Livspace raises $60 mn; Flipkart may buy Walmart cash-and-carry business

Bengaluru-based online home design company Livspace has raised $60 million from Hong Kong-based Tahoe Investment Group, Singapore-domiciled Mercer Investments and EDB Investment, along with European investment management firm Kharis Capital and Singapore-based growth stage investor Venturi Partners’ managing director Nicholas Cator, The Economics Times reported, citing regulatory filings. The report revealed that the investment has been made across multiple allotments and is likely to close next month in a round which could go up to $90-$100 million. 

Last year in December, Livspace was in talks to raise $100 million at a valuation of over $500 million. 

Also watch: Technology key for solving critical problems in the design industry: Rohit Modi, Livspace

Flipkart may acquire Walmart's cash-and-carry business

Walmart-owned ecommerce company Flipkart group may acquire the wholesale cash-and-carry business of its parent company in India, The Economic Times reported. This move comes after failed talks between Walmart India and the Tata Group, the report said. Flipkart is expanding its footprint in the online food and grocery segment. This acquisition of the Walmart India business will offer strength to Flipkart’s supply chain, the report added.

Millennials say seeing unread emails makes them anxious: Hiver

About 60% of millennials in India feel anxious when they see unread emails in their inbox, according to a survey by Gmail-based email collaboration platform Hiver. The study surveyed over 600 millennials to understand their work email behaviour patterns and found that at least two out of five millennials get extremely uncomfortable if they have not been able to check their work email for three-four hours at a stretch.“At Hiver, our goal is to reduce the stress caused by cluttered or badly-managed inboxes. We help teams collaborate better on group inboxes like info@, support@ by minimising the usage of forwards and CCs -- a huge contributor to inbox clutter,” Niraj Ranjan Rout, co-founder and CEO, Hiver, said.

MoneyGram, EbixCash sign pact to expand India presence

Supplier of on-demand software and ecommerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries EbixCash, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ebix, entered into a strategic agreement with MoneyGram International to bring enhanced services to consumers in India. Under the partnership, MoneyGram will be able to reach additional consumers through Ebix’s 320,000 distribution outlets, the companies said in a joint statement. EbixCash customers can access the MoneyGram platform to quickly send or receive money to family and friends across over 200 countries and territories. The partnership aims to service inward remittance volumes of $3 billion annually by targeting remitters in key sending markets outside India.