Private Equity Fund Investments

Piramal Fund invests Rs.700-Cr in 2 commercial properties in Mumbai

Economic Times

Piramal Fund Management has deployed INR 700 crore collectively across Reliable Tech Park and Empire Towers in suburban Mumbai. The lender will release the fund in tranches as the projects near completion. Reliable Tech Park and Empire Towers, together, spread over 2.2 million sq ft at Airoli, are part of a complex called Cloud City Campus, that extends to 2.7 million sq ft of leasable area.The proposed investment is in the form of flexible LRD (lease rental discounting) against 0.8 million sq ft that is fully leased, with the proceeds going towards completion of the remaining area.

Creation to invest Rs.350-Cr in Muthoot's microfin arm: report

Economic Times

Creation Investments Capital Management is set to acquire a minority stake in Muthoot Microfin for INR 350 crore. Promoters of the Kerala-based micro lender are selling a significant minority stake in the company. Muthoot Microfin plans to use the proceeds to open 500 more branches in the next three years.Funds would be utilised to expand business in northern and eastern states such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal.

ECL Finance invests Rs.300-Cr in Rohan Lifescapes’s residential projects

Mint

ECL Finance Ltd, the non-banking financial company (NBFC) of financial services firm Edelweiss Group, has invested INR 300 crore in a bouquet of residential projects of Mumbai-based realty developer Rohan Lifescapes. The debt transaction is structured in such a way that ECL Finance has taken control of a part of the inventory in four south Mumbai projects of the developer, which the investor will sell at a discounted price. The capital will be used by Rohan Lifescapes to construct and complete ongoing projects.

KKR unit, PremjiInvest invest $35-M in media tech firm Amagi Labs

Economic Times

KKR-backed Emerald Media has acquired a significant minority stake in Bangalore-based media technology company Amagi Media Labs. Emerald, along with existing shareholder Premji Invest, is investing $35 million in this combination of primary and secondary Series D round. Mayfield India and Nadathur Holdings will continue to remain invested in the company.

The company will use the growth capital from this round of funding to expand its targeted advertising platforms globally, enter new international markets for its cloud-based managed broadcast services and introduce a host of products to cater to the various needs of TV broadcasters and OTT (over-the-top) networks.

Urmila Constructions to raise $25-M debt from UK’s Linetrus

Economic Times

Realty firm Urmila Constructions and Developers Pvt Ltd has entered will avail $25 million from UK-based Linetrust International Offshore Ltd, via uts Indian representative ATD Financial Services. The debt funding will be used for developing its residential and commercial projects in an around Jharkhand.

Epsilon Ventures leads $23-M investment in Pi Datacenters

Epsilon Venture Partners, founded by the former head of Intel Capital Asia Sudheer Kuppam, along with an Australian private equity group, has invested INR 154 Crores ($23 million) in Amaravati, AP-based Pi Datacenters. Mahesh Vaidya, General Partner, Epsilon will be joining the company’s board.

MFI Sonata Finance raises Rs.85-Cr from Proparco, Triodos

Economic Times

Lucknow headquartered microfinance institution (MFI) Sonata Finance has raised an equity round of INR 85 crore led by France-based Proparco, a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Netherlands-based Triodos Investment Management (via Triodos Fair Share Fund and Triodos Microfinance Fund of Triodos Investment Management). Unitus Capital was the exclusive financial adviser to Sonata. Existing investors including Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Caspian Funds were able to receive partial exit from the company during this round.

B2B marketplace OfBusiness raises Rs.75-Cr Series B led by Zodius Cap

Times of India

OfBusiness, an online marketplace for small-and-medium (SME) commerce, has raised INR 75 crore in its Series B round of funding led by Zodius Capital with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners and angels,. The new capital will help the Gurgaon-based firm roll out a financial services subsidiary for its SME clients. OfBusiness started operations in January 2016 and caters to SME buyers across construction and manufacturing, selling raw materials like industrial steel, building materials and fabrication, along with construction consumables.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: Ofbusiness had raised INR 32.85 Cr in Feb 2016 from Matrix Partners India and Accel. (Subscribers to the database can login to view the valuation, deal structuring and other transaction details.)

Drone startup IdeaForge to raise Rs.70-Cr Series A from WRV, IndusAge, Infosys

FactorDaily

Mumbai-based startup IdeaForge Technology that makes unmanned aerial vehicles is to raise INR 70 crore in Series A funding led by WRV Capital and IndusAge Partners. IT services firm Infosys has also invested via its Innovation Fund. The startup, founded in 2008 by IIT Bombay alumni - Ankit Mehta, Amardeep Singh, Rahul Singh, Ashish Bhat and Vipul Joshi - has jointly developed the Netra UAV along with the Defence Research and Development Organisation. The company currently counts several government agencies, including BSF and the CRPF, among its clients.

The company’s UAV, called NETRAv2, has a range of 5km with a flight endurance of 50 minutes and supports multiple payloads. It has been used for relief operations during the Uttarakhand Disaster of 2013, riot control during the Saharanpur riots of 2014, Ganesh Chaturthi immersions in Mumbai, the Pune landslide and the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri. Defence and law enforcement bodies have also used IdeaForge’s UAV for counter-insurgency operations and monitoring border infiltration. The drones are also used for agricultural services, pipeline monitoring, aerial surveillance for wildlife monitoring and pollution monitoring, among others.

SME lending platform Indifi raises $10-M Series B

Mint

Alok Mittal-founded Indifi Technologies, a start-up that helps small businesses secure loans, has raised $10 million in a series B round led by Omidyar Network. Existing investors Accel India and Elevar Equity also participated in the round. Indifi will use the proceeds from the fund raising to scale its technology platform, expand the workforce, create new loan products and invest in partnerships with data vendors. Indifi offers unsecured loans to MSMEs in select industry segments through its partner NBFCs and banks.

Indifi was co-founded by Alok Mittal, a serial entrepreneur who earlier led the India operations for US-based VC firm Canaan Partners, a US-based early stage venture investor. Currently, the company has loan products in six industry segments namely travel bookings, hotels, transportation, retail, e-commerce and manufacturing. It expects to add more segments going forward.Average ticket size of loans range between Rs.50,000 and Rs.50 lakh. It has so far dispersed over 1,000 loans worth Rs.50 crore. It charges a fee from the lender which is received in parts throughout the life of the loan.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: Indifi had raised INR 32.63 Cr in October 2015 from Elevar and Accel. (Subscribers to the database can login to view the valuation, deal structuring and other transaction details.)

XSEED Education raises over $10-M from Verlinvest

DealStreetAsia

School learning company XSEED Education has raised over $10 million from Belgium-based investor Verlinvest. XSEED, which operates largely from offices in Singapore and Bengaluru and Gurgaon in India, will use the funding to scale its operations in India and overseas and improve its technology-enabled learning platform for children and schools, among other things.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In September 2010 Lighthouse had invested INR 50 crores in XSEED (then called iDiscoveri). (Subscribers to the database can login to view the valuation multiples, deal structuring and other transaction details.)

A V T Group invests Rs.40 Cr in Madura Microfinance

A V Thomas & Co. Ltd and its affiliate, Midland Rubber and Produce Company Limited, were allotted 855,002 shares and 285,002 shares respectively at INR 350.88 per share of Madura Micro finance Limited aggregating to INR 40 Cr through primary infusion in return for a 17.02% stake.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In Oct 2008, Elevar & Unitus invested INR 22 Cr for a 21.73% stake in Madura at INR 182.13 per share.

Online video entertainment firm Pocket Aces raises $3-M led by Sequoia

Economic Times

Mumbai-based digital entertainment startup Pocket Aces has raised $3 million (about INR 20 crore) in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India and included North Base Media, Aarin Capital, Axilor Ventures and Freecharge founders Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon. The three-year-old venture has seen nearly 200 million video views across its channels, focusing on building on original content targeting the 18-35 year old demographic. The company has already built a subscriber base of over 1.85 million across its online platforms called Dice (web series, sketches), FilterCopy (short form content) and Gobble (focusing on food).

Sixth Sense picks up 15.39% in snack maker Hindustan Foods for Rs.8-Cr

Sixth Sense Ventures, via Sixth Sense India Opportunities Fund – I, has bought 20,00,000 shares (on Dec 7, 2016) at INR 40 per share in publicly listed food products firm Hindustan Foods Ltd (HFL). aggregating to INR 8 crore. This constituted 15.39% stake of total outstanding shares of Hindustan Foods ltd.

Established in 1988 by Goa-based Demo Group. HFL manufactures cereal based food products and a range of instant mixes, baby foods, instant porridges, breakfast cereals and health drinks.

Cardiac monitoring device firm ten3T raises Rs.1.7 Cr from pi Ventures, Others

Economic Times

Real-time cardiac monitoring company ten3T has raised INR 1.65 crore from pi Ventures and angel investors, including V Krishna Prasad, cofounder of Qikwel and Sling Media cofounder Bhupen Shah, to beta test its first device. This is the first fund level investment of Manish Singhal founded pi Ventures.

Ten3T, founded by a team of physicians and biomedical engineers, builds wearable medical devices that collect and integrate medical data in real time. The Bengaluru-based startup's first device, Cicer, is a palm-sized electrocardiogram tracker that is designed to take a quick on-spot ECG reading or to be worn for multiple hours like a Holter monitor. Designed using dry electrodes to make the process of ECG reading easier and more mobile, the device is also connected to an analytics tool over cloud, making patient data accessible to physicians in real-time.

Quarizon, GEMS invest Rs.1.6 Cr in holiday marketplace Tripshelf

INC42

Online travel marketplace for holiday bookings Tripshelf has raised $235.6K (INR 1.6 Cr) in a seed round. The investment was led by GEMS Advisory and early stage VC fund Quarizon. Tripshelf allows customers to compare data from independent travel operators listed on the online marketplace under a single web screen and further, once selected, the customer is directed to the supplier’s website for bookings.

Freight services marketplace Comet raises seed round led by India Quotient

Inc42

Comet, a marketplace for international freight services, has raised a seed funding round led by India Quotient. Alok Mittal, Rajul Garg and the founders of BlackBuck have also innvested along with Dubai-based Nobel House and Sunstone Capital. Comet is a platform for international B2B freight service providers and clients, to manage everything from booking containers to tracking and custom clearances, all from a single dashboard. The company plans to utilise this round of funding to build the team, technology, and increase market penetration.

The company was founded in June 2016 by Chitransh Sahai, Gautam Prem Jain, Ayush Lodhi, and Mehul Katiyar, IIT-Delhi graduates—who earlier co-founded and sold Plat to Housing.com in June 2015.

Axilor, angels invest in local commerce enabler UrbanPiper

Times of India

UrbanPiper, which runs a platform that enables hyperlocal businesses to go online, has raised funding from Axilor and a group of angels. UrbanPiper is a business-to-business Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that offers a host of services such as white-label mobile apps, website, in-store engagement tools and customer relationship management. The company plans to use the funds to enhance its technology offering and scale up its client base. 

Liquidity Events

Blackstone exits MCX by selling shares worth Rs.303-Cr, registers 1.65x return

Blackstone, via Blackstone GPV Capital Partners (Mauritius) VI FII Limited, has sold 2,421,028 shares at INR 1,250.07 per share on Dec 9, 2016 through NSE of publicly listed Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. aggregating to INR 302.65 Cr. This constitutes 4.75% of total outstanding shares of Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In Mar 2013, Blackstone invested INR 104 Cr for 2% stake at INR 1020 per share. In Jan 2014, it invested additional INR 81.49 Cr for 2.79% stake at INR 573 per share.

Blackstone sells addl SH Kelkar shares worth Rs.157-Cr, registers 4.84x return

Blackstone, via Blackstone Capital Partners (Singapore) VI FDI two Pte Ltd, has sold 5,236,973 shares at INR 300 per share on NSE of publicly listed Aroma Chemicals manufacturer S H Kelkar aggregating to INR 157.11 Cr on Dec 14, 2016. This constituted 3.62% of total outstanding shares of S H Kelkar. Post-deal the investor would hold 17.6% stake in the target.Part of the stake sold (0.93%) worth INR 40.46 Cr was bought by a promoter entity (Keva Constructions Private Limited).

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In August 2012, Blackstone invested INR 243 Cr in the company for 33.50% stake. The company went public in Oct 2015 and the investor and a promoter made part exit as part of the IPO.

Alexandria sells Bengaluru-plot to Salarpuria Sattva for Rs.75-Cr

Economic Times

Property developer Salarpuria Sattva has bought a six-acre plot in Bengaluru's IT hub from New York-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The deal was closed at about INR 75 crore and came at a discount to the builder.

India Value Fund sells addl Syngene Int shares worth Rs 71-Cr, registers 3.07x return

India Value Fund, via Silver Leaf Oak (Mauritius) Limited, has sold 1,200,000 shares at INR 595.08 per share on NSE of publicly listed pharmaceuticals firm Syngene International Ltd. aggregating to INR 71.41 Cr. This constituted 0.60% of total outstanding shares of Syngene International Ltd. Post-deal the investor would hold 14,817,777 shares (7.41% stake) in the target.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In Sep 2014, India Value Fund invested INR 380 Cr for 10% stake. The company went public in Jul 2015.

New Vernon sells addl Indian Terrain Fashions shares worth Rs 8.7 Cr, registers 1.86x return

New Vernon, via New Vernon Private Equity Ltd FDI AC, has sold 600000 shares at INR 145 per share on NSE of publicly listed garments firm Indian Terrain Fashions Ltd. aggregating to INR 8.70 Cr on Dec 12, 2016. This constituted 1.61% of total outstanding shares of Indian Terrain. Post-deal the investor would hold 1245140 shares (3.34% stake) in the target.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In May 2005, New Vernon invested INR 36 Cr in Celebrity Fashions through Pre-IPO deal. In Mar 2011, as part of the spin-off of the target company from its existing investee firm, Celebrity Fashions, New Vernon was allotted 971,428 shares.

Sycamore Ventures sells addl Global Offshore shares worth Rs 2.42 Cr, registers 0.89x return

Sycamore Ventures, via IndiaSTAR Mauritius Ltd., has sold 250,000 shares through NSE on Dec 9, 2016 at INR 96.62 per share of publicly listed Global Offshore Services Ltd. aggregating to INR 2.42 Cr. This constitutes 1.01% of total outstanding shares of Global Offshore. Post-deal the investor would hold 6,417,048 shares (25.95% stake) in the target.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: Sycamore Ventures invested INR 101.3 Cr between Mar 2006 and Mar 2008 for a 30.48% stake in the target. The investor started exiting from the company in Oct 2015.

1mg acquires healthcare consulting firm MediAngels

Gurugram-based online drug search venture 1mg has acquired MediAngels, a Mumbai-based provider of super speciality consultations, corporate health services, and insurance partnerships.

MediAngels was founded in 2011 by Dr. Arbinder Singal and Dr. Debraj Shome. With more than 450 super specialist doctors on its team across 93 specialties, MediAngels claims to have seen a good number of cases in cardiology, cancers, neurosurgery, orthopedics, and pediatric subspecialties and traction from both metros and Tier II cities.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In Oct-14, MediAngels had raised INR 6 Cr from Ventureast Tenet and TDB. In Jun-11, it had raised INR 2.71 Cr from HDFC Venture.

Delivery Hero acquires Foodpanda from Rocket Internet

TechinAsia

Rocket Internet has sold the global operations of Foodpanda to rival food delivery firm Delivery Hero. The stock swap deal will take Rocket's stake in Delivery Hero to 37.7%. Foodpanda operates in 22 countries with a strong footprint in Asia. Its services are available in India, Thailand, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Philippines, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. It recently closed shop in Indonesia. Foodpanda had raised a total of $318 million in funding since inception. It last raised $100 million from Goldman Sachs in a series F round.

Delivery Hero has raised US$1.33 billion across 11 rounds. Started in May 2011 in Sweden, Delivery Hero now delivers food across 33 countries, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar in Asia. paid Rocket Internet had invested $586 million for a 30% stake in Delivery Hero in February 2015.

Angel Funding

Cold pressed juice brand Juice Up raises $2-M

Press Release

Delhi-based cold-pressed juice brand Juice Up, owned by Fresh Food Concepts Pvt Ltd, has raised a $2 million seed round led by angel investors Siddhartha Gupta and Ashvin Chadha. Available in over 250 locations across Delhi NCR, Juice Up offers a range of 100% raw and fresh cold pressed juices and is targeting to hit 75,000 bottles per month. The current round of funding will be utilised for upgrading the production facility, enhancing the sales and distribution network, branding and marketing and to explore new products over the next phase.

Gym aggregator FITPASS raises $1-M from Mumbai Angels, others

NextBigWhat

FITPASS, an all-access pass to gyms and fitness studios, has raised $1 million in seed funding from Mumbai Angels and a consortium of Delhi and Bangalore-based angels. FITPASS is an app based pass, which can be used to work out from the large partner network of gyms and fitness studios, the company is tied up with. Available on iOS & android, it offers workouts ranging from gym, yoga, zumba, pilates, spinning to kickboxing, mixed martial arts and more.

HR analytics startup InFeedo raises $200-K

NextBigWhat

SaaS-based HR Analytics Startup inFeedo has raised $200,000 in angel round from a group of investors led by Dheeraj Jain, Managing Partner, Redcliffe Capital and Anupam Mittal, CEO of Shaadi.com. The company also got funding from Ameera Shah, CEO of Metropolis; Vivek Bhargava, Group CEO of DAN Performance; Rahul Singh, CEO of Beer Cafe and Ambarish Gupta, CEO of Knowlarity.

inFeedo helps HR automate the continuous collection of employee feedback. Its chatbot called Amber talks to employees regularly and based on their chats, auto generates culture reports for HR leaders to proactively meet those who’re unhappy, facing troubles or about to leave.

Traveltech firm Qacco raises $150-K from Lead Angels, Others

Inc42

Gurugram-based traveltech startup Qacco has raised $150,000 in an angel funding round led by Lead Angels Network. Anbu Pandian, Prabhakar MR and other investors on the LetsVenture platform also participated in the round. The raised funds will be used to develop Qacco’s technology and team along with B2B focussed marketing campaigns. Launched in July 2015 by Chaitanya Jha and Abhinav Imandi, Qacco is operated by Qacco Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. The startup enables curated hotels to sell exclusive deals to a closed user group of corporate employees. The company earns revenues through a fee charged from the hotels on the booking value. At present, it claims to have tie-ups with 300 hotels across 95+ destinations in India, with options ranging from jungle lodges, beach retreats, heritage hotels, homestays, and more. Also, companies such as Accenture, FIS Global, TCS, Wipro, Tata Communications, IDFC Bank, Essar Group,

Tata Motors, etc., have adopted Qacco’s offerings as part of their employee benefits program. In the next three to six months, Qacco intends to tie-up with 100+ companies as well as multiply its network of hotels.

Anand Chandrasekaran invests in mobile app engagement tools maker MoEngage

Mint

Facebook executive and former head of products at e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal, Anand Chandrasekaran, has joined the list of investors and advisors at Bangalore-based mobile user engagement start-up MoEngage.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: In Sep-15, MoEngage had raised $4.25 million in Series A round led by Helion Venture Partners with participation from Exfinity Ventures and Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal and TaxiForSure’s Raghunandan G.

Womens fashion app maker Wooplr raises funding from Anand Chandrasekaran

NextBigWhat

Wooplr, a fashion discovery application for women, has raised funding from Anand Chandrasekaran, the former chief product officer of Snapdeal. The funding raised will be used for product development and marketing. Bangalore-based Wooplr connects users with local businesses, based on interests, location, and social circles. Users can upload details about what they bought and where they bought it from, which in turn helps their community friends to discover places and shop from there.

From the Venture Intelligence PE/VC Deal Database: Wooplr had raised funding from Helion Ventures in February 2015 and Astarc Ventures in August 2016

Automobiles focused IoT firm Vehico raises funding from Calcutta Angels

Times of India

Calcutta Angels Network (CAN) is picking up close to 14.2% in Vehico, a Kolkata-based Internet of Things (IoT) startup focussed on automobiles. Vehico acts like a fitbit for automobiles, providing access to real time data of the vehicle’s performance and driving habit of users. CAN members Rahul Agarwal and Rajesh Kankaria led this investment with participation from Appliyifi Investment Newtork.

Incubation / Acceleration

GHV-backed FitMeIn raises seed round led by Japan's FiNC

Inc42

Fitness startup FitMeIn has received seed funding from Japanese digital healthcare company, FiNC and current investor GHV. Launched in June 2015 by Nidhisha Varshney, Lalit Singh and Vishesh Goel, FitMeIn is an online platform that offers monthly multi-studio membership to premium fitness workout destinations in Delhi/NCR and Mumbai. The network claims to include 1000+ workout studios and gyms offering over 10,000 fitness sessions daily including Gym, Yoga, Zumba, Bootcamp, Swimming, etc. among 150 other types of fitness/wellness activities. FitMeIn also provides tools to manage fitness facility staff and customer relations, as well as proposing a menu of workout options to end users. It also offers a SaaS based tool to Fitness and wellness service providers to help them grow, manage and sell business better. The new partnership will allow FitMeIn to offer an artificial intelligence driven platform with personalised nutrition, fitness and healthcare advice to users.

Facebook backs tutor enablement platform XPrep

Knowstartup

Facebook has backed Delhi-based tutor enablement platform XPrep as part of its global programme FBStart. Under the programme, XPrep has received $40,000 worth of credits and services from Facebook and its partners like Amazon Web Service (AWS), Dropbox, Adobe and MailChimp. Started in September 2015, XPrep connects tutors with parents and students via a mobile app and website. Parents can monitor their child’s progress during the course of the tuition. It also caters to entrance exam aspirants. Moreover, the mobile app lets tutors perform daily tasks like sending out announcements, conducting their quizzes and notifying their classes using the app’s automation techniques. XPrep, since its inception, has acquired a base of 100+ tutors and 6,000+ students across Delhi NCR and plans to expand to other cities soon.

IIT-M incubates 3 startups

IIT-M has incubated three new startups: Theevanam Additives & Nutraceuts, MGH Labs and Axon Automated Systems.

Theevanam Additives provides nutrient formulations for enriching animal feed additives and nutraceuticals such as vitamins, immune-modulators, enzymes, probiotics and pro-biotics etc.

MGH Labs has invented a mosquito repellent machine Bogorchid where it can attract, catch & kill mosquitoes naturally. The product has gone through several test trials and can trap up to 800 Mosquitoes in a span of 3 days in a residential house in Chennai City.

Axon Automated Systems specialises in building smart machines to automate kitchen.where set of appliances that would cook for all by themselves.

Social VC Investments

Aspada invests in Arya Collateral Warehousing

Impact investor Aspada Investments has invested in Noida-based Arya Collateral Warehousing Services Private Limited. Arya provides a range of post-harvest services to various stakeholders across the agriculture value chain. These include collateral management, professional warehousing services (including aggregation, primary processing and storage) and financial and market linkages. Intellecap was the advisor to Arya on the deal.

From the Venture Intelligence Social VC Deal Database: Other investments by Aspada in the Agri-Business and related sectors include Lawrencedale Agro Processing India (LEAF); Siddhi Vinayak Agri Processing; EM3 AgriServices; INI Farms and Allfresh Supply Management. It has also invested in cold storage warehouse and transportation services firm Schedulers Logistics

Agri supply chain co Green AgTech raises funding from Elevar

Bangalore based Green AgTech has received funding from Elevar Equity. The company facilitates direct procurement of vegetables from small farmers for restaurants and retailers through an in-house built proprietary technology platform to enable demand aggregation.

Other PE/Strategic Investments

Discount broking startup TradingBells raises $296-K seed funding

Inc42

Indore-based discount broking company TradingBells has raised $296.3K (INR 2 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Mumbai-based stock broker Swastika Investmart Ltd. The startup plans to utilise the funds in hiring talent, expanding office infrastructure, technology up gradation, and customer acquisition. The company is targeting to reach 100,000 customers and INR 45 Cr revenue within the next 3 years.

M&A

Baxter to acquire Claris’ injectables line for $625-M

Ahmedabad-based, publicly-listed Claris Lifesciences Limited is to sell its global generics injectables business to Baxter International for $625 million. Claris intends to repatriate a significant majority of net cash proceeds to the shareholders. Credit Suisse and Jefferies acted as financial advisors to Claris, Herbert Smith Freehills, Veritas Legal and AZB & Partners acted as legal advisor to Claris.

Swedish video games firm Starbreeze acquires Dhruva Interactive for $8.5 M

Medianama

Starbreeze, a Sweden based independent video game developer and publisher, has acquired a 90.5% stake in Indian art production and game development company Dhruva Interactive for $8.5 million. $7 million of this will be in cash, whereas the $1.5 million would be in newly issued Starbreeze B-shares.

The dea will help Starbreeze “secure its art production needs,” improve the quality of its inhouse production projects and lower operating costs. Starbreeze will also offer end to end game making services to publishers and pad its VR ecosystem. Dhruva will operate independently and continue servicing its global clients. Dhruva has over 320 employees. Dhruva’s revenues were $4.5 million for the financial year ended March 2016.

Mogae Media to acquire Nimbuzz' adtech platform Ngage for Rs.40-Cr

Economic Times

Sandeep Goyal founded ad tech company Mogae Media has made its second acquisition with Ngage, the ad tech platform of messaging services firm Nimbuzz. The all-stock deal is valued at INR 40 crore. Ngage is a cross device ad platform and counts most large agencies like Group M, OMD, IPG and others as its clients. In India and Dubai, Ngage's topline revenues are about INR 40 crore. Ngage has also expanded its services to West Asia. Mogae will use the platform Ngage to start programmatic advertising on mobile for Vodafone and Aircel's customer base.

Netherlands-based OTT platform Nimbuzz BV is owned by New Sparta and Newcall, two private equity funds from the UK. Headed by Vikas Saxena, the Nimbuzz platform includes instant messaging services, voiceover internet calls and is a mobile ad services provider. Mogae Media will give a 50% shareholding to New Sparta through a new entity that will cater to Ngage's current business and monetise sales for Mogae Media.

Damodar Valley Corporation to merge with NLC

Public sector energy company NLC India Limited (NLC) and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) are to merge to form a new JV. Luthra & Luthra assisted the transacting parties to file a Form I merger notification with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and obtaining the requisite approval of the combination. DVC operates several power plants in the Damodar valley area of West Bengal and Jharkhand. It operates six thermal power stations with a total installed capacity of 7410 MW and three hydro-electric power stations with a capacity of 147.2 MW which contribute to a total installed capacity of 7557.2 MW.

NLC provides power to various states across India including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Rajasthan and Union Territory of Puducherry, with a total installed capacity of 4287.5 MW.

Practo buys healthcare analytics firm Enlightiks

Mint

Healthcare services platform Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd has acquired Enlightiks Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a healthcare analytics solutions firm, in a cash and stock deal. Established in 2012, with offices in Bengaluru and Charlotte in the US, Enlightiks owns a predictive clinical and computational platform called Querent and uses big data analytics to provide business intelligence to healthcare providers. The 50-odd engineers at Enlightiks will be absorbed into Practo.

Practo has raised about $124 million from the likes of China’s Tencent; Belgian venture capital firm Sofina; Google Capital; Altimeter Capital; Yuri Milner, founder of Russian venture capital firm DST Global; Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners. At its last fund-raising in August 2015, the company was valued at about $500 million.

Dentsu Aegis acquires design studio Fractal

Economic Times

Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) has acquired the leading experiential design studio Fractal Ink Design Studio (Fractal). DAN is expected to shell out anything between INR 215-300 crore at the closure of the deal. After the acquisition, Fractal will join DAN’s digital agency – Isobar. The acquisition will add significant scale to the agency’s expertise in mobility and user experience. In addition, it will also bring together a team of 1,000 digital experts, including the combined Isobar team and the existing network digital brands iProspect, WATConsult and Dentsu Webchutney. Fractal co-founder and CEO Tanay Kumar will join the Dentsu Aegis leadership team in India and will report to Bhasin post acquisition.

Other Deals - Listed Firms

Tata Sons buys addl stake worth Rs.2,430-Cr in Tata Motors

Economic Times

Tata Sons bought five crore shares of Tata Motors through a bulk deal worth Rs.2,430 crore on December 13 ahead of the automaker's shareholders' meet on December 22 to consider the removal of Cyrus Mistry from its board. The holding company of all Tata Group companies bought the shares at an average price of INR 486.13 per share, a premium of about 7% to Tata Motors' closing price of Rs.454.55 on December 12.

The total deal represented 1.73% of the company's equity capital and was aimed at raising the group company's holding in the company to secure the vote against Mistry. As of September 30, promoters held 33% stake in Tata Motors. Out of this, Tata Sons held 27%, Tata Industries held 2.5% and Tata Steel held 2.9% stake. Foreign Portfolio Investors owned 26% in Tata Motors at the end of the second quarter while state owned Life Insurance Corporation of India held 5.2% stake.

Mukesh Ambani invests in $1-B clean technology fund BEV

Business Standard

Mukesh Ambani is to invest in Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), which will invest more than $1 billion in emerging energy breakthroughs for affordable and reliable energy to reduce greenhouse emissions. Bill Gates serves as the chairman of BEV, whose other investors include John Doerr, Chairman, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Vinod Khosla, Founder, Khosla Ventures; Jack Ma, Founder, AliBaba and Hasso Plattner, Co-Founder, SAP.

Wockhardt’s Huzaifa Khorakiwala to launch health fund

Economic Times

Huzaifa Khorakiwala, part of the promoter family of the Wockhardt group, will launch a healthcare-focused fund `Health Passion Fund' with a corpus of INR 125 crore (along with a green-shoe option), to support startups in the field of healthcare. The fund, being launched by Khorakiwala in his personal capacity, will seek to invest upto INR 5 crores in about 30 healthcare startups in the pre-Series A and Series A rounds.

CVC Capital Partners looking to recruit PE professionals for India office

Mint

Luxembourg headquartered private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is looking at setting up a presence in India and is in the process of 3-4 senior executives (including its India Head). CVC is currently investing from its flagship funds CVC Fund V and CVC Fund VI and also manages two Asia-dedicated PE funds - CVC Asia III and CVC Asia IV.

Deals in the Making