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From Online to High Street Nisara Beauty expands to Purplle Stores PAN India 

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September 13th, Thursday, 2024: Nisara, a rapidly growing name in the fragrance industry, is set for offline expansion through a strategic partnership with Purplle stores across India. With this launch, the brand will now be available in around 16 stores nationwide, marking a significant step in making its innovative and high-quality products more accessible to beauty enthusiasts.

Catering to a diverse audience, Nisara offers a wide range of fragrances for men, women, and unisex preferences. The brand’s presence will be felt in key cities across India, with stores strategically located in high-street markets and malls in NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Kolkata. With around 10% of the business driven by offline sales, the brand sees immense potential in reaching a broader audience through physical retail locations. These offline stores are located in high-street markets and malls, providing a perfect platform for customers to explore and experience Nisara’s product offerings firsthand.

Regarding the expansion, Tarvinder Pal, Co-Founder & CEO of Nisara, states, “Expanding to offline stores marks a significant milestone in our growth journey. By bringing our products closer to consumers, we aim to enhance their shopping experience and accessibility to our range of clean, high-performing products. We believe that this strong partnership with the Purplle store will not only strengthen our brand’s footprint but will also enhance the fragrance category range to consumers.”

The brand has made a name for itself by offering products that are not only effective but also budget-friendly and sustainable. This offline expansion is just the beginning of many more exciting developments as the brand continues to explore new avenues to serve its customers better. 

About Nisara Beauty

NISARA is a luxury perfume brand that seamlessly blends elegance, nature, and craftsmanship to create unforgettable fragrances. Each scent is a carefully composed masterpiece made from the finest global ingredients to ensure quality, purity, and sophistication. Designed to evoke memories and celebrate individuality, our perfumes offer an accessible touch of luxury at a price that allows everyone to indulge. With NISARA, you can explore a world where exceptional fragrance meets accessible pricing, letting every scent tell your unique story.

Sales outreach platform Futwork raises Rs 21-Cr in funding

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L-R, Sri Ganapathy, Armaan Vananchal, Niranjan Nakhate, founders, Futwork

Sales outreach platform Futwork secured ₹21 crore in a funding round led by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Artha Venture Fund.

Futwork’s funding round also saw participation from D2C Insider Angels and Abhishek Goyal, founder of Tracxn. The company plans to use the funds to scale its product and introduce AI-driven solutions that provide full-stack customer communication across multiple channels, including voice, chat, email, and WhatsApp. As mentioned in a release, Futwork also aims to expand into international markets.

Founded in 2020 by Armaan Vananchal, Niranjan Nakhate, and Sri Ganapathy, Futwork (previously known as Frapp) enables businesses to build and scale outbound calling teams with no fixed costs. The platform supports various tele-calling tasks, including product demos, session bookings, and gathering customer feedback.

“We believe in a human + AI future, and we will use the funds to build AI tools that can assist in delivering better performance on calls, improve quality, and assist in training our agents,” Vananchal said. 

Futwork caters to clients across various sectors, including e-commerce, BFSI, and edtech. The company works with notable startups like Purplle, BharatPe, and Stage, alongside larger enterprises such as Flipkart and DTDC. 

The founding team previously ran an edtech business called Studentidentify, a UK-based student network and discount startup Unidays later acquired. 

Commenting on the investment, Sanjay Modi, senior director at Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, said, “Futwork is pioneering a new way of creating and distributing call centre jobs, boosting India’s competitive edge… Futwork is set to open doors for thousands of young job seekers, focusing on inclusion and equipping them with the skills needed to thrive in the tech industry.” 

The startup secured $1 million in its seed funding round in April 2022, led by Blume Ventures and Simile Venture Partners. The round also included investments from Silicon Valley-based Riverside Ventures and angel investors like Shivakumar Ganesan, founder of Exotel, and Phanindra Sama, founder of Redbus.

OpenAI launches new series of AI models with ‘reasoning’ abilities 

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Microsoft-backed OpenAI announced the launch of its “Strawberry” series of AI models. These models are designed to take more time to process answers, making them better at solving complex problems.

The models, first reported by Reuters, can reason through complex tasks and solve more complicated problems in science, coding, and math, according to OpenAI’s blog post. 

Internally, OpenAI used the code “Strawberry” for the project, while the newly announced models are called o1 and o1-mini. Starting Thursday, the o1 model will be available in both ChatGPT and its API.

Noam Brown, an OpenAI researcher working on improving the models’ reasoning abilities, confirmed on social media X that these models are part of the Strawberry project.

“I’m excited to share with you all the fruit of our effort at OpenAI to create AI models capable of truly general reasoning,” Brown wrote.

In its blog, the company stated that the o1 model scored 83% on the International Mathematics Olympiad qualifying exam, significantly improving over the 13% scored by the previous model, GPT-4o. 

According to the company, the model also showed better results on competitive programming questions and surpassed human PhD-level accuracy in a benchmark of science problems.

Brown explained that the models achieved these scores using a “chain-of-thought” reasoning technique. This method breaks down complex problems into smaller, logical steps.

Researchers have observed that AI model performance improves on complex tasks using this approach as a prompting technique. The company has automated this process, allowing the models to break down problems independently without user input.

“We trained these models to spend more time thinking through problems before they respond, much like a person would. Through training, they learn to refine their thinking process, try different strategies, and recognize their mistakes,” OpenAI said.

Reuters first reported OpenAI’s work on the reasoning project, initially named Q*, in November 2023. In July, they reported that the project had been renamed “Strawberry”.

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Newme launches 90-minute fashion delivery service in India 

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Sumit Jasoria, Founder and CEO of NewMe

Newme, an Indian fashion-tech brand, has launched a 90-minute delivery service for its fashion products aimed at Gen Z women in specific areas of Delhi-NCR, according to a media release on Thursday.

“Our 90-minute delivery service isn’t just a milestone; it’s a testament to NEWME’s relentless focus on customer experience,” said Sumit Jasoria, Founder and CEO, in his LinkedIn post.

He added, “Two years ago, the idea of delivering fashion this fast seemed impossible, but our commitment to listening to our customers has brought us here. This initiative marks a new chapter in how fast fashion brands can connect with their consumers.”

The brand plans to extend this service to Mumbai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad within the next two weeks. 

Established in 2022 by Sumit Jasoria, Vinod Naik, Shivam Tripathi, and Himanshu Chaudhary, NewMe caters to over 500 million Gen Z customers in India and Southeast Asia.

Wealthtech startup Centricity bags $20M in a seed funding 

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Team Centricity

Centricity, a wealthtech startup based in Gurugram, secured $20 million in seed funding. Lightspeed India Partners led the round, with additional support from returning investors like Burman Family Office and Shantanu Agarwal.

Centricity is now valued at $125 million, as shared by co-founder and CEO Manu Awasthy. 

The latest funding round also saw investments from Korean venture capital firm Paramark VC and a group of high-profile family offices and angel investors, including MS Dhoni Family Office, NB Ventures Family Office, Aakash Chaudhry (former CEO of Aakash Institute), Oyo’s Ritesh Agarwal, Nvidia’s Vishal Dhupar, MMG Group Family Office, and Action Tesa Family Office.

Centricity plans to use the new funds to scale its platforms, Invictus and One Digital. They will focus on enhancing technology, expanding their talent pool, growing private banking services, and pursuing strategic acquisitions.

“We wanted to go deep into India that is why we are catering to the segment of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNIs) that have around 70% of India’s wealth. We are also catering to the huge Indian market through a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) framework purely because no company in India has successfully built a distribution network. Our idea is to build India’s largest financial distribution company serving almost everyone possible,” Awasthy said.

Founded in 2022 by former private bankers Awasthy, Gaurav Tiwari, Manish Sharma, Pushpendra Singh, and Aditya Shankar, Centricity offers a plug-and-play financial services platform. It allows independent financial advisors, external asset managers, and single-family offices to manage investment portfolios and offers digital transactional capabilities across multiple products. It also helps financial product distributors manage client portfolios.

The One Digital platform gives intermediaries like mutual fund distributors and insurance agents access to financial products, training, and technology solutions, particularly in tier 2 cities and beyond. Invictus focuses on simplifying investment management for ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNI) and single-family offices with portfolios exceeding $12 million.

Currently, Centricity has over 4,500 financial distributors on its platform and manages Rs 4,500 crore in assets across 92 UHNI families. The company plans to expand its distribution network to 120 cities within 12 to 18 months, up from 27 cities today.

Centricity will also hire 40-50 private bankers to exclusively manage UHNI clients while doubling its tech team from 75 to over 150 specialists to drive innovations like generative AI-led modules, insurtech, and broking-tech platforms.

In February, Centricity reached operating profitability, according to Awasthy. The startup raised $4 million in September 2022, led by the Burman Family Office, at a $20 million valuation.

“Centricity’s vision of redefining wealth management with its one-of-a-kind solution is essential for India’s rapidly evolving financial landscape. The company’s commitment to empowering independent financial advisors and former private wealth professionals with a sophisticated, yet user-friendly platform sets a new benchmark in the industry,” said Shuvi Shrivastava, partner and advisor, Lightspeed India Partners.

Vehant Technologies bags contract for Under Vehicle Scanning System from GAIL, IOCL, and Chennai Petroleum

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11th Sep 2024: Vehant Technologies, a smart security and surveillance solutions provider, has received a contract for an Under Vehicle Scanning System (UVSS), “Nuvoscan E&H” from GAIL, IOCL, and Chennai Petroleum. This installation is part of an effort to enhance security at all three oil and energy plants by integrating 12 advanced UVSS with area scan imaging technology to prevent security breaches and potential damage to plant infrastructure. The approximate amount of this contract is around ₹3 crore.

This Automated Under Vehicle Scanning System will be installed at the checkpoints of the authorities to scan the under part of vehicles to ensure no illegal modification or hidden suspicious object be carried inside the premises. “Nuvoscan” is an advanced automated COLOR Under Vehicle Scanning System that can capture Under sight images of the vehicle with automated Number plate reading & Driver Images with moving speeds up to 40 km/hr halting on the top of UVSS. 

With its Number Plate reading technology, the software of the UVSS can generate an automatic alarm to alert the control room in case the vehicle is registered under any “Wanted”, “Stolen”, or “Expired” case. When a vehicle passes over the UVSS, the system has Auxiliary camera(s) for ‘Hard-to-view’ areas and weatherproof IP-67-certified underground enclosures, ensuring enhanced visibility into hard-to-view areas.

Commenting on receiving the huge contract, Kapil Bardeja, CEO and co-founder of Vehant Technologies, said, “For the past 19+ years, we have been working towards manufacturing advanced security systems to keep the nation and its people safe and secure. With our advanced UVSS technology, we ensure the detection of potential threats and maintain reliable performance in challenging environments. Nuvoscan is an ideal solution to install at checkpoints to scan and provide a clear and undistorted image of the vehicle’s underside to facilitate efficient viewing and detection of any potentially harmful object attached to the vehicle’s underbelly. This system’s color visual capturing features can produce a clear and undistorted image of the vehicle’s underside that will help the plants keep a check.”

The UVSS system by Vehant Technologies can dynamically and automatically adjust the brightness and contrast of the composite image to ensure good quality images, irrespective of the different external lighting conditions.

It is a comprehensive system that integrates both hardware and software, and Vehant Technologies follows a streamlined procedure from installation to handover. From the delivery of the product to installation and commissioning by experts, the entire process is done efficiently. Additionally, after the installation, consecutive training is provided to the client’s officials. This will make sure that they are entirely ready to operate the system. 

About Vehant

Incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, Vehant Technologies has secured the world since 2005 by providing in-house development of various cutting-edge solutions, including physical security systems, innovative and safe city solutions, and enterprise analytics. This Make In India manufacturing company aims at developing security solutions today, & safeguarding tomorrow.

InMobi bags $100M debt funding from Mars Growth Capital 

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Naveen Tewari, CEO of InMobi

SoftBank-backed advertising technology company InMobi announced on Wednesday that it raised $100 million in debt financing from MARS Growth Capital. MARS Growth is a joint venture between Tokyo-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Liquidity Group.

This funding comes as InMobi, headquartered in Singapore, prepares for its planned public listing in India next year.

According to the company’s statement, the new capital will be used to boost the company’s AI development and deployment and support potential AI-focused acquisitions.

The financing will help InMobi strengthen its AI capabilities, both organically and through acquisitions, offering more immersive and personalized ways for brands to engage consumers beyond standard advertising formats.

“AI is the bedrock of both InMobi’s consumer and enterprise businesses, and we are using it to power the revolutionary lock screen experiences and InMobi Advertising’s platforms. We are reimagining how ads can be made truly native by driving superior engagement and outcomes for consumers, advertisers, and publishers,” says CEO, Naveen Tewari. 

MARS Growth Capital provides financing to fintech, SaaS, and e-commerce businesses across Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and Europe. Using Liquidity Group’s AI and machine learning, it offers credit and equity financing between $3 million and $100 million for mid-market, late-stage, and pre-IPO technology companies.

“Liquidity, through its JV (joint venture) with MUFG, Mars Growth, is committed to growing the Asian tech ecosystem. As one of our largest transactions to date, this financing will help fuel InMobi’s next phase of AI-led growth,” said Ron Daniel, cofounder and CEO of Liquidity Group and CEO of Mars Growth. 

The firm is shifting to an AI-first approach, leading to job cuts for 125 employees, or 5% of its 2,500 global workforce.

Backed by Google, Jio Platforms, and Mithril Capital, InMobi operates two primary businesses: InMobi Ads, a B2B ad technology company, and Glance, a B2C smart lock screen platform that provides personalized content and entertainment while enabling targeted ads.

Glance is also developing the video-commerce platform Roposo and the gaming platform Nostra.

Digital lending startup Flexiloans raises Rs 290-Cr in funding 

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L-R, Manish Lunia, Deepak Jain, Ritesh Jain, founders, Flexiloans

Mumbai-based digital lending startup Flexiloans raised Rs 290 crore (around $35 million) in equity funding. American not-for-profit fund Accion, US asset management firm Nuveen, and Nandan Nilekani-backed Fundamentum led the round.

Denmark-based Maj Invest, which participated in the previous round, also joined. However, other existing investors did not participate, according to Flexiloans’ statement on Tuesday.

“We are a cash positive business; hence, all the fresh funds raised will be used to capitalise our credit business and grow our operations,” said Deepak Jain, cofounder of Flexiloans. 

Although Jain did not reveal the company’s post-deal valuation, an estimated the digital lender’s value at around Rs 1,200 crore or about $143 million.

Founded in 2016 by Indian School of Business alumni Deepak Jain, Ritesh Jain, and Manish Lunia, Flexiloans has raised Rs 636 crore in equity funding.

Former KKR India chief Sanjay Nayar is one of its key supporters.

The company manages assets worth Rs 2,000 crore and has disbursed Rs 3,000 crore loans, primarily to small and medium businesses, during 2023-24. Its gross bad loans stand at 3.4% of its AUM.

Flexiloans aims to disburse Rs 5,100 crore in loans for the current fiscal year. It primarily offers term loans and supply chain financing.

While the company acquires customers digitally, a large portion of loan servicing and collections is handled through its physical network of agents.

“We have invested in building strong collections capabilities, which has helped keep our bad assets under check, and we intend to grow sustainably,” Jain said.

Atmosphere Core holds senior leadership summit 

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Clockwise from top left: Vice President Sales & Marketing - COB & By Atmosphere, Silvia Collepardi; Vice President - Legal & Compliance, Laila Manik; Group Managing Director, Salil Panigrahi; Head of Learning & Development, Annepaul Vemagiri; Vice President of AWPL, Heidi Grimwood; Deputy Managing Director Finance & Treasury, Dilip Ratha; Deputy Managing Director Corporate, Shrikant Dash; Managing Director -India, Nepal, Bhutan and SL,.Souvagya Mohapatra; Chief Commercial Officer, Stephane Laguette

In line with its innovative approach to hospitality, Atmosphere Core held a senior leadership summit in Mumbai to discuss strategic objectives and share the company’s vision for the future. The group aims to become a leader in its class of hotels and resorts.

The Mumbai summit brought together the newly formed India leadership team, senior colleagues, and Board Executives from the Maldives. They collaborated to plan the unveiling of 14 new properties in India over the next three years, aiming to achieve the goal of 25 properties by 2025, according to a release.

Atmosphere Core’s Group managing director Salil Panigrahi comments on the summit event, “Today’s summit transcended the subject of our mere expansion, what our Leadership team shared was our commitment to crafting a harmonious relationship between our people and properties.”

“Our vision is clear – to cultivate an immersive experience that elevates guest satisfaction while honouring local heritage and sustainability. Second to this is our commitment to India and bringing employment, local economic growth, and prosperity to the communities we operate within”, Panigrahi added.

Atmosphere Core, originating from the Maldives, is one of the fastest-growing hospitality companies in the region. In just 10 years, the company has expanded to operate nine private island resorts, becoming a symbol of luxury and excellence. Introducing its unique ‘Holiday Plan’ concept has redefined all-inclusive vacations, elevating indulgence and experience in the Indian Ocean.

This important meeting brought stakeholders together to align with Atmosphere Core’s bold vision. The release added that attendees discussed the evolving luxury hospitality landscape, addressing challenges and leveraging opportunities in the post-pandemic era.

AppsForBharat bags $18mn in funding led by Fundamentum 

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Prashant Sachan, Founder and CEO, AppsForBharat

AppsForBharat, the parent company of the devotion platform Sri Mandir, raised $18 million in a funding round led by Fundamentum.

Susquehanna Asia VC and existing investors Elevation Capital, Peak XV Partners, and Mirae Asset VC also participated in this round.

The company will use the funds to expand its operations in India and internationally, onboard more temples, launch new services, and build a complete tech stack for the devotion ecosystem.

“As we grow from here, we will launch spiritual and devotional experiences as a category for us, and we will do more in terms of creating a tech platform for temples, where temples can also access this platform, connect with their devotees, and build that engagement loop with them,” founder and chief executive Prashant Sachan said.

Launched in November 2020 by IIT Bombay alumnus Prashant Sachan, Sri Mandir provides a virtual platform where devotees can perform pujas, join prayer groups, and access devotional content like spiritual texts, scriptures, and videos.

Sachan shared that five lakh devotees used the platform to complete 27 lakh transactions in the past year. The platform aims to grow this number fivefold in the next year.

The Bengaluru-based startup, AppsForBharat reported a revenue of Rs 3.53 crore and a loss of Rs 45 crore in FY23. In FY24, revenue jumped 5.2x to Rs 18.59 crore, while operational losses decreased to Rs 31 crore.

In the next 12 months, the Sri Mandir app plans to support five new regional languages and increase temple listings by 10x across India. The platform also intends to expand internationally in key markets like the US, UK, and Canada.

“There are 50 million of these people in the diaspora, and access is a larger problem for them. I think 5-10% penetration is a good number to get to, and we can get there,” Sachan said. 

Commenting on the investment, Ashish Kumar, cofounder and general partner of Fundamentum, who is joining the board of AppsForBharat, said, “India’s devotional sector valued at $50 billion presents a massive opportunity for digital transformation. Prashant and team have built a world-class, uniquely Indian product that seamlessly blends tradition with innovation, providing a comprehensive digital experience for its devotees. With its widespread adoption among both young adults and older generations alike, we expect long-term scalability in India and global use cases emerging in the future.” 

India’s growing market for religious and spiritual apps has attracted significant investments from venture capital firms. Other notable players in this space include Vama.app, Astrotalk, DevDham, and Utsav.

A surge in online engagement post-pandemic and a rising interest in spiritual practices has fueled the growth of spiritual and devotional services apps.

The inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya also boosted the usage of devotional apps, with some industry experts comparing this trend to the rapid growth of digital payment apps like Paytm after the demonetization in 2016.

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