Startup Digest: Amagi acquires Streamwise, Japan's Kirin invests $70M in Bira 91 & Musk holds relaunch Twitter Blue Tick

Media-focused SaaS unicorn Amagi has acquired Streamwise, an early-stage data aggregation and reporting platform for content distributors, for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition will help Amagi to enhance its data solutions capabilities with comprehensive, more streamlined reporting and dashboards.

"Together, we can enable content brands to shape their programming, optimise their distribution and generate better ROI (return on investment)," said Baskar Subramanian, CEO and Co-founder, Amagi.

Amagi plans to offer Streamwise capabilities as a stand-alone offering to customers. Once it is integrated with the Amagi product suite in the coming months, customers will be able to additionally subscribe to Streamwise solutions in a seamless manner.

Edtech startup Skill-Lync has acquired Crio, an experiential learning platform for tech careers for an undisclosed sum. After this acquisition, Crio will operate as an independent brand under the Skill-Lync Group, the firm said.

Skill-Lync also added that the founders of Crio will continue to focus on and run Crio’s business and growth, after the acquisition. Through the acquisition, both companies are aiming to support over 25,000 students with relevant job opportunities, a statement said.

“As both companies come together, we believe that we have a unique opportunity to build one of the best higher education platforms where we can provide value at scale,” said SuryaNarayanan PaneerSelvam, Co-Founder, Skill-Lync.

Premier beer brand Bira 91 has raised $70 million in a Series D funding round led by leading Japanese beer company Kirin Holdings. The firms were in talks for about two months for the deal.

Kirin had first invested $30 million in Bira for an under 10 percent stake last year. The funds would be deployed to expand production capacity by commissioning new breweries and expanding existing facilities, Bira said. The capital would be utilised to increase the distribution footprint in India and abroad, and bolster product development and innovation capabilities.

Bira 91 recently announced its goal to become the country’s first carbon-neutral beer company and has formed the B9-Kirin Center for Sustainable Growth based out of its New Delhi headquarters, where technical and strategy experts from Kirin are helping them with its Net Zero goal.

B2B procurement marketplace ProcMart has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures.

The latest round of funding will be deployed towards international expansion, strengthening vendor partnerships and upgrading technological and warehousing capabilities, the firm said in a statement.

“With consistent growth and profitability over the past few years, ProcMart has emerged as a strong player providing an end-to-end digital ecosystem for indirect procurement to leading MNCs and domestic enterprises. This financing will be crucial to increasing our geographic reach, forming effective vendor alliances, and improving our technological and warehousing capabilities,” said Anish Popli, Founder and CEO, ProcMart.

Electric vehicle startup, Ultraviolette Automotive, has raised new capital from Qualcomm Ventures and Lingotto in its Series D funding round.

According to the company, the undisclosed funding will be used for ramping up its presence in India, subsequent expansion in international markets, and strengthening its technological capabilities and prowess.

Ultraviolette is gearing up to launch its first electric vehicle, the F77 motorcycle, in India on November 24. ““As we countdown to the commercial launch of the F77 in India, this investment is a testament to the fact that we have been able to create a distinct identity for Ultraviolette and the F77 and build aspiration for the product across global audiences,” said Narayan Subramaniam, Co-Founder and CEO, Ultraviolette.

Edmingle, a SaaS platform for small and medium-sized training and coaching businesses, has raised $1 million in its pre-series A round, led by the Indian Angel Network (IAN).

Keiretsu Forum also joined the funding round, along with previous investors, SucSEED Indovation Fund and Mumbai Angels Network.

With this investment, the company said it will expand globally, scale its marketing and sales channels, as well as automate their product to help training businesses grow sales, and retain learners globally.

B2B commerce startup Soptle has raised $300,000 in an angel funding round led by venture firm Kube VC, Soonicorn and several angel investors.

The startup will use the funds for expanding its team and further enhancing its product and technology, it said in a statement.

The firm said that its annual recurring revenue has grown to cross $2 million. It also claims to have empowered over 45,000 retailers and manufacturers in just six months of launch and have seen a consistent 3-fold month-on-month growth for the last six months.

Bonatra, a doctor-led Internet of Medical Things startup for men's health issues, has raised Rs 5.5 crore in a pre-seed funding round led by ITI Growth Opportunities Fund along with the participation from marquee angel investors like Jitendra Jagadev, (Founder, Nestaway and Helloworld) and Rajesh Yabaji, (Founder, Blackbuck).

The startup will use the fresh capital to expand its technology and product offerings, build the team and grow the customer base.

“The new investment will accelerate our next phase of growth and enable us to strengthen our presence in the market," said Rahul Kishore Singh, CEO and Co-Founder, Bonatra.

FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the parent company of fashion and beauty platform Nykaa, announced the resignation of its chief financial officer (CFO) Arvind Agarwal in a regulatory filing.

"This is to inform you Mr Arvind Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer of FSN E-Commerce Ventures Limited (“the Company”) will be leaving the Company, effective close of business hours on November 25, 2022, to pursue other opportunities in the digital economy & start-up space," Nykaa said in a BSE filing.

The company is in the process of hiring a new CFO, and will notify the stock exchanges once the appointment is complete.

CA Swift Investments has divested a 2.5 percent stake in supply chain company Delhivery for Rs 607 crore through the open market transaction. CA Swift Investments is a special-purpose vehicle, owned and controlled by Carlyle Group.

According to the bulk deal data available with the National Stock Exchange (NSE), CA Swift Investments offloaded 1,84,04,607 shares, amounting to a 2.5 percent stake in the company.

The shares were sold at an average price of Rs 330.02 apiece, taking the transaction value to Rs 607.38 crore. Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte-ODI acquired 48,54,607 shares of the company at the same price.

Upscalio-backed Green Soul Ergonomics, which is into the office and gaming chairs said it has crossed annualized revenue run rate mark of Rs 200 crore by reporting 124 percent growth in October 2022 over its September 2022 revenues.

The ergonomic furniture brand said its sales peaked during the Diwali sale period.

Nitin Agarwal, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer, UpScalio said that strategic product portfolio expansion, superior customer experience and a successful campaign with Taapsee Pannu were the major reasons behind the brand’s growth.

Amazon Alexa is reportedly on a pace to lose $10 billion this year as the voice assistant never managed to create an ongoing revenue stream.

Amazon is currently undergoing its largest-ever round of layoffs, with plans to eliminate 10,000 jobs across the company.

According to Business Insider, one of the hardest hit areas is the Amazon Alexa voice assistant unit, which is losing favour with the e-commerce giant.

This group lost $3 billion in just the first quarter of 2022. The report says the hardware team is on pace to lose $10 billion this year.

A former employee described Alexa as a "colossal failure of imagination" and "a wasted opportunity", according to the report.

Twitter's new owner Elon Musk said that the social media company is holding off the relaunch of its blue check subscription service, a delay from his initial tentative timeline to bring back the service on the platform.

"Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation," Musk said in a tweet. "Will probably use different color check for organizations than individuals."

Musk also tweeted that Twitter added 1.6 million users this past week, "another all-time high".

Britain's competition watchdog has launched an in-depth investigation into the dominance of the mobile browsers of Apple and Google, Reuters reported.

Responses to a consultation it launched in June revealed "substantial support" for a fuller investigation into the matter and into whether iPhone-maker Apple restricts cloud gaming through its app store, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said.

"Many UK businesses and web developers tell us they feel that they are being held back by restrictions set by Apple and Google," Sarah Cardell, interim chief executive of the CMA, said in a statement. "We plan to investigate whether the concerns we have heard are justified and, if so, identify steps to improve competition and innovation in these sectors."

Google said its Android mobile operating system gave users a greater choice of apps and app stores than any other mobile platform.

FTX has a total cash balance of $1.24 billion, a court filing by advisers on the stricken crypto exchange's restructuring showed ahead of US bankruptcy hearings.

The collapse of FTX, once one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has left an estimated 1 million creditors facing losses totaling billions of dollars.

Its cash balance as of Sunday was "substantially higher" than previously thought, Monday's filing by Edgar Mosley of Alvarez & Marshal, a consultancy firm advising FTX, said.

It includes around $400 million at accounts related to Alameda Research, the crypto trading firm owned by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and $172 million at FTX's Japan arm.

FTX, which said on Saturday it has launched a strategic review of its global assets and is preparing for the sale or reorganization of some businesses, had previously said that it owes its 50 biggest creditors nearly $3.1 billion.