daily roundup (June 13, 2022)

Unwind Minds raises Rs 2 Cr in pre-seed round from Marwari Catalysts, others

Relax your minda Jodhpur-based firm, raised 2 crore rupees in a pre-start round of funding from Marwari Catalyts and a group of investors including Jaipur Rugs director Yogesh Chaudhary; Vikas Maheshwari, Senior Portfolio Manager at Abu Dhabi Capital Group; and Prithvi Bhatti of PM International.

Started by Surendra Rajpurohit and Sushil Sharmawho is also the founder of Marwari Catalysts, Unwind Minds is a nanotech textile fashion brand that will be launched in about four months.

The company is currently working on obtaining patents for several technologies to use in fashion production. Headquartered in Jodhpur, Unwind Minds also has a small office in Bengaluru.

8i Ventures makes partial exit from M2P Fintech

8i Venturesearly stage venture capital firm, made a partial exit in M2P Fintech at 36 times more in two years. The Mumbai-based firm first invested in M2P Fintech in 2020.

The Chennai-based fintech startup provides banking-as-a-service by creating an application programming interface (API) for over 500 fintech firms and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) – including Kunal Shah-led CRED; Jupiter, a neobanking platform; and credit card contender Slice. M2P Fintech saw its valuation jump 600 million dollars after lifting 56 million dollars by Insight Partner, among others, in January 2022.

8i Ventures, which is a seed investor in Slice, launched its first fund from 15.5 million dollars in May 2019, with final closing in July 2021. The investment firm currently has $13 million in assets under management (AUM) and another $2.5 million in co-investment AUM.

Simplilearn will add another 800 team members this year

Skills training platform Simplilear aims to expand its workforce by 800 team members this year. The hiring is part of the company’s plans to strengthen its teams in India and international markets to meet growing demand for retraining and upskilling.

Following the Blackstone investment in July 2021, Simplilearn has strategically deployed funds in two key areas – the organization’s workforce and marketing. Most of the hiring is in the product, technology and marketing teams, where the technical team has tripled from 60 to 200.

In the coming months, Simplilearn is looking to hire people at various CXO, VP and SVP levels in both India and the US, both markets accounting for 80 percent of the company’s business.

In the US, Simplilearn aims to appoint various C-suite executives who will help strengthen and structure the team in the country. The company also aims to hire 20 percent freshmen in Simplilearn’s workforce to provide rewarding career opportunities to young professionals and college graduates.

Ozonetel Communications appoints Keshav Goel as CFO

A full range of call center solutions provider Ozonator appointed Keshav Goel as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). With over two decades of leadership experience across various financial verticals, Keshav will lead the Corporate Finance function at Ozonetel. He will also take ownership of the financial planning and analysis, treasury and commercial functions at Ozonetel.

Keshav has spent over 16 years at Wipro, where he has contributed in the areas of business planning, M&A activities, investments and lending, foreign exchange risk management, cost optimization, international business operations, internal control architecture creation and transformation of business processes.

Commenting on this appointment, CSN Murthy, Founder and CEO of Ozonetel said, “Ozonetel is on an aggressive growth path. The company recently raised Series A funding from Stakeboat Capital and aims to reach $100 million ARR (Annual Recurring Income) over the next four years. We plan to grow our headcount by 100 percent this year, and bringing in leaders like Keshav at this crucial time will ensure that our expansion phase is smooth.”

Fitday.in Enters Artificial Meat Market, Launches Plant Based Meat in India

Nutraceutical startup Fitday launched a series of products in the vegetable meat segment. Plant-based meats are produced to taste, look and feel like traditional meats from animal products.

Fitday VeganMeat is selected with Indian palate and cuisine in consideration and will not be frozen products. This imitation meat is made from soy and natural ingredients that can be used as fillings, pizza toppings and sauce additions in any kitchen.

Dishes like VeganMeat biryani, spaghetti, sandwiches, dosa and momos can be made with this vegetable meat.

Suresh Raju, Founder, Fitday.in said, “Veganism is becoming more popular among consumers for health and ethical reasons, while vegetarian ingredients are becoming more popular among customers who want to prevent animal cruelty and consume sustainable food. With India closely following US trends, we expect similar growth for plant-based meat in India.

CleverTap completes acquisition of Leanplum

Cloud retention platform CleverTap said Monday it has acquired San Francisco-based Leanplum, a leading multi-channel customer engagement platform.

The acquisition, originally announced on May 19, closed within three weeks. With this acquisition, CleverTap has strengthened its presence in the US and Europe. It will combine the product portfolio of the two organizations and extend its solutions and technologies to all of its customers and potential customers worldwide.

Momchil Kyurkchiev, co-founder of Leanplum, has joined CleverTap’s leadership team as Chief Strategy Officer. With the completion of the acquisition, CleverTap also welcomed marquee investors Norwest Partners, Shasta Ventures, Canaan and Kleiner Perkins as its shareholders.

The University of Arizona is introducing an MSc in Information Science: Machine Learning in collaboration with Great Learning

The University of Arizona, in collaboration with Great Learning, has introduced a fully online Master of Science in Information Science: Machine Learning course. This 21-month program is designed for early-career, mid- and senior-level professionals from leading University of Arizona experts and practicing industry professionals.

The program will provide professionals with the knowledge to design information solutions to business problems and develop effective management frameworks for the future. With online live lessons and recorded lectures, the program includes 11 hands-on projects and special mentoring sessions to enhance the learning experience of learners.

Learners will acquire the specialist skills needed to solve real-world information management challenges and graduate with the qualifications required for in-demand roles including information architect, database administrator, data scientist/engineer, digital artist, software developer /engineer, web developer, etc.

Trainees will also be given access to GL Excelerate’s extensive pool of 4,700+ industry experts and dedicated career support in the form of a curated jobs portal, enabling them to apply for relevant positions. Great Learning works with over 7,800 companies to offer unparalleled placement support for their learners. Some of the flagging companies include Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Dell, IBM, Flipkart, Infosys, Intel, Deloitte, etc.

Rebel Foods joins the ClimateAngels Fund-supported Zero Single-Use Plastic Challenge

Sustainability-focused climate technology fund Climate Angles has teamed up with Rebel Foods and GoMassive Earth Network for its ZeSUP Challenge – Zero Single-Use Plastic Challenge – for startups leading the fight against single-use plastics in the food and drink industry .

Under this initiative, Climate Angels will collaborate with GoMassive to accelerate Indian startups over the next six months to pilot their solutions to reduce single-use plastic waste. Selected startups will receive project and startup funding from a $500,000 fund, dedicated project mentoring and technical assistance, and securing partnerships with F&B partners such as Rebel Foods for pilot solutions, deep learning and networking opportunities.

The challenge is run by The Incubation Network and funded by the PREVENT Waste Alliance, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the ECCA Family Foundation. It is part of PREVENT’s Innovate and the PREVENT program.

GoMassive has been selected as an Entrepreneur Support Organization (ESO) by The Incubation Network and is working with partners such as Rebel Foods in India to overcome the challenges facing the food and beverage industry.

(This is an ongoing story and will be updated with the latest updates throughout the day.)