Startup news and updates: daily roundup (March 21, 2023)

StockGro is hiring Chief Meme Officer at Rs 1 lakh a month

Bengaluru-based stock simulation app StockGro is hiring for a chief meme officer at a salary of Rs 1 lakh a month. This opportunity is fully remote, meaning the candidates can be anywhere in the world taking a crack at finance and memes. 

The key responsibility of the hired candidate would be to create snackable memes that talk about GenZ and millennials. 

StockGro is betting on the latest marketing technique because of its high popularity and acceptability by its target audience. Since short yet impactful memes are more likely to be accepted by these users, the chief meme officer will be responsible for curating, strategising, and distributing to achieve maximum presence. 

Ajay Lakhotia, Founder and CEO, StockGro, said, “The slightly unconventional role of the Chief Meme Officer is exactly what we need to connect with our audience. It is imperative to have a strong meme game to build a buzz among the up-and-coming users and entice them to explore StockGro. Our Chief Meme Officer will epitomize creativity in the most unconventional yet relatable way, and we are excited to see the magic of meme marketing.”

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Magellanic Cloud Ltd acquires 70% stake in ScanDron Pvt Ltd

Magellanic Cloud Ltd, a publicly listed company on the BSE, has acquired a 70% stake in Scandron Pvt Ltd, a drone manufacturing company. While Magellanic Cloud will now have majority ownership of the company, the current management team of Scandron will continue to lead the company's operations and vision.

The strategic partnership between the two companies is expected to enhance research and development efforts and improve the quality of drone manufacturing in India. Scandron has a clear plan to develop indigenous drone and robot technology, and the partnership aims to reduce reliance on imported technology.

Scandron’s focus will now be on enhancing drone and robotics performance in industries like aerospace, aviation, logistics, defence, and agriculture industries.

The range of investment and acquisition costs is undisclosed as of now.

Gaming startup WinZO to deploy $50M in global gaming ecosystem 

Gaming startup WinZO announced the fourth edition of its flagship Game Developer Fund with a corpus of $50 million to support the global gaming ecosystem. It expects to invest at least $10 million of the fund in US-based startups.

The company is looking to invest the fund in startups across all forms of interactive entertainment—game developers and publishers, economies around gaming, content creation, live-ops, and security. The games cover diverse genres from casual, action, and sports to mid-core multiplayer games such as tennis, golf, and more.

So far, WinZO has invested in Web3 gaming firm Upskillz, Web3 gaming community startup IndiGG, UK-based gaming studio Village Studio, India-based gaming studio Bombay Play, and blockchain-based creator economy and streaming startup Glip. The investments ranged from seed to growth stage. 

The company is scouting for innovative gaming companies for investments in the Game Developer Conference (GDC), the game industry's premier professional event, in San Francisco.

Entrepreneur First launches its Graduate Programme for Indian students

Entrepreneur First (EF), an early-stage talent investing firm, has launched its graduate programme for India's current students and recent graduates. This programme is focused on promoting entrepreneurship among young Indians by backing them before they have an idea or a Co-founder and providing them with the necessary tools including the capital, mentorship, and network to build successful businesses.

In just over a decade, Entrepreneur First (EF), via its programs in London, Paris, Berlin, and Bengaluru, has enabled 3000 individuals to build more than 600 companies that are now worth over $10 billion. 

With its graduate programme, EF India is setting out to invest in people with zero to two years of industry experience.

EF's graduate programme in India is now accepting applications from students currently at university or those who have 1-2 years of professional experience. 

Magenta Mobility opens its largest EV charging depot in Bengaluru

Electric mobility startup Magenta Mobility has opened its largest EV charging depot in Bilekahalli, Bengaluru.

This new charging depot, spanning 11,000 sq ft, has 63 AC chargers to ensure seamless and efficient charging experience with additional space for further expansion. This marks the 23rd charging depot of Magenta Mobility in Bengaluru and the 35th charging depot in India. The company plans to open 14 more such depots in the first quarter of FY 23-24.

With the capacity to charge up to 70 electric vehicles at the same time, this claims to be Magenta’s largest charging depot till date.

The facility is designed with sustainability at its core and is equipped with energy-saving sensor-enabled street lights to ensure optimal energy usage, water gutters, and rainwater harvesting systems and cameras for monitoring.

Additional features include a vehicle maintenance shed dedicated for repair and maintenance, a store room for maintaining spares and inventory along with basic amenities such as RO drinking water and toilets for the driver partners. 

Magenta Mobility has an electric fleet of over 600 vehicles spread across Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Noida and Gurugram serving clients in ecommerce, grocery delivery, FMCG, food and pharmaceuticals for last mile deliveries.

Imarticus Learning launches a new initiative to build entrepreneurs in India

Edtech startup Imarticus Learning has launched a new opportunity for young entrepreneurs in India to train students and make them employable. This new programme aims to empower emerging entrepreneurs in tier-II and tier-III cities to build their own businesses, the company said in a statement.

With zero royalty fees, the new programme claims to provide quicker return on investment within 6 months and positive cash flow in the first year. This newly-launched vertical will have all job-assured programs, curated with industry experts and certification courses from premier institutes like IIT’s and IIM’s.

It is eligible for all young entrepreneurs with a minimum experience of two years in the local market. Entrepreneurs associated with the new vertical will receive continued support for  branding, sales, staffing and marketing. For students, Imarticus Learning’s Edtech Entrepreneur vertical will help them upskill with the job-assured and certification programs.