India Dealbook: Ramco picks stake in SmartMegh; SIFTR raises funding from Venture Catalysts

By Bhawna Gupta

January 26, 2016

Ramco Systems Ltd has entered into an agreement to acquire 18.93 per cent stake in Chennai-based SmartMegh Solutions Pvt Ltd, according to a stock market disclosure. In a separate development, photo-search platform SIFTR raises $150,000 in seed funding from Venture Catalyst.

Ramco to buy 18.9% stake in SmartMegh

Ramco Systems Ltd, part of the $1-billion diversified conglomerate Ramco Group, has entered into an agreement to acquire 18.93 per cent stake in Chennai-based SmartMegh Solutions Pvt Ltd, according to a stock market disclosure.

Started in August 2012, Smartmegh Solutions is a cloud-based enterprise applications provider. Ramco will buy 2,335 shares of Smartmegh at Rs 6,424 each, aggregating to Rs 1.5 crore.

Ramco Systems is a software company focused on consulting, product and managed services business. Last week, it signed an agreement with Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) to automate the Taiwanese carrier’s maintenance and engineering operations.

Shares of Ramco Systems last exchanged hands at Rs 603 each, up 0.50 per cent on BSE on Jan 25, in a strong Mumbai market.

SIFTR Labs raises $150k funding from Venture Catalysts

SIFTR Labs, a photo-search platform, has raised $150,000 from Venture Catalysts Pvt Ltd, according to a press statement.

Venture Catalysts’ angels Vishal Maheshwari, Vikas Kapoor, Daud Ali and Nitin Agarwal participated in the funding round.

“Using artificial intelligence on images is an exciting space to be in and the idea of SIFTR Labs resonated well with VCats’ angels. We have full faith in the founding team, and believe they have the vision and potential to create an excellent product,” said Apoorv Ranjan, co-founder, Venture catalyst.

Founded by Romil Mittal and Mayank Bhagya, SIFTR Labs aims to assist photographers in managing their photography. The company’s first product SIFTR Photo Websites claims to create the world’s first self-updating photo websites.

“Thanks to the mobile revolution, more than a billion photos are uploaded every day on the Internet, and still it’s difficult to find a great photo when you need one. We are an image analysis company and are building our technology stack further to provide very advanced photo search for different use cases,” said Mittal.

Venture Catalysts which is in process to raise Rs 100 crore fund, was founded by Apoorv Ranjan, ex-VentureNursery executive; Anil Jain, co-founder, Wallfort Financial Services Ltd; Anuj Golecha, partner, Banshi Jain & Associates and Gaurav Jain, who worked with Reliance Pvt Equity.

This is the second known investment by VentureCatalyst after its launch. Early this month, it invested $250k in train ticket discovery platform ConfirmTkt.

Also Read: India’s Micromax participates in $15m Series C round of cloud startup MiMedia
PH-listed Cirtek Holdings invests in tech startup CloudMondo
India drops idea of defining online marketplace casting cloud over e-commerce model

India: Venture Catalysts to raise $15m, invest in 20 startups in 2016

 

 

 

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
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Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW