Week In Review: Myntra, Lightbox Ventures, Microsoft Imagine Cup And More…

Myntra launches Marketplace

Online fashion retailer, Myntra after making news for months has finally launched marketplace model on its platform.  The company has launched these marketplaces in NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai and Surat, which will provide small, medium and boutique brands access to Myntra’s customers, with technology and logistics support.

Myntra has tied with over 100 local retailers and boutique in these regions and is earning 20% of its current revenues by the marketplace model. In next 12  months, it plans to increase this to 1,000 retailers across these cities.

Earlier this year, Myntra has raised $50 Mn funding round led by Premji Invest along with new and existing investors. The company expected to achieve $1 billion GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) by 2016.

Sherpalo & KPCB shifts focus away from India,Sherpalo Partner launches $90M India Fund

Lightbox Management Limited, advised by the Lightbox India Advisors Private Limited, has recently launched two funds, Lightbox Ventures I that has already acquired stakes in 6 startups, and Lightbox Ventures II, which will be a $90 Mn fund focused on early stage investments.

Lightbox Ventures II has had a first close of$ 25 Mn from a global institutional investor. It will have a concentrated investment portfolio of 8 companies in which it will invest $ 3 to 5 Mn in Series A funding with an investment horizon of 7-8 years.

Sherpalo has invested in over 10 Indian companies, out of these, Lightbox has bought stake owned by Sherpalo and Kleiner Perkins in 6 companies which include Greendust, Zoomin, MapMyIndia, PayMate, FutureBazaar and Kotak Urja. Whereas, Concur has bought Sherpalo & KPCB’s stake in Cleartrip.

Sandeep Murthy, a general partner at Sherpalo who managed the firm’s India investments will lead the team, Prashant Mehta, CEO of Komli Media, Angel investor Sid Talwar, Sunny Rao, CEO of Zoomin and Jeremy Wenokur, an early Googler are also part of the team.

Amazon launches Separate store for wearable tech

Amazon has recently launched a Wearable Technology store – a one-stop shop where customers can easily discover the latest in wearable technology and research wearable devices including activity trackers, smart watches, wearable cameras and more.

The store will showcase products from top brands including Samsung, Jawbone and GoPro, the store features products from emerging brands like Basis and Misfit as well as devices coming soon from brands like Narrative and Bionym.

“Wearable technology is an exciting category with rapid innovation and our customers are increasingly coming to Amazon to shop and learn about these devices,” said John Nemeth, Director of Wireless and Mobile Electronics at Amazon.

To help customers learn more about wearable technology, the new store features a “Learning Center” which includes product videos and detailed buying guides. These resources provide information about device compatibility, product comparisons and use-case suggestions to help customers find the right device for them. Customers can also take advantage of the “Editor’s Corner” to find information about wearable technology industry news, device reviews and more.

AppVirality handpicked for Startup Asia Singapore 2014

AppVirality, a growth hacking toolkit for mobile apps which allows mobile app businesses to enable/disable/configure any kind of growth hack within seconds has been handpicked for the Startup Asia Singapore 2014. The App will be competing with 9 other Asian startups.

AppVirality was co-founded by Laxman and Ramakoteswar Rao Papineni, the startup has been a part of the Microsoft Ventures and TLabs incubator programs and had a seed funding of $20k from Times Internet group.

Microsoft announces 3 winners of #ImagineCup 2014 – India National Finals

Often referred to as the Olympics of Technology, Microsoft Imagine Cup is a platform for young entrepreneurs, developers and innovators to develop and showcase their technology-based new business ideas, create products, put together business plans and even take their products to market, often catapulting them to global fame and fortune. Over 60,000 student innovators from 25 Indian states battled it out for the top three spots in the India-leg of the 12th annual Microsoft Imagine Cup 2014.

The winners were announced last week which include : Team Dexters who won the Innovation category; for the gaming category, Team Seven Summits, emerged winners; and Team Untraceable0208 won the World Citizenship category.

“The Imagine Cup facilitates a culture of innovation where teams from across India are given an opportunity to take the first steps towards becoming successful tech entrepreneur… Through the course of this year’s competition, it’s been amazing to see the passion and creativity among young Indian technologists and their enthusiasm to make a tangible change through their ideas, said Joseph Landes, General Manager – Developer & Platform Evangelism (DPE), Microsoft India.

The winners were announced by Microsoft India, one of these teams will now represent India in the worldwide finals in July in Seattle and compete for a USD 50,000 prize.

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