Hospitality Chains Startup V Resorts Raises $10 Mn Series A funding from HNIs

Noida-based Bliss Inns, which owns and operates travel solutions and hospitality startup, V Resorts, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by a clutch of high net-worth individuals (HNIs) and existing investors including Bedrock Ventures and RB Capital.

Currently with over 150 properties spread across 22 states, V Resorts plans to use the freshly raised capital from
in expanding its footprint in India and also enter new markets across South Asia and the Middle-East, with a target of reaching 1000+ properties and 15,000+ rooms in the next three years.

A significant part of the growth will be focused on firmly establishing markets within India such as Andhra Pradesh where the company is already in talks with the Andhra Pradesh Government to promote state-wide tourism.

Founded in 2011, by ISB Hyderabad alumnus Aditi Balbir, the startup with its in-house tech infrastructure, also plans to invest more on the technology platform, giving customers a 360-degree independent travel experience, and plans to now build its own SAAS products for the hospitality industry.

Aditi had earlier worked with Bedrock Ventures, which is also an investor in V Resorts.

According to Economic Times, the startup claims that its asset-light model and operating efficiencies helps its properties break even at 20% occupancy within the first six to nine months, and achieve a 50% profit margin within the first three years itself.

Talking about the latest funding, Aditi Balbir, Founder and CEO, V Resorts said, "Our focus will remain on providing our guests with high-quality unique experiences in new and unexplored destinations. Excellence in product delivery can only be developed through training and we plan to strengthen that aspect of our work as well. We shall also broaden our association with local women communities, standing true to our commitment on creating women entrepreneurs at every level."

With a highly profitable asset-light model, V Resorts began with operating properties that had small room inventory. Without the cost-burden, V Resorts’ properties break even at 20% occupancy within the first six to nine months, and achieve a 50% profit margin within the first three years itself. The model also directly impacts micro-economies at the grass-root level by its very design.

With the impact created at an individual resort level, the model has a potential of reaching $1 billion in terms of local community impact over the next 10 years. In 2018, the company also launched its in-house local store – Pitara, where they work with native women groups to package and sell their local products.

Source - News Baron

Gurgaon based Events discovery app Nearify raises funds from SeedFund advisors and others

Gurgaon based Novelroots Internet Pvt. Ltd, maker of the Nearify mobile app that collates information on local events, on Monday said it has raised between $0.5 million and $1 million from Seedfund Advisors, India Quotient and Bedrock Ventures, a seed and early-stage investor.

"We will use these funds to build technology and strengthen our mobile application. We are also looking to incorporate new features such as ticketing facilities for paid events and a messaging platform that will allow users to discuss events with their friends," said Vivek Srivastava (co-founder of Nearify) in a statement to LiveMint.

Novelroots was founded in December 2012 and Nearify was launched in June 2103, founders of startups are three IIT Kanpur alumni - Mayank Kumar, Saurav Singh and Vivek Srivastava. Nearify helps you discover everything that's happening within a 50 km radius around you or anywhere else on the planet. Apart as a website, Nearify is also available as an Android and iOS app, all you have to do is launch Nearify app, let the app detect your location (you may select another location of your interest too) and then see the results load.

Additionally, you can use Nearify to find out about the various events happening in the far-off places as well, in case you are travelling and wish to plan out your itinerary.

The app uses technology to aggregate data related to events from the web, which goes through a proprietary data processing engine for quality and relevance. It then collates that events’ data into a common format for users to consume.

Nearify hosts around 10 million events from 52 cities around the world. "We get 80% of the traffic from outside India," said Vivek Srivastava, adding the company plans to open an office in the US in the next one year.

Novelroots is also working on creating an event promotion platform for organizers where they can "preferentially" list their events on Nearify for a fee.