Page 23 - Fundings

Veteran entrepreneurs look to ramp up their bets in Indian startups

Founders, after building their own companies, have often sought to invest in newer startups

Serentica Renewables ties up with PFC for Rs 2,600 cr debt funding

Serentica Renewables on Thursday said it has tied up with PFC for a Rs 2,600 crore debt funding for its upcoming projects in Karnataka. In Karnataka, the company is setting up 400 MW of wind and solar capacities where it has already secured connectivity to the inter-state transmission system (ISTS). "The debt funding...will accelerate our journey towards supplying 40 billion units of clean energy annually to energy intensive industries and displacing 37 million tonne of carbon emissions," Pratik Agarwal, Director, Serentica Renewables said. Parminder Chopra, Chairman & Managing Director, PFC said, this transaction is in line with PFC's expanding role in funding green projects and positioning itself as the focal agency for energy transition. Established in 2022, Serentica Renewables (India) is a decarbonization platform that looks to provide clean energy solutions enabling the transition of large-scale, energy-intensive industries to clean energy. Serentica aims to provide assured

Vertex Ventures' SEA and India arm raises $541 mn, expands investor base

Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India (VVSEAI) on Tuesday said it has raised USD 541 million (about Rs 4,489 crore) in a funding round. The VVSEAI Fund V exceeds its target fund of USD 450 million (about Rs 3,734 crore) and is 80 per cent larger than VVSEAI Fund IV raised in 2019, the company said in a statement. The new Fund V raise comes on the heels of cash-on-cash returns from VVSEAI's portfolio and successful exits from its investments in companies such as Grab, FirstCry, XPressBees, Recko, and others. The fund is backed by existing and new limited partners like Japan Investment Corporation (JIC), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and DEG (a German development finance institution), sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, corporates and family offices across Asia and Europe. "Our earlier funds have had superior cash-on-cash returns and are outperforming benchmarks. This track record led most of our investors from VVSEAI Fund IV to return as investors in VVSEAI

Top headlines: KKR to invest in Reliance Retail, gains for rail, infra cos

Business Standard brings you the latest headlines at this hour

Temasek leads $140 mn Ola Electric funding at $5.4 bn valuation: Report

Ola Electric, founded by Bhavish Aggarwal and backed by Japan's SoftBank Group, has become India's e-scooter market leader with a 32% share

Our LPs say it is a great time to invest: Fireside Ventures co-founder

Between strategic exits and private equity (PE) secondary exits, we have a fairly robust exit plan, says Vinay Singh, co-founder of Fireside Ventures

Unicorn India Ventures announces first close of Fund III at Rs 225 crore

With Fund III, UIV aims to build a portfolio of 25 startups that are focused on global SaaS and digital platforms, areas of expertise for Unicorn India

Captain Fresh raises $20 million for global expansion in Series C funding

Captain Fresh, a B2B fish and seafood company, on Tuesday announced raising USD 20 million (around Rs 166 crore) that will help it in expanding in global markets. The extended C funding round saw participation from SBI Investment and Evolvence Capital, among others. "This investment is led by Japan-based SBI Investment and Evolvence Capital, complemented by continued backing from internal investors, including Accel, Matrix Partners India, Prosus Ventures and Tiger Global," a company statement said. Captain Fresh is backed by Ankur Capital and Incubate Fund. "The fresh capital will be purposed towards Captain Fresh's global aspirations, particularly focusing on Europe and the USA. Discussions are already in motion with potential allies in these markets," it added. Founder Utham Gowda said it is a transformative juncture in our aim to establish Captain Fresh on the global stage. "Over the past three years, we've built significant supply side capacity by establishing a robust networ

MediBuddy raises $18mn in additional funding, to grow via acquisitions

A substantial portion of these funds will be meticulously channelled into strategic acquisitions and fortifying its existing offerings

BS Startup: Robotics company Ati Motors disrupting logistics sector

The company's advanced autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) combine artificial intelligence, computer vision, and state-of-the-art hardware to perform complex tasks in dynamic environments

Go First seeks emergency funding of Rs 100 crore from creditor banks

The funds will go towards operational costs such as insurance and repairs that could keep the airlines afloat

UK announces 95,000-pound new funding to tackle pro-Khalistani extremism

The United Kingdom's Security Minister, Tom Tugendhat has announced a new funding of 95,000 pound (around Rs 1 crore) to enhance Britain's capability to tackle "pro-Khalistan extremism". The British High Commission said this in a readout on Tugendhat's three-day visit to India that began on Thursday. The announcement on the new funding comes amid growing concerns in India over increasing activities of pro-Khalistani elements in the UK. Tugendhat is in India to bolster bilateral cooperation on security initiatives and attend the G20 anti-corruption ministerial meeting. "During a meeting with India's External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, in New Delhi on Thursday, Tugendhat announced the new funding to enhance the UK's capability to tackle Pro-Khalistan Extremism," the high commission said. It said the 95,000 pound investment will enhance the government's understanding of the threat posed by "pro-Khalistan extremism", complementing the joint work already underway between the UK an

How Indian unicorns are forging profits out of funding winter's ice

"Given that the market is now demanding disciplined growth, well-run companies should be able to demonstrate profitability with the cash on hand," says Pranav Pai, founding partner at 3one4 Capital

Skilling start-up Disprz gets $30 mn in Series-C funding from Lumos, others

Established in 2015, Disprz's client base includes firms like ICICI Bank, Amazon, Indian Oil, Bajaj Allianz, Ather Energy, HDFC Life, and Starbucks, among others

Lok Sabha passes bill to set up agency to fund research across universities

A bill to set up a national agency to fund research across universities in the country was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday by Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh. The Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill-2023 seeks to set up a Rs 50,000-crore fund, with a sizeable contribution from the private sector, to "seed, grow and promote" research and development (R&D) and foster a culture of research and innovation throughout India's universities, colleges, research institutions, and R&D laboratories. It seeks to set up different funds the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Fund, for the financing of activities under the Act; the Innovation Fund for supporting outstanding creativity in the areas supported by the foundation; the Science and Engineering Research Fund for the continuation of the projects and programmes initiated under the Science and Engineering Research Board Act, 2008; and one or more special-purpose funds for any specific project or

Forced to cut food aid to millions globally because of funding crisis: UN

The United Nations has been forced to cut food, cash payments and assistance to millions of people in many countries because of a crippling funding crisis that has seen its donations plummet by about half as acute hunger is hitting record levels, a top official said Friday. Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Programme, told a news conference that at least 38 of the 86 countries where WFP operates have already seen cuts or plan to cut assistance soon including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and West Africa. He said WFP's operating requirement is USD 20 billion to deliver aid to everyone in need, but it was aiming for between USD 10 billion and USD 14 billion, which was what the agency had received in the past few years. We're still aiming at that, but we have only so far this year gotten to about half of that, around USD 5 billion, Skau said. He said humanitarian needs were going through the roof in 2021 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukrain

AI startup ZYBER 365 secures $100 mn in funding led by SRAM & MRAM

AI Start-up ZYBER 365 has secured USD 100 million (around Rs 818.7 crore) in Series A funding led by UK-based SRAM & MRAM Group, valuing the company at USD 1.2 billion, a statement said on Tuesday. The latest funding has earned the Web3, AI startup a unicorn status, making ZYBER 365 the 109th unicorn in India's vibrant start-up ecosystem, the startup said in the statement. Founded in May 2023 by Indian-origin entrepreneurs Pearl Kapur and Sunny Vaghela, ZYBER 365 is involved in Web3, AI and cybersecurity segments with a focus on sustainability. With its headquarters in London and operational base in India, the company aims to make India the hub of its operations. The statement said that the Series A funding round, spearheaded by SRAM & MRAM Group, garnered significant investments from other prominent investors as well, highlighting the confidence in ZYBER 365's potential and growth trajectory. The capital will play a key role in fuelling the company's expansion plans, ...

Netweb Technologies India raises Rs 189 crore from anchor investors

Nomura Funds, Goldman Sachs Funds, ICICI Prudential MF, HDFC MF and Nippon MF were among those who got an allotment

Navi Finserv to raise Rs 500 cr debt via non-convertible debentures

Navi Finserv, the NBFC arm of Navi Technologies, on Monday hit the debt market with a plan to raise up to Rs 500 crore through a public issue of non-convertible debentures. The issue will close on July 21, the Bengaluru-based company said in a statement. The issue offers five series of investment options with tenures of 18, 27 and 36 months with yields ranging from 10.18 per cent to 11.01 per cent. There is an option of coupon payments monthly or annually, barring the third and fifth series for which payments will be made every year. Sachin Bansal, cofounder of the Navi Group, said this was the company's second public debt issue meant to further diversify the borrowings profile.

Indian start-ups money for little: Here's a look at ecosystem's finances

Funding raised by start-ups in H1 2023 was $5.4 billion, down 71.5 per cent compared to $19 billion raised in H1 2022