Startup news and updates: daily roundup (August 8, 2024)

Funding

FINQY bags $2M funding in bridge round

Fintech startup FINQY has bagged $2 million in funding in a bridge round from Angel Bay, India Accelerator, and private investors.

“Looking ahead, we are committed to introducing additional tools that empower a wide spectrum of financial distributors and customers, aiming to simplify financial decisions and enhance accessibility,” said Manish Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, FINQY.

Founded in 2019 by Aggarwal, a seasoned entrepreneur with over 25 years of BFSI sales experience, FINQY stands out with its unique approach to utilising technology to empower sales professionals in the insurance, credit card, and loan sectors through its innovative B2B2C business model.

Oneiric11 Gaming raises about $1M pre-Series A funding

Oneiric11 Gaming, an emerging eSports and gaming platform, has raised $1 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by NG Family Trust and TAC Holdings, with participation from several other investors.

The startup plans to utilise the funds to expand its game development team, enhance its technological infrastructure, and increase its marketing efforts to reach a broader audience. 

The gaming company started operations in 2020 with Avneet Singh, Founder and CEO, roped in Rannvijay Singha, an actor and entrepreneur, as a key investor in 2021. 

“This investment will help us accelerate our growth and bring innovative gaming experiences to our users. With the launch of Oneiric 11, we are proud to introduce a game-changer in the industry, setting a new standard of fairness and accessibility for all,” Singh noted.

FlexiBees secures undisclosed funding in pre-Series A round led by IPV

Talent MarketPlace FlexiBees has secured undisclosed funding in a pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The round also saw participation from Shan MS, COO of Namma Yatri, Reema Mahajan, founder of International Women in Dubai, and other notable investors. 

The funds will be used to expand its technological infrastructure, refine its AI algorithms, and broaden its market presence to better meet the needs of both employers and talent.

“Balancing household and office responsibilities often takes a significant toll on individuals, such as new parents or those caring for ageing relatives, leading to compromises. FlexiBees addresses this by offering part-time, project-based, and remote jobs, enabling professionals to manage both their personal and professional lives effectively,” said Vikram Ramasubramaniam, Partner at Inflection Point Ventures.

FlexiBees connects vetted women professionals with part-time, project-based, and remote roles. Serving over 700 businesses, FlexiBees has a network of over 60,000 professionals.

Other news

MediBuddy brings AI-powered fraud detection system for healthcare reimbursement claims

MediBuddy has launched an AI-powered fraud detection system for healthcare reimbursement claims. 

This platform harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and data analytics to detect and prevent fraudulent claims in real-time and to aid the reimbursement process for healthcare providers, insurers, and patients.

MediBuddy’s approach can potentially cut costs by up to 20%. This is achieved through a 10% reduction via the cashless network and an additional 10% through the AI-powered system’s detection. 

It offers real-time analysis and alerts, instantly flagging suspicious activities. The system uses pattern recognition to spot common fraud indicators such as inflated amounts and duplicates and monitors user behaviour to detect anomalies.

Propelld announces ESOP buyback, pool increase, additional grants

Fintech firm Propelld has announced the completion of its ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) buyback, an increase in the ESOP pool, and the distribution of additional ESOPs to employees. 

The buyback, valued at Rs 7.05 crore, saw the participation of 18 employees who held vested ESOPs.

The ESOP pool has been expanded by 50%, increasing to 4,334 shares from 2,898. This expansion is aimed at attracting and retaining top talent, thereby supporting the company's hiring strategy and rewarding high-performing employees.

In addition, Propelld granted additional ESOPs worth Rs 6.5 crore to 70 employees, based on their performance and potential.

Kinara Capital appoints Parthasarathy NS as Independent Director

Kinara Capital has appointed Parthasarathy NS as an Independent Director on its Board, effective April 29, 2024, bringing the total number of Independent Directors on the Board to four. He also assumed the role of Chair of the IT Strategy Committee on August 6, 2024.

Currently, Parthasarathy is a Managing Partner at Mela Ventures. He is widely recognised as the Co-founder of Mindtree, where he led the company from its startup phase to surpassing $1 billion in revenue as a listed entity. 

With over 35 years of experience, he is a highly respected IT leader known for his expertise in engineering, organisational development, and capacity building across various organisations.

Kinara Capital’s Board of Directors comprises 13 members, Sunil Gulati, Arvind Kodikal, Arunprakash Srinivasarao Korati, Parthasarathy NS, Stephen Lee, Ravindra Pisharody, Aiswarya Ravi, Hardika Shah, Ranjit Shah, Bhavna Thakur, Rekha Unnithan, Agustin Vitorica, and Geoff “Chester” Woolley.

Mooving, HPCL partner to set up battery swapping stations

Mooving, a swapping network powered by Livguard and a brand under the SAR Group, has partnered with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), a Government of India enterprise.

Under the partnership, Mooving will get access to over 22,000 HPCL retail outlets across India to install its automated swapping stations, expanding the country’s electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.

Over the next 12 months, Mooving and HPCL will deploy more than 500 automated battery-swapping stations. HPCL has already installed more than 3,700 EV charging across India.

Ozonetel appoints Shalil Gupta as Managing Director

Ozonetel, a customer experience intelligence platform, has appointed Shalil Gupta as Managing Director of Global Growth, expanding its executive leadership team to enhance the platform offerings and drive growth across global markets.

In this role, Gupta will lead the charter to expand the company’s footprint across global markets, establish a strong CX consulting practice to advise enterprise customers and drive business growth.

Gupta is a senior business and technology leader with over 25 years of experience. He has held leadership roles at Hindustan Times, International Data Corporation, GE Capital Services, and Royal Bank of Scotland with a proven track record of growth across geographies.

Hexaware, upGrad Enterprise partner to elevate GenAI expertise

Hexaware Technologies, an IT services and solutions provider, has collaborated with upGrad Enterprise—the corporate skilling and workforce development division of upGrad—to provide employees with training in advanced generative AI (GenAI) concepts and tools.

As part of this collaboration, Hexaware will work with upGrad to train over 100 employees to become GenAI architects. These architects will undergo comprehensive training to enable them to develop solutions and address business challenges using GenAI to steer clients toward their goals.

Selection for the programme—which combines instructor-led training and eLearning modules—will be based on a panel’s assessment of employees within specific grades who possess a strong technical or programming background, preferably in roles such as technical architect. 

Eligible participants must have achieved a high-performance rating over the last two years and completed both the GenAI Foundation and GenAI Advanced courses.

Exicom to acquire Tritium, expanding global EV charging footprint

Exicom Tele-systems Limited, an EV charger manufacturer, has announced that its subsidiary, Exicom Power Solutions B.V. Netherlands, along with other step-down subsidiaries, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the business and assets of Tritium, an Australia-based leader in DC fast chargers.

Founded in 2001, Tritium designs and manufactures proprietary hardware and software to create advanced and reliable liquid-cooled DC fast chargers for EVs.

The acquisition adds Tritium’s manufacturing facility in Tennessee, USA, as well as an engineering centre in Brisbane, Australia to Exicom’s existing presence in Asia, expanding Exicom’s global reach.

With the complementary product portfolio of Exicom and Tritium, the acquisition provides the opportunity to serve the different use cases across the world and expand EV infrastructure adoption.

SAWIT.AI, AICTE partner to train 500,000 women in GenAI 

SAWiT (South Asian Women in Tech) and GUVI have partnered to invite over 1.6 million women students from AICTE-affiliated institutions to join SAWiT.AI, a women-only Generative AI learning challenge. This initiative aims to train 500,000 women in GenAI on September 21.

The AICTE-SAWiT.AI partnership provides benefits for women students and institutions. It prepares students for the evolving job market by offering GenAI upskilling in six Indian languages and English, with all necessary learning infrastructure provided. This programme enhances student skills, boosts employability, and strengthens industry connections, positioning institutions as leaders in AI education. 

Additionally, students can earn one academic credit for completing the 15-hour GenAI course, which includes Python, with AICTE recommending that participating institutions award this credit.

The partnership also offers participation in the SAWiT hackathon in October 2024, allowing students to further develop their GenAI skills and compete for valuable prizes. 

Moreover, student and faculty participants are invited to join SAWiT, a women-only network on Kalido’s AI-driven platform, designed to support professional success through peer-to-peer connections, entrepreneurship opportunities, and job placements.

Eight Roads Ventures announces Scale-Up Health’s annual healthcare conference

Eight Roads Ventures, the global investment firm backed by Fidelity, has announced the third edition of Scale-Up Health’s annual healthcare conference, on September 4, 2024, in Mumbai with McKinsey & Company as knowledge partners. 

Scale-Up Health, a platform for healthcare and life sciences entrepreneurs and leaders, brings together the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem to drive collaboration, build stronger networks and champion innovation.

The theme for the annual conference this year is “IndiaNXT: Disruptive Trends for 2025 & Beyond” and will focus on the global seismic shifts that have the potential to disrupt the healthcare and life sciences industry in India.

The event will spotlight conversations on how these trends alongside innovation and disruptive technologies are redefining global healthcare delivery, accessibility and outcomes. The conference will host senior leaders and experts from the industry.

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