Startup news and updates: daily roundup (Mar 06, 2022)
YourStory presents this daily roundup of the latest startup news and updates from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Sunday, March 6, 2022.
Fintech CredAvenue enters unicorn club with $137M funding
Chennai-headquartered debt marketplace for enterprises today announced its $137 million Series B fundraise, which places it in the startup unicorn club.
The round, led by Insight Partners, B Capital Group and Dragoneer Investment Group, valued the company at $1.3 billion post-money, a 3X jump from its $410-million valuation in September 2021.
Incorporated in 2021 by Gaurav Kumar and Vineet Sukumar as a subsidiary of financial services marketplace Vivriti, CredAvenue said it will nearly double the pool of capital for Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to Rs 500 crore across two separate programmes.
Gaurav Kumar, Founder and CEO, CredAvenue
Classplus expands to South East Asia amidst international expansion plans
Educational content mobile platform has announced it has entered Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia to commence its international expansion as it looks to expand into more countries this year.
As per a statement, Classplus noted that internet penetration in Southeast Asian countries is high, and close to 30 percent of the household income is spent on online learning, making it a market of choice for edtech startups.
Classplus plans to tap into this high demand for microlearning, especially at a time when the number of internet users in the region stands at 400 million, it added.
Ezetap looks to increase revenue five-fold to Rs 750 crore by 2024
A top official at fintech firm today revealed it is targetting about five-fold growth in revenue to Rs 750 crore by 2024 driven by international expansion and increase in merchant base.
Ezetap CEO and Co-founder Byas Nambisan said the company is also looking to raise around Rs 450 crore, which will include around Rs 260 crore from the primary market, in the next few months to fund the growth plan.
"Ezetap is looking to grow to Rs 750 crore in revenue by 2024. We were at about $20 million (about Rs 150 crore) of revenue by December 2021. Around 95 percent of our revenue at present comes from India. By then, we expect 80 percent to be from India," Nambisan said.