Page 7 - Startup

upGrad announces advisory board to scale upGrad Institute in Singapore

Edtech firm upGrad on Monday announced the appointment of seven industry leaders to the advisory board of upGrad Institute, a government-approved private education institution in Singapore. The advisory board will offer insights to help accelerate upGrad's focus on building a robust learning institute that will empower the global workforce with an industry-ready experiential curriculum, the company said in a statement. "Joining the advisory board as Chairman, Prof. Arnoud De Meyer, ex-president of Singapore Management University... Along with him, Prof S Sadagopan, chairman, BoG, IIITDM-Kancheepuram, and founder director, IIIT-Bangalore, brings extensive experience in academia and education," the company said. With a sharp focus on skilling and job outcomes, upGrad Institute has also on-boarded accomplished industry leaders from diverse backgrounds, it said. They include Magdalene Ew, head of content, entertainment, Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, Warner Bros. Discovery; Jere

Internet, telecom start-up Wiom raises $17mn for expanding business

Company gives customers unlimited internet starting at Rs 10, taps into government's PM-WANI framework

AI startup ZYBER 365 secures $100 mn in funding led by SRAM & MRAM

AI Start-up ZYBER 365 has secured USD 100 million (around Rs 818.7 crore) in Series A funding led by UK-based SRAM & MRAM Group, valuing the company at USD 1.2 billion, a statement said on Tuesday. The latest funding has earned the Web3, AI startup a unicorn status, making ZYBER 365 the 109th unicorn in India's vibrant start-up ecosystem, the startup said in the statement. Founded in May 2023 by Indian-origin entrepreneurs Pearl Kapur and Sunny Vaghela, ZYBER 365 is involved in Web3, AI and cybersecurity segments with a focus on sustainability. With its headquarters in London and operational base in India, the company aims to make India the hub of its operations. The statement said that the Series A funding round, spearheaded by SRAM & MRAM Group, garnered significant investments from other prominent investors as well, highlighting the confidence in ZYBER 365's potential and growth trajectory. The capital will play a key role in fuelling the company's expansion plans, ...

'How bad is the job market?': Applicants spooked, experts optimistic

A start-up receiving 3,000 job applications in 48 hours reflects how substantial the churn is

Fashion e-commerce platform Styched acquires sneaker startup Flatheads

E-commerce fashion brand Styched has acquired D2C casual sneaker startup Flatheads in an all-equity transaction, the company announced on Monday. While Flatheads will continue offering its existing range of products, Styched will take charge of its operations and hire "aggressively" for strengthening the footwear department within Styched, the statement said. Flatheads co-founder Ganesh Balakrishnan said, Young Indians are just starting to flaunt their sneakers as a new fashion and lifestyle statement. It will be fulfilling to see Flatheads being an integral part of the market creation and growth. Founded in 2018, the Bengaluru-based brand has previously raised funds from We Founder Circle, LetsVenture, and other angel investors. Styched CEO Soumajit Bhowmik shared that the acquisition will propel their plans to launch sneakers and create an affordable collection with Flatheads spearheading their semi-premium segment. "The technical know-how of Flatheads would really help us creat

hBits gets Sebi's nod to launch Rs 500 cr Alternate Investment Fund

Startup hBits, a tech-enabled fractional ownership platform, on Thursday said it has received markets regulator Sebi's approval to set up alternate investment fund of Rs 500 crore for investment in commercial real estate. hBits helps investors in having fractional ownership of commercial assets. It has so far helped in acquisition of 9 rent-yielding properties. In a statement, the company said it has obtained regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for its CAT II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF). "This approval grants hBits the opportunity to establish an AIF fund with a substantial Assets Under Management (AUM) of Rs 500 crore," it added. Investors who participate in hBits' AIF can anticipate an impressive target Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 18-20 per cent. CAT II AIF is designed to cater to pan-India Grade-A projects, with a primary focus on commercial real estate assets. This includes a wide range of commercial projects such as offices, .

Health-tech Mojocare closure: Rising gaps seen in corporate governance

Sources in the know said that after the financial irregularities came to fore, investors realised that the business model of Mojocare was not viable

India's space programme set to transform planet's connection: Report

Lauding India's ambitious space programme, The New York Times has said the country, currently witnessing an "explosive" growth in space-tech start-ups, is set to "transform the planet's connection to the final frontier" and can emerge as a "counterweight" to China. "When it launched its first rocket in 1963, India was a poor country pursuing the world's most cutting-edge technology. That projectile, its nose cone wheeled to the launchpad by a bicycle, put a small payload 124 miles above the Earth. India was barely pretending to keep up with the US and the Soviet Union. In today's space race, India has found much surer footing, the leading US newspaper said. The article titled 'The Surprising Striver in the World's Space Business' notes that India has become home to at least 140 registered space-tech start-ups, comprising a local research field that stands to transform the planet's connection to the final frontier." "The start-ups' growth has been explosive, leaping from five when th

Unicorn list declines in 2023, indicates slowdown in funding: Hurun report

New additions in the coveted unicorn list declined sharply in 2023, indicating a slowdown in the Indian startup ecosystem, a report said on Tuesday. India added only three unicorns startups having a valuation of over USD 1 billion in 2023 against 24 in the year-ago period, as per the ASK Private Wealth Hurun Indian Future Unicorn Index 2023. The slowdown in unicorn additions is indicative of a "slowdown in India's startup ecosystem", the report -- which comes amid a slowdown in investor interest in what is being termed as "funding winter" -- said. The overall number of unicorns also declined to 83 from 84 in the year-ago period. ASK Private Wealth's chief executive and managing director Rajesh Saluja said unsustainable business models adopted by startups have led to a dip in valuations but stressed that funding to the right companies continues. Hurun India's chief researcher Anas Rahman Junaid, however, said that the Indian startup story has high potential and he sees the overall

BillionElectric raises $10 mn in seed fund round, launches e-MaaS platform

E-Maas (electric mobility as-a-service) platform BillionElectric on Tuesday announced its entry into the domestic market and said it has secured USD 10 million in a seed round of funding. The capital infusion, which is in the form of equity and lease funding, will be strategically allocated for the deployment of electric tarmac buses at the Bengaluru international airport; and development of a mid-mile heavy EV trucks platform, the company said in a statement. The company said it has already inked a contract to expand its services to 10 additional airports pan-India, following the initial launch in Bengaluru in collaboration with a partner. The funds raised will play a vital role in supporting and accelerating the expansion of operations, it said. "We announce the launch of E-Maas platform BillionElectric accompanied by the successful completion of our seed funding round. Over the last two years of product development and software innovation, this is our significant investment, sa

Salesforce to invest $500 mn in generative AI startups, unveils AI Cloud

Salesforce also announced AI Cloud, a suite of capabilities optimised for delivering trusted, open, and real-time generative experiences across all applications and workflows

Elizabeth Holmes objects to $250-a-amonth victim payments after prison

Federal prosecutors say there's a clerical error in a court filing that doesn't specify a schedule for Holmes to pay $452 million in restitution to victims of her massive fraud

We have $2.5 billion of uninvested dry powder: Peak XV Partners MD

It is a rebrand - Sequoia India and Southeast Asia is now Peak XV Partners. We are very bullish on India and Southeast Asia as a market and we are going to only double down

Byju's schedules call for lenders to discuss loan amendment proposal

Byju's didn't pay $40 million in interest due Monday on its $1.2 billion loan

Cloud-lending startup Lentra raises $27 million in extended Series B round

Tokyo-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and investment firm Dharana Capital led the funding

BlackRock cuts Byju's valuation again. This time by 62% to $8.4 billion

However, Byju's recently secured $250 million in fresh funding at a valuation cap of $22 billion

G20 members working to arrive at common framework to define startups

G20 member countries, including India and the US, are holding consultations to arrive at a common framework to define startups with a view to promoting the growth of new ventures, a senior official said. This issue among others would come up for discussion during the Startup20 Engagement Group's third meeting on June 3-4 in Goa. Briefing media about these meetings under India's G20 presidency, Startup20 India Chair and Mission Director Atal Innovation Mission, Niti Aayog, Chintan Vaishnav said that it may not be feasible to have a common definition of startups. "The meeting in Goa on June 3-4 will try to come up with a definition framework that is applicable across the countries of G-20, he told reporters here. The focus of the Goa meeting will be to build consensus on the Draft Policy Communique, which the Startup20 recently published recently seeking public views. After the Goa meeting, the group will finalise the communique and take it to the Gurugram meeting scheduled on July

BigBasket co-founder Abhinay Choudhari's LaundryMate raises $6.25 mn

Blume Founders Fund and several HNIs, including Ola co-founder Ankit Bhati, participated in the pre-Series A round

Woman-led edtech unicorn Guild lays off 172 employees for 'reorganisation'

he company had "identified the go-forward structure, roles, and skill sets needed to enable our strategy and create a more focused, seamless way of doing work at Guild," CEO told the staff

Homegrown edtech startup Teachmint lays off over 70 employees: Report

Led by edtech startups, over 25,000 employees have been laid off by nearly 100 startups in India including BYJU'S, Unacademy and Vedantu