Startup Digest: Simpl CEO on layoffs, Unacademy to achieve group-level profitability by April-end, Netflix to invest $2.5Bn in South Korea

The startup industry has urged the Finance Ministry to either do way or at least increase the Rs 25 crore threshold limit which exempts them from the so-called angel tax.

The industry says only a small percentage of startups will be able to meet this limit, reported the Economic Times.

The Centre is gathering inputs from various stakeholders and is expected to come up with a detailed clarification on angel tax in the next few days, the report added.

Lokal, a hyperlocal content platform has bagged Rs 120 crore in a Series B funding round from new investors Global Brain and Sony Innovation Fund, with participation from India Quotient and other existing investors.

The company said it will use the fresh funds to grow in existing markets, launch new categories and product capabilities, further strengthen the product and technology teams.

Including the current funding round, the startup till date has raised over Rs 225 Crore in funding and has 110+ employees with headquarters in Bangalore.

Chanakya Opportunities Fund I, a SEBI Registered Category II Alternative Investment Fund, has launched a Rs 100 crore sector-agnostic SME-focused fund with a green shoe option of another Rs 100 crore. The fund is a part of Chanakya Fund Trust, which received approval from markets regulator SEBI to launch a Cat 2 AIF in March this year.

The fund will invest in profitable SME companies with high-potential opportunities in unorganized sectors. About 51% of the corpus will be invested in unlisted SME companies, termed startups in manufacturing, consumer products, and technology, a statement said. It will provide exit opportunities through primary markets as it intends to invest in companies that have the potential to get listed on SME exchange with small ticket size IPO.

“We are planning to raise Rs 100 Crores in the first year. This is a close-ended fund,and we will be accepting subscriptions for the tenure of 5 Years from the First Close with a Maximum Of Two Extensions Of 1 Year Each,” said Kresha Gupta, Founder and Fund Manager of Chanakya Fund Trust.

Spacetech startup InspeCityhas raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Speciale Invest, co-led by Antler India and Veda VC. Anicut Capital, DeVC India and others, also participated in the round.

The funds will be used to develop the tech stack within the company and attract quality talent to accomplish the mission and vision, a statement said.

“This will tremendously help us further develop our technology for in-orbit servicing and autonomous robotic platforms. Our vision is to create a new economy in space and build human habitats that transcend the limitations of our current planetary systems,” said Arindrajit Chowdhury, CEO, Inspecity.

Social impact startup Haqdarshak, which connects citizens with government schemes, has announced a new investment to close its Pre-Series A1 round. The funding amount is undisclosed.

New institutional investors including Innovating Justice Fund and Village Capital-managed Financial Health Innovation Fund have joined the cap table along with 22 other investors. Earlier in January, Haqdarshak appeared on Shark Tank India (Season-2) and raised Rs 1 crore in funding.

The funds from this round will be utilized for investment in tech and talent with a focus on growing the company’s latest product—the Yojana Card, which is a digitally-enabled social security card for beneficiaries to access welfare services for their family and business via a single channel enabled by last-mile support.

Deciml, a micro-investing mobile application has secured a bridge round of funding from influencers, personalities, and companies across various industries. Some investors include Zakir Khan, Viraj Sawant, Saurabh Abbi, Abhishek Oswal, Chirag Chetan Gandhi, among others.

This round is an addendum to the pre-seed round raised in June 2022 of $1 million from strategic investors.

With the fresh funds, Deciml aims to expand into new product territories, improve its technology and app experience, and meet the investment needs of young Indians.

Kapture, a SaaS-based Customer Experience platform has announced hiring plans across multiple positions and departments with a core focus on SEA, the Middle East, the US and India.

The company currently has a workforce of 200+ employees and plans to double the headcount in the next 12-18 months, a statement said. The firm added that Kapture has recorded 100% YoY which has played an instrumental role in driving revenue.

“We expect to grow at a similar clip going forward as well and are excited at the opportunities that we see in the future. Our focus is now to evolve into a more structured organization that's prepared for the planned growth in the coming years. We are extremely bullish on Kapture as well as its entry into newer geographies in our core focus verticals,” said Sheshgiri Kamath, Co-Founder and CEO, Kapture.

BlackSoil, an alternative credit platform, saw its investments increase by more than 55 percent in in FY23 as compared to FY22. The investments in FY23 amounted to around $90 million across almost 40 deals, said the company, adding BlackSoil achieved more than 15 successful exits.

Investments in Q4 FY23 grew 45 percent and more than 65 percent in repayments compared to the corresponding period in FY22, the firm further added.

BlackSoil has made investments in FY23 its core sectors like fintech/finserv, agritech, B2B, consumer internet, healthcare/healthtech, SaaS, and IOT. It also invested in new-age sectors such as battery swapping (Battery Smart), OTA travel (Yatra.com), discount broking (Upstox), finserv marketplace (BankBazaar), healthtech (HealthPlix), deeptech (Tonbo Imaging) & fintech unicorn (MobiKwik).

Government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) may increase India’s digital consumption 5 fold from $60-70 billion in FY22 to $320-340 billion by 2030, said a report.

In the report which was launched with McKinsey & Company, ONDC said it will facilitate India to record 500 million digitally transacting consumers by 2030, increasing 3-4 times from 165 to 190 million in FY22.

India’s digital retail dominates only about 7 percent of the total retail market, with 165 million users. While for US and China, digital commerce is 16 and 30 per cent of the total retail economy, respectively. Lack of comfort with online shopping, alarmingly low penetration of business-to-business (B2B) sellers at 1-1.5 per cent, and high supply chain costs are the key challenges in India’s digital commerce ecosystem, added the report.

Early-stage venture capital firm 3one4 Capital has elevated Nruthya Madappa as a partner to drive growth of portfolio companies as well as identifying and supporting investee companies.

Madappa had joined the VC firm as principal and the head of growth and capital development in 2020. She was promoted as the director of the growth and capital vertical in February last year.

"Nruthya's elevation is a testament to her unwavering dedication to the venture practice and her exceptional commitment to delivering consistent performance. We are proud to have her join our partnership and look forward to seeing her continue to drive outsized results for our portfolio companies,” said Pranav Pai, Founding Partner, 3one4 Capital.

Alibaba's AliExpress, Amazon's Marketplace, Apple's App Store and 16 other tech companies will be subject to new EU online content rules as of August, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said.

The other 16 companies are booking.com, Facebook, Google Maps, Google Play, Google Search, Google Shopping, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube, Microsoft's Bing and Zalando.

Under the landmark rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), the companies, all with more than 45 million monthly active users, are required to do risk management, conduct external and independent auditing, share data with authorities and researchers and adopt a code of conduct.

A US appeals court has upheld a federal court's order that could force Apple to change payment practices in its App Store. Apple said it may appeal the decision, said a Reuters report.

The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a 2021 order in an antitrust case brought by "Fortnite" creator Epic Games that could require Apple to allow developers to provide links and buttons for third-party in-app payment options and avoid paying sales commissions to the iPhone maker.

The appeals court sided with Apple on nine other matters in the case, agreeing with the trial court that Apple's App Store rules do not violate antitrust laws and allowing its commissions of up 30% for in-app payments to stand.

Spotify has crossed the half billion mark for monthly active users for the first time, helped by the music streaming company's expansion into more markets.

The number of monthly active users rose to 515 million in the first quarter, beating Spotify's guidance and analysts' forecast of 500 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Premium subscribers, who account for most of its revenue, rose 15% to 210 million, topping estimates of 206 million. Its premium subscriber forecast of 217 million for the current quarter also beat expectations of 212 million. The company forecast monthly active users of 530 million.

Netflix will invest $2.5 billion in South Korea over the next four years to produce Korean TV series, movies and unscripted shows, doubling its investment in the market since 2016.

The US streaming service made the announcement after a meeting between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. Yoon arrived in Washington on Monday for a six-day state visit.

President Yoon welcomed the investment as a "major opportunity" Netflix and the content industry of South Korea as the latter seeks to boost its cultural exports and influence.