MediBuddy acquires Indian health business of US-based Aetna

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February 9, 2023

Bengaluru-based digital healthcare platform MediBuddy, valued at over $500 million, has acquired US-based Aetna Inc’s vHealth by Aetna business (Indian Health Organization Pvt Ltd) in India for an undisclosed amount.

The vHealth by Aetna firm will be rebranded as “MediBuddy vHealth” over the next six months. The existing Indian Health Organisation (IHO) management team and employees across all functions will continue to be employed by IHO, which is now part of MediBuddy.

With this acquisition, Medibuddy can add over 30 million new subscribers to its existing subscriber base.

IHO owns and runs vHealth by Aetna, a business-to-business (B2B) healthcare company that provides customers with subscription-based primary healthcare services like telehealth consultations, an extensive outpatient network, pharmacy, diagnostics, and dental services.

“We believe that this acquisition will further strengthen our market leadership by giving impetus to our distribution channels, helping us in scaling our operations and offerings to a much wider section of the population,” said Satish Kannan, Co-founder and CEO of MediBuddy. vHealth by Aetna’s subscriber base will now have access to the healthcare services provided by MediBuddy.

“MediBuddy and vHealth by Aetna share a common vision of a future, where primary and digital healthcare comes together to redefine accessibility and delivery of quality healthcare services,” said Anurag Khosla, CEO of Aetna India and IHO.

MediBuddy recently concluded its merger with DocsApp. In the first quarter of 2022, the company raised $125 million in Series C funding. In a recent restructuring exercise, it laid off 200 employees or 8% of its workforce.

Alphabet sees $100B market value decline after incorrect answer from AI chatbot Bard

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February 9, 2023

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Alphabet, the parent company of Google, lost $100 billion in market value on Wednesday after its new chatbot Bard appeared to have responded inaccurately to a question in a promotional video. The Nasdaq-listed company closed at$99.37, down by 7.68%.

Reuters was the first to point out an error in Google’s advertisement for Bard, which debuted on Monday, about which satellite first took pictures of a planet outside Earth’s solar system.

Since November, ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, has been wooing users. It became the consumer application with the fastest growth in January after reaching an estimated 100 million monthly active users.

“This is a hiccup here, and they’re severely punishing the stock for it, which is justified because obviously everybody is pretty excited to see what Google’s going to counter with Microsoft coming out with a pretty decent product,” said Dennis Dick, founder and market structure analyst at Triple D Trading.

Microsoft, which has made a $10 billion investment in the AI company, recently demonstrated a new version of its Edge browser with ChatGPT-like features and an AI chatbot available in the sidebar. Additionally, ChatGPT features have been added to the company’s Bing search engine. Users must join a waitlist to access the “new” Bing. However, it currently offers a limited experience.

After ChatGPT achieved colossal success, Google entered the AI race to beat with Bard. On Monday, unveiling the chatbot, CEO Sundar Pichai had written in a blog post, “Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity.”

Unitus Ventures’ Opportunity Fund secures Rs 75-Cr as first close

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February 9, 2023

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Unitus Ventures, the Bengaluru-based early-stage venture capital firm, has raised Rs 75 crore as the first close for its Opportunity Fund.

The Unitus Ventures Opportunity Fund will be used to back its existing portfolio of startup investments made from its earlier two early-stage funds, Unitus Ventures Fund I and Unitus Ventures Fund II.

The venture capital firm aims to fund Rs 300 crore as the Opportunity Fund’s final close later this year. Its portfolio of startups includes BetterPlace, Cuemath, Masai, Awign, and Eduvanz.

The Opportunity Fund of Unitus Ventures has received a commitment from investors such as Mynavi Corporation of Japan, Cyient founder BVR Mohan Reddy, and Nandkumar Seksaria of Govindram Seksaria Group, among others.

Unitus plans to focus even more on the startups in the jobtech, finance, edtech, and AI sectors performing exceptionally well.

On the decision to invest in Unitus Ventures, Cyient Founder-Chairman BVR Mohan Reddy said, “I liked Unitus’ investment thesis. Educating our youth and preparing them for the rapidly evolving job market is probably the single biggest challenge and opportunity for India in the next decade.”

Unitus Ventures Managing Partner Surya Mantha said, “Despite the tough macroeconomic environment, most of Unitus’ portfolio companies have grown sustainably because of their strong unit economics and unwavering focus on profitability.”

He added that deals in businesses like generative AI and climate technologies would use up to 20% of the Opportunity Fund’s capital, which is available for use in deals outside of Unitus’ existing portfolio.

Hidekazu Ito, India Head of Mynavi—a $2 billion Japanese company focused on services related to education and jobs—said, “As we entered the India market, Unitus was the natural partner, given their expertise, networks and unparalleled portfolio of startups. We also align with their commitment to identifying and supporting startups with sound business models that can create value over the long term.”

TVS Capital Funds appoints Krishna Ramachandran as Managing Partner and COO

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February 8, 2023

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TVS Capital Funds (TCF), a leading rupee (INR) capital private equity fund, has appointed Krishna Ramachandran as Managing Partner and COO to strengthen its core team.

Krishna has over 27 years of experience in client engagement, business transformation, data analytics, digital transformation, and finance. He previously worked as Accenture’s Managing Director and was in charge of the company’s Chennai operations. Before that, he held various roles at Royal Philips, Allianz, KPMG, and Vodafone.

TVS Capital Funds backs technology-driven companies in the financial and B2B services sectors. TVS Capital Funds has raised a total of over Rs 3,500 crore for three funds.

Commenting on Krishna’s joining, Gopal Srinivasan, CMD of TVS Capital Funds, said, “Krishna comes with a wide spectrum of operating experience and significant exposure to digital transformation initiatives. This is of deep value for us at TVS Capital, where we partner with next-gen entrepreneurs in business building, especially those in the venture growth stage. Krishna’s multidisciplinary experience across businesses will help drive value to our portfolio companies. It also significantly strengthens our internal initiatives in building a “neo TCF”, which will help scale the fund to the next level.”

Krishna Ramachandran, the Managing Partner and COO of TVS Capital Funds, said, “We have great opportunities in making India a leader in digital platforms of scale in areas of finance and banking. I am delighted to be part of this journey with TVS Capital Funds in empowering next-gen entrepreneurs and, thereby, supporting the larger cause of nation-building.”

TCS receives $720mn contract from UK-based Phoenix Group

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February 8, 2023

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India’s largest technology services exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has bagged a contract from UK-based financial services company Phoenix Group in a deal valued over $720 million (£600 million), marking this as one of the largest deals the firm has had in the current fiscal.

This announcement was made public through a stock exchange notification.

TCS already works with Phoenix Group. The life insurance company ReAssure, which Phoenix Group purchased in 2020, would see significant transformation due to the Indian IT company’s involvement.

For the benefit of ReAssure policyholders, TCS will use its banking solution platform BaNCS to foster synergies and improve customer experience.

Besides, Diligenta, a TCS subsidiary in the UK, will manage ReAssure’s three million policies on behalf of Phoenix Group.

“Customer experience transformation has been cornerstone of the TCS BaNCS platform’s value proposition. Towards this, we have been continuously investing in product and service innovation…” said R Vivekanand, President, BFSI Products & Platforms, TCS.

The tech services company will also make use of its Innovation Lab in the UK, where its contextual experts and solution architects look for new strategies to utilising digital technologies to improve the experience for policyholders, advisers, employers, and operational staff, as well as to continually improve the quality of service for Phoenix Group’s customers.

“Our strong partnership with TCS enables us to benefit from their proven capabilities and digital core as we continue to consolidate policies onto the TCS BaNCS platform,” said Brid Meaney, CEO of Heritage Division, Phoenix Group.

Entropik raises $25mn in a Series B round

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February 8, 2023

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Entropik, an AI-based integrated market research platform provider, has raised $25 million in a Series B investment led by Bessemer Venture Partners and SIG Venture Capital. Trifecta Capital, Alteria Capital, and long-time investor Bharat Innovation Fund also participated in the round.

The startup has now raised $35 million in funding with this latest round.

To enable the research, marketing, and product teams to move to a more collaborative, agile, and scalable way of conducting research, Entropik says it will use the funds to build world-class products out of India. The company also plans to expand in Asia, Europe, and the United States.

“The new round comes as a testament to the rigour and hard work put in by our global team and the trust put by enterprises in our offerings,” said Ranjan Kumar, Founder and CEO of Entropik.

“We believe the strength of the platform lies in its multi-modal, cross-functional capabilities,” said Anant Puri, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners. “We are excited to see the team extend their early leadership in the customer research category while continuing to expand into other categories as well.”

Entropik, launched in 2016, says that its growth has increased by 7x over the past two years due to its expansion into the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and its patented Emotion AI Technologies.

According to a statement, over 150 global brands in the finance, media, consumer goods, food and beverage, and entertainment sectors use Entropik’s consumer research stack to make consumer-centric decisions fast and efficiently.

“Entropik provides a faster and cheaper alternative for businesses to interact and understand customer feedback,” said Bhavanipratap Rana, Investment Advisor to SIG Venture Capital. “Marketers can now measure more accurately and assess consumer feedback with Entropik’s products, like Affect UX, Labs, and Decode.”

Mensa Brands receives Rs 300 Cr debt from TradeCred

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February 7, 2023

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Bengaluru-based Mensa Brands has raised Rs 300 crore in debt from TradeCred, a Mumbai-based alternative debt platform.

According to a statement from Mensa Brands, the funds would be used for working capital investments, product development, supply chain integration, and brand acquisitions.

“We are pioneering the path to an industry-first tech-led house of brands with our five breakout category leaders,” said Ananth Narayanan, Founder and CEO of Mensa Brands. “With this additional capital, we will be able to double down on our growth ambition.”

Fifty ultra-high-net-worth individuals collectively participated in the Rs 300-crore financing arrangement.

Mensa, a direct-to-consumer brand acquisition company, was launched in May 2021. It follows a “house of brands” strategy. It has 25 brands, including Dennis Lingo, Villain, Pebble, and MyFitness. These brands are spread across fashion, home, beauty, and FMCG.

In its first year of operations, the Tiger Global-backed company reported revenue of $41.2 million (Rs 310 crore).

“TradeCred is delighted to partner with Mensa Brands… known for encouraging ‘Made in India’ products to become global and enabling Indian MSMEs to reach the doorsteps of global customers,” said Hardik Shah, TradeCred Founder.

Founded in 2018, TradeCred is a platform for alternative debt. It has over Rs 2,200 crore of assets under management and more than 20,000 active users (as of February 2022).

PhonePe introduces feature to facilitate international UPI payments

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February 7, 2023

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In a significant move to expand the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), fintech decacorn PhonePe launched support for UPI international payments on Tuesday. This allows PhonePe’s Indian users travelling abroad to instantly pay foreign merchants using UPI.

The feature will support all international merchant outlets in the UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal, and Bhutan with a local QR code. PhonePe claims to be the first fintech app to launch in India.

Users can use international debit cards to make payments abroad directly from their Indian banks. Users can use the PhonePe app to activate their UPI-linked bank account for UPI international at the merchant’s location or before travelling abroad.

“UPI international payments is the first major step in letting the rest of the world experience UPI. I am sure this launch will prove to be a game-changer and will completely transform the way Indians travelling overseas pay at merchant outlets abroad,” said Rahul Chari, CTO and Co-founder of PhonePe.

PhonePe, a major fintech company, processed about 50% of all transactions in December 2022, making it the leading UPI service provider in India, according to NPCI. It handled over 367.42 crore transactions of Rs 6.49 lakh crore during the month, accounting for nearly 46.92% of the market share.

BetterPlace buys Indonesia’s blue-collar staffing platform MyRobin

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February 7, 2023

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BetterPlace, a leading SaaS and frontline workforce management platform, announced its entry into South-East Asia (SEA) on Monday by acquiring the majority stake in MyRobin, Indonesia’s leading blue-collar workforce fulfilment platform, for an undisclosed amount.

Pravin Agarwala, Co-Founder and Group CEO, BetterPlace, said, “As the largest player in Asia today, we are thrilled to welcome MyRobin to the BetterPlace family and further our vision towards formalising the frontline workforce globally. With our technology and MyRobin’s expertise in operating in Indonesia, we would be able to introduce equitable opportunities for the frontline segment.”

Ardy Satria Hasanuddin, Co-Founder and CTO, MyRobin, said, “Over the last 2.5 years, we have been able to empower over 3 million frontline workers in over 270 cities in Indonesia to live a life of dignity by elevating them to the formal economy and giving them access to formal finance, jobs and training. As the next chapter of our growth, we would like to take our vision and expertise to more geographies, and BetterPlace is the perfect partner who will enable us to achieve this goal.”

BetterPlace, a company founded in 2015, has raised $40 million as part of its extended Series C round.

NASSCOM collaborates with Red Hat for upskilling courses

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February 6, 2023

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The Sector Skills Council (SSC) of NASSCOM has announced a partnership with Red Hat, a provider of open-source solutions. The firms will jointly provide the first six Red Hat Training courses in line with the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF).

These courses, approved by NCVET (the National Council for Vocational Education and Training), will be offered on SSC NASSCOM platforms. Red Hat OpenShift Development I, Red Hat OpenStack Administration I, Red Hat Linux Automation with Ansible, and Red Hat Application Development I are among the courses offered.

With the help of the NSQF (National Skills Qualification Framework), this project aims to have the industry’s existing courses and skills recognised by NCVET. With NCVET’s approval of these Red Hat Training courses, the courses get national recognition in India and have the potential to be accepted by universities and colleges for academic credit.

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