Amazon Veteran Raghu Lakkapragada joins Voonik as COO

Fashion marketplace Voonik has appointed Amazon veteran Raghu Lakkapragada as its Chief Operating Officer.
This is second senior appointment announcement coming from Voonik within a month, after the appointment of Prabhakar Sunder, former Finance Head of Myntra, as CFO.
"Voonik is ramping up its top-management hiring to help transform the company from a startup to a mature organisation. Voonik has also brought in experienced leaders in areas such as Quality Control and Risk management," a company release said today.
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Salebhai.Com gets Rs 10 cr funding from Brand Capital * Salebhai.Com, an e-commerce platform for regional goods, today said Times Group's Brand Capital has picked up minority stake in the company for Rs 10 crore.

Salebhai, which sells products like sweets, namkeen, chocolates, bakery, spices and handicrafts from over 100 cities, has 250 sellers on board.

"I'm confident that our partnership with this esteemed establishment will help us expand our footprint and acquire more customers in India and abroad," Salebhai.Com co-founder Vishwavijay Singh said.
Earlier this year, 10 of its high net worth customers have invested between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 1 crore in the Ahmedabad-based startup.
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Buttercups raises funds from former Snapdeal exec, others * Online lingerie brand Buttercups has raised an undisclosed amount in a fresh round of funding from Snapdeal's ex-CPO, Anand Chandrasekaran and existing investors - Kanwaljit Singh and Manoj Varghese.

The Bengaluru-based will use the funds to accelerate its growth plan, both offline and online, Buttercups said in a statement.
"We have always been clear about how we want to build the business. We are a digitally native brand focusing on the quality of our products, and a great customer experience. We also believe that scaling need not come at the cost of profitability," Buttercups founder and CEO Arpita Ganesh said.
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Lodha group announces Viral Oza as CMO
* Realty firm Lodha group today said that Viral Oza has taken over as its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
Viral Oza joins Lodha from Bennett Coleman & Company (Times of India group) where he was working as Director of Marketing.

Prior to this, he was at Nokia, acquired by Microsoft, since 2008 serving as Marketing Director and member of the India Leadership Team.
Actor Ranveer Singh to endorse Kellogg's new range of oats
* Leading cereal brand Kellogg's will launch a new campaign featuring Bollywood star Ranveer Singh for its ready-to-cook range of oats.
Singh will feature in Kellogg's Oats TVC as part of its multi-dimensional effort that includes television advertising, alternate media, in-store and point-of-sale executions.
Kellogg's India MD Sangeeta Pendurkar said, "We are confident that this association will help break clutter and deliver the brand message to the consumers in the most unique and impactful manner."

Kellogg's has added two new flavours to its existing range of oats -- Masst Masala and Hot Chinese.
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GBCI, USGBC announce 'LEED Performance Challenge' * Green Business Certification Inc (GBCI), the global certification body for LEED projects, and the US Green Building Council (USGBC) today announced 'The LEED Performance Challenge' that enables Indian cities to competitively share their latest performance data and benchmark it against other cities nationally and globally.
The LEED Performance Challenge aims to develop more sustainable, healthy buildings, communities and cities, and benchmark how they are planned, developed and measured against global standards.
The performance challenge uses the LEED rating system to evaluate a city's ability to implement energy efficiency, water preservation, waste management, health and wellness, sustainable sites and other important infrastructural elements, GBCI said in a statement.

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88 pc look for users' opinion before online purchase: Study * Almost 88 per cent users in India always look for other users' opinions and comments before an online purchase, according to global marketing and technology agency DigitasLBi.
The DigitasLBi 2016 Connected Commerce study reveals the latest trends in India, Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US.
The sample size included 1,000 people who were recruited online, representing an age range of 18-64 years.
Export promotion body ECGC pays Rs 65 cr dividend
* Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) today deposited a dividend cheque of Rs 65 crore in government's treasury, the commerce ministry said in a tweet.

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today met with senior officials of to deliberate on strengthening of EXIM Bank and ECGC.
ECGC Ltd, under the administrative control of commerce ministry, is an export promotion organization, seeking to improve the competitiveness of the Indian exporters by providing them with credit insurance covers. ECGC keeps its premium rates at the optimal level.