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Norwest Venture Invests in 2 Health Startups; Amazon Invests $32M in Amazon Transportation Services & More

Facebook has decided to move the massive WhatsApp data from IBM Cloud to its own data centres.

Photo Credit : ShutterStock,

Here is a list of deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem today including funding, merger, acquisition, fund launch etc. Read a brief description about all of them:

1. Norwest Venture Partners has invested $1.5 million each in Hyderabad-based healthtech startup Multiplier Solutions and Bengaluru-headquartered ABI Health. The investment was done with an intent to merge both the B2B ventures, and is expected to take place over the next 12-18 months. Norwest, which invests out of its $6 billion global fund, already invested in many healthcare startup including diagnostics services provider Thyrocare, primary care clinics Nationwide Primary Care, paediatric and neonatal care hospital chain Ovum, medical equipment company Perfint and cloud-based healthcare information technology company Attune.

2. 14 enterprise tech startups have been graduated from the Microsoft Accelerator’s 10th cohort that began in March 2017.

The startups were selected based on the recommendations of VC firms – including Inventus Capital Partners, Ideaspring Capital, Accel Partners, IDG Ventures, and pi Ventures. 7 of the 14 selected startups have an average annual revenue rate (ARR) of $1.5 million and average funding of $3.2 million.

The graduated startups are - Acebot.ai, Active.ai, FirstHive, Heckyl, Karomi, Lavelle Networks, LetsTransport, Question Pro, SigTuple, SysCloud, Tricog, vPhrase, WittyParrot, Zenatix.

3. Bodhtree Consulting Limited (BCL) has invested $232K (Rs 1.5 Cr) in New York-based fitness technology platform Stratfit Technologies Pvt. Ltd. via FundPitch funding platform. The investment is done through convertible debentures at a valuation of $12.4 Mn (INR 80 Cr), reported Inc42.

With the raised funds, Stratfit plans to extend its presence in the US and other international markets.

4. Amazon has further invested $32 million (Rs 207 Cr) in Amazon Transportation Services, the logistics arm of Amazon India. The company had earlier infused $10 million (Rs 67 Cr) in the logistics platform, in September 2016.

The logistics vertical has received the funding from Amazon Corporate Holdings Singapore and Amazon Malaysia, as per documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

5. Bengaluru-based Stockal Software Pvt. Ltd, which runs an app-based investment advisory service, has raised $350K in its second round of angel funding from a clutch of investors. The funding came from the existing investors Mohan Alexander, who was the founder of Amba Research that was later acquired by Moody’s, and RNT capital Advisers COO and CFO R. Natarajan.

Vikrant Varshney of SucSEED Venture Partners and New York-based investment banker and portfolio manager Amit Sinha also participated in this round, along with a few other angels.

The money will be used to upgrade the product, penetrate the market further and expand its network of experts, reported VCCircle.

6. Kolkata-based micro venture capital firm Virtu Propdeal Pvt. Ltd is looking for making potential investments in startups operating in artificial intelligence (AI) and finance technology (fintech) segments. The company would also bet on software as a service (SaaS) companies focussed on real-estate, construction and manufacturing industries as well as machine learning (ML) startups, reported VCCircle.

Virtu Propdeal has so far made investments in three firms—artist- and designer-focussed marketplace PosterGully, online custom-printed T-shirt brand CaptainKyso and White Cliff Homes Altamount, a residential project in Nagpur.

7. Singapore-based L Catterton Asia, one of the largest consumer-focussed private equity firms globally, is reportedly raising a new Asian fund of $1.25 billion to invest between $50 million and $150 million in middle-market growth companies across Asia.

8. Lodha Ventures, the investment arm of Mumbai-based property developer Mangal Prabhat Lodha family, is planning to launch a $100 million venture capital fund to invest in early-stage consumption-led companies, reported Business Standard. The fund would explore opportunities in ready-to-eat, and fitness sectors, among others.

9. Ahmedabad-based pharmaceuticals firm Eris Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd will launch its initial public offering (IPO) worth Rs 2,000 crore on 16 June, reported DealStreetAsia. Private equity firm ChrysCapital, which holds a 16.25 per cent stake in the company, will sell all of its 22.34 million shares, while founder Amit Bakshi, who holds 39.97 per cent, will sell his 0.5 per cent stake. Other investors including Rakesh Shah, Rajendra Patel, Kausal Shah and Inderjeet Negi too will sell their shares.

10. Telecom equipment maker Tejas Networks Ltd will launch its initial public offering (IPO) on 14 June. The company has fixed a price band of Rs 250-257 per share for the IPO. The offering will close on 16 June. This is the second time the company is planning an IPO, after abandoning its previous attempt at a public offering in 2008-09.

11. Swedish investor Kinnevik has sold its remaining stake in German e-commerce incubator Rocket Internet for more than $224.7 million. Rocket Internet and Kinnevik executives say the parting of the ways is due to the fact the two have increasingly become competitors as Rocket has shifted focus from only launching its own businesses to investing in startups, reported ET.

12. eCommerce giant Amazon has doled out more than $1 billion in small loans to sellers in the past 12 months, compared with more than $1.5 billion it lent from 2011 through 2015. Sellers have used the money to expand their inventory or discount items on Amazon.

13. Facebook has decided to move the massive WhatsApp data from IBM Cloud to its own data centres. Facebook-owned WhatsApp, used by 1.2 billion people across the globe, has been one of IBM's top five public cloud customers in terms of revenue and was at one point spending $2 million a month with IBM, as reported by CNBC.

14. RPG Group’s IT firm Zensar Technologies has set up Zenlabs, a dedicated R&D space at its campus in Pune. “Through Zenlabs we will invest in platforms and technologies which we expect will be mainstream over a period of three-five years. This is the future of innovation for the company,” said Sandeep Kishore, CEO, Zensar Technologies. Zenlabs will work on five core areas: machine learning, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, enterprise class voice based systems and fintech (blockchain, etc).

15. Facebook has introduced disaster maps to help organisations address critical gap in information they often face while responding to natural disasters.

Based on the aggregated location information users have chosen to share with Facebook, three types of maps -- location density maps, movement maps and safety check maps -- are to be provided during disaster response efforts, reported NDTV.

16. Cadila Healthcare Ltd overtook Lupin Ltd to become India’s second most-valuable drugmaker on Wednesday as investors, cheered by US regulatory approval for a generic drug produced by the firm, drove its shares to a lifetime high.

Shares of the Ahmedabad-based company closed up 9.6% at Rs 537.25, off the intraday high of Rs 542.40, on a day the benchmark Sensex ended 0.3% higher at 31,271.28, reported LiveMint.

With a market capitalization of Rs 55,000.57 crore, Cadila is now behind only Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, which remains the most valuable Indian drug firm with a market capital of Rs 1.23 trillion. 

17. Ajay Piramal-controlled Piramal Enterprises Ltd has appointed three investment banks to conduct an institutional share sale that could see it raise up to Rs5,000 crore, as reported by LiveMint. Piramal has appointed investment banks Citi, Morgan Stanley and Kotak Mahindra Capital to help it raise up to Rs 5,000 crore through an institutional share sale, which will be in the form of a qualified institutional placement (QIP).

18. Uber Technologies Inc., which has been criticized as having a workplace hostile to women, hired two senior female executives to fill a void left by recent departures and inject more diversity into its top ranks. The company has appointed Apple Inc. executive Bozoma Saint John as chief brand officer. Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei will also join Uber, serving as senior vice-president for leadership and strategy.



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