Daily Startup Updates - 4th April'19
Reliance Jio acquires chatbot making startup Haptik for ₹ 230 Crore
Telecom giant Reliance Jio has acquired an 87% stake in Mumbai-based Haptik "to build India's largest Al assistant company across chat, voice and vernacular languages". In the ₹ 700-crore deal, ₹ 230 crore will go for business transfer and ₹ 470 crore will go towards expansion. Haptik Co-founders Aakrit Vaish and Swapan Rajdev and employees will have a minority stake in Reliance Jio.
Sequoia may raise $200M fund as Google India head joins: Report
Sequoia is reportedly expected to raise an independent fund worth $150-200 million, in its first attempt to start seed fund in India. Recently, Sequoia India announced that departing Google India head Rajan Anandan will join the company. "Sequoia has approached limited partners to pitch for a fund...onboarding someone like Anandan will make it easier to get...capital," the report said.
Gurugram wedding planning startup WedMeGood raises ₹8 crore
Gurugram-based wedding planning startup WedMeGood has raised nearly ₹18 crore in its Series A round of funding, led by Orchid India. Founded by Anand and Mehak Shahani, helps to hire wedding planners, photographers and offers ideas for a wedding. It last raised around ₹2.7 crore in seed funding from Indian Angel Network in 2015.
Mastermind of 2,000cr Bitcoin scam Amit Bhardwaj gets 10cr bail
The Supreme Court has granted interim bail based on medical grounds to Amit Bhardwaj, main accused in the 2,000-crore Bitcoin Ponzi scheme, on a 0-crore bond. Bhardwaj had founded several crypto companies with other co-accused and promised a 10% monthly return on Bitcoin investments for 18 months. Bhardwaj was arrested in Bangkok in March 2018 and brought to Pune.
Other Quick Updates
Delhi's Little Black Book raises 34 Crore from IAN
CARS24 raises $11 million, now valued at $666 million
Ola to rival Uber in London after launch in 7 UK cities
Zoomcar seeks to raise $500 million, Mahindra may invest
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