PropShare bags ₹367-cr from WestBridge Capital & Pravega Ventures

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June 27, 2022

Property Share Online Platform (PropShare) has raised Series B funding of Rs 367 crore (US$ 47 million), with participation from previous investors Pravega Ventures. WestBridge Capital led the round of funding.

By extending distribution channels, investing in technology and people, and increasing distribution channels, the business will use the revenues to scale the platform across regions and real estate asset classes. By enhancing liquidity, introducing more product lines, and fortifying investor connections, it will also concentrate on enhancing the user experience on the platform.

Hashim Khan, co-founder & CTO, of the company said, “With c. Rs. 1,000 crores of assets facilitated on the platform, PropShare is the largest commercial property investment platform in India. By partnering with WestBridge Capital, we plan to grow to over $1 billion in transacted assets on the platform by expanding into newer geographies and property types, while keeping technology and our investors at the core of our offering.”

“Indian commercial real estate is an attractive USD 100 billion market with limited access to investors. We believe the product offers a compelling proposition for end customers with ~9% yield / annualized dividend, 4-6% annual appreciation and strong downside protection. PropShare has scaled to USD 125 million+ AUM with high capital efficiency and has already achieved profitability,” said Deepak Ramineedi, partner at WestBridge Capital.

Blackstone’s Nucleus Office Parks invests over ₹100-cr in properties’ ESG upgrade

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June 25, 2022

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Nucleus Office Parks, the operating platform for Blackstone Real Estate’s wholly-owned offices in India, has invested over Rs 100 crore, to upgrade its buildings nationwide following the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards.

The operating platform has 18 assets totalling 20 million sq ft of office space spread across the top five property markets in the country, including Mumbai, Bangalore, NCR, Chennai, and Ahmedabad.

In addition to these, the US-based private equity giant also owns approximately 110 million sq ft of commercial real estate in the country due to partnerships and alliances with Indian developers.

This is one of the highest investments made by a private equity firm in India toward ESG compliance, which is increasingly being considered when evaluating global businesses. Corporations and investors all across the world are quickly making sustainability a key priority.

“We have devised a cohesive ESG framework founded primarily on four pillars – ecosystem, human capital, community, and governance. Moreover, we have identified a combination of long-term pledges with short term milestones to ensure we achieve our vision and create a lasting impact,” said Quaiser Parvez, CEO of Nucleus Office Parks.

To lessen their influence on the environment and improve the communities where they operate, Nucleus Office Parks has undertaken several initiatives over the past year.

The Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificates for the upkeep and management of existing buildings to Nucleus Office Parks in May 2022, making it the largest office portfolio in the country.

Bird Catering & Lounges opens its cloud-kitchen Eat.Co in Gurgaon

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June 25, 2022

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As the experienced team at “Bird Catering & Lounges” launches its first cloud kitchen, Eat.Co., Millennium City Gurgaon has another reason to celebrate.

Eat.Co, a multi-cuisine restaurant, combines comfort food and traditional favourites under one roof and delivers mouthwatering meals right to your doorstep. It serves Italian food, Chinese, Chinese street food, and North and South Indian cuisine.

With this debut, Bird Catering & Lounges, which successfully manages airport lounges, food trucks, and food courts, has entered the cloud-kitchen sector. Saunf, Sicily, Sesame, Tamarind, Board Bar, and Nik Nak are just a few of Bird Catering & Lounges’ in-house food brands that will soon be made available through this kitchen.

Eat.Co’s handpicked, the versatile menu provides something for every mood and was inspired by the preferences of its customers. It is delivered with a promise to satiate your taste buds without straining your budget.

A variety of foods, with a strong emphasis on flavour, are offered on the menu, including some humble street food choices. Customers have a wide array of healthful and delectable appetizer options to choose from, including Paneer Tikka, Chicken Tikka, Idli Sambar, Vada Sambhar, and Masala Dosa. Pao Bhaji, Veg Burger, Chole Bhature, and Poori Chole Bombay Sandwich with chips are some of the dishes available on the all-day menu that are consistently popular. Tawa Chicken Gravy, Shahi Paneer, and Dal Makhani are just a few of the mouthwatering North Indian meals that are served.

Eat.Co, which firmly believes in the farm-to-table philosophy, works to make the freshest seasonal and sustainable produce available to its customers from all across India while implementing a zero-waste policy in the kitchen. The portion size and pricing range have been carefully considered. The food is packaged using reusable, eco-friendly materials that meet the highest levels of quality and hygienic standards.

Vishaal Bharadwaj, Head – of Operations, Bird Catering & Lounges said, “At Eat.Co our philosophy is unabashedly simple- to offer our customers a good selection of their favourites at very competitive pricing. All our food is freshly cooked and is a classic blend of taste and quality.”

Eat.Co has collaborated with food aggregators like Zomato and Swiggy for greater customer convenience and will soon be available on other food platforms as well. It will also be taking bulk orders and corporate catering.

Annapurna Finance bags $15mn from Proparco

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June 24, 2022

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Annapurna Finance said it had raised funds worth $15 million from Proparco in the Series A2 funding round. Proparco is the private sector financing arm of the French public entity AgenceFrançaise de Développement Group (AFD Group).

The total funding round size will reach $100 million after this fundraising effort. After securing investments totalling USD 30 million from Nuveen Global Impact Fund in March 2021, USD 20 million from DEG in November 2021, and USD 35 million from Encourage Funds, Accion, and existing investor Oikocredit, Annapurna has raised capital four times in the past 15 months.

The Bhubaneshwar-based business said it would use the funds to expand the size of its loan book, make technology investments, broaden its geographic reach, and further its vision of facilitating global financial inclusion.

“With a pan India rural distribution network and a multi-product strategy, it offers micro-credit loans, home improvement, and MSME loans to individuals and small businesses. The fundraise will help Annapurna in strengthening its tech stack to bring in more efficient, automated and paperless financial products to the unbanked and underbanked,” the company said in its statement.

Founded in 2009 by Gobinda Chandra Pattanaik and Dibyajyoti Pattanaik, Annapurna claims to have crossed INR 6,500 crore in AUM. It is present in 20 states across the country with over 980 branches and is continuously expanding.

“We are thrilled to have our existing debt partner Proparco further support us and now partner with us on the equity side. Their belief in our ability to enable financial inclusion across the country and empower women has fortified our commitment to building one of India’s largest financial services companies. We continue to invest heavily in our tech capabilities and operations to further boost the financial inclusion objectives of Annapurna over the next decade and strive to take it towards our larger banking ambitions,” said Gobinda Chandra Pattanaik, managing director of Annapurna Finance.

“It gives us immense pleasure to back the founders, who have meticulously, thoughtfully and consistently built Annapurna, with a strong yet nimble business model that has focused on making financial services and products available to financially excluded people especially women in rural areas of India,” said Diane Jegam, regional director – South Asia, Proparco.

Freo aims 10 million customers by 2025, CFO optimistic about BNPL and saving products

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June 23, 2022

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Bengaluru-based fintech startup Freo plans to increase its user base to 10 million by 2025, according to chief finance officer Ankur Maheshwari. The CFO expressed confidence in Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and recently announced the introduction of the savings product ‘Freo Save’ in collaboration with Equitas Small Finance Bank, highlighting that these two products will account for two-thirds of customer growth.

“Two third of our customers’ growth will come from payment products (BNPL) and savings products, remaining growth from core credit and other products,” Maheshwari said.

The CFO emphasised recent industry trends that demonstrate how popular saving and BNPL products are with consumers.

“We are adding 60,000 customers in our pay later product every month, our recently launched saving product will have a high positive impact on the customer base,” the CFO added.

Based on overall growth trends across all products, the CFO affirms that Freo will be able to reach its goal of two million customers by December 2022.

According to the CFO, their business would not be significantly impacted by the recent 50 basis point increase in the repo rate. Although there will be a slight increase in interest rates, the demand for personal unsecured credit won’t be affected given the types of customers we serve, he said.

The CFO said that while all businesses are undoubtedly impacted by inflation, the impact can be reduced by offering the appropriate product at the right time. Products like BNPL are in high demand because consumers do not have to pay out of their own pockets at a time when inflation is at an all-time high.

The CFO stated that effective regulation and a specific governing framework are necessary for the balanced growth of the BNPL Model. On the compliance front, the finance veteran sought more clarity from regulators. He applauded the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to let Rupay credit card payments over UPI and noted that this would broaden the application of digital payments.

Re-commerce platform Cashify secures $90 mn

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June 23, 2022

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Cashify, a re-commerce marketplace, announced on Thursday that NewQuest Capital Partners and Prosus had invested $90 million in its Series E round of funding.

The company stated in a statement that the new funds will be used to expand the team, build technology infrastructure, and boost branded marketing efforts.

In this round, new investor Paramark Ventures joined existing investors Bessemer, Blume Ventures, and Olympus Capital.

“We look forward to stepping up our presence and offerings for our valued customers in India and fulfilling our broader goal of integrating the circular economy,” said Mandeep Manocha, Founder and CEO of Cashify.

Cashify has evolved into a smartphone-centric brand that offers comprehensive mobile care at users’ doorsteps in addition to smartphone buyback.

In India, brands including Apple, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Vivo, Oppo, HP, Samsung, and Dell all have buyback partnerships with Cashify, which has more than 40 lakh customers.

“While there is a large opportunity set in the re-commerce space, Cashify has a clear edge as a category leader with its focus on customer experience and its data and tech-first approach,” said Amit Gupta, Partner and Head of India and Southeast Asia, NewQuest.

Amazon plans to expand significantly in UP to create 1 million jobs in India

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June 23, 2022

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In its journey of less than a decade in India, US e-commerce company Amazon has pledged to create one million jobs in the country by 2025.

On Tuesday, the company’s director for last mile operations (India), Karuna Shankar Pande, said: “The target on board cannot be achieved without intensifying work in Uttar Pradesh.”

He added that Amazon already has a substantial presence in UP through its fulfilment centers—Lucknow, Agra, and Gorakhpur have a combined storage space of over 3 million cubic feet—and a massive sorting centre in the state capital. He said the company has over 1 lakh sellers in the state, including small-business owners, women entrepreneurs, artisans, and start-up founders.

Three different back-end programmes, all with a significant presence in UP, are used by Amazon India for effective delivery.

“This includes the delivery service partner programme through which Amazon India partners with small and mid-sized businesses for delivery. Currently, 50 of the 1,850 Amazon-owned and partner delivery stations are in UP, providing work opportunities to thousands of delivery associates,” he said.

Talking about the Amazon partner programme ‘I Have Space’ (IHS), he said: “Under this, the company ties up with local stores and business owners to deliver products to customers within 4km radius of their store, allowing them to supplement their regular income.”

IHS has doubled its base during the pandemic period in UP, he said, adding that the programme will play an important role as Amazon scales its delivery network across UP.

Since its launch in2015, IHS has connected with 28,000 neighbourhood and kirana partners in nearly 420 Indian towns.

“In UP, IHS stores are enabling us deliver in remote locations like Faizabad, Barabanki, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi and Mahmudabad,” he said.

Amazon Flex is the third crucial programme of the company in 65 cities of India. “This is an opportunity for individuals to deliver packages during spare time and supplement their income,” he said.

Fynd plans to hire 800 engineers from southern India

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June 21, 2022

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Fynd, an omnichannel platform and multi-platform tech business backed by Reliance has announced plans to hire around 800 engineers from India’s southern region.

According to a statement, this is following the company’s overall hiring goal of 2,000 engineers by 2023.

Fynd now has roughly 750 members, which represents a twofold rise in only the last six months. According to the statement, the company plans to scale its recruitment to maintain its rapid growth trajectory and expand across various southern cities.

The company has opened a new office in the heart of Bengaluru to facilitate new members and give them premium amenities. New workers will have access to a pet-friendly workspace with a gaming room, mother’s room, bike storage, shower access, and improved cleaning service.

According to the statement, the company recently opened an office in Ahmedabad and will now focus on Hyderabad and Chennai.

Farooq Adam, Co-Founder, Fynd, said, “The company is growing rapidly, we are expanding our core products, launching new product lines and actively seeking to enter new markets. We aim to continue our strong growth momentum with this new office launch and wish to tap the tech talent in the Silicon Valley of India.”

Edtech startup BrightChamp looks M&As for growth

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June 21, 2022

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Edtech startup BrightChamps is planning to close mergers and acquisitions worth $100 million through the stock and cash deals in the ongoing fiscal year (FY23), according to co-founder and CEO Ravi Bhushan.

The acquisitions will likely be across India, the United States, the UK, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

“We have already done a couple of acquisitions like Education 10X, and it is performing very well. This gave us more confidence to double down on our acquisitions,” Bhushan said. “We are in the final stages of discussion with a tech startup here in India and will be closing the deal soon.”

The investment for acquisitions will be in phases, Bhushan added.

“We are going aggressive on this (inorganic expansion) and if the same market situation prevails, we are looking to spend this money in two-three quarters from now,” he said.

BrightChamps, founded in 2020 by Bhushan, an IIT-Varanasi graduate, offers online courses on programming, artificial intelligence, design thinking, and financial literacy to kids aged 6 to 16.

It is currently operational in more than 30 countries, including the United States, Canada, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Nigeria.

While most of the startup’s revenue comes from outside India, it is trying to acquire edtech companies in India, particularly in the life-skills sector, product-led distribution platforms, and other areas.

According to Bhushan, the company recently created RoboChamps, a robotics vertical that focuses on teaching life skills at a reduced cost.

“We can make this ambitious plan only because we are very prudent on cash burn and other costs. We have deep pockets,” Bhushan said on raising capital amid a slowdown in big-ticket funding.

Ashneer Grover plans new startup, looks to raise $200mn

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June 16, 2022

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Former BharatPe chief executive and co-founder Ashneer Grover is in talks with US-based family offices and offshore private equity players to raise $200-300 million for a new business, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said on the condition of anonymity.

“He may use some of his personal wealth to start with. Eventually, he may either sell a part of his stake in BharatPe or raise fresh capital by issuing a stake in the new company. He has met at least six investors regarding his new venture. Discussions are preliminary right now,” said one of the people cited above.

Grover owns 8.5% of BharatPe, which is valued at around $3 billion. “There are buyers for his BharatPe stake. The transaction price is something one has to negotiate,” said this person.

Grover is currently in the United States. While it is unclear in which industry Grover will put his entrepreneurial skills to the test next, Grover revealed on Twitter on Tuesday, while celebrating his 40th birthday, that he is ready to re-enter the business world with plans to build another “unicorn”.

Grover stated that the new company would “disrupt another sector.” Grover has been primarily out of India and keeping a low profile since his controversial exit from BharatPe over allegations of financial irregularities.

“Today, I turn 40. Some will say I’ve lived a full life and experienced more things than most. Created value for generations. For me, it’s still unfinished business,” said Grover’s tweet.

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