There were many important developments in the startup space during the week. Here is a roundup of this week’s startup updates:
Whatsapp : In Headlines
- Whatsapp: Govt flags concerns
Government writes to WhatsApp head Will Cathcart to withdraw its proposed terms of service and privacy policy for Indian users — red flags its concerns regarding the messenger service’s plan to integrate user data with other Facebook companies.
- Don’t join WhatsApp if not accepting new policy: HC
The Delhi High Court on Monday said accepting the new privacy policy of social messaging app WhatsApp was a ”voluntary” thing and one can choose not to use or join that platform if one did not agree with its terms and conditions. ”It is a private app. Don’t join it. It is a voluntary thing, don’t accept it. Use some other app,” Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said in a petition, filed by a lawyer, who has challenged WhatsApp’s new privacy policy, which was slated to come into effect in February but has been deferred till May.
- WhatsApp issues statement in defence of revised privacy policy, says update to not expand ability to share data with Facebook
A day after the Indian government asked social media platform WhatsApp to withdraw its proposed privacy policy, the Facebook arm said it is not meant to enhance data sharing but provide options to help businesses expand.
The reiteration came following the government’s letter to Will Cathcart, the Global CEO of WhatsApp, asking that the new policy for Indian users be withdrawn. The new policy, which allows sharing of user’ data with its parent company Facebook or third party apps, was slated to come into effect in February but has been deferred till May after the growing row.
“We wish to reinforce that this update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook,” a spokesperson from WhatsApp said
- Parliamentary panel to question Facebook on WhatsApp’s privacy terms: Reuters
Facebook executives will field questions from an Indian parliamentary panel on Thursday about the changes to WhatsApp’s privacy, a source said, days after the messaging platform was asked by the country’s technology ministry to withdraw them.
The panel will ask why Facebook needed to change WhatsApp’s privacy policy and how it will impact users, the source said. WhatsApp did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
Nazara Technologies refiles IPO papers with SEBI
India’s startup IPO journey for 2021 kicks off as diversified gaming and sports media platform Nazara Games refiles the DRHP with market regulator Sebi.
The company had earlier filed its papers in February 2018 but could not launch the issue. The gaming company backed by billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is most well-known for its World Cricket Championship, Chota Bheem and Motu Patlu series.
Ola adopts Siemens’ Digital Enterprise to build India’s most advanced manufacturing facility
Ola has partnered with Siemens as it looks to rapidly build its upcoming electric vehicle manufacturing facility. This announcement comes on the heels of Ola’s MoU with the government of Tamil Nadu to invest nearly Rs 2,400 crore towards building this facility.
The factory will generate almost 10,000 jobs and with an initial capacity of 2 million units a year, it will be the largest scooter manufacturing facility in the world. It will serve as Ola’s global manufacturing hub catering to its customers in India as well as key markets across Europe, UK, Latin America and ANZ
OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei’s new venture to be launched on Jan 27; CRED founder Kunal Shah jumps in as an investor
OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei quit the tech company after 7 years in October, 2020. Soon, Pei announced that he was brewing with a new idea and so far, has already raised $7 million in a seed round from a clutch of high-profile investors.
Reports suggest that the investors included likes of Tony Fadell, principal at advisory firm Future Shape and inventor of the iPod, Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch, Steve Huffman CEO of Reddit, Youtuber Casey Neistat to name a few. Joining this list is Kunal Shah, founder of CRED.
PM Modi announces Rs 1,000-crore ‘Startup India Seed Fund’
PM Modi announces Rs 1,000 crore seed fund for startups. The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme will provide financial assistance to startups for Proof of Concept, prototype development, product trials, market-entry, and commercialization.
Hike shuts messaging service
Homegrown instant messaging app Hike Sticker Chat, formerly Hike Messenger, has been officially shut down and was removed from Google Play Store and App Store. Hike users were informed in advance and were given time till 14 January to migrate data, according to the company. The company will now be focusing on its social products Vibe and Rush which will use Hike emojis and include mini-games.
Amazon partners with Startup India to boost ecommerce exports from India
Amazon has partnered with Startup India to launch an accelerator program to help early-stage startups in the consumer products space to launch in international markets and create global brands from India through Amazon’s Global Selling program.
As part of the Startup Accelerator, Amazon has constituted a mentorship board consisting of Amazon leaders from India and across the world, VCs and senior leaders from Startup India, Invest India who will engage with emerging brands and provide them tailored resources, 1:1 mentorship on the global demand patterns and insights on building successful exports business through ecommerce.
Amazon will also host open virtual mentorship sessions focused on peer learning by inviting veteran entrepreneurs and members from its mentorship board for startups, to network and learn from their existing ecosystem. The accelerator program will provide startups an opportunity to showcase their business proposition to partner VC firms – Sequoia Capital India and Fireside Ventures and a chance to win a total equity free grant of $50,000 from Amazon.
Funding of the week
The Indian startup ecosystem saw $152 million in funding this week across 18 deals, as per data from Venture Intelligence. Some of the large deals include Dunzo’s $40 million fundraise led by Google and LightBox, the $30 million funding in Agritech startup DeHaat led by Prosus Ventures, and the $15 million funding led by Salesforce in HR tech startup Darwinbox.
- Dunzo raises Series E $40 million from new and existing investors
Hyperlocal player Dunzo has raised $40 million in a fresh round of funding capital from new and existing investors. The list of investors include Google, Lightbox, Evolvence, Hana Financial Investment, LGT Lightstone Aspada, and Alteria. With a gross merchandise value growth of 2X over the past year, Dunzo is now a $100 million annualised GMV business.
- DeHaat raises $30 million Series C led by Prosus Ventures
Full-stack Agritech Platform DeHaat Raises $30 million Series C led by Prosus Ventures. RTP Global co-invested in the round with participation from existing investors, Sequoia India, FMO, Omnivore & AgFunder. With the Series C Investment, the company plans to strengthen the technology platform and expand geographically to other parts of India.
- Salesforce Ventures invests in Darwinbox
Enterprise HR technology platform Darwinbox closes a $15 million funding round led by Salesforce Ventures. This is one of Salesforce Ventures’ first investments in India. With this partnership, Darwinbox aims to accelerate digital HR adoption, deepen product offering and further their mission to become market leader in the HCM space.
- Furlenco raises Rs 20 crore in venture debt from BlackSoil
Furniture rental startup Furlenco raises Rs 20 crore in a venture debt facility from sector agnostic alternative credit platform BlackSoil Capital.
- Fintech platform BharatPe funding
Fintech platform BharatPe has raised Rs 50 crore ($7 mn) in debt from Trifecta Capital. This is the 3rd tranche of debt fund financing raise by BharatPe, that recently raised Rs 199 crore ($ 28 mn) in debt from renowned venture debt providers as well as ICICI Bank. The company, that is aggressively working towards building its lending business, has raised Rs 249 crore (US$ 35 mn) in debt in January 2021.
- MFine raises $16 million in a new funding round led by Heritas Capital fund
Health tech platform MFine has raised $16 million in a new funding round led by Heritas Capital fund along with the Singapore-based family office of Y’S Investment. Existing investors—SBI Investment, SBI Ven Capital, Beenext and Alteria Capital—also participated in the round.
Company will use the fresh funds to strengthen its leadership team and its technology platform to create a virtual hospital network for its users
- AlphaICs raises $8 million in Series B funding led by Endiya Partners and Emerald Technology Ventures
Edge AI technology company AlphaICs has secured $8 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Endiya Partners and Emerald Technology Ventures, with participation of existing Series A investors.
- Ripplr secures $3 million in Series A funding
Digital distribution and logistics ecosystem platform Ripplr has raised $3 million in Series A funding from private equity fund Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund, Chand Family Office – Yukti and existing investor, and 3one4 Capital.
- Fashinza raises $2.6 million in seed funding led by Accel Partners and Elevation Capital
Fashinza, a B2B manufacturing marketplace that solves apparel/fashion supply chain challenges by connecting fashion brands to experienced manufacturers, has raised a seed funding of $2.6 million. The initial seed funding round was led by Accel Partners and Elevation Capital with participation of marquee individual investors – Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, co-founders of Snapdeal, and Alok Mittal, co-founder of Indifi.
- Udayy raises $2.5 mn from Alpha Wave Incubation
Live-learning edtech platform Udayy has raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round led by Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI), managed by Falcon Edge Capital and InfoEdge Ventures. The round also saw participation from VC Better Capital, Cred founder Kunal Shah and other angel investors.
- BeyondSkool raises seed funding of $2 million from Tomorrow Capital
Online upskilling academy BeyondSkool, has raised seed funding of $2 million from Tomorrow Capital. BeyondSkool plans to utilize the amount for expanding its product offering, maximizing technology integration for enhanced learning, and scaling up business operations. Furthermore, the platform will also look to create high impact marketing, expand its team across verticals and build a state-of-the-art ‘LIVE Online Learning’ platform.
- Venture Catalysts leads $2 million round in CreditEnable
AI-driven SME credit marketplace CreditEnable has raised $2 million in an investment round led by Venture Catalysts along with its UK arm, JPIN Venture Catalysts. The investment will be used to continue the development of CreditEnable’s technology platform and expand the firm’s user base.
- Elevation Capital leads $1.63 million seed stage funding in Turnip
Game live streaming and community platform Turnip has raised $1.63 million in a seed round led by Elevation Capital. The latest round also saw participation from Better Capital.
- Shopg raises of $1.5 million from Orios Venture Partners & RPSG Ventures
Social commerce platform ShopG closes seed round of $1.5 million from Orios Venture Partners & RPSG Ventures. A host of angel investors like Rajesh Yabaji – CEO Blackbuck, Raghunandan G – Ex CEO Taxi for Sure, Prasanth Nair- Ex Flipkart, and Alibaba also participated in the round.
Fireside Ventures announces close of Fund II at Rs 863 crore
Multi-stage venture fund Fireside Ventures announces the close of their second fund (Fireside Fund II) at Rs 863 crore, which translates to $118 million approximately.
The Fireside Fund II has investors such as Fund of Funds for Start -ups ( FFS) operated by SIDBI under the aegis of GOI’s initiative “Start-up India Action Plan”, Investment Corporation of Dubai, Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF, Bajaj Holdings and Investment Limited, ITC Limited, L’OREAL, Pidilite group, Premji Invest and a large US university endowment.
Curefit acquires Onyx
Cure.fit acquires US-based digital fitness company Onyx to energise its international portfolio. Onyx specialises in body tracking technology and personalisation of workout feedback.
Cure.fit recently launched in the US with its energy-meter tech wherein the phone camera tracks users’ movements as they try to follow guided content from trainers.
BIG TECH IN NEWS
Google, Facebook Vs Australia
Google threatens to shut down its search engine in Australia and facebook threatens to remove news from its feed for all users if a proposed news code is passed by parliament— the law could force digital platforms to pay news media companies for content— australia’s prime minister says they don’t respond to threats.
Google seals content payment deal with French news publishers
Google and a French publishers’ lobby said on Thursday they had agreed to a copyright framework for the U.S. tech giant to pay news publishers for content online, in a first for Europe. The move paves the way for individual licensing agreements for French publications, some of which have seen revenues drop with the rise of the Internet and declines in print circulation.
Facebook hands decision on Trump ban to oversight board
Facebook refers its decision to indefinitely suspend the accounts of former US President Donald Trump to its independent oversight board. Trump will remain suspended while the board, a recently created body that can overrule the company’s decisions on content, reviews the decision. Facebook blocked Trump’s access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts over concerns of further violent unrest following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by the former president’s supporters.
Google disputes Texas suit
Google says antitrust claims in a Texas lawsuit are “misleading,” arguing that its rates are fair, the marketplace is open and does not favor a single partner, such as Facebook. In December Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a complaint about Google’s advertising technology business, in one of several suits alleging that Google abused its dominance of the internet search business or otherwise broke antitrust law.
Alibaba’s Jack Ma makes first public appearance since Oct in online meeting
Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma, who was missing for months, has finally made a public appearance since the crackdown by the Chinese authorities. Ma, who was for a long time seen as the poster boy of the Chinese model of entrepreneurship met 100 rural teachers in China via a live video meeting on Wednesday morning, his first since October.
The news about the appearance was first reported by Tianmu News, a news portal under government-backed Zhejiang Online.
In the 50-second video, Ma, dressed in a navy pullover, spoke directly to the camera from a room with grey marble walls and a striped carpet. It was not clear from the video or the Tianmu News article where he was speaking from.
The appearance is expected to end speculations that emerged across the world about his whereabouts after he missed the final episode of a TV show featuring him as a judge, amid a regulatory clampdown by Beijing on his sprawling business empire.
Elon Musk to donate $100 mn to find best carbon capture tech
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has announced a donation of $100 million towards a prize for the best carbon capture technology.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a combination of technologies designed to prevent the release of carbon dioxide formed during power generation and industrial processes, and further store it, in order to reduce its emission into the atmosphere.
“Am donating $100M towards a prize for best carbon capture technology,” Musk said in a tweet, adding that details will be shared next week.
Bill Gates-led fund raises another $1 billion to invest in clean tech
Breakthrough Energy Ventures — an initiative to help the planet reach zero carbon emissions through innovation — has raised its second $1 billion round of funding. The new capital will fund some 40-50 startups, according to Bloomberg News, and will focus on some of the trickier green technologies in development, including climate-friendlier steel and cement production, long-haul transportation, and technologies for capturing carbon from the air.
Cruise, GM partner with Microsoft to ramp up self-driving vehicles
Self-driving car maker Cruise and majority shareholder General Motors Co will partner with Microsoft Corp to accelerate the commercialization of driverless vehicles.
Microsoft will join GM, Honda Motor Co and institutional investors in a combined new equity investment of more than $2 billion in Cruise, bringing the post-money valuation of the San Francisco-based startup to $30 billion
Kia: The Apple Connect?
South Korean automaker Kia Corp said it’s reviewing cooperation on self-driving electric cars with multiple foreign firms, making no mention of a report linking it to a project with tech giant Apple Inc. Kia’s comment, issued in a regulatory filing as its shares surged nearly 20% in Seoul, came after domestic online publication Edaily reported that Kia’s parent, Hyundai Motor Group, had decided Kia would be in charge of proposed cooperation with Apple on electric cars. The report cited unnamed industry sources.
Grab takes the IPO Route
Southeast Asian ride-hailing and food delivery giant Grab is exploring a listing in the United States this year according to Reuters. The IPO could raise at least $2 billion making it the largest overseas share offering by a Southeast Asian company, as per the report.
