Startup news and updates: Daily Roundup (February 28, 2024)

Funding

Step Change announces strategic investment from Flourish Ventures

StepChange, an enterprise sustainability platform, has raised investment from global venture capital firm Flourish Ventures to fuel its growth plans in the BFSI sector.

Founded in 2022 by Ankit Jain and Sidhant Pai, StepChange offers a suite of integrated solutions to large enterprises and financial institutions that enable them to track, improve, and report on a wide variety of ESG performance indicators, with a particularly deep focus on best-in-class carbon accounting and climate risk management solutions.

Since its inception in early 2022, StepChange has built a team comprising talent across software engineering, climate science, ESG solutioning and business development. The company is guided by advisors, including Jason Jay, who leads the MIT Sustainability Initiative, and Erez Yoeli, who leads the Applied Cooperation Initiative at MIT, both world-renowned experts on leadership, strategy, innovation in corporate sustainability.

Aditya Birla Ventures and SIDBI back Digantara

Digantara, a leading Space Situational Awareness Startup based in Bangalore, has announced the successful closure of an extended $2 million financing to its previously raised $10 million Series A round.

The round witnessed the participation of new investors including Aditya Birla Ventures (Venture Capital arm of Aditya Birla Group) and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), marking their first investment foray into the space technology sector. The company is currently backed by PeakXV Partners (erstwhile Sequoia Capital India & SE Asia), Kalaari, Global Brain and IIFL Founders.

Digantara’s Space-Mission Assurance Platform (Space-MAP) leverages a multi-modal data pool to provide stakeholders with accurate datasets and precise orbital insights, thereby ensuring the safety and sustainability of space operations.

Rainmatter invests Rs 12 crore in foodtech startup TWF Flours

Zerodha's fintech and health fund Rainmatter has invested around Rs 12 crore in foodtech startup TWF Flours. TWF Flours uses technology to create better quality, healthier flour with higher levels of retained nutrients. Founders of TWF Flours Pranjal Kumar and Arjun Rungta, have developed new milling technology to retain maximum amounts of micronutrients in the flour during the grinding process.

"TWF aims to make everyday meals healthier by making our core food ingredients intelligent. Our initial focus is flour, the staple powering your roti, sandwiches, pizzas, and cakes. Recognising that 47% of the average Indian’s carbohydrate intake is derived from flour, we aspire to transform this ubiquitous carb source into a superfood," said Kumar. "This long-term partnership will allow us to chart an ambitious trajectory – to dream big – to imagine a future where our everyday food becomes the solution to our most pressing health challenges," he added.

Other News

Legacy Growth appoints Monika Wadhwa as new Senior Partner in the US

Legacy Growth, a multi-family office firm, has appointed Monika Wadhwa as a Senior Partner. Wadhwa will be based out of Texas and drive the firm’s strategic initiatives in North America.

In June last year, Legacy Growth said it opened its office in North America. Wadhwa's appointment marks a significant milestone in expanding the firm's service offerings within the region, complementing the existing office in Toronto, Canada, led by Ankur Pahuja.

Monika brings over two decades of experience in international taxation, transactions, and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). With a career spanning leadership roles across the Big 4 consulting firms - EY and KPMG, both in the United States and India, she brings a wealth of expertise to Legacy Growth.

Amazon India offers opportunities for women to work night shifts in Haryana

Amazon India has launched Women in Night Shifts (WINS) at one of its large Sort Centres in Haryana. In addition to Amazon’s existing initiatives, WINS is designed to provide a safe and supportive work environment for women, ensuring equal opportunities for both men and women to work in various shifts, and championing inclusivity.

Amazon India has enabled night shift operations for women across select sites in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, and now, in Haryana.

"We believe in creating equal opportunities and addressing barriers that women face in the workplace and are thankful to the government for their support in enabling women to work in night shifts.," said Liju Thomas, Director of HR, India Operations, Amazon India.

"We prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our associates offering comprehensive measures, such as transportation facilities, and enhanced security arrangements for those working in night shifts. We intend to extend this initiative to other sites in Haryana, reinforcing our commitment to a diverse and secure work environment,” he added.

EaseMyTrip and Zaggle forge partnership to revolutionize travel and expense management

EaseMyTrip has announced a strategic partnership with Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services Limited, a SaaS fintech player that provides spend management products and solutions to corporates to deliver integrated travel and expense management solutions.

EaseMyTrip’s corporate clients will now get seamless access to Zaggle’s EMS platform that provides end-to-end travel and expense management solutions which includes everything from booking flights, hotels, and other travel arrangements to managing the expense process incurred during the travel.

As per industry estimates the total expenditure made by Indian travellers will hit $410 billion by 2030 making India the fourth largest global spender. This is a massive 173% rise compared to pre-Covid period (2019).

“By integrating travel booking with expense reporting, we offer a streamlined workflow, policy compliance, and real-time visibility into travel expenditure to our corporate clients. In the rapidly evolving travel industry, this partnership underscores our commitment to innovation and delivering unmatched value,’’ said Rikant Pittie, Co-Founder of EaseMyTrip.

Hexagon, T-Hub launch Startup Catalyst Program for AI and Digital Reality Innovators

Hexagon’s R&D Center in India launched its Startup Catalyst Program for all startups working in the areas of Digital Reality and Autonomous Technologies. This program is a new opportunity for startups to apply their ideas and capabilities to emerging but well-defined real-world problems in these areas, and, with Hexagon’s help, build full-scale solutions and take those to Indian and global customers.

This programme is being launched with the support of incubation hub T-Hub, which will bring its knowledge of the Indian startup ecosystem, best practices, and processes, to facilitate, guide and amplify the impact of this program.

Pidge Grows Hybrid Delivery Partner Network by 200% in two months

Pidge, a leading logistics technology company, has announced a significant expansion of its hybrid and interoperable delivery partner network, named Pidge Powered Network, with an astounding 200% growth in just two months.

Since December 2023, Pidge has successfully onboarded over 125 delivery partners, almost tripling its network size in the first six weeks of this year. This expansion has allowed Pidge to both enhance its last-mile delivery capabilities and extend its reach to more businesses and consumers, now serving over 1300 pin codes nationwide.

Pidge’s hybrid platform comprises large-scale national delivery companies, local courier companies, as well as businesses that manage their own riders.

These delivery companies and businesses with their own riders, especially those lacking any kind of logistics digitisation, can now participate as digital equals with the help of Pidge’s accessible, mobile-first technology. Pidge’s AI-powered Smart Allocation allows businesses to define their needs and access best-fit delivery options to seamlessly deliver through 1PL (first-party logistics), 2PL (second-party logistics), or 3PL (third-party logistics) networks.

MediBuddy onboards Kuldeep Singh as Senior VP and Head of Engineering

Digital healthcare platform MediBuddy has announced the appointment of Kuldeep Singh as Senior Vice President and Head of Engineering. With over 18 years of experience leading distributed teams across the globe, Singh brings a wealth of technical leadership from his roles in high-value start-ups and global financial institutions.

In his new role, Singh will spearhead the engineering efforts at MediBuddy, focusing on designing and implementing innovative solutions that align with the company’s vision of making high-quality healthcare accessible to a billion people.

"I am inspired by MediBuddy’s mission to make high-quality healthcare accessible to a billion people. I look forward to building an engineering team centred on business impact and enhancing the platform and ecosystem to expand access to quality care," said Singh.

Moglix plans to recruit 500 new talent in 18 months

B2B commerce platform for industrial products Moglix has announced its plans for hyper-expansion, aiming to increase its workforce by hiring 500 professionals in the next 18 months. This hiring push comes after Moglix’s rapid business growth and strong funding position, as the company scales its operations across manufacturing and infrastructure supply chain sectors.

Moglix will be augmenting its team to exceed 500-600 talented professionals over the next 18 months across vital business functions. These include Enterprise MRO, Credlix Supply Chain Financing, Supply Chain, Operations, Manufacturing, and Finance.

The recruitment drive seeks individuals with expertise in industrial sales, procurement, supply chain management, export financing, and other specialised domains, spanning various hierarchical levels including associates, managers, senior managers and directors.

(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)