Weekly funding roundup: Startup investments rise to touch $65M during the week June 22-27, 2020

#startups #fundingalert #startupfunding #startupindia #founders

Weekly funding roundup June 22-27, 2020 [YourStory Media]: Startup investments rise to touch $65M

During the week June 22-27, 2020, following startups raised funds, as per YourStory Media -

1. Aye Finance Pvt. Ltd - Rs 210 cr

2. Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. - Rs 50 Cr

3. slice - Rs 46 cr

4. 91springboard - Rs 45 cr

5. Milkbasket - $5.5 mn

6. OZiva - $5 mn

7. Yulu - Rs 30 cr

8. HIGH STREET ESSENTIALS PRIVATE LIMITED - Rs 20.75 cr

9. Bombay Play - $1.5 mn

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[Weekly funding roundup] Startup investments rise to touch $65M

After two weeks, there is a positive uptick for the Indian startup ecosystem as the investments into these young companies have doubled and also the edtech unicorn Byju's received a strong note of endorsement from a leading Silicon Valley-based investor.

Startup Funding Alert: Byju's becomes third decacorn from India with latest fundraise

#edtech #decacorn #india #startupindia

Edtech firm BYJU'S has finally entered the decacorn club after raising an undisclosed sum from a global technology investment firm Bond Capital at an estimated valuation of $10.5 billion.

While the company was reportedly in talks to rake in around $400 million in the new financing round, the company has secured today an undisclosed amount from Mary Meeker’s VC firm, said a Business Insider report.

The latest investment for the Bengaluru-based company has come within three months after it had secured $200 million from New York-based existing backer General Atlantic at a valuation of nearly $8.2 billion. In 2020, it has managed to raise over $400 million in the ongoing round.

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Byju's becomes third decacorn from India with latest fundraise

Byju's has finally entered the decacorn club after raising an undisclosed sum from a global technology investment firm-BOND at a valuation of $10.5 billion.

Startup Funding: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [June 22-27, 2020]

#fundingalert #startupfunding #startupindia #startups

Inc42 Media: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [June 22-27, 2020]

Overall, 15 startups raised around $75.13 Mn (based on startups that disclosed funding amounts) funding in the Indian startup ecosystem during the week, .

The startups that raised funding as per Inc42 Media are:-

1. Aye Finance Pvt. Ltd ($27 Mn)

2. NextBillion.ai.in ($7 Mn)

3. Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. ($6 Mn)

4. slice ($6 Mn)

5. 91springboard ($5.9 Mn)

6. Milkbasket ($5.5 Mn)

7. Infra.Market ($5.2 Mn)

8. OZiva ($5 Mn)

9. Yulu ($3.9 Mn)

10. Instasolv ($2 Mn)

11. Bombay Play ($1.5 Mn)

12. MergerDomo Services Pvt Ltd ($132K)

13. Rusk Media (Undisclosed)

14. Ather Biomedical (Undisclosed)

15. BYJU'S (Undisclosed)

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Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [June 22-27]

Aye Finance has raised $27 Mn (INR 210 Cr) in Series E funding round from existing investors Milkbasket closes its last fundraise as it may turn profitable this year Yulu has raised $3.9 Mn from US-based VC firm Rocketship and existing investors We bring to you the latest edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!

Startup Strategy: Lanistar partners with Jumio ahead of "polymorphic" debit card launch

#fintech #kyc #videokyc #video #neobanks #challengerbanks #digitalbanks #strategy #startupstrategy

Lanistar, a UK-based fintech set to launch a “polymorphic debit card” later this year, has partnered with Jumio for its onboarding.

California-based mobile payments and identity verification firm Jumio will help Lanistar verify users remotely.

Customers will submit a picture of their government-issued ID and a corroborating selfie with certified liveness detection. Jumio can also verify secondary documents, should a user need to submit them.

Jumio’s customers to date include Monzo, Middle East-based Bank ABC, Airbnb and easyJet.

The US fintech cites Signicat data, which suggests nearly 40% of potential new accounts go down the drain due to clunky onboarding.

Key takeaway:

Neobanks should be able to adopt remote KYC methods such as video KYC so that prospective customers are not frustrated while onboarding, which is very crucial that may impact the customer base.

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Lanistar partners with Jumio ahead of "polymorphic" debit card launch - FinTech Futures

Lanistar landed a $2.5 million seed investment in March.

Startup News: Wirecard files for insolvency amid accounting scandal

#fintech #startups #collapse #insolvency #wakeupcall #bankruptcy #classaction

This is a wake up call for all FinTech startups, including Indian, dealing with trust of millions!

You should also know that class action suits can now be filed in India under the Companies Act, 2013. These provisions permit members and depositors to approach the National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLT“) if they believe that the affairs of the company are being conducted in a manner detrimental to the interest of the company and its shareholders.

Coming to the news, Germany-based Wirecard has filed for insolvency, owing creditors almost $4 billion after disclosing a gaping hole in its books in Germany’s worst accounting scandal.

It comes after the paytech firm disclosed a €1.9 billion hole in its accounts last week.

News of its insolvency filing has causing its shares to dive almost 80% on 25 June. They have lost 98% since auditor EY questioned its accounts last Thursday, as reported on Reuters.

Its implosion came a week after EY, its auditor for over a decade, refused to sign off the 2019 accounts, forcing out chief executive, Markus Braun, and leading Wirecard to admit that $2.1 billion of its cash probably didn’t exist.

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Wirecard files for insolvency amid accounting scandal - FinTech Futures

Wirecard has filed for insolvency, owing creditors almost $4 billion after disclosing a gaping hole in its books in Germany's worst accounting scandal.

Startup Strategy: The opportunity for startups in India & ASEAN to write a new M&A playbook

#manda #mergers #mergersandacquisitions #startups #startupindia #strategy #startupstrategy #buildtolast

Please read what Piyush Gupta, MD - Strategic Development at Sequoia Capital has to say on how M&A can make you big, provided executed properly.

M&A will become an increasingly important tool for startups that want to scale, enter adjacent businesses and enhance their financial profile. This will require a change in mindset among founders in India and ASEAN.

M&A has been drastically under-utilized as a growth tool by startups in this region. That’s partly because many founders on both sides of the fence feel a natural sense of anxiety about , loss of control and the impact on culture, customers and employees. It’s also because M&A, as a tool, has a bad reputation.

Startups Sequoia worked with on M&A have been able to achieve their objectives by structuring their deals with these principles in mind:

• Create an ownership mindset with stock-weighted acquisitions.
• Change your organizational structure to make a home for the acquired team
• Add on incentive for successful integration and performance
• Bring some cash to the acquisition if you can
• Simplify cap table liquidation preferences

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The opportunity for startups in India & ASEAN to write a new M&A playbook

By Piyush Gupta Even before COVID, public and private investors assessing late-stage startups were looking much more closely at their path to significant scale and sustained profitability. That focus is here to stay, and many companies will need to expand their toolkit.

Startup Funding Alert: SevenRooms Raises Another $50M for its Hospitality Management Platform

#hospitality #covid19 #startupfunding #fundingalert #restaurants #hotels #contactless #technology

SevenRooms raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Providence Strategic Growth.

Two Credit Suisse bankers came together in 2011 and noticed they were having a difficult time securing, flexible reservations at top NYC restaurants with their hectic schedules. This led them to look further into the restaurant industry’s guest experience operations at a holistic level.

Today, SevenRooms is a complete guest experience management platform that allows restaurant, hotels, and entertainment venues to manage their forward-facing operations from a single CRM that’s built and designed from the ground up for the hospitality industry. The platform handles reservations, waitlist and table management, ordering, and marketing. As the hospitality industry has been severely impacted by COVID-19, SevenRooms quickly introduced contactless solutions and is offering a number of their platform features for free through the end of the year to help the industry recover. Clients include Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, MGM Resorts International, Wolfgang Puck, and Topgolf.

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SevenRooms Raises Another $50M for its Hospitality Management Platform

Two Credit Suisse bankers came together in 2011 and noticed they were having a difficult time securing, flexible reservations at top NYC restaurants with their hectic schedules. This led them to look further into the restaurant industry's guest experience operations at a holistic level.