#TodayDeals: Flipkart to Invest Heavily in Its Fashion Vertical This Year & More

Below is a list of deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem today. Read a brief description about all of them:

1. Digital payments network Visa is close to investing over $250 million into Mumbai-based payments gateway BillDesk, valuing the company at around $1.5-2 billion, reported ET.

2. Aahaa Stores, an integrated procurement services provider for office supplies, raised $2 million (Rs 13.5 crore) from UAE-based global investment group Calega.

3. Flipkart will invest heavily in its fashion vertical this year as the company wants to tap customers from every niche segment in the $100B overall fashion market in India.

4. WhatsApp is working on setting up a 24-hour customer support for users of its payments services that is expected to be rolled out in India in the coming weeks. 

5. Paytm has announced to offer life insurance cover to eligible offline partner stores and their staff that accept digital payments.

6. California and Chennai-based Freshworks, a customer engagement software maker, has crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

7. After getting approval from the government to open Internet telephony in India last month, telecom company Vodafone might be the first service provider in India as it is already offering similar service in markets like the UK and Australia.

8. China’s Meituan-Dianping, an online food delivery-to-ticketing services platform, filed for a Hong Kong IPO on Monday, and aims to raise more than $4 billion, reported VCCircle.

9. Singapore state investment firm Temasek is close to announcing a $250-million investment in UST Global,  the California-based IT services firm with significant India operations, reported DealStreetAsia.

10. Morgan Stanley has raised close to $300 million in commitments for its India-focused infrastructure fund and is expected to make a formal first close soon, as per DealStreetAsia report.

11. Fintech startup Sqrrl which runs a DIY investment app, has raised $1 million from Equanimity Venture Fund. 

12. Reliance Group has announced an expansion into ecommerce with an app that will serve millions of Indian kirana or small, neighbourhood stores, reported FactorDaily. The company is already piloting the app with 5,000 kirana stores in Mumbai and Ahmedabad and nationwide launch is expected by the end of this year.  

13. Aavishkaar and Asha Impact have invested Rs. 44 crore in Nepra Resource Management Private Limited, an Ahmedabad-based waste aggregation and processing company that operates under the ‘Let’s Recycle’ brand.

14. Online insurance startup PolicyBazaar has raised more than $200 Mn in a new investment round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund.

15. Amazon-run membership program Amazon Prime is now available on a monthly basis at Rs 129. 

16. Zomato has added a new feature on its app that allows customers to give a ‘tip’ to the delivery executive. 

17. Chennai-based digital payments startup dedicated to serving the needs of the alcohol beverage industry HipBar has raised an investment of $3.96M (Rs 270M) from beverage alcohol company Diageo India.

18. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) is looking to ramp up its Asia presence and is planning to set up an office in Singapore, its second overseas location after London, reported VCCircle. 

19. The Tamil Nadu government is all set to come out with its startup policy in the next three months. At the same time, the Nadu government will also launch ‘Innovation voucher scheme’ to promote startups. 

20. Hero Cycles Ltd, a unit of Hero Motors Co., will develop an entire ecosystem to manufacture bicycles in Punjab with an investment of Rs 250 crore, reported LiveMint.