🚀 Medial Secures Investment on Shark Tank India - Fueling the Future of Professional Social Networking. 🔥
Login

News on Medial

Related News

Exclusive: Trading app Investmint halts services; explores M&A deal

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Exclusive: Trading app Investmint halts services; explores M&A deal
Medial

Signal-based trading app Investmint has halted its services as the company found it difficult to figure out a reliable business model, sources aware of the development told Entrackr. In October 2022, Investmint raised $2 million in Seed round led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from other angel investors. As per sources, the firm had decent traction with substantial money left from the last fundraise but the team couldn’t translate them into monetization. “Investmint has been exploring acquisition opportunities with well capitalized wealth management companies,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. Founded in February 2022 by Aakash Goel and Mohit Chitlangia, Investmint used to assist users in arriving at investment decisions and managing wealth with data backed signals. “If the acquisitions talks won’t materialize, the company may return remaining capital to its backers,” said another source who also requested anonymity. The company’s spokesperson confirmed that the team has discontinued Investmint as a product and is re-evaluating its offerings. “We’re in late-stage talks with a few big players for M&A,” the spokesperson said. A clutch of startups have returned or are in the process of returning investors’ money after their startup failed to find a product market fit (PMF) or sustainable business model. Earlier this year, Nintee, a digital health startup launched by Wingify founder Paras Chopra, announced shutting down its operations. The firm also announced that it will return the majority of funding it raised from the investors. As per an ET report, fashion startups Virgio and Fashinz are planning to return most of the capital they raised from the investors after a failed pivot. Virgio has raised nearly $40 million while Fashinza has scooped up over $150 million in funding to date. While the majority of investors don’t like to exit out from a portfolio company with a slice of their original investment, the trend of returning capital by founders seems to be a progressive one. After all, there is no point in being stuck when things aren’t working out for long.

No hurry to sell, indefinite horizon on Zomato holding: Sanjeev Bikhchandani

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
No hurry to sell, indefinite horizon on Zomato holding: Sanjeev Bikhchandani
Medial

Info Edge, India’s largest and most storied recruitment portal, has had a stellar run in the last three years with its portfolio company Zomato’s market cap surging almost 2.3X since its stock exchange debut. The firm’s bet on fintech unicorn Policybazaar is also paying off well. The company has made it clear it is in no hurry to book profits on these investments, even as it continues to nurse its own brands beyond Naukri to profitability. The firm, one of the few to survive the dotcom boom and bust cycle of 2000, has been led by founder and chairman Sanjeev Bikhchandani for a large part of this journey. And today, Bikhchandani has earned the right to be looked up to as the statesman for the sector. Entrackr caught up with Bikhchandani in his Gurugram office and he spoke on a range of topics including Naukri, Info Edge’s investments, serial entrepreneurs and corporate governance. Here are the edited excerpts. As a listed firm that carries a heavy overhang from its investment portfolio, does it worry you that it might impact the valuation of the core Naukri business? Not really. Institutional investors are smart. We give them adequate data so that they analyze Naukri thoroughly before making a conclusion about valuation. We don’t run Naukri for valuation every day or month or quarter. We look at how we create value for our shareholders in the long run. And that’s how we run our businesses. So, this hypothesis about our core or even group business doesn’t stand. Info Edge has been an investor in Zomato for over 14 years and despite the latter’s share price rising nearly 14o% from its listing price, Info Edge didn’t sell its shares. What level of return are you anticipating from Zomato? Actually, we don’t calculate Investment Return Rate (IRR). Info Edge invested in Zomato because of our conviction that it could become a great company. And if you are convinced about your conviction then it will happen. So, IRR is the happy incidental outcome of investing early behind companies that you want to help. That’s my belief. We are not in any hurry to sell and have an indefinite horizon. Every VC firm has a fund cycle and pressure to return capital to their limited partners but that’s not the case with Info Edge as you are investing from your own balance sheet. Could you elaborate on this? That pressure does not make this choice. We have a long term horizon and we call it patient capital. To be a successful early stage investor in India, you have to be quite patient because companies take anywhere between 10-15 years to go to IPO from seed stage. So if you have funds for only 6-10 years, you will not realize the full fruits of your investment. If you have a 20 year fund, you tend to perform better. However, such a horizon could be possible only when you’re investing from your own whole balance sheet. Do you believe that Blinkit could become bigger than Zomato? I think both are large but Blinkit is going to be fairly large. If we look at Zomato’s quarter-on-quarter numbers, online food ordering appears to have stagnated in top 10-15 cities. What’s your take on this? Obviously, there is the base effect. But, we don’t see stagnation. Also, you need to compare year-on-year, not quarter-on-quarter. When YoY numbers are compared, there is growth. I think full fiscal year performance is more important than quarter. We used to commonly hear about Naukri’s recruitment business that it was not the online presence, but your sales force or feet on the street that made the difference. Does that still hold true? Online sales have never been a big part of our strategy. When you want to sell more expensive products, you need face-to-face contact. At Naukri, we have clients whom we bill several crore rupees for annual subscription and such accounts need heavy offline touch. While the product will be consumed online, the stuff around it very often will be offline. Over the years, several players have tried to crack the recruitment business in the blue collar segment but most of them died. What are the challenges in the segment? Blue collar segment has broadly three challenges. First, it’s hyperlocal. The job seekers in this segment don’t move to different cities as they look for opportunities in and around their locality. Second, very often there isn’t a detailed text CV which makes the process slow and inefficient. Third, potential workforce in the segment do not search for jobs on the laptop and use vernacular languages. They are mostly on mobile. So you’ve got to adapt to all these things and still somehow get revenue and profit. We have been trying to get inroads in the blue collar segment for over two years now but we have just started monetizing it. Our future position in the segment depends on monetization. Some of the celebrated entrepreneurs are launching a second or third company without their first startup churning profit. How do you see this trend? I think this isn’t a progressive trend. As an entrepreneur, you need to focus on one thing and do really well. Once you’ve cracked that you can add on a second thing in the same company. Over the past couple of years, we have witnessed corporate governance issues with some startups. Even Info Edge saw serious lapses at 4B Networks. What’s your opinion about this? By and large, my belief is that 95-98% of Indian founders are genuine but there will be a few bad examples. Investors make sure that when something wrong happens in their portfolio, it is highlighted and actions are taken to ensure that such incidents do not repeat. Any governance issue isn’t good for anyone including limited partners, investors, founders and the startup ecosystem. What factors contributed to the lack of success with Info Edge’s e-commerce investments 99labels, MyDala, and Happily Unmarried? Limitation of raising foreign direct investment (FDI) and heavy investment into competition were two major reasons for failure of 99labels while MyDala had a product market fit (PMF) issue. Happily Unmarried is now a part of VLCC and we are still a shareholder there.

Funding and acquisitions in Indian startups this week [26 Feb - 2 Mar]

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Funding and acquisitions in Indian startups this week [26 Feb - 2 Mar]
Medial

As many as 30 Indian startups raised funding amounting to nearly $384 million this week. These deals include nine growth-stage deals and 18 early-stage deals. The early-stage deals also include five startups that kept their transaction details undisclosed. Last week, about 25 early and growth-stage startups collectively raised over $125 million, including two undisclosed deals. [Growth-stage deals] Among the growth-stage deals, nine startups raised $310.7 million in funding this week. Logistics company Shadowfax spearheaded with its $100 million Series E funding round. Customer loyalty and engagement technology platform Capillary Technologies expanded its Series D round with a $95 million raise while D2C jewelry brand Kushal’s secured $34 million. Further, Omnichannel pharmacy platform Zeno Health, Fintech startup Mswipe, and D2C luggage brand Mokobara among others also raked in funding this week. [Early-stage deals] Equivalent to 18 early-stage startups scooped funding worth $73.46 million during the week. Blockchain startup Avail led the list followed by interview preparation platform Interview Kickstart, renewables EPC company InSolare, energy efficiency startup Smart Joules, cybersecurity provider Silence Labs, and nanotechnology startup Chiral. The list further includes Business process automation Zvolv, spacetech startup Digantara, business-to-business agri-food startup Farmtheory, and foodtech firm TWF Flour among others. For more information, visit TheKredible. The list of early-stage startups also includes five startups which kept the amount undisclosed. The startups are Knocksense, StepChange, Biggies Burger, Zactor Tech, and Local (Tui Bon Natural). [City and segment-wise deals] In terms of the city-wise number of funding deals, Bengaluru-based startups led with 18 deals amounting to 74% of the total fundraise during the week. This was followed by Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Jaipur, and Lucknow. The complete breakdown of the city and segment can be found at TheKredible. [Series-wise deals] This week, eight startups raised funding in their seed round followed by five Series A deals. While pre-Series A, pre-seed, and Series C deals followed with 5, 5, and 3 deals, respectively. [Week-on-week funding trend] On a weekly basis, startup funding jumped 3X to $384.16 million as compared to $126 million in the previous week. The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $197 million with 27 deals per week. [Mergers & Acquisition] This week, online seafood firm Captain Fresh has acquired CenSea Inc., a US-based frozen fish and seafood importer and distributor. According to a report, Captain Fresh has fully acquired CenSea in a cash-and-stock deal, with 90% of the consideration paid in cash. [Fund launches] Asset management firm Rockstud Capital has marked the first close of its second alternative investment fund (AIF) at Rs 68 crore or $8.2 million. With a target corpus of Rs 300 crore ($36 million), Rockstud Capital Investment Fund II aims to help companies fund their bridge rounds, scale products and raise capital from institutional investors. The fund focuses on sectors, including digitalization, sustainability, financial inclusion, health & safety, and consumption. It invests between $0.5 and $1 million across startups at their Pre-Series A round. [Layoffs] WayCool Foods has reportedly fired at least 70 employees over the last month in what was the second layoff exercise at the agritech startup within a year. The startup, which houses subsidiaries such as WayCool Censa, WayCool BrandNext, also shut its warehouses over the last month. Surgery-focused hospital chain Pristyn Care has reduced its workforce by 7% as the firm eyes profitability and initial public offering in the next few years. Pristyn Care said that it is discontinuing three redundant categories and the move will impact less than 7% of the 1,700 employees, with the majority in entry-level and support functions. It has also decided to exit six cities that were not adding adequate value to the business. [Departures] Vijay Shekhar Sharma stepped down from his position as part-time non-executive chairman and board member of Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL). The company also announced that it has reconstituted its board of directors with the appointment of former Central Bank of India chairman Srinivasan Sridhar, retired IAS officer Debendranath Sarangi, former executive director of Bank of Baroda Ashok Kumar Garg, and retired IAS Rajni Sekhri Sibal. Visit TheKredible to see series-wise deals and amount breakup, complete details of fund launches, and more insights. [New launches] ▪️ Mphasis launches AI intelligence platform for document processing ▪️ Bhavish Aggarwal-led Krutrim launches Its Chatbot ▪️ SaaS platform Zoho launches a new business division, Zakya ▪️ Juspay rolls out a new ride-hailing app Mana Yatri in Hyderabad [Financial results this week] ▪️ ApnaKlub’s gross revenue spikes 6X to Rs 278 Cr in FY23 ▪️ Razorpay posts Rs 2,279 Cr revenue in FY23; bottom line remains stagnant ▪️ Scaler’s revenue climbs 5X to over Rs 300 Cr in FY23, losses up by 90% ▪️ WeWork India posts Rs 1,314 Cr revenue in FY23; cuts losses by 77% ▪️ Bizongo’s scale doubles to Rs 167 Cr in FY23; loss nears Rs 300 Cr ▪️ RailYatri posts Rs 274 Cr revenue in FY23; losses shrink 58% [News flash this week] ▪️ Paytm terminates inter-company agreements with payments bank unit ▪️ Amazon Pay gets a payment aggregator license from RBI ▪️ Paytm Payments Bank slapped with Rs 5.49 Cr fine by FIU-IND ▪️ Zepto launches a membership programme, Zepto Pass. ▪️ Google delists select Indian apps over violations of Play Store policies [Entrackr’s analysis] The weekly funding rebounded after a three-week decline, experiencing a three-fold growth. However, the week also saw two significant layoffs at WayCool and Pristyn Care, affecting approximately 200 employees. Paytm has terminated inter-company agreements between One97 Communications and Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL), following regulatory actions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The RBI imposed business restrictions on Paytm Payments Bank due to non-compliance and regulatory concerns. Separately, the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) fined Paytm Payments Bank Ltd Rs 5.49 crore. Additionally, Google delisted several popular Indian apps, including Kuku FM, TrulyMadly, QuackQuack, and Altt, from the Play Store. Apps from Shaadi and Matrimony.com, as well as InfoEdge’s job portal Naukri and real-estate platform 99 acres, were also removed. This action follows Google’s blog post outlining its new app store policies and warning of potential consequences for non-compliance, such as ‘delisting’.

Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [26 - 31 Aug]

EntrackrEntrackr · 11m ago
Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [26 - 31 Aug]
Medial

During the week, 31 Indian startups raised around $490.32 million in funding. These deals count 7 growth-stage deals and 19 early-stage deals while 5 startups kept their transaction details undisclosed. During the previous week, 21 early and growth-stage startups cumulatively raised $144.46 million in funding. [Growth-stage deals] Among the growth-stage deals, 7 startups raised $443.8 million in funding this week. Quick commerce brand Zepto spearheaded with a $340 million Series F round. Specialty coffee retailer Blue Tokai Coffee raised $35 million followed by lending firm Yubi, agri-inputs platform AGRIM, post-sales service firm Servify, beauty and personal care D2C firm Pilgrim, and Robotics startup Miko with $30 million, $17.3 million, $10 million, $9 million, and $2.5 million in funding, respectively. Swiggy also raised undisclosed funding this week from Amitabh Bachchan’s Family Office. [Early-stage deals] Further, 19 early-stage startups secured funding worth $46.52 million during the week. Full stack marketplace for resale home HouseEazy led the list followed by conversation intelligence platform Convin, energy storage solutions startup Clean Electric, fintech firm Finarkein Analytics, and edtech startup Kreedo among others. As many as 4 startups that did not disclose the funding amount raised are; Metaman, Better Nutrition (Greenday), BiUP Technologies, and OneMoney. For more information, visit TheKredible. [City and segment-wise deals] In terms of the city-wise number of funding deals, Bengaluru-based startups led with 8 deals followed by Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Dehradun, Jodhpur, and Lucknow. Segment-wise, E-commerce and Fintech startups are in the top spot with 6 deals each. SaaS, Edtech, Foodtech, Healthtech, Proptech, and Agritech startups followed this list among others. [Series-wise deals] During the week, Seed funding deals are on top with 11 deals followed by 6 Series A, 4 pre-Series A, 3 Series C, 2 Series B, 2 pre-Seed, and 1 Series F deal. [Week-on-week funding trend] On a weekly basis, startup funding tripled and went up 239.42% to $490.32 million as compared to around $144.46 million raised during the previous week. The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $254.80 million with 26 deals per week. [Fund launches] Two new funds launched this week to support startups in India. Velocity, a cash flow-based financing platform, has introduced a Rs 400 crore fund to assist D2C and e-commerce brands during the upcoming festive season sales. Meanwhile, Whiteboard Capital, a sector-agnostic early-stage venture capital firm, has successfully closed its second fund at Rs 300 crore. [Key hirings] Sumer Juneja, formerly with Softbank, has joined OYO as a non-executive director. Swiggy Instamart onboarded former Flipkart executive Amitesh Jha as CEO, Medikabazaar appointed Dinesh Lodha as the Group CEO, Sukoon Health onboarded Dr. Vipul Rastogi as Clinical Regional Head, and 3i Infotech hired Raj Ahuja as CEO. Evera and Zalon appointed Saurabh Kumar and Abhiishekk Rakj Pandey respectively as their Independent Director and Co-founder and CEO. [Mergers and Acquisitions] Several significant acquisitions have taken place this week in the Indian tech industry. VerSe Innovation, the parent company of Dailyhunt and Josh, has acquired Valueleaf Group, a digital marketing firm. In the SaaS space, Browserstack has acquired Bird Eats Bug, a bug detection and reporting platform, for $20 million. ANSR, a business consulting company, has acquired hrEntries, an HCM platform, to strengthen its global team management capabilities. Yudiz Solutions, a listed blockchain and IT development company has acquired a majority stake in ABCM App Private Limited, a consultancy and technology solutions company. In the FMCG sector, GRM Overseas has acquired a 44% stake in Rage Coffee, a D2C food and beverage brand. [Shutdown] Two significant shutdowns have occurred this week in the Indian tech industry. My Tirth India, a spiritual tech startup, has announced its closure due to a funding crisis. This is surprising given the growing popularity of the spiritual tech sector. Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel has decided to discontinue its music streaming app, Wynk Music, although it will retain the employees involved. Visit TheKredible to see series-wise deals along with amount breakup, complete details of fund launches, and more insights. [New launches and partnerships] OPEN launches Bharat Billpay for business Zoho forays into payment space with the launch of a payment gateway BharatPe ventures into the consumer payments space CarDekho Group partners with SaaS platform BiUP Technologies [Potential Deals] Eruditus to raise $150 Mn at $2.3 Bn valuation [Financial results this week] Rebel Foods posts Rs 1,420 Cr revenue in FY24; losses down by 42% Square Yards posts Rs 261 Cr revenue in Q1 FY25; projects Rs 1,500 Cr in FY25 CaratLane crosses Rs 3,000 Cr revenue in FY24; remains profitable [News flash this week] Customer conversation platform Exotel suffers data breach BigBasket to completely pivot to quick commerce Amazon India to enter quick commerce D2C meat delivery startup Zappfresh files DRHP Ola Electric’s products to hit ONDC next week Infra.Market lined up 8 investment banks for its $700 Mn IPO: Report Moglix initiates next-day delivery to join the rapid delivery bandwagon [Conclusion] The weekly funding jumped over 3X to $490.32 million this week. Meanwhile, two startup-focused funds launched this week namely Velocity and Whiteboard Capital. Ola Electric’s co-founder, Bhavish Aggarwal, has announced that all of the company’s electric scooters, including the S1 X series, S1 Pro, and S1 Air, will be available on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) starting next week. This move aims to expand Ola Electric’s market reach and make its products more accessible to consumers across India by leveraging ONDC’s infrastructure. Aggarwal has been a strong advocate for ONDC, comparing it to the revolutionary impact of UPI on digital payments. D2C meat delivery startup Zappfresh has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for an IPO on the BSE SME platform. The IPO will consist solely of a fresh issue of 59.06 lakh equity shares and will not include any offer for sale. Zappfresh intends to utilize the proceeds from the IPO to fund potential acquisitions, marketing and capital expenditure, working capital requirements, and general corporate purposes. Several major e-commerce players are entering the quick delivery space in India to cater to the growing demand for faster delivery of goods, especially among small and medium-sized businesses. Moglix, a B2B platform, has launched a next-day delivery service for industrial goods, expanding its reach to 12 cities and aiming to expand further to 40 cities in the coming months. Amazon, Flipkart, and Tata Digital-owned BigBasket are also making significant moves in this market. Amazon plans to enter the quick commerce space in early 2025, while Flipkart and BigBasket have already launched their own quick delivery services.

Download the medial app to read full posts, comements and news.