D2C Home Cleaning Brand Koparo Raises $1.5 Mn in Pre-Series A Led by Saama Capital

• Joining as co-investors are new institutions Fluid Ventures and Singapore-based M Venture Partners, along with well reputed angels Rajesh Sawhney (Founder and CEO of GSF Accelerator), Sridhar Sankararaman (Multiples PE), and Ramesh Menon (Ex-Future Group, Hypercity)
• Round also saw participation from existing investors DSG Consumer Partners
• Funds raised to be used for offline launch, brand building and product innovation
• Koparo is a direct-to-consumer brand that manufactures natural and sustainable products for home and personal hygiene
• The company offers a portfolio of over 15 products and 30+ SKUs across core cleaning, specialty cleaning, and accessories

Koparo, a sustainable home and personal hygiene D2C brand has raised $1.5 million in a Pre Series A round led by Saama Capital. Joining as co-investors are new institutions Fluid Ventures and M Venture Partners along with new angels Rajesh Sahwhney (Founder and CEO of GSF Accelerator), Sridhar Sankararaman (Multiples PE), and Ramesh Menon (Ex-Future Group, Hypercity). The round also saw participation from existing investors DSG Consumer Partners.

Simran Khara, Founder, Koparo

Funds raised will be strategically deployed to build offline presence, invest in brand building, and drive product innovation. Koparo has experienced remarkable growth in the past 12 months, with revenues growing 10X since its last funding round. The Company had raised a seed round of $750K last year from Saama and DSG Capital, who have doubled down in the current round.

The company currently offers a portfolio of over 15 products and 30+ SKUs across core cleaning, specialty cleaning, and accessories. Its products are available through its own website, which contributes to approximately 40% of overall revenue, leading e-comm sites and 70 stores of Reliance Retail and Modern Bazaar.

Simran Khara, Founder, Koparo, says, “The modern Indian home is ready for new cleaning products that are effective yet not laden with harsh chemicals. Several sub-categories within cleaning are already responding well to our proposition. With the backing of some of the best consumer investors, we feel confident of executing well on our category defining play at Koparo.”

With the increasing demand for hygiene products, Koparo plans to launch variants of some of its top selling products, building a range of specialty cleaners catering to modern Indian cleaning needs, and introducing complementing kitchen and home cleaning accessories. The company will continue to build depth in the laundry vertical which is the largest sub category in home cleaning and also has plans to launch more pet friendly products. Koparo recently launched a kennel wash for pet homes, a selection of cleaning accessories such as biodegradable sponge wipes, and microfiber-dusting cloths designed for modern homes. Koparo aims to further accelerate its growth trajectory as it aims to grow its revenues by 8X in the next 18 – 20 months by focusing on its core range, expanding distribution points, and introducing products in newer sub-categories.

Ash Lilani, Founder and Managing Partner, Saama Capital, says, “We are privileged to have witnessed Simran’s growth from 0 to 1 since our pre-seed investment. Koparo has been instrumental in building the premium, sustainable home and hygiene category in India. With a curated product portfolio of home and kitchen cleaning products, laundry detergents, fresheners and fragrances, and unwavering focus on using natural, better-for-you ingredients, Koparo has grown its monthly revenues by 10x since our last investment in November 2021. More importantly, they have built a strong brand that is loved and trusted by consumers. Saama is excited to support the brand through its next phase of growth.”

According to an Imarc report, the Indian household cleaners market reached $7.5 billion in 2022 and expected to grow 18.9% CAGR over the next 5 years. The industry is fast premiumising and the top end is growing in excess of 30% year on year signalling a fast changing preferences of Indian consumers to upgrade to safe and toxins free products for their homes. Several major players are betting big on tapping into this premium demand in home care. While these are early days, Koparo’s product portfolio and growing acceptance are helping it gain a first mover advantage.

Hiran Embuldeniya, Partner, M Venture Partners, says, "Simran’s visionary approach to reshape household cleanliness with a positive ecological impact fits well with MVP’s focus on the consumer brands in India. We are excited to partner with Koparo on this journey to create a cleaner and greener future for the rapidly growing urban households in India”

About Koparo: Founded by Simran Khara, who has worked at McKinsey & Co, Star TV, and more recently as CEO of digital media startup Juggernaut Books, Koparo offers a natural alternative to the regular cleaning products available in the market. Koparo was selected to be a part of the Founder Stack program by Accel where they received mentorship from the VC firm for 3 months to help them build and scale a consumer startup for today’s times. For more information please visit https://koparoclean.com/

Supertails.com, A Tech-enabled Pet-care Startup, Raises $10 Mn Funding Led by Fireside Ventures and Existing Investors

Supertails.com, a tech-enabled pet-care startup, raises $10 Mn funding in Series A led by Fireside Ventures and existing lead investors Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners; Aims to unlock access to a full-stack pet-care services platform for a potential $5 Bn market in India

Round also saw participation from renowned angels like Kunal Shah - Founder, Cred; Sanjay Kapoor - Founder & President, Genesis Luxury Fashion Pvt Ltd; Varun Alagh- Co-Founder and CEO, MamaEarth; Ankit Nagori - Founder, Curefoods; and Shashank Mehta - Founder & CEO, The Whole Truth Foods. 

Supertails.com, a full-stack tech-enabled pet-care startup, has raised $10 Mn in Series A funding led by Fireside Ventures alongside existing lead investors Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners. The round also saw participation from renowned angels like Kunal Shah - Founder, Cred; Sanjay Kapoor - Founder & President, Genesis Luxury Fashion Pvt LTD; Varun Alagh- Co-Founder and CEO, MamaEarth; Ankit Nagori - Founder, Curefoods; and Shashank Mehta - Founder & CEO, The Whole Truth Foods.

This funding will be deployed by the company to double down on building innovative tech which includes unveiling its own app. It is also building its own D2C brand - Henlo. Additionally, Supertails.com will focus on the expansion of verticals (Vet Diets and Pet Pharmacy Channels), strengthening the supply chain, and innovating the post-sale experience.

Founded in June 2021 by a trio of pet lovers - Varun Sadana, Aman Tekriwal, and Vineet Khanna, Supertails.com aims to create a holistic pet care platform for a burgeoning Indian pet care industry which currently stands at 25% CAGR with a potential to grow to $5 Bn by 2030.

The thesis, business performance, and plans

This funding further strengthens Supertails.com’s commitment to building and leading a category of first-time pet parents by empowering them with the right resources and information. As the world stepped out of a pandemic, India's pet care market bloomed in a tough economic situation as people took to pet ownership. This was fuelled by the increased need for companionship amidst loneliness. With millennials now opting for delayed marriages and parenting, and with an increase in disposable income - pet adoption and parenting is going to see an uptick. Supertails.com wants to build for these first-time parents who need guidance and one-tap access to everything related to pet-care.

Supertails.com has clocked an ARR of INR 50 Crores in the last 18 months and aims to double down on its growth and expansion plans to achieve INR 100 Crores ARR by Mar 2023.

Commenting on the funding, Co-founders Varun Sadana, Aman Tekriwal, and Vineet Khanna, Supertails.com said “Being pet parents ourselves, we understand the hassles in the journey of pet parents. At Supertails.com, our vision is to create a platform that makes their lives easier. From providing pet nutrition to round-the-clock pet care and consultation, our aim is to build a platform that integrates products, services, and communities. In India, there has been a gradual shift from pet ownership to pet parenting and now to pet companionship. We hope to accelerate this trend with Supertails.com and create an organised and easily accessible platform, especially for first-time pet parents. With this round of funding, we want to invest in making a one-stop platform for pet parents that caters to all their needs. We are thrilled to have the support of Fireside Ventures, Saama Capital, and DSG consumer partners in this journey and aim to leverage their expertise to become the most preferred and loved pet-care platform in India."

Kanwaljit Singh, Founder and Managing Partner at Fireside Ventures added “As an early-stage consumer-focussed VC, we are always on the lookout for consumer trends which have the potential to build out resilient brands. One such emerging space is that of pet ownership across metro and tier 1 markets. And in this category, Supertails.com stands out as a unique online platform that caters from pet-care to pet indulgences in spaces like food, grooming, and fashion too. We at Fireside Ventures, believe that there is a massive untapped potential in the pet care industry and are certain that with Supertails.com’s innovative vision and the strength of their leadership team, the pet ownership industry has huge potential in the years to come.”

Ash Lilani, Managing Partner and Co-founder at Saama Capital, commented “Supertails.com is solving problems that have existed for pet parents for decades. Their expansion comes at the right time as India’s pet-care industry is on a massive growth trajectory. Excited to see what Varun, Aman, and Vineet have in store for the next growth phase.”

Deepak I. Shahdadpuri, Managing Director and Founder, DSG Consumer Partners said “India’s pet care industry is at a very early stage of its evolution. We see a very large opportunity across pet categories, including food, healthcare, toys and accessories, grooming and other services. Supertails.com is well positioned to be a leading brand in this category.”

The model and offerings

Supertails.com’s full-stack platform offers - pet supplies, online vet consultations (more than 20,000 pet consultations to date), and online behavioural training. It offers the largest assortment of 10,000+ SKUs and 200+ partner brands across pet food, treats, accessories, grooming, etc. The company also launched V-diets - the only player in the country to sell these products online..

To add to the holistic experience, a unique differentiator is a dedicated Pet Relationship Manager for every consumer who onboards the Supertails.com platform. Every consumer is assigned to a Pet Relationship Manager who guides them with all their pet-related needs and issues.

Past Funding & Team

In their Seed round, Supertails.com had raised $2.6 Mn which was led by Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners. Other investors included Titan Capital, Sauce VC, and Whiteboard Capital. The company currently employs 100 pet lovers, with 80% of them being pet parents themselves.

About Supertails.com

Varun Sadana, Aman Tekriwal, and Vineet Khanna founded Supertails.com in June 2021. Their corporate headquarters is in Bangalore, Supertails.com aims to build a holistic pet care platform for India's growing pet care industry. Supertails.com is building and leading a category of first-time pet parents by empowering them with the right resources and information. Supertails.com’s full-stack platform offers - pet supplies, online vet consultations (more than 20,000 pet consultations to date), and online behavioural training.

For more information, visit website: https://supertails.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/supertails.official/?hl=en

Legal Tech Platform Oddr Raises $2 Mn in Seed Round led by Saama Capital and Twin Ventures

• Round also saw participation from angels from Singapore, Germany and the US
• Oddr is Valley-based legal tech startup with an India presence and global ambition
• Funds raised to be used for building the AI-powered Invoice to cash collection platform for legal firms, client acquisition for scaling business and hiring for achieving growth targets
• The Company plans to clock an ARR of $1 million in the next 18 - 24 months
• Oddr has announced senior level hiring for the US office and plans to open its R&D center in India

Legal tech platform Oddr has raised $2 million in a seed round led by Saama Capital and Twin Ventures. The round also saw participation from angels in the US, Singapore and Germany. The Company which is based in Silicon Valley and India is gearing to launch its services in North America, the UK and Australian market with a R&D center to be set up in India.

Oddr is currently in a team expansion mode in India and has also announced senior key hire Eric Newman as Chief Architect. The Funds raised will be used to build the flagship product – AI-powered invoice to cash platform – for Professional Services (Law firms, Accounting firms, Consulting firms & Financial services firms). Oddr aims to automate the billing process, which is primarily manual today, leading to invoice delays, higher write-offs, payment delays and high overhead costs for collections for professional services firms.

Milan Bobde, Co-founder CEO, Oddr, says, “We are aiming to solve a big problem for the professional services sector globally. Invoice to Cash process in professional services firms today is manual, fragmented, and cumbersome resulting in high Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), high write-offs and painfully high operating overheads. This space is ripe for disruption through innovation. Oddr is the first industry cloud platform that unifies Billing, Collections and Payments in a single platform. Oddr helps firms streamline invoice to cash processes through AI, automation and data driven approach.” Our aim is to touch an ARR of $1 million in the next 18 – 24 months as we enter international markets, he adds.

To accelerate MVP and customer acquisition, Oddr has entered into a strategic partnership with key industry product companies in the professional services vertical. Oddr has also multiple clients committed to build and run the MVP with an aim to achieve PMF in the next 2 quarters.

Started in 2022, Oddr is founded by senior tech industry leaders Milan Bobde, Sumit Garg and Saurabh Mehra, who bring complementary skills to the table needed for a fast scale up focused business. 

Saurabh Mehra, Chief Product Officer, has 20 years of experience working in the Legal Technology space leading Product Management, Customer Success and Strategic Consulting teams.

Sumit Garg, Chief Technology Officer, is a hands-on engineering leader focused on strategy, growth, team building, and technical excellence. He has over 20 years of experience building enterprise applications and leading distributed engineering teams globally.

Milan Bobde, Chief Executive Officer, has over 22 years of experience working with and leading product and business strategy functions.

About Oddr

Oddr is a Legal tech startup aiming to simplify and reduce complexities in the “Invoice to Cash” processes at Law Firms. Oddr looks to focus, initially, on three key areas to impact cash flow performance of a firm. First, we see that there are significant opportunities to improve efficiency, traceability, collaboration and visibility of the billing processes and workflows for all invoices. Second, the collection process is ripe for improvement with efficiency to tracking, payment timing considerations, effective discounting strategies and cash flow prediction. Third, integration with leading payment platforms to make payment and cash reconciliation automated and more accurate. Oddr is built on a modern, robust, AI driven platform, with the goal of shortening the DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) & increasing collection realization, while providing more visibility and streamlining the entire process.

AgriTech Startup Intello Labs Raises $5.9 Mn in Funding led by Saama Capital to Digitize Quality in Fresh Produce

Intello Labs announced today that it has raised a USD 5.9 million (INR 45 crore) Series A round led by Saama Capital, alongside global agritech funds GROW (Singapore) and SVG Ventures THRIVE (USA). Existing investors Omnivore and Nexus Venture Partners also participated in this round.

Intello Labs digitizes quality across fresh produce supply chains, reducing food waste by detecting variance from specifications and matching output to needs. With $500 billion of global fruits & vegetables (F&V) wasted annually, Intello Labs is bringing transparency and standardization to quality assessment, reducing value risk and food waste. The company aims to become the de-facto quality platform across F&V value chains for trading, procurement, grading, pricing, traceability, and marketing.

Based in Gurgaon, Intello Labs was founded in 2016 by Milan Sharma, Nishant Mishra, Himani Shah and Devendra Chandani. The first three co-founders studied together at IIT Bombay, while Devendra is an MDI Gurgaon postgraduate. Intello Labs’ founding team brings together diverse backgrounds and skill sets, including data science (Milan), computer vision (Nishant), corporate strategy (Himani), and analytics (Devendra). Intello Labs raised a USD 2.0 million Seed round in March 2019 from Nexus Venture Partners and Omnivore.

Intello Labs’ clients include fresh produce growers, packers, aggregators, exporters, processors, foodservice, and retailers. The company is aggressively growing in India while also pursuing global markets, including China, Southeast Asia, and the USA. Some of Intello Labs’ larger clients include Reliance Fresh, Dole, Ocean Spray, and many of the leading e- grocery companies in China and Southeast Asia.

According to Milan Sharma, Co-Founder & CEO of Intello Labs, “This funding will help us accelerate growth in international markets, specifically the USA and across Asia Pacific. There has been a significant spike in interest from these markets over the past few months, which was further accelerated by COVID-19, and now we have the firepower to go after these opportunities. This new demand combined with the stickiness of our existing clients validates the fact that our products bring much-needed transparency and standardization to fresh produce value chains.”

[caption id="attachment_145424" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] [L-R] Devendra Chandani, Nishant-Mishra, Milan Sharma, Himani Shah[/caption]Intello Labs has developed a suite of digital products that leverage AI tools, including computer vision and deep learning. Intello Track is a mobile app for checking quality across the F&V supply chain, which uses smartphone cameras to capture images, and then objectively grades them based on color, size, and visual defects. Intello Sort is a machine that segregates fresh produce based on quality, ensuring 100% adherence to specifications while allowing the sorting of multiple commodities on a single, low-cost, compact line.

Intello Pack monitors F&V quality immediately before customer dispatch, optimizing packing efficiency while helping with the management of packing personnel. Finally, Intello Deep is a handheld NIR scanner that inspects intrinsic quality parameters, allowing for the detection of Brix, pH, TSS, dry matter, moisture, and pesticide residues.

Commenting on the investment, Kiranbir Nag, Partner at Saama Capital, said, “There is a rapid and growing need for better and faster quality assessment of fresh produce across the value chain to improve the end consumers’ experience and to minimize the already high losses through wastages. Intello’s scalable and non-destructive AI based digital suite of solutions is well placed to become an industry standard tool especially for the large buyers of and traders in fresh produce. The team has demonstrated this through its marquee and growing global customer base. We are excited to partner with the team for their next phase of growth.”

Wellthy Therapeutics raises $4 Mn from Saama Capital

Chronic disease management firm Wellthy Therapeutics on Monday said it has raised USD 4 million (around Rs 30 crore) from Saama Capital as part of its pre series A funding round.

With the investment, the venture capital firm has acquired around 16 per cent stake in the company, Wellthy Therapeutics said in a statement.

Apart from utilising this raise to deepen its product-suite and expand geographically, the company will accelerate the launch of its respiratory digital therapeutic portfolio, especially relevant in the current situation, it added.

"The funding will allow us to invest further into improving patient outcomes and generate further real world evidence, while expanding our therapeutic portfolio, geographic and stakeholder reach," Wellthy Therapeutics CEO and Co-founder Abhishek Shah said.

As part of the deal, Saama Capital Managing Partner Suresh Shanmugham will be joining Wellthy Therapeutics' Board, the statement said.

"Wellthy Therapeutics has a unique opportunity to redefine chronic disease management, and we are excited to back their vision," Shanmugham said. PTI AKT

Multilingual Online TV Network Homescreen Network Raises $2 Mn from Saama Capital

Bangaluru-based interactive vernacular video OTT platform, Homscreen Network, has raised $2 million from venture capital firm Saama Capital to scale up the platform and add more languages, reported Times of India.

The startup intends to use the funds to strengthen its content delivery platform and introduce more new languages in the coming year.

In a statement, Homescreen co-founders Soum Paul and T V Mahalingam, said "we are working with creative folks from the interior regions of India and are greatly enthused by the impact of our media offerings."

Promoted by K Ganesh's Growthstory, Homescreen Networks' platforms include SparkTV (for regional audiences) and TheBigScope, for English language. The content is currently available in 5 languages (Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and English), and distributed through partner platforms like JioNews, DailyHunt, Sharechat, SonyLIV, and its own app – SparkTV.

“HSN is producing rich editorially driven content at scale from deep within India, and we believe it is a highly effective way to engage India's emerging audience that’s growing at the rate of 40 million year on year," said Suresh Shanmugham, managing partner at Saama Capital.

Indian consumer is increasingly consuming the content on digital platforms and this trend is observed for all type of content including news (text), music (audio), or video (OTT). The OTT video market in India is gradually becoming a mainstream entertainment destination in the midst of growing Internet users.

With Netfllix, AltBalaji, and Amazon Prime gained huge popularity in India the Indian OTT market, which is currently valued at $500 million, is expected to reach an astounding $5 billion by 2023, as per a Boston Consulting Group report.

Just a few days back, Contagious Online Media, the parent of YouTube channel and over-the-top (OTT) digital media platform The Viral Fever (TVF) and TVF Play, had raised $5 million in funding from Tiger Global.

Indian government's DST too had launched an Internet-based channel last year, which is dedicated to Science & Technology. Vigyan Prasar, under the active guidance of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), launched an over-the-top (OTT) channel -- i.e TV content via the internet -- in August last year.

Insurtech Startup Kruzr Raises $1.3 Mn from Saama Capital and Better Capital

InsurTech startup Kruzr has raised 1.3 Million USD (Rs. 9.5 Cr) for its seed round led by Saama Capital with participation from Better Capital. Kruzr is a preventive motor insurance technology which helps insurance companies personalize policy premiums & improve their risk model by delivering an engaging preventative driving assistant to their customers. Kruzr is founded by Pallav Singh, Ayan, and Jasmeet Singh Sethi.

Kruzr blends the power of voice technology and artificial intelligence in its personal driving assistant that helps drivers minimize mobile distractions, drowsy driving, speeding and external risks like weather and accident-prone zones. In pilots with insurers, Kruzr managed to cut down distracted driving by 80%. Kruzr is working with motor insurance companies in Europe, UK and India to bring its technology to their customers to prevent accidents & improve claims.

“Road accidents cause over 1.3 million deaths globally every year, and motor insurance companies lose billions of dollars due to these. However, more than 75% of accidents are actually preventable with timely driver assistance. We at Kruzr are building technology to minimize these accidents and help make motor insurance truly preventive and customer-centric.” says Pallav, co-founder and CEO.

The funds raised will be utilized to grow the technology team, scale the product, and expand the business in Europe and UK.

“We were very impressed by the founding team’s vision for Kruzr and their significant customer progress in the European automobile insurance market. We believe Pallav, Ayan and Jasmeet can build a world-class product company out of India serving this sizeable and growing global market,” said Suresh Shanmugham, Managing Partner, Saama Capital.

“Kruzr is leveraging the latest advances in mobile, big data, and AI to build a unique preventive driving technology that will save lives and help motor insurance companies design personalized policies. I’ve watched the Kruzr team learn and iterate to build traction with the world top insurers & am excited about the future ahead”, said Vaibhav Domkundwar of Better Capital.

Kruzr is positioned as the world’s first technology powered smart driving assistant and is designed to automate driver safety. The mobile app automatically detects driving and begins to play the role of your driving assistant. It filters out all important calls and messages, thus reducing distraction while driving, one of the major causes for road traffic incidents across the globe.

Hyperlocal Delivery Firm DailyNinja Raises Funding from Matrix, Sequoia

Bangalore-based milk and grocery delivery startup DailyNinja has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Matrix Partners India, with participation from existing investors Sequoia India and Saama Capital.

The funding came within four months after the e-grocery startup had raised $3 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Saama Capital, along with participation of existing investor Sequoia Capital, in June this year.

DailyNinja will use the fresh capital raised to further strengthen its presence in the daily essentials space and also in expanding to new cities beyond Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai.

On the back of fresh funding, it would expand its operations to new markets like Mumbai and Gurgaon. “We clock about 35,000 deliveries per day and we are looking to accelerate it to about one lakh as we expand to new markets and deepen our reach in existing markets. We are the clear market leaders in this space and this investment is an outcome of the progress we have been making,” said Yarnalkar, co-founder, DailyNinja.

Matrix Partners India director Gourav Bhattacharya said, “Daily consumption of milk is an India-specific habit. DailyNinja has been able to leverage this habit to create a pipeline to customers’ homes, and has built an attractive business on top of this distribution channel. Their unique hybrid approach of using the existing milk delivery system as well as their own in-house delivery fleet has enabled them to outpace competition.”

Founded in 2015, by Anurag Gupta and Sagar Yarnalkar, Daily Ninja, has a mobile app that delivers daily needs on a subscription model.

The company has recently acquired HYderabad-based 4amShop, which delivers milk, bread, eggs, butter, juices and other daily need items at customers' doorstep, free of charge.

Hyperlocal Delivery Startup Dailyninja Raises $3 Mn In A Funding by Saama Capital

Bangalore-based DailyNinja, a hyper-local delivery startup for milk and groceries, has raised $3 million in a fresh funding round led by venture capital firm Saama Capital, along with participation of existing investor Sequoia Capital.

The startup will use the funds to expand its business by acquiring more customers across Bangalore, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. Additionally, the funds will also be used to upgrade customer experience by adding more offerings.

“With this fundraise, we plan to expand in new cities and capture a bigger customer base in our home city of Bengaluru,” said SagarYarnalkar, CEO and Co-founder of DailyNinja.

The startup had earlier raised $1.5-million from Sequoia Capital, in October last year. Prior to this, in August 2016, it had raised an undisclosed amount in Pre series A round of funding led by Venk Krishnan (NuVentures), who was also an existing investor from their previous round. Till date, Dailyninja has raised a total of $4.5 million in four different rounds, according to Crunchbase data.

Founded in 2015 by BITS Pilani graduates Anurag Gupta and Sagar Yarnalkar, DailyNinja handles 25,000 orders daily and expects to increase it to 150,000 in 12 months.

“(Venture capitalists) were averse to the term hyper-local during 2015 and 2016 and we were looking to raise a bridge round after the first round of angel funding,” recalled Yarnalkar, CEO of Daily-Ninja. “Since none of the VCs we approached were interested in funding us, we went back to the angels and that kept us going.”

DailyNinja competes with the likes of Gurgaon-based Milkbasket, Bangalore-based Doodhwala and Town Essentials, and Maharashtra-based RainCan in the micro delivery segment. Milkbasket handles about 8,000 daily orders and SuprDaily about 5,000, according to industry estimates. Doodhwala said it averages 15,000 daily orders.

Notably, MilkBasket and Doodhwala do have a similar business model, they however operate their own fleets unlike to DailyNinja.

Via - Economic Times.

Hyperlocal Delivery Startup Dailyninja Raises $3 Mn In A Funding by Saama Capital

Bangalore-based DailyNinja, a hyper-local delivery startup for milk and groceries, has raised $3 million in a fresh funding round led by venture capital firm Saama Capital, along with participation of existing investor Sequoia Capital.

The startup will use the funds to expand its business by acquiring more customers across Bangalore, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. Additionally, the funds will also be used to upgrade customer experience by adding more offerings.

“With this fundraise, we plan to expand in new cities and capture a bigger customer base in our home city of Bengaluru,” said SagarYarnalkar, CEO and Co-founder of DailyNinja.

The startup had earlier raised $1.5-million from Sequoia Capital, in October last year. Prior to this, in August 2016, it had raised an undisclosed amount in Pre series A round of funding led by Venk Krishnan (NuVentures), who was also an existing investor from their previous round. Till date, Dailyninja has raised a total of $4.5 million in four different rounds, according to Crunchbase data.

Founded in 2015 by BITS Pilani graduates Anurag Gupta and Sagar Yarnalkar, DailyNinja handles 25,000 orders daily and expects to increase it to 150,000 in 12 months.

“(Venture capitalists) were averse to the term hyper-local during 2015 and 2016 and we were looking to raise a bridge round after the first round of angel funding,” recalled Yarnalkar, CEO of Daily-Ninja. “Since none of the VCs we approached were interested in funding us, we went back to the angels and that kept us going.”

DailyNinja competes with the likes of Gurgaon-based Milkbasket, Bangalore-based Doodhwala and Town Essentials, and Maharashtra-based RainCan in the micro delivery segment. Milkbasket handles about 8,000 daily orders and SuprDaily about 5,000, according to industry estimates. Doodhwala said it averages 15,000 daily orders.

Notably, MilkBasket and Doodhwala do have a similar business model, they however operate their own fleets unlike to DailyNinja.

Via - Economic Times.

Finance Management Startup Fisdom Raises Rs.25 Cr in Institutional Funding Led By Quona Capital

Bangalore-based personal finance management startup Fisdom has raised Rs 25 crore in its second round of institutional funding led by Quona Capital.

VC firm Saama Capital which led the first round of Rs 7 crore last October, also participated in this round. Fisdom is a platform that allows users to make financial and investment decisions for long-term financial planning.

With the fresh funding, Fisdom plans to add new financial products like insurance schemes and the National Pension System, improve its technology and expand its team.

Earlier, the startup had raised $1 million in funding from Saama Capital in October last year, and $500,000 in seed funding from a cluster of angel investors including Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist Rob Chandra, CommonFloor co-founder Sumit Jain, TaxiForSure co-founders Aprameya Radhakrishna and Raghunandan G., and others.

Founded in 2015 by former venture capital investor Subramanya SV and former investment banker Anand Dalmiai, Fisdom allows its consumers to discover and make mutual fund investments using a mobile app. It has partnerships with banks for sourcing investment schemes.

In last one year, the startup claims to have facilitated one lakh mutual fund investments worth more than Rs 100 crore in assets, it said. The company that focused on mutual funds so far is now planning to bring more financial sector products like insurance and National Pension Scheme (NPS).

According to Fisdom, Indians have more than $1.35 trillion of their wealth in low yield bank deposits and often don't invest in capital markets for various reasons — such as low financial literacy, low trust in market dynamics.

Gurgaon-based The Moms Co Raises Rs 6.5 Crore From DSG and Saama Capital

Gurgaon-based The Moms Co has just raised an impressive sum of funding, according to a Times of India report. The startup has raised a whopping Rs. 6.5 Crore ($1 million) in its series A round funding, which was led by early-stage venture investors Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners.

Founded earlier this year, the startup which aims to provide 'natural toxin free products' to moms and moms-to-be is different from others in its segment as it produces its own line of products. Since starting up, the startup has been working rigorously on increasing its physical presence in the country and has already opened two stores in NCR.

According to a statement given by Malika Sadaani, one of the founders of The Moms Co., the money raised will be put to use for expanding customer base to 15,000 mothers by March 2018 and increasing its offline presence. She also added that the firm will also be utilising some part of the money for expanding their portfolio of natural, certified toxin-free skin and food products across more mom and baby care categories.

Though Moms Co is currently catering to a niche market in the Indian subcontinent, but the startup is hoping to bank on the potential user base that will come their way in the near future with disposable incomes among the urban population on the rise.

Commenting on his firm's investment in Moms Co, DSG Consumer Partners Asia founder & MD Deepak Shahdadpuri said, "We had identified the mom and baby segment as a very attractive opportunity across personal care, food and nutrition. We believe The Moms Co's focus on building a brand that is safe, natural and toxin-free will resonate with parents looking for high quality products."

Saama Capital's Ash Lilani also shared what made his firm invest in the Gurgaon-based startup. He said, "We believe that here is a huge unmet demand for higher quality and natural products for mothers and their families, and have seen our other portfolio companies like Raw Pressery, Sula Vineyards and Veeba Foods build significant businesses with a similar focus on product quality and customer experience." Saama has earlier invested in startups such as Mobiliya, Bluestone and Chaipoint.

Moms Co had raised its last funding round around six months ago. Since raising that round, it has launched two product ranges for moms and moms-to-be.

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Lendingkart Group Raises $32M in Series B Funding from BII, Darrin Capital Management and Existing Investors

Lendingkart Group, India’s leading digital lending platform for SMEs has raised Rs. 205 crores ($32M) in new financing; out of which $ 20 million was raised as equity and $ 12 million as debt. This Series B round was led by Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), with participation from Darrin Capital Management and existing investors – Mayfield India, Saama Capital and India Quotient.

With this new round of funding, the company has raised Rs. 260 crore ($41M) till date. The latest infusion of growth capital will be used by the Lendingkart Group for strengthening its data science capabilities, enhancing its technology platform as well as infrastructure for improved mobile capabilities. Lendingkart Group aims to tap into India’s huge underserved lending market by expanding its footprint further across India. Over the past two years, Lendingkart Group has arranged loans to customers in 135 cities across 22 states, witnessing a 20% month-over-month growth in loan origination.

Founded in 2014, by ex-Banker, ISB Hyderabad alumnus, Harshvardhan Lunia and ex-ISRO scientist, IIM Bangalore alumnus, Mukul Sachan, Lendingkart Group has built a technology platform to service the working capital financing needs of SMEs in India. The company has partnered with leading online marketplaces and various Industry and Trade associations to service the financing needs of both online and offline SMEs.

Harshvardhan Lunia, Co-Founder and CEO, Lendingkart Group said, “Our investors share our vision and have been instrumental in our growth journey. With Bertelsmann onboard, we look forward to leveraging its deep understanding of global financial products as well as Internet Businesses. With Financial Services leaders such as Arvato Financial Solutions as a part of the Group, Bertelsmann has strategic insights of the Fintech space with end to end process knowledge and expertise in digital origination. Bertelsmann brings a fresh perspective on digital distribution and data driven risk assessment which will help us in becoming the leading lending platform for SMEs in India.”

“Customer is at the core of what we do. We believe in providing simple, instant and flexible financing solutions to our borrowers. Using web and smartphones, customers can apply for a loan at their convenience. Our proprietary algorithms use over 2200 variables to assess the applicant’s credit worthiness. With funds being transferred in as less as 24 hours, credit on demand is becoming a reality”, said Lendingkart Group Co-Founder & COO, Mukul Sachan.

Bertelsmann Indian Investments, Managing Director, Pankaj Makkar said, “We are excited to partner with Lendingkart Group to build the next generation lending company in India and we believe lending is a large market which will see a lot of innovation. Lendingkart is a strong example of such innovation where technology and data can provide monetary access to the remote corners of India”

"Lendingkart Group has been very successful in proving that the underbanked SME space is as credit worthy as the over banked enterprise space.” Mayfield Managing Partner, Vikram Godse said.

Ash Lilani, Managing Partner, Saama Capital said, “We have been investors in Lendingkart Group since the seed round and have been extremely pleased at the pace of growth and how quickly it has established itself as the leader in B2B lending to SMEs. The fact that it is one of the few companies that leverages technology to be the true driver for its business has us very excited about the scale and efficiency as it goes to the next phase of growth.”

Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to this transaction.

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Saama Capital Raises $31M For Its Third Fund

Saama Capital, a venture capital firm, has raised around $31 million for its third venture capital fund. With the new fund. the VC firm will be investing between $2 million to $5 million in each company. It is looking at a company which raises close to $2.5 million in Series A with 100-150% reserved for the follow-on rounds.

The firm expects to make a final close by third quarter of 2016. It expects to raise $60-80 million in the ongoing round. Saama has already invested in six companies as part of its third fund including LendingKart, Eazydiner, Veeba Foods, Jifflenow, Raw Pressery and an undisclosed company.

With this fund, Saama's focus so far has been on software as a service (SaaS) companies and food companies focused on supply chain. It is also watching the financial technology space in the business-to-consumer segment.

Saama has made largest investments in two lending companies - Vistaar Finance and LendingKart, respectively. It had previously raised $54 million for its first fund and then $26 million for the second fund. It exited Snapdeal last year apart from selling stakes in TutorVista, Sula Vineyards, App Labs and Prizm Payment Services.

Apart from Saama, other VC firms are also raising funds to make investments in Indian startups. Sequoia Capital recently closed its $920-million fund and Accel India is also planning to raise a new fund that will be larger than its previous $305-million corpus. IDG Ventures India has received commitments of $150 million from investors for its third fund, and is targeting $200 million.

Just yesterday, Singapore-based PE-style investment firm, Nalanda Capital also announced that it is about to raise $620 million for its new fund. This will take the total corpus raised by the firm to $1.5 billion.

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