Startup news and updates: daily roundup (October 4, 2022)

Zenskar raises $3.5M in seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners

Zenskar, a flexible billing platform for SaaS companies, announced that it has raised $3.5 million in a seed funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Shine Capital, Basecamp Fund, and Converge.

The investment will allow the company to invest in engineering talent, accelerate product development and advance its go-to-market initiatives.

Headquartered in New York and Bengaluru, Zenskar offers a flexible billing platform that enables SaaS companies to handle complexities in pricing that include usage-based pricing, subscriptions, nuanced discounts, credits, custom currencies, prepaid, post-paid, ramp deals, etc.

Founded by Apurv Bansal and Saurabh Agrawal in March 2022, Zenskar provides flexible billing software for modern SaaS companies. Its product is live with a handful of early design partners, with dozens of other customers on the waitlist.

Arzooo launches Quick Retail service with JIT Delivery

Retail tech platform Arzooo has launched Quick Retail, powering retail stores across top cities with 10X larger product range and with next-day delivery service. 

This initiative will enable all electronic retail stores to sell a wider range of products without investing in stocking inventory. The retailer can close the sale with the digital inventory on Arzooo, and the company will fulfil this requirement by delivering the next day. 

Quick Retail will be backed by Arzooo’s logistics arm, Arzooo Express. It currently has a vast network of over 35 hubs and warehouses across India. Arzooo has also created an ecosystem with over 5,000 sellers on the platform that will boost service delivery. 

Spinny announces company-wide Stock Option Plan

Used car retailing platform Spinny has announced Stock Option Plan for all team members.

“Our reward philosophy is centred around modern thinking fuelled by compassion, teamwork, and shared ownership. Nothing is more important to us than bringing the right solutions for our customers and creating value for the team members,” said Niraj Singh, Founder and CEO, Spinny.

In December 2021, the company facilitated the first ESOP buyback and the total value of the buyback was $12 million.

Aside from ESOP for all, the company has also implemented a few other employee-friendly benefits in the recent past, such as the Spinny Education Sponsorship Program, which provides educational assistance to employees seeking higher education to advance their careers, salary advances and loans.

1261 people loved this story

---

Edtech unicorn upGrad increases ESOP pool size by 300K options

Explore Now

Inshorts Group appoints Abhijeet Ranjan as Chief Revenue Officer

Abhijeet Ranjan, ex-National Sales Head at Star Plus, has been appointed as the Chief Revenue Officer of Inshorts’ Public app, an app for local updates with over 60 million active users.

In this new role, Abhijeet will be responsible for accelerating the overall revenue growth of Public app and creating deeper inroads with national brands aiming for deeper market penetration through vernacular advertising.

Public app, which was launched by the Inshorts Group in 2019, currently has over 50 national and international brands and 30,000 small businesses advertising on the app. It offers hyperlocal geo-targeting abilities to advertisers. 

Abhijeet comes with an overall experience of over 15 years. Prior to joining Public app, Abhijeet was the National Sales Head for Star Plus, the Hindi GEC, for the last 1.5 years. In his previous stints, he has worked in various leadership positions at Snapdeal, ESPN, Network 18, and HT Digital, among others.

5ire onboards Didier Drogba as an advisor

5ire, the 5th-generation blockchain network, has onboarded Didier Drogba, the Chelsea footballer turned social and environmental activist as its Business Advisor. 

As an advisor for 5ire, Drogba will leverage his network and the Didier Drogba Foundation to have more corporates and institutions on 5ireChain.

“Didier shares our vision of sustainability and making this planet fit for future generations. We are delighted to have him on board as 5ire’s business advisor and look forward to working with him towards a common goal,” said 5ire's CEO and Founder Pratik Gauri.

(The copy will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)