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<ul><li>In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, the million dollar men Mukul Arora, Deepak Gaur and Mayank Khanduja, of <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword> sit down to discuss how they invest in <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword>.</li><li>They are now willing to go as early as possible in the fund cycle of a startup. </li><li>SAIF Partners has been an early investor in <keyword id="6357120" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="paytm">Paytm</keyword>, MakeMyTrip, Swiggy, Firstcry, BookMyShow, Rivigo, Meesho, Sharechat, Urbanclap and multiple others. </li></ul>In one of Gurugram’s hottest properties, in a swanky new space, we walked into the office of SAIF Partners. Huddled in the conference room were Mukul Arora, Deepak Gaur and Mayank Khanduja, men who have made million dollar bets in the Indian startup ecosystem – most of which have taken off and how. SAIF Partners has invested early in most top startups that saw a meteoric rise— like Paytm, MakeMyTrip, Swiggy, Firstcry, BookMyShow, Rivigo, Meesho, Sharechat, Urbanclap and others. The investment firm stood with them through the growth phase of these startups. Investing at the seed stage and Series A round has always been their strategy. They are now more leaning towards investing early. They meet more than 100 companies in a week, but with few breakthroughs. We sat down with Arora, Gaur and Khanduja, as they discussed what they look for in a company. “Our approach is to invest in the best team in place. We have a very focussed approach to investing - unlike some other funds which invest in multiple companies in the sub sector, we map out each sector and try to invest in the best in them, and come in as early as possible,” said Gaur. SAIF Partners invests across sectors – consumer tech, education, finance, healthcare, internet and IT services, logistics, mobile and SaaS companies and more. The second leg of their approach to investing is a fundamental one – looking for the right business model. They look for companies that are customised for India, rather than replicate what’s happening in other countries. The third aspect is that they continue to support and invest in those companies as their horizons are fairly long. “We invest for 7-9 years. We try to invest as much we can according to our fund circumstances across multiple rounds,” said Gaur. So what’s the trick to getting funded by them? A team that has a very fundamental approach to problem solving, where it understands how to solve a real problem in the right manner. It has to be a strong and ‘rightly motivated’ team – which is not creating short term goal or scale but sustainable impact. And of course, capital efficiency in the initial stages. How they cracked Swiggy SAIF Partners invested in Swiggy, when the foodtech unicorn had just a landing page. They had met over 50 teams in the foodtech space, including some of the large names out there today. What they liked about Swiggy was that they understood the problem deeply – the only way is to deliver food on your own, when you have your own logistics in place and — not just build an app for ordering. “First time, we pinged them even before they were live, they just had a landing page in July or August 2014. Then we saw the progress – they were very customer-obsessed even at a small scale, their retention was very strong, they were not offering discounts, charging a convenience fee on every order. They also have a complimentary founding team - Harsha is a very strong business leader, Nandan is great in operations and Rahul is a strong tech guy. Then we invested in the seed round,” said Arora. Could they have predicted then that Swiggy would today be a marker leader? “No,” comes the answer. “But that’s true for the entire consumer tech market, acceleration has happened much faster than we could have imagined in the last four years. But given their building blocks we were sure that this is the team that is likely to be a leader. We had a strong conviction,” said Arora. Why do they go after seed-stage startups As the internet penetration in India has gone deeper, so has a startup’s ability to reach out to more consumers. This has also led to investors going in after startups at an early stage, catch them before they become the hotshot company that everyone’s after. “We are now willing to go even earlier than in the past. We are even talking to companies that are in the pre-launch phase,” said Arora. A big reason for that is that the adoption of these new products or services by consumers is so much faster. “People are so much more open to trying out some of these new products and see if they are satisfying. We had invested in No Broker long time back, we knew that there would be a market for a real estate transaction without a broker. They took two-three years to build a user base but when they started to monetise, I think everyone was pleasantly surprised to see how many people were willing to pay the money. If there’s a high quality service out there, consumers are now more willing to pay,” said Khanduja.

SAIF Partners invested in Swiggy when they just had a landing page – today they are going after more seed stage startups, here’s why

<ul><li><keyword id="404121" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="clear">Clear</keyword>, formerly known as <keyword id="2763190" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cleartax">ClearTax</keyword>, is planning to hire across verticals like tech, product and marketing.</li><li>The company is reportedly in talks with Tiger Global to raise $100 million, at a valuation of $800 million.</li><li>The company claims to facilitate 10% of India’s B2B invoices, with a trade value of $300 billion, annually.</li></ul>Fintech software-as-a-service (<keyword id="6395918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAAS">SaaS</keyword>) company Clear, formerly known as ClearTax, has been going aggressive about its growth plans since the start of 2021. It started with the rebranding, to launching of new products, to the recent acquisition of yBANQ. But this plan does not end here. In order to accelerate growth and become a full stack financial services provider, Clear would be focusing on two core strategies — hiring and acquisition. The company plans to hire more than 100 employees across verticals to aid its organic growth, the company’s cofounder Srivatsan Chari told Business Insider in an exclusive interaction. The hiring would range across leadership roles, mid-senior positions to junior roles. According to the company’s website, there are vacancies in marketing, finance, sales, human resources, engineering, design, product, strategy, category, support and legal roles. Earlier in January, Clear on-boarded former MedLife executive <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/paranth-thiruvengadam-2567719/?originalSubdomain=in">Paranth Thiruvengadam </a>as chief technology officer (CTO) of the company. Since then, the company has made several changes across product and technology teams. Key changes at Clear in the last six months: <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Paranth Thiruvengadam </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">CTO </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Akhil Bansal </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Director, Product </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Naveen Kumar Jain </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Director of Engineering </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Pranesh Vittal </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Director of Engineering </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Vinish Varghese </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Director, Design </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Ankit Saxena </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Head of Operations </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Amit Gupta </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">National Sales Head, Enterprise </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Sandeep Singh </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Senior Director of Product </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Esha Savla </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Director, Customer Experience </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Ankur Agrawal </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Director, Strategy </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Mayank Parihar </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 2pt 0pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Director, Business Finance </td></tr></tbody></table> On the acquisition side of the plan, it has already acquired Y Combinator-backed business-to-business (B2B) payments startup yBANQ to enter the B2B payments and credit market. There is more to come in the near future. Chari told Business Insider that they are currently building several products, particularly for small and medium enterprises (SME) domain and enterprises, in-house. However, they will be relying on acquisitions to enter more niches and segments. “There are capabilities or certain industries, like payments, where you want a lot of experience or technologies. So that's basically where acquisitions come in, so it is going to be a multi-pronged strategy. We are going to build and we will be acquiring also to just leapfrog our growth.” — Clear cofounder Srivatsan Chari told Business Insider in an exclusive interaction. Clear’s product journey from e-filling to full stack payments system Clear was founded by Archit Gupta, Ankit Solanki and Srivatsan Chari in 2011 as ClearTax. The company started its journey as a fintech startup that offers solutions for income tax filing online. The company witnessed its first surge in 2016, when the Indian government made e-filing mandatory. This was also the year the Indian government introduced the Goods and Service Tax (GST) that came into force on July 1 of 2017. Clear made the decision to expand their business offering, by providing tax-filing services to enterprises. The company offers solutions, including GST and e-filing bill software, along with business incorporation and compliance services for enterprises. It had also launched a wealth management platform for tax saving and mutual funds in January 2020. The Bengluru-based startup, across its verticals, caters to four groups — consumer, small medium business (SMB), enterprises and tax experts such as chartered accountants (CA) or accountants. "We have evolved from income tax compliance to full-stack compliance, invoicing, and financial serices firm. We cater to not only individual taxpayers, but also businesses, tax experts, and accountants. Today, we process about 10% of India's B2B invoices, over $300 billion of trade value every year, and contribute to 10% of India's e-invoice generation," Clear founder and chief executive (CEO) Archit Gupta told news agency PTI in a previous conversation. Upcoming fundraise still on the table The company currently has a customer base of 5 million Indian taxpayers, over one lakh tax practitioners, six lakh small businesses and 2,000 large businesses as well as brands. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Year </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Round </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Investors </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2014 </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Undisclosed </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Sumon Sadhu </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2016 </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.3 million </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Max Levchin, Scott Banister </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2016 </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2 million </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2016 </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$12 million </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Elevation Capital </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2018 </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$50 million </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.9375pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.9375pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Composite Capital Management </td></tr></tbody></table> The company has raised $65 million of equity funding from marquee investors like PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Max Levchin, Composite Capital, <keyword id="122716" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sequoia-Capital">Sequoia Capital</keyword>, and <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword>. It was the first Indian startup to have raised funding from Y Combinator. Clear is now said to be in talks with Tiger Global to raise a <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/tiger-global-may-lead-cleartax-funding-round-at-750-850-million-valuation/articleshow/81620600.cms">$100 million </a>funding round, at a valuation of $750 million-$800 million. The company’s co-founder Chari referred to these reports as media speculations, however, he also added that the company is in talks with certain undisclosed investors. Chari did not share any more information on the potential fundraising or valuation. "Conversation with people happen, but we don't have any news to share at this point," Chari told Business Insider. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/rolex-rings-ipo-last-day-for-subscription-allotment-on-august-4/articleshow/84864899.cms">Today is the last day of Rolex Rings’ ₹731 crore IPO with a price band of ₹880-900</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/nasa-has-delayed-boeings-spaceship-flight-after-a-russian-module-pushed-the-space-station-out-of-position/articleshow/84876573.cms">NASA has delayed Boeing's spaceship flight after a Russian module pushed the space station out of position</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/googles-sundar-pichai-has-teased-the-whitechapel-chipset/articleshow/84853916.cms">Google teases Whitechapel chipset that may power Google Pixel 6 devices</a>

Clear(Tax) is planning for major acquisitions as it looks to 'leapfrog' its growth

<ul><li>Logistics startup <keyword id="3156357" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rivigo">Rivigo</keyword> has raised $65 million in its Series E round.</li><li>This funding, which came in from Warburg Pincus and <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword>, is a part of its ongoing Series E round. </li><li>The startup’s last reported valuation was $950 million and with this funding it could have crossed the $1 billion mark to be a unicorn.</li></ul>Logistics startup Rivigo raised $65 million in its latest Series E round. The funding came in from PE firm Warburg Pincus and SAIF Partners. Rivigo’s last reported valuation was at $950 million when it raised the earlier tranche for the Series E round, in February. With the new round, Rivigo could have become India’s latest unicorn, although it’s not confirmed yet. “We continue on our mission to make logistics human and digital. Relay trucking is now very well established where relay truck pilots lead better life and customers gets exceptional service. With technology and freight marketplace, we now want to bring relay to every truck in the country,” Deepak Garg, chief executive of Rivigo, said in a <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/warburg-pincus-saif-partners-lead-65-million-funding-round-in-rivigo/articleshow/70171852.cms">statement</a>. Rivigo and its competitor <keyword id="53463" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="blackbuck">Blackbuck</keyword> both have been racing towards the unicorn status. Blackbuck had announced its latest funding in May and it had fallen a few million short of being a unicorn. It is also currently valued at $950 million. Blackbuck had raised $150 million from Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Silicon Valley-based Accel, along with Wellington, Sequoia Capital, B Capital and LightStreet and existing investors Sands Capital and International Finance Corporation.

Rivigo raises $65 million in its latest round as it stands at the door of the unicorn club

<keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword> on Thursday said it has joined hands with early stage venture capital fund <keyword id="136057" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Matrix-Partners">Matrix Partners</keyword> to scale <keyword id="390673" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="small-businesses">small businesses</keyword> in India by providing them with timely digital skilling support. The move comes barely a week after the social networking giant announced a grant of $4.3 million (Rs 32 crore) for more than 3,000 small businesses in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru impacted by Covid-19. The tie-up with Matrix Partners is a part of Facebook's VC Brand Incubator Programme that collaborates with venture capital funds to help early-stage small and medium businesses (SMBs) to maximise their digital potential. In light of the pandemic, Facebook has taken the programme online to ensure continued skilling and support for small businesses even in these times. "Facebook is committed to supporting the growth of small businesses in India, and this charter is stronger than ever as we work towards enabling their recovery from the pandemic," Archana Vohra, Director, Small and Medium Businesses at Facebook India, said in a statement. With the tie-up with Matrix Partners India, the program also completes one year during which it has collaborated with six VC Funds -- Sauce.VC, Fireside Ventures, SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital, DSG Ventures, and Matrix Partners India. During this period, the programme has skilled, trained and mentored more than 150 brands at various stages of their growth journey. Matrix Partners India is a leading early-stage investor that partners closely with SMBs across sectors including consumer technology, business-to-business, enterprise, and fintech among others. In India, among many other brands, they have also invested in marquee companies such as Ola, Quikr, Practo, Dailyhunt, Mswipe, Country Delight, and Razorpay among others. "We've been early backers in many challenger brands from across the spectrum -- eCommerce, gaming, CPG, neo-banking, healthcare, content – to name a few, and we're thrilled to see them create world-beating products and leverage Facebook's platform to reach their end consumers, and bring about large scale impact," said Sanjot Malhi, Director, Matrix India. "Over 20 companies from our portfolio, including Country Delight, Stanza Living, OZiva, ManMatters, Zupee, The Whole Truth, Dealshare, have now partnered with Facebook on this programme." As part of the VC Brand Incubator Programme, Facebook has also started Campaign Lab that helps direct-to-consumer small businesses get creative solutioning support, and go live with mobile friendly creatives and strategy in under 72 hours. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/this-startup-wants-to-turn-kirana-stores-into-electric-vehicle-charging-stations/articleshow/78289491.cms">This startup wants to turn kirana stores into electric vehicle charging stations</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/yes-bank-is-hiring-again-for-the-coming-year-after-workforce-shrinks-by-1000-since-march/articleshow/78287419.cms">EXCLUSIVE: YES Bank's workforce shrank by 1,000 employees since March but now it's hiring again for the coming year</a>

Facebook partners with sixth VC firm in India – Matrix Partners to scale small businesses

<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

<keyword id="6354630" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="mark-zuckerberg" source="Orion">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword>'s <keyword id="399907" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="meta" source="Orion">Meta</keyword> (formerly Facebook) on Wednesday announced a partnership with VC fund <keyword id="1397792" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="kalaari-capital" source="Orion">Kalaari Capital</keyword> to upskill and scale young, invested businesses in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> by providing them with timely business skilling support. The partnership is a part of Meta's 'VC Brand Incubator Initiative' for the growth of micro, small and medium businesses in the country. "As part of this initiative, Meta has partnered with India's largest VC funds. We are thrilled to now partner with Kalaari Capital that has been instrumental in the growth journey of many startups," said <keyword id="3056724" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ajit-mohan" source="Orion">Ajit Mohan</keyword>, VP and MD at Meta in India. Kalaari Capital is an early-stage, technology-focused venture capital firm based in Bengaluru. "As startups scale, they need to leverage several tools and platforms like Meta to support their growth," said <keyword id="1397790" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="vani-kola" source="Orion">Vani Kola</keyword>, Founder and Managing Director, Kalaari Capital. In the last three years, Meta has tied up with 16 VC funds, including Kalaari Capital, and has successfully skilled and mentored more than 500 small businesses at various stages of their growth journey. In April, Meta onboarded <keyword id="122716" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sequoia-capital" source="Orion">Sequoia Capital</keyword>. Other VC firms are Fireside Ventures, Elevation Capital [SAIF Partners], DSG Consumer Partners, Matrix Partners, Anthill Ventures and <keyword id="6306883" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="stellaris-ventures" source="Orion">Stellaris Ventures</keyword>, to name a few. With Kalaari Capital, Meta said it is going to have several young, invested businesses from emerging sectors such as ed-tech, social commerce, gaming, and fin-tech, among others participate in the initiative. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/if-you-place-an-order-youre-accepting-the-service-charge-restaurant-body-says/articleshow/91779455.cms">If you place an order, you’re accepting the service charge, restaurant body says</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/tata-avinya-renders-reveal-the-expected-design-of-the-concept-electric-car/articleshow/91765348.cms">Tata Avinya renders reveal the expected design of the concept electric car</a>

Zuckerberg's Meta partners with Kalaari Capital to upskill young startups in India

<keyword id="1965749" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Internet-businesses">Internet businesses</keyword> in India seem to have reached a tipping point, going by the kind of <keyword id="6357097" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="venture-capital">venture capital</keyword> <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> we have seen in the current financial year, starting from April 2013. Overall <keyword id="1664180" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Digital-commerce">digital commerce</keyword> has flourished worldwide throughout the calendar year and is expected to reach well over $1 trillion by the end of CY2013 (ending in December), according to MarketResearch. On the other hand, the <keyword id="35621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> market in India is growing at an average of 34% since 2009 and is expected to reach $13 billion by year-end, according to the recent KPMG-IAMAI (<keyword id="128625" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Internet-and-Mobile-Association-of-India">Internet and Mobile Association of India</keyword>) report e-Commerce Rhetoric, Reality and Opportunity. The e-tail sector is expected to grow at 59% a year and will account for one in every two e-commerce <keyword id="96567" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Transactions">transactions</keyword> by 2016, the report says. 
 
But the India story does not look too promising as a spate of consolidations and shutdowns took place – mostly due to lack of funds. In fact, an estimated 70-80% of e-commerce companies are in dire need of funds, as per the KPMG-IAMAI report. The fund crunch had hit the Indian firms hard and around 136 e-commerce start-ups had to shut shop between November 2012 and April 2013, says the news site NextBigWhat.com. 
 According to <keyword id="1981" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rahul-Khanna">Rahul Khanna</keyword>, managing director of <keyword id="218907" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Canaan-Partners-India">Canaan Partners India</keyword>, e-commerce in India requires very deep pockets and follow-on rounds are extremely crucial for growth. Unless companies can abide by this fundamental rule, they could be shutting down or another surge in <keyword id="73277" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="mergers-and-acquisitions">mergers and acquisitions</keyword> could happen. 
 However, some big-ticket investments from April onwards tend to indicate revival of investors’ confidence in Indian Internet companies. For a change, not all of the <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> has gone into typical B2C e-tailers. <keyword id="1990186" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Digital-ad-network">Digital ad network</keyword> <keyword id="169308" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Komli-Media">Komli Media</keyword>, data security solutions provider <keyword id="136146" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Druva-Software">Druva Software</keyword> and classifieds firm <keyword id="830092" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Zomato">Zomato</keyword> have also raised significant funding from local and global investors during the first three quarters (April-December) of the current financial year. Till November end, investments worth $635 million have flowed into India’s e-commerce sector, spread across 40 transactions, according to research firm Venture Intelligence. This pinpoints a sharp rise in total deal value from 2012, which saw transactions worth $433 million. 
 Does it mean VCs (or <keyword id="46876" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="PE">PE</keyword> investors, in some cases) investing in Indian initiatives now have bigger <keyword id="170907" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="risk-appetite">risk appetite</keyword>? Or are they now mature enough to grow past the merchandise-oriented e-com investment culture? Well, not exactly. Since 2011, equity investors put in almost $1.2 billion into online product retail, says Venture Intelligence. And a large chunk of this funding went into just one company – <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>.com. Most of the <keyword id="47361" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="VC">VC</keyword> players are still playing safe and putting money into biggest Indian e-tailers like Flipkart, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> and <keyword id="679005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Homeshop18">HomeShop18</keyword>. However, niche e-com players like Healthkart, LensKart and BabyOye have also raised $10-14 million in <keyword id="1042660" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="equity-financing">equity financing</keyword> this year. Here is a quick look at the 6 top-funded <keyword id="1990175" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Digital-businesses">digital businesses</keyword> of the year. 
 
1. Flipkart – tops the funding list: Six-year-old Flipkart, often touted as India’s <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>, has topped the funding list till date and amassed around $550 million. In 2013, the Bangalore-based company raised $360 million in Series E, spread over two tranches, from a slew of investors including <keyword id="144381" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword>, <keyword id="526777" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tiger-Global">Tiger Global</keyword>, <keyword id="6356837" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Naspers">Naspers</keyword> of South Africa, <keyword id="1200999" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Iconiq-Capital">Iconiq Capital</keyword>, Belgium’s <keyword id="1898010" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sofina">Sofina</keyword>, US-based <keyword id="390562" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Morgan-Stanley-Investment-Management">Morgan Stanley Investment Management</keyword>, <keyword id="1990201" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Dragoneer-Investment-Group">Dragoneer Investment Group</keyword> and <keyword id="1623313" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vulcan-Capital">Vulcan Capital</keyword> (founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen). 
 
The second tranche of $160 million valued Flipkart at over $1.6 billion, according to an Economic Times report. This is similar to its <keyword id="51393" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="valuation">valuation</keyword> in July when it raised the first tranche of $200 million. Interestingly, Flipkart is worth more than the total market cap of all 15 <keyword id="1990203" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Listed-retail-companies">listed retail companies</keyword>, including Future Retail, Shoppers Stop, etc. Among brand-led firms, Flipkart’s valuation is comparable with heavyweights such as P&amp;G India and Tata Global Beverages. The company may opt for an <keyword id="6354763" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="IPO">IPO</keyword> in a year, according to media reports. 
 Interestingly, <keyword id="1990166" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart-India-Pvt-Ltd">Flipkart India Pvt Ltd</keyword>, the wholesale business of India’s largest e-tailer Flipkart, reported a loss of Rs.281.7 crore in the year ended March 2013, compared to its loss of Rs 109.9 crore in the previous year. This is because the company has upped its spending significantly in a bid to increase its revenues, the same model followed by Amazon in the US. Flipkart’s revenues jumped fivefold to more than Rs 1,180 crore from Rs 204.8 crore in the previous year, but one wonders if the company can survive the fast and furious cash-burning (in spite of heavy funding) required to grab market share. 
 
2. Snapdeal – a growth story growing stronger: The Snapdeal story is almost similar. The online marketplace raised about $50 million in April this year from <keyword id="6357395" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword>, Japan’s <keyword id="1634214" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Recruit-Co">Recruit Co</keyword>, <keyword id="131553" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Intel-Capital">Intel Capital</keyword>, <keyword id="1148513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Saama-Capital">Saama Capital</keyword>, <keyword id="1990205" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ru-Net-Ventures">ru-Net Ventures</keyword>, <keyword id="290936" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bessemer-Venture-Partners">Bessemer Venture Partners</keyword>, <keyword id="175881" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nexus-Venture-Partners">Nexus Venture Partners</keyword> and <keyword id="590403" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indo-US-Venture-Partners">Indo-US Venture Partners</keyword> (now <keyword id="1397792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kalaari-Capital">Kalaari Capital</keyword>). It is the first investment in India by Recruit, a $10 billion classifieds and human resources company. <keyword id="1179258" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Venky-Harinarayan">Venky Harinarayan</keyword> and <keyword id="726659" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Anand-Rajaraman">Anand Rajaraman</keyword>, who co-founded the US-based Internet company <keyword id="124959" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Junglee">Junglee</keyword> that was bought over by Amazon in 1998, are also investors in the latest round, according to ET. The Delhi-based firm raised the money in two tranches, taking its total <keyword id="60356" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="fundraising">fundraising</keyword> to $103 million. Snapdeal has been valued at $600 million and is reportedly looking at a US listing in 1-2 years. 
 
3. HomeShop18 – on a roll: HomeShop18, the <keyword id="1990206" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Multimedia-retail-arm">multimedia retail arm</keyword> of <keyword id="1553596" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Network-18-Media-and-Investments">Network 18 Media and Investments</keyword> Ltd, got a follow-on round of $14 million in October this year from Korean firm <keyword id="1990167" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="GS-Home-Shopping-Inc-">GS Home Shopping Inc.</keyword>, as well as <keyword id="320882" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Network-18">Network 18</keyword> and <keyword id="154791" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Hedge-fund-manager">hedge fund manager</keyword> <keyword id="1913242" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="OCP-Asia">OCP Asia</keyword>. The latest transaction values HomeShop18 at $360 million. Earlier in April, the company raised a $30 million round from OCP Asia and Network18. <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword> is also an existing investor into the company. HomeShop18 has reportedly filed for an IPO on <keyword id="6357328" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="NASDAQ">NASDAQ</keyword>, hoping to raise around $100 million. 
 
4. Zomato – no speed limit here: This online &amp; mobile platform for <keyword id="1981663" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="restaurant-listing">restaurant listing</keyword>, search and review secured a Series D round of $37 million in November 2013 from <keyword id="122716" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sequoia-Capital">Sequoia Capital</keyword> and existing investor <keyword id="80004" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Info-Edge">Info Edge</keyword>, making it one of the largest investments in the <keyword id="6386251" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Consumer-Internet">consumer Internet</keyword> space till date. BSE-listed Info Edge, which owns the portal Naukri.com and other Internet businesses, is the biggest shareholder in Zomato and owns 50.1% stake on a fully converted and diluted basis. Gurgaon-based Zomato Media was set up in 2008 and raised a total of $53 million till date. The latest funding gave it an approximate valuation of $160 million. Zomato is now present in 40 cities across 11 countries and provides in-depth information about 197,000-plus restaurants. 
 Interestingly, online food ordering and table booking service <keyword id="1941832" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Justeat-in">JustEat.in</keyword> (originally started as <keyword id="1990211" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Hungry-Zone">Hungry Zone</keyword> in 2006 but was later acquired by UK-based <keyword id="1980313" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Justeat">JustEat</keyword>) recently raised an undisclosed sum from global investment firm <keyword id="1990169" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Axon-Partners-Group">Axon Partners Group</keyword> and <keyword id="34499" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="private-equity">private equity</keyword> firm <keyword id="1990170" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Forum-Synergies-India">Forum Synergies India</keyword>. 
 
5. Komli Media – eyeing expansion: Mumbai-headquartered digital advertising firm Komli Media recently raised $30 million in a fifth round of funding, again from a clutch of investors including the <keyword id="139987" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="private-equity-fund">private equity fund</keyword> <keyword id="6580209" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Peepul-Capital">Peepul Capital</keyword> and existing investors <keyword id="260133" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Norwest-Venture-Partners">Norwest Venture Partners</keyword>, Nexus Venture Partners, <keyword id="309606" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Helion-Venture-Partners">Helion Venture Partners</keyword> and <keyword id="198743" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Draper-Fisher-Jurvetson">Draper Fisher Jurvetson</keyword>. With this round, Komli has now secured over $90 million in private equity <keyword id="47916" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="invest">invest</keyword>ment. The company will use the funds to strengthen its position in the Asia-Pacific and invest further in technology, especially in data analytics, among other things. Since 2011, Komli has bought six companies. It now employs over 400 people and has 18 offices in India, Australia, New Zealand, South-east Asia, the Middle East, Hong Kong and North America. 
 
6. Druva Software – getting big: <keyword id="1990212" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Data-protection-software">Data protection software</keyword> provider Druva raised a third round funding of $25 million from <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword> investment firm <keyword id="297685" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tenaya-Capital">Tenaya Capital</keyword> and existing investors <keyword id="270604" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sequoia">Sequoia</keyword> Capital and Nexus Venture Partners. With this round, the company has received a total of $42 million in venture funding. Druva had secured $5 million from Sequoia back in 2010 and another $12 million from Nexus in 2011. The new funding will support continued R&amp;D, expanded global sales and marketing with focus on Belgium, Luxembourg, Australia and Singapore, and expansion of its cloud infrastructure to support new deployments by large enterprises. The latest deal values the five-year-old firm at around $120 million. 
 Druva’s flagship is its <keyword id="861914" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="InSync">inSync</keyword> platform, an integrated suite of endpoint data protection and governance solutions for enterprises. As of now, the company has 2,100 customers and protects 1.7 million endpoints across 76 countries. It has offices in Pune, California, the UK and Singapore, and boasts a client list including the <keyword id="57857" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="US-army">US Army</keyword>, <keyword id="6360409" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="NASA">NASA</keyword>, <keyword id="114355" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nikon">Nikon</keyword>, <keyword id="6358918" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Deloitte">Deloitte</keyword>, <keyword id="53186" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="PwC">PwC</keyword> and <keyword id="107096" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tesla">Tesla</keyword>, and universities such as <keyword id="33081" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Stanford">Stanford</keyword> and <keyword id="115229" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Berkeley">Berkeley</keyword>, among others.

These 6 Digital
Businesses Are Now Flush With VC Money

<keyword id="2434035" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rapper-Raftaar">Rapper Raftaar</keyword> has invested in the <keyword id="11790278" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="frontrow-app">FrontRow app</keyword>, six months after Deepika Padukone invested in the same platform. After investing in the learning and community platform, <keyword id="302421" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raftaar">Raftaar</keyword> told <keyword id="105681" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IANS">IANS</keyword>: "I am very excited to be joining forces with the stellar crew at <keyword id="4975958" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="frontrow">FrontRow</keyword> and see how I can add value in fostering the culture of non-academic education across India. In my teenage years, I was always motivated by the creative arts and felt like a misfit in the conventional educational setup. I have always believed there is more to life than traditional degrees and textbook knowledge and skill development deserves its spotlight now, more than ever." Elaborating how the app would be beneficial for the youth in rural areas due to unlimited avenues, he added: "Whilst interacting with young minds during my tours in different cities, I realised that rural India has alternate passions, most of which it cannot pursue. The students would come up to me and talk about their acting, singing, and filmmaking dreams. They didn't want to do engineering, IT, or medical. But they had limited avenues because they weren't in Mumbai or New Delhi." Emphasising the necessity of the app in today's times, he said: "I want to make non-academic learning accessible and affordable for small-town Indians and hope to do so as I embark on this new journey. A big shout out to my partner, Ankit Khanna (AK Projekts) for making this happen." FrontRow has secured an undisclosed amount from Raftaar and AK Projekts. The fundraise came six months after Frontrow secured seed funding of $3.2 million from Deepika Padukone, <keyword id="455799" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lightspeed-Venture-Partners">Lightspeed Venture Partners</keyword>, and Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners). Reflecting on the development, Mikhil Raj, co-founder, FrontRow told IANS: "We are excited to join hands with Raftaar on the mission of democratising access to learning with partnerships with some of the industry's finest peers and experts at an affordable price from the comfort of your home. We continue to aspire to make learning accessible, easier, and enjoyable at FrontRow with partnerships like these." The non-academic skill development platform was founded by serial entrepreneurs Mikhil Raj, Shubhadit Sharma, and Ishaan Preet Singh in 2020. The app has forged creative alliances with celebrities like Neha Kakkar, DIVINE, Suresh Raina, Amit Trivedi, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Raju Srivastava, <keyword id="6404681" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sunburn">Sunburn</keyword>, MortaL and 8bit Thug in the past. Adding on Ankit Khanna, founder, AK Projekts said: "We are extremely bullish on the opportunity presented in the celebrity-driven vocational training platform segment in India. We believe there is huge merit and scope in this business that allows a wide section of people to have access to leaders from their respective fields and to learn from them directly. We are excited to support a new archetype for learning, an assortment of education, entertainment, and community." SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/google-is-now-using-chrome-as-another-security-layer-for-account-sign-ins/articleshow/84975356.cms">Google is now using Chrome as an added security layer for account sign-ins</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/how-to-check-allotment-status-of-glenmark-life-sciences-ipo/articleshow/84978486.cms">Glenmark Life Sciences IPO: How to check allotment status, listing date and more</a>

After Deepika Padukone, Rapper Raftaar also invests in learning community FrontRow

<keyword id="2534329" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Home-healthcare">Home healthcare</keyword> plays an important part in ensuring better patient outcomes. Upto 75% of hospital re-admissions are potentially avoidable, and more and more people are looking to hire home health care services as a way to lessen the incidents of re-admittance to the hospital, receive better follow up care, increase communication between patients and providers and decrease medication errors. That’s where <keyword id="3116728" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Care24">Care24</keyword> comes to play 
 
Services 
 
Founded by Vipin Pathak, Abhishek Tiwari, Garima Tripathi, and Pranshu Sharma, Care24 is one of the India’s few funded home-healthcare startups. They provide personal and affordable healthcare assistance to patients within the comforts of one's home. Services dispensed include nurses, attendants, physiotherapists, nutritional guidance, pregnancy care, cancer care and infant care. 
The company has also recently launched new lines of services that includes pharmacy delivery, surgical consumables delivery, diagnostic services and medical equipment services As patients need the continuity of care at home to recover physically, mentally, psychologically and emotionally fast with ease and comfort Care24 acts as an extended arm for the hospitals at their homes. 
 
Traction &amp; Monetisation Model 
 
“Care24 is targeting to expand their business across all metros in the country within the next 12 months. Care24 has recently started their Delhi operations and will soon launching their services in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad during the next quarter. Also they are planning to take the patient count to 2,500 per day from the current 900 per day,” quoted Vipin. 
 
Talking about the monetisation model, Vipin stated that they’re basically using three funnels: 
 
Payment – Done through online and conventional channels directly to Care24. Care24 then processes payment to caregivers and other healthcare professionals strictly to the linked accounts. 
 
Partner services – Revenue sharing model with the Partners rendering other services through us. 
 
Supply Creation - Stringent screening, in-house training, Care24 backend tech onboarding and then assignment and feedback based extension. 
 
Funding and Competition 
 The company has already closed a $4 million Series A from <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword> last year and is planning to close another soon. 
 
When asked about the competition inside this market, Vipin said, “I welcome competition more than anything, because this is a new area and the category still needs to grow to solve problems of the population.”

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