Category Archives: Investment

Shopify secures $100 mln Series C funding

December 15, 2013E-Commerce, eRetail, Funding, Investment, Investor, ShopifyBessemer Venture Partners, e-retail, eretail, Felicis Ventures, FirstMark Capital, funding, Funds, Georgian Partners, Insight Venture Partners, offline retail, OMERS, Series C, Shopify, The VenturesGunjan Piplani

The ecommerce platform provider, Shopify, has raised $100 million in Series C funding round. The funds have come in from OMERS Ventures and Insight Venture Partners along with existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Georgian Partners and Felicis Ventures.

The funding will be utilised to let the company work towards its plans to expand focus on offline retail world as well. Shopify is aiming to introduce a unique product that will fuse the offline world with the online world.

Keeping the offline retail world, the company earlier this year had launched a point-of-sale system and Square-style mobile card reader. These products were to synchronise the in-store and online inventory, process and accept credit cards, and generate sales reports.

Zivame raises $6 mln

December 15, 2013E-Commerce, eRetail, Funding, Investment, Investor, Unilazer Ventures, Zivame$6 million, Business, eretail, funding, Funds, India, Investing, investment, investor, online retail, retail, Ronnie Screwvala, Unilazer Ventures, ZivameGunjan Piplani

India’s niche ecommerce player, Zivame, raises $6 million funding from Unilazer Ventures.

A Ronnie Screwvala‘s funding firm, Unilazer is investing most of the money along with other participating investors. The funds will be utilised to up the marketing and also upgrade the platform to make it more personalised for consumers.

Zivame is India’s leading name in online retail of lingerie and sleepwear for women. The e-retailer also recently ventured in fast fashion products.

Biba Apparels raises Rs 300 crore investment; exits Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd

December 8, 2013Biba, Faering Capital, Fashion, India Retail, Investment, Investor, Retail, Warburg Pincus, womenBIBA, Business, Faering Capital, Future Lifestyle Fashion, India, investment, investor, private equity, retail, retail expansion, Venture capital, Warburg PincusGunjan Piplani

The ethnic women’s wear brand, Biba Apparels, raises Rs 300 crore funds. The investment has been made by private equity firms Warburg Pincus and Faering Capital .

“The investment includes a primary fund raise and provides an exit to the existing investor, Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd. The transaction is the largest private equity investment in the Indian ethnic wear market,” Biba said in a statement.

FIPB approves H&M’s $115 billion investment plans in India

December 2, 2013Fashion, FDI, FIPB, H&M, India Retail, InvestmentAsia, fdi, FDI in Retail, FIPB, Foreign direct investment, Foreign Investment Promotion Board, H&M, Hennes & Mauritz, India, india retail, retailGunjan Piplani

The Swedish retail brand, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), has been given a nod of investing $115 billion (Rs 720 crore) in Indian retail market by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). With this approval, the retailer will set up fully owned subsidy in India.

It was earlier this year that world’s second largest fashion retailer had announced its plans to open 50 stores in India.

Stefano Ricci plans India entry; awaits FIPB approval for 100% FDI in retail (igrowcommunity.wordpress.com)
FIPB Asks My Mobile Payments To Raise $9.5M Via Automatic Route; Financials (medianama.com)
FIPB to take up Vodafone’s India investment proposal on Dec 6 (rediff.com)

JustEat raises third round of funding

November 21, 2013Funding, Investment, Investor, JustEat.in, Restaurant, RetailAxon Partners Group, Bangalore, Delhi, food and beverage, Forum Synergies, funding, Funds, home delivery, India, investment, Just-Eat, JustEat Holdings, Mumbai, National Capital Region, Restaurant, table reservationGunjan Piplani

JustEat.in, the Bangalore based food odering and table reservation venture, has raised third round funding. Though the company puts the amount as disclosed, but ensures it being the largest so far for them.

The funding led by JustEat Holdings, Forum Synergies and Axon Partners Group, will allow the venture to expand the team size, build a stronger network, accelerate growth and expand further in metros.

With the money raised, Forum Synergies and Axon Partners Group have bought a minority stake in the company, while the majority remain with UK-based Just Eat Holdings Ltd.

JustEat.in currently operates in Bangalore, Delhi (National Capital Region) and Mumbai, signed with 2,500 restaurants and 3 lakh registered users.

Funding Digest: Urban Ladder, JustEat, Ketto Raise Funds (trak.in)
LittleBits raises US$11.1m in Series B round #makerbusiness (adafruit.com)
Just.me’s Assets Are Up For Sale, And Founder Keith Teare Wants To Buy Them (techcrunch.com)

Zomato raises $37 million; launches local dialect listing in Indonesia, Turkey & Brazil

November 8, 2013Funding, Investment, Investor, Restaurant, Sequoia Capital, ZomatoAfrica, America, Australia, food and beverage, Funds, India, investment, investor, Istanbul, Jakarta, listing, restaurants, retail, Sequoia Capital, ZomatoGunjan Piplani

The India based restaurant listing company, Zomato, has raised $37 million funds from Sequoia Capital as it expands its presence across Europe, South-East Asia, Australia and the America.

Zomato has been going places and now has launched websites in local dialects in areas including Jakarta (in Indonesian), Istanbul (in Turkish), and Sao Paolo (in Portuguese). Moreover, they have also opened operations in Durban, South Africa and Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland.

Zomato has till date raised $53.5 million funds.

TicketGoose raises $2.9 million to expand operations in India

October 29, 2013Funding, Investment, Investor, TicketGoose$2.9 million, Bus, expansion, Funds, India, investment, Redbus.in, retail, services, TicketGoose, ticketing, travelingGunjan Piplani

The online bus ticketing site, TicketGoose, has raised $2.9 million (Rs 18 crores) to expand its business across the India territory.

Currently TicketGoose covers 700 bus operators across 10,000 routes that go to 4,500 destinations across southern India. The player has a strong presence across Tamil Nadu.

In 2012, the startup was doing 4,000 – 5,000 tickets a day which helped them earn $8.19 million in sales revenue in that year. And now, for 2013 the aim is to take that number to $20.5 million.

TicketGoose raises $2.9 million to expand bus ticketing across more of India (techinasia.com)
Bus Ticketing Site TicketGoose Raises Rs 18 Cr From Indventure (medianama.com)
Online Bus Ticketing Company Ticketgoose Secures Rs 18 cr from Indventure (nextbigwhat.com)

$14 million funding pours in for HomeShop18

October 23, 2013E-Commerce, eRetail, HomeShop18, Investment, Investor, RetailAsia, e-retail, GS Home Shopping, HomeShop18, investment, Korea, Network 18, OCP Asia, online retail, retail, SAIF Partners, Sundeep Malhotra, television retailGunjan Piplani

The multi-channel retail company, HomeShop18 has raised $14 million in a follow-on funding round from G S Home Shopping, funds managed by OCP Asia and Network18.

Owned by Network 18, the company statement says, GS will invest $11 Million; OCP Asia
& Network18 will invest the remaining amount. The transaction values HomeShop18 at $360 Million.
Network18 will remain the majority shareholder (51 per cent) in HomeShop18. SAIF Partners, GS Home Shopping and OCP Asia are the other existing investors at Hom
eShop18. GS is the third largest Home Shopping company in the world and the market leader in Korea. Continue reading $14 million funding pours in for HomeShop18 →

Flipkart flips in $160 million funds

October 9, 2013E-Commerce, eRetail, Flipkart, Investment, InvestorAccel Partners, ecommerce, Flipkart, Funds, Iconiq Capital, India, india retail, investment, Marketplace, online retail, private equity, retail india, Sachin Bansal, Supply chain, Tiger ManagementGunjan Piplani

The e-commerce player, whose future looked bleak, a few months back, gives it back by raising another huge amount of funding. This time Flipkart, one of India‘s largest marketplace, has raised $160 million from from private equity investors. The investors include Dragoneer Investment Group, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Sofina , Vulcan Capital and Tiger Global. (The investment is surely more than what was expected, like we reported.)

This takes the total amount raised by Flipkart, this year, to $360 million. The amount is has been raised to drive, build and strengthen technology and accelerate its supply chain.

Flippin’ again: Flipkart soon to raise $125 million (igrowcommunity.wordpress.com)

AND Designs plans 15 international retail stores; to raise Rs 100 crore

October 7, 2013AND Designs, Fashion, Global, Investment, Investor, Private Equity, RetailAfrica, AND Designs, Anita Dongre, brand, Business, Business and Economy, Design, Funds, GCC, global, India, Marketing and Advertising, Mauritius, private equity, retail, retail expansion, South East Asian NationsGunjan Piplani

The Anita Dongre designer brand, AND Designs, aims to expand its presence globally by offloading 33 per cent stake to an international PE investor.

The brand is in talks with global PE fund company which will help the brand to get hold of the bandwidth to let the brand explore new international market. The stake sale will get the company an investment of Rs 100 crore.

General Atlantic is also in the race to invest in the company.

Talking about international retail plans, the brand wants to starts by expanding into GCC and South Eastern Nations. Though the brand already has a store in Mauritius, in next 2-3 years the aim is to have 15 stores in new markets including GCC nations, UK and US.