Startup news and updates: daily roundup (June 29, 2023)

Proptech firm Reloy raises Rs 7.2 Cr from investors to grow business

HDFC Capital-backed proptech firm Reloy, which helps realtors in generating referral sales, has raised Rs 7.2 crore from investors to expand its business.

In a pre-Series A2 funding round, Reloy (earlier known as Loyalie) said all the existing investors participated along with new investors like BlueLotus VC and Dream Green Capital.

The investment will be used to fuel the company's growth and expansion plans, the company said.

In February last year, the company raised Rs 5.9 crore from investors, taking the total external funding to over Rs 13 crore.

“India is now the world's most populated nation with only the 7th largest land mass. We need our builders to create the largest cities the world has ever seen. It's time we empowered good builders with our referrals," Reloy founder and CEO Akhil Saraf said.

Founded in 2015, Reloy has been specialising in real estate loyalty and referrals since 2018. It is a B2B2C (business-to-business-to-consumer) homeowner and broker management platform that helps builders manage customers and brokers more efficiently. The company helps homeowners with post-purchase requirements like document management, construction tracking, payments. 

It also creates a marketplace for other connected needs of home interiors and home finance.

The platform claims to manage over 1.4 lakh apartments. Its clientele includes Godrej Properties, DLF, Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate, Embassy Residential, Mahindra Lifespaces, K Raheja Corp, Brigade, and Piramal Realty.

Plotch.ai & Google Cloud Partner to launch ‘ONDC-in-a-Box’

SaaS platform Plotch has partnered with Google Cloud to launch an ONDC-in-a-Box solution to help enterprises integrate with the network faster.

Called Nodebox, the solution is powered by Google Cloud’s open source solution and bundled with Google Cloud infrastructure and is expected to be launched by the end of July. 

Nodebox will ensure that the enterprises are able to provide safe and secure solutions to their customers and at the same time help them scale faster, the company said. 

The solution is at present being targeted for medium and large enterprises and will support multiple domains of ONDC including retail, logistics, fintech and mobility.

The aim is to onboard 1000 large companies on Nodebox over the next 5 years, said Manoj Gupta, CEO of Plotch.ai, which is a technology enabler of ONDC. 

“We are launching a ready implementation of ONDC core and infra APIs as an open source solution for ONDC. This will enable Plotch.ai to build an enterprise grade product to onboard SMBs, and to support large number of transactions in the ONDC network,” said Bikram Singh Bedi, Managing Director, Google Cloud India. 

Deloitte appoints ex-Softbank head Manoj Kohli as senior advisor

Deloitte on Thursday said it has appointed industry veteran Manoj Kohli as senior advisor.

In his 44-year career spanning 30 countries, Kohli served as the Country Head of Softbank India, playing a pivotal role in expanding the investment management firm's presence in the Indian digital startup market.

Prior to that, he served as the CEO and Managing Director of Bharati Airtel, driving the company's growth and market dominance in India's telecommunications industry.

His expertise in technology, telecommunications, renewables, and digital sectors will be instrumental in advising the organisation on strategic initiatives, innovation, evolving business landscape, enhancing client experience, and creating value for stakeholders, Deloitte said in a statement.

Singapore-based delivery platform Deliver buys mobility lifestyle platform BusyBee

Singapore-based food delivery platform Deliver.sg, owned by Maxima Logistics, has acquired Indian mobility lifestyle platform BusyBee at an undisclosed amount.

Started in 2017 by Arun Kumar, BusyBee began as an on-demand courier service and has since evolved into a mobility lifestyle platform. It claims to be operational in 317 locations across five Southern Indian states with over 1800 delivery riders. 

With the deal, the firm aims to escalate its presence to 1000 locations by 2025. 

“This acquisition sets the stage for deliver.sg's ambitious plans to establish itself as a mobility super app, further revolutionising the landscape of mobility services across South East Asia and the Middle East,” the company said. 

Singapore-based Maxima Logistics, owned by Krishnamani Kannan and Naresh Kumar Rajendran, has further enlisted Ananda Kumar, founder of Kaizen Venture Studio, UAE and a noted startup and investment specialist, to serve on its advisory board.

(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)