BUSINESS
Sequoia-backed Cuemath raises $57 million led by Alpha Wave, valuation doubles
Cuemath’s fundraise comes at a time when the edtech sector in India is witnessing a significant slowdown amid a drop in demand for technology-based education solutions, thanks to schools, colleges and physical tuition centers reopening.
BUSINESS
Tiger Global-backed edtech firm Scaler readies $50-million M&A arsenal
Abhimanyu Saxena, Scaler's co-founder, said that company's strategy behind its potential acquisitions will be largely revolving around aquihiring and distribution of its courses.
BUSINESS
Gaurav Munjal-backed edtech startup Frontrow cuts headcount down to a fifth
Frontrow joins a growing list of startups to lay off employees citing a funding crunch. According to data compiled by Moneycontrol, so far in 2022, startups have laid off over 5,300 employees. Edtech startups, including a few unicorns, have fired about 3,500 employees
BUSINESS
Exclusive: Byju’s COO Mrinal Mohit likely to head India operations as Raveendran focuses on global business
Mrinal Mohit, Byju's COO, who has been heading the Byju’s’ offline forays, has also been looking after India operations for almost two months will now get elevated to a much ‘larger role,’ said the people, requesting anonymity. Discussions are still on and Mohit’s designation is yet to be finalised, the people added.
BUSINESS
He rejected an offer from Unacademy and now runs an edtech worth a billion dollars: Meet PhysicsWallah’s Alakh Pandey
"My students inspire me, that’s what keeps me going," says the PhysicsWallah cofounder who shunned an offer worth millions
BUSINESS
Revise and revisit your budget to adapt to this funding winter: Beenext tells founders
Fintech-focused venture capital firm Beenext becomes the latest investor to advise its portfolio startups to cut costs, and prepare a runway for the near term amid a funding winter
BUSINESS
Former Wipro exec’s Dallas Venture Capital to raise $50-million funding for India startups
Dallas Venture Capital plans to invest about $130 million in enterprise focused B2B SaaS startups over the next five years through its India and US funds across India and the US
BUSINESS
Lido Learning's 1200 workers cut loose abruptly over video call yet to receive January salary
Lido Learning's co-founder Sahil Sheth had asked more than 1,200 employees to resign abruptly in a virtual townhall meeting in the first week of February
BUSINESS
Former Policybazaar backer Inventus launches $120-million fund, rebrands itself as Athera
Inventus will be making around 18 investments through its fourth fund and out of this, 12 will be at pre-Series A or Series A investments in technology startups, while the remaining six investments will be in the seed stages or early for a pre-product market fit stages and those will most likely be in technology, and emerging technology sectors.
BUSINESS
Edtech startup Infinity Learn buys majority stake in WizKlub for $7.5 million
Infinity Learn has bought a 75% stake in WizKlub for $7.5 million, valuing the company at $10 million. The company has used its reserves to fund the transaction.
BUSINESS
Country Delight raises $108 million led by Venturi, Temasek at $615 million valuation
SWC Global and Trifecta Capital along with existing investors, IIFL Asset Management, Elevation Capital, Orios Venture Partners and Matrix Partners also participated in this round
BUSINESS
Sequoia’s message to founders: Focus on profitability, growth at all costs no longer rewarded
Sequoia Capital said that Morgan Stanley’s unprofitable Tech Index is down 64 percent since the start of 2022, compared to a 28 percent drop in the technology-heavy Nasdaq index, further signalling a strong preference for companies who can generate cash.
BUSINESS
Zoho invests Rs 20 crore in Genrobotics, an Anand Mahindra-backed robotics company
Zoho’s investment will help the company to scale its manufacturing capabilities, and thus reduce manual scavenging in India
IPO
Delivery delivers 10% returns to investors on day 1
Delhivery’s stock ended at Rs 537.25 a share on the BSE, against the issue price of Rs 487 apiece, thus closing with a premium of 10.3 percent. The stock price had touched a high of Rs 568.90 in the afternoon trade, a premium of 16.8 percent to the issue price.
BUSINESS
Electric ride-hailing BluSmart raises $50 mn to scale up its EV car fleet
The New Delhi-based company is looking to add 5,000 electric cars to its ride-hailing platform and scale up its electric vehicle (EV) hubs
STARTUP
Layoffs, shutdowns, funding crunch: The Great Indian Startup Party is over
Startups have also resorted to shutting down non-core verticals, rationalising marketing and advertising spends and have gone on a hiring freeze, as they enter a bleak period, after a blockbuster funding party that lasted for nearly two years
BUSINESS
Healthtech startup MFine lays off over 500 employees amid funding crunch
Employees were told that the startup is short on funds to release salaries for coming months.
BUSINESS
Venture funding to drop 31% in Asia in April-June quarter: CB Insights report
Globally, the report projected that venture funding will see a 19 percent drop in April-June period sequentially, after it fell almost 20 percent in January-March quarter on a QoQ basis
BUSINESS
SoftBank-backed Cars24 lays off 600 employees in cost-cutting drive
Cars24 joins the likes of well-funded tech startups such as Vedantu, Unacademy, and Meesho to lay off hundreds of employees as investments have dried up.
BUSINESS
Zoho's enterprise IT management division to hire 1,000 people this year
India has emerged as one of Zoho Corp’s top three markets after the US and the UK, co-founder and vice president Shailesh Davey has said
BUSINESS
Slice rolls out UPI in big payments bet as fintech looks beyond credit
Slice founder and CEO Rajan Bajaj said that the company will turn profitable in the coming months. The firm will shift its focus from just providing credit to offering overall payments going forward.
BUSINESS
Vedantu to lay off 424 employees, blames 'scarce capital'
CEO and co-founder Vamsi Krishna told employees in a blog that capital would be scarce in the coming quarters.
BUSINESS
Unacademy follows rival Byju’s to foray into offline learning
The startup will launch Unacademy Centres, which will facilitate offline classes for students. The first centre will get operational in Kota by June
BUSINESS
AI-powered B2B marketplace Fashinza raises $100 million led by Prosus, Westbridge
The $100 million round, which was a combination of equity and debt funding, also saw participation from existing investors Accel, Elevation, and ADQ, along with angel investors Naval Ravikant, Jeff Fagnan, Jake Zeller, Nivi, and Nitesh Banta.
