Here is a list of deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem today. Read a brief description about all of them:
1. Eight of the 12 founders of Housing.com, which acquired by PropTiger this year in an all-stock deal worth $70-$75 million, have reportedly alleged the Board of the merged entity about not being offered equal purchase terms for their shares.
The eight founders, who together own about 5% of Housing.com, also complained about not being formally informed about the company's acquisition by PropTiger and have sought a “copy of the scheme.“
The letter further mentions that, while investors were given exits at a purchase price of INR 350 per share, the Housing founders were not given the same exit rights. At the same time, the founders’ share were of the same class as that of the angel investors – Powai Lake Ventures and Haresh Chawla of India Value Funds. “Differential treatment of the same class of shares is a violation of our rights as shareholders,“ the Housing founders say in their letter, dated June 16.
The letter was written by Housing’s former Chief Technology Officer Abhishek Anand to PropTiger Chief Executive Dhruv Agarwala and the representatives of the various shareholders in the combined entity. These shareholders include media conglomerate News Corp, the Japanese telecom and Internet major SoftBank, and investors Nexus Venture Partners, Falcon Edge Capital, and Helion Venture Partners, reported ET.
2. US-based cab aggregator Uber has started the pilot of 'UberPASS' (similar to Ola Select) in the four Indian metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, which will allow customers to choose top rated drivers and get discounted fares.
The company said it aims to offer riders "a consistent and comfortable mobility experience" through the feature.
3. Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman will contribute ₹1.18 crore from her Member of Parliament Local Area Development fund, to a start-up incubation centre to be set up in Mangaluru.
The Dakshina Kannada district administration and the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) are planning to set up the centre to encourage a start-up ecosystem in Mangaluru. These centres have been set up with the participation of NITI Aayog, reported TheHindu.
4. Flipkart Fashion has launched its first private label Divastri – an ethnic wear line for women that will offer a wide selection of more than 1,500 styles of sarees, lehenga cholis and dress materials.
The launch of the new ethnic wear private label has been conceptualised and designed based on the shopper trends on Flipkart Fashion.
5. Bangalore- and Beijing-based Team Leaf Software Pvt. Ltd—which runs ForeverShop, a mobile platform connecting individual and small-time sellers with customers, has raised $300,000 (around Rs 2 crore) in seed funding from Chinese early stage investor 91maker.com.
Incorporated in November 2016, ForeverShop became operational in January this year and has already on-boarded 1,000 sellers across India, as reported by VCCircle.
6. Flipkart has rolled out a ‘buy now, pay later’ option using which one can buy products on its platform on credit. The feature, currently in beta stage and available to select Android app users. With a pre-defined credit limit, a customer can make purchases on Flipkart throughout the month without having to pay for the products immediately. The outstanding bill can be paid by the 10th of next month, according to information available on Flipkart’s Android app.