The Venture Intelligence Blog

From the Press Release: Bangalore-based salon chain R&R Salons Private Limited (“YLG”) today concluded its second round of private equity funding. This round saw participation from Everstone Capital and its existing investor, Helion Venture Partners. Avendus Capital was the sole financial advisor to R&R Salons on this transaction. R&RSalons runs the “YLG” brand of salons, with Twenty salons in Bangalore and Pune, along with its Beauty Academy, ISHA. The proceeds of this fund raise will be used towards YLG’s organic growth plans and expand into major cities across thecountry. Mr.Sameer Sain, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Everstone Capital, said “The Beauty and Grooming services space is growing rapidly and is highly fragmented. YLG has built a strong regional brandand our goal is to make it a leading national player. A combination of a strong management team and Everstone's strong operational capability and growth capital give us the confidence that YLG can truly be...

From the Press Release: Serendipity Infolabs Pvt. Ltd., which runs the online taxi booking site TaxiForSure.com, has raised venture capital funding from Accel Partners, Helion Venture Partners and Blume Ventures. As part of the transaction Anand Daniel of Accel and Ritesh Banglani of Helion have joined the board of the company. TaxiForSure.com was founded by IIM Ahmedabad graduates Raghunandan G and Aprameya Radhakrishna in June 2011. As frequent business travelers, both co-founders used to find it extremely difficult to book taxis, and even after booking there was no guarantee the cabs would arrive at the right time and place. Co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna said, “On researching the market we found that on the one hand consumers struggle to find taxis reliably, and on the other taxi operators and drivers struggle to get enough customers every day. We realized that technology can play an effective matchmaker in this market”. Anand Daniel of Accel Partners said, "As a consumer I ...

Cognizant to pay about $135 million in cash as Sequoia Capital India reaps fourth exit in almost as many months from its WestBridge Capital avatar investments. Edited extracts from Cognizant's press release : Nasdaq-listed Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation , a leading provider of global IT and business process outsourcing services, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire marketRx , a India- and US-based provider of analytics and related software services to global Life Sciences companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices segments. Cognizant will pay approximately $135 million in cash, which will be funded from current cash reserves. marketRx combines analytics, market research and software services to provide scalable, web-based solutions in three functional areas for Life Sciences companies: Sales Management & Operations, Brand Marketing & Product Management and Market Research. marketRx's client base includ...

Edited extracts from the press release: Moser Baer to raise $100 million in its wholly owned photovoltaic subsidiary • $100 million to be raised from a consortium led by IDFC Private Equity, consisting of GIC Special Investments, IDFC & CDC Group plc. • Proceeds to partially fund Moser Baer’s overall plans to expand photovoltaic (PV) capacity to 500MW by 2010 • A structured transaction to position the PV subsidiary for a potential IPO on an international exchange. New Delhi-based Moser Baer, India's largest and the world’s second largest optical storage media manufacturer announced today that it has received the approval of its Board of Directors to raise $100 million (Rs. 400 crores) in its wholly owned photovoltaic subsidiary. The investment will be made by a consortium of investors led by IDFC Private Equity, a private equity fund focused on the infrastructure space in India; together with GIC Special Investments, a private equity arm the Singapore's foreign reserves; C...