🍽️ Wow! Momo Foods’ global dreams

Start Your Day with YS Buzz: Your 8 AM Snapshot of Today's Top Startup News! 17 January 2024 [View in Browser]( Hello, Gujarat and Karnataka are frontrunners in the race to develop a thriving [startup ecosystem]( according to the ranking of states and union territories by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The annual exercise, which evaluates all states and UTs on their efforts to build an ecosystem conducive to startup growth, categorised Kerala, Tamil Nadu. and Himachal Pradesh as the “best performers”. In other news, edtech startup Unacademy has appointed [Pratik Dalal]( as the Chief Financial Officer of its offline centres business, according to an internal message sent by Co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal to employees. Elsewhere, India's largest IT services exporter TCS will train its entire staff of over 5 lakh software engineers on the upcoming [Generative Artificial Intelligence]( (AI) opportunity, a senior official said. [ICYMI:]( A new study has found that biological changes in the brain might help in getting over an ex. Researchers studying prairie voles say the rodents, which form monogamous relationships, experience a burst of the pleasure hormone dopamine in their brain when seeking and reuniting with their partner. However, the rodents got over the attachment after being separated for a lengthy period. In other words, time heals a broken heart! In today’s newsletter, we will talk about - Wow! Momo Foods’ global dreams - Odisha’s plans to become a startup hub - MapmyIndia’s total income exceeds Rs 100 Cr Here’s your trivia for today: Caracas is the capital of which South American country? --------------------------------------------------------------- Funding Wow! Momo Foods’ global dreams Amid the tough macroeconomic situation, it’s rare to hear of a quick-service restaurant securing a big cheque in venture capital funding. But Delhi-based Wow! Momo Foods has done it by raising a whopping $42 million from Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund. Existing investors OAKS Asset Management pumped in an additional $7 million. Co-founder and CEO Sagar Daryani tells YourStory about the company’s upcoming plans. Fresh capital: - The funding has arrived at an opportune time—when the company expects its FY24 revenue to cross Rs 500 crore and aims to carve a presence in Southeast Asia and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council). - Khazanah has invested in companies such as logistics firm Xpressbees, women’s apparel brand Zivame, and ecommerce behemoth Flipkart. - Founded in 2008 by Daryani and Binod Homagai, Wow! has managed to raise upwards of $78 million in funding to date. Some of the firm's early investors include Tiger Global and Value Quest Capital. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Funding Alert 1) Wow! Momo Foods: $49M| Undisclosed 2) InPrime Finserv: $3M| Series A 3) Adya.ai: $10.5Cr| Pre-Series A --------------------------------------------------------------- Startup Odisha’s plans to become a startup hub aims to be among India's top three startup destinations, with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik envisioning the growth of at least 5,000 startups by 2025. The startup boom is not limited to major cities; emerging ventures are thriving across the state, including Rourkela, Balasore, Berhampur, Sambalpur, and Bargarh. Key takeaways: - The role of Startup Odisha in nurturing companies can not be overstated. It has fostered over 1,800 startups across sectors such as agritech, IT, artificial intelligence, healthcare, fintech, and biotechnology. - Dr Omkar Rai, Executive Chairman of Startup Odisha, says the state is focusing on creating incubators to ensure startups get funding as well as market access. - The state hosts 27 incubators, and among them is Odisha Startup Hub (O-Hub), the Government of Odisha’s incubator. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- YourStory invites India's most promising D2C brands to apply for '100 Challenger Brands of India'. This initiative offers more than recognition; it's a chance to propel your brand at the Brands of New India Mega Summit. Benefits include elevating your brand's profile, unlocking growth opportunities, connecting with VCs, gaining media exposure, accessing exclusive deals, and receiving expert mentorship. Join this platform to shape the future of India's D2C sector. [List your brand today]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Earnings MapmyIndia’s total income exceeds Rs 100 Cr navigation firm MapmyIndia's (CE Info Systems) third-quarter total income has exceeded Rs 100 crore. In the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023-24, total income was Rs 103.6 crore, up from Rs 78.3 crore in the same period of FY 2022-23. Report card: - The company's revenue from operations surged 36% year on year to Rs 92.02 crore, compared to Rs 67.7 crore in the third quarter of FY23. - MapmyIndia achieved a revenue of Rs 272.5 crore for the first nine months of FY2024. For the same period, profit after tax (PAT) grew 21% YoY to Rs 96.2 crore, with PAT margin at 32%. - Established in 1995, the company offers proprietary digital maps as a service (MaaS), software as a service (SaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS), by offering advanced digital map data, software products, APIs, IoT, and solutions. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- From the CapTable How a chance encounter on a train led to India’s largest aquaculture startup Before his "serendipitous" meeting with a shrimp farmer on a train, Rajamanohar Somasundaram thought aquaculture—the rearing and harvesting of freshwater and marine life—was mostly a cottage industry. However, the chance meeting, long conversation, and eventual visit to the farmer’s home forced him to sit up and take notice of the industry’s huge and largely untapped potential. India is the world’s third-largest fish-producing country, accounting for 8% of the world’s aquaculture production. It contributes just over a percent of India’s gross value added (GVA) and nearly 7% of the country’s agricultural GVA, according to the government’s investment promotion agency, Invest India. India is also the world’s fourth largest exporter of fish and fisheries products. For all of this, as Somasundaram learned, the space was still largely unorganised. Somasundaram was already tinkering with the idea of doing something "impactful" in the agricultural industry, but his chance meeting with the shrimp farmer is what led him to found Aquaconnect in 2017. Six years on, Aquaconnect has grown into India’s largest aquaculture company, both in terms of funding raised as well as revenue. Thus far, the Chennai-based company has raised just north of $20 million, and is looking to do close to Rs 300 crore in revenue in the current fiscal year. Key Takeaways: - Aquaconnect has navigated some rough waters to create a solid business model for the largely fragmented Indian aquaculture industry - It has positioned itself as the connective tissue of the aquaculture industry, linking farmers to input retailers and seafood buyers - Its patent-pending remote satellite sensing technology plus on-the-ground executives add a layer of visibility and traceability that Indian aquaculture has traditionally lacked - The startup is looking to end FY24 with nearly Rs 300 crore in revenue—2X that of the previous fiscal—and expects to be EBITDA-positive by FY25 [Continue Reading]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & Updates - [AI partnership:]( Vodafone has agreed to a 10-year partnership with Microsoft to bring generative AI, digital, enterprise, and cloud services to more than 300 million businesses and consumers across its European and African markets. - [Open letter:]( A group of major technology and media companies have signed an open letter accusing tech giants of failing to bring their businesses into full compliance with incoming European Union digital competition rules. - [Mega deal:]( Chip design software maker Synopsys said on Tuesday it would buy Ansys (ANSS.O) in a $35 billion cash-and-stock deal, snapping up the maker of software used in creating products from airplanes to tennis rackets of players like Novak Djokovic. After a massively successful first edition, TechSparks, India’s most influential startup-tech conference, is returning to the country’s financial capital for a spectacular second edition from February 29 to March 1, 2024 at Grand Hyatt Mumbai. The event is expected to bring together more than 3,000 attendees, comprising 60% C-suite attendees; 49% early stage and growth stage founders; 21% decision makers at India’s leading enterprises and 10% reputed investors representing the ecosystem. Keen to come on board as a sponsor or partner? Get in touch with us with your requirements and we'll get back to you with further details. [Get In Touch]( Here's what else we have for you Bridging the funding gap for medtech startups Pfizer's INDovation programme is breaking barriers in medtech innovation, bridging the funding gap for startups in oncology and digital health. From grants to industry collaboration, it's shaping a future of accessible healthcare breakthroughs. [Read More]( Did you know? Caracas is the capital of which South American country? Answer: Venezuela. We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail nslfeedback@yourstory.com. If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, [sign up here](. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our [Daily Capsule page here](. [Feedback]( [Unsubscribe]( [Newsletters](