Saatra Newsletter Sissue No 2 | 1 Feb 2020| Volume 2
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SAATRA NEWSLETTER SISSUE NO 2 | 1 FEB 2020| VOLUME 2 IN THIS ISSUE EXCLUSIVE Parkchain- Blockchain enabled parking solution HEADLINES • Kalaari, Matrix Invest in Bridge Series C Funding in Vogo • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Invests in 1MG Parkchain- Blockchain • AdOnMo Bags $3 Mn from enabled smart parking solution BAce Capital, Others to Expand to More Cities in India • YC-Backed Kisan Network Cities nowadays with rapid urbanisation and gradual influx of Gets Seed Funding from people, availability of empty spaces is an issue. Thus parking has Mistletoe, Thiel Foundation become one major pain for the citizens due to the limited spaces and Others available in the cities. Parking is a massive problem faced across all • UrbanClap Rebrands to major urban cities in India. Global studies show that drivers spend Urban Company with Six anywhere between 10-15 minutes every trip locating parking spots, New Sub-Brands which creates stress and wastes both time and fuel. The issue is worse in larger Indian cities, which are incredibly congested and • Startup Advisory Council: difficult to navigate. Many drivers wind up parking randomly on SoftBank, Tiger Global and the road, which creates a nuisance for municipal bodies and other Naspers May Get On Board commuters. Recently, blockchain has been introduced as an • Coatue May Lead $100 Mn effective solution to IoT applications trying to provide solutions to Round in BharatPe with these challenges. There is immense untapped potential in the Existing Investors parking industry. As owning space in cities become more and more expensive, solutions like Parkchain would certainly help people • Economic Survey: The best place to setup businesses in living in saturated situation and unbridled growth. India ©SAATRA Capital Advisory LLP 1 SAATRA ISSUE NO 2 | 1 FEBRUARY 2020| VOLUME 2 NEWSLETTER Using blockchain, a decentralised parking platform can be created to enable vehicle owners to find and reserve parking spots. Decentralised parking platforms can accept payments for reservations in fiat or cryptocurrencies with the help of smart contracts. A decentralised parking platform can help drivers navigate to their parking spots and offer real-time updates about traffic congestions. Hence Parking 4.0 or Parkchain has the potential to be a major game-changer not only in the smart parking segment, but also in the overall mobility ecosystem of present cities and smart cities of the future. Parking 4.0 is poised to lead to more advanced outcomes. Decentralized parking platforms can streamline parking at airports, hospitals, educational institutions, and residential complexes. Additionally, carbon emissions will be reduced as drivers would be capable of finding parking spots in no time. Hence, governments and other agencies should consider adopting blockchain-enabled decentralized parking to transform parking practices. ©SAATRA Capital Advisory LLP 2 SAATRA ISSUE NO 2 | 1 FEBRUARY 2020| VOLUME 2 NEWSLETTER Kalaari, Matrix Invest in Bridge Series C Funding in Vogo Bengaluru-based two-wheeler rental platform Vogo has raised yet another tranche of its bridge Series C funding round. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings, the company in December 2019 and January 2020 received INR 14.36 Cr in Series C bridge funding from existing investors Kalaari Capital and Matrix Partners. A similar tranche had come in November 2019, where Vogo received a fresh infusion of INR 21.2 Cr funding from Stellaris Venture Partners and Matrix Partners. The fresh infusion seems to be the part of a similar round. Vogo has raised $120.6 Mn funding prior to this round. Recently, reports surfaced that Vogo has closed Series C funding with around $35 Mn led by Lightstone Aspada along with participation from existing investors. Read more Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Invests in 1MG 1MG has noted in the filings that the fresh funds are required for the operational needs of the business and “its investors intend to infuse capital to enable the company to meet its existing and future operational requirements”.1MG was launched in April 2015, after Healthkart — founded by Prashant Tandon, Gaurav Agarwal, and Vikas Chauhan — separated its generic drug search business, HealthkartPlus, and rebranded it to 1MG. The company has three business verticals — Pharmaceuticals, Labs, and Doctors. Read more AdOnMo Bags $3 Mn from BAce Capital, Others to Expand to More Cities in India Hyderabad-based out-of-home (OOH) advertising startup AdOnMo, has recently announced that it has raised $3 Mn in a funding round led by Ant Financials’ BAce Capital. Astarc Ventures and Mumbai Angels Network also participated in the funding round. AdOnMo plans to utilise the funds for product development and expand the team. The company is also looking to deepen its presence in India with the help of these funds. As of now, the company operates in Mumbai, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Bengaluru. Founded in 2017 by Sandeep Bommireddi and Sravanth Gajula, uses a combination of proprietary hardware and patented software to provide intelligent outdoor advertising solutions by mounting digital screens atop cabs and outdoor screens. The startup aims to bridge the gap between online and outdoor advertising worlds by bringing end-point intelligence to digital out-of-home (DOOH). Read more YC-Backed Kisan Network Gets Seed Funding from Mistletoe, Thiel Foundation and Others Gurugram-based agritech startup Kisan Network has recently announced that it has raised $3 Mn in a seed funding round. The investment has been led by Atsushi Taira at Mistletoe, ©SAATRA Capital Advisory LLP 3 SAATRA ISSUE NO 2 | 1 FEBRUARY 2020| VOLUME 2 NEWSLETTER with participation from Y Combinator, the Thiel Foundation, Venture Highway, FundersClub, Lynett Capital, Gokul Rajaram and other angels. Founded in 2015 by father-son duo, Aditya and Sanjay Agarwalla, Kisan Network is an integrated supply chain for farmers to sell their produce directly to buyers without involving middlemen. It claims to have over 55K farmers onboard across over 6K villages in India. It also says that 100% of the products are procured directly from farmers. Read more UrbanClap Rebrands to Urban Company with Six New Sub-Brands After teasing a big announcement for the past few days, UrbanClap has officially announced that it will now be called Urban Company. At the same time, the Gurugram-based company is also rebranding its various verticals and making them sub-brands of Urban Company. Its home beauty vertical will now be split under the women-focused brand Urban Beauty, men’s grooming brand Urban Grooming and Urban Spa for at-home massages, while home improvements and repairs will come under self-explanatory Urban Cleaning, Urban Repairs, Urban Painting sub-brands. Finally, Urban Company will also offer fitness and yoga at home and pest control and extermination services. Read more Startup Advisory Council: SoftBank, Tiger Global and Naspers May Get On Board After major entrepreneurs from the Indian startup ecosystem and with the minister of commerce and industry Piyush Goyal as the chair, Startup Advisory Council may now get investor representatives too. An ET report said that global investors such as SoftBank, Tiger Global Management and Naspers may become a part of the National Startup Advisory Council. The government is of the belief that top global investors and asset managers, who have pumped in billions into India’s startup ecosystem, should also have a seat at the table. Having invested billions in Indian startups, Tiger Global, SoftBank and Naspers are one of the most active global investors in the Indian ecosystem. Read more Coatue May Lead $100 Mn Round in BharatPe with Existing Investors Delhi-based digital payments platform BharatPe is speculated to be close to raising $75 Mn- $100 Mn funding round from other new investors as well as existing backers such as Beenext and Sequoia. Envisioned as a single window for all existing UPI apps, BharatPe was launched in 2018. The company supports Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay, BHIM, Mobikwik, Freecharge, Truecaller and other apps through its service. Using BharatPe, merchants can track their transactions and settlements across these apps, manage sales record and also claim cashback. The company claims to have over 1.8 Mn merchants on board. BharatPe claims to have ©SAATRA Capital Advisory LLP 4 SAATRA ISSUE NO 2 | 1 FEBRUARY 2020| VOLUME 2 NEWSLETTER achieved $1 Bn annual total purchase value (TPV) and facilitates over 18 Mn UPI transactions monthly. Read more Economic Survey: The best place to setup businesses in India The overall Entrepreneurial activity is highest in Delhi, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Haryana. While literacy is not the only criteria for developing entrepreneurial spirit, it does have a disproportionately positive role when state literacy is above 70 percent. The Economic Survey reveals a fascinating overview of Entrepreneurship development in India. While the country ranks third in the number of new firms created globally, there has been a spur of new Service sector firms as opposed to Manufacturing, Agriculture, or Infrastructure. This is in line with India’s strength as a provider of global services. Read more Info Edge’s bid to corner a big piece of India’s venture capital market pay off For years, stakeholders in India’s startup ecosystem speculated on when Info Edge, the homegrown consumer internet conglomerate founded by Sanjeev Bikhchandani, would formally enter the venture capital business. After all, the Noida-headquartered company had been active as a quasi-venture capital investor for nearly a decade, betting from its balance sheet on next-generation internet startups such as Zomato and PolicyBazaar. As Info Edge accelerated its investments over the past few years, the so-called angel tax cropped up more and more frequently as a complication. Read more ©SAATRA Capital Advisory LLP 5 .