Paytm may buy Coverfox; new startup fund rolled out; Unacademy likely to raise $55 mn: Reports

Digital payments unicorn Paytm is in advanced talks to acquire Mumbai-based Coverfox Insurance Broking Pvt. Ltd, which runs an eponymous online insurance brokerage.

According to a report in The Economic Times citing two persons familiar with the development, the all-cash deal would see Paytm valuing the company at $100-$120 million (Rs 695-Rs 834 crore), should the transaction go through.

A potential hurdle for the deal could be SoftBank, which is an investor in Paytm’s parent as well as PolicyBazaar, another player in the insurance-tech space, the report added.

E-mails to Paytm as well as Devendra Rane, co-founder of Coverfox, did not get a response till press time.

For Paytm, this will not be the first acquisition deal in the financial services space, which now seems to have become the core focus of the company. In August last year, it had acquired the operator of fintech application Balance, a company which invests users’ money in mutual funds that have no lock-in period and offer returns of up to 8.7% a year.

The deal also comes amidst recent media reports that Coverfox is in talks with investors from China, the US and the UK to raise about $50 million as part of its Series D round.

The investment ticket size could stretch to $60 million and will likely value the company at $150-200 million, the reports said.

Multiply Ventures 

Three executives, who have worked in companies like Alibaba, Paytm, Flipkart and Myntra, have floated a new-early stage startup investment fund, The Economic Times reported.

Christened Multiply Ventures, the $50 million fund has been launched by  Raveen Sastry, Sanjay Ramakrishnan and Bhushan Patil.

Sastry is one of Myntra’s co-founders while Ramakrishnan has worked with GE Healthcare, Flipkart, Myntra and Google, among other companies. Patil has worked as president at Paytm and as director at Alibaba.

The investment firm, which will focus on sectors like new retail, fin-tech and ed-tech, will involve itself in pre-Series A to Series-A stages. It has already received $10 million in commitments so far from the likes of Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal, Zeta Interactive CEO David A Steinberg, besides undisclosed Alibaba executives, the report added.

Unacademy 

Bengaluru-based online learning platform Unacademy is in advanced talks to raise $55 million (Rs 383 crore at current exchange rate) in a round led by Hong Kong-based Steadview Capital.

According to The Economic Times, which reported the development citing sources it did not name, the startup is likely to be valued at $230-250 million because of the fund-raise.

The round is also likely to see the participation of existing investors Sequoia Capital India and SAIF Partners.

An e-mail query to Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and CEO of Unacademy, did not get a response till press time.

In April, Unacademy received a top-up investment from Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy.

Founded in 2015 by Munjal, Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh and Sachin Gupta, Unacademy started off as an educational YouTube channel providing free video content for various entrance examinations.

Subsequently, it developed two proprietary apps — one for learning called Unacademy Learning App and another for teaching called Unacademy Educator App.

The learning app operates on a freemium model where users can avail of both free and paid content, depending upon the course chosen. Its Android app alone claims to have more than five million downloads.

Dunzo 

Google-backed Dunzo Digital Pvt. Ltd, which runs daily task management app Dunzo, has launched  a logistics service pilot for retailers and small business owners.

According to The Financial Express, the company’s latest offering, christened Checkout with Dunzo, allows any retailer or small business to avail logistics support for its online delivery operations by tying up with it.

Co-founder and CEO Kabeer Biswas said that retailers, which are not on the Dunzo app, would be able to integrate the feature within their websites and customers would be able to choose this option before checking out.

Currently, the service has been launched as a pilot with Bengaluru-based bakery Cakezone. The company is on the verge of inking deals with six more players.

E-mail queries to Biswas did not get a response till press time.

The news comes amidst reports that venture capital fund Lightbox Ventures is likely to lead a $50 million funding.

Founded in 2015 by Biswas, Ankur Aggarwal, Dalvir Suri and Mukund Jha, Dunzo does grocery and restaurant deliveries, and provides instant local courier and home services. The platform uses both artificial intelligence and human operators to offer its services.