Week in review⚡
A quick rundown of the startups that made headlines this week. Funding and acquisitions in Indian startups this week. Life Lessons📜
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Life Lessons📜: Amazing stories that teach you something you can use in your everyday life.
The Obstacle in our Path
There once was a very wealthy and curious king. This king had a huge boulder placed in the middle of a road. Then he hid nearby to see if anyone would try to remove the gigantic rock from the road.
The first people to pass by were some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers. Rather than moving it, they simply walked around it. A few loudly blamed the King for not maintaining the roads. Not one of them tried to move the boulder.
Finally, a peasant came along. His arms were full of vegetables. When he got near the boulder, rather than simply walking around it as the others had, the peasant put down his load and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. It took a lot of effort but he finally succeeded.
The peasant gathered up his load and was ready to go on his way when he saw a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The peasant opened the purse. The purse was stuffed full of gold coins and a note from the king. The king’s note said the purse’s gold was a reward for moving the boulder from the road.
The king showed the peasant what many of us never understand: every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.
A Quick Recap of the Week
Tuesday
Ex-Myntra CEO’s venture in talks to raise funds at $100 mn valuation👗
Zomato, Swiggy to collect 5% GST🍔
Introducing a new section Life Lessons📜: Amazing stories that teach you something you can use in your everyday life.
Wednesday
Curefoods makes five more acquisitions to bolster house-of-brands strategy🏠
Mensa marks 15th buy with leather brand Estalon👝
Social commerce market will hit $1.2 trillion by 2025: Accenture📱
Thursday
AI tech startup Fractal turns unicorn after $360M investment🧠
Good Glamm acquires Winkl, Vidooly; consolidates content biz under Good Creator😉
IPO-bound Delhivery invests in Falcon Autotech🚚
Friday
Reliance Retail picks up 25.8% stake in Dunzo for $200 million⚡
Ola Electric, auto dealers’ lobby face-off over scooter sales figures, issues🛵
Shiprocket to acquire 75% stake in Wigzo Tech🚀
Let’s move on to the funding deals from the week.
Funding Deals
Groyyo, a business-to-business manufacturing and automation company, has raised $4.6 million in a seed funding round led by Alpha Wave Incubation.
Web3 platform Wall.app has raised over $1 million funding from Woodstockfund, Arcanum capital, Lancer capital and Lumos labs.
Customer engagement platform Exotel has secured $40 million in Series D funding round from Steadview Capital.
Fintech startup Pine Labs has raised $20 million from the commercial bank State Bank of India.
B2B cross-border e-commerce company Geniemode has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Info Edge Ventures.
Foodtech startup iD Fresh Food has raised Rs 507 crore in Series D funding round led by NewQuest Capital Partners along with its existing investor Premji Invest and others.
Real money gaming platform Zupee has partnered with Jio Platforms Ltd, and closed its Series B funding round at $102 million (₹760 crores), valuing the startup at $600 million.
Business-to-Business ecommerce company Udaan has raised $250 million in fresh capital via convertible note and debt.
Living Food, a digital marketplace focused on fresh food, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding round led by global venture capital firm Amasia.
The Bombay Shaving Company has raised Rs 160 crore in a Series C funding round led by Malabar Investments, a hedge fund based in India.
SecureNow, an end-to-end insurtech platform currently serving 25,000 small businesses across 150 locations, has raised a total of US$ 6 million in its last funding round led by Apis Insurtech Fund.
Indian B2B marketplace IndiaMART has invested INR 13.35 Cr (~$1.79 Mn) in EasyEcom through its wholly-owned subsidiary Tradezeal Online to acquire a 26.01% stake.
Bolo Live, a social live-streaming app, has raised $2.4 million from Orios Venture Partners and others ahead of its Series A funding round.
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