When China’s Alibaba opened its wallet last year to invest over half a billion dollars in Paytm, the world of financial technology took notice. However, beyond Paytm, there is a bunch of start-ups engaged in various aspects of fintech, a sector that has seen a funding slowdown this year. Here is …
Tag: Alibaba
South Africa’s Net1 tops up Mobikwik wallet by $40 million
South Africa headquartered global payments solutions and transaction processing company Net1 UEPS Technologies Inc has announced a strategic partnership with digital wallet player MobiKwik. Net1 will invest $40 million in MobiKwik and will integrate its Virtual Card technology with the MobiKwik w…
Hyderabad-based startup Smartron ties up with Sachin Tendulkar, bats for IoT
Smartron India, a leading technology OEM company and an Internet of Things (IoT) startup, recently announced a new innings with cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar. Besides being the brand ambassador of Smartron, Sachin is also a strategic shareholder in the company thus making it his first investme…
Race to acquire fashion portal Jabong hots up
The race to acquire Jabong is hotting up. Alibaba, Future Group, Flipkart’s unit Myntra and Aditya Birla’s e-commerce venture Abof are among those in negotiations to acquire the online fashion portal, said people with knowledge of the matter. Even Snapdeal is said to be in the fray, b…
Mobikwik to offer 6% annual return to wallet users
Fin-tech company MobiKwik said it will offer 6 per cent annual interest on the account balance to its mobile wallet users. The company, which competes with Alibaba-backed Paytm, has over 30 million wallet users in the country. MobiKwik claims it is growing at 250 per cent per year and expects to …
Cutting influence of big businesses is good, but strengthen SME policies
Narendra Modi’s government is completing its two years and while several things have changed people’s expectations is that more could be done. But what is it that can be done if real change has to happen. What is needed is not always what business particularly big business wants. One thing that h…
Capital float receives ₹170 cr in Series B round
Capital Float, a leading online lender for small businesses, has raised about ₹170 crore ($25 million) in a Series B round led by Creation Investments. Existing investors Aspada, Sequoia India and SAIF Partners participated in this round that valued the company at over $100 million. This is Capit…
Zopper reaches out to more cities, doubles gross sales
Hyperlocal e-commerce startup Zopper said it is set to more than double its gross sales to $250 million this year as it expands its city reach and at the same time, keeps its portfolio focussed on electronics. Zopper, which allows users to shop from the nearest retail store, said it plans to expa…
‘Make In India’ resonates with Chinese corporates
As India and China squabble over Beijing squashing Delhi’s move at the UN to ban Azhar Mazoor, the alleged mastermind behind northern India terrorist attacks, and New Delhi retaliates by threatening to stonewall the entry of Chinese companies into the country, the ground reality paints a far less…
Online marketplace shopclues drops regional operations, eyes cities for growth
Online marketplace ShopClues is looking to expand its seller base and make intra-zonal shipments the norm to speed up deliveries and reduce logistics cost, a move that comes at a time when etailers are seeking to fulfill orders faster than their competitors as discounts take a back seat. “W…