Stellaris’ investment philosophy; A new hope for HIV+ people in Mizoram
Whether times are good or bad, Stellaris Venture Partners believes in keeping a steady hand when it comes to investing.
Hello,
Not a great start for Jio Financial Services.
The recently demerged entity of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, which debuted on the stock market on Monday, saw a 5% drop after opening at Rs 265 apiece.
Starting the day at Rs 265 on BSE and Rs 262 on NSE, the share price dropped within an hour of trading, hitting the lower circuit and suspending trading for the security. However, despite the drop, JFSL closed the day as India's second-largest NBFC behind Bajaj Finance.
Elsewhere, saw a secondary transaction with three Indian family offices picking up stakes from existing investor SoftBank, reported The Economic Times. The Japanese firm, which previously held 29% ownership in FirstCry, has diluted its stake by about 1-2%, selling to Ranjan Pai's MEMG Family Office, Harsh Mariwala's Sharrp Ventures, and Hemendra Kothari's DSP family office.
Meanwhile, Prosus, the Dutch-listed arm of South African technology investor Naspers, is undergoing an internal reshuffle, separating its edtech and food-delivery segments into two segments, with dedicated leadership effective starting September 1.
Oh, and here’s what happens if you destroy a black hole.
Things you definitely want to know.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Stellaris’ investment philosophy
- Hope for Mizoram’s HIV+ people
- Aggregating to simplify loans
Here’s your trivia for today: Which country is the largest fish producer in the world?
Venture Capital
Stellaris’ investment philosophy
While most venture capital (VC) firms choose to make investments during an upswing in economic activity and restrict funding in a downturn, Stellaris Venture Partners believes in keeping a steady hand.
The Bengaluru-headquartered early-stage VC firm makes a specific number of investments regardless of the external market environment, Rahul Chowdhri, Co-founder and Investment Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners tells YourStory.
The playbook:
- Founded in 2016 by Alok Goyal, Chowdhri and Ritesh Banglani, Stellaris has completed 37 startup investments cutting across multiple sectors.
- It has raised $315 million cumulatively across two funds—$90 million in 2017 and $225 million in 2021.
- Stellaris, which counts , , , , and , in its startup portfolio, sticks to the discipline of not going overboard as its guiding principle.
<Funding Alert>
Startup:
Amount: Rs 7 Cr
Round: Seed
Startup: Square Insurance
Amount: $1M
Round: Undisclosed
Startup: Inaari
Amount: Rs 4 Cr
Round: Undisclosed
Inspiration
Hope for Mizoram’s HIV+ people
Mizoram has more than 25,000 registered people living with HIV (PLHIV). Among them, 33.86% are women—one of them being Vanlalruati Colney who overcame her struggles and now serves as a ray of hope to many.
Peace and purpose:
- Her organisation, Positive Women’s Network of Mizoram (PWNM), has been at the forefront of helping women living with HIV in the state power through the disease.
- Since 2007, it has been organising advocacy and awareness programmes as well as providing medical support, rehabilitation, nutrition, legal counsel, counselling, and employment opportunities.
- In 2019, Colney won the CII Foundation Woman Exemplar Award given to women changemakers. She now works closely with CII who supports her initiatives.
Startup
Aggregating to simplify loans
Finding a loan that suits your needs is a tiresome journey—you need to select a lender, get clarity on the total cost, do extensive documentation and follow up with lenders. Loan aggregator platform says it makes this process easy and flexible.
Easy loans:
- The startup recently closed its pre-Series A funding round led by O2 Angels Network, a Noida-based angel syndicate and deeptech accelerator.
- Users can look for home loans, loans against property, business loans, personal loans, auto loans (used car and new car), loans against securities, and education loans on the startup’s website.
- On SwitchMyLoan, customers can not only see offers from multiple lenders but they can also play around with the EMI or tenure to see where they can get more benefits and how much money they can save as per the offers generated.
News & updates
- Provisional clearance: Broadcom’s $61 billion takeover of VMware was cleared by the UK’s antitrust watchdog—paving the way for one of the largest-ever tech deals—after finding that it wouldn’t substantially reduce competition in the supply of key computer server products.
- A winning (?) strategy: Meta is set to roll out the web version for Threads, hoping to gain an edge over X as the initial surge in users waned. This will make Threads more useful for power users like brands, company accounts, advertisers and journalists.
- Green winds of change: A cargo ship fitted with giant, rigid British-designed sails has set out on its maiden voyage. Shipping firm Cargill, which has chartered the vessel, hopes the technology will help the industry chart a course towards a greener future.
Which country is the largest fish producer in the world?
Answer: China, which is responsible for nearly one-third of the global fish production.
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