Hyperlocal ecommerce platform LoveLocal to hire 300 employees by the end of FY2022-23

Hyperlocal ecommerce platform LoveLocal said it is planning to create 300 job opportunities by the end of FY2022-23 across product, engineering, and tech roles. The new hires will take the startup's total headcount from 107 to 410.

The startup is looking to fill key roles, including Head of Engineering, Director of Product, and Senior Product Managers. About 150 of LoveLocal's open positions exist in the product, tech, and data science segments.

The other 150 are across departments, including business intelligence, brand partnerships, fraud prevention, performance and brand marketing manager, finance, and more.

Launched in January 2020 by Akanksha Hazari, LoveLocal aims to empower local retailers and digitise the unorganised retail market. Since its inception, the startup has grown 40X. At present, it serves over 35 cities and 1300 pin codes across India.

Course5 Intelligence Limited files for IPO of up to Rs 600 crore

Pure-play data analytics and insights company Course5 Intelligence Limited has filed DRHP for its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The company is proposing an IPO of Equity Shares of the face value of Rs 5 each (Equity Shares) aggregating up to Rs 600 Crore (Offer).

The company proposes to utilise the net proceeds of the fresh issue towards funding: inorganic growth initiatives (Rs 75 crore), working capital requirements (Rs 70 crore), product and IP initiatives (Rs 50 crore), expansion of geographical footprint (Rs 30 crore), and general corporate purposes.

The Offer comprises a fresh issue of equity shares, aggregating up to Rs 300 crore and an Offer For Sale (OFS) of equity shares, aggregating up to Rs 300 crore.

The company is promoted by Ashwin Ramesh Mittal, Riddhymic Technologies Private Limited, Riddhymic Technoserve LLP, and AM Family Private Trust.

The OFS comprises equity shares by Ashwin Ramesh Mittal, aggregating up to Rs 32.5 crore; Riddhymic Technologies Private Limited, aggregating up to Rs 40 crore; Riddhymic Technoserve LLP, aggregating up to Rs 40 crore; AM Family Private Trust, aggregating up to Rs 112.5 crore (the Promoter Selling Shareholders), and equity shares by Kumar Kantilal Mehta, aggregating up to Rs 75 crore (the Other Selling Shareholder, and together with the Promoter Selling Shareholders, the Selling Shareholders).

India Accelerator launches new coworking space in Gurugram

India Accelerator (IA) — the seed accelerator programme with Global Accelerator Network — has announced the launch of its new coworking space. Spread across 20,000 sq. ft., the coworking space is located on MG Road, Gurugram.

The new coworking space is built on the approach of hybrid work models and new industry parameters, offering comprehensive conference rooms, meeting rooms, biometric access control, etc. Furthermore, the coworking space has a cafeteria and gaming zone to make the workspace livelier for entrepreneurs and their teams.

Further, it offers an ecosystem to startups and SMEs with disruptive business ideas, wherein it mentors, leverages, and provides networking opportunities to them.

Abhay Chawla, Co-founder of IA, says,

“We have been known for redefining the way startups come together to build, work, and scale their business. The newly launched coworking space is a testament to the growing trust of startups in us. With this space, we strive to provide a flexible, flourishing, and ergonomic workspace equipped with amenities that help entrepreneurs thrive in the industry.”

Leverage announces foray into financial services

Study abroad platform Leverage — which operates Leverage Edu, UniValley.com, and UniConnect, among others — said it has forayed into financial services and has launched three different services: international remittances, education loans, and international bank accounts.

Akshay Chaturvedi, Founder and CEO of Leverage, said,

"We have a different approach on education loans, and are, at the moment, only aiming to facilitate the lowest possible interest rate to be able to complete the loop for students that gives us a chance to work with leading public sector banks and undercut the market massively being able to give out the best interest rates."

Leverage has been in discussions with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the last 1-2 months and is hoping to receive the license in the next few weeks. The startup said that in a pilot for its students in the last intake, it processed loans over Rs 75 crore and is aiming to hit a Rs 1000 crore loan book in the next six months.

Pepul raises $1.5 million in seed round

Pepul, which has developed a privacy-first, interest-based social network app, has raised $1.5 million in its seed round, with participation from Hourglass Ventures, Girish Mathrubootham, and Vijay Shekar Sharma, among others.

Founded by Suresh Kumar G in June 2020, Pepul is focused on restricting anonymous users and negative content on its social platform. It emphasises building a network of verified users whose profiles are authentic.

According to a press release from Pepul, people can connect, interact, and create their real-world community based on their personal interests. The startup wants to use the seed capital on building the social platform infrastructure, team expansion, and user acquisition, it added.

Crib announces pre-seed round

SaaS-based marketplace for co-living Crib has raised $400,000 in a pre-seed round led by Pranay Gupta, Co-founder of 91Springboard.

Headquartered in Gurugram and founded by Sunny Garg and Shaifali Jain, Crib is developing a solution for co-living that bundles property management software with a reseller platform.

Crib will use the capital to build its engineering team, boost product development, and onboard the first set of properties from Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Delhi-NCR, according to a press release.

The pre-seed round also saw participation from BlackSoil Capital, marquee angels like Shashwat Nakrani, Co-founder of BharatPe, Jasminder Singh Gulati, Ajay Yadav, Sarath Sura, Abdul Paravengal, Rahul Jindal, Uday Arya, Panna Lal Bhansali, Kushal Khandwala, and Tushar Anand.