Missed the happening of startup world? Here is the recap for you. Mentioned below are the 10 news which made headlines this week:
Softbank Pumps In $1.1 Bn In Indian Origin Entrepreneur’s BioTech Startup
Roivant Sciences, a biotech firm founded by 32-year-old Indian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has bagged $1.1 billion equity investment from the SoftBank Vision Fund. This investment, which includes existing shareholder participation, is intended to accelerate the launch of new subsidiaries within and beyond the biopharmaceutical industry.
Roivant is dedicated to transformative innovation in healthcare. Startup focuses on realizing the full potential of promising biomedical research by developing and commercializing novel therapies across diverse therapeutic areas. It focuses on five different subsidiaries areas which include Axovant (neurology), Myovant (women’s health and endocrine diseases), Dermavant (dermatology), Enzyvant (rare diseases), and Urovant (urology).
Homegrown E-commerce Giant Flipkart Bags $2.5 Bn From Softbank
Here comes the biggest announcement from the Flipkart house. The homegrown e-commerce major has bagged around $2.5 billion from Japanese telecom and internet giant SoftBank, marking it the largest-ever investment in an online Indian company.
According to TOI, this freshly infused fund has extended the size of Flipkart's financing round, which was announced this April, to $4 billion. Flipkart will now be valued at $14.2 billion, boosting its firepower in its battle with Amazon in the online retail market.
Ivanka Trump Is All Set To Lead Us Delegation For Entrepreneurship Summit In India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the series of tweets announced that India and US will be co-hosting the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) at Hyderabad from November 28, 2017. The event which will be organised by the NITI Aayog in coordination with Ministry of External Affairs will witness the presence of US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka who will be leading the American delegation.
Ivanka presence was confirmed by Donald Trump through a tweet where he said, “@IvankaTrump will lead the US delegation to India this fall, supporting women’s entrepreneurship globally. #GES2017 @narendramodi.”Later on, Ivanka retweeted Modi tweet and tweeted “Honored to lead the US delegation to #GES2017 in India & meet with Prime Minister Modi & passionate entrepreneurs from around the globe!”
Later on, Ivanka retweeted Modi tweet and tweeted “Honored to lead the US delegation to #GES2017 in India & meet with Prime Minister Modi & passionate entrepreneurs from around the globe!”
World’s Biggest Fintech Hub To Open In Vishakhapatnam, India
Singapore-based Lattice80, which boost to be the world’s largest fintech hub is now coming to India. Expected to go live by next month, the Indian office is a part of the firm’s global expansion plans.
According to Joe Seunghyun Cho, CEO, Lattice80, the fintech hub is contemplating opening the office in Visakhapatnam and is currently in the midst of negotiations with 30 tenants for the 30,000 square-foot space, which is about 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Bengaluru. The hub will be able to host as many as 100 tech startups at a time.
San Francisco Based Coinbase Becomes First Bitcoin Based ‘Unicorn’ Startup
San Francisco-based Coinbase has recently become the first Bitcoin startup to enter the unicorn startup club after it successfully raised a whopping $100 million at a private valuation of $1.6 billion that includes the capital raised. The investment round saw the participation of Draper Associates, Greylock Partners, Battery Ventures, Section 32 and Spark Capital, and was led by venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners.
Founded in 2012, Coinbase achieved its unicorn status in just five years. During its half a decade journey, the startup which began as a simple Bitcoin wallet service has progressed on and ventured into brokerage space, opening online exchanges where traders can sell or swap crypto coins.
SEBI Sent Notice To 6 Angel Firms
Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has sent notices to at least six angel firms in one-and-a-half months asking them for details of their business. However, the names of these angel investment firms are not yet out in public domain. SEBI’s primary queries are — Who are people behind these angel networks? How do they raise these funds? Are they acting like unauthorized stock exchanges?
In the last couple of years lot of amateurish people better be called as ‘Startup Brokers’ are creating companies on Facebook (create Facebook pages) and present them as angel firms (which they are not) to budding entrepreneurs and newly formed startups. They, however, act as platform or matchmakers for startups to raise funds.IAN Signs MoU With BIRAC To Support Biotechnology Startups
IAN Signs MoU With BIRAC To Support Biotechnology Startups
Indian Angel Network (IAN) has announced the signing of a MoU with Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). This partnership brings the biotechnology startups closer to angel investors, who apart from money will provide invaluable mentoring and global market access.
BIRAC a Public Sector Undertaking of Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Government of India, is an Interface Agency to strengthen and empower the emerging Biotech enterprises in India. BIRAC enables enterprises and startups to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs.
DIPP Recognize Over 2100 Startups Since Startup India Launch
According to government data, over 2196 new ventures in India have been recognised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) since the launch of Startup India programme in January 2016.
DIPP recognition means comparatively easy patent filing process and credit availability for the recognised startups. The data made available by the government highlights that the country saw an encouraging increase in the registrations of startups ever since the DIPP made some small tweaks in the definition of what qualifies as a startup in India in May this year. One of the most prominent changes made in the definition which helped DIPP register a huge increase in startup registrations was DIPP’s decision to do away with the compulsory recommendation letter needed from an incubator.
Acquisitions Of Tech Startups Gone Down Dramatically In 2017 Globally
According to the report by TechCrunch, just 17 ‘well-funded’ private technology companies were acquired for more than $100 million so far in the year 2017. If we compare this figures with last year, the same number were sold with valuations of $500 million or more.
If we look at the deals, by the end of July 2017, there’s been only one big ‘unicorn’ ($1 billion valuations) deal that is Cisco’s $3.7 billion purchase of AppDynamics. Whereas in 2016 there were six such deals. This number clearly states the slowdown in the tech acquisition.
India Holds 43% of Global IoT Market, Says Report
A recent report by research and strategy consultancy Zinnov Zones has highlighted that the Indian subcontinent holds a 43 percent of the global Internet of Things (IoT) market. After India’s first position, the second position is occupied by Western Europe with 27 percent and North America with 23 per cent.
According to the research report, Indian information technology (IT) services companies now own about two-fifth of the global IoT market, which comes out at $1.5 billion of the global $3.5 bn market. The report noted that Bengaluru city was deemed as the top location in India for IoT processes.
Other Important News
Online learning platform Unacademy has announced the appointment of Bhavin Turakhia, co-founder of Directi, on its Board as a Director. Bhavin will contribute to Unacademy’s overall business strategy and vision of democratizing educational content.
Manmohan Agarwal, the seasoned Entrepreneur, who introduced India to the world of fashion e-commerce with his brainchild Yebhi.com has unveiled his second venture, Truxapp. In a short span of two years, the company has become a well-established name within the Indian Tech-Logistics industry.
A startup from IIT-Madras has bagged a whopping million dollar deal from a Singapore-based company. The order involves transferring technology used by Merkel Haptics’ first two products — “Laparoscopy Surgical Simulator with Haptics Feedback” and “In-Vitro Fertilisation Training Simulation with Haptics Feedback.”