ETtech Morning briefing: Sharechat valuation, Paytm's big plans, Walmart India losses & more

1. Sharechat's valuation may go over $400M in a new round

What's the news?

In what will be the most hotly contested rounds of venture funding, over half a dozen top global financial and strategic investors like WeChat owner Tencent, South African media firm Naspers, investment firms DST Global, Hillhouse Capital and Morningside Ventures, US-based e-commerce giant Amazon and Chinese online media players Toutiao and Kwai, among others, are in talks to invest in regional language social platform ShareChat, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

What does this deal mean for the ecosystem?

The deal is expected to increase the valuation of the three-year-old startup 4-5 times to $400 million in less than 6 months after the company raised a round of funding from Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi and venture capital firm Shunwei at $75 million valuation late last year, said these sources.

The high investor interest in Sharechat underlines how digital media and social networks targeting the new internet users is becoming the next big theme as funding environment picks up again. Read more.

2. Big plans ahead for Paytm

What's the news?

Financial services are going to become the next big bet for mobile payments company Paytm which plans to invest about Rs 5,000 crore in its core business this year. The company is also aiming to double the number of quarterly transactions from 1 billion per quarter earlier this year to 2 billion per quarter by end of the year.

What's the big bet?

In financial services, it will look to bring new products to the market. Founder & CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma also said that while there was an initial impact of RBI’s KYC requirement with 10-15% fall in transactions in early March, the company recovered the numbers in March and grew again in April. Read more.

3. Walmart India narrows losses by almost 27% in FY17

What's the news?

Walmart India, which runs cash-and-carry stores in the country, narrowed its losses by almost 27% during FY17 as compared to the 12 months in the previous fiscal, according to its financials with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) sourced from data-tracking platform Tofler.

What do the numbers say?

The company posted a loss of Rs 75 crore for FY17. It also witnessed a 10% revenue growth for the fiscal ending March 2017 as compared to previous 12 months.

The company registered total revenues worth approximately Rs 3641 crore of which Rs 1921 crore was contributed by food sales and the Rs 979 crore was by FMCG, among others. Total expenses clocked by the company during the same period come up to Rs 3716 crore. Read more.

4. The government should play a bigger role in funding research on tech products: Nasscom, Infoholic report

What's the news?

As many as 92% of India’s technology institutes want the Union government to play a bigger role to encourage research and innovation, and enhance industry-academia collaboration to boost innovation, according to a joint study by Nasscom and Infoholic.

Why this view?

The study, which featured interviews with representatives of 75 prominent technology institutes across the country and industry representatives, found that the overwhelming view was that while the government played an active role in making technology products commercially viable it should offer more aids to students for pursuing research.

The interviewees also highlighted that the government should have well-implemented policies to remove disconnect between the industry and academia. Read more.