Hello,
D2C Insider, a community of D2C brand founders and enablers, plans to launch a Rs 150-crore venture capital fund called ConsumerX Ventures.
A Category II alternative investment fund, ConsumerX Ventures will back around 25 early-stage D2C (direct to consumer) brands and enablers at the pre-seed and seed stages of funding. The average cheque size of each transaction is likely to be Rs 3 crore-5 crore, sources aware of the development told YourStory.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad-based Dhruva Space has received a grant of Rs 105 crore from the Centre's Research, Development and Innovation Fund for Project Garud, the startup's programme that focuses on developing a standardised 500 kg-class platform designed for high-volume satellite deployment.
Speaking of space, NASA is developing a chip that could give a spacecraft the ability to “think for itself”. The technology could one day enable AI-powered spacecraft and faster missions to Mars and beyond.
Back on the Earth, companies are reducing workforce and investing in AI tools, leading to disappearance of layers of middle management. The net effect is new bottlenecks within organisations as AI gets a more centralised role and human interactions get sidelined.
Has AI helped your organisation improve productivity or has further complicated processes? Let us know!
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Rapido raises $240M at $3B valuation
- Inside Equiniti’s India plans
Here’s your trivia for today: What is an alternative title for da Vinci’s Mona Lisa?
News
Rapido raises $240M at $3B valuation
Ride-hailing platform Rapido has raised $240 million in primary funding led by Prosus, with participation from WestBridge Capital, Accel, and other investors. This values the startup at $3 billion on a post-money basis.
Rapido said in a statement that the capital will be used to expand into newer markets and strengthen its presence in existing markets.
Key takeaways:
- Founded in 2015, Rapido is currently present in over 400 cities. Its services include bike taxis, auto rickshaws, cabs, parcel deliveries, flight bookings, and food delivery.
- The startup also noted that it sees strong growth opportunities in markets beyond Tier I cities.
- The fundraise by Rapido intensifies the competition in the mobility space in India, opening newer market opportunities and challenging the dominance of larger players like Uber and Ola.
< Top Deals of the Week>
Startup: Rapido
Amount: $240M
Round: Undisclosed
Startup: HrdWyr
Amount: $13M
Round: Series A
Startup: Wingreens
Amount: Rs 120 Cr
Round: Series D
GCC
Inside Equiniti’s India plans
US-headquartered financial services company, Equiniti, which focuses on share registry services, aims to generate higher value work from its global capability centre (GCC) in India through upskilling its employees and leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) with caution.
In an interaction with EnterpriseStory, Anand Ramakrishnan - Managing Director of Equiniti India, revealed the company’s plans for growth in India.
Key takeaways:
- Equiniti primarily provides share registry services, which means it completely maintains the legal records of a shareholder for any company such as their names, dividend payments, transfer, rights issues, IPOs etc.
- It first established its GCC in India in 2014 and now has a presence in Bengaluru, Chennai and Nagercoil.
- Equiniti India is the largest centre for the company, employing about 40% of the company’s global workforce.
News & updates
- Plane deal: China has agreed to buy 200 Boeing jets, with a potential for the order to rise to as much as 750 planes, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday, adding that the planes would have GE Aerospace engines.
- Oil economy: The United Arab Emirates has said it will complete a new oil pipeline bypassing the strait of Hormuz by next year to secure its future crude exports against the threat of disruption.
What is an alternate title for da Vinci’s Mona Lisa?
Answer: La Gioconda
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Source: YourStory - Startups
