Tech-Logistics Startup Blowhorn Raises Fresh Funding from Venture Catalysts, James Lee, Others

Catbus Infolabs Pvt. Ltd, the Bangalore-headquartered intra-city tech-logistics company that operates Blowhorn, today announced that it has successfully raised an undisclosed round of fresh funding.

The current round saw participation from existing investors Chiratae Ventures and Dell Foundation as well as new investors that include Venture Catalysts, James Lee Sorenson and Japanese VC firm, Dream Incubator. The funding round was led by a prominent undisclosed inves,tor.

The company provides a full-stack service offering through an asset-light model via its tech platform that connects logistics service seekers with mini-truck drivers through the website and mobile app. Blowhorn has grown its revenues over 500% since its previous Series A funding round while enhancing its industry-leading margin. The company has expanded its presence to over 30 cities and now has over 25,000 driver partners on its platform.

[caption id="attachment_135222" align="alignleft" width="400"] Mithun Srivatsa_co-founder & CEO, Blowhorn[/caption]

Mithun Srivatsa, CEO of Blowhorn, said, "We closed our fundraise to optimise speed and momentum to keep building a category-defining company. Now, with a strong core team in place, we are expanding rapidly and are seeing significant growth in our recently launched verticals. Our goal is to be active across more than 100 cities across India by 2021, and we are on track to achieving that. We are also in the final stages of executing our first international foray, and we are very excited about it. Our margin profile remains healthy and has grown 30% over the last quarter."

"We are in active conversations with several parties interested in leading a larger round that we anticipate will close within the next 6 to 9 months. We believe that we have built a solid foundation and that we are still in the 1st innings of the intra-city logistics game", adds Mithun.

Mr. Eto Munehiko, MD of Dream Incubator India, said “Blowhorn’s deep domain expertise enables it to achieve high margins while remaining capital efficient. Our investment rationale was the differentiation that Blowhorn brings to the table by providing full-stack tech solution and at-par service levels, becoming the go-to partner for both corporates and SMEs. With our expertise in both investments and strategy consulting in Asia, we will help Blowhorn as a strategic partner with geographic expansion and business planning. In India, we have made 20+ investments in the space of Health, Finance, Media & Entertainment, Mobility and more. We will continue investing in promising start-ups in the future."

Dr Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, President and co-founder, Venture Catalysts, said, “The mini-truck transportation market in India is estimated to be at a valuation of INR 30,000 to 60,000 crores annually. Additionally, the granting of industry status to the logistics sector has further enhanced the ease of accessing finance and extended other opportunities to players in the sector. Blowhorn has been doing some exceptional work in the domain, and we are certain the current round of investment will go a long way in empowering the company to expand and enrich its operations."

HDFC acted as the Financial advisor and Trilegal as the legal counsel on the transaction.

Blowhorn is India’s leading intracity logistics start-up and an innovation leader. Founded in 2014, Blowhorn operates in all major metros in India with a broad suite of services from the first mile, middle mile, and last mile while handling goods from 1g to 1T. Blowhorn is backed by marquee investors comprising Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG), Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Draper Associates, Unitus Seed Fund, Venture Catalysts, James Lee Sorenson and Dream Incubator.

AI based Healthtech Startup NIRAMAI Raises $6 Mn from Dream Incubator, Others

Artificial intelligence (AI) based healthtech startup NIRAMAI Health Analytix, has announced that it has closed $6 mn in a Series A round of funding led by Dream Incubator, a Japanese VC firm, with participation from BEENEXT and other investors.

Earlier investors pi Ventures, Ankur Capital, Axilor Ventures, and Binny Bansal also participated in the round. The funds will be used for scaling in India, hiring top talent and getting additional regulatory approvals for international expansion.

The fresh funding comes within three months after NIRAMAI had raised about US$6-7 million from its existing investors Pi Ventures, Axilor, Ankur Capital and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, in November last year.

NIRAMAI is creating a revolution in breast
health screening with its patented technology called Thermalytix™ which is a
non-contact, non-invasive and radiation-free solution for early stage breast
cancer detection. The solution is clinically proven to be accurate for women of
all age groups. This affordable and portable solution is completely privacy
conscious. Thermalytix can be applied to other areas of diagnostics as well.
This innovation has led to NIRAMAI being selected as the only Indian company
listed on 2019 cohort of AI 100 startups in the world by global business data
intelligence platform CB Insights.

Dr. Geetha Manjunath, CEO & CTO of NIRAMAI, says, “NIRAMAI helps to bridge the gap in
our healthcare delivery systems by providing an AI tool that is
accurate, affordable and accessible to all. If institutionalised as regular
screening method, NIRAMAI Thermalytix has the potential to save many lives not
just from breast cancer deaths but eventually other diseases as well. We are
thankful to the continued support and mentorship provided by our seed investors
and are excited to join hands with our new investors to propel us to next level
of growth.”

Eto Munehiko, Managing
Director, Dream Incubator Advisory and Investment India, who will join
Niramai board, says,
“We are excited about partnering with Niramai that is building a truly deep-tech
solution out of India. We also believe in the potential of their technology to
solve global health problems at scale. The disruptive AI based technology is
key to early detection of disease and saving lives especially where there is a
shortage of skilled medical professionals and dense breast ratio is high. Dream Incubator would support Niramai’s
international expansion including Japan.” Dream Incubator has invested
in more than 160 companies across 8 countries and supported 28 IPOs.

Manish Singhal, Founding Partner, pi
Ventures added, “We believe that Niramai’s team and technology will create
a significant difference in early detection of breast cancer and are happy to
continue backing them in their journey. AI diagnostic tools are helping doctors
scour through data to better diagnose a variety of abnormal conditions and is
the only way to bridge the huge demand and supply gap when it comes to quality
healthcare.”

NIRAMAI
has made excellent progress in 2018 showing clinical validation with multiple
trials published in international forums, market validation with 20+
installations in hospitals and diagnostic centres across 9 cities in India and
receiving excellent user feedback from women.  

NIRAMAI was founded in July 2016 by serial
intrapreneur Dr. Geetha Manjunath who comes with 25 years of expertise in research
and innovation leadership, and Nidhi Mathur with rich experience in business
planning, strategy and product management. Both women co-founders have
previously worked with companies like Xerox Research and Hewlett Packard Labs. Niramai has previously raised a seed round of $1mn in April
2017.

Japan’s Dream Incubator To Launch $44 Mn Fund To Invest In Indian Tech Startups

Japanese investment and consulting firm Dream Incubator, which made its India debut by investing in 99Games, an Udupi-based gaming startup, in January 2017, is now is in the process of launching a 5 billion yen ($44.3 million) to invest in Indian tech startups, according to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review.

The venture fund will officially be launched in March, this year.

As per the report, the venture fund will operate for a maximum of 10 years and will focus on smartphone-based entertainment fields such as games, music and video.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Dream Incubator is a strategic consulting and business development firm helping companies with their growth and expansion. It provides both capital and professional services to next-generation companies to support their growth and expansion, while also operating their own businesses as well. The firm has made 35 investment so far, according to data provided by Crunchbase.

The Nikkei Asian Review report further stated that Japanese mobile game company Akatsuki has agreed to invest in the this India-focused fund and Dream Incubator is also approaching other Japanese financial, information technology and entertainment companies to participate in the upcoming fund.

In India, Dream Incubator has so far invested in eight upcoming startups.

Notably, by mid of 2018 India will have the largest userbase of smartphone users in the World after China and therefore companies/startups working on smartphone-based services and offerings could grow exponentially, and this expectations has attracted Dream Incubator to set up an India-focussed fund.