Freightify secures $12mn in a Series A round

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February 2, 2023

Freight rate management SaaS platform, Freightify, has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital India. TMV and Alteria Capital also participated, along with existing investors Nordic Eye Venture Capital and Motion Ventures. Both debt and equity are involved in the round.

As it enters new geographies and functional areas, it will utilise the funds to improve its product offerings and add new functionalities, increase brand awareness globally, build channel partnerships, extend its global sales presence, and strengthen its marketing initiatives. Additionally, the company will actively hire throughout all regions, especially in Chennai.

“The freight forwarding industry is a cornerstone of the global trade economy, and despite the massive size, much of the industry remains constrained by manual processes and runs on paper, Excel sheets, and phone calls,” said Mayank Porwal, VP, Sequoia India.

“Freightify, a vertical SaaS platform, is solving this problem by helping freight forwarders automate rate management and make everyday operational workflows fast and efficient so that they can focus on serving customers and growing their business,” he added.

The company has previously raised $2.5 million in funding, bringing the total to $14.5 million.

Freightify’s SaaS platform allows freight forwarders to procure, manage, and provide quotes for freight pricing (along with any applicable ancillary fees) in less than two minutes. To better assist their customers, forwarders can set up a digital storefront. It features track and trace solutions that give freight forwarders instant access to real-time vessel locations and automatic milestones.

Currently, Freightify helps more than 200 freight forwarding companies that offer global logistics services across 45 countries to digitise their business.

In 2016, Raghavendran Viswanathan, who had previously worked in logistics, supply chain, and freight management for DHL and Panalpina, founded Freightify, which has its headquarters in Singapore and a development team in Chennai.

Raghavendran said his mission is to democratise technology for freight forwarders. “We solve their challenges through our comprehensive SaaS platform, giving them and their customers a live pricing platform like the ones used by travellers to compare airfares, showing real-time rates on a single screen.”

In addition to expanding in North America, Freightify has been rapidly expanding across Europe, Australia, and key regions in the Asia Pacific.

India’s unemployment rate falls to four-month low of 7.14% in Jan: CMIE

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February 2, 2023

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Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed on Wednesday that India’s unemployment rate dropped 7.14% in January from 8.30% the previous month, the lowest level in four months.

According to the report, the unemployment rate in urban areas dropped from 10.09% to 8.55% in January, while the rate in rural areas dropped from 7.44% to 6.48%.

Jammu and Kashmir had the highest unemployment rate among the states at 21.8%, followed closely by Haryana (21.7%) and Rajasthan (21.1%).

According to the report, the unemployment rate in January in Delhi was 16.7%, Goa was 16.2%, Assam was 16.1%, and Tripura was 16.0%.

It further revealed that unemployment was the lowest in states like Chhattisgarh at 0.5 per cent, followed by Odisha at 1.5 per cent, Tamil Nadu at 1.8 per cent and Madhya Pradesh at 1.9 per cent.

“It is safe to say that employment has improved over the last few quarters, however, we still have a long way to go given each year, in absolute terms, we have added nearly 20 million to the workforce, making the gap wider day by day,” TeamLease Services co-founder and executive vice president Rituparna Chakraborty said.

Aditya Narayan Mishra, managing director and CEO of CIEL HR Services, stated that January 2023 had the lowest unemployment rate over the previous three months, making it a good start to the year.

He said that various economic and geopolitical factors have been causing the unemployment rate to fluctuate over the past few months.

“IT, technology and startups have suffered in the last six months, however, we anticipate more jobs to be created over the months of 2023, which will reduce the rate further. Budget 2023 has also focused on job creation in agritech, education, tourism, infrastructure, healthcare, financial services, healthcare and MSME sectors, indicating that the unemployment rate may continue to fall in the following months,” he said.

Mishra added that initiatives to improve people’s skills would enable them to meet various sectors’ hiring requirements.

The Fern Hotels and Resorts launches The Fern Habitat, Jaipur

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February 1, 2023

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The Fern Hotels & Resorts, the leading environmentally sensitive hotel chain in India, has opened The Fern Habitat, Jaipur, its second unique apart’hotel. This is the company’s fourth hotel in Pink City and its 10th hotel in Rajasthan.

Speaking of the launch, Suhail Kannampilly, CEO of Concept Hospitality-The Fern Hotels & Resorts, said, “The Fern Habitat is our eco-friendly Apart’otel chain. This new brand compliments our other three Fern, Fern Residency and Beacon hotels in the fascinating city of Jaipur. We welcome our business and leisure guests to come and experience this new offering in Rajasthan’s state capital.”

Prashant Gupta, managing director of Anukampa Avas Vikas LLP, mentioned, “We are excited to have The Fern Habitat as our brand partner with Concept Hospitality to launch the second eco-friendly Fern Habitat branded hotel in India, offering our guests environmentally sensitive facilities that The Fern Hotels are well known for. Our hotel will additionally benefit from the strong sales presence the Fern brand enjoys with the leading online portals and the top travel agents, consolidators and corporate clients all over India.”

The Fern Habitat, Jaipur, is ideally located on Ajmer Road and is only a 15-minute drive from most of the city’s important business and tourist destinations. To accommodate up to 400 guests for conferences, training programs, meetings, events, and wedding functions, the resort offers 105 contemporary, comfortable, and spacious rooms, a multi-cuisine restaurant & bar, and 6 banquet & meeting rooms. Excellent alternatives for dining, shopping, and entertainment are nearby. This is an ideal place to stay in Jaipur because of its convenient location and range of facilities and amenities.

FM Sitharaman announces a number of measures to support start-ups in India

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February 1, 2023

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced in her budget speech proposed the extension of the date of incorporation for income tax benefits to start-ups from 31.03.23 to 31.3.24. The FM also proposed to increase the benefit of carrying forward losses for startups to 10 years.

“Entrepreneurship is vital for a country’s economic development. We have taken a number of measures for start-ups, and they have borne results. India is now the third largest ecosystem for start-ups globally and ranks second in innovation quality among middle-income countries,” said Sitharaman.

The budget measure is being implemented as the startup industry experiences a funding winter, with investors only investing about $25 billion in Indian startups in 2022, down from $42 billion across 1,500+ deals in 2021.

The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme received a budget allocation of Rs 283.5 crore from the government for the fiscal year 2022–23, an increase over the Revised Estimates of about Rs 100 crore in the previous budget. The Fund of Funds for Startups received a budget allocation of Rs 1,000 crore.

“To unleash innovation and research by start-ups and academia, a National Data Governance Policy will be brought out. This will enable access to anonymized data,” she said on Wednesday. Further, an Agriculture Accelerator Fund will be set-up to encourage agristartups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas. The Fund will bring innovative and affordable solutions for challenges faced by farmers, she said.

To encourage startups in the country, the government has taken several actions. Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) scheme, Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS) are implemented as part of the Startup India initiative to provide capital at various stages of a startup’s business cycle.

To nurture innovation and encourage private investment in the startup ecosystem, the government established the Startup India initiative in January 2016.

Cloud firm NetApp to layoff 8% of its global workforce

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February 1, 2023

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The cloud data management firm NetApp Inc. announced on Tuesday that it would cut around 960 jobs, or about 8% of its global workforce, as it struggles with the tough economic conditions that have reduced customer spending.

The company expects to carry out the job cuts through the end of its fiscal 2023 and incur related charges in the third quarter of about $85 million to $95 million.

After global central banks enacted rapid rate hikes to combat inflation, U.S. companies have cut and downsized expenses to cope with the global economic downturn.

“Companies are facing an increasingly challenging macroeconomic environment, which is driving more conservatism in IT spending. We are not immune to these challenges,” NetApp Chief Executive George Kurian said in a letter to employees.

On April 29, 2022, the company had about 12,000 employees.

Workday Inc., a software maker, also revealed intentions to lay off 3% of its more than 15,000 employees earlier in the day.

Simpliwork Offices invests Rs 40-cr on two centers in Kolkata

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January 31, 2023

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Bengaluru-based Simpliwork Offices, partnered by Salarpuria Sattva, has invested Rs 40 crore in two centres – Godrej Waterside and IT Lagoon, spread across over 1.5 lakh sq ft in Kolkata, the company said in a media release.

The company plans to grow by 2.5 times by the end of March 2024 and expects to add another 4 lakh sq ft in the city in the next three years.

Kunal Walia, CEO & founder of the company, said, “Today, several large organizations are exploring office spaces in Kolkata. After experimenting with satellite offices, in particular, flexible office set-ups, during the pandemic, businesses are now looking at implementing them in the long term. We aim to add another 4L sq. ft. to the city in the next 3 years.”

Simpliwork Offices, founded in 2018, serves large corporate entities, with 80% of its lease based on a per-desk model and the remaining 20% based on a per-square-foot model.

It currently has 85+ centres spread over approximately 4.2 million sq ft in India. Simpliwork’s toplines increased roughly 70–72% in 2022, ending in FY23 with 49,000–50,000 desks. According to their business plan for FY24, they aim to expand 2–2.2 million sq ft, which will cost roughly Rs 350 crore in capital.

Over the next year, the company plans to grow its portfolio by about 50%. To go public in the next three to four years, they are also looking into fundraising opportunities.

Amazon India says 50% waiver of referral fee for new sellers

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January 31, 2023

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Amazon India, a major player in e-commerce, announced in a press release on Tuesday that it had waived off referral fee for sellers by 50% to incentivize new sellers to use e-commerce.

Sellers pay Amazon a referral fee in return for aiding to facilitate sales on the online marketplace.

“As the new year begins, we are thrilled to announce a 50% referral fee waiver for ‘new to e-commerce’ businesses on Amazon.in. We believe that with the right support, small businesses can grow,” commented Amit Nanda, director of selling partner services at Amazon India.

Nanda highlighted that the announcement aligns with the company’s commitment to digitally transform 10 million Indian small businesses by 2025.

For new sellers that register on the platform between January 15 and April 14, 2023, the waiver will be applicable for 60 days.

According to the company, this initiative would lower the initial costs of “New to e-commerce” businesses and help them expand in the competitive e-commerce sector.

Over 1.2 million sellers are reportedly registered on Amazon India’s marketplace.

Mindspace REIT’s net operating income increases 22% to Rs 455 crore in Q3 FY23

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January 31, 2023

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Mindspace Business Parks REIT announced a distribution of Rs 284.6 crore to unitholders on Monday after reporting a 22% increase in net operating income to Rs 455 crore for the quarter that ended in December. In the previous fiscal year, it had a net operating income of Rs 373.7 crore.

According to the company’s regulatory filing, gross leasing reached 1.3 million square feet in the third quarter of FY23, bringing the total amount leased from April to December to 3.5 million square feet.

The committed occupancy increased even more, reaching 88.3 per cent.

“Despite the challenging economic environment, the committed occupancy of the portfolio jumped by 400 bps to 88.3 per cent during the first nine months of FY23. Our strong performance further instils confidence to bring forward strategic supply and pursue another value accretive redevelopment opportunity in one of India’s top-performing micro-markets,” Vinod Rohira, Chief Executive Officer of Mindspace Business Parks REIT, said.

Mindspace REIT plans to re-develop a 1.6 million square feet area at Madhapur to strengthen the growth pipeline.

In the third quarter of this fiscal year, it increased its overall income from Rs 441 crore to Rs 544 crore. Higher interest cost was the main cause of the net profit’s decline from Rs 145.6 crore to Rs 126.5 crore.

Mindspace Business Parks REIT, sponsored by the K Raheja Corp group, was listed on the Indian bourses in August 2020. It owns office portfolios in Mumbai Region, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai.

A total of 32 million square feet of leasable area comprise the portfolio, of which 25.6 million square feet are completed, 1.8 million square feet are under construction, and 4.6 million square feet are planned for future development. The portfolio has 5 integrated business parks and 5 high-quality, independent office assets.

Higher education startup Sunstone announces its first ESOP buyback worth Rs 18 Crore

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January 30, 2023

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Gurugram-based higher education startup Sunstone Eduversity announced its ESOP (employee stock ownership) buyback, led by WestBridge Capital, which witnessed a total transaction of Rs 18 crore.

Twenty of Sunstone’s current and former employees, who have worked for the company since its inception, benefitted from this buyback. 57% of the vested shares the departing employees held were eligible for selling under this buyback policy.

“This first-ever ESOP buyback is one of our ways to acknowledge their hard work and efforts towards building Sunstone. The youngest member of Sunstone who benefited is 26 years of age, and we want all our employees to grow with the organisation,” Ashish Munjal, Co-founder and CEO of Sunstone, said.

“With an employee-first attitude, Sunstone wants to create wealth for its 700+ employees, and we are committed to creating more such opportunities in the future,” added Ashish.

In October 2021, Sunstone raised $28 million in Series B funding. Sunstone was founded in 2019 by Ashish Munjal and Piyush Nangru. It raised $35 million in Series C funding in August 2022, led by WestBridge Capital.

The company operates in 35 cities and 40 institutions and is developing capacities to expand into 100 cities across India.

In 2021, Indian startups bought ESOPs worth over $400 million, according to a report on startups by NASSCOM and consultancy firm Zinnov.

Swytchd receives $553,000 from Keiretsu Forum, others

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January 30, 2023

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Swytchd, an EV startup, has raised $553,000 in a seed round led by Keiretsu Forum, a network of angel investors.

Several other investors, including Let’s Venture, Venture Catalyst, and Beej Network, participated in the round. The Bengaluru-based startup announced it would use the funds to hire employees and expand operations and marketing. The expansion of the fleet will benefit from the funding as well.

Swytchd, an electric vehicle subscription platform, was founded in 2021 by Sameer Arif.

“Our vision is to hand-hold the transition to electric vehicles for customers by reducing upfront costs, providing flexibility vs. the current EMI model, and making vehicle ownership, trouble-free. All the benefits, none of the hassle,” the company said in a post on LinkedIn.

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