Urban Company $2.8 bn💰, Zorro $3.2m〽️, Pumpkart & Figgital🛒

Urban Company valuation rises 33%, Zorro raises $3.2mn, Pumpkart & Figgital to open 1,200 retail stores, Funding Deals & more.

Dec 13, 2021

Morning peeps👋🏻

Start your day, the smart way!

Top tech news of the day, along with a daily dose of motivation, delivered to your inbox.

1 Mail | 2 Minutes | 3 Stories | Funding Deals

Let’s get started

Urban Company valuation rises 33% within 6 months to $2.8 bn in 4th ESOP sale🤑

Urban Company has completed its fourth and largest ESOP sale, worth Rs 55 crore. The majority of the shares were purchased by existing institutional investors in the home services provider.

The transaction valued the company at $2.8 billion, which was higher than the $2.1 billion net worth it had in June 2021 during its Series F funding round.

Urban Company – Elevation — Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Raghav Chandra and Varun Khaitan

With this round, the company said that it has facilitated approximately USD 13.21 million (about Rs 100 crore) worth of liquidity for its employees and ex-employees in 4 ESOP sale programmes. Urban Company's first ESOP sale occurred in June 2017, followed by the second ESOP sale in December 2018 and the third sale in August 2020.

“In our experience, such liquidation opportunities strengthen the faith team members have in ESOPs as a wealth creation instrument," cofounder Raghav Chandra said. "Further, we have focussed on creating an employee-friendly ESOP programme, with features such as an exercise price of Rs 1, a linear vesting schedule and an unlimited hold period to exercise the ESOPs after an employee leaves the company.”

Social network Zorro raises $3.2 mn in seed funding💸

Zorro Internet Pvt Ltd, which operates a pseudonymous social network, has raised $3.2 million (around Rs 24 crore) in a seed funding round led by 3one4 Capital and 9Unicorns Ventures with participation from Eximius Ventures, Roots Ventures and Venture Catalyst.

Founded in 2021 by Jasveer Singh, Abhishek Asthana, and Deepak Kumar, Zorro is a social media platform where users can share personal stories, supposedly without revealing their identities.

Abhishek, COO says “We got an excellent response from people during our MVP testing and we found out the need to have a pseudonymous network, which lets you express yourself freely & fairly to the people who are strictly a part of your existing network, basically a ring-fence. Hence, Zorro has been positioned as a means to discover the truth.”

“We will use the funds to build a strong tech team, with strong problem-solving skills that can build and scale a world-class product," Jasveer added.

Singapore-headquartered Router Protocol today announced a $4.1 million fundraise from Coinbase Ventures, Woodstock Fund, QCP Capital, Alameda Research, De-Fi Capital, Polygon, Wintermute, Shima Capital, TeraSurge Capital, Maple Block, Wami Capital, Bison Fund, and more.
Pet supplies brand Zoivane Pets has raised $100K in its seed round from We Founder Circle. The brand focuses on problem-solving pet products as well grooming supplies.
Zumutor Biologics has raised $6.2 million Series A4 funding led by Accel, Bharat Innovation Fund (BIF), and new incoming deep tech investor Siana Capital.
Bengaluru-based electric two-wheeler startup Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt Ltd has reportedly raised $14.85 million from TVS Motor and Zoho Corporation in a Series C round.

Pumpkart, Figgital to open over 1,200 modern retail stores in UP🛍️

Online marketplaces Pumpkart.com and Figgital will open over 1,200 modern retail stores in Uttar Pradesh, according to a statement. Pumpkart and Figgital also establish 75 experience centres in all districts of the state.

The company aims to bring well-known brands to a single place and provide opportunities to franchisees and rural retailers to scale their business, said Bhatia.

1,774,296 Shopping Photos - Free & Royalty-Free Stock Photos from Dreamstime

The company aims to open technologically driven stores rather than the common brick-and-mortar stores, including 75 experiences centres of both the brands in every district of UP.

''Next in the pipeline is our online hyperlocal B2B2C (business-to-business-to-consumer) platform, which will democratise the market of consumer electronics as well as farm equipment in rural areas,'' Bhatia said.