Latest from Manish Singh
Meesho, an Indian social commerce platform with 150M transacting users, raises $275M
Meesho, a leading e-commerce startup in India, has secured $275 million in a new funding round.
Groww joins the first wave of Indian startups moving domiciles back home from US
Groww, an Indian investment app, has become one of the first startups from the country to shift its domicile back home.
India likely to delay UPI market caps in win for PhonePe-Google Pay duopoly
India’s mobile payments regulator is likely to extend the deadline for imposing market share caps on the popular UPI (unified payments interface) payments rail by one to two years, sources…
India’s Oyo, once valued at $10B, seeks new funding at 70% discount
Oyo, the Indian budget-hotel chain startup, is negotiating with investors to raise a new round of funding that could cut the Indian firm’s valuation to $3 billion or lower, three…
India urges political parties to avoid using deepfakes in election campaigns
India’s Election Commission has issued an advisory to all political parties, urging them to refrain from using deepfakes and other forms of misinformation in their social media posts during the…
Freshworks acquires Device42 for $230M, appoints Dennis Woodside as new CEO
Freshworks, the publicly listed SaaS firm, is acquiring U.S.-based startup Device42 for $230 million, the company disclosed in an SEC filing. Alongside the acquisition disclosure, Freshworks revealed that founder Girish…
Tiger Global-backed Innovaccer in talks to raise $250M in new funding, sources say
Innovaccer, a health tech startup that aggregates patient data across systems and care settings, is in advanced stages of talks with investors to raise as much as $250 million in…
Indian ride-hailing giant Ola cuts 180 jobs in profitability push
India’s Ola has let go its chief executive, Hemant Bakshi, just four months after appointing him to the post, and is cutting about 180 jobs.
Zomato’s quick commerce unit Blinkit eclipses core food business in value, says Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs said in a report late Thursday that Indian food delivery giant Zomato’s quick commerce arm Blinkit is now more valuable than its core food delivery business, as per…
Swiggy, the Indian food delivery giant, seeks $1.25B in IPO after receiving shareholder approval
Swiggy, an Indian food delivery and instant commerce startup, plans to raise $1.25 billion in an initial public offering and has secured approval from its shareholders, it disclosed in a…
India’s JioCinema offers Hollywood streaming for a penny a day to box out Netflix and Prime Video
JioCinema introduced new monthly subscription plan on Thursday, with the lowest tier costing just 35 cents.
RBI bars Kotak Bank from adding new online customers and credit cards
India’s central bank on Wednesday ordered Kotak Mahindra Bank to immediately cease onboarding new customers via its online and mobile banking channels and to stop issuing fresh credit cards, citing…
Glance, which operates a popular lockscreen platform targeting Android smartphones, is setting its sights on the U.S. market. The Indian startup recently commenced a pilot program in partnership with Motorola…
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Peak XV’s Piyush Gupta is leaving firm to start own secondary-focused VC fund
Piyush Gupta, one of the operating leaders at Peak XV Partners, is leaving the firm at the end of this month to start his own fund, four people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Gupta joined Peak XV, formerly known as Sequoia Capital India & SEA, in 2017, leading the…
Fintech CRED secures in-principle approval for payment aggregator license
CRED has received the in-principle approval for a payment aggregator license in a boost to the Indian fintech startup that could help it better serve its customers and launch new…
VerSe, the parent firm of Indian news aggregator app Dailyhunt, has acquired the popular digital newsstand firm Magzter, which competes with Apple News+.
India scrambles to curb PhonePe and Google’s dominance in mobile payments
The NPCI plans to meet various fintech startups this month to develop a strategy to address the market dominance of PhonePe and Google Pay in the UPI ecosystem.
Jio Financial, BlackRock to tap India’s wealth management market
Jio Financial Services, part of the Indian conglomerate Reliance, is forming a joint venture with U.S. asset manager BlackRock to set up a wealth management and broking business in India,…
ShareChat’s valuation drops below $2B after new funding round
Social media startup ShareChat’s valuation has cratered below $2 billion from nearly $5 billion in a new funding round.
Meta trials its AI chatbot across WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger in India and Africa
Meta has confirmed to TechCrunch that it is testing Meta AI, its large language model-powered chatbot, with WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger users in India and parts of Africa. The move…
Apple sent threat notifications to iPhone users in 92 countries on Wednesday, warning them that they may have been targeted by mercenary spyware attacks. The company said it sent the…
Indian ride-hailing giant Ola quits UK, Australia and NZ in international pullback
Indian ride-hailing giant Ola is shutting down its operations in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, six years after expanding to international markets.
Avendus, top India venture advisor, seeks $300 million for new PE fund
Avendus, India’s leading investment bank for venture deals, is looking to raise about $300 million for its private equity unit, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The Mumbai-based…
Amazon takes on India rivals with Bazaar, a low-cost fashion store
Amazon has quietly introduced a “special store” called Bazaar in India, featuring affordable and trendy fashion and lifestyle products, as it ramps up efforts against Walmart-owned Flipkart and Reliance’s Ajio,…
India’s Zepto zooms to $1.2B in annualized sales in 29 months, Goldman says
Indian quick-commerce startup Zepto has surpassed the annualised sales milestone of $1 billion within 29 months of its inception, Goldman Sachs wrote in a note Thursday, citing Zepto management. Zepto,…
Sachin Bansal’s fintech Navi seeks $2B valuation in its first major external fundraise
Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal is in talks to raise capital for his new startup, Indian fintech Navi. Bansal is talking to investors to raise at a valuation of around $2…
Microsoft unbundles Office and Teams globally following years-long criticism
Microsoft has introduced new versions of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscription services that exclude its business collaboration chat offering Teams following scrutiny from the European Union regulator and complaints…
Byju’s founder floats share offer to make peace with estranged investors
Founder Byju Raveendran is making a last-ditch attempt to placate the embattled Indian startup’s disgruntled investors.
India court permits Byju’s key shareholder meeting for $200M rights issue
Byju’s secured favorable outcomes in two court hearings Thursday, paving the way for the embattled edtech startup to move ahead with the extraordinary general meeting scheduled for Friday. On Thursday,…
By any benchmark, Accel is among the top venture firms in India. With nearly two dozen Indian unicorn startups, including several category leaders, Accel’s track record speaks for itself. Yet…