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Sequoia-backed Rebel Foods raised Rs 55 crore ($6.6 million) from Innoven Capital and Trifecta Capital, which had invested $12.5 million (Rs 100 crore) each in the company’s previous debt round in November. This is Rebel Foods’ third debt round this year.

Several other companies, such as Ather, Dunzo, MobiKwik, and Udaan, have also raised debt rounds in 2022 amid the ongoing funding winter.

In its annual funding report, market intelligence firm Tracxn revealed that 2022 saw a 34% drop in funding raised by Indian startups, attributing this decline to a 45% drop in late-stage investments, as well as a 38% decline in seed funding.  

ICYMI: A visualisation of the 100 biggest public companies in the world.

Last but not least, we are hosting a short quiz on Twitter at 4 pm today, and if you’ve been following our newsletters, you should have all the answers you need. 

Follow our Twitter account and join us for some exciting prizes! 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Mamaearth files for IPO
• Enabling women entrepreneurs
• Top startup stories of 2022

Here’s your trivia for today: When and where did the first Indian Coffee House outlet open?

D2C

Mamaearth files for IPO

The first unicorn of 2022 and the parent of brands like Mamaearth, The Derma Co., and Aqualogica, Honasa Consumer Limited has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering (IPO).

The public foray:

• The fresh issue of equity shares aggregates up to Rs 400 crore and the OFS (offer-for-sale) size, comprising external investors and individual shareholders, is up to 46,819,635 equity shares. 
• Honasa plans to use the net proceeds from the IPO to step up advertisement goals, create awareness for its brands, set up new brand outlets, and invest in its subsidiary BBlunt.
• Mamaearth competes with platforms like WOW Skin Science, Plum, Biotique, The Moms Co., Purplle, Nykaa, and The Good Glamm Group.

Interview

Enabling women entrepreneurs

Launched in 2017 by NITI Aayog, the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) is a unified access portal to bring together women from different parts of India and create an ecosystem to nurture their entrepreneurial aspirations.

Two versions later, the WEP 3.0 platform now caters to the unmet needs of women taking their first step towards entrepreneurship and those at an inflection point in their entrepreneurial journey, thinking about growth and scale. Anna Roy, Senior Advisor, NITI Aayog and Mission Director of the Women Entrepreneurship Programme (WEP) tells us more.

Fuelling entrepreneurship:

• WEP 3.0 uses state-of-the-art technology and provides Smart Matchmaking with a pan-India outreach. 
• Partner organisations include the United Nations, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Human X, Mastercard, SIDBI, Square Panda, Tech Mahindra, CISCO, Atal Innovation Mission, Flipkart, and Microsave Consulting.
• Anna says women entrepreneurs must have basic knowledge of the processes, including legal and finance, apart from hiring professionals. She says founders need to be a ‘jack of all trades’.

Throwback

Top startup stories of 2022 

Cryptocurrencies burned, markets tumbled, investors worried, AI went mainstream and Elon Musk bought Twitter–2022 was filled with chaos. The year, however, was also filled with hope and marvel as a historic Loss and Damage Fund was established and we got to catch a glimpse of the distant universe. 

And, as always, YourStory discovered some of the most interesting stories from the Indian startup ecosystem. 

Top picks:

• Tech30, a specially curated list of India’s 30 most promising startups, has been the star attraction of YourStory’s TechSparks. This year’s list featured startups such as Aerobiosys Innovations, Algorithmic Biologics, BugBase, CARPL, Dextroware Devices, ElectricPe, and GalaxEye. 
• Launched as a blog in 2010, Internshala is one of India’s top internship portals and provides services such as skill training and a job listing forum.
• Then there’s Starscapes, which offers private observatories with professional equipment for observations, astrophotography, and research projects. 

News & updates

• The next phase: Globally, travellers continue to prioritise nature tourism as part of overall wellness interest. The travel industry is expected to bounce back furiously in 2023 as it simultaneously weighs its climate impacts and the benefits to local businesses. 
• Box office buzz: James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has passed the billion-dollar mark at the global box office. Worldwide ticket sales for the Disney film now stand at $1.03 billion, the combination of $317 million in domestic sales and $712 million from international markets.
• Legal troubles: A US appeals court revived a lawsuit accusing Google and several other companies of violating the privacy of children under age 13 by tracking their YouTube activity without parental consent, in order to send them targeted advertising.

When and where did the first Indian Coffee House outlet open?

Answer: In 1936 at Churchgate, Mumbai (then Bombay). The chain was named ‘India Coffee House’ at the time.

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