Cred acquires💰, Nykaa stores💅🏻, Upstox via Whatsapp📊
Cred to acquire Happay, Nykaa plans to open 300 stores, Upstox allows investing via WhatsApp, Funding Deals & more.
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Cred to acquire Happay to expand its suite of fintech offerings💰
Kunal Shah's Cred has agreed to acquire Happay, a corporate expense management platform, in a cash-and-stock deal to add to its suite of fintech offerings.
While financial details of the proposed Cred-Happay deal weren’t disclosed, the transaction pegs Happay's valuation at nearly $180 million, according to a statement released Wednesday. The company, founded by Anshul Rai, will continue to operate independently but work closely with Cred’s leadership to leverage its ecosystem, build distribution and expand product offerings.
“Happay’s product strength, customer experience, and vision align with our intent at Cred to reward responsible financial behavior and we’re excited to partner them in their journey towards leading the category,” Shah said in the statement.
Happay currently has more than 6,000 clients, including Dominos, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Oyo, and processes transactions worth over $3 billion annually.
Nykaa plans to open 300 stores to drive offline growth: Falguni Nayar💄
Nykaa plans to more than triple its brick-and-mortar stores, to 300, to significantly increase its offline presence in India, CEO Falguni Nayar told Reuters.
The cosmetics-to-fashion retailer is targeting 100 cities, adding to the 84 retail outlets it already operates in 40 cities. "The process of store expansion had slowed down due to the (COVID-19) pandemic for a year or so," Nayar said, adding, "But this year, we have revived our store rollout."
Though Nykaa largely operates as an e-commerce platform selling everything from global cosmetic brands to jewelry, Nayar said the physical stores, targeting Indian consumers wanting to buy touch-and-feel products, were a critical part of the business.
Despite the rapid growth of e-commerce and the likes of Amazon.com, Inc. in India's near-$900 billion retail markets, most shoppers still buy products offline. Nykaa has said it is targeting a sub-segment of that sector -- the $70 billion beauty, personal care and fashion market.
Hot Shorts⚡
Ola is making an investment of up to Rs 786.1 crore in Ola Financial Services (OFS), which will now become a 100% subsidiary of the ride-hailing platform.
Simpl, a cardless payment network with embedded 1-Tap Checkout, Buy Now Pay Later and Buyer Protection features, has raised a $40 million Series B round led by Valar Ventures & IA Ventures.
EatClub Brands, a cloud kitchen startup, formerly known as BOX8, has raised $40 million from Tiger Global, a New York-based venture capital firm.
Online higher education platform CollegeDekho has closed its Series B funding of $35 million to further improve its offerings for students and colleges.
NxtWave, a Hyderabad-based education technology startup, has raised $2.8 million in a funding round led by Orios Venture Partners and Better Capital.
Upstox now allows investing in IPO, opening Demat account via WhatsApp📊
Online brokerage firm Upstox has announced that it will now allow investors to invest in initial public offerings (IPOs) and open demat accounts through WhatsApp.
Upstox said its platform will provide end-to-end IPO application support for users and non-users through WhatsApp. Customers can also open an account with Upstox through WhatsApp instantly, "24x7", as per reports.
The key highlight of the latest feature is that all investors, whether registered with Upstox or not, can now subscribe to any IPO without moving out of the WhatsApp chat window at any point during the application journey, the company said, adding that with this integration, Upstox aims to "achieve a five-fold growth in IPO applications".
“We are optimistic that we will close FY22 with 10 million customers, from the current customer base of over 7 million," Upstox cofounder Shrini Viswanath said.
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