India dodges UK🦄, Swiggy 🤝🏻 Rapido, Amazon acquires📦
India overtakes UK to come third, Swiggy in talks to invest in Rapido, Amazon to acquire Cloudtail parent, Funding Deals & more.
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India overtakes UK to come third in unicorn race: Hurun report🦄
India has overtaken the UK to rank third with 54 unicorns, according to a new Hurun India report. The report, released on Wednesday, shows that Bengaluru has more unicorns than cities like Boston, Palo Alto, Paris, Berlin, Chicago among others, with a tally of 28 such companies--the seventh-highest in the world.
Unicorns are unlisted companies with a valuation of $1 billion or more. India currently has 54 unicorns, 33 more than what the country had in 2020, while the UK currently has 39 unicorns, 15 up from a year earlier, according to the Hurun report. Hurun Research said India led the way for emigrant unicorn founders, followed by China, Israel and Russia. According to the report, Indians have founded 65 unicorns outside India, including Postman, Innovaccer, Icertis, Moglix among others.
Byju’s is now the world’s 15th most valuable unicorn according to the report, while InMobi is the 28th most valued unicorn.
Swiggy in talks to invest in bike-taxi startup Rapido🏍
Swiggy is in the final stages of talks to invest in Rapido, a bike-taxi startup based in Bengaluru. The potential investment from the food delivery firm is part of a larger $150-200 million funding round that Rapido is in talks to raise.
If the deal goes through, it will be Swiggy’s first bet in the mobility sector. It will enhance the company’s last-mile delivery capabilities and boost its quick commerce ambitions.
People aware of the development told that Rapido was also in talks with Zomato, but those conversations fell through recently. Zomato has been on an investment spree since going public, has backed startups such as Blinkit (formerly Grofers), Shiprocket and Magicpin.
Swiggy has been aggressively foraying into new categories in recent months. We have been reporting on the meteoric rise of India’s so-called quick commerce firms, led by the likes of Swiggy’s Instamart, Zepto and Blinkit, which promised deliveries in 10-20 minutes.
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Monster.com, a Quess company and online talent platform, has raised ₹137.5 crores in a funding round led by Akash Bhanshali (Volrado Venture Partners) and Meridian Investments with participation from Quess.
Sustainable mobility brand, Ninety One has raised ₹225 crores (or roughly $30 million) as a part of its latest Series A funding.
Distribution and logistics startup Ripplr has raised $12 million (around Rs 90 crore) in a funding round with a mix of equity and debt from Japanese firm Sojitz Corporation and Stride Ventures.
Supply Chain Finance (SCF) technology provider Veefin has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by Dubai-based entrepreneur Rajesh Rajendran.
Amazon to acquire Cloudtail parent Prione from Catamaran📦
Amazon is set to acquire the stake of Narayana Murthy-owned Catamaran in Prione Business, the parent company of Cloudatil, one of the largest sellers on the ecommerce giant's India platform.
Prione Business Services was set up as a joint venture between Catamaran and Amazon in 2014. The entity will be acquired by Amazon subject to requisite regulatory approvals, both companies said on Wednesday.
Both companies announced on August 9 that Prione Business Services Pvt Ltd, the joint venture between Amazon and Catamaran, is coming up for renewal on May 19, 2022, and that the two partners have mutually decided to not continue their joint venture beyond the end of its current term.
The two entities said in the statement that the businesses of the joint venture would continue under the leadership of the current management.
Amazon sues ED: Amazon moved the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, seeking relief from an ongoing investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into its 2019 investment in a Future Group company.
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