Startup news and updates: daily roundup (November 23, 2022)

Recur Club appoints Swarandeep Singh as Senior Director of Growth

Recurring-based revenue fintech startup Recur Club announced that it has appointed Swarandeep Singh, who is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Lykke Capital, as Senior Director of Growth. He has been an investor in the startup since September 2021.

Swarandeep will devise and operationalise a long-term partnership framework and growth strategy, establish strategic tie-ups with venture capital firms, accelerators, startup communities and partners across channels, in his new role, according to a statement.

Recur Club helps companies by converting their recurring monthly or annual subscriptions/customer payments into upfront capital in a short time. Institutional investors invest in recurring revenue streams of growing companies using their tech platform. The company raised $30 million in seed funding led by InfoEdge Ventures and Jeff Bezos-backed Village Global in one of the biggest such funding rounds in the early stages in India.

BetterPlace joins hands with British International Investment to upskill 100k women by 2024

Betterplace, India's largest full-stack tech platform for frontline workforce management, said it has partnered with British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, to upskill and employ 100,000 women workers by 2024.

As part of this tie-up, BetterPlace will work with a network of partners across the country that are equipping women workers to better their lives in addition to mobilising and sentitising employer organisations that are working towards building an equitable frontline workforce, the company said in a press release.

According to The Frontline Index Report by BetterPlace, only 3% of women constitute the total frontline workforce. The company said that 23% of the users of its end-to-end recruitment marketplace that provides a pre-skilled pool of workers to enterprises are women. However, just 3% of the women users actually work in a company with most earning between Rs 16,000-17,000 per month. The initiative is aimed at not just increasing their participation in the workforce but also to increase their hourly earnings by over 10%.

Vayana Network begins operations of its ITFS platform

Trade finance platform Vayana Network announced that its International Trade Financing Services (ITFS) platform facilitating cross-border trade finance, Vayana TradeXchange (VTX), has completed and disbursed its first set of export financing transactions.

Vayana (IFSC) Pvt Lit, a fully-owned subsidiary of Vayana Network, India's largest supply chain finance platform, has built and operates VTX.  VoloFin, a global fintech company offering invoice and supply chain finance solutions to small and medium enterprise businesses, financed the first set of transactions on VTX.

Exporters and importers can gain timely access to trade finance seamlessly across geographies leading to new business opportunities, according to the company. The users can discover rates through a transparent bidding mechanism with funds available in the currency of trade.

VTX has onboarded State Bank of India, Yes Bank, India Factoring, VoloFin and Drip Capital as financiers and is looking to get 10 more onboard.

NEAR India to support Growfitter's global web3 expansion strategy

Incentivised wellness platform Growfitter has partnered with NEAR India, NEAR Foundation's regional hub in India, as part of its global expansion plans. The startup is among the first few in India to bank on web3 for its geographical expansion. Growfitter's integration into the NEAR blockchain will help the startup to expand its presence in Vietnam, Dubai, Singapore and the Phillippines.

The startup is looking to leverage NEAR's platform to reach its global audiences without being physically present in particular locations or countries.

Growfitter is a rewards platform that incentivises users who adopt an active and a healthy lifestyle with financial benefits and was founded in 2016. It claims to have over 25,000 paid subscribers, over 100 direct-to-consumer brands and that it has redeemed rewards more than $6 million since inception.

Galgal Money raises $1M from angel investors

Galgal Money, a fintech startup, has raised $1 million from multiple angel investors. The funds will be used to launch the app and accelerate customer acquisition, besides product development.

Started in 2021 by Harsh Chhatrapati, a graduate from London-based Imperial College, and Arun Iyer, a former Tech Mahindra executive, Galgal Money is a neo-banking platform targetting the young generation. The Mumbai-based platform offers saving tips and money management, among other banking services. Galgal's artificial intelligence (AI) system notifies users about their spending patterns.

The Ayurveda Co. raises funds from actor Kajal Aggarwal

The Ayurveda Co (TAC) raised undisclosed funds from actor Kajal Aggarwal as the direct-to-consumer firm launches its Series A round. The firm is targeting to raise $15 million for this round.

Started in 2021 by Shreedha Singh and Param Bhargava, who earlier founded skincare brand Khadi Essentials, TAC claims to create completely Ayurvedic products across skin, hair, makeup and baby care, among other categories.