Nuveen invests in Aavishkaar

Nuveen, the investment management business of TIAA, has invested ₹225 crore in the group holding company of the Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group. The investment will allow the group to consolidate holdings in its subsidiary companies in micro-finance, SME lending and financial technology space and help it consolidate its presence in South East Asia and Africa.

Sagisu, an intra-city logistics solution provider, has raised about ₹15 crore ($2.1 million) in seed funding investors in the US and India. It will use the money to build smart logistics hubs, expand into new geographies, scale up the technology platform and increase sales and supply capabilities. It started operations in Bengaluru and is in the process of creating capabilities to solve intra-city logistics across markets in India.

FoodyBuddy, a neighbourhood food network that enables consumers to sell home-cooked food, has raised ₹6 crore in a pre-Series A round from Prime Venture Partners. FoodyBuddy brings together home chefs and foodies who live in the same neighbourhood. Residents of more than 100 apartment communities are using FoodyBuddy, which has sold more than 2.5 lakh meals and reaches 20,000 households.

Blue Planet Environmental Solutions, a Singapore-headquartered sustainable waste management company, has acquired Mumbai-based Yasasu Environmental Management Services, a decentralised organic waste processing company, for an undisclosed amount. With this, Blue Planet will offer solutions to process organic waste through decentralised container technology to solve the growing urban waste problem.

CDC Group plc, a development finance institution owned by the UK Government, has committed $25 million to Lighthouse India Fund III, the third private equity fund of Lighthouse, a consumer-focussed mid-market private equity firm.

Wow Venue, an online platform for booking venues for events, has raised about ₹10.5 crore ($1.5 million) from investor Pranav Pathak. It offers booking for over 2,000 venues in 12 countries, for weddings, corporate, social and MICE events. The money will be used to grow the business, build the brand, marketing, hiring skilled manpower and to strengthen technology.

Gurgaon-based PlanetSpark, an edutech company that uses gamification and certified teachers in K8 segment, has raised ₹1.6 crore in seed funding from FIITJEE. PlanetSpark will use the money to increase the number of home based tuition centres from over 200 now across Delhi NCR. It will also use the money to develop gamified learn-tech products for an integrated instructional learning experience.

Pureplay Skin Sciences, which has a 100 per cent vegan skincare brand Plum, has raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A round from Unilever Ventures, the venture capital and private equity arm of Unilever. Plum will use the money to speed up growth in the growing beauty and skincare market. The money will help it scale up operations in both the online and offline spaces.

Gray Matters Capital, an impact investor focussed on investing in enterprises working to improve access to affordable quality education and employability in India, has selected MadGuy Labs, a Hyderabad-based online test preparation platform for government jobs to be funded under its edLABS initiative.

Cab aggregating and sharing platform Ola has invested ₹700 crore in Vogo, a scooter sharing network for short haul commute. Ola will invest in one lakh scooters on the Vogo platform. Vogo's offerings will be available for Ola's customers, directly from the Ola app. Ola had also invested in Vogo as part of the company's Series A fundraise that saw participation from Matrix Partners India and Stellaris Venture Partners.

B2B commerce company Moglix has raised about ₹160 crore ($23 million) in a Series C round led by existing investors Accel Partners, Jungle Ventures and International Finance Corporation. Venture Highway, Shailesh Rao and InnoVen Capital were part of the fund raise. With this, Moglix has raised in all $41 million. The company will use the money to grow its business. Our Bureau

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