Affluense AI Closes ₹3 Crore Pre-Seed Round to Revolutionize How Firms Engage Affluent Clients

Affluense AI, the intelligence platform redefining how businesses connect with affluent customers, has raised ₹3 crore in its pre-seed funding round led by Zeropearl VC, with participation from Kunal Shah, Founder and CEO of CRED, Pravin Jadhav, Founder and CEO of Dhan, and a group of early customers who strongly believe in the venture.

(L-R) Co-Founders –  Sumit Sahu & Rishi Kumar

The funds will be invested across four strategic areas, including product development to sharpen AI capabilities and expand data integrations, market expansion to accelerate customer acquisition and build sales teams, technology infrastructure to scale cloud systems and strengthen security, and talent acquisition to bring in leading AI engineers and data scientists.

Founded by Sumit Sahu and Rishi Kumar, veterans with more than three decades of combined experience in building data-driven technology platforms, Affluense AI was born out of a frustration they repeatedly encountered in their work with prospecting teams. Professionals serving high-net-worth individuals were spending almost 80 percent of their time wrestling with fragmented and poor-quality data, rather than building meaningful relationships. The co-founders realized that engaging with a prospect should feel as natural as talking to a close friend, and that insight became the spark for creating a platform that could transform traditional prospecting into a competitive advantage.

Affluense AI has already partnered with several of India’s premier wealth management firms, where users are reporting significant improvements in the rate of affluent client acquisition. By automating research-heavy workflows and transforming fragmented information into actionable insights, the platform allows professionals to reclaim valuable time and focus on cultivating trusted relationships. Its suite of solutions brings together Deep Research Enrichment for 360-degree prospect profiling, Connect AI for identifying affluent individuals across professions, Trending Deals for real-time opportunity tracking across more than 150 news sources, and AI-powered Network Graphs to map warm referral pathways. With this combination, Affluense AI is positioning itself to become the definitive platform for wealth managers, luxury brands, real estate companies, and automotive firms that seek to engage with the world’s most affluent customers.

Sumit Sahu, Co-founder of Affluense AI, said, “This investment validates our vision and we are fortunate to have the trust of Kunal Shah, Pravin Jadhav and Zeropearl VC. Their confidence reinforces our mission to revolutionize firm engagement with affluent individuals and build the definitive platform that transforms prospecting into a genuine advantage across wealth management, luxury, real estate and automotive sectors.”

Industry investors echoed this sentiment, highlighting how fragmented and poor-quality data has long been a barrier for firms targeting affluent clients. With Affluense AI’s ability to turn manual, time-intensive research into actionable discovery, they believe the platform is positioned to address one of the most persistent inefficiencies in the industry.

Bipin Shah, Managing Partner at Zeropearl VC, said, “Affluense is solving a mission-critical challenge in how firms’ approach & acquire affluent clients better across sectors. Their AI-first platform provides clarity and precision in a space long plagued by inefficiency. We are excited to partner as they bring intelligence and scalability to this market.”

The enthusiasm was shared by early angel investors who see the potential for Affluense to expand beyond wealth management and bring its intelligence-driven model to luxury goods, real estate, and automotive sectors. They believe the venture’s multi-industry approach positions it to capture a much larger opportunity and build a category-defining presence in affluent customer intelligence.

With strong backing from leading investors and early adopters, Affluense AI is now focused on accelerating its product roadmap and expanding into new markets. The venture’s ambition is to establish itself as the global category leader in affluent customer intelligence, setting a new benchmark for how wealth managers, luxury brands, real estate firms and automotive companies discover, understand and engage the world’s most affluent customers.

About Affluense AI

Affluense AI is a comprehensive intelligence platform that empowers businesses serving affluent customers to discover, understand and connect with high-net-worth individuals more effectively. Founded by industry veterans with over 30 years of combined experience, the venture offers four core solutions: Deep Research Enrichment, Connect AI, Trending Deals and AI-powered Network Graphs. Backed by leading investors including Zeropearl VC, Kunal Shah of CRED, Pravin Jadhav of Dhan and early customers, Affluense AI transforms prospecting workflows into data-driven, relationship-first engines, enabling clients across wealth management, luxury goods, real estate and automotive sectors to accelerate growth at scale.

Home Furnishing Marketplace Vaaree Raises Pre-Seed Funding From Kunal Shah, Ghazal Alagh, Vineeta Singh, Others

Vaaree Founders

Vaaree, a unique, curated home furnishing marketplace for India has raised pre-seed funding with a coterie of marquee investors Kunal Shah (Founder CRED), Ghazal Alagh (Co-Founder Mamaearth), Vineeta Singh (Co-Founder SUGAR Cosmetics), Arjun Vaidya (Founder Dr. Vaidya's), Rohit MA (Founder Cloudnine), Anjali Bansal(Founder Avana Capital), Varun Dua & Ruchi Deepak(Co-founders Acko), Manish Duggar(CFO Mphasis) amongst others. The marketplace was founded in 2022 by Garima Luthra and Pranav Arora with the vision to connect high-quality indigenous manufacturers and artisans to end consumers.

Combined with a layer of trend-based curation from a specialized in-house design team, Vaaree is able to provide an expansive selection that marries elegant design with world-class quality at affordable prices. Currently the brand has 2000+ SKUs across multiple categories that includes Bedsheets, Cushion Covers, Dining, Kitchen and Bath.

Initially, Vaaree will focus on soft furnishings and tableware but that time isn’t far where Vaaree will be associated with ‘anything home-related’. Vaaree is currently focused on building up its network of individually vetted and certified, ethical manufacturers. With a stringent onboarding process as well as design-based QC checks, Vaaree’s core commitment is to provide customer delight. Vaaree will also focus on logistics and supply chain efficiencies. Beyond offering customers beautiful products that will make their homes cozier and pleasing, Vaaree is the one of the few online players in this space that promises timely deliveries along with a customer friendly return policy. Beyond the product itself, the focus is also on the customer’s entire buying journey/experience.

“I am a 100 percent e-commerce buyer and was so confused about where to look for things for our new home. For Trisha and I, our home is a place that embodies our personality. And, we found what we wanted on Vaaree with a super convenient consumer experience. We’re not only happy investors, but happy customers. Kudos to the team for building this company in such a short span of time - I’m so excited to see where this goes :)” - says Arjun Vaidya, Founder Dr. Vaidya's and an investor in Vaaree.

Commenting on the funding and mission of the brand, Garima and Pranav, Founders of Vaaree said, “We have a vision to make all homes beautiful at affordable prices. We are a one stop shop solution for all things related to home furnishings be it cushion covers, bedsheets, throws, dining, kitchen tools or bathrooms. We curate themes on our website so that a customer doesn’t have to mix and match. We present the products as per a particular theme for easy shopping. With the initial funding we would like to add on more categories, build a strong team and invest in branding.”

“Home Products as a sector has been awaiting a focused disruption of this nature. Combining their deep knowledge of product, ops, business acumen and execution skills, Garima & Pranav are poised to make an impactful consumer experience change in this space. Vaaree is what the home industry needs today “says Rohit M A, Managing Partner, Capier and an investor in Vaaree.

About the Founders:

Garima Luthra - Founder & CEO at Vaaree

Vaaree was founded in 2022, by the very energetic, driven, and ambitious Garima Luthra (BTech from Punjab University). Before starting her venture, she worked with top-tier start-ups like CRED and Acko where she drove revenue and growth by leveraging both technology and operations. When looking for products for her own home, she found the online experiences broken and good aesthetics being overpriced. In pursuit of a solution to these challenges, Vaaree was born - to provide aesthetically pleasing home decor at reasonable prices.

Pranav Arora - Co-founder & COO at Vaaree

Pranav Arora (PEC alumni) is the co-founder of Vaaree. He is passionate, logical, and driven by numbers. For over 11 years, Pranav has been running his family’s manufacturing business, but then in 2022, he decided to pursue entrepreneurship with Vaaree. With strong experience in manufacturing, factory management, operations & multiple Patents, he is the valuable backbone of Vaaree, looking after the entire operations including logistics, warehousing, and vendor management.

About the Company

Vaaree is a curated marketplace for home furnishings that aims to bridge a gap in the Indian home market. Vaaree focuses on providing high-quality home furnishing goods, from local manufacturers and artisans, directly to the end consumer, at an affordable price. The brand offers 2000+ SKUs spread across multiple t categories.
To know more about us and future associations, log onto https://vaaree.com/

Nobel Prize Winning Algorithm-powered Investing App Stack Raises Funds from SucSeed Indovation and Kunal Shah

Stack, has secured an undisclosed amount in from Hyderabad headquartered SucSEED Indovation Fund and other marquee angel investors such as Kunal Shah, CEO of CRED, as part of top up funding round.

Stack graduated from Y-combinator in 2021 and has secured $4.5M in investments from global VCs including Goodwater Capital, Uncommon Capital, Harvard Management and Earlsfield Capital alongwith many other known global Angels including Paul Desmarais III (Portage Ventures), Michael Katchen (WealthSimple) and Immad (Mercury Bank)

With the motto of “providing the best investing experience to everyday investors”, Stack aims to allow millennials and genz to invest for their life goals and to help them achieve financial independence, while educating them about smart investing.

Stacks boasts of 100,000+ users since its launch 6 months ago. With 55% first time investors coming from tier 2-3 cities under the age of 30, Stack is already creating a positive impact in the Indian financial landscape. Users on Stack have created goals worth $100M already, and it’s witnessing 100% MoM growth!

 

Unlike other platforms and apps filled with thousands of confusing investment options, Stack cuts out the noise and focuses on building sustainable long-term savings for its users. Stack lets beginners and busy professionals invest on their terms without having to worry about monitoring the market.

In just 5 mins, Stack builds a custom low cost diversified portfolio for users, made by experts, keeping their risk appetite and goals in mind, to make a fully balanced globally diversified portfolio, which is rebalanced regularly to maintain an optimal level of risk.

 
Tushar Vyas, the co-founder and CBO of Stack said -

We would further build on users’ goal preferences to create special and personalized offerings for our users

Moreover, Stack has also launched India's first stock and crypto backed rewards program for its users every time they make good financial decisions and to give them a boost in their investing journey. Stack is targeting to bring financial independence to 1M Indians by the end of this year. Users on Stack have created more than 3 lakh goals and interestingly the most common being for vacation/trip.

Smriti Tomar, the co-founder and CEO of Stack said -

Thousands of people already use Stack to grow their money and build a better future. We are on a mission to help everyone achieve financial freedom, no matter who they are or how much they have. And we have just started this revolution, there are many more exciting of erings coming up on the app which the entire team is excited about!

Speaking on why they have invested, Vikrant Varshney Co-Founder & Managing Partner of SucSEED Indovation Fund, said -

We backed Stack even before it was selected for Y-Combinator (YC) in 2021 and have seen amazing growth since then. We believe Stack is bringing an unique and disruptive proposition in the fintech space and it’s great to see many known Indian and Global investors backing Stack and its team.

He further added that “Stack Finance helps simplify investing for Young India. India is home to almost one-fifth of the world population and has a literacy rate of nearly 80%; yet only 24% are financially literate. With a Total Addressable Market (TAM) of 620Mn, as population in the age bracket of (18-35Y); SAM of 180Mn in Tier I & Tier II Cities and SOM of 78Mn, there is a huge growth potential for Simplified Wealth Management solutions for millennials and Youth. Stack is witnessing 100% MoM growth as of now and we wanted to keep backing them on the way”

Smriti further adds “After users answer a few questions, Stack curates the perfect investing strategy for their users using the Smart Stack Approach - based on Nobel-prize winning research. Funds raised will be utilized to introduce more investment of erings, launch India’s first wealth based lending program, and to expand the team across various profiles,”

Intelligent investing platform is also in advanced talks to raise fresh funding from new and existing investors for its next round of financing.

About Stack – 

Stack is bringing investing on autopilot experience for everyday investors. Choosing and managing one’s own investments can be hard, but Stack makes investing extremely easy and simple so that everyone can become an ‘expert investor’. In just 5 mins Stack builds a custom plan for users, keeping their risk appetite and goals in mind, to make a fully balanced globally diversified portfolio which is automatically rebalanced and adjusted over the time.

Problem(s) that Stack Finance is addressing:

Lack of financial awareness and accessibility to better and right investment options.

Solution:

• Stack makes the investing services and professional tools that have been limited to only the ultra wealthy, available to everyone!
• Stack app builds a range of investment strategies with globally diversified portfolios for different types of user personalities according to their risk appetite.
• Users just have to answer a few quick questions, and we suggest a suitable investment portfolio by applying a Nobel Prize winning algorithm and AI driven portfolio allocation strategy known as “Smart Stack Approach”. Once the user invests through Stack, it keeps a check on their account and the markets, making the necessary adjustments to keep them on track, hence helping their users to reach their goals on time.

Co-Founder’s Details –

• Smriti Tomar (CEO)
• Tushar Vyas (CBO)

Founding team members:

• Vidit Varshney
• Yashwardhan Pauranik

Market Potential -

The pandemic (Covid19) accelerated financial awareness in India, getting India now ahead of China in financial inclusion metrics. India has witnessed ALL-TIME HIGH growth in DEMAT accounts, with over 10M account additions in 2021 alone. Yet over 75% of the DEMAT accounts have little to no activities owing to the conservative investing attitude and lack of understanding of the equity markets, making participation in the equity markets in India stagnated at 3.7% as compared to 12.7% in China and 56% in the USA. And hence 96% of the savings in India are still going into gold purchase, bank deposits, insurance, property, etc, which rarely beats inflation. Stack aims to increase participation of Indians into equity markets by using smart automation to make investing simple and easy for everyone.

Niro, an Embedded Fintech Startup, Raises $3.5 Mn Seed Funding from Elevar Equity and Notable Angel Investors Including Kunal Shah

From left Aditya Kumar, Sankalp Mathur, co-founders of Niro

• Round led by Elevar Equity also saw participation from notable angel investors like Kunal Shah, Nitin Gupta, Bala Parthasarathy & others
• The investment will enable Niro to kickstart its vision of empowering consumer internet companies to become consumer lending Fintechs
• With Niro’s customized product offerings, consumer internet companies will now be able to supercharge revenues & engagement by becoming providers of competitive & frictionless credit products

Niro, a homegrown embedded consumer lending Fintech, has raised $3.5 Mn in a seed funding round led by Elevar Equity. The funding also saw participation from angel investors like Kunal Shah, Nitin Gupta, Bala Parthasarathy, the Patni Family Office, R. Ramaraj & Aseem Dhru. It is founded by entrepreneur-duo, Aditya Kumar (erstwhile founder of Qbera, a consumer lending platform acquired by InCred Financial Services), and Sankalp Mathur (a risk management professional and ex-Citibanker). The Fintech startup aims to disrupt the consumer lending ecosystem in the country by democratizing access to convenient and hassle-free embedded credit products for 624 million internet users in India.

It will achieve this by enabling consumer internet brands to offer competitive, seamlessly integrated, and innovative credit products. Niro will drive tangible and measurable impact for these brands and empower them to create new customer journeys, enhancing customer engagement and generating substantial revenue.

Aditya Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, Niro, said, “At the core of large-scale transformations lies a single innovation. We believe that embedded finance is one such innovation, and Niro aims to leverage the power of embedded finance to unlock potential for all customer-facing digital platforms to become consumer lending fintechs. This will enable them to offer their consumers bespoke and competitive financial products combined with a frictionless all-in-one platform experience. We are ecstatic to have Elevar Equity, as well as marquee Angel investors as our partners in this journey to revolutionize the credit manufacturing and distribution ecosystem in India."

Sankalp Mathur, Co-Founder & Chief Risk Officer, Niro, said, "The embedded finance opportunity is growing exponentially and at Niro, we see this as an opportunity to redefine distribution for financial services entirely. In parallel, this creates an entirely new role for consumer internet companies to become financial services players in the lives of consumers. We are excited to enter the industry with the support of Elevar Equity, and look forward to empowering our partners to offer their consumers frictionless credit like never before".

Jyotsna Krishnan, Managing Partner, Elevar Equity, said, “Elevar makes only 2-3 investments per year, on an average - we look for entrepreneurs with a deep focus on and understanding of the end customer, who can build highly differentiated, scalable distribution models. Aditya and Sankalp’s respective personal journeys towards understanding the challenges in the fintech lending space and their clarity to target a financially underserved market through a differentiated strategy instantly resonated with us. We are excited to support Niro in its quest to build a game changing venture that can redefine the mass accessibility of credit."

Nitin Gupta, Founder - Uni, Serial entrepreneur & Angel Investor, said, “The distribution of credit products is changing rapidly and being driven by embedded finance. Niro’s strong team is well-positioned to lead this revolution in India, and beyond.”

Aditya brings 16+ years of entrepreneurial and corporate experience in the financial services and FinTech industry and will lead the business as CEO. Sankalp Mathur, Chief Risk Officer, brings 18+ years of experience in the lending and the financial services industry, previously heading risk for leading Fintech players such as MoneyTap and KredX. Sankalp has also run the risk function for large portfolios at Citibank, Barclays, and HSBC.

About Niro

Niro, launched in 2021, is a homegrown embedded consumer lending Fintech solution. It aims to empower consumer internet companies to become consumer lending superpowers. The vision of the start-up is to empower consumer internet platforms to become a provider of competitive, frictionless and innovative credit (and other financial) products for their consumers. By providing customized credit offerings, Niro empowers these platforms to drive engagement, create value, and in turn generate significant revenues. Founded by Aditya Kumar & Sankalp Mathur, it has raised $3.5 Mn from Elevar Equity in its seed funding round which will strengthen its aim of making competitive & frictionless credit accessible for everyone.

Freecharge Co-Founder Kunal Shah Raises $30 Mn Via Sequoia; To Start Incubator for Consumer-Tech Startups

Payments firm FreeCharge co-founder Kunal Shah has raised $30 million for his upcoming venture from a clutch of investors led by venture capital investor Sequoia Capital, reported LiveMint, citing two people familiar with the development.

According to the report, to start his new venture, which is launching very soon, Kunal has closed $30 million funding round, which reportedly got participation mostly from foreign investors including Sequoia Capital.

Kunal is planning to start an incubator which would help startups in consumer space, added the report.

IndianWeb2.com first reported about Kunal Shah raising funds close to $30 million, last month.

It is to be noted that, Sequoia, who reportedly led the funding of this round, has been associated with Kunal for quite some time. In February 2017, Kunal joined marquee venture capital firm Sequoia Capital as an advisor role, which came to an end this January.

The relationship between Kunal Shah and Sequoia goes back almost six years after the investment firm first backed Freecharge, in 2011.

Kunal founded FreeCharge in 2010, along with Sandeep Tandon, seeing the potential of online recharging in a growing market. In April 2015, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal for an estimated amount of $400 million. Shah was appointed as the new CEO of the company. Later, Freecharge got again acquired by Axis Bank from Snapdeal. Notably, Kunal also led the acquisitions of Wishberg and Preburn in 2014.

For a brief stint, Kunal was also on a role of chairman of industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), which counts companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Google as members.

Kunal would now join a select group of high-profile, serial tech entrepreneurs in India, who sold out their earlier startups to start new ones. For an instance, Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal, who sold off his company to Flipkart and started new firm Curefit, a healthcare and fitness startup, in 2016. Mukesh co-founded Curefit with former Flipkart senior executive Ankit Nagori in 2016.

Freecharge Co-Founder Kunal Shah Raises $30 Mn Via Sequoia; To Start Incubator for Consumer-Tech Startups

Payments firm FreeCharge co-founder Kunal Shah has raised $30 million for his upcoming venture from a clutch of investors led by venture capital investor Sequoia Capital, reported LiveMint, citing two people familiar with the development.

According to the report, to start his new venture, which is launching very soon, Kunal has closed $30 million funding round, which reportedly got participation mostly from foreign investors including Sequoia Capital.

Kunal is planning to start an incubator which would help startups in consumer space, added the report.

www.indianweb2.com first reported about Kunal Shah raising funds close to $30 million, last month.

It is to be noted that, Sequoia, who reportedly led the funding of this round, has been associated with Kunal for quite some time. In February 2017, Kunal joined marquee venture capital firm Sequoia Capital as an advisor role, which came to an end this January.

The relationship between Kunal Shah and Sequoia goes back almost six years after the investment firm first backed Freecharge, in 2011.

Kunal founded FreeCharge in 2010, along with Sandeep Tandon, seeing the potential of online recharging in a growing market. In April 2015, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal for an estimated amount of $400 million. Shah was appointed as the new CEO of the company. Later, Freecharge got again acquired by Axis Bank from Snapdeal. Notably, Kunal also led the acquisitions of Wishberg and Preburn in 2014.

For a brief stint, Kunal was also on a role of chairman of industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), which counts companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Google as members.

Kunal would now join a select group of high-profile, serial tech entrepreneurs in India, who sold out their earlier startups to start new ones. For an instance, Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal, who sold off his company to Flipkart and started new firm Curefit, a healthcare and fitness startup, in 2016. Mukesh co-founded Curefit with former Flipkart senior executive Ankit Nagori in 2016.

FreeCharge Founder Kunal Shah in Talks To Raise $30 Mn for His New Startup

Freecharge founder Kunal Shah, who founded the online recharge venture in 2010 and subsequently sold it to Snapdeal for $400 million in 2015, is on verge of raising capital of $30 million for his new startup. The funds if raised will perhaps be largest Series A round of funding for an Indian startup, reported Economic Times (ET).

The ET report further said that Sequoia Capita along with Russian fund Ru-Net, and a financial-technology focused fund Ribbit Capital, will possibly be among a group of investors who will participate in the round for Freecharge founder's new startup.

It is to be noted that, before getting acquired by Snapdeal, both Sequoia and Ru-Net were investors in FreeCharge, when it was in control of Kunal Shah. Last year, Freecharge parted its ways with Snapdeal and got acquired by Axis Bank for mere $60 million.

Kunal Shah has been associated with Sequoia as an advisor and mentor, however that role came to an end this January. It is now being speculated that his new venture will be an incubator or a lab that will engage in multiple ideas such as consumer finance, healthcare, and education, said the ET report.

Notably, Kunal is also a prolific angel investor in quite a few startups such as Go-Jek, Unacademy, Voonik, TVF, Pianta and PocketAces, among others.

Kunal would now join a select group of high-profile, serial tech entrepreneurs in India, who sold out their earlier ventures to start new ones. For an instance, Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal, who sold off his company to Flipkart and started new firm Curefit, a healthcare and fitness startup, in 2016. Mukesh co-founded Curefit with former Flipkart senior executive Ankit Nagori in 2016.

Last November, InMobi’s co-founder Amit Gupta stepped down from his executive role within the company to launch IoT-driven bicycle sharing startup Yulu. Prior to this, Manmohan Agarwal who introduced India to the world of fashion e-commerce with his brainchild Yebhi.com, unveiled his second venture, Truxapp, in August 2017.

In March 2017, Aditya Verma, co-founder & CEO of real estate website Makaan.com launched 'The Office Pass', a technology platform that helps companies & professionals find office space. Adtitya left the Makaan.com in December 2016.

In May 2016, Oxigen Wallet’s founder Pramod Saxena launched a startup accelerator called Aarambh Ventures in partnership with IIT-Roorkee, specifically focusing on fin-tech and clean-tech startups. The accelerator partnered with several early-stage funds including Unitus Seed Fund, Ivy-Cap Ventures and LetsVenture, along with select HNIs and angel investors.

In the same year, Housing co-founder Advitiya Sharma, who quit the real estate portal in March 2016, had launched an education start-up - Genius, which offers software for neighborhood tutors to make learning more effective.

FreeCharge Founder Kunal Shah in Talks To Raise $30 Mn for His New Startup

Freecharge founder Kunal Shah, who founded the online recharge venture in 2010 and subsequently sold it to Snapdeal for $400 million in 2015, is on verge of raising capital of $30 million for his new startup. The funds if raised will perhaps be largest Series A round of funding for an Indian startup, reported Economic Times (ET).

The ET report further said that Sequoia Capita along with Russian fund Ru-Net, and a financial-technology focused fund Ribbit Capital, will possibly be among a group of investors who will participate in the round for Freecharge founder's new startup.

It is to be noted that, before getting acquired by Snapdeal, both Sequoia and Ru-Net were investors in FreeCharge, when it was in control of Kunal Shah. Last year, Freecharge parted its ways with Snapdeal and got acquired by Axis Bank for mere $60 million.

Kunal Shah has been associated with Sequoia as an advisor and mentor, however that role came to an end this January. It is now being speculated that his new venture will be an incubator or a lab that will engage in multiple ideas such as consumer finance, healthcare, and education, said the ET report.

Notably, Kunal is also a prolific angel investor in quite a few startups such as Go-Jek, Unacademy, Voonik, TVF, Pianta and PocketAces, among others.

Kunal would now join a select group of high-profile, serial tech entrepreneurs in India, who sold out their earlier ventures to start new ones. For an instance, Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal, who sold off his company to Flipkart and started new firm Curefit, a healthcare and fitness startup, in 2016. Mukesh co-founded Curefit with former Flipkart senior executive Ankit Nagori in 2016.

Last November, InMobi’s co-founder Amit Gupta stepped down from his executive role within the company to launch IoT-driven bicycle sharing startup Yulu. Prior to this, Manmohan Agarwal who introduced India to the world of fashion e-commerce with his brainchild Yebhi.com, unveiled his second venture, Truxapp, in August 2017.

In March 2017, Aditya Verma, co-founder & CEO of real estate website Makaan.com launched 'The Office Pass', a technology platform that helps companies & professionals find office space. Adtitya left the Makaan.com in December 2016.

In May 2016, Oxigen Wallet’s founder Pramod Saxena launched a startup accelerator called Aarambh Ventures in partnership with IIT-Roorkee, specifically focusing on fin-tech and clean-tech startups. The accelerator partnered with several early-stage funds including Unitus Seed Fund, Ivy-Cap Ventures and LetsVenture, along with select HNIs and angel investors.

In the same year, Housing co-founder Advitiya Sharma, who quit the real estate portal in March 2016, had launched an education start-up - Genius, which offers software for neighborhood tutors to make learning more effective.

BOB, Times Internet In Talks To Acquire Jasper Infotech's E-wallet FreeCharge

Jasper Infotech-owned digital wallet FreeCharge is in talks with Bank of Baroda (BOB) and Times Internet for an all-cash acquisition. According to a report, the deal size is expected to be in the range of $60 - $75 million. This deal will allow BOB to expand its mobile wallet service, M-Clip which was launched last year and also to get access to millions of young customers FreeCharge has on its platform

Whereas with this deal Times Internet looks to add the wallet service to its online ventures like as Indiatimes Shopping and Gaana to name few.

Prior to this, it was reported that both Paytm and MobiKwik are also in talks for the FreeCharge acquisition. While Paytm has already signed a non-exclusive term sheet with FreeCharge at an expected deal value of $45 – $90 million, MobiKwik deal has still not moved beyond speculation.

Founded in 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal in April 2015 for $450 million which is currently valued at less than 80%. Not only this, recently it also received an investment of $3.38 million from Jasper Infotech.

Company backed by investors such as Valiant Capital Management, Tybourne Capital Management, and Sequoia Capital had secured total of $177.65 million in six rounds of funding including the funds infused by its parent company.

These acquisition talks have come into picture at a time when parent company Snapdeal is already on the verge of finalizing a merger deal with it rival firm Flipkart.

BOB, Times Internet In Talks To Acquire Jasper Infotech's E-wallet FreeCharge

Jasper Infotech-owned digital wallet FreeCharge is in talks with Bank of Baroda (BOB) and Times Internet for an all-cash acquisition. According to a report, the deal size is expected to be in the range of $60 - $75 million. This deal will allow BOB to expand its mobile wallet service, M-Clip which was launched last year and also to get access to millions of young customers FreeCharge has on its platform

Whereas with this deal Times Internet looks to add the wallet service to its online ventures like as Indiatimes Shopping and Gaana to name few.

Prior to this, it was reported that both Paytm and MobiKwik are also in talks for the FreeCharge acquisition. While Paytm has already signed a non-exclusive term sheet with FreeCharge at an expected deal value of $45 – $90 million, MobiKwik deal has still not moved beyond speculation.

Founded in 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal in April 2015 for $450 million which is currently valued at less than 80%. Not only this, recently it also received an investment of $3.38 million from Jasper Infotech.

Company backed by investors such as Valiant Capital Management, Tybourne Capital Management, and Sequoia Capital had secured total of $177.65 million in six rounds of funding including the funds infused by its parent company.

These acquisition talks have come into picture at a time when parent company Snapdeal is already on the verge of finalizing a merger deal with it rival firm Flipkart.

Unacademy Raises Additional $1M from Blume Ventures, Stanford Angels India and Marquee Angels

Unacademy, Indian free online learning platform, has raised additional $1 million in their second round of external investment. In April 2016, they raised their first round of funding worth $500k. The current investment round is being led by Blume Ventures, along with Stanford Angels India, WaterBridge Ventures, Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Kunal Shah, Sandeep Tandon, Ashish Tulsian, Tracxn Labs and most of their existing investors participating in the round.

Unacademy is India’s largest free online learning platform that allows educators to create courses using their app on various subjects, including exclusive content for various competitive exams. Their vision is to get the best minds of the country share their knowledge in an easily comprehendible form. More than 100 educators have created 200+ courses in the last eight months since the launch of their platform Unacademy.in. The platform attracts more than 1M video views monthly now, their growth so far has been mostly organic.

“What started as an experiment has today become one of the most reliable sources of online education. From content specific to competitive examinations to basic English learning techniques, we are in a process to make Unacademy the one-stop destination for online courses across myriad fields and subjects. From IAS topper 2016, Tina Dabi, to India’s first woman IPS officer, Kiran Bedi, we aim to get courses from only the best on our platform. Within two months, the Unacademy Create app will be made available to all, so anyone across the world can create lessons in any language they like. After a thorough screening process, we will make the relevant lessons available on our platform that will be free for all to see,” says Gaurav Munjal, Co-Founder and CEO, Unacademy.

In a span of eight months, over 300,000 students have benefited from over 2,400 online lessons and specialised courses on cracking various competitive examinations, on our platform. Our success stories include thousands of students who have cracked toughest of examinations, improved their ability to speak and write better and increase their knowledge. Some of our students have today become educators on Unacademy and that is what we call a true educational revolution. India is home to 19 per cent of the world’s youth and we are empowering them to take on the world in a manner that classrooms will never do. Our vision is to partner with the brightest minds and have courses on every possible topic in multiple languages so that the whole world can benefit from these courses.

Karthik Reddy,Managing Partner, Blume Ventures, says, “Unacademy presents a great example of the beginnings of an incredible shift in India’s Internet—the ability of millions of new internet users using smartphones as their only access device to create and consume high quality curated educational content as easily as laying hands on a textbook. And the product is designed for both lightweight production and consumption—in that it’s ingenious. This can change learning to an entirely different plane and kill a lot of ineffective institutional frameworks. And it’s an absolutely crack team of young founders for whom all else, including the IAS, didn’t compare to the ambitiou” goal and impact that an Unacademy can have. This is why we think tech can be such a game changer even in education in this country.”

Sachin Bansal, Executive Chairman, Flipkart, says, ”Education and learning from the best suited teachers and professionals is a global problem, which, I believe, Unacademy solves seamlessly with its interactive and intuitive content. In a short span of eight months, the founding team has proved that leveraging technology to empower its educators and students is a problem that can be solved effectively at scale. I am impressed by the ease with which educators can speedily upload videos and touch a billion lives with effective lessons. I am confident that the strong founding team of Unacademy is well positioned to truly disrupt traditional classroom teaching with more impactful content, and I am proud to back the venture.”

Kiran Bedi, Lt Governor, Puducherry, and also an educator at Unacademy, says, “ It took me ten minutes to make a video lesson on ’Time management and productivity’ on the Unacademy Create app, and impact a million lives with my learning. The overwhelming response from students, along with the simplicity with which the app has been designed, encourages working professionals to share their experience. It is an unconventional way for students to get the perspective of real life challenges and lessons and makes me believe everyone can be a teacher. I urge Unacademy to conduct lessons and workshops in Puducherry. Unacademy cuts across boundaries. It’s truly global and in one’s own hands.”

Gurgaon Based Food Ordering Startup Twigly Raises $600K in Seed Funding

Gurgaon-based food ordering startup Twigly has raised $600,000 in seed funding from Bengaluru-based Tracxn Labs, Hyderabad Angels, Freecharge founder Kunal Shah and Flipkart vice-president (engineering) Gaurav Bhalotia, among others. The company is looking to expand its kitchen-on-cloud business to Delhi and Bengaluru during the next 6-10 months. Also, the startup will use the money to expand into new cities and towards building a food brand that will be made available in supermarkets and online platforms.

Twigly, inspired by US-based Sprig, was founded in August 2015 by Sonal Minhas, Rohan Dayal and Naresh Kumar Kachhi. the company is currently in the process of creating back-end infrastructure to manufacture its private label products. You can expect its products to be available in places such as Godrej Nature’s Basket and Le Marche within the next six months, as per LiveMint report.

Twigly works on an online kitchen model where the food is made at a central kitchen and shipped to customers directly. The menu is limited and changes on a weekly basis. The company runs two kitchens in Gurgaon and delivers close to 150 orders a day and targeting to serve about 1,000 orders a day in the next three quarters. The company’s foray into packaged food category is expected to further boost sales.

“We aim to scale the business to $100 million in sales in the next seven to eight years,” according to Minhas. Twigly, which went live seven months ago, has a customer base of 6,000 people and currently has a 50-member team.

In November last year, Twigly raised $200,000 from angel investors, including Amit Gupta, co-founder of InMobi, Mukul Singhal of SAIF Partners, TracxnLabs, an incubator backed by Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, and Deepak Singh of Anzy Careers.

Other players operating in the space include TinyOwl which merged with logistics firm RoadRunnr (Carthero Technologies Pvt. Ltd) in May to start a new entity called Runnr to stay afloat. Internet-first kitchen Spoonjoy and restaurant aggregator Dazo, which had marquee investors Amazon India chief Amit Agarwal, Google India chief Rajan Anandan and Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, have shut down their shop in October after failing to raise substantial funds.

Cookifi Secures Seed Funding From Kunal Shah and Other Angels Through TracxnSyndicate

Cookifi, chef and cook hiring platform, has raised an undisclosed seed funding from Kunal Shah, Chairman of FreeCharge, and Aneesh Reddy Co-Founder and CEO of Capillary Technologies, Tracxn Labs, Venkat Tadanki, CEO of Secova, Krishna Mehra, Co-Founder at Capillary Technologies, Amit Rathore, Founder and CEO, Quintype, and other angels through TracxnSyndicate.

Currently operational in Bangalore, Cookifi provides a personal party chef at your doorstep at your convenience on a click. Cookifi caters to a wide demographic of users celebrating their kids’ birthday, hosting get-togethers, private parties, kitty parties and likes. It also serves homemakers, working professionals and big families who want cook on demand.

The funding will enable the company to expand its operations in other cities and extend its technology solution for a better user experience. Cookifi aims to leverage technology to provide customization when it comes to house party chefs and menu planning. Cookifi uses an advanced chef allocation algorithm (using variables such as spice preferences, cuisine preferences) to help customers get what they want with minimum effort.

Ajay Modani, Co-Founder, Cookifi said, “One of the most important things when you are planning a party at home, be it a kids birthday, get together or day-to-day cooking, is food and there is a huge gap between high volume caterers and regular cooks. There was no right platform or source to hire professional chefs or cooks for such occasions. Cookifi is using technology to make chefs and cooks more accessible to book on demand, with the ease of a tap.”

Cookifi has selected cooks listed on its platform through its strong on boarding process, ensuring adherence to cleanliness standards and immediate escalation handling. The company has Cook on Demand feature to cater to working professionals who want to book a cook as and when required with an ease of click.

According to Prachi Malu, Co-Founder, Cookifi, “It is very difficult to find a service provider who matches your expectations viz. taste of food, budget, cleanliness and discipline. We analysed and understood that there is a huge market potential for such player and fill the gap given that quality should be the focus.”

Cookifi enables the customer to discover chefs and cooks around them and provide a perfect hiring solution, aimed at being quick, easy and reliable. Customers can hire a cook on a tap or a click. The built-in artificial intelligence capabilities helps customers to do less and get more in a simpler manner. Transparent pricing and quick online payments provide a hassle-free experience. A two-way feedback mechanism helps Cookifi to maintain a high-quality standard. After each job, the customer can rate the service provider and similarly the service provider can rate the customer.

"Keeping current traction in mind, we estimate on an average a customer will use Cookifi on Demand three times a month and Cookifi experience once in a month. With this, we estimate the market size to be $20.6 billion in top six cities of India,” said Harsh Singla, Co-Founder, Cookifi.

According to Neha Singh of Tracxn, “ "We're convinced by Cookifi’s mission to organise a large addressable market in the unorganised sector. We see a growing appetite for an on-demand chef service as India’s millennials work longer hours than the previous generation, and they don’t have the time or inclination to cook an elaborate meal. Building a world class customer experience is at the core of such a service, and we're confident that the Cookifi team will maintain it at scale."

The company was founded in June 2015 and has already served over 3500 customers so far.

Pianta Raises Seed Round from Freecharge Founders - Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon

Bangalore based technology startup, Pianta has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a seed round from Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon, who are the co-founders of Freecharge.

Run by SLX Logistics Pvt. Ltd, Pianta is a marketplace for Home healthcare that allows users to discover and book appointments with healthcare providers for a range of at-home services like Physiotherapy, Nursing and Lab sample collection. Currently the startup has coverage for home services across the length and breadth of Bangalore and is looking to expand to major metros in the coming year.

Pianta's USP is a sophisticated geo-spatial allocation and routing platform which will eliminate manual efforts in allocation/scheduling and minimize travel time and maximize the utilization of the field force. The firm also sells it's proprietary practice management software Pianta+ to enable efficiency and streamline operations. Pianta+ enables home service providers to effectively manage their field force, track them realtime and digitise customer artifacts.

With a vision is to build the world's best geo-spatial allocation and routing platform, Pianta aims to enable utmost efficiency in utilization of field force through cutting edge technology and machine learning. With this, the company aims to serve businesses across diverse segments including home services, logistics and sales force management in the time to come.

The startup was started by Swaminathan Seetharaman, who earlier worked as the Vice-President for Engineering at Ola along with with his former colleagues Ganesh Subramanian and Nitin Agarwal who held various leadership positions at Ola and Flipkart.

Image Source: ShutterStock