WeWork India secures ₹550-Cr from private credit platform BPEA Credit

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December 26, 2022

Flexible workspace provider WeWork India has raised ₹550 crores, or around $66.5 million, from private credit platform BPEA Credit to support its expansion plans.

The company started operations in India in 2017, and it now has 41 locations spread across six of the country’s biggest cities, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, and Pune. WeWork India is a joint venture between WeWork International and commercial real estate giant Embassy Group, which holds a major stake in the company.

“We are laser-focused on fuelling growth opportunities and fortifying our position as the leading flexible workspace brand with customizable and innovative solutions for all businesses,” Karan Virwani, chief executive of WeWork India, said in a statement.

The company’s “bullish” outlook on expansion over the next year is reflected in the capital gain. Since the pandemic, the sector has moved in favor of flexible workspaces, which has been advantageous for the company.

“With India Inc. transitioning towards a hybrid work model, there has been a growing demand for flexibility,” WeWork India said, adding that it remains “prudent” about its overall business strategy.

Avendus Capital was the financial advisor to WeWork India on the transaction.

“This fund raise by WeWork India strongly underscores the increasing confidence of the investment community in the growth prospects of India’s flex workspace sector. This would be one of the largest transactions in this sector, and we are confident that it will open up many such investment opportunities,” said Prateek Jhawar, Executive Director and Head, Infrastructure & Real Assets Investment Banking at Avendus Capital.

Money View bags $75mn in a Series E funding

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December 26, 2022

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With participation from existing investors Tiger Global, Winter Capital, and Evolvence, Money View has raised $75 million in its ongoing Series E funding, led by UK-based asset manager Apis Partners. The funding is valued at $900 million.

The Tiger Global-backed fintech startup raised $75 million in a Series D round in March this year. Money View, based in Bengaluru, plans to use the funds to scale its credit business, grow its team, and extend its product offering to include services like digital bank accounts, insurance, and wealth management solutions.

Co-founder and CEO Puneet Agarwal said, “Our performance and growth over the past two years has allowed us to drive our mission of true financial inclusion in India with great success.”

Money View, a company founded in 2014 by Puneet Agarwal and Sanjay Aggarwal, provides a range of credit products, such as cards, BNPL, quick personal loans, and personal financial management solutions. To offer these solutions, it has collaborated with over 15 financial institutions.

“Money View has achieved great success already, with their credit products democratizing the access for millions of customers in India, and we are truly excited to partner with the company at this stage of its journey,” said Matteo Stefanel, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Apis Partners.

The company claimed to have an annualized disbursal run rate of $1.2 billion and assets under management of $800 million (AUM). It added that it has recorded positive unit economics since it started and that the past two years have seen profits.

Gifting Startup Winni plans to add 150 retail outlets

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December 24, 2022

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Online gifting platform Winni aims to add over 150 retail outlets of ‘Winni Cakes and More’ in the next three months, taking its total franchisees to about 400 by the end of the current fiscal.

According to a statement, the bootstrapped startup opened its 250th retail outlet in Patna, making it the 67th franchise in Bihar.

“We are really proud that we have achieved this milestone within a record period of three years where now we have 250 operational bakery retail outlets in India,” Winni co-founder and CEO Sujeet Kumar Mishra said, adding, “We have already sold 315 franchises at pan India level and are confident of opening over 400 stores by the end of the current financial year.”

By 2025, the company plans to open 5,000 stores worldwide as part of an ambitious plan to grow its business.

“With opening stores in 23 states and five union territories, Winni Cakes & More has emerged as the only bakery retail brand that has a truly pan-India geographical presence and a direct reach to five crore population,” Sujeet added.

With a presence in Tier-I, II, and III cities, he said that the company’s retail network is equally distributed.

The company says that in 2021–2022, revenue reached the Rs 100 crore level.

Home First Finance receives Rs 280-Cr from IFC

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December 24, 2022

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Home First Finance Company announced in a BSE filing that it had raised Rs 280 crore from International Finance Corporation (IFC) through the issuance of 2,800 secured, rated, unlisted, redeemable, rupee denominated non-convertible debentures with face values of up to Rs 10 lakh each on a private placement basis with a tenor of up to seven years.

The funds raised will be used to finance retail buyers of housing units and green affordable housing units, promote home ownership among low-income groups, and support the development of green affordable housing.

IFC will also provide non-financial support in the form of knowledge, innovation, and capacity building through advisory engagement and non-commercial risk mitigation through IFC Advisory services, as per the terms of the agreement.

IFC will help Home First to develop its green housing framework, including technical assistance for the standards used to evaluate green housing, operationalizing the certification procedure, and building capacity for green housing certification, monitoring, and reporting.

Axis Trustee Services served as the trustee for the issue.

“We believe this partnership has a strong potential to enhance financial inclusion and green housing,” said Manoj Viswanathan, managing director & chief executive of Home First.

Axiscades Technologies buys Mistral Solutions for Rs 296-Cr

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December 23, 2022

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Axiscades Technologies, an engineering solutions company, has completed the acquisition of Mistral Solutions for Rs 296 crore. Mistral is a company with expertise in product engineering, embedded electronics, defence, and semiconductors.

According to Axiscades Technologies, the acquisition will increase its capability in digital engineering, embedded electronics, and systems engineering. Axiscades expects this acquisition will result in robust and consistent earnings and margin expansion.

The company recently received a repeat work order to offer engineering services for product design for all aircraft programmes of the leading global aerospace firm Airbus.

According to Axiscades Chairman David Bradley, the acquisition will allow the firm to expand its operations and add complementary products to its portfolio while providing customers with cutting-edge solutions.

Data science startup Tredence secures $175mn in Series B funding

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December 23, 2022

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Global data science and AI (artificial intelligence) solutions company Tredence has raised $175 million in a Series B funding round from a global private equity investor Advent International.

Tredence will use the funds from this round to speed up the realization of AI for various industries and data-driven growth.

Advent will also join Tredence’s board of directors as part of the agreement, buying a minority equity stake in the startup.

Private equity firm Chicago Pacific Founders (CPF), an existing investor, will continue to hold shares of Tredence. According to a statement, CPF made its first investment in the firm in December 2020.

Tredence, a company founded in 2013 by Shub Bhowmick, Sumit Mehra, and Shashank Dubey, strives to bridge the gap between insight delivery and value realization.

Through customized solutions, it offers clients a distinct approach to data and analytics. The startup has offices in San Jose, Foster City, Chicago, London, Toronto, and Bengaluru.

It has 1,800 employees, and its clients include companies in the retail, telecom, healthcare, travel, and industry sectors.

“Tredence was founded to help clients solve some of the most complex challenges across industries through pragmatic innovation and continuous experimentation,” said Tredence CEO Bhowmick.

Godrej Properties to develop 14.27 acres land in Gurugram

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December 23, 2022

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Godrej Properties (GPL) has entered into an agreement for the development of 14.27 acres of land in Gurugram, Haryana, the company said in a BSE filing.

The proposed development, with a potential turnover of almost Rs 3,000 crore, will mostly consist of luxury residential apartments.

Gaurav Pandey, MD & CEO designate of the company, said, “This project will allow us to significantly increase our market share in Gurugram over the next several years and fits within our strategy of deepening our presence across key real estate micro-markets.”

In Kandivali, Mumbai, the company recently acquired a land parcel of about 18.6 acres. With an estimated revenue potential of almost Rs 7,000 crore, this project has a total developable area of about 3.72 million sq ft.

According to SBI’s e-tendering portal, which organised an e-auction on behalf of the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA), it had been declared the highest bidder in November 2022 for two adjacent Noida land parcels with a combined bid amount of Rs 377 crore.

GPL will use these land parcels in Noida’s Sector 146 to build residential group housing. The two adjacent land parcels total 12.4 acres and have a combined development potential of over 3.2 million sq ft.

Deeptech startup iRasus secures funds in a seed round

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December 22, 2022

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Battery intelligence and analytics platform iRasus raised an undisclosed seed funding round from Digital Futurists Angel Networks (DFAN), Elina Investments, and angel investors Bhuvan Gupta and Amit Khetan, among others.

The startup plans to use the funds to expand its market reach and strengthen its battery analytics and visualization platform. It is building a platform to help businesses organize and analyze battery data.

The digital infrastructure platform, co-founded by Arjun Sinha Roy and Anirudh Ramesh, both graduates of BITS Pilani, integrates and leverages battery data to create applications for better battery management. The startup has developed an API-driven middleware platform to connect batteries to the cloud for data visualization, analytics, third-party development, and integration.

Arjun Sinha Roy & Anirudh Ramesh, Co-Founder iRasus, stated, “We are firm believers of the ability of technology to usher in transformation. This is more so in times like today when technology has the potential to solve various problems on a scale – especially those around climate change and sustainability. We do this through software that helps in the end-to-end management of battery systems and, therefore, offers seamless operations for the EV sector. This funding round will help us enhance the platform and enter the next growth stage. We thank our investors for their faith in us.”

Edtech startup upGrad invests Rs 30-Cr in TuringMinds

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December 22, 2022

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UpGrad, an edtech startup led by Ronnie Screwvala, announced that it had invested Rs 30 crore in TuringMinds.

TuringMinds was founded last year to utilize its scholar pool to meet the growing demand from enterprises for outsourced research and product development.

TuringMinds plans to use this investment to operate more than 15 offline facilities across the US, India, Europe, the UK, and the Middle East.

With 250 product engineers operating in its Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Detroit offices, the company hopes to double this number in the next quarter.

Regarding the new development, Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder and Chairperson upGrad, said, “In addition to our LifeLongLearning suite, we are hiring large numbers of bachelor’s to doctorate degree holders to fuel our mission of developing full-fledged marketable products. This further gives One upGrad an edge over its peers and strengthens our stature as the key employment enabler within the country.”

The edtech company announced in August 2022 that it would acquire Exampur in a cash-and-shares deal for an undisclosed sum.

With a clear business objective of incubating and designing 50+ prototypes every year, TuringMinds, with headquarters in India, is actively expanding its global footprint, according to the statement. It aims to establish an enterprise worth Rs 800 crore ($100 million) during the next five years.

Bigyellowfish raises $1.1mn in a seed funding

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December 22, 2022

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Employee experience platform Bigyellowfish announced that it raised $1.1 million as part of its seed funding. With participation from Anicut Capital and Innoport, Powerhouse Ventures led the investment.

The funds will be utilized to expand the company’s global reach through R&D, speed up innovation, and expand software and platform capabilities.

“We are delighted to back Soma and Kunal as they continue to help global companies digitize their employee engagement and deliver measurable business results that impact their safety, employee engagement, development, and retention goals,” Kshitij Golwalkar, General Partner, Powerhouse Ventures, said, in a media statement.

“Bigyellowfish’s experience in working with some of the largest companies in the Shipping & Maritime sectors positions them well to enter other safety-critical industries where the need for superior employee experience solutions is immense,” he added.

Bigyellowfish, a company founded in 2019 by Soma Sundar Gollakota and Kunal Pancholi, offers corporate leaders in the fields of safety, HR, operations, and asset management with predictive signaling and decision support mechanisms.

The company currently provides services to clients in Singapore, the UK, and the EU. Bigyellowfish states that since 2020, its growth has increased by 4X. In the upcoming years, it aims to double down, boost revenues from safety-sensitive sectors, including maritime, aviation, oil & gas, manufacturing, and logistics, and broaden its operations across the US and the Middle East.

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