Bits’n’bytes: Know about business events in Pune

4Fin raises pre-seed funding of $1.1 million

Fintech Platform startup 4Fin announced that it has raised $ 1.1 million in a pre-seed round. 4Fin will use the investment to enhance its product development to make finance more accessible, offer personalised loan products and support its customers with its model of ‘4Fin Mitras’, designed to act as social-driven customer care. The investment was raised through Curesense Therapeutics, which is run by the investors behind the biotech company, Mylab Discovery Solutions.

Amit Tewary and Ajit Sinha, co-founders, 4Fin said, “We are creating a completely new category of services in the lending space. Any person in India with a smartphone can access loans now. We will deliver unmatched customer care with help of our network of ‘4Fin Mitras’. We plan to enrol more than 50,000 4Fin Mitras by the end of this financial year.”

Ecom Express’ delivery partner program to empower gig workforce

Ecom Express, a technology-driven end-to-end logistics solutions provider to the e-commerce industry, has launched its delivery partner program called Ecom Sanjeev Program (ESP), aimed at creating part-time work opportunities where individuals can work flexible timings to maximise earnings by delivering ecommerce packages to customers.

In Maharashtra, Ecom Express is looking at engaging 1,000+gig workforce as independent delivery partners to handle upcoming e-commerce festive season shipment load in key cities and districts. Since its pilot run last year, the program has created opportunities for 15,000+ students, homemakers and individuals looking to supplement and maximise their income by delivering e-commerce packages during their spare time.

Saurabh Deep Singla, Ecom Express, said, “The pandemic has pushed more traditional workers towards the gig working culture, especially in the current times when the country is trying to revive its economy. Maharashtra is a key market for us. For every delivery person on the street, more than 50 people are safe in their homes.”

Peak secures $75 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2

Artificial Intelligence company Peak has raised a $75 million Series C funding round led by new investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from all existing investors, including MMC Ventures, Oxx, Praetura Ventures, Arete and Octopus Ventures. This brings Peak’s total funding raised to date to $119 million.

This latest funding will fuel an global expansion, with new offices opening in both the USA and India, as well as increasing R&D investment in Peak’s Decision Intelligence software. Peak is planning to create more than 200 new jobs globally in the coming year.

Atul Sharma, co-founder and CTO at Peak, says, “We will use the capital to deepen our tech expertise in product development, in building out our platform and strengthen teams across functions to deliver more features and functionality at pace. We have plans to more than double our product, engineering and data science talent capability in Jaipur and Pune.”

Richard Potter, co-founder and CEO at Peak said, “We uniquely simplify the task of data scientists and engineers, who use Peak to rapidly create and deploy AI applications to business users. These applications empower day-to-day decision-makers across businesses to achieve transformational gains.”

‘Futurance’ phase 4 to identify high potential startups

HDFC Life and IvyCamp have jointly launched the fourth phase of Futurance, to identify startups developing innovative and next-gen capabilities. The partnership will scout for startups across use cases including measurement of vital signs with non-invasive, remote and wireless sensing technologies, health monitoring and wearables and fraud detection.

Parvez Mulla, COO, HDFC Life, said “The fourth phase will help us get a fresh perspective on our existing problems while also expanding the boundaries of technology led innovations.”

Prasun Gajri, chief investment officer, HDFC Life added, “Futurance was launched to co-create solutions for some of the industry’s pressing problems, and foster new thinking and innovation. The program will help us identify new use cases while exploring emerging technologies within the insurtech sector.”