Upswing has raised $4.2 million in pre-series-A funding led by Quona Capital and QED Investors while SoftBank Group has fully divested from PB Fintech, operator of India-based insurtech platform Policybazaar. Separately, KKR is in talks to invest up to $300 million in BookMyShow.
Upswing secures $4.2m in pre-Series A funding
Upswing, a banking-as-a-service platform, has raised $4.2 million in a pre-series-A funding round led by Quona Capital and QED Investors.
“The funding will fuel our journey in expanding the reach of our multi-bank deposit product and the vision of launching the next set of innovative products around deposits and lending,” said Upswing co-founder Anupam Bagchi.
Founded in 2021 by Anupam Bagchi and Nihar Gupta, Upswing is a low-code platform enabling companies to embed banking products in days, a stark departure from lengthy traditional timelines.
Upswing secured $4 million in a seed round in December 2021.
SoftBank Group divests from Policybazaar
SoftBank Group has fully divested from PB Fintech, operator of India-based insurtech platform Policybazaar, according to The Cap Table.
The exit comes after SoftBank earned a three-fold return on the investment. The investment firm sold its 4.39% stake in Policybazaar through block deals and open market transactions, added the report.
Policybazaar, an online life insurance and general insurance aggregator, claims to have a 93.4 % market share of India’s digital insurance marketplace.
The company went public in 2021 with a Rs 5,710 crore initial public offering (IPO). Policybazaar entered the unicorn club in 2018 after a $200-million investment led by SoftBank.
KKR in talks to invest up to $300m in BookMyShow
PE giant KKR is in advanced talks to invest about $250-300 million in ticket booking platform, BookMyShow, reported The Economic Times.
KKR is eyeing a significant minority stake through a secondary share sale by existing financial investors, added the report.
Reliance Industries’ media company Network18 currently holds a 37% stake in BookMyShow while 23% is owned by the founders. The company is also backed by Accel, Elevation Capital, Stripes Group and TPG Growth.
Since its launch in 2007, BookMyShow has expanded its operations to Sri Lanka and Indonesia and has invested in companies including Do-It-Yourself events registration and ticketing platform Townscript and Fantain, a fantasy sports platform for Cricket and Kabaddi. It made an undisclosed investment in AtomX, a Pune-based payments technology company, this April.