Startup funding and news updates: daily roundup (November 4, 2022)

Cure.fit launches gender-neutral parental leave programme

Cure.fit announced the launch of its gender-neutral parental leave program for employees. This is an update on existing maternity and paternity policy of 6 months and would further expand the program to cover non-binary parents.

With this launch, employees opting for parenthood through natural birth, surrogacy, or adoption will be eligible to avail of parental break, regardless of their gender.

The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 prescribes a maternity break of 26 weeks. If a woman adopts a child under the age of 3 months, then she is eligible for a leave of 12 weeks. Central government employees can avail of paternity leaves for up to 15 days, but no formal policy is in place for employees in the private sector. According to Cure.fit its policy differs from others in terms of equalizing the benefits for all parents. This break is a paid leave of 6 months and is followed up with flexible working models for those who would like to opt for a longer break.

Arzooo sees 400% rise in festive sale of white goods

Retailtech platform Arzooo has seen a 400% rise in sales of white goods during the festive season compared to last year. The top categories which contributed to this growth are televisions (540%), washing machines (330%) and refrigerators (300%).

Arzooo has on-boarded over 40,000 retailers on its platform. Around 80% of these retailers are from the tier 2 and below cities contributing to nearly 67% of the total sales volume.

Khushnud Khan, Co-founder & CEO, Arzooo, said, “Tier 2 and below cities represent a potential untapped market with pent-up demand and significant opportunities. Our growth in the sale of white goods is a function of increased adoption of the platform among the retailers and a rise in disposable incomes among the consumers.”

The sellers on the tech platform also increased by 1500% of which the top sellers had five-times sales this year as compared to last year. Some of the top performing states are Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Visa launches startup accelerator programme 2023

Visa has announced the launch of its accelerator programme for startups. Now in its third year, the Visa Accelerator Programme picks a small group of startups from across Asia Pacific to collaborate on some of the most pressing challenges in the payments industry.

This programme which kicks off next year, will focus on developing solutions in the following areas: Web 3.0, global money movement, embedded finance, merchant and small business enablers, and open banking solutions.

Startups from the 2021 and 2022 cohorts secured nine commercial deals with Visa’s clients and partners in Asia Pacific. Additionally, Visa has entered into six partnership and commercial agreements with selected startups. From India, the program had DigitSecure and Open selected in the first cohort while Perfios was part of the second cohort.

Sandeep Ghosh, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa, said, “We have seen some exceptional ideas from startups in India that have been a part of the past cohorts and co-developed great products. Expectations are high as we invite startups for the third cohort and hope to continue driving the same positive momentum with the Program.”

Ninjacart appoints Paul Varghese as head of reseller platform

Agritech startup Ninjacart has announced the appointment of Paul Varghese as Head of its Reseller Platform. The appointment comes as a part of Ninjacart’s continued focus on strengthening both its fulfillment and platform businesses. As Ninjacart's Reseller platform leader, Paul will contribute to the development of the company's strategy, GTM, teams, and execution capabilities.

A post-graduate from IIM Calcutta, Paul Varghese brings two decades worth of experience in sales, marketing, and building the business domain. He had previously worked for Swiggy, Reckitt, and Procter & Gamble. At Swiggy, he led restaurant partner relationships for the food marketplace business as well as cloud kitchen and brandworks business lines.