that has consistently set new standards for customer service and innovation.

“Our goal is to enhance the way businesses interact with their customers by using AI-driven voice solutions that understand local languages and nuances. Together, we aim to create more efficient, personalized, and engaging customer journeys, continuing the legacy of customer-centric innovation,” said Mathur. 

Launched in 2023, Girnar Vision fund aids startups across autotech, fintech and insurtech industries. 

Earlier this month, Car Dekho partnered with fleet management services startup Carrum Mobility Solutions Pvt Ltd to help drive its sustainable mobility portfolio. In a similar partnership, it also invested in the SaaS platform BiUP Technologies through its GVF fund, last month. The autotech platform primarily has technological innovation startups in its investment portfolio. 

BiUP Technologies is a SaaS company that uses AI, immersive tech and data analytics to enhance product and customer experience. 

The post CarDekho Invests In Girnar AI To Build Voicebot & Chatbots appeared first on Inc42 Media.

SaaS startup Pepsales has secured $1.1 Mn (around INR 9.1 Cr) in a pre-seed funding round led by Chiratae Ventures.

The round also saw participation from a host of both domestic and overseas founders and angel investors.

The Bengaluru-based startup plans to use the fresh funds to develop software, helping B2B SaaS companies create personalised product demos to cater to a large number of buyers. 

Pepsales was launched by Ajay Singh and Abhinandan Sahgal in 2023 to offer B2B businesses an alternative to generic product demos by enabling buyers to get live demos in three clicks. Customized cloud-based product demos will make way for businesses to market their products in a personalized manner and in turn enhance buyers’ interest in the seller’s portfolio. 

The SaaS startup uses customer data and machine learning to make product demos relevant to the buyers, reducing the time and effort made by sellers to personalize demos as per the requirements of each product. 

Sahgal said, “Our proprietary AI and ML technology automates the process of creating personalized demos, saving sales teams countless hours.”

Singh told Inc42 that the demo automation is a fairly new category recognized by the American research and consulting firm, Gartner, last year and there are only a few players in this space in India. 

The SaaS startup is targeting the domestic and the US market to compete with the likes of Consensus, Folio and Demoboost in the US and Storylane in India. Pepsales is developing its portfolio and altering its offerings based on the feedback of SaaS clients in the targeted key markets. 

Further, the investment made by Chiratae Ventures will support the SaaS company in scaling its operations and tapping the global market. 

“The funding will help us to build an enterprise grade AI platform for our customers in the B2B SaaS companies in the US. We will utilize the fund in expanding our products, technology and AI talent,” said Singh. 

This funding comes at a time when other B2B SaaS companies are also eyeing investments. For instance, another Bengaluru-based startup Knit secured $1 Mn in a seed funding round led by Endiya Partners, along with other participants such as Axilor Ventures and angel investors.

Knit enables businesses to connect with different SaaS platforms and workplace chat tools using its unified API (application programming interface) platform. 

In another similar development, B2B SaaS startup Rupyz secured $1.2 Mn (INR 9.9 Cr) as a part of its seed funding round from Merak Ventures, along with other angel investors. Rupyz is a B2B e-commerce and sales automation platform that enables its clients to map the entire supply chain, helping them to streamline their supply chain processes. 

The post SaaS Startup Pepsales Bags Funding To Facilitate Businesses With Customised Product Demo appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Fintech neobanking startup Kaleidofin has secured $13.8 Mn (around INR 115 Cr) in a fresh funding round led by Rabo Partnerships, a subsidiary of the Rabobank focused on rural development and financial inclusion.

The round also saw participation from existing backers, including Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Oikocredit, Omidyar Network India and Flourish Ventures.

With this fresh infusion, the Chennai-based startup seeks to double down on its lending portfolio and strengthen credit scoring, middleware technology and risk services via strategic partnerships.

Founded in 2017 by former IFMR Holdings executives Sucharita Mukherjee and Puneet Gupta, Kaleidofin offers financial solutions to low income, underbanked customers and businesses in the informal economy. Its platform aims to unlock financing for these customers by tapping credit health assessments, middleware technology, risk management tools and debt capital market solutions.

Since its inception, the startup claims to have raised $37 Mn in total funding.

“Rabo Partnerships’ focus on the agri sector will further strengthen our capabilities in serving the customer, underwriting the customer and in offering customers and small businesses more suitable loans in the agri segment,” said Mukherjee.

“We are very pleased to support Kaleidofin’s mission to offer innovative financial solutions, targeting millions of customers who lack convenient access to formal financial services,” said Marianne Schoemaker, chief executive at Rabo Partnerships.

In 2022, the startup cumulatively raised $25 Mn in separate tranches as part of its Series B funding rounds.

Prior to that, in 2019, it bagged INR 36 Cr in its Series A funding round led by Oikocredit.

This comes close on the heels several neobanking players rushing to grab a pie of the market as competition swells in India.

For instance, in June, women-focused neobanking startup LXME raised $1.2 Mn in a seed funding round led by Kalaari Capital via its CXXO initiative.

In the country’s broader startup ecosystem, fintech market continues to grow at a rapid pace. According to Inc42 data, India has over 24 fintech unicorns, and 36 soonicorns.

These startups are trying to grab a pie of the country’s fast-growing fintech market which is expected to become a $2.1 Tn opportunity by 2030.

The Economic Survey 2023-24 also said that India aims to become a “fintech nation” by piggybacking on the country’s digital public infrastructure (DPI).

The post Fintech Neobanking Startup Kaleidofin Nets $13.8 Mn To Expand Its Lending Play appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Actor Suniel Shetty-backed no-commission food delivery platform WAAYU became the latest startup to join the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) as a seller marketplace, aiming to bolster restaurants and consumers’ access to the food delivery ecosystem.

WAAYU said in a statement that this move will give a boost to all restaurant partners by providing a steady stream of orders and enhancing customer experience with zero commission on delivery.

Founded by Anirudha Kotgire and Mandar Lande last year, WAAYU offers cost-effective food delivery to the consumers and restaurants while tapping AI. 

It claims to have a network of 3,000 restaurants across Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The food delivery app is also in talks with buyer apps, TATA Neu and OLA to boost the number of orders for the restaurant partners. 

“The app aims to revolutionize the food delivery market by eliminating commission fees to provide a more sustainable and profitable model for restaurants ecosystem also,” Lande said.

“This strategic expansion aims to bring WAAYU’s zero-commission model to more restaurants and consumers, further democratizing the food delivery ecosystem in India,” added Kotgire. 

This partnership comes at a time when ONDC has stretched its space to collaborate with various business sectors such as fintech, banking, mobility, hyperlocal delivery, and more.

Recently, enterprise tech startup Adya.ai, one of the technology service partners for ONDC, partnered with Google Cloud to roll out a platform for boosting ONDC’s adoption among enterprises, in August.

Also real money gaming (RMG) platform Zupee has partnered with ONDC to bolster the reach of its skill-based games to a larger audience.

The post Boosting Outreach: Food Delivery Platform WAAYU Joins ONDC In Zero-Commission Model Push appeared first on Inc42 Media.