Page 14 - Startup

Sequoia India may invest $50 mn in homegrown edtech startup

Sequoia India is reportedly planning to invest more than $50 million in K12 Techno Services, an edtech startup that provides a variety of services to educational institutions

Dhoni picks up equity in plant-based protein startup 'Shaka Harry'

Former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has picked up equity in the plant protein startup Shaka Harry', the company said on Tuesday. The startup, which has created plant-based mock-meat, said it has received USD 2 million in a seed funding round led by Better Bite Venture, Blue Horizon and Panthera Peak Ventures. The company has other investors like chef Manu Chandra. Speaking about the partnership, Dhoni told reporters that he loves chicken but now he is after a balanced diet. It is much easier with products from Shaka Harry, which has a wide range that delivers a healthier experience to that of traditional meat dishes, he said. Shaka Harry co-founder Anand Nagarajan said the company is serving over 30,000 customers across 10 cities monthly and expects to triple this number in the next few months. Another co-founder Hemalatha Srinivasan said the company is presently offering packaged product. She did not rule out the possibility of a food chain in the coming years.

India's startup sector sees 80% drop in Q3 funding, slowdown to continue

The funding in Indian startups nosedived a massive 80 per cent (year-on-year) in the third quarter (July-September period) this year, with the late stage funding seeing the biggest fall

Kerala's agriculture startup launches end-to-end supply chain for bananas

A Kerala-based agribusiness startup has launched an end-to-end supply chain connecting banana cultivators, traders and exporters on a single platform. The start-up, Greenikk, has built enablement centres (EC) in the major banana producing agricultural-belts in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to provide farmers with production and marketing-related support, a release issued by it on Thursday said. "These ECs will provide the farmers with required supports such as finance, seeds, crop advisory, insurance coverage, agri inputs, including weather tips, and market connect, covering the entire gamut of production and marketing both inside the country and outside," it said. "Similar ECs are planned in other south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and further scaling across the whole of India," the start-up said. The platform would also help farmers to better utilise the organic waste that is left behind after the harvest, as manure and poultry feed, the release said. Such ..

Mumbai Angels raises $ 2mn funding for recruitment automation start-up

TurboHire ensures accuracy in candidate selection and reduces the cost and time spent on hiring

Amazon claims to sale of 1 mn unique products of SMBs, startup in 36 hrs

E-commerce firm Amazon on Friday claimed to have recorded sale of 10 lakh unique products offered by small and medium business, startups etc from its platform during the first 36 hours of festive season sale. The company's festive season sale "Great Indian Festival" started from September 22 as it gave early access to paid users. The company said that its Prime users, who are paid members, grew 1.9 times than last year and 68 per cent of the total new sign ups were from Tier 2 and 3 cities. "It is encouraging to witness small and medium businesses, startups, artisans, women entrepreneurs offer a wide selection of products to our customer across India. We are humbled by the increase in new Prime member sign ups and customers shopping across categories as they trust Amazon as their preferred online shopping destination," said Manish Tiwary, Vice President & Country Manager, India Consumer Business, Amazon. According to Amazon, customers showed preference for television brands like ..

IVCA forms new VC Council, Sequoia India MD Rajan Anandan named chairman

The council was formed to strengthen governance practices for VCs and start-ups and continue working with govt and its agencies to improve the environment for venture capital in India

Machine learning developer TrueFoundry raises $2.3 mn in seed funding

Company will use financing to expand technology team and for product development

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

How a startup in Pakistan folded just a year after raising $85 million

Airlift started by operating vans and small buses used by office workers and students. When that business slowed during the pandemic, the company pivoted to quick commerce

Construction management start-up Powerplay raises $7.14 mn in funding

The company will use the funds to expand its business in India and abroad. Powerplay said the value of construction managed on its platform from January to June 2022 is worth Rs 7,500 crore

Accenture Ventures makes strategic investment in satellite startup Pixxel

Pixxel is building world's highest resolution hyperspectral imaging satellite constellation in order to offer AI-powered insights on climate issues at a fraction of the cost of traditional satellites

Laying eyewear optic fibre to make 400 mn specs per year: Lenskart's Bansal

As part of that strategy, the SoftBank-backed firm is setting up the world's largest eyewear manufacturing plant in Bhiwadi, a city in Rajasthan

HealthAssure raises Rs 50 cr in pre-series B funding led by Dadlani Group

HealthAssure is targeting the massive $ 40 billion OPD and Insurance market in India by 'productizing' the largest HMO ecosystem of primary care

TVS to acquire 48% stake in two-wheeler startup DriveX for Rs 85 cr

TVS Motor Company on Wednesday said it will acquire 48 per cent stake in Narain Karthikeyan's pre-owned two-wheeler startup 'DriveX' for a consideration of Rs 85 crore. The company said it will acquire 48.27 per cent stake in NKars Mobility Millennial Solutions Pvt Ltd (NMMSPL), which operates under the brand DriveX', through primary and secondary investments. Founded by Formula 1 driver Karthikeyan, DriveX is into leasing of two-wheeler motorcycles and scooters and selling, trading, and distributing pre-owned two-wheeler motorcycles and scooters. "DriveX has a vision to bring a change in this segment by building trust, assurance, and transparency through end-to-end, high-quality products and customer experience through innovative solutions. We are confident of DriveX ability to deliver on this vision," TVS Motor Company Managing Director Sudarshan Venu said in a statement. DriveX Founder and CEO Karthikeyan said DriveX is a digital first business, serving all brands with ...

Zomato-backed Shiprocket raises $33.5 mn, becomes India's 106th unicorn

The logistics technology platform was valued at around $1.2 billion with the fresh round of funding

How a celebrity CEO's rule of fear helped bring down hot startup Zilingo

The story of how globetrotting tech star Ankiti Bose built and lost one of Asia's most vaunted startups

EV firm River gets $11 mn in funding to set up manufacturing plant

Uber and Twitter investor Chris Sacca's fund backs Bengaluru-based company preparing its first electric scooter

Fintech firm Twid raises $12 mn to expand reward points-based service

Company has more than 40 million registered users and it works with 50,000 merchants

Startup style: the smart way of dressing up is to rent your clothes

Lease designer and premium brands from companies that offer attire you can return after wearing for a while