JIIF

BLive raises USD 1 million in Pre-Series A round

admin — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 06:41:08 +0000

New Delhi: EV experience platform BLive on Wednesday said it has raised USD 1 million as part of the follow-on capital of Pre-Series A round.

According to a company release, the funding which was a combination of debt and equity was led by LetsVenture, Mumbai Angels, JITO and Credit Wise Capital.

Samarth Kholkar and Sandeep Mukherjee, co-founders, BLive, said, “This year, we are looking at growing the EV tours to over 30 locations and adding more two-wheeler EV brands and ownership models to the EV Store through both the online and offline channels.”

Currently, Blive EV Tours is present in 15 cities across 9 states in India and has completed over 10000 eBike tours so far.

The company claims it has seen a 3x growth in its eBike tours driven by the increase in domestic tourism after the pandemic.

Shanti Mohan, founder, LetsVenture, commented, “With India’s potential to be the next EV market leader of the world, we want to ensure that we support startups like BLive, who provide a completely unique way to users of experiencing and owning electric two-wheeler. Boost in domestic travel and growth in the EV category presents BLive a great opportunity to grow and expand to bigger markets.”

BLive is the official EV tourism partner of Goa Tourism. The company has partnered with hospitality partners like Club Mahindra, Taj Hotels, Grand Hyatt, Airbnb etc.

In 2020 BLive launched India’s first online EV marketplace offering top brands of E-Cycles and E- Scooters. Brands like Hero Electric, Ampere, Hero Lectro, Go Zero & Lightspeed are available on the BLive Store.

[Funding alert] Chalo raises $7M to digitise India’s public transport sector

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 08:02:11 +0000

The funds raised will be utilised by the Mumbai-based public transport technology startup to expand Chalo’s network into multiple cities, as well as to increase the penetration of digital tickets technology in its existing cities.

Chalo, a Mumbai-based public transport technology startup, on Wednesday announced that it raised $7 million in its latest round of funding. This round includes Chalo’s existing investors Raine Ventures, the early-stage fund managed by The Raine Group, USA; Neeraj Arora (former Chief Business Officer, WhatsApp); and Amit Singhal (former Senior Vice President and Head of Google Search, Google).
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The 16 Most Active Angel Networks In The Indian Startup Ecosystem

admin — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 12:34:46 +0000

For any startup, there is one crucial factor which determines the success of the company — fundraising. If it doesn’t come right on time, it’s more than likely that the startup is left with no option but to wind up shop. So there’s a reason that early backers are called angel investors in the world of startups, and angel networks — or groups of angels — are becoming increasingly common in the Indian context.

Similar to other countries, new startups in India gravitate towards angel investors for the first investment, and they are largely preferred over VCs, thanks to the lower equity demand and the higher chance of VCs rejecting early startups without products. Of course, other options such as family offices, investment banks, and other private companies also exist, but angel investors bring in a unique perspective and open up mentorship and market opportunities, besides helping raise funds.

Angel investors have reached their positions after years of experience in the startup ecosystem. It is this experience which attracts startups and usually angels pool their funds together to invest in startups as a group and hedge the risk. The guidance and mentorship provided by angel investors and these angel networks is something that startups desperately seek, especially those in the early-stage.

While venture capitalists hunt for mature startups that have a proven track record, even startups that are just beginning or have found the initial legs need support through funding. That’s when angel networks provide a lifejacket to these startups in the form of large funding and share the expertise to help them with their day-to-day and larger problems.

JITO Angel Network invests $2,25,000 in aagey.com, Aadar

admin — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 12:40:25 +0000

Chennai: JITO Angel Network (JAN) has invested $2,25,000 in online financial solutions provider aagey.com and ayurveda brand Aadar.

“We are investing around Rs 1.3 crore in aagey.com and the rest in Aadar. Our total funding to start ups has touched Rs 40 crore up till now out of which Rscrore investments happened in the last one year and we are targeting an additional Rs 60 crore investments by March 2021,” said Siddharth Munoth, VC, JITO Angel Network, JIIF (JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation).

JIIF Startups raise 4 Crores through an event on lines of Shark Tank!

admin — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 12:45:42 +0000

JITO Youth wing along with JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation (JIIF) organised “JITO Start-Up Pitch & Fund raising event on lines of Shark Tank” for the first time in JITO history during the Jito Youth Conclave, Pune on 11 Jan 2020!

It was a roaring success which saw a massive turnout of 1,100+ attendees anxiously waiting to witness pitches of 6 startups in front of distinguished JITO Investors – Abhaya Srisrimal Jain, Manoj Mehta, Hitesh Doshi, Vijay Bhandari, Sunil Singhvi, Shilpin Tater, Vinod Duggar & Amit Jain.

The dignitaries gracing the event were Ganpatrajji Chaudhary, Anil Jain, Goutam Jain and many more

Entrepreneurs should focus on rural areas, says Gadkari

admin — Sat, 28 Sep 2019 12:47:52 +0000

‘Agricultural focus also needed’

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Nitin Gadkari, said entrepreneurs should focus on the rural and agricultural sectors to provide a stimulus to the economy.

“If we want to achieve a $5 trillion economy we need to focus on initiatives like converting agriculture waste into biofuels. I would like new entrepreneurs to focus on rural areas and on the agricultural sector,” he said. Mr. Gadkari was speaking at an event organised by the Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO) on Friday.

Referring to farmers’ leader Sharad Joshi’s description of ‘India vs Bharat’, Mr. Gadkari said there was still a disparity between urban centres like Mumbai and Delhi which constitute ‘India’ and rural areas, which were ‘Bharat’.

More MSMEs must get listed to fund growth, says Nitin Gadkari

admin — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 12:51:49 +0000

MUMBAI: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday said that more micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) should get listed on the exchanges to fund growth and reduce the burden on the lending sector.Such a move would allow the companies to get funds to expand their business globally, bringing in more revenue for the country, while investors will get good returns on their investment, he said while speaking at the second foundation day of JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation (JIIF).

The government aims to increase MSME sector’s contribution to the GDP to 50% in the next five years and increase its exports exponentially, he said. To achieve these targets, the cost of capital, logistics and power must be brought down for the MSMEs, making them globally competitive.