1947 Tech 🇮🇳: 121

Once a week newsletter: Insights on Tech, markets, startups, venture capital, and foreign investments in India

1. India’s Reliance Retail acquires a majority stake in online pharmacy Nedmeds’ parent firm for $83.2M

Reliance Retail has bought a 60% stake in pharma marketplace Netmeds’ parent firm Vitalic for about $83.2 million, it said today, as India’s largest retail chain looks to expand into new categories and compete more closely with American e-commerce group Amazon.

Reliance Retail said the deal, which grants it a 100% ownership of Vitalic’s subsidiaries (Netmeds, Tresara, and Dadha Pharma), valued the parent firm at about $134 million. Netmeds, which connects customers to pharmacists and enables door step delivery of medicines, serves 5.7 million customers in more than 670 cities and towns and online.

Related: Epharmacy consolidation: Reliance Retail acquires Netmeds, PharmEasy & Medlife to merge

India's Reliance Retail acquires a majority stake in online pharmacy Nedmeds' parent firm for…

2. Daily mobile use by Indians jumps to 5 hours

Indians spent increasingly more time on their mobile devices even after the lockdown, surpassing comparable usage across countries like the US, China and those across Europe.

Indians spent almost 5 hours on mobiles daily on an average compared to a little over 3 hours they used to spend before the lockdown last year, according to App Annie data for Android devices in the first half of 2020. This is second to only Indonesia.

Compared to 2019, this is 37% growth in daily average time spent on mobiles for the quarter ending June. During the January-March quarter, this was a little over 4 hours daily, the data showed.

Daily mobile use by desis jumps to 5 hrs

3. Startups witness drop in VC investments between April-July: Report

Venture capital investments in Indian startups have witnessed a significant drop between April and July this year, reflecting the tough going for businesses in the current Covid-19 pandemic-induced economic downturn.

Early-stage Indian startups managed to close 40 Series A deals worth $156 million during April to July, said a Mint report based on data from Venture Intelligence. This is a 62.9% drop when compared to 66 deals worth $421 million closed during the December to March period.

During the April-July period, Series B funding dropped to 33 deals worth $320 million while only 22 Series C funding rounds worth $338 million were closed. At the end of March, startups at Series B stage had raised $485 million collectively across 42 deals.

Startups witness drop in VC investments between April-July: Report

Worth your attention:

1. Vy Capital buys Urban Company Esops worth $5 million Link

2. Smaller towns drive India’s ecommerce demand Link

3. NPCI arm to take RuPay, UPI global Link

4. Lightspeed has $275 million for third India fund Link

5. How Lumikai, India’s first gaming-focused VC fund, plans to unearth local winners like Ludo King Link

Funding:

1. WestBridge leads $28 million Series C funding in Lead School Link

2. Logistics SaaS startup FarEye raises $13M from Fundamentum Partnership, KB Global Link

3. FPL Technologies raises $10 million led by Matrix India, Sequoia Link

4. Verloop.io raises $5M in Series A round Link

5. Meet The Indian Startups In Y Combinator’s All-Virtual Summer Batch 2020 Link

A week in Review:

Shiva Singh Sangwan @shivassangwan

This week in 🇮🇳! • Reliance retail acquires a majority stake in online pharmacy Netmed’s parent firm for $83.2M • WestBridge leads $28M series C funding in Lead School • Logistics SaaS startup raises $13M • Verloop. io raises $5M in series A

Shiva Singh Sangwan @shivassangwan

• Vy Capital buys Urban Company Esops worth $5M • New Fund launch — Lumikai, India’s first gaming-focused VC Fund • Daily mobile use by Indians jump to 5 hours • Smaller towns drive India’s e-commerce demand • YC picks 14 Indian startups

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