BUSINESS
Aditya Birla Group enters B2B e-commerce, to invest Rs 2,000 crore over 5 years
Grasim's board approves foray into B2B e-commerce platform for the building materials segment. The building construction industry in India is expected to record a CAGR of 15 percent to reach $120 billion by 2025.
BUSINESS
Big ticket-size items hit the most as e-commerce feels inflation pinch
Electronic items, along with direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, affected the most. D2C brands also grappling with supply-chain issues as costs increase, say experts.
BUSINESS
Lock-in for 78% Zomato shares to expire next week, analysts see big sell-off risk
As there is no promoter, all shareholders, including the founders, collectively owning 77.87 percent who were locked-in would be free to sell the shares without any disclosures
BUSINESS
Shiprocket acquires Arvind’s SaaS business for Rs 200 crore
In 2021, Shiprocket raised $185 million in a Series E round co-led by Zomato and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek
BUSINESS
Lightspeed raises $500 million corpus to fund early-stage startups in India, SE Asia
Bejul Somaia, a partner at the firm’s India arm, has been promoted to a global role, in addition to his existing roles advising on investments in India, Southeast Asia and Europe
BUSINESS
800 healthcare service providers in UHI sandbox, over 40 integrated successfully
UHI will enable the provision of digital health services such as booking appointments, teleconsultation and service discovery and will allow apps used by patients to “talk” to apps used by healthcare providers
BUSINESS
How SaaS is braving the odds amid tech’s funding winter
SaaS valuation multiples in the growth stage are stabilising around 5X of revenue from the 100X peak levels of 2021. Early-stage equations have now changed from $15 million valuation for $100,000 of annual recurring revenue to $5 million valuation for $500,000 annual recurring revenue
BUSINESS
Kris Gopalakrishnan-backed Axilor Ventures to raise $100 million fund
In the four years of its operations, Axilor's first fund has invested in 54 startups across verticals like enterprise SaaS, B2B supply chain, consumer tech, fintech and health tech. It has already returned 20 percent of corpus to investors
BUSINESS
ONDC to enlist third party platforms for online resolution of customer complaints
On the ONDC system, the seller-side platform will be responsible for resolving customer grievances in the first instance. If unhappy, the customer will have the option to approach a third-party online dispute resolution platform vetted by the network
BUSINESS
PE-VC funding rose 11% to $26.5 bn in first half of 2022: Venture Intelligence data
Industry players say funding slowdown impact will show up with a lag in the next couple of quarters; Inflation and mid-term elections in the US to determine the course of startup funding
BUSINESS
Exclusive | CAIT to submit report on quick commerce dark stores to govt within 10 days: Sources
Dark stores are small warehouses which can hold anywhere between 2,000 and 4,000 stock keeping units and are manned by 5-10 workers. They typically cater to quick commerce orders placed by customers in a radius of 2-3 kilometres
BUSINESS
Hurun finds 51 ‘gazelles’ and 71 ‘cheetahs’ in Indian startup ecosystem
There are 122 startups in India who are likely to enter the unicorn club in India, according to a report by Hurun. The ones which may achieve a billion dollar valuation in two years are termed as gazelles and those who are likely to do so in four years are called cheetahs in the report
BUSINESS
Understanding Zomato’s $570-million acquisition of Blinkit: poison pill or panacea?
After two failed attempts at cracking the grocery market, Zomato has acquired Blinkit in a last-ditch attempt to gain a foothold in the space. Meanwhile, the food delivery market in India is seen to be growing slower than earlier
BUSINESS
Udaan lays off 180 employees in 'efficiency enhancement exercise'
The company, which was valued at over $3 billion in its last funding round, had an employee strength of around 4,000 before the layoffs.
BUSINESS
Seven reasons for Zomato's Rs 4,447-crore Blinkit buyout deal
Questions still remain about how Zomato, a company that registered losses of Rs 1,223 crore in FY22, plans to derive value from acquiring another loss-making delivery startup
BUSINESS
Exclusive: Top restaurant body, ONDC in talks to end ‘monopolisation’ by Zomato, Swiggy
Over the next couple of months, a mix of few large and smaller restaurants may join the network for a pilot on the interoperable e-commerce network
BUSINESS
Parliamentary committee suggests identifying ‘gatekeeper’ e-commerce platforms
The committee has also suggested new measures to detect anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions in the e-commerce sector.
BUSINESS
Exclusive: Zomato postpones Board meeting on Blinkit acquisition by a week
Food delivery firm wants to take large shareholders into confidence regarding the acquisition of the quick commerce company, say sources.
BUSINESS
Understanding ONDC, the open network billed to be the UPI of e-commerce
ONDC is building a digital network for the e-commerce industry that allows any seller to connect with any buyer in India
BUSINESS
Zomato-backed Shiprocket to acquire Pickrr in a $200 million deal
The two logistics companies together process 10 million shipments per month with a customer base of over 75,000 merchants including D2C brands, SME e-tailers, and social commerce sellers
BUSINESS
Exclusive | Top bureaucrat tells Zomato, Swiggy to let users decide on data sharing
Food delivery platforms and NRAI have to share their customer grievance redressal frameworks with the ministry by next two weeks; also asked to make delivery and packaging charges clearer to consumers.
BUSINESS
Wipro CEO highest paid among Indian IT peers in FY22, taking home $10.5 million pay cheque
In the same period, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh got a pay packet of $10.2 million, HCL CEO C Vijayakumar made $4.15 million, TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan was paid $3.32 million, and Tech Mahindra’s CP Mahindra got a remuneration of $2.83 million
BUSINESS
With global GDP growth slowing, India becomes a very important market: TCS Chairman N Chandrasekaran
TCS achieved a net employee addition of 103,546 which was a record high during the year
BUSINESS
ONDC may begin to charge consumers 1-2% transaction fee from year end
The open e-commerce network is currently in its pilot stage in five cities and is not charging any fees from consumers
