Indian online pharmacy PharmEasy is now being valued at about $456 million after its investor Janus Henderson said in a filing that it valued its stake of 12.9 million shares in the startup at $766,043. The asset manager’s Global Research Fund had originally spent $9.4 million to acquire these shares. This valuation is 92% less […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

X is raising prices for its top-tier subscription service, Premium+, by 37.5% to $22 a month, marking the largest price increase since Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022. The price hike will first affect U.S. users, going up from $16, effective December 21, according to a statement. Annual subscriptions have also climbed to $229 […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Indian startups raised 32% fewer funding rounds in 2024 compared to last year, according to data intelligence platform Tracxn, signaling that investors are being more selective when striking deals. The number of startup funding rounds fell to 1,448 compared to 2,114 last year, but overall funding rose 6% to $11.3 billion ($10.7 billion in 2023) […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Shares of digital payments firm MobiKwik surged 82% to ₹507.5 ($6) on their first day of trading as The Indian fintech’s $69 million IPO comes amid fierce competition from larger rivals, and it pushes MobiKwik’s market value to $464 million, well above its initial target of $250 million. This remains substantially lower than the $924 […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Shein must surrender all data of Indian customers and control of its local operations to its partner, Reliance Retail, and keep operations fully local to re-enter the Indian market, according to new government disclosures that reveal how the apparel and accessories retailer secured a rare exception to India’s ban on Chinese-linked apps. In a parliamentary […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Aye Finance, a lender targeting small- and medium-sized businesses in India, is seeking to raise $171 million from its initial public offering, it disclosed in a filing Tuesday. The offering comprises a $104 million fresh share issue and a $67 million secondary sale by existing investors. Proceeds from the IPO will be used to expand […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Google has appointed Preeti Lobana to lead its India business, filling a key position that had been vacant since Sanjay Gupta’s promotion to Asia-Pacific president in July. Lobana, who was vice president of advertising technology at Google, takes over as the company pushes its AI products in India amid intensifying competition in the digital market. […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

These startups have fascinating new technologies, business models, founder stories or are pushing an industry forward in exciting ways.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Zomato, India’s top food delivery and quick commerce platform, has been slapped with a tax bill of $94.5 million. The Indian tax authority has ordered the $32 billion firm to pay 401.7 crore in allegedly unpaid gross goods and services tax (GST) for the period between October 29, 2019, and March 31, 2022. The order […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

SolarSquare has raised $40 million in a round led by Lightspeed in what is the largest venture round in India’s solar sector. The Mumbai-based startup was bootstrapped and profitably selling to corporate customers for five years before it switched to residential solar in 2021. Now it has scaled to powering over 20,000 homes and 200 […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Peak XV and HongShan, the Indian and Chinese investment firms that split from powerhouse Sequoia last year, have co-led a $10 million seed investment in KAST, a dollar-denominated neobank-like platform that lets customers hold and spend stablecoins through traditional payment avenues.  Kast also issues credit cards that work with standard merchant networks, enabling users to […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

LambdaTest, a cloud-based software testing platform, has raised $38 million to advance its AI capabilities.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Amazon on Tuesday said it is piloting a quick commerce service in India that will see the U.S. tech giant delivering grocery and other items in 15 minutes or less. The firm is the sixth major entrant in India’s quick-commerce market, which is currently clocking more than $6 billion in annual sales. Zomato-owned BlinkIt, Swiggy, […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Paytm has agreed to sell its stake in Japanese payments firm PayPay to SoftBank for $279.2 million, as the Indian firm sheds non-core assets following a bruising regulatory clampdown earlier this year. The sale of Paytm’s stake in PayPay, which it received through acquisition rights six years ago, follows months of restructuring that saw the […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

MobiKwik, an Indian financial services startup, has cut the size of its planned IPO for the third time, setting a price band of ₹265 to ₹279 ($3.1 to $3.3) that values it at $250 million — down sharply from its last private valuation of $924 million in 2021. The Gurugram-based fintech, backed by Peak XV […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Myntra, India’s largest fashion e-commerce firm, on Thursday launched “M-Now,” its quick-commerce offering that promises to deliver apparel and other lifetstyle accessories within 30 minutes. Retailers in India are rushing to meet changing consumer behavior and expectations, particularly fast deliveries of groceries, beauty and lifestyle products within an hour. Myntra said M-Now will offer customers […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The Indian identity verification service, used by millions of customners, has confirmed a cybersecurity incident.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Prosus anticipates as many as five potential IPOs from its Indian portfolio over the next 18 months, signaling growing momentum in the world’s second-largest internet market. The Dutch investment group on Monday named payments giant PayU, e-commerce startup Meesho, and online jewelry seller Bluestone among the startups that are preparing for an IPO. TechCrunch reported […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Swiggy has expanded its 10-minute food delivery service to more than 400 cities and towns across India.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Sequoia is closing in on making its first deal in India and the broader Asia Pacific region since its split with former partners, according to four sources familiar with the matter. The venture capital firm, one of the world’s largest, is in advanced talks to back Vance, a Bengaluru-based cross-border payments startup, the sources said, […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.