#TodayDeals: Global Pension Funds Eye Deals in Solar Power; Trifecta Capital to Close its Maiden Fund & More

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. Diversified Avendus’ hedge fund crosses $78 million in assets under management. The group backed by private equity major Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co Ltd (KKR), is in news as their assets have reached a big number in just two-and-a-half months after launching its first equity long-short alternative investment fund (AIF).

2. International Finance Corporation is all set to invest $10 million in B2B firm Power2SME. The private-sector investment arm (IFC) belongs to the World Bank. Gurgaon-based BEBB India Pvt Ltd, which runs Power2SME,was founded by R Narayan in January 2012 with a seed capital of Rs 2 crore, and it started operations in July that year. The company had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Infosys co-founder and former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani with participation from existing investors in January 2016.

3. Global pension funds eye deals in solar power, seeking long term returns on green investments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is targeting $100 billion investment in the next five years. These global players include names like including Canada's top pension fund managers — Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), and Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan (OTPP).

4. Venture debt provider Trifecta Capital expects to hit the final close of its maiden fund. Its  Fund I is locked at around Rs500 crore by the end of this quarter. The news is coming after almost two-and-a half year of their previous round of fundraising. Trifecta was founded by Rahul Khanna and Nilesh Kothari. In the last 18 months, Trifecta has lent Rs300 crore to 21 start-ups, including well-known names such as BigBasket, UrbanClap, Urban Ladder and Rivigo.

5. Crowd-funding platform GlobalGiving enters India via Impact Guru tie-up. ​Impact Guru will integrate the partner’s tech capabilities into its own platform, allowing Indian NGOs to offer tax benefits to donors in the US and the UK, especially non-resident Indians and people of Indian origin. Over a five-year period, Impact Guru expects its tie-up with Global-Giving to help raise a minimum of Rs 200 crore. As much as 15 per cent of this is expected to come in as their revenue.

6. Payments company ItzCash turned profitable in 2016-17, according to managing director Naveen Surya. The Mumbai-based company made close to Rs 250 crore in revenue across all its businesses, a nearly 40% jump over the revenue of about Rs 180 crore in the previous fiscal. ItzCash's chief growth officer Bhavik Vasa said the 10-year-old company had broken even in 2010, but it only had prepaid card and wallet products then.

7. Canadian private equity investment group Clairvest has led a $73.7 million round of investment in Hyderabad-based Head InfoTech India Private Limited, which runs Ace2Three, an online skill-based gaming platform. Clairvest’s portion of the investment will be around $4 million. Matrix Partners also invested in Ace2Three, an investment it made in 2010. Ace2Three is a gaming website which specializes in Indian Rummy and claims that it has eight million customers at the moment.

8. Odisha State Government Launches Web Portal For Startups, in line with PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Startup India, Standup India’ initiative. Several states have launched their Startup Policy in the last two years. Odisha is the new rising star among these governments. After announcing its startup policy in August 2016, this step has been widely welcomed.