Funding dreams and plight of gig workers
FinMach Daily
India is a promising land for business, you shall know why!
Progcap: the Messiah for indian retailers gets $40mn from Google
Google has invested in Progcap, an Indian startup that provides working capital to small and medium-sized businesses, making a new push into a category that has attracted the attention of Facebook and Amazon in recent years.
Fishes having fun
The investment is part of a $40 million fresh funding Progcap has raised, it said. Creation Investments and Tiger Global led the 5-year-old startup’s Series C financing round, which nearly tripled its valuation to $600 million since September last year. Existing backer Sequoia India and Southeast Asia also participated in the round
But what is Progcap?
Progcap serves more than 700,000 small retailers, who dot hundreds of Indian cities and towns. The startup extends a revolving credit line of $10,000 to $12,500 to retailers, providing them with much-needed capital to buy new inventories and grow their businesses.
A significant number of retailers in India struggle with access to working capital. The startup, which uses its own underwriting tech and access to retailers’ finances to determine their creditworthiness, also provides retailers with tools to check their account statement and invoices, and provides ways to make online payments and track disbursals.
Progcap aims to become “a full-stack retailer-focused digital bank that digitizes, automates and eases capital movement across the supply chain,” the founder said.
NITI Aayog wants startups to safeguard gig workers
NITI Aayog called for extension of social security benefits to gig workers, including platform as well as non-platform workers, in the country.
The report called on business platforms to institute measures to provide paid sick leave to all workers engaged, round the year. It also urged the companies to ensure that provisions for insurance and access to healthcare services are available for all gig workers as part of the work-engagement policies of the companies.
The need for safety
Referring to Indonesia’s example, the think tank also called on the companies to offer occupational disease and work accident insurance for employees.
Referring specifically to mobility players and delivery giants, NITI Aayog said that the startups should offer accident insurance to their gig workers in collaboration with the private sector or the government.
The report also envisages pension plans and other contingency benefits for gig workers. It called on gig and platform firms to adopt policies that offer retirement plans and other benefits for such workers.
What will Solv solve? Raises $40 mn from SBI Holdings
Solv, a marketplace for small businesses, has raised $40 million (around Rs 300 crore) in a round of funding led by Japan-headquartered SBI Holdings.
Solv will use the funds to launch additional high-margin product categories and expand to more than 300 cities across the country, and to drive expansion of its buy-now-pay-later loans, particularly in the new-to-credit segment.
Solv helps small and medium businesses trade in categories such as grocery and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), readymade clothes, electronics and accessories, home furnishings, and footwear and accessories. It currently operates in more than 200 cities across India, servicing more than 19,000 pin codes.
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