Haptik founder Aakrit Vaish wants to create a WhatsApp for product support

Early this week, Aakrit Vaish, a Mumbai based technology entrepreneur and angel investor, had a windfall. One of his more recent investments, online real estate listings and search startup Flat.to got acquired by Bangalore company Commonfloor for an undisclosed amount. Vaish had angel funded the company less than a year ago (the amount was undisclosed).…More

Opinion: The impact investing gold rush. Just yet?

It is amazing to note how many times we are hearing about ‘Social Enterprises’, ‘Impact Investments’ …nowadays. There is, or at least seems to be, a lot of buzz around money chasing Impact Startups. In fact, an article at VCCircle here talks of how the money has gone from $4bn to $12bn in just recent times.…More

5ideas founder Gaurav Kachru joins as CEO of Bag it Today — Medianama

5ideas Startup Superfuel founder Gaurav Kachru has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of India Today’s e-commerce venture Bag It Today. (Thanks for the anonymous tip, whoever you are). Kachru has confirmed this to Medianama. He also mentioned that he will continue as the founder and advisor of 5ideas Startup Superfuel, the seed fund launched by Kachru and Pearl…More

Commonfloor buys Flat.to in cash-and-stock deal; angel investor Aakrit Vaish exits

Mumbai based Flat.to, the online real estate search and listings platform targeted at students and single working professionals, has been acquired by Commonfloor barely a year after it was founded. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. However, founder Gaurav Munjal told us that the deal is a cash-and-stock transaction. Post-acquisition, Munjal…More

Harish Bahl of Smile Group on Katalyzers, TPG’s role and Springstar — Medianama

Smile Group has created a joint venture with TPG Growth called Katalyzers to help companies from developed markets launch their products in developing markets. We spoke with Harish Bahl, who is the founder of Smile Group and General Partner in Katalyzer to know more about the new venture, how they plan to approach these markets and the relationship it shares with TPG.…More

Opinion: The fundraising dilemma

Optimism levels are currently extremely high in India surrounding the elections. There’s a very clear undercurrent of expectation of a stable and decisive government which makes me wonder about the scenario of a hung parliament with no clear direction. While that is one of the possible outcomes, in most recent conversations, the positive expectations are…More

Aditi Shrivastava on the I3N model and growth plans for the next 12 months

Among the several sessions that we’re looking forward to at the 2014 Sankalp Uncovention Summit that gets underway today is the one that will see four portfolio companies from the Intellecap Impact Investment Network (I3N) showcase their businesses. Apart from the companies themselves, the session will be an interesting look into how the I3N model…More

Mayank Khanduja on Appiterate and SAIF Partners’ big focus on seed deals

Earlier this week, SAIF Partners, the Gurgaon headquartered early-to-growth stage investor, disclosed a $500,000 seed investment in mobile app A/B testing startup Appiterate. What’s interesting about that deal is that SAIF brought in angel investors Greg Badros and Prashant Malik as part of the seed round, after it had decided to invest in the company.…More

HomeShop18 files for $75 mn IPO on NYSE — Medianama

We’ve been expecting this: Indian TV and E-commerce company HomeShop18 has filed for a $75 million IPO on NASDAQ, via its venture NW18 HSN holding. The company proposes to trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol HS. Some notes from the offer document. More to follow. – 8.9 million consumers have…More