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.

Softbank Vision Fund Invests $2.5B in Flipkart

Flipkart Group, India’s leading e-commerce marketplace, has announced an investment of $2.5B— a mix of primary and secondary capital — from SoftBank Vision Fund, the world’s largest technology-focused investment fund. This is the biggest ever private investment in an Indian technology company, and will make the Vision Fund one of the largest shareholders in Flipkart.

The investment is part of the previously announced financing round, where Flipkart had raised capital from three of the world’s premier technology companies — Tencent, eBay and Microsoft. After this financing round, Flipkart will have in excess of $4 billion of cash on its balance sheet.

Amazon, Tencent Invest $300M Funding Round in Android Creator’s Startup

Essential Products, the smartphone startup founded by a co-creator of the Android mobile operating system, has raised $300 million in new funding and signed up retailers to sell its first device.

The company, founded by Chief Executive Andy Rubin in late 2015, said Access Technology Ventures led the funding round, which brought its total investment raised to $330 million.

Strategic investors also included Tencent Holdings Ltd, electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn and Amazon.com, which participated via its Alexa Fund. Previous investors Redpoint Ventures and Playground Global also participated.

Matrix Backed Five Star Business Finance Raises $50M Led by Norwest Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital

Five Star Business Finance Limited (“Five Star”) announced today the successful closure of its equity fund raise of $50 million (Rs 333 crore) led by Norwest Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. The existing investors, Matrix Partners and Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia, also participated in the round.

Five Star operates 110 branches across South India and serves over 18,000 customers and specializes in extending secured, small business and housing loans. For FY18, the Company is expected to double its loan book to INR 1000 crores. It plans to further expand its footprint across different states in India.

Ola Raises Rs 231 Cr from Hedge Fund Tekne Private Ventures

SoftBank-backed cab aggregator Ola has closed a Rs 231 crore funding round from New York-based hedge fund Tekne Private Ventures through issue of preference shares.

The deal involves allotment of 1.71 lakh fully and compulsorily convertible preference shares (1,71,173 shares) for a total consideration of Rs 231.44 crore, according to the company's regulatory filings with the corporate affairs ministry.

Noida based Uber-for-Farmers Startup Founded By Ex-CEO Airtel Raises $10 Mn

Noida-based EM3 Agri Services, an Agri-tech startup which offers farm services and machinery on rent, has raised $10 million in series-B round from London-based non-profit Global Innovation Fund (GIF), a global innovation fund backed by the governments of US, UK, Sweden and Australia.

Founded in 2013 by Rohtash Mal, a former CEO of Bharti Airtel and his US-educated son Adwitiya Mal, EM3 is inspired by ridesharing firms like Uber and aims to “Uberise” farm services in India by bringing relevant global technologies and equipment to India and make them accessible and affordable to Indian farmers with FAAS (farming-as-a-service) where they pay per use.

EM3 Agri operates under the brand name Samadhan in Madhya Pradesh and parts of Gujarat. The company offers farm equipment such as ground-levelling machines, deep-ploughing equipment and power harrows for making seed beds to farmers on rent.

Post Flipkart, Softbank Invests $1.1 Bn In Indian Origin Entrepreneur’s BioTech Startup

Biotech firm, Roivant Sciences has secured $1.1 billion equity investment from the SoftBank Vision Fund. This investment, which includes existing shareholder participation, is intended to accelerate the launch of new subsidiaries within and beyond the biopharmaceutical industry.

Commenting on the development, Akshay Naheta, Managing Director of SoftBank Group International said, “Roivant has attracted world-class talent in its pursuit of developing and commercializing drugs that target large unmet medical needs. We are impressed with the ambition and track record of the Roivant team and look forward to supporting them in the next step of their journey, as they look to effectively harness technology and leverage big data across all aspects of their business.”

Founded by 32-year-old Indian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Roivant Sciences Group focuses on developing and commercializing novel therapies through subsidiary ‘Vants’. It focuses on five different subsidiaries areas which includes Axovant (neurology), Myovant (women’s health and endocrine diseases), Dermavant (dermatology), Enzyvant (rare diseases), and Urovant (urology).

Agri-tech Startup Crofarm Raises Rs 5 crore Seed in Pre-Series A

Gurgaon-based agritech startup Crofarm has successfully raised a whopping Rs 5 crore in a pre-Series A round. The investment round which saw the participation of angel investors Rajan Anandan, Google India MD, and Jitendra Gupta, and PayU India MD, among others was led by US-based venture development firm Factor[e] Ventures.

The 2016 founded startup, which connects farmers and retailers, raised its seed round from Pravega Ventures, an early stage Venture Capital fund focused on providing seed and pre-Series A funding to companies. According to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle, Crofarm had raised $1.5 million in the seed round it raised in July last year.

Crofarm’s latest pre-Series A investment was made via online deal-making platform LetsVenture.

Foreign Exchange Products and Services Provider Myforexeye Raises Rs 1.4 Cr in Pre-Series A Funding

Myforexeye, India’s first full service Forex Company has raised pre-Series A funding of Rs 1.4 crore from a clutch of individual investors. The investment has been made by HNI’s and senior bankers from India and overseas.

The company has been working towards simplifying Forex and is aiming at disrupting Rs 60,000 crore windfalls made by intermediaries/banks on the name of information arbitrage. This pre-Series A round of funding saw participation from prominent investors like Rahul Dev Kumar, a senior banker from Singapore, Rajesh Mahajan, an eminent infrastructure expert with more than two decades of experience in power and energy trading, Ankit Sharma, Managing Director, KCS Group of Companies along with other renowned names from banking and international trade.

Myforexeye has aggressive growth plans and looking at expanding its operations across India and other countries in the next 5 years. These funds would be utilized for technology development and marketing so as to scale up the business in India and abroad. They are working on developing innovative technology solutions to bring in more transparency, enhance user experience and ensure seamless transactions for Indian exporters, importers, individuals (B2C) like NRI’s, travelers etc.

Hospital Software Startup Newcastle Technologies Raises Seed Round

Newcastle Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which develops hospital management software, has raised Rs 1.55 crore (about $243,000) in seed funding from tech industry veterans based in India and abroad, a top company executive told VCCircle.

The Chennai-based firm will use the funds to expand its footprint to 1,000 hospitals over the next three to five years, its founder and chief executive Swaminathan Raman said. He added that the startup was gearing up for a venture capital round by the end of next year.

Co-living Spaces Startup StayAbode Raises Undisclosed Amount of Funding from Incubate Fund & Others

StayAbode, a start-up that is building co-living spaces, has closed a strategic round of funding for an undisclosed amount from Incubate Fund and a group of investors from the real estate industry including Legacy Global Projects MD Sanjay Shenoy and Mridul Upreti (ex Joint MD JLL India). Some existing investors also participated. The funds will be used to scale the business by strengthening technology and team. StayAbode currently offers over 260 units spread over 5 properties across Bengaluru and has plans to expand to other cities in due course.

Communal living is gradually becoming the preferred way of living for several reasons – saves money, is more fulfilling than living alone, people want to make/have friends to share common interests with and it’s easier to move in when shifting to a new city.

Apart from these top 10 funding deals, here are a few startups which have also secured funding for their growth and expansion:

Nazara Games Invests in Moong Labs to Tap the Mobile Gaming Market Globally

Bengaluru-based digital milkman startup Doodhwala has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its pre-series A round from investor Tom Varkey, a partner at Stonehill Capital, USA.

Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi has picked up majority stake in health and fitness startup, Skylimit Integrated Wellness Solutions.

Dubai-based ride-hailing firm Careem has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Chinese ride-sharing firm Didi Chuxing to strengthen the company's position in the market and improve its services.

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