In late March last year, as the virus started to spread across India, investors began to worry about the impact a potential pandemic could have on their portfolio firms. They exchanged notes, and on April 1, penned a joint open letter to the local startup ecosystem, advising firms to “prepare for the worst.” In the […]
Zepto, a 10-minute grocery delivery app in India, raises $60 million
Two 19-year-old entrepreneurs, who previously collaborated on a number of projects including a ride-hailing commute app for school kids and left Stanford last year to pursue a new startup, said on Sunday they have raised $60 million to disrupt India’s overcrowded and highly-competitive grocery delivery market. Glade Brook Capital led Zepto’s first institutional financing round, […]
Indian food delivery giant Swiggy in talks to raise funds at over $10 billion valuation
Indian food delivery startup Swiggy is in talks to raise over $500 million in a new financing round that could value it at over $10 billion, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Atlanta-headquartered Invesco is in talks to lead — or co-lead — the new financing round in the Bangalore-based startup, which counts […]
Bankers chase Byju’s for IPO, valuation pegged up to $50 billion
Nearly every top investment bank is chasing Byju’s and nudging the most valuable Indian startup to seriously explore the public markets as soon as next year. Most banks have given Byju’s a proposed valuation in the range of $40 to $45 billion, but some including Morgan Stanley have pitched a $50 billion valuation if the […]
Ultrahuman raises $17.5M, touting a wearable blood glucose tracker
Fitness platform Ultrahuman has officially announced a $17.5 million Series B fund raise, with investment coming from early stage fund Alpha Wave Incubation, Steadview Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Blume Ventures and Utsav Somani’s iSeed fund. A number of founders and angel investors also participated in the Bangalore-headquartered startup’s Series B, including Tiger Global’s Scott Schleifer, […]
Equity Monday: Hacks, IPOs, and the next generation of American tech giants
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You […]
Zomato’s losses widen in first quarterly earnings since IPO
Zomato’s losses more than tripled in its first quarterly earnings report since its listing last month as the company’s expenses grew and the pandemic hit the firm’s dining-out business. The Gurgaon-headquartered firm reported (PDF) a net loss of $48 million in the quarter that ended in June, up from about $13.5 million during the same period […]
China’s expected edtech clampdown may chill a key startup sector
When it comes to control, the Chinese government doesn’t mind wiping out a few dozen billion dollars in market cap here and there. That’s not a great system.