Deal Talk: OYO to raise $200 mn for more US deals; WeWork India buyout plans delayed

TechCircle brings you a round-up of technology investment and M&A deals reported from across newsrooms. 

OYO to raise $200 mn for more US deals

Gurugram-based Oyo Hotels and Homes is in talks with financial institutions to borrow $200 million to buy premium hotels in the United States, Mint reported, citing sources.

The startup has identified the premium hotels segment as its focus area outside India, the report added.

Late last month, the Ritesh Agarwal-owned platform bought Hooters Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

OYO, which is reportedly in the midst of restructuring its business into India and international business operations, has said it was the world's third-largest hotel chain as per room count at the end of June 2019. 

Tencent, GGV Capital to invest in KhataBook

Digital ledger platform KhataBook is raising funds from Chinese conglomerate Tencent and US-based venture capital firm GGV Capital in what appears to be a Series B round, Entrackr reported Tuesday, citing sources.

DST Partners Fund and Ribbit Capital along with 20 top angels were reportedly investing $20 million in the Bengaluru-based startup’s Series A round. The round has already been executed, the report added.

“It’s in advanced discussion to raise $80-85 million fresh financing round from Tencent and GGV Capital,” Entrackr’s report quoted the sources as saying.

The investment from the Chinese conglomerate in KhataBook is coming at a time when Tiger Global and Lightspeed Venture Capital ramped their stakes in its rival OKCredit by investing over $60 million.

WeWork’s $2.75 bn India unit deal faces delays

We Company, the parent holding of WeWork offices worldwide, has decided to postpone its initial public offering, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

This could also delay its plan to acquire majority control of its Indian affiliate to next year, Mint reported, citing sources.

Earlier this year, the space-as-a-service operator offered to buy a 70% stake in WeWork India in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $2.75 billion, three years after it entered the country through a brand franchise agreement.

Embassy Buildcon Llp, the holding company of WeWork India that is owned by Embassy Group chairman Jitu Virwani, would hold the remaining 30% stake once the deal goes through, the report added.

Chiratae Ventures plans $35 mn fund in search of new bets

Venture capital firm Chiratae Ventures, formerly known as IDG Ventures India, will launch a new $35 million seed fund, The Economic Times reported, citing sources.

“The intent is to focus on cheque sizes of between $500,000 and $1 million, and get exposure to high-growth emerging sectors early,” the report quoted a source as saying.

With the seed-stage market getting more competitive, funds have to continually think of programmes and initiatives to add value to companies, another source was quoted as saying by ET.

Late last month, Chiratae Ventures got a $20 million commitment from World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) for its fourth consecutive India-specific fund.

Freelance marketplace GigIndia gets funding from technology veterans

Freelance marketplace GigIndia has raised a round of funding from a group of senior-level executives in the technology industry, Inc42 reported.

The investors included former Tata Consultancy Services chief executive S Ramadorai and former Tech Mahindra chief executive Kiran Deshpande.

Ravi Nigam, former managing director and co-founder of Tasty Bite Eatables as well as Shashank Deshpande, co-founder of Clarice Technologies were also part of the investors' group. 

Some notable clients of GigIndia include Swiggy, SHAREit, ShareChat, Paytm, BookMyShow and Uber.

Pune-based GigIndia is a freelancer marketplace founded by Sahil Sharma and Aditya Shirole in 2017. The company is known to provide micro-jobs to students. It claims to have a workforce of over 513,000 freelancers who have completed more than 871,000 gig jobs till now across 34 cities.