BUSINESS
Funding capital in Web3 space doubles this year to over $1 billion
The top deals of this year include Polygon’s $450 million fundraise, $136 million of CoinDCX, NFT marketplaces Rario and Fancraze raising over $100 million and SaaS startup Coinshift’s fundraise.
BUSINESS
Bengaluru's IKEA store sees nearly 1 lakh footfall in first few days
Spread over 12 acres, the store located in Nagasandra, right next to the metro station, is so far the retailer's biggest store in India at 4,60,000 sq ft.
BUSINESS
BigBasket’s quick commerce service BBNow aims to clock Rs 1,000 crore revenue for FY23
BigBasket started its quick commerce service late last year, when other players like Zepto, Swiggy and BlinkIt had already doubled down on their express delivery services.
BUSINESS
IKEA’s Bengaluru store, its fourth in India, aims to source 50% of products locally
The Swedish retailer’s India CEO says local sourcing will gradually be increased to 50%. The Bengaluru store currently employs around 1,000 people.
BUSINESS
Bengaluru's namma IKEA store is here, to launch tomorrow
27% of the store’s 7,000 type of products are produced in India. The store currently employs around 1,000 people in the store and will continue hiring more local talent in the coming months.
BUSINESS
Exclusive: Coinbase-backed crypto exchange Vauld lays off 30% of workforce, takes other measures to cut costs
Vauld will be looking at reducing marketing expense, slowing hiring, reducing executive compensation by 50% and pausing most vendor engagements
BUSINESS
Crypto crash impact: Indian exchanges work on cutting costs, gear up for harsh winter
High cash burn, low trading volumes, the 1 percent TDS regime that’s set to kick in next month and a new regulatory set-up in the works are worries for crypto firms. While larger players are holding up, start-ups are feeling the squeeze.
BUSINESS
G.O.A.T Brand Labs raises $50 million led by Winter Capital and others
G.O.A.T is modelled around US-based Thrasio which acquires online sellers from Flipkart and Amazon who have shown early traction and helps them use G.O.A.T’s brand, technology and operational expertise.
BUSINESS
You need a lot of naivety to be an entrepreneur: Manish Taneja of Purplle
Cofounder of India’s 102nd unicorn says when the company entered the feminine hygiene category, many advised against it. Taneja also speaks about how from zero revenue in the first month of COVID in 2020, the brand is clocking around Rs 80-85 crore a month now. The company, he says, has 7 million monthly active users now.
BUSINESS
Web3 startup DAOLens raises $5 million led by Nexus Venture Partners, Better Ventures, and iSeed II
DAOLens was founded in January 2022 by Vikram Aditya and Apoorv Nandan, which aims to simplify the process of operating a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) by helping businesses with onboarding, contribution management & discovery.
BUSINESS
Coinbase lays off 8% of India staff, hires former Prosus official to relaunch operations in the country
Former Prosus Ventures and Niti Aayog executive Arnab Kumar has been hired as as Director of India Market Expansion
BUSINESS
Web3 Payments startup Nume Crypto raises $2 million from Sequoia Capital India
The money will be used to build the product, find product-market fit and onboard clientele, the startup said
BUSINESS
Corporate Crossings | Polygon ropes in Airbnb's Bhumika Srivastava as new Global Head of HR
Polygon in a press statement, said that Web3 mainstream adoption is one of the organization’s biggest challenges, and employing people-centric solutions will maximize the potential of Polygon’s human capital in reaching its brand objectives.
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Income Tax website rectifies error, Government sticks to 1% TDS on virtual assets
The website earlier mentioned that the TDS rate for virtual digital assets has been dropped to 0.1% from 1% as announced earlier in the budget, according to the website Income Tax Department.
BUSINESS
Exclusive: Metaverse is not our soul. That’s where the disagreements started: Tanay Pratap
Tanay Pratap on building Invact 2.0, making it more affordable and choosing the right cofounder
BUSINESS
Low volumes, cautious buyers: The new reality for NFT marketplaces in the shadow of the crypto crash
Lifted by the hype around NFTs, the market for digital tokens hit a peak of $23 billion last year; it has now dropped by almost half to $12 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, a price tracking website for crypto assets.
BUSINESS
BigBasket gets Rs 350 crore from its holding company as competition intensifies
This comes at a time when quick commerce is seeing increasing competition. With Zomato, Swiggy, Zepto doubling down on its delivery services, the sector has been one of the most watched out space
BUSINESS
Exclusive: Curefoods closes its $50-million Series C funding round
The Bengaluru-based startup competes with Rebel Foods, Biryani by Kilo, and EatClub (formerly known as Box8), which are at the forefront of this industry, and are building house of food brands.
BUSINESS
The honeymoon may be over for D2C brands
Stagnating growth, customer-acquisition challenges and intense competition, combined with a sharp decline in funding, forcing companies to conserve cash, have given the industry a reality check
BUSINESS
Mensa Brands to hire 700, and acquire 20 more brands to double its revenue run rate
On acquisitions, Narayanan added that this year will be better for roll-up e-commerce as brands will be looking out for investments, amid the market slowdown.
BUSINESS
SUGAR Cosmetics raises $50 million led by L Catterton, valuation close to $500 million
Notably, this is L Catterton’s first deal in India, after it hired Anjana Sasidharan from Sequoia Capital India to head investments in India and Southeast Asia last year
BUSINESS
Tata Neu bets on express deliveries, metaverse and personalisation
While company executives did not share a specific timeline for express deliveries, Tata Neu plans to leverage their supply chain capabilities which will be available across all its categories
BUSINESS
After halving profits, Nykaa aims to double down on omnichannel and new verticals
The cosmetics-to-fashion platform blamed EBITDA fall on launch of new businesses, increased marketing costs and expansion of fulfilment capacity.
BUSINESS
Crypto tax firm CoinTracker forays into India
The firm said that starting Wednesday, its tax compliance and portfolio tracking products will be available to all crypto users across the country
