Latest news with #ClaypondCapital
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Trump vs Musk turns ugly; Biopeak‘s fresh funding
Trump vs Musk turns ugly; Biopeak's fresh funding Also in the letter: Trump-Musk spar online as bonhomie turns into brickbats Tell me more: Returning fire: Ceasefire: Also Read: Elon Musk's feud with Trump spurs one of his worst wealth losses ever Longevity startup Biopeak raises $3 million from Ranjan Pai's Claypond Capital, Accel's Prashanth Prakash, others VC fund HealthKois plans $400 million fund Medibuddy eyes $130 million in pre-IPO round: Sponsor ETtech Top 5 & Morning Dispatch! Why it matters: The opportunity: Reach a highly engaged audience of decision-makers. Boost your brand's visibility among the tech-savvy community. Custom sponsorship options to align with your brand's goals. What's next: Infosys to give cash sops to employees taking part in interviews to help hiring Policy details: Employees will receive 700 points, equivalent to Rs 700, for every interview they conduct. The scheme applies retroactively from January 1, covering interviews conducted over the past five months. HR personnel, recruiters, subcontractors, and top leadership are excluded from the scheme. No reward will be given if an interview is cancelled or the candidate fails to show up. Why the move? Who else? OpenAI to appeal New York Times suit demanding not to delete any user chats Story so far: Who's impacted: ChatGPT Free, Plus, Pro, and Team subscribers OpenAI API users without Zero Data Retention agreements, whose data is processed and promptly deleted. 'AI privilege': Also Read: Amazon cuts more jobs, this time in books division More details: Quick lookback: Also Read: Tensions escalated between Elon Musk and Donald Trump as the former sharpened his critique of the Budget Bill. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.■ Infosys cash sops■ OpenAI appeals order■ Amazon job cutsThe feud between billionaire Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump turned ugly on Thursday, with both sides trading barbs and threats in public an ally, Musk launched a scathing tirade on social media against Trump's 'big, beautiful' Budget Bill, accusing it of inflating the US fiscal deficit by trillions. He didn't stop there; in one post, Musk claimed Trump appeared in the Epstein hit back with personal jibes, calling Musk 'wearing thin' and claiming he had to be 'asked to leave.' He followed through on earlier threats, pulling the plug on government contracts and subsidies linked to Musk's blinked first, signalling he was willing to 'cool off' in his spat with the US blowback was swift. Tesla shares plunged over 14% on Thursday, their steepest fall since March, erasing $153 billion in market value. The shares recouped some losses on Friday, trading in the green during pre-market hours, as tensions between Musk and Trump Pardal, CEO, BiopeakWellness startup Biopeak has raised $3 million in seed funding from Claypond Capital, the family office of Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai, along with Accel's Prashanth Prakash, and Zerodha's Rainmatter. The company will use the capital to strengthen its scientific capabilities, build an AI platform, and expand its network of clinics. Biopeak launched its first clinic in Bengaluru and plans to open centres across major metros over the next Janssen, managing partner, HealthKoisDelhi-based venture capital firm HealthKois is planning a $400 million fund to back companies in India's healthcare sector. The fund will focus on startups in AI-led health tech, med tech, biopharma, healthcare delivery, and climate health, managing partner Charles Janssen told us in an exclusive firm Medibuddy is in talks to raise $130 million ahead of its planned IPO, according to people familiar with the Top 5 and Morning Dispatch are must-reads for India's tech and business leaders, including startup founders, investors, policy makers, industry insiders and Reach out to us at spotlightpartner@ to explore sponsorship a bid to boost employee morale, IT major Infosys has introduced a new incentive programme that offers cash rewards to senior staff who participate in lateral hiring company also runs weekend recruitment drives, during which employees may conduct 10-15 interviews in a day, primarily assessing candidates' software skills.A senior Infosys executive said the scheme is aimed at addressing internal discontent after employees received only 5-8% pay hikes for FY24 , and lower-than-expected performance bonuses in the March such policies are still uncommon, some large and mid-sized tech firms, including Honeywell, Accenture, and Sonata Software, offer cash incentives and other perks to encourage staff to join interview panels and support talent Altman, CEO, OpenAIOpenAI has pushed back against a court order in the New York Times' copyright lawsuit, challenging a directive that bars it from deleting any user chats on ChatGPT. The AI firm called the order an overreach that threatens user Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023, alleging that they had used millions of its articles without permission to train the large language model behind ChatGPT. Last month, a US court directed OpenAI to preserve and segregate all output log data tied to the Times' no impact on ChatGPT Enterprise or ChatGPT Edu CEO Sam Altman warned that the order sets a dangerous precedent. He argued it makes the case for 'AI privilege', where chats with an AI are treated as confidential, akin to conversations with a lawyer, doctor, or giant Amazon has laid off staff in its books division , affecting teams across its Kindle business and book review site than 100 employees have been impacted. Amazon said the move is aimed at improving efficiency and simplifying operations."As part of our ongoing work to make our teams and programs operate more efficiently, and to better align with our business roadmap, we've made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles within the Books organisation," said an Amazon spokespersonA March report by Business Insider revealed Amazon's plans to cut 14,000 management roles globally by early move is in line with CEO Andy Jassy's broader push to reduce bureaucracy and expedite decision-making. He has set a target to increase the proportion of individual contributors relative to managers by at least 15% by the first quarter of 2025.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Wellness and longevity startup Biopeak raises $3 million from Ranjan Pai's Claypond Capital, Accel's Prashanth Prakash, others
Live Events Wellness startup Biopeak has raised $3 million in seed funding from Claypond Capital—the family office of Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai—Accel's Prashanth Prakash, and Zerodha's Bengaluru-based startup has launched its first longevity clinic and plans to expand to other metro cities in the coming year. Biopeak offers a personalised preventive healthcare service, combining diagnostics, AI, and concierge-style care to predict health risks and craft tailored intervention plans.'We offer solutions that are predictive, not reactive,' cofounder and CEO Rishi Pardal told ET. The service includes lab tests, imaging such as MRIs and CT scans, and non-invasive diagnostics to assess organ system health and recommend long-term regimens. 'The funding will go towards building our scientific capabilities, expanding the AI platform, and scaling operations,' Pardal at athletes, health-conscious individuals, and people with unresolved chronic issues like IBS, Biopeak's approach integrates traditional diagnostics with AI insights. The startup has partnered with IISc and Longevity India—a scientific forum backed by Prakash—to tailor interventions for South Asian genetics.'There are breakthroughs in cellular tech and AI-led diagnostics, but they're not widely accessible,' said Prakash. 'Medicine 4.0 is about predictive, proactive care using personalised data. Clinics like Biopeak can deliver this new model of healthcare.'Each Biopeak client undergoes over six hours of multidisciplinary consultation, with specialised modules for gut health, women's health, ageing, skin, and musculoskeletal function.
Mint
22-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
India's mid-market gets a boost as Trident Growth launches ₹2,000 cr maiden fund
Mumbai: Trident Growth Partners, backed by Ranjan Pai's family office Claypond Capital, has launched its maiden fund with a corpus of ₹ 2,000 crore, which includes a green shoe option, to tap the under-served mid-market, or growth-stage companies, top officials at the investment firm told Mint in an interview. The fund aims to lead or co-lead the Series B+ investments in fast-growing companies, writing cheques of ₹ 150-170 crore for a significant minority stake. Although it is sector-agnostic, the growth stage private equity fund will invest in key themes such as consumer, financial services, enterprise technology, manufacturing, and healthcare. 'While it is very pertinent for us to be sector-agnostic, much of investments come under three broad buckets – consumption for the evolving middle class that includes categories like financial services, healthcare and education, secondly- the China+1 supply chain strategy and lastly, enterprise technology which involves make in India products for the world," Trident's managing partner Atul Gupta told Mint . Read more: Ex-NIIF executive director Padmanabh Sinha to launch new PE fund Founded by Gupta, Rajesh Ramaiah and Pravan Malhotra, Trident Growth, through its maiden fund, will invest in 10-12 companies that have strong unit metrics, and ability to deliver scale with a sustainable path to profitability. With a first close of ₹ 1,000 crore, the investment firm will exercise its green shoe option to raise an equivalent amount by the end of this year. While 20-30% of the capital is expected to come from international fund of funds and institutions, a bulk of the corpus is backed by domestic capital. Fund of funds is an investment strategy where a fund invests in other investment funds rather than directly in individual assets like debt or equity. In August, Mint first reported on Manipal group's chairman Ranjan Pai's interest to invest in the fund. Other startup founders of companies including Lenskart, PolicyBazaar, Persistent Systems, Livspace and KreditBee alongside sovereign fund of funds, Sidbi and Self Reliant India Fund (SRI), leading family offices and general partners of prominent funds have also invested in the fund. The new fund aims to bridge the gap for companies looking to raise their series B and C rounds. To be clear, the investor ecosystem is crowded with early-stage funds–through various institutions such as micro-VCs, high net worth individuals (HNIs) and other mainstream offices, and late-stage funds dominated by global players issuing larger cheques. 'This has left the mid-market stages with a lot of undisrupted potential, which is what we have identified as a play for ourselves to invest in," Ramaiah said. 'It is overall a nice position to be in as we have a good set of companies coming in and with the evolving late-stage buyout story, exits through other routes (such as secondaries) have also become quite conducive apart from the IPO-market," he added. Read more: On a platter: Rebel Foods gets $25 mn from Qatar Investment Authority for restaurant expansion The three partners will engage closely with portfolio companies by leveraging founder networks to provide mentorship along with an experienced operating partner network that will assist companies with key functional support as they scale up. The former executives of Premji Invest and International Finance Corporation have actively invested in several Indian startups that include Lenskart, Policybazaar, KreditBee, Myntra, Flipkart, Purplle, FirstCry, BigBasket, Amagi and Moglix among others. They also have a track record of exits with 14 unicorns (startups with a billion-dollar valuation) and 8 IPOs/M&A from their prior investments. Meanwhile, Trident has already completed its first investment in SaaS company Spotdraft's $54 million series B round alongside Vertex Growth earlier this year, and is in the final stages of closing its next investment. With a strong pipeline through the rest of the year, Malhotra said the fund will target an ownership of 8-20% in portfolio companies. 'We will back founders who want to build really solid businesses in a sustainable way and with lesser burn so they don't need to keep raising capital and can ultimately own higher ownerships," Gupta concluded.
