OYO gets into rentals, Paytm gets a Japan connect, MobiKwik to sell gold

Tuesday October 23, 2018 , 3 min Read

Now, you can rent with OYO! The company enters the housing rental segment with OYO Living to target India’s growing youth population with fully managed independent residential units, inclusive of contracting, furnishing, cleaning, maintenance, and in-stay services at affordable prices. Starting with over 35 live properties and with more than 2,000 beds in Noida, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, and Pune, OYO Living aims to expand to the top 10 metros by the end of 2019.

Ritesh Agarwal OYO — Ritesh Agarwal's OYO will start with over 35 properties in Noida, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, and Pune

Guess what? You can now buy ‘digital gold’ on MobiKwik. The mobile wallet claims users can buy and sell 99.5 percent pure, 24 carat gold on the ‘gold’ category of its app, starting as low as Re 1. MobiKwik has tied up with "SafeGold", a digital platform that allows customers to buy, sell and receive vaulted gold. App users have the liberty to buy any amount of gold and sell it any time after 24 hours of purchase. You can buy or sell it in terms of rupees or in grams. Post the purchase, the gold will be added to the customer’s ‘MobiKwik Gold’ account.

Bipin Preet Singh, Founder & CEO, MobiKwik

Wealth management startup Cube Wealth raised Rs 14 crore (about $2 million) in equity funding from Singapore-based venture fund Beenext, Japan-based Asuka Holding and 500 Startups. The company will use these funds for additional asset partners, and to develop a network of premium sales and marketing partners across different countries including Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune. Cube Wealth also plans to expand its presence across Europe and Japan.

Founder and CEO, Cube Wealth, Satyen Kothari

With the #MeToo movement raising quite a storm in India over the past few weeks, it came as no surprise when a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) was filed in the Supreme Court, requesting an urgent hearing in this regard. However, India's top court declined this request. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul told the petitioner, lawyer ML Sharma that it will come up for hearing in the "regular course".

Tiger Global raised $3.75 billion for its latest fund that closed on October 15, The Financial Times reported, more its target of $3 billion. This is its 11th venture capital fund and will be called Private Investment Partners XI. Tiger claims this fund will be used for tech investments in countries like India, China, and the US, and will focus on consumer internet, cloud computing, industry software and direct-to-consumer companies in India, China and the US.

Meet PayPay - Paytm’s new baby in the Japan market. A smartphone-based settlement service, PayPay is a joint venture between SoftBank Corp, Yahoo Japan Corporation, and Paytm. It will allow users to store money from bank accounts to their ‘PayPay’ wallet to make payments. This product is aimed at promoting the broader use of cashless payments in Japan and to provide highly convenient services to both consumers and affiliated stores. Further, the platform leverages the QR-technology from Paytm.

Vijay-Shekhar-Sharma-paytm — Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm

Sources say Inventus Capital’s third fund could be as big as the $106 million second round, but we did not talk about this! Instead, Managing Director Manu Rekhi talked about why the Indian government needs to create a business-friendly environment and what entrepreneurs need to focus on. He believes Startup India is the best way forward, despite the limitations posed by poor government policies.