FutureTech

Healthfab, a Bengaluru-based femtech direct-to-consumer (D2C) firm, announced today that it has raised Rs 2.17 crore in a seed fundraising round headed by Singapore-based Beyondseed, with angel investors Goh Ee Fann and Abhijit Datta participating. Healthfab was formed in 2019 by Kiriti Acharjee, Saurav Chakraborty, and Satyajit Chakraborty with the goal of providing cheap solutions for a healthy and sustainable human life. The company’s primary product, ‘GoPadFree,’ was created to provide comfort to women while also promoting a more plastic-free society. In a statement, the company stated that these panties…

Wiz Freight, a Chennai-based tech-enabled freight management platform for exporters and importers, announced today that it has raised Rs 275 crore ($36 million) in a new financing round led by Tiger Global, a US-based venture capital firm. Other investors who took part in the round included Axilor Foundamental, Arali Ventures, Stride Ventures, and Alteria Capital. Wiz Freight is a tech platform that allows exporters and importers in emerging markets to book and manage cross-border shipments. It was founded in August 2020 by serial entrepreneurs Ramkumar Govindarajan and Ramkumar Ramachandran. Shippers…

AgroStar, a farm advisory and input platform, announced on Thursday that it has acquired INI Farms Pvt Ltd to expand its operations. In the coming fiscal year, the firm wants to increase its income to more than Rs 1,000 crore. INI Farms, based in Mumbai, is a significant exporter of fruits and vegetables, and its products are sold under the ‘Kimaye’ brand. Pankaj and Purnima Khandelwal launched INI Farms in 2009, and the company now handles over 50,000 tonnes of fruit per year. “We have acquired INI Farms through a…

New-age logistics and supply chain startup delhivery announced a partnership with Ajio, a Reliance-owned fashion and clothing store, to improve consumer experience. “Delhivery partnered with Ajio to launch a technology-based Quality Check Return Product (QC-RVP). The QC-RVP product enables Delhivery’s around 26,000 last mile agents to perform stringent quality checks at the customer’s doorstep before returning the shipment to Ajio.” the company said in a statement. The IPO-bound startup also stated that it has successfully boosted the resaleability of returned goods from 25% to 98 percent, resulting in higher margins…

Visa has launched a creator initiative to enable small company owners such as filmmakers, digital-first artists, singers, and fashion designers understand how non-fungible tokens (NFT) might help them grow their businesses. Visa said it will choose a group of entrepreneurs for the creator programme and provide them with technical mentorship, access to researchers and specialists in cryptography, web3, and online commerce, as well as opportunities to engage with Visa’s client and partner firms. Creators will also receive one-time money in the form of a stipend to help them build their…

General Catalyst, a US-based venture capital firm that has backed companies such as Stripe, Snap, and Airbnb, will boost its focus on India, striking additional agreements at various stages as it seeks to strengthen its footprint in one of the world’s largest emerging economies. Former SoftBank investor Deep Nishar, who joined General Catalyst in January, and former Snapdeal and Meta (the erstwhile Facebook) executive Anand Chandrasekaran will be at the forefront of this push into India. Hemant Taneja, the fund’s managing partner, who is now in India, said he was…

Pi Beam Electric, a Bengaluru-Chennai-based vertically integrated EV ecosystem platform for last-mile logistics and transportation, announced today that it has raised $1.7 million in a pre-Series A funding round headed by Gurugram-based angel investment company Inflection Point Ventures. Family offices such as Sattva Group and Nanavati family, as well as syndicates such as Sincere Syndication and Conscience Multi-family Office, all participated in the round. Apart from the existing investors, industry heavyweights Mr. Arshad Sayyad (former India Head Fidelity Investments), Mr. Vijay Ratnaparke (CIO of Robert Bosch), Mr. Shaji Koshy (former…

Vitruvian Partners, a London-based international investment firm, led a $50 million funding round for Noida-based merchant commerce platform Pine Labs. The business was allegedly valued at $5 billion in the financing. The announcement comes after it paid an undisclosed sum for Mumbai-based Qfix Infocomm Pvt. Ltd., an online payments startup. Pine Labs said earlier this year that it would raise $200 million in capital from India’s largest public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI). Pine Labs started as a provider of card-based payment and loyalty solutions to the retail…