Late-stage startup investments are picking up steam as $100-million-plus deals are back in the works after a long-drawn-out funding winter. Lenskart closed a $600 million funding round, while Purplle is in talks to raise $100 million. Good Glamm Group has struck a joint venture with Serena Williams to launch a line of beauty products under the brand 'Wyn Beauty by Serena Williams' in the US market. The entity, SW-Sanghvi Beauty USA Inc, owns Wyn Beauty and other related trademarks for the brand. Foxconn group company Bharat FIH is diversifying beyond Xiaomi following a government crackdown on Chinese businesses operating in India. It is now looking to tap newer segments such as telecom equipment, electric vehicles, televisions, and displays. Uber has elevated its Asia Pacific head Pradeep Parameswaran to a global role, where he will head business development for the company. Kunal Kashyap, head of risk at fintech unicorn Cred, has quit to join rival firm Slice. SingleInterface, a marketing software startup, has raised $30 million in its first external funding round led by Asia Partners. SiftHub, an AI-enabled platform for enterprise sales teams, has raised $5.5 million in a seed round of funding led by Matrix Partners India and Blume Ventures.
In other news, tennis pro Serena Williams has launched her beauty brand, Wyn Beauty, offering products made with clean, high-performing skin-benefiting ingredients. The line was formulated with deeper skin tones in mind and includes 10 products such as foundation, lip and cheek pigment, lip serum, eye pencil, and more. Williams is also committed to supporting organizations that provide maternal health care and services to new mothers. The debut collection is available online and will launch in Ulta Beauty stores on April 7.
Wealth management startup Groww has officially moved its domicile back to India from the US. The move was announced by CEO Lalit Keshre on Twitter. Groww joins Walmart-backed PhonePe as another major fintech startup that has moved its domicile from Singapore to India. Several other Indian startups with foreign domiciles in the US and Singapore are also planning to move back to India. The move is linked to startups looking to take advantage of the rising valuations in domestic public markets. Groww, which was part of the YCombinator 2018 winter batch, is one of the largest fintech startups in India and was last valued at $3 billion in 2021.
Former cricketer Sourav Ganguly launched beurer products at a private hotel in Bengaluru on May 10, 2024. The launch event was attended by Ganguly and took place at a private hotel [af118264].
Shashwat Goenka, Vice Chairman of RPSG Group, announced that all group businesses will undergo significant growth and transformation over the next couple of years. The strategic focus includes retail expansion, innovative health food offerings, client-centric BPO services, and a transition to greener energy sources for sustainable growth. The group will go through a lot of transformation and growth, both organic and inorganic, across all verticals, including energy, manufacturing, retail, consumer, media, entertainment, and BPO. Specific initiatives mentioned include the turnaround of Spencer's Retail, the growth of Too Yumm health food brand, the expansion of Firstsource in the US and UK markets, the transition to greener energy sources in the power generation business, and the diversification and growth of Saregama in the digital music industry. The group aims to double the revenues of Too Yumm and make it profitable in the next two to three years. In the power generation business, the group plans to set up about three gigawatts of hybrid wind and solar capacity over the next five years. The expansion of Firstsource will focus on higher-margin sub-segments and client mining. The group also plans to grow its regional music portfolio in Saregama to cater to the evolving Indian market. Overall, the RPSG Group envisions significant growth and transformation across diverse sectors in the coming years.
KKR has acquired a significant minority stake in Infinx Services, a healthcare revenue cycle solutions provider. The investment aims to accelerate Infinx's growth in the US healthcare market, leveraging KKR's expertise. Infinx's platform serves over 400 healthcare providers and taps into a $4.3 trillion market. Norwest Venture Partners also participated in the transaction. Infinx was co-founded in 2012 by Sandeep Tandon and Jaideep Tandon and offers data-driven revenue cycle management solutions for the healthcare sector. The company's Healthcare Revenue Cloud platform supports end-to-end revenue cycle business functions utilizing AI, automation, payer integration, and workforce management. The US healthcare market is valued at approximately $4.3 trillion. Infinx was advised by Rothschild & Co. as a financial advisor. KKR makes its investment from its Asian Fund IV. [ddb4179a]
US venture capital firm Matrix Partners has rebranded its regional entities in India and China. Its India operations are now called Z47, while the China affiliate will be renamed MPC. The move is meant to emphasise the localisation efforts of regional teams, which are organisationally independent from each other. Matrix's move to clearly delineate its regional operations is the latest in a string of similar efforts by US-originated venture firms to distance themselves from China affiliates amid the deepened divide between the two countries. Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital have also undergone similar rebranding and restructuring. Matrix Partners China, launched in 2008, manages 70 billion yuan (US$9.6 billion) in assets and has invested in major Chinese tech unicorns and electric vehicle start-ups. [ff8bec81]
Cheil X, part of Cheil SWA group, has adopted a new visual identity and philosophy which takes its muse from the agency’s Korean heritage. Cheil X is an independent full-service agency under the Cheil SWA group that manages the fast growing new client mandates in India. It has two full-fledged offices in Gurgaon and Mumbai. The Gurgaon team is helmed by Neeraj Bassi, Chief Growth officer, Cheil X-Gurgaon, while Anurag Tandon leads the charge of newly opened Mumbai office. [5b84a831]