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4baseCare raises $6 Mn in Series A round led by Yali Capital

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
4baseCare raises $6 Mn in Series A round led by Yali Capital
Medial

Healthcare startup 4baseCare has raised $6 million in its Series A round led by Yali Capital. As per the company, the proceeds will be used to enhance product offerings and scaling up operations for further expansion across India, as well as other countries in Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 2018 by Hitesh Goswami and Kshitij Rishi, 4baseCare’s offers precision oncology solutions using advanced genomics and digital health technology. Its genomic tests have made a substantial impact across SouthEast Asia, impacting over 10,000 cancer patients. Its genomic-based tests include Indiegene which it claims is the world’s first Indian population specific cancer gene panel for biomarker testing. Over the next few months, 4baseCare will set up genomics laboratories in the Philippines, Nepal, and Dubai. Additionally, it will focus on building genomics and digital health solutions, focusing on advanced data analytics, improved clinical insights, and data-driven treatment recommendations.

KreditBee plans ‘Ghar Wapsi’ from Singapore to India

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
KreditBee plans ‘Ghar Wapsi’ from Singapore to India
Medial

Fintech company KreditBee is shifting its domicile to India from Singapore, sources aware of the development told Entrackr. With this move, the firm will join a bunch of fintech companies which are in the process of shifting their base to India from Singapore or the US (mostly Delaware). “Fintech companies including KreditBee want to be headquartered in India because the local ecosystem including public markets have matured in the past few years,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. “Moreover, regulators tend to like fintech firms to be based out of the country as diligence and monitoring becomes easy.” KreditBee is registered as Finnove Private Limited in Singapore which has an over 70% holding in the Indian entity of the lending firm. According to sources, KreditBee has been working on a relocation plan for the past few months. “It’s seeking regulators’ inputs and figuring out tax liabilities,” said another source who also wished not to be named. Sources further added that another benefit such companies moving back to India hope to reap is from the rising valuations being offered by domestic public markets to technology firms. KreditBee has declined to comment on the story. Besides KreditBee, Pine Labs, Groww, Razorpay, Meesho and Zepto have been working on reverse flips. Walmart-owned PhonePe was the first to move its domicile to India and its investors paid a hefty Rs 8,000 crore in taxes to the government for this move. The quantum of the tax depends on the company’s valuation and third-party audits. KreditBee was valued at around $700 million during its latest tranche in March. It’s one of the few fintech companies that may turn unicorn in the next funding round. It has raised more than $400 million to date. Sources emphasized that a reverse flip will also smoothen KreditBee’s road to IPO. While the company isn’t in a rush, its founder and CEO Madhusudan Ekambaram anticipates a public listing by 2027. Six-year-old KreditBee facilitates loans up to Rs 4 lakh for a tenure of 2 to 15 months with an interest rate of up to 2.49%. As per the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Premji Invest is the largest external stakeholder with 23.44% followed by Newquest Asia and Alpine Capital. KreditBee posted Rs 64.33 crore profit whereas its revenue from operations grew to Rs 788.66 crore in FY23. Even in the first half of FY24, the company claimed a profit after tax of Rs 95 crore and expected to close the last fiscal with Rs 250-260 crore profit. The company majorly competes with MoneyTap, Fibe (formerly EarlySalary), LazyPay, and Sachin Bansal’s Navi, among others. A return to India, while driven by policy and market compulsions, will not be as simple as it sounds, thanks to the heavy bill it comes with for back taxes effectively. That might necessitate funding support for KreditBee, dispute being profitable, creating its own issues of valuations and change in stake. Going for a debt raise might also be a touch and go affair, considering the relatively higher interest rates now. Thus, figuring out the financials of the move will probably occupy a lot of mindspace for the firm now that it has decided to move. Investors will do well to hope and support any process that ensures a quicker resolution, to ensure the firm stays focused on its core business as well.

Oyo re-enters food biz with Townhouse Cafe QSR chain

EntrackrEntrackr · 4m ago
Oyo re-enters food biz with Townhouse Cafe QSR chain
Medial

Oyo re-enters food biz with Townhouse Cafe QSR chain Hospitality major Oyo has forayed into the quick-service restaurant (QSR) space with the launch of its in-house brand, Townhouse Cafe. These cafes will be rolled out across company-serviced hotels (Townhouse by Oyo). Oyo has piloted the model since January 2025, covering 100 hotels across India. Over the coming months, it plans to scale this up in phases, targeting an ambitious 1,500 hotels, as per the company’s press release. Guests can place food orders through Oyo’s app as well as partner OTAs. In addition to in-house kitchens, the company is rolling out QSR carts and lobby stores under the Townhouse Cafe brand to offer ready-to-eat meals. According to the release, OYO is building a network of food and beverage experts across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Indore, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Lucknow to support its food service operations. While Oyo is yet to file its full FY25 financials, the IPO-bound company reported revenue of Rs 5,389 crore in FY24, slightly down from Rs 5,464 crore in FY23. However, a 16% reduction in expenses helped it post a net profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 230 crore for the year. The QSR venture seems to be part of Oyo’s broader push to boost revenue through allied services. This isn’t the company’s first foray into food — it launched a cloud kitchen business in 2019 but exited during the pandemic. While food operations are a natural extension of the hotel business, they require a distinct skill set and dedicated teams. Oyo likely gained valuable insights from its initial attempt and now appears better prepared to scale its food business in a more sustainable and strategic manner.

Sedna HoReCa raises Rs 50 Cr led by Anicut Capital

EntrackrEntrackr · 4m ago
Sedna HoReCa raises Rs 50 Cr led by Anicut Capital
Medial

Sedna HoReCa, a business-to-business (B2B) platform for the hotel, restaurant, and catering (HoReCa) industry, has raised Rs 50 crore ($5.8 million) in a new funding round led by Anicut Capital. The Hyderabad-based company had previously raised $1.44 million. The proceeds will be utilized to build “India’s first integrated, technology-driven B2B solutions platform” for the HoReCa ecosystem and expand across 20 cities in the next 12 months, Sedna said in a press release. Co-founded in July 2022 by Mahadevan Narayanamoni and Saurabh Pandey, Sedna unifies software, distribution, and food product solutions under one roof. Its offering is structured around three verticals: B2B SaaS, commerce and distribution, and ready-to-cook or ready-to-serve food products. According to Sedna, its SaaS vertical includes SupplyNote, a widely used inventory management software, and BillNote, a point-of-sale (POS) software for restaurants and cafés. The commerce and distribution vertical includes Vyap, a supply distribution platform, and SupplyLink, a third- and fourth-party logistics (3PL/4PL) solution tailored for HoReCa businesses. These offerings aim to solve operational pain points such as high procurement costs, erratic supply chains, and inventory losses. Sedna intends to foray into the food segment with ready-to-cook and ready-to-serve offerings aimed at HoReCa businesses, food courts, direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, and commercial kitchens. It is setting up a new food production facility in Bengaluru and will scale HU’s existing facility. Sedna aims to eliminate the hassles the HoReCa industry has been facing, such as escalating purchase costs, erratic fill rates, long lead times, and inventory loss due to pilferage.

Startups refund investors in ethical move after shutdown and failed pivot

EntrackrEntrackr · 11m ago
Startups refund investors in ethical move after shutdown and failed pivot
Medial

The shutdown of SaaS startup Toplyne took many by surprise, as the San Francisco and Bengaluru-based company became one of the few from the well-funded segment to halt operations. Having raised over $17 million from investors like Tiger Global and Peak XV, the firm also garnered attention for its commitment to return the remaining capital to investors, highlighting the importance of ethical practices in the startup landscape. Not just Toplyne, but a bunch of startups that shut down or pivoted have returned capital to their investors after struggling to establish a sustainable revenue model. They also encountered challenges such as funding shortages, adverse market conditions, and cash flow issues. According to data from TheKredible, as many as 8 Indian startups have refunded investors after either ceasing operations or unsuccessful pivots as of October 12. This accounts for 50% of all shutdowns and pivots that have occurred in the current calendar year. Paras Chopra-led Nintee was the first to announce its shutdown and return capital to investors in April this year. It was backed by Peak XV and angels like Kunal Shah. Following this, several other startups joined the trend, including edtech firm Bluelearn and trading platform Investmint, as well as offline firm Convenio, launched by former Swiggy senior vice president Karthik Gurumurthy. Most recently, agritech startup Greenikk also announced that it would refund investors after ceasing operations. It’s worth noting that Gurumurthy had raised $3 million from Matrix Partners and others in stealth mode. Earlier this year, two fashion tech companies—Fashinza and Virgio—opted to return capital to their investors after struggling to find traction with their original business models. Virgio, led by former Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram, raised over $37 million from investors including Prosus Ventures, Alpha Wave Partners, and Accel Partners before its pivot. Fashinza, the highest-funded company on the list, secured $150 million in equity and working capital from notable backers such as Mars Growth Capital, Liquidity Group, Accel, Prosus, WestBridge, and Elevation Capital. In the current debate about the market savvy of Bengaluru startups compared to those in Delhi NCR, it’s interesting to observe that five startups on this exclusive list originate from Bengaluru, whereas only two are from NCR. Between 2022 and 2023, several startups, including Frontrow, Udayy, ConnectedH, and Anar, had returned capital to their investors after shutting down operations for various reasons. The return of capital should not be as big a deal as made out, but catches attention simply because of the times we live in. When fund raising is treated as a massive success in itself, returning those (or whatever remains) funds is certainly a call a founder would make after much agonising normally. Or after burning through most of those funds in trying to pivot, than accept failure. While strong founder ethics and a long term view on the reputational impact is one factor, we believe it is also increasingly a function of how closely investors work with them. And yes, while it will never be as acceptable as many would like, failure is a lot less damaging to future prospects for a founder today than even a decade back. Many investors today, as they work with younger founders especially, keep a very close eye on the day to day running of the business and metrics, giving them a much more deeper understanding of business direction. Thus, where a thesis has failed completely, decisions on shut downs are being taken faster now. Finally, in the rarefied world of fund raising, where access to the right networks matter, as more startups have been funded, we can see longer memory for the performance of the deal sourcing people as well. It would be no surprise if many of these have played an instrumental role in ensuring a return of funds to a VC where they hope to do more work in the future.

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