Oyo looks West, checks into London; Livspace raises $70M; Flipkart gets $487 M boost
Livspace, India’s largest home interior and renovation platform, announced that it had raised $70 million in Series C funding. The round was led by TPG Growth and Goldman Sachs, and included participation from existing investors Jungle Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Helion Ventures. This deal also marks the largest Series C round raised by a B2C vertical ecommerce company in India.
In its first step outside Asia, Oyo today announced it had forayed into London. In June this year, the Gurugram-based startup had started operations in China. The company said it plans to invest £40 million on its UK operations, and will look to launch in 10 other cities, including Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Edinburgh by 2020.
Singapore-based Flipkart group entity Flipkart Marketplace Private Limited infused Rs 34.6 billion (around $487 million) into its Indian subsidiary Flipkart Internet, documents filed with RoC show. The funding comes ahead of the Big Billion Days festival sale, that normally takes place in October.
ICICI Bank has launched a new working capital facility that will enable micro, small and medium enterprises to get an overdraft (OD) based on the turnover reported in their Good and Services Tax (GST) returns. Christened ‘GST Business Loan’, the facility is available to any MSME, including those that are not ICICI Bank customers, for up to Rs 1 crore.
Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy announced its delivery partner focused initiative, Safety First, a collaborative effort with Round TabIe India and CII Young Indians, to conduct road safety programmes for delivery executives. Through Safety First, the company will enable sensitisation, awareness and training of its delivery partners on the various nuances of road safety.
US-based enterprise Robotic Process Automation software company UiPath has raised Series C funding of $225 million at a valuation of $3 billion. The round was led by Capital G and Sequoia Capital, while existing investor Accel Partners also participated. With this round of funding, the company intends to expand its India operations and product development capabilities. UiPath is looking to increase the workforce and expand its presence across Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Pune and Chennai, and ramp up in Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Mumbai.
Cash burn is an important yardstick to measure the health of startups. While a low cash burn and high growth are positive news for both investors and entrepreneurs, a high cash burn can raise alarm bells. In this context, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) becomes an accurate indicator of the financial health of any company. Then, for startups, becoming EBITDA positive becomes a crucial milestone.
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