Here is a list of top funding deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem this week. Check out the brief description about all of them.
Paytm Raises $1.4 Billion From SoftBank in a Largest Funding Round from Single Investor
In what could be seen as the largest funding round from a single investor for any Indian technology startup, Paytm — India’s largest digital payments startup, raised $1.4 billion from Japan’s SoftBank Group, reported Bloomberg today.
Softbank has made funding into One97 Communications, the parent company that owns and operates PayTM, this will help the Noida headquartered startup expand its user base of 220 million and build a large offering of financial services products, the company said in a emailed statement to Bloomberg. SoftBank will join its long-time partner Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as a major shareholder and will take a seat on the Paytm board.
Post this funding One97 now values at $7 billion.
PaySense Raises $5.3M in Series A Led by Jungle Ventures
PaySense, India’s fastest growing digital credit platform, today announced their Series A funding of $5.3 million. The round was led by Jungle Ventures with participation from Naspers Group and Nexus Venture Partners. The company had raised an earlier round of investment of $2.3 million led by Nexus Venture Partners and prominent global angels.
PaySense is a technology and data science company building new age financial products for Indian consumers. PaySense’s first product is a simple, fast and flexible credit platform that provides customers a variety of credit options for their needs. PaySense EMI is a personalized line of credit similar to a personal loan that can be used to make any purchase, offline or online, instantaneously by putting it on an affordable EMI plan.
Indian Fintech Startup Telr Raises $3M in Series B Funding from Innovations East
Telr, one of the fastest growing payment gateways with operations in the Middle East, South East Asia and India, has received an investment worth $3 million from Innovations East, a fund managed by people with extensive experience in marketplaces and online payments, as part of their Series B funding round.
The investment will be used to build out and enhance Telr’s core product proposition, roll out new payment methods and scale up operations in focus markets, especially India and other emerging markets. Funds will also be deployed, through selective partnerships, in creating an ecosystem for SMEs seeking to take their businesses online – with initiatives such as a web store builder and short-term lending.
Fintech Startup EzCred Raises Over $1M in Funding
Consumer lending startup EzCred, founded by former Zephyr Peacock India managing director Sachin Maheshwari and Zipdial co-founder Amiya Pathak, has raised more than $1 million (about `6.5 crore) from a clutch of angel investors in its first round of funding.
The investors include Dheeraj Pandey, CEO of Nasdaq-listed Nutanix; Rajesh Yohannan, former head of global mobile banking at Citibank; and Akash Garg, director of engineering at cab aggregator Uber.
Ayesha Takia Turns Investor, Invests $1M in The Good Life Company
Online luxury tea brand The Good Life Company has secured $1 Mn in Seed funding from husband-wife duo Ayesha Takia Azmi and Abu Farhan Azmi. The startup plans to use the raised funds to strengthen its operations in Mumbai and to expand services in Tier I cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. It further plans to foray into international markets as well, including the US, UK, Singapore, and the Middle East.
Luxury Homes Developer Isprava Raises $1.7M in Funding
Mumbai-based luxury homes developer Isprava Vesta Pvt. Ltd has raised Rs 11 crore ($1.7 million) in a bridge round of funding from a clutch of high-net-worth individuals. Isprava is developing luxury homes in Goa and the Nilgiris region in Tamil Nadu and has plans to expand to other locations. Nadir Godrej is on the board of Isprava.
Coworking Chain EV Hive Raises $800K in Funding
Jakarta-based chain of coworking spaces, EV Hive has secured $800K in its Pre Series A round of funding from existing and new investors. The round saw participation from Tokyo-based VC firm East Ventures, tech-focussed VC firm SMDV, and real estate company Sinar Mas, along with three, undisclosed management members.
The funding will be used to expand the company’s coworking spaces across Indonesia.
Fynd Raises $500K from Silicon Valley Based Rocketship, Series A Funding Totals $1M
Underlining its commitment to offer superior customer experiences with real time fashion discovery, Fynd, the unique fashion e-commerce portal, recently raised follow-up funds of $500,000 from Silicon Valley-based Rocketship. This new capital has been raised in an extension of the Series A funding round wherein the fashion e-commerce portal had raised $500k from Venture Catalysts in March. Fynd seeks to chiefly utilise the funds to strengthen its tech backbone, optimize its operations and further enhance its customer offerings as well as strategies. Fynd will leverage the VC firm’s expertise in data mining and machine learning capabilities to emerge as a household name in the fashion e-commerce space.
Project Management Platform Zapty Raises $500K from IdeaSpring Capital
Ideaspring Capital is excited to announce its investment in Zapty Workplace Inc, their fourth one this year and their first in the horizontal B2B SaaS collaboration and workflow space. The investment will be Zapty’s first institutional round of capital funding. Zapty was originally bootstrapped by serial entrepreneurs Arvind Agarwal (previously founder of Skelta, a popular product in Embeddable Workflow and BPM space, with a successful exit to Invensys, Plc.), Sanjay Shah (a serial entrepreneur with several successful exits) and Manav Garg (a prolific angel investor and CEO of Eka Software).
Hyperlocal Delivery Startup Genie Bags $250K, to Resume Operations
Chennai-based hyperlocal delivery and logistics startup Genie Solutions Pvt. Ltd will resume operations as it has raised $250,000 (around Rs 1.6 crore) from a group of unnamed high net-worth individuals (HNIs). The firm, which was founded in early 2015, was shut down on 31 March due to lack of funding. The company will focus on attaining scale and being operationally profitable in a year along with creating supplementary products and sources of income, the firm said.
Apart from these top 10 funding deals, here are a few startups which have also secured funding for their growth and expansion:
Health Sutra, a Hyderabad-based health food maker, has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from social venture fund Ankur Capital and Hyderabad Angels.
AI-based chatbot niki.ai has raised funding from global leader in business management software SAP.
Kalaari Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in AI startup Vernacular.ai. The investment was done as a part of Kalaari Capital’s accelerator programme Kstart.
5F World startup platform has invested an undisclosed amount of funding in digital content platform Live History India, which has been started by journalist Mini Menon along with Akshay Chavan.
Sanitary napkins maker EliZe has raised an undisclosed amount of seed investment from angel investors including Sunil Kalra, Arun Venkatachalam from Murugappa Group, Startup Buddy Ventures and senior Arthur D Little members Adnan Merhaba, Viditha Kanakamedala and Rohit Sethi.
Paytm Raises $1.4 Billion From SoftBank in a Largest Funding Round from Single Investor
In what could be seen as the largest funding round from a single investor for any Indian technology startup, Paytm — India’s largest digital payments startup, raised $1.4 billion from Japan’s SoftBank Group, reported Bloomberg today.
Softbank has made funding into One97 Communications, the parent company that owns and operates PayTM, this will help the Noida headquartered startup expand its user base of 220 million and build a large offering of financial services products, the company said in a emailed statement to Bloomberg. SoftBank will join its long-time partner Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as a major shareholder and will take a seat on the Paytm board.
Post this funding One97 now values at $7 billion.
PaySense Raises $5.3M in Series A Led by Jungle Ventures
PaySense, India’s fastest growing digital credit platform, today announced their Series A funding of $5.3 million. The round was led by Jungle Ventures with participation from Naspers Group and Nexus Venture Partners. The company had raised an earlier round of investment of $2.3 million led by Nexus Venture Partners and prominent global angels.
PaySense is a technology and data science company building new age financial products for Indian consumers. PaySense’s first product is a simple, fast and flexible credit platform that provides customers a variety of credit options for their needs. PaySense EMI is a personalized line of credit similar to a personal loan that can be used to make any purchase, offline or online, instantaneously by putting it on an affordable EMI plan.
Indian Fintech Startup Telr Raises $3M in Series B Funding from Innovations East
Telr, one of the fastest growing payment gateways with operations in the Middle East, South East Asia and India, has received an investment worth $3 million from Innovations East, a fund managed by people with extensive experience in marketplaces and online payments, as part of their Series B funding round.
The investment will be used to build out and enhance Telr’s core product proposition, roll out new payment methods and scale up operations in focus markets, especially India and other emerging markets. Funds will also be deployed, through selective partnerships, in creating an ecosystem for SMEs seeking to take their businesses online – with initiatives such as a web store builder and short-term lending.
Fintech Startup EzCred Raises Over $1M in Funding
Consumer lending startup EzCred, founded by former Zephyr Peacock India managing director Sachin Maheshwari and Zipdial co-founder Amiya Pathak, has raised more than $1 million (about `6.5 crore) from a clutch of angel investors in its first round of funding.
The investors include Dheeraj Pandey, CEO of Nasdaq-listed Nutanix; Rajesh Yohannan, former head of global mobile banking at Citibank; and Akash Garg, director of engineering at cab aggregator Uber.
Ayesha Takia Turns Investor, Invests $1M in The Good Life Company
Online luxury tea brand The Good Life Company has secured $1 Mn in Seed funding from husband-wife duo Ayesha Takia Azmi and Abu Farhan Azmi. The startup plans to use the raised funds to strengthen its operations in Mumbai and to expand services in Tier I cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. It further plans to foray into international markets as well, including the US, UK, Singapore, and the Middle East.
Luxury Homes Developer Isprava Raises $1.7M in Funding
Mumbai-based luxury homes developer Isprava Vesta Pvt. Ltd has raised Rs 11 crore ($1.7 million) in a bridge round of funding from a clutch of high-net-worth individuals. Isprava is developing luxury homes in Goa and the Nilgiris region in Tamil Nadu and has plans to expand to other locations. Nadir Godrej is on the board of Isprava.
Coworking Chain EV Hive Raises $800K in Funding
Jakarta-based chain of coworking spaces, EV Hive has secured $800K in its Pre Series A round of funding from existing and new investors. The round saw participation from Tokyo-based VC firm East Ventures, tech-focussed VC firm SMDV, and real estate company Sinar Mas, along with three, undisclosed management members.
The funding will be used to expand the company’s coworking spaces across Indonesia.
Fynd Raises $500K from Silicon Valley Based Rocketship, Series A Funding Totals $1M
Underlining its commitment to offer superior customer experiences with real time fashion discovery, Fynd, the unique fashion e-commerce portal, recently raised follow-up funds of $500,000 from Silicon Valley-based Rocketship. This new capital has been raised in an extension of the Series A funding round wherein the fashion e-commerce portal had raised $500k from Venture Catalysts in March. Fynd seeks to chiefly utilise the funds to strengthen its tech backbone, optimize its operations and further enhance its customer offerings as well as strategies. Fynd will leverage the VC firm’s expertise in data mining and machine learning capabilities to emerge as a household name in the fashion e-commerce space.
Project Management Platform Zapty Raises $500K from IdeaSpring Capital
Ideaspring Capital is excited to announce its investment in Zapty Workplace Inc, their fourth one this year and their first in the horizontal B2B SaaS collaboration and workflow space. The investment will be Zapty’s first institutional round of capital funding. Zapty was originally bootstrapped by serial entrepreneurs Arvind Agarwal (previously founder of Skelta, a popular product in Embeddable Workflow and BPM space, with a successful exit to Invensys, Plc.), Sanjay Shah (a serial entrepreneur with several successful exits) and Manav Garg (a prolific angel investor and CEO of Eka Software).
Hyperlocal Delivery Startup Genie Bags $250K, to Resume Operations
Chennai-based hyperlocal delivery and logistics startup Genie Solutions Pvt. Ltd will resume operations as it has raised $250,000 (around Rs 1.6 crore) from a group of unnamed high net-worth individuals (HNIs). The firm, which was founded in early 2015, was shut down on 31 March due to lack of funding. The company will focus on attaining scale and being operationally profitable in a year along with creating supplementary products and sources of income, the firm said.
Apart from these top 10 funding deals, here are a few startups which have also secured funding for their growth and expansion:
Health Sutra, a Hyderabad-based health food maker, has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from social venture fund Ankur Capital and Hyderabad Angels.
AI-based chatbot niki.ai has raised funding from global leader in business management software SAP.
Kalaari Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in AI startup Vernacular.ai. The investment was done as a part of Kalaari Capital’s accelerator programme Kstart.
5F World startup platform has invested an undisclosed amount of funding in digital content platform Live History India, which has been started by journalist Mini Menon along with Akshay Chavan.
Sanitary napkins maker EliZe has raised an undisclosed amount of seed investment from angel investors including Sunil Kalra, Arun Venkatachalam from Murugappa Group, Startup Buddy Ventures and senior Arthur D Little members Adnan Merhaba, Viditha Kanakamedala and Rohit Sethi.
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