Private Equity Fund Investments

Goldman to invest $250-M in Essel Highways

Goldman Sachs has committed to invest $250 million in Essel Highways Ltd, the road business unit of the Essel Group. Goldman will make an initial investment of $100 million followed by $150 million over the next 18 months. Essel Highways Ltd,, a subsidiary of Essel Infraprojects Limited, currently domiciles 14 road projects of which 10 are operational. AZB & Partners was the legal advisor to Goldman Sachs on the deal.

Qatar backs RMZ scion's co-working startup CoWrks

Times of India

Sidharth Menda of Bengaluru-headquartered RMZ Corp is starting a community workspace venture for millennials, called CoWrks, with financial backing from sovereign wealth manager Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). The Menda family, owners of RMZ, has made initial investments to kick-start CoWrks, which will have 10 locations across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurgaon and Chennai by March next year. CoWrks will offer work stations that are flexible, dedicated and private.

Macquarie to invest Rs.1,400-Cr in JV with Tata Housing

Mint

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), an arm of Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd, and realty firm Tata Housing Development Co. Ltd are setting up a joint investment platform to invest about Rs.2,000 crore in residential projects. Out of the Rs.2,000 crore equity investment, MIRA and Tata Housing will invest Rs.1,400 crore and Rs.600 crore, respectively. The platform has an investment tenure of around three years, with a development timeline of eight years. The investments will be mostly towards greenfield development, where the partners will identify and buy land and develop premium housing projects.

Capital Square buys out existing investors from BPO firm Indecomm for Rs. 600-Cr

Times of India

Capital Square Partners, a Singapore-based private equity firm, has acquired about 55% stake in Bangalore-based Indecomm Global Services, for USD 90 million (or INR 600 crore). Indecomm is a technology-enabled services and outsourcing company serving clients in mortgage, healthcare and banking sectors globally. Indecomm, founded by former Hindustan Unilever executive Naresh Ponnapa, counted WestBridge Capital, Tiger Global and International Finance Corporation (IFC) as its early investors. All the three exited selling shares to Capital Square Partners. Ponnapa and team, owning the remaining stake, will continue to manage Indecomm. Founded in 2003, the company has 3,500 employees at 21 locations in six countries.

Capital Square’s earlier investments included IT Services company CSS Corp and BPO firm Minacs.

Shapoorji Pallonji, Piramal to invest Rs.300-Cr in Mumbai residential project

Economic Times

Piramal Fund Management and Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate Development will pump in about INR 300 crore in a real estate project launched by Mumbai-based developer Ornate Spaces. The duo, along with Ornate, will construct a 1 million sq.ft residential project titled Grove Towers at Oshiwara in suburban Mumbai. Out of the planned outlay, INR 275 crore would be debt type funding by the Piramals; the rest is an equity investment by Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate (SPRE).

Westbridge Capital invests $15.6 M in big data platform Innovaccer

YourStory

Silicon Valley-based big data platform Innovaccer has raised USD 15.6 million in Series A funding, led by Westbridge Capital Partners, with participation from other angel investors. The firm will use the new capital to grow its footprint in healthcare. The startup, which has generated more than INR 20 crore revenue in FY 2015, plans to achieve more than USD 1 million revenue in FY’16 and grow by 2x-3x in terms of revenue in the next financial year. It has a team of 100 members, with 20 of them being based out of Delhi.

The company had raised seed funding led by Rajan Anandan, Google's India head, last year. Seed accelerator 500 Startups and redBus founder Phanindra Sama also participated in the round. The company claims to have raised USD 2.5 million to date from prior investors.

MFI Fusion raises Rs.100-Cr from Creation, Gawa; Incofin part exits with Rs.62-Cr

Economic Times

Delhi-based Fusion microfinance has raised INR 162 crore in equity from US-based private equity firm Creation Investments Capital Management and Spain's Gawa Capital. Existing investors -- Belgium's BIO and The Netherland's Oikocredit -- have also invested in this round of fund raising. Of this, INR 100 crore has come in as primary investments while INR 62 crore from secondary sales as Belgium's Incofin, an early investor in the company, made a partial exit along with a few local investors. Creation Investments has invested about INR 100 crore while Gawa put in around INR 32 crore. The balance INR 30 crore came from BIO and Oikocredit. BIO and Oikocredit had also invested INR 53 crore in the company in June last year.

Fusion aims to grow its gross loan portfolio to about INR 1,000-1,100 crore by March 2017 from INR 647 crore in March this year. Fusion, which gives loans only to women borrowers, has presence in 11 states. Started operation in early 2010, the company claims to have built an active borrower base of nearly 5 lakhs being catered through 184 branches.

Cloud-based salon s’ware firm Zenoti bags Rs.100-Cr from Norwest, Accel

Economic Times

Seattle and Hyderabad-based software maker Zenoti has raised INR 100 crore (USD 15 million) in a round led by Norwest Venture Partners along with existing backer Accel India. The company, which provides cloud-based software for spas and salons was founded by serial entrepreneur Sudheer Koneru. Zenoti earns about half its revenues from clients in the US including large chains like Massage Green and Massage Heights. In India it has clients like Kaya Skin, Enrich Salons, O2 Spas, Naturals and Blush Clinics. The funding will be used to expand the client base, build new products and increase workforce from the current level of 140. Earlier called Managemyspa, Zenoti has seen its revenues grow by 200% year-on-year.

Zenoti received funding of INR 38 crore from Accel last year.

Online bus booking platform Travelyaari raises $7-M in Series B round led by BCCL

Inc42

Just two months after raising USD 3 million in Series A funding, Bangalore-based online bus booking platform Travelyaari has closed its Series B funding round worth USD 7 million. The investment was led by Gujarat Venture Finance Limited (GVFL), Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd (the Times Group) and a few other investors. The raised funds will be used to further augment its service network and increase the online penetration.

Travelyaari was founded in 2007 by IIM-Ahmedabad graduates Aurvind Lama and Partha Sinha. The platform, along with bus ticketing, claims to offer B2B solutions to nearly 2,000 bus operators through its bus ERP product called BusCRS.

SAIF Partners India buys Ratnamani Metals and Tubes shares worth Rs. 30.19 Cr

SAIF Partners India, via SAIF India V FII Holdings Ltd, on Aug 11, 2016, has bought 559,144 shares of publicly listed Pipes & Fittings Manufacturer Ratnamani Metals and Tubes Ltd at INR 539.96 per share aggregating to INR 30.19 crore. This constituted 1.20% of total outstanding shares of Ratnamani Metals and Tubes Ltd.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: Between Apr 2010 and Mar 2012, Nalanda Capital invested INR 62.03 Cr for 10.86% stake.

Adtech startup AdPushup raises Series A led by Japan’s Geniee

Inc42

US-based ad revenue optimisation platform, AdPushup, has raised Series A round of funding led by Japan-based adtech company Geniee, Inc., which is a major shareholder in SoftBank Group Corp. Existing investors along with Chicago-based investment firm Purvi Capital also participated in the round.The companies have also formed a strategic partnership aimed at extending services to Japan and Southeast Asia and collaborating mutually on proprietary ad optimization technologies. The company will use the funds to increase team size as well as expand its operations by accommodating integration with more ad networks and WordPress-independent websites.

Geniee currently serves over 60 billion impressions every month in this region, which are to be further optimized using the machine ­learning driven ad layout optimization platform developed by AdPushup.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In October 2014, AdpushUp raised USD 0.63 million in a seed round from Kima Ventures and other investors. (Subscribers to the database can login to view the valuation multiples, deal structuring and other transaction details.)

Co-working space provider 91springboard raises funds from Khattar Holding, ThirtyThree investments & others

91springboard, India’s largest coworking space provider, has raised a round of funding. from Khattar Holdings, ThirtyThree Investments and others which include, angel investor Soumitra Sharma, Deepak Sharma (former Chairman of Citi Private Bank), Sumit Dayal (Global head corporate finance at Standard Chartered Bank) among others. Proceeds from this latest investment will also go towards building the tech capabilities for the company to increase operational efficiency and enhance the community building efforts.

Delhi-based 91springboard was founded in 2012 by Anuj Pulstya, Pranay Gupta, Varun Chawla, Deepak Sharma, Anand Vemuri, and Susan Lim and has since then grown to 7 cities with hubs in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai.

 Liquidity Events

Nalanda Capital sells Exide shares worth Rs 708-Cr, registers 1.31x return

Nalanda Capital, via Nalanda India Equity Fund Limited and Nalanda India Fund Limited, has sold 27,442,513 shares and 14,332,097 shares respectively on NSE at INR.169.39 per share on Aug 09, 2016 of publicly listed Exide Industries Ltd. aggregating to INR 707.62 Cr. This constituted 4.91% of total outstanding shares of Exide Industries Ltd. Post-deal the investor would hold 4,300,000 shares (0.51% stake) in the target.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: Nalanda Capital invested INR 595 Cr for 5.42% stake between Jan 2011 and Sep 2013.

Rubicon Research to raise Rs. 240-Cr from Everstone; Kotak PE to exit: Report

Mint

Rubicon Research Pvt. Ltd, a Mumbai-based contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) firm, is raising up to Rs.240 crore from home-grown private equity firm Everstone Capital and a clutch of high-net-worth individuals (HNI).Everstone Capital will be investing around $25 million (approximately Rs.168 crore) in the round. Investment bank IDFC Securities is advising Rubicon on the transaction. The investment has both a primary and a secondary component. Kotak PE is selling its entire stake in the company. The primary capital will be used to increase the company’s manufacturing capabilities so that it can serve more customers and offer additional services to them.

The Mumbai-based company’s main business lines include contract research services and product development and licensing services. Rubicon offers pharma firms a range of services from formulation development to analytical services. The company also offers lifecycle management services for pharmaceutical products. Rubicon reported revenue of Rs.39.53 crore in 2014-15, compared to Rs.41.7 crore in the previous year. In 2014-15, the company reported a profit of Rs.2.66 crore, against Rs.4.49 crore the previous year.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In August 2007 Kotak PE had invested INR 32.5 crores in Rubicon Research.

ICICI Venture sells TeamLease shares worth Rs 102.4-Cr, registers 3.27x return

ICICI Venture, via India Advantage Fund S3 I has sold 9,10,198 shares on NSE at INR 1125.06 per share on Aug 10, 2016 of publicly listed TeamLease Services aggregating to INR 102.4 Cr. This constituted 5.32% of total outstanding shares of TeamLease Services Ltd. Post-deal the investor would hold 1,11,939 shares (0.65% stake) in the target.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In April 2011, ICICI Venture invested INR 75 Cr for 16.67% stake.

Infrastructure India Holdings sells Aegis Logistics shares worth Rs 56-Cr, registers 3.88x return

Infrastructure India Holdings Fund has sold 4,500,000 shares on BSE at Rs.125.02 per share BSE on Aug 09, 2016 of publicly listed Aegis Logistics Ltd. aggregating to INR 56.26 Cr. This constituted 1.35% of total outstanding shares of Aegis Logistics Ltd. Post-deal the investor would hold 16,701,900 shares (5% stake) in the target.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database:  In Mar 2011, Infrastructure India Holdings Fund invested INR 68.27 Cr for 6.35% stake.

Kwan acquires 85% in creative services marketplace Gigstart

Economic Times

Celebrity management firm Kwan Entertainment & Marketing Solutions has acquired 85% stake in Delhi-based entertainment startup Gigstart. It plans to operate Gigstart as a marketplace-cum-discovery platform for the creative community . Gigstart founder, BITS Pilani alumnus Atit Jain, and other existing investors will hold the remaining 15% stake in the company.

Gigstart, launched in late 2013, received a seed funding of $200,000 in 2014 from Snapdeal founders Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl, Rajesh Sawhney of GSF, Mauritius-based Indian Dream Capital, Narendra Singh Rawat of FG Wilson, TA Venture Holding Limited, Roshan Abbas and Anand Chandrasekaran.

Faering Capital exits Snowman Logistics with 1.9x

Economic Times

Faering Capital, a private equity fund started by Deepak Parekh's son Aditya Parekh and his friend Sameer Shroff, has exited its investment in Snowman Logistics, an integrated cold-chain service provider offering warehousing, transport and other value-added services.

Faering had invested INR 20 crore in Snowman’s initial public offering in September 2014. The fund has now sold its investment in the company for INR 37.1crore, thus registering a multiple of 1.9x on the investment.

US-based Boomtrain acquires messaging company Nudgespot

NextBigWhat

San Francisco, CA USA-based Boomtrain is to acquire a Bangalore-based messaging platform Nudgespot. Together, Boomtrain and Nudgespot will have 70 people and will continue to expand its footprint globally.

Nudgespot had raised INR 4 crores last year from Kae Capital.

Niramaya PathLabs acquires Gurgaon-based pathology lab Labstreet

Yourstory

Gurgaon-based Labstreet, which helps consumers with pathology tests, has been acquired by Niramaya PathLabs in a cash and stock deal. The healthcare startup was founded by IIT-Delhi alumni Lalit Mittal and Ujjwal Chaudhry in 2015. Post-acquisition, the founders will not be joining Niramaya but will continue in advisory roles and remain stakeholders in the company. Labstreet will continue to operate under the same brand name.

Labstreet aimed to solve the pain point of tedious test processes and become a single-point solution for the customer, from test requirement gathering to the dispatch of the report to the customer. The 30-member startup operational in the Delhi-NCR region, currently claims to serve 30,000 customers on a monthly basis.

From the Deal Digest Archive (Sep 25, 2015 via Yourstory): Labstreet had raised Rs 1 crore in funding from multiple investors including Chandigarh-based Click Labs.

Angel Funding

Men’s grooming startup Bombay Shaving Co raises Rs.4-Cr

Economic Times

Men's grooming startup Bombay Shaving Company has raised INR 4 crore (USD 600,000) in seed funding from a clutch of angel investors including McKinsey India MD Noshir Kaka, and S Ramadorai, Former TCs head. Other investors in the round included eleven McKinsey partners, Kiran Deshpande, former CEO of Tech Mahindra, Pankaj Gupta, Head of Operations of USL Diageo, Ravi Nigam, MD of Tasty Bite, and Maninder Gulati who heads strategy for Oyo.

The 10-month-old internet first company is looking to tap the largely monopolised men's grooming market with its differentiated six-part shaving regimen product range which it sells through a subscription model. Founded by former McKinsey and GroupM employees earlier this year, the company is already averaging 400 orders a month, and plans to scale to about 30,000 orders a month in the next six months.

Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal leads $500-K investment in photo sharing platform Vebbler

Economic Times

Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal has led a consortium of 16 investors to invest USD 500,000 (about INR 3.34 crore) in Bengaluru-based camera and photo sharing app Vebbler. Other investors included Sharad Sharma, founder of iSPIRIT, and Pranav Rai, son of former Infosys board member, besides a string of high net worth individuals from the US, West Asia and Singapore.

Vebbler allows people to instantly share photos with each other in real time. The funds raised will go towards expanding the team, which comprises 15 people, and in marketing campaigns. The startup launched in private beta on July 23, 2013 claims to have 1,00,000 users for its web platform.

Cuberoot Technologies raises $500-K funding

INC42

Gurgaon-based Cuberoot Technologies, a data-driven technology company, has raised nearly $500K. Cuberoot is is an audience management platform that helps companies including brands, advertisers, agencies, publishers, etc. to leverage the power of their data to grow their business faster. It helps advertisers understand their audience better so that they can make the right business decisions about their marketing spends and reach out to the right customers in the best targeted manner. The startup will use the funds to expand business across the country. The monies will further be utilised in scaling up growth parameters such as expansion of technology team, enhancing product technology, investing in better infrastructure and strategic acquisitions, etc.

Fruits and vegetables supplier Sabziwala gets funding from two investors

Yourstory

Sabziwala, a firm that supplies fresh fruits and vegetables in Delhi, in packs that are pre-weighed and pre-priced, has got funding from two angel investors. It is negotiating for venture capital as well. Co-founded by Pravesh Sharma, a former IAS officer, Sabziwala began commercial trials in June in Delhi’s sub-city of Dwarka. Currently it has 32 outlets there including two own stores, plus three in the south-west neighbourhood of Janakpuri. It intends to go up to 100 by year-end and 500 by next March. Sabziwala does about 17 tonnes a day, divided almost equally between retail and institutions.

Lead Angels invests in MadRat Games, PurpleDocs and DriversKart

Lead Angels has invested in three companies MadRat Games, PurpleDocs and DriversKart.

MadRat Games is a Bangalore based offline gaming company building and retailing educational board games. The company has earlier raised funding Bhavish Agarwal, Girish Mathrubootham, Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal, Kunal Bahl and Ratan Tata

PurpleDocs Records Management Service helps users store physical records for hospitals, schools, law firms and manufacturing in its warehouses. The company also provides electronic copies of the same online.

Chennai-based DriversKart provides personalised chauffeur services.

NDTV art portal Mojarto raises $445-K

DealstreetAsia

Mojarto, an e-commerce platform for art owned by NDTV through its subsidiary OnArt Quest, has raised INR 3 crore (USD 445,000). Founded in December 2015 by Manisha Lath Gupta and Tara Roy, Mojarto acts as a platform for buyers and sellers of proprietary artwork and collectibles from galleries, artists, brands, stores and designers.

Incubation/Acceleration

CIIE backs healthcare startups Doux Dentistry, Zeolr

DealStreetAsia

IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) has invested in two health tech start-up – Doux Dentistry and Zeolr.

Zeolr, is an IoT based healthcare startup that is developing solutions to aid in better management of chronic diseases by patients and availability of information to physicians for regular supervision, revision and reinforcement.

Mobident, owned and operated by Doux Dentistry Pvt. Ltd, is a dental care start-up aiming to make dental care affordable & accessible for patients at their homes under the brand name Mobident. It already has presence in four cities – Bangalore, Pune, Mysore, and Ahmedabad.

Other PE/Strategic Investments

Thermax to invest $900-K in First Energy

BSE

Thermax Ltd plans to make an additional investment of up to INR 6 crore (USD 900,000) in First Energy Pvt Ltd (FE), the alternative energy solutions company in which it had acquired 33% stake last year. The said investment is expected to be completed during FY 2016-17.

From the Venture Intelligence M&A Deal Database: In July 2015, Thermax had invested INR 20 crore in First Energy. (Subscribers to the database can login to view the valuation multiples, deal structuring and other transaction details.)

Kerala-based VST Travels receives $27-K from Dubai-based Promatus

Inc42

VST Travels, a Kerala-based travel startup which launched operations six months ago, has raised about USD 27,000 (INR 1.8 crore) funding from Dubai-based Promatus Group. VST Travels was incubated at the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) startup zone at Angamaly. The funding will support the company to develop and market its application called VehicleST, which makes it easier for the users to locate and book tickets in all types of transport. The company also plans to open offices in West Asia and US, along with an R&D centre at Cherthala, Kerala.

Sterlite Power buys minority stake in US drone company Sharper Shape

Economic Times

Sterlite Power Transmission has acquired a minority stake in US-based drone service company Sharper Shape to bring its automated inspection and maintenance planning services for infrastructure asset owners to India. Sharper Shape, which has a presence in the US and Finland, will launch operations in India with the help of Sterlite Power once it has approvals from India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation for large-scale, long-distance drone flights to inspect utility assets.

M&A

Aditya Birla Nuvo to merge with Grasim; group’s fin services biz to be demerged

BSE, BSE

The Board of Directors of Grasim Industries Limited (Grasim), Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited (ABNL) and Aditya Birla Financial Services Limited (ABFSL) approved the merger of ABNL into Grasim and the subsequent demerger & listing of its financial services business. The deal will be done in two steps. First, ABNL will be merged into Grasim and then the financial services business will be demerged resulting in a listed financial services company with 57% owned by post-merger Grasim and the balance held by post merger Grasim shareholders.

For the merger of ABNL with Grasim, shareholders of ABNL will get three new Grasim equity shares for every 10 ABNL shares held. For the demerger of the financial services business into ABFSL, shareholders of Grasim (post-merger) will receive seven ABFSL equity shares for every Grasim equity share held. In aggregate each shareholder of ABNL holding 100 shares will receive 30 shares in Grasim and 210 shares in ABFSL. Grasim will subdivide its equity shares of Rs 10 each into 5 equity shares of Rs 2 each.

The merged entity will have an aggregate turnover of INR 59,766 crores, EBITDA of INR 11,961 crores and PAT of 4,245 crores.

DSP Merrill Lynch was the financial advisor to the deal. Khaitan & Co was the legal advisor for the overall transaction and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas were the legal advisor for financial services. Price Waterhouse & Co and Bansi S Mehta & Co were Joint Independent Valuers. JM Financial were the independent fairness opinion advisors to Grasim while Kotak Mahindra advised Aditya Birla Nuvo.

ICRA to sell IT Services arm to Nihilent Tech for $10-M

BSE, DealStreetAsia

Publicly listed Credit ratings agency ICRA Ltd is to sell its wholly owned technology subsidiary ICRA Techno Analytics Limited (ICTEAS) to Nihilent Technologies Ltd, for INR 68.75 crore ($10.3 million). Pune-based Nihilent, will pay INR 32 crore ($4.8 million) in cash and subscribe to 10% interest-bearing unlisted non-convertible debentures to be redeemed one year and 15 days after the issuance.

Kolkata-based ICTEAS is engaged in the business of software development, its implementation and post implementation support services in the areas of business intelligence, business analytics, enterprise, web content management including enterprise resource planning implementation. Edelweiss was the transaction adviser to ICRA.

Personal finance portal RupeePower’s founder buys back part stake from Snapdeal

Economic Times

Founder of financial products platform RupeePower has taken back control of the company from online marketplace Snapdeal as both look to pursue independent strategy in the financial technology space. Jasper Infotech, which owns and operates Snapdeal, is now a minority shareholder in RupeePower after founder Tejasvi Mohanram has bought back a part of Snapdeal's stake.

Snapdeal had acquired a 60% stake for INR 15 crores in the Gurgaon-based startup in April 2015. The move to return the control comes as Snapdeal consolidates it efforts in the financial technology space under digital payments platform and wallet Freecharge, and also closely watches spending in a tough fundraising market. RupeePower will now raise capital independently.

Escorts sells auto parts biz to Badve Engg

BSE

Escorts Ltd has divested its OEM & Export Business of auto product division to Badve Engineering Ltd Pune in an all cash deal as part of the planned strategic reorientation of business. Escorts plans to focus on core verticals in agri-machinery, construction equipment and railway equipment.

UrbanClap acquires hyperlocal concierge app GoodService

Knowstartup

Home services startup UrbanClap Technologies India Pvt. Ltd has acquired Delhi-based concierge services provider GoodService Labs Pvt. Ltd in an all cash deal. Founded in 2014, GoodService offers on-demand services to users through chat. The app assists in finding services that range from electricians and plumbers to booking movie tickets and getting doctor’s appointments.

GoodService had raised USD 1.6 million in funding from Sequoia Capital in June 2015. Last December, UrbanClap raised funding from Ratan Tata. This is the second acquisition by UrbanClap this year, after its purchase of after-sale service platform HandyHome.

Minda Ind to buy Japanese partner Roki's 49% in JV

BSE

Publicly-listed Minda Industries will acquire 49% stake of its JV partner Roki Japan in JV Roki Minda Co Pvt Ltd by investing INR 42.97 crore. The company will acquire 4,09,24,800 equity shares in the JV which manufactures air cleaner assembly for automobiles.

PropTiger acquires 3D visualization startup 3DPhy

Economic Times

Online real estate advisor PropTiger has acquired Gurgaon-based startup virtual and augmented reality & 3D visualizations startup 3DPhy. The deal will help PropTiger enhance its hi-tech marketing solutions for developers by making the home search experience more immersive. With its virtual walk-throughs, 3DPhy enables builders and brokers to showcase multiple properties over phones, laptops, tablets or head-mounted devices.

From the Venture Intelligence M&A Deal Database & Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In June 2015 News Corp had raised its stake to 30% in the Singapore based Elara Technologies Pte Ltd, the parent company of real estate portal PropTiger.com. (PE investors in Proptiger include News Corp, Horizen Ventures, SoftBank China & India, Accel India and SAIF.) In Apr-15, PropTiger had acquired Makaan.com and OoBi.

Canadian firm Luxury Quotient acquires fashion portal Elitify

Economic Times

Luxury Quotient India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Luxury Quotient International, based in Toronto, Canada has acquired fashion portal Elitify.com. Elitify was launched in 2012 by Amit Rawal and Anahat Rawal. Luxury Quotient launched Indian operations in 2014 as a gateway to International premium & luxury brands.

Veg food chain Sattviko acquires packaged products co FYNE Superfood

Economic Times

Vegetarian food chain Sattviko has acquired Delhi-based packaged products company FYNE Superfood. The brand and products of Fyne Superfood will now be merged with Sattviko. Launched in 2014, Sattviko operates through its standalone restaurants and delivery centres in Delhi, Gurgaon and Jaipur. FYNE claims to sell natural and chemical free packaged food products containing chia, flax seeds and quinoa.

EasyMeat.in acquires Pune meat delivery firm Nonveggies

Economic Times

Pune-based meat delivery startup EasyMeat.in is to acquire meat delivery player Nonveggies in an all cash deal. Launched in December 2014, Nonveggies claims to have built a strong customer base in western Pune that Easymeat in will now have access to. Nonveggies claims to have a unique customer base of over 1,500 users, out of which 68% are repeat customers. EasyMeat.in claims to receive 45 orders on a daily basis. Through the acquisition, the startup aims to reach 100 orders a day by September.

Japanese IT co Solize acquires ESO firm CSM Software

Deccan Herald

Solize Group, a Japanese engineering and consultancy company, has acquired Bangalore-based CSM Software, an engineering service outsourcing (ESO) company that provides high technology engineering services globally. CSM has offices in India, US and Europe. Ramakrishna Narayanaswami, a serial entrepreneur based out of Los Angeles, founded CSM Group in 1992.

Other Deals

Faircent raises $1.5 M from BCCL’s Brand Capital

Mint

Peer-to-peer lending portal Faircent.com, run by Fairassets Technologies India Pvt. Ltd, raised USD 1.5 million from Brand Capital, an ad-for-equity investment arm of publishing firm Bennett Coleman and Co. (BCCL).

Founded in 2014, by Rajat Gandhi and Vinay Matthews, Faircent.com has over 6,000 and 26,000 registered lenders and borrowers, respectively. In the last two years, the portal’s loan disbursal amounted to INR 6.5 crore.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In May 2016, Faircent raised USD 2.5-3 Million from JM Financial Ltd and others.(Subscribers to the database can login to view the valuation multiples, deal structuring and other transaction details.)

US-based 8TV raises $500-K for its foray into India

MyBigPlunge

San Francisco-based startup 8TV, which offers short-form video network for brands, has raised USD 500,000 (around INR 3.34 crore), from investors including Redcliffe Capital Managing Partner Dheeraj Jain, Google executive Tidhar Carmeli and angel investor Thomas Korte. Redcliffe’s investment opens up the Asian market for 8TV starting with India. It will begin piloting in India with The Man Company, a men’s grooming products maker. The startup graduated from tech accelerator Angelpad in Silicon Valley.

Student portal Genext Students raises $209-K via crowdfunding

INC42

Genext Students, a technology enabled student platform has raised $209K (INR 1.4Cr) from 1Crowd, a crowdfunding platform for startups. The funding will be used to build technology, expand its team and for development of marketing strategies. Genext deals with online learning for K-12 students, across CBSE, ICSE and RBSE boards.

Housing societies mgmt s’ware maker Zipgrid raises $200-K via 1Crowd

INC42

Zipgrid, a community services platform, has raised $200K in equity financing from 1Crowd, a crowd funding ecosystem for startups. Zipgrid provides technology-driven services to housing and commercial communities. Based in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, it currently claims to provide its services to over 70 housing communities. Their range of services includes accounting & finance, compliance & control management solutions. The funding will be used to expand its footprint, team and invest in strengthening their technology and operations.

Fitness apparel start-up Revo raises Rs.10 lakh via crowdfunding

Business Line

Revo International, an Ahmedabad-based startup that manufactures extreme performance and fitness apparel, has raised INR 10 lakh through global crowdfunding. By the time its crowdfunding campaign ends on September 17, it hopes to collect nearly USD 200,000. The venture has developed smart performance shorts under the brand name TrueREVO, to be manufactured at facilities in Ludhiana, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Tiruppur.

Real Estate Transactions

Nitesh Estates sells 4 acres in Kochi for Rs.26 Cr

BSE

Publicly listed, Bangalore based realty firm Nitesh Estates has sold 4 acres of land that the company had at Kakanad village in Kochi, Kerala for INR 26.50 crore “in view of the sluggish market conditions”. The proceeds of the sale will be utilised to reduce the company’s debt.

Indiabulls, IIFL to raise $500-M offshore capital via Mauritius

Mint

Diversified financial services firms Indiabulls Group and IIFL Asset Management Ltd have incorporated entities in Mauritius to raise offshore capital for real estate investments for the first time. Between the two firms, they plan to raise about $500 million to invest in residential projects here in India. The tenure of each of the funds is about 5-6 years and targets an internal rate of return (IRR) of at least 20%.

Indiabulls Asset Management Mauritius will raise and manage multiple offshore funds. Its first fund will have about $250 million in corpus and will invest in under-construction residential projects in the form of structured debt. Indiabulls will tap into institutional investors and family offices in the US, Europe, Asia and West Asia to raise the money. With the offshore entity, Indiabulls now has three differentiated routes of capital raising platforms for real estate from different investor profiles: domestic, non-resident Indians and offshore.

IIFL Asset Management has set up IIFL Opportunities Fund 3 in Mauritius to raise capital to invest in mid-income housing projects in India. It plans to raise about $200 million with a green-shoe option of raising an additional $100 million from investors. IIFL Asset Management or IIFL AMC will act as the fund advisor and IIFL Capital Pte Ltd, Singapore is the fund manager.

Piramal, CDPQ in talks for $250-M realty JV

Business Standard

Ivanhoe Cambridge, the real estate arm of Canada’s second largest pension fund manager CDPQ, is looking to re-enter Indian real estate with a joint venture with Ajay Piramal’s Piramal Fund Management. Both the partners are planning to set up a $250-million JV, which will provide equity capital to developers of residential projects. The new joint venture would help Piramal to take exposure to both debt and equity needs of developers.

Piramal already has a $500-million JV with CPPIB for lending to housing projects in major cities. Ivanhoe Cambridge opened an office in the country in 2008 to invest in Indian malls and shopping centres, but shut it as it could not find the right opportunities.

Milestone raising Rs.1400-Cr commercial real estate fund

Mint

Milestone Capital Advisors Ltd is raising its third commercial real estate private equity fund of about INR 1,400 crore. The principal component is around INR 700 crore, while there is a green shoe option to go up to another INR 700 crore. Funds are being raised from both domestic and overseas investors, with Milestone expecting overseas investors, including non-resident Indians (NRIs) and institutional investors, to contribute around INR 500 crore to the fund.

The fund will be investing primarily in commercial realty in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi NCR. The fund will be looking at owning rent-yielding assets, which could be in the range of INR 150 crore to INR 500-600 crore. The fund is registered with SEBI as a category II alternative investment fund, which will have the flexibility of getting converted into a REIT (real estate investment trust).

IAN to raise Rs.150-Cr early stage fund

DealstreetAsia

Indian Angel Network (IAN), one of the largest angel investor networks in India, is raising an early-stage fund of around INR 150 crore to co-invest along with its angel network and also for follow-up investments. The fund will be raised from within their own network of angel investors. IAN has already registered a fund with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

IAN has made 17 investments so far in 2016, compared to 16 and 11 investments in 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Joydeep Bose leaves Cisco to head S’pore VC firm’s Indian unit

Economic Times

Joydeep Bose the managing director, Asia Pacific and Japan, at Cisco is leaving the networking equipment maker. He will be joining a Singapore VC firm as their India operating partner focussed on product and services in the areas of data sciences.

AngelList hires Utsav Somani to launch syndicates in India

Medianama

AngelList is planning to launch syndicates in India, which will allow technology investors to create a single investment VC vehicle that raises money from institutions and other angel investors. Utsav Somani is the advisor to the India launch.

Part of the Utsav Exim Group promoter family, Somani until recebtly served as the Delhi Lead for LetsVenture, an Angellist like service for the Indian market.

Ascendas plans India-focused warehousing fund

Economic Times

Singapore-headquartered private equity fund Ascendas-Singbridge plans to float a separate fund to invest in India’s warehousing segment. Ascendas-Singbridge will establish a logistics park on minimum 50-100 acre of land on the outskirts of major cities. The company will look at setting up warehouses in nodal manufacturing hubs like Bhiwandi, Hoskote, Nagpur, Thane, Raigarh district and Chakkan among others.

Piramal Fund plans to focus on equity investment in real estate

Mint

The Ajay Piramal Group’s investment arm Piramal Fund Management Pvt. Ltd (PFM) plans to focus on equity investments in residential projects through a new USD 300 million offshore platform that is in the works. PFM will also make INR 500 crore of equity investments by partnering with developers to buy land for plotted and villa development focusing on Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai. This will be done by raising money from high net-worth individuals through its so-called discretionary Portfolio Management Service offering. After deploying INR 500 crore from its first Mumbai Redevelopment Fund in 2015, PFM plans to start raising another INR 350-400 crore for a second, similar-themed fund later this year, that will finance redevelopment projects in the city.

PFM has about INR 32,000 crore of assets under management, which includes equity investments and commitments made but not yet disbursed.

SEBI writes to RBI, FinMin to ease AIF norms

Mint

Markets regulator Sebi has written to the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry to ease regulations for alternative investment funds (AIFs), in line with the suggestions of a committee headed by Infosys Ltd co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy. Some of the key issues that Sebi has taken up includes relaxation of the stringent norms of safe harbour for offshore fund managers, parity of taxation on AIFs with equity investments and exempting the funds from paying withholding tax. Sebi is also talking with RBI on the issue of allowing foreign investment through the automatic route in non-banking financial companies to include AIFs as well.

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Media Mentions

VC Funds Continue To Raise Money Despite Startup Slowdown: BusinessWorld

A BusinessWorld article titled VC Funds Continue To Raise Money Despite Startup Slowdown quotes Venture Intelligence Fund raising data:

The number of venture capital (VC) funds raised so far this year is one-third of what was raised last year. As per data available with research firm Venture Intelligence, as many as 10 VC funds have been raised in the January-July period this year, while the number was way higher at 33 in the same period last year. Some of the VC funds that have been closed this year include those by Accel ($500 million), Aavishkaar ($300 million), IDG Ventures India ($200 million) , Infuse Ventures ($150 million) and Nirvana Ventures ($100 million). The total amount raised by these 10 VC funds this year stand at $1402 million, 62% lower than that of last year where funds worth $3662 million were closed.

PE funds set to make three-times return in RBL IPO: Business Standard

A Business Standard article quotes Venture Intelligence data on investments in RBL Bank:

Cloud Tech startup DigiKonnect looking to raise $500,000

DigiKonnect focuses on hybrid cloud orchestration and management with assured quality of service using principles of software defined networking (SDN) leading to a Capex and Opex savings of 10-30%. The offerings are focused towards telcos, data centres and enterprises. DigiKonnect has an in-principle marketing agreement with a US based private cloud service provider and a Europe based SDN leader to leverage their IP to stitch together the market facing solutions.

DigiKonnect’s founder has over 20 years of experience with large enterprises and startups with robust P&L experience. The founding team will have an average experience of over 15 years in networking (telecom and data centre) space.

To connect with the founder, email info@ventureintelligence.in with DigiKonnect in the subject line.

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