Dream11 scores big with $100 M fund raise; no commercial permits needed for alternative fuel vehicles

Sports fantasy gaming company Dream11 has raised $100 million in a Series D funding round led by Chinese investor Tencent. The latest fund-raise takes the valuation of Dream11 to $700 million-$800 million. Dream11 allows gamers to create their winning teams and bet on their performance. Team scores climb the charts with each performance at a real match. Each good move gets gamers cash rewards, and Dream11 keeps 15-20 percent of the winnings.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said all vehicles powered by alternative fuels are exempt from commercial permit requirements. Gadkari made this announcement at the 58th Annual Convention held by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). He said that electric vehicles and vehicles that use bio-diesel, CNG, ethanol and methanol will not need a commercial permit.

Mumabi-based Haazri raised Rs 1.25 crore in a seed round from Artha Venture Fund, and plans to use the funds to open 25 outlets over the next 18 months, develop an innovative product line, and build a strong team. Started in April 2016 in Malad, Mumbai, by Karan Shinghal, Arjun Midha and Dhruv Agarwal, Haazri’s tea is priced at Rs 20 a cup and the founders claim to have come up with a unique recipe and process so that your tea tastes the same, every time.

Uber Air, a part of Uber Elevate, is the San Francisco-based giant’s foray into aggregating flying taxis. Pilots have been announced for Dallas and Los Angeles in the next couple of years. These flying machines seem as futuristic as an urban commute can get, and yet they’re very nearly here. We caught up with Eric Allison, Head of Uber Aviation Programs, on his plans and strategy for Uber Air, on the sidelines of the first Global Summit of the Future of Mobility in New Delhi.

Elementary coding skills are becoming increasingly indispensable, and seeing the opportunity, online interactive platforms like SoloLearn offer learning options anywhere in the world. Set up in 2014 in Armenia by David Kocharyan, Davit Kocharyan, and Yeva Hyusyan to teach coding to the local population, the platform has grown rapidly, with over 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store (at the time of writing this). The app was also the Grand Prize winner in Facebook’s FbStart Apps of the Year event in 2017.

Think IIM or IIT, and you often think success. That seems to hold sway in the Indian entrepreneurship circuit as well. Research by YourStory in 2014 showed that a third of the funded startups came from pedigreed institutes. But the scenario has changed and the Indian startup ecosystem now has examples of many successful entrepreneurs who don’t belong to the prestigious IIT, IIM, or BITS-Pilani clubs, and have still climbed the crest. These entrepreneurs don’t have any fancy degrees, and show that it takes more than academic pedigree to create and run a successful business.

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