Startup news and updates: daily roundup (March 12, 2021)

Organic brand Juicy Chemistry raises $6.3M in Series A round (Funding)

Coimbatore-based organic skin and personal care brand Juicy Chemistry on Friday announced it has raised $6.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Belgium-based investment firm Verlinvest. This marks the largest Series A raise in the D2C beauty and personal care space, according to the press release.

Homegrown OTT platform STAGE raises Rs 3.5 Cr in angel round led by Inflection Point VenturesFunding)

Delhi-based OTT platform STAGE on Friday announced that it has raised Rs 3.5 crore in an angel round, led by Inflection Point Ventures. Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, along with other investors Sprout Investments Fund and Giri Malpani (Malpani Ventures) also participated in the round. The startup plans to use the funds for building a stronger content library and launching a subscription service of their platform.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara TechnologiesIPO of 5.3M shares to open on March 17, fixes price band

Gaming and sports media platform Nazara Technologies said it plans to sell nearly 5.3 million shares in an initial public offering, at a price between Rs Rs 1,100 and Rs 1,101 per share. At the upper end of the range, the IPO would help raise Rs 582.91 crore in net proceeds. The offer will be opened up to investors on March 17, with the minimum order quantity set at 13 equity shares, and in multiples of 13 thereafter. A single lot will cost investors Rs 14,313 at the upper end of the pricing range.

The/Nudge Centre for Social Innovation selects 4 non-profits for grants under Facebook Pragati to boost women entrepreneurship

The/Nudge Centre of Social Innovation, an impact stream of The/Nudge Foundation that aims to “nudge and nurture top talent to solve India’s biggest challenges”, on Friday announced that four non-profits have been selected to receive grants from Facebook through its CSR initiative, Facebook Pragati. These include Tech4Good, Shakti An Empathy Project, India and Bharat Together, and Skilled Samaritan Foundation.

Uber, en:lyftteam up on database to expose abusive drivers

Uber and Lyft have teamed up to create a database of drivers ousted from their ride-hailing services for complaints about sexual assault and other crimes that have raised passenger safety concerns for years. The clearing house unveiled on Thursday will initially list drivers expelled by the ride-hailing rivals in the US.

Work-life balance during pandemic burdened women more than men, says report

A majority of women found it more challenging to manage both professional work from home and personal responsibilities at the same time than their male counterparts, according to a report. About 61 percent of woman respondents felt that work-life balance during the pandemic was much more challenging for women than men in their house, job portal SCIKEY Market Network said in a report.

Govt approves 33 API applications with over Rs 5,000Cr committed investment under PLI scheme

The government has approved a total of 33 applications with a committed investment of Rs 5,082.65 crore under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), an official release said. Setting up of these plants will make the country self-reliant to a large extent in respect of these bulk drugs, said the release.

Elon Musk’s SpaceXwins two $159M contracts from the US Pentagon

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has signed two contracts with the Pentagon worth $159 million. The American aerospace manufacturer will be launching a special spacecraft for the US military by the fourth quarter of FY2023 as per a statement released by the Department of Defence (DoD). The contracts will be financed annually at a fixed cost. The project will be carried out at Hawthorne, California; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Indian healthtech market growing at 39 pc CAGR to reach $5B by 2023: Report

The Indian healthtech market is growing at a 39 percent CAGR to reach $5 billion by 2023, according to the IAMAI-Praxis report titled ‘HealthTech Predictions 2021.’ The report, which was launched today, revealed that the health technology market currently stands at $1.9 billion, which is only 1 percent of the total Indian healthcare market.

Creating history: Mithali Raj becomes first Indian woman cricketer to score 10,000 international runs

Mithali Raj has become the first Indian woman cricketer to score 10,000 international runs across all formats. She reached this milestone in the ongoing India vs South Africa one day international in Lucknow. In fact, she is the second woman cricketer in the world to achieve this feat.

Svasti Microfinance raises Rs 31 Cr from existing investors (Funding)

Svasti Microfinance Private Limited (Svasti) on Thursday said it has raised Rs 31 crore from its existing investors Adar Poonawalla, Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI), and Rajiv Dadlani Group.

Nexprt raises $200K in angel round from Titan Capital, others (Funding)

Nexprt, a cross-border digital commerce platform that connects MSMEs from India and global importers, has raised $200,000 funding from Titan Capital and other angel investors. The startup plans to use this funding to build its core team and strengthen its product-market fit.

Sequoia Capital's Rajan Anandan 'feels good' and he cannot hide it

Surge — Sequoia Capital India's rapid scale-up programme — posted from its Twitter handle a never-seen-before avatar of Rajan Anandan, on Friday, March 12. The Managing Director of Sequoia Capital India is seen grooving to James Brown's I Feel Good in the video.

Govt to launch portal for promoting domestic investments by May

The government is developing a portal, Atmanirbhar Niveshak Mitra, for handholding, information dissemination, and facilitation of domestic investors, the commerce and industry ministry said on Friday. The portal is in testing phase and the final version will be ready for launch by May 1, 2021.

The Incredible Devicesjourney of a woman who asked Kunal Shah for a job - and then got it!

Aishwarya Patki, a resident of Hamburg, Germany, reached out to the CRED chief on behalf of her friend who'd lost her job because of the pandemic, and asked the company to employ her, if possible. And they did!

Tata Group seeks approval of CCI to acquire majority stake in Bigbasket

Tata Group has formally filed an application with The Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire the majority stake in online grocery delivery company – Bigbasket. The application filed by Tata Digital, the subsidiary of Tata Sons, proposes to acquire up to 64.3 percent stake in Bigbasket through its holding companies which will be both primary and secondary transactions.

Gautam Adani pips Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to add the most billions to his wealth

Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani has surpassed even some of the richest men in the world and added more billions to his wealth in 2021 than any other leader. In doing so, the first-generation entrepreneur has been faster than even the likes of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in generating wealth. According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire index, Adani’s wealth rose by $16.2 billion in 2021 to $50 billion.