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Showing posts with the label SoftBank

Flipkart's woes sound alarm over start-up valuations

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InMobi, a fledgling mobile ad network back in 2011, was out in the market to raise $25 million when Japanese investor  Softbank  decided to sink $200 million for a 35 per cent stake in the company. The firm jumped at the opportunity, took the money, and expanded rapidly. Three years later, in 2014, Softbank wrote down a majority of its investment. BACK TO BASICS 92%  VCs believe valuations for series B, C and D rounds will drop 62%  investors believe exit valuations will come down this year 92%  believe more strategic investors will do deals this year 46%  VCs believe that there will be increased focus on profitability this year 70%  VCs believe the seed stage will see the most activity in the current year Source: VCCircle PE-VC Outlook Survey 2016 Show full article

Grofers shuts down operations in nine cities

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Hyperlocal grocery delivery app Grofers has reportedly shut down operations in nine cities. According to reports, the company will no longer deliver to Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Kochi, Ludhiana, Mysuru, Nashik, Rajkot and Visakhapatnam. The firm had launched a big television campaign in November 2015, hoping to get more traffic to the site, but the demand petered out in December. ALSO READ: US expects Pak to act against Pathankot attack perpetrators Grofers secures $120 million in series C funding from SoftBank The nine cities, a source said, were not bringing enough orders to sustain the push. The source added the company had started operations in these cities to avoid “disappointed customers” who would download the app after seeing the advertisements and get no service. “We thought they may give the app a bad rating, which would damage the reputation.”  Read More