Sarika Pandey

Kreedo secures Rs 10 Cr debt funding from Recur Club: Edtech platform Kreedo Early Childhood Solutions has secured Rs 10 crore in debt funding from Recur Club, a prominent debt marketplace for startups and SMEs.  Kreedo had previously raised $4 million in Series A funding from Heritas Capital and UBS Optimus Foundation to enhance learning ecosystems. The proceeds will be deployed towards fuelling its growth and expansion plans, enhancing product offerings and scaling operations across India, Kreedo said in a press release. Co-founded in 2012 by Mridula Shridhar and Manikandan Krishnan, Kreedo provides a non-franchise solution for preschools and schools in India. Its curriculum is designed to help children develop literacy, numeracy, and other skills through play-based activities. The platform's curriculum is based on the idea that children learn best through a "Concrete to Abstract" or "Practical to Theory" approach. The curriculum combines indoor and outdoor games and toys to help children learn to explore and develop skills. According to the Bengaluru-based company, it focuses on improving education in over 350,000 affordable private schools across India, which cater to low-income families and charge less than Rs 30,000 annually. The company claims that it has demonstrated an impressive revenue growth rate of over 35% year-on-year for the past three consecutive years.  “It has been a pleasure working with Manikandan and witnessing Kreedo’s incredible growth journey over the past couple of years. Their intelligent approach to capital management has enabled them to hyperscale effectively while preserving significant equity.” said Eklavya Gupta, co-founder & CEO of Recur Club. Kreedo may compete directly or indirectly with other companies in this space are Kinderly, Seed Schools, Sudiksha Knowledge Solutions, Blue Blocks, Hello Kids amongst others.  Recur Club is a capital platform, enabling companies to raise debt capital tailored to their business needs with a dedicated capital expert. The platform aims to deploy Rs 2,000 crore in debt funding for startups and SMEs through Recur Scale and Rs 1000 crore to MSMEs through Recur Swift in this financial year. It has backed startups such as Ustraa, Rage Coffee, Moveinsync, Keka HR, Xoxodays, and others. It competes with other debt financing platforms like GetVantage, Velocity, and Klub. #EdTech #Funding #Startups

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🌟Sandeep Murthy , partner and managing director, 🌟Lightbox 🚀🌟VC firm Lightbox considers $100-million continuation fund to back mature startups🚀🌟 🔥Belief in Potential: Lightbox's consideration of a $100-million continuation fund demonstrates strong belief in the potential of mature startups, showing that continued investment can drive further growth. 🔥Long-Term Vision: This initiative highlights the importance of having a long-term vision. Success often requires sustained support and commitment over time. 🔥Empowering Growth: By backing mature startups, Lightbox is empowering these companies to scale and innovate, reflecting the power of strategic support in achieving greater heights. 🔥Adapting to Change: The willingness to invest in mature startups indicates an adaptive approach to the changing dynamics of the startup ecosystem, which is crucial for sustained success. 🔥Supporting Resilience: Continuation funds provide mature startups with the resources to weather challenges and continue their growth journey, emphasizing the importance of resilience. 🔥Commitment to Innovation: Lightbox's initiative showcases a commitment to fostering innovation and supporting companies that have proven their value and are ready for the next level. 🔥Encouraging Excellence: Continued backing of mature startups encourages excellence and sustained effort, demonstrating that hard work and success are recognized and rewarded. 🔥Nurturing Leadership: By investing in mature startups, Lightbox is nurturing the next generation of industry leaders, showing the importance of leadership development. 🔥Strategic Partnerships: The move underscores the value of strategic partnerships between VCs and startups, which can drive mutual growth and success. 🔥Vision for the Future: Lightbox’s fund signals a forward-looking approach, focusing on the future potential of startups and the broader impact they can have on industries and economies. ✅️Share Your Startup Story 🚀📲 https://lnkd.in/ggir3Qap ✅️visite our website🌐 https://lnkd.in/dad4nH #VentureCapital #Innovation #StartupGrowth #LongTermVision #Empowerment #Resilience #StrategicInvestment #Leadership #FuturePotential #Lightbox #Entrepreneurship #scoopearth

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🚀 Scaling for Success: Distributed Load Testing for 10M+ OTT Users 🎥 At Madgical Techdom (OPC) Private Limited, we are thrilled to share our journey of successfully launching a highly scalable and performant OTT platform, designed to cater to over 10 million subscribers. Ensuring a seamless launch required meticulous distributed load testing at scale. Here's a quick summary of how we approached this challenge and our learnings: 🔑 Key Goals: Simulated peak traffic scenarios, ensuring stability during live events and major releases. Validated high throughput for processing thousands of requests per second. Ensured low response times and resilience under high load. ⚙️ Approach: Deployed tools like Apache JMeter, k6, and Locust for large-scale load simulations. Leveraged AWS EC2 instances across regions to replicate global traffic patterns. Focused on real-world scenarios including API load, CDN performance, and database stress testing. 📊 Outcomes: Confidence in handling peak user loads with robust infrastructure and optimized performance. Key insights into bottlenecks and preemptive fixes for seamless user experiences. This experience underscores the importance of rigorous testing in delivering platforms that scale with user demand. We are excited to continue leveraging our expertise to help businesses build resilient and user-centric platforms. 💡 Have you faced similar challenges with scalability? Let’s discuss! https://lnkd.in/gYp8Y7Zf #OTT #LoadTesting #PerformanceEngineering #MadgicalTechdom #Scalability #TechLeadership

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PhysicsWallah (PW), the Lightspeed-backed edtech unicorn, has appointed Amit Sachdeva as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as it prepares for a 2025 IPO. Sachdeva, formerly CFO at Blinkit and IGT Solutions, brings extensive experience in tech and consumer finance, including leadership roles at Wipro. PW recently raised $210 million in funding led by Hornbill Capital and Lightspeed, doubling its valuation to $2.8 billion. The firm is aggressively expanding, planning 40 new centres in cities like Pune and Hyderabad, and allocating 60% of its funding for acquisitions. PW aims to become one of India’s first edtech firms to go public. By Hitanshi Kothari Article link - https://lnkd.in/dZ2d_3vH #PhysicsWallah #AmitSachdeva #CFO #IPO2025 #EducationSector #FinancialLeadership #CorporateGrowth #InvestmentOpportunities #EdTech #BusinessStrategy #TeamMarksmen #MarksmenDaily #InFocus

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Amid the challenges facing the edtech sector, Bhanzu has raised $16.5 million (INR 139 Cr) in a Series B funding round led by Epiq Capital, with participation from Z3Partners and existing backers Lightspeed Ventures and Eight Roads. These funds will help Bhanzu expand its U.S. presence as it aims to bridge gaps in maths education with its AI-driven, research-backed curriculum. Founded by Neelakantha Bhanu in 2020, Bhanzu leverages data collected over four years to create interactive, customizable maths programs for students worldwide, including in the U.S., U.K., Middle East, and India. Bhanu noted, “The U.S. market offers great potential, dominated by large companies that have yet to fully embrace tech-driven innovation—an opportunity Bhanzu aims to capitalize on.” Since its Series A round, Bhanzu has achieved 8X growth, positive cash flow, and a strong product-market fit across regions. The funding comes at a time when other edtech players in India are facing headwinds, with many struggling to sustain momentum. However, this year has seen notable funding activity: Physics Wallah (PW) raised $210 million, valuing the company at $2.8 billion, while Bengaluru-based Kreedo secured $4 million in Series A funding. https://lnkd.in/fzpnPPW #edtech #bhanzu #funding #innovation #matheducation #startups #ai #techforgood #education #technology #entrepreneurship #business #venturecapital #growth #investment #leadership #digitaltransformation #futureofwork #businessnews #learning #skills #success #scalability #productdevelopment #technews Bhanzu

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Sign Ltd.'s ₹86 Crore Financial Turnaround💸 In our blog, we dive into how we helped one of our clients, Sign Ltd, navigate from financial instability to profitability. With a strategic overhaul of their sales approach and customer profiling, we optimized their operations and increased their working capital by a staggering ₹86 crores! 📈 Curious about the steps we took to achieve this ? Read the full story and discover how you can revamp your business strategy too.   👉 https://lnkd.in/dwrtrhTy #contetfa #negativecashflow #cashflow #cashflowmanagement #strategies #businessowners #gamechanger

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The Fintech Future Summit Mumbai by The Financial is more than just a conference; it’s a launchpad for global expansion and a catalyst for groundbreaking financial technology solutions. This dynamic event brings together the brightest minds and most influential leaders from across India, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, fostering connections and igniting deals that drive growth. Demystifying Fintech:Fintech, a rapidly evolving field, promises to revolutionise how we manage and interact with finances. Here are some key elements that will be explored at the summit: Digital Payments. Open Banking & APIs. AI & Blockchain. Cybersecurity. Prominent speakers from Banking, Fintech & Blockchain Suvendu Pati Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Prasanna Lohar Block Stack India Blockchain Forum Kamlesh Nagware FSV Capital Evani Keshav Rao YES BANK Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Akshay Yadava Naman Kapoor Citi Chandan Khaitan Muthoot Fincorp Ltd. Abhijit Day Axis Bank Jatinder HANDOO Digital Lenders Association of India (DLAI) Aniket Thacker Kotak Mahindra Bank Vaibhav S J. Hitesh Sachdev ICICI Bank ICICI Venture Kapil Jaiswal Kalpesh Doshi HDFC Life Abhijit Chakravarty VijayaKumar Chandrabose Manoj Sarangi Abhineet Sarkar Anup Kumar Agarwal Hrushikesh Mehta Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC) Deepali Rathod Block Stock Wealth Amit Pradhan CDCS CSDG CITF Training Consultant Deboshree Nayak #blockchain #fintech #banking #india https://lnkd.in/dAgWdmvJ

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🌟 Exclusive Insights Alert! 🌟 Mohit Khanna, Fund Manager of Purnartha One Strategy, has been featured in The Economic Times PMS Talk segment. 🎯 In this insightful interview, Mohit dives into Purnartha's unique approach to navigating midcap investments—touching on growth, strategy, margin and what makes our dynamic philosophy stand out in today’s market. 💼📈 Curious to know what sets us apart? Swipe to check out the full interview! 👇 #Stocks #StockMarket #StockMarketNews #EconomicTimes #ETMarkets #PMSTalks #MarketInsights #MarketTrends #MarketUpdate #PortfolioManagement #PortfolioManagementServices #PortfolioManager #PMS #Purnartha #PurnarthaPMS #PurnarthaOne #DynamicMidcap

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India is re-opening the global IPO market from a 3 year slumber. From FirstCry and Ola Electric to Swiggy, Zepto and beyond, recent and potential IPOs are driving a 14 year high in listings. Awesome to see promising young companies taking the plunge as well as the veterans. Expect the US IPO market to follow in ‘25-‘26 as we move past the elections, interest rates decline and a large cohort of quality companies grow through their 2021 valuations. If you are on the #IPO path, best advice is to stay focused on execution, hire the best advisers possible, set prudent expectations and price the deal such that your new shareholders do well. It’s not the goal, it’s a milestone. #InternetIndia, #Zomato, #Zepto, #Swiggy

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WealthMax by Bajaj Capital Ltd La Premier: A true story of how vision of Sanjiv Bajaj coupled with the dynamism of Uttam Agarwal, at gave my team and me Aabhinna Suresh Khare the opportunity to build a fabulous product thats creating waves in Wealth Industry 🇮🇳 🇮🇳 🇮🇳 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐂𝐘: 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐀’𝐒 𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐑𝐀-𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐇𝐘-𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐑𝐀 𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐇 🇮🇳 🇮🇳 🇮🇳 FACT 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒔 797,714 𝑯𝑵𝑰𝒔 (𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 $1𝑴+) 8.35 Crore Rs. 𝒂𝒏𝒅 13,263 𝑼𝑯𝑵𝑾𝑰𝒔 (𝒏𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 $30𝑴+) i.e 250 Cr Rs 𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒇 2022-23 𝐓𝐡𝐞 6 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 of an HNI UHNI are 6️⃣ Portfolio Overlap: Investors unknowingly duplicate investments across multiple mutual funds, as they don't know if AMCs are investing in the same stocks. 5️⃣ Fund Selection: With 1,386 mutual fund schemes in India, selecting the right funds becomes overwhelming - like finding a needle in a haystack. 4️⃣ True Diversification: While everyone talks about diversification, understanding the correlation between investments is difficult due to lack of proper analysis tools. 3️⃣ Market Monitoring: Keeping up with fast-moving markets during volatile times (Ukraine-Russia War, Israeli conflict, US Elections) is nearly impossible to track effectively. 2️⃣ Sector Selection: Different sectors perform differently each year, and conflicting advice from various fund managers makes it difficult to know where to invest. 1️⃣ Personalization: Generic investment advice rarely fits specific individual situations and goals, and general tips don't work for personalized portfolios. We have solved all these challenges with the Wealthmax Tool. To read more about it visit here https://lnkd.in/ga2aW6gs

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I’ve been turning down all media requests for a post election analysis but talk of whether alliances will hold post elections reminded me of something I wrote 26 years ago - before a Lok Sabha Election result.   The basic premise: one who holds 30 seats may have the same power, or even more, as compared to someone who holds 245 seats.   A mathematical Power Index explains how   Quote Let’s get on with the “Power Indices” of the various political parties.   Think of it this way : suppose you require a 50% plus majority to form a government and there are 3 parties in the parliament with the following seat tally : 44%, 39% and 17%.   Now, any two of these can join together to form the government and therefore all three of them have exactly equal power, no matter that Party 3 has got less than half the number of seats that the first two have. This is a concept that is of use in any ‘majority wins’ decision rule from shareholder resolutions to jury decisions.   Suppose there are 4 parties in the fray this time around: A, B, C and D parties, having 35%, 34%, 17% and 14% of the seats resp. Again if a simple majority is needed to form a government, any two out of A, B & C can form a government whereas the Party D’s support is never really crucial to anyone.   If this party’s 14% is added onto the percentages of any of the first three parties, the sum does not exceed 50% and any larger coalition of parties doesn’t require its support anyway. Party D is therefore called a ‘dummy’ - an apt term for someone whose vote can never change a losing coalition into a winning one or vice versa.   The dummy has no power, while all the other three parties i.e. A, B and C have equal power.   This is inspite of the fact that Party C has far fewer seats than A and B and only a few more than the smallest one i.e. Party D   For those interested, there is a technical concept called the Banzhaf Power Index (BPI) of a group, party or person which is defined as the number of ways in which that group, party or person can change a losing coalition into a winning one or vice versa.   In the preceding example, the BPI of parties A, B and C are equal and that of Party D is zero.    In fact as an individual MP, you are better-off being a part of Party C than Party A or B because as part of the government you get a disproportionate share of the goodies. This is exactly what happened in U.P. where virtually every MLA of a marginal party who joined the BJP government was made a minister - something that was a remote dream for most BJP MLAs.   Unquote (First Global's weekly 'Markets, Majorities and Maths', January 1998)   Thus if a few smaller partners can hold whichever coalition government to ransom, it introduces uncertainty.   “The more things change, the more they stay the same” Hence, I can repeat a 1998 piece which has contemporary parallels   We may be in for some interesting times.   History also shows coalition governments have been pretty good for the economy and markets.

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🚀 𝗞𝘂𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗮𝗵𝗹: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗚 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 From co-founding Snapdeal to becoming a visionary investor, Kunal Bahl and his long-time partner Rohit Bansal have redefined success in the startup world. Through Titan Capital, they’ve emerged as champions of India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, backing some of the most promising ventures across #fintech, #SaaS, and #ecommerce. 📈 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹’𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 - 𝗘̲𝗮̲𝗿̲𝗹̲𝘆̲ ̲𝗪̲𝗶̲𝗻̲𝘀̲: A ₹1.57 crore investment in Urban Clap (now #UrbanCompany) in 2015 yielded an astounding 200x return, exiting with ₹110-120 crore in 2023. - 𝗗̲𝗶̲𝘃̲𝗲̲𝗿̲𝘀̲𝗲̲ ̲𝗦̲𝘂̲𝗰̲𝗰̲𝗲̲𝘀̲𝘀̲𝗲̲𝘀̲: Achieved 100x returns from investments in #OlaCabs and Credgenics, while #Mamaearth’s 2023 IPO further solidified their winning streak. - 𝗚̲𝗮̲𝗺̲𝗲̲-̲𝗖̲𝗵̲𝗮̲𝗻̲𝗴̲𝗲̲𝗿̲ ̲𝗶̲𝗻̲ ̲𝗦̲𝗮̲𝗮̲𝗦̲: #Unicommerce, a logistics and e-commerce SaaS platform, has grown to serve over 20,000 brands and is now valued at ₹1,100 crore. 💡 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆 Titan Capital’s disciplined and founder-first approach has powered investments in over 200 startups. Their recently launched ₹333 crore Winners Fund reflects a commitment to nurturing long-term growth and scaling high-potential ventures. 🔑 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹’𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁 Snapdeal’s strategic focus on value-conscious consumers in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities showcases Bahl and Bansal’s adaptability. Despite intense competition, Snapdeal’s pivot in 2017 made it one of the few profitable players in e-commerce. 🌟 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Bahl sees his role as more than just an investor: "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦." With an impressive portfolio and a legacy of nurturing entrepreneurs, Titan Capital is shaping India’s startup ecosystem, empowering founders to build enduring businesses. The recent wins such Unicommerce's listing and the oversubcribed Winners Fund success reflects Bahl and Bansal’s shift from operators to ecosystem enablers. What are your thoughts on India’s startup growth story? Let’s discuss in the comments! Read the full article https://lnkd.in/dnpFBK7b Watch a small Snippet from Kunal himself. Credit to #ETNOW ; #Timesgroup #Startups #VentureCapital #India #Entrepreneurship #TitanCapital #KunalBahl #investing #founder #investor #funding Kunal Bahl #founders #startup #cofounder #mumbai #bangalore #delhi #investment, #investing, #seedinvestor, #startupinvestor #angelinvestor #investor #investments #hyderabad #VentureCapital Bestvantage Investments

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There is a prevailing trend of SaaS roll-ups across the world and across industries as investors grapple with a lack of critical mass. B2B fintech SaaS in India is entering its best era in terms of customer spend. Young, India-focussed start-ups are in a great place with a lot to look forward to. There will absolutely be a handful of market leaders that build $50M+ ARR standalone companies on rapid organic growth. But as more and more fin-tech SaaS companies emerge, servicing a limited number of large customers, it’s hard to see how most of them can scale independently with an India only focus. There is a compelling case for value creation via acquisitions and a smart roll-up strategy. This is what Perfios has demonstrated, and other investor-funded combinations are likely not far behind. Here is my article in Forbes India on the India B2B fintech SaaS market cross roads and strategy choices for founders and start-ups. Would love to get your views on this topic. Arkam Ventures #fintech #saas #b2b #banking #PE #founders #investors

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