Start-Ups

Shopify, a Canadian e-commerce giant, announced a partnership with China’s JD.com on Tuesday to allow merchants in the United States to sell to JD’s customers in China. The strategic partnership comes amid fierce competition in China’s e-commerce space from players such as Pinduoduo, Alibaba Group Holding, and Douyin. The agreement’s financial terms were not disclosed. According to the companies, the agreement will allow Shopify merchants to sell on JD’s cross-border platform JD Worldwide and gain access to its 550 million active customers in China. Shopify merchants in the United States…

Pluckk, a fresh produce food-tech venture owned by Fruveggiie Tech Pvt Limited, has raised $5 million in seed capital from Exponentia Ventures, a fund focused on emerging B2C and B2B business ideas. Pratik Gupta founded Pluckk in 2021 with the goal of creating India’s first digital commerce business to meet the growing demand for lifestyle-oriented fresh produce. The company’s proposition revolves around global food trends such as veganism, carb alternatives, gut health, immunity, and plant-forward eating to prevent diabetes and mental health. “This round of funding will be utilised towards…

Digit Insurance has raised new funds for its general insurance company from Wellington Hadley Harbor and Ithan Creek Master Investors. According to regulatory filings, Digit has approved the allotment of 165,77,070 equity shares at an issue price of Rs 314 per share in order to raise Rs 520.52 crore ($70 million). Wellington Hadley Harbor, based in Boston, has contributed $55 million to this round, with the remaining funds coming from Ithan Creek Master. The Bengaluru-based company also passed a special resolution to change the terms of the employee stock appreciation…

Meesho, an e-commerce company, has implemented a ‘gender confirmation’ leave policy that allows employees who want to transition their gender to take up to one month of paid leave for gender reassignment surgery and other medical procedures. The new policy adds to the Bengaluru-based company’s recent initiatives aimed at increasing inclusivity within the organisation. The company, which joined the unicorn club last year with a valuation of more than a billion dollars, is also considering allowing employees to include same-sex and live-in partners in their insurance coverage. “Over the past…

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, the retail arm of Reliance Industries, has acquired a 54 percent stake in robotics company Addverb Technologies for $132 million, according to a senior company official. This round of funding, a mix of primary and secondary capital, will help the company expand in Europe and the United States, as well as establish a large robotic manufacturing facility. With this strategic partnership, the six-year-old company has raised a total of $143 million to date. Addverb previously received $11 million in funding led by Jalaj Dani, co-promoter of…

Evenflow Brands, a third-party online seller aggregator, has acquired four consumer brands in India as part of a larger strategy to significantly expand its reach, portfolio, and demand. The acquisition includes two sports and fitness brands, Vifitkit and Yogarise, as well as Frenchware, a kitchen label, and Cingaro, a gardening brand, all with annual run rates ranging from $500k to $2 million. The founders of Frenchware and Cinagro will also join Evenflow as consultants as part of the deal. “We are looking to triple the growth for each of these…

Nazara Technologies, a gaming and sports media company, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired a 55% stake in Datawrkz, a programmatic advertising and monetisation company. The transaction will value the company at approximately Rs 225 crore, or approximately $30 million, based on its Ebitda performance in calendar year 2022. According to Nazara, the transaction will be completed in two instalments. In the first leg, it will acquire a 33% stake for Rs 60 crore, of which Rs 35 crore will be partially paid in cash and the remaining Rs…

ZingHR has raised $10 million from Tata Capital Funds according to a company statement issued on Monday. ZingHR has a presence in markets such as Australia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East and will now look at expanding to Europe, more countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and the US. We will scale up efforts and are going to aggressively pursue these markets,” said Founder and MD at ZingHR, Prasad Rajappan . Tata Capital Funds now owns a 33 percent stake in the company as a result of the…

Ola Electric, one of India’s first automakers to bypass traditional dealerships and deliver vehicles directly to customers, has encountered its fair share of teething problems with this distribution model. It has already had to postpone deliveries several times, which explains why software engineer Syed Rabbani is among the thousands of customers who have received their Ola S1 Pro electric scooters at home. He had to wait months for his purchase, but he didn’t have much of a choice. Living in the small town of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, Rabbani didn’t…

INDmoney, a wealth management firm, has raised $75 million in a new round of funding from existing investors including Tiger Global. The new funds for the Bengaluru-based company come after a two-year hiatus. INDmoney has approved the allotment of 42,636 Series D preference shares at a price of Rs 562.5 crore (approximately $75 million). Tiger Global, Steadview Capital, and DF International Partners have each invested Rs 187.5 crore (approximately $25 million). Kashyap’s stake in the company has been reduced from 35.63 percent to 31.09 percent as a result of the…