Startup news and updates: daily roundup (March 6, 2023)

Palo Alto Networks elevates KP Unnikrishnan as New Chief Marketing Officer

Palo Alto Networks marketing veteran KP Unnikrishnan (Unni) is elevated to Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), effective March 4. He will be based in the company’s Santa Clara headquarters and report directly to Palo Alto Networks Chairman and CEO Nikesh Arora.

Taking over Unni's role as Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific and Japan, Lisa Sim will be responsible for the company’s regional growth strategy, enhancing brand visibility, and driving opportunities by amplifying demand for Palo Alto Networks’ next-generation cybersecurity solutions. Lisa has been with the company since 2017 and was most recently the Head of Marketing for South Asia. She is also the Program Director for Cybersafe Kids.

BetterPlace launches an 8-point WeCARE@BetterPlace programme

Betterplace, a full-suite enterprise SaaS platform for frontline workforce management, has announced a slew of maternity, paternity, and childcare benefits. This policy would apply to heterosexual and homosexual couples and single parents.

The policy aims to create an ecosystem where everyone, regardless of gender or orientation, has a choice. By empowering mothers and their partners, the 8-point WeCARE@BetterPlace programme aims to help employees plan their family life on their own terms without being worried about financial or professional implications.

The 8-point WeCare Policy would apply to over 1,000 employees of BetterPlace. Moreover, child care and choice will be globally applicable, according to the WeCare@BetterPlace programme. The policy details will be localised based on country regulations and laws.

Glamyo Health collaborates with healthcare financing partners 

Glamyo Health has entered into a strategic collaboration with multiple healthcare financing partners to convert the medical bills of its patients into easy and affordable equated monthly instalments (EMIs) at no interest and additional charge to the patient.

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The tie-ups with Fibe (previously Early Salary), Bajaj Finance, Mahila Money, GMoney, and Unofin would empower the mid-income groups to get these wide varieties of secondary care surgeries done on time without having to worry about medical finances disrupting financial harmony.

It has created various innovative products with financing partners to offer salary advances, instant personal loans, cards, and buy now pay later options to pay for treatment. Patients and caregivers under this proposition can now seamlessly avail of healthcare financing from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,50,000, depending on the surgical case.

Yubi launches Back2EPIC

Yubi has launched Back2EPIC, a returnship programme for women in tech who are looking to restart their careers post a break. As part of the first cohort, 14 participants have graduated.

Back2EPIC is a fully-sponsored 12-week reskilling bootcamp-cum-internship for women on a career break. It is broken into two modules, which focus on technical reskilling and soft skills training, designed to enable a smooth transition into the workplace for women.

The first six weeks consist of a reskilling boot camp, followed by a six-week paid internship that will serve as a hands-on training experience. Post the completion of the internship, participants are assessed for full-time roles at Yubi.

Simpl appoints Neha Dixit as Vice President, People Operations

Simpl, a one-tap checkout network, has appointed Neha Dixit as the Vice President of its People Operations team. In her present role, Neha will be responsible for heading the organisation’s HR Business Partner function and providing leadership for people and culture priorities at Simpl. 

She would also be responsible for strengthening the policy and process framework to enable fast-paced learning and leadership development within the organization. This strategic hiring is in line with the platform’s expansion plans in the year ahead. 

With over a decade of experience in running HR programs across technology-driven companies such as Amazon and Myntra, Neha has expertise in programme management, analytics, employer branding, and diversity and inclusion. In her last stint at Myntra, Neha was a Senior Director - HR, leading the HR function for various lines of businesses, executing people strategy, and supporting rapid business growth. Neha also helmed and scaled the diversity and inclusion practices at Myntra.

10,000+ women entrepreneurs have dispensed over Rs 900 Cr of financial services in the last financial year: PayNearby Study

PayNearby, a branchless banking and digital network, on Monday said that more than 10,000 women entrepreneurs have dispensed over Rs 900 crore of financial services in the last financial year. The report further highlighted that more than 76% of female customers, who availed of basic banking services at PayNearby’s retail outlets preferred biometric authentication as a mode of cash withdrawal. 

According to the survey, more than 75% of the retailers mentioned that women within the age group of 18-30 years were the most digitally adept, with over 60% of this age bracket owning a smartphone and accessing digital content through it. This was immediately followed by the age group 31-40 years.

Over 65% of women customers, especially in the cash withdrawal markets, fell in the age group of 31-40 years, with AePS (aadhar-enabled payment system) being the most used banking service.

Approximately 78% of women cited cash withdrawal as the primary reason for visiting a retail store for financial transactions. Mobile recharges, bill payments and travel booking were the next three popular services availed by women customers at retail touchpoints.

Amazon joins hands with ‘Womennovator’ to enable 200 Indian women entrepreneurs ‘Go Global’

Amazon India has joined hands with Womennovator, which is a global incubator for women entrepreneurs and it supports them in scaling operations across India and the world - to enable 200 women entrepreneurs to launch their products on Amazon’s international marketplaces/websites and create global brands from India. This includes businesses like Kidsy Winsy, Vishaala Naturals, Gems & Jewels and Bunko Jungo, among others. 

These entrepreneurs come from diverse product categories including apparel, beauty, jewellery, spices, sanitation, handicrafts, home décor and office products etc. Over the next 24 months, Amazon will onboard these entrepreneurs associated with Womennovator on its ecommerce exports program – Global Selling. 

Amazon will provide them with all the necessary support as well as tools and technologies as they take their first towards creating a robust ecommerce exports business. This includes skill development workshops on nuances of ecommerce exports as well as training on listing of products, pricing, global logistics and more at no additional cost.

Spinny launches one-of-its-kind experiential hub, Spinny Park in Pune

Spinny, the full-stack used car buying and selling platform in India, on Monday announced the launch of Spinny Park, an experiential hub, at Post Wakad near Hinjewadi village, Pune. The park concept enhances the car-buying experience for customers in the city, through its handpicked car collection and expansive, state-of-the-art space.

The new Park is spread across a total area spanning three acres. It can board a huge assortment of cars, including over 500 Spinny Assured cars and Spinny Max pre-owned luxury cars, with an open space to explore, choose and test drive the cars. 

Spinny in Pune has been catering home deliveries and doorstep inspections to nearby cities including Solapur, Aurangabad, and Ratnagiri to name a few. Since February 2020, Spinny has facilitated over 25,000 car buying and selling transactions accounting for over 10% of Pune’s used car market share. 

Spinny also launched its flagship and India’s largest experiential hub in Bengaluru last year.

mPokket witnesses 100X growth in women users 

Digital lending platform mPokket has witnessed a 100X increase in female users in 2022. The company onboarded over 1 lakh female users in 2022, the majority of whom are from Tier III cities. 48% of the women are between the ages of 18 and 21 years; 30% are between the ages of 21 and 25 years of age.

More than 63% of mPokket's female users come from Tier III cities, with another 18% hailing from Tier II cities. The company has witnessed a sharp rise in demand for its financial products from Tier III cities by boarding over 2,00,000 women users from Tier III cities, followed by over 60,000 women users from Tier II cities.

Its services are increasingly in demand in central and southern Indian states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. The surge in growth can be credited to millennials and Gen Z who are embracing digital lending platforms for their financial requirements.

Infibeam’s BillAvenue adds 1M agents

Infibeam Avenues Ltd, a listed fintech company that owns and operates - BillAvenue, an online bill payment platform, on Monday announced that it had crossed the milestone of 1 million agents comprising kirana shops, grocery shops, pan shops, small pharmacy stores and the likes across India. 

BillAvenue is a unified inter-operable online bill payments platform built on the Bharat BillPay (BBPS) infrastructure developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It offers 'anytime, anywhere' bill payment facility to customers across India through a network of agents via multiple payment modes with instant confirmation through receipt of payment. 

(The copy will be updated throughout the day with the latest news.)