ePlane looks to ride the Indian government’s interest in air taxis with new $14M round

India's ePlane Company has raised $14 million in a Series B round as it plans to commercialize its air taxi in 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Startup inspiration can strike anywhere. But for Atlas.co*, a freemium browser-based, real-time mapping tool that’s being built by an Oslo, Norway-based team of (initially student) engineers, the realization that there might be a business opportunity in competing with expensive legacy mapping software hit the founders during class. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Netherlands-based Just Eat Takeaway announced today that it is selling Grubhub to Wonder in a deal valued at $650 million. The company said that it expects the deal to be completed by Q1 2025. “The sale of Grubhub to Wonder will increase the cash generation capabilities of Just Eat Takeaway.com and will accelerate our growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shares of Swiggy dropped 4% to 401 rupees on Wednesday as the food delivery and quick commerce startup concluded India’s second-largest IPO this year, in a closely watched debut that puts it in direct comparison with what analysts have long considered the benchmark Indian internet stock: Zomato. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Luggage storage as a vector for piling into convenience-based revenue opportunities in the business of global travel continues to put a spring in San Francisco-based Bounce‘s step. The startup has just tucked $19 million in Series B funding into its suitcase, with a plan to keep rolling revenue that’s grown 20x since its $12M Series Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The majority of the aging population in Japan still prefers using cash for transactions, according to a recent report citing government data. In 2023, cashless transactions in Japan totaled 126.7 trillion yen ($885 billion), accounting for 39.3 percent of all spending in the country, said the Japanese government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Equal, an Indian startup founded by Keshav Reddy, has raised $10M in its maiden funding round led by Prosus Ventures to scale identity verification and financial data sharing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Running payroll is hard in any country, but perhaps especially so in Brazil thanks to consistently changing laws and extremely influential unions that make it significantly harder to get it right. Fernando Gadotti struggled with this as the co-founder and CEO of DogHero, LatAm’s version of Rover. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yelp, which made a name for itself giving restaurant recs, just bought an auto services website. In the company’s earnings report on Thursday, Yelp revealed that it agreed to buy RepairPal, a site for car repair estimates, for $80 million in cash Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Exosonic, a startup developing supersonic commercial air travel and UAV tech, is winding down after five years of operation. In an update posted to its website, Exosonic said it was unable to find the traction necessary to continue operations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices