Oyo Rooms In Talks To Acquire Fierce Rival Zo Rooms

Oyo Rooms and Zo Rooms have been slugging it out for supremacy in the budget hotels space. There are, however, signs that there’s some consolidation that’s imminent in this sector. It has emerged that Oyo Rooms is interested in buying out Zo Rooms, which is scrambling to raise funds to avoid being sold.

Indian Startups Pitch In To Help With Chennai Floods

Chennai has been hit by record levels of rainfall over the last few days. The rains have left thousands of people stranded, shut down offices and businesses, and 188 lives have been lost. But amidst the gloom, there’s some hope. Indian startups are going out of their way to help Chennai’s stricken populance in any way they can. Here are some Indian startups that have pitched in to help with the Chennai floods.

Tinder Starts Hiring In India, Comes Up With The Coolest Job Ad Ever

As startup founders would readily attest, hiring is never easy. You send messages to potential employees on LinkedIn, post on job portals, and pay recruiters large sums of money just to get that one hire. But if you run a large website with a dedicated userbase, you sometimes need to do none of that.

Earlier this week, Indian Tinder users browsing through their daily quota of eligible singles came up with a strange new match. It wasn’t quite the usual hottie with five selfies from five angles. This match meant serious business.

Ravi Gururaj’s QikPod’s Intelligent Locker Networks To Help Ecommerce Deliveries

QikPod will launch a network of intelligent lockers for delivery of ecommerce parcels to online consumers across the metros. Parcel Locker is a unit that is installed alongside neighborhood delivery and collection box units or in conjunction with Post Office Boxes in a retail facility that is used for parcel delivery. The startup venture will be launched by serial entrepreneur Ravi Gururaj backed with a $9 million funding from Flipkart, Delivery, Accel Partners and Foxmobile.

Quikr Ventures Into The Entertainment Industry

From a cross category classifieds business, Quikr has now ventures into the entertainment industry, partnering with filmmakers. It has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with filmmaker Vivek Bohra and casting director Aadore Mukherjee, to launch a platform for actors, casting directors, and production houses. The new platform will unite the different entities which will o help meet the needs of the entertainment industry.

Grofers Raises $120m; Valuation Jumps Threefold In Less Than A Year

Grofers has wrapped up a $120 million (Rs.800 crore) funding led by Japan’s SoftBank, thus taking the ecommerce stores to a valuation of $400 million. Other investors included Apoletto Asia, the personal investment vehicle of DST Global’s partners, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, along with existing backers Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital India, according to Grofers CEO Albinder Dhindsa.