Rockstud Capital and Artha Venture Fund have made a partial exit from Everest Fleet, while while Ranjan Pai is in talks to invest in Purplle. Separately, Slice has received RBI approval to merge with North East Small Finance Bank.
Rockstud, Artha bag 19X returns from Everest Fleet exit
Alternative asset management firm Rockstud Capital and micro VC fund Artha Venture Fund have made a partial exit from Everest Fleet, a fleet management service provider to Uber India.
While Rockstud has generated an 18.8x return on its investment through this partial exit, Artha Venture Fund’s partial exit from Everest has realised an IRR of 105%, achieving a 19X return on investment.
Both Rockstud Capital and Artha Venture had first invested in Everest Fleet in 2019, per a company statement.
In June, Everest Fleet had raised $20 million in a funding round led by Uber. The investment marked Uber’s first inorganic investment in India as it looks to expand into the electric vehicle (EV) space. The funding will enable Everest to transition from being a CNG-dominated fleet to one with CNG and EVs over the next five years, it said in a statement.
By 2026, the startup aims to have 10,000 EVs as part of its overall fleet. The startup currently manages a fleet of 13,000 cars spread across seven cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata.
Slice gets RBI nod to merge with North East Small Finance Bank
Fintech unicorn Slice Wednesday announced that it has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to merge with Guwahati-headquartered North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB).
Slice had acquired a 5% stake in the bank last year.
In a statement, the company said the combined entity will help realise their shared goal of integrating technology offerings with grassroots financial inclusion efforts.
“We will further strengthen our risk underwriting through the use of technology and data and always keep customers at the heart of our decisions. We see this as an opportunity to build a highly inclusive and responsible bank, offering an unparalleled experience, underpinned by robust risk management and strong governance,” said Rajan Bajaj, founder & CEO, Slice.
Ranjan Pai in talks to buy JSW Ventures’s stake in Purplle
Billionaire investor Ranjan Pai is in talks to invest in Purplle, an online retailer of beauty and personal care products, Moneycontrol reported. As part of the transaction, Pai is looking to buy JSW Ventures’s shares in the startup for Rs 60-70 crore, the report said quoting sources.
JSW Ventures had earlier offloaded a partial stake in Purplle to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), scoring an 18X return on its initial investment. ADIA reportedly made an investment of $50-60 million in Purplle in May mostly through secondary transactions.
As of July, JSW held a 2.8% stake in the beauty unicorn, as per data research firm Tracxn.