Startup news and updates: daily roundup (May 02, 2022)

San Francisco-based Rise Capital launches India operations

San Francisco-based Rise Capital on Monday announced its entry into the Indian startup ecosystem, where it will invest in tech startups through its Global Fund III. The VC fund believes that the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world can create well over $1 trillion in market cap by 2030.

Founded by former Tiger Global and Goldman Sachs employee Nazar Yasin, Rise Capital invests in emerging economies like LATAM, MENA, SEA, and Africa. He said the fund is bullish on the Indian venture space and will stay as a long term player. 

“Our ability to spot high potential startups as demonstrated in other emerging regions gives us the confidence to deploy a significant part of our global fund in India. We will continue to focus on a digital disruption thesis, which we believe is still quite early across most sectors in India,” he said.

Rise Capital has hired Anuj Mehta as its first investment team member for the development and implementation of the fund's India investment strategy. 

Manipal Business Solutions wins Swanari Techsprint 2022 

Fintech player Manipal Business Solutions Private Limited (MBS) won an award in the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) track at Swanari Techsprint 2022 organised by The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) last month. 

Manipal Business Solutions showcased its proprietary technology solution — Savings Goal Tracking application — which enables financial inclusion for women and facilitates financial and digital literacy.  

The solution will help women’s self-help groups (SHGs) to save small amounts digitally with their individual Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) or Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts. 

Kamaljeet Rastogi, CEO of Manipal Business Solutions, said, “The award is a testament to our commitment towards aiding financial inclusion in the country and contributing towards promoting financial and digital literacy. MBS has been closely working with various government agencies and institutions for women's empowerment by establishing convenient channels and financial services.”

ALSO READ

Propensity to scale and resilience driving uptake of cloud, say AWS executives

GoKwik onboards Home Credit's Joyeeta Ghosal as Director of Brand Marketing

Ecommerce enablement company GoKwik on Monday said it appointed Joyeeta Ghosal as the Director of Brand Marketing. 

Joyeeta said, "Marketing will enable us to create awareness and recognition for GoKwik and the problems that we are solving, and as we scale our network, we also scale the businesses of our D2C partners, which will, in effect, benefit the end consumers and shoppers. This is an exciting time to be working in technology and D2C, and I am happy to be able to contribute to this space through GoKwik.”

She has over a decade’s experience in communication strategy, brand development, and sustenance. Earlier, she led the marketing and communications function at Home Credit.

StanPlus appoints Gurjit Singh as COO, founding member, to build India’s own ‘911’

Healthcare emergency response platform StanPlus on Monday said it appointed Gurjit Singh as Chief Operating Officer and founding member to help build India’s very own '911'.

Earlier working at Alvarez & Marsal, Gurjit brings 16 years of significant operational leadership experience in the healthcare delivery and consulting industry. Now, he aims to strengthen StanPlus in providing quality and timely response technologies during medical emergencies across India.

Prabhdeep Singh, Founder and CEO of Stanplus, said, "Gurjit is an industry veteran who has diverse experiences across hospitals, diagnostics, medical devices, single speciality, and allied healthcare models. He is truly capable of achieving organisational scalability, and I am excited to build and grow the StanPlus business with him.”