Cred, finally entering wallet space with an acquisition

Nykaa acquires skincare brand, Jio to join Dunzo’s fund-raising party, Funding Deals & more.

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CRED seeks to make users spend more on the platform with HipBar acquisition

Cred, a credit card bill payments platform, is set to enter the wallet payments business by acquiring liquor delivery startup HipBar Pvt. Ltd, which owns a prepaid payment instrument (PPI) licence.

The PPI licence, granted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), permits companies to operate payments systems such as digital wallets, pre-paid transit cards, vouchers and so on.

Only 37 firms in the country have been issued the license by the RBI so far. HipBar was granted the licence in August 2016.

With the acquisition, CRED can start giving cashback in its wallets instead of user bank accounts and card accounts. Several experts point out that the wallet licence would allow the Bengaluru-based company to contain cash backs offered by the company inside its ecosystem.

IPO-bound Nykaa acquires D2C skincare brand Dot & Key

Nykaa, India’s biggest online retailer of cosmetics, has acquired homegrown skincare brand Dot & Key just days before the launch of its initial public offering (IPO) on October 28. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

This is the first acquisition by the Falguni Nayar-led startup in the direct-to-consumer space. The deal, however, is indicative of the wider churn that’s afoot in the sector.

Founded by Suyash Saraf and Anisha Saraf, Dot & Key makes skincare products such as serums, face masks, toners and cleansers. The brand recently expanded into nutraceuticals under the brand ‘IKWI’, whose products are dermatologically tested and cruelty-free.

Hot Shorts⚡

• Clear (formerly ClearTax), which helps individuals and businesses file tax returns online, has raised $75 million from investors led by Kora Capital with participation from US-based payments major Stripe.
• FarMart, a food supply software platform, has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round headed by Matrix Partners India.
• ConveGenius, an edtech social enterprise, has raised $5 million in a new round of funding led by new investors BAce Capital, Heritas Capital, and 3Lines Venture Capital.

Jio All Set To Invest In Dunzo’s $250 Million Funding Round

Google backed Dunzo is looking to raise as much as $200-250 million at a valuation of close to $800 million. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-controlled Jio is in talks with Dunzo to finalize the financial investment, alongside with the start-up’s current investors.

Founded by Dalvir Suri, Mukund Jha, Kabeer Biswas and Ankur Aggarwal in 2015, Dunzo connects consumers with stores and vendors in their vicinity and facilitates deliveries of products such as grocery, medicines, food and other everyday items.

Currently, Reliance’s portfolio of startup acquisitions includes epharmacy startup Netmeds, drone startup Asteria, deeptech startup Tesseract, business search platform JustDial, online furniture startup Urban Ladder, logistics startup Grab A Grub, edtech Embibe, among others.

Tweet of the day🐥

If the problem can be solved, there is no reason to panic, calm down and fix it. If the problem can’t be solved, just move on.

— Orange Book 🍊📖 (@orangebook_) October 24, 2021

• PhonePe to file a fresh suit against BharatPe over PostPe trademark issue.

•  Indian investors increasing their holdings in digital currencies, not booking profits this time.

• Also read : Why Facebook wants to rebrand itself for the ‘Metaverse’