Sicap Bets Big on Indian Telecom Market; Opens Global R&D Centre in Kolkata

Sicap, a Switzerland based global mobile network software solutions provider announces the opening of a Global Development and Support Centre (GDSC) in Kolkata. This announcement is a part of the company’s expansion plan in Indian market, which is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world.

Sicap international teams are working closely in 9 locations including India to ensure excellent customer service worldwide. Through this GDSC, Sicap would be able to provide its customers solution customization, software support and state-of-the-art solution development and deliveries across the globe.

Sicap is on an expansion spree in India with a highly focussed approach to strengthen its partner relationships through business outreach and talent acquisition. The focus on hiring the local pool of talent will serve as a catalyst to accelerate the exponential growth of business across the globe. Recently, Deepak Mahajan has been appointed as Executive Director for India & South Asia who is responsible to identify and drive new business opportunities, reshape client experience and solidify the company’s position in India & Asia region with his extensive industry experience.

“India is a high growth-opportunity market for Sicap and our expansion plans for increasing our capacity of talent and new innovative solutions reflect the long term commitment and great partnerships Sicap has built in the Indian region. The primary focus of the Global Development and Support Centre is to source local talent and unleash innovation, ensuring proximity to our customers by understanding the needs and environment they are operating in,” said Markus Doetsch, CEO, Sicap Group.

India is the fastest growing mobile broadband market in the world necessitating constant innovations to keep up with the growing needs of the operators and their customers. In order to monetize, manage and secure mobile businesses, Sicap offers four main Products & Solutions, including Customer Insight and Engagement – TargetMe, Device and SIM Management, Security Solutions, and IoT Service Enablement, among others.

According to a report by leading research firm Market Research Store, the Indian telecommunication services market will likely grow by 10.3 per cent year-on-year to reach US$ 103.9 billion by 2020.

The highly innovative and cutting-edge Sicap solution- TargetMe combines real-time customer data analytics and automated, context-aware customer engagement automation tools into a simple cloud-based solution for mobile service providers. The market leading Contextual Customer Engagement Solution TargetMe, now proven by 10 mobile service providers, enables its customers to promote, sell and activate services as an automated, context-aware and real-time process.

TargetMe is available in two modes-Customer Data Insight and Segmentation and Customer Engagement Automation.

Fashion Retailer Splash India Appoints Abhinav Zutshi as COO

Splash Fashions, Middle East’s largest fast- fashion retailer has announced the appointment of Abhinav Zutshi as the new COO for Splash India. With over 15 years of experience in Retail, Distribution, Buying, Merchandising, Brand Management, Zutshi will drive the growth and expansion of the brand operations across the country. With his strategic skills and deep understanding of customer insights, he will launch initiatives to deliver superior brand and customer experiences across all consumer touch points.

A veteran of the retail industry, Zutshi has held various leadership positions and has worked extensively with several retail brands like Forever 21, Jack & Jones, Ed Hardy, Adolfo Dominguez, amongst others. Zutshi’s business acumen, creative ingenuity, commercial understanding and vast experience of leading lifestyle brands will aid Splash’s global vision in India.

Speaking on the announcement, Raza Beig, CEO at Splash & ICONIC, Director, Landmark Group, “we see a huge opportunity for Splash in India and we believe that under the strategic leadership of Abhinav we will swiftly move into expansion & growth.”

On the announcement of his appointment at Splash, Abhinav Zutshi said, “I am very excited to work with a phenomenal brand like Splash and hope to replicate its stupendous success in the Indian market as well. The brand is known for diversity of products in the fashion league and I hope to leverage its popularity here. I also hope to contribute to its growth story in this fast-changing consumer and retail environment.”

Criconet, a New Social Website for Cricket Lovers, Launched in India

Selectronic India today announced the launch of its new website - Criconet that aims to unite cricket enthusiasts and fans around the world. Criconet, still in its BETA version, is a social networking site for cricket lovers, where cricket aficionados can exchange messages, ideas, update their cricketing status, ask cricketing questions, as well as upload cricketing pictures and videos. The site can be used for exchange of information, as well as a learning and coaching platform.

In addition, the site has a unique, easy to play cricket game that is played with dice. Here all players are equal. One can play online with a friend or against a computer/smart phone. Leveraging Criconet’s global reach, users can find, buy, sell and even exchange match tickets with other members.

During a talk at the launch of the site, Veer Sagar, Founder, Criconet said, “Cricket is a leading global sport that captivates and inspires people of every age, gender, background and has the ability to build bridges between continents, countries and communities. Our aim is to provide an enhanced international platform that will facilitate increased interaction between die-hard cricket fans.”

The Criconet digital platform has an instant messaging service along with multiple forums and chat rooms. It allows users to create fans clubs, participate in cricket-related polling, sell and exchange treasures, upload photos and videos and even seek expert advice from coaches around the globe. Criconet is presently in talks with numerous tech / sports investors for rolling out the property on an international basis.

Silicon Valley Based Tech Entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal Invests In Leadsquared

Jyoti Bansal, a Silicon Valley-based tech entrepreneur has invested an undisclosed amount in Leadsquared, a sales execution and marketing automation platform.

Not only this, he is also in process of closing a second investment in FundsTiger, a SME lending fintech player. Company plans to utilise funds towards sales and marketing on the product.

Commenting on the development, Nilesh Patel, co-founder, Leadsquared said, “The funds raised will be deployed towards sales and marketing, as well as on the innovation front for our product. As of now 80% of our business is in India and 1520% of our business is outside India, having Jyoti's expert advice on board it will be easier to go deeper into the North American market too.

Founded in 2011, Leadsquared focuses on providing marketing automation and CRM software to businesses to help organise lead capture, sales management, analytics.

Earlier in January 2017, Jyoti had sold his performance management firm AppDynamics to Cisco for $3.7 billion. It was then reported that a portion of Bansal's 14% stake in AppDynamics would be invested in startups in India and the Silicon Valley, with a specific focus on B2B startups.

Silicon Valley Based Tech Entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal Invests In Leadsquared

Jyoti Bansal, a Silicon Valley-based tech entrepreneur has invested an undisclosed amount in Leadsquared, a sales execution and marketing automation platform.

Not only this, he is also in process of closing a second investment in FundsTiger, a SME lending fintech player. Company plans to utilise funds towards sales and marketing on the product.

Commenting on the development, Nilesh Patel, co-founder, Leadsquared said, “The funds raised will be deployed towards sales and marketing, as well as on the innovation front for our product. As of now 80% of our business is in India and 1520% of our business is outside India, having Jyoti's expert advice on board it will be easier to go deeper into the North American market too.

Founded in 2011, Leadsquared focuses on providing marketing automation and CRM software to businesses to help organise lead capture, sales management, analytics.

Earlier in January 2017, Jyoti had sold his performance management firm AppDynamics to Cisco for $3.7 billion. It was then reported that a portion of Bansal's 14% stake in AppDynamics would be invested in startups in India and the Silicon Valley, with a specific focus on B2B startups.

BOB, Times Internet In Talks To Acquire Jasper Infotech's E-wallet FreeCharge

Jasper Infotech-owned digital wallet FreeCharge is in talks with Bank of Baroda (BOB) and Times Internet for an all-cash acquisition. According to a report, the deal size is expected to be in the range of $60 - $75 million. This deal will allow BOB to expand its mobile wallet service, M-Clip which was launched last year and also to get access to millions of young customers FreeCharge has on its platform

Whereas with this deal Times Internet looks to add the wallet service to its online ventures like as Indiatimes Shopping and Gaana to name few.

Prior to this, it was reported that both Paytm and MobiKwik are also in talks for the FreeCharge acquisition. While Paytm has already signed a non-exclusive term sheet with FreeCharge at an expected deal value of $45 – $90 million, MobiKwik deal has still not moved beyond speculation.

Founded in 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal in April 2015 for $450 million which is currently valued at less than 80%. Not only this, recently it also received an investment of $3.38 million from Jasper Infotech.

Company backed by investors such as Valiant Capital Management, Tybourne Capital Management, and Sequoia Capital had secured total of $177.65 million in six rounds of funding including the funds infused by its parent company.

These acquisition talks have come into picture at a time when parent company Snapdeal is already on the verge of finalizing a merger deal with it rival firm Flipkart.

BOB, Times Internet In Talks To Acquire Jasper Infotech's E-wallet FreeCharge

Jasper Infotech-owned digital wallet FreeCharge is in talks with Bank of Baroda (BOB) and Times Internet for an all-cash acquisition. According to a report, the deal size is expected to be in the range of $60 - $75 million. This deal will allow BOB to expand its mobile wallet service, M-Clip which was launched last year and also to get access to millions of young customers FreeCharge has on its platform

Whereas with this deal Times Internet looks to add the wallet service to its online ventures like as Indiatimes Shopping and Gaana to name few.

Prior to this, it was reported that both Paytm and MobiKwik are also in talks for the FreeCharge acquisition. While Paytm has already signed a non-exclusive term sheet with FreeCharge at an expected deal value of $45 – $90 million, MobiKwik deal has still not moved beyond speculation.

Founded in 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal in April 2015 for $450 million which is currently valued at less than 80%. Not only this, recently it also received an investment of $3.38 million from Jasper Infotech.

Company backed by investors such as Valiant Capital Management, Tybourne Capital Management, and Sequoia Capital had secured total of $177.65 million in six rounds of funding including the funds infused by its parent company.

These acquisition talks have come into picture at a time when parent company Snapdeal is already on the verge of finalizing a merger deal with it rival firm Flipkart.

Mumbai Based Niyogin Fintech Raises $36M in Funding

Niyogin Fintech Limited (earlier known as M3 Global Finance Limited) announced the intention to raise upto Rs 235 crore ($36M) by preferential issue of shares to a group of marquee investors. Equirus Capital acted as the sole financial advisor to the Company for the transaction.

Niyogin Fintech is a Mumbai based new age technology led NBFC which is engaged in loan disbursement and investments. The current promoters had acquired the Company late last year and post that have made sweeping changes to the Company including:

• Infusion of over Rs 400 million through issue of convertible securities to Promoters and non promoters
• Revamping the board of directors and management team by induction of senior managers from leading financial institutions
• Entering into partnerships with technology providers for a robust platform
• Integrating with a pan-India network of partners for distribution and monitoring of credit

Referring to the fund raising, Amit Rajpal – Chairman of the Company re-iterated that Niyogin is being retooled as a new age technology based NBFC which will leverage on technology for reaching out to relatively less penetrated parts of the country and will focus on SME/ MSME segments which remain underserved in terms of availability of credit and a range of other financial products.

Key Transaction Highlights:

1. The proposed preferential issue witnessed demand from marquee investors including Ward Ferry, Lucky Investment Managers, Sabre Capital, Alchemy Capital and Alchemy India Long Term Fund amongst others.

2. The transaction is proposed to be priced at a significant premium to the last round of fund raising as well as the prevailing market price of the Company

3. Once completed, the shares issued under the proposed transaction will constitute >50% of the fully diluted capital of the Company and will have a well diversified shareholding with promoters holding less than 40% of the Company on a fully diluted basis.

4. Equirus Capital acted as the sole financial advisor to the transaction.

India Ranked 3rd in Countries With Most Unicorns, and More

According to a new market map by CB Insights, there are 197 companies in the world that can be currently identified as "unicorns" as they have earned a valuation of $1 billion and above. Of these 197, 22 new unicorns were added this year (till 26/05/17) alone signalling a good time for the Global Startup Industry. The map also highlighted that India with 4 per cent of the world's unicorns based out of its land, is ranked 3rd in countries with most unicorns.

The unicorns, which are collectively valued at a jaw-dropping $679 billion and have raised a whopping $142 billion in funding, belong to 13 verticals, which includes: E-Commerce/Marketplace, Internet Software & Services, FinTech, Social, Cybersecurity, On-Demand, Big Data, Healthcare, Media, Hardware, Mobile Software & Services, Real Estate and Other. The other category includes companies functioning within AR/VR, ed tech, and aerospace categories, among others.

Top 3 Sectors For Unicorns

According to CB Insights' map, the top three most crowded markets for unicorns are: e-commerce (17 per cent), internet software & services (14 per cent) and fintech (11 per cent).

The most valuable company in the e-commerce/marketplace category is Airbnb ($29B), while Infor and Dropbox are the two most valuable companies operating in internet software & services, worth $10B and $9.4B, respectively. China’s Lu.com ($18.5B) is the most valuable private fintech company, followed by Stripe ($9.2B).

Having 54 per cent of the world's unicorn based out of its land, United States acquires the number one rank on the list of countries with most unicorns. It is followed by China for the second spot with 23 per cent of the world's unicorns. India shares the third spot with the United Kingdom with each having 4 per cent share out of the total 197 unicorns. Germany and South Korea with 2 per cent each take the fourth spot. The map also highlights the fact that no other country in the world except the ones mentioned above have three or more private companies with a valuation of at least $1 billion.

According to map, the world's Top 5 Global Unicorns are:

1. Uber- With a valuation of $68 billion, the US-based ride-hailing superpower acquires the number one spot. The company, which is currently locked in a leadership battle with homegrown Olacabs in India is the most valuable private company in the world.

2. Didi Chuxing- With a valuation of $50 billion, China's ride-hailing startup Didi, which rose to worldwide fame last year for driving out ride-hailing superpower Uber from its country, became Asia's most valuable startup this year in April when it raised more than $5.5 billion from investors, scoring the single largest round of funding on record to bankroll an expansion beyond China and into driver-less technology.

3. Xiaomi- With a valuation of $46 billion, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi occupies the number third spot on the Top 5 Unicorns list.

4. Airbnb- With a valuation of $29 billion, the app and website that connects people seeking lodging with renters who have listed their personal houses, apartments, guest rooms, etc., on either platform, appears fourth on the list.

5. Palantir Technologies- With a valuation of $20 billion, the Silicon Valley-based data company co-founded by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, acquires the fifth place on the list. The startup has earned an almost mythical reputation for its work building tools for the U.S. intelligence community.

Time to Welcome The ‘Decacorns’

For the uninitiated, a decacorn is a company with a valuation of at least $10 billion. Currently, there are fifteen private companies in the world that (7.6% of the global unicorns) can be identified as decacorns and have a valuation of at least $10 billion. Currently, India's homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart with a valuation of $10 billion is the only Indian startup in the top 15 decacorns list.

Flipkart’s COO Nitin Seth Resigns

Flipkart is again in news but this time it is not about the Snapdeal merger. Flipkart, homegrown e-commerce giant in going through a setback as it’s one of the top ranking executives, Nitin Seth has put in his papers. Serving as Flipkart chief operating officer, Seth was in charge of logistics unit Ekart besides corporate functions like strategy and human resources (HR).

Nitin’s exit will put CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy in charge of all the key functions of the organisation which will further tighten the grip the former Tiger Global Management executive.

Prior joining Flipkart, Nitin worked as the MD and country head for Fidelity Internationa. Before that he led McKinsey’s global knowledge center in India for 8 years.

Nitin joined in February 2016 as chief people officer. In middle of 2016, he was first elevated to Chief Administrative Officer, putting him in charge of strategy and corporate functions. Nitin was finally given the title of COO in January, when Krishnamaurthy took over as Flipkart CEO from Binny Bansal, who took over as group CEO. Nitin was reporting to Krishnamurthy.

Nitin’s additional responsibilities include heading Ekart and customer experience, besides existing responsibilities.

Flipkart is also now separately looking to hire an HR head, but it is not clear if it will hire a new head for Ekart.

Mobile Broadcasting App BIGO LIVE Increases Focus on India Market

In a bid to capture India’s fast-increasing mobile Internet user base, BIGO LIVE, a mobile broadcasting app, organized its first-ever broadcasters meet-up in India recently. BIGO LIVE, through real-time interaction and video streaming, allows users to live broadcast their talent and connect with their fans and other talented broadcasters as well as follow interesting broadcasters. The company also announced the introduction of VLOG, a Video recording feature on its app at the India meet-up in Delhi. BIGO LIVE boasts of over 100 mn registered users globally.

BIGO allows users to watch live broadcasting anytime, anywhere and engage with the audience via live sessions. The platform gives a chance to live stream the performances, broadcast what you are good at and let people enjoy based on the core values of integrity, innovation, proactiveness and openness. The company plans to build a stage for dreamers to pursue their dreams, for people to make friends at home and abroad; and to build a platform where hobbies are aligned with careers, to record and share interesting moments with friends.

Talking on his maiden visit to India, Eric Liu, Senior Director, BIGO Technology Pte Ltd said, “We aim to build a BIGO community in the world by providing a platform for the young & fashion conscious to come together and share their interests. BIGO LIVE has attracted millions of social media-savvy millennials across the globe since its launch in March 2016. We already have strong presence in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, Middle East, Malaysia, America and we aspire to reach out to more countries in future. We are confident that our app will be able to capture the imagination of the young and trendy in India as well.”

India’s Famous and most awarded Radio Jockey Khurafati Nitin was also present at the event as the Guest of Honor for the evening. In his speech Khurafati Nitin said, “There is a lot of potential in the Bigo Live app and I foresee it to be one of the prominent emerging social networking and internet platforms in the future.” “BIGO Live is fun, entertaining and keeps me hooked. I already have few favorites on the app and am myself planning to start going live soon on BIGO Live,” he added.

The very first meetup of BIGO LIVE got 100+ Broadcasters, Internet sensation and new age media’s presence at the venue. Some BIGO broadcasters travelled ten hoursto participate inthe very first BIGOLLYWOOD NIGHT. Opening his heart out one of the broadcaster Mr. Vibhu, a lawyer by profession stated“Bigo Live has provided me with a platform to showcase my talent to the world and I enjoy broadcasting for more than three hours every day on Bigo Live.”

Another broadcaster duo of siblings Gaurav and Twinkle shared, “We have been addicted to the Bigo Live app and enjoy showcasing our singing talent on this wonderful platform. Despite being from a small town in Himachal we are now able to connect and showcase our talent to the entire world.”

Broadcasters can earn virtual gifts and bonus points that can be exchanged for rewards on the app. Bigo Live enables you to engage in Real-time Interaction via Mobile streaming with your audience and chat with your favorite broadcasters while you are watching Live broadcastings anytime and anywhere.

Hyperlocal Discovery Startup MagicPin Raises $7 Mn In Series B Funding

Hyperlocal discovery startup MagicPin has secured $7 million in Series B round from existing investor Lightspeed India Partners and Waterbridge Ventures.

Current round also saw the participation of $15 million venture fund floated by private equity veteran Manish Kheterpal and two global family offices, Srivatsan Rajan, Chairman of Bain and Co India, and Sahil Barua, CEO of logistics company Delhivery. Earlier, Startup had raised $3 million in Series A from Lightspeed India Partners.

Commenting on the development, Bejul Somaia, MD, Lightspeed India Partners, said, "The vast majority of commerce is, and will continue to be, transacted offline. MagicPin’s metrics reflect early but exceptional success in capturing smartphone-wielding users and directing their offline spend to participating merchants.”

Currently present in Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, MagicPin uses location intelligence to deliver discover, recommendations and rewards for local experiences. It is the social network for local experiences.

Within three months of its launch in Delhi/NCR, Gurgaon-based startup MagicPin claimed to have signed up 150K active users and have covered 30K merchants across Delhi NCR region, Bengaluru, and Jaipur.

According to MagicPin CEO, Anshoo Sharma, the key differentiator for them is that it allows people to share their experience about a place they went to with a post and a picture.

After Slowdown in 2016, Tech Funding Shoots Up in India

2016 proved to be quite a forgettable year for the Indian startup industry with fundings running dry forcing many startups to shut their shops unexpectedly. But, according to a recent report by data intelligence platform CB Insights, things are finally looking good for the industry.

According to CB Insights' ‘Asia Tech Investment Report,' venture capital funding in Asia is finally showing an upward trend after a sorry performance in 2016. In addition to this, the report also revealed that technology funding in the Indian subcontinent has also shown a significant growth from last year.

The report has highlighted that since the year 2012, a whopping $106 billion have been invested across 5,019 deals. Further, as far as 2017 is concerned, the year has seen a figure of $19.3 billion of venture capital being pumped into Asian-headquartered tech companies across 458 deals year-to-date. This means, if the deals are able to maintain the current run-rate, they are on track to increase by 14 per cent over the last year number, while funding is expected to on grow by an impressive 132 per cent.

Here are some important takeaways for India from the CB Insights Report:

Tech funding Increases in Value In India

According to the report put together by CB Insights, while India-headquartered tech companies clocked nine fewer financings compared to what they did in Q4'16, but the total capital invested in the quarter jumped by a whopping 550%.

Some of the major financings that took place in the quarter included India's e-commerce giant Flipkart’s $1.4 billion Series J, homegrown ride-hailing giant Olacabs's $330 million Series H, and Paytm E-Commerce's $200 million Series A.

Early stage Deals Show A Downward Trend In India

The report highlighted that share of early-stage deals that primarily includes seed funding and Series A funding saw a downward trend throughout Q1 ’17. The overall figure decreased from 73 per cent of deal share to 59 per cent. However, other deals, including corporate minority, convertible and other forms of venture capital saw a 6 per cent increase from 10 per cent to 16 per cent.

Internet Deal-share Declines In India

Internet companies based out of the Indian subcontinent garnered 64 per cent of deal share in Q1'17, a figure which is 4 per cent lower than the figure in Q4'16. However, mobile and telecom deal-share rose from 20 per cent in Q3 ’16 to 31 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

India e-commerce funding Bounces Right Back On Track

By raising a jaw-dropping $1.4 billion in March from big names like Microsoft, eBay, and Tencent, Flipkart helped funding to India’s physical goods e-commerce startups increase from $948 million in 2016 to $1.75 billion in Q1'17.

Paytm Makes The Case For Fintech Funding In India

There is no denying the fact that VC-backed fintech investment in India initially saw a lacklustre performance in the first quarter this year, but Japan-based SoftBank's whopping $1.4 billion investment into Paytm parent company One97 Communications put the year 2017 right back on the track for a glorious year in Indian fintech funding.

Tencent and Alibaba Are Now Looking At India For Opportunities

According to the CB Insights report, Chinese companies like Tencent and Alibaba are now considering India as a favourable spot outside of its home country China. This is because Alibaba, its affiliate Ant Financial, and Tencent have already backed four of India’s private tech companies this year valued at more than $1 billion.

Food Startup MonkeyBox Signs an Agreement to Acquire Cold-Pressed Juice Manufacturer and Delivery Service, RawKing

MonkeyBox, a leader in delivering healthy and nutritious meals to school kids in Bengaluru, has signed an agreement to acquire Delhi-based cold-pressed juice manufacturer and delivery service, RawKing.

Launched in 2014, RawKing uses finest quality sourced produce and has multiple products focused on various health aspects including skin glow and detox. The acquisition aligns perfectly with MonkeyBox’s focused nutrition strategy, and its mission to make parents life easier, produce delicious food with less impact on the environment and promote healthy eating.

“We’re honoured to partner with such laser focused team at MonkeyBox in helping build better generation next,” says Navneet Misra, Co-Founder, RawKing.

“We are excited to bring RawKing’s products into the MonkeyBox family,” says Sanjay Rao, Co-founder of MonkeyBox. “Navneet’s strong focus towards quality has helped achieve a reputation from his customers, most of whom have signed up on a subscription model. We look forward to leveraging our joint understanding of food and kids preferences to integrate into our product offering and significantly grow the business.” Launched in June 2016 post trials in Bengaluru south, MonkeyBox has seen great traction across schools and has rolled out multiple clusters in the city.

RawKing’s mission, and its products, align with MonkeyBox’s vision to make kids eat healthy food and, complement its current portfolio of products.

Ashish Fafadia, Chief Financial Officer of Blume Ventures, which is an investor in MonkeyBox, says “This acquisition of RawKing will allow Monkeybox to expand the product offering while holding true to their values as they help kids to eat healthy and appreciate nutritious food.”

Chatur Ideas Announces A Contest To Showcase and Fund Your Startup Idea

In order to foster entrepreneurship, Chatur Ideas, a Mumbai based startup, is coming up with #BeAChatur contest Pan India. #BeAChatur Contest (launching on 1st June 2017) is an intensive 4 month business plan, for individuals and startups to evaluate their business ideas in the risk-free environment of a competition. Unlike other B-plan competitions, the uniqueness of this one comes from the fact that the first round qualification will be based on public voting (30%). Furthermore, the entrepreneurs will get an opportunity to raise real time funds upto Rs 1 crore in front of Indian and Silicon Valley Investors. Top 3 entries based on mentor score matrix will be awarded Rs 3,00,000, Rs 2,00,000 and Rs 1,00,000 separately.

In the last decade, metropolitan cities have witnessed immense growth in startup industry, while tier 2 and tier 3 cities still have a long way to go. Chatur Ideas through its #BeAChatur contest is providing an online platform to all, wherein aspiring entrepreneurs from even the smaller cities can be majorly benefited. Renowned people from the startup ecosystem like Miten Mehta, Umasankar Nistala, Amit Patel, Bhavin Shah, Ajeet Khurana, U T Rao and many more will be mentoring the business plans of the participants.

Previously Chatur Ideas through its network of 1500+ investors has helped close to 650+ startups. Some of the startups who have been benefited through them in the past are Hubilo, Market Pulse, Genietalk, Intuit things, Catapooolt, Healthfin, etc. #BeAChatur contest will primarily be online so there can be larger number of beneficiaries. All business plans will be given a feedback which will be followed by series of mentoring sessions from industry experts. The participants will go through multiple rounds; each qualifying round will take the best ones a step closer to present their business idea and raise funds for the same.

Mr. Devesh Chawla, Founder and CEO of Chatur Ideas quoted, “The idea behind initiating the contest is to reach out to aspiring entrepreneurs who have a business idea but lack the funds to pursue their vision. We also aim to help them up-skill their business plan by providing them a platform with intense mentorship program under the guidance of industry professionals. This competition offers them a chance to present their startup idea to Indian as well as Silicon Valley investors”

To participate in #BeAChatur Contest, one can visit Chatur Ideas website www.chaturideas.com and sign up for the contest. There will be a nominal online registrations fee of Rs 350/-. The contest is open to all with no restrictions to age or profession. The registration for the contest will go live on 1st June 2017. Top 50 contestants will meet industry pool of mentors and will get to discuss their business plan. The top 10 contestants will be announced in the month of September who will stand a chance to introduce their business plan to the investors.

About Chatur Ideas:

Chatur Ideas is one of India’s leading startup enabling platform (as recognized by BRICS International Forum). After acquiring Nurture Talent Academy (India’s first Institute for Entrepreneurs present across 125+ cities and trained more than 34,000 entrepreneurs), Chatur Ideas is training young entrepreneurs across Institutes and providing them access to its vast ecosystem so as to enrich the entrepreneurship culture right from foundation level. Along with helping startups in colleges, it supports mature startups in raising funds, providing social media support, receiving mentoring and assists them with a 360-degree execution support in building their ventures to the next level.

Bangalore based Cozee Homes Raises Rs. 1 Crore in Funding from HNIs

Bangalore based startup -- Cozee Homes, A Managed Home Rental Platform, has announced today that the company has raised Rs. 1 Crore in a seed round of financing from angel investors. The round led by Mr. Ramaswamy Varadharajan, ex-MD of Gulfspic, also saw participation from Mr. Naveen Kumar (Partner, MBM Constructions) and Mr. Balan (Udhayam group of hotels).

The company will use the money raised to continue its expansion into Bangalore and Chennai, as well as ramp up it’s offering for home owners and tenants.

Unlike classified websites which act as search portals, Cozee Homes has built an end-to-end offering which helps both owners and tenants with discovery, transaction, and post-transactional services.

Tenants who rent a Cozee Home are assured of a standardized experience during their tenancy including rent ready properties, 24 hour guaranteed resolution for home maintenance requests, online rent/deposit payment, and 24x7 customer support. Residents can also avail a suite of curated services including internet, rental furniture, home delivered dinner, home cleaning, etc. all of which enhances their experience during tenancy.

The company offers a property management based solution for landlords who sign up. “Most home owners live far away from their property and have trouble taking care of the same. Cozee Homes assists them with finding tenants, background verification and deal closure, rent/deposit payments, home maintenance, tenant management, and much more. It’s a holistic approach to solving the rental problem”, said Balaji V, Co-Founder and COO of Cozee Homes.
“The home rental market is poised to grow. With the real estate industry struggling with sale of inventory, most buyers are turning into renters”, said Ajay Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of Cozee Homes.

Home owners are charged 5-10% of the monthly rent (billed MoM) as a fee for management of the property, which is the core-revenue source for the company. Tenants pay a 1-time service fee when they move into a home, which is another revenue source. Founded in 2016, the platform currently manages 250 properties, and handled over Rs. 3Cr in gross rentals in the previous financial year. With 20% growth MoM, the company is confident of growing 5X in the current financial year.

Swiggy Raises $80M in Series E Funding Led by Naspers

Swiggy, Indian food ordering and delivery platform, announced today that it has raised $80 million in series-E funding. The deal was led by Naspers, a global internet and entertainment group, and one of the world’s largest technology investors, with earlier investors Accel India, SAIF Partners India, Bessemer Venture Partners, Harmony Partners and Norwest Venture Partners participating. Ashutosh Sharma, head of investments in India for Naspers will join the Swiggy board.

The new funds will propel the next phase of Swiggy’s growth by introducing a suite of new product and service offerings to enhance its superlative customer experience. Swiggy also announced plans to double its technology headcount and increase investments across core engineering, automation, data sciences, machine learning and personalisation.

This investment demonstrates Naspers’ commitment to Swiggy retaining its leadership position in food ordering and delivery across India. Adding to this, Ashutosh Sharma, head of investments in India, Naspers said “Swiggy has shown impressive growth in a highly competitive market. Naspers was attracted to the company’s exceptional execution in disrupting online food ordering and delivery in India while many players are struggling. Their ability to create a sustainable business, earning consumer trust through a reliable first-party delivery technology, positions them well for success.”

Swiggy has become a loved consumer brand by bringing convenience, choice, reliability and a great experience to food-ordering. This has resulted in a six-fold growth in revenues over the last year and industry-best repeat orders, a key metric indicating the loyalty of the brand with consumers. The continuous focus on delivering an outstanding consumer experience has fuelled Swiggy’s growth across each of the cities it operates in.

“In a span of three years, Swiggy has been instrumental in changing the way India eats by delivering delightful customer experiences. This investment by Naspers is further testimony to Swiggy’s vision and performance,” said Sriharsha Majety, co-founder and CEO, Swiggy. “As the market leader, we are leveraging our deep understanding of the Indian consumer and the gaps in the market to introduce disruptive and highly differentiated service offerings; making online food ordering and delivery more seamless and reliable to users everywhere.”

Swiggy has been a forerunner in online food ordering and delivery in India, by consistently shrinking delivery times and improving customer experience. The fastest food delivery service in the country, Swiggy’s average delivery time is an industry benchmark of 37 minutes. Swiggy has also unlocked the business potential for partner restaurants across eight locations in India, including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai.

IndiQus Technologies Acquires Delhi Based Data Analytics Startup Dartboard Analytics

Indiqus Technologies, a leading provider of cloud business solutions for service providers and enterprises, has announced the acquisition of Dartboard Analytics, an analytics company providing data-driven insights into customer operations to grow customer revenue. In an all-stock deal, the Dartboard founders will join the IndiQus leadership team.

Dartboard is IndiQus’ second acquisition in the last two years. In April 2016, IndiQus had acquired shopping assistance start-up Amicus to add intelligence to their Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) catalog for enterprises and cloud service providers. With Dartboard’s acquisition, IndiQus enhances its product portfolio with the much-in-demand analytics solution for cloud platforms.

IndiQus also announced the launch of apiculus CSP, its Cloud Business Platform software enabling cloud service providers to sell ‘anything as a service’ (XaaS) and create a 360-degree customer engagement. The software is purpose-built for the needs of emerging markets with a modular and plugins-based architecture. apiculus CSP is already being used by a couple of large telecom companies as their primary Cloud business portal. Cloud services is a $200 Billion market globally as per Gartner.

Commenting on the acquisition, Sunando Bhattacharya, CEO at IndiQus said, “Being a bootstrapped and revenue-funded company, we have always looked at working with people who add significant value to our proposition. We started working with the Dartboard team on a partnership model initially, but quickly saw tremendous synergies and decided to acquire them. Not only does this acquisition provide a quantum jump to our product roadmap, but also fills some critical talent gaps in our team."

Kshitish Purohit, Founder of Dartboard said, “Dartboard started with the aim to break various data silos and give informational control to customer operations teams. For us, it made perfect sense to integrate our teams and products tightly to build a platform that integrates all facets of running a successful cloud business. With the merged setup, we now get to drive together with a converged vision for enterprise tech that goes much beyond software and into truly smart applications of technology.”

“We were lucky to have a large customer signed up even before we wrote the first line of code. In my opinion, building a product with a customer ensures market relevance and acceptability. While our current model is an on-premise software, we will soon be launching a SaaS version targeting small and medium MSPs, as well as enterprises with a multi-cloud strategy”, Sunando added.

Milind Shah, Former MD of Medtronic India, Joins Unitus Seed Fund as Healthcare Venture Partner

Unitus Seed Fund, India’s leading impact venture fund investing in early-stage startups innovating for the masses, today announced the joining of Milind Shah as a Healthcare Venture Partner.

Milind Shah is a Proven Healthcare Operational Executive in the Indian Sub-Continent.

Milind brings to Unitus Seed Fund over three decades of leadership experience in sales, marketing, and corporate planning positions across varied businesses, including healthcare and speciality chemicals with global industry majors like Medtronic, Henkel, 3M and Shell.  As Managing Director & VP Indian Sub-continent with Medtronic plc, a global leader in the medical technology industry, Milind led the operational and strategic plans for this region for 11 years. Milind was also a member of Medtronic’s global executive committee and a recipient of the prestigious Wallin award that recognises Medtronic leaders for business growth and talent development. Under Milind’s leadership, Medtronic India achieved and sustained market leadership across several businesses and delivered strong double digit revenue growth.

Milind brings a deep understanding of the healthcare eco-system, a strong network of relationships amongst upper echelons of medical technology companies and hospital chains, as well as hands on experience in developing & executing strategic plans, business model innovations and M&A.

Milind joins Unitus Seed Fund with a mandate of furthering healthcare innovation for India’s billion plus population by investing in 8-10 innovative and scalable healthcare businesses. In line with this aim, Unitus Seed Fund has earmarked INR 100 crore to invest in healthcare and also has launched the AmpHealth program, providing non-dilutive catalytic capital of up to INR 1.75 crore (USD $250, 000) to fund immediate pre-commercialisation coupled with up to INR 3.5 crore (USD $500, 000) of seed capital. Unitus is also currently running the fourth edition of its annual StartHealth competition, offering cash prize and access to expertise to the best  AI, analytics, devices and home health early-stage startups.

Further, Milind will also work closely with Unitus’ investees to prepare them for growth and follow-on funding by providing access to global healthcare practitioners, teaching and operating medical facilities.

“Chronic diseases are responsible for over 50 per cent of deaths in India. Yet, public expenditure on health remains one of the lowest, globally. Startups are making significant inroads by reducing financial barriers and accelerating innovation to make healthcare more accessible and affordable”, said Milind Shah, Healthcare Venture Partner, Unitus Seed Fund.

“Unitus Seed Fund’s strong healthcare focus, mentorship and global industry connections will deeply benefit startups, helping them launch their products, raise additional funding and scale faster. I am excited to partner with Unitus Seed Fund and utilize my experience to advance healthcare, particularly to India’s low-income masses.”

BREAKING: Snapdeal Gets Rs.113 Crore from Nexus and Founders

In a surprise twist to troubled e-commerce firm Snapdeal, the company has received Rs.113 crore in an emergency funding round from existing investor Nexus Venture Partners and the company’s founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, in lieu of its 2015 acquisition of Unicommerce eSolutions.

As per documents filed by Snapdeal with the Registrar of Documents, and accessed by corporate research and mentoring platform Tofler, Nexus Venture Partners was issued 14,810 preference shares, valued at Rs 96.26 crore while the founders -- Bahl and Bansal, were each allotted 1,300 Series J1 preference shares, which have a cumulative value of Rs 16.90 crore (Rs8.45 crore each) making a total of Rs 113 crores.

The funding round comes as a surprise as Snapdeal has been in talks to get acquired by its bigger rival Flipkart amid a boardroom battle involving its three most powerful investors and its co-founders.

It's not clear how the latest funding round, which increases Snapdeal runway by a few months, will affect the company’s talks with Flipkart for plausible sell out.

Nexus, one of Snapdeal’s earliest backers, has -- till date -- invested about $43-$45 million in Snapdeal, for about an 10% stake in the company. Nexus will now receive about $60 million, in lieu of its holding in the online marketplace, as a special payout.

Notably, this special payout, estimated at about $150 million, and which also includes Kalaari Capital and the company’s founders, is subject to approval from the number of other shareholders in Snapdeal which includes -- Ajim Premji, Ratan Tata, Alibaba group, Foxconn Technology Solutions, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Temasek, among others.

Flipkart, on other hand, has signed a binding term-sheet to acquire rival Snapdeal and is scheduled to undertake commercial and financial diligence in the next few days.

MSME Lender Finova Capital Names Banking Veteran Rajiv Sabharwal as Its Strategic Advisor

Finova capital, one amongst the fast growing NBFCs based out of Jaipur, Rajasthan and floated by ex-senior banker, Mohit Sahney, announced its association with Mr Rajiv Sabharwal, as the strategic advisor.

Mr Sabharwal, currently partner at the True North Managers LLP (previously, India Value Fund Advisors) and has been part of the banking & finance sector for over 26 years, will be involved in the overall business strategy, growth and development of Finova capital.

“It gives me immense pleasure to welcome Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal as our Strategic Advisor. Rajiv brings a wealth of experience in the banking and financial domain, which is going to be vital for us across a range of sectors, including strategic direction, credit & customer understanding, and the network of relationships in the industry,” Mr Mohit Sahney, MD & CEO of Finova Capital said.

Commenting on association, Mr Rajiv Sabharwal, Strategic Advisor, Finova Capital, said “The team at Finova Capital is addressing perhaps the most pressing needs of the current times – to make credit accessible to an otherwise underserved segment of Indian MSMEs. I wish them all the best for this endeavour.”

Prior to joining True North, Rajiv was an Executive Director on the board of ICICI bank where he was responsible for several businesses including Retail banking, Business banking, Rural/ Financial Inclusion Business, Digital Bank and Technology. He has been a leading figure in the Real Estate/ Housing Finance industry and is credited with growing the housing finance industry and making ICICI Bank the leading home loan provider. He has also been a part of different RBI and IBA committees on Banking.

Founded in 2015, Finova capital is NBFC focusing on MSME lending. The idea of Finova capital germinated with a belief that, if supported well, then the MSME can play a pivotal role in growing Indian economy. “We at Finova believe that by supporting and creating enabling opportunities for micro & small business, lives can be enriched & communities can be transformed. The company's aim is to reach out to the financially-excluded, unorganized, and unreached MSME sector" added Mohit Sahney.

Fintech Startup Rubique Makes It To Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Fintech Regulatory Laboratory

Fintech startup, Rubique has been selected by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the International Financial Centre in Abu Dhabi, to be a part of the first batch of its fintech Regulatory Laboratory (RegLab) programme. Comprising 5 successful local and international fintech startups with various innovation offerings, Rubique is one of the only two Indian fintech companies selected among the 11 applications. The platform will now develop and test its fintech innovations further as part of the programme.

The ADGM RegLab is the fintech regulatory sandbox and framework in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It is a tailored regulatory regime for fintech participants designed to foster innovation within the UAE financial services market for both new market entrants and existing financial institutions.

Commenting on the recent development, Wai Lum Kwok, Executive Director of Capital Markets of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, ADGM said, “As an International Financial Centre, it is important that we value and embrace innovations that support the development and growth of our financial markets. What better way than to get up close to guide the RegLab firms through the develop-test-and-implement journey and assist them in better understanding the regulatory environment to realise their innovations."

The newly announced members are offering a range of innovations from data analytics for credit risk assessments, robo-advisory, artificial intelligence in digital ID, to solutions that can promote financial inclusion among the unbanked, and digital services that enhance operational risk management. As a member, Rubique along with all its fellow participants will receive regulatory guidance from a dedicated ADGM fintech team, and support from ADGM fintech ecosystem partners.

“It is a moment of pride for Rubique to be selected for such a prestigious programme and share the platform with some of the top fintech platforms of UAE, the USA and another one from India. We will leverage this opportunity to further enhance our innovation by elevating the wave of technology and putting India’s fintech segment on the global map. Our aims are to share and enhance our advanced and ground-breaking technology in transforming the global fintech ecosystem,” said Manavjeet Singh, CEO and Founder, Rubique.

Rubique has rapidly established itself as the fintech player in India, disrupting the landscape of financial products driven by its innovative and robust tech infrastructure. Through its various technological applications such as the Rubique Advantage feature, it enables users to quickly process loans through tools such as e-KYC. It expedites the process of in-principle approval of credit card applications and also ensures a hassle-free lending process.

One of India's Oldest Venture Capital Firm Reached Dead End

Helion Ventures -- one of India's oldest venture capital firms which had invested startups like MakeMyTrip, Big Basket, Shopclues in their early stages, and was declared as India's "largest domestic venture capital firm" in 2012 by Economic Times is officially coming to the end.

Founded in 2006 by Rahul Chandra, Ashish Gupta, Kanwaljit Singh and Sanjeev Aggarwal, Helion was left with only one co-founder -- Rahul Chandra, when in 2016 the other three co-founders made exit from the VC firm.

Now in a latest development Rahul Chandra is launching a $100 million early-stage fund -- Unitary Helion . The fund will invest in sectors like fintech and digital marketplaces. And, with this move of Chandra, it's officially the end of Helion, a 11-year-old VC firm.

Chandra's Unitary Helion, which is looking to hit a first close of $40 million by October this year will add two more investment partners later this year.

Unitary Helion will look at creating a portfolio of 18 to 20 early stage startups.

Interestingly, Chandra has brought on board Jonathan Hsu, a partner and head of data science at Silicon Valley-based Social Capital, in order to adopt a proprietary data science based investment methodology. "Unitary is a smaller fund with a tighter focus as opposed to Helion. Our first close of $40 million will come from domestic capital," Chandra told Times of India.

The plans to raise a new fund on his own comes after the departure of several executives from Helion Venture Partners as in 2016, Helion executives Ritesh Banglani, Alok Goyal and Rahul Chowdhri split from the firm to start their own venture capital firm, Stellaris Venture Partners. Stellaris announced a first close of $50 million in February. The firm plans to raise $100 million for its maiden fund.

Sanjeev Aggarwal and Ashish Gupta, the other co-founders of Helion are on board as advisors to the new fund. All three, including Chandra, will continue to actively manage the current Helion portfolio. The firm however will not be making any new investment hereafter is nearly dead this way.



Between 2000 and 2006, Rahul was based in Silicon Valley as part of the investment team at Walden International, a global venture capital firm with more than $2B under management. Between 2004 and 2005 he also led the M&A efforts at e4e Inc., a Santa Clara, CA based BPO company with more than 4,000 employees across the globe.

Rahul started Venture Capital investing in 1996 in India as the first hire at Walden's India office. In this role he managed investments for Walden's India dedicated Fund between 1996 and 2000.

Rahul has invested in more than 30 early-to-mid-stage companies such as Mindtree, Ikanos (IKAN), e4e Inc and Techspan (Headstrong). Prior to Walden, he worked in the Capital Markets Group at Lazard India, and in the Primary Market Department at the Securities Exchange Board of India.

Helion has created four funds -- a $140 million fund in 2006, a $210 million fund in 2008, a $255 million fund in 2012, and a $300 million fund in 2015

With These 3 Platforms You Can Push Your Startup Ahead Of Crowd

Building a startup is a long term affair and with thousands of startups taking off each year, it is essential to adopt the right tools to stay in the right direction. With the need to be frugal in their operations, it isn’t feasible for the startups to invest a fortune in the labour pool or on the technology or marketing front. Therefore, to kick start a small business, one would need access to the ideal set of tools tailored just to suit their needs.

Here is the list of the 3 platforms to push a startup ahead of the crowd.

CogniCor: Personalized Cognitive Customer Assistant / Chatbots

CogniCor Technologies is an AI based company delivering solutions that ease how people interact with technology. Whether it is negotiating a new bank loan, renewing your auto insurance or simply buying a travel ticket, the ability to have expert assistance is of great help. This is what CogniCor does, by enabling companies to respond to their customers’ questions instantly. A personalized cognitive customer assistant that can understand their needs and respond with information relevant to the customer, would translate into huge savings in operating expenses and efficiency for the business.

Staqu: Artificial Intelligence

For any problem that involves analyzing images and extracting valuable information from it, Staqu can provide a solution. Currently, they are caramelizing their research papers with thir team to churn their products for all their partners. Some of them include face recognition, gesture recognition, and emotion recognition, pose estimation, intruder detection, etc.

Indi: Engagement Commerce Platform

Indi is a global engagement commerce platform providing brands with unique opportunities to make real connections. Making interactive videos a game changer for fans, brands and business communication, Indi empowers both, individuals and brands, to create and monetize content and social media influence. With a view to revolutionize the present day digital media ecosystem, Indi is the platform of choice for brands seeking innovative ways for securing meaningful and interactive social media engagement. With Indi Interact, brands can create a safe and stunning media hub for boosting interactions and engagements with fans and customers, alike.

Carpediem Capital Invests $3.5M in Collateral Medical

Collateral Medical, a pan-India online distributor of Medical Devices, raised $3.5 million in a Series A investment from Carpediem Capital. The funds will be used towards strengthening the company’s distribution capabilities, expanding the service network and strengthening the IT infrastructure. Intellecap’s Investment Banking Group exclusively advised Collateral Medical on closing the deal with Carpediem Capital.

Collateral Medical, one of the leading medical device marketing and distribution companies, focusses on supplying medical devices for doctors, clinics, and small & medium hospitals present in Tier II and III cities in the country.

Commenting on the investment, Nikhilesh Tiwari, Founder and CEO, Collateral Medical said, “It has been wonderful developing a platform to serve doctors, standalone clinics and small hospitals who struggle to source medical devices. The fund infusion will help us improve and enhance our capabilities to serve medical community better and we are excited to have Carpediem Capital join us as trusted partners in our journey for the next level of growth.”

Sanjay Jha, Director, Collateral Medical adds that “With the focus of ensuring reasonable pricing, we helped thousands of doctors in 400 plus districts in 28 states to bring their cost down.”

Abhishek Sharman, Founder and Managing Director, Carpediem Capital said, “We believe that Collateral Medical has identified a niche and underserved market. The company is delivering value to OEMs in reaching their end customers and is also providing a compelling proposition to the customers in the form of transparency, service and range of products. We believe this funding will help them enhance their capabilities and services to their customers.”

Gagandeep Bakshi, Head, Investment Banking, Intellecap said, “Collateral Medical has created a capital efficient distribution model that has resulted in price transparency and efficient outreach in Tier II and III cities. They have also managed customer stickiness and retention by providing after sales service. They are one of the only players in the market addressing the pain points of both suppliers and customers.”

Soon Satellite Phone Service for All Citizens in India

Representational Picture

It's 2017, but unfortunately, mobile phone network issues still persist in the Indian subcontinent. In order to bail its citizens out of the constant network troubles that they run into, state-run BSNL is considering on extending satellite phone services to all Indian citizens. The phones, which can be expected to be made available in another two years, will be capable of working in every nook and corner of the South Asian country and will be safe from any network breakdown whatsoever.

According to a statement given by BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava to PTI, the company has already the first official step and applied to International Maritime Organisation. He said, "It will take some time to complete the process. In 18-24 months, we will be in a position to open satellite phones service for citizens in a phased manner."

While traditional mobile networks cover around 25-30km around towers and can transmit signals to phones placed equal to or below the height of the tower, Satellite phones, on the other hand, are capable of working in any part of the country as they on function directly from satellites located about 35,700km above the earth. They can even function from inside flights and ships.

The state-run telecom company is making use of INMARSAT to provide the satellite phone service. The service will be initially rolled out to government agencies, but will soon be extended to the citizens of the country in an organised manner.

Government agencies handling Border Security Force, state police, disaster, railways, and other government agencies will be provided with the satellite phone service in the first phase.

The phone service will be able to cover areas where currently no networks are present and INMARSAT's 14 satellites will help BSNL in its mission.

According to Shrivastava, currently the number of satellite phone connections in India are very less but once BSNL starts with its satellite phone for every citizen initiative with full force, the whole dynamics of the market can be expected to go through a massive change. He also added, that the huge volume of phone connections might even help in bringing down the overall cost of the service. BSNL has decided to charge only Re 1 over the cost that the satellite firm will billing to them.

In the first phase, call rates on satellite phones are expected to be in the range of Rs. 30-35 since there are only about 4,600 connections present in the country.

He further added, "Satellite phones also cost Rs 40,000 and more. All the satellite phones are imported at present. Once we open it for citizens, the volumes will drive down the cost of calls as well as handset. Even, huge volume can attract satellite phone manufacturers to set-up their unit in India. We expect it to create a new ecosystem of satellite services in the country."
Tata Communications Ltd. is currently providing satellite phones in India. The company inherited the licence from Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited.

According to the plan chalked out, TCL services will be phased out by June 30 this year with all its connections getting transferred to BSNL service

At present, India has 1,532 authorised satellite phone connections functioning. In addition to this, Tata Communications Ltd. has also issued 4,143 permits to maritime community for usage of these phones on ships at sea.

Though satellite phones might offer smooth connection promise, but they all carry security concerns. According to India's telecom regulator TRAI, communication done through satellite phones can be monitored by foreign agencies as their gateways are located outside India. This is the reason that Indian Defence forces have declined to use satellite phones from the foreign operators. In fact, several security agencies have time and again been voicing their demand for establishment of a new gateway in the Indian subcontinent which is capable of supporting new generation handsets for land mobile connections.

The demand of these security agencies seems to have finally been met, with a new satellite phone gateway being set-up in India with legal interception and monitoring system (LIMS).

According to Shrivastava, there are no more security issued related to satellite phones anymore in India as BSNL has set-up a gateway with INMARSAT to address security concerns among government agencies. The company will be rolling out satellite services once their registration process is completed and all the necessary approvals are in line.

ePayLater Partners With IRCTC to Offer Frictionless Payment Experience

ePayLater, India’s first of its kind “Buy Now Pay Later” checkout service, has partnered with IRCTC to offer a quick and completely frictionless payment experience for ticket bookings on IRCTC. Using this payment option, eligible customers can purchase tickets in a single step without having to make a payment at the time of transaction, thus avoiding the usual payment hassles e.g having to enter 16-digit card numbers or having to log in. The customer is allowed to make the payment at a convenient time later within 14 days from the date of transaction.

The company claims that such a payment experience has been made possible using state-of-the-art big data algorithms which help carry out on-the-fly assessment of the fraud and credit risk involved in online transactions.

“We are excited with this development. At ePayLater, it’s been our primary focus to leverage data science to solve real life challenges. Partnering with India’s largest online portal is a strong testimony to our technology and analytics leadership. By providing customers this deferred payment option we not only simplify the checkout experience but also help them manage their short term income-expense mismatches better” says Uday Somyajula, co-founder, ePayLater.

IRCTC records 6 lakh transactions per day on an average with the total number of bookings hitting a whopping 13 lakh figure on peak days. ePayLater aims to capture atleast 5% of this volume in next 6 months.

In order to use the ePayLater option on IRCTC, first time customers are required to provide some basic details on selecting the payment option at checkout. If eligible, the customer can conclude that transaction and every subsequent transaction thereafter through a single click by just providing the One Time Password (OTP).

“85% of our customers tend to make repeat purchases using ePayLater, thereby establishing the use case for convenience. Further, by eliminating the dependencies on third party payment provider such as payment gateways, banks etc at the point of transaction we are able to deliver unmatched transaction success rates especially in peak load conditions. This makes the use case even stronger on IRCTC and hence we expect to see similar, if not better, repeat behaviour on IRCTC” added Aurko Bhattacharya, co founder.

“We are hopeful that this partnership, by virtue of the scale that only IRCTC can boast of, will help us deepen the roots of financial inclusion in the country. Further, on account of the benefits that this product offers to the customers, we also hope to see a higher uptake of e-ticketing with this initiative thereby increasing the adoption of digital payments over cash” says Akshat Saxena, co founder and Head of Business Development.

10 Things in Tech You Need To Know Today [22– 27 May]

As the week comes to a close, we at IndianWeb2 recap the top ten happenings that took place in the tech world this week.

1) 75% of IoT Projects Failing Globally, Says Cisco Report

According to a recent survey done by Cisco, even though while IoT keeps creating buzz all around the world with numerous projects being rolled out on a daily basis, but unfortunately almost 75 per cent of these projects end up failing, impacted by factors such as culture and leadership.

The report churned out by Cisco said that only 26 per cent of the companies it surveyed acknowledged that they have had an IoT project that they would consider a success. The report also highlighted the fact that 60 per cent of the IoT initiatives don’t even go beyond the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage.

2) Google Creates A Thing That Can Create Itself

Google recently published a blogpost talking about “AutoML” for “auto-machine learning,” a reinforcement learning approach that provides one A.I. the capability of becoming the architect of another one, and direct its own development without having to depend on a human engineer for input.

The approach basically involves a controller neural net proposing a “child” model architecture, which can then be trained and evaluated for quality on a particular task. The feedback received is then used to train the controller on how it can improve its proposals for the next round. This whole process is repeated thousands of times, which eventually leads to the controller learning to assigning high probability to areas of architecture space that achieve better accuracy on a held-out validation dataset, and low probability to areas of architecture space that score poorly.

3) Cisco Launches IoT Operations Platform To Save Your IoT Project From An Early Death

In order to address the early failure rate in enterprise Internet of Things (IoT) deployments, Cisco has announced a new Cisco IoT Operations Platform that will be offering tools and features to improve their success. According to a blogpost published by Cisco recently, the platform will be addressing connection management, Fog Computing, device control, and data delivery, and will come integrated with Cisco security.

Announced at the recent held IoT World Forum event in London, the Cisco IoT Operations Platform is expected to be available later this year.

4) Elon Musk Explains Why Tesla Is Not Selling In India, Government Claps Back with A Detailed Reply

Earlier this year in February, when a Twitter user asked technology entrepreneur Elon Musk about Tesla’s plans of launching in India anytime soon, Musk got everyone excited in the South Asian country when he replied that the company is eyeing a summer launch this year.

Seeing that it has been May already with no official word from Tesla on the launch yet, another Twitter asked Musk if the launch is happening this year or next year. To everyone’s shock and disappointment, Musk announced that he doesn’t see Tesla cars on Indian roads anytime soon as he has been informed that 30% of parts for the cars need to be locally sourced and unfortunately, the supply doesn’t yet exist in India to support that.

Thought it seems, the billionaire entrepreneur has been misinformed about the rules and regulations. In order to set the record straight and uplift the spirits of the people dreaming to own a Tesla car in India, the Indian government’s Make In India Twitter account tweeted a long explanation about how Musk has got the facts wrong and the FDI policy of India does not mandate any such minimum sourcing of components by manufacturers.

5) Microsoft Renames Beam To Mixer, Adds New Game Streaming Features

The week saw Microsoft rebranding its game streaming service, Beam to Mixer. According to Matt Salsamendi, co-founder and engineering lead at Mixer, the decision was something that they decided on as a team and took a long time to get there. He further added, "We believe so much in the power of the platform and want to grow it in every major market around the world. Unfortunately, that wasn’t something we could do with the Beam name."

In addition to the name change, the company also introduced some new features to the streaming service. It introduced a new co-streaming feature that lets four PC streamers combine their broadcasts into a single stream with split-screen views. The company has also launched a new Mixer Create mobile apps for iOS and Android.

6) Olacabs Launches Ola Electric – India’s First Ever Electric Mass Mobility System, in Nagpur

The week saw India's homegrown cab hailing giant, Ola launching Ola Electric, India’s first multi-modal electric platform that includes electric autos, cars, and buses in Nagpur. Ola and Mahindra joined hands with the Government of India in a first-of- its-kind programme to build an electric mass mobility ecosystem in Nagpur with an aim of bringing around a transformational change in the automotive and transportation landscape in the Indian subcontinent.

7) AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Launches Mobile App For Farmers In India

In order help Indian framers protect their crops against pests and diseases, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday launched an innovative multi-lingual plant disease and pest diagnostic app called 'Plantix.'

The app, which has been developed by the German startup Progressive Environmental & Agricultural Technologies (PEAT) in collaboration with its knowledge and extension partner, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, is initially being launched in Telugu and Hindi, but will soon be available in other regional languages as well.

The app's capability to provide real-time diagnosis to farmers about their crops is what sets it apart from other apps in the market.

8) Blippar’s Machine Learning Tech Can Identify Cars Better Than You Can

The week saw augmented reality/visual search company Blippar announcing a new machine learning technology that is an automotive recognition tech. Originally launched as an AR platform for brands and publishers, Blippar’s AI is capable of identifying the maker, model and year of any U.S. car made in 2000 or after, as long as the car is traveling slower than 15mph.

9) Facebook Could Farm Users' Thoughts With Mind-reading Technology to Sell Adverts

Social networking giant Facebook is planning to use its user's thoughts for advertising purposes. In a statement given by Facebook spokesperson Ha Thai to The Intercept, Thai revealed that the company is currently working on developing an interface that allows users to communicate with the speed and flexibility of voice and the privacy of text.

The company calls the technology a “brain-computer speech-to-text interface”, and has a team of 60 people working on it at Building 8, its futuristic hardware division. The technology has got various privacy advocates worried, but the company has strategically refused to confirm or deny if it will be using people’s thoughts to sell ads.

10) Verizon CEO Confirms Company’s Plan To Launch A Streaming TV Service

According to a report in Variety, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has confirmed that his company is planning to use the post-merger AOL-Yahoo subsidiary as a platform to “test out an over-the-top service."

The new streaming TV service, which will be similar to DirecTV Now or Sling TV would still be separate from Go90, Verizon’s existing mobile video service.

10 Things in Tech You Need To Know Today [22– 27 May]

As the week comes to a close, we at IndianWeb2 recap the top ten happenings that took place in the tech world this week.

1) 75% of IoT Projects Failing Globally, Says Cisco Report

According to a recent survey done by Cisco, even though while IoT keeps creating buzz all around the world with numerous projects being rolled out on a daily basis, but unfortunately almost 75 per cent of these projects end up failing, impacted by factors such as culture and leadership.

The report churned out by Cisco said that only 26 per cent of the companies it surveyed acknowledged that they have had an IoT project that they would consider a success. The report also highlighted the fact that 60 per cent of the IoT initiatives don’t even go beyond the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage.

2) Google Creates A Thing That Can Create Itself

Google recently published a blogpost talking about “AutoML” for “auto-machine learning,” a reinforcement learning approach that provides one A.I. the capability of becoming the architect of another one, and direct its own development without having to depend on a human engineer for input.

The approach basically involves a controller neural net proposing a “child” model architecture, which can then be trained and evaluated for quality on a particular task. The feedback received is then used to train the controller on how it can improve its proposals for the next round. This whole process is repeated thousands of times, which eventually leads to the controller learning to assigning high probability to areas of architecture space that achieve better accuracy on a held-out validation dataset, and low probability to areas of architecture space that score poorly.

3) Cisco Launches IoT Operations Platform To Save Your IoT Project From An Early Death

In order to address the early failure rate in enterprise Internet of Things (IoT) deployments, Cisco has announced a new Cisco IoT Operations Platform that will be offering tools and features to improve their success. According to a blogpost published by Cisco recently, the platform will be addressing connection management, Fog Computing, device control, and data delivery, and will come integrated with Cisco security.

Announced at the recent held IoT World Forum event in London, the Cisco IoT Operations Platform is expected to be available later this year.

4) Elon Musk Explains Why Tesla Is Not Selling In India, Government Claps Back with A Detailed Reply

Earlier this year in February, when a Twitter user asked technology entrepreneur Elon Musk about Tesla’s plans of launching in India anytime soon, Musk got everyone excited in the South Asian country when he replied that the company is eyeing a summer launch this year.

Seeing that it has been May already with no official word from Tesla on the launch yet, another Twitter asked Musk if the launch is happening this year or next year. To everyone’s shock and disappointment, Musk announced that he doesn’t see Tesla cars on Indian roads anytime soon as he has been informed that 30% of parts for the cars need to be locally sourced and unfortunately, the supply doesn’t yet exist in India to support that.

Thought it seems, the billionaire entrepreneur has been misinformed about the rules and regulations. In order to set the record straight and uplift the spirits of the people dreaming to own a Tesla car in India, the Indian government’s Make In India Twitter account tweeted a long explanation about how Musk has got the facts wrong and the FDI policy of India does not mandate any such minimum sourcing of components by manufacturers.

5) Microsoft Renames Beam To Mixer, Adds New Game Streaming Features

The week saw Microsoft rebranding its game streaming service, Beam to Mixer. According to Matt Salsamendi, co-founder and engineering lead at Mixer, the decision was something that they decided on as a team and took a long time to get there. He further added, "We believe so much in the power of the platform and want to grow it in every major market around the world. Unfortunately, that wasn’t something we could do with the Beam name."

In addition to the name change, the company also introduced some new features to the streaming service. It introduced a new co-streaming feature that lets four PC streamers combine their broadcasts into a single stream with split-screen views. The company has also launched a new Mixer Create mobile apps for iOS and Android.

6) Olacabs Launches Ola Electric – India’s First Ever Electric Mass Mobility System, in Nagpur

The week saw India's homegrown cab hailing giant, Ola launching Ola Electric, India’s first multi-modal electric platform that includes electric autos, cars, and buses in Nagpur. Ola and Mahindra joined hands with the Government of India in a first-of- its-kind programme to build an electric mass mobility ecosystem in Nagpur with an aim of bringing around a transformational change in the automotive and transportation landscape in the Indian subcontinent.

7) AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Launches Mobile App For Farmers In India

In order help Indian framers protect their crops against pests and diseases, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday launched an innovative multi-lingual plant disease and pest diagnostic app called 'Plantix.'

The app, which has been developed by the German startup Progressive Environmental & Agricultural Technologies (PEAT) in collaboration with its knowledge and extension partner, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, is initially being launched in Telugu and Hindi, but will soon be available in other regional languages as well.

The app's capability to provide real-time diagnosis to farmers about their crops is what sets it apart from other apps in the market.

8) Blippar’s Machine Learning Tech Can Identify Cars Better Than You Can

The week saw augmented reality/visual search company Blippar announcing a new machine learning technology that is an automotive recognition tech. Originally launched as an AR platform for brands and publishers, Blippar’s AI is capable of identifying the maker, model and year of any U.S. car made in 2000 or after, as long as the car is traveling slower than 15mph.

9) Facebook Could Farm Users' Thoughts With Mind-reading Technology to Sell Adverts

Social networking giant Facebook is planning to use its user's thoughts for advertising purposes. In a statement given by Facebook spokesperson Ha Thai to The Intercept, Thai revealed that the company is currently working on developing an interface that allows users to communicate with the speed and flexibility of voice and the privacy of text.

The company calls the technology a “brain-computer speech-to-text interface”, and has a team of 60 people working on it at Building 8, its futuristic hardware division. The technology has got various privacy advocates worried, but the company has strategically refused to confirm or deny if it will be using people’s thoughts to sell ads.

10) Verizon CEO Confirms Company’s Plan To Launch A Streaming TV Service

According to a report in Variety, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has confirmed that his company is planning to use the post-merger AOL-Yahoo subsidiary as a platform to “test out an over-the-top service."

The new streaming TV service, which will be similar to DirecTV Now or Sling TV would still be separate from Go90, Verizon’s existing mobile video service.

Olacabs Launches Ola Electric - India's First Ever Electric Mass Mobility System, in Nagpur

India's home-grown cab hailing firm has launched today - Ola Electric, India’s first multi-modal electric platform that includes electric autos, cars, and buses in Nagpur. Ola and Mahindra have partnered with the Government of India in a first-of- its-kind programme to build an electric mass mobility ecosystem in Nagpur which will bring about a transformational change in the automotive and transportation landscape in the country.

With this, Nagpur became the country’s first city with electric fleet of 200 electric vehicles, including electric taxis, electric buses, e-rickshaw and electric autos.

The pilot project here will commence with a 200-strong fleet, including 100 of Mahindra’s new e2o Plus vehicles. The rest will consist of vehicles sourced from other OEMs, including Tata Motors, Kinetic, BYD and TVS, among others.

Taxi aggregator Ola has already invested upwards of Rs 50 crore towards EVs and charging infrastructure, starting with 50 plus charging points across four strategic locations in Nagpur.

In an official blog post, company said - "Aligned with Government’s vision of 100% electric vehicles by 2030, this project aims at building an electric mobility ecosystem at scale, including charging infrastructure and a range of vehicle fleet viz. electric cabs, e-rickshaws, electric auto-rickshaws and electric buses. The vehicles have been procured from large OEM partners including Mahindra, Tata, Kinetic, BYD, and TVS amongst others."

"We are not only bringing onboard hundreds of vehicles across different types on road, but are also building the much needed charging infrastructure to power these vehicles. Our charging stations are the first of their kind, allowing for different types of electric vehicles to be charged under one roof!", added the company in the announcement.

Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO, Ola, stressed that electric mobility in a multi-modal format will be the key towards realising the company’s mission of building mobility for a billion Indians.

Last year, govt of India had announced its vision to have only electric cars on roads of the country by 2030 by offering automobile manufacturers cash incentives to increase their production of electric vehicles (EVs) as well as subsidising the total cost involved in converting a fossil-fuel-gulping petrol car into an electric one.

With an eye on promoting eco-friendly transport, the government will be ready with its electric vehicle policy by December.

This Chennai Startup is Creating Job Opportunities for Transgenders in India

A Chennai-based startup called Peri Ferry is on a mission to push for inclusivity in the Indian workspace. Even though India is considered as a fairly inclusive nation with numerous cultures and languages living together peacefully, but when it comes to transgenders and transsexuals, they still face a hard time adjusting in the society and earn a respectable living.

Peri Ferry helps transgenders and inclusive companies find each other. While there are several non-profit organisations working for transgender welfare in India, the Chennai-based non-profit has been successful in penetrating all networks in a very short period of time. This is mainly because the startup has best interest of their candidates at their heart and makes sure that they get a job in a field of their liking.

What Does Peri Ferry Do?

• They act as equal opportunity job consultants for Transgenders and Transsexuals and provide them with alternative job solutions.

• They aim to access the untapped talent pool in the Indian subcontinent, and bridge the gap between an inclusive employer and a deserving candidate. They work towards widening the viewpoints and perspectives that a majority workplaces might predominantly have in India regarding employing transgenders and transsexuals.

How Do They Do This?

The social enterprise basically runs on two fronts:

• LGBTIQ+ sensitisation training for an equal and gender diverse workplace.

• Placement programs for Transgenders & Transsexuals

About The Founder

Neelam Jain, Founder and CEO, Peri Ferry, started the platform while working at Goldman Sachs. During one of the internal competitions there, Jain was required to come up with an idea for an initiative which would have a social impact. This is when she came with an idea of an inclusive workplace focusing on the Transgenders community. After an year of brainstorming and improving on her basic idea, Peri Ferry was born in April this year. The company is currently running from a co-working space in Mylapore.

Talking to New India Express about how they're helping Transgenders community, Neelam Jain said, “We target companies that have about 30 employees as it’s easier to sensitise smaller workspaces. We particularly encourage young transgenders because the number of educated candidates is highest in the 18-28 age group."

The startup believes that while education is important, interviews are also important and much harder to prepare. Therefore, they have a in-house soft skills trainer to prep up the candidates for their interviews. After providing training, they map the candidates with a prospective employer.

The startup hasn't received any external funding as of now, and is running on savings.

[Top Image: Udayavani]

PM Modi Invites Startup Ideas For Medical Devices, Innovation for Affordable Healthcare

Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited startups to focus on research for innovative medical devices and use technology to make healthcare more affordable.

“India should manufacture its own medical devices to bring down the cost. Recently, the government reduced cost of stents by 85 per cent," said Modi while addressing oncologists at Tata Memorial Hospital.

To recall, in March, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has moved a cabinet note and suggestion that the maximum age for classifying a biotechnology or a medical devices firm as a startup be raised to 8-10 years from the current 5 years [Read Here].

In an address to mark 75 years of cancer treatment by Tata Memorial Hospital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said plenty of things pointing to startups working in medical devices, healthcare and health-tech but he seems to be either unaware of the fact that there exists many such medical device startups and health-tech startups in India that are innovative and working towards bringing down the cost of healthcare, or may be PM Modi wants to start everything afresh for startups working in health technology segment.

In medical device startups segment, Bangalore-based PathShodh has made a device that can perform 8 health tests on single platform and for this the startup has been shortlisted by National Health Systems Resources Centre (NHSRC) as a very important and useful device.

An another Bangalore based medical device startup called Museinc has built a ‘Smart Stethoscope’ to make Stethoscopes a common household device. Ten3T is also one such medical wearable device startup trying to help patients with real-time cardiac monitoring.

SigTuple is an another innovative healthcare technology startup where it has build an intelligent solutions that aid in medical diagnosis using state of the art artificial intelligence and machine learning. The startup has recently raised funding of $5.8 Million from a private VC.

All these startups are funded and backed by private venture capital firms and investors and unfortunately government has less or no role in encouraging or bringing the products or innovation developed by these startups to masses.

So much so, going with call for medical device startup innovation by PM Mod it will be interesting to see what Modi-led government has to offer to these existing startups that are not only innovative but affordable as well.

Soon, We at IndianWeb2 will feature Medical Device Startups based out of India, just in case if PM Modi can select few for his ambitious plans.

7 Startup News That Made Buzz This Week [22 - 27 May 2017]

Indian startup ecosystem saw some of the major happening during this week. From Google selecting indian startups for its accelerator programme to paytm becoming full fledged bank, the week was full of surprises and shocks for the startup world. Here is our weekly roundup for you to keep you posted every week:

Paytm Unveils Payment Bank

Paytm has unveiled its Payments Bank, becoming the third payments bank in the country, after Airtel and India Post. It will offer customers a 4 percent annual interest rate which the lowest among the three payments banks that is, Airtel offers about 7.3 percent interest and India Post about 5.5 percent annually. Apart from offering its customers cashbacks on deposits, Payment bank will offer zero charges on all online transactions and no minimum balance requirement.

Indian Startup Again Got Lucky- Google Selects Six Indian Startups For Its Launchpad

Google has shortlisted six Indian startups for the fourth class of its Launchpad Accelerator Programme. The class 4 will kick off on July 17 at the Google Developers Launchpad Space in San Francisco and will include 2 weeks of all-expense-paid training. With this batch, a total of 26 Indian startups has so far joined the accelerator programme from India.Six-month accelerator programme will allow participants to receive equity-free support, credits for Google products, and continue to work closely with Google back in their home country.

Bengaluru Becomes Hub For IoT Startups, Says Reports

According to a study by Management Consulting firm Zinnov, Bengaluru is the prime destination for Internet Of Things startups to set up a base in the Indian subcontinent. With nearly 52 percent of the country’s total Internet Of Things startups in Bengaluru, the city has emerged on the number spot on the Zinnov list. It is followed by Delhi NCR at the number two spot with 12 per cent IoT startups. Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai acquire the third, fourth and fifth position on the list with 11 percent, 4 percent and 2 percent respectively.

SoftBank’s Vision Tech Fund Officially Becomes World’s Biggest Private Equity Fund

After raising a whopping $1 billion from Japan-based electronics company Sharp Corp earlier this week, Japan’s telecom and internet giant SoftBank’s Vision Tech Fund officially became the world’s biggest private equity fund on Saturday as the company announced that it has successfully closed $93 billion. The remaining $7 billion of the ambitious $100 billion Vision fund that aims to tap advanced technologies through investments is expected to be raised by another six months.

SoftBank announced its ‘Vision’ Tech Fund in October last year. The billions raised will be invested in the tech industry, across sectors ranging from cloud technology to artificial intelligence and robotics.

InnerWave Ventures Plans To Invest In Startups In Next 3 Years

InnerWave Ventures, an elite community of early-stage Angel investors is planning to invest in 18-20 startups in next 3 years. The network is managed by the Corporate advisory firm.
InnerWave Ventures currently consist of a group of 32 angel investors who are looking to help investment-ready companies that are looking for additional capital and experienced mentors to help with their expansion plans.

FlexiLoans.com Acquires CreditPeriod.com

FlexiLoans.com, a digital lending platforms, has acquired Mumbai-based supply chain financing platform, CreditPeriod.com for an undisclosed sum to strengthen its supply chain financing vertical. CreditPeriod.com, a fintech startup, enables SME buyers to procure goods / services on credit while ensuring the sellers get their money upfront, thereby eliminating credit risk and enabling instant liquidity.

Warburg Pincus Sells 25% in Capital First

Capital First would has announced that Cloverdell Investment Ltd, an affiliate of Warburg Pincus has sold 25% stake in the company to marquee Foreign and domestic investors. Cloverdell Investment Ltd continues to be the Promoter of the company with 36% stake in Capital First Limited.

As part of this transaction, GIC, a Sovereign Wealth Fund established by the Government of Singapore, has acquired incremental 8.93% stake in Capital First Limited taking GIC’s total shareholding in Capital First Limited to 13.91%. GIC is a leading global investment firm with well over US$100 billion in assets under management in more than 40 countries across the world.