Here are the top headlines from the startup space.
SoftBank CEO pledges cost cuts after $23.4Bn loss: Report
SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son plans widespread cost cutting at his Japanese conglomerate and its Vision Fund investment arm after a record USD 23.4 billion loss on plunging portfolio valuations and foreign currency losses, Bloomberg News reported.
Son said he will review “everything” for potential cuts without any “sacred cows.” SoftBank will scrutinize senior and junior employees in both front and back offices to an extent never experienced before.
“The loss is the biggest in our corporate history and we take it very seriously,” Son said during a press conference after the results. “We have to resort to big cost-cutting efforts at Vision Fund. The cost cutting efforts will have to include a reduction in head count - something I’ve made up my mind to do.”
Son also said SoftBank has begun talks to sell asset manager Fortress Investment Group, confirming a Bloomberg News report. The Japanese company bought Fortress for USD 3.3 billion in 2017, but it had to cede day-to-day control of the company to win US approval of the deal, the report added.
upGrad raises $210M in latest funding, plans to hire 2,800 employees over 3 months
Edtech unicorn upGrad has raised USD 210 million in a fresh round of funding led by ETS Global, Bodhi Tree, Singapore's Kaizen Management Advisors.
The round also saw participation from family office of Bharti Airtel, Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office, and Artian Investments. Existing investors Temasek, IFC and IIFL, also pitched in.
Founder Group also invested USD 12.5 million in this round to maintain their more-than 50 percent stake in upGrad. According to a Bloomberg report, upGrad's valuation has increased to USD 2.25 billion following the fresh round of funding.
“We have always been very capital efficient while growing 100 percent year-on-year and hope to retain that discipline," said upGrad Co-founders, Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar.
The firm said it will grow its team to 7,600 from the current 4,800 in the next three months — this includes include about 170 full-time faculty, 1,600 teachers, and over 5,000 on-contract coaches and mentors.
Dezerv secures $21M in Series A round from Accel, Elevation Capital
Wealth-creation platform dezerv, has raised USD 21 million in Series A funding led by Accel, with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners India and Elevation Capital.
With the funds raised, the fintech startup plans to focus on strengthening the user experience, introducing new investment opportunities, and hiring in different roles, a statement said.
Earlier an invite-only platform, dezerv said it was now open to all working professionals in India. The company said it offers non-traditional investment offerings, which include high-yield debt and pre-initial public offering deals and had got Alternative Investment Fund and Portfolio Management Services licence to broaden the options available to its users.
Eyestem gets $6.4M from Biological E, Alkem, NATCO, others
Eyestem , a cell therapy company, has raised USD 6.4 million in Series A funding round led by Biological E, Alkem and NATCO. The round also saw participation from Anurag and Karan Bagaria, promoters of Kemwell Biopharma.
Existing investors include Endiya Partners and Kotak Private Equity, who also participated in this round, valuing Eyestem at USD 46.4 million after the new investment.
“Post this funding, we will remain focused on solidifying our cell therapy platform and moving our flagship product for Dry AMD through early clinical trials of an international standard,” said Dr. Jogin Desai, founder, and CEO, Eyestem.
Languify raises $180,000 in seed round from Titan Capital and others
Languify, a B2B SaaS startup, has raised USD 180,000 in a seed funding round led by Titan Capital, Smile Group, Goel family fund, Alsisar Impact and CIIE. Angel investors including Sethu Raman, CEO at Bewise, Anand Lakra, Partner at JS, Mridula Chettri, CEO of Inmovidutech, along with Sourabh Chourasia, and Arjun Mallya, also participated in the round.
The capital will be utilised to build the company’s core team, for product development and growth realising the 1.5 million USD of LOis generated, the startup said in a statement.
“With the funds received, we are looking forward to expand our team and scale our technology to the best. We are also looking forward to establishing early tractions, revenues and scaling the product,” said Lokap Sahu, Founder and CEO, Languify.
Languify has deployed its tech with Apli, Skilledge, Cipher school and it is in talks with UpGrad, Harappa, among others to integrate the application. Languify claims that their clients get more than Rs 100 worth of value for every rupee they spend with the company.
Venture Catalysts invests undisclosed capital in Let’s Try
Let's Try, a brand of Earth Crust. that makes healthy snacks, has secured an undisclosed amount of seed fund from Venture Catalysts.
The round has also witnessed participation from Aman Gupta (founder, Boat Lifestyle), Prateek Nijhawan (Julius Baer), Kiran Kumar (ex-Pepsico India Head) and Prateek Sabharwal (ex-Pepsico's Kellogg's director).
“With a growth of 40x annually, and having expanded 4 times last year, Let’s Try has received an explosive response from its’ customers in India and wishes to reach 1 Crore households by the end of two years,” said Nitin Kalra, Founder, Lets Try.
Mool receives undisclosed seed funds from NextGen Technology Fund
Fintech startup Mool Innovation Labs has received an undisclosed funding in seed round from Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI).
The firm employs smart algorithms and machine learning technologies to personalise finance and taxation and offers smarter investment and borrowing options. The company will use the fresh capital for enhancing its go-to-market strategy, product development, and expanding the team, a statement said.
“Today, our youth is crippled by limited knowledge of salary structure and needs guidance on saving and investment options. We’re intensely passionate about solving this problem and providing users the option to grow their money through effective planning,” said Seemant Shrivastav, Co-founder, Mool.
Paytm at near 6-month high as quarterly revenue surges 89%
One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm has posted an 89 percent surge in its quarterly revenue. Paytm reported revenue of Rs 1,679.6 crore for the April-June period, as against Rs 890.8 crore for the corresponding period a year ago.
ICICI Securities had estimated Paytm's quarterly revenue at Rs 1,780.6 crore for the quarter ended June 2022.
Paytm's net loss, however, widened to Rs 644.4 crore for the three-month period, from a net loss of Rs 380.2 crore for the year-ago quarter, according to a regulatory filing.
According to Goldman Sachs, Paytm is firmly on the path to profitability. The brokerage expects the year ending March 2024 to be the first full year of adjusted EBITDA profitability.
Anupam Mittal launches ‘DreamDeal’ to fund new entrepreneurs
Shark Tank India judge and founder and CEO at People Group Anupam Mittal has announced a new initiative to fund budding entrepreneurs.
The Shadi.com founder and angel investor has launched DreamDeal.com, through which anybody can pitch him an idea on Instagram, and tag him. If the person's idea seems creative and has some metal, the budding entrepreneur will get a funding up to Rs 1 lakh.
10 of the best ideas will be selected from amongst all the entries received. Out of which, the 1st place winner will receive a grant of Rs 1 Lakh along with mentorship from Mittal. The 2nd and the 3rd place winners will receive 75,000, respectively, along with mentorship, while the remaining 7 selected participants will be a part of a group mentorship session, a statement said.
“With DreamDeal, I envision providing micro-grants and mentorship that will inspire and help people take that one crucial step ahead in their journeys. Besides supporting people’s ideas taking flight, the big picture is to fundamentally change the way the world thinks about young entrepreneurs for the better,” Mittal said in a statement.
Only 2.7% increase in funding amount for fintechs in 2021-22: Connexdoor Report
Fintech startups have witnessed a slowdown in funding since it hit its peak in January 2022 with 35 deals, revealed a report by Connexdoor, a fintech-focused platform for Angel Investors in Yatra Angel Network.
The fintech funding rounds in 2021 and 2022 saw a 28 percent increase in deals but only a 2.7 percent increase in funding amount, the report showed. 149 fintech deals took place in 2021, raising USD 3341 million, whereas 191 deals happened in 2022 up to July, raising USD 3431 million.
Out of 191 deals, 93 were in Business-to-Consumer (B2C) category, 76 deals in Business-to-Business (B2B), followed by 21 deals in the B2B2C space, it further added.
The study also stated that debt transactions dropped significantly from 44 in 2021 to only 14 up to July 2022, primarily due to tightened funding and uncertainty over future prospects. Meanwhile, co-investing activity increased by 33.3 percent year-on-year at an aggregate level in 2022, 14 co-investors were seen in a Pre-Series A round of USD 4 million in 2022.
GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS
Musk says Twitter deal should go ahead if it provides proof of real accounts
Elon Musk said that if Twitter could provide its method of sampling 100 accounts and how it confirmed that the accounts are real, his USD 44 billion deal to buy the company should proceed on its original terms.
"However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not," Musk tweeted.
In response to a Twitter user asking whether the U.S. SEC was probing "dubious claims" by the company, Musk tweeted "Good question, why aren't they?".
Twitter on Thursday dismissed Musk's claim that he was hoodwinked into signing the deal to buy the social media company, saying that it was "implausible and contrary to fact".
Baidu CEO says EV arm's autonomous driving tech will be ahead of Tesla
Baidu's electric vehicle firm Jidu Auto will be one-generation ahead of Tesla in terms of autonomous driving technologies, Baidu chief executive Robin Li said.
"Our understanding of smart vehicles is that being electric is the semi-final while being intelligent is the final," Li added.
Jidu aims to be to be able to deliver 800,000 of its "robot" cars in 2028, Jidu chief executive Joe Xia Yiping said in the statement. Jidu also plans to deliver its second model for mass production in 2024, Xia said.
Jidu revealed its first "robot" concept car, which has no door handles and can be fully controlled via voice recognition, in June, with the plan to mass produce the model in 2023.
Crypto platform Zipmex to start releasing Bitcoin, Ether for customers
Crypto exchange Zipmex will release Ethereum and Bitcoin tokens from this week, a spokesperson told Reuters, allowing 60 percent of its customers to retrieve their digital assets after a suspension of withdrawals from its Z Wallet product.
The Singapore-based Zipmex, which also operates in Thailand, Australia and Indonesia, in July halted withdrawals from Z Wallet, which it said had $53 million worth of cryptocurrencies exposed to Babel Finance and Celsius.
Ethereum will be released on Thursday and Bitcoin on Aug. 16, the company said. Last week it allowed digital coins XRP, ADA and SOL to be withdrawn.
Zipmex late last month said it was in talks with investors for potential funding. The Thai Securities Exchange Commission on Saturday said it was collecting further information on affected customers and was working with customer representatives on the issue.
Singapore-based crypto lender Hodlnaut suspends withdrawals
Hodlnaut, a Singapore-based crypto currency lender and borrower, has suspended withdrawals, swaps and deposits, the latest sign of stress in the cryptocurrency industry, Reuters reported.
The crypto lender also said it would withdraw its application for a licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide digital token payment services, for which it received in principle approval in March.
Hodlnaut said the move was "due to recent market conditions" and was "to focus on stabilising our liquidity and preserving assets".
The company is the latest in a string of crypto players globally to run into difficulties following a sharp selloff in markets that started in May with the collapse of two paired tokens, Luna and TerraUSD.
Meta Platforms agrees to delay closing Within deal given US challenge
Meta Platforms which is making a big play for virtual reality, has agreed to delay closing its deal for Within Unlimited, maker of the popular fitness app "Supernatural," according to a court filing seen by Reuters.
The Federal Trade Commission had filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the deal in July, and had asked a judge in federal court in San Francisco for a temporary restraining order stopping the companies from closing the deal.
In a joint court filing, Meta agreed not to close until 11:59 p.m. on December 31 or until the first business day after the judge decides whether the case may go forward.
The FTC, which voted 3-2 on whether to file the lawsuit, called Facebook a "global technology behemoth," noting its ownership of popular apps including Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, and said its "campaign to conquer VR" began in 2014 when it acquired Oculus, a VR headset manufacture.
Amazon buys Roomba vacuum maker for $1.7Bn
Amazon will acquire iRobot, maker of the robotic vacuum cleaner Roomba, in an all-cash deal for about USD 1.7 billion in the latest push by the world's largest online retailer to expand its stable of smart home devices.
Amazon will pay USD 61 per share, valuing iRobot at a premium of 22 percent to the stock's last closing price of USD 49.99.
The acquisition follows through on a vision that Amazon outlined in 2021. Amazon Senior Vice President Dave Limp told reporters, "In five to 10 years, we believe every home will have at least one robot that will become a core part of your everyday life."
