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.
Riddle Room: A Startup That Is Solving The Problem Of Solving Problems
I experience Riddle Room, a live escape room, a form of physical real life interactive game in which players are locked inside a room and have to unearth clues, examine unassuming objects and discard decoys to successfully make it out within 60 minutes.
Uber Leases Space In Hitec City For Its Hyderabad Office
Uber’s taking rapid steps towards setting up its Hyderabad office. After announcing plans of setting up its largest non-US office in the city in July, the company announced that it has leased 150,000 square feet for its Hyderabad office.
Snapdeal Launches Its Image Search Tool, SnapSearch
If Flipkart does it, can Snapdeal be far behind? After Flipkart had launched its image search tool this July, Snapdeal has also come out with its own version. Called SnapSearch, the tool will allow desktop users to upload pictures of clothes they fancy, and will show up suggestions of similar products available on Snapdeal.
How Alcohol Brands Promote Themselves Without Promoting The Alcohol
With the ban on advertising of alcohol, liquor brands are now resorting to surrogate advertising. Surrogate advertising involves the promotion of a brand name, but the intent is to push a different product. Traditional surrogate advertising relied on television, radio and newspapers, but now it uses the digital medium liberally, taking advantage of the absence of clear guidelines.
Snapdeal Finds Support From Unlikely Quarters After Aamir Khan Fiasco
Flipkart CEO tweeted in defence of Snapdeal, saying that Snapdeal wasn’t responsible for Khan’s comments, and shouldn’t have had to face the backlash it did. Users had submitted hundreds of 1-star reviews on Snapdeal’s app on the Google Playstore, demanding that Khan be fired as Brand Ambassador following his comments about rising intolerance levels in the country.
Travel Food Services Looks To Raise Rs.150 crore For Expansion Plans
Travel Food Services, a subsidiary of Mumbai based K Hospitality, has big plans for the coming year, looking at raising investments of Rs.150 crores for its hospitality food service and travel retail businesses. The company manages brands such as Smoke House Bar & Cafe, KFC, Domino’s, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Cafe Coffee Day and Haagen-Dazs at the country’s airports
TN Industry Stalwarts To Help Government Kick Start Startups
A team of entrepreneurs which include founders of companies like Cognizant’s Lakshmi Narayanan and Arun Jain of Polaris are in talks with the Tamil Nadu state authorities to conceive a plan that will help startups reduce registration time. This initiative is in alignment with the Centre’s plan to help startups speed their registration and other processes enabling them to go-to-market sooner.
Foodpanda Ties Up With IRCTC To Provide Meals To Railway Passengers
Foodpanda has tied up with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which handles catering, tourism and online ticketing operations for Indian Railways to make it convenient for traveling passengers to order their choice of food online.