Page 13 - Indian Startups

Fireside Ventures announces $225-mn fund for investment in Indian startups

Venture capital firm Fireside Ventures on Wednesday announced closing of its third fund at USD 225 million or Rs 1,830 crore, which it plans to invest in Indian startups over a period of the next 10 years. The new fund is double the size of its previous fund. "We have closed out Fund III at USD 225 million which is about Rs 1,830 crore. We plan to invest Fund III in 25-30 startups in keeping with the Fireside thesis of digital-first consumer brands, across the spectrum of health and wellness, edutainment, lifestyle and FMCG," Fireside Ventures Partner Kannan Sitaram said here. According to Fireside Ventures, the market for D2C brands in India is set to touch USD 100 billion by 2025. Fireside Ventures has invested in 31 brands that include The Baker's Dozen, boAt, Mamaearth, Bombay Shaving Company etc. Launched in 2017, Fireside Ventures with the close of its Fund III has Rs 3,000 crore (USD 395 million) of assets under management. "The first fund had a corpus of Rs 340 crore and

Piyush Goyal urges BSE to set up interface with startup ecosystem

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday urged the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to create an interface with the startup ecosystem

Govt to provide collateral-free loans to start-ups under CGSS framework

The credit guarantee cover under the scheme would be both transaction-based (for single eligible borrowers) and umbrella-based (for a group of eligible borrowers)

CRED, upGrad, Groww claim top spots in LinkedIn's Indian startups ranking

Online professional network LinkedIn on Wednesday released a list of the top 25 start-ups in India that have shown resilience in an uncertain market environment, and are continuing to innovate in 2022. Topping this year's list is unified payments interface CRED. Valued at USD 6.4 billion, this young start-up maintained its podium position on the LinkedIn Top Startups list, moving from the third spot in 2021 to number one in 2022. "Besides gaining popularity for its quirky ads in the past two years, CRED is also setting new benchmarks for employee well-being by offering benefits such as ElderCare, egg freezing, and one-on-one support for mental wellness to its employees," a LinkedIn statement noted. The second spot on the list is taken by upGrad, one of India's largest online higher education companies that curates vast upskilling opportunities for professionals and college students, followed by Groww in third position. Groww is an online investment platform that provides an objecti

Future of learning: Edtech start-ups' hybrid tilt to lure students

With the offline lure of greater teacher-student connect many such start-ups have forayed into brick-and-mortar centres to compete with existing offline institutions

Deep tech start-up Awiros raises $7 mn in series A from Inflexor, Exfinity

Funds will be used by the start-up for product enhancement, building its own developer community and to accelerate growth and global expansion

India has 100 unicorns with a value at $250 billion, says FM Sitharaman

India was home for over one hundred unicorns with a total value of USD 250 billion which have managed to raise over USD 63 billion in the last few years, Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said here on Saturday. Nearly 25 per cent of the start-ups in the Silicon Valley were managed by people of Indian origin and it was a matter of pride, she said at an event here. The start-up eco-system was built well in the country and all the one hundred unicorns were valued at USD 250 billion and have managed to raise over USD 63 billion from the capital markets, she said addressing new graduates at the 10th Convocation of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram near here. "I am saying all these things because, even as you graduate from here, you all can become entrepreneurs and create jobs for others. It is not the world were entrepreneurship is worrisome or entrepreneurship has risks. It may have had the risks, (but)

Goyal launches initiative to connect Indian startups with US investors

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has launched an initiative -- SETU (Supporting Entrepreneurs in Transformation and Upskilling) -- here to connect startups in India to US-based investors. SETU is designed to break the geographical barriers between mentors based in the US that are willing to invest in entrepreneurship and sunrise startups in India. The programme was launched during an interaction focused on specific issues related to the startup ecosystem in India. The meeting focused on ways to encourage domestic incorporation and mentorship of early-stage Indian startups by successful diaspora members in the Bay Area of San Francisco. The initiative would connect startups in India to US-based investors and startup ecosystem leaders with mentorship and assistance in various areas, including funding, market access and commercialisation. The interaction between the stakeholders will be supported through the mentorship portal under the Startup India initiative MAARG ...

B2B food processing start-up Suite42 raises $4.3 mn in seed funding

Suite42 says its technology helps clients to make fair price discovery, reduce processing cost

How Eduvacancy is changing the way institutes hire teachers in India

The firm's SaaS-based platform has over 500,000 registered educators and 12,750 institutes pan India and matches the right candidate for the right job across regions

Edtech firm Sunstone raises USD 35 million from WestBridge Capital, others

Edtech startup Sunstone, which focuses on higher education, on Friday said it has raised USD 35 million, about Rs 280 crore, in a funding round led by WestBridge Capital. The funding round also saw participation from Alteria Capital. Founded by Ashish Munjal and Piyush Nangru in 2019, Sunstone had raised USD 28 million in Series B in October 2021. Munjal said that the fresh capital will be used to expand into new programmes with a key focus on undergraduate technology programmes. The company has presence across more than 35 cities in over 40 institutions and is building capacities to expand into 100 cities across the country in the next two years. "The Indian higher education system is at the brink of a long overdue transformation. Sunstone is well positioned to enable this change and impact the lives of millions of students. Over the years, we have made significant strides in the direction but still have a long way to go as the market opportunity and problem we are trying to solv

Chai Point aims to become profitable in 2 qtrs, will expand business: CEO

Bengaluru-based startup plans bigger business for its brewing system and packaged product divisions.

PriceLabs raises $30 mn from Summit Partners, plans to accelerate hiring

PriceLabs was founded in 2014 to bring Artificial intelligence (AI) and analytical tools to owners and managers of vacation homes and short-term rentals

Mergers & acquisitions on rise as startups diversify into newer spaces

The second half of 2022 will see further consolidation as established start-ups look for M&A opportunities at attractive valuation to increase market share

Edtech startup Creative Galileo raises $7.5 million in Series A funding

The latest round brings Creative Galileo's total funding to $10 million, including a pre-series A round of $ 2.5 million announced in October 2021

Agritech start-up Otipy to hire 250+ people including 100 freshers

/ -- Delhi/NCR-based agri-tech startup Otipy operated by Crofarm is planning to hire more than 250+ employees this fiscal. The company is looking for fresh talent across various departments including Sales & Marketing, Data & Analytics, Technology, Product Management, Operations & Supply chain, Procurement, etc. As a fast-growing company, the startup is expanding its operations to different parts of the country and has mapped out a plan to generate employment opportunities for freshers as well as seasoned professionals through job aggregators and direct applications. Otipy is a young organization with a workforce of 400+ employees, the start-up has recently added young, energetic, and sharp talent across functions from different groups of institutions/ colleges along with experienced employees and with this announcement the company looks forward to adding more talent in the coming days. In light of the current hiring process, Mr. Varun Khurana, Founder & CEO of Otipy ..

Swapping batteries: How India is moving ahead with adoption of EVs

Across the Indian capital's dense localities, battery swapping stations are becoming a frequent site at local provision stores and small retail outlets

Startup funding in India declined 40% between April and June, says PwC

Geo-political instability appears to be taking a toll on the Indian startups with the total funding declining by 40 per cent to USD 6.8 billion in the April-June quarter, reveals a PwC India report.

Maharashtra leads states with 13,541 govt-recognised startups: DPIIT data

Total number of approved startups at 73,205; Maharashtra's share is 18%

Food firm iD Fresh grants ESOP, says it aims to create '100 crorepatis'

iD Fresh said it aims to create 100 millionaires in the next three years by offering employees high-value shares (ESOPS)