MoEngage Raises $25 Mn in Funding led by Eight Roads Ventures

Having recently achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Retail Competency, MoEngage, an intelligent customer analytics and cross-channel engagement platform has raised $25 Million in Series C funding. Eight Roads Ventures led the round with participation from its US-based sister fund, F-Prime Capital, along with Matrix Partners India and Ventureast. The new round of funding will be used to deepen relationships in Asia, integrate advanced capabilities into the product mix and scale operations in the USA and Europe, MoEngage’s two fastest-growing markets.

“The latest round of funding will help us reach more brands and empower them with the next-generation customer engagement platform built for the mobile-first world that is easier to use, fully integrated and intelligent,” said Raviteja Dodda, Founder & CEO, MoEngage Inc. “We also welcome the wealth of experience and expertise that Eight Roads Ventures and F-Prime Capital brings into the boardroom with this investment.”

MoEngage centralizes consumer behavioral analytics, insights and marketing automation into one dashboard where brands can engage with their customers across channels and personalize touchpoints.

“The rapid rise of mobile has increased the complexity of how digital-first and consumer-focused enterprises interact with customers. Marketers now need to seamlessly engage with customers in a personalized and real-time manner across different channels,” said Shweta Bhatia, Partner at Eight Roads Ventures. “What differentiates MoEngage from other engagement platforms is the combination of their ever-evolving AI-enabled customer journey capabilities, industry-best channel reachability and top-notch customer support. We are thrilled to partner with Raviteja and his team as they look to expand globally.”

“MoEngage has gained the trust of marquee enterprise customers globally and further strengthened their position as market leaders in the mobile-first customer engagement and analytics space. We’re privileged to have been early partners with Raviteja and the team and to have had a ringside view of their growth journey. We welcome Eight Roads and F-Prime to the partnership,” said Tarun Davda, Managing Director, Matrix India.

MoEngage's AI and automation platform map customer journeys and develops hyper-personalized offers, updates, recommendations and other communications across mobile, web, email and SMS- thus delivering an omnichannel experience. Hundreds of global brands across 35 countries use MoEngage to connect with 400+ million monthly active users, processing over 65+ billion interactions and 40+ billion messages every month.

MoEngage was featured in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Mobile Marketing Platform twice in a row and has received Highest Overall Customer Ratings (4.6/5) in 2019 Gartner Peer Insights ‘Voice of the Customer’ Report. The company counts several unicorns and enterprise brands as its customers, including the likes of Deutsche Telekom, CIMB Bank, Travelodge, Samsung, McAfee, Vodafone, Future Retail, Landmark Group, Mashreq Bank along with internet-first brands such as Ola, OYO, Bigbasket, and Tokopedia. Today, enterprise clients contribute nearly 50% of MoEngage’s total revenue.

“On our mission to build mobility for a billion people and beyond, we aim to offer a differentiated and personalized customer experience. MoEngage, with its differentiated offering, scalable platform and a customer-first approach, will play an important role in enabling us to deliver contextual and relevant communications to our customers and drive higher customer lifetime value,” said Arun Srinivas, Chief Operating Officer at Ola, an Indian ridesharing company offering services that include peer-to-peer ridesharing, ride service hailing, taxi and food delivery.

About MoEngage

MoEngage is an intelligent customer engagement platform, built for the mobile-first world. With AI-powered automation, optimization capabilities, and in-built analytics, MoEngage enables hyper-personalization at scale across multiple channels like mobile push, email, in-app, web push, On-site messages, and SMS. Fortune 500 brands across 35+ countries such as Deutsche Telekom, Samsung, Vodafone and McAfee along with internet-first brands such as Ola, OYO, Bigbasket, and Tokopedia use MoEngage to orchestrate their cross-channel campaigns. To learn more about omnichannel user engagement with MoEngage, visit our website www.moengage.com

Online Investment Platform Kuvera Raises $4.5 Mn from Fidelity's Eight Roads

Bangalore-based Kuvera.in, an online platform for mutual fund investments, has raised $4.5 million in a Series A funding from Fintech Strategic Investments team of Eight Roads, the investment arm of Fidelity International, reported LiveMint.

The startup will use the first round of funding to build its team and expand its product portfolio. Kuvera had earlier raised $2,50,000 in angel round, in March last year.

Founded in 2016, by Gaurav Rastogi (IIT Delhi) and Neelabh Sanyal (IIM Bangalore), Kuvera.in is an online data driven investment and financial planning platform that offers zero-fee mutual fund investment platform which provides an option to set investment goals.

Kuvera is increasing its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to help customers secure better returns and enhance its product and service range to reduce the costs.

Speaking on fundraise, Gaurav Rastogi, chief executive of Kuvera, said, "With Eight Roads as an investor, we will continue to innovate and expand our advisory offering across financial products. We have an exciting line-up of product releases for this year and are looking to expand our team to build these out even faster."

Fidelity, which is making such strategic investments from its balance sheet, had set up a global team too look for investment opportunities in the fintech space across India, China, the UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong to add strategic value to Fidelity’s global operations in investment management.

Eight Roads has recently invested in Moneybox, a saving and investment platform in the UK. In 2016, the venture fund had invested $25 million in IFMR Capital, a Chennai based micro-finabce company providing capital market access to financial institutions serving the bottom of the pyramid.

Formerly known as Fidelity Growth Partners, Eight Roads's India investment portfolio include online medicine delivery firm PharmEasy, non-banking lender Northern Arc Capital, logistics startup Shadowfax, and ed-tech startup Toppr. Eight Roads Ventures has offices in China, India, Japan and the UK.

Pharmeasy Raises $50 million in Series C Funding from Eight Roads Ventures India

Mumbai headquartered online healthcare and pharma aggregator Pharmeasy has raised $50 million (~ Rs.364 Crores) in Series C funding from Eight Roads Ventures India, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International Ltd. The round is largest of all three rounds raised till date by the startup.

The other investors are F-Prime Capital, Nandan Nilakeni, Sanjeev Aggarwal-backed Fundamentum Partnership and San Francisco-based hedge fund Think Investments.

Existing investors BVP also participated in this round which was run by investment banking firm Avendus. With this round, the total fund raised by Pharmeasy stands at $75 million. Its earlier investors include BVP, Orios Venture Partners, Aarin Capital and MEMG.

Founded in 2015 by Dharmil Sheth and Dhaval Shah, Pharmeasy connects patients to local pharmacies and diagnostic centres through an integrated online platform, making healthcare accessible and affordable across India via quick and efficient doorstep delivery and savings on their healthcare needs.

Pharmeasy will use the funds to expand the consumer base, improve the technology and expand into more cities. “The way we have grown in the last three years, more than 200% YOY is testament to the fact that affordable and accessible healthcare is very much possible,” the company’s founder, Dhaval Shah, said.

Dharmil Sheth, co-founder of Pharmeasy, said, “It has always been our aim to make healthcare affordable and accessible to everyone. And the new funding will only push us closer to achieving this goal, helping us change the healthcare ecosystem in the country. We plan to use this funds to strengthen our tech capabilities in operations and also in ensuring that we are able to provide personalised healthcare solutions to the consumers.’’

Pharmeasy provides e-consultation and at-home diagnostic tests, medicine dosage reminders and an automated medicine refill subscription service. It also specialises in chronic care segment, forming a significant part of its scope of services.

The startup is also working on industry wide issues which revolve around eliminating fake medicines from the system by scrupulously validating prescriptions and barcoding every drug in its inventory to establish their genuineness. Currently, the company is delivering affordable and authentic healthcare solutions to more than 22000 pin codes.

Just a few weeks back, Chennai-based NetMeds hasd too raised $35 million in Series C funding round, which was followed by acquisition of telemedicine app JustDoc.

In June, New Delhi-based healthcare technology startup Navia Life Care Pvt. had raised $100,000 in a a bridge round of funding from existing investor Benori Ventures and angel investors.

In May, Mumbai-based home healthcare services aggregator HealWell24 raised $200,000 in Pre-Series A round of funding from bunch of angel investors including Prashant Mehta, Mitali Pawar, Nikhil G and Bhavesh P, members of Indian Cooperative Oncology Network (ICON), and R Ranganathan

Last November, Mumbai based Instinct Innovations has raised a seed round of funding led by Vida Ventures and Dr. Aniruddha Malpani for its artificial intelligence (AI) enabled Redbook platform.

Logistics Tech Firm Shadowfax Receives $22 Million in Series C Funding

Bangalore-based Shadowfax, India’s market leader in the Online-2-Offline (O2O) logistics segment, announced today that it has closed $22 million in Series C funding led by NGP Capital. Qualcomm Ventures (the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated), Mirae Asset and existing investor, Eight Roads Ventures, also joined the oversubscribed equity round.

Shadowfax survived the O2O logistics industry’s chaotic infancy period to emerge as the winner amongst India’s hyperlocal delivery start-ups. The company’s unique futuristic platform makes delivery seamless for diverse categories of products like grocery, food, fashion and electronics. Shadowfax currently fulfils 90,000 unique orders per day. It has multiplied its capabilities three-times in the last 16 months alone and is projecting 150% year-on-year growth for the next five years. The company will use the funds for a concentrated 360 scale-up and by the year 2021 it aims to connect 4 lakh new businesses and Delivery Partners to its platform, up from the current 40,000 connections.

Speaking on the funding, Abhishek Bansal, CEO, Shadowfax, said, “We are extremely glad that the market has recognised our work and our potential. This latest funding is a manifestation of the investors’ faith in us and our technology. We are ready to take multiple steps forward towards our mission of connecting the next million micro entrepreneurs and suppliers in logistics using a singular platform to bridge the information gap and eradicate inefficiencies across the value chain.”

He further added, “Shadowfax is continuously growing and delivering enviable results in a demanding and burgeoning O2O logistics sector where many other players have not been able to survive. Our technology, Frodo, gives us the edge by driving cost optimisations and enabling us to achieve higher service levels. The unique Shadowfax platform works on the concept of flattening the demand curve across the day which also ensures a much higher earning for our rider partners”.

NGP Capital has been investing in the sector globally. Upal Basu, Partner at NGP Capital said, “The rise in Indian consumers’ expectations for door-step deliveries at a time of their convenience has created a critical need for a national last-mile, independent logistics provider that can serve the needs of these demanding consumers and diverse suppliers at scale. The team at Shadowfax has demonstrated its ability to scale and serve customers using sophisticated mobile technologies and strong execution capabilities to create India’s last-mile logistics leader. We are excited to be a part of Shadowfax’s team and look forward to helping the company continue its rapid growth”.

Speaking about this investment, Varsha Tagare, Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures India, said, “We were impressed by Shadowfax’s ability to deliver efficiencies in the hyperlocal segment by harnessing the power of mobile. We look forward to supporting the company through our investment and enabling collaborations with technical experts, who have domain expertise in mobile, to help the company’s quest towards delivering enhanced user experiences”.

Ashish Dave, Head – India Venture Investments for Mirae Asset said, “As we move into the next phase of Indian O2O story, the market needs efficient and distributed hyperlocal logistics platforms such as Shadowfax that serve evolving customer needs of faster and cheaper product delivery. Shadowfax marks our first of many other investments to follow in India”.

Last month, Shadowfax started its WINGS program as an endeavor to converge small and mid-sized logistics entrepreneurs and assimilate kirana stores, transporters, franchises, DCOs (Driver cum owners) and individual vehicle owners.

Shadowfax previously raised funds amounting to $18.5 million from Eight Roads Ventures in 2015 and 2016.
Affirming his faith in Shadowfax, Aditya Gurunath Systla, Principal at Eight Roads Ventures, said, “Eight Roads Ventures’ backing of Shadowfax in this third funding round reflects our belief in the Shadowfax model and its ability to deliver outstanding results to customers. It’s been a fascinating ride so far, and we are excited to see the next chapter of the Shadowfax story unfold.”

Shadowfax, founded in 2015, has successfully outrun its competitors with its unique Frodo technology, an AI based location stream processing engine which enables high frequency decision-making which in turn drives cost optimisation and enables the highest service levels in the industry. Shadowfax has been able to maintain high partner efficiency which has enabled best in class unit economics of 20% on a transaction level.
Currently present in 80+ cities across India, the company plans to increase coverage to 100+ locations in the next three months.

Since start of this year, a number of logistics startup have raised funds in a continuous chain of funding rounds. In May, Chennai-based logistics tech startup FreightBro raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from Suresh Kumar, former global CIO of Bank of New York Mellon. Prior to which, Bengaluru-based Mojro, raised $650K in a funding round led by 1Crowd and its investor community

This was followed by $2 million funding of Chennai-based Pando, in a seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners.

Mumbai-based startup in the CleanTech-led cold chain logistics startup, Tessol, recently raised an undisclosed amount in follow-on equity funding from early stage venture capital firm 1Crowd, and existing investors Infuse Ventures and Ankur Capital.

Logistics Tech Firm Shadowfax Receives $22 Million in Series C Funding

Bangalore-based Shadowfax, India’s market leader in the Online-2-Offline (O2O) logistics segment, announced today that it has closed $22 million in Series C funding led by NGP Capital. Qualcomm Ventures (the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated), Mirae Asset and existing investor, Eight Roads Ventures, also joined the oversubscribed equity round.

Shadowfax survived the O2O logistics industry’s chaotic infancy period to emerge as the winner amongst India’s hyperlocal delivery start-ups. The company’s unique futuristic platform makes delivery seamless for diverse categories of products like grocery, food, fashion and electronics. Shadowfax currently fulfils 90,000 unique orders per day. It has multiplied its capabilities three-times in the last 16 months alone and is projecting 150% year-on-year growth for the next five years. The company will use the funds for a concentrated 360 scale-up and by the year 2021 it aims to connect 4 lakh new businesses and Delivery Partners to its platform, up from the current 40,000 connections.

Speaking on the funding, Abhishek Bansal, CEO, Shadowfax, said, “We are extremely glad that the market has recognised our work and our potential. This latest funding is a manifestation of the investors’ faith in us and our technology. We are ready to take multiple steps forward towards our mission of connecting the next million micro entrepreneurs and suppliers in logistics using a singular platform to bridge the information gap and eradicate inefficiencies across the value chain.”

He further added, “Shadowfax is continuously growing and delivering enviable results in a demanding and burgeoning O2O logistics sector where many other players have not been able to survive. Our technology, Frodo, gives us the edge by driving cost optimisations and enabling us to achieve higher service levels. The unique Shadowfax platform works on the concept of flattening the demand curve across the day which also ensures a much higher earning for our rider partners”.

NGP Capital has been investing in the sector globally. Upal Basu, Partner at NGP Capital said, “The rise in Indian consumers’ expectations for door-step deliveries at a time of their convenience has created a critical need for a national last-mile, independent logistics provider that can serve the needs of these demanding consumers and diverse suppliers at scale. The team at Shadowfax has demonstrated its ability to scale and serve customers using sophisticated mobile technologies and strong execution capabilities to create India’s last-mile logistics leader. We are excited to be a part of Shadowfax’s team and look forward to helping the company continue its rapid growth”.

Speaking about this investment, Varsha Tagare, Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures India, said, “We were impressed by Shadowfax’s ability to deliver efficiencies in the hyperlocal segment by harnessing the power of mobile. We look forward to supporting the company through our investment and enabling collaborations with technical experts, who have domain expertise in mobile, to help the company’s quest towards delivering enhanced user experiences”.

Ashish Dave, Head – India Venture Investments for Mirae Asset said, “As we move into the next phase of Indian O2O story, the market needs efficient and distributed hyperlocal logistics platforms such as Shadowfax that serve evolving customer needs of faster and cheaper product delivery. Shadowfax marks our first of many other investments to follow in India”.

Last month, Shadowfax started its WINGS program as an endeavor to converge small and mid-sized logistics entrepreneurs and assimilate kirana stores, transporters, franchises, DCOs (Driver cum owners) and individual vehicle owners.

Shadowfax previously raised funds amounting to $18.5 million from Eight Roads Ventures in 2015 and 2016.
Affirming his faith in Shadowfax, Aditya Gurunath Systla, Principal at Eight Roads Ventures, said, “Eight Roads Ventures’ backing of Shadowfax in this third funding round reflects our belief in the Shadowfax model and its ability to deliver outstanding results to customers. It’s been a fascinating ride so far, and we are excited to see the next chapter of the Shadowfax story unfold.”

Shadowfax, founded in 2015, has successfully outrun its competitors with its unique Frodo technology, an AI based location stream processing engine which enables high frequency decision-making which in turn drives cost optimisation and enables the highest service levels in the industry. Shadowfax has been able to maintain high partner efficiency which has enabled best in class unit economics of 20% on a transaction level.
Currently present in 80+ cities across India, the company plans to increase coverage to 100+ locations in the next three months.

Since start of this year, a number of logistics startup have raised funds in a continuous chain of funding rounds. In May, Chennai-based logistics tech startup FreightBro raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from Suresh Kumar, former global CIO of Bank of New York Mellon. Prior to which, Bengaluru-based Mojro, raised $650K in a funding round led by 1Crowd and its investor community

This was followed by $2 million funding of Chennai-based Pando, in a seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners.

Mumbai-based startup in the CleanTech-led cold chain logistics startup, Tessol, recently raised an undisclosed amount in follow-on equity funding from early stage venture capital firm 1Crowd, and existing investors Infuse Ventures and Ankur Capital.

IFMR Capital Raises $25M Funding from Eight Roads Ventures

Chennai based IFMR Capital, a leader in providing capital market access to financial institutions serving the bottom of the pyramid, has raised funding from Eight Roads Ventures, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International Limited which will be investing up to $25M in the company. The deal marks IFMR Capital’s second round of institutional funding. The fresh round of investment will help IFMR Capital grow its existing business and explore other opportunities across new products and sectors. Kabir Narang, Partner and Head of Technology & Financial Services at Eight Roads Ventures India will join the Board of IFMR Capital. As part of the transaction, existing investor Leapfrog has partially sold its stake in the company. Leapfrog invested $29M in IFMR Capital in 2014.

Announcing the fund raise, Kshama Fernandes, Managing Director and CEO, IFMR Capital said “IFMR Capital helps connect high quality financial institutions working with underserved segments to debt capital markets. These segments are largely catered to by specialized NBFCs who often find it difficult to raise capital. As investors with deep understanding of these sectors, we underwrite risk and connect these originators to the right pools of capital, enabling them to grow in a sustainable manner. We are excited to partner with Eight Roads Ventures and leverage its deep knowledge of the financial services sector to foray into new sectors and develop innovative products that will further serve the needs of our partner originators.”

In India, a large proportion of institutions addressing financial exclusion lack access to institutional credit themselves. There is-a significant “missing middle” segment, left out by the mainstream credit delivery channels which financial institutions with specialised models of lending to the informal segment require. IFMR Capital serves as the irreplaceable bridge for such institutions, enabling them to raise funds from the capital market.

IFMR Capital was established in 2008 with a focus on the microfinance sector. It has pioneered many innovative financial structures including the country’s first multi-originator securitization (MOSECTM). Today, IFMR Capital has expanded its client base to more than 100 financial institutions across affordable housing, small business, vehicle, agriculture finance, small finance banks and microfinance, serving over 25 million clients located in more than 500 districts of the country. Over the last eight years, IFMR Capital has facilitated debt financing of more than Rs 30,000 crore to these institutions. In addition to expanding its originator and investor coverage, IFMR Capital has successfully launched three domestic funds offering mid to long term debt funding to its partner originators.

Kabir Narang, Partner and Head of Technology & Financial Services at Eight Roads Ventures India commented, “The non-bank financial services market in India remains an attractive segment for investment and we have been actively evaluating opportunities in this sector. IFMR Capital stood out for its unique business model and exceptional management team. The company is a pioneer in the financial inclusion sector and the largest organized company providing credit to NBFCs from its own balance sheet and from the balance sheets of other leading financial institutions. We look forward to working with the company as it builds on its leadership position in the market.”

Michael Fernandes, Partner at Leapfrog Investments remarked, “We are delighted to be part of IFMR Capital’s rapid growth story. This inspiring story of both profit and purpose proves that meeting the need for financial inclusion in India is a compelling investment proposition. We look forward to continuing our close partnership with this exceptional management team as they reach increasing millions of underserved people across the country.”