Tag: Inc42 Media

Eat App, a cloud-based restaurant solutions provider, has acquired ReserveGo, a B2B table reservation platform, to enhance its product offerings and market presence. Founded in 2015 by Nezar Kadhem and David Feuillard, Eat App specializes in providing real-time reservations, automation, and customer data management tools to restaurants.

The acquisition includes taking over ReserveGo’s technology, customer base, and team, marking a strategic move for Eat App to strengthen its position in India and other markets. While the financial details remain undisclosed, Eat App has also concluded a $10 million Series B funding round and entered into a partnership with Swiggy, a prominent food delivery platform in India.

Through the collaboration with Swiggy, Indian restaurants will gain access to Eat App’s advanced reservation technology, automation features, and AI-driven guest experience enhancements. This synergistic approach aims to empower restaurants with comprehensive solutions for efficient operations and improved customer interactions.

ReserveGo, established in 2022 by Vijayan Parthasarathy, assists restaurants in managing seating arrangements and enhancing guest satisfaction. The acquisition is expected to enrich Eat App’s research and development capabilities, providing ReserveGo customers with continued service and support without operational disruptions.

Source: Inc42 Media

Eternal, a prominent foodtech company, has recently invested ₹450 crore into its quick commerce subsidiary Blinkit through a rights issue. The funding aims to enhance Blinkit’s operations amid the competitive quick commerce market landscape.

The board of Blinkit has approved the issuance of 2,799 equity shares to Eternal at a price of ₹16.07 lakh per share. The investment is anticipated to facilitate Blinkit’s expansion of dark stores, address working capital requirements, and cover operational expenses as it scales its quick commerce services across multiple cities.

The move comes at a time when the quick commerce sector in India is witnessing intense competition, with players like Zepto and Swiggy Instamart making significant investments to bolster their presence. Zepto secured $450 million in funding last year, while Swiggy raised approximately ₹10,000 crore through a qualified institutional placement to amplify its quick commerce arm Instamart.

In its Q3 FY26 report, Eternal described the competition in the quick commerce segment as ‘intense.’ Blinkit’s CEO Albinder Dhindsa highlighted the competitive landscape, citing challenges from startups, major ecommerce platforms, and JioMart, with Amazon and Flipkart also intensifying their quick commerce investments.

Source: Inc42 Media

Thane-based startup Mosaic Wellness has successfully raised ₹200 Cr in primary capital from 360One Asset, with additional undisclosed secondary funding, marking a significant milestone in the health-tech industry.

The funding round facilitated a partial exit for early investor Spring Marketing Capital, showcasing the startup’s growth trajectory.

Founded in 2020 by Revant Bhate and Dhyanesh Shah, Mosaic Wellness operates popular digital health platforms including Man Matters, Be Bodywise, and Little Joys, catering to men, women, and children with a range of wellness products and telemedicine services.

The capital injection will enable Mosaic Wellness to expand its strategic plans within the consumer health and wellness sector, allowing the company to capitalize on emerging opportunities and enhance its service offerings.

360One Asset’s entry into Mosaic Wellness’ investor lineup alongside Elevation Capital, Peak XV Partners, Z47, and Think Investments reflects the industry’s confidence in the startup’s potential.

Mosaic Wellness demonstrated robust revenue growth and margin improvement in the previous fiscal year, significantly reducing its net loss while achieving remarkable top-line growth, signaling a positive trajectory for the health-tech player.

Source: Inc42 Media

Emversity, the edtech startup founded by former Unacademy COO Vivek Sinha, recently announced its first-ever ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) liquidity event, buying back ₹6.5 Cr worth of ESOPs from 20 employees. This move comes on the heels of Emversity’s successful $30 Mn Series A funding round earlier this year, aimed at expanding its healthcare and hospitality skilling programs.

According to CHRO Megha Lal, Emversity, currently operational in 24 states across 60+ locations with over 700 employees, is dedicated to empowering students in various healthcare professions. The ESOP buyback, targeted at employees who played essential roles in the startup’s foundational phase, demonstrates Emversity’s commitment to rewarding and retaining key talent.

The buyback decision followed the Series A funding, reflecting Emversity’s proactive approach to acknowledging early contributors. Lal’s LinkedIn post revealed the startup’s intention to conduct future buyback programs, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and incentivizing employees at every stage of growth.

This move by Emversity underscores the significance of aligning employee incentives with the company’s success trajectory, fostering a culture of ownership and investment in the edtech space.

Source: Inc42 Media

Constems-AI, a deep tech startup, has raised $2 million in its pre-Series A funding round. The investment was led by multi-stage VC fund Finvolve, with participation from existing investors Cognify, AIF, Inflection Point Ventures, and IIM Lucknow Enterprise Incubation Centre. This funding will be used to advance Constems-AI’s AI models, expand research and development initiatives, strengthen product engineering, and enhance data infrastructure.

Founded in 2017, Constems-AI specializes in a vision AI SaaS platform called CAInatics. This platform leverages image and video data to automate retail and supply chain operations effectively. By analyzing retail shelf images, CAInatics enables companies to monitor product placement, compliance, and other in-store execution parameters throughout the retail value chain.

Constems-AI’s AI models are trained on a vast dataset comprising more than 30,000 consumer product formats and over 30 million curated image data points across various regions. The startup employs patented object detection models and edge AI architecture to deliver predictive analytics from retail images in near real-time.

With this recent funding, Constems-AI aims to scale its enterprise deployments globally and expand its market presence in regions such as Southeast Asia, Japan, and the Middle East. The technology offered by Constems-AI empowers consumer goods companies to efficiently monitor shelf visibility, stock availability, and merchandising compliance in offline retail outlets.

Source: Inc42 Media

Bengaluru-based fintech company CRED has obtained the final payment aggregator (PA) license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a significant milestone in its operations. This license empowers CRED to onboard merchants, manage payments across various channels, and oversee settlement and refunds, enhancing the efficiency and reliability of its payment processes.

With a track record of handling payments worth over ₹8.5 Lakh Cr for 1.5 Cr creditworthy individuals, CRED’s authorization to operate as a payment system directly under RBI’s oversight signifies a new phase in its financial operations. The company has evolved from its initial focus on credit card bill payments to offering a comprehensive super app with diverse financial services, including lending, insurance, and investments.

CRED’s recent approval adds to its existing regulatory licenses, further solidifying its position in the market. The company continues to innovate and cater to the evolving needs of its users by expanding its services, such as introducing a co-branded credit card, enhanced personal finance management tools, and an exclusive membership program. The integration of UPI payments and the subsequent rise in transaction volumes demonstrate CRED’s commitment to staying at the forefront of digital payment solutions.

Source: Inc42 Media

Used-car marketplace CARS24 has broadened its vehicle ownership platform by acquiring automotive utility startup Vehicle Info. This move follows CARS24’s previous acquisition of CarInfo earlier this year, demonstrating the company’s commitment to enhancing its services beyond just vehicle transactions.

Vehicle Info, founded in 2017 by Chirag Pipaliya, offers users a centralized platform to access essential vehicle information such as insurance status, traffic violations, FASTag balance, and registration details. By integrating Vehicle Info’s capabilities into its ecosystem, CARS24 aims to provide comprehensive support to users throughout their vehicle ownership journey, not just during the car buying and selling processes.

CARS24’s CEO, Vikram Chopra, emphasized that managing vehicle documentation and compliance is a recurring task for car owners, potentially leading to more frequent interactions with the CARS24 platform, which aligns with the company’s vision to create a holistic vehicle ownership experience.

This strategic acquisition follows CARS24’s previous acquisitions, including Team-BHP and CarInfo, as the company continues to expand its ecosystem, offering not just a marketplace for used cars but also ancillary services such as financing, insurance assistance, and warranty support.

Source: Inc42 Media