Maoist Camp Busted In Odisha’s Nuapada; Explosives Recovered

Homegrown startups surpassed $1 billion in funding again across 119 deals in the month of October.

September saw the second-highest funding with $1.63 billion, behind the peak of $1.92 billion registered in June. In October, the growth and late-stage funding segment comprised 28 deals, contributing $846.2 million to the total funding amount, according to data by TheKredible.

Early-stage startups secured $355.38 million across 65 deals. Edtech startup Eruditus raised $150 million led by TPG’s The Rise Fund, the multi-sector strategy of TPG’s global impact investing platform, with participation from existing investors Softbank Vision Fund 2, Leeds Illuminate, Accel, CPP Investments, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Jaipur-based Finova Capital raised $135 million in a Series E round from Avataar Venture Partners, Sofina and Madison India Capital, with existing investor Norwest Venture Partners also participating in the round. Finova said it will use the funds to grow its loan book, invest in technology, expand geographically and further its vision of enabling financial inclusion at scale.

Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek invested an additional $60 million in higher education and upskilling startup Upgrad at a valuation of $2.25 billion.

Bengaluru-based startups led with 46 deals totalling $502.72 million, representing 41.84 per cent of the total funding in October.

Last month, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the setting up of a Rs 1,000 crore venture capital (VC) fund dedicated to the growing space sector. The deployment period of the proposed VC fund, under the aegis of IN-SPACe, is planned to be up to five years from the actual date of the start of the fund operations. The average deployment amount could be Rs 150-250 crore per year, depending on the investment opportunities and fund requirements.

--IANS

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Based on intelligence inputs about the movement of CPI (Maoist) cadres, two special operation groups (SOG) launched a search and destroy operation in Patdhara and Sunabeda reserve forests in Nuapada district on the night of October 30.

“On November 1, one SOG Assault team identified a suspected Maoist camp associated with the DGN divisional committee of the CPI (Maoist) in a dense forest near Bhainsamundi (Bahadurpani) village under Boden police station limits,” a senior Police officer said.

A huge quantity of explosive materials was recovered during the search operation at the camp, he added.

The recovered materials include 500 electric detonators, five reels of safety fuse, five improvised IED switches, two SBGL rounds, one gelatin stick (decomposed) and various Naxalite literatures.

“This recovery suggests that the site served as a temporary hideout for CPI (Maoist) cadres, which was raided by security forces,” he said.

In addition, another SOG team was deployed on November 1 evening to intensify the search operation, the police added.

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The deceased have been identified as A. Simanchal Reddy and Kunti Goud of the Kandeswar village.

According to sources, Reddy and Goud were reportedly going to their agriculture farm when a speeding auto-rickshaw hit their two-wheeler near their village on Saturday afternoon.

The duo was rushed to a nearby hospital where a doctor declared them ‘brought dead’. Their body was handed over to the family members after post-mortem.

At least five passengers travelling in the auto-rickshaw also sustained injuries. The injured persons have been admitted to Digapahandi Hospital.

After getting information, Digapahandi Police rushed to the spot and started an investigation into the incident.

In another tragic incident, as many as five persons were killed in a road accident in the Hemagiri police station area of Sundargarh district during the wee hours on Saturday.

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