And now the beauty giant is looking to acquire Indian beauty brands and startups in the beauty-tech space.

Chairman of L’Oréal, Jean-Paul Agon said in an interview that the company has been actively scouting for acquisitions in India in all types of beauty products.

How Technology Will Drive Growth For Beauty Startups In IndiaIndia’s beauty and personal care industry stands at around $14 Bn.

The surge in the last decade is mainly because of ecommerce of beauty products.

“Our transformation will continue and we will be the most advanced beauty-tech company in the world,” he added. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574670607.135292/L’Oréal-Scouts-For-Beauty-Startups-To-Take-Indian-Products-Global?ref=audio_experience

The funds will be diverted towards driving growth in the United StatesOYO claimed that it has seen a 3.8x YoY growth in revenue in August 2019OYO Hotels Founder Ritesh Agarwal.

Photo Credit: TelevisorAmid hoteliers’ protests and international expansion spree, Ritesh Agarwal has got OYO’s board approval to buy back shares in a secondary transaction to increase his stake in the company.

OYO parent company, Oravel Stays, in an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders has approved a $1.5 Bn primary capital infusion into the company by SoftBank Vision Fund and Ritesh Agarwal’s RA Hospitality.

It is to be noted that the reports of Agarwal buying back stake in OYO first emerged in July 2019.

Founded in 2013 by Agarwal, OYO has grown to a franchisee model. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574668805.8057382/Ritesh-Agarwal’s-$693-Mn-OYO-Share-Buy-Back-Plan-Gets-Board-Approval?ref=audio_experience

Paytm has raised $1 billion (Rs.

The round valued Paytm at $16 billion, slightly higher than the $15 billion valuation the company had claimed in August this year.

Both companies have used generous rewards and cashbacks to draw in customers, and Paytm, even though it has raised $3.3 billion to date, has struggled to compete.

Paytm Senior Vice President Deepak Abbott had put down his papers last month, and was followed by Nitin Misra, who was also a Senior VP .

It is India’s most valuable startup, and with its new $1 billion fund infusion, is well capitalized to take on incumbents. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574667006.8240578/Paytm-Has-Raised-$1-Billion-At-A-Valuation-Of-$16-Billion?ref=audio_experience

Startup Of The Week: WazirXThere is a sound reason to choose WazirX as crypto startup of the week.

WazirX has not only survived the adverse Indian crypto policies but is the first Indian exchange that has been acquired by a foreign exchange.

Global cryptocurrency exchange and blockchain ecosystem, Binance has announced its acquisition of Indian cryptocurrency startup WazirX.

Speaking to Inc42, Nishchal Shetty, stated that it’s a landmark moment in the Indian cryptocurrency industry, as it’s the first time that such a leading global exchange has acquired Indian cryptocurrency startup.

Shetty also told us he would continue leading the cryptocurrency exchange as well as the P2P transactions, globally. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574665205.3825006/Cryptocurrency-This-Week:-Binance-Acquires-WazirX,-PayPal-On-Why-It-Exited-From-Libra-And-More?ref=audio_experience

They took a look at music programmes offered by top institutes in the world, and after hours of research and interactions with tutors, they decided to create a music education vertical in Furtados.

The result: Furtados School of Music FSM ).Studying the financial viability of a project was a relatively easier task for Tanuja and Dharini because of their banking experience.

The final resolution was: “If the plan doesn’t work, we will retire as music teachers in the Himalayas.”Five years ago, they launched the first centre of their music school in Mumbai’s posh Nepean Sea Road area.

FSM has been a catalyst for adoption of music in schools and households,” Dharini said.

Tanuja said the firm would continue to use technology to make music lessons accessible. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574663406.9414253/Venture-takes-music-education-mainstream?ref=audio_experience

Beauty may only be skin deep, but a fresh clutch of startups is not content with just scratching the surface of $25-billion beauty and personal care market in India.

His own personal experience — itchy scalp, dandruff and hair fall — prompted him to start a firm which offered customised solutions.

That got me thinking: why not develop a model which can offer genuine solutions to each and every consumer’s problems?” Chawla said.

And these stories keep changing every six months or so while the consumer continues to grapple with their problems.

Some major companies have sensed an opportunity and invested in beauty tech. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574661607.8143718/Skin-in-the-game:-Beauty-tech-firms-drive-market-makeover?ref=audio_experience

Truecaller plans to use its payments platform to foray into the credit business by early 2020, turning it into a complete fintech company, Co-founder Nami Zarringhalam said.

In an exclusive interview at his company headquarters, Nami said Truecaller was becoming a "superapp", providing a spectrum of services to its consumers.

On being asked whether the company was entering the fintech market by providing credit facilities on Truecaller Pay, Nami said he was looking at an early 2020 release of the service.

Based on this learning and response, we are working on updating and improving the user experience for India.

"We're working on making application-to-approval an end-to-end digital experience. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574659804.956456/Truecaller-to-foray-into-credit-business-in-early-2020:-Co-founder-Nami-Zarringhalam?ref=audio_experience

Nexus Venture Partners-backed co-living space provider Zolostays is in talks with Credit Suisse to raise around $100 million (about Rs 710 crore) to fund its expansion plans, a top company official said.

The Bengaluru-based firm is planning to increase its portfolio to 2 lakh beds by the end of 2021, Zolostays Co-founder and Chief Executive Nikhil Sikri told PTI.

Nikhil Sikri, Co-founder and CEO, ZolostaysIn January this year, Zolostays had raised $30 million in Series B funding round led by IDFC Alternatives, Mirae Asset, and Nexus Venture Partners.

Currently, the shared space market is estimated at around 10 million beds and the organised sector, which includes co-living service providers, contributes under one percent.

He added that Zolostays' student living portfolio will be limited to 10 percent at least for the the next few years. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574658006.1575768/Zolostays-in-talks-with-Credit-Suisse-for-$100M-funding?ref=audio_experience

NEW DELHI: Global alternative asset manager Investcorp has closed an estimated $45 million (about Rs 323 crore) funding round in dialysis services provider NephroPlus , in the process, providing an exit to one of the Hyderabad-headquartered company’s existing investors.The latest transaction will see Sea-Link Capital Partners , the investment firm founded by former KKR senior executive Heramb Hajarnavis, score an exit from its three year-old investment.

SeaLink is reported to have invested about Rs 90-100 crore in the company.NephroPlus also counts venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners and International Finance Corp, the private market investment arm of the World Bank, among its list of investors.Proceeds from the latest round of funding will see NephroPlus expand in its home market, as well as establish its footprint overseas, including in the Middle East and South East Asia.

“It’s been a company that we’ve been following from the sidelines for some time now.

In terms of breadth and width of delivery, NephroPlus has, possibly, the largest reach in India.

We think, given our experience in healthcare globally, there are a lot of areas where we can add value,” Gaurav Sharma, co-head of private equity at Investcorp India said. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574656205.246294/Investcorp-closes-Rs-323-crore-funding-round-in-NephroPlus?ref=audio_experience

The Traders’ body on November 25, 2019, in a letter to the Finance Minister, appealed to initiate a high-level enquiry to probe the alleged avoidance of due tax liability by ecommerce majors such as Amazon and Flipkart.

Notably, CAIT has been alleging that these ecommerce companies are involved in unethical business practices such as deep discounting, predatory pricing, violation of FDI norms, tax evasion, among others.

CAIT has also alleged that both Amazon and Flipkart have designed their business model based on highly predatory pricing and deep discounting and charging goods and service tax (GST) on artificially lowered price.

“Although as per GST law, they cannot undervalue the price of any commodity and under a statutory obligation to charge GST on actual market value,” CAIT wrote in the letter.

“In this way, instead of charging GST on the actual price they are actually charging it on much-lowered price and hence causing huge revenue loss to both the central and state government,” CAIT said in its letter. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574654406.6809406/Amazon,-Flipkart-Evading-GST:-CAIT-Explains-To-Finance-Minister?ref=audio_experience