Startup Digest: BharatPe acquires 51% stake in Trillion Loans, Uber's first-quarter revenue jumps 29% & more

Fintech major BharatPe has acquired a 51 percent stake in Trillion Loans, a Mumbai-based non-banking financial company (NBFC), for an undisclosed sum.

The company appointed veteran banker Ravindra Pandey, CFO and interim CEO of BharatPe Nalin Negi and Sabyasachi Senapati, part of the leadership team at BharatPe who heads its banking vertical, on the board of Trillion Loans which will operate as an independent entity with its own team under the supervision of the board.

BharatPe said it has also infused a substantial amount of investment into Trillion Loans to enable the NBFC to grow its loan book.

Healthtech startup Bonatra has acquired women’s health and wellness firm MyAva for an undisclosed capital.

Through this acquisition, Bonatra aims to expand its holistic healthcare programs and become a one-stop platform for the management of chronic health conditions, a statement said.

Over the next six months, Bonatra is planning to introduce newer IoMT devices including a smart ring in the Indian market to further strengthen its solutions which are a convergence of medical science, data science and technology.

Aurum PropTech has acquired assets and technology platform from MYRE Capital, which facilitates investors in fractional ownership of commercial properties.

Aurum, which is listed on stock exchanges, has launched Aurum WiseX, a digital distribution vertical for real estate investments. It did not disclose the structure and value of the deal.

Aryaman Vir, former founder & CEO of MYRE Capital has been appointed as the CEO of Aurum WiseX. As per the planned transition, the existing MYRE Capital team, tech stack, customers and partners will be migrated to the new vertical Aurum WiseX.

Retail technology company ace turtle has bagged $34 million as part of its Series B funding round led by new investors Vertex Growth, SBI Investment, Farglory, Lesing Nine, Stride Ventures, Tuscan Ventures and Trifecta Capital.

The round also saw participation from existing investors Vertex Southeast Asia & India and InnoVen Capital.

“The funds will be utilised to develop cutting-edge technological tools that ensure seamless omnichannel operations, acquire licenses for new fashion and lifestyle brands, and recruit skilled talent across all levels to support the aggressive growth plans. This will help us to expand our brand portfolio and solidify our competitive edge in the market,” said Nitin Chhabra, CEO, ace turtle.

Creator-focussed platform Hypd has raised $4 million in its pre-series A funding round led by Orios Venture Partners. The round saw existing investors Sauce VC and Better Capital double down in the round.

With the fresh funds, Hypd is looking to ramp up the acquisition of creators, branch out into more categories, grow its team and product.

Since its inception, Hypd claims to have clocked a GMV growth of over 40x and total creator earnings touching $1 million.

Janitri, a Medtech startup focused on pregnancy monitoring has secured $1.1 million in pre-Series A round led by iAngels-backed by India Accelerator. The investment round also witnessed the participation of other marquee investors including C-camp, and others.

The company will use the funds to scale up its current product offering in hospitals and homes and acquiring relevant international regulatory approvals.

Janitri claims to have reached over 300+ hospitals, 60,000+ mothers, saving 5000+ lives.

SoleSearch, a street culture e-commerce brand has raised Rs 6 crore in its first funding round led by Venture Catalyst, Anthill Ventures, Cornerstone Sports LLP, and other marquee investors.

The company will use the fresh funds for expanding both its online and offline footprint. The startup also intends to increase its workforce and build a larger team.

“We’ve also built a robust network of resellers who are experts in understanding this cohort’s needs/demands. We are trying to redefine the street culture in India and also launch new experiences to build our community far and loud,” said Param Minhas, Co-founder and CEO, SoleSearch.

EV Financing platform, Ohm Mobility has raised Rs 3 crore in pre-seed funding round led by Antler India. The round also saw participation from Blume Founders Fund and other angels.

The fresh capital will be used to build and scale a first of its kind technology platform in the EV Financing sector, a statement said.

Ohm said its technology platform will act as a critical bridge, connecting EV players with a host of financial institutions. Within its first two months of going live, the firm stated over 5 crore of financing has been facilitated via Ohm’s platform.

As the government works to introduce a new Digital India Act, Google has paid the entire Rs 1,337.76 crore penalty amount imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in the Android case.

This is likely the first instance of a Big Tech company paying a fine to Indian regulators.

According to IANS sources, the entire penalty amount has been deposited in the Consolidated Fund of India, within the 30-day deadline given by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in its order.

Google has announced the second edition of its 'Startups Accelerator: Women Founders' to enable women entrepreneurs in India who are using technology to solve complex problems and are making a positive impact on society.

The three-month programme includes mentorship, workshops, access to resources and networks for startups from across all sectors, including but not limited to healthcare, education, finance, and e-commerce.

"The programme includes specific modules to support women entrepreneurs in areas such as seeking mentorship and advice, hiring talent and tapping networks for help, with the intention of building confidence where cultural conditioning can sometimes create self-doubt," said Paul Ravindranath G, Programme Manager, Google for Startups Accelerator, India.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is undertaking a third-party assessment of the Rs 945-crore Startup India Seed Fund Scheme to see its impact on the ground, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

The scheme, launched in April 2021, aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry, and commercialisation. The fund was divided into four years for providing seed funding to eligible startups through incubators across India.

DPIIT joint secretary Manmeet Nanda said the scheme has benefitted the startup community.

Myntra has launched a Gen Z -focused immersive fashion experience on its platform – FWD. As part of the new offering, the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant has rolled out a series of new features to deliver a differentiated app-in-app experience.

The company has about 8 million Gen-Z shoppers and aims to increase this to 10 million in the next two years. FWD, in its initial days, will offer over 65,000 style options, from over 500 brands like H&M, and will scale that to more than one lakh by the end of the year, the company said.

In a statement to CNBC-TV18, Myntra CEO Nandita Sinha said, “While millennials are shopping online and looking at new D2C or international brands, a large part of consumer addition is happening by Gen Z. The Gen Z cohort will have a higher share of wallet that they will spend online. Over the next few years, a large part of the growth will come from the Gen Z consumers that we acquired today.”

Pine Labs, a merchant commerce omnichannel platform, has announced the acceptance of the digital rupee on its Point of Sale (PoS) terminals in partnership with ICICI Bank, across key retail outlets in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Pine Labs’ execution of the digital rupee payment process is completely digital via dynamic QR built within its smart Android PoS terminals," the company said in a statement.

The RBI’s digital rupee, or central bank digital currency (CBDC), is currently live on a pilot basis, for both person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) digital rupee transactions.

Uber forecast quarterly core earnings above estimates after a surge in travel and food delivery demand helped the US ride-sharing giant report better-than-expected results for the January-March period. For the first quarter, Uber's revenue jumped 29 percent to $8.83 billion, beating estimates of $8.72 billion, mainly driven by a 72 percent growth in the ride-hailing segment.

However, its gross bookings of $31.41 billion came in slightly below the estimate of $31.49 billion.

Uber said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at $761 million, its highest on record as a public company. The firm has been reporting a positive figure since the third quarter of fiscal 2021.

Meta is looking to raise $8.5 billion in a five-part bond offering, its second issue after it raised $10 billion last year, the company said in a filing.

The Facebook-parent said the bond issue's longest 40-year security could yield 192 basis points over Treasuries.

It will use the funds to help finance capital expenditures, repurchase outstanding shares of its common stock, and for acquisitions or investments, Meta said.

Tinder owner Match Group has said it will quit Russia by June 30, citing the need to protect human rights, one of many Western firms to leave since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine last year.

"We are committed to protecting human rights, "Match said in an annual impact report published on Monday. "Our brands are taking steps to restrict access to their services in Russia and will complete their withdrawal from the Russian market by June 30, 2023."

Match, whose brands include dating applications such as Tinder, Hinge and PlentyOfFish, has made few public statements about its Russian operations, but flagged negative impacts on its European business in March 2022.

Apple urged a London tribunal to block a $2 billion mass lawsuit accusing it of hiding defective batteries in millions of iPhones by "throttling" them with software updates.

The tech giant is facing a lawsuit worth up to 1.6 billion pounds plus interest, brought by consumer champion Justin Gutmann on behalf of iPhone users in the United Kingdom.

Gutmann's lawyers argued in court filings that Apple concealed issues with batteries in certain phone models and "surreptitiously" installed a power management tool which limited performance.