About two years ago, VS Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh and VS Ramesh decided to get together to take a crack at selling groceries online. The idea was seeded by serial entrepreneur and angel investor Krishnan Ganesh, who brought in the initial funding for the venture along with Meena Ganesh. The team launched BigBasket in…More
Author Archives: Snigdha Sengupta
Exits are rare in India. When one comes along, you take it — Phanindra Sama
On Friday, Phanindra Sama, Sudhakar Pasupunuri and Charan Padmaraju, founders of Bangalore-based Pilani Soft Labs, which runs online bus ticketing platform redBus, became richer by a few million dollars. South African Internet and media conglomerate Naspers sealed a deal to acquire redBus for an undisclosed amount, through its subsidiary Ibibo Group (MIH India). Various media…More
Naspers-backed Ibibo Group acquires redBus. Founders stay on board
Ending speculation from last week, Bangalore-based bus ticketing company redBus has announced its acquisition by Ibibo Group (MIH India), a subsidiary of South African Internet and media conglomerate Naspers. The details of the transaction have not been disclosed. Several media reports have speculated on the deal size being anywhere between $100 million and $140 million.…More
Is Naspers buying B’lore bus ticketing company redBus?
Last week, The Times of India reported that South African Internet and media conglomerate Naspers, through its arm MIH, may be in advanced stages of acquiring a controlling stake in redBus at a valuation of $100 million. Following the report, speculation on the deal quickly went into overdrive. At the close of last week, NextBigWhat…More
Partner Event: Raising money is a means to an end, not the goal — Dave McClure at Echelon 2013
Raising money is only a means to an end, says 500 Startups’ Dave McClure. The key to success is a scalable path to customer acquisition and activation. You are not Tony Stark You are not Tony Stark*, 500 Startups founder Dave McClure said during his keynote at Echelon 2013. Even if Tony Stark is cool…More
Partner Event: Waygo is most promising startup at Echelon 2013
After an intense hour of pitching, our esteemed set of judges selected Waygo as the Most Promising Startup for Echelon 2013. Echelon 2013 is all about validating the promise of the startup ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region. This year, 10 of the region’s top startups have pitched their tech startups to a set of…More
Partner Event: 50-plus startups will showcase their ideas on June 4-5 at Echeclon 2013
Echelon 2013, Singapore’s flagship technology startup networking event, organized by local media company e27, gets underway in the first week of June. As in previous years, the run-up to the event kicked off March 30 with the Indonesia satellite. The satellites are regional outreach initiatives through which finalists are chosen to pitch at the main…More
Seven startups, $46 mn invested. Should Info Edge spin out a VC arm?
Sanjeev Bikhchandani-founded Info Edge (India), the BSE-listed Internet company most well known for jobs portal Naukri, has been flexing some serious muscle in the early stage startup investing space. At the close of its latest financial year ended March 31, 2013, the Delhi-based company had nearly Rs 250 crore (approximately $46 million at prevailing foreign…More
Rajesh Raju on Kalaari Capital’s mass consumer focus and Fund II deal run
If there’s a slowdown underway in venture capital deal making in India, it isn’t evident from Kalaari Capital’s deal run in recent months. Seven-odd months into its relaunch under the current brand identity, the Bangalore-headquartered venture capital investor has put together a portfolio of 10 companies from its second India-dedicated fund, the $150 million Kalaari…More
Mukesh Bansal on Myntra’s acquisitions, marketplace plans
Early last month, in an environment of consolidation-driven acquisitions in the domestic ecommerce market, Myntra decided to change lanes. It went to San Francisco to snap up a technology startup called Fitiquette to bring on board the capability of offering its customers a virtual fitting room. Strategic acquisitions, where the acquirer buys a specific capability…More