Birla Fashion to acquire Bewakoof👕; 6 funded satellites🛰️; PhonePe may buy ZestMoney🤝🏻

ABFRL to pay Rs 100 Cr for stake in Bewakoof, Six funded satellites in the works: Pixxel, PhonePe may acquire ZestMoney, Funding Deals and more.

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Nov 25, 2022

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Birla Fashion to pay Rs 100 Cr for majority stake in Bewakoof👕

Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail (ABFRL) is in the final stages of acquiring a controlling stake in apparel and accessories brand Bewakoof for about Rs 100 crore, marking its entry into direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales.

Founded in 2012, Bewakoof is one of the first D2C brands in the country, with annual revenues of about Rs 250 crore. In total, it has raised Rs 160 crore in funding from investors including InvestCorp, IvyCap Ventures and Spring Marketing Capital.

In June, ABFRL set up its D2C entity, called TMRW, and said it would acquire and incubate 30 brands in the next three years. The new firm, which is acquiring Bewakoof, is a part of ABFRL's strategy to build a portfolio of new-age, digital brands across fashion, beauty and lifestyle.

Six funded satellites in the works says Pixxel founder🛰️

Space tech startup Pixxel is lining up six fully funded satellites for launch in the next few quarters, its founder said.

Pixxel will launch its third demo satellite on Saturday, as high-resolution images from its micro-satellites are finding takers across a range of sectors from agri-tech, climate care to oil and gas.

In April, the Bengaluru-based company launched a 15-kg low earth orbit (LEO) satellite on a SpaceX rocket.

“We are building six fully funded commercial satellites. These are much larger [compared to the demo satellites], with much longer lifetime, and from which we will be able to do daily coverage almost every two days,” founder and chief executive Awais Ahmed told.

Hot Shorts⚡

Koo App has raised Rs 51.08 crore or $6.3 million in a new round co-led by Tiger Global and Accel Partners.
D2C footwear brand RapidBox has raised $4.5 million in its Series A round led by SIG Venture Capital, the Asian venture capital arm of the Susquehanna International Group of Companies (SIG), Tanglin Venture Partners, India Quotient, and Ananya Goenka.
Motovolt Mobility, an e-mobility firm, has raised Rs 16 crore or $1.9 million in its pre-series A round led by Wami Capital. Vikas Bagaria, founder of D2C company Pee Safe has also invested in the round.
Fintech startup, Galgal Money has raised $1 million in a seed funding round led by angel investors whose names remain undisclosed.
Food-agri startup Fresh From Farm has raised over Rs 3.2 crore in a seed funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures.

Funding Deals 💰

PhonePe may acquire ZestMoney as consolidation begins in lending sector🤝🏻

PhonePe, majority owned by Walmart, is close to acquiring buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform ZestMoney amid a global reset in the sector owing to interest rate hikes and a squeeze in consumer spending.

If the transaction goes through, it will be the biggest consolidation in the new-age lending sector, which has of late faced major regulatory roadblocks in India.

ZestMoney has been looking for a buyer for a few months, having struggled to raise fresh funds as tech investors have turned overly skittish, especially on fintech startups.

The big blow for ZestMoney came as Australia's Zip Co, which was supposed to lead its $100 million last year, has itself been hit by the downturn.

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