Zetwerk raises $210 mn from Greenoaks Capital

The business-to-business (B2B) manufacturing services marketplace Zetwerk Manufacturing Business Pvt Ltd has raised approximately $210 million as part of its Series F funding round led by US-based Greenoaks Capital. According to the regulatory filing, Greenoaks Capital alone invested 543.8 crore ($72.5 million) in the funding round. The funding round was attended by ICONIQ Strategic Partners, D1 Capital Partners, Steadview Capital Mauritius, Avenir Zetwerk Investors, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, among others. The fundraise values Zetwerk at $2.68 billion, according to VCCircle estimates. Lightspeed Venture Partners’ stake in Zetwerk has increased to…

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is likely to be questioned in an incognito mode privacy lawsuit for up to two hours.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai will likely be questioned for up to two hours in an incognito mode privacy lawsuit. In a court filing earlier this year, the plaintiffs stated that Pichai was warned about problems with Google’s incognito browsing mode in 2019, but he chose to ignore the warnings because he did not want the feature to come under scrutiny. According to the most recent filing, the plaintiffs are now arguing that Pichai has unique, personal knowledge of Chrome browser issues and privacy concerns. According to Google spokesman Jose Castaneda,…

Techstartup Ripplr raised $12 mn in pre series B round

Ripplr, a Bengaluru-based tech-enabled distribution and logistics ecosystem platform, has raised $12 million in a Pre-Series B funding round comprised of both equity and debt. Japanese conglomerate Sojitz Corporation and Stride Ventures also participated in the round. 3one4 Capital, Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund, and Chand Family Office – Yukti were among the existing investors. Earlier this year, the company raised $3 million. Ripplr provides a technology platform for large consumer brand authorised dealers to track business metrics, finance options, analytics, and operational support. While there are numerous players in…

Mamearth turns unicorn after a fresh round

Mamaearth, a baby and mother care brand, has raised nearly $80 million in a new round led by Sequoia at a unicorn valuation. This is the Bengaluru-based startup’s second round in 2021. It had raised $50 million in a round led by Sofina in July, at a valuation of $730 million. According to regulatory filings, MamaEarth has approved the allotment of 1,741 Series F preference shares at an issue price of Rs 33,85,049 in order to raise Rs 589.3 crore ($79.5 million). Sequoia led the round with a Rs 311.8…

Globalbees joins unicorn club with $111.5 million funding

SoftBank-backed GlobalBees Brands Pvt Ltd, a Thrasio-style direct-to-consumer (D2C) venture that aggregates and invests in e-commerce brands, announced on Wednesday that it had raised $111.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Premji Invest at a unicorn valuation. Unicorns are private companies that have a market capitalization of $1 billion or more. The funding round was led by Steadview Capital, with participation from existing investors SoftBank and e-commerce baby products company FirstCry, according to the company. GlobalBees is now valued at $1.1 billion, making it the 44th Indian…

India emerged as second largest startup hub : Said PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated on Tuesday that India has emerged as the world’s second largest startup hub, thanks in large part to students from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The Prime Minister during the 54th convocation ceremony of IIT Kanpur said, “In this 75th year of independence, we have over 75 unicorns, over 50,000 start-ups. Of these, 10,000 have come only in the last 6 months. India has emerged to be the second biggest startup hub in the world, and this feat has been achieved majorly with the help…

Indian geospatial technology startups ready to take on the sky

Awais Ahmad, co-founder of the Indian geospatial technology startup Pixxel, is excited for the New Year. His startup is finally set to launch the first of its planned low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, after multiple delays due to operational issues and a variety of other factors. Similarly, GalaxEye, another startup developing its own satellite constellation, has stated that the first member of its 15-satellite constellation will be launched in early 2023. Back on the ground, the geospatial survey company Genesys International recently announced a plan to create high resolution 3D maps…

Neobank Jupiter raises $86 mn in Series C round

Neobank Jupiter has raised $86 million as part of its Series C fundraise according to regulatory filings accessed through Tofler, The round was led by US-based QED Investors and Sequoia Growth Fund, and other existing investors such as Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, 3one4 Capital, and BEENEXT participated. This is Jupiter’s second round of funding in 2021, a year that saw an unprecedented surge in startup funding. Jitendra Gupta, the startup’s founder and CEO, confirmed the funding and stated that the company’s valuation has now increased to $710 million. This represents…

Zoom acquires the assets of event production startup Liminal

Zoom, a video-conferencing platform, announced on Tuesday that it had acquired certain assets from Liminal, an event production startup. Liminal is a startup that provides event production solutions based primarily on Zoom’s SDK. Andy Carluccio and Jonathan Kokotajlo, two of Liminal’s co-founders, will also join Zoom. “Liminal’s solutions, including their ZoomOSC and ZoomISO apps, will help bridge Zoom with traditional and emerging event control applications and hardware to help theaters, broadcast studios, and other creative organizations address complex technical production needs, and collaborate and create online effectively,” the company said…

Whatsapp working on a new community feature

WhatsApp has reportedly been working on a new Communities feature, and we now have our first look at it. The Communities feature is expected to enhance the app’s functionality by allowing up to ten groups to be linked in a single ‘Community.’ The feature was recently discovered in an iOS beta build and is expected to be available on both platforms soon. Admins of a community will have more control than admins of a group and will be able to do things like decide who can and cannot message on…