Page 12 - Funding

Need to address funding and training challenges in R&D sector: Official

A senior government official on Tuesday made a strong pitch for collective responsibility to address the challenges of funding and inadequate training in the research and development sector. Addressing the CII Global Science, Innovation and Research Summit here, Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary at the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government, said India was undergoing tremendous advancement and has been showing incredible growth in areas from missiles, AI, superconductors to Covid vaccines. Maini said it was imperative to take collective responsibility to amend the challenges of funding, inadequate training and awareness through a strategic approach for the R&D ecosystem to reach greater heights. She said every country has its own strengths, therefore each and every country needs to share its technological strengths with the world for co-existence. Maini said there was an increasing realisation of technological partnerships in industry and academia with a .

Thanks to funding crunch, India has not seen a new unicorn in over 6 months

This is the longest drought since August 2016 when it took 17 months for India to come up with a new unicorn

LinkedIn co-founder defends funding rape accuser suit against Trump

"I want to be clear that I've never taken any steps to hide the financial support that I have provided to this lawsuit after it started," he said

Once booming, Indian start-ups set for more pain as funding crunch worsens

"Indian startups are not catering to a billion consumers. All of them are selling to the same 100 million"

Adani Group's debt pile up almost 21%, relies on global banks for funding

The ratio of net debt to run-rate earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization was about 3.2 in the 2023 fiscal year, which ended in March

March-quarter PE investments fall 75% in sixth straight three-monthly dip

This is the lowest start to a year by value for PE investments in India since 2018 ($1.7 billion)

PhonePe raises $100 million additional funding from General Atlantic

This new funding is part of PhonePe's ongoing fundraise of up to $1 billion in capital, following its domicile shift to India last year

Cold chain startup Celcius raises Rs 100 crore from IvyCap, others

The company aims to use the funds for tech innovations to solve the fragmented nature of the cold supply chain and reduce wastage of perishables

VCs focusing more on due diligence amid startup funding slowdown: Report

According to data by Venture Intelligence, the aggregate venture funding fell from $11.34 billion between January and March 2022 to $2.19 billion in the same period this year

Indian startup funding dives 75% YoY to $2.8 bn in Q1 of CY 2023: Tracxn

Deal values dip sequentially as well; despite this India emerges as second-highest funded nation, behind the US

Delivery firm Dunzo secures $75 mn funding, lays off 30% of staff: Report

According to the report, under the new business model, Dunzo will cut about 50% of its dark stores and run only those that can be profitable or are nearing that threshold

Edtech major Byju's to raise $700 million in fresh funding round this month

The latest funding round comes as Byju's is aiming to repay a huge $1.2-billion term loan it had secured in November 2021

Housing finance company Aviom raises $30 million in a funding round

Housing finance company Aviom has raised USD 30 million (over Rs 246 crore) in a funding round through a mix of primary and secondary investments by Nuveen, a global investment manager. The company is focused on affordable housing sector and the funding will help in expanding its loan book and widen its operations to newer geographies, said its chief executive officer Kajal llmi. With the series D funding, the company plans to extend financial assistance to around 60,000 families additionally in the new fiscal by disbursing around Rs 1,200 crore, she added. The company currently has a customer base of around 50,000. Stephen Lee, senior director & head of Asia at Nuveen's private equity impact investing team, said, Aviom has disrupted micro-mortgage lending landscape by catering to a hitherto underserved segment. This new equity investment will propel Aviom to grow 6-fold by 2026, Lee said. Over the next six months, Aviom looks to increase its monthly disbursement to Rs 150 crore

Nainital Bank raises Rs 100 cr via rights issue to meet future requirements

Nainital Bank, a subsidiary of public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB), on Monday said it has raised around Rs 100 crore through a rights issue to meet future capital requirements. BoB holds 98.57 per cent stake in Nainital Bank. The amount was raised on March 29, 2023, Nainital Bank said in a statement. Nainital Bank has a presence in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi & NCR, Rajasthan and Haryana with 168 branches, it said. The bank's business touched the Rs 12,305-crore mark as on March 31, 2023. Net NPA stood at 2.50 per cent, Provision Coverage Ratio at 80 per cent and Capital to Risk Assets Ratio (CRAR) at 16 per cent as per latest figures (unaudited), it said. The board of BoB in December approved a proposal to sell its majority stake in Nainital Bank. Mumbai-based BoB had taken over Nainital Bank in 1973 on the directions of the Reserve Bank of India.

User engagement platform CometChat Raises Rs 40 crore in venture debt

Funding round led by Utah-based Zions Venture Fund; CometChat offers a full-fledged messaging and communications platform within apps and websites to improve a brand's user engagement

Roman Abramovich secretly bankrolled Vitesse, show leaked papers

The financial information has come to light in the Oligarch files, a cache of leaked data originating from the Cyprus-based offshore service provider MeritServus

Funding for Healthtech companies falls 55% to $1.4 bn in 2022: Tracxn

Drop is mostly due to a 75% dip in late-stage investments, from $2.4 billion in 2021 to $606 million in 2022

Programming platform CodeChef hives off from Unacademy amid funding crunch

Firm will now function as an independent unit run by its current team; Unacademy will, however, hold 30% in it as an investor, has also infused some capital to help it run for next 12-18 months

80% of early-stage start-ups looking to expand workforce in 2023: Report

These enterprises, the study by Ficci and Randstad says, are well capitalised and have raised series A and B funding rounds

G20 push: Over 30 big cities on list to tap municipal bond market

Surat, Vizag may issue bonds soon as Centre renews urban infra focus