Archive: November 29, 2022

Suwasthi Raises Rs 2 Crores From Velocity.in

Bengaluru, 29th November 2022: Premium health and nutrition brand Suwasthi has raised 2 Crores from Velocity.in, India’s largest revenue-based financier. Suwasthi was started in 2017 by Kunwar Singh with a simple vision – to tap into the growing D2C space. The brand started in the beauty and personal care segment and has since then pivoted to provide healthcare solutions to people with diabetes. This round of raise will be deployed towards working capital needs for Suwasthi.

The D2C brand has seen incredible success since its launch and reached an annual revenue run rate of 2 Crores by the financial year 2019. Post-Covid Suwasthi decided to launch its website and in the same financial year, clocked a revenue of Rs 6 Crores. 2022 is looking even more successful for Suwasthi, with a projection of tripling the revenue run rate. Though most brands spend 20-40% of their revenues on marketing, Suwasthi has spent little to no money on performance marketing. Powered by a premium product and excellent customer service, the brand flaunts a repeat customer rate of over 70%. The brand’s primary customer acquisition is via tele-calling, unique to the D2C Ecommerce ecosystem.

“We want to bring quality health and nutrition products to our consumers in Tier 3 & 4. The key to our success is that the team at Suwasthi provides holistic solutions to people ailing from diabetes in the form of regular follow-ups, lifestyle changes and further product updates.” said Kunwar Singh, Founder, Suwasthi.

Suwasthi’s recent move from outsourced manufacturing to setting up its own manufacturing plant has put them on an exponential growth trajectory. This change has allowed them to keep a closer eye on quality control, as well as switch to a contract-based farming model with others.

Growing awareness in India about health and wellness adds further fuel to Suwasthi’s growth story. As per study by Numr Research, about 33 percent of Millennials spent more than Rs 4000 on their health and wellness every month. The Indian health and wellness market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.45% during 2022-2027.

Speaking about the growth of his company and recent funding he raised from Velocity, Kunwar Singh said, “When we first started, we were focused on marketplaces. But we quickly realised that we could make a bigger impact by selling our products on our website and connecting with our potential customers. The fund raise from Velocity will help us with rapidly scaling our production and manufacturing while maintaining our high-quality standards.”

Speaking about the round of financing, Atul Khichiriya, Co-founder of Velocity, said, “We’re excited to partner with Suwasthi. With a repeat customer rate of 70% and more than 90% of orders being cash-on-delivery, they boast a sustainable and scalable business model. With strong sectoral tailwinds and impressive revenue, there’s no limit to the amazing growth potential for Suwasthi.”

Velocity.in, a Bengaluru-based fintech, is India’s largest revenue-based financier. Since commencing operations in early 2020, the fintech has worked with over 2,500 e-commerce businesses. With Rs 3,300 crores of fundable revenues connected to Velocity’s platform, the fintech has already processed 1000+ D2C investments.

MultiFit announced its partnership with Suniel Shetty and inaugurated a new branch in Wadgaonsheri

Over the years MultiFit has become a name that has become synonymous with fitness. They have evolved one’s understanding, and relationship with fitness, and this powerhouse wellness brand organized a ‘Fitness Carnival’ to announce their partnership with Suniel Shetty- the quintessential action hero known for his rigorous fitness routine and macho good looks and inaugurated the new branch in Wadgaonsheri. During the launch, the actor shared his fitness regimen routine, interacted with the member, and actively participated in some fitness games that were organized.

Gone are the days when ‘going to the gym was only meant for those who wished to shed a few kilos or gain a few kilos. Today, fitness is embraced as a lifestyle, people are focusing on building a more positive and healthy relationship with their bodies. MultiFit has been a pioneer in transforming the fitness industry in the country by introducing functional and strength training programs by building a community. They have been dedicated to making fitness a lifestyle choice for every individual. The fitness carnival celebrated the essence of fitness by hosting a range of fun activities. From a Yoga masterclass to a HIIT masterclass, followed by a Nutrition and dance masterclass, all these were carried out by industry experts.

The fitness and wellness brand officially welcomed Mr. Suniel Shetty as a partner and the association is set forth to bring about new plans and activities. During his visit, he also shared fitness tips, workout plans, and his journey so far with all present. “We are stoked about the partnership with Mr. Shetty as this marks a new chapter for us. When we talk about aging like fine wine, he is certainly a name that cannot be missed. His fitness routine is something that is very inspirational for all and having him on board is truly a game-changer for MultiFit. We look forward to a very fruitful association”, said Ms. Deepti Sharma, Director, MultiFit.

MultiFit has always been at the forefront of bringing about radical change when we talk about fitness and through the association with Mr. Shetty, they look forward to bringing about newer and more exciting changes for their fitness community.

Time Avenue and Blancpain Exclusive Sundowner Event

Time Avenue

presented an exclusive

BLANCPAIN EXHIBITION

of

Fifty Fathoms & Grand Complication watches Collection

27th November , 2022, Mumbai: “Come Indulge in the Legacy of Time” is Time Avenue’s mantra, and the evening of 27th November 2022 truly was an indulgent affair. In collaboration with BLANCPAIN, they hosted an exclusive sundowner showcasing BLANCPAIN’s Fifty Fathoms & Grand Complication watches Collection.

The Fifty Fathoms collection embodies Blancpain’s passion for the underwater world that was originally expressed in 1953 with the presentation of the first modern diver’s watch.

All Fifty Fathoms models feature the main signature elements that forged the reputation of their legendary ancestor and established it as the archetypal diver’s watch.

The same professionalism is apparent in the decisive design choices, dictated by a wealth of experience in the field of diving, its risks and its imperious necessities.

Viraal Rajan, Director at Time Avenue says, “It is my absolute privilege to bring to Mumbai BLANCPAIN’s Fifty Fathoms & Grand Complication watches Collection. Buying a BLANCPAIN is buying luxury , owning a piece of legacy and am glad Time Avenue hosted this beautiful evening.”

Rooter Signs on Top YouTuber Lokesh Gamer in an Exclusive Long-term Streaming Deal

India, November 29, 2022: Rooter, India’s largest game and esports content platform, has signed an exclusive long-term deal with leading streamer Lokesh Raj Singh, popularly known as Lokesh Gamer. Going forward, the YouTube star will live stream all of his gameplays – including his popular Free Fire matchups – exclusively on the Rooter platform. The association further strengthens Rooter’s robust presence in India’s game streaming space, which is currently estimated to have more than 400 million gamers. More importantly, it moves the platform one step closer to its vision of building the largest and most engaging gaming content library for Indian esport enthusiasts and game streamers.

Rooter currently hosts some of the top streamers, including most of India’s biggest esports teams (Godlike, Orangutan Gaming and more) as well as 30 upcoming esports teams. In recent months, it has also signed deals with popular streamers such as Jonathan, Shreeman, Neo, Rox and more, increasing its repository of top gaming content. Its association with Lokesh, who has over 15 million subscribers on his gaming channel, marks another stellar addition to the growing cast of gaming streamers on the platform.

Speaking on the subject, Dipesh Agarwal, Co-founder and COO, Rooter, said, “The market for live game streaming and game-based content creation as a medium of entertainment has exploded over the last few years. As the largest and most preferred game streaming platform in India, our aim is to be the destination for the most engaging and interactive content experiences. We have been strengthening our tech capabilities and product features, which have attracted many popular streamers and tons of fans. Bringing top creators like Lokesh on board is another step towards our long-term goal of becoming the de facto live streaming and engagement platform for Indian gamers and gaming enthusiasts.”

Expressing his excitement about launching his channel on Rooter, Lokesh Gamer said, “Rooter has built a strong presence in the Indian live game streaming space in the last few years. With several interesting product features like the capability of directly streaming from the app, personalized user feeds and monetization models, they’ve created great opportunities for content creators to grow and fans to enjoy engaging content on the platform. I am excited to partner with Rooter and look forward to interacting with their strong gaming community and delivering entertaining live streams.”

User interest in game streaming on Rooter has increased significantly nearly 120k hours of gaming content being streamed every day on the platform, attracting over 70 lakh daily views

Top streamers have also seen their follower base increase drastically since beginning their streaming operations on Rooter. For instance, in just six months of streaming on Rooter, popular creators like Jonathan and Shreeman Legend have built a follower base of 1 million on the platform. Other popular Rooter gamers like CeltzRoxx, have also posted healthy growth in key metrics with an 8% week-on-week increase in their follower count.

Aptus Value Housing – Declaration of Interim Dividend for FY 2022-23

The outcome of the Board Meeting held on November  2022 – Declaration of Interim Dividend for FY 2022-23 and fixing of Record Date.

Pursuant to Regulations 30 and 43 read with Schedule III of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, we would like to inform you that the Board of Directors of Aptus Value Housing Finance India Limited (“the Board”) at its meeting held on Monday, November 28, 2022, declared an Interim Dividend of Rs. 2/- per equity share of the face value of Rs. 2/- for the Financial Year 2022-23.

Further, pursuant to the provisions of Regulation 42 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the Board has fixed Friday, December 09, 2022, as the “Record Date” for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of shareholders for payment of Interim Dividend. The payment of the Interim Dividend will be made on or before Friday, December 23, 2022. Please note that the said Board Meeting commenced at 10:00 a.m. and concluded at 10.35 a.m. Please take the same on record.

Union Bank Provides Medicines Worth Rs.10 Lakh to Municipal Health Department Under Social Responsibility

Hyderabad November 29: Fulfilling its social responsibility, Union Bank of India has come forward and handed over medicines worth Rs 10 lakh to the Municipal Corporation, Mumbai Health Department for the control of epidemic measles.

Shri.Govind Kumar Jha, Union Bank’s Regional Head Mumbai South handed over medicines worth Rs 10 lakhs to Ms. Mangala Gomare,officer Municipal Health Department on 23rd November 2022 in Parel.

Municipal Health Department has expressed its gratitude to Ms. A.Manimekhalai , Managing Director & CEO of Union Bank Of India, and Mr. Yogendra Singh, field Chief General Manager for this noble endeavor.

Largest series A funds raised in the year 2022

Only a few months back, start-ups were the apple of the eye for investors. Indian startups have drew quite a bit of attention from investors across the globe lately. With 100 unicorns minted with a combined valuation of over $333 Bn, the Indian startup ecosystem witnessed a funding frenzy. The year 2021 alone saw new-age companies raise over $42 Bn. Fundraising was easy and deal-making as swift.India, the third biggest start-up ecosystem after US and China, minted a unicorn almost every week.  However, a tsunami of global headwinds has buffeted the shores that sustained the high cash-burn start-ups. The funding winter is expected to last for the next 12-18 months, however, innovative and disruptive startups have managed to raise a good amount of funds. Let’s take a look at the largest Series

A funding of the year 2022.  

1. Keka, $57 million, HR Tech Platform :  Hyderabad-based company Keka, founded in 2015 by Vijay Yalamanchilli, raised one of the Historic Series A SaaS Funding of $57 million from WestBridge Capital. The platform provides everything to build a good-to-great company. As software helps HR teams spend less time on mundane tasks and focus more on the vital assets of any organization: the people.  The startup has left an indelible mark with a reach of 6500+ customers across various sectors, including IT services, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, professional service organizations, accounting, taxation, fin-tech, and others. It currently runs the payroll of 1.5M+ employees monthly.

2. PayVEDA,$11.5 million ,Fintech Player : PayVEDA is a fintech player that strives to bridge the financial gap in the underserved regions of India. Its a  Noida-based startup,incepted in year 2019,by Prateek Vohra.Fintech company PayVEDA has raised $11.5 million in a Series A funding from SphitiCap, an early-stage, sector-agnostic fund.According to startup, it has built a network of over 80,000 merchants since inception. It aims to reach 50 lakh merchants in the next four years. The company also said it has seen a gross transaction volume of Rs 7,000 crore, from over five crore monthly transactions, which it aims to increase to Rs 30 lakh crore in the next four years.

3. Supertails,  $10 million,  Petcare Industry: Supertails raises $10 million in its Series A round from investors like Fireside. Supertails, a startup in the petcare industry, has raised $10 million in a Series A round of funding, which was led by Fireside Ventures and included previous backers Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners. Angel investors like Kunal Shah, Varun Alagh, Sanjay Kapoor, Ankit Nagori, and Shashank Mehta also participated in the round. According to the startup, the additional funding will be used to develop cutting-edge tech products, including the mobile application for Supertails, the expansion of verticals like Vet Diets and Pet Pharmacy channels, the strengthening of the supply chain, and the improvement of the post-sales experience.

4. BluSapphire,$9.2 million, Cybersecurity Platform : BluSapphire is a hyper-expanding cybersecurity SaaS platform and a Gartner Cool Vendor. The platform was founded by Kiran Vangaveti, a cyber professional with 25 years of experience and the former chief information
security officer at Tudor Investments, a major hedge fund. It recently completed its Series A financing with a $9.2 million funding. With participation from international VC firm Dallas Venture Capital, Binny Bansal-backed xto10x, RPG Ventures, and Merisis Venture Partners, the round was spearheaded by Barings Private Equity India. Only ValueBridge Capital served as the transaction’s advisor. The startup  founder strongly  believes that Building resilience against sophisticated cyber-attacks is the key to business survival. BluSapphire operates with this vision. The capital will help us continue to build and grow our SaaS platform rapidly across North America and India.

5. ProcMart, $10 million, enterprise-focused MRO aggregator : ProcMart is an enterprise-focused MRO aggregator with a tech-enabled digital platform. Founded in 2015 by Anish Popli, a first- generation entrepreneur and an IIM Lucknow and NIT-Trichy Alumnus with experience in procurement and project management from BHEL and Energo Engineering. Recently ProcMart has secured $10 million in a series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures. According to the startup the latest round of funding will be deployed towards international expansion, strengthening vendor partnerships and upgrading technological and warehousing capabilities.

Top 5 Trends for influencers this holiday season

Winters are finally here and the celebrations are in full swing. The chilled weather, holiday season, and festivities make it the perfect time for people to travel to both domestic and international destinations. Amidst this, travel influencers are prepping to start their season-specific content creation and execute brand collaborations in order to guide their audience on everything exciting they can plan for.

“December and January are peak travel months. The Christmas and New Year celebrations just change the whole vibe altogether. It’s a beautiful time to travel and we believe every travel influencer must capitalize on essential travel guides and create electrifying content that helps increase their audience and brand deals.” shares Pushppal Singh Bhatia and Ravneet Kaur from the popular influencer duo – That Couple Though.

Sharing their top 5 trends for travel influencers this holiday season, the duo lists –

Travel Insights

People are planning their holidays and travel influencers can use this as a great opportunity to interact with their audiences. Highlighting location recommendations, cultural guides, and stay options to followers will help create viral content that is shared widely. Moreover, collaborations with hotels, airlines, and events further help increase reach.

Cover authentic food cultures

One of the most exciting things is the curiosity over food diversity during the festive season. The climate calls for some delicious delicacies being prepared across cultures and travel influencers can promote these by encouraging audiences to try out specific must-visit places that introduce them to winter specials.

Workation HotSpots

There are many people who work in environments that require them to be active and they may not be able to completely log off during this season. For such people, recommending top workstation places and staycations that are running special offers will help increase shareability and reach.

Snow destinations

North India along with many international destinations gleams with the freshest snowfall during this time and it is absolutely mesmerizing to experience this. Travel influencers can share the ultimate guide to visiting snowy places on a budget so that more people can use that while planning. Giving them a ready itinerary of undiscovered or locally rich places will enable the influencer to gain more followers.

Ultimate Party Places

“What’s your plan for New Year’s” this is something that every single person will be saying from now onwards and when so many people are looking to amp up their energies why not give them that? Whether it is international music festivals or shopping destinations to places for the best decor and vibe, New Year Party places are a must to cover for all travel influencers.

Ravneet Kaur further adds, “There are many segments that each influencer can cover based on their niche audience. Carefully curating them and ensuring the content delivery is on the point will improve the viral marketing aspect that all travel influencers ultimately want to create.”

Genesys Strengthens India Leadership Team to Drive Innovation and Business Momentum

Industry veteran Deepa Madhavan joins from Paypal to lead Genesys R&D centre in India

Chennai, India, November 29, 2022: Genesys®, a global cloud leader in customer experience orchestration, today announced the appointment of Deepa Madhavan as the India Country Head. As the Genesys India Country Head, Deepa will continue the development of Genesys cloud technologies and engagement of teams across all functions in Genesys India. Deepa joins Genesys from PayPal where she helped define, shape, and mature its platform solutions.

With a career spanning 25 years leading global engineering and product teams, Deepa will manage, support, and grow the company’s R&D centre located in Chennai, the second-largest facility of its kind for Genesys globally. The Chennai centre hosts employees working in product management, professional services, customer care, engineering, finance and sales, and other support functions, who develop innovative and cutting-edge technology products for Genesys globally.

Stephen Hamill, Managing Director & Vice President, ASEAN & South Asia at Genesys, said: “Deepa joins us at a time when we are pushing forward with our focus on cloud innovation, maximizing customer value and driving business growth. Deepa is a people-centric leader with the ability to successfully grow and build high-performing teams from the ground up. We are excited to have Deepa on board as we continue to make strategic strides in experience orchestration and pioneering the Experience as a Service® market.”

“The next-generation CX technology has the potential to transform business operations if prudently leveraged and executed. Today, customer experience is as vital as a company’s products and services, and the contact centres have evolved into ‘experience centres’ that are leading the way to deliver real-time proactive and predictive outcomes. Joining Genesys at this crucial juncture will allow me to be a part of a company that enables organisations to succeed in today’s experience economy through digital empathy,” said Deepa Madhavan, India Country Head.

Deepa spent the early part of her career in Silicon Valley, working for companies across industries that include green tech and telecom, and in consulting. With deep expertise in the technology arena, Deepa has a proven record of managing sizable technical and product teams. As Senior Director at PayPal for 13 years, she led its multi-cloud enabled privacy and security platform which used machine learning to identify customer data.

Deepa is passionate about helping women accelerate and grow their careers in the tech industry and is a spokesperson at prominent technology forums and conferences like the Grace Hopper Celebration. Armed with a Master’s in Computer Science from Mills College, Deepa continues to be a mentor to many budding women in the technology industry.