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New Delhi, Homegrown Twitter-like platform <keyword id="3518161" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="koo">Koo</keyword> has garnered over 10 lakh new users in just one week, surpassing the 40 lakh-figure in nearly 10 months of its arrival, as Twitter was caught in crosshairs with the Indian government over its direction to remove nearly 1,400 controversial accounts. Koo, a favourite among several Union ministers, including IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who is at the forefront of the government's war with Twitter, has reached 4.2 million users within no time. According to data analytics platform Statista, as of January 2021, the micro-blogging platform Twitter had an audience reach of 69.3 million users in the US. Japan and India were ranked second and third with 50.9 and 17.5 million users, respectively. The fast-growing vernacular platform Koo describes itself as a personal updates and opinion sharing micro-blogging service. The app won the Atmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge held in August last year and Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> encouraged Indians to use the Koo app in his 'Mann Ki Baat' speech too. However, Koo also found itself in the midst of several controversies including a data leak row and Chinese investment. Koo Co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna denied that there was any data leak. "Koo is an India registered company with Indian founders. Raised earlier capital 2.5 years ago. Latest funds for Bombinate Technologies is led by a truly Indian investor 3one4 capital. Shunwei (single digit shareholder) which had invested in our Vokal journey will be exiting fully," Radhakrishna said in an earlier investment. Koo has raised $4.1 million as part of its Series A funding. Infosys veteran Mohandas Pai's 3one4 Capital is the latest addition to the investors on board, according to the company, and <keyword id="144381" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword>, <keyword id="1397792" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalaari-Capital">Kalaari Capital</keyword>, <keyword id="592779" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Blume-Ventures">Blume Ventures</keyword> and Dream Incubator also participated in the round. "We have got more love than we expected. Our systems are facing more load than ever. Thank you for placing your trust in us. Our team is working on overdrive to fix it. We request your patience and support through this time. Let's do this together," Radhakrishna had said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/india-issues-new-guidelines-for-passengers-arriving-from-the-uk-brazil-europe-and-middle-east-countries/articleshow/81083248.cms">India issues new guidelines for passengers arriving from the UK, Brazil, Europe and Middle-East countries</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/not-just-a-tiktok-clone-says-chingari-app-founder-with-their-latest-shop-within-videos-feature-which-he-claims-is-the-next-big-thing-in-social-commerce/articleshow/81084432.cms">‘Not just a TikTok clone,’ says Chingari founder with their latest shop within videos feature which he claims is the next big thing in social commerce</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/samsung-galaxy-f62-review-the-new-mid-range-killer/articleshow/81084382.cms">Samsung Galaxy F62 review – the new mid-range killer</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/cairn-energy-ceo-meets-indian-finance-secretary-as-shareholders-impatiently-wait-for-action-on-the-1-4-billion-tax-dispute/articleshow/81087952.cms">Cairn Energy CEO meets Indian finance secretary as shareholders impatiently wait for action on the $1.4 billion tax dispute</a>

As Twitter engages in a firefight with the Indian government, homegrown rival Koo crosses 4 million users within 10 months of launch

Homegrown micro-blogging platform <keyword id="3518161" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="koo">Koo</keyword> on Wednesday said it has raised $30 million in Series B funding, led by Tiger Global. Koo has garnered nearly 60 lakh downloads in just a year of operations. "We have aggressive plans to grow into one of the world's largest social media platforms in the next few years. Every Indian is cheering for us to get there soon. Tiger Global is the right partner to have on board to realise this dream," said Aprameya Radhakrishna, <keyword id="170488" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="co-founder">Co-Founder</keyword> and CEO of Koo. Koo's existing investors <keyword id="144381" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword>, <keyword id="1397792" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalaari-Capital">Kalaari Capital</keyword>, <keyword id="592779" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Blume-Ventures">Blume Ventures</keyword> and Dream Incubator also participating in the round. IIFL and Mirae Assets are other new investors who have come on board the cap table with this round, the company informed. Koo last week said it has met the compliance requirements of the new IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2021 ahead of its May 25 deadline set by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Koo said earlier this month announced to launch a unique feature that will help users speak and type messages without using the keyboard in regional languages, apart from English. Called 'Talk to Type,' the feature will help Koo users speak out their thoughts and the words will show up on the screen at the click of a button. Founded last year, the vernacular micro-blogging platform Koo crossed 60 lakh users within no time and aims to garner 10 crore users by the end of this year. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/whatsapp-moves-the-delhi-high-court-against-indias-new-it-laws-says-report/articleshow/82965251.cms">WhatsApp moves the Delhi High Court against India’s new IT laws, says report</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/environment/news/cyclone-yaas-will-unleash-its-fury-for-another-12-to-18-hours-after-making-landfall/articleshow/82964922.cms">Cyclone Yaas will unleash its fury for another 12 to 18 hours after making landfall</a>

India's micro-blogging app Koo raises $30 million led by Tiger Global

<ul><li><keyword id="6639102" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Drip-Capital">Drip Capital</keyword>, the Palo Alto and Mumbai-based company, which helps exporters in financing their global trade, has raised $25 million in a series B round. </li><li>The investment was led by Accel with participation from existing investors <keyword id="563136" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sequoia-India">Sequoia India</keyword>, Wing VC, and Y Combinator.</li><li>The total funding raised by the startup so far stands at $100 million.</li></ul>Fintech platform Drip Capital which helps SMEs navigate global trade, has raised $25 million in a series B round of funding. The investment was led by Accel with participation from existing investors Sequoia India, Wing VC, and Y Combinator. It also saw new investors GC1 Ventures and institutional investor platform Trusted Insight chip in. Drip Capital, which is based in Palo Alto and Mumbai, helps entrepreneurs and businesses with the working capital necessary to grow their business. It finances small exporters who want to expand to newer markets. “Trade finance is an age-old paper-based industry dominated by banks that primarily focus on large, established corporate customers. Hence, small businesses, despite accounting for 50% of merchandise exports from India, remain largely neglected. Our mission is to level the playing field for these small business exporters, not just in India but across emerging markets around the world.” says Pushkar Mukewar, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Drip Capital. So far, the startup raised $45 million of equity and $55 million of debt, taking its total funding to $100 million. With this investment, the global trade finance company will also enter Mexico and UAE markets. According to the company, Drip Capital has financed over $500 million worth cross-border trade originating from India. It now aims to cross $1billion by FY 2020, becoming the de-facto trade finance provider for Indian exporters.

Fintech startup Drip Capital raises $25 million from Accel, to enter Mexico and UAE

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Australian tech company <keyword id="9652525" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pyn">Pyn</keyword> announced Monday it has raised $2.2 million in seed funding.</li><li>Pyn wants to improve the work from home experience that employees all over the world are currently grappling with.</li><li>Its software works by making the many programs employees rely on, like Slack, Gmail and Zoom, "talk" to each other, cutting down on unnecessary communication.</li><li>Pyn has strong ties to Atlassian, an Australian software company that made its IPO in 2015 on a $5.6 billion valuation.</li><li><keyword id="733500" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Accel">Accel</keyword> led Pyn's funding round, joined by Australian investment fund Skip Capital. Accel partner Rich Wong will join the company's board of directors.</li></ul>Atlassian is one of the biggest tech hits to come out of <keyword id="6355478" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="australia">Australia</keyword>. In the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/atlassian-gets-ipo-share-price-2015-12">five years since the Jira-maker's IPO</a>, the company has become a favorite among software developers and its market cap has swelled more than sevenfold to $45 billion. Now, with the world in lockdown, another Australian startup is betting it has a product that's just right for the moment. And it's got many of the same people from Atlassian involved.<a href="http://pynhq.com/">Pyn</a> was cofounded by Joris Luijke, a former head of HR at Atlassian. With Pyn, Luijke wants to improve the work-from-home experience that people all over the world are suddenly struggling with. As employees at home lean harder on programs like Slack, Zoom and Gmail to get things done, the output of notifications and tasks from each product can stack up into a pile of indistinguishable noise. Pyn's program makes the disparate systems used by the WFH world "talk" to each other, cutting down the amount of notifications received by workers to relevant, personalized messages."We basically scan for information," across the systems workers already have, Luijke, who is Pyn's CEO, told Business Insider."Every time something happens, we can send the right information to the right person at the right time," he says.On Monday, Pyn announced it has raised $2.2 million in seed funding, led by Accel and joined by Skip Capital. Accel partner Rich Wong, who invested in Pyn, was an early investor in Atlassian back in 2010. <a href="https://www.skipcapital.com/">Skip Capital</a> is run by Atlassian co-CEO Scott Farquhar.Wong will join the young company's board of directors, driven by a desire to ride what he believes will be a second wave of work-from-home tech designed to make life easier."The need was always there to be able to work across multiple locations," Wong told Business Insider. "But now because of COVID and shelter-in-place, I think what you're seeing is now there's a second wave of companies. They are the follow-ons to wave one, of Zoom and Slack."<h2>Keeping track of important items in a scattered workplace</h2>Many tech companies have announced long-term or permanent work-from-home policies, including Twitter, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. That could accelerate interest in products like Pyn, so long as the practice is seen as sustainable. The Wall Street Journal's Chip Cutter <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-start-to-think-remote-work-isnt-so-great-after-all-11595603397">reported</a> Friday that Canon, OpenExchange, and other companies have started letting some employees back into the office, as they find that some processes stretch out and become exhausting when done via remote work.Pyn trawls through common workplace programs like Slack, Workday, and Salesforce, looking for important or notable events like job promotions and birthdays."If it's Freddy's birthday and they're sitting right next to you and they've got balloons up and stuff like that, as a manager you're like 'Oh yeah, it's Freddy's birthday,'" Luijke said. "...But it's really hard, if everyone is scattered around the world, to keep track of those things, keep track of the fact that Anna has been in her role for four months and it's probably time to have a career conversation with her."The company is also launching a series of workshops and guides designed to ease onboarding, a difficult thing to do remotely.Luijke, who spent years running HR for Atlassian, Squarespace and other hot <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword>, said Pyn for him was the opportunity to scratch a long-running itch."There's two big problems that I found," Luijke said. "People always felt inundated with information and communication … yet at the same time, those same people wanted more clarity, more information, more guidance."

Pyn, an Australian startup with close ties to Atlassian, wants to make working from home less exhausting

<ul><li><keyword id="80487" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="walmart">Walmart</keyword>'s will potentially be bidding to acquire more than 51% stake in <keyword id="6354742" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> by investing up to $8-10 billion. </li><li>Other major investors include <keyword id="163404" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword> (23% stake), Tiger Global (20% stake) and <keyword id="6356837" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="naspers">Naspers</keyword> (16.6% stake).</li><li>SoftBank is willing to pump in an additional $3-4 billion, if Flipkart opts to pursue <keyword id="18635" type="LOCATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>'s offer instead of Walmart.</li></ul> Despite Amazon’s bid to buy a 60% stake in India’s Flipkart, reports say the deal will go in Walmart’s favour. Talks of Walmart wanting to acquire a massive stake of Flipkart have been on since February. And with that news, a number of companies, including Google and Amazon, seem to want a piece of Flipkart’s pie. The Bentonville-based retail giant, Walmart, has been itching to expand its online presence into the remaining Asian markets. If this deal materialises -- its biggest e-commerce bet anywhere globally -- will also trigger a re-rating of its stock market valuation, which is currently second only to Amazon. A source told <keyword id="6356641" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Times-of-India">Times of India</keyword> (TOI) that “the shareholding agreement with Walmart is still to be signed. But it is unlikely that Amazon will come in now. Walmart and Flipkart are agreeing on the deal terms, for now.” Sources with knowledge of the proceedings told <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/companies/walmart-nears-flipkart-deal-amazon-push-fails/articleshow/64010460.cms?from=mdr" data-type="tilCustomLink">TOI</a> that SoftBank has been favouring the merger with Amazon instead of Walmart. For this, it is also willing to pump in an additional $3-4 billion, in case Flipkart opts to pursue Amazon's offer instead of Walmart. While most other investors are keen on Walmart’s cashout deal, SoftBank, wants to maintain its 20% stake in the combined <keyword id="6412936" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="flipkart-amazon">Flipkart-Amazon</keyword> entity. The additional amount can in-turn be deployed to buy shares from smaller investors. Flipkart has been valued at around $20 billion and its major investors include SoftBank (23% stake), Tiger Global (20% stake), Naspers (16.6% stake) and <keyword id="144381" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword> (one of the early investors in Flipkart that hold less than 10% stake). However, this idea does not fly with the other major investors who believe -- and perhaps rightly so -- that the potential merger with Amazon would not go past the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The CCI, founded in 2003, is a statutory body responsible for enforcing The Competition Act, 2002 which aims at preventing activities that have a significantly adverse effect on competition in India. Plus, the merger with Amazon would potentially irk the different sections of the trading community. However, SoftBank maintains, Flipkart and Amazon combined will only manage a mere 1.5% stake in the broader Indian retailing industry and therefore is unlikely to run into regulatory hurdles. The Japanese company’s founder and chairman Masayoshi Son saw the potential merger between the two e-commerce behemoths as a way to get his company a bigger play in India’s promising e-commerce market. Just last year, it invested an additional $2.5 billion in Flipkart. According to a <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/companies/softbank-likely-to-part-sell-flipkart-stake-to-walmart/articleshow/63291759.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Times of India article</a> from 14 March, Walmart's potential bid to acquire more than 51% stake by investing up to $8-10 billion in Flipkart may just nudge SoftBank to part-sell its shares. However, Masayoshi Son told TOI a few days ago, “We are involved in discussions with key shareholders and the management. Either way, we are happy. It is nice to have good offers and we are always open to discussing different options and are always flexible for a good return and success of the company.” All this aside, another source said that the Flipkart board already agreed to Walmart’s offer a few days ago, thereby possibly thwarting Amazon’s intention to sweep in and win the game.

Walmart may edge out Amazon in the race to buy holding stake in India’s Flipkart

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/topic/SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</a>, which was an early investor in leading Indian mobile payments and digital wallet player <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/topic/paytm">Paytm</a>, has started raising India-dedicated fund of about $350-$400 million for the third time. This round would take its assets under management to over $1 billion. The last time it closed an India-dedicated fund was about over two years ago. "They have already started the process and will (raise capital) primarily from the same investors, which are endowments in the USA," people in the know told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/money/saif-eyes-safe-bet-here-plans-400m-india-fund/articleshow/58603352.cms">ET</a>. After this round, <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword> will become one of the largest venture funds in India, following <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-Story-Of-Sequoia-Capitals-6-4-Billion-Revenge-On-Mark-Zuckerberg/articleshow/30741928.cms">Sequoia Capital</a>, <keyword id="335288" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Accel-India">Accel India</keyword> and <keyword id="175881" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nexus-Venture-Partners">Nexus Venture Partners</keyword>. All the above venture funds have over $1 billion in assets under management. "SAIF will make a partial exit on its nine-year old investment in <keyword id="6357120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="PayTM">Paytm</keyword> as part of SoftBank's investment," one of the sources added. "SAIF Partners has invested a total of $70 million in Paytm till now, and in terms of returns this will top Tiger Global's investment in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/topic/Flipkart">Flipkart</a> as well." Despite a slump in investments and returns in India, SAIF Partners has been able to have earned more than $400 million on its investments in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Makemytrip-to-soon-enter-online-budget-hotel-space-with-investment-in-FabHotels/articleshow/58358180.cms">MakeMyTrip</a>, a 16-fold return on its investment. Some of its other Indian investments are in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/BookMyShow-Raises-Rs-150-CroreFrom-SAIF-Partners-Existing-Investors/articleshow/36770587.cms">BookMyShow</a>, <keyword id="1615917" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="FirstCry">FirstCry</keyword>, <keyword id="1871874" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="PropTiger">PropTiger</keyword>, Rivigo, and <keyword id="6358977" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Swiggy">Swiggy</keyword>. (Image source LiveMint)

SAIF partners keeping aside $400m worth of funds for India

Gurgaon based online travel services agency <keyword id="54613" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="makemytrip">MakeMyTrip</keyword> (MMT) has been eyeing a huge move into the online budget hotels market, for which it has held talks with <keyword id="2870818" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="FabHotels">FabHotels</keyword> and <keyword id="2913812" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Treebo-Hotels">Treebo Hotels</keyword>. The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/markets/heres-the-indian-travel-company-that-just-went-public-on-the-nasdaq/articleshow/56092065.cms">Nasdaq</a>-listed company wanted to pick up a strategic stake in either of the companies. However, its talks with Bengaluru-based <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/companies/budget-hotel-brand-treebo-is-a-value-for-money-affair/articleshow/56357162.cms">Treebo</a> didn’t yield any results despite an offer of $10-12 million. Now, MMT might be investing in FabHotels, founded by Vaibhav Aggarwal and Adarsh Manpuria in 2014. The deal could be worth five to ten million dollars, said <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/money/after-talks-with-treebo-fail-makemytrip-may-invest-in-fabhotels/articleshow/58353902.cms">ET</a> sources. Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/budget-2017-didnt-promote-muchof-tourism-in-india-heres-why/articleshow/56918518.cms">Budget 2017 didn’t promote much of tourism in India. Here’s why</a> If the deal goes through, MMT will be in direct competition with market leader <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/oyo-rooms-valuation-to-touch-850-million-this-will-be-the-size-of-its-funding/articleshow/58337939.cms">Oyo Rooms</a> and Priceline group-backed <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/companies/booking-com-is-providing-startups-in-tourism-sector-a-chance-to-go-to-amsterdam/articleshow/57253587.cms">Booking.com</a>. "The deal is likely to have a clause which will see the budget hotel brand only list with MMT-Goibibo combine. This way they get to lock them into exclusivity," said an insider requesting anonymity. Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/MakeMyTrip-to-issue-960m-worth-shares-to-acquire-Ibibo-group/articleshow/55807276.cms">MakeMyTrip to issue $960m worth shares to acquire Ibibo group</a> Talking of FabHotels, the Gurgaon-based budget hotel chain of 175+ hotels has <keyword id="144381" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword> and <keyword id="192167" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Qualcomm-Ventures">Qualcomm Ventures</keyword> as its investors, and secured around $10 million in last funding round.

Makemytrip to soon enter online budget hotel space with investment in FabHotels

<keyword id="681957" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bigtree-Entertainment">Bigtree Entertainment</keyword>, the parent company of India’s biggest movie and entertainment ticketing portal <keyword id="600792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="BookMyShow">BookMyShow</keyword>, has been valued at more than Rs 3000 crore in the latest funding round. 
 
The company also raised over Rs 550 crore, mostly by US-based growth fund Stripes Group, in what could be called as one of 2016’s largest rounds of funding for an internet company. 
 The round also saw an active participation from all the existing investors of the company, viz. <keyword id="320882" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Network-18">Network 18</keyword>, <keyword id="144381" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword>, and <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword>. 
 "We will continue to invest in enhancing user experience through our data analytics engine , and building contextual entertainment content including videos, reviews, discovery," <keyword id="6567822" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ashish-Hemrajani">Ashish Hemrajani</keyword>, CEO and cofounder of BookMyShow, told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/money/bookmyshows-parent-company-bigtree-entertainment-raises-over-rs-550-crore/articleshow/53058255.cms">ET</a>. 
 
Hemrajani added that they now have enough capital to invest in strengthening its leadership position for the coming three years. 
 
The funding raised in this round is more than double of the total capital that the company raised over the last six years. 
 
<a href="http://www.dqindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bookmyshow.jpg">Image source</a>

Bigtree Entertainment valued at more than Rs 3000 crore in
latest funding round

New York-based hedge fund <keyword id="60126" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Falcon">Falcon</keyword> Edge and <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword> venture fund <keyword id="144381" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword> are expected to join DST Global which is leading a soon-to-be-announced $400-million financing round in taxi hailing service <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword>, sources close to the matter told TOI. 
 Falcon Edge is expected to pump in around $20 million in the new round while <keyword id="2788417" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Accel-US">Accel US</keyword> will put $5 million, sources said. Accel US was an investor in TaxiForSure (TFS) and became an Ola shareholder post its recent acquisition. Ola's other existing investors -including Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, <keyword id="6497288" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Steadview-Capital">Steadview Capital</keyword> --are also participating in the new financing round. 
 
 The latest fund-raise is likely to value the company at $2.5 billion post the investment, as reported by this newspaper first in its February 26 edition. Russian billionaire <keyword id="303107" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Yuri-Milner">Yuri Milner</keyword>'s DST, a significant investor in e-commerce biggie Flipkart, is expected to hold just under 10 per cent stake in the four-year-old company , post the new round. 
 
 When contacted by TOI, Bhavish Agarwal, co-founder, Ola, did not offer any comments, while Falcon Edge could not be reached immediately for a response. Founded by <keyword id="2566840" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Richard-Gerson">Richard Gerson</keyword> together with <keyword id="2788418" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Navroz-D-Udwadia">Navroz D Udwadia</keyword> and James Minshull, Falcon Edge leads the pack of a new breed of <keyword id="42111" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Wall-Street">Wall Street</keyword> hedge funds, a Tiger Global offshoot, managing more than $4 billion in assets. Its India <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> include realty portal <keyword id="35061" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="housing">Housing</keyword> and <keyword id="2112984" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Newshunt">NewsHunt</keyword>, a mobile news aggregation service. 
 
 
Hedge funds like Falcon Edge, Valiant Capital and Steadview Capital, among others, funneled big money into Indian consumer internet companies last year, fanning the already frothy valuations of these tech startups. 
 The latest round of fundraise for Ola, founded by IITBombay batchmates Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati in 2011, would put it right up in <keyword id="819204" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="the-League">the league</keyword> of the most valuable internet firms domestically .Ola's $210-million fund-raise led by <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword> in October last year valued it at $650 million -post-money -making the Japanese investor the startup's largest investor. 
 
The cab aggregator is present across 67 cities and has received $277 million of capital across five financing rounds. Its biggest competitor taxi-hailing app Uber had stepped on the gas in India by doling out huge discounts to riders. However, its growth has stalled considerably post the rape of a female passenger by one of its drivers last year in Delhi.

Ola Cabs to receive $400mn funding soon

New Delhi, Jan 23 () Shared mobility platform Bounce on Thursday said it has raised USD 105 million (about Rs 745 crore) led by Accel and B Capital Group.
 The series D round also saw participation from existing investors, Accel Partners India, Chiratae Ventures, Falcon Edge, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar Network India, Qualcomm Ventures and Sequoia Capital India, a statement said.
 Kabir Narang, general partner and co-head of Asia at B Capital Group, will join Bounce board, it added.
 "The fresh funding, which takes the total amount raised to over USD 194 million, will fuel a deeper electric vehicle (EV) integration, platform play and help drive profitability," the statement said.
 Bounce noted that accelerating adoption of EVs will not only help in pushing for sustainable mobility, but will also help the company reduce the cost per km.
 "While Bounce finances all its bikes through debt, there is tremendous investments needed to build the necessary EV tech and enable the EV ecosystem...The funds will also be deployed towards multi-city expansion, enhancing tech infrastructure, talent acquisition etc," it added.
 Bounce currently operates dockless scooters in Bengaluru and Hyderabad with a fleet of 13,000 and 2,000 vehicles, respectively. Its docked scooter rental service is available to commuters in over 35 cities.
 At more than 1.2 lakh rides per day, Bounce has clocked over 16 million rides till date.
 "Our growth to 1.2 lakh rides a day, in a little over a year and largely in one city, underlines that the future belongs to shared mobility. Shared mobility not only reduces the traffic but also frees up parking spaces, which in Indian cities is anywhere between 12-15 per cent of the total usable real estate," Bounce CEO and co-founder Vivekananda HR said.
 The main vision of Bounce is to democratise mobility and make a significant socio-economic impact, he added.
 "This fresh funding will help us towards this vision. It will also enable us to build a mobility platform that will help bringing in different forms of mobility solutions, that are hyper-suited to the needs of cities and towns we plan to expand into, over the next few months," he said. SR RVK

Bounce raises USD 105 mn led by Accel, B Capital

Venture capital giant <keyword id="144381" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword> and <keyword id="3267567" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys-cofounder-Nandan-Nilekani">Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani</keyword> has funded the robotics firm <keyword id="3267189" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Systemantics">Systemantics</keyword>, which builds industrial robots for the manufacturing sector. The last time it had received funding was in 2013, when <keyword id="592779" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Blume-Ventures">Blume Ventures</keyword> had invested in the firm. 
 Systemantics was founded by IIT-Madras alumni <keyword id="3267568" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jagannath-Raju">Jagannath Raju</keyword> in 1995. 
 
This is the seventh venture that Nilekani has backed. He has earlier invested in early-stage start-ups which he believes to be building highly impactful disruptive ideas. 
 In the past one year, Nilekani has backed Team Indus, Fortigo, Mubble, Juggernaut, Lets-Venture and <keyword id="1501494" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Power2sme">Power2SME</keyword>, while co-investing in a number of these ventures with Accel, including Fortigo and Power2SME. 
 Even though Systemantics likes to keep a low profile, it has quietly worked on custom robotics projects with the Government, as well as with tech giants like <keyword id="6359357" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Titan">Titan</keyword> and Hindustan Aeronautics (<keyword id="68124" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="HAL">HAL</keyword>). 
 
"Systemantics is Make In India truly at work - with India's cost structure advantages and innovative design efficiency at full strength. This core belief drove our decision to back them. Their seasoned management team's executional ability, coupled with deep-tech IP, could eventually challenge global incumbents," Sanjay Nath, managing partner at Blume Ventures, told ET. 
 
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GqZVMuglEzo/TsuDQiMhpGI/AAAAAAAAAR8/WEFieIp16N8/s1600/Nandan+Nilekani.jpg">Image source</a>

Nandan Nilekani funds robotics firm Systemantics

Bengaluru-based mobile payments startup <keyword id="3259695" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Juspay">Juspay</keyword> has raised Rs 40 crore in series-A round of funding from <keyword id="144381" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword>, the venture capital firm. Not only this, it has also raised capital from Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dar and Rajesh Balpande, the founders of online ticket booking app <keyword id="600792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="BookMyShow">Bookmyshow</keyword> founders. 
 
The company representatives said that the funds will be used to build its product. 
 
In the funding, Juspay, which was founded three years back, was valued at over Rs 200 crore. The company also has India Value Fund partner and former Network18 CEO Haresh Chawla as an angel investor. 
 
The deal has given Accel about 20% stake in the company, one of the persons aware of the matter told ET. 
 
Accel, which typically invests less than Rs 6 crore in very early stage companies, cited the attractiveness of the startup and broader payments space for this huge investment. 
 
Juspay was founded by former Amazon engineer Vimal Kumar and Ramanathan RV in 2012, while Bloomberg executive Sheetal Lalwani joined them in 2014. 
 
Their technology helps companies simplify payments by aggregating different services across net banking, wallets and cards. It also helps merchants in improving success rate of payments on the platforms. 
 
It can boast of India's top ecommerce platforms like Amazon India, Snapdeal, Bookmyshow, Makemytrip, Yatra, Swiggy, Freecharge, Foodpanda and Jabong as its clients. 
 
<a href="http://d152j5tfobgaot.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Vimal-Ram-Juspay-Safe.jpg">Image source</a>

JusPay raises Rs 40cr from founders of Accel and Bookmyshow

The rumours about <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> cabs taking over <keyword id="1428790" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="TaxiforSure">TaxiForSure</keyword> were doing rounds for quite some time now, but today they have come to an end. According to a company press release, Ola, India’s leading mobile app for personal transportation, has acquired TaxiForSure, India’s second largest cab aggregator, for $200 mn in a cash and equity deal. With this acquisition, investors in TaxiForSure— Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Helion Venture Partners—will roll over their stock into Ola. Presently, Ola has been funded by Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, <keyword id="270604" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sequoia">Sequoia</keyword> Capital, Steadview Capital and most recently, <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">Softbank</keyword> over its four rounds of fund-raising. It’s worth noting that even after the deal, Ola and TaxiForSure will continue to operate as separate entities. The leadership and all of the 1,700 employees shall continue to work with TaxiForSure, with <keyword id="359392" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arvind-Singhal">Arvind Singhal</keyword> (currently COO) being appointed the CEO. Aprameya Radhakrishna and Raghunandan G, the founders of TaxiForSure, will contribute in an advisory role for a certain period. TaxiForSure is currently in 47 cities with over 15,000 vehicles registered on its platform. Commenting on the deal, <keyword id="1543567" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bhavish-Aggarwal">Bhavish Aggarwal</keyword>, co-founder and CEO, Ola, said, “Ola and TaxiForSure share the same vision of revolutionising urban mobility. TaxiForSure has a great team and they have built a very exciting business in a short time. There's a lot of complementary value in the strategy TaxiForSure has followed. I'm very excited to welcome the TaxiForSure team onboard and look forward to working with them towards realising our common vision.” 

	Raghunandan G, co-founder and CEO, TaxiForSure, said, “TaxiForSure coming together with Ola will provide us with more opportunity than ever, to do what we do best. Post this acquisition; the combined entity will be strong enough and better capitalized to offer the best value to all our stakeholders, including our customers. This development ensures that industry attractiveness is preserved and the combined entity can race ahead and continue to create unprecedented value for all stakeholders.”

Ola has sealed the TaxiForSure deal for $200 mn

First mobile payments startup Mubble, then mobile publishing startup Juggernaut and now trucking and logitsics startup <keyword id="3122550" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Fortigo">Fortigo</keyword>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/6-ways-in-which-Vishal-Sikka-turned-Infosys-fortunes-on-its-head/articleshow/48169976.cms">Infosys</a> cofounder and former <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Aadhaar-beats-even-the-FBIsdata-base-fair-and-square-becoming-the-worlds-largest-biometric-database/articleshow/47068353.cms">UIDAI</a> chairman <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Indian-finance-sector-is-as-casual-as-Whatsapp-now-hints-Nandan-Nilekani/articleshow/48583869.cms">Nandan Nilekani</a> is in a spree of backing early stage ventures, backing four such ventures in this year alone.
 

	Fortigo will soon be launched by technology industry executives Vivek Malhotra and Anjani Mandal. 
 

	Besides <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Top-performing-employees-at-Infosys-are-having-a-gala-time-Find-out-how/articleshow/49349966.cms">Nilekani</a>, Fortigo is also currently in talks to rope in other investors, including <keyword id="144381" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword>, industry sources told ET. Fortigo is currently in talks to raise close to $2 million in seed funding. 

	"What Fortigo will attempt to do is solve fundamental challenges in the trucking and logistics space — the idea is to improve the quality of transportation services to businesses," said the sources.
 

	Fortigo is attempting to address challenges in the trucking and logistics space with new technology. It would help truck owners to manage and track their inventory more efficiently and at lower costs.

	 
	(Image credits: Indiatimes)

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