VFS Capital to raise Rs 1,500 Cr in FY24 to support growth plans

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March 4, 2023

Leading microfinance institution VFS Capital looks to raise around Rs 1,500 crore in FY23–24 to support its growth and expansion plans, a top company official said.

He said the Kolkata-headquartered NBFC-MFI raised around Rs 800 crore in the current financial year ending this month.

“Our focus has been on loan book growth and expansion of branches. We are planning to raise around Rs 1,500 crore in the next fiscal,” VFS Capital MD and CEO Kuldip Maity said.

Since MFIs in India, unlike Bangladesh, are not allowed to raise deposits, borrowing costs are high, he said.

“We get access to funds only from banks and NBFCs,” Maity said.

To a query, he said, “VFS does not have immediate plans” to apply for a licence to get a small finance bank (SFB) tag.

The Reserve Bank of India allows such SFBs to raise money from the public.

With a loan disbursement of around Rs 1,300 crore – 1,400 crores, VFS Capital expects to close the current fiscal year.

“We plan to scale up the loan book to Rs 2,500 crore in FY23-24,” Maity said.

In FY22, it reported a loan book of Rs 805 crore.

Dinesh Kumar Khara, the Chairman of the State Bank of India, felicitated six rural women entrepreneurs and MFI borrowers at the event.

With a network of about 280 branches in 14 states, including West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, the MFI currently serves approximately four lakhs women borrowers.

“This fiscal, we have opened 30 more branches, mostly in Bihar, MP, and Rajasthan. Our plan is to add 50 branches in FY23-24,” he said, adding that the company continues to explore new locations to serve the unbanked people and expand its footprint as a microfinance institution.

Lemon Tree Hotels signs two new hotels in Dapoli, Maharashtra

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March 4, 2023

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Lemon Tree Hotels has announced the signing of two new properties in Maharashtra: Keys Lite by Lemon Tree Hotels, Sylvan, Dapoli, and Lemon Tree Hotel, Dapoli. By October 2023, both properties are expected to be operational. Carnation Hotels Private Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary and the management arm of Lemon Tree Hotels Limited will manage both properties’ operations.

The Lemon Tree Hotel, Dapoli, will have 50 well-appointed rooms, a restaurant, a bar, conference rooms, a swimming pool, a fitness centre, and other public spaces.

Keys Lite from Lemon Tree Hotels Sylvan will have 20 luxurious rooms, a restaurant, banquet lawns, a swimming pool, indoor and outdoor game areas, and other public areas.

Both properties have easy access to public and private transport to all of Maharashtra’s major cities, including Mumbai and Pune.

Dapoli is a popular beach destination in the South Konkan region of Maharashtra. Dapoli has something to offer everyone: its magnificent beaches, ancient temples, caves, and forts. Given the accessible distance, Dapoli has grown incredibly popular with tourists from Mumbai and Pune who travel there for weekends. Because of its year-round cool climate, which makes it an ideal vacation destination, Dapoli is also called the “mini-Mahabaleshwar of Maharashtra”.

Speaking on occasion, Mahesh Aiyer, CEO of Carnation Hotels Private Limited, commented, “We are delighted to announce two hotel signings in Dapoli with our valued partner, PRS Hospitality Infrastructure Development (I) Pvt. Ltd. We already have 8 operational hotels in the state, in Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad, another 2 upcoming in Mumbai and, now, 2 in Dapoli. We have found that Maharashtra has immense tourism and business potential and are looking at adding more hotels and resorts in the state to our existing portfolio,” he added.

Courtyard by Marriott Shillong opens Spectra, an all-day dining restaurant

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March 3, 2023

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Courtyard by Marriott Shillong is thrilled to announce the opening of Spectra, the hotel’s newest all-day dining destination. The multi-cuisine restaurant is set to offer its diners a wide array of buffet choices and an enticing a la carte selection of local and international favourites. Providing a blend of culinary innovation and personalized service, it is the perfect setting for diners to unwind with family, friends, and business connections.

Every food lover will love the stylish and elegant restaurant. By using fresh ingredients carefully crafted by the restaurant’s in-house culinary team to reflect international flavours and local heritage, the restaurant will offer gourmet experiences with an emphasis on both world cuisine and locally inspired cuisine.

The restaurant is located on the lobby level and features a spacious dining area with floor-to-ceiling windows endowed with natural light. A beautiful al-fresco dining area is attached to the restaurant for guests who prefer outdoor dining.

The team at Spectra is committed to providing guests with an outstanding dining experience, with attentive service and attention to detail. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner operations, providing guests the flexibility to eat at any time. Cuisine highlights include breakfast, lunch, and dinner with interactive kitchens and various live counters with modern perspectives and balanced flavours.

The restaurant is all set to become the brunch capital of Shillong every Sunday, with a lavish spread, with heady concoctions to make for lazy Sunday afternoons to become fun.

“We are delighted to launch Spectra, our all-day dining restaurant at Courtyard by Marriott Shillong,” said Tushar Nagar, the general manager at Courtyard by Marriott Shillong. “We believe in offering our guests a truly authentic dining experience, and that’s why we have sourced our ingredients locally to ensure the freshness and flavoursome of our food. By incorporating indigenous ingredients into our menu, we are not only providing a unique culinary experience but also supporting local produce and communities. At Spectra, our focus is on offering a memorable dining experience that celebrates the best of local and international cuisine.”

VMware and Samsung expand collaboration on 5G tech

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March 3, 2023

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VMware has expanded its partnership with Samsung, resulting in the integration of Samsung’s O-RAN compliant virtualized RAN solutions and VMware Telco Cloud Platform as part of the DISH Wireless 5G network buildout.

According to a statement, this milestone strengthens ongoing efforts by the two companies to enable Communication Service Providers (CSPs) access to all the benefits of Open RAN networks.

The global 5G collaboration between VMware and Samsung was first announced in 2020. Since then, the two companies have developed a validated architecture and cell site deployment model that integrates the Samsung virtualized Distributed Unit (vDU), built on top of the VMware Telco Cloud Platform.

“VMware, together with Samsung, has developed the next-generation RAN by combining the power of software-defined, open interfaces, and scalable virtualization, all running in a cloud-native architecture. We’ve begun to crack the RAN code—this is the first step to full network programmability enabling the vision of networking on demand for dynamic applications,” said Lakshmi Mandyam, Vice President of Product Management and Partner Ecosystem, Service Provider and Edge, VMware.

The two companies are now working together to simplify the development of 5G Open RAN networks powered by a cloud-native architecture simpler for CSPs.

“We are excited to share that our collaboration with VMware is now delivering the power of 5G and Open RAN to CSPs with real network traffic running in the Core and RAN,” said Kicheol Lee, Vice President and Head of System S/W R&D, Networks Business, Samsung Electronics. “Together, we are making it easier for CSPs to embrace open, virtualized cloud-native technologies that will help accelerate the advancement of commercial 5G networks.”

Foxconn to invest in India’s Telangana state

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March 3, 2023

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Apple supplier Foxconn will invest an undisclosed sum in India’s southern state of Telangana towards an electronics manufacturing facility in the south Indian state, the state’s chief minister said on Thursday.

According to Telangana’s IT minister KT Rama Rao, the investment will generate 100,000 jobs in the state. The announcement came after a meeting between Telangana’s chief minister and Foxconn’s chairman earlier in the day.

Foxconn, based in Taiwan, already operates in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where it manufactures products for companies like Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

“The state government is on a mission to transform Telangana for better and has undertaken several marquee projects to realise vision of ‘Bangaru Telangana’. Foxconn’s unit will help in generating large scale employment to youth and will help in attracting more such industries to the State,” said Telangana CM.

B Capital closes its first healthcare-focused fund worth $500M corpus

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March 2, 2023

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Venture capital firm B Capital has raised its first healthcare fund, committing to invest $500 million in healthcare-focused startups in the United States, Asia, and Europe.

The new fund, Healthcare Fund I, will focus on specific sub-sectors like biotech and medtech and take B Capital’s total assets under management (AUM) to $6.3 billion, according to a statement from the venture capital firm. About 20 healthcare-related startups from these regions have received funds from B Capital.

The multi-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Manhattan, New York, has backed over 140 companies worldwide in the consumer, B2B, and fintech sectors. The VC firm has backed over 20 startups in India, including BYJU’S, Meesho, and Pharmeasy, through the early to growth stages.

B Capital announced the closing of Growth Fund III and affiliated funds in January 2023, totaling roughly $2.1 billion in capital commitments.

B Capital, established in 2014 by Raj Ganguly and Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, has nine locations in the United States and Asia, an integrated team, and a strategic partnership with BCG that enables it to expand into new markets and support entrepreneurs across all growth stages.

“We are witnessing unprecedented innovation across the healthcare landscape,” said Robert Mittendorff, Managing Director, General Partner, and Head of Healthcare at B Capital. Mittendorff will lead the new fund and the firm’s overall healthcare initiatives.

“Technological advancements in biology, AI, and automation are transforming the industry, with business models seeing the convergence of traditional players in novel ways. This moment presents a unique opportunity for B Capital to leverage our dedicated healthcare capital and active investment strategy to find and support companies advancing the healthcare sector,” he added.

Edtech firms PhysicsWallah, Utkarsh Classes form joint venture

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February 27, 2023

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Edtech unicorn Physics Wallah (PW) and e-learning platform Utkarsh Classes have formed a joint venture (JV) to offer students academic training and course offerings in various categories.

According to a statement, the duo plan to leverage each other’s core competencies to provide value-added education for all examinations and jointly enter new exam categories.

“The founding teams (of PW and Utkarsh Classes) have a solid vision of providing result-oriented quality education to every student in the country at an affordable fee,” Alakh Pandey, PhysicsWallah Founder, and CEO, said. “Our collaboration will help us better serve students across India and make their learning experience more enriching.”

This JV announcement comes when edtech companies have shifted their attention to hybrid due to a drop in demand following the gradual reopening of schools and institutions.

Utkarsh Classes, providing offline instruction for over 20 years, will help PW improve its offline operations and develop a robust hybrid learning model.

As part of this collaboration, PW will continue to operate offline centers in 32 cities across India while Utkarsh Classes expands its government test preparation segment.

PhysicsWallah ventured into the offline space with PW Vidyapeeth last year. The edtech unicorn announced that it would increase its reach by opening more Vidyapeeths and scaling up in the categories of all-India competitive exams.

Interview Solution Provider InCruiter forays into the United States

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February 27, 2023

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InCruiter, an interview solution provider, has forayed into the United States. According to an internal study, the company found that this region had a larger demand for its products, particularly Interview-as-a-Service (IaaS), which is 10X more expensive than India. InCruiter intends to take advantage of this growth opportunity as part of this growth to scale its business.

InCruiter has raised Rs 1 crore in revenue-based funding to expand the revenue of its products globally. The company also hopes to expand in Canada, Dubai, Singapore, the Philippines, and Singapore.

It is also hiring a team of experts in the United States and focusing on improving the current product for the market.

Since its launch in 2018, InCruiter has conducted around 50,000 interviews, engaged more than 2,200 interviewers, and will have completed 1.51 million interview mins in 2022.

Speaking on the US expansion, Anil Agarwal, CEO & Co-Founder, InCruiter (IaaS Firm), said, “This expansion is no less than a milestone for us. After working tirelessly to make our dream a reality, it took us less than five years to go global with our product. Following our successful functioning in India, we realized this product has huge potential not only in our nation but also across the globe. Thus, we decided to take it forward.”

He added, “With this expansion, we expect to generate 10X revenue for the organization with a strong focus on our hero product, IaaS. We also plan to take our products to other geographies in the near future. We expect to capture 25% of the global market in the next two years.”

Grayscale Ventures secures first close of its $20M SaaS-focused pre-seed fund

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February 27, 2023

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Singapore-headquartered Grayscale Ventures has secured the first close of its debut fund, raising nearly half of its $20 million target.

Founded by Siddharth Verma and Nikhil Kapur, the 10-year term fund intends to invest in 15-20 startups in the pre-seed stage. It has invested in several startups, including Localwell, a mobile SaaS startup for Indian pharmaceutical retailers, and Olvy, a cloud-based feedback SaaS platform provider.

Before the product-market-fit stage, Grayscale Ventures typically invests in startups that have some version of a product ready. Occasionally, according to Verma, it might even consider companies that remain at the pre-product stage.

There are limited partners in it worldwide, including Japan, the United States, India, and other Southeast Asian countries. Most limited partners (LPs) are operators and founders from companies like Zendesk, Hasura, Slack, GlobalWay, Nexus Venture Partners, and STRIVE.

“In early 2022, we started having conversations with potential LPs. What LPs found interesting was these spaces that are so deep… potentially the next wave of very large companies would come out of these themes,” said Verma.

The duo first met at the venture capital firm STRIVE in Tokyo while helping it deploy its Fund II and Fund III in India and Southeast Asia. Jointly, they invested in 25–28 start-ups in the business-to-business segment.

This was when they decided to set up a fund focusing on the Indian SaaS space. “Over time, we got the confidence that the investments we did at STRIVE are doing well. We invested $18 million-$20 million in the last six years. And now we’re sitting on 7X MOIC (multiple on invested capital) in India and Southeast Asia… that gave us the confidence to start our own fund,” says Verma.

“Our bet is more on the founders and their product-building capabilities, their understanding of the market (they operate in), and their product-led approach. These are a few ingredients we are on the lookout for while speaking with founders,” he added.

Airtel, Paytm payments banks in early talks for merger

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February 25, 2023

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Sunil Mittal, the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, is in early talks to merge Airtel Payments Bank into Paytm Payments Bank in a stock deal.

Mittal is looking to acquire a stake in Paytm as part of the agreement, including by buying shares of the fintech company from other stockholders, Bloomberg reported Friday evening, citing unnamed sources.

According to the report, Airtel and Paytm may not reach a deal as the talks are in the early stages.

Shares of One97 Communications Ltd, Paytm’s parent company, ended Friday up 2.55% on BSE at Rs 622.00 apiece, while the benchmark Sensex index shed nearly 142 points to close at 59,463.93.

Airtel Payments Bank had 129 million customers and had turned profitable in the financial year 2021-22.

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