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India may be grappling with the second wave of the coronavirus, rising unemployment and a dwindling economy, but the South Asian nations burgeoning startup ecosystem has never had it better.

High-profile investors in India have long aggressively chased growth-stage and late-stage deals, pouring record amounts of capital into the worlds second-largest internet market. But in a sign of the growing investor bullishness regarding Indian startups, even early-stage companies that have largely been bereft of much similar attention in recent years are now sharing the limelight.

More than 70 early-stage Indian startups are currently in various stages of talks to raise money, according to sources familiar with the matter. The size of the investments vary from a few million dollars up to $100 million. TechCrunch is reporting some of the more notable deals today.

The usual caveat that many of the deals havent yet closed, and that their terms could change or the talks may not materialize into an investment applies in our reporting. The deals described below have not been previously reported.

Sequoia Capital India, the most prolific investing firm in the country, is in talks to make bets in over two-dozen Indian startups including Register Book, a firm that operates an eponymous bookkeeping app; Vah Vah, which runs an app to educate people about makeup from artists; SaaS platform BambooBox, and email marketing software provider MailModo.

The firm is also in talks to back, alongside venture fund Nexus, OneCode, a startup that runs an app to connect digital-first brands with sellers. Sequoia Capital India, which launched a dedicated fund for early-stage startups called Surge two years ago, is also in talks to invest in Probo, an app to predict future trends; and Rattle.

Vaibhav Domkundwar, who runs Better Capital, said the early-stage startup scene in India has never been this hot.

Pre-seed and seed stage momentum is at its peak, but we are also seeing preemptive rounds at Series As and Bs now, he told TechCrunch.

Domkundwar, who has backed over 140 startups including Khatabook and neobank Open, attributed some excitement to the new generation of founders in India, who he said are building product-first and distribution-first companies. We are seeing the fastest pace of investment in these teams, he said.

A different investor, who requested anonymity, said that second time founders are now able to raise on a deck or a Notion doc from elite angels, unicorn founders and micro VCs. The pace at which these founders are able to close the deal, the investor said, was stunning.

Bipin Shah, a partner at Titan Capital, which has invested in over 200 startups, said that two year ago there were only about 30-40 good stage companies that were getting funded. Over the last year or so, we believe over 500 companies have gotten funded at the seed stages in India, he told TechCrunch, adding that Titan Capital itself has invested in over 60 companies since the beginning of last year.

The frenetic pace of investments in early-stage deals come as many of the more mature bets have become unicorns in India and many established startups are finally exploring taking the public markets.

India has birthed 14 unicorns this year, up from 11 last year and just six in 2019. High-profile investors such as Tiger Global and Falcon Edge Capital have increased their focus on India this year and winning founders with their large size of checks, higher valuation, access to resources and quick turnaround time.

Many established firms are now chasing early-stage deals.

GSV is in talks to invest in Filo, a startup that operates an eponymous tutor app; and payments stack startup Inai has closed a new round from Better Capital and others and will be part of Y Combinators next batch. (Speaking of which, Y Combinators previous batch featured its largest cohort of Indian startups in history.)

One-year-old startup BrightCHAMPS, which has built a coding and math platform for kids, is also in talks with GSV to raise.

Indiagold, a startup that allows people in the South Asian nation to access credit against their gold reserve, is in talks to close a new round with two high-profile foreign investors that have traditionally backed growth and late-stage deals.

Germanys Razor Group is in late-stage talks to invest in Upscale, a startup that is attempting to replicate the Thrasio model in India.

Fintech investor RTP is in talks to invest in fintech firm Refyne, and Fleek, a startup that is building a payments system for subscription economy. Falcon Edges AWI is in talks to invest in Absolute Foods and fitness subscription platform Ultrahuman, while SaaS platform AccelData has been approached by Bessemmer and WestBridge.

For high-profile investors with billions in dry powder, there are many rewards for spotting a promising startup in its initial years. One can buy a much larger stake in a startup for lower prices before the valuation of the startup assuming things work out well soars. Investing early also reduces the amount an investor may lose should things with the portfolio firm goes south.

But not everyone is happy with the new dynamics.

An investor with a microfund told TechCrunch on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly that involvement of bigger investors in early-stage deals has made it tougher for smaller firms to source new deals as the bigger investors are now aggressively trying to close entire rounds by themselves.

The investor said there is an additional competition in the market now: groups of high-profile founders, who tend to collectively back startups.

The investor cited earlier in the story termed these investments as optionality checks. These optionality checks that usually back second-time founders or first-time founders who previously worked at a unicorn or soonicorn started with the Series A crowd such as Sequoia Capital India, Matrix and Lightspeed India Partners, he said. Now, the investor said, Tiger and Falcon/AWI are doing it, too.

There are two implications of these optionality checks, the investor said. They make life more difficult for micro VCs/seed VCs as they cannot compete with the Tigers or Falcons or Series A funds who can cut smaller checks with impunity, and perhaps even dilute less.

But the investor cautioned the founders who are raising such optionality checks. If the same fund doesnt back them in the next round, then the negative signal can imperil their chances of raising from other VCs. Second, the excess money that they get can sometimes encourage faster expansion and higher spends.

Lightspeed India Partners, best known for its investments in unicorns Oyo Rooms and e-commerce platform Udaan, is in talks to back Vegrow, a startup that partners with farmers; and has held talks to invest in100ms.live, which operates an eponymous tool to help developers add video conferencing features to their apps, as well as edtech startup Kalaam Labs.

Dyte, which is building a Stripe for live video calls, is in talks with Nexus and Sequoia Capital India. Elevation Capital, which is also in talks to invest in VeGrow, is inching closer to investing in FamPay, which offers credit cards to teens, at about a $150 million valuation. Bangalore-based Chiratae Ventures is in the final stages of talks to invest in AroLeap and analytics startup Locale.ai.

Fanplay, a platform for social media influencers to monetise via mobile games, has already raised from several American micro VCs, but the round hasnt closed yet. Mumbai-headquartered due diligence and monitoring platform Advarisk has been approached by several investors but has yet to close the round.

Trading signals provider Tradex is in talks to raise from Leo Capital. Audio social media app Frnd, radio and podcast aggregator app Kuku FM, and crop management platform Bharatagri are also in talks with investors to raise capital.

Plug-and-play payments provider Card91 has been approached by several investors but hasnt closed the round yet. Tournafest has closed a round from a clutch of angel investors, and so have Easy Eat and Stockgro. Kosh has raised from YC and VentureSouq among others.

Tech veteran Nandan Nilekanis firm Fundamentum is in talks to back Bijak, which operates a business-to-business marketplace to trade agricultural commodities and supply chain startup Reshamandi.

A survey by InnoVen Capital, results of which were published on Thursday, said that over 80% of the investors it had surveyed said their deal flow for early-stage startups had increased this year, compared to 2020.

Over 75% of the respondents in the same survey said the valuations in recent deals were on the higher side because of the intense competition for high-quality deals and entry of large established VCs in this space.

Early-stage investment activity has proven to be resilient despite the pandemic, with bigger transaction sizes and higher valuations, a clear sign of a maturing early-stage ecosystem, said Tarana Lalwani, senior director at InnoVen Capital India.

Updated at 2am IST, Friday to add insight from Bipin Shah of Titan Capital.

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Investors race to win early-stage startup deals in India - TechCrunch

Corporate News Delticom AG: Capital increase without subscription rights successfully placed, high investor interest in the capital increase with subscription rights in the context of the pre-placement

Hanover, June 02, 2021 - Yesterday, Delticom AG announced the successful placement of a significantly oversubscribed capital increase without subscription rights. The short-term issue of 1,246,333 new no-par value registered shares at a placement price of EUR 7.12 is expected to generate gross issue proceeds before costs and commissions of around EUR 8.9 million.

With regard to the announced capital increase with subscription rights, the preliminary placement with qualified investors has shown investor interest in excess of the possible issue volume of up to 1,121,697 new no-par value registered shares. Rights of clawback in the allocation ensure that new shares for which subscription rights are exercised are nevertheless available for subscription by existing shareholders of the Company. The existing shareholders of the Company will be granted the statutory subscription rights to the new shares in the form of medium-term subscription rights. The subscription period is expected to begin on June 4, 2021 and to end on June 18, 2021 (both inclusive).

The gross issue proceeds from the capital increase with subscription rights are expected to amount to approximately EUR 8.0 million before commissions and costs. Assuming a successful implementation, Delticom AG will generate gross issue proceeds from both transactions totalling approximately EUR 16.9 million.

Both capital increases are accompanied by Bankhaus Metzler.

The transaction represents another important step in the restructuring process. It strengthens the company's equity, enables the repayment of loans and creates new financing and growth scope for the future. Thomas Loock, CFO of Delticom AG, is pleased with the successful placement and the high level of investor interest: 'The capital increase is another important milestone in returning Delticom to a sustainably profitable growth path. We are pleased with the high level of investor interest and the successful cooperation with Bankhaus Metzler. We in the Delticom management team see the strong demand for the new shares as a clear confirmation by the capital market that we have taken the right measures for a successful turnaround of the company since the end of 2019.'

About Delticom:

With the brand Reifendirekt, Delticom AG is the leading company in Europe for the online distribution of tyres and complete wheels.

The product portfolio for private and business customers comprises an unparalleled range of more than 600 brands and around 18,000 tyre models for cars and motorcycles. Complete wheels and rims complete the product range. The company operates 410 online shops and online distribution platforms in 74 countries, serving more than 15.9 million customers.

As part of the service, the ordered products can be sent to one of Delticom's approximately 38,000 workshop partners worldwide for mounting at the customer's request.

Based in Hanover, Germany, the company operates primarily in Europe and the USA and has extensive expertise in the development and operation of online shops, internet customer acquisition, internet marketing and the establishment of partner networks.

Since its foundation in 1999, Delticom has built up comprehensive expertise in designing efficient and fully integrated ordering and logistics processes. The company's own warehouses are among its most important assets.

In fiscal year 2020, Delticom AG generated revenues of around 541 million euros. At the end of last year, the company employed 177 people.

The shares of Delticom AG have been listed in the Prime Standard of the German Stock Exchange since October 2006 (ISIN DE0005146807).

On the internet at: http://www.delti.com

Contact:

Disclaimer

Delticom AG published this content on 02 June 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 02 June 2021 14:30:03 UTC.

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Vizergy positioned HRI with a very scalable, dynamic merchandising platform to support their growth well into the future

"Hard Rock International's partner in the hotel and cafe website platform, Vizergy, showed a relentless commitment to excellence throughout the global website project," said HRI Vice President of Operations Andrea Melotti. "Unintimidated by the complexity of the task at hand, the Vizergy team provided positive and proactive support to every HRI team member that interacted with them."

Working closely with Hard Rock International since 2014, Vizergy's collaborative approach created opportunities for the partnership to grow and lead to HRI selecting Vizergy's website platform as their official digital sales and marketing system.

"We're honored to be part of HRI's future growth," said Vizergy CEO Joe Hyman. "Our relationship with the company, as with all of our clients, is truly a team effort. Leveraging deep digital experience, our team of specialists in UX, search, media and site architecture with many IT integrations has positioned HRI with a very scalable, dynamic merchandising platform to support their growth well into the future."Vizergy collaborates with many top-tier partners to give Hard Rock International powerful global online selling solution.

Hard Rock Hotels and Cafes benefit and scale from these key features as part of the integrated online solutions provided by Vizgery's platform:

The Partner of the Year award demonstrates Vizergy's commitment to collaboration and teamwork, further benefitting its clients. The company's scalable, turnkey digital sales and marketing platform enables clients to compete online aggressively with a sophisticated integrated solution all the tools they need in one place.

About Hard Rock

Hard Rock International(HRI) is one of the most globally recognized companies with venues in 68 countries spanning 239 locations that include owned/licensed or managed Hotels, Casinos, Rock Shops, Live Performance Venues and Cafes. HRI also launched a joint venture named Hard Rock Digital in 2020, an online sportsbook, retail sportsbook and internet gaming platform. Beginning with an Eric Clapton guitar, Hard Rock owns the world's largest and most valuable collection of authentic music memorabilia at more than 86,000 pieces, which are displayed at its locations around the globe. In 2021, Hard Rock International was awarded the Top Employer in the Travel & Leisure, Gaming, and Entertainment Industry by Forbes and also designated as a U.S. Best Managed Company by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal. In 2020, Hard Rock was honored as one of Forbes Magazine's Best Employers for Diversity and a Top Employer for Women. Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos also received first place ranking in the 2020 Casino Gaming Executive Satisfaction Survey conducted by Bristol Associates Inc. and Spectrum Gaming Group. In addition, Hard Rock Hotels was named one of the top performing hotel brands in J.D. Power's North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study for the second consecutive year. Hard Rock destinations are located in international gateway cities, including its two most successful flagship properties in Florida and home to the world's first Guitar Hotel in South Florida, Global Gaming's 2020 Property of the Year. The brand is owned by HRI parent entity The Seminole Tribe of Florida. For more information on Hard Rock International, visit http://www.hardrock.com or shop.hardrock.com.

About Vizergy Digital Marketing

For more than 20 years, Vizergy has served the hospitality industry with leading marketing technologies, immense talent and exceptional service for clients worldwide. The company deploys complete travel life-cycle marketing solutions from conversion-optimized website design to award-winning digital marketing programs, reservation solutions, media planning and execution. Vizergy's platform is touted as the #1 digital marketing system easy to use, turnkey and SMART, and continually enhanced with tools to help hotels compete and maximize revenue. At Vizergy, hospitality marketing is not only our mission, it's our sole focus. For more information, please visit Vizergy.com.

SOURCE Vizergy Digital

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Vizergy Named Partner of the Year for Its Leading-Edge Digital Sales and Marketing Platform - PRNewswire

Long the industry standard for measuring digital advertising, Google Analytics launched a significant update recently. More than an update, GA4 provides a whole new paradigm on how to think about and measure web traffic. So whether youre the guy who crunches the numbers, or needs to rely or manage those that do, heres a quick dive on what you need to know about the new Analytics 4.

As a starting point, a quick recap pre-update. Google Analytics, a free tracking tool from Google, provides data on your dealerships website traffic. It reports on things like which content or products are driving traffic on your site, from what website your visitors arrived, where and how they are converting or what actions they are taking on your site, as well as information like users age, gender, country, device, etc. Many vendor dashboards are based on GA4, so whether or not youre viewing it in its native form, youre likely still relying on its data to make decisions.

A key point on the previous Google UA is that tracking was accomplished by placing a block of JavaScript code on your website. And while that worked well for your website, tracking mobile devices required a different version of analytics, for example, GA for Apps, orGoogle Analytics for Firebase, which created a problem. The data from these versions looked quite different from the tracking for your website, often making it difficult to implement consistent tracking.

With the new GA 4, you can now track your website, an app, OR BOTH together. But since page views, bounce rate, or time on site are different for mobile, GA introduced a second change a new data model. To unify the collection methods, GA underwent a complete rethinking of how it works, redefining things like page views, transactions, social interactions, etc., under one concept. These are now referred to asevents.

With the new GA4, an event can be almost anything you choose; a pageview, screen view, or app view. With each event that gets triggered, youll also see extra information that describes the event more closely. These are calledevent parameters.

Also, these properties can now occur in other events. So you can query them together and compare them against each other. It also future proofs the system for the different sorts of devices that you may want to track, like the IoT (Internet of Things) devices or Point-of-sale systems.

As you can see, Google Analytics 4 is a significant update, offering new tools with an entirely new perspective on data and how it represents the digital world. In addition to providing more flexibility in what we choose to send into the system, it also allows Google to plug your data into their existing machine learning systems and provide predictive insights. There is no longer a need to ask questions; rather, GA 4 gives us insights right away with new predictive metrics already built in and available. The new GA4 is also more independent regarding the assumptions about what type of business its looking at. In a nutshell, Google Analytics 4 has moved from being less of a reporting interface where you merely view your data and instead of providing you with D-I-Y tools to build yourself. This means your GA 4 setup doesnt have to look like everyone elses. Of course, this means more advanced planning on your part so the events can be properly interpreted later.

In closing, while the current Google Universal Analytics platform will likely stick around for a while, its pretty clear that GA4 is the next step in the evolution of analytics data. So if youre ready to jump in and see what the new GA4 can do for you, there are three ways to get started (with varying degrees of commitment).

1. If youre ready to fully rely on Google Analytics 4 reporting. Set up a new site on a Google Analytics 4 property.

2. Create a parallel new GA4 property collecting data alongside your existing UA property. This will also establish a connection to migrate configuration settings from your UA property to your new GA4 property when youre ready.

3. Add Google Analytics 4 to a site that already has Analytics. Your UA property is left unchanged and continues to gather data.

Note: youll need Edit permission on your current account. Read more on setup here.

Ed Steenman is the owner of Steenman Associates that provides traditional and digital media services to automotive dealerships and dealer groups nationally. An internationally recognized writer and presenter on social media and digital strategies, Ed Steenman and his team have been on the 'bleeding edge' of the digital revolution both presenting and implementing digital strategies for a diverse group of clientele. Ed is a regular contributor to leading industry publications including Dealer Marketing Magazine and Construction Equipment Distribution Magazine, as well as a regular guest lecturer at Seattle University and a recurring judge for State DECA events. Recent engagements include keynotes and breakout sessions for Volkswagen of Mexico, the Associated Equipment Dealers Lawson Executive Summit in Chicago and others.

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Introducing Google Analytics 4: New Tracking & a New Way of Thinking - Dealer Marketing Magazine

A celebration of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, Pride Month (celebrated each year in June), over the years, has become a great opportunity for brands to stand up for the cause of equal rights and representation, globally.

However, the Indian brands still are very cautious and often seem to be floundering with half-baked attempts that could best be described as tokenism in most cases.

The creative industry feels that there is still a long way to go for them to champion the cause of equal representation in ads created for and with the community.

Elephant Design Co-founder & Director Ashwini Deshpande says, We have been seeing very specific, focused campaigns during pride months for a couple of years. In most cases, I dont quite feel sure about who they are targeted towards and what their purpose is. I also believe we are still exploring and discovering the proud tone of voice that will work in India. I have cringed at the caricaturing in Bollywood and I do hope we see sensible portrayals of real characters in communication. In any case, we have to do away with tokenisms that happens in June and also for Womens Day, Environment Day and Mothers Day campaigns.

It is not like that the industry has never created compelling pieces of communication representing the community, but the ones that got all the elements right are few and far between.

Some of the campaigns, not necessarily created for Pride Month, which really struck the chord have been Vicks Touch of Love (created by Publicis Singapore, 2017), Fastrack Come Out of the Closet (created by Lowe Lintas, 2013), and OKCupid Indias #AllyOfLove (created by Dentsu Webchutney, 2020).

Most recently, the Bhima Jewellers Pure As Love campaign (created by Animal, 2021), left a big impact. However, the industry at large, might still be manoeuvring in a safe field when it comes to telling stories of the community.

Dentsu Webchutney Lead D&I and AVP Strategy Freya DSouza says, Indian advertising has come a long way when it comes to narratives around the LGBT+ community. Some advertising hasnt aged well, while others have built considerable equity for the brand while staying true to the community and their current circumstance in society today.

Depicting diversity within the community as well as showcasing young Indian LGBT+ faces in advertising have helped open up conversations, especially on social media, around what used to be a sensitive/taboo or even derided issue earlier. That said, most advertising plays it safe in more ways than one, diluting what are essential topics of discussion for the community (issues around discrimination, oppression, legality, and everyday living) to cater to a more mainstream palate. The dialogue around LGBT+ issues in the country is evolving, and as brand marketers and advertisers, we get to decide if we choose to follow the conversation or lead it.

Madison BMB CEO & Chief Creative Officer Raj Nair adds that brands need to be seen as bold, fearless and progressive, just like the members of the LGBTQIA+ community if they really want to make a positive impact.

He highlights, Brands need to be seen as seriously promoting the cause if they want active support from the large community. The last thing the community wants is lip service and anything that could be seen as exploitative. Take the example of Benetton. Heres a brand that, for decades, has thrown all rule books out the window and has been 'woke' way before the word was coined. When Benetton puts out a message, its the most natural fit there possibly could be. The last thing a brand should do is jump on a bandwagon, just for the sake of it, for topicality.

When it comes to expectations for this years pride campaigns, Deshpande wants the brands to rise above tokenism and doesn't want it to be all about selling or increasing gift orders etc.

She points out, Brands need a lot more introspection before they do any Pride Month activities. Apart from one odd campaign, brands need to be clear about how they would be aligning themselves with the changing and open order of gender fluidity & sexual choices. In the absence of a clear & consistent manifesto, a campaign is pure tokenism and may do more harm than not. I want to see human stories that touch all aspects of relationships.

Similarly, DSouza wants to see representation across the gender and sexuality spectrum and perhaps, even a commitment from brands (and agencies) toward the LGBT+ community that extends beyond the campaign and Pride Month, to product, culture and more.

She says, I would love for brands that define themselves as bold, authentic, inclusive etc. in terms of brand persona and TOV to bring this to bear in advertising for the LGBT+ community, and extend the dialogue around what representation in advertising can and should be. Of course, this pertains to all brands but lets start somewhere. I do believe we can and should move beyond the depiction of same-sex couples and transwomen alone to include more of the spectrum of sexuality and gender. For example, while weve had trans representation (and I welcome more and more of it!), weve rarely seen transmen showcased in advertising. Why is that? Weve never spoken of pansexuality, bisexuality or asexuality.

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Will brands rise above tokenism and topicality this Pride Month? - Exchange4Media