The Venture Intelligence Blog

Sumanth Raghavendra (founder of Qualcomm Ventures-backed Mobile Apps firm Deck.in) offers an interesting "defense" of the (Accel India & Tiger Global backed) Flipkart-Myntra merger from the "attack" by (Seedfund Partner) Mahesh Murthy. 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.

Lithasa Technologies, which runs a networking platform for scholars and researchers called InvenZone, has raised angel funding from VentureNursery Angels. The backers include Yahoo! India senior director Vishal Maheshwari, Aditya Birla PE CEO Bharat Banka, Nirvana Ventures co-founders Amit and Arihant Patni and former Starcom MediaVest CEO Ravi Kiran.  The start-up was founded by Vinay Kumar, an IIT-Bombay alumnus and former Amazon executive Deekshith Marla. InvenZone launched its beta product in IIT-Bombay, where it has 1,000 users. The startup is now planning to launch in other IITs and other top universities like AIIMs and IISc. The company claims to have indexed 23 million research papers which are over 40% of the total global database. 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 vi...

Accel-funded Healthcaremagic.com, an online medical advisory service, has been acquired by Ebix, international supplier of on-demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance, finance and healthcare industries. Ebix has paid $6 million in cash for Healthcaremagic.com with a contingent earn out of up to $12.5 million payable after 2 years.  Healthcaremagic.com‘s round the clock “Ask a Doctor” service allows a consumer to write a health query, attach a picture or upload a lab report and post to doctors. With an average of 130 queries per hour, Healthcaremagic.com also has B2B clients like Vodafone, HSBC, McAfee and ICICI.   From the Venture Intelligence PE Deal database: In February 2009 Accel India had invested $0.55 million in Healthcaremagic.com. (Subscribers to the database can login to view the valuation, deal structuring and other transaction details.)  Source: Nextbigwhat.com   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data an...

IFC proposes an equity investment of $21 million in Gurgaon-based Samhi Hotels which is executing an expansion project, including to develop/acquire hotel assets across India including in Tier I and Tier II centres, at a total cost of $84 million. The estimated equity investment in the project would be $38 million with balance $46 million to be funded through debt. The existing PE investors in Samhi include Blue Chandra Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Equity International Fund V, which holds 75% and GTI Capital Alpha Private Limited which holds 25%.  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.

SkillBoost, a startup founded by ISB grad Abhinav Verma, a training firm focused on Microsoft Office applications, has raised its first round of funding from private investors. The company will use the funds for team expansion, marketing activities and expansion of SkillBoost’s product portfolio.  SkillBoost has a B2B model where it partners with companies and colleges to train their staff. It follows a direct and indirect sales process. It has floated 2 products in MS Excel in the market and is developing similar products in MS PowerPoint, Word and Access. SkillBoost has trained over 1,000 personnel from over 15 companies, including Hindustan Unilever, Coca-Cola, RBS, Religare, HSBC, General Electric, Bharti Group and YES Bank.  Source: Yourstory.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 vi...

Online exam preparation platform Toppr has raised $2 million from Saif Partners an Helion Ventures. It plans to invest the funds in developing content and opening up new distribution channels. Kashyap Deorah and Abhishek Jain were angel investors in the company. Toppr has preparation modules for Engineering, Medical and foundation courses. Source: Nextbigwhat 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 mobile commerce platform Jiffstore that connects local kirana stores with customers through a mobile app that offers online grocery ordering and home delivery options. The company plans to use the new capital to further develop its technology platform and expand its customer base of small shops. Unitus Capital was the financial advisor and Impact Law Ventures was the legal advisor on this transaction  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.

Epicurean Events and Services, a Chennai-based wedding planner and food services company, has acquired a 51% stake in Nalas Aappakadai , a multi-cuisine restaurant chain owned by fellow Chennai-based Annamalai Foods.  Nalas Aappakadai, currently has 14 outlets across Chennai and Coimbatore and three in Dubai, London and Paris. It caters to more than 1.5 lakh guests every month, and has a turnover of INR 36 crore.  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.

UK-based Pearson, via the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF), has announced a minority equity investment in Zaya Labs , a school service provider delivering blended learning experiences for schools serving students from low income families. The investment marks the fifth PALF investment and its first in an education technology company in India. The investment will be utilized for continuous product development and continuing improvement of learning outcomes in classrooms.  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.

Mumbai-based angel-backed startup accelerator VentureNursery, has announced their fifth acceleration program. HotelsAroundYou and FindUrClass have been short-listed for the same from over 550 applications.  Founded by Rina Nathani, an ex-Product developer from KPMG, FindURClass is a search and discovery platform that enables the class seeker to make an informed decision when it comes to selecting a class. The company is currently focusing on bringing organization to the extracurricular activities or hobby classes market.  HotelsAroundYou is a service that allows customers to book quality hotel rooms at the last minute. Restricted to Mumbai city currently, the service curates the hotels, featuring limited location based hotels and most importantly, ensuring that the user gets the day’s best price for a hotel. Source: Yourstory Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, ventur...

Hyderabad based year old start-up MartMobi has been selected to US-based TechStars accelerator programme. MartMobi will leverage this opportunity to expand its footprint globally with strong focus on US expansion. MartMobi was started with seed capital from IIIT Hyderabad and later raised funding from BitChemy Ventures and Srini Koppolu. The company offers an end-to-end mobile commerce platform for online stores, brands and retailers to go mobile seamlessly. In addition they provide powerful analytics and marketing toolkit and deep shopping cart integrations.  Source: Nextbigwhat   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 Chumbak Designs has received a second round of funding from venture capital firm Matrix Partners and existing investor Seedfund. The funding will be used by Chumbak to ramp up distribution and expand its offline presence besides building an internal team for the e-commerce business.  Seedfund had invested $2 million in a first round of funding for the company  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.

From an interesting article in today's Economic Times on how TV shopping in India is growing simultaneously with e-commerce and the contrasting approach adopted by the two types of vendors. By selling higher-margin items such as kitchenware sets and saris, India's television shopping players are looking to steal a march against their ecommerce peers. HomeShop18 and TVC SkyShop have already reported profits, even as others like Star CJ Alive and Naaptol are expected to hit the milestone in the coming months. ...HomeShop18, which has filed for a US listing, said for the nine-months ending Dec 2013, its television segment reported a profit of $2.5 million, or Rs.15 crore, even as its online arm continues to bleed leading to total losses of $14.5 million. ...Rahul Khanna, MD at Canaan Partners, said the difference between ecommerce and home shopping is pull and push marketing. ..Suvir Sujan, managing director at Nexus Venture Partners, who has invested in horizontal e-com...

Pinnacle Engines , a San Carlos, California based developer of ultra efficient engine designs, has raised a Series C funding round from Mitsui Global Investment, Ventureast and an unnamed strategic OEM partner. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Infield Capital also participated in the round. The capital will be used chiefly to expand into emerging markets. The company has appointed former Hyundai India President BVR Subbu to its Asian advisory board.  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.

Helion Venture Partners is investing about INR 25 crore in enterprise mobility company RapidValue , which helps companies migrate their business operations to laptops, tablets and smartphones. The company, which has offices in Bangalore, Kochi and California, United States, will use the funds to expand in the US and Europe. Serial entrepreneur Rodney Rogers will join RapidValue's board as an independent director.  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.

India Drivers Network Services, which owns and operates mGaadi, a mobile commerce ordering service for auto rickshaws, has raised seed funding from impact investment firm Unitus Seed Fund. Proceeds from the round will be used by Bangalore-based mGaadi to expand its network of auto drivers, establish its footprint across the country and develop its technology platform.  By using mGaadi’s service, consumers can order an auto rickshaw for near-immediate pick-up, or to schedule a pickup using their mobile phone — either through an app or a voice call. Founded in 2013 by serial entrepreneurs Solomon Prakash and Vishy Kuruganti, mGaadi claims to have signed over 2,100 auto rickshaw drivers on to its network. mGaadi expects to have 20,000 auto rickshaw drivers on its platform by the end of 2014.  Source: Economic Times   Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital an...

Bangalore-based online fund-raising platform, LetsVenture has raised Rs. 4 crore money from a syndicate of angel investors as it seeks to broaden the scope of its deal-making services. The funders include Eka Software cofounder Manav Garg, InMobi cofounder Naveen Tewari, angel investor Rajan Anandan and Sharad Sharma, cofounder of software product industry think tank iSpirt. The money from 21 angel investors as well as venture funds like Accel Partners was raised on the deal-making platform run by the company founded in 2013 by Shanti Mohan who was earlier a senior executive at HP Labs who teamed up with two IITians Manish Singhal and Sanjay Jha.  The platform has about 750 startups and 375 Indian investors registered on its platform. It aims to close 35 funding deals this fiscal. LetsVenture charges 2-3% of the entire funding as a commission from entrepreneurs, once they receive the money. LetsVenture has tied up with Bangalore-based K-Law as its legal partner which helps th...

Intellecap has announced the launch of StartupWave , new virtual incubation platform built with support from GIZ and DFID. Startup Wave has been designed in partnership with over 100 startups, incubators, corporates and funds. Its offerings are currently divided into two segments – pre-incubation services consisting of business model design and validation support for idea to pilot stage startups and incubation services consisting of lean prototyping, mentorship, business services, R&D and other support for early to growth stage startups. At the end of pre-incubation; startups are chosen to be incubated by any one of the 24+ incubator partners of StartupWave or be virtually incubated on StartupWave and at the end of incubation, they pitch to a network of over 350 investors. Source: Indiamicrofinance.com Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & th...

Zostel, a chain of backpacker hostels for young travellers, has raised Rs 5 crore in a first round of funding from Malaysia-based angel investor Presha Paragash. Founded in August last year with an initial capital of Rs 20 lakh, Zostel provides secure and centrally located accommodation to young travelers in dormitories with laundry service, TV, internet, library, board games and other interactive facilities at a competitive price of Rs 500 a night.  Zostel currently operates in two cities - Jaipur and Jodhpur - with one hostel in each city with 52 beds total capacity. The company plans to setup 7-8 hostels in the next ten months in cities like Delhi, Goa and Agra by taking properties on long term lease.  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 inc...

UK-based pharma firm NRIM has picked up 14,195 equity shares (a 10% stake) for INR 13 Cr (at INR 915 per share) in Mumbai-based Kinedex Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., regulatory filings reveal. Kinedex offers a range of Cobalamin formulations, Gastric acid suppressants, calcium compounds, herbal laxatives & galactagogues and dietary supplements for arthritic patients.  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.

LimeRoad, India’s largest online social discovery platform for women, today announced that it has raised a Series B round of USD 15 Million led by Tiger Global, with participation from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Matrix Partners India.  The investment will help LimeRoad accelerate towards its mission of becoming the most delightful lifestyle discovery platform for women in the country, and comes on the back of LimeRoad’s launch of its ‘one-of-a-kind’ Android mobile app.  Suchi Mukherjee, Founder and CEO, LimeRoad , said: “We are revolutionizing the way lifestyle products are discovered and ultimately bought online in India, and are delighted to work with investor partners who share our hunger for winning and are supporters of our disruptive model to get there. India accounts for 20% of the world’s manufacturing of lifestyle products and we are convinced that conquering the discoverability of that wide array, needs new thinking and a fresh socia...

Tiger Global is leading a $15-million round in LimeRoad , a social shopping portal focused on women and fashion. LimeRoad will see existing investors Matrix India and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participate in the second round of funding. Matrix, along with Lightspeed, had invested $5 million in LimeRoad in 2012.  Source: Times of India   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 deal origination tool BankerBay has raised under $1 million from executives from Nomura, Ernst & Young, Government of Singapore, Jefferies and other high net worth individuals. BankerBay helps Private Equity firms and investment banks find prospects. It also connects companies to investors. The startup, is looking to raise an intermediary round of $3 mn soon. The company, is headquartered in Singapore and its core team is in Bangalore. Soon, it plans to incorporate in the US.   Source: Nextbigwhat   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 has invested Rs 27 crore in Hyderabad-based multi-specialty dental care chain Denty's . Denty's which has 10 clinics in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, will use the funds to increase the number of centres to 150 across the country in next five years.  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.

Kalaari Capital and newly formed venture fund Lightbox are together investing $4 million in Mumbai-based Embibe.com an online test prep portal specializing in engineering entrance exams. The startup currently has 15,000 students on board and expects to diversify into offering medical prep tests along with expanding to other emerging markets like China over the next two years. The funds will be used in enhancing Embibe's student and teacher network, getting more exams on to the platform and deepening its research around performance improvement.  Source: Times of India    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.