Newton’s School’s Valuation Jumps 7x With $25 Mn Funding

Steadview Capital led the Series B round of funding for Newton School, an online coding training platform that is income sharing-based. The company has raised Rs 188.4 crore (or $25 million). This new round comes within 15 months of the company's previous Series A investment, which saw them pick up $5 million from RTP Global.

The Newton School, Bengaluru, has approved a special resolution to allot 10 equity shares and 5,473 Series A preference shares in order to raise Rs. 188.4 crore (or $25 million), regulatory filings indicate.

Steadview contributed $15 million to this round, while Nexus and RTP Global contributed $5.9 million each and $3.4 million, respectively. Sama Family Trust and AngelList invested the remainder.

According to Fintrackr estimates, Newton School raised fresh funds at an estimated value of Rs 1,034 crore (or $138 million). This represents a sevenfold increase in the company's valuation compared to $20 million in previous rounds.

After the allotment, Newton School's co-founders Siddhartha Mahashwari and Nishant Chandra have reduced their combined stake from 44.68% down to 35.89%.

Nexus holds the largest stake with 24.72%, followed by RTP Global with 14.42% stake and Steadview at 11.11% and 11.11%, respectively.

Also read: Meesho Rebrands Farmiso to Meesho Superstore and Integrates It to Its Core App

About Newton School

The US-based Lambada School has inspired Newton School. InterviewBit's Scaler is the market leader, along with Masai School (and Pesto), among others.

Newton School saw a remarkable jump in operating revenue in FY21. In FY21, the company had a revenue of Rs 4.18 crore, compared to Rs 5 lakh for FY20.

Its losses have risen by more than 150% to Rs 4.57 Crore during FY20's fiscal year, compared with Rs 1.82crore in FY20.

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Meesho Rebrands Farmiso to Meesho Superstore and Integrates It to Its Core App

Ecommerce start-up Meesho has announced it will be integrating its grocery operations into its main application by the beginning of the week of May. Along with this announcement, they also changed Farmiso (Meesho’s grocery business) to Meesho Superstore.

This will allow Meesho to grow its user base, particularly in the category of daily essentials that is available within Tier 2 and higher markets. With this move, the customers of Meesho can now gain access to additional product listings through a single platform. 

The announcement was made by Meesho CEO and co-founder Vidit Aatrey said, "As more users from Tier 2+ regions become at ease with buying online, the demand for grocery online is growing. We are delighted to incorporate Meesho Superstore into our main application."

The company also added "What was initially an experimental project of the service in Karnataka is now gaining progress across six states. Based on our focus on the user this integration will give millions of Meesho customers a seamless shopping experience while also giving us the opportunity to build more synergies in areas like marketing to customers, technology, products and talent."

The pilot Aatrey mentions is the test run carried out by the company that operates an e-commerce platform Meesho in Karnataka in July of last year. What started as a test phase with grocery offerings in Karnataka, has now expanded to six states for Meesho including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana & Andhra Pradesh. Moreover, Meesho now plans to expand its superstore to 12 states by the end of the year. 

Meesho Superstore currently offers 500 products in a variety of categories including fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, grocery items as well as packaged food as well as other categories.

After the integration is completed after which the startup will be able to offer its users 100 million the ability to access more than 87 million active listings for products in 36 categories from a single platform, according to the startup.

It was established in 2015 by Vidit Aatrey, Sanjeev Bhanwal, Meesho is a social commerce platform that allows individuals and small companies to market their products by buying it from resellers before selling them to customers through Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram as well as other social media platforms.

In its most recent funding round the startup was able to raise $570 million which was led by Fidelity Management as well as B Capital Group at a valuation of $5 billion.

In total, Meesho has raised just less than one billion dollars of financing over multiple rounds. It is in competition with big players like Dealshare and Flipkart-backed Shopsy as well as the B2B-focused unicorn Udaan.

This comes amid a growing excitement in the super app segment. This is because Tata Neu is scheduled to launch for all users on the 7th of April. The company that runs the fintech arm of MakeMyTrip, a travel company TripMoney has purchased an overwhelming stake in the foreign exchange startup BookMyForex.This is in accordance with the company's plan of creating its very individual travel super application.

This is in addition to other conglomerates on the internet like Amazon, Paytm, and Reliance Jio which have developed their own super apps. Each is competing for a piece of the market, offering numerous services under one roof.

The e-commerce and grocery market together are extremely competitive and present a tremendous opportunity for companies in these industries to earn new revenues. Based on Bain & Company, India's social commerce gross merchandise value was valued at $2 billion in 2020, and it is projected to be $20 billion in 2025.

You may also like: Dream11 posts Rs 327 Cr profit in FY21; revenue grows 53%

Similar to this another study found the Indian online food market to be in the region of $3.95 billion in 2021. This was expected to grow to $26.63 Bn in 2027. This would mean around 33 percent.

The flurry of activity in the super-app segment has been driven by the spread of online shopping that has increased exponentially over the past few years. Big conglomerates are vying for a share of this market, Meesho's battle is only just beginning.

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Dunzo Raises $240 Million Led by Reliance Retail

Quick commerce company Dunzo has received $240 million in the latest round of funding that was led by Reliance Retail Ventures Limited. This round also saw the participation of existing investors Lightbox, Lightrock, 3L Capital, and Alteria Capital.

Dunzo was reported to be engaged in discussions with Reliance for the past three or four months regarding a possible agreement. There were reports in the media suggesting that the company was in discussions together with Tata Group, Swiggy, and Zomato to discuss a fresh round. But, the talks did not occur.

On the other hand, this deal with Reliance might be seen as a shock, given Reliance Group's history of making outright acquisitions (Netmeds, Milkbasket) or fairly moderate valuations. Even entering into companies that could be under some sort of strain (the current Future Retail buy). FOMO might have hit Reliance at last if you're in the market for a quick trade.

Also read: AgroStar Secured $70 Million in its Series D Financing Round

The round is in which Reliance Retail has invested $200 million to purchase a 25.8 percent share in Bengaluru's company on a fully diluted basis. The valuation of the Google-backed firm is up to $775 million. Based on Fintrackr's estimates, it was valued at just over $300 million at the time of its March launch of last year.

According to Dunzo, the capital is to expand Dunzo's goal of becoming the most efficient and quick-to-market business in India, which will allow the delivery of necessities in a matter of minutes through a system of small warehouses and growing its business segment to provide logistics to local retailers within Indian cities.

As part of the collaboration, Dunzo will provide hyperlocal logistics to the retail stores run through Reliance Retail and will also enable last-mile deliveries for JioMart's merchant's network. Dunzo introduced its instant delivery model, 'Dunzo Daily, in Bengaluru at the beginning of this year. The service is currently available across seven cities; the firm is planning to expand its speedy commerce model to fifteen cities.

The fiscal year ended the 31st of March, 2021 where Dunzo reported its profits from operations to increase by 66.5 percent to 45.8 crores from 27.5 crores it earned in FY20. The Kabeer Biswas-led company was able to cut its loss by 33.3 percent from 338.4 million in FY20 to 225.7 million in FY21.

Also read: Zepto on Its Way to Raise $250 Million

The fast commerce market is growing in India, where Zomato-backed Zepto BlinkIt (formerly Grofers), Swiggy, and Ola are already expanding their operations. Swiggy has recently announced plans to invest $750 million into Swiggy Instamart to focus on rapid commerce, while BlinkIt is said to be seeking additional funding from Zomato. Zepto, a grocery delivery service that can be delivered in ten minutes. Zepto also secured 100 million in funding to increase its coverage to several cities in India.

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Latest Startup News - Indian Startup To Touch New Height Amidst Covid-19

Covid 19 Impact on Startups-

The Pandemic of Covid-19 took the world by storm, everything was shaken to its core. Even some businesses that had deep strong roots, couldn’t endure it’s ferocity. While the world was learning to continue living amidst the impact of covid-19, there was a rising startup which was on its way to glory. While the waves kept hitting the world, ‘The New Shop’ a startup by two brother-sister and a friend, knew how to ride this tide and find the kingdom of new success

Founded in March19 by brother and sister Aastha Almast and Charak Almast, and their dear friend Mani Dev Gyawali, The New Shop fundamentally is a chain of 24-hour open convenience retail stores that are located in various corners of the world. Lead and owned by Accelerate ProductX Ventures Pvt ltd, The New Shop has an aim to become a brand that's just a walk away from everyone’s place.

“India is a budding country that is on a path to growth and therefore the third-largest consumer market globally. The new on-the-go and modern lifestyle of India, needs regulated, normalized and hygienic retail services across the country at affordable prices, at transit points and around the clock services,” said 35-year-old co-founder Aastha Almast. “We wanted to experiment to find the perfect size of the shop and an exemplary location for expansion of our brand. We finalized three store sizes, small (10 sq. ft), medium (50 sq. ft), and enormous (100-150 sq. ft),” said Mani Dev Gyawali.

The founders of this Rising Startup tested each of those store sizes at seven location categories such as educational institutions, offices and co-working spaces, hotels, shopping complexes, college hostels, and railway platforms. They also explored with the different merchandise options to market more Indian products that act as alternatives to their non-Indian counterpart. Then they measured their acceptance in an ecosystem where people need those goods, and it worked well for them.

“By January 2020, we grew to a number of 100 stores all over Delhi in all sizes and even grabbed a deal with Indian Railways for their plan to expand The New Shop,” says Aastha. This led the rising startup to reach new transit points where they could explore their business strength such as, highways, petrol pumps, and bus terminals. But when the rising startup started touching new heights of success, the pandemic brought them on their knees, and every one of its stores had to shut doors to walk-in customers, due to government regulations and curfews. However, what came as a blessing in disguise for them was the very fact that they were already working on a technology for omni-channel selling, which was supposed to be launched in the future, after the company had grown exponentially and had reached a huge scale,” says Aastha.

The New Shop earns money from the sale of products at its chain of 24*7 open stores and works on a variable cost model of business, where it works with higher margin brands and everyone of its operating costs share a percentage of that margin. 

Presently, all of its functional stores earn a good revenue to boost the startup financials, between Rs 15 lakh per month to Rs 30 lakh per month and are earning good profit on unit economics level.

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Growing Advantage for Snapdeal as Chinese e-tailers pack their bags – Upcoming startups in India

 

Looks like an opportunity for upcoming startups in India, As Chinese e-commerce platforms like Shein, Club Factory and Romwe out of the image thanks to the recent ban on 59 Chinese apps, homegrown e-commerce companies like Snapdeal targeting the value-conscious customer may be within the gain.

The SoftBank-backed company, together with upcoming startups in India, has been witnessing a rise in traffic, said three sources. per them, the void created after the exit of Chinese e-commerce apps is anticipated to be filled by the likes of Snapdeal, Meesho, GlowRoad et al. Sources emphasized that Snapdeal has started witnessing a spike in volume in categories like fast fashion, home decor and lifestyle accessories. Over the last two years, Shein, Club Factory and Romwe had managed to create a clear scale in these categories collectively.

“When the lockdown was lifted in June, Club Factory accustomed process about 30,000 daily orders while Shein and Romwe collectively shipped 15,000 to 20,000 orders. Since they aren’t operational, these volumes will gradually move towards Snapdeal and other fashion-focused e-commerce companies,” said one among the sources on condition of anonymity. “Snapdeal may grab 40-50% of the collective scale of the three Chinese e-commerce firms.”

At present, Snapdeal does about 150K to 170K orders each day. Market analysts also believe that the ban on the Chinese e-commerce marketplaces would shift a major chunk of their business towards Snapdeal and upcoming startups in India. “As the Chinese players exit the market after an aggressive bout of high spending, Snapdeal seems poised to emerge as a major beneficiary. It’s now the sole large, independent horizontal e-commerce company in India with a sole target Bharat,” said Satish Meena, forecast analyst, Forrester.

But, why is Snapdeal in an exceedingly position to grab the market share of Club Factory, Shein and Romwe and other upcoming startups in India? Let’s gain some background on Snapdeal and also the status of the unorganized e-commerce segment. About three years ago, caught during a bruising battle for market share and investors trying to drive a merger with Flipkart, it almost gave the look of the top of the road for Snapdeal. However, the firm decided to interrupt far away from traditional high-burn e-commerce business models and reinvented itself as Snapdeal 2.0.

During the 2018-19 periods, Paytm Mall and ShopClues and other upcoming startups in India stood a solid chance to say the third spot within the fast-growing value e-commerce segment. Unable to lift funds and shrinking scale, ShopClues lost the plot and consolidated with Singapore-based Q0010 during a fire sale. Paytm Mall kept changing goal posts without a long- term and consistent plan. While both companies were within the position to go away Snapdeal behind, the Kunal Bahl-led company cleared all distractions to target cracking the value-seeking segment.

Stay updated on upcoming startups in India with Entrackr.

CarTrade valuation increases by 35% to $525 Mn in Series Funding – Startup News India

Utilized vehicle segment has been seeing consecutive arrangements since the start of this current year. As per Startup News India, After Spinny and CarDekho, CarTrade is set to bring Rs 321.6 crore up in a Series H round from existing financial specialists Temasek, Warburg Pincus and March Capital Partners.

According to Startup Funding News, Highdell, Temasek and March Capital will contribute Rs 107.2 crore each for 12,99,075 offers individually, according to administrative filings. As indicated by Fintrackr's computation, CarTrade will be esteemed at around Rs 3,930.3 crore ($525 million). The organization's valuation had hopped by 35% when contrasted with its last subsidizing round when it raised Rs 242.3 crore from Temasek in 2017.

After the fulfilment of the Series H round, Warburg Pincus (using Hidell Investment) will be the most significant partner in the organization, telling 34.74% stake worth Rs 1,365.6 crore($182.1 million). Temasek would possess 26.7% in the Mumbai-based firm. The Singapore government-claimed association's stake is esteemed about Rs 1,050 crore ($140 million) as per Startup News India.

Walk Capital Partners, who skirted the last subsidizing round now have a complete shareholding of 9.87% in CarTrade worth Rs 388.5 crore($51.8 million). JP Morgan had previous put resources into the Series E round of the Mumbai based organization and controlled around 12.03% offers esteemed at Rs 473 crore ($63 million). According to Startup Funding News, CarTrade's organizer and CEO Vinay Sanghi's stake has been weakened to 5.7% post this round. His all-out possessions are worth about Rs 225.2 crore ($30 million). Critically, the company’s present ESOPs pool is pegged at 6.86% and esteemed Rs 270 crore ($36 million).

For the uninformed, CarTrade runs a few verticals in the trade-in vehicle portion however it has been concentrating on two centre verticals: unloading vehicles for vendors from banks, NBFCs and insurance agencies and lead age for new vehicle business (using Carwale).

The organization additionally gained a 51% stake in the vehicle and hardware selling stage Sriram Auto Mall that likewise bargains in substantial business vehicles and homestead gear. As indicated by Entrackr sources, CarTrade additionally downscaled its established business and purchaser confronting verticals in the previous year. 

Utilized vehicle fragment has been drawing a lot of enthusiasm from funding and critical financial specialists. Cars24 had raised $100 million driven by Unbound and KCK Global in October while Spinny cornered $50 million from The Fundamentum Partnership in March 2020.  As per Startup Funding News, CarDekho brought $41 million up in a Series D round from Ping An and Lenarco Limited. The valuation of the Jaipur-based firm contacted $643 million in Dec.  Entrackr had only announced the financing rounds of Spinny and CarDekho.

Unacademy claims 82% revenue growth With 165 Mn YouTube video views in April

As students across the country turned to online education over the last 40 days, Edtech firms have witnessed unprecedented growth. Online learning platform Unacademy’s chief executive Gaurav Munjal said on Monday that the firm’s revenue in April was “more than all of 2017, 2018, and also the half of 2019 combined.”

As per Startup funding News - Unacademy claims to own seen an 82% surge in revenue in April in comparison to the previous month while also registering quite 10X growth as compared to April 2019.

“This has been an exceptional month for us and while we were working remotely, I saw all teams being super productive and efficient,” said Munjal in an exceeding tweet. “We broke some records this month.”

According to the startup funding news, there have been 165 million video views on YouTube in April, which was highest in an exceedingly month since its inception in 2015. the overall watch time of these videos stands at a staggering 1.4 billion minutes across YouTube, special classes, free also as a subscription as per Startup funding India.

During this era, Unacademy conducted 1,20,000 live classes and a pair of,64,000 tests on its platforms. As far because the number of tests is anxious, it was approx 247% growth as compared to March as mentioned in the startup funding news. To recall, Unacademy had crossed a watch time of 1 billion minutes across its platform and YouTube and conducted 100,000 live classes in March.

As per estimates, Unacademy has around 1, 00,000 subscribers and sure to own an operating revenue of Rs 120 crore in FY20, reported by Startup funding India. Backed by the likes of Facebook, Steadview, General Atlantic and Sequoia, Unacademy had recently raised $110 million in its Series E round at a valuation of $510 million.

For more Startup Funding News and information, click on the given Link – Startup Funding India

Upcoming Startups in India: Eligibility and Tax Exemptions

Startup India campaign is a program launched by the Indian government to boost entrepreneurship in India. The action plan is aimed at promoting bank financing for startups, simplifying the incorporation of the startup process and grant of various tax exemptions and other benefits to startups.

Eligibility for Upcoming Startups in India

As per the Government Startup Action plan, the followings conditions must be fulfilled in order to be eligible as a Startup:

1.    The startup should be registered in India for less than seven years and for technology startups up to 10 years from its date of incorporation.

2.    The annual turnover must not exceed Rs 25 crores in any of the preceding financial years.

3.    The startups should be directed towards development, deployment, innovation or commercialization of new products, processes or services driven by technology or intellectual property.

4.    The business must not be formed by splitting up or reconstruction of a business already in existence.

5.    The startup must obtain certification from the Inter-Ministerial Board setup.

6.    It can be incorporated as a private limited company, registered partnership firm or a limited liability partnership.

Tax exemptions allowed to Eligible Upcoming Startups in India under Startup India Program

According to the latest Business News, the following tax exemptions have been allowed to eligible startups:

1.    Exemption from tax on long term capital gains: The startups will be exempted from the tax on a long-term capital gain if the long-term capital gain or a part thereof is invested in a fund notified by the Central Government within a period of six months from the date of transfer of the asset. 

2.    Tax exemption on investments above the fair market value: The government has exempted the tax being levied on investments above the fair market value in eligible startups.

3.    3 year tax holiday in a block of seven years: The startup is eligible for getting 100% tax rebate on profit for a period of three years in a block of seven years provided that annual turnover does not exceed Rs 25 crores in any financial year.

Laws in India that Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know

India is one of the fastest emerging economies today with a potential market for startups and entrepreneurs. For promoting entrepreneurship a number of initiatives are taken by the government to ensure appropriate support for Upcoming Startups in India. Along with government initiatives, the penetration of IT and the internet has created a movement in the startup ecosystem of India.

Nurturing a business includes many things. Apart from operating legally in the country, a sound knowledge of all the legal intricacies in starting and managing the startups can help a long way to scale up the startups resulting in the overall growth of the Indian economy.

Formation Law: Before starting any business it is vital to ensure the type of business i.e. whether the company will be public or with limited liability. This attribute will not only help to decide the company's visibility, sustainability, and profitability but will also help structure the organization and help achieve its goals and vision. Therefore it’s important to decide the type of business keeping in mind the existing legal frameworks.

Tax and Accounting Law: Every type of business has a separate set of laws associated with it which can vary according to the product, region, and business. Therefore it’s important to keep a record of accounts, taxation information and an update on Business News for improving the financial and legal strength of any organization.

SEBI: Remaining updated with the regulations issued by SEBI will assist in managing the various stages of nurturing the new business, including fund-raising.

Corporate administration: A running-knowledge about corporate governance will help a budding entrepreneur to effectively manage and formulate further expansion plans.

Challenges of upcoming startups in India

India is a ground for cultural, grassroots and frugal innovation. Ever since governments around the world started supporting startups through government-led initiatives, there has been a great revolution in the startup scene. India is becoming one of the most favorable markets when it comes to attracting startup investors from both local and foreign scenes.

A start-up, to most people, is a precious opportunity to turn their passions into a reality. However, the route towards this envisioned future is rarely easy. In fact, the first year of a startup can pose unimagined challenges and complications

So, if you are just starting out in the world of start-ups or are deliberating establishing one, here is a list of the 10 biggest challenges an upcoming start-up is likely to face in his first year of execution:

Challenges of Upcoming Startups in India

Socializing brand with social media: As social media is the best way to connect with customers and expand business at the same time it’s also a big challenge to make a strong social media presence.

Onboarding new employees: Being a startup bringing up new employees onboard to speed up quickly is a very challenging problem. Reducing training time and repeatable processes can help achieve a greater milestone.

Compliance with changing laws and regulations: Staying updated with the new rules and regulations cast by the government.