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A study, conducted by San Francisco State University and published by the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, said people engaging in creative hobbies regularly do better at the workplace.
 Around the world, there are several examples of entrepreneurs with hobbies about as crazy as their ideas. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and <keyword id="156689" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tesla-Motors">Tesla Motors</keyword>, collects James Bond memorabilia. <keyword id="6354630" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mark-Zuckerberg">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword> of Facebook prefers eating what he kills. <keyword id="6629386" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Henry-Ford">Henry Ford</keyword> who built an automotive empire liked to restore historical buildings. For India's startup entrepreneurs and investors, too, tried and tested hobbies won't do. <keyword id="2933507" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Guhesh-Ramanathan">Guhesh Ramanathan</keyword>, who runs startup incubator Excubator, got hooked to scuba diving 17 years ago and is now an avid underwater photographer. "I think I've become pretty damn good at it," said Ramanathan, a former <keyword id="28115" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Intel">Intel</keyword> executive. Having founded and helped consult at many companies, Ramanathan was itching for a change in 1998. He discovered this hobby at 35 and decided to seriously invest in it. Plus, he wanted bragging rights to being the only one in his friends' circle to be a certified scuba diver. The effect was so overpowering that he combined his underwater lessons with his work experience and penned them into a book: "Scuba Sutras". 

	"The lessons for business leaders come from many different places. What if I could get business insights from my experiences with scuba diving?" said Ramanathan.
 Srikanth Nadhamuni, ceo of start-up incubator <keyword id="1959022" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Khosla-Labs">Khosla Labs</keyword> loves designing and creating nice and elegant things. His intricately designed garage is a proof of it. The four pillars adorning the wall were picked off a junkyard in Mysore, and he spent weekends removing paint, grime and fungi on the wood and carving it deeper to make the intricate patterns stand out. The garage is now an entertainment center for his family of four. 

	"Designing is about fixing things. Much like coding," said said Nadhamuni, who laboured eight months on the restoration. The pillars are topped off with protruding wooden arches that he designed on Adobe Illustrator. Between the pillars is a wooden door with intricate patterns, also designed using the same software. 
 <keyword id="2933506" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sanjay-Parthasarathy">Sanjay Parthasarathy</keyword>, cofounder of big data firm Indix, gets his lessons from his habit of collecting contemporary art the past 25 years. His collection spans 700 photographs, sculptures and paintings, the latter two focused on contemporary Indian and modern genres. He showcased some of his collection at Seattle's Art Museum in December. "My challenge is how come I'm not spending all my time on it," said the former Microsoft veteran, who raised $15 million (.95 crore) from Nokia Growth Partners, Nexus Venture Partners and <keyword id="1626954" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Avalon-Ventures">Avalon Ventures</keyword> in June. 
	 
	(image credits: mobilyser)

Engaging in crazy hobbies help come up with creative solutions at work

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=nexus+venture+partners&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Nexus Venture Partners</a> (NVP) has apparently given its nod for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal’s</a> sellout to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a>. Japan’s <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword>, which secured a nod from <keyword id="1500808" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="KALAARI">Kalaari</keyword> capital last month, got a go-ahead from NVP as well. As per various reports, the term sheet with <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> could be signed soon and the due diligence for the deal would commence immediately thereafter. Sources told PTI, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> founders would get about $25 million each, while NVP could get close to $100 million and stake in the merged/new entity. Kalaari could get about $70-80 million. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=softbank&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">SoftBank</a> yesterday said it suffered a loss of $1 billion on its investment in Snapdeal during 2016-17. SoftBank currently owns over 30% in Snapdeal, while Nexus has roughly a 10% stake and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=kalaari+capital&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Kalaari</a> holds 8% share in the firm. The deal between Snapdeal and Flipkart, if completed, would mark the biggest acquisition in the Indian e-commerce space and change the landscape of the sector that is witnessing intense competition among players. Indian e-commerce companies have seen funding dry up over the last few months as investors are focusing extensively on profitability and rationalisation of expenses. With intense competition from deep-pocketed global rivals like <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>, companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal could face more heat in the coming days. There have been reports that Snapdeal's mobile wallet service Freecharge could be sold separately with players like Paytm and MobiKwik being in the fray.

Flipkart all set to buy Snapdeal

Programmatic ad-buying exchange <keyword id="881889" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="AppNexus">AppNexus</keyword> just raised $75 million from TCV.
That's a lot of money! 
It also makes AppNexus that much less likely to be acquired by Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, or Google any time soon.
It's may be too pricey now. IPO or bust?
Here's a blog post from CEO Brian O'Kelley:
I’m excited to <a href="http://appnexus.com/press-release/appnexus-raises-75-million-funding-accelerate-rapid-growth" target="_blank">announce</a> that <a href="http://appnexus.com/" target="_blank" title="AppNexus">AppNexus</a> has closed on a Series D round of $75 million, led by <a href="http://www.tcv.com/" target="_blank">Technology Crossover Ventures</a> (TCV).
There are so many people to thank – our early investors (especially Ben, Marc, Ron, and Josh), our mentors and advisors (especially David and Dwight), and our board (Brian, Ed, Mike, Dave, and Chip). I also want to thank all of the clients and partners who have helped us build the company and continue to trust us with their business. It’s a responsibility and privilege we don’t take lightly.
But of course, the biggest thank you is to the AppNexus team. Your passion and commitment to our customers, to our vision, and to each other is the foundation for everything we do.
The obvious question is “what are we going to do with all of this money?” As I’ve mentioned publicly, we didn’t need to raise money to run the business. In addition, we decided not to take any money for management or employee liquidity, as we see huge upside opportunity over the next few years.
On the other hand, Mike Nolet and I started AppNexus to create a great company that could transform (and dare I say fix) the complex, fragmented online advertising ecosystem. This investment allows us to accelerate our efforts in four key areas:
Product
We have a lot of ideas for how we can make our platform better – some big, some small. We are going to hire hundreds of engineers over the coming years to build the next generation of our platform (know an engineer that wants to change the world at Internet scale? Click <a href="http://careers.appnexus.com/" target="_blank" title="Careers at AppNexus">here</a>!) We have some fantastic features coming out over the next couple of months (which we previewed at the AppNexus Summit in November) and have an aggressive roadmap for the rest of the year. It’s a great time to be an AppNexus customer!
Quality
We will continue to invest in cleaning up the advertising marketplace. We’re proud of our anti-piracy stance, and our 5x volume growth this year indicates that you don’t need to serve on BitTorrent sites to be an ad platform company. We are investing heavily in fighting fraud, porn, malvertising, and malicious toolbars, and we are actively working on viewability tools.
People
Every week, I watch a group of new AppNexians go through the onboarding cycle. We’re investing heavily in professional development, with extensive onboarding and training for new hires and formal training programs to help employees grow into management roles. We’ve hired incredible people at every level of the organization, including the executive team. I’m excited to use this investment round to make AppNexus an even better place to work.
Innovation
We’re embarking on the third generation of the ad exchange era. The first generation was the initial Right Media Exchange which transformed the performance ecosystem. The second generation, RTB, created an ecosystem around data and audience. AppNexus has two major projects in the works for the third generation, and we’ll be announcing one at the AppNexus Summit in San Francisco on April 10th. With access to more than $100MM, we will be transforming the industry for years to come.
In summary, the best team with the best technology, best investors, and best clients just got more money to continue to build the best advertising ecosystem ever. Sweet.
Here's the release:
AppNexus today announced it has raised $75 million in Series D funding led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), one of the largest growth equity firms focused on the tech industry. AppNexus joins Facebook, Netflix, ExactTarget and other groundbreaking companies within TCV's investment portfolio. Venrock and Tribeca Venture Partners also participated in the round.
AppNexus' new round of financing caps a year of success and expansion. Over the past twelve months the company has:
<ul class="discStyle" style="padding-left: 30px;" type="disc">
<li style="padding-left: 30px;">Managed approximately $700 million of advertising spend</li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;">Almost tripled revenues with no client contributing approximately more than 12 percent</li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;">Processed a peak of one million requests per second</li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;">Quintupled delivery to over 13 billion ads served to websites each day</li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;">Doubled global headcount to over 400 employees</li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;">Signed major new clients, such as Interactive Media, Orange, and the Canadian Premium Audience Exchange (CPAX)</li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;">Opened offices in Paris, Hamburg and Toronto, bringing its total number of global offices to nine</li>
</ul>
"AppNexus is the largest independent ad tech company. From serving the first RTB impression in 2008 to inventing the first app store for advertising in 2011 to being the first ad tech company to take a hardline stance against piracy, AppNexus has consistently led the industry in innovation," said Brian O'Kelley, CEO, AppNexus. "Raising this round gives us access to more than $100 million to create the next generation of innovations that will transform online advertising."
AppNexus also announced that David Yuan , TCV General Partner, joined the company's Board of Directors. Yuan, a respected investor and advisor to Internet and technology companies, is on the boards of ExactTarget, Merkle and Sitecore, and he has active investments in Facebook and OSIsoft. Prior to joining TCV, Yuan was an investment professional with JPMorgan Partners and a management consultant at Bain &amp; Company. He holds an AB in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford.
"Any time you have the chance to work closely with an executive team that pioneered companies like DoubleClick and Right Media, it's going to be an exciting opportunity," said Yuan. "We've followed AppNexus for the past five years and watched it emerge as the leading platform. We then dug in further and saw what the company has already achieved — as well as what it is looking to do in the next 12 months — and we were really impressed. With the online ad market forecasted to grow to $44 billion this year, we believe the company has tremendous upside. We look forward to a long-term partnership in helping AppNexus to build an important technology franchise."
With this Series D round, AppNexus' total funding is $140.5 million. 
ABOUT APPNEXUS
AppNexus, which offers the most powerful, open and customizable advertising technology platform, serves the largest and most innovative buyers and sellers of online advertising, including Microsoft Advertising Exchange, Collective and Technorati Media. Led by the pioneers of the Web's original ad exchanges at Yahoo!'s Right Media and Google's DoubleClick, AppNexus offers the industry's most advanced technology platform that empowers companies to build, manage and optimize their entire online advertising businesses. Based in New York City, AppNexus is backed by an outstanding group of investors including Technology Crossover Ventures, Microsoft, Venrock, Kodiak Venture Partners, Tribeca Venture Partners, First Round Capital, Marc Andreessen , Ben Horowitz , Ron Conwayand Khosla Ventures. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.appnexus.com/" target="_blank">www.appnexus.com</a>.
ABOUT TCV
Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), founded in 1995, is a leading provider of capital to growth-stage technology companies, providing funds to later-stage private and public companies. With $7.7 billion in capital raised, TCV has invested in nearly 200 technology companies over the last 17 years. Selected investments include Altiris, C|NET, ExactTarget, Expedia, Facebook, Fandango, FX Alliance, Go Daddy, Genesys Software, Groupon, HomeAway, Netflix, RealNetworks, Redback Networks, RiskMetrics Group, Sitecore, Splunk, Thinkorswim, and Zillow. TCV has 11 partners and is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA with offices in New York, NY and London. For more information about TCV, including a complete list of TCV investments, visit <a href="http://www.tcv.com/" target="_blank">www.tcv.com</a>.
SOURCE AppNexus
<a href="http://s.tt/1yTrS">PR Newswire</a> (<a href="http://s.tt/1yTrS">http://s.tt/1yTrS</a>)

AppNexus Raises $75 Million

Nothing seems to be going well between the board members of <keyword id="6481662" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jasper-Infotech">Jasper Infotech</keyword>, which owns <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal</a>. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=kalaari+capital&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Kalaari Capital</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=nexus+venture+partners&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Nexus Venture Partners</a> are at loggerheads with Japanese investor <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=softbank&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">SoftBank</a>, which has now cancelled a $150-200 million debt financing offer to <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>. 
 As per various reports, <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword> is now interested in either merger or sell out of Snapdeal without any involvement of the other investors. ET reported SoftBank has been talking to several people for the deal without keeping <keyword id="1397792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalaari-Capital">Kalaari Capital</keyword> and <keyword id="175881" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nexus-Venture-Partners">Nexus Venture Partners</keyword> in loop. 
 
"Both Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners are livid at the developments, and have questioned SoftBank about its intention with regard to Snapdeal,” ET quoted one of its sources as saying. 
 
"There was a term-sheet offering Snapdeal debt financing for a period of three years, which was, inexplicably, withdrawn within days, giving credence that Soft-Bank has made up its mind about selling the company,” a second person told ET. 
 SoftBank has seats at the table, while Kalaari and Nexus have one each on Jasper’s board that includes cofounders <keyword id="219793" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kunal-Bahl">Kunal Bahl</keyword> and <keyword id="396598" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rohit-Bansal">Rohit Bansal</keyword>, and Bharti Enterprises vice-chairman Akhil Gupta as an independent director. 
 
Apparently, the differences within the board are not new. In December, SoftBank had offered a direct $50-million monthly injection in Snapdeal, contingent on a potential merger or sale of the company. Kalaari and Nexus Venture Partners disagreed with the terms. 
 
SoftBank's stake in Jasper stood at about 33% while Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners owned about 8% and 10%, respectively. Both the founders, combined, owned about 6.5% of the company, which at its peak early last year was valued at about $6.5 billion. 
 
As per Reuters, SoftBank has reached out to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart </a>to sell Snapdeal.

Snapdeal’s investors cross swords; SoftBank cancels $150-200 million debt financing

<keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> has found support from its early investors such as <keyword id="175881" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nexus-Venture-Partners">Nexus Venture Partners</keyword>, <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword>, etc, backing its decision to go solo. Snapdeal terminated its merger plans with <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and put its foot down to function as an independent entity. Following the decision, Snapdeal’s early investor Nexus Venture Partners said it would "continue to partner with the company, to help achieve its goals". "Nexus, as a long-term Snapdeal shareholder, fully supports the Snapdeal 2.0 journey," said the firm. Nexus holds nearly 10-11% stake in Snapdeal. SoftBank, which was pushing Snapdeal to merge with Flipkart, too, backed Snapdeal's decision to go solo. However, some of the investors were upset over Snapdeal’s decisions, such as <keyword id="1397792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalaari-Capital">Kalaari Capital</keyword>. “I maintain my stand that the decision to terminate the deal was not supported by Kalaari and also reiterate that the deal was called off without prior notice to us," <keyword id="1397790" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vani-Kola">Vani Kola</keyword>, managing director at Kalaari Capital, said in an email response to ET.

Early investors support Snapdeal’s decision, back it to go independent

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">HuddleAndy Mitchell relocated to San Francisco when he was CEO of Huddle.</div></div></div>European tech startups will struggle to gain traction in the US unless they send their CEO to the country, according to an investor at Nokia.Bo Ilsoe, general partner at venture capital firm Nokia Growth Partners, which has more than $1 billion to invest in growth stage companies, argued on Wednesday that European tech startups are setting themselves up for failure if they try and hire a US country manager against companies like Google and Facebook.Instead they need to relocate their leader, or at the very least, a strong cofounder. "That's when it starts working and when they start transferring the culture," said Ilsoe during a venture capital panel at the Noah Berlin tech conference.European tech companies that expand to the US typically need to form partnerships with large American companies if they are going to be successful, added Ilsoe. "They [US corporates] don't want to see some unempowered US person for lack of a better word," he said.The US technology market is one of the biggest in the world and European tech startups can significantly boost their revenues if they get the expansion right.In 2014, Huddle, a UK-founded enterprise collaboration software company, relocated its CEO (Alastair Mitchell) from London to San Francisco. The company went on to secure a significant venture capital investment, win several large US customers, and compete with companies like Box and DropBox. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/south-korea-watch-other-people-eat-online-mukbang-2016-5">This 14-year-old makes up to $1,500 a night eating dinner in front of a webcam in South Korea</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="MwMDZkdzr7V54pSPAwMT1JU7p7MqmuY1" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Nokia VC: European startups will struggle to invade the US unless they relocate their CEO

<ul><li><keyword id="6630114" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="unacademy">Unacademy</keyword> has raised $50 million in a series D round of funding. </li><li>The startup has investors like Steadview Capital, Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures.</li><li>The Indian <keyword id="6379645" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Online-Education">online education</keyword> space has players like Byju’s which has also reported profitability.</li></ul>Indian online education startup Unacademy has raised $50 million in a series D round of funding from investors like Steadview Capital, Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures. The investment, which will go towards bringing on board more educators and better the product, also saw the founders Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini participate in the round. “In the last few months, we have taken bigger strides toward achieving this mission. We have more than 400 top educators from across the country taking live classes every day on Unacademy Plus. This is available to every student, irrespective of their location,” said Munjal. Unacademy plus is the startup’s subscription plan which has more than 50,000 learners. The startup, which was founded in 2015, has over 13 million learners. “We are seeing unprecedented growth and engagement from learners in smaller towns and cities, and are also very humbled to see that top-quality educators are choosing Unacademy as their primary platform to reach out to students,” said Munjal. This also shows the growth trajectory of Indian online education space. Online education industry in India is expected to hit 9.6 million by 2021 user base, which was 1.6 million in 2016, as per a KPMG report. In fact, a survey by education startup GradeUp also shows that students are counting on online teaching for competitive exams — JEE, NEET, GATE, SSC and banking exams. Meanwhile, the big player in Indian <keyword id="1974983" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Edutech">edutech</keyword> space remains Byju’s – which had recently reported profitability with an increase in the number of paid users. Its revenue has tripled to reach ₹14.3 billion in the financial year ending March 2019, though it has not shared the net profit numbers. This volume of numbers has also brought in the renewed interest of investors, who are betting on the Indian education technology space. Interestingly, Sequoia is a common investor between Byju’s and Unacademy. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-students-prefer-online-coaching-for-jee-neet-gate-ssc-and-banking-exams/articleshow/69956565.cms">Indian students prefer online coaching to offline classes</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/mukesh-ambani-reliance-jio-and-byju-feature-in-meeker-report/articleshow/69770325.cms">Mukesh Ambani’s Jio and a startup Byju's are in global spotlight as India’s internet users exceed that of US</a>

Unacademy raises $50 million as Byju’s success draws top dollars into online education in India

\ 
 E-commerce major <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> will shell out an average pay hike of 12-15 percent as it looks to assure employees amid the online marketplace scouting for a potential buyer. 
 
According to sources, the pay revision will be effective from April 1 and will see salaries of employees at the mid and junior-level go up by an average 12-15 percent. 
 
For senior management, the hike will be 9-12 percent, but the company may offer 20-25 percent raise to exceptional performers, they added. 
 
The cash-strapped company is also believed to be distributing nearly 1 percent of its stock to about 150 employees. 
 
Earlier this year, the company's founders had admitted having made mistakes and said they would take a "100 percent cut" in their own salaries. 
 The decision to give such a good pay hike has been taken at a time when Snapdeal's largest investor <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword> is believed to be working towards a sale of the e-commerce platform and a final decision is likely to be made in the next few weeks. 
 The top contender in the race is <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, which has recently received a funding of USD 1.4 billion. 
 Softbank is also in talks with <keyword id="4386851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kalaari-capital-and-nexus-venture-partners">Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners</keyword>, who have representation on the board of Snapdeal, to reach a consensus on valuation, sources said. 
 Snapdeal's seven-member board includes representation from investors SoftBank, Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, as well as co-founders <keyword id="219793" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kunal-Bahl">Kunal Bahl</keyword> and <keyword id="396598" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rohit-Bansal">Rohit Bansal</keyword>. 
 
ALSO READ: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/read-what-rohit-bansal-and-kunal-bahl-mailed-snapdeal-employees-amidst-flipkart-acquisition-speculations/articleshow/58108189.cms">Read what Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl mailed Snapdeal employees amidst Flipkart acquisition speculations</a>

Snapdeal to dole out up to 15% pay hike amid sell-off buzz

Mumbai, Nov 24 () Nexus Venture Partners-backed co-living space provider Zolostays is in talks with Credit Suisse to raise around USD 100 million (about Rs 710 crore) to fund its expansion plans, a top company official said.
 The Bengaluru-based firm is planning to increase its portfolio to 2 lakh beds by the end of 2021, Zolostays co-founder and Chief Executive Nikhil Sikri told .
 "We are in talks with Credit Suisse to raise USD 100 million in Series C round to fund our expansion plans to increase the number of beds to 2 lakh," he said, adding the company will also increase its headcount.
 However, Sikri didn't offer any timeline for the funding plan.
 In January this year, Zolostays had raised USD 30 million in Series B funding round led by IDFC Alternatives, Mirae Asset and Nexus Venture Partners.
 Founded in 2015 by brothers Nikhil and Akhil Sikri, the company had raised USD 5 million in Series A round led by Nexus Venture Partners.
 Currently, the shared space market is estimated at around 10 million beds and the organised sector, which includes co-living service providers, contributes under 1 per cent.
 "We have a portfolio of 35,000 beds spanning nine cities, which includes 3,000 dedicated to students. Additionally, 15,000 beds are under various stages of development and will be live before March. Our target is to have 2 lakh beds by 2021-end," Sikri said.
 However, he ruled out expanding too much into the students space or entering new cities.
 Sikri said Zolostays' student living portfolio will be limited to 10 per cent at least for the the next few years.
 While adding more beds, the focus will be existing markets only, he said, adding "we are present in nine cities -- Bengaluru, Chennai, Kota, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Noida and Coimbatore" -- and "will limit ourselves to these cities as we know these markets well".
 Zolostays boasts of marquee realty developers like Godrej Properties, Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate, Sobha Developers, Olympia Group, DRA, and Ozone Group as it partners.
 Explaining the business model, Sikri said, "we either lease out an entire building from the developer or share the upside with them. Given the current slowdown in the realty sector, many developers are looking to partner with people like us as they are assured of good returns." PSK BEN RVK

You Searched For "Nokia Growth Partners Nexus Venture Partners" and got 9 results

Engaging in crazy hobbies help come up with creative solutions at work

BI India Bureau

Flipkart all set to buy Snapdeal

BI India Bureau

AppNexus Raises $75 Million

Nicholas Carlson

Snapdeal’s investors cross swords; SoftBank cancels $150-200 million debt financing

BI India Bureau

Early investors support Snapdeal’s decision, back it to go independent

BI India Bureau

Nokia VC: European startups will struggle to invade the US unless they relocate their CEO

Sam Shead

Unacademy raises $50 million as Byju’s success draws top dollars into online education in India

Sanchita Dash

Snapdeal to dole out up to 15% pay hike amid sell-off buzz

PTI

Zolostays in talks with Credit Suisse for USD 100 mn funding

PTI

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