Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (April 29, 2024)

Funding news

Reelo secures $1 M led by Gokul Rajaram

Customer loyalty and marketing automation startup Reelo has secured a $1 million round of financing, led by Gokul Rajaram, investor and board member at Pinterest and Coinbase. 

The SaaS startup plans to use the fresh capital to fuel hiring efforts across all departments, enhance its AI and ML capabilities to develop a personalised data-driven assistant for automating marketing tasks, and expand its footprint in both existing and new global markets. 

"Reelo is dedicated to transforming customer engagement for restaurants and retail brands. The opportunity available to them today is incredible, but the challenge is to stand out amongst the competition, especially with the rising customer acquisition costs and difficulties in retaining them. Our clients have seen 32% average revenue growth a year and found the platform to be 10x more effective than traditional marketing,” said Parin Sanghvi, Founder and CEO of Reelo. 

Reelo has onboarded over 17,000 businesses across India, the Middle East, and Africa, engaging over 16 million customers such as Jumboking, Aditya Birla Group Hospitality, Huber & Holly, Jamie's Italian, TGIF, and many others. 

Other news

Transindia Real Estate appoints Ram Walase as CEO

Transindia Real Estate has appointed Ram Walase as Chief Executive Officer. In his role, Ram will oversee profit and loss accountability, lead initiatives for business expansion and financial planning within the Group's real estate arm.

He will also work closely with Jatin Chokshi, the Managing Director, Transindia Real Estate, to identify potential land acquisitions, manage logistics and infrastructure projects, explore opportunities for public-private partnerships, and participate in the government’s asset monetisation plans. 

An alumnus of IIM Mumbai, he has over 25 years of expertise across real estate, infrastructure, project finance, public-private partnerships, and consulting. Before joining Allcargo Group, he served as the Managing Director & CEO at VBHC Value Homes Private Limited.

 "Ram's arrival marks a strategic move aimed at strengthening our real estate plans and operational efficiency at Transindia. Ram, with his rich experience in the real estate industry and infrastructure, will help us drive growth for our real estate business. I welcome Ram to the Allcargo Group family and we wish him success in his new role," said Jatin Chokshi, Managing Director, Transindia Real Estate Limited. 

DigiCert onboards Atri Chatterjee as Chief Marketing Officer

DigiCert has appointed Atri Chatterjee as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). 

As the CMO, Chatterjee will lead the global marketing team to promote the brand by developing and executing digital trust initiatives and campaigns. Additionally, he will also collaborate with the sales and product departments to maximise revenue generation.

Before this, he spent five years serving as the CMO at ForgeRock, a provider of identity and access management solutions for enterprises. His tenure extended until the company's acquisition by Thoma Bravo for $2.3 billion, followed by its merger with Ping Identity.

Chatterjee previously served as CMO at Zscaler, a global leader in cloud security, and at Act-On Software, a provider of marketing automation and revenue optimisation solutions. Furthermore, he held senior marketing positions at B2B security technology firms such as Symantec, VeriSign, McAfee, and CipherTrust.

PayNearby collaborates with MyShubhLife to ease credit access for MSMEs

Digital banking platform PayNearby has partnered with MyShubhLife, an embedded credit platform to provide its distributors easy access to revolving credit lines, enhancing financial flexibility within the MSME sector.

Leveraging advanced analytics, AI, and machine learning from its Datasciences Centre of Excellence (CoE), MyShubhLife's technology platform enables thin credit file scoring and facilitates simple micro-lending experiences for customers. 

PayNearby provides various services, including cash withdrawal, ecommerce, bill payments, savings, travel, and insurance and has 12+ lakh microentrepreneurs spread across 22,000+ PIN codes.

Kinetic Green appoints Debashis Mitra as President of 3-Wheeler Business

EV manufacturer Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions has appointed Debashis Mitra as the President of the 3-wheeler business. 

With over three decades in the Indian automotive sector, Mitra has served senior leadership roles at companies across both the 3-wheeler and 4-wheeler segments, such as AltiGreen, Greaves Cotton, Mercedes Benz, Toyota Kirloskar, Hindustan Motors, and Atlas Copco.

During his tenure as Director of Sales & Marketing at Mercedes Benz India, Mitra led the company’s growth by increasing the annual passenger car sales from 3000 to 7500 units, achieving a 38% market share.

Amagi appoints Richard Perkett as Chief Product Officer

Amagi has appointed Richard Perkett as its Chief Product Officer (CPO). With over 25 years of experience in product management, product marketing, engineering, and user experience (UX), Richard will drive Amagi’s product strategy. 

“We are excited to welcome Richard Perkett to Amagi as our new Chief Product Officer. As Amagi enters its next phase of growth — Amagi 2.0 — Richard’s strategic vision and deep product expertise will be instrumental in shaping the future of our product offerings. His experience in building and scaling comprehensive SaaS platforms aligns perfectly with our vision of delivering unparalleled value to our customers,” said Baskar Subramanian, Co-founder & CEO of Amagi. 

MathCo appoints Tiger Tyagarajan as a Board Member 

Global enterprise AI and analytics company TheMathCompany has appointed Tiger Tyagarajan as a board member. 

"Tiger's inclusion to our board is a tremendous asset. As we continue to expand, his invaluable insights and guidance will provide us with the strategic direction needed to thrive in today's dynamic market, from innovative offerings, go-to-market strategies to strategic partnerships. We warmly welcome Tiger to our team and eagerly anticipate learning from his wealth of experience,” said Sayandeb Banerjee, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, MathCo. 

Tiger Tyagarajan is widely known for his role in the transformation of a division of General Electric (GE Capital International Services) into Genpact, as well as his extensive thirteen-year tenure as CEO of the company.  His influence spans across leading consulting, AI, and technology firms, where he serves as an advisor. 

Founded in 2016, MathCo builds custom AI and advanced analytics solutions for enterprises.  

The firm specialises in creating data-based AI modules which are designed to enhance decision-making capabilities and efficiency for sectors like consumer, healthcare, among others. 

(The copy will be updated with the latest news)