Goldman Sachs backs Mpower Financing
What's the news?
MPower Financing has raised $100 million in debt from Goldman Sachs as the education loans provider aims to broaden its reach to students looking to study in the US and Canada. MPower has now raised an estimated $200 million in loan financing capital, having raised $100 million from Community Investment Management in December last year
What is the company doing?
MPower is expanding its marketing team and entering into strategic partnerships. This debt financing used to fund their loans portfolio, said Ashwini Kumar, head of India operations at MPower Financing. The fintech firm is also in conversations with multiple corporate houses to train their employees’ and possibly assist them in going abroad for further education. Read more.
Paytm top deck rejig
What's the news?
Paytm has elevated its CFO and senior vice-president Madhur Deora as president in a newly created role. He will now oversee multiple business lines at the Noida-based firm and will be responsible for all of Paytm’s consumer services business.
What's the plan?
Verticals like games, movies, travel, deals, and content will be headed by Deora and he will be responsible for managing the growth and financials of these businesses.
Deora, who had so far been spearheading all dealmaking at the company, had led Paytm through its multiple financing rounds along with a slew of acquisitions it has completed. One97 Communications, the parent of Paytm, has been in talks to raise a new $1-1.5 billion in fresh capital.
The firm plans to hire a CFO in place of Deora within the next few weeks and also plans to create new roles at the top of the management. The changes at the top come in the wake of a number of senior executives quitting Paytm and Paytm Mall over the past few months. Read more.
Amazon, Flipkart prep for a festive spike
What's the news?
Festive season orders from Amazon and Flipkart have surged up to 80% over last year in the apparent expectation that consumer spending will revive during the Navratri-Diwali period, several electronics, smartphones and fashion brands told ET.
For online-focused and exclusive brands, festive orders have doubled, three senior industry executives said.
Why is it significant?
Smartphones, consumer electronics, and apparel are the three largest contributors to e-commerce sales in India, accounting for around 80% of the business. On average, online discounts have come down this year after the government tightened norms for foreign-funded online marketplaces. But studies have indicated that e-commerce's contribution to total sales is going up due to convenience, the wider variety available and new shoppers who are coming on board as internet access gets cheaper. Read more.
Rise of Instagram Shopping
What's the news?
Instagram has introduced several add-on features for businesses to facilitate commerce on the platform over the last three years, estimated to be a global market worth $10 billion by 2021. The quiet rise of Instagram shopping in the country has not gone unnoticed by brands
What's working on the platform?
The real winners of Instagram's e-commerce avatar are small and medium businesses. Apparel is a rage on the platform. It also has room for offbeat and quaint categories — like miniature-food magnets and slime. A lot of these sellers prefer Instagram to traditional e-commerce since there is direct contact between the buyer and the seller. Marketplaces also impose several guidelines which these sellers believe are hard to comply. Read more.
RedDoorz secures new financing
What's the news?
Hotel management and booking platform RedDoorz has raised $70 million in its latest round of funding, led by Asia Partners, Rakuten Capital, and Mirae Asset Naver Asia Growth Fund. This comes nearly a month after the company raised $45 million in its Series-B round that was led by Chinese investment firm Qiming Venture Partners.
Where will the money be used?
RedDoorz plans to go deeper into markets in which they currently operate. "South East is our playground. In terms of accommodation, it is three times the size of India, and so we believe, we have just scratched the surface of the market" CEO Amit Saberwal told ET.
The company, which operates across over 80 cities in the region with over 1,400 properties, is targeting having over 2,000 listings by the end of the current calendar year. Read more.