Startup News: 30th November 2020 - 6th December 2020

Happy December! Here are the latest weekly startup stories for you. Explore what's trending in startup world. Start afresh with our updates.

30th November, Monday

1. C3.ai’s initial IPO pricing guidance spotlights the public market’s tech appetite

C3.ai posted an initial IPO price range of $31 to $34 per share, with the company forecasted a sale of 15.5 million shares at that price. The focused artificial intelligence company is also selling $100 million of stock at its IPO price to Spring Creek Capital, and another $50 million to Microsoft at the same terms. Read more.

2. Facebook to Buy Kustomer, Startup Valued at $1 Billion

Facebook announced the deal that it would buy Kustomer, a startup that have concentrated on customer-service platforms and chatbots, part of an effort by the social-media giant to help companies use its platforms to do business. Read more.

1st December, Tuesday

1. Edtech Platform Habitat Raises INR 5 Cr From Unitus Ventures & Whiteboard Capital

Habitat, an ed-tech platform has raised INR 5 crore in seed funding from Unitus Ventures and Whiteboard Capital. The new capital will be utilised for tech development and strengthening. The startup trains most competitive exams wherein 1.5 million aspirants compete for 1,000 seats yearly. Read more.

2. Scale is now worth $3.5 billion and breaking even

Start-up Scale AI, founded in 2016, helps companies improve their A.I. capabilities, is now worth more than $3.5 billion and it has raised $155 million, led by Tiger Global, at a valuation over $3.5 billion. Read more.

2nd December, Wednesday

1. Salesforce buys Slack in a $27.7B megadeal

The CRM powerhouse-Salesforce,announced that it is immersing deeper into enterprise social by acquiring Slack in a $27.7 billion megadeal. The new deal also puts Salesforce more on par — and in competition — with its arch rival and sometime friend Microsoft. Read more.

2. CoreStack raises $4M to help companies manage cloud infrastructure cost, compliance, consumption

Seattle based startup CoreStack raised another $4 million as the company sees demand increase for its cloud governance software. It is a co-sell partner with AWS and Microsoft Azure, and helps companies to manage the cost, compliance, consumption, and other aspects of their cloud infrastructure. Read more.

3rd December, Thursday

1. Flipkart to spin off PhonePe, digital payments business valued at $5.5 billion

Walmart Inc-controlled Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart partially offshoot PhonePe in a gesture aimed at widening the digital payments platform's access to capital to fuel its growth.PhonePe will raise $700 million in primary capital. Read more.

2. Wealthtech Firm Fisdom Raises Funding From PayU

Wealthtech company Fisdom raised $7 million in a new round of funding. The funding will be deployed towards new product development and customer acquisition. Read more.

3. Signzy Raises $3 Mn Funding From Vertex Ventures

Artificial intelligence (AI) platformSignzy has raised an additional $3 million from Vertex Ventures, taking its latest round of fundraising to $8.4 million in total. Signzy team has executed an ambitious global strategy to grow. Read more.

4. Electric aircraft builder ePlane Company raises undisclosed seed funding

The ePlane Company, which makes electrical aircraft for door-to-door sail in cities has raised an undisclosed round of funding in seed funding. The investment was led by deep-tech VC Speciale Invest. Read more.

5. Pave raises millions to bring transparency to startup compensation

Pave, a San Francisco situated startup that recently graduated from YC Combinator is aiming to end the pay and equity gap with a software tool. It developed to make it simple to track, measure, and communicate how and what they pay their employees. Read more.

4th December, Friday

1. Fantasy startup Esports One raises $4M plus

Esports One, a startup bringing the fantasy strategy to esports, is declaring that it has raised an additional $4 million in funding. The new funding was led led by XSeed Capital, Eniac Ventures, and Chestnut Street Ventures, bringing Esports One to a total of $7.3 million raised. Read more.

2. Revolut lets businesses accept online payments

Revolut-a fintech startup is launching its own acquiring solution. Company already offers business accounts, lets you send and receive international payments, and exchange funds in multiple currencies. You can see payments and banking in the same interface, you don’t need to alternate between your Stripe account and your bank account Read more.

3. MobiKwik raises ₹52 crore from HT group

MobiKwik, Digital payments and financial services startup it has raised ₹52 crore in a latest round of funding led by Hindustan Media Ventures, the investment verrticle of HT group. The raised capital will be used for upswing its key business segments including its digital credit business, consumer payments and payment gateway subsidiary. Read more.

4. YC-backed LemonBox raises $2.5M bringing vitamins to Chinese millennials

LemonBox supplies American health supplements to Chinese millennials via online channels. The company freshly attracted seed funding this week, it announced the completion of a pre-A round of $2.5 million led by Panda Capital and followed by Y Combinator. Read more.

5th December, Saturday

1. Zephr raises $8M to help news publishers grow subscription revenue

Zephr has raised $8 million funding it's focused solely on the experience and journey to the prospect or customer. Zephr’s excellent technology that empowers publishers to galvanise the online subscription opportunity and create customer. Read more.

2. Spacetech Startup Pixxel Signs Deal For Earth-Imaging Satellite Launch In 2021

Company has signed a pact with ISRO which will help to launch PSLV rocket in early 2021. India’s first Earth-imaging satellite startup Pixxel is planning to launch its first satellite on an Indian rocket, instead of using a Russian one. Read more.

6th December, Sunday

1. Zypp to onboard more female riders, add 9,000 e-scooters on platform

Zypp Electric company has onboarded 100 female riders For Zypp, grocery deliveries is the biggest segment, followed by e-commerce has already delivered more than 7.5 lakh lakh shipments amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.

2. Group seeking equality for women in tech raises $11 million

Group of female venture capitalists formed a nonprofit called All Raise to focus on women’s equality.Group seeking equality for women in tech raises $11 million and fund be used expansion plans for the next three years. All Raise helps peer groups, boot camps, and mentorship programs for female and nonbinary investors and founders. Read more.

If you missed out the previous week or entire month updates of startup world news, follow the link to read it now and stay updated with every passing update with us.

Startup News: 23rd November 2020 - 29th November 2020

Startup News: 16th November 2020 - 22nd November 2020

Startup News: 9th November 2020 - 15th November 2020

We, at OpenGrowth, are constantly looking for latest news in the startup ecosystem. If you want to share any important news from last week, then do let us know in the comment section below.