Gurugram-based Y Combinator, Java Capital, and Soma Capital led a $1 million pre-Seed funding round for Better Opinions, a skill-based gaming startup that allows users to trade their opinions on the outcome of a real-life event. Mayank Kumar (Co-founder of UpGrad), Sudhanshu Raheja (Head of Product and Engineering, GoTo Financials, Gojek-Tokopedia), Pratyush Prasanna (SVP, Gojek), Chinmaya Sharma (Chief Commercial Officer Namshi), and the Ranadive Family, co-owners of the Sacramento Kings, all participated in the round. In 2021, Soumyajit Das and Samay Jain co-founded the company. Better Opinions allows users to…
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Wealthtech startup Wealthy.in raises $7.5M to penetrate deeper into the Indian market
Wealthy.in, a wealth management platform based in Bengaluru, today announced the completion of a $7.5 million Series A funding round led by Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) and Savrola Group. Existing investors such as Venture Highway, Good Capital, and Emphasis Ventures also participated in the round. Alpha Wave Global manages AWI, which is backed by ADQ’s venture platform (formerly known as Falcon Edge Capital). Wealthy.in, founded in 2015 by Aditya Agarwal and Prashant Gupta, allows professionals to grow wealth for investors through its Wealth Management platform. Around $450 million in assets…
Read MoreUS-based SaaS blockchain startup Cion Digital sets up R&D centre in Pune
Cion Digital, a SaaS blockchain orchestration platform based in the United States, announced the opening of its first office and R&D centre in Pune. This year, the company plans to invest Rs 50 crore and hire over 100 engineers with experience in blockchain technology. Cion Digital focuses on crypto financing and payment solutions, and in January 2022, it raised $12 million in seed funding. “A recent report by crypto exchange, CrossTower, and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) mention that India will hold $1.1 trillion digital asset opportunity by 2032 and…
Read MoreInvestcorp-backed Xpressbees turns unicorn with Blackstone, others investing $300 mn
Xpressbees, an e-commerce logistics provider, became a unicorn on Wednesday, a company valued at $1 billion or more, after raising $300 million in Series F funding led by Blackstone Growth, TPG Growth, and ChrysCapital. According to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Xpressbees was valued at $1.2 billion in the most recent round of funding. Existing investors Investcorp and Norwest Venture Partners also participated in the round, according to the company. In October, VCCircle reported that Xpressbees, a startup run by BusyBees Logistics…
Read MoreActor Pankaj Tripathi invests in agritech startup Krishi Network
Krishi Network, an agritech platform, announced on Thursday that Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi has invested in the company. It did not say how much money Tripathi has put into the platform, which is connected to at least 30 lakh farmers. The new funds will be used to expand the startup’s AI-based technology platform across India and help it grow quickly, according to a statement. “Coming from a farmer background, I have always believed in supporting initiatives that help farmers with access to information to grow their business,” said Tripathi. “Back…
Read MoreBinny Bansal leads $25 million funding round in his venture xto10x Technologies
Binny Bansal, a cofounder of Flipkart, has led a new $25 million investment round in his own startup, xto10x Technologies, which is a scaling platform for growth-stage companies, according to a statement released by the company on Wednesday. Swiggy cofounder Harsha Majety, Meesho cofounder Vidit Aatrey, Razorpay founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, and Cred founder Kunal Shah were among the 28 founders and executives who participated in the funding round from India and Southeast Asia. According to the company, the funds will be used to expand learning programmes, software…
Read MoreAmazon India launches startup accelerator 2.0
Amazon India launched the second season of its ‘Global Selling Propel’ startup accelerator on Wednesday to help emerging Indian brands and startups reach global customers. Participating startups will be eligible to win a total equity-free grant of $100,000 from Amazon, as well as $10,000 in free AWS credits. The startup accelerator is accepting applications until March 14th. The programme, according to the company, will allow startups to present their business models to partner VC firms such as Accel, DSG Consumer Partners, Fireside Ventures, and Sequoia Capital India. “We saw great…
Read MoreKirana-Tech Startup ElasticRun Becomes India’s Latest Unicorn, Now Valued At $1.5 Billion
There’s a lot of buzz in India about e-commerce, but companies that help modernise traditional kirana stores appear to be unlocking some serious value as well. ElasticRun, a kirana-tech startup that connects businesses to kirana stores, has raised $300 million in a new funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund II, making it India’s latest unicorn. The $1.5 billion round valued the six-year-old startup. ElasticRun has more than tripled in value in the last ten months, making it India’s sixth unicorn this year, following MamaEarth, Fractal Analytics, LEAD School, Darwinbox,…
Read MoreJio Platforms picks up 25 percentage stake in US-based tech startup TWO for $15 mn
Jio Platforms, led by RIL promoter Mukesh Ambani, has purchased a 25% stake in TWO Platforms, a deep-tech startup based in the United States, for $15 million. TWO Platforms is an artificial reality company that focuses on building interactive and immersive AI experiences. It was founded by Indian-origin computer scientist Pranav Mistry in July of last year. Its platform enables AI voice and video calls in real time, as well as digital humans, immersive environments, and life-like gaming. “We are impressed with the strong experience and capabilities of the founding…
Read MoreMicrosoft will step up experimentation on new features for Windows 11, even if they never get released
Microsoft is ramping up the Windows Insider programme with Windows 11. In announcing its strategy for 2022, Microsoft announced that future Insider releases will focus on “trying out different concepts” with Microsoft’s features and services. In a blog post, Windows Insider programme lead Amanda Langowski stated that the Dev Channel will be restructured as a “place to incubate new ideas.” Microsoft will now be able to work on long-lead items as well as control the states of individual features through the Dev Channel. The basic idea is to simply step…
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