Startup news and updates: daily roundup (April 3, 2023)

Healthtech startup CureBay appoints Vasant Nangia as President

CureBay, a healthtech platform focused on bringing healthcare to patients in rural India, has appointed Vasant Nangia as President effective April 3. In his new role, Nangia will spearhead CureBay’s operations and its efforts to augment its reach and impact across the region.

With Nangia’s appointment, CureBay now aims to rapidly scale up from its current 30 e-clinics and pharmacies to building a world-class healthtech enterprise by harnessing innovative technology and rapidly building infrastructure across geographies.

An alumnus of IIM Calcutta, Nangia recently stepped down as the CEO of Chumbak Design, a home and lifestyle retailer acquired by GOAT Brand Labs earlier this year. 

Co-founded in 2022 by Priyadarshi Mohapatra along with Shobhan Mahapatra and Sanjay Swain, CureBay has recently closed a Series A funding round of Rs 50 crore led by Elevar Equity.

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LEAD elevates Deepak Hariharan as Expansion Head, Affordable Private Schools 

LEAD, a school edtech company, has elevated Deepak Hariharan to Expansion Head, Affordable Private Schools. Hariharan, who was earlier Senior Vice President—Growth, will now spearhead LEAD’s expansion in new and existing markets.

This marks the third senior leadership elevation at LEAD in the last six months, and is in line with its plans to build strong and capable teams for 2X growth.

With over 15 years of experience, Hariharan has held leadership positions at Tata 1mg, Zomato, and Feedback INFRA across various functions including business development, client engagement, project delivery, planning, and mentoring. He was also the Founder and CEO of MentorYes, a career and education mentorship platform. An alumnus of IIM Calcutta and NIT Calicut, Hariharan is currently based out of Delhi.

Best Power Equipments appoints Sushil Virmani as Managing Director

BPE (Best Power Equipments), a manufacturer of end-to-end strategic power solutions, has appointed Sushil Virmani as Managing Director of BPE.

The company said Virmani, a veteran of the power industry, will be instrumental in fuelling the growth of BPE as a global player. Before this, he was the managing director of Socomec Innovative Power Solutions for around eight years.

Virmani has also worked at Eaton for close to 15 years. As Director-Sales and Service, he was responsible for the sales and service of Eaton Electrical products in South Asia. He was first among a few employees when the startup's operation was set up in 2000. At Eaton, he has worked in diverse functions ranging from product management, sales and service, channel development, strategic planning, business process development, and six sigma certifications.

Before Eaton, Virmani worked for close to 14 years with Siemens and rose to the position of Chief Manager. He was responsible for the sales and marketing of industrial products and systems in north India. He has also worked with Siemens AG in Erlangen, where he spent a few years, gained exposure to international business, and improved his competence in handling large projects.

CitiusTech appoints Rajan Kohli as Chief Executive Officer

CitiusTech Healthcare Technology, a provider of healthcare technology services, solutions, and platforms, announced that its board of directors has appointed Rajan Kohli, an experienced technology executive, as Chief Executive Officer.

Kohli joins CitiusTech from Wipro where he spent nearly three decades and was responsible for $6 billion in annual revenues. He most recently served as the President of the iDEAS (Integrated Digital, Engineering and Application Services) business. He has held a variety of leadership positions at Wipro, including Head of Banking and Financial Services and Chief Marketing Officer. Kohli also founded and scaled Wipro Digital in the decade before taking over leadership of the iDEAS global business line. 

Established in 2005, CitiusTech develops software and technology solutions for over 140 healthcare and life sciences organisations, including large healthcare providers, payers, pharmaceutical organisations, and medical technology companies. The company recently acquired Wilco Source, a specialist in salesforce solutions and services, to strengthen its patient and member-centric digital offerings.

The firm is owned by Bain Capital Private Equity and BPEA EQT, along with CitiusTech co-founders Rizwan Koita and Jagdish Moorjani.

Escrowpay to raise in excess of Rs 120 Cr to fuel its growth and expansion plans

Escrowpay, a digital escrow platform, is looking forward to raising additional funding of Rs 120 crore as growth capital. In 2022, the company raised two rounds of Pre-Series A2 funding. The company has witnessed 8X growth in its transaction processing volume (TPV), with the average size of the transaction of Rs 750,000, and eyeing to achieve Rs 10,000 crore as its TPV target for the financial year 2023.

Escrowpay is expanding its footprint through organic and inorganic spins. The team size of the company has grown by 3X and the SME count has gone up by 5X. The company is currently working with five banks and is in the process of onboarding more. Additionally, the company has set a target to reach 10,000+ SMEs over the next 12 months and offer them financial optimization through our digital escrow services.

Furthermore, Escrowpay is in the process of launching a cross-border payments stack with leading partners, which will add substantial value to all its stakeholders and clients.

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TiE Mumbai announces leadership appointments

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Mumbai announced that Ranu Vohra will be taking over as the President of TiE Mumbai from April 2023 onwards for a period of two years. Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma will be the President Elect for the same period. 

“In their new roles, Ranu Vohra and Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma will together chart the path of building a concrete leadership team for the startup ecosystem with a five-year view," said Harish Mehta, Author—The Maverick Effect, Co-founder and First Elected Chairperson—NASSCOM, Chairman Past Presidents Council—TiE Mumbai; and Founder and Chairman - Onward Technologies Ltd.

"Their combination works significantly well since Ranu brings with him his rich experience with late-stage startups coupled with solid investments in that space while Apoorva adds immense value as he has built a strong investment network for early to growth stage companies. Their combination covers the entire breadth of the industry effectively,” he added.

The new leadership team will further leverage TiE Mumbai’s presence and initiatives, and strengthen the startup connect with the investor, government, corporate and trade networks and build knowledge and agenda driven programs to enhance Mumbai’s presence as a preferred destination for startups. 

Zoho expands its rural initiatives, opens new hub offices and schooling centres 

Zoho Corporation, the Chennai-headquartered global technology company, shared updates regarding its ongoing rural revival efforts and reiterated its commitment to investing in R&D and people.

In the last six months, the company has opened two ‘hub’ offices in Tiruppur and Trichy; and plans to open them in Tirunelveli and Madurai districts in Tamil Nadu as well as one in Uttar Pradesh. Zoho is also expanding its current  facility of Kalaivani Kalvi Maiyam, a learning centre opened during the pandemic for educating the young children from villages in and around Tenkasi.  

"We are at a time of increasing economic uncertainty. In addition, powerful AI technology could  transform the way we work, presenting both huge challenges and opportunities. We are busy  reinventing ourselves, and our history of previous reinventions and our strong culture of R&D remain as relevant as ever during this reinvention," said Sridhar Vembu, Co-founder and CEO, Zoho Corp.

Cybersecurity startup WiJungle to hire 120+ people

WiJungle, a unified cyber security platform, has announced its strategic hiring plans amid the ‘great layoff’ wave. The company plans to hire more than 120 professionals across different levels in the coming six months.

The platform has recorded an average growth rate of 300% YoY. It has built a team of technology driven professionals and with the recently announced hiring plans, the headcount will reach 240 in 2023.

The cybersecurity platform said it overcame the management and scalability challenges that reduce the capital investment of an organisation by up to 60%. Its major traction comes from SMBs and the government.

Yulu and Zomato join hands to make last-mile deliveries green

Yulu, a shared electric mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) player, announced its association with Zomato for using Yulu DeX EV for intra-city deliveries. Kicking off this project, about 25,000-35,000 Yulu DeX will be given to delivery partners onboarded on Zomato’s platform for last-mile deliveries on custom-made rental plans.

Yulu said it is committed to making urban transportation sustainable and the association with Zomato is a significant step towards making last-mile delivery green and efficient.

Over 4,000 delivery partners, as of February 2023, onboarded on Zomato’s platform organically utilise Yulu’s EVs to make the last-mile deliveries.

Till date, Yulu has enabled 75 million+ green deliveries and benefited 50,000+ delivery partners.