Startups

Qualcomm India on Monday announced a collaboration with Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) to support 8 selected women-founded technology startups in the country.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in India has changed its rules relating to angel tax, a development expected to ease foreign investment and benefit the troubled startup industry. Among other things, the regulation now allows for price matching for resident and non-resident investors with reference to investments by venture capital funds. Five additional valuation methods have been added to the existing discounted cash flow and net asset value methods for resident investors. Karthik Reddy, chairperson of IVCA and managing partner of Blume Ventures, called it an 'inclusive' approach that will help generate ongoing investment in India.

PhonePe secured an additional USD 100 million investment from General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, as part of its ongoing fundraise. With this latest primary infusion from General Atlantic, PhonePe has now raised a total of USD 850 million of primary capital in the current round. Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and TVS Capital Funds have also invested during the current funding round of the company.

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Macquarie Capital has invested $100m for an undisclosed stake inIndian start-up, CloudExtel. CloudExtel offers network as a service (Naas) and telecoms infrastructure services to a range of customers.These include FTTH, small cell hosting and virtualised networks, among other things. CloudExtel has laid over 4,000 kilometres of fibre across various cites, and added 4,000 small cell sites across 325 cities and towns. The company has grown at a revenue compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) over 5 years, with a positive EBITDA.

Greenkin, a Mumbai-based startup, offers a delightful collection of exotic indoor plants in handcrafted pots and planters. Founded by husband-wife duo, Abhilash and Ritika, Greenkin aims to bring natural decor to Indian homes with locally made products.

Matrimony super app Betterhalf on Monday said it will expand the leadership team and increase the current headcount of 150 employees to 250.

Bengaluru-based early stage venture capital firm, 3one4 Capital, on Monday said it has closed its fourth early-stage fund (sixth fund overall) at $200 million (about Rs 1,600 crore).

Meesho, a social commerce platform based in India, has laid off 15% of its workforce – 251 employees – to "achieve sustained profitability". The decision was taken "to work with a leaner organisational structure," and the company has pledged to provide those affected with a severance package, job placement support and continued insurance benefits. Last year, Meesho closed its grocery business, Superstore, leaving 300 employees redundant.

BharatPe Group has acquired a controlling stake in Mumbai-based NBFC Trillion Loans, a provider of secured and unsecured loans to SMEs along with offering small business and working capital loans, auto, gold, and education loans to consumers. Trillion Loans will operate as an independent entity and seek partnerships with other fintechs. The acquisition deal will see BharatPe's advisor, CFO and head of the banking vertical on Trillion Loans' board. The deal is aimed at facilitating access to capital to underserved and unbanked businesses and customers, said Shashvat Nakrani, founder and COO, BharatPe.

Bengaluru-based electric vehicle (EV) financing platform Ohm Mobility has announced that it has raised ₹3 crore in a pre-seed funding round. The round was led by Antler India, an early-stage venture capital firm, marking the firm's first investment in the EV space in India. The pre-seed funding round also saw participation from Blume Founders Fund and other prominent angels such as Sagar Gubbi, Anshuman Bapna, Mathew Chako, and Karishma Menon. Catalyst Fund and angel investors like Kunal Shah back the company.

Indian edtech firm Physics Wallah has invested INR82 crore ($10m) to develop 50 offline "Vidyapeeth Centres" providing access to smart classrooms with around 15 hours of daily learning support. The tech-integrated classrooms offer video quizzes, regular problem solving and homework, while PW also said that all lectures would be uploaded to its app. The company has already built 11 Vidyapeeth centres in cities across India, and the move aims to extend the accessibility of education into rural areas, helping families avoid the high costs of sending children to be educated in cities or at independent institutions.

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has searched the Bengaluru-located office and residential premises of Edtech...

Bangalore-based Niro has completed its Series A funding round, raising $11m to expand its platform, engage more partners and improve risk analytics. The funding includes $8.5m in equity, from investors including Elevar Equity, Rebright Partners, and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance VC, as well as $2.5m in venture debt funding from Innoven Capital. Niro provides consumer internet platforms with credit and financial products for their customers, tailoring solutions to fit their particular requirements. Its partner companies include Snapdeal and Quikr, and it has disbursed over $40m of loans to date.

Serum Institute of Life Sciences had invested $150 million in Biocon Biologics in November 2022. As per their new arrangemen...

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The Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2023 is now out, stating that there are 1,361 unicorns in the world, with an addition of 303 unicorns in the last year...

India retains the third place among the countries with the most number of unicorns. Most unicorns came from fintech, SaaS, e...

HDFC Capital Advisors will increase its stake in proptech startup Loyalie IT Solutions (now renamed as Reloy) to up to 9.6 per cent from 7.2 per cent currently, amid surge in adoption of technologies in Indian real estate market.

Zomato is in the news for its efforts to control costs and achieve breakeven – it’s increasing the commission it charges its restaurant partners, while reducing the fee it pays to its delivery partners. The latter has got Zomato in trouble, with its delivery partners in the Delhi-NCR region going on strike since the last one week.

Private equity investments in India fell by 75% YoY to $2.2bn in Q1 2023, according to a Refinitiv report. This marks the sixth consecutive quarterly subscriber for the sector amid macroeconomic headwinds. Computer software and consumer-related industries attracted the most investment while fund raising declined year-on-year by 41% and sequentially by 45%. Although the country's start-up scene is considered an attractive destination for investments, resulting uncertainty has led to fewer deals being made.

In Q1 2023, Indian startups raised a total of $2.8 billion, which is 75% lower compared to the same period in the previous y...