Singapore-based Cloud Delivery Platform Parcel Perform Raises $20 million

 

The cloud-based delivery experience platform Parcel Perform announced that it has secured $20 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Cambridge Capital, with new investor SoftBank Ventures Asia. Existing investors Wavemaker Partners and Investible joined the round too.

The Singapore-based company manages over 100 million parcel tracking updates every day and provides real-time visibility of tracking data. It also helps businesses to increase customer lifetime value by up to 40%. The company has seen fantastic growth, with its revenues growing five times since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are thrilled that our investors recognize our ability to build a sustainable and profitable business by serving some of the most sophisticated enterprise customers worldwide to help them boost their customer satisfaction online,” said Dr. Arne Jeroschewski, CEO and Co-founder of Parcel Perform. 

Parcel Perform will be using the fresh funding to support its global expansion and recruitment efforts. The company will also use the funding to build its technology offerings and invest in AI solutions, which will include scaling its proprietary ‘Date of Arrival’ prediction engine which allows customers to know precisely when their parcels will arrive. Further, the company also plans to establish a regional headquarters in North America and grow its global employee count to 150 by the end of this year.

 

Ronnie Screwvala-led upGrad Achieves Unicorn Status

Yet another Indian education tech startup has achieved a unicorn status. This time it is the Ronnie Screwvala-led upGrad, which offers higher education and upskilling courses in data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, blockchain, finance, programming and law in collaboration with universities such as Michigan State University, the IIT Madras and IIT Delhi, and Swiss School of Business Management, Geneva.

The six-year old startup has achieved the unicorn status after raising $185 million in its latest funding round, which was led by Singapore’s Temasek. Among the participants in the round were World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and IIFL.

“We are pleased with the investor interest ever since we opened up for fundraise and had our maiden raise from Temasek, followed by IFC and IIFL in the last 60 days,” said Ronnie Screwvala, co-founder and chairperson of upGrad, in a statement.

Prior to the latest funding round, upGrad was valued at $600 million. Now, its valuations stands at $1.2 billion. Screwvala has said that upGrad will use the funding to explore merger and acquisition opportunities.

There have been many edtech startups based out of India that have seen fantastic growth in the recent quarters, including the famed Byju’s and Unacademy. Now, upGrad with its latest round joins the ranks of such soaring edtech companies from India.

 

Neobanking Startup Jupiter Raises $44M in Series B

Neobanking startup Jupiter is now valued at $300 million after it raised $44 million in its Series B round. The round was led by Brazil-based Nubank, Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India, and Global Founders Capital. Mirae Assets Venture also joined the round. Existing investors Tanglin VC, 314 Capital, Beenext, Greyhound, and Addition Ventures participated in the round.

Jupiter was founded in 2019 and was established as a neobank for the consumers in India. Earlier, Jupiter had raised $25 million in seed funding and Series A rounds. With the latest funding round, Jupiter has more than doubled its valuation.

The latest funding will be used by the 100% digital bank to recruit talent and scale up its business.

“Nubank and Jupiter share the mission of making banking the best experience possible for our customers, putting an end to all the bureaucracy and the pain in the current system. The Indian and Brazilian markets have many similarities and through this investment, we aim to support Jupiter in their growth path. We see a lot of potential and are excited about joining them so early on their journey,” said David Vélez, founder and chief executive of Nubank, in a statement.

Jupiter was founded by the industry-veteran Jitendra Gupta who wants to solve India’s inflexible traditional banking system.

 

Here's What You Need To Know When Buying A Vehicle For Your Growing Business

Despite global economic setbacks, businesses have been redoubling their investments to foster better growth once the economy rebounds. The current upward trend of business vehicle purchases is a major example of this. Commercial vehicle sales broke 24 million units in 2020, according to Knoema. Whether this trend was driven by panic buying or by inventory surplus driving down prices remains to be seen, but in the face of a growing vehicle shortage, it may be wise for businesses to purchase their own vehicles now while prices have not climbed back up yet. If you’ve been wondering how best to facilitate that for your business, read on.

 

Leasing for more flexibility

 

Leasing is one of the most common ways growing businesses finance their vehicle purchases. It requires the least amount of monetary commitment. Lease costs are often only less than 10 percent the full price. This averages out at around $460 per month, with lease periods often lasting 3 years. It’ll take a few lease periods to fully own the vehicle, but you can opt out at any time if you decide that you can no longer afford it. This flexibility is perhaps one of the best advantages for businesses who are still in the process of growth, when it’s still up in the air whether things will keep going well in the future.

 

Buying new to dodge maintenance costs

 

Purchasing a new vehicle is the most expensive method, but it’s also the most hassle-free. If your business has a lot of disposable funds that are just going to get dissociated into trivial upgrades that you probably don’t need anyway, it might be better to just pool them together to buy a new car. Brand new vehicles require practically zero maintenance and come with the latest quality of life features. In contrast, depending on the age of the vehicle you buy, you may need to set aside over $400 for the yearly maintenance of a secondhand car, and that’s not accounting for the myriad complications that might result from age. Buying new lets you circumvent that. The only problem is the price tag. But even if you decide to buy new, there are still ways to cut down on costs. If you’re savvy enough to hunt for good prices and deals in your area, you can get a brand-new, fully reliable vehicle with money to spare. You just need to take account of all the dealerships near you to compare car makes and models, and get discounts that are available at the moment.

 

Buying secondhand to save money

 

Secondhand purchases carry the one-off benefits of buying a new car, but without the hefty price tag. Alternatively, if you take out a car loan, you can immediately own a car for lower monthly payments than you would get if you leased a car. This method of accessing a business vehicle is ideal if you have some money to spend, but not enough for a brand new car. Used cars boil down to a cost-benefit assessment of maintenance and lower purchasing price. If you can justify your overhead for an older car, this may be the more advantageous way for you to obtain a business vehicle. As with purchasing new, learning how to shop around and having a good eye for cars can net you a reasonably reliable vehicle for a fraction of the price of a new one. 

 

It may not be the best time for everyone to buy a business vehicle, but for those who can afford to do so, this might be their only window in a long while. If getting your own company vehicle is vital to your continued growth, then you’re best advised to figure out a way to get your hands on one while supplies last.

 

Heathrow has requested Britain to allow fully vaccinated people to travel without quarantine

 

London's Heathrow Airport has requested Britain to allow vaccinated passengers to travel after the cumulative losses of the airport reached $4 billion. Heathrow was one of the busiest airports in Europe pre-pandemic, and now due to COVID-induced restrictions, the trade volume has come down significantly. The airport has stated swift action is needed from the government's end, and travelers are also demanding a solution quickly. If the situation continues to worsen, many jobs are expected to be lost.

John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow, has stated that the passenger level at Heathrow is well about 25 percent of the pre-pandemic level, whereas other airports in Europe are nearly 50 percent. If the passengers planes and not reaching global markets like the US, the UK exports will not be able to get its export out of the country. This will eventually lead to the fall of the UK and will end up costing jobs unless traveling is allowed. If Britain allows people who are fully vaccinated to travel without the mandatory quarantine for ten days, then there can be some amount of recovery and benefits. Other Europeans have followed this method and have opened up traveling where as Heathrow is expecting Britain to do the same to achieve recovery.