Scripbox acquires Pune-based advisory, IVY Cap onboards new managing partner

Scripbox acquires Pune-based advisory Wealth Managers

Wealth management platform Scripbox on Monday said it has made a strategic investment in Pune-based advisory firm Wealth Managers (India) Private Limited. 

The advisory, founded by chartered accountants Bharat Phatak and Ajit Khasnis, specialises in personalised financial services for high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, corporates, and charity trusts.

The deal will enable Scripbox to expand its geographical presence, and expand customer base, while Wealth Mangers clientele will have an access to superior digital solutions, it said.  

The size of the deal remains undisclosed. 

“The partnership will allow us to leverage our collective wealth management experience, and jointly deliver data-driven personalised solutions for the growth and diversification of wealth for our consumers. In addition to strengthening our offerings, it will enhance our presence in key geographies and offer an amalgamation of traditional and digital solutions to cater to a full spectrum of customer needs,” said Atul Shinghal, Founder and CEO of Scripbox. 

Scripbox has been partnering with offline and online independent wealth managers over the last few years to increase its product offering and expand geographical.

Bharat Phatak, Founder and Director at Wealth Managers added, “We were always impressed by the technology initiatives and process-driven progress made by Scripbox. Joining hands with them gives us an opportunity to build long-term investments, based on a rational and responsible approach, for a much larger cross section of investors.”

VC firm IvyCap Ventures onboards former Fosun Managing Director

Venture Capital (VC) firm IvyCap Ventures has onboarded Tej Kapoor, former Managing Director and Head of Beijing-based VC fund Fosun RZ Capital India, as its Managing Partner, as the firm looks at “driving the next phase of growth and invest in sectors including fintech, consumer tech, Web 3.0, gaming, and more.” 

The leader will be involved in the strategic thinking and global expansion of Ivy Cap, the firm said in a statement. 

Tej holds over 15 years of experience in the VC industry. Prior to Fosun, whose portfolio included Delhivery, Ixigo, Kissht, DOT Pay, Desty, Mylo, LetsTransport, Headfone, MakeMyTrip and Trell, Tej was a part of Daily Mail Group of London, and Naspers India where he led several B2B and B2C startups investments. 

He also served as a board member of startups like DotPe, Mylo, LetsTransport, Kissht, ixigo and Delhivery. 

“I have been fortunate to see the entire life cycle from early stage investing to the IPO of companies. I wish to bring my knowledge, global perspective, and ability to help IvyCap scale its business. IvyCap has a strong portfolio and has been able to produce ‘Dragon’ with highest returns from its portfolio. I hope to further strengthen the portfolio, help founders scale their businesses, and add value to the entire ecosystem,” said Tej. 

Drone Federation of India, Indian Army ink pact to develop high-impact drones

The Drone Federation of India (DFI), a not-for-profit industry body that promotes drone industry, and Indian Army, represented by the Army Design Bureau (ADB), on Monday signed a pact to jointly plan, research, test, manufacture drone, counter drone and associated technologies that are to be utilised by the Indian Army in its operations.

As a first step of this collaboration, DFI and ADB are launching a Drone-a-thon, where it will invite proposals for development of drone-based solutions for supporting Indian Army’s operations in the harsh himalayan terrains.

The ADB will provide mentoring and enable field visits to selected participants to give them exposure of real-life operational scenarios. Further details of the program shall be launched soon.

“Indian drone startups have started delivering specialised products that meet the Indian Army’s frontline requirements. This collaboration will establish new drone use cases and develop high impact drone solutions for the army soldiers via an active industry-academia-user engagement,” said Smit Shah, President, Drone Federation of India.

Let’s Try raises seed round of funding led by Venture Catalysts

Let’s Try, a food brand, has raised an undisclosed seed round of funding from Venture Catalysts with participation from other angel investors. The individual investors are Aman Gupta (Founder – Boat Lifestyle), Prateek Nijhawan (Julius Baer), Kiran Kumar (Ex Pepsico India Head) and Prateek Sabharwal (Ex Pepsico, Kellogg’s Director).

Founded by Nitin Vinod, Neelam Kalra, Chitra Gupta, and Geetanjali Kalra, Let’s Try makes a range of savoury products free of preservatives, which was introduced in the market in April 2021 under a omnichannel route.

Let’s Try founder Nitin Kalra said, “With a growth of 40x annually, and having expanded four times last year, Let’s Try has received an explosive response from its’ customers in India and wishes to reach one crore households by the end of two years.”

Vaaree raises pre-seed round from angel investors

Vaaree, a home furnishing marketplace, has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round funding from a group of angel investors.

The angel investors include Kunal Shah (founder CRED), Ghazal Alagh (Co-Founder Mamaearth), Vineeta Singh (Co-Founder SUGAR Cosmetics) Arjun Vaidya(Founder Dr. Vaidya's), Rohit MA (Founder Cloudnine), Anjali Bansal (Founder Avana Capital), Varun Dua & Ruchi Deepak(Co-founders Acko), Manish Duggar (CFO Mphasis) amongst others.

Founded in 2022 by Garima Luthra and Pranav Arora, Vaaree connects artisans with end consumers. The brand has 2,000+ SKUs across multiple categories that includes bedsheets, cushion covers, dining, kitchen and bath.

In a joint statement, Vaaree founders said, “We have a vision to make all homes beautiful at affordable prices….With the initial funding we would like to add on more categories, build a strong team and invest in branding.”  

Ankur capital announces pre-see funding platform for early stage startups

Venture Capital (VC) firm Ankur Capital on Monday announced the launch of a pre-seed funding platform— Day Zero— for early-stage startups.

The platform, launched in collaboration with other micro VC partners like Eximius Ventures, Upsparks, Capital-A, and Gemba, will remain sector agnostic but will primarily focus on agriculture, health, SMB SaaS, fintech, logistics, mobility, construction, livelihood, and everything in between, it said in statement.

It aims to invest in pre-seed/seed startups with up to $1 million.

Mohammed Amaan Memon, Head, Day Zero, said, “We are working with top angels, micro VCs, and ecosystem enablers--right from banks to cloud providers. We aim to help connect our founders to marquee investors as they raise follow-on capital.”

The VC firm has around 30 companies in its portfolio across two funds and has backed startups like Captain Fresh, Krishify, VeGrow, Rupifi, Cropin, String Bio, and Niramai, among others.

(This story will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)