Page 10 - Funding

WHO appeals for budget of $125 mn for funding of Afghanistan's hospitals

The organisation also noticed a decrease in the size of its local health teams, which went from 513 to 453 people

80% of SMEs think govt funding key to unlocking digitalisation: Survey

A majority (80 per cent) of small and medium enterprises in the country believe the government funding is key to unlocking digitalisation in the future, according to a study by Gartner-acquired software selection platform Capterra. The 'State of Digitalisation in India survey: Major barriers and role of government' report is based on responses collected from 435 respondents, including a group of managers, senior managers, or CEOs and founders -- labelled as decision makers. Out of these, 341 work for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), while 94 work for companies having more than 250 employees. The study found that 65 per cent of surveyed companies have received government funding for digitisation at least once, while 52 per cent of respondents said digitalisation would be challenging or even impossible without government funding. At least 8 out of 10 think there should be more funding initiatives to facilitate digitalisation, the study said. Issues in cybersecurity emerged as the

Global Fintech Festival 2023 aims to aid startups bag $10 mn in funding

Global Fintech Festival (GFF) organisers on Friday said they are aiming to facilitate funding of over USD 10 million at the upcoming event in the financial capital. This funding target is for startups alone and excludes growth-stage companies which will initiate conversations with investors at the three-day GFF starting from September 5. "In the start-up category, about USD 10-20 million funding will happen at the event itself," its organizers and advisory board member Naveen Surya said. He said 50 fintech companies will be making a pitch to over 200 investors who are expected to attend the event, and the average funding in startups will be about USD 1 million. The target excludes funding in growth stage companies, and can go up to USD 50 million, where the GFF will serve as the place where the talks between a company and an investor get initiated, he said. The third edition of the GFF will have over 50,000 attendees, 5,000 exhibitors displaying their wares, and over 800 speakers

Insurtech company RenewBuy closes $40 million series D funding round

RenewBuy said it now has the opportunity to expand its tech platform into 11 countries

DynamoFL raises $15.1 mn to scale privacy-focused AI for enterprise

DynamoFL on Wednesday announced that it has closed a USD 15.1-million funding round. Nexus Venture Partners and Canapi Ventures led the latest round, which also saw participation from other investors, the company said in a release. "The round, co-led by Nexus Venture Partners and Canapi Ventures, also had participation from Formus Capital, Soma Capital, and angel investors Vojtech Jina, Apple's privacy-preserving machine learning (ML) lead, Tolga Erbay, Head of Governance, Risk and Compliance at Dropbox and Charu Jangid, product leader at Snowflake, to name a few," the release said. The release said that DynamoFL has closed a USD 15.1 million 'series A' funding round to meet demand for its privacy- and compliance-focused generative AI solutions. The funding will primarily be used to scale up DynamoFL's team of machine learning scientists and privacy experts to continue to grow DynamoFL's technology moat in privacy-preserving generative AI. The company's flagship technology, which

NRF to ensure equitable funding for research: Jitendra Singh at BRICS meet

Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said the proposed National Research Foundation will ensure equitable funding for scientific research and greater private participation in the endeavour. Addressing the 11th BRICS STI Ministerial Meeting at Goeberha in South Africa virtually, he said the National Research Foundation will also be given the task of creating a policy framework and regulatory process to promote research and development across universities. On Friday, Singh introduced the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill in the Lok Sabha to set up a national agency to fund research across universities in the country. "We are planning a unique public-private partnership entity for which Rs 36,000 crore of the research funding is to come from the private sector, mostly industry, whereas the government will put Rs 14,000 crore for the same to ensure greater participation of industry," the minister told his counterparts from Brazil, Russia, China and South

$3.9 bn UN humanitarian appeal for Ukraine is only 30% funded: UN official

The USD 3.9 billion humanitarian appeal for war-torn Ukraine is less than 30 per cent funded as the country starts preparing for a second winter with more residential buildings damaged and destroyed and thousands of people homeless following the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, the country's U.N. humanitarian coordinator said Monday. Denise Brown told a virtual news conference from Kyiv that 17 million Ukrainians need aid and the U.N. is targeting between 11 million and 12 million but funding is becoming a serious issue. A report last week from the U.N. humanitarian office said lack of funding is hampering operations, adding to the challenges imposed by insecurity and other obstacles. By the end of June, it said, the U.N. and its humanitarian partners reached 7.3 million people but in some parts of Ukraine's south, east and north, more than 25% of targeted people couldn't be reached due to a combination of funding shortages and other operational challenges. Brown stressed that winter

Jhunjhunwala-backed Concord Biotech eyes to raise Rs 1,550 cr through IPO

The late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed firm sets price band of Rs 705-Rs 741 a share

AIIMS-Delhi got Rs 23 cr from govt in 5 years for rare diseases: RTI reply

The AIIMS-Delhi received more than Rs 23 crore in funding from the Centre for treatment of rare diseases in the last five years, according to information received through RTI Act. Overall the Centre has released around Rs 90 crore in funds to several Centres of Excellence (CoE) for treatment of rare diseases since 2019, the information received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act showed. The Delhi All India Institute of Medical Sciences, or AIIMS, one of the eight CoE for treatment of rare diseases in the country, said it received Rs 1 crore in 2019, nil in 2020, Rs 4.10 crore in 2021, Rs 7.12 crore in 2023, and Rs 10.93 crore in 2023. The Department of Health and Family Welfare said as per records maintained in the Rare Disease Cell, the government released Rs 1.30 crore in 2019-20, Rs 10 crore in 2020-21, Rs 3.15 crore in 2021-21, Rs 34.99 crore in 2022-23, and Rs 40 crore in 2023-24 (till date). The RTI query was filed by Noida-based social activist Amit Gupta. According t

Federal Bank raises Rs 3,099 cr via QIP route to fund business growth

Private sector lender Federal Bank on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 3,099 crore through qualified institutional placement route to fund business growth. The board approved the allotment of 23.04 crore shares with a face value Rs 2 each to eligible qualified institutional buyers at an issue price of Rs 131.90 per unit, including a premium of Rs 129.90 per share, reflecting a discount of Rs 0.69 (0.52 per cent) on the floor price of Rs 132.59, Federal Bank said in a regulatory filing. Last week, the board had fixed a floor price of Rs 132.59 per equity share for the Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP). Following the allotment of shares, the paid-up equity share capital of the bank stands increased from Rs 4,23,63,28,436 crore comprising 2,11,81,64,218 shares to Rs 4,697,283,704 crore, consisting of 2,348,641,852 shares, it said. The bank had posted a 42 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 1,147 crore for the June quarter, as against Rs 807 crore in the year-ago period. The total

GreenCell Mobility receives Rs 3,000 crore in debt funding from REC

The fund will be used to acquire 3,000 e-buses and support energy storage and charging infrastructure

LIC Housing Finance plans to raise Rs 1,250 crore through bond sale

The debt market experienced a notable decline in issuances during July as issuers chose to take a back seat in response to the escalating cost of borrowing

Ascend Capital plans to raise Rs 500 cr in 18 months to finance 1 mn EVs

Ascend Capital is planning to raise Rs 500 crore over the next 18 months as it looks to finance over 1 million electric commercial vehicles by 2030, the company said on Wednesday. Co-founded in 2019 by Lokesh Chandra Mittal and Gaurav Maheshwari, the Jaipur-based electric commercial vehicle (eCV) financing firm, has so far invested about Rs 80 crore in its own business and has financed over 8,000 commercial EVs. "We have invested about Rs 80 crore since we founded Ascend Capital. We have a robust growth plan and are eyeing to infuse Rs 500 crore into the company over the next 18 months," Lokesh Chandra Mittal, co-founder and director of Ascend Capital, told PTI. Mittal said these funds will be raised from climate finance, sustainability, and financial inclusion-focused impact investors. The company sees a huge potential in financing eCVs, he said, adding that plans are afoot to finance 1 million vehicles by 2030. However, if there is an opportunity, the company might explore other

Corporate funding in global solar up 54% to $18.5 bn in Jan-Jun: Report

Corporate funding in the global solar sector increased 54 per cent year-on-year to USD 18.5 billion in the first half of this year, says a report. According to a Mercom Capital report, the total corporate funding was at USD 12 billion in the January-June period in 2022, the report said, adding that corporate funding includes venture capital, public market and debt financing. "Even amidst tightening financial market conditions and high interest rates, the solar industry remained strong in the first half of the year. "Besides AI, cleantech is one of the few sectors still attracting VC interest. Demand due to the Inflation Reduction Act (in the US) is so strong that even interest-rate sensitive public markets and debt financing increased," said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group. During January-June 2023, global VC funding was at USD 3.8 billion through 33 deals, 3 per cent compared to USD 3.7 billion in 53 deals in the first half of 2022. In India, some of the companies which .

World Bank chief Ajay Banga eyes corporate philanthropy to raise funds

A panel appointed by Indian presidency of G-20 has estimated that $3 trillion is needed every year through 2030 for issues including debt relief to low-income countries and to fight climate change

Welspun One Logistics Parks' warehousing-focussed fund raises Rs 1,000 cr

Welspun One Logistics Parks (WOLP) on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 1,000 crore within four months of launching its second warehousing-focussed fund. The company also announced the opening of its "green shoe" option to raise an additional Rs 1,000 crore. The potential corpus could reach Rs 2,000 crore upon completion of the green shoe option, which would rank it among the largest in the domestic real estate alternatives space, WOLP said in a statement. The plan entails an overall investment outlay of over Rs 8,000 crore, which will propel Welspun One to an Assets under management (AUM) of USD 1 billion, it said. "We are deeply grateful to our investors for their unwavering faith in us, which has powered our successful second fund-raise," said Anshul Singhal, Managing Director at WOLP. The warehousing sector continues to exhibit strong growth with record-high demand of 51.3 million square feet in FY23, implying a CAGR of 24 per cent during FY17-23, according to the company. With a

World Bank chief unveils plans to boost lending to tackle climate change

The new steps, still being discussed with shareholder countries, come on top of initial steps approved in April that will boost World Bank lending by up to $50 billion over the next decade

JSPL promoter Naveen Jindal explores potential $3 billion funding

Analysts expect JSPL to report an Ebitda of Rs 11,687 crore in the financial year 2024

AI4Bharat researchers set to raise $12 mn from Peak XV, Lightspeed: Report

The larger-than-usual seed funding round underscores the growing interest in generative AI, after OpenAI's ChatGPT dazzled users with its ability to engage in human-like conversations

No shortage of funds for good startups with strong business models: Kant

The innovation and startup ecosystem is strongly positioned to find solutions to challenges facing the world today, India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said on Monday, asserting there is no shortage of funds for good startups with strong business models. Speaking at 'Startup20 Shikhar' event, he advocated a multi-pronged approach of 'fund of funds', credit enhancement schemes, and a sharp focus on good governance for a robust startup ecosystem. Indian startups have successfully demonstrated the power of population-scale solutions at low cost, he said. Kant said that there is no funding winter in startup space, and pointed to "spring" of capital availability for good startups. The world is flushed with funds looking for well-structured good projects, he pointed out. Kant spoke about the success of India's digital public infrastructure, biometric ID, digital payments, and the strength of its startup ecosystem, and added that the country has demonstrated the huge power of digital ...