Startup news and updates: daily roundup (February 24, 2023)

SAP Labs India lays off around 300 employees

SAP Labs, the research and development business unit of German technology firm SAP, has laid off around 300 executives in India, said a report by The Economic Times.

These layoffs were majorly in its Bengaluru and Gurugram offices. The report said it was a result of shuttering of a global delivery centre that housed custom development roles to undertake SAP implementation projects. 

Those affected were given severance packages of salaries equal to the number of years of service in the company.

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DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations partners with Studio Trika to create  breath-taking experiences in the sky

DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations, an end-to-end data solution provider, on Friday announced it partnered with Studio Trika.

The partnership between DroneAcharya and Studio Trika has the potential to create a new genre  of entertainment by bringing together the cutting-edge technology of drones and the creativity of  art. By leveraging DroneAcharya's expertise in drone technology and Studio Trika's artistic  capabilities, the partnership aims to provide unique experiences to its customers.

Happy announces strategic partnership with MOS World to offer easy credit to MSMEs

Happy, a neo-fintech platform, has announced its latest partnership with MOS World, a rural fintech firm. The collaboration's goal is to extend the credit line to MOS merchants that will be offered through a digital journey. 

Founded in 2016, the company has partnered with multiple merchant aggregators (POS vendors, BC networks, e-commerce platforms and more) to enable their merchants with instant loans. Happy has raised a total of $18 million in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in 2020 from a debt financing round.

Through this alliance, Happy will extend its reach to MOS World’s merchants across India. This collaboration will assist both companies to achieve growth by catering to the credit needs of India's under-represented and underserved micro businesses.

Turtlefin strengthens on bancassurance vertical, acquires Last Decimal

Insurtech platform Turtlefin has announced the acquisition of Last Decimal, an insurtech SaaS company to strengthen its leadership position in the market. This transaction accelerates Turtlefin’s growth trajectory by expanding its bancassurance business and market share with the addition of Last Decimal’s existing customers.

Turtlefin provides end-to-end tech solutions to enable insurance sales and services and digitize via comprehensive technology support for large enterprises like banks, insurers, ecommerce players and other distributors. Turtlefin’s SaaS technology solutions are in line to provide customer experience with access to the latest features, functions and platforms designed specifically for content sharing, learning and development and lead management.

Various banks and insurers in India use Last Decimal’s API-driven platform BancaEdge for offering insurance to their disparate customer segments. Turtlefin is committed to leveraging its insurtech capabilities and ensuring a seamless customer experience.

ShareChat introduces Learning Hub, a certification program tapping into the pulse of Bharat and Young India 

ShareChat, a multilingual social media platform, has launched ShareChat Learning Hub, a certification program specially designed for marketers, advertisers and brands. The idea behind launching this free-of-cost, self-paced learning program is to enable brands to leverage ShareChat and Moj’s network of more than 400 million MAUs to reach an ‘uncharted’ Bharat and young India (Gen Z and millennials) audiences and create high-performing campaigns, the company said.

It also aims to highlight the potential of short-form videos to drive campaign messaging in a differentiated manner for young India.

The course will also provide a step-by-step guide on using ShareChat and Moj’s advertising dashboard, will offer a structured learning experience and keep track of class performance through practice tests and quizzes.

Over 200 brands including Airtel, Pepsi, Realme, Godrej, ITC Ltd have already collaborated with ShareChat for its native ad campaigns and immersive ad formats to reach their audience and grow their business.

Gladful gets Rs 50 lakh investment at Shark Tank

Jaipur-based startup Gladful has received a Rs 50 lakh investment in the second season of the business reality show Shark Tank India from "sharks" Aman Gupta, Amit Jain and Namita Thapar for 3.5% of equity.

Gladful, founded by two siblings – Parul Sharma and Manu Sharma, aims to bridge the prevailing nutritional gap and provide protein to Indian families by creating a portfolio of easy-to-consume foods which are high in this macronutrient and making school tiffin boxes, early morning meals healthier and easier with highly distinctive protein pre-sprouted mixes, protein cookies, and dates & nut-based desserts.

This FMCG brand, backed by Antler India, Huddle, Shiprocket, and Angel investors such as Shantanu Deshpande (Bombay Shaving), Ankita Vasisht (Strongher Ventures), Pawan Nanda (Winzo Games), aims to cross 15 crores in FY23 with its key offerings (high protein & fibre versions of foods) along with distribution expansion into quick commerce.

Gladful aims to build a 500-crore functional food brand in India by 2026.

Paytm UPI Lite enables payments of up to Rs 200 without PIN

Paytm Payments Bank, has launched Paytm UPI LITE—a feature that will never fail even during peak transaction hours.

Paytm is currently the only platform to exclusively offer this service, the company said in a statement.

UPI LITE, enabled by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), aids users to carry out multiple small value UPI transactions without using a PIN.

Using Paytm UPI LITE, users can carry out transactions of value up to Rs 200 at a time. Moreover, users can transfer UPI balance back to the same bank account anytime, without any charges.

Currently, 9 banks support Paytm UPI LITE — Canara Bank, Central Bank of India,HDFC Bank, Indian Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank.

KFintech to invest into Fintech Products and Solutions to enter account aggregator business

KFin Technologies Limited, a provider of investor and issuer solutions, on Friday announced its decision to invest into Fintech Products and Solutions India Private Limited (FPSIPL), a technology service provider (TSP) having a wholly owned subsidiary, FinSec AA Solutions Private Limited, an account aggregator, licensed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This partnership will help KFintech venture into TSP and AA business as it looks to diversify beyond its current offerings across asset classes in the financial services ecosystem.

After this investment, KFin Technologies will own 25.63% of the post-issue equity share capital of FPSIPL. KFintech can acquire additional equity share capital of FPSIPL, taking its aggregate shareholding in FPSIPL to 75.01%, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals.

This acquisition shall enable KFin Technologies to leverage its technology competence to deliver TSP solutions to BFSI players and new-age startups and scale up AA value propositions beyond lending.