Here is a list of deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem today including funding, merger, acquisition, fund launch etc. Read a brief description about all of them:1. Chairman of Hero Enterprise Sunil Kant Munjal has announced an investment of about $15.4 million (INR 100 Cr) into Aavishkaar’s new fund, the Aavishkaar Bharat Fund. The fund will focus on financial inclusion, employment, and promoting grassroots entrepreneurship.
Read More2. Sequoia Capital has reportedly concluded a $180 million secondary stake sale of eight of its portfolio companies to Madison Capital, reported TOI. This comes at time when the venture fund is looking to consolidate its holdings, as per sources familiar with the development. Sequoia has sold its 1.5% ownership in Snapdeal along with small stakes in payments platform Pine Labs, health insurer Star Health and India Shelter Finance Corporation, besides fully exiting mobile handset maker Micromax and legal process outsourcing firm UnitedLex, sources said.
Read More3. The Union Cabinet, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, approved the establishment $1.4 billion (INR 10, 000 Cr) corpus of ‘Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in June 2016. This fund was sanctioned for contribution to various Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). A recent report released by DIPP and SIDBI states that the Government of India released the first tranche of about $77 Mn (INR 500 Cr) on March 30, 2016 and a second tranche of about $15.4 Mn (INR 100 Cr) on March 10, 2017.
Read More4. Mumbai-based foodtech startup Holachef has raised $5 Mn (about INR 32 Cr) in its extended Series B round of funding led by Kalaari Capital. The round also saw participation from SIDBI Venture Capital and India Quotient. The round was completed in two tranches – in April 2016 and October 2016, and values the startup at around $22 Mn. The startup will deploy the raised funds to strengthen its logistics capabilities to streamline delivery process. The startup is also opening its first customer-facing offline kiosk in Mumbai, as per the above mentioned report.
Read More5. Private equity firm Creador, which focuses on South and Southeast Asia, has fully exited its more than three-year-old investment in Somany Ceramics Ltd, it said in a statement.
Read More6. Massive Restaurants Pvt. Ltd, which operates fine and casual dining chains Masala Library and Farzi Cafe, is in an advanced stage of discussions with private equity investors to raise its second round of funding.
Read More7. The government raised Rs 1,200 crore ($186 million) by selling a 9.2% stake in state-run National Aluminium Co (Nalco), in the first asset sale in the new financial year. The government now owns a 65.37% stake in the aluminium maker.
Read More8. Diversified financial services firm Edelweiss Group on Thursday announced the appointment of Ashish Kehair as deputy chief executive officer of its global asset and wealth management arm.
Read More9. Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail Ltd said on Thursday it will merge its home furnishing brand HomeTown with its online furniture store FabFurnish.com to sharpen focus on its core food and apparel retail businesses. HomeTown and FabFurnish will be merged into a separate company called Praxis Home Retail Pvt. Ltd, which will be publicly listed, Future Retail said in a stock-exchange filing.
Read More10. Video-based social platform VideoKen has received $1 million from a group of angel investors. Flipkart’s chief technology officer Ravi Garikipati, former product head Surot Chatterjee and former engineering head Ashish Agrawal invested in the company. LG Chandrasekhar, chairman of Sutures India, and Sashi Reddi, partner at US-based SRI Capital LLC, also took part in the round. Besides, some unnamed high-net-worth individuals based in the US and Hong Kong also put in money.
Read More11. Fashion discovery platform Wooplr Technologies Pvt. Ltd has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ankit Nagori, co-founder of healthcare start-up CureFit and former chief business officer at Flipkart Ltd. Nagori will join Wooplr’s board following the investment. The latest capital infusion comes barely two months after Wooplr raised $8 million in a funding round led by Sistema Asia Fund. Amereus Group, and existing investor Helion Ventures also participated in the round.
Read More12. Media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises is in advanced talks to acquire PE fund New Silk Route-owned 9X Media Pvt Ltd broadcast network that runs Hindi and regional music channels. Sources did not disclose any likely valuation for the proposed deal, but a media analyst said the `right valuation' for Zee could be less than `. 220 crore that Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) had agreed to shell out for 9X Media last year, before the talks fell through.
Read More13. The Nagarathar community of South India is planning to launch a Rs 500 crore ($77 million) fund to revive entrepreneurship among the community. The decision was taken at the International Business Conference of Nagarathars held in the United Arab Emirates this week. The conference is held every two years to inspire and empower the growing Nagarathar business community.
Read More14. Chandigarh-based Jugnoo has launched AskLocal – a geo-location based, hyper-local content platform for users, where they can access locally relevant information. The feature will be Geo-location based, allowing users to view local feeds for their city. It is part of the bouquet of hyperlocal services offered by Jugnoo that includes Rides, Meals, Fresh, and Menus.
Read More 15. Digital offline platform ShopX has entered into a strategic tie-up with PUMA, which would help the German sportswear firm scale up its footwear business in tier II markets.
Read More16. Online payment and commerce company Paytm said that its movie ticketing business launched in March last year has crossed gross merchandise value of Rs 400 crore, as it sought to take on market leader BookMyshow.
Read More17. Delhi-based IoTrek Technology Pvt. Ltd, which provides industrial Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for telecommunications, energy and solar grid management, has secured $154,000 (Rs 1 crore) in seed funding from a consumer goods maker, a top company executive said.
The startup will use the funds, raised in November last year, to develop its product, build the team, and scale up operations.
Read More18. In keeping with the startup frenzy taking over India, the Tamil Nadu state government is also keen to promote entrepreneurial projects in the
state. Recently, the state government revealed plans to set up a $77.4 Mn (INR 500 Cr) venture capital fund to boost the startup ecosystem in the state, reported Hindu Business Line. The fund is proposed to be run with the help of industry experts.
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Sujata is an engineering graduate and has done her Post Graduation in Human Resource Management. She has a deep interest in startups & technology.
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