India aims to be #1: Goyal 🔝, Classplus raises $70 Mn 🎓, Amazon opens largest office in TN 🏢

India's aim is to become the world's #1 startup destination, Classplus raises $70 Mn, Amazon opened the largest office space in Tamil Nadu, Funding Deals & more.

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Mar 30, 2022

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India's aim is to become the world's #1 startup destination: Piyush Goyal🔝

Piyush Goyal, Union minister of commerce and industry, said on Tuesday that India’s goal is to be the world’s top startup destination.

Addressing a session called ‘Gateway to Growth - Roundtable on Indian Startup Ecosystem’ in Abu Dhabi, Goyal said: "Today we are the third-largest startup ecosystem, but our aspiration is to be the world's number one startup destination.”

"I would urge all of you from the startup world to go the extra mile and take the startup story to all the remote places, villages, small towns, northeastern India and other regions," he added.

On the government's role in promoting startups, he said that India aims to provide a level playing field and the best business ecosystem. He also invited investors in the UAE to back Indian startups.

Edtech startup Classplus raises $70 Mn in funding as valuation jumps to $600 Mn🎓

Edtech startup Classplus has raised $70 million in its latest round of funding, co-led by Alpha Wave Global and Tiger Global, at an estimated valuation of about $600 million.

The company had mopped up $65 million just eight months ago.

Founded in 2018 by Mukul Rustagi and Bhaswat Agarwal, Classplus is a software platform that allows educators and content creators to build their presence online, digitise their offline tuition centres, and sell their courses online.

The company claims it has seen adoption from teachers serving kindergarten to grade 12, and those who offer exam prep. Even non-academic content creators in areas such as fitness, lifestyle, personal finance, language training and programming have joined the platform.

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IPO-bound digital payments and financial service provider Pine Labs has closed another $50 million in funding Vitruvian Partners.
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Amazon opened the largest office space in Tamil Nadu for 6,000 employees🏢

Amazon on Tuesday opened its largest office in Tamil Nadu at an 18-floor facility in Chennai which will house 6,000 employees across teams like Amazon Web Services, customer support, technology, engineering and with a special focus on R&D work relating to Amazon’s devices including Echo.

The new office marks Amazon’s fourth office in Tamil Nadu and will take the company’s total office area in Tamil Nadu to over 21 lakh square feet. The company has four fulfillment centres and three sort centres.

In South India, Amazon builds its largest office - RISE & SHINE

In 2021, Amazon set up its first device manufacturing unit in India in Chennai and now, the company said hundreds of thousands of Fire TV Stick devices are manufactured in the facility.

"We are committed to create 20 lakh jobs, direct and indirect across the country by the year 2025," Vinod Mathews, Director, Global Real Estate & Facilities, Amazon said. The office was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin.