The Venture Intelligence Blog

Nokia India, in collaboration with AppCampus (Finland) and members of Harvard Business School Alumni Angels (India Chapter), have launched an initiative called Appcelerate-India to boost mobile app development on Nokia Lumia and Microsoft Windows platform. AppCampus and Harvard Business School Alumni Angels India will invest over $500,000 in Appcelerate-India and provide a combination of grants, seed funding, mentoring, incubation resources to discover disruptive applications and nurture talented Indian mobile startups. The most promising ideas from Nokia’s first consumer app reality television show, Your Wish Is My App, as well as submissions from the local ecosystem will be considered for investment and incubation. This initiative seeks to combine the best of AppCampus’ global acceleration model with the hands-on mentoring expertise of Appcelerate-India. Source: Press Release Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financia...

Future Ventures India Ltd. (FVIL) is to invest in KFC Shoemaker Pvt. Ltd. Post completion of issue and allotment of equity shares, FVIL will hold 33.3% of the issued and paid up share capital of KFC Shoemaker, which is engaged in the business of sourcing footwear from domestic as well as foreign suppliers. The company also undertakes retail sale of leather shoes / footwear / bags under the Tresmode and Solvoga brands.  KFC Shoemaker posted revenues of Rs.25.89 crore for the period ended March 31, 2013, as against Rs.21.52 crore in the previous year period. Source: Press Release   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

BSB, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and SoftBank Corp., focused on the mobile Internet space, has invested $7 million in hike , a free messaging app startup. hike, which crossed the 5 million users mark in four months after its launch in December 2012, offers seamless integration between Instant Messaging and SMS. About 60% of hike’s user base comes from India and the rest global led by Middle East and Europe. Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Gurgaon-based e-commerce company Yebhi has raised $12 million from its existing investors Fidelity Growth Partners India, Qualcomm Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners and Catamaran. The round seems to be a bridge round as the company has been unable to raise follow on capital from new investors.  With this round Yebhi has raised a total of around $39 million of investment in four rounds. It also switched to the managed marketplace model like rivals ShopClues and Pepperfry. Besides this internal round Yebhi is also looking to raise more growth capital.  Earlier in July Yebhi raised $20 million Series C funding led by Fidelity and Qualcomm Ventures. The company had also raised Series A funding of $2 million from Nexus in 2010. In 2011 it raised Series B funding which was led by Catamaran and Nexus.  Source: NextBigWhat   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, ventur...

Bangalore-based data aggregation and analytics company Dataweave has raised Rs.1.5 crore in seed round of funding from angel investor & Google India MD Rajan Anandan, Blume Ventures, TLabs (Times Internet), 5ideas Startup Superfuel, Meta Studio Advisors and a group of angels.  Launched in 2011 by Karthik Ramesh and Vikranth Ramanolla, Dataweave discovers, tracks and aggregates online public data and makes it available in a structured format. It provides actionable data by aggregating, organizing, visualizing, and managing millions of data points from the Web. The data is presented to the businesses through standard APIs, dashboards and visualizations. Source: Iamwire   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most ...

Bangalore-based Plustxt Mobile Solutions has raised funding from Mumbai Angels and Bangalore Angels. The company, founded in 2012 by IIT-Kharagpur and IIM-Calcutta alumnus Pratyush Prasanna, provides a text messaging mobile application that is optimized for Indian languages. The messaging system is available in Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada and Tamil  Source: Economic Times    Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Little1 , an online baby record book launched by Kolkata-based OneUp Ventures, has raised an angel round of $80,000. The platform enables parents to preserve their child’s growing up memories both online and offline. It offers unlimited photo uploads and secure sharing. In addition, parents can avail of a print copy of the baby record book.  The company, launched by Naresh Baid and Sabarish Nair, unveiled a private beta in November 2012 and went public in January. Nair and Baid were earlier wealth managers with Kotak and HSBC.  Source: Startup Central    Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Sarona Asset Management, alongside its PE partner SEAF Agribusiness India Fund, has invested in Mumbai-based Khyati Foods Ltd . Khyati processes organic cotton and soybeans, primarily for export to Europe and North America. It purchases its products from 10,000 certified-organic smallholder farmers in India.  The investment will enable Khyati to expand both its processing facilities and the range of products it works with.  Source: Press Release Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Bangalore-based Smart Cloud Technologies, the developer of SmartRx , a cloud-based patient management solution for doctors and hospitals, has raised funding from Ventureast Tenet Fund, IIM-Ahmedabad’s startup accelerator, CIIE, and other investors. Ramesh Byrapaneni, venture partner at Ventureast Tenet Fund, joins the Smart Cloud board along with managing partner Sateesh Andra.  Founded in 2011 by Anil Kumar and Vijayakumar Kannan, SmartRx enables doctors and to provide patients timely diagnosis, testing, consultation, review and health advice according to prescribed standards. Prior to starting Smart Cloud, Kumar worked with Realcom, a Japanese company focused on knowledge and content management. He earlier co-founded a company called Pragna Technologies. Co-founder Kannan has worked with companies such as Accenture and AsconHealtha and also founded rupees4gigs.com, a marketplace for small services and products.  Source: Startup Central   Venture Intellige...

Kalaari Capital, via Kalaari Capital Partners II LLC, has invested in Chennai-based Ubiquitous Foods Pvt Ltd which operates the Ovenfresh bakery chain . A Vichar Partners team led by Aarthi Sivanandh (Partner) and including Lavanya Krithivasan (Associate) provided legal advice to Ubiquitous on the documentation for the transaction and assisted on the negotiation of the transaction terms.  Ubiquitous currently runs six outlets in Chennai, according to its web site. Rajesh Raju and Sampathkumar Pudhukottai of Kaalari have joined the company's board, regulatory filings reveal. The company was incorporated in November 2007 with Rajiv Subramanian and Indra Subramanian as its founding directors. Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First ...

Bangalore- and Palo Alto, US-based Qubole Data Service has completed Series A funding round of $7 million from Charles River Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures, as well as angel investors Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaram. Based on Apache Hadoop and founded by the creators of Apache Hive and Facebook’s analytics platform, Qubole is focused on making analytics easy and accessible to businesses of all sizes.  Source: Press Release   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Contrarian Capital India Partners’ debut fund, called Contrarian Opportunities Fund I, is targeting a corpus of $50 million and will seek to make early stage impact investments. The fund will invest in education, healthcare and agri-businesses. The fund will play in the Series A stage and invest between $500,000 and $5 million in each company over multiple rounds.  Source: Startupcentral Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Surat-based travel agent Ace Tours Worldwide Ltd . has filed the DRHP for an IPO of 50,00,000 equity shares at a cash price of Rs.16 per share aggregating to Rs.8 crore, constituting 39.46% of the fully diluted share of the company. Corporate Strategic Allianz is the book building lead manager to the issue. The company will be traded on the BSE-SME exchange.  Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

VC firms Kae Capital and Blume Ventures and Mumbai Angels have invested in Mumbai-based ShepHertz Technologies . ShepHertz — which provides a cloud-based, back-end technology platform for developers to make, deploy and launch their applications — will use the funding for product development, hiring talent and marketing.  The company was founded in 2010 by its CEO Siddhartha Chandurkar.  Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Helion Venture Partners and Ventureast Proactive have made a joint investment in Seclore , a Mumbai-based Information Rights Management (IRM) and secure outsourcing systems firm. Seclore, which has been in the market providing its technology to customers for just over three years, started within IIT Bombay and was supported by the entrepreneurship promotion organization of the institute.  With IIT graduates Vishal Gupta (CEO) and Abhijit Tannu (CTO) at the helm, the company has grown to a user base of over 3 million users and customers spread across North America, Western Europe and South Asia.  Source: Press Release   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Mobile video company Apalya Technologies has raised $10 million from Cisco, along with other investors like IDG Ventures India, Indo US Venture Partners and Qualcomm. Cisco has also added Apalya’s live TV and mobile video capabilities to its Cisco Videoscape architecture by integrating the Video Delivery Platform from Apalya.  Apalya’s last couple of rounds of funding, from Qualcomm and IDG in January 2011, were raised largely keeping in mind India’s 3G auctions and enhancing its capabilities to deliver video content over 3G networks.  Source: Medianama Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Bangalore-based Eka Software Solutions , a global provider of advanced commodities and energy trading and risk management technologies (CTRM & ETRM), has acquired Calgary, Canada-based EnCompass Technologies . Established in 1993, EnCompass is a provider of a fully-integrated, multi-commodity and FX transaction management system, covering the entire transaction lifecycle, from capture through confirmation, operations, settlement and risk management.  All employees of EnCompass have joined Eka, and the two co-founders, CEO Andy Bout and COO Stewart Brightman, will take key leadership roles in the combined organization.   From the Venture Intelligence PE Deal database: Eka had raised $10-M from Nexus Ventures in Oct-09.  Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including...

StartupRoots, initiated by 10,000 Startups in association with NextBigWhat, has helped four start-ups to raise spot funding from angels investors, including Google India MD and angel investor Rajan Anandan. Bangalore-based Lumos Design Technology , working to develop solar-powered apparel, got Rs.25-lakh in return for a 10% stake for Anandan.  Anirudh Suri, founding partner of Indian Internet Group, Ravi Gururaj and Ramesh Kumar Shah, co-founders of Harvard Business School Alumni Angels India, wrote a combined cheque of Rs.1 crore for a 22.5% in a Kolkata based social audience discovery platform, Tookitaki .  Mumbai based provider of digital jukebox for retail outlets, Moojic , raised Rs.25 lakh from three angel investors including Anandan for 12.5% stake. Credii , a cloud-based platform for business software selection and procurement, got an investment of $50,000 for a 5% stake.  Source: iamwire.com Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of da...

Unitus Seed Fund is launching a new Rs.50 crore early-stage domestic fund backed. Former Infosys senior executive Mohandas Pai and Manipal Group scion Ranjan Pai have cumulatively committed $2 million (Rs.11 crore) to the corpus. The new investment vehicle, to be launched in the second-half of 2013, will look to make equity-linked investments in startups. The fund will look to make 30-40 investments over its life-cycle, with the average ticket size ranging between $50,000 and $100,000. The domestic fund is preceded by the $25 million (Rs.135.6 crore) Cayman Island-registered Unitus Seed Fund that was launched in January earlier. Unitus currently counts skill development ventures iStar and Bodhicrew Services, learning centre Hippocampus, online microlending platform Milaap and rural distributor Villgro Innovation Marketing, in its portfolio. Source: Economic Times Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions...

5ideas announces the first close of Startup Superfuel, a seed stage fund that provides early stage tech start-ups a blend of human, financial and social capital. Start-up Superfuel is the first of the five ideas that Pearl Uppal and Gaurav Kachru launched in October last year under 5ideas platform. Startup Superfuel aims to invest in 40 start-ups in the next 3 years, of which 10 to 12 investments will be made this year. The fund will invest between Rs.25 lakh to Rs.1.5 crore in a startup, with the ability invest to up to Rs.2.5 crore in follow-on rounds. The sector agnostic fund looks for tech start-ups targeting digital market. Startup Superfuel is targeting to raise a total of $10 million (Rs.55 crore) and will continue to raise the funds while simultaneously making investments post this closure. Source: Business Standard   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital ...

Mumbai based beauty and skincare e-retailer Purplle.com has recently closed a Series A funding from non-VC investors, to follow up on its angel round last year. Founded by Manish Taneja in 2011, Purplle.com offers product in various categories including fragrances, skincare, and beauty products for both men and women.  Source: iamwire.com Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Global investment firm Unitus Seed Fund has completed its investment in Bangalore-based facilities management company Jack On Block , which offers handyman and maintenance services to homes and small businesses. Along with Unitus Seed Fund, angel investors Mumbai Angels and Bangalore Angels have also invested in Jack On Block. Unitus Capital was the financial advisor and Impact Law Ventures, the legal advisor on this transaction. Founded in 2012, Jack On Block’s model includes hiring unskilled and semiskilled workers from low-income families, training and then finally integrating them into the formal sector. It now services over 2,000 customers in Bangalore with a staff of over 90 employees. Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First ...

Uday Kotak in Outlook Business (emphasis mine): From an investment banking perspective you need to offer what investors want at all times, but as a lender you need to decide if it makes sense for you. For example, in 2007-08, there was exuberance around the Indian infrastructure story — the media believed it, the policy makers believed it, investors wanted it, so we brought some of these companies to market. It was probably high risk but we got them in. Offering equities is like leaving to the consumer the choice of how much spice they want in their food — if they want a high risk bet with the upside and the downside of equities, the choice is really theirs — and as a cook I need to give them that. But as a banker, I need to decide how much spice is good for me; I did not like spice in my food during that time so we did not take exposure to infrastructure. Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (priv...

Manipal Education and Medical Group head Ranjan Pai and former Infosys director Mohandas Pai are investing in a new accelerator - The Habit Fund - which will back early-stage social media, mobile and cloud computing start-ups. The Habit Fund will be managed by Silicon Valley venture capitalist and entrepreneur Sunil Bhargava of mobile start-up incubator Tandem Capital and Rohit Bhagat, former Asia Pacific chairman of BlackRock Inc., and aims to raise $75-100 million. The accelerator will process about 300 start-up applications every quarter. Each start-up will receive anywhere between $150,000-300,000 in funding.  Source: Mint Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Aspada Investment Company has received a $10 million commitment from Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF). Aspada, led by Kartik Srivatsa and Thomas Hyland, will make both equity and debt-like self-liquidating investments in high growth businesses. The fund seeks to commit $10 million to early stage businesses to make education, healthcare and financial services more accessible to low-income people in India. It will also invest in agricultural supply chain companies in an effort to support small holder farmers.  Aspada represents SEDF’s second investment in India. In 2008, SEDF, Omidyar Network and Google, in partnership with the Indian School of Business, created the $17 million SONG Fund, which provides early and growth stage capital to SMEs in areas such as affordable healthcare, school education and agriculture supply chains.  Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture ...

Bangalore-based education management software firm Knewcleus has acquired X2PN E-Learning , a fellow Bangalore-based firm that has built apps with a strong gamification angle. The X2PN acquisition will help Knewcleus improve its engagement platform by providing learners with ‘learning games’.  Source: Yourstory.in   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Aspada Investment Company has made its first ever investment in Lawrencedale Agri Processing , an end-to-end fresh vegetable supply chain company that operates in the Nilgiris belt in South India. Lawrencedale seeks to aggregate fresh produce from farmers at the farm gate and sell to retail consumers under the LEAF brand in major markets. This investment aims to help increase the incomes of small holder farmers.    Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Qubecell , a Mumbai-based mobile billing aggregator, has raised seed funding in a round led by Kae Capital, with participation from Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and Russian investor TA Ventures. The transaction occurred in December 2012, and the company plans to use the funds raised to grow business in India and abroad by getting more merchants. It will also develop its technology platform.  Founded in 2012, Qubecell integrates with telecom operators in the country and enables mobile payment service through carrier billing.  Source: Medianama    Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Omnivore Partners has bought a significant minority stake in Guwahati-based Arohan Foods Pvt. Ltd. , the country’s first pork integrator. Omnivore is an early stage VC fund backed by Godrej Agrovet Ltd. Arohan Foods, which was started in 2011, offers packaged pork products including sausages, cocktail sausages and sliced salami in a variety of flavors developed in-house under its flagship brand Choice Pork Natural across the seven states of the Northeast. It works with smallholder pig farmers across the region and plans to enter breeding and contract farming over the next two years.  The founders of Arohan Foods are Anabil Goswami, formerly with Tata Chemicals, Ranapratap Brahma, who used to be at Bank of Baroda, and Arindom Hazarika, who was with Kotak Mahindra Bank. The promoters plan to use the money raised to launch their products in other parts of the country including Mumbai, New Delhi and the South. Source: Mint Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of ...

Fulcrum Venture India, a highly successful early stage venture capital investor started in 2000 by Krishna Ramanathan as a proprietary fund, today announced an investment of INR 21.82 crores in Shield Healthcare Pvt Ltd a pharmaceutical company within the branded formulations space. The company will use the proceeds to fund its business geographically and vertically integrate a manufacturing unit. As an integral part of this deal, Krishna Ramanathan, Founder-Partner, Fulcrum Venture India will join the Board of Directors of the Company.  Commenting on the occasion, Krishna Ramanathan said, “Fulcrum Venture India is happy to partner with Shield Healthcare under the leadership of Mr L. Mahadevan and looks forward to the company scaling up over the next 5 to 7 years under his leadership. The company carries a strong product catalogue and with the growth of new products in the Gynaecologist and Consultant Physician segments. Fulcrum expects Shield revenue to increase significantl...

Early-stage VC fund Blume Ventures along with Chennai Angels and the Mumbai Angels has invested into Pickme , a gadget repair service venture in Mumbai. Pickme provides service solutions for mobile phones, cameras, watches, laptops, tablets, etc. The firm picks up the gadget from doorstep, gets it repaired at an Authorized Service Center and delivers it back to the owner.  Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

New Delhi-based Solvy Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., which runs community based product reviews platform Reviews42 , has raised Series A funding of $0.9 million from Nirvana Ventures with participation from existing investors Blume Ventures and angels like Rahul Khanna (MD at Canaan Partners) and Flipkart Co-founders Sachin and Binny Bansal. Amit Patni and Rajan Mehra of Nirvana Ventures have joined the company’s board  Reviews42 aggregates user reviews based on ratings/rankings taken from users. It claims to cover 6,032 products across various categories, with a total of 2,934 reviews contributed by 1,369 reviewers. Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Unitus Seed Fund has invested in Bangalore-based iStar , is a vocational skills training company that provides unemployed graduates with additional skills training to make them readily employable in the BFSI and ITeS sectors. iStar started its first iLAB program in Dec 2011 with 300 students and has grown continuously since, training 2,500 students across Bangalore. The company has been funded by, and is an official partner of, the National Skill Development Corporation. Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

IFC has committed to invest in India Business Excellence Fund IIA (IBEF IIA), a fund which aims to offer growth equity and strategic and operational assistance to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in India. The investment focus will be on high growth businesses and also focused on Tier II and Tier III cities in India. The Fund aims to invest in sectors which benefit from demand led by Domestic consumption and Infrastructure enablers. The Fund is second series to India Business Excellence Fund I – a 2006-07 vintage fund of $82.5 million which is fully deployed.  Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Shree Shubham Logistics Limited (“SSLL”),a subsidiary of Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited (KPTL) has signed an agreement with Tano India Private Equity Fund II to raise Rs 80 crore to fund its capacity expansion plan.  SSLL is one of the leading organized service providers in the agri logistics space. It operates on unique combination of owned and managed warehouses. KPTL is one of the largest and fastest growing specialized EPC companies in India engaged in power transmission & distribution, oil & gas pipeline, railways, infrastructure development and civil contracting with a strong international presence in power transmission & distribution. Mr. Manish Mohnot (Group Director) said “Our subsidiary (SSLL) has emerged among the largest private player in agri-logistics sector providing one-stop solutions to the entire value chain in agriculture sector”. This fund infusion will support our capacity expansion plans in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan and ...

Bangalore-based micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) lending company Kinara Capital has raised about Rs.5.4 crore ($1 million) in a Series A round led by Sorenson Impact Foundation. The other investors are John Ayliffe of 1to4 Foundation, Halloran Philanthropies and Kinara Capital Holdings (a special purpose vehicle constituted in Singapore). Two of the investors, Halloran Philanthropies and John Ayliffe, were part of an earlier seed round of over Rs.2.7 crore ($500,000) that included the Unitus Impact Fund and private investors based in the US under the banner Mesoloan.  Kinara provides debt capital in the range of Rs.1 lakh to Rs.10 lakh with credit products such as short-term working capital loans and receivables discounting. The company, so far, has supported 60 entrepreneurs, with zero defaults.  Source: billionbulbs.com   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equ...

Singapore-based VC firm Jungle Ventures has invested in Bangalore-based mobile technology company ZipDial Mobile Solutions as it expands its business in the Southeast Asian markets.  ZipDial has just launched operations in Sri Lanka. A marketing and analytics platform, ZipDial creates engagement with traditional media like print and television using missed calls. Jungle Ventures joins a roster of early investors, including Mumbai Angels, Blume Ventures and US-based 500 Startups. ZipDial now has over 400 customers, including big consumer goods companies Procter & Gamble and Unilever.  Jungle Ventures’ earlier investments include online retailer EkStop and Mobikon Technologies. From the Venture Intelligence Angel Investments database: ZipDial had raised INR 3.75 Cr for a 43.85% stake from Mumbai Angels and US-based angel investors in Apr-11.  Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Pri...

Asian Healthcare Fund (AHF), a PE firm floated by Dabur Group chairman Anand Burman and former Dabur Pharma CEO Ajay Kumar Vij, is close to investing Rs.40-50 crore in Mydentist , a Mumbai-based chain of dental clinics. The deal marks AHF’s first investment since it was set up in 2011.  Mydentist operates a regional dental care chain of 40 clinics with a focus in Western India. It is among the largest private chains in the country with 38 of its 40 clinics located in Mumbai and the rest in Pune. The funding would be used to scale up its footprint in other geographies. The company was launched in 2009 by Vivek Vora, who had earlier worked with dental equipment marketing firm Healix Medico.   From the Venture Intelligence PE Deal database: In Dec-10, Seedfund had committed to invest INR 8-Cr inTotal Dental Care, the company behind Mydentist .  Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Comp...

IFC is to make a quasi equity investment in Chennai-based IFMR Rural Channels & Services Pvt. Ltd., an investment & distribution company founded by the IFMR Trust. IFMR Rural provides financial products and services in remote rural areas of India through the KGFS model. A KGFS is a full service local financial institution model, providing various credit, insurance, savings, pensions, remittance and asset products, exclusively focused on the remote rural households.  The company currently provides access to finance to more than 245,000 enrolled customers with a credit portfolio under management of approximately $12 million. IFC’s proposed investment will help IFMR Rural scale up its lending and non lending businesses in its current areas of operation, in addition to helping the Company expand in newer geographies, including a few of the low income states in India. From the Venture Intelligence Social Investments Database: Lok Capital had invested $5-M in IFMR Ru...

Hong Kong-based hedge fund OCP Asia Ltd. has invested $15 million HomeShop18 , the Noida-based teleshopping arm of publicly listed Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. Network18 will also invest a similar amount in the company and continue to be the majority shareholder. HomeShop18 launched India’s first 24-hour home shopping TV channel in 2008. Today, it operates across the Internet, TV and mobile channels through HomeShop18.com and the 24x7 channel. It has acquired a customer base of 6.1 million.  OCP Asia was established in September 2009 by Stuart Wilson and Teall Edds.   From the Venture Intelligence PE Deal database: SAIF had invested $2-M in May-06 for a 30% stake in HomeShop18. In Jul-08, SAIF and Capital18 had invested $21-M in the company.  Source: BSE   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations...

From Business Today : Retirement homes have always been a popular concept in the West. But they were relatively slow to take off in India where for the longest time they were associated with the abandonment of older people. Not any longer. Better life expectancy and financial independence have spawned a new breed of senior citizens such as the Nairs who are happy to live in retirement homes instead of dealing with the isolation and hassles of independent homes. With attitudes changing, many real estate developers including Ashiana Housing, Paranjpe Schemes, Shriram Properties and Covai Property Centre are pouring big money into retirement home complexes. Several non-real estate companies such as Max India and LIC Housing Finance have also entered the business of homes for seniors. While Max is yet to launch its project, LIC Housing has opened two senior living complexes in Bangalore and Bhubaneswar. Real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle India (JLL India) estimates...

Hong Kong startup accelerator AcceleratorHK is announcing the second iteration of its 14-week program. The accelerator is accepting applications, both from local and overseas startups, between April 9 and April 15. Startups in India can now apply to participate in the accelerator which is focused on hybrid mobile app development with HTML5. AcceleratorHK is funded by Telerik and is led by entrepreneurs Stephen Forte and Paul Orlando.  Source: Startup Central Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Eventifier , a Mangalore based startup promoted by Jazeel Ferry, Nazim Zeeshan and Mohammed Saud, has raised a round of funding from Kae Capital. Eventifier allows a user to collate all the information related to an event in one place. The startup scaled this concept to archiving 1000+ events, and generating 17000+ unique visitors per month. More than 10% of the visitors become customers. The company was part of the Chennai based The Startup Centre accelerator.  Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Online babycare products e-tailer Babyoye has acquired its competitor Bangalore-based Hoopos in an all stock deal. The merged entity has also raised funding of $12 million (Rs.64.8 crore) led by Helion Venture Partners with participation from Accel Partners and Tiger Global. Hoopos is expected to be turned into a niche site retailing products for older children. The new entity is targeting about Rs.250 crore in revenue in two years.  BabyOye previously raised $2.5 million from Accel and Tiger in 2011, while Hoopos raised an undisclosed amount of money from Helion the same year. Source: Economic Times Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

The Technology for Impact Accelerator program for business creating social impact, an initiative by CIIE- IIM Ahmedabad and Village Capital, has announced its first batch of 16 startups.  The accelerator focuses on for-profit, commercially scalable Indian startups that display a high level of social value in their tech-driven or tech-enabled offerings. The emphasis is on technology ventures operating in the mobile/ICT, health, agribusiness, education, sustainability and livelihood solutions verticals. The startups are:  Kriyate Design Solutions is utilizing elevation technology to create a smart phone for the visually impaired at an accessible price point, liberating and creating livelihood-enhancing opportunities for potentially millions around the globe.  Edsix Brain Lab expects to disrupt the booming educational gaming sector by becoming the world’s largest developer and publisher of interactive brain skill & curriculum based products. MediAngels...

Varanasi-based microfinance institution Utkarsh Micro Finance has closed a Rs.20 crore round of equity financing led by existing investors Aavishkaar Goodwell, IFC and Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI). The NBFC will use the proceeds to build up its presence in UP, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, as well as invest in strategic initiatives.  Started by former ICICI Microbanking head Govind Singh, Utkarsh currently operates in 24 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarkhand and Delhi. It has 102 branches, serving almost 2 lakh customers and a loan portfolio of Rs.178 crore.  From the Venture Intelligence PE Deal database: Utkarsh had raised Rs.4-Cr from Aavishkaar Goodwell and IFC in Nov-09 for a 42.56% stake. In Jun-11, it raised Rs.25-Cr from Aavishkaar, IFC and NMI for a 43.42% stake. Source: Economic Times Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private...

Gurgaon-based Etechaces Marketing and Consulting Pvt. Ltd., which runs online financial services platform Policybazaar.com , has secured about Rs.27 crore ($5 million) of Series B funding. The funding, led by Inventus Capital Partners, will be used to enhance the platform and to create a consumer-centric brand. Existing investors Info Edge and Intel Capital also participated in the latest round of funding, with the former investing Rs.2.5 crore. With this, Info Edge has invested an aggregate of about Rs.32.5 crore in Policybazaar for an about 32% stake.   From the Venture Intelligence PE Deal database: In Apr-11, Policybazaar had raised Rs.40 crore from Intel Capital (Rs.30-Cr) and Info Edge (Rs.10-Cr).  Source: BSE , Business Line Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list incl...

Mosambee , a Mumbai based mPoS solution provider, has raised seed funding of around $1 million from SIDBI Ventures. The funding will be used for marketing and scaling of services.  Last year, Mosambee had launched its service in Dubai after a soft launch in India by September 2012. The company plans to officially launch in the country this month and plans to expand to Southeast Asian and Western markets. It also intends to build market specific solutions for the West. Source: MediaNama   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

Online fashion and lifestyle products retailer Myntra has acquired San Francisco based technology platform provider FITIQUETTE. The acquisition was made partly in stock and partly in cash. FITIQUETTE has developed technology for solving the Fit/Size problem online. The virtual dressing room developed by FITIQUETTE generates a virtual mannequin based on various body types to which users can adjust specific measurements.  This is Myntra's second acquisition in four months. In November 2012, it acquired Sher Singh, a global private label online brand specialising in sports-inspired lifestyle apparel for men and women and its New York-based parent company Exclusively.in.  Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: ...

Adways Inc, an affiliate marketing firm listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, has acquired 13.8% in Indian Internet marketing company VC Internet Media, which operates an affiliate advertising network vCommission. Adways has the option of gradually increasing its stake to 66% in three phases, by the end of the financial year.  VC Internet Media was formed in 2007 by Tarang Bhargava and Parul Mehta, and vCommission was launched in 2008. It focused on the US and UK markets till 2010, and then began focusing on the Indian market. The company has a registered publisher base of 11,000 affiliates, of which around 30% are international. Clients the company has served include Airtel, HDFC, ICICI, Citibank. Myntra, Pepperfry, YepMe and Yahoo Business Services.  Source: MediaNama   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India....

New Delhi-based microfinance institution (MFI) Satin Creditcare Network Ltd . (SCNL) has raised Rs.41 crore from VC firms MicroVest II, LP, ShoreCap ll Ltd and Danish Microfinance Partners K/S. The promoter group has also contributed funds in this round. The nww round marks the exit of Lok Capital Llc (via sale to MicroVest). Lok was SCNL’s first institutional investor, investing about Rs.5 crore in April 2008. Unitus Capital was the financial advisor to the transaction.  SCNL has microfinance operations spread across nine states in North India with 158 branches and around 428,000 customers. It had a loan portfolio of Rs.575 crore as of 31 March, representing an increase of 80% from a year ago.  Source: Mint   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal...

“From an Entrepreneurs' perspective, Singapore is a great place to operate from. If you are starting a (VC fundable) venture now, I would recommend having your headquarters/holding company in Singapore and making your Indian operations operate as a subsidiary of that. Singapore also has highly credibile image and is not looked upon as a tax haven.” - Sesh A.V., Basiz Fund Services at the Venture Intelligence APEX'13 Summit From a recent Business Today article: Exact data on such ventures is not available, but the number of Indian companies with operations in the citystate jumped to 4,000 in 2012 from 1,100 in 2000, according to the Singapore Economic Development Board (SEDB). Industry executives say a Singapore presence is ideal for companies aspiring to go global as the city-state is an international business hub. "The very fact that your company is based in Singapore means it is considered more of a regional or global company as the local market is very sm...

In February 2013, the publicly listed Strides sold its injectable medicine business, Agila Specialties, to US drug giant Mylan Inc. From the Business Today profile: Son of a government official, Kumar hails from Kerala and grew up in Ooty. He was just 21 years old when he set out for Mumbai in 1982 to seek his destiny. In his initial days, he worked with the Bombay Drug House and British Pharmaceutical Laboratories. He set up Strides at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, in 1990. ...the sale, at more than $1.6 billion (about Rs 9,000 crore), is one of the biggest deals in the Indian pharmaceutical sector in recent times. Strides will get an additional $250 million if it meets certain undisclosed conditions. ...Analysts say injectables, the business Strides is selling, is an interesting segment, partly because making injections is more difficult than making tablets. Plus, this is a product more targeted at hospitals than individuals. This means that there are fewer players in the market. The upsid...

Bangalore-based Canbank Venture Capital Fund has invested nearly Rs.20 crore in GNRC Hospitals which is setting up an 300-bed hospital in North Guwahati. The total project cost is close to Rs.92 crore. The investment is being made from the Rs.500 crore Emerging India Growth Fund. Promoted by Dr Nomal Chandra Borah in 1985, GNRC specializes in neuro-related ailments. It has two tertiary care hospitals (GNRC – Dispur & GNRC Six Mile) with total capacity of 215 beds. Source: Business Line Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.

VC firm Accel Partners has invested around $6 million (Rs.32 crore) in Power2sme , a Gurgaon-based online buying platform for SMEs. The deal, which comes nine months after the company raised initial funding of $2 million from Inventus Capital and Kalaari Capital, values Power2sme at about Rs.200 crore. Power2sme, founded by R Narayan, aggregates demand from small businesses and places a large order with the supplier, which helps derive better pricing. Around 10,000 SMEs have registered with the firm. From revenues of Rs.20 crore in the previous fiscal, it is targeting Rs.120 crore this fiscal. Narayan had earlier co-founded IT services firm Denave. Source: Economic Times Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustiv...

eHealth TBI is looking to raise at least Rs.100 crore for an early stage VC fund, with another Rs.50 crore as a green shoe option. So far it has secured a commitment for Rs.30 crore. The fund will invest in 10-20 startups in their first rounds.  Bangalore-based eHealth TBI is a Technology Incubator, focused on IT applications in Healthcare industry, located at the PES School of Engineering.  Source: Business Standard   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. Click Here to view our products list including the Free Deal Digest Weekly: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.