Amazon to help offline stores🛒, Slice launches UPI💳, PhonePe to buy WealthDesk & OpenQ💰
Amazon will now help offline stores, Slice launches UPI payments feature, PhonePe set to buy WealthDesk and OpenQ, Funding Deals & more.
Start your day, the smart way!
1 Mail | 2 Minutes | 3 Stories
Want this in your inbox?
Amazon will now help offline stores in India set up digital storefronts🛒
Amazon has unveiled a new initiative in India called Smart Commerce that will help offline retailers create their own digital storefronts, in addition to selling on Amazon's India marketplace.
Going forward, Amazon’s Smart Commerce will release its first set of solutions, including e-billing and inventory management. This will be followed by the launch of other capabilities to help offline stores create their online storefront in minutes.
Amazon’s latest initiative comes as large ecommerce companies such as Walmart-owned Flipkart and Reliance Industries’ JioMart are also looking to onboard more offline stores on their platforms and expand their ecommerce footprint.
Fintech unicorn Slice launches UPI payments feature💳
Fintech startup Slice is launching UPI payments for its users as it seeks to become a payment first product company from being a credit-only product company.
The UPI payments feature will be available to its waiting list of 10 million customers who have not been able to get access to credit yet and its existing millions of customers, Rajan Bajaj, Founder and CEO of Slice, told.
Slice, which started as a buy now pay later (BNPL) product in 2016 and pivoted to a card product in 2019, enters a crowded UPI payments market where the likes of Walmart-backed PhonePe and Google Pay have already established themselves.
Hot Shorts⚡
BlissClub, a homegrown active life brand for women, has raised $15 million in its Series A round led by Eight Roads Ventures and Elevation Capital.
Ninjacart has raised $9 million (Rs 69 crore) from South Korea-based STIC and UK-based Mainstream Digital.
HobSpace, a global chess platform for kids has raised $4.5 million in its Pre-Series A funding round led by Mankekar Family Office, Artha Venture Fund, Siddharth Shah and Dharmil Sheth.
Relocation platform HappyLocate has raised $1.1 million in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures.
MasterChow, a ready-to-cook Asian cuisine brand, has raised $1.2 million in a funding round led by Anicut Capital.
➡️ Check out our LinkedIn space for more on the funding deals.
PhonePe set to buy WealthDesk, OpenQ for $75 million💰
Walmart-owned PhonePe is acquiring two wealth management companies WealthDesk and OpenQ as it looks to boost its play in the wealth management and distribution space.
The company is expected to acquire WealthDesk for roughly $50 million and OpenQ for $25 million, as it looks to unlock new revenue streams and diversify its offerings for users of its payments services.
PhonePe said WealthDesk’s founder and the team will work as a part of the PhonePe group and both platforms will remain independent. It added that OpenQ would be instrumental in creating its wealth ecosystem.
Financial services is the next big battleground, after digital payments, for companies such as PhonePe, Amazon, Google and Paytm.
Tweet of the day🐥
📸 Follow us on Instagram.
Other Top Stories
⏱️ Ola scales down food business, look to integrate it with 10-minute grocery delivery
🚀 SpaceX poised to become the most valuable US startup
"Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still."
- Chinese Proverb
Thanks for reading😊
Hit Like❤️. Share with your friends/colleagues, if you enjoyed the newsletter.