Google to invest up to $1 billion in Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel announced that Google
will invest up to $1 billion in the telecom major as part of its Google for India Digitization Fund. The deal includes Google investing $700 million to acquire 1.28% ownership in Airtel and up to $300 million towards potential multi-year commercial agreements.
The partnership, the telecom operator said, will focus on enabling affordable access to smartphones across price ranges, and will continue to explore building on their existing partnerships to potentially co-create India-specific network domain use cases for 5G and other standards. It will also help accelerate the cloud ecosystem for businesses across India.
Google International LLC will be allotted 71,176,839 equity shares of Bharti Airtel on a preferential basis at Rs 734 a piece, aggregating to Rs 5,224.38 crore ($700 million). The stock rose 1.95% to hit a high of Rs 721 in initial trade.
The $300 million amount will go towards implementing commercial agreements, which will include investments in scaling Airtel’s offerings that covers a range of devices to consumers via affordability programs as well as other offerings aimed at accelerating access and digital inclusion across India’s digital ecosystem.
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Swiggy’s valuation rises to $10.7 billion after $700-million fundraise
Food delivery platform Swiggy
closed a $700-million round led by US asset manager Invesco.
The latest capital infusion has nearly doubled Swiggy’s valuation to $10.7 billion, making it a decacorn, said two people aware of the deal details. A decacorn is a moniker for startups valued at over $10 billion. The company was valued at $5.5 billion earlier.
The fresh funding comes after Swiggy raised $1.25 billion from Japan’s SoftBank, Accel and existing investor Prosus, among others, in a financing round that extended from April to July last year.
A host of new investors such as Baron Capital Group, Sumeru Ventures, IIFL AMC Late Stage Tech Fund, Kotak, Axis Growth Avenues AIF- I, Sixteenth Street Capital, Ghisallo, Smile Group and Segantii Capital also participated in the latest funding round.
Existing investors Alpha Wave Global (formerly Falcon Edge Capital), Qatar Investment Authority, and ARK Impact, along with Swiggy’s long-term investor Prosus, also participated.
ETtech
Ola Electric raises $200 million in fresh funding
Ola Electric
raised over $200 million from Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss and others in a funding round that pegged the mobility startup’s valuation at $5 billion.
The company, which has been on a fundraising spree, was last valued at $3 billion in September 2021, when it raised a similar amount from Falcon Edge, Japan’s SoftBank and others.
The latest funding will help Ola Electric ramp up its plans for bringing out newer models, expand charging infrastructure and build cell manufacturing capabilities.
Netflix investor takes Darwinbox into unicorn club
Darwinbox
raised $72 million in a funding round led by Netflix backer TCV at a valuation of more than $1 billion.
With the latest fundraise, the Hyderabad- and Singapore-based firm has now raised a total of $110 million from investors, cofounder Jayant Paleti told ET. The round saw participation of existing backers—including Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed India, Endiya Partners, 3One4Capital, JGDEV and SCB 10X. Last year, Salesforce had made its first India bet through an investment in Darwinbox.
The lead investor, US-based TCV, is known for its bets on major US firms, including Airbnb and Netflix. It had recently backed Indian startups Dream11 and Razorpay.
Shopkirana raises $38 million
Business-to-business grocery startup Shopkirana
raised $38 million from Info Edge, Oman India joint investment fund, Sixth Sense Ventures and other investors.
The round also saw participation from Trifecta, Incubate Fund, Akatsuki, Ajanta LLP, Gunosy Capital and others.
ShopKirana works directly with brands and gives them a boost on distribution with market intelligence. It currently works with 50,000 kirana stores in eight cities across four states —Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Accounting platform Vyapar gets $30 million
Vyapar, an accounting and inventory management startup focussed on small businesses,
raised $30 million as a part of its fresh fundraise led by WestBridge Capital. The round also saw participation from existing backers IndiaMart and India Quotient, along with Fortytwo.vc.
The company will use the funds to grow through digital and physical distribution channels. It also plans to increase hiring, launch new products and enable additional revenue streams.
Vyapar had previously raised Rs 36 crore in September 2019 led by IndiaMart, with participation from IndiaQuotient and Axilor. Since then, Vyapar claims that its business has grown five-fold and its team has increased to over 300 employees from 60 previously.
Other key deals
â– Dentalcare startup Smiles.ai
raised $23 million in a funding round led by Alpha Wave Incubation, which is managed by Falcon Edge Capital, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Chiratae Ventures. Smiles.ai said it will deploy this funding towards expanding its footprint nationally, strengthening the leadership team, and building tech-driven dental care solutions.
â– Raise Financial Services, a fintech startup based in Mumbai,
received $22 million in a new funding round led by Beenext and Mirae Asset Venture Investments. The proceeds will be used to strengthen the company’s product, engineering, and operation functions. Raise Financial also plans to invest $15 million to grow its ‘Dhan’ platform, as well as launch its second product targeting first-time investors.
â– StanPlus, an online ambulance aggregator,
raised $20 million in debt and equity in a funding round led by HealthQuad, Kalaari Capital and HealthX Capital Singapore. StanPlus said it would use the funds to scale operations to 500 hospitals and launch its flagship Red Ambulance brand in 15 cities from five currently.
■Lee Fixel’s Addition led a
$14 million funding round in professional services automation startup, SuperOps.ai, along with Tanglin Venture Partners. The company will utilise the funds from the current fundraise to invest in go-to market teams, take its current offerings to new customers, as well as to grow its presence in new geographies.
â– Zomato, a food-delivery and restaurant discovery platform has informed the Indian stock exchanges
that it is investing in digital advertising company, Adonmo and in food ordering system, UrbanPiper. The deals have been approved by the company’s board of directors.
