NewsVoir: Digest for May 19, 2024

Business Wire India - Multimedia Multimedia By Business Wire India

Table of Contents Delhi NCR's First Hamleys Play Opens at Worldmark Gurgaon Conversational Commerce Platform Gallabox Raises USD 1.2M Cityfurnish Raises USD 2.5 Million in Debt Funding Round Emeritus Celebrates the Spirit of Resolutions, Upskilling and Growth Dettol Enters a New Category with Dettol Multi-Use Antiseptic Cream

Delhi NCR's First Hamleys Play Opens at Worldmark Gurgaon Thursday 17 November 2022 06:12 AM UTC+00 Business Wire India Hamleys - the finest toy shop in the world, and India's leading toy retailer for children is delighted to announce the launch of its highly-anticipated Hamleys Play in Delhi NCR. Bringing the magical experience to Worldmark Gurgaon, it boasts 20+ exciting attractions curated with multi-sensory experience and sprawls across 5000 sq ft. Since its inception, Hamleys has been an inspirational place that focuses on taking a child's imagination and learning to exceptional heights. The ethos of Hamleys Play is built with storytelling at the heart of it, keeping the traditional play activities alive in the world pacing towards technology. An unconventional concept, ​Hamleys Play breathes a whole new life into the traditional idea of play and infuses the liveliness of the outdoors and the never-ending elusiveness of the fantasies of a child's mind. The play area includes unique attractions like India's biggest indoor Water Play Game, The Magic Wall, Delhi's first Scarf Shooter, 10 feet Rock Climbing, Ball Pool, Sand Play and many more. With traditional play, peer interaction and creativity as the main pillars, Hamleys Play incorporates an interactive area for storytelling and DIY activities to encourage kids to let their imagination run wild and participate in engaging activities. Based on the philosophy of community and parent-child bonding, this one-of-its-kind concept has been built with painstaking attention to detail such that it engages toddlers, kids, and parents alike. It uniquely addresses and delights the play needs of everyone in a secure, clean and safe environment. It is envisioned as a space bringing gardens and parks to life as it interweaves with the lyrical mysticism and the poetics of a fantasy world.   While speaking about the new store launch, Kinjal Shah, Group Vice-President at Hamleys India said, "The play area is designed with innovative concepts to address the demands of the growing appetite for fun. Hamleys Play provides quality, safe and well operated facilities to choose from, especially when addressing the 2-8 age group." Introducing the 'Little Garden of Poem', the enchanting land of things mystic. Bunny Hooper, a kind gardener, and his family welcomes everyone to their wonderland filled with adventure, and where magic takes place. Depicting a world of surrealism with elements like luxuriant greens, quivering blooms, and the twitches of the Laburnum, it urges one to see beyond imagination. ​The world's first Hamleys Play was unveiled in Mumbai, at Jio World Drive​, in 2021 and dedicated to kids of 3-8 years age bracket.

Conversational Commerce Platform Gallabox Raises USD 1.2M Thursday 17 November 2022 10:02 AM UTC+00 Business Wire India Gallabox, a conversational commerce platform which helps Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) increase their sales through WhatsApp has raised USD 1.2 million in seed funding. The funding was led by Prime Venture Partners with participation from 100x Entrepreneur Fund. The no-code conversational commerce platform leverages WhatsApp Business API to help SMBs improve their sales conversions and offer a full mobile experience to their customers without the need for a mobile app. Several noted angel investors also participated in the round including Pallav Nadhani (ex-CEO, FusionCharts), Abhishek Rungta (Indus Net Technologies), SV Swaroop Reddy (ex-SPI Cinemas), and Siva Rajamani (Co-Founder & CEO, Everstage).   Founded by Karthik Jagannathan, Yogesh Narayanan & Yathin Panchanathan, Gallabox empowers SMBs to manage their sales conversions on WhatsApp, putting an end to poor conversions and broken customer experience using legacy tools. Since its inception in 2021, Gallabox has a roster of more than 500 paying customers including PVR, ShipRocket, Pickyourtrail, Credit Mantri, Goireland, etc. across D2C, Education, Health & Wellness, Financial and Travel services in India and across 20 other countries.   India is home to 75 million SMBs with 20 million of them digitally influenced, according to a report by Zinnov. Acquiring customers digitally, SMBs spend enormous efforts and marketing budgets to generate leads, but struggle to convert them because of the opacity of customer conversations, multiple touch-points, and dependence on sales team members to provide updates. There is no way to keep track of prospective conversations, streamline them to the right team members, get transparency to customer interactions, enable greater team collaboration, and finally take the prospect to closure. Most SMBs cannot afford to develop interactive experiences like a mobile app, unlike large companies.   Gallabox enables businesses to interact with their customers instantly on WhatsApp, understand their requirements and offer a collaborative experience. Gallabox is the always-on 'digital agent' for businesses to deal with new customer expectations and sell better. The multi-agent team inbox and campaign features are layered with a sophisticated but simple-to-use, no-code bot, thereby marrying the ease of messaging with the power of automation.   With more than two billion users on WhatsApp and more than 500 million in India alone, coupled with SMS becoming increasingly spam-prone, businesses are fast discovering WhatsApp to be the best way to connect with their customers. While enterprises have the resources to build interactive tools to communicate and transact with their customers on WhatsApp, small & medium-sized businesses do not have the budget or skill-sets to build these sophisticated tools. Gallabox makes it easy for such businesses to be up and running in a matter of minutes and leverage a pre-built library of templates to deliver a world class experience to clients, turning customer conversations into sales.   Currently investing out of its USD 120 million Fund IV, Prime Venture Partners is typically the first institutional investor in startups in Fintech, SaaS and Digital India, and focuses on companies with an innovative approach to solving fundamental problems through technology. Prime's mission is to partner early with entrepreneurs and help build world-class technology companies that are addressing some of India's most important problems. Prime's prominent Limited Partners include International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, a top-tier University endowment, global family offices and institutions, and numerous global technology entrepreneurs.   Supporting Quotes   Karthik Jagannathan, CEO & Co-founder, Gallabox "We are thrilled to partner with Prime Venture Partners and 100x Entrepreneur Fund as they share our optimism for automating customer conversation workflows for SMBs at scale. Indian SMBs are maturing and there is an immediate need for digitisation & automation to help them with rapid sales growth and transformation. We are excited about the Bharat-SMB opportunity and want to empower a million SMBs with enterprise-level sophisticated tech and tools to acquire and retain customers."   Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners "Karthik, Yathin and Yogesh are passionate about hyperlocal and SMBs like no other team we've met. Their deep insights made backing them a simple decision for us at Prime. It's no secret that, around the world, such businesses have to be transformed in the next 2-3 years through digitization and automation. Gallabox's WhatsApp automation with a quick start ready-to-use tool will help business owners focus on their core business while modernizing and automating customer conversations to compete with big players on an equal footing."   Siddhartha Ahluwalia, 100x Entrepreneur Fund "The Gallabox team's understanding of the needs of SMBs is unparalleled in the industry. They have leveraged three important trends. Firstly, WhatsApp is a business communication application of India. Secondly, SMBs for the first time want to leverage customer data to drive better relationships with their customers and to increase sales. Thirdly, SMS has become a redundant medium for businesses to reach out to customers. The Gallabox investment matches our fund thesis of backing exceptional seed stage SaaS startups run by founders who have unique insights and experiences in the markets they operate in."

Cityfurnish Raises USD 2.5 Million in Debt Funding Round Thursday 17 November 2022 10:49 AM UTC+00 Business Wire India Cityfurnish today announced the close of a $2.5M financing round, including debt and equity bringing the total amount raised to date to $10M in equity and debt, to further its mission of bringing unprecedented ease and flexibility to the home furnishing experience. The debt round was led by Northern Arc Capital along with participation from Western Capital and UC Capital Inclusive along with participation from existing backers.   Founded in 2015, by Neerav Jain and Saurabh Gupta, Cityfurnish is an online furniture rental platform where users can rent furniture as an alternative to buying for flexible requirements. With the new way of living more consumers are opting to rent to live asset light for a more flexible lifestyle, without compromising on the quality of service.   Cityfurnish is solving a major problem for urban India where more than 70% apartments in metro cities are unfurnished or semi-furnished. With the fast-changing lifestyle, more Indians are getting mobile – flexibility and convenience is a must for them! Many of them don't really know how long they will be in the same job, city or apartment a year from now. According to surveys conducted by the Cityfurnish team, the users had no alternative to buying expensive furniture for their flexible requirements. Keeping these pain points in mind, the team of founders at Cityfurnish are on a mission to make furniture renting experience better than buying furniture!   "When Neerav moved to Delhi for college, there was no alternative to buying furniture. Buying furniture was a difficult and unnecessary process and spending on furniture wasn't an ideal option for students. The idea to have an alternative to buying for flexible requirements led to the start of Cityfurnish."   Cityfurnish has a full stack model which includes in-house designing of the furniture using solid Sheesham wood to control the last mile delivery & assembly of the furniture. All of this is managed by the Cityfurnish team to provide the customers WOW experience which they won't get even if they would have bought the furniture. And what makes Cityfurnish stand out is all of this is done with 72 hr free delivery and service like free maintenance & free relocation/upgrade.   Following the Series A round of funding which included investors like YCombinator, Venture Highway, Global Founders Capital and marquee angels like Gmail creator Paul Buchheit and YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, the company had turned profitable and recorded more than 100% growth in revenue through 2022, currently present in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai. With this funding, Cityfurnish aims to expand its operations, strengthen the company's brand position, technology and presence in different cities by 2025.    "Cityfurnish plans to enable users to switch furniture regularly and not getting stuck with the same furniture forever and live a commitment-free life when it comes to furniture."

Emeritus Celebrates the Spirit of Resolutions, Upskilling and Growth Thursday 17 November 2022 11:00 AM UTC+00 Business Wire India The new year is around the corner and that means one thing for everyone – Resolutions! This is the time of the year when most people ponder on the past year, think about the resolutions they achieved, and the ones they didn't. New year resolutions are also a way for each of us to take a look at what we'd like to change in ourselves and emerge as a refreshed 2.0 or 3.0 version of ourselves. While many people take up personal goal resolutions related to healthier lifestyles, hobbies, travel, etc., people also plan on how to improve their work-life and career journeys. And what better way to grow professionally in the coming year with an upskilling programme to improve one's skill sets, deepen their knowledge and get a better understanding of their roles. Emeritus - the global leader in making high-quality education accessible and affordable to individuals, companies, and governments worldwide - is encouraging learners to upskill themselves in 2023 with programmes from top schools through a Gift for the Future You offer. Having seen a rise of 55% in enrolments for its programmes starting from the end of December up until February versus the previous quarter when programmes started in October – November, Emeritus is offering a special festive offer from 17th November to 7th December across best-selling programmes in top domains such as Product Management, Digital Marketing, Leadership and Data Science from top educational institutions like IIMs, IITs and other top Indian & Global Institutes. Interested learners can sign up for one or more of Emeritus' programmes on this link - Gift for the Future You.   Speaking about the year end, Mohan Kannegal, CEO, India and APAC, Emeritus, "We strongly believe that learning is a lifelong journey, and it is important for each person to grow and flourish not only in their careers but lives as well. At Emeritus, we are committed to making people future-ready through a range of high-quality, accessible, and affordable programmes from reputed institutes around the world. In a recent survey with our learners, we found that an overwhelming 88% of respondents have seen a positive impact within 12 months of completing a programme with Emeritus. This positive feedback spurs us on to continue building on our relationships with various universities to develop more relevant and engaging programmes for the coming years for people to become better versions of themselves in the future."   So learners looking to upskill themselves in the new year can choose from long & short form certificate programmes across domains like Digital Marketing, Healthcare Management, Product Management, Data Science, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Management, Cybersecurity, Business Strategy and Business Analytics on the Gift for the Future You link.

Dettol Enters a New Category with Dettol Multi-Use Antiseptic Cream Thursday 17 November 2022 11:05 AM UTC+00 Business Wire India Dettol, India's most trusted germ protection brand, entered a new category with the launch of its multi-use Dettol Antiseptic Cream prevents infection in a variety of minor wounds, cuts, and scratches. Dettol Antiseptic Cream is the only product in the Dettol portfolio to be exclusively available in drugstores and pharmacies across India. This 'Made in India' product is formulated and crafted specially to cater to the first aid needs of Indian consumers. Nielsen's consumer research indicates that only 56% of consumers use any form of branded first aid products, while the remaining 44% use basic home remedies or avoid applying anything with a marginal few consulting a doctor*. With the launch of this antiseptic cream, Dettol aims to create a niche for itself in the cuts and wounds segment, building on its existing antiseptic liquid heritage. This OTC product with its soothing formulation is an effective and easy-to-use first level treatment attending to various kinds of minor cuts/wounds to prevent infections.  Commenting on the product launch, Dilen Gandhi, Regional Marketing Director, South Asia – Health & Nutrition, Reckitt said, "As market leaders, it is our responsibility to address consumer gaps with products that cater to the needs of the Indian consumer. Dettol antiseptic cream is OTC product to be used by consumers to address minor cuts, and injuries to avoid the spread of any infection on open wounds. With this cream we want consumers to manage their first aid needs more effectively and efficiently. This 'Made in India' product is a simple and safe product built on Dettol's iconic antiseptic liquid heritage." The Dettol Antiseptic Cream TVC 'Har Ghar ka First Aid' raises awareness on catching an infection by not addressing minor cuts or wounds. Dettol Antiseptic Cream with its soothing formulation can be used directly on minor cuts - including kitchen cuts, shaving cuts, wounds, scratches, shoe bites, and minor burns without stinging while delivering 99.9% germ protection and preventing infection. A 30 mg. pack of Dettol Antiseptic Cream is the first ever over-the-counter product by Dettol priced at INR 60 and is currently available across online and offline pharmacies in India. TVC link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZ0b4b1GvU&feature=youtu.be   Production House: Full Moon Productions Producer: Anand Kumar Director: Narayan Shi DOP: Saket Saurabh Music: Sautrik Chakraborty Sound Engineer: Abhigyan Arora Creative Directors - Harish Arora & Manavjit Mohil   *Based on the report by Nielsen IQ dated 21 March 2022

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