VC Firm Accel to Raise $600 - $700 Mn for its 6th India Fund

Palo Alto, US based venture capital firm Accel Partners is planning to raise between $600 million and $700 million for its sixth India fund. Top partners from Accel were recently in the US to meet limited partners (LPs) for possible investments, according to a report by the Times of India citing two sources briefed on the matter.

Accel, which closed its last India fund at $450 million in December 2016, will raise much bigger fund than the previous one and the new fund will be used by the VC firm to sign larger cheques and also to keep investing more in portfolio companies that are doing well.

Citing one of the two sources, the ToI report further said that Accel plans to get more aggressive in growth deals and writing larger cheques for both new and existing companies besides their continuing focus on seed deals.

While the final size of the fund is still being decided, and Accel could end up raising more than its stated intention, said two people briefed on the matter. Accel has already registered multiple entities for the fund with US regulator SEC.

The new fund comes after Accel made a successful multi-bagger exit from e-commerce firm Flipkart, when in last year Walmart acquired a majority stake of 77% in Flipkart for $16 billion last year. Accel had invested $1 million in Flipkart in 2009 and thereafter $100 million in Flipkart over the years and made a total of over $1.2 billion when the sale happened, making a return on investment of more than 100%.

Known for its early bets in Facebook, Dropbox, Slack and Flipkart, last invested in India when it co-led the $13.2 million funding round of Valuedrive Technologies, which owns and operates used car retailing platform Spinny, in June this year.

In December last year, Accel Partners (US), along with Switzerland-based Syngenta Ventures and Neoplux, co-led US$35 million series B round of funding of Ninjacart, a Bangalore-based agri-marketing platform that connects farmers with retailers.

Fintech Firm Drip Capital Raises $25 Mn from Accel, Sequoia India and others

Accel Partners, Sequoia India and others have pumped US$25 million into the fintech-based trade financier Drip Capital in series B funding.

With this, the Palo Alto-and Mumbai-based company has raised U$45 million in equity and $55 million in debt, taking the total funding to $100 million.

The other investors who joined the latest round of funding include Wing VC and Y Combinator, along with Sequoia which are all existing investors, Drip Capital said in a statement Wednesday.

The current round of funding also has two other new investors--GC1 Ventures and institutional investor platform Trusted Insight, it added.

"The new fund will be used for global expansion over the next 12-18 months. Apart from India, we are already present in Mexico and the UAE and now we are looking to enter Southeast Asia as well," Drip Capital co-founder and co-chief executive Pushkar Mukewar said.

The company will use a part of the fresh capital in technology and expand its sales and marketing team, he said,
adding globally, it employs 120.

Mukewar said the company has already funded over USD 500 million worth of trade to 400 exporters its entry into the country in 2016.

"By FY20, we aim to fund USD 1 billion of trade originating from the country," he said. It offers exporters a credit line ranging from USD 0.1 million to USD 2.5 million through both unsecured and unsecured route.

Drip Capital uses technology to provide working capital to small companies and entrepreneurs who account for 50 percent of merchandise exports from the country and employ tens of millions.

Globally, he claimed there is a trade finance gap of USD1.5 trillion globally, the majority of which is among small business exporters in emerging markets, which means so much of trade potential is foregone for lack of funding.

The company focuses on 10 industry segments such as agro commodities, readymades and industrial goods, and stay away from gems & jewellery and perishables (fruits and vegetables), Mukewar.

Trade finance is a paper-based industry dominated by banks that primarily focus on large, established corporate customers. As against this, it uses electronic data and technology to underwrite and finance cross-border B2B deals.

Drip Capital has strategic partnerships with many key export promotion organizations, including the Federation of Indian Export Organizations and the Engineering Export Promotion Council. PTI HV

B2B E-Marketplace Zetwerk Raises $9 Mn from Accel, Sequoia Capital

Bangalore-based Zetwerk, an online marketplace for corporate buyers and suppliers, has raised $9 million (~₹64 crore) in a Series A round of funding from Accel Partners, reported LiveMint. Its existing investors Sequoia Capital and Kae Capital also contributed to the round.

Founded in 2017, by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras alumni Amrit Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Zetwerk is a B2B marketplace focused on make-to-order custom manufacturing.

Interestingly, prior to co-founding Zetwerk, Srinath was heading the Supply Business for Blackbuck, which is also backed by Accel and working in logistics segment.

Zetwerk claims to be India's first on-demand manufacturing platform that serves OEM / EPC companies with outsourcing requirements and SME Suppliers with capacity. Zetwerk is a nation wide manufacturing network with massive capacity, wide manufacturing capability & project engineering expertise.

The startup had earlier raised a $1.2 million seed funding round from Kae Capital and Sequoia in August last year.

Zetwerk works primarily with clients in the oil and gas, power, renewable energy and infrastructure businesses. Its clients include Embassy Office Parks, Thyssenkrupp, Jindal, BGR energy, Embassy Group and Fidelity Contracts.

In last one year or so, B2B (business-to-business) startups have managed to attract investors resulting a record $3.09 billion fund-raise across 415 rounds in 2018. This was 28% more than the $2.41 billion allocated in 2017, across 534 rounds, according to data tracker Tracxn.

Earlier this month, Noida-based Moglix, a B2B industrial goods marketplace, had raised an undisclosed amount from Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, which marked his first solo personal investment.

In December, Bangalore-based Ninjacart, a B2B agri-marketing platform that connects farmers with retailers, had raised US$35 million in series B round of funding from Accel Partners (US), Switzerland-based Syngenta Ventures and Neoplux, a South Korean private equity firm.

In October, US-based software firm, Ebix, Inc., an international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries, today announced that one of its India-based EbixCash subsidiaries has acquired a 67% stake in Routier, a Delhi-based B2B Marketplace for Trucking Logistics.

Automation Startup Zinier Raises $22 Mn from Accel, Founders Fund and NGP Capital

Zinier, a leading provider of intelligent field service automation, today announced that it has raised $22 million in Series B funding to accelerate global growth and expand its platform to meet the growing needs of field service organizations. Returning investor Accel led the round, along with Founders Fund, Nokia-backed NGP Capital, Qualcomm Ventures LLC and returning France-based investor Newfund.

The investment
coincides with the field service industry’s shift toward digitization.
As companies continue to embrace digital transformation, today’s
technologies help them quickly understand the “what,
when and where” of a field service request. However, these technologies
do not provide the deep layer of intelligence required to drive
operational efficiency. As a result, while field service organizations
are able to collect massive streams of the data in
the field, they aren’t able to utilize that data to increase
productivity, reduce costs and boost customer satisfaction.

Built on Zinier’s pure-play, AI-driven platform, Field Service Elements delivers this missing intelligence. The solution combines artificial intelligence and proactive insights to automate critical back office functions while providing an intuitive, all-in-one mobile experience for field technicians. Imagine smart devices that can monitor equipment health and historical data to automatically trigger a preventative service request and assign it to the nearest qualified technician. All of this is possible with intelligent automation.

“Considering the
massive amount of infrastructure under the purview of field service
teams, automated field service has the potential to truly transform a
wide range of industries,” said Arka Dhar, co-founder
and CEO of Zinier. “The market opportunity for platform-based,
automated field service is reflected in the huge demand we’ve seen from
customers in infrastructure-heavy sectors, such as telecom, energy and
financial services. With this additional investment,
we’re able to continue expanding the capabilities of our platform and
extend the reach of intelligent field service automation to new
strategic markets and geographies.”    

Zinier will use the investment to:

• 
  Continue developing and
  enhancing its technology platform to build out-of-the-box solutions for
  industry-specific customer use cases
• 
  Further expand into new
  regions (Zinier currently operates in North America, LATAM and APAC) and
  vertical markets (Zinier currently focuses on the telecom and energy
  industries)
• 
  Build out its global team to continue supporting Zinier’s rapidly growing customer base with the industry’s best talent

This investment underscores Zinier’s exponential growth over the past year. In 2018, led by a leadership team with decades of experience and expertise from ServiceMax, Salesforce, AT&T and Singtel, Zinier launched Field Service Elements behind a Series A funding round. These milestones enabled the company to add several of the largest global telecommunications providers to its customer roster, and positions Zinier for significant growth in 2019 and beyond.

“Field service management
has plenty of room for improvement. However, injecting intelligent
automation across the entire field service delivery chain allows for
significantly reshaping the landscape and capturing
even larger value,” said Dinesh Katiyar, Partner at Accel. “Zinier's
AI-driven field service automation platform has resonated with customers
in the telco sector, and our re-investment in the company is a
testament to the technology’s potential in other high-growth
markets.”

“Field service
organizations suffer from the same issue facing many sectors: the amount
of data being collected outstrips companies’ ability to make use of it.
Zinier’s intelligent automation technology
is directly addressing this problem for an industry in which the pace
of innovation over the past 20 years has been glacial,” said Trae
Stephens, Partner at Founders Fund.

NGP Capital said on its investment, “Field service organizations are still primarily run manually, with lack of automation and real-time visibility into the field work. Having reviewed the Field Service software industry extensively, we were impressed by Zinier’s platform, which enhances workflow automation with predictive intelligence and a delightful user experience," said Upal Basu, Partner at NGP Capital. "Zinier enables companies to draw meaningful insights from data to automate their processes and drive efficiency, which is the ultimate promise of IoT. We look forward to working with Arka and his team to help scale their business in the Telecom sector and beyond."

Qualcomm Ventures, said, “We were impressed with Zinier’s novel approach to proactive field maintenance, using IoT to increase productivity through automation and intelligence," said Varsha Tagare, Sr. Director, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures India. “Their end-to-end field service automation solution will help companies work smarter and faster while also enabling a more efficient deployment of 5G services worldwide.”

About Zinier

Zinier is an intelligent field service automation platform that helps organizations work smarter, faster, and more efficiently. Zinier’s end-to-end solution, Field Service Elements, uses artificial intelligence, proactive insights, and an intuitive, all-in-one mobile experience to supercharge every aspect of an organization’s field service operations, from the back office all the way to the field. Zinier has international offices in Silicon Valley, Mexico City, Singapore, and Bengaluru.

B2B Agri-Marketing Platform Ninjacart Raises $35 Mn from Accel Partners and Swiss-based Syngeta Ventures

Bangalore-based Ninjacart, an agri-marketing platform that connects farmers with retailers, has announced that it has raised US$35 million (₹250 crore) in series B round of funding from venture capital firms Accel Partners (US), Switzerland-based Syngenta Ventures and Neoplux, a South Korean private equity firm.

The other investors which also contributed in this round include Jo Hirao, founder of ZIGExN, HR Capital and Trifecta Capital. Ninjacart's existing investors Accel India, Nandan Nilekani, Mistletoe and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this round.

The company said it would use the funding to expand to new geographies, strengthen product and technology teams and invest in bettering the supply chain infrastructure. Ninjacart aims to expand to over 10 cities and open more than 200 distribution centres across India and scale hiring and onboarding talent in the near future.

So far, Ninjacart has raised a total of $49 million in funding over five rounds.

Founded in 2015, by Ashutosh Vikram, Kartheeswaran K K, Sharath Loganathan, Thirukumaran Nagarajan and Vasu Devan, Ninjacart connect vegetables and fruits farmers directly with businesses. At one end, it helps farmers get better prices and ensure consistent demand and on other end, it also helps retailers source fresh vegetables at competitive prices directly from farmers.

Initially started as an on-demand grocery delivery service, the startup changed its business model to a business-to-business agri-marketing platform. Earlier this year, it piloted a business-to-consumer model (franchised and owned) and now plans to focus on acquiring new markets.

Speaking on latest funding, Thirukumaran Nagarajan, CEO & Co-founder of Ninjacart, said, "This is a huge validation of Ninjacart’s business model, our relentless focus on solving India’s Agri-marketing problem and the team’s execution capabilities. We are thrilled to have a new set of global investors who can amplify our vision. Our focus will be on expanding to new markets and continue to innovate on behalf of our farmers and customers — and this will come from continued investments in talent, technology and supply chain infrastructure."

The startup currently operates in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai with a team of 750+ passionate individuals. It has a sourcing network of 3000+ farmers across south India and moves fresh produce from farm to 4000+ retailers in less than 12 hours on a daily basis.

[Top mage - Facebook.com/Nijacart]

Freshworks Raises $100 Mn from Sequoia, Accel and CapitalG To Become India's First Unicorn in Enterprise Software Space

California and Chennai-based Freshworks, a enterprise software product-based startup, has raised fresh $100 million in a series G round of funding co-led by its existing investors Sequoia and Accel Partners, with participation from CapitalG, a late-stage growth fund of Google's parent firm Alphabet.

With is funding, Freshworks is now valued at $1.5 billion.

Earlier in November 2016, the company was valued at $750 million when it had raised $55 million from Sequoia Capital India and Accel Partners. With today's funding round the total funding raised by the company brings to mere $250 million -- to become India's first Unicorn in enterprise software segment.

In addition to funding, Freshworks also announced that it has hired a former AppDynamics VP of finance and treasury Suresh Seshardi, who helped AppDynamics prepare for its IPO. AppDynamics however got acquired by Cisco instead of going IPO.

Additionally, the company also said that it has scaled to $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

Interestingly, Freshworks co-founder and CEO Girish Mathrubootham indicated that Freshwworks may prepare for going IPO (which might be reason of hiring AppDynamics' Seshardi) and this funding will likely be the last private funding round for the company.

“Freshworks hasn’t started the IPO process but we do feel that we will eventually go public in the U.S.,” he said to TechCrunch.

“With that said, our primary focus right now is on growing the business and investing in our platform. When the timing is right, we’ll make that decision," added Mathrubootham.

Founded out of Chennai in 2010 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy, Freshworks was earlier known as Freshdesk until it re-branded last year to reflect an expansion beyond its core helpdesk product. Now, Freshworks is the parent company behind its several enterprise software products which includes Freshdesk, Freshservice, Freshsales, Freshcaller, Freshteam, Freshchat, and Freshmarketer.

The company's cloud-based suite of SaaS products is widely used by over 150,000 customers around the world including Honda, Bridgestone, Hugo Boss, University of Pennsylvania, Toshiba and Cisco.

With offices in California, London, Berlin, and Sydney, a larger chunk of Freshwork's employees are based out of Chennai, India, where it claims around 1,400 people working on product development.

Moreover, the company has also made a substantial amount of acquisitions in span of just two years. Freshwork's last acquisition was in August last year when it made its ninth acquisition - of Zarget, a leading marketing software startup that provides marketers and designers with a suite of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) tools helping them understand how users interact with their websites.

A month prior to that, it had a href="http://indianweb2/2017/07/20/freshworks-freshdesk-acquires-gurgaon-based-chatbot-startup-joe-hukum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">acquired Gurgaon-based Joe Hukum, a platform that helps businesses build their own chatbots.

Source - Techcrunch | Business Insider

Freshworks Raises $100 Mn from Sequoia, Accel and CapitalG To Become India's First Unicorn in Enterprise Software Space

California and Chennai-based Freshworks, a enterprise software product-based startup, has raised fresh $100 million in a series G round of funding co-led by its existing investors Sequoia and Accel Partners, with participation from CapitalG, a late-stage growth fund of Google's parent firm Alphabet.

With is funding, Freshworks is now valued at $1.5 billion.

Earlier in November 2016, the company was valued at $750 million when it had raised $55 million from Sequoia Capital India and Accel Partners. With today's funding round the total funding raised by the company brings to mere $250 million -- to become India's first Unicorn in enterprise software segment.

In addition to funding, Freshworks also announced that it has hired a former AppDynamics VP of finance and treasury Suresh Seshardi, who helped AppDynamics prepare for its IPO. AppDynamics however got acquired by Cisco instead of going IPO.

Additionally, the company also said that it has scaled to $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

Interestingly, Freshworks co-founder and CEO Girish Mathrubootham indicated that Freshwworks may prepare for going IPO (which might be reason of hiring AppDynamics' Seshardi) and this funding will likely be the last private funding round for the company.

“Freshworks hasn’t started the IPO process but we do feel that we will eventually go public in the U.S.,” he said to TechCrunch.

“With that said, our primary focus right now is on growing the business and investing in our platform. When the timing is right, we’ll make that decision," added Mathrubootham.

Founded out of Chennai in 2010 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy, Freshworks was earlier known as Freshdesk until it re-branded last year to reflect an expansion beyond its core helpdesk product. Now, Freshworks is the parent company behind its several enterprise software products which includes Freshdesk, Freshservice, Freshsales, Freshcaller, Freshteam, Freshchat, and Freshmarketer.

The company's cloud-based suite of SaaS products is widely used by over 150,000 customers around the world including Honda, Bridgestone, Hugo Boss, University of Pennsylvania, Toshiba and Cisco.

With offices in California, London, Berlin, and Sydney, a larger chunk of Freshwork's employees are based out of Chennai, India, where it claims around 1,400 people working on product development.

Moreover, the company has also made a substantial amount of acquisitions in span of just two years. Freshwork's last acquisition was in August last year when it made its ninth acquisition - of Zarget, a leading marketing software startup that provides marketers and designers with a suite of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) tools helping them understand how users interact with their websites.

A month prior to that, it had a href="https://www.indianweb2.com/2017/07/20/freshworks-freshdesk-acquires-gurgaon-based-chatbot-startup-joe-hukum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">acquired Gurgaon-based Joe Hukum, a platform that helps businesses build their own chatbots.

Source - Techcrunch | Business Insider

Online Freight Logistics Startup Cogoport Raises ₹40 Crore Via Accel Partners

Mumbai-based online freight logistics startup Cogoport has raised about Rs. 40 crore in Series A funding round from private equity investor Accel Partners, reported Times of India. Although, the startup has not disclosed the amount however according to different media outlets the amount is close to ₹40-₹50 crore.

The fund raised will enable Cogoport to invest in developing new products and fuel business growth by expanding globally and increase its footprint in domestic market.

Founded in May 2016 by Anurag Dabral, Harsh Kumar, Kunal Rathod and Shekhar Purnendu, Cogoport is an online logistics marketplace that aggregates ocean and airline freight carriers for exporters and importers. Cogoport is building an international logistics data driven market place for its customers to manage end to end freight logistics. A web-based and app-based solutions to provide instant freight rates, book and track a shipment and ultimately pay with convenience.

Earlier in June 2017, Cogoport had reportedly raised angel funding of $950,000 from a high-net-worth individual based in Singapore.

"Over the last year, we have been able to validate our firm belief that technology can transform the erstwhile frameworks of freight industry which are opaque by design and inefficiency in the system," Cogoport founder and CEO Purnendu Shekhar said.

"We are going live across India by the end of this month" added Purnendu Shekhar.

Accel's Shekhar Kirani said: "The timing is right for disruptors in global logistics and freight category, as the market is massive and growing."

According to industry sources, the global logistics market is currently estimated to be around $3.5 trillion. India spends around 14.4 percent of its GDP on logistics and transportation compared to less than 8 percent by the other developing countries. India’s freight transport market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.35 percent by 2020. Cogoport has clocked an annual run rate of $10 million so far, with ocean freight accounting for 95% of it.

Speaking about Accel, the firm has invested in companies like BookMyShow, Flipkart, Housing-PropTiger, Myntra, Ola, Swiggy and UrbanClap. MJH SBT

Startup Fundings in Logistics Space

Just yesterday, Chennai-based Pando, a startup which digitizes logistics operations for Fortune 500 companies, global blue-chips and logistics companies, has raised $2 million in a seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners. Prior to this, Bengaluru-based Mojro, an another logistics startup, had raised $650K in a funding round led by 1Crowd and its investor community.

In this same month, Bengaluru-based Mojro, a smart urban logistics platform, had raised $650K funding led by 1Crowd and its investor community.

Last September, Ecom Express, a leading end-to-end e-commerce logistics solutions provider, had raised Rs 192 crore from existing investor Warburg Pincus. Earlier in 2015, Warburg Pincus has invested Rs 850 crore in Ecom Express.

[Top Image - entrackr.com]

Online Freight Logistics Startup Cogoport Raises ₹40 Crore Via Accel Partners

Mumbai-based online freight logistics startup Cogoport has raised about Rs. 40 crore in Series A funding round from private equity investor Accel Partners, reported Times of India. Although, the startup has not disclosed the amount however according to different media outlets the amount is close to ₹40-₹50 crore.

 

The fund raised will enable Cogoport to invest in developing new products and fuel business growth by expanding globally and increase its footprint in domestic market.

Founded in May 2016 by Anurag Dabral, Harsh Kumar, Kunal Rathod and Shekhar Purnendu, Cogoport is an online logistics marketplace that aggregates ocean and airline freight carriers for exporters and importers. Cogoport is building an international logistics data driven market place for its customers to manage end to end freight logistics. A web-based and app-based solutions to provide instant freight rates, book and track a shipment and ultimately pay with convenience.

Earlier in June 2017, Cogoport had reportedly raised angel funding of $950,000 from a high-net-worth individual based in Singapore.

"Over the last year, we have been able to validate our firm belief that technology can transform the erstwhile frameworks of freight industry which are opaque by design and inefficiency in the system," Cogoport founder and CEO Purnendu Shekhar said.

"We are going live across India by the end of this month" added Purnendu Shekhar.

Accel's Shekhar Kirani said: "The timing is right for disruptors in global logistics and freight category, as the market is massive and growing."

According to industry sources, the global logistics market is currently estimated to be around $3.5 trillion. India spends around 14.4 percent of its GDP on logistics and transportation compared to less than 8 percent by the other developing countries. India’s freight transport market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.35 percent by 2020. Cogoport has clocked an annual run rate of $10 million so far, with ocean freight accounting for 95% of it.

Speaking about Accel, the firm has invested in companies like BookMyShow, Flipkart, Housing-PropTiger, Myntra, Ola, Swiggy and UrbanClap. MJH SBT

Startup Fundings in Logistics Space

Just yesterday, Chennai-based Pando, a startup which digitizes logistics operations for Fortune 500 companies, global blue-chips and logistics companies, has raised $2 million in a seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners. Prior to this, Bengaluru-based Mojro, an another logistics startup, had raised $650K in a funding round led by 1Crowd and its investor community.

In this same month, Bengaluru-based Mojro, a smart urban logistics platform, had raised $650K funding led by 1Crowd and its investor community.

Last September, Ecom Express, a leading end-to-end e-commerce logistics solutions provider, had raised Rs 192 crore from existing investor Warburg Pincus. Earlier in 2015, Warburg Pincus has invested Rs 850 crore in Ecom Express.

[Top Image - entrackr.com]

HomeLane Raises $10mn from Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital & RB Investments

HomeLane.com, India’s leading online home interiors brand today announced that it has raised $10 mn from Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital and RB Investments. The startup will deploy the funds to fuel growth and technology innovation to attract customers and designers alike, strengthening operations in existing markets in the country. HomeLane.com recently announced the launch of its operations in Delhi-NCR region.

Srikanth Iyer, co-founder and CEO of HomeLane.com said, “HomeLane’s strategic focus has always been to simplify and streamline the process of home designing and furnishing for urban Indian home buyers. This strategy’s success, combined with this funding round has put us in a formidable position to scale up and capture a larger share of the home design market in all key cities of India. Also, having two of India’s largest VC funds supporting us is a shot in the arm for our mission to deliver well-designed homes at scale in the country.”

“We will use these funds to strengthen our operations and technology offering for our consumers as we gear up to accelerate our growth”, Srikanth added.

HomeLane.com also said that it has reached operational profitability and is close to breaking even. With over 100 new orders per month, the company aims to double its revenues by 2018. SpaceCraft, HomeLane’s one-of-its-kind virtual design platform has been a key in powering the company’s growth.

Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel Partners said, “Homeowners in India not only have a growing appetite for stylish interiors, they are also looking for affordable and hassle-free home furnishing experience. As a result, the market for organized players in the home designing space is opening up in India. HomeLane, with its relentless focus on customer experience, across discovery, designing and timely delivery, is well positioned to capture a significant share of this market. The company’s relentless focus on unit economics and profitable growth is a competitive advantage and a powerful differentiator. We are glad to partner with them and look forward to scripting a big success story together.”

“We are seeing tremendous demand for cost effective and time-saving home design and furnishing solutions. HomeLane, with its disruptive technology-enabled product has successfully challenged the massive unorganized home furnishing industry and has convincingly grown its business since inception with very high NPS. We believe they have huge growth potential and Sequoia is glad to be an early investor and partner in their journey”, said G V Ravishankar, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital.

HomeLane.com is a pioneer in the organized online home furnishing market and offers an industry-first 45-day delivery or rent guarantee for fit-outs. HomeLane’s value proposition is solving the interior design problem with technology and predictable timelines.

Student Accommodation Startup Stanza Living Raises Funding from Matrix and Accel Partners

Delhi-based student accommodation platform Stanza Living has raised funds in its first round of institutional funding via Matrix Partners and Accel Partners. According to one report, the amount of fund raised is ₹13 Crore.

The startup will use the funds to expand into new cities, upgrade its technology platform, and for hiring.

Founded in 2017 by Anindya Dutta and Sandeep Dalmia, Stanza Living is a technology-enabled, high-quality student accommodation concept which is seeking to disrupt the multi-billion-dollar student housing market by putting the student, as a consumer, at the heart of the product and service design, development and execution. From smart space planning in rooms to gamifying food, from creating common areas for engagement and community living to delivering reliable, predictable and standardized services to residents through back-end technology integration, Stanza is challenging the status quo when it comes to student community living.

The startup has around 100 students on its platform and plans to have 5,000 in the next two years.The cost per student ranges from Rs7,000 to Rs25,000, depending on the specifications of the accommodation.

"We are currently building another 300 housing spaces focused on students. We do not operate as a PG/rental aggregator, but instead focus on student accommodation services loaded with all facilities like internet connectivity, recreational spaces, housekeeping, and food services,” said Anindya Dutta in a statement to Livemint.

Operating in market that is estimated at $10 billion, the startup currently operates only in Delhi and looking to widen its scope to cities that are educational hubs in the country such as Kota, Pune and Dehradun.

GlowRoad Gets $2 Mn In Series A From Accel Partners

A customer-to-customer reseller network, GlowRoad has raised $2 million in series A funding from Accel Partners.

According to ETtech report, investors feel that GlowRoad can become large enough to become a significant player in the e-commerce market. Commenting on the development, Prashanth Praskash, partner at Accel India said, “India has a large percentage of women who want flexibility and aspire to be self-employed. On the supply side, we lack organized efficient distribution platforms that can tap this unique cost-effective network.”

The startup plans to use funds to scale up and enhance its technology.

The year-old startup, was founded by a bunch of IITians and IIM grads before being acqui-hired two months back by Dr. Sonal Verma. Formerly known as LocalQueen.com, GlowRoad empowers women by helping them earn from home in a secure system with zero investment, while manufacturers and suppliers get a national sales network virtually free.

GlowRoad operates in the customer-to-customer (C2C) segment that builds a network among women, mainly housewives, who can sell products sitting at home to their neighborhood residential colonies and among their friends and family networks via online or offline modes.

According to Verma, the startup currently has 1,00,000 registered members, out of which 36,000 are active women resellers.

“GlowRoad is the first startup to get VC funds in C2C space in India. As consumers become more internet aware even in tier-II and tier-III cities, C2C is going to become a popular way of doing business,“ told Shekhar Sahu, board advisor, GlowRoad.com to ETtech.

Healthcare Firm Portea Medical To Raise $25 Mn From Sabre Capital, Accel

Portea Medical, a home healthcare company is in advanced talks to secure $25 million (Rs 160 crore) in its Series C round of funding. If sources to be believed, Sabre Capital, an India-focused mid-market private equity firm is leading the round. Accel Partners is also participating in the round, as per the sources.

Commenting on the development, Meena Ganesh, CEO, Portea Medical told ET, “Portea is in talks with three investors to raise $25 million. I can’t elaborate further at this point.”

As per the sources, Portea is reportedly raising the capital at a valuation lower than that during the previous investment round in 2015.

Founded in 2013, Portea Medical focuses on general primary health care, post-hospitalization care, chronic disease management and allied services. The company offers home visits from doctors, nurses, nursing attendants and physiotherapists. In addition, Portea also provides the collection of lab samples and medical equipment on hire, bringing the entire gamut of healthcare services to a patient’s doorstep.

Being a part of serial entrepreneurs K Ganesh and Meena Ganesh’s startup factory GrowthStory, Portea in 2015 had secured an investment of $37.5 million from Accel Partners, IFC, Qualcomm Ventures and Ventureast which had valued the company at Rs 628 crore. Prior to this, Portea had received $9 million Series A funding from Accel, Qualcomm Ventures and Ventureast in December 2013.

Not only this, In April 2016, Portea had acquired home medical equipment provider Health Mantra India for an undisclosed amount in cash and stock. I January 2016, the firm had picked up a majority stake in healthtech startup, PSTakeCare, whose platform seamlessly connects key stakeholders in the healthcare delivery ecosystem. The investment in PSTakeCare follows Portea’s acquisition of speciality pharmaceutical distributor, MedybizPharma in November 2015.

The firm claims to handles over 1,20k visits per month across 16 cities and has about 4,500 employees. An email sent to Portea Medical did not elicit any response at the time of publication.

FabHotels Raises $25M in Series B Round from Goldman Sachs and Accel Partners

FabHotels, a technology-driven budget hotel franchise, announced today that it has raised $25 million in a Series B investment led by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners. Accel Partners, an existing investor, also participated in the round. The funds will further accelerate the nationwide expansion of FabHotels.

FabHotels’ franchise model focuses on partnering with 20 - 40 rooms capacity budget hotels. Such unbranded budget hotels, with over one million rooms of capacity, make up the largest and most fragmented hospitality segment in India today. The company uses its proprietary technology platform to deliver superior yields to franchisees and assists in property operations for the delivery of best-in-segment stay experiences to travelers. FabHotels also operates a professional training academy for hotel staff and on the ground quality control teams.

"We have built our technology framework and operations with three core objectives: delivering a superior return on investment to our franchise partners, providing consistent high-quality experiences for hotel guests and building a strong sustainable business for everyone involved,” said Vaibhav Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO, FabHotels. “This investment by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners will further strengthen our market leadership position, brand and expansion.”

FabHotels currently operates over 5,000 rooms across more than 225 franchise hotels in over 20 major cities across India, including Mumbai, the National Capital Region and Bengaluru.

"We see significant growth potential in the budget lodging market in India and believe it is ripe for disruption,” said Shweta Bhatia, head of Asia investments at the Venture Capital and Growth Equity team at Goldman Sachs Investment Partners. “With technology at its core, FabHotels has scaled significantly within a short duration of time. We expect them to continue to transform and enhance the Indian hospitality marketplace.”

"There is enormous opportunity to innovate around the hospitality experience of today’s budget traveler in India,” said Prashanth Prakash, a partner at Accel Partners. “FabHotels management team has built a strong brand and business operation representing quality, transparency and reliability.”

The Goldman Sachs Investment Partners Venture Capital and Growth Equity team partners with entrepreneurs around the world to build disruptive businesses. Since 2003, the team has invested more than $6 billion in private opportunities globally.

RentoMojo Secures $10 Mn in Series B Funding From Bain Capital Ventures, Renaud Laplanche, Others

Consumer leasing company, RentoMojo has raised $10 million in Series B from Bain Capital Ventures and Renaud Laplanche. Existing investors Accel Partners and IDG Ventures also participated. Salil Deshpande, Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures, who appears on the Forbes Midas List of the 100 best-performing venture investors for the 5th year in a row, and was a Series A investor in Lending Club, joins RentoMojo’s board. Renaud Laplanche, co-founder and CEO of Upgrade, the founder and ex-CEO of Lending Club also joins RentoMojo’s board.

The company plans to use freshly infused funds to further strengthen the product, finish building a stellar leadership team, and expand into new categories and geographies.

Commenting on the development, Deshpande said, “In India’s credit-constrained economy, RentoMojo has built a defensible beachhead in multiple categories in an underserved sector in the subscription economy, with a capital-efficient two-sided marketplace, no balance-sheet risk and network effects at scale.”

Founded by IIT alumnus Geetansh Bamania, Gautam Adukia, Achal Mittal, and Ajay Nain, RentoMojo is a first-of-its-kind consumer product leasing business that raises lease-capital from financial institutions for products rented to consumers for long-term periods, typically 18 months. Prior to this financing, RentoMojo had raised a total of $7 million in Seed and Series A from Accel Partners and IDG Ventures.

“In the last ten years, I’ve met more than a hundred companies implementing some variation of marketplaces for credit, lease, or rental in some region of the world. RentoMojo is hands down the most impressive I've seen in terms of clarity of vision and business model, early execution that already generates amazing economic returns and a pretty straight path to making it a very big business capable of changing the lives of millions of people,” Laplanche said.

Since its inception in 2014 RentoMojo has expanded to Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad, with more than 25,000 subscribers on the platform. It is founded with a vision to provide credit infrastructure that evolves and adapts to people’s changing lifestyles. They currently offer leases for furniture, appliances, and bikes, with new categories coming.

“India is credit-constrained. We have consumer lending, but not consumer leasing. We believe that the leasing value-proposition is stronger than lending, especially for today's youth which opts to pay as they use, rather than buying. Innovation is at the core of everything we do. Salil’s and Renaud's faith in us has further boosted our confidence that we are creating something very valuable. I urge folks looking to do something innovative in this sector to join us in creating a proposition that has never existed before,” said Geetansh Bamania, CEO and Founder, RentoMojo.

Bain Capital Ventures has helped launch and commercialise more than 200 companies since its founding in 2000. With $3.6 billion under management, the firm focuses on a mix of early- and growth-stage investments across enterprise software, infrastructure software, fintech, and industries being transformed by data. In the last 12 months, the firm had three exits over $1 billion — Jet.com (Walmart), Blue Coat Systems (Symantec) and SquareTrade (Allstate). Recent new and follow-on investments include Signifyd, Frame, Sendgrid, Redis Labs, OpenFin, Sysdig, Roofstock, DocuSign and Tealium.

Moglix Raises $12 Mn In Series B funding From IFC, Rocketship, Others

B2B e-commerce startup, Moglix has announced closing of Series B round of funding at $12 million. The round saw participation from International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and Rocketship.vc, along with Moglix’s existing investors Accel Partners, Jungle Ventures, Shailesh Rao, ex-VP Twitter and Google and Venture Highway advised by Neeraj Arora of Whatsapp.

Moglix is also backed by Tata Sons’ Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata since its inception, as his maiden investment in B2B e-commerce domain.

The company plans to use funds to support the strong demand for Moglix’s robust technology solution in supply chain and manufacturing domain, infrastructure growth and geographical expansion plans.

Manufacturing sector in India is the least digitised industry compared to other sectors in India. Today, barely 2-3% of manufacturing units are using digital platforms in their supply chain management. With this investment, Moglix is looking to propel digital revolution of India’s manufacturing sector with its integrated digital supply chain solution and aiming to launch in 3 more cities in India apart from its current presence in Delhi NCR, Pune and Chennai.

Commenting on the development, Pravan Malhotra, Head Asia Internet Investments, IFC, said, "Moglix’s client satisfaction, innovation, strength of management and expansion are redefining the B2B e-commerce market. We are excited to partner with the company as they embark on the path of rapid growth and success.”

Founded in 2015 by Rahul Garg who was previously the Head of Advertising Exchange at Google Asia, Moglix is led by a group of young and motivated individuals passionate about shaping the manufacturing/ B2B commerce landscape in India.

Moglix that is specializes in B2B procurement of industrial products such as MRO, Fasteners, Electrical, Hardware, Pneumatics, Safety items and more, aims to be the largest technology platform where demand and supply can be matched through price discovery and product availability.

Moglix’s solutions cater to more than one lakh small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and over 200+ large manufacturing houses in India. Moglix currently has more than two lakh stock keeping units (SKUs) listed on its platform and serves some of the largest auto, electrical and public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the country including Lumax, IndiaForge, Havells etc.

“The raise will accelerate our infrastructure build-up to better serve our customers, and enhance our product offerings as the manufacturing and supply chain industry heralds towards digitization.According to a recent industry report, the global B2B e-commerce market is estimated to reach $7 trillion by 2020, as it’s twice as big as B2C market. We are making strides to harness the potential of the market in India and other Asian countries,” said Rahul Garg, Founder & CEO, Moglix.

The company specializes in digital procurement of industrial MRO items and aims to utilise the funds to expand geographically across multiple industrial hubs in India. With the recent reforms of GST implementation and move towards a cashless economy, Moglix is well-poised to cater to more customers in the days to come.

Recently, Moglix also launched GreenGST, a unique solution for the manufacturing sector that will make the entire customer ecosystem GST compliant and future-ready, marking another milestone towards its commitment to the space.

Moglix had previously raised Seed and Series A funding of $6 million from venture capital firms like Accel Partners, Jungle Ventures, SeedPlus and Venture Highway. With this current round, the total amount of fund raised by Moglix stands at $18 million. The announcement is significant since the investment has been raised at a time when there is heightened uncertainty and deteriorating business confidence overshadowing the startup ecosystem.

India All Set to Become the SaaS Startup Hub of the World

The Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry is witnessing fast growth as the number of new startups is increasing greatly and they all are doing a lot of activities together for Saas technology up gradations. It is believed that by 2025, India will become the SaaS startup hub of the world. According to a market study conducted by iSPIRT and Signal Hill, 59 % of early-stage startups have confirmed that India is the highest revenue- generating market because SMEs from all industries are seeking for low-cost effective SaaS technology due to its advantages and convenience. However, this is true for India based early-stage startups only, whereas big enterprises are developing new models for taking up SaaS in their business environment.

Big part of this market is led by the US and big-ticket size deals also come from there only. This particular market area contributed to more than 50% of the total market share in 2016, Gartner’s report confirmed. The total size of the global market is expected to be more than $100 billion in the next few years and India will have $10 billion revenue by 2025 acquiring 8-10 % of the global market.

Investors Embracing SaaS Opportunities

The investors and financial companies have embraced the SaaS opportunity with both hands. Tracxn, an intelligence startup and market research platform confirmed that since 2010 more than $1.484 billion has been invested by national and international investors into the Indian SaaS starups. Key names of the most active investors who are supporting SaaS startups in India Accel Partners (invested in Freshdesk, Mobstac, Mindtickle, Chargebee, Hotelogix, Zettata), Blume Ventures (invested in Hotelogix, FrameBench, WebEngage, Mettl, Mobstac, Zipdial,), Sequoia Capital (invested in Capillary Technologies, Druva, Knowlarity, Practo), Nexus Venture Partners (invested in Druva, Unmetric, Indix, TargetingMantra, Genwi, Helpshift) and Norwest Venture Partners (invested in Act-On, Attune BlueJeans, CRMnext, Capillary Technolgies,). The most recent SaaS funding deals include;

OhoShop, a SaaS based m-commerce enabler has raised $1 million in funding from BCCL. Read Here for detail information.

iMangeMyHotel, an ERP SaaS product providing end to end solution for hotel secures USD $50,000 funding from Jaarvis Accelerator and has been selected for their acceleration program. Read Here for detail information.

Oi Media, a SaaS marketplace platform raised undisclosed amount of seed funding from early stage VC fund, Quarizon. Read Here for detail information.

Factors Driving the SaaS Industry

What makes India, a potential global SaaS product hub? Well, multiple factors contribute for the success of the SaaS market. It is growing fast, mainly because there is an increase in the number of startups in various industries and a boost in acceptance of on-demand software has been observed from every industry in recent years. SaaS is driven by factors like convenience, easy access and efficient operation among others. It is fast and reliable with customization features and low-cost advantage. Moreover, it is easy to deploy on various platforms like public cloud, hybrid cloud, private cloud and community cloud etc.

Additionally, the growth of SaaS industry is also witnessed by a bunch of young startups, including CloudCherry, Zoho, Zarget, Freshdesk, Vymo, KiSSFLOW, Chargebee and Sirion Labs and many others. Many of them expanded their operations globally and raised venture capital funding successfully. These startups had secured their revenue mainly from retail players, banks, e-commerce startups, regulated bodies and many other market segments that did not exist in India until a few years ago. All these factors are favouring Indian SaaS startups directly.

If you’re working in the SaaS space or want to start your own business, then this is aright time. With the growing number of startups and a continuous interest from investors, it is likely to be the fastest growing industry that will take startups to newer heights very soon.

[Top Image - Shutterstock]

Pune Based Agri Tech Startup AgroStar Raises $10M in Series B Round Led by Accel India

Accel India leads a $10 million series B round in agri-tech start-up AgroStar. Existing investors IDG Ventures and Aavishkaar also participated in this round. AgroStar has built a technology platform and uses data analytics and agronomy expertise to provide real time solutions to farmers in India.

India has over 100 million farmers who face challenges ranging from duplication of agri inputs, substandard products and the lack of tehincal know-how to grow their crop. These problems have led to very low farm productivity, resulting in Indian yields being lower than the world average for most of the crops. AgroStar is solving these challenges by providing real time solutions to farmers through its technology platform accessible to the farmer by a simple “missed call” and it’s android app. AgroStar has over 1 million farmers connected on its platform and is currently operational in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Assurance of expert agronomy advice, complete solutions for farming needs, a wide range of agri input products and convenient delivery at the farmer’s doorsteps are some the key value propositions for the farmer. AgroStar has partnered with leading national and multinational brands whose agri input products are available on the AgroStar platform.

With the present funding, AgroStar intends to solidify its leadership position in the agri-tech space and have a pan India presence in the next 2 years. It also plans to build its leadership team and further strengthen its technology and data analytics platform. A pioneer in bringing m-commerce to rural India, AgroStar is observing a rapid increase in rural smartphone penetration along with increasing data consumption in rural India. Over 35% of the company’s current customer base is using WhatsApp, up from just 10% a year ago.To capitalize on this trend, the company intends to further invest in building it’s farmer engagement products like the AgroStar mobile app.

Commenting on the investment, Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel India, said, "There is a huge scope to implement technology to solve the inherent problems faced by farmers in India. In a mobile first country like India, AgroStar has clearly demonstrated that farmers in India are ready to adapt the latest in technology that can make their lives simpler and improve their productivity. We are happy to be partnering with AgroStar in their journey to build a successful agri tech company."

Shardul Sheth, CEO, Founder, AgroStar said, “Farmers in India face significant challenges at every point from buying agri-inputs, to improving their yields and finally getting a good price for their produce. We are working hard on solving some of these challenges through technology to make farming more sustainable and profitable for farmers. We are fortunate to have investors like Accel, IDG Ventures and Aavishkaar backing us in our mission to simplify the agri-business experience for farmers in rural India.”

Bizongo Raises $3M in Series A Round from IDG Ventures and Accel Partners

B2B packaging marketplace Bizongo has announced a $3M Series A round of funding from IDG Ventures and existing investor Accel Partners.

Bizongo is based out of Mumbai, and was established by IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi alumni in 2015. Bizongo is the sole online B2B marketplace in the $17Bn+ complex packaging industry in India. Bizongo currently deals in products such as boxes, containers, pouches, bags etc which is frequently required in several industries such Food & Hospitality, FMCG, Retail & Wholesale, Ecommerce and several others. The company has served more than 3000 businesses in the last year. Bizongo platform aims to make business procurement an efficient and hassle-free process. Custom packaging and branding options are also available on the platform itself. Unbranded nature of products, lack of pricing standardization and heavy supply side fragmentation further ensures that Bizongo is able to add value through its online platform with very clear and transparent product listings.

The company plans to use the funds raised in expanding its seller base, building automation and improving its supply chain. The company also wants to expand its talent pool especially in the technology and operations domains.

Bizongo is also looking to partner with large corporates especially in retail and manufacturing and handle their procurement process end-to-end. “We are really excited to see what the future holds for us” says Founder and CEO, Aniket Deb.

“A B2B purchase is distinctly different from a consumer purchase. Businesses purchasing from us trust our in-depth catalogue, quality, on-time delivery and ease of purchase – and not just best price. The best part of our business is that we get over 50% of our monthly revenues from repeat customers.” revealed Aniket.

“We partnered with Bizongo in mid-2015 in their seed round. Bizongo has grown 100x in the last one year and has become a great example of a modern B2B commerce marketplace, that leverages technology to make business more convenient – in a very complex vertical that is packaging” – Prayank Swaroop, Principal, Accel.

“Packaging forms a very fundamental element of almost all business. With over 28,000 vendors in India the supply chain is extremely fragmented, IDGVI is very excited to partner with this team to build the largest platform for packaging materials in the country “ said Ranjith Menon Executive Director, IDG Ventures India.

Matrix Partners-Backed Zarget Raises $6M in Series A Funding Led by Sequoia

Zarget, a SaaS-based marketing automation platform, has announced that it has raised a $6 million Series A round of funding, led by Sequoia India, with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners India and Accel. The company plans to use the funds to scale its marketing automation products and help small businesses easily optimize their web presence in real-time without any coding skills required.

Zarget was founded in 2015 by three seasoned SaaS entrepreneurs, Arvind Parthiban, Naveen Venkat, and Santhosh Kumar, who spent a decade at Zoho building business productivity tools and customer relationship management software. The company has now raised $7.5 million to date from global venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners India and Accel Partners.

With Zarget’s all-in-one platform, any business owner has an easy and affordable way to become an effective digital marketer and improve performance of their websites instantly, without learning how to code or hiring an expensive IT department. Zarget offers all of the capabilities of competing solutions and more – including A/B testing, dynamic heatmaps, funnel analysis, form analytics, user polls and feedback – but at 10% of the cost and is backed by exceptional 24/7 customer support.

Best of all, businesses gain access to the industry’s first Chrome plugin that lets them make changes instantly from within the browser. This eliminates the kind of complexity and costs that are typically only available for large enterprise teams. Starting as low as 50 cents per day, any small business owner or digital marketer can instantly turn their website into a visualization dashboard for marketing automation, optimization and testing, and gather actionable insights needed to make critical improvements on the fly.

"Just a few years ago, I was a marketer facing the same challenges affecting marketers today – desperate to improve my campaigns in real-time, but without the tools, IT skills, or budget to make it happen efficiently. Our aim is to make it easy and affordable for any person or business to access the solutions they need to increase engagement and drive revenue across their websites,” said Arvind Parthiban, co-founder & CEO, Zarget. “Our investors believed in our vision, and we're proud to deliver on the industry's first Chrome plug-in that allows anyone to become a savvy digital marketer in a matter of days, without learning a single line of code."

“Zarget has an exceptionally talented team of product engineers who’ve spent the past 10 years developing customer relationship management business automation software that’s already in use by leading enterprises today,” said Shailesh Lakhani, Managing Director, Sequoia India. “We’re excited to back a team with such proven capabilities and believe their marketing platform will become an essential fixture within the SMB marketplace for many years to come.”

"Today, marketers are swamped with several fragmented optimization solutions with poor integration capabilities. Zarget offers the foremost integrated platform that provides small-and-medium businesses a comprehensive and affordable way to scale conversions with a superior customer experience," said Tarun Davda, Managing Director, Matrix India. "We've been very impressed by the traction they've gathered so far, and we look forward to continue working with the team to help them expand into new markets and build a broader stable of marketing automation products."

In addition to the latest round, Zarget is announcing recent growth and customer traction with more than 1,000 customers in 10 countries in just four months since launch, including leading brands like Landesk in the US, BizTalk360 in the UK, and Buscape in Brazil.

"Zarget’s A/B testing and HeatMaps made it easy and affordable for us to launch experiments and make the proper decisions to improve our customer experience,” said Anand Krishnamoorthy, CEO of Wedtree, an online store for wedding gifts. “Although we did not have the resources of a full-fledged marketing team, we were able to create page variants quickly, with the confidence of knowing exactly what to do. As an example, after replacing the product category images with the individual products we saw a powerful spike with clickthrough rates increasing by a whopping 54%.”

Image : Zarget's Founders