Start-Ups

Zerodha, a stockbroking application, is making this Diwali extra memorable for its employees by0 launching a new employee stock options (ESOP) plan. With this announcement, the company joins the ranks of several early-stage companies, including Paytm, Swiggy, and Rivigo, among others, that have either expanded or created a new ESOPs pool. With 6 million users, Zerodha is India’s largest stockbroking app for retail trades. According to regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies, the Bengaluru-based company has allocated 7,00,000 options under its new ESOPs Plan 2021. (RoC). As per Fintrackr’s…

Neobanking startup Fi has secured roughly $50 million in what looks to be a Series B round lead by B Capital. This is the Bengaluru-based startup’s second round in 2021. It raised a $12 million Series A round in June. According to regulatory filings with RoC, Fi has approved the allotment of 1 equity and 3,90,531 Series B CCPS with a face value of Rs 10 and a premium of Rs 9,485.25 per share to raise Rs 370.81 crore, or close to $50 million. B Capital led the round with…

Vanity Wagon, a clean beauty startup based in New Delhi, announced today that it has raised Rs 5.5 crore in a pre-Series A fundraising round headed by Inflection Point Ventures. Venture Catalysts, Lotus Herbals, and the existing investors – Agility Ventures (headed by Mr. Dhianu Das) and a consortium of HNIs – also participated in the investment round. Vanity Wagon was founded in September 2018 by Prateek Ruhail, Naina Ruhail, and Sahil Shrestha, promises to be India’s first true information-oriented clean beauty marketplace with an emphasis on non-toxic products and…

BigBasket finally started to sell offline. According to an internal corporate email, the online grocer established its first physical store in Bengaluru earlier this week under the brand name Fresho. The grocery startup has been using the brand ‘Fresho’ for its private label products in the online store. Surprisingly, the ‘Fresho’ brand has not always gone the discount path, frequently selling at a premium to established brands by using alternate avenues such as organic produce or premium ingredients. BigBasket co-founder VS Sudhakar told all company employees that the store in…

Koovers, a business-to-business auto spares startup, has raised $1.5 million in a round led by Inflection Point Ventures. JPIN-VCats and Venture Catalysts are among the other investors in the round. The funds will be used to grow the company’s product line and improve its technological infrastructure, according to the company. Vinayak, Sandeep Begur, and S Prem Kumar founded Koovers in 2016 to provide automobile workshops with doorstep delivery of genuine spares from all car manufacturers at low pricing. Even with Covid, the company has over 5,000 workshops in its network…

Indian cosmetics to fashion startup Nykaa got bids for 40 times the number of shares it expects to sell to anchor investors in its initial public offering (IPO), showing substantial interest in the sale. investment firm Blackrock Capital Group and asset manager Fidelity were among the top buyers in the $319.68 million sale of shares that FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the company that owns the Nykaa brand, offered to institutional investors. SN E-Commerce priced its IPO at Rs 1,085 to Rs 1,125 per share, valuing Nykaa at up to $7.11 billion….

Google has partnered with the Ministry of Electronics and IT’s Startup Hub to develop Appscale Academy, a growth and development initiative that will teach early to mid-stage startups across India on how to build high-quality applications for the global market. The Appscale Academy, which will be launched in October 2021, will assist local businesses in developing and scaling a variety of world-class applications across sectors such as gaming, healthcare, financial technology, education technology, and social impact. “It is great to see start-ups and developers across India, especially those in Tier…