Startup news and updates: daily roundup (September 27, 2022)

D2C Ecommerce acquires AccessHer

D2C Ecommerce, the multi-brand ecommerce platform, has acquired Mumbai-based fashion jewellery brand AccessHer for an undisclosed value. Through this acquisition, D2C Ecommerce will expand its presence in the jewellery and accessories space and bolster the brand’s footprint by investing in newer categories, scaling D2C Ecommerce’s business, and expanding into global markets including the UK, the US, and Europe.

Founded in 2018 by Gaurav Babel and Reena Jain, AccessHer curates jewellery and accessories for contemporary Indian women in the age group of 20 to 35 years. AccessHer has over 2,000 products listed across online platforms.

Manish Gupta, CEO and Founder, D2C Ecommerce said, “The acquisition is the outcome of carefully thought through strategy and synergy between the two brands. Both D2C Ecommerce and AccessHer adhere to the same vision and consider it important to provide the best quality products to young Indian consumers at affordable prices.”

Aarav Solutions acquires Froot Research for $4M

Aarav Solutions, a product engineering and IT consulting services company, has announced the acquisition of Froot Research, an artificial intelligence platform for $4 million. As part of the acquisition, Aarav Solutions has onboarded the entire Froot Research team and will make all necessary investments over the next few years to build a stronger AI R&D team, apart from setting up sales, marketing, design, and operations teams.

Raj Darji, Founder of Aarav Solutions said, "Enterprise digital transformation is a serious business and investing in core and emerging technologies is a clear strategy for us for a futuristic line of products and services.”

GitHub for Startups now available in India

GitHub, a leading software development platform has made GitHub for Startups available to startups in India and globally. GitHub for Startups welcomes startups onto the developer platform, to give them the tools they need to build their business ideas.

Eligible startups will receive up to 20 seats of GitHub Enterprise free for one year. Launched earlier this year, GitHub for Startups has been working with partners worldwide and hundreds of startups—including many in India—in the pilot group to help them with collaboration and productivity, security, and harness the speed of innovation.

Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, said, “No longer can any organisation enter, compete, and grow in the modern, digitised economy without software, the power of developers, and the open source community. As the home for the world’s developers, it is our responsibility to provide entrepreneurs access to our complete developer platform, so anyone can rapidly and securely turn their aspirations into the next great startup of tomorrow.”

Dream Sports appoints new chief data officer

Dream Sports, the sports technology company, has announced the appointment of Anantha Sundararajan, as their Chief Data Officer (CDO). He will be responsible for enhancing fan experience, engagement and trust, powered by cutting edge AI, ML, Data Science, Decision Science and Data Engineering for 140 user base of the company.

Anantha will oversee the creation and utilisation of data led assets, products and capabilities through technology innovations across the Dream Sports ecosystem. He was earlier with pharmaceutical company Novartis.

Harsh Jain, CEO and Co-Founder, Dream11 and Dream Sports said, “As a pure-play sports tech company, where data drives all our decisions, we are delighted to have Anantha onboard to formulate and drive our AI and Data vision.”

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Siply plans to open 1,000 ‘phygital’ branches

Siply, the tech-enabled micro-savings platform has announced plans to launch ‘Phygital’ (physical + digital) branches across six metro cities in the next three months. Overall, Siply will launch a total of 1,000 branches across 115 cities in India and look to hire around 2,000-3,000 employees.

Siply also plans to establish a strong agency network as its presence expands across the length and breadth of the country. Siply currently has a staff strength of 60 employees and is set to launch its first physical branch in September.

According to Siply, it has over 3.2 million users who have collectively made more than 11 million transactions amounting to a total savings of over Rs 380 crore.

“We want to cater to the 40 crore Indians who are not yet a part of the formal banking system and have so far been largely overlooked by banks and mutual fund houses,” said Sousthav Chakrabarty, CEO and co-founder of Siply.

FuelBuddy forms partnership with IOCL

FuelBuddy, the on-demand fuel provider, has joined hands with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for enabling the supply of 20 litres ‘Buddy Cans’ to all IOCL pumps in India thereby increasing the reach of diesel delivery service for their customers.

According to FuelBuddy, customers can now access the right quantity and quality of diesel fuel at their convenience across the 34,000 outlets of IOCL. FuelBuddy has delivered over 1.57 lakh orders and seven crore litres of fuel till now.

Neeraj Gupta, CEO India, FuelBuddy, said, "On-demand fuel delivery is the next big thing in the industry with the customers looking for the convenience of refuelling unadulterated and pilferage-free diesel at the comfort of home. This partnership is another step toward our efforts to democratise and digitise fuel in India.”

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Samsung launches credit card in partnership with Axis Bank

Samsung, in partnership with Axis Bank, has launched a co-branded credit card powered by Visa. With the Samsung Axis Bank Credit Card, consumers will get 10% cashback across all Samsung products and services round the year.

“The Samsung Axis Bank Credit Card, powered by Visa, is our next big India-specific innovation that will change the way our customers buy Samsung products and spend on services through a series of industry-leading features, said Ken Kang, President and CEO, Samsung South-West Asia.

Axis Bank MD and CEO Amitabh Chaudhry said, “Through this co-branded credit card, in partnership with Samsung India and Visa, we are reiterating our commitment to drive access to formal credit in India, tapping the wide reach of Samsung India that extends beyond top 10 cities and aids our objective of card penetration into Tier-II and III cities.”

Anushka and Virat Kohli are brand ambassadors for Toothsi

Toothsi, the clinical beauty brand for teeth, has signed on Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli as brand ambassadors to promote and encourage the adoption of new-age teeth straightening clear aligners.

According to Toothsi, it offers tech-backed solutions in the form of clear aligners that are discreet and can be used at one’s home to straighten teeth within six to eight months. In addition, customers can book a scan, get updates, and monitor treatment progress through the brand’s app.

“The talented duo Virat and Anushka personify youth and confidence with which our target audience can easily identify. We believe together, we can take the brand to the next level and create awareness about new-age teeth straightening solutions,” said Dr Arpi Mehta Shah, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), toothsi.