ShareChat raises $100M, Flipkart to liquidate ESOPs

Friday September 21, 2018 , 3 min Read

Regional language social platform ShareChat raised Rs 720 crore ($100 million) in a funding round led by existing investor Shunwei Capital. Morningside Ventures and Jesmond Holdings also participated in the round, documents filed with the Registrar of Companies showed. ShareChat's daily active users have risen from 5 million in April to over 8 million now and the startup is now looking to foray deeper in markets like the Northeast, and start working on monetising its service next year.

ShareChat Founders (L to R): Farid Ahsan, Bhanu Singh and Ankush Sachdeva — ShareChat Founders Farid Ahsan, Bhanu Singh and Ankush Sachdeva

Flipkart, in a letter to its employees, has said it will be able to liquidate part of their employee stock option plans (ESOPs) in the company at $126-$128 per share. This comes weeks after US retail major Walmart completed its investment in the company. The ESOPs buying programme will translate to a total amount of $800 million. The $16 billion Walmart-Flipkart deal was finalised in August after India’s anti-trust regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved it.

Flipkart will liquidate part of its employee stock option plans at $126-$128 per share

Micro-finance startup Satya MicroCapital has raised Rs 40 crore in debt funding by issuing Non-Convertible Debentures to a private debt fund and a Microfinance Enhancement Facility. Satya MicroCapital will use the funds to lend to Indian micro, small, and medium enterprises run by women. The company aims to add a social touch to lending by integrating modern technology into the micro-finance industry.

Chinese music-streaming giant Tencent Music Entertainment Group is looking to launch its initial public offering in the US, through which it plans to raise $2 billion, according to a Reuters report. The IPO size is nearly half from the $3 billion-$4 billion that the company was believed to be earlier eyeing at a valuation of $25 billion, the news report said.

Auto companies are spending big bucks on connected cars and the technology is no longer a fancy fantasy with extensive research and testing underway to make connected cars safe and secure from a physical and digital perspective. Global corporate entities are investing heavily in autonomous technology, and a part of this research is happening right here, in India. Sources say at least 25,000 engineers are working on this technology on aspects like telecom infrastructure, lossless data transfers and security.

Connected car and other automotive technologies are being built out of India for the world

Aviators, round frames, wayfarers, square styles, mirrored lenses… options for sunnies are many, but what if this style statement could be non-plastic, skin-friendly, water-resistant, unbreakable, and most importantly – eco-friendly? Meet Sasha, which offers on-trend sunglasses made from wood sourced through environmentally sustainable means.