Start-Ups

Setu has recorded operating revenue of Rs 3.31 crore in FY21 The entire income comes from the sale of the service Fintech infrastructure startup Setu has expanded its services to include payments, data, investments, and lending via its automated programming interface (APIs). Google Pay teamed with the company in August to provide Equitas Small Finance Bank fixed deposits. While the Lightspeed-backed startup has been growing at a reasonable rate, it appears to be at the pre-revenue stage in terms of revenue in FY21. Setu reported operating revenue of Rs 3.31…

Mensa brands enters into the unicorn club Mensa Brands has raised $135 million in its Series B round led by Falcon Edge Capital’s Alpha Wave Ventures. Mensa Brands has secured $135 million in a Series B investment headed by Falcon Edge Capital’s Alpha Wave Ventures. Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and Tiger Global Management are among the existing investors. In this latest fundraising round, Prosus Ventures (previously Naspers) has also invested in Mensa. According to Mensa, it has received more than $300 million in stock and debt, with the new fundraising…

Byju’s has allotted 125,984 shares worth $400 million to Epic Creations in a share swap agreement Byju’s had already raised Rs 2,200 crore or $296 million in the same round at around $18 billion valuation. EdTech giant Byju’s has issued new shares worth $400 million to Epic, a US-based reading platform. This comes four months after the announcement of Byju’s acquisition, which was scheduled to close for roughly $500 million. According to regulatory records, Byju’s has granted 125,984 shares worth $400 million to Epic Creations in a share swap deal. The…

CoinSwitch Kuber is in the final discussions to acquire Symbl The deal will be worth 35-4- Cr Despite legal uncertainties, crypto startups in India have been able to acquire funds, and two exchanges, CoinDCX and CoinSwitch Kuber have joined the coveted club of unicorns this year. With their growing size, the two companies are considering joining the mutual and stock investing markets. CoinSwitch Kuber has previously engaged Krishna Hegde, a former Paytm senior vice president (SVP), to oversee stock trading and mutual fund operations. The Singapore-registered corporation is now on…

SoftBank CEO Rajiv Misra revealed his plan to invest in the Indian market next year Startups in the country are enjoying significant gains SoftBank Group Corp. may spend $5 billion to $10 billion in India next year if valuations are attractive, according to Rajeev Misra, CEO of SoftBank Investment Advisers. “If we find the right companies, we could invest $5 billion to $10 billion in 2022,” Misra said on Thursday at the Bloomberg India Economic Forum. “If we find the right opportunities at the right valuation.” So far, investments in…

  Delhi HC dismissed the petition filed by BharatPe Causes tension between the two digital payment companies The Delhi High Court dismissed a half-dozen petitions filed by Resilient Innovations, the company that operates the BharatPe digital payments platform, asking the Registrar of Trademarks to remove rival PhonePe’s ‘Pe’ device mark registrations. The HC dismissed the petitions, noting another instance of trademark infringement involving the two companies that were pending before a separate bench of the same court. PhonePe described the rejected applications brought by BharatPe as “frivolous and baseless” in…

Home solution startup Wakefit raised $28 million in investment  The new fund will be used for omnichannel expansion goals Wakefit, the startup that provides sleep and home solutions, has secured Rs 200 crore ($28 million) in a fundraising round led by US-based SIG, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Verlinvest. Wakefit intends to use the additional capital to finance its omni-channel expansion goals, as well as to strengthen its supply chain, technology development, and marketing. The company also aims to enter the home interiors market. The startup…

Unnati Agri, a fintech-driven agriculture service platform, has secured Rs 60 crore (about $8 million) in a Series A round-headed by Incofin Investment Management, NabVentures, and Orios.  According to the Noida-based startup, the new funds will be used to expand its uStore network and technological infrastructure. The platform is also considering expanding geographically to Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and future development into Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Maharashtra. Unnati, founded by Amit Sinha, former COO of Paytm Mall, brings together everything from pre-harvest advice to post-harvest services to working…

Zomato announced three significant strategic investments on Wednesday. Deepinder Goyal’s company will invest around $175 million in Magicpin, Curefit, and Shiprocket. Magicpin is an offline discovery and reward network and, has received $60 million in its Series D round, with Zomato investing $50 million for a 16 percent stake. Existing investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, also participated in the round. Magicpin’s valuation has now increased to a little over $312 million worth of this round. It’s worth noting that Magicpin has previously added Zomato co-founder and CEO Goyal to its board…

PhonePe is expanding its lead in the unified payments interface (UPI) ecosystem. In October, the company increased its market share, while its archrival Google Pay saw a minor decrease. According to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), PhonePe recorded 1937.57 million transactions worth Rs 3,65,845.39 crore in October, compared to 1451.93 million transactions worth Rs 2,87,491.46 crore for Google Pay. In terms of volume, UPI recorded 4.21 billion (421 crores) transactions worth Rs 7,71,444.98 crore in October. PhonePe’s market share increased marginally to 45.92 percent in…