Archive: March 1, 2022

Ambit Finvest Pvt. Ltd. partners with Union Bank of India for Co-Lending to MSMEs

New Delhi, March 1, 2022: Union Bank of India today announced signing of a co-lending agreement with Ambit Finvest Private Limited, a Non-Deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) of the Ambit Group lending to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) customers.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Lal Singh, CGM, MSME, Union Bank of India said “The partnership with Ambit Finvest Pvt Ltd. is part of Bank’s strategy to serve the most deserving and under-serviced businesses. This initiative is also part of Union Bank’s commitment to support the MSMEs by providing tailor-made financial solutions and accelerating the growth of MSMEs to contribute to the country’s economic development.” 

Mr. Sanjay Dhoka, COO & CFO, Ambit Finvest said “Ambit Finvest is delighted to partner with Union Bank of India, in increasing the reach of credit to service the needs of the MSME segment. With this alliance, we aim to facilitate speedy disbursal of Credit across different geographies. 

This alliance will ensure underwriting for originations, positively impacting the creditworthiness of MSMEs, in 11 states that are currently covered by Ambit Finvest. Many MSMEs face challenges of higher interest rates or are excluded from access to Banking services. Through this innovative model of lending, MSMEs will now enjoy a blended lower rate of interest, translating into a lower cost of funds, helping them deploy capital more effectively in their business. Also, co-lending partnership with a large organisation like Union Bank of India will help Ambit Finvest further expand its footprint in the MSME segment.”

Fashinza expands global footprint: Appoints leadership team in North America – Deep Singh to head operations, Aman Singh to lead sales

New Delhi, March 1, 2022: Fashinza, a tech-based new-generation fashion supply-chain and product-development platform, is expanding operations in global markets with focus on the US and Canada. Fashinza has appointed Deep Singh to head expansion & growth and Aman Singh to lead sales in North America. Over the past year Fashinza has expanded at a steady pace and the new appointments are in line with the company’s plans to address the rising demand and new opportunities in North America.

Deep Singh, an entrepreneurial growth leader with extensive experience in scaling online to offline tech startups across North America, APAC and South East Asia, will oversee strategy and operations as the General Manager, North America. His expertise lies in leading operations, growth, P&L and expansion in highly competitive markets. Previously, Deep was in the senior leadership team at Ola and built the North India business. Deep is an alumnus of IIM Kozhikode and an active angel investor.

Aman Singh, a results-oriented and mission-driven leader, will head sales in North America. He has extensive experience in AdTech, FinTech, Data Analytics and SaaS solutions across eCommerce, retail and CPG verticals. He specializes in go-to-market strategy, building scalable sales processes and coaching. Aman is an engineer from IIT Roorkee and holds an MBA from IIM Indore.

Commenting on overseas expansion, Pawan Gupta, Co-Founder & CEO, Fashinza, said: “We are strengthening our leadership team as Fashinza aggressively expands overseas. We are excited to welcome Deep Singh and Aman Singh to our fast-growing team. Their entrepreneurial skills, diverse background, and startup experience will be instrumental in Fashinza’s growth in North America.”

About Fashinza

Founded in 2020 by Abhishek Sharma and Pawan Gupta and joined by Jamil Ahmad as one of the co-founders, Fashinza is a global B2B manufacturing marketplace with a mission to create sustainable and futuristic supply chains for fashion brands while improving the lives of millions of workers. Fashinza helps global brands to work with lowest MOQs in the industry and have fast turnarounds. As of January 2021, they have 400 plus ethical partner factories across India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka and counting more. Fashinza counts brands like Forever21, Noon.com, FirstCry, The Souled Store, and Bewakoof.com among their customers. They have manufacturing units in India, Bangladesh, and Srilanka and have worked with brands across India, USA, UK, Europe, and Australia. It has already raised Series A round of above US $25 million and expanded to U.S. and now expanding in middle east countries.

Quizbee fueling Online-Gaming Growth in Jharkhand

New Delhi Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech on 1 February, announced plans to set up a task force to promote the animation, visual effects, gaming, and comics sector. Gaming companies felt they had cleared one level in a complex game. Just a few months back, their concern was that regulations might dent the sector’s growth.

Online gaming is no more different than reality today. In this age of long-haul social distancing and mental-health strains, online games have helped people a lot to relieve their stress along with sharpening their minds and winning money through it. Gaming has skyrocketed during this pandemic. India’s tier-III cities and towns have witnessed a significant rise in the number of online gamers in 2021, according to the India Mobile Gaming Report 2021 (IMGR). Some of the small towns of Bihar & Jharkhand & Rajasthan have more than 100 percent to up to 200 percent growth in online gamers.

Following the budget announcement Quizbee, an online educational gaming platform suggested a more pragmatic approach—one that also saw the sector as an employment generator, especially in a small state like Jharkhand where according to the state government, there has been a spike of 638 percent in applications by jobless youths in employment exchanges as compared to 2019.

Quizbee is a knowledge & skill-based mobile gaming platform, with multiple paid challenges that vary across different genres like movies, cricket, travel, food, general knowledge & exciting puzzles. Quizbee is different from other chance-based games as in the game of skill, the player invests his time in learning, practicing, and honing a skill.

Commenting on the Mobile gaming industry, Mr. Abhinav Anand, CTO of Intelligence Game Pvt. Ltd said that “As per the report the Boston Consulting Group and Sequoia India, the country’s mobile gaming industry in on growth trajectory is projected to grow three times in size by 2025 and become an over $5-billion market. Currently, there are a very few real money online gaming applications that would challenge the educational domain & we are proud that Quizbee reflects that approach. Quizbee is a time-based gaming application that perfectly strikes the cognitive functioning of the brain cells, which means, how fast your brain can perceive a task & perform it within a given time frame. Thus, Quizbee challenges all those job aspirants/students preparing for competitive exams who are looking for opportunities to gain extra knowledge by challenging their general knowledge skills & speeding up their brain cells to answer the quiz questions. Quizbee has fostered an inclusive, safe, and welcoming community for friends, family & students to play and learn together”.

Quizbee is a B2C gaming platform that strikes the knowledgeable edges of individuals, students, & also job aspirants. Quizbee is a go-to-destination for Quiz and Trivia lovers, challenging the knowledge & education domain of individuals. It offers an immersive experience for gamers to play & compete on quizzes that triggers the knowledgeable edge of individuals, with a chance to win real-time money.

E-commerce startup ‘Gharobaar’ promotes ‘Vocal for Local’

New Delhi, Mar 1st  2022: Gharobaar, an exclusive e-marketplace for small homegrown brands and home-based businesses announces launch. The e-commerce platform, with the brand tagline ‘Ghar Se Ghar Tak’, aspires to connect small and unknown home-businesses with prospective buyers online and to further contribute and support the growing ‘Make In India’ economy.

The brand name ‘Gharobaar’ was coined with words ‘Ghar’ meaning home and ‘karobaar’ meaning business, reflecting on the e-commerce startup’s clear vision to provide an exclusive platform to homegrown businesses and connect them to eco-conscious consumers who are willing to support small entrepreneurs and buy products that are either handmade or produced in small batches. At present, the website has more than 5000 products listed under 8 main categories – Fashion, Grocery, Home, Personal Care & Lifestyle, Kids Corner, Arts & Stationery, and Gifts & Festivities.

Sakshi Aggarwal, Founder of, Gharobaar says, ‘My vision of Gharobaar is to efficiently contribute to the government’s #MakeInIndia and #VocalforLocal initiatives, fostering the entrepreneurial ventures of aspiring local talents and remaining true to our roots. Also, to introduce our vast handicraft culture, from one home to another, is an important vision of our brand.’

Gharobaar Co-Founder, Aditya Gupta further added, ‘We were fortunate to have had the opportunity of speaking with a lot of homepreneurs and get insights on their interesting journeys and the challenges faced. The absence of a single platform for such handcrafted products also struck us. We saw a clear opportunity to make a positive social impact that finally led to Gharobaar.’

The USP of Gharobaar is that every product is handmade and locally produced by a home-run / home-grown business. The sellers get to sell products at their preferred rates and preferred mode of working and with their own identity, making it a unique social marketplace for small businesses.

Sakshi further added, ‘The pandemic gave a huge opportunity to a lot of people to start a business from home like cooking, knitting, painting etc. But they could only sell through word of mouth or social media. Most did not have the bandwidth to market themselves and promote their brand at a larger scale. The idea behind setting up Gharobaar is to provide a trusted platform to these sellers to sell and market their products and earn a respectable living. Giving recognition to the products that are culturally rich, environment-friendly or unique from the mainstream market, forms the foundation of Gharobaar.’

The platform is currently dominated by female-led businesses from Tier 1 and 2 cities reflecting on the strong women entrepreneurship potential that our country holds. The products listed on Gharobaar are varied with something to suit every requirement.

Gharobaar is a bootstrapped startup, looking for angel and institutional investors to further expand its products and services. The startup also plans to expand its services and partner with home cooks from across states, tarot readers, home tutors, music teachers, astrologers and more over the next few months.

Mr. S. N. Subrahmanyan appointed as Chairperson, L&T Finance Holdings

Mumbai: The Board of Directors of L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. (LTFH), today approved the appointment of Mr. S. N. Subrahmanyan as the Director and Chairperson of the Board, effective February 28, 2022. This is in line with L&T’s overall commitment to strengthen its presence in the services area. Mr. Subrahmanyan is the CEO & MD of Larsen & Toubro and serves on the board of directors of the multi-billion-dollar conglomerate.

Mr. Subrahmanyan takes over from Mr. Shailesh Haribhakti who served as the Chairperson on the Board of LTFH from June 1, 2017. Mr. Haribhakti will continue as a Board member of LTFH. Under the guidance of Mr. Haribhakti, LTFH has established itself as a strong and well-capitalised financial institution. The inclusion of Mr. S. N. Subrahmanyan will provide leadership to LTFH’s Board as the Company continues to deliver on its stated objective of retailisation. LTFH is amongst the market leaders in Farm Equipment finance, Two-Wheeler finance, as well as Micro Loans and continues to be one of the leading players in financing infrastructure sectors like renewables and roads. Furthermore, LTFH has taken strides in building a comprehensive home loans business and launched its first ever digital native consumer loans business.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Haribhakti said, “LTFH is transitioning itself into a tech-enabled NBFC with retailisation at its core. I am happy to be a part of this journey and look forward to meaningfully contribute in the coming years. An able leader like Mr. Subrahmanyan will add momentum to this growth story.” 

Commenting on the development, Mr. Subrahmanyan said “I am happy to be a part of the Board of LTFH and look forward to working with the leadership team as the Company embarks on a new journey towards Vision 2026. Given the thrust being provided by L&T Group for the services businesses in its overall portfolio, growth of L&T Financial Services is an important component of the Group’s Lakshya 2026 Strategic Plans.”

Midas Enterprises Wins Two Marriott International Awards

St. Louis hotel developer earns highest achievement as Developer of the Year and Best Opening from CONNECT 2022 Marriott Select Brands Owner and Franchise Awards 

(St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 28, 2022) Midas Enterprises – a leading hotel development, investment, construction, and management company – was recently presented with two CONNECT 2022 awards from Marriott International. Midas was previously honored by Marriott winning the Partnership Circle award, but this marks the first time in Midas’ history that the company has won these prestigious awards.

Midas received the Developer of the Year award, which honors companies with a proven ability to grow with Marriott’s portfolio in the U.S. Midas also received a Best Opening award for its Aloft Charlotte Airport hotel based upon exceeding its guest satisfaction, occupancy, and Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) goals and index.

The Aloft Charlotte Airport hotel, which is located at 3928 Memorial Pkwy. and opened in 2020, is managed by Midas. The property includes 139 tech-forward rooms, five meeting rooms, and a variety of amenities including its WXYZ® bar, a fitness center, heated outdoor swimming pool, an oversized patio area with fire pits, and a dedicated dog walk. Allie Haulsee is the hotel’s General Manager.

Aloft Hotels® currently operates more than 195 hotels in 29 countries and territories. Catering to a tech-savvy, music-loving crowd, the brand offers vibrant, eclectic spaces that thrive off bringing people together. Aloft participates in Marriott Bonvoy, the global travel program from Marriott International.

“We are extremely honored to both represent and partner with Marriott,” said Midas Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer David Robert. “These two awards signify that our hard work is recognized and valued at the highest level, and we are proud to have been selected for this top award.”

The fully integrated real estate group Midas Enterprises has specialized in capital investment, construction, and hospitality management since 2006. Midas brings institutional quality real estate to income-focused investors through excellence in hotels, multi-family, and mixed-use developments. Known for building great communities where we live and work, Midas is headquartered at 1804 Borman Circle Dr. in St. Louis, Mo. For more information, call (314) 692-0100 or visit Midas.Enterprises.