Startup digest: Top startup stories of the day

Here's a closer look at today’s startups news and everything you need to know.

Mobile Premier League, Asia’s largest eSports and mobile gaming platform is now valued at $945 million after raising $95 million in a Series D round. The latest round was led by Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures, with participation from Base Partners, RTP Global, SIG, Go-Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Founders Circle and Play Ventures. The total capital raised by MPL since its inception in 2018 now stands at $225.5 million.

MPL will use this fresh influx of funds to expand its eSports portfolio and bolster its efforts to organize more such eSports tournaments nationally and internationally at scale. The funds will also be used to accelerate MPL’s international expansion this year.

Hemp Horizons a GMP certified and USFDA registered hemp seed processing company has raised Rs 2 crore as part of its seed funding round led by Mumbai Angels Network with participation from Angel List and Bikky Khosla.

The fresh round of investment will help the company to launch and market Cannabis extracts, second-gen hemp seed products which will further help to solidify its position in the market. From a B2B to a B2B2C company, Hemp Horizons was created to give back to the community. The company makes optimum use of resources and produces zero waste which makes it a carbon negative company.

Sova Health, an AI-powered nutrition platform has raised undisclosed amount as its Seed round. The round saw participation from LetsVenture, BRINC, CIIE, Practical VC and a few angel investors. Sova Health had earlier raised its pre seed round in October 2019 which saw participation from Antler.

Supermarket Grocery Supplies Private Limited, Which operates as an online grocery store (known as BigBasket), reported its revenues for financial year 2019-20 as Rs 3,818 crore, a 36 percent jump since the last financial year. The company further reported a net loss of Rs 710 crore during the same fiscal. This is 26 percent increase from the last financial year. The company’s total expenses for the fiscal were reported as Rs 4,411 crore.

Pepperfry Private Ltd, an online furniture shopping platform in India, reported its revenues for financial year 2019-20 as Rs 261 crore, a 26 percent jump since the last financial year. The company further reported a net loss of Rs 122 crore during the same fiscal. This is 33 percent decrease from the last financial year. The company’s total expenses for the fiscal were reported as Rs 383 crore.

Rivigo Services Private Limited, a technology-enabled logistics company, reported its revenues for financial year 2019-20 as Rs 1,080 crore, a 5 percent jump since the last financial year. The company further reported a net loss of Rs 542 crore during the same fiscal. This is 6 percent increase from the last financial year. The company’s total expenses for the fiscal were reported as Rs 1,622 crore.

AI-based travel app ixigo has entered into a definitive share purchase agreement to acquire 100 percent shareholding of Confirmtkt, a Bengaluru based online train discovery and booking platform, for an undisclosed amount across a mix of cash and ixigo stock.

The founders of ixigo will join the Confirmtkt board and existing investors of Confirmtkt, including Venture Catalysts, will be exiting the company fully as a part of the deal. Both companies will continue to run independently, post this acquisition. This deal will help the group to consolidate its presence in Tier 2/3/4 markets with its combined user base of nearly 200 million Indians.

Google Cloud on Thursday announced the appointment of Bikram Singh Bedi as the managing director for its India business. He will be responsible for leading Google Cloud's sales and operations teams in this dynamic market, a statement said. He succeeds Karan Bajwa, who was elevated as Vice President for Asia Pacific region last month.

Ant Group Co plans to spin off its consumer-credit data operations, people with knowledge of the matter said, a concession to aggressive regulators that should help the Chinese fintech giant get its massive public share sale back on track.

Hiving off the treasure trove of data on more than 1 billion people is a key part of Ant’s business overhaul in response to a regulatory crackdown that resulted in the abrupt suspension of its $37 billion initial public offering (IPO), which would have been the world’s biggest, the people told Reuters.

Myanmar’s junta blocked Facebook and other messaging services in the name of ensuring stability on Thursday as they consolidate power following a coup and the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The move to silence online activists came after Myanmar police filed charges against Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment, and as international pressure grew on the junta to accept the results of November elections won by her party in a landslide.

Inside Myanmar, opposition to the junta had emerged very strongly on Facebook, which is the main internet platform for much of the country and underpins communications for business and government.

Cryptocurrency Dogecoin surged more than 50 percent on Thursday after billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeted his support for it, two days after he said he was to take a break from Twitter “for a while”. Dogecoin jumped to $0.05798 according to data on blockchain and cryptocurrency website Coindesk. Musk first tweeted “Doge” and immediately followed it up with “Dogecoin is the people’s crypto”.

Uber’s Middle East business Careem is seeing a slowdown in the recovery of its ride-hailing business due to a new wave of COVID-19 infections, and tentatively forecast business would return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year.

The comments represented a more pessimistic outlook from Careem, which said last September it expected its ride service to recover before the end of 2021. Careem chief executive Mudassir Sheikha, giving the year-end forecast for a full recovery, cautioned that circumstances could change.