Women employees constitute 34% of Westlife Foodworld’s workforce

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March 10, 2023

Westlife Foodworld, the owner and operator of McDonald’s restaurants in West and South India, has said the company now employs 3,899 women, constituting 34 per cent of its total workforce, as of March 5.

According to a statement, the company had 2,893 women employees in 2022 (32% of the total workforce) and 2,385 women employees in 2021 (30% of the entire workforce).

Westlife recognizes the impact that its female employees have made on both the lives of their coworkers and the company as a whole. According to the statement, the company’s commitment to inclusivity goes beyond simply promoting equality and includes offering an environment and structure that encourages women to succeed at all levels.

Smita Jatia, Managing Director, Westlife Foodworld, said, “We at McDonald’s India place utmost importance on promoting a culture of gender equality and diversity. We recognize and celebrate the essential role of women in our workforce and are ever committed to creating equal opportunities that empower our employees and foster an inclusive culture that provides a level playing field.”

Almost 11,000 people work for Westlife Foodworld, and 34% are women, which is crucial to the business’s success.

The representation of women at mid-manager levels has increased by 150% over the previous year.

A 31% increase in the proportion of women serving as front-line managers in its restaurants can be seen throughout West and South India.

In June 2022, the company opened its first All-Women Gold Standard Drive-Thru Restaurant near the Statue of Unity in Gujarat’s Ekta Nagar. This restaurant is helmed and independently run by 28 women trained as per FSSAI guidelines on all the necessary safety, hygiene and other restaurant procedures. According to the statement, 90% of the restaurant’s female employees are recruited from the GMR Foundation.

Garuda Aerospace, Ninjacart join to bring drone tech to farmers

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March 9, 2023

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Garuda Aerospace, a manufacturer of drones for the agritech sector, and Ninjacart, a startup in the agritech e-commerce space, have partnered to make advanced drone technology available to farmers all over India.

Garuda Aerospace and Ninjacart will provide farmers with short-term financing options through this partnership, enabling them to afford the latest drone technology. Drones in the fields increase efficiency, lower costs, and increase crop yields. Farmers can take advantage of these benefits at a lower cost by using short-term financing. Young entrepreneurs in rural areas will also have access to training and opportunities through the partnership. The individuals will get drone operation training, which will help in their success as drone pilots. This will enable them to make between 50,000 and 1 lakh rupees a month and progress within the farmer community.

“This partnership will not only help farmers improve their yields and reduce costs, but it will also provide young entrepreneurs with skills and business opportunities. We believe that this collaboration will help develop an ever-lasting impact on the agricultural sector in India,” said Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO of Garuda Aerospace.

“At Ninjacart, we believe in leveraging technology to make agriculture more efficient and profitable for farmers. Our partnership with Garuda Aerospace will bring the latest drone technology to farmers and help them increase their yields and reduce costs. Using drones in agriculture will also help in soil analysis, water management, and precision agriculture. We are excited to be a part of this initiative and bring the benefits of technology to the agricultural sector,” said Kartheeswaran KK, CEO and Co-Founder of Ninjacart.

Garuda Aerospace boasts a fleet of 400 drones and a well-trained team of over 500 pilots across 84 cities. Garuda Aerospace DGCA approved (Type certification and RPTO) Made in India Drones disrupt several multi-billion dollars sectors like Agri, Infra, Industry 4.0, and Defence. Garuda’s growth plan is to become India’s 1st ever Drone Unicorn Startup by impacting 1 billion lives.

InCred Capital acquires 20% stake in HR SaaS platform TeamNest

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March 9, 2023

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Financial services firm Incred Capital said it had acquired a 20% stake in TeamNest, a payroll and HR SaaS platform, as part of its Series A round.

The platform will be able to expand its reach and enhance its product portfolio due to the investment.

InCred’s extensive network in the Indian market would also be accessible to TeamNest, giving the platform the resources it needs to compete effectively in the HR tech industry.

Founded in 2017, TeamNest is a cross-border, multilingual platform that leverages cutting-edge analytics to help businesses of all sizes and sectors efficiently manage their payroll and human resources.

“We are delighted to have InCred Capital as our investor and partner in this journey. Their extensive experience and network in the Indian market will be invaluable to us as we work towards capturing the HR tech market in India,” said Prashant Shah, Co-founder, CMO, and Director of TeamNest.

TeamNest, the Mumbai-based platform, has witnessed more than 10% month-on-month growth for the last 15 months.

“We are excited to partner with TeamNest and support their growth in the Indian market. With its innovative technology and dedicated team, TeamNest has the potential to transform the HR tech landscape in India, and we are thrilled to be a part of this journey,” Saumya Mittal, Head, Structured Finance at InCred Capital, said.

Emeritus partners with Vahani to offer scholarships worth Rs 1 Cr to young women

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March 8, 2023

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Edtech company Emeritus is launching a scholarship programme for young women through Vahani Scholarship, a non-profit organisation that educates students from less-privileged socio-economic backgrounds.

As part of this collaboration, the company will provide alumni of the Vahani Scholarship with scholarships totalling Rs 1 crore so they can enrol in the educational programmes it offers in partnership with top universities worldwide in various subjects, including data analytics, digital marketing, and technology.

Emeritus started a programme in 2021 to grant scholarships to individuals and give Vahani Scholarship alumnae one-on-one mentoring where the former’s team members provided the mentees guidance and advice.

Speaking about the scholarships for girl students, Ashwin Damera, Co-Founder and CEO of Emeritus, said, “At Emeritus, we believe that education is transformational, and we are on a mission to make it more accessible. We are proud to partner with Vahani, to help women across India learn new skills to unlock career opportunities and bridge gender gaps in skill training.”

Mintifi raises $110M in Series D funding

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March 8, 2023

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Mintifi, a supply chain financing platform, has raised $110 million in a Series D funding round led by Premji Invest and included participation from current investors, including Norwest Venture Partners, Elevation Capital, and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Mintifi said that this new fund infusion would enable it to expand its capital base to over $600 million.

The Mumbai-headquartered company will use the funds to expand its presence in some key sectors and improve its new offerings, such as business-to-business (B2B) payments and a dealer management system, it said in a statement.

It aims to strengthen its tech infrastructure and build “an ecosystem of end-to-end fulfilment products” to “enhance engagement across the supply chain network”.

“Our unique plug-and-play approach allows us to scale rapidly by tapping into huge outstanding receivable pool of blue-chip corporates while maintaining profitability. This round of funding will allow us to accelerate our growth, expand our team, and deliver even greater value to our customers,” said Anup Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO at Mintifi, in a press note.

The company, founded in 2017, offers financing options to distributors and retailers in addition to services like electronic invoicing, payment solutions, and payment digitization.

The digital lending platform said it has grown over 4X year-on-year “with annualized purchases financed of over $1 billion”, expected to reach $3 billion by the end of the financial year 2023-24.

Mintifi works with over 100 Indian companies, such as Tata Motors, Finolex, TVS Motorcycles, Bridgestone, Berger Paints, Parle Agro, Varun Beverages, Jockey, and Prince Pipes.

In February 2022, the B2B company raised $40 million in Series C funding, led by Norwest Venture Partners and Elevation Capital. As of February 17, 2022, the private market data platform Tracxn evaluated its post-money value as $123 million.

The company reported that it had received $175 million in equity and debt before this round.

ParaBooking raises INR 50 lakh to make adventure tourism safer in the country

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March 7, 2023

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ParaBooking, an online paragliding booking portal from FlutterBuy Ecom Ventures, has announced that it has raised seed funding of INR 50 lakh under the Him Startup Yojna of the Department of Industries, Himachal Pradesh. This is the first time a tech startup based in Himachal Pradesh has developed sophisticated SaaS-based tools that can be scaled nationwide to bring safety and regulations to the adventure sports sector.

The startup has undergone incubation at IIT Mandi Catalyst in Himachal Pradesh and received world-class mentoring to develop its technology and business model. ParaBooking operates through a two-pronged model for generating revenues: adventure sport (paragliding) and SaaS tools for adventure tourism operators/agencies nationwide.

With an 8-member team, ParaBooking is looking to use the funds to expand its technology and enter the market.

ParaBooking.com, founded in 2021 by Ankush Rana, Deepak Abrol, Sohail Lalani, and Vikram Thakur, enables customers to book paragliding flights in some of India’s most popular destinations, including Bir-Billing, Dharamshala, and Manali. Bringing safety and standards to India’s adventure tourism industry is one of the key goals of ParaBooking. In addition to a website for paragliding flight reservations, ParaBooking also provides a SaaS-based application enabling tourism operators to digitize and automate their operations.

ParaBooking has facilitated over 5,000 flights around India in its first 18 months of operations and is rapidly expanding. The company has entered the trekking and adventure sports sectors, including kayaking. Although adventure sports in India have enormous potential, public safety is still a huge concern. FlutterBuy plans to thrive as a venture in this area. Regarding paragliding, it is imperative to analyze several factors that aren’t currently taken into account, including the equipment’s airworthiness, the pilot’s level of expertise, their knowledge of the weather, awareness of the terrain, and more. Due to this important concern, the Government of Himachal Pradesh invested in organizations that offer safe adventure tourism experiences.

“The safety of travellers visiting our state will remain a priority for our tourism board, and towards this goal, we will focus on enabling ventures that are catering to the needs of the safe adventure sports in the state,” says Rakesh Prajapati (IAS) Director, HP Industries.

SaaS startup Growfin raises $7.5mn in Series A funding

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March 7, 2023

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Fintech platform Growfin has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding led by Singapore-based venture capital firm SWC Global. Existing investors 3one4 Capital, angel investors, chief financial officers, and other industry leaders participated in the Series A round.

The company stated it plans to use the funds to strengthen its tech stack, expand the line of products it offers, evolve into an “all-in-one integrated cash solution,” and enhance the predictive artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities of its products this year.

The Wilmington-incorporated software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup had raised $1.4 million in seed funding from early-stage VC firm 3one4 Capital and a group of angel investors a year ago.

Growfin’s business-to-business payments collection/automation platform reduces the challenges faced by the revenue and finance teams by giving visibility into account receivables (the amount due to a business from its customers to whom the products/services have been delivered).

The company, whose team is primarily based in Chennai, claims to have experienced an 8X increase in customers over the past 12 months and to have collected $1 billion in account receivables. Locus, a leading provider of last-mile logistics tech, Airmeet, a platform for virtual and hybrid events, Intercom, and Mindtickle, a customer communications platform, are just a few of its notable customers.

Growfin was founded by ex-Freshworks alumni Aravind Gopalan and Raja Jayaraman, whose startup Frilp, a social recommendation tool, was acquired by the SaaS major in 2015. The duo launched the startup publicly a year ago, along with its seed funding announcement.

“Managing receivables and collecting payments is often complex and gets even more complicated as businesses grow. Despite the growth of ERPs and CRMs such as Salesforce and Netsuite, I realized that 90% of finance teams still manage their AR (accounts receivable) processes outside of these tools, usually on spreadsheets or databases internal,” Aravind Gopalan said. “This collaborative approach will provide greater efficiency and transparency and build trusting relationships between customers and businesses to collect B2B payments faster.”

JPMorgan expects another busy year for dealmakers in India

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March 7, 2023

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According to JPMorgan Chase & Co., geopolitical tensions could drive companies to diversify into the South Asian nation. Thus dealmakers in India should expect another strong year for mergers and acquisitions.

With a global slump in deal activity, India ended its busiest M&A year in 2022 with transactions totalling around $191 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nitin Maheshwari, head of M&A for India at JPMorgan, said that while it’s unlikely that the country will achieve such a high milestone this year, there will be enough deals to keep the bankers busy.

“China has been a bit difficult to deploy, so where can these managers go?” Maheshwari said in an interview. “You can go to Australia and Japan, which are both competitive in terms of capital. That’s why more capital will continue to flow into India, which is the biggest market for some global sponsors.”

Even though recent issues at billionaire Gautam Adani’s business empire have lessened its attractiveness, India — and its fast-growing economy — has emerged as a major bet for global financial firms. At the same time, China finds it difficult to draw investors after years of economic stagnation from its protracted Covid Zero policy and a crackdown on private enterprise, especially on its biggest tech firms.

Maheshwari said that this year’s deal flow in India would be driven by smaller transactions, with the majority falling between $500 million to $2 billion. He said that sectors such as technology, energy, speciality manufacturing, and health care are expected to be fairly active.

“Corporate clarity, financial sponsors, and switch from public to private track will likely be the three key drivers for M&A this year,” he said.

Palo Alto Networks elevates KP Unnikrishnan as New Chief Marketing Officer

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March 6, 2023

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Palo Alto Networks marketing veteran KP Unnikrishnan (Unni) is elevated to Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), effective March 4. He will be based in the company’s Santa Clara headquarters and report directly to Palo Alto Networks Chairman and CEO Nikesh Arora.

Taking Unni’s role as Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific and Japan, Lisa Sim will oversee the company’s regional growth strategy, improving brand visibility and driving opportunities by increasing demand for Palo Alto Networks‘ cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. Lisa has worked with the company since 2017, most recently serving as the Head of Marketing for South Asia. She manages the Cybersafe Kids program as its director.

The transition comes when Palo Alto Networks is ideally positioned to support customers as they engage on a network transformation journey and consolidate their security architectures.

“The past 9 years have been among the most fulfilling years of my career. I have been part of the phenomenal growth story of this company, one that saw a startup of near anonymity catapult into a world leader in cybersecurity.” Unni reflected. “I am excited to take on this role as we deepen our presence and impact across the world. With the most comprehensive cybersecurity portfolio, my goal is to continue to build on our mission of being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.”

“I am really excited about joining the JAPAC leadership team for the next chapter of our growth journey. Protecting our digital world deeply aligns with many of our customers’ values. It’s rewarding work to protect organisations and to also drive social impact through our education programs.” said Lisa Sim.

Zetwerk raises Rs 100-Cr in debt from Edelweiss

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March 6, 2023

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Zetwerk, a Bengaluru-based business-to-business (B2B) startup, reportedly raised debt funding of approximately Rs 100 crore from a fund backed by the Edelweiss Group.

Around ₹83 crores of the funds came from the Edelweiss Credit Plus Fund, which provides loan capital to early-to mid-stage private firms, according to Mint. The capital was raised through the issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

The report further stated that Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) was the transaction’s legal advisor, and Perigon Consillario LLP was the investment banker.

Zetwerk (Zetwerk Manufacturing Businesses Pvt. Ltd.), founded in 2018 by IIT alumni Amrit Acharya, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Rahul Sharma, and Vishal Chaudhary, provides manufacturing solutions to businesses such as fabrication, machining, casting, moulding, onsite services, extrusion, stamping, forging, etc.

The category II alternative investment fund (AIF) Edelweiss Credit Plus Fund focuses on opportunities in the mid-market for performing credit space. Firms, primarily in the fintech industry, such as Cashe and Spandana Sphoorty, can get short-term capital for 1-3 years.

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