Blog

Zypp Electric raises $1 million in debt round

Electric vehicle startup Zypp Electric raised $1 million in debt funding from non-banking lender Northern Arc to expand its EV fleet services.

The Gurgugram-headquartered startup — which claims to have turned EBITDA positive business — plans to use the capital as a new expansion funnel, along with its current leasing strategy, as it aims to deploy 1.5 lakh e-scooters in India by 2025.

Founded in 2017 by husband and wife duo Akash Gupta and Rashi Agarwal, the EV-as-a-Service platform wants to make all last-mile deliveries electric.

Akash Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, Zypp Electric, said, “Zypp turning profitable is proof that we are on the right path and utilising our resources efficiently in the right direction. The best part is we have achieved the EBITDA positive milestone along with a 5X revenue growth in this FY.”

Swiggy launches “Step-Ahead” to create a career path for seasoned delivery execs

Swiggy has launched an accelerator programme for its delivery executives to transition into full-time, managerial-level jobs with a fixed salary and additional benefits.

Named “Step-Ahead”, the programme aims to allow those executives who want to move from their current flexible engagement with Swiggy to a dedicated managerial role.

To be eligible for the role of a fleet manager, a Swiggy delivery executive must hold a college degree, possess communication skills, basic computer knowledge, and should have been delivering with Swiggy for a few years.

Over the years, numerous Swiggy delivery executives have joined the platform as fleet managers. With ‘Step Ahead’, Swiggy is formalising this process, and intends to reserve at least 20 percent of all fleet manager hires for its delivery executives. Swiggy is also considering reducing the tenure requirement to around two years.

Urban Company adds four independent directors to its board

Urban Company, the Bengaluru-based home services platform, has appointed four new independent board members — Ireena Vittal (former partner at McKinsey & Co.), Ashish Gupta (Co-founder of Helion), Shyamal Mukherjee (former Chairman and Senior Partner of PwC India), and Deepinder Goyal (Founder and CEO of Zomato).

 “We are humbled to have esteemed industry leaders join our board as independent directors as we step into our next phase of growth. They bring in a lot of experience and industry expertise that will guide us in our company building journey. We look forward to their mentorship in the years to come,“ said Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Co-founder and CEO, Urban Company.

With these appointments, Urban Company’s board will now comprise three executive directors, three non-executive directors, and four independent directors. The unicorn is committed to having a board with at least 50 percent independent directors.

GOQii Smart Healthcare forays into the UK for patient care; to invest £10M   

GOQii Smart Healthcare is foraying into the UK and plans to invest £10 million over the next three to five years. It also aims to create over 100 high-quality jobs in the UK’s healthcare sector.

For this, GOQii has partnered with Modality Partnerships — UK-based primary health care and community service provider.  

“We are very excited to foray into the UK. It will help thousands of patients across the UK to improve their health outcomes. GOQii is a unified platform to provide a holistic approach to disease care. We already have several people with chronic medical conditions like diabetes and cardiac issues on our platform who have reversed their disease condition purely with lifestyle modification,” said Vishal Gondal, Founder and CEO, GOQii. 

Grene Robotics, Technologix Global partner to deliver autonomous enterprise solutions in the US market

Grene Robotics has partnered with Texas-based Technologix Global to deliver its autonomous enterprise solutions — developed on the GreneOS platform — in the US market, which will help organisations with revenue augmentation and OPEX reduction.

Kiran Penumacha, Founder and CEO, Grene Robotics, said, “We have been in discussions with Technologix Global since last year, and are happy to see the deal come through. By joining hands with them, we aim to expand our presence in the global market and offer autonomous enterprise solutions to help organisations adopt digital unification and replace mundane and repetitive tasks with innovative work, freeing the people to perform value-based tasks that focus on fostering empathy and decision-making.”

Harish Penumatsa, Founder of Technologix Global, added, “In the US, autonomous solutions are mostly available in the automobile segment. Very few technology platforms create solutions for enterprises. With Grene Robotics, we have the advantage of offering autonomous and unmanned robotic systems for the enterprise market that will help them augment their revenue streams and reduce their OPEX.” 

JITO Angel Network invests Rs 47 Cr in 28 startups in FY22

JITO Angel Network (JAN) said it has invested around Rs 47 crore in fresh and follow-on investments in as many as 28 startups in FY22.

During the year, JITO Angel Network investors found maximum interest in the edtech and fintech sectors. Startups in the media and IoT sectors also garnered substantial interest, followed by healthcare, defence, AR/VR, and ecommerce. JITO Angel Network received over 1,250 applications and conducted over 1,000 pre-screenings, and invested in 10 seed-stage companies and a few growth-stage startups.

JAN also recorded returns of 375 percent on its investments through six full and partial investments.

“FY21-22 was a stellar year in terms of both investments made and returns gained on exits. We anticipate the Indian startup ecosystem to continue the growth momentum while achieving higher ROIs,” said Sunil Kumar Singhvi, Vice Chairman, JAN.

In FY22-23, JITO Angel Network aims to invest in defence, space-tech, and drone startups. Its current portfolio is valued upward of Rs 300 crore.

“We thrive to ensure that each of these companies gains a substantial market share in their respective fields and achieves a minimum of Rs 100 crore business by the end of 2025,” said Singhvi.