Startup news and updates: daily roundup (April 8, 2022)

Karbon Card launches Payout product for Startups and SMBs for faster vendor payments

KarbonCard, a corporate card provider and an emerging neobank for the new-age startups and SMBs, has announced the launch of its unique Payout product to make vendor and salary payments easier and faster.

Some of the unique features of the new Payout product include simple maker checker, bulk payout, advanced notification, a painless and modern UX, and an option to send payment links (for beneficiaries). The finance team can access all their cards and vendor payments on a single platform. A lot of our customers have started using Payout to make even critical payments, such as monthly salary disbursal.

Talking about the launch, Kartik Jain, Cofounder, Karbon Card said, “Imagine a situation when the finance team has to manage corporate cards from five different banks along with several current accounts. It becomes a nightmare to manage vendor payments, reconciliation, manage leaks if any, every single day. Our Payout feature is a simple and one-stop solution for all kinds of banking and payment needs. It is everything that a bank offers and a lot more.”

HealthKart, Delhi Police come together to raise awareness on women’s health, nutrition 

India's largest health and nutrition-based online marketplace Healthkart recently organised a health drive with Delhi Police and Lakshyam (NGO) to raise awareness about women's health, their right to nutrition, and various approaches to solving their health-related problems. The drive was organised for the women of Delhi Police, representing the Self Defence and Counselling Unit.

Speaking on the occasion, Abhinav Sonal, Chief of Staff, HealthKart, said, "We at HealthKart, have been striving to do our part to help our communities, and this initiative highlights the importance of health and nutrition for all women. The drive also percolates the message of 'Eating Right' to a larger population while we continue to contribute to a healthier future.”

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KredX partners with ICICI Bank; offers unique cashback commercial card for B2B payments

KredX, India's largest supply chain finance company, has partnered with ICICI Bank to offer ‘ICICI Bank-KredX Commercial Card’, for B2B payments. Through this partnership KredX aims to disburse over Rs 2,000 crore B2B payments per month and treble customer base by end of 2022

The first-of-its-kind cashback card is an exclusive offering by KredX that enables businesses to avail financial rewards instantly for all B2B payments, without incurring any additional cost.

This partnership creates a unique offering to empower B2B payments by solving the complexities associated with these payments, especially vendor payments across segments. The commercial card offers a simple payment process on the unified platform of KredX. It provides a single view dashboard for all the payment transactions and a management interface.

Unacademy launches the first Unacademy Store in Jaipur

Edtech unicorn Unacademy today announced the opening of its second Experience Store in the country in Jaipur. Learners will be able to browse the brand offerings offline and speak with specialists at the first Unacademy Store in Jaipur.

Jaipur is a key learning hub in the country. The Unacademy Store plans to further provide guidance and knowledge for all learners in the city.

The Unacademy Store is created to serve as an offline touchpoint for learners who want to understand the brand's offerings and have first-hand experience of the advantages. The store is designed to keep learners informed about their chosen career paths and connect them to others who share the same interests. The on-ground counselling with experts, occasional sessions with top educators, and a host of other aspects curate a holistic experience for Learners and further propel the trust and confidence in the brand. 

The Unacademy Store is built with a modern and minimalist design approach, that will elevate the browsing experience for the learners. Students can also purchase Unacademy subscriptions at the Store after guided counselling with on-ground experts.

Omega Seiki Mobility to deploy 10,000 InstaChargable Rapid EVs

Omega Seiki Mobility (OSM) and Bengaluru-headquartered advanced battery technology startup Log9 Materials, today announced a strategic partnership to deploy 10,000 three-wheeler Rage+ Rapid EVs in Tier II and III markets of India by FY24. Supporting these 3W EV Cargo Loaders will be Log9’s state-of-the-art InstaCharging stations that promise to charge a 3W completely within 35 minutes, as compared to up to 3.5 hours taken by conventional 3Ws.

In India, the last-mile logistics sector in the ecommerce industry is anticipated to increase by nine times to $5.23 billion by 2025. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, local restrictions and demand for online shopping has brought a fundamental shift in shopping behaviour. Today, one out of five customers of ecommerce platforms originate from Tier II and Tier III cities. For small loads, 3W goods vehicles are fast becoming a preferred choice for last-mile delivery.

The partnership between Omega Seiki Mobility and Log9 will facilitate Rs 150 crore investment in setting up fast charging infrastructure across the nation by FY24. Alongside, Log9 and OSM will also be instituting fleet partners in each of these cities/towns who will be the first-adopters and the ambassadors of EV technologies for their respective markets.

Zypp Electric elevates Tushar Mehta as Co-founder and COO

With a strong focus on growth and expansion, Zypp Electric, an EV-as-a-Service platform solving last-mile delivery, today announced the elevation of Tushar Mehta as co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO).

This is in line with the company’s continuous commitment to sustained growth by adding to its leadership team and strategically achieving its goals of maintaining operational efficiency, with an eye on capturing a wider market in the fiscal year. 

Tushar joined Zypp last year as business head and has since closely worked with the founding team to achieve operational excellence and business strategies. In his new role, Tushar’s core responsibilities include scaling Zypp’s overall business and ensuring sustainable growth strategies.

He will be responsible for leading Zypp in further creating solutions to solve the delivery and mobility problems in the EV space. He comes with distinguished prior experience of being part of the leadership team in the country's acclaimed mobility and automotive companies viz Ola Cabs and Cars24. 

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Raise Financial Services acquires financial e-learning startup Valuationary

Raise Financial Services today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Surat-based e-learning startup Valuationary in a deal that is a combination of cash and stock. Post-acquisition, Valuationary will join and operate from Raise Financial’s headquarters in Mumbai along with its 15-member team including the founders.

Founded in 2020 by Pratik Bajaj, Kunal Shah, and Mahip Gupta, Valuationary is a leading

e-learning platform that helps young professionals in the financial sector to upskill themselves. The startup enables users to upskill through its courses, live sessions, and extensive social media presence where it responsibly simplifies financial news and information. With this acquisition, Raise aims to strengthen its investment and wealth stack by enabling investors and traders to learn about markets via Valuationary’s courses.

Valuationary will scale its financial products and will continue to run as a 100 percent subsidiary of Raise and will be led by its founders — Pratik Bajaj, Kunal Shah, and Mahip Gupta. Raise will invest further in Valuationary to launch new products in existing and new formats, which include short-form content, micro-courses, interactive sessions, and more covering various financial topics, including stock markets, trading, insurance, international investing, and more. Valuationary is expected to launch some of its new products, and courses in the next few months.

MobiKwik elevates Anshuman Misra as Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO)

MobiKwik, one of the largest mobile wallets and the largest Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) fintech company in India today announced that it has promoted Anshuman Misra as its Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO) with immediate effect. In his new role, Anshuman will work to seamlessly integrate product and technology to build the best and most loved fintech product in India at scale.

He will be responsible for driving ‘Product, Design, Engineering, Infrastructure and Security ’ at MobiKwik.          

Bipin Preet Singh, Co-founder, Managing Director, and CEO, MobiKwik, said, “Anshuman has done phenomenal work in building product leadership for the business. He spearheaded the UX refresh of MobiKwik Zip, making it the most loved BNPL product. His zeal for continuous improvement has led to elevation in our core technology and infrastructure."

He further added, “MobiKwik started out as a payments platform, has become the largest BNPL Fintech and is building out savings and insurance. Our next growth frontier is to become a digital bank for Bharat fulfilling all the financial needs of 500 million Indians. As we embark on this growth journey, Anshuman and his team will play a key role in translating our vision into reality. I wish him continued success and a stellar innings with MobiKwik.”

Altair and Startup India Announce Launch of Altair Startup Challenge 2022 and Winners of Altair Startup Challenge 2021

Altair a global leader in computational science and artificial intelligence (AI), announced the launch of Altair Startup Challenge 2022, continuing Altair’s collaboration with Startup India, a Government of India initiative to build a strong and inclusive ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in India.

Following a successful competition in 2021, with eight finalists chosen from a pool of 156 participating companies, the Startup Challenge gives organisations access to high-end technology, mentorship, and expert support and guidance in their quest for innovative products.

Altair seeks to identify, support, mentor, and reward budding startups with its simulation, optimization, and machine learning technologies combined with its dedicated team of mentors with extensive experience and knowledge. The award categories were simulation-driven product design and development, digital twin, and embedded systems.

The Altair Startup Challenge required startups to identify Altair technologies that would drive the design and engineering of their companies’ products – which would improve product performance, reduce product development time, and minimise cost. Eight companies were shortlisted from a pool of more than 156 applications; as a reward, Altair provided these startups with mentorship and free access to Altair technologies for four months.

Winners were judged based on how they applied Altair technologies and how well they enhanced their product designs and their potential business impact. 2021’s eight finalists – Raptee, Rvemp Moto, Reevia Motors, Emote Electric, Ingo Electric, Innovmon Technologies, Creatara Mobility, and Yali Mobility – were acknowledged with a successful participation certificate at a ceremony held at a city hotel.