Mumbai-based trade financing startup Vayana Network is raising $20 Mn (INR 170.8 Cr) in its Series D funding round. 

As per the startup’s filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), the round is being led by new investor SMBC Asia Rising Fund, which is infusing around INR 62.6 Cr.

The round will also see participation from Jungle Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Deep Financial, among others. 

Inc42 has learnt from sources that this is a tranche of the startup’s ongoing Series D funding round. 

Post the allotment, SMBC Asia Rising Fund will hold a 3.25% stake in the startup, while IFC will own 5.66%. 

As per Inc42’s calculations, the startup will be valued at around $240 Mn in this funding round. 

A query mail sent to Vayana Network didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story. The article will be updated on receiving a response.

The latest development comes almost two years after Vayana Network raised INR 140 Cr ($15 Mn) in its Series C funding round. This investment came almost on the heels of the startup raising $38 Mn funding from Chiratae Ventures, CDC Group, and Jungle Ventures.

Founded in 2009 by Ramaswami Iyer, Vayana Network is a B2B trade financial intermediary which connects SMEs and corporates with financial institutions for low-cost access to trade loans.

Vayana Network claims to have enabled finance of over $10 Bn, including over a billion dollar of finance through B2B card flows to over 1.5 lakh MSMEs for over 1,000 supply chains in 25 different sectors. The startup connects over 1,000 corporates and their trade ecosystems to provide digital, convenient, and affordable access to credit for their payables and receivables. 

The startup has a presence across 600 cities and 1,400+ pin codes in India and 20 countries across the globe. It is also a GSP (GST Suvidha Provider) and provides its services to numerous corporates and lakhs of SMEs.  

Overall, it has raised around $57 Mn till date and counts CDC Group, IFC, Jungle Ventures, and PayU among its backers. 

In 2021, Vayana Network received an in-principle approval to set up ITFS (International Trade Finance Services) platform at GIFT City (Gujarat) under the aegis of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).

Vayana Network competes against the likes of Vivriti Capital, Yubi, KreditBee, and FinAGG.

The post Exclusive: Vayana Network To Raise $20 Mn From SMBC Asia Rising Fund, Others appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Electric mobility startup Kazam is raising $5 Mn (INR 42.5 Cr) in a funding round led by Licious and Pilgrim-backer Vertex Ventures. The round will also see participation from Avaana Capital and Chakra India Growth Fund, as per its filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). 

The startup plans to use the capital to fuel its growth and expansion plans. Following the investment, Vertex Ventures will own a 16.45% stake in the startup. Avaana will also see its stake increase to 16.45%, while Chakra India Growth Fund will own 0.63% stake. 

Vertex is infusing the highest amount – INR 30 Cr – in the funding round. 

There’s a possibility that the size of the funding round may increase if more investors join. Queries sent to Kazam about the funding round didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story. 

Besides funding, the startup’s shareholders also approved a proposal to set up Management Stock Option 2024 (MSOS 2024).

Kazam last raised $3.6 Mn in a funding round led by Avaana Climate Fund in May last year. It also saw participation from Third Derivative and existing investors Inflection Point Ventures and We Founder Circle.

Founded in 2020 by Akshay Shekhar and Vaibhav Tyagi, the Bengaluru-based startup claims to manage 150,000 kWh of electricity in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific. 

Its offerings include hardware as well as software. In terms of hardware, it primarily offers EV charging. On the software side, it offers fleet management software, charging management solutions, battery swapping management, among others. 

The startup claims to have 15,000 chargers on its platform and onboarded 65,000 users. 

Kazam competes against the likes of Bolt.Earth and Battery Smart. It counts the likes of Flipkart, Mahindra Logistics, BigBasket, and LetsTransport among its clients. 

The post Exclusive: Cleantech Startup Kazam To Raise $5 Mn From Vertex Ventures, Others appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Insurtech unicorn Acko has bought digital chronic care management company OneCare as it looks to build a comprehensive healthcare ecosystem.

The deal was an all-cash transaction, although the company did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition.

Acko said the acquisition is a key component of its strategy to build a healthcare ecosystem to address various aspects of a customer’s health insurance needs, from protection to prevention, care and recovery.

As part of the deal, OneCare’s cofounders Rakesh Shivran and Sagar Bhat will be joining the leadership team of Acko.

“Integrating OneCare’s capabilities will help us weave cutting-edge clinical care directly into our customers’ insurance experiences, ensuring they receive the best possible care,” said Acko’s founder and CEO Varun Dua.

Founded in 2021, OneCare claims to have developed an omnichannel care model that combines wearables, data insights, physical clinics, and virtual care teams.

Acko, founded in 2016, offers insurance for vehicles, health, and travel. The company claims to have distributed insurance policies to over 78 Mn unique customers and issued more than 1 Bn policies to date. Recently, the company entered the car repair and service space by launching ‘Acko Drive Service Centre’.

Acko has raised over $450 Mn in total funding from investors, including Amazon, General Atlantic and Multiples Private Equity. In FY23, the startup reported a net loss of INR 738.5 Cr, up 53% year-on-year, while its operating revenue grew 32% to INR 1,758.6 Cr.

This comes at a time when the Indian insurtech market is gaining a lot of traction from the investors. The market size is expected to reach $8.63 Bn in 2024 and grow at a CAGR of 30.34% to $32.47 Bn by 2029.

Other major players in the market are also expanding their offerings. For instance, PolicyBazaar, valued at $3.5 Bn, has diversified into various insurance products. Another player, Digit Insurance, valued at $4 Bn, has expanded into health, motor, travel, and property insurance.

The insurtech sector in India is seeing increased adoption of digital technologies, AI, and automation. Key trends include data-driven product design, AI-powered underwriting, and enhanced fraud detection.

The post Acko Buys Chronic Care Management Platform OneCare To Expand Its Healthcare Play appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Manufacturing is at the top in the central government’s list of priorities, as evidenced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Union Budget 2024-25 speech. 

A number of measures were announced — from a reduction in basic customs duty for inputs and raw material to incentives around job-creation — that should ideally further prop up the already-booming manufacturing industry.

The customs duty exemption will in particular reduce costs related to manufacturing mobile phones, lithium-based batteries for consumer electronics devices, electric vehicles (EVs), drones as well as the other focus areas such as space tech and semiconductors. 

Speaking with Inc42, 3one4 Capital’s Pranav Pai said that the government support to the homegrown manufacturing sector has addressed a significant barrier to growth. Hence, it eradicates reasons for investors who were hesitant about opportunities in India’s manufacturing ecosystem.

Stakeholders in the startup ecosystem believe that the manufacturing related enhancements will have a trickle down positive impact on the Indian startup ecosystem. 

“Given that this was a mid-term budget, we didn’t anticipate many sector-specific initiatives. Overall, it was a positive budget for local employers and manufacturers across industries. Therefore, there hasn’t been much investor concern caused by the budget. Investors will continue to maintain bullishness on industries like EV, consumer electronics, deep tech, logistics, among others,” Pai added. 

Cheer For Mobile OEMs

In a major boost to the growing smartphone market, the central government slashed the BCD for mobile phones, mobile printed circuit boards assembly (PCBA) and mobile chargers to 15% from the erstwhile 20%. 

Xiaomi India’s president Muralikrishnan B believes this will help further strengthen the domestic electronics manufacturing ecosystem. The popular notion is that this will encourage smartphone sales in the mid-premium and premium category. 

In the past, India Cellular And Electronics Association (ICEA), the apex industry body of mobile and electronics industry, had urged the government to reduce the number of import tariff slabs on mobile components as well as reduce import duties on the aforementioned mobile components.

While these demands have only been partially addressed, ICEA has welcomed the customs rebates.  

“The global nature of the electronics value chain necessitates such measures to enhance our manufacturing and export capabilities. These announcements will be a game changer, significantly boosting our industry’s competitiveness on the global stage,” ICEA’s chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said. 

Further, the tariff slab rationalisation was also acknowledged by the FM during the speech and will be taken up in the next six months. 

According to industry analysts, the BCD rebate will allow smartphone manufacturers to introduce price cuts across segments. Consultancy firm Techarc’s chief analyst Mohammad Faisal Ali Kawoosa told Inc42 that the development can potentially be the key to making the 5G smartphones more affordable.

How The EV Ecosystem Sees The Budget

Outside the smartphone and electronics manufacturing space, the budget’s announcements are expected to spur on EV production as well. Here too, the central government had turned to PLI to drive existing units to capacity, but the budget’s proposed incentives for new investments in manufacturing trend towards capacity addition. 

One of the key developments coming out of the budget was the quashing off of custom duties on the import of 25 key industrial minerals, including cobalt, lithium, copper, germanium, and silicon.

In particular, cobalt, lithium and copper are crucial in the manufacturing of batteries used in consumer electronics devices, EVs, drones, various energy storage systems and more.

Lithium, in fact, has been one of the most sought after minerals in the world. Similarly, cobalt is critical to develop high density batteries, whereas copper is used in electric motors, batteries, inverters, wiring and in charging stations. 

India has been in talks with multiple countries for partnerships for technical help on lithium processing, which when combined with a customs duty exemption will boost local manufacturing around lithium.

EV solutions provider Omega Seiki founder Uday Narang told Inc42 that 30% of the entire costs of producing an EV can be attributed to the battery itself. Hence, rolling back the import duties on critical materials like lithium, cobalt, and copper reduces the EV battery manufacturing costs substantially.

“While battery costs have been going down continuously in recent times, the roll back of the import duties on these critical elements will lead to a big boost in cost cutting. With this, we believe that we will cut down about 5-10% costs on battery manufacturing moving forward,” he said. 

Similarly, commercial EV maker EVage Motors’ founder and CEO Inderveer Singh said that battery production costs will fall by 7.5%-12% in the case of the company. Besides battery production, the startup recently entered into a joint venture with UK-based electric drivetrain systems manufacturer DG Innovate (DGI) to set up an electric motor manufacturing plant. Singh believes the duties rebate will lead to a 4% reduction in procurement costs for this plant.

Manufacturing Impacts Key Sectors

And while the Union Budget did not specifically mention how the central government is looking to boost manufacturing in other key sectors — space tech, defence and semiconductors, for instance — we expect the overall push in manufacturing to have a trickle down effect on all these key sectors. 

For instance, the rebate on customs duty for import of minerals and raw material is also slated to act as a boost for startups in sectors such as spacetech, defence and drone tech, where specialised minerals and metals are needed to create the products. 

And not unlike the case for the EV ecosystem, the exemption of customs duty on lithium, a crucial mineral used in the aforementioned sectors, will reduce costs, making lithium-based technologies more affordable. 

Besides this, the change in mobile PCBA customs duty and allied increase in customs duty on import of PCBA for telecom is also likely to spur the manufacture of 5G equipment in India. 

In addition to the roll back of customs duties on the aforementioned minerals, the centre has also slashed custom duties on gold, silver and platinum. This will directly benefit entities in the semiconductors and electronics manufacturing space, which leverage these precious metals for manufacturing components. 

Interestingly, the budget speech did not announce any particular government investments in the semiconductor manufacturing space, preferring to focus on incentives that cover the entire gamut of manufacturing. In the past year, the government set aside INR 1K Cr to fund semiconductor design startups, along with a $10 Bn allocation for semiconductor manufacturing research and design.

The post Budget 2024-25: Decoding The Big Manufacturing Push appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Packaged food startup Wingreens Farms is looking to raise $4.3 Mn (INR 36.2 Cr) in debt funding from over a dozen investors. 

As per the startup’s regulatory filing, Wingreens Farms is allotting 9.57 Lakh (9,57,216) compulsory convertible debentures (CCDs) to S Gupta Family Investments, Saket Agarwal, Reena Singhal, Sanjeev Agarwal, among others. 

The CCDs will be converted into Series C9 cumulative convertible preference shares (CCPS) in a 1:1 ratio.

A questionnaire sent to Wingreens Farms didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story. 

Founded in 2011 by Anju Srivastava and Arun Srivastava, Wingreens Farms sells packaged foods like healthy snacks, sauces, dips, breakfast cereals, non-dairy milk, and protein shakes. 

The startup also acquired brands like Raw Pressery and dips brand Saucery. It acquired juice brand Raw Pressery in a distress sale for INR 100 Cr in 2021. Later, it also acquired snacks brand Postcard. However, as per an ET report from earlier this year, Wingreens Farms has put Postcard operations on hold temporarily and intends to bring back the business in a different avatar in the future.

Wingreens Farms has raised around $59 Mn in funding till date and counts the likes of Peak XV Partners, Investcorp, and Anicut Capital among its backers. 

The debt round comes nearly two years after the startup raised INR 22 Cr in a mix of debt and equity from Anicut Capital in September 2022. Prior to that, it raised $17 Mn in September 2021 from Swiggy backer Investcorp. 

Wingreens Farms’ net loss almost doubled to INR 180 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 93 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue rose 50% to INR 307 Cr from INR 205 Cr in FY22. 

As per reports, Wingreens Farms is in the middle of raising a $10 Mn funding round and has already raised a part of this. 

Wingreens Farms competes with startups like Veeba Foods and established FMCG brands like Nissan, Nestle, and Amul.

The post Exclusive: Wingreens Farms To Raise $4.3 Mn Debt Funding appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Shares of traveltech majors EaseMyTrip and Yatra soared during intraday session today (July 23) after  finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of initiatives during her Union Budget 2024-25 (FY25) speech to fuel growth of India’s tourism industry.

While EaseMyTrip’s shares touched the intraday high of INR 43.6 each, up 8.86% from the previous close on BSE, Yatra’s shares traded as high as INR 127.35 during the day’s trading session, up 4.9% from the previous close.

Notably, shares of both EaseMyTrip and Yatra closed the trading session at INR 42.25 and INR 125.85, respectively, on Tuesday.

Sitharaman announced that the government has allocated INR 2,479.62 Cr for the tourism sector for FY25, up 46% from the revised allocation of INR 1,692.10 Cr in FY24. 

It is pertinent to mention that the estimate for the tourism industry in the interim budget was pegged at INR 2,449.62 for FY25.

“Tourism has always been part of our civilization. Our efforts in positioning India as a global tourist destination will also create jobs, stimulate investments and unlock economic opportunities for other sectors,” Sitharaman said.

The finance minister also made some key announcements to boost the spiritual tourism sector.

“In FY25, the government announced the development of Vishnupad Temple at Gaya and Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar. “Comprehensive development of Vishnupad Temple Corridor and Mahabodhi Temple Corridor will be supported, modelled on the successful Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor, to transform them into world class pilgrim and tourist destinations,” Sitharaman said.

The government has also proposed a comprehensive development initiative for Rajgir. “Rajgir holds immense religious significance for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. The 20th Tirthankara Munisuvrata temple in the Jain Temple complex is ancient. The Saptharishi or the 7 hotsprings form a warm water Brahmakund that is sacred. A comprehensive development initiative for Rajgir will be undertaken,” she added.

Besides this, the FM also announced a simpler tax regime for foreign shipping companies operating domestic cruises in India to boost cruise tourism in the country.

Meanwhile, EaseMyTrip’s cofounder Rikant Pittie, said, “The government’s attempt to position India as the global tourist destination is evident in the Union Budget 2024-25. We are optimistic that this will enhance the overall experience of the tourists visiting these religious sites and will uplift state tourism.”

At the heart of this announcement lies the growing emphasis of the government on spiritual tourism with the inauguration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya in January earlier this year. Even the hospitality and tourism sector welcomed this move by the government. 

According to a report by IBEF, India’s travel market is expected to reach $125 Bn by FY27 against $75 Bn in FY20. Additionally, projections indicate that international tourist arrivals are poised to reach 30.5 Bn by 2028.

The post EaseMyTrip, Yatra’s Shares Jump After FM Unveils Initiatives To Boost Tourism appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mumbai-based non-banking financial company (NBFC) NeoGrowth has raised $11.2 Mn (INR 93.7 Cr) in debt from impact investment firm Symbiotics Group. 

As per its regulatory filing, the startup has allotted 9,376 non-convertible debentures to Symbiotics Group’s two special purpose vehicles – AAV Sarl and Masala Investments Sarl. 

NeoGrowth has to repay the debt with an interest of 12.15% per annum within a tenor of  60 months (5 years). 

Founded in 2013 by Dhruv Khaitan and Piyush Khaitan, NeoGrowth offers tailored credit solutions to small and medium-sized businesses across 70+ segments. The lendingtech platform’s offerings range from vendor financing to retail-focused loans. 

It offers loans in the range of INR 10 Lakh to INR 70 Lakh, with tenure ranging from 24 months to 36 months. 

NeoGrowth has partnered fintech startups like PineLabs, BharatPe, IndiaLends, and BuddyLoans to disburse the loans. 

NeoGrowth’s profit jumped 313% to INR 71.7 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 17.26 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue grew 57% to INR 599 Cr during the year under review from INR 380 Cr in FY23. Being an NBFC, its primary source of revenue was interest income, which jumped 58% to INR 574 Cr in FY24 from INR 362.8 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

NeoGrowth raised a total funding of $66 Mn in a mix of debt and equity funding across multiple rounds in FY23. Overall, it has raised around $188 Mn to date and counts Dutch development bank FMO, Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Omidyar Network, and Lightrock among its backers.

Earlier this year, it was reported that the company was looking to raise an equity funding of INR 500 Cr from PE firms. NeoGrowth MD and chief executive officer Arun Nayyar then said that the NBFC was open for a strategic stake sale. He added that the company’s assets under management would double to INR 4,000 Cr by March 2025. 

The post Exclusive: NeoGrowth Bags $11 Mn Debt Funding From Symbiotics Group appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Update | July 19, 11:52 PM

Almost a month after Inc42 exclusively reported that Slice has bagged $20 Mn in debt from Neo Asset Management’s Credit Opportunities Fund and was yet to receive an additional $10 Mn, the startup’s latest regulatory filing revealed that it has concluded the funding round.

Original Story | June 15, 3:27 PM

Bengaluru-based slice has raised $20 Mn (about INR 170 Cr) in a debt funding round from Neo Asset Management’s Credit Opportunities Fund, as per the fintech startup regulatory filings. 

The funding is part of a larger $30 Mn (about INR 255 Cr) debt round. While the startup has received $20 Mn, it is expected to get the remaining amount soon.

slice would utilise the funds for corporate purposes and working capital requirements, people aware of the development told Inc42.

slice didn’t respond to Inc42’s queries on the fundraise. 

The fundraise comes on the heels of Neo Asset Management closing the first Special Credit Opportunities Fund by raising INR 2,575 Cr from HNIs and family offices. 

The wealth management platform said that the credit fund focuses on investing in non-triple-A rated companies that are at least posting operating profits. 

Earlier this year, slice received the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) approval for its merger with Guwahati-based North East Small Finance Bank. 

slice now awaits approval from National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for the merger. Following the merger, the fintech startup would get a banking licence. 

Founded in 2016 by Rajan Bajaj, slice (previously known as Slicepay) operated as a buy now pay later (BNPL) platform till 2022 and offered a credit card-esque prepaid payment instrument (PPI) that came with no annual fees, interest, or late charges. 

However, after the RBI cracked the whip on fintechs in 2022 and barred NBFCs from offering credit on PPI, slice discontinued the service.The regulatory headwinds forced it to change its business model and the startup began exploring merger options.

slice currently offers UPI payments, consumer credit, and a prepaid payment banking account through its app. 

The startup, last valued at $1.5 Bn, is backed by marquee investors such as Tiger Global, Gunopsy Capital, Blume Ventures, Advent International’s Sunley House Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Anfa. 

The post [Update] Exclusive: Fintech Unicorn slice Raises $30 Mn Debt From Neo Asset Management appeared first on Inc42 Media.

GenZ-focussed fashion startup Newme has raised $18 Mn in its Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Accel. The round also saw participation from existing investors including Fireside Ventures and AUM Ventures.

The Bengaluru-based startup plans to utilise the funds primarily on three areas — bolstering its supply chain, investing in data science and technology, and offline expansion, Newme cofounder and CEO Sumit Jasoria told Inc42.

“Innovation in the supply chain is critical for our business… Another crucial area is technology and data science, where we aim to deepen our expertise and attract more talent,” Jasoria said.

The startup will also use a part of the freshly raised capital for talent acquisition, he added.

Launched in 2022 by Jasoria, along with Vinod Naik, Shivam Tripathi, and Himanshu Chaudhary, Newme sells women apparel. The startup claims to launch 500 fresh designs every week and have nearly 9,000+ styles live on the website targeting Gen-Z female shoppers.

Currently, Newme has six retail stores across five cities – Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Indore, Mumbai and Chandigarh. It plans to launch its seventh store soon in Dehradun. By March 2025, the startup plans to have 15 stores across Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, and Bengaluru.

“We are seeing tremendous growth and customer enthusiasm for our offline business. Our stores are performing exceptionally well, and we are one of the few brands in India securing ground store locations in malls. This demonstrates the traction we’re gaining with our customers. Looking at the long-term business prospects, we’re very excited about our journey in offline expansion, and we believe it will only get stronger from here,” Jasoria said.

Meanwhile, Newme app and website together boast 35-40 lakh registered users. Currently, the startup nearly 40-50% of its orders from metros and Tier-I cities, with Bengaluru and Hyderabad contributing a significant share. Tier-I & II cities together account for about 75% of its demand, while the remaining 25% comes from other cities.

Jasoria said that the startup grew almost 7X in 2023 and is on track for 4X-5X growth in the ongoing year. He added that the focus continues to be on increasing its market share.

The funding round comes almost six months after the fashion brand raised $5.4 Mn in seed funding from Fireside Ventures, AUM Ventures, 2AM Ventures and All In Capital.

The startup competes in the highly competitive and crowded GenZ-focussed fast fashion market. While prominent fashion brands like Myntra and Ajio have introduced GenZ-focussed offerings on their platforms, global fast fashion giant is also set to re-enter India in partnership with Reliance Retail.

Commenting on the competition, the founder said that Newme’s supply chain is its biggest strength. “We are, perhaps, the only brand today that launches 500 new designs on a weekly basis. No other brand does this, and it’s a unique advantage that is difficult to replicate due to the complexities of building such an efficient supply chain,” Jasoria said.

According to an Inc42 report, India’s fashion ecommerce sector is set to grow at a CAGR of 25% to reach a size of $112 Bn by 2030. Within this market, the women’s apparel and accessories segment is expected to lead, capturing a substantial 50% market share by 2030.

The post Exclusive: Fashion Startup Newme Raises $18 Mn In Series A Led By Accel appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In a yet another setback to BYJU’S, the beleaguered edtech startup has been locked out of more than 100 BYJU’S Tuition Centre (BTC) locations across the country. 

Documents accessed by Inc42 show that owners of the commercial properties housing these BYJU’S centres have evicted the company for unpaid rent and electricity dues over the last 2-3 months. 

BYJU’S Tuition Centre locations in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal are already closed due to such evictions. In other locations, the company is being locked out by the landlords. 

As per the documents seen by Inc42, BYJU’S has not paid water, electricity and garbage collection bills for the tuition centres that are still functional, whereas the rent for these centres is also pending for several months now. 

Queries sent to BYJU’S over the closure of tuition centres didn’t elicit any response. The story will be updated as and when the company responds. 

In March this year, BYJU’S denied the reports of tuition centres shutting down. The company claimed that 262 such tuition centres out of a total of 292 were functional after more than two years of operations. 

As Inc42 reported at the time, under the BYJU’S 3.0 strategy the company had looked to rationalise the costs associated with operating the offline and online learning business. Several BTCs were transformed into hybrid learning centres and the teaching staff was told to take a pay cut and new teachers were hired at low salaries. 

However, sources now claim that this has severely deteriorated the quality of learning and teaching at many of these centres. The rate of new enrollments has slowed down and the company is seeing high student attrition rates as parents have asked for refunds due to the quality concerns and the company being locked out of the tuition centres.  

What This Means For BYJU’S

The BYJU’S Tuition Centre business was launched with much bullishness in February 2022, and at the time, the company claimed it would be investing $200 Mn to expand this vertical. But just over two years later, it seems this bet has failed to bring in the results expected. 

In the past year, offline or hybrid learning has become the lifeline for many edtech companies, including BYJU’S, Unacademy, Vedantu and PhysicsWallah. These unicorns looked to expand their offline presence in test prep and K-12 learning. 

This at a time when the sector has seen a slump in the demand for online courses after the pandemic boom. 

As such, the disruption in the offline business and the BTCs is a massive blow for BYJU’S which is already under the strain of cash crunch, a battle with investors, insolvency cases and unpaid vendor and employee dues. If BYJU’S is forced to scale back from key cities, it would be a crippling setback as the company is already struggling to keep up with its monthly payments, as reported over the past several months. 

Incidentally, just as Inc42 learnt about the disruption in the BYJU’S Tuition Centres business, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the plea by the Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI) for initiating insolvency proceedings against BYJU’S on Tuesday (July 16).

[Edited By Nikhil Subramaniam]

The post Exclusive: Crisis-Hit BYJU’S Locked Out Of Over 100 Tuition Centres Over Unpaid Rent appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gaurav Munjal-led Unacademy is undergoing a major overhaul. Weeks after its cofounder Hemesh Singh stepped away from the edtech giant, Inc42 has now learnt that the startup’s chief operating officer (COO) for offline centres, Jagnoor Singh, is moving out. 

Singh will be serving his notice period and will be in a transition phase for the next six months, sources said. The edtech unicorn is unlikely to hire a replacement for Singh, and cofounder Gaurav Munjal and newly-elevated cofounder Sumit Jain will oversee the offline business.

“The founders are taking control of the business to attain the company’s goals. The company intends to go public and the business needs to be run more efficiently. Afterall, Unacademy intends to have a sustainable growth and achieve profitability,” one of the sources said. 

Inc42 has learnt that Singh, during his tenure at Unacademy, reported to either Munjal or Jain.

Queries sent to Unacademy remained unanswered till the time of publishing this story.

The development comes a little over a month after Unacademy cofounder and chief technology officer Hemesh 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 Hemesh Singh as the cofounder and also has a seat on the startup’s board. Last year, Jain, who was then the CEO of Graphy, was elevated to a partner role. Munjal had then said that the cofounder role and a partner role are almost similar. 

Hemesh Singh, along with Munjal and Roman Saini, founded Unacademy in 2015. The Bengaluru-based company claims to have a network of 91K registered educators (teachers) and over 99 Mn learners.

Unacademy is in the midst of an aggressive cost-cutting exercise currently to turn profitable. Earlier this month, Inc42 reported that the startup fired 250 employees in a fresh restructuring exercise. While 150 employees were from the sales department, who were fired for not being able to meet their “sales targets”, the remaining 100 employees were from various other departments, sources told Inc42 then. 

Earlier in May, Inc42 exclusively reported that the startup’s medical entrance test preparation platform PrepLadder undertook a layoff exercise amid a shift in its sales strategy. The NEET preparation platform laid off around 145 employees, which was almost 25% of its workforce. It was PrepLadder’s third round of layoffs in the past three years.

Besides, K-12 Techno Services has also held talks with Unacademy to acquire the latter. However, the talks are currently in initial stages. 

Peak XV Partners-backed Unacademy narrowed its consolidated net loss by almost 40% to INR 1,678.1 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 2,847.9 Cr in the previous year, on the back of a sharp reduction in costs.

Unacademy Group has raised about $800 Mn in funding till date. Last valued at $3 Bn, the startup counts Tiger Global, Elevation Capital, General Atlantic, and Meta among its backers.

The post Exclusive: Unacademy COO Jagnoor Singh Quits, Gaurav Munjal & Sumit Jain To Take Charge appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Update | July 15, 12:35 PM

Almost over a month after Inc42 had exclusively reported on BluSmart eyeing to raise INR 200 Cr ($24 Mn), the startup today officially announced raising the same amount from responsAbility Investments AG, Sumant Sinha, MS Dhoni Family Office, and BluSmart founders.⁠ The company aims to use the fresh capital to expand its operations and build EV charging infrastructure and assets in the mega cities of India.

Original Story | May 22, 9:16 PM

Delhi-NCR based EV cab hailing startup BluSmart is looking to raise around INR 200 Cr in a pre-Series B funding round, as per the startup’s regulatory filing. 

People aware of the development said the funding round will close in June and will see participation from major new and existing investors. The regulatory filing stated that the capital raised will be utilised for the growth of the business as it is “capital-intensive” in nature. 

Confirming the development, BluSmart cofounder Punit K Goyal told Inc42, “BluSmart is raising $25 Mn or INR 200 Cr in an equity preference round. This is a Pre-Series B round.” 

The new round comes almost four months after BluSmart raised $25 Mn from Switzerland-based impact investor responsAbility in a mezzanine structure, including partial equity dilution and debt. That round came right after BluSmart rolled out a new fare structure for different times of the day, which includes surge pricing like app cab aggregators – Ola and Uber.

Prior to this in December last year, the startup had announced raising of $24 Mn on a rights issue basis. This round saw participation and over-subscription from its existing investors, founders and leadership team.

In May 2023, the startup had raised $42 Mn in a bridge round led by existing investors BP Ventures, and Survam Ventures. This funding round also saw participation from the startup’s leadership team. 

Over the years, the company has raised funds from BP Ventures, Survam Partners, Mayfield India Fund, 9 Unicorns, JITO Angel Network, Green Frontier Capital, Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, and BlackSoil, among others. To date, the startup has raised around $200 Mn in growth capital which comprises $122 Mn in equity and $78 Mn in debt.

Founded in 2019 by Anmol Jaggi and Punit K Goyal, BluSmart offers EV ride-hailing services and charging infrastructure across Delhi NCR, and Bengaluru. The startup currently operates over 7,300 EVs and aims to increase the fleet size to 10,000 across Delhi NCR and Bengaluru by end of this year.

The company claims to have completed more than 10 Mn rides so far, travelling more than 330 Mn zero-carbon Km in the process. At present, BluSmart competes against the likes of Uber, Ola, Rapido, InDrive, Shoffr, among others.

BluSmart claims to have touched revenue of more than INR 390 Cr in the financial year ending on March 31, 2024, a significant increase from INR 160 Cr in FY23. The startup claims to have achieved $60 Mn (INR 500 Cr) in annualised revenue run rate (ARR) in April 2024, from $29 Mn in April 2024.

However, the FY24 figures could not be verified since the startup has not yet filed its audited financial statements. 

The post [Update] Exclusive: BluSmart To Raise INR 200 Cr In Fresh Funding From New, Existing Investors appeared first on Inc42 Media.

B2B light electric vehicle (LEV) manufacturer Zen Mobility is piloting delivery of grocery and dairy products for startups like BigBasket and Country Delight via its recently launched mobile refrigeration unit, Micro Pod ThermoFlex. 

Zen Mobility founder Namit Jain told Inc42 that the startup began the pilot in April in Gurugram region in partnership with startups such as BigBasket, Country Delight, VegEase, and MilkyMist. 

Micro Pod ThermoFlex can store products in a range of 15 to -15 degree Celsius, depending on the needs. 

“During summers, grocery and dairy products which are supposed to be stored cool are being delivered in normal bags. We are trying to address this issue in this pilot,” Jain said while explaining the need for Micro Pod ThermoFlex. 

While the grocery and dairy delivery pilot is in early stages, Zen Mobility is also eyeing partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to deliver vaccines which require cold storage. 

Founded in 2018 by Jain, Zen Mobility manufactures cargo EVs for enterprises. Its flagship vehicle Micro Pod is utilised by Zomato for its large-fleet delivery. While the startup was incorporated six years ago, it launched all its products only last year after years of research and development and testing, the CEO said.

Last month, the startup launched two new variants of its Zen Micro Pod – Micro Pod ThermoFlex and Micro Pod LoadMax. Micro Pod LoadMax has a container with a capacity of approximately 50 cubic feet to handle large ecommerce shipments. 

Zen Mobility inaugurated its manufacturing plant in Manesar in Delhi NCR earlier this year. It has a capacity to manufacture and assemble 50,000 units of Zen Micro Pod per year. The startup is also working on developing a multi-purpose four-wheeler LEV.

Jain told Inc42 that Zen Mobility is looking to raise $10 Mn in its maiden funding round from a strategic partner, who can help the startup scale further. 

The startup competes against the likes of Euler Motors, Etergo, and Zypp Electric. 

The post Exclusive: Zen Mobility Pilots On-Wheels Cold Storage Grocery Delivery With BigBasket, Country Delight appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Update | July 10, 2:50PM

Almost a week after Inc42 exclusively reported about Arya.ag raising its pre-Series D funding round, the startup today officially announced the fundraise.

Arya.ag intends to utilise the funds for key strategic initiatives, including the deployment of satellite technology for improved farm productivity, reduced waste and greater transparency and visibility across the value chain. 

The startup will also use the funding to initiate partnerships to improve package of practices (PoP) on-farm and measures to reduce food loss across the supply chain, which will enhance climate resilience for its farmer base, improving the incomes of over 1,200 farmer producer organisations (FPOs) while also delivering improved climate outcomes.

Original Story | July 4, 6:40 PM

Delhi NCR-based agritech startup Arya.ag is raising $29 Mn (about INR 242 Cr) in a fresh funding round, as per its regulatory filing. Inc42 has learnt from sources that this is the startup’s pre-Series D round. 

The fresh round of funding is being led by Switzerland-based impact investment firm Blue Earth Capital, which is a new investor in the startup. Existing investors Asia Impact SA and Quona Capital will also participate in the round. 

The startup might raise additional funding in this round, the sources added. Arya.ag is currently valued at INR 2,400 Cr. 

Besides, the startup is also eyeing a debt funding round and a larger Series D funding round by the end of the year. 

A detailed questionnaire sent to Arya.ag didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing of this story.

The funding round comes over two years after the startup raised $60 Mn in its Series C funding round from Luxembourg-based Asia Impact SA, Lightrock India, and Quona Capital, among others, at a valuation of INR 2,200 Cr. 

Founded in 2013 by Prasanna Rao, Anand Chandra, and Chattanathan Devarajan, Arya.ag has three verticals – Arya Collateral, Aryadhan, and Aryatech. Arya Collateral offers warehousing storage facilities, which is the core business of the startup. It claims to store grains worth around $3 Bn annually.

Aryadhan, which is a fintech entity, was launched in 2017 to offer agriculture loans against commodities. The startup has partnered banks and digital lenders to offer such loans. It has disbursed loans worth $1.5 Bn to small-holder farmers, their organisations, and other stakeholders till date.

Besides, Arya.ag launched Aryatech in 2021 to offer online marketplace solutions to sell and purchase food grains. 

The sources said that the startup reported a profit of INR 17 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) on a revenue of INR 360 Cr. Its profit stood at INR 7.5 Cr in FY23 and revenue at INR 290 Cr. 

Overall, Arya.ag has raised a total funding of over $100 Mn till date.

The post [Update] Exclusive: Arya.ag To Raise $29 Mn Funding From Blue Earth Capital, Others appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Quick service restaurant (QSR) chain KFC has become the latest food company to join the Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC), Inc42 has learnt. 

KFC has roped in Magicpin to help it with tech integration, catalogue assortments, and logistics capabilities for joining the government-backed network, sources said. 

The QSR chain has begun a pilot programme in Gurugram on ONDC and the nationwide roll out is expected soon. 

“More than 1,000 KFC stores are expected to join the ONDC network within the next one month,” one of the sources said. 

Query mails sent to ONDC, Magicpin, and KFC on the development didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story.

The development comes at a time when a number of big brands are joining ONDC amid an uptick in orders on the network. Earlier this year, Domino’s and McDonald’s went live on ONDC. 

Meanwhile, Zomato-backed Magicpin was among the first few big names to join ONDC. It has since then helped multiple food companies like Rebel Foods, McDonald’s, Burger King, Wow! Momo, Pizza Hut, Nirula’s, Krispy Kreme, Taco Bell, Barbeque Nation, Barista integrate with ONDC.

Amid all these, a number of large restaurants are also mulling joining ONDC to scale up their online business due to the increasing take rates of food ordering giants Zomato and Swiggy, the aforementioned sources said.

“The take rates of buyer applications on ONDC still remain much lower compared to those of Swiggy and Zomato, despite the surge in order volumes on ONDC,” an industry source said. 

ONDC Plans Sharp Reduction In Discounts 

A large number of restaurants and food chains began joining ONDC last year as the latter introduced a slew of discounts for network participants like Paytm and Pincode for food orders. These discounts, which are revised every few months by ONDC, have helped attract customers.

The discounts are offered to network participants based on the number of orders. These discounts are then used by the participants to run promotional schemes.

However, ONDC recently told participants that it plans to reduce the incentives offered to them by about 75%. It also asked the participants to not adjust the discounts for tax calculations.

“The Buyer apps are free to structure the pricing interventions but shall not adjust these for the purpose of tax calculation, especially GST. Thus, GST shall be computed by each participant in the transaction at the gross value i.e. value without adjusting such transaction level discounts, cart level discounts, subsidised delivery etc,” ONDC said in a letter to the network participants, as reported by Moneycontrol. 

However, the reduction in incentives offered to network participants is not expected to have any major impact on the number of food orders, the sources said. They added that the buyer side apps on the network are charging low take rates currently to grow their user base, making their offerings cheaper compared to Zomato and Swiggy.

ONDC recorded 1 Cr monthly transactions in June, including 14 Lakh in the foods and beverages category and 8 Lakh in the grocery category, the sources added. The number of transactions on the network doubled last month from 50 Lakh in December 2023. 

The post Exclusive: Now, KFC Marks ONDC Foray With Pilot In Gurugram appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Update | July 10, 4:00PM

Almost a day after Inc42 reported that Dezerv has raised $32 Mn in its Series B funding round, the startup officially announced the fundraise. 

The wealth management platform plans to invest the fresh capital into crafting new investment strategies, boosting its technology platform to deliver superior client experience, and hiring investment specialists for its next growth phase.

Original Story | July 8, 10:23 PM

Wealthtech startup Dezerv has raised $32 Mn (about INR 265 Cr) in a funding round led by Premji Invest, its regulatory filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) revealed.

Premji Invest joined the startup’s cap table with a capital infusion of $20 Mn (about INR 168.8 Cr) in what seems to be its Series B funding round. Post the funding round, Premji Invests holds about 9.8% stake in the startup.

As per Inc42 estimates, the startup’s post-money valuation stands at around $205 Mn.  

The fresh round of investment saw Premji Invest join the startup’s cap table with a capital infusion of $20 Mn (INR 168.8 Cr) for an exchange of around 9.8% stake in the company, the regulatory filing revealed. 

Existing investors Elevation Capital, Matrix Partners, and Accel Partners also participated in the funding round, as per the filings. While Elevation Capital and Matrix Partners infused $4 Mn each, Accel Partners invested $3.1 Mn.

A detailed questionnaire sent to Dezerv about the funding round didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story

Following the funding round, the stakes of the startup’s cofounder saw a decline. While Sandeep Jethwani’s stake declined 2.66 percentage point  to 14.48%,  Vaibhav Porwal saw a 2.23 percentage point decrease in his shareholding to 12.19%. The startup’s third cofounder, Sahil Contractor, holds 8.65% stake after the fundraise as against 10.24% stake earlier. 

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the shareholding pattern:

Founded in 2021, Dezerv began as an invite-only platform for wealth management. Later, it opened the access to everyone.

The startup claims to have managed assets worth over INR 6,000 Cr since its inception. 

Including the latest funding, Dezerv has raised a total capital of $50 Mn till date. It counts the likes of Whiteboard Capital, Blume Founders Fund, CRED founder Kunal Shah, Acko founder Varun Dua, Meesho founder Vidit Aatrey, and OfBusiness founder Ashish Mohapatra among its investors. 

Dezerv incurred a loss of INR 50.8 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) on an operating revenue of INR 1,013 Cr.

The post [Update] Exclusive: Dezerv Bags $32 Mn In Series B From Premji Invest At Over $200 Mn Valuation appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Higher education services platform CollegeDekho has raised $9 Mn from its existing investors in its extended Series B round, sources told Inc42.

While Inc42 couldn’t verify the name of the investors, the sources said that CollegeDekho’s existing investors invested in the startup via a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

Winter Capital Partners (acquired by Rockstone Ventures), ETS Strategic Capital, Calega, QIC, and Man Capital are among the existing investors of the startup.

CollegeDekho raised the latest funds at a valuation of $138 Mn, unchanged from its last valuation.

The startup last raised $9 Mn from Winter Capital Partners in its Series B funding round in December 2022.

A detailed questionnaire sent to CollegeDekho on the latest funding round didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story. 

Founded in 2015 by Ruchir Arora, Saurabh Jain, Rohit Saha, and Rajiv Singh, CollegeDekho provides a gamut of services in the higher education segment, including test preparation, college selection, and application assistance. 

The startup expanded its business by making a few acquisitions in 2022. In February 2022, it announced acquisition of edtech platforms Getmyuni and IELTSMaterial at around INR 50 Cr. Just a month after this, it acquired PrepBytes in a cash and equity deal to scale up its offerings. 

CollegeDekho claims to have counselled more than 70 Lakh students till date and worked with close to 1,500 colleges. The startup also claims to have got more than 16 Cr visitors on its multiple higher education discoverability platforms.

Overall, CollegeDekho has raised a total funding of over $90 Mn till date. 

The startup clocked a revenue of INR 239 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), Inc42 has learnt. In FY23, it incurred a standalone loss of INR 120 Cr on a revenue of INR 141 Cr. 

It is pertinent to note that the startup is yet to file its financial statements for FY24 with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

CollegeDekho competes against the likes of LeverageEdu, CollegeDunia, Embibe, and GetMyUni

The post Exclusive: CollegeDekho Raises $9 Mn From Existing Investors appeared first on Inc42 Media.

After largely making it available in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, Zomato has now expanded its home-cooked meal service ‘Zomato Everyday’ to Mumbai.

As per the foodtech major, the service will be currently available in Malad and Goregaon, and will soon be expanded into more areas across the financial capital.

Saurabh Patel, a marketing professional at Zomato Everyday, said in a LinkedIn post, “After Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, Zomato Everyday is now live in the City of Dreams! Currently serving in Malad and Goregaon, coming soon in more locations.”

This comes two weeks after the Zomato Everyday announced its foray into Pune. 

Earlier in May, Inc42 reported that Zomato is eyeing to scale up Zomato Everyday in Bengaluru and Mumbai. 

During Zomato’s earnings call for Q4 FY24, a company spokesperson said, “We want to continue expanding ‘Everyday’. Right now it’s largely in Gurugram, but over the next few months, we’ll see maybe Mumbai and Bengaluru being added as cities where we will launch ‘Everyday’ and then we’ll take it from there in terms of other cities that we want to expand in.”

Zomato launched this service in early 2023, which was a remodelled version of its earlier similar offering, Zomato Instant. With ‘Zomato Everyday’, the company offers fresh home-cooked meals starting at INR 89. 

The remodeling was reportedly due to low daily order volume, and the inability to scale the segment and pay fixed costs.

Initially, Zomato Everyday was piloted in select areas of Gurugram in February last year. Since then, the service has expanded to multiple cities across locations, underscoring that demand for affordable, homestyle food still exists.

With Zomato Everyday, the foodtech aggregator intends to target a new set of consumers, including working professionals residing away from their homes and looking for affordable home-cooked meal options.

Earlier in May this year, Zomato’s counterpart Swiggy also relaunched its homestyle meal delivery offering Swiggy Daily in Bengaluru. 

Swiggy introduced Daily in 2019 but had to shut down this offering following the slump in demand due to Covid-induced lockdowns. 

While Zomato witnessed some degrowth in the GOV of its core food delivery business in Q4 FY24 with its GOV falling 0.6% QoQ to INR 8,439 Cr, the company continues to remain profitable. 

Riding on the back of its quick commerce vertical, Blinkit, Zomato reported its fourth consecutive profitable quarter with profit after tax (PAT) rising almost 27% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to INR 175 Cr in Q4.

The development comes on the same day of Zomato’s shares touching an all time high of INR 209.80 apiece during the intraday trading following the shareholders’ approval to create a new employee stock option pool of 18.26 Cr shares.

The post Zomato Expands Its Meal Service ‘Zomato Everyday’ To Mumbai appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Update | Jul 2, 3:30PM

Almost a month after Inc42 exclusively reported that D2C sneaker brand Comet was in advanced talks with Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners for a fundraise, the startup confirmed the development in its regulatory filing. 

Comet has raised INR 42 Cr (about $5 Mn) from the investors, with Elevation Capital infusing about INR 33 Cr.

Original Story | May 11, 3:43 PM

Bengaluru-based D2C sneaker brand Comet is in advanced stages of discussions with Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners to raise Series A funding, sources told Inc42.

“The round will be led by new investor Elevation Capital, while existing investor Nexus Venture Partners will also participate in this round,” one of the sources said. 

The terms of the deal have been finalised and the funding round will be closed soon, the sources added. However, Inc42 couldn’t ascertain the amount of capital the startup will be raising in this round.

Comet declined to comment on Inc42’s queries about the funding round and the deployment of the fresh capital. 

The sources said that the D2C startup would use the fresh funds to expand its team and product portfolio, grow its inventory, among others. Currently, Comet has a workforce of 10-20 employees.

The startup also plans to begin opening offline retail stores by early next year.

Founded by former Hotstar executive Utkarsh Gupta and ex-Urban Company executive Dishant Daryani in 2022, Comet was officially launched in 2023. 

The startup currently sells sneakers for both males and females in the price range of INR 4,000 to INR 4,500. It also sells slides and shoe laces. Currently, the startup primarily sells its product through its own website. 

Earlier, Comet raised seed funding from Nexus Venture Partners. 

Earlier this year, the startup collaborated with multidisciplinary artist Shantanu Hazarika to drop limited edition sneakers. 

Besides Comet, the Indian homegrown sneaker market has multiple startups like 7-10, Neemans, and Rare Rabbit. However, given its price range, Comet competes with the likes of Puma.

Meanwhile, Elevation Capital also counts popular D2C brands such as The Souled Store, Sugar Cosmetics, and Bliss Club among its portfolio.

It is pertinent to note that the last few years have seen the emergence of hundreds of D2C brands across sectors in the country. Not only this, these brands are also receiving strong interest from investors.

At the heart of all these is the rapidly expanding D2C market. According to an Inc42 report, D2C is one of the fastest growing subsector in the ecommerce sector. The country’s D2C market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 19% to reach a size of over $400 Bn by 2030.

The post [Update] Exclusive: D2C Sneaker Brand Comet Raises Series A Funding From Elevation Capital, Nexus appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based Ripplr is raising INR 40 Cr ($4.7 Mn) debt from IPO-bound Northern Arc. According to Ripplr’s regulatory filings, the startup’s shareholders passed a resolution to allot up to 400 non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to the lender for a cash consideration of INR 40 Cr. 

Last month, the startup raised INR 6 Cr debt from another venture debt firm Trifecta Capital. 

In May, Ripple’s shareholders passed a resolution to raise up to INR 101 Cr through debt. The latest funding seems to be part of the same round.

Founded in 2019 by Abhishek Nehru and Santosh Dabke, Ripplr offers a B2B web platform and mobile application to connect retailers with distributors. The startup claims that the platform uses AI to make predictions and decisions which helps brands deliver an integrated customer experience by elevating certainty and quality for consumers.

It counts Dabur, Tata Consumer Products, and Godrej among its customers for the distribution service vertical, while its logistics services are used by the likes of BigBasket and Zomato. 

The startup raised $40 Mn in its Series B funding round in May last year, which was a mix of equity and debt. The equity funding was led by Fireside Ventures and also saw participation from Bikaji and Neo Foods, along with existing investors 3one4 Capital, Zephyr Peacock and Japanese conglomerate Sojitz Corporation.

Back then, Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, Northern Arc Investments and Trifecta Capital participated in the debt part of the round. 

Ripplr has a presence in Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It manages over 24 warehouses in these states. 

The startup has raised about $50 Mn in funding till date.

In recent times, a number of logistics startups have raised funding despite the ongoing funding winter. In May, supply chain and logistics startup 3SC bagged $4 Mn from its existing investor GEF Capital’s South Asia Growth Fund.

Prior to that, LetsTransport, a trucking aggregator, bagged $22 Mn in its Series E funding round led by Bertelsmann India Investments. 

The post Exclusive: Logistics & Distribution Startup Ripplr To Raise $4.7 Mn Debt From Northern Arc appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Car-ownership solutions provider Park+ is piloting a new service which allows users to book drivers on demand. The startup’s founder and CEO Amit Lakhotia told Inc42 that Park+ is currently testing the new service in Gurugram.

“There’s a significant demand for on-demand driver services, especially in the metros. It is an essential service if you are in a car-related business,” Lakhotia said. 

While the startup currently allows select users to hire drivers for intercity travel currently, it plans to add intracity travel going ahead. 

Park+ will hire drivers from agencies for the services. However, Lakhotia added that the startup already has around 2,000 drivers on the platform who are working as valets for parking and car servicing services. The services of these drivers will be used for the new service.  

The development comes almost two months after Inc42 exclusively reported that used-car marketplace Cars24 was piloting on-demand driver hiring services. Park+ will compete against the likes of Cars24 and DriveU with its new offering. 

Founded in 2019 by former Paytm executive Lakhotia, Park+ offers a range of services for car owners, including car parking solutions, FASTag management, paying and viewing challans, car insurance, and locating EV charging stations. 

It also caters to businesses through deployment of products such as automatic boom barriers, gate automation, and a full fledged cloud-based vehicle access control management system.

On the financial performance, Lakhotia said that the startup posted an operating revenue of INR 140 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), while its burn stood at INR 70 Cr. The startup is yet to file its FY24 numbers with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. 

In FY23, Park+’s revenue zoomed 146% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 96 Cr while net loss jumped 65% YoY to INR 99 Cr. 

In January last year, the startup bagged INR 140 Cr in its Series C funding round led by existing investors Epiq Capital, Matrix Partners India, and Sequoia India at a post-money valuation of around $340 Mn. 

Park+ then said it would use the funding to expand its operations to around 100 cities and expand its team. Currently, the startup has around 700 employees. 

It has raised a total funding of about $54 Mn till date. Park+ competes with the likes of Get My Parking and ParkingRhino in the nascent parking solutions space. 

The post Exclusive: After Cars24, Park+ Pilots On-Demand Driver Hiring Services appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Update | June 27, 03:35 PM

Coworking startup Smartworks said it has raised $20.24 Mn (around  INR 168 Cr) this year so far from investors like Keppel Ltd, Ananta Capital Ventures Fund I, Plutus Capital LLC, family trusts, and a host of individual investors.

In a statement, Smartworks founder Neetish Sarda said, “We thank our investors for their continued confidence in our capabilities and the office experience and managed campus platform. Capital from the latest fund raising will be used for the growth and expansion of the business of the company and to meet its general corporate expenses.”

—————————————————————————————————————————

Original Story | June 11, 08:05 PM

Coworking startup Smartworks has raised around $12 Mn (about INR 100 Cr) in a fresh funding round led by Ananta Capital, the backer of Bella Vita Organic.

As per the startup’s filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), the funding round saw participation from around 45 investors, including Plutus Capital, Kili Ventures LLP, and Dhawan Family Trust.

Smartworks didn’t respond to Inc42’s queries on the development till the time of publishing this story. The article would be updated on receiving a response from the startup.

The fresh investment comes almost a couple of months after Inc42 exclusively reported that the startup raised nearly $4 Mn from its existing investor, Singapore-based Keppel Land. 

It is pertinent to note that Smartworks cofounder Neetish Sarda said in May last year that the startup was looking to raise $70 Mn to $90 Mn. The latest fundraise could be a part of this funding round. 

Prior to this, the startup raised $25 Mn in its Series A funding round from Keppel Land. 

Founded in 2016 by Sarda and Harsh Binani, Smartworks is a shared workspace provider. It provides office spaces that can be rapidly configured and customised to the needs of enterprises. 

The startup claims to have over 8 Mn sq. ft. of office space across 40+ locations in 13 cities, including Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Pune. It caters to over 600 organisations, including Forbes 2000/ Fortune 500 companies, multinational companies, unicorns and soonicorns.

Last month, the startup entered the Pune market by leasing a 14-floor tower in Balewadi area. The building is expected to accommodate 8,000 desks. 

SmartWorks’ revenue soared 98% year-on-year to INR 711 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), while net loss increased 44% to INR 101 Cr.

 The startup competes against the likes of WeWork India, IndiaQube, and recently-listed Awfis. 

The post [Update] Exclusive: Smartworks Raises $20 Mn From Ananta Capital, Keppel, Others appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based fintech unicorn slice is piloting a new lending product under the name ‘slice personal loan’, under which users can avail a loan of up to INR 5 Lakh for a tenure of 5 years (60 months), sources told Inc42. 

Currently, the product is being offered only to select users, the sources said, adding that it would be expanded to cover more consumers in the coming months. slice is charging an interest of up to 14% on these loans.

The startup is targeting users with high credit scores for the new product. The new offering is an extension of its existing product slice borrow, under which its users can borrow up to INR 2 Lakh from the startup and its NBFC partners with a repayment period of 12 months.

A query mail sent to slice on the new offering didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story. 

Earlier this month, Inc42 exclusively reported that slice is raising $20 Mn (about INR 170 Cr) in a debt funding round from Neo Asset Management’s Credit Opportunities Fund. The funding is part of a larger $30 Mn (about INR 255 Cr) debt round. While the startup has received $20 Mn, it is expected to receive the remaining amount soon.

Back then, Inc42 learnt that slice would utilise the funds for corporate purposes and working capital requirements. 

Founded in 2016 by Rajan Bajaj, slice operated as a buy now pay later (BNPL) platform till 2022 and offered a credit card-esque prepaid payment instrument (PPI) that came with no annual fees, interest, or late charges. 

However, after the RBI cracked the whip on fintechs in 2022 and barred NBFCs from offering credit on PPI, slice discontinued the service. The regulatory headwinds forced it to change its business model and the startup began exploring merger options.

slice currently offers UPI payments, consumer credit, and a prepaid payment banking account through its app. 

Earlier this year, slice received the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) approval for its merger with Guwahati-based North East Small Finance Bank.

slice, last valued at $1.5 Bn, is backed by marquee investors such as Tiger Global, Gunopsy Capital, Blume Ventures, Advent International’s Sunley House Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Anfa.

The startup competes against the likes of KreditBee, MoneyTap and CASHe.

The post Exclusive: slice Doubles Down On Its Lending Play; Pilots Personal Loans Of Up To INR 5 Lakh appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gold loan provider Rupeek is in advanced talks to raise around INR 200 Cr (about $24 Mn) in a funding round which will be a mix of primary and secondary transactions, sources told Inc42.

The funding round will see Elevation Capital joining the digital lending startup’s cap table. Besides, a couple of existing investors will also participate in the round.

Elevation Capital will be a “major contributor” in this funding round, which will value the startup at $250 Mn, – a decline of almost 60% from its peak valuation of $600 Mn, the sources added.

As part of the secondary transaction, Rupeek’s employees will be selling their shares to investors.

Earlier, Economic Times reported that Ranjan Pai’s investment office Claypond Capital is likely to join the funding round. 

The new funding round kicked off earlier this month, with Rupeek raising INR 51 Cr from 360 One Large Value Fund (formerly IIFL Wealth Management) and BlackSoil. 

Founded in 2015 by Sumit Maniyar and Ashwin Soni, Rupeek offers custom gold loans as well as other standard lending products, with gold as collateral. It claims to be present in more than 40 cities across the country and have a customer base of more than 5 Lakh.

Backed by the likes of Peak XV Partners, Accel, GGV Capital, and Bertelsmann, the startup has raised a total funding of over $164 Mn till date. 

Rupeek saw its net loss narrow more than 22% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 281.6 Cr in the financial year 2022-23. However, operating revenue also declined 27.7% to INR 88.9 Cr in FY23 from INR 122.9 Cr in the previous year.

The startup has been focussing on profitability for the last few years. As part of this, it fired almost 250 employees in two layoff rounds amid the ongoing funding winter.

The post Exclusive: Rupeek To Raise INR 200 Cr From Elevation, Others At 60% Haircut appeared first on Inc42 Media.