Premium Work-Wear Brand, FableStreet Raises Seed Round from Angel Investors

FableStreet, a Premium work-wear brand, raises seed round from angel investors - Kanwaljit Singh (MD Fireside Ventures, former MD Helion Ventures), Harmeet Bajaj (Fashion Multipreneur, 25+ years in International and Domestic Fashion Industry), Pameela P (Sr. Director at Unilever), Fusiontech ventures and select other investors in consumer, retail and tech space.

FableStreet, offers premium quality work-wear online, tailor-fitted for women by taking just 3 body measurements. This Delhi based start-up has been founded by Ayushi Gudwani, an Ex-McKinsey Consultant and IIM Calcutta alumnus, who never found quality work-wear in India. She spent more than a year on R&D to build proprietary sizing algorithm for Indian bodies and, to understand quality, fabrics and garment construction before launching the brand in September 2016.

Coming with 7 years of Consulting DNA, Ayushi has built her start up based on two principles 1. Customer comes first and 2. Profitable growth. “For a consumer, FableStreet is an ‘Experience’ of easy shopping and fantastic service backed by great product. Our vision is to make lives of professional women simple and easy by taking the problem of fit out of consumers’ hands. For an entrepreneur and an investor, the business model is designed to minimize pitfalls of retail and become profitable – e.g., Zero inventory, Low SKU complexity and minimal returns.”, says Ayushi .

In less than 10 months of launch, they have a significant fan-following from professional women in metros and tier 1 cities. “FableStreet plays in a large, under-served and growing women’s wear market., It has a clear and unique value proposition validated by its consumers. They are already seeing extensive repeat purchases and extremely low returns (which are unheard of, in apparel industry).” says Kanwaljit Singh, a seasoned investor in consumer brands like Paperboat, Hokey Pokey etc.

FableStreet has a unique business model - Unlike existing e-tailers, they do not discount, but offer quality and luxury at value-for-money price point. They have a strong focus on product development and customer experience to address unmet needs of working women. Harmeet Bajaj, Founding member of NIFT and an international fashion expert, who participated in the funding round, also added, “FableStreet is uniquely positioned to deliver Premium tailored clothing at such an affordable price point by being direct to consumer. Their sizing algorithm is another strong differentiator and it gets smarter with time”

Despite difficult funding environment over past 12-18 months, and Ayushi being a single woman founder, FableStreet received good response and support from the investors given the uniqueness of product and strong business fundamentals. The proceeds from funding round will be deployed to scale up operations and team. Given spiralling requests from customers, the startup is opening up International shipping soon and will pilot concept store model – ‘FS Studio’ for its customers to experience FableStreet.

Reliance Capital Arm Invests $1M in Fintech Company Billionloans

Bengaluru-based Billionloans has announced that it had closed a seed funding round of approx. Rs 7 crore ($1 million) from Reliance Corporate Advisory Services Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital.

Mr. V Balakrishnan, the ex-Member of the Board of Infosys, Chairman of Exfinity Venture Fund and one of the early investors in the company, is currently the Chairman of Billionloans.

Billionloans is a technology-enabled financial services company, focused on providing flexible and affordable financing options to individuals and small businesses that have so far found it difficult to access loans from the traditional banking system to meet their aspirations.

The company was founded by Dr. Rangan Varadan, a serial entrepreneur who has also co-founded MicroGraam, an online micro-lending platform and other professionals with long experience in the finance and IT industry.

Billionloans connects borrowers to lenders directly and efficiently, and uses technology, and alternative data-based credit analysis to assess eligibility and process applications. This means that borrowers get access to fair rates, and lenders get access to good quality, credit-assessed borrowers helping them diversify their loan portfolio.

Billionloans will initially focus on loans to SMEs, affordable housing loans, education loans and personal loans. To facilitate loans, the company has tie ups with reputed financial institutions and banks to its technology platform. In the next 3 years, the company plans to facilitate around Rs. 2,000 crores of loans across multiple products and lenders.

Speaking at the announcement, Mr. V. Balakrishnan, Chairman, Billionloans, said, “India has a large pool of unbanked population that does not have access to the formal banking system. Technology is going to be a big enabler in addressing this core issue. Our goal is to fundamentally disrupt how borrowers are sourced and appraised using technology in the quickest possible manner. This will lead to a dramatic change in access, both for borrowers with thin credit histories and for lenders looking to expand beyond their traditional customer bases. The investment from Reliance Capital is a great validation of our business model.”

Dr. Rangan Varadan, Founder & CEO, Billionloans, said, “We want to make borrowing easier for small businesses and individuals. We are trying to solve the problem of those who are currently finding it hard to access loans to achieve their life goals, be it growing their small businesses, getting a roof over their heads or getting their children educated. We are integrating diverse data analytic techniques like psychometric analysis and big data, along with user experience focused design to makethis happen. We will leverage MicroGraam’s model of building a grassroots partner organization to connect borrowers and lenders.”

Mr. Anmol Ambani, Executive Director, Reliance Capital Ltd, said, “Technology and innovation in financial services are going to play a big part in bridging the gap between aspirations of large number of Indians wanting access to credit on one hand and the ability of companies to build efficient and scalable lending models on the other. We look forward to support Billionloans in their vision and partner in their growth".

The deal was led and structured by Reliance Wealth Management (the wealth management arm of Reliance Capital).

Crowdsourced Online Platform Billion Ables Raises Seed Round of Funding

Billion Ables is Indian crowdsourced inclusive online platform which is committed to introducing and empowering people with special needs to a more accessible world by providing information on accessible places, products and services exclusive for them. With an already operational website, the next logical step to offer greater flexibility using a mobile app. The app will be launched in collaboration with United Nations Information Council for India and Bhutan at their Lodhi Road office on May 18, 2017 which is also the Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The mobile app will present a search engine platform containing relevant listings for the special needs community. It will offer greater flexibility and value add on with an in-app booking feature for ease of access for end users making it an online database and marketplace simultaneously.

The company is the brainchild of Sameer Garg disabled due to a spinal injury two decades ago and Deepak Kumar the technical wizard of the company. The website currently has 350 listings across various categories PAN India. More than 2000+ users are actively using the platform and the number grows on each day. The website is accessible as per web accessible guidelines with strong presence in Delhi, Rajasthan and Goa with verified listings which are increasing on a daily basis.

Billion Ables Services Pvt. Ltd. recently raised an undisclosed seed round through International Institutional Investors led by Mr. Pankaj Gupta - CEO of Gulf Islamic Investment (GII) through his personal capacity.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Pankaj Gupta, CEO of GII said, “Empowerment and equal accessibility is a must for the ever growing disabled and persons with special needs community in India, which Billion Ables is tackling with an effective and dynamic combination of both technology and crowd sourcing. The launch of its "BillionAbles" platform not only presents on hand and up to date information on relevant places and products for users but also provides tremendous value add as it establishes an integrated platform for a plethora of organisations and firms to reach out to this untapped user base, of approximately 40 -50 million, further enriching the development of this community”.

Billion Ables is happy that its efforts are now being recognized globally and hopes to support the Government of India’s Accessible India campaign which is directed towards making all establishments and buildings accessible. With this support and guidance, Billion Ables is now working towards sensitizing the non government sector towards the accessibility mission. Not only this, awareness about economic benefits and win-win situation for the non government sectors and users is being spread.

Coworking Space Provider The Office Pass Raises $245K in Seed Round

Gurgaon based TOP Technologies Private Limited that runs a coworking platform The Office Pass, has closed a seed investment round from a group of individual investors. As per the company, the funds will be deployed in enhancing the platform and hiring technology & product talent. This investment has come within 2 months of their formal launch.

There has been a rapid increase in demand for coworking spaces and companies are trying different formats to meet this demand. The Office Pass (TOP), unlike most other coworking providers, is not a real estate company; it is a technology company that is solving a real estate problem. “We aspire to connect companies & professionals with high quality office space within 5 km. Most office-goers waste precious time and money in commuting to work. If they are able to work from a high quality, yet affordable, office near-by, it will solve a big productivity problem for Indian companies.” says Aditya Verma, Founder & CEO of The Office Pass.

Finding an office is a major challenge for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME) and freelancers due to their inability to get into a long lease and block money insecurity deposits. Many of them prefer working from home and cafes. These segments remain under the radar for most developers and owners who prefer to rent to large MNCs. The Office Pass aims to solve this problem by offering office space on flexible terms without the need for long lease or security deposits.

Arun Tadanki, former MD of Yahoo Southeast Asia & India, who led this round of investment in the company said,“The Office Pass is an exciting business model that can disrupt the commercial office leasing market. The founders have the right domain expertise and they have been focused on building a scalable, capital-light business model where users can book office space on monthly, daily or even hourly basis”

Co-founded by 3 former employees of Makaan.com, Aditya Verma, Nikhil Madan and Sachin Gaur, TOP launched their operations with first facility at Sohna Road, Gurgaon on 1st March this year. “We are pleasantly surprised by the traction and are on track to achieve full utilization of our first facility within 3 months of launch”, says Aditya Verma.

Home Services Startup Frapperz Raises $100K in Seed Funding

The $100 billion home service and improvement market has a new entrant; Frapperz, a community-powered, intuitive digital platform focused on simplifying the home set up and home management processes. In this rapidly evolving era of digital convenience, the app is built by a team of ex-corporates, IIT, JU alumni and an Imperial College of London dropout to provide optimum proficiency by using extensive data and research.

Frapperz is built on a browse-talk-book principle. It lets users browse through the offerings, catalogues, design content; get advice from experts and other users and then book the right home improvement pro or package through bidding and matching platform. Through an intuitive data driven approach, Frapperz minimizes time, effort and risk factors in every home improvement work.

In the first wave the app is launched in Kolkata. It has registered 10000+ active downloads and notched up a Gross Transaction Value of $10k per month.

The startup has raised an initial funding of $100k. The angel funding round has seen participation by multiple investors led by an Australian healthcare entrepreneur and startup investor.

Frapperz tops up the expert discovery with a fulfillment partner program which supports end to end execution of home projects. Frapperz’ fulfillment promise is backed by expert project management. The philosophy is to combine smart tech and processes to create winning consumer experiences.

Frapperz offers a seamless post-booking experience with one-click tracking, notification at every step, managed payments and post delivery reviews all integrated on a single platform. With supporting features such as project supervision support, advance-protection, service warranty and refunds, Frapperz aims to take the hassle out of creating beautiful living spaces.

Frapperz is conceived by the husband-wife duo, Jyotirmay Kanthal and Rimjhim Ray, who let go of their well-settled and comfortable lives in the UK and turned entrepreneurs with a dream. The couple has been serial entrepreneurs. In 2014 they launched Unmarketeer, a creative digital firm which has worked with leading businesses and startups to improve their digital footprint. Frapperz was launched in the late half of 2016.

The cofounder couple said, “We had stayed and set up homes in various parts of the world; London, Belfast, Switzerland, Kenya, Finland to name a few. Every place has its unique set of challenges when you are trying to set up a home and settle down. But we could generally abstract the problems to a few top learnings which we have used in Frapperz.”

Frapperz aims to provide users with a comfortable, warm way of setting up and improving a home. By connecting the key pegs that user looks for during a home improvement project – ideas, advice, designs, quality products and the right professionals, Frapperz wants users to feel upbeat about their next home project. The key mantra at Frapperz is creating a happy, engaged community with happy homes.

Sports Engagement Platform Rooter Raises Seed Round from Intex Technologies

Rooter, a digital platform that connects, engages and helps sports audiences interact with each other on a real-time basis during sports events, has raised an undisclosed amount of funds from Intex, one of India’s fastest growing consumer electronic goods and accessories manufacturer. The sports social engagement app earlier successfully raised funds from Dhruv Chitgopekar and Prantik Dasgupta. It also holds the distinction of being the first venture that Bollywood star, Boman Irani, has invested in as an angel investor.

The freshly infused capital will be utilized to strengthen the tech team at Rooter, all the while maintaining a lean structure. It aims to also add more numbers to its Sales and Marketing team as well as to the content division to bolster the vernacular versions of the app. This round of funding will, in addition, help accelerate the platform’s expansion into South East Asian markets and catalyze partnerships with sports teams and leagues all around the world. Rooter’s ambition to carry out merchandizing activities and possibly fan-player interactions will also get a boost besides allowing it to leverage the superlative tech infrastructure of Intex.

Rooter has been identified as one of the most unique ideas to emerge out of the Indian start-up ecosystem, with no pre-existing business model to follow anywhere in the world. With its user engagement features such as live-match prediction, quizzes, and chat forums becoming extremely popular with users, Rooter’s audience base and the time spent by an average user on the app has increased significantly. With the approaching sports season, Rooter hopes to far exceed the 50000+ downloads it currently sits on, and aims to cross half a million downloads by the end of the IPL. Rooter will benefit from the state-of-the-art technological setup of Intex, access to which can help reduce Rooter’s R&D costs. The ready database of Intex will also be a goldmine for Rooter to find new users.

Commenting on the funding, Piyush, Founder & CEO, Rooter, said, “It gives us immense pleasure to receive funding from Intex, one of the most successful Indian IT devices and accessories manufacturers. Rooter is essentially a tech-based platform and we wanted to have an investor on board who could also be our strategic partner and help us evolve our product to fully realize it’s potential. Intex’s deep understanding of the smartphone world and its popularity in Tier-2 and 3 cities of India will help us to promote and develop Rooter’s unique idea further, optimizing it to perfectly fit the needs of smartphone users everywhere.”

Intex has had a thriving association with sports, and its director, Keshav Bansal, is the youngest franchise owner in the history of IPL. In January this year, Intex also owned the Gujarat Warriors in Super Fight League, foraying into the comparatively unknown world of MMA fighting in India.

Keshav Bansal, Spokesperson Intex, commented on the collaboration by saying, “Rooter has a great fundamental idea, and its recent numbers suggest that its popularity is zooming by the day. As sports are an extremely emotion-driven phenomenon and the sports fan engagement platform is a completely uncharted territory, Rooter has limitless scope for growth. We feel this collaboration will be a perfect synergistic match and will enable sports’ fans to enjoy their favourite games like never before.”

The average time spent by a user on Rooter has gone up from 2-3 minutes in September last year to 13-15 minutes currently. The number of daily active users is also growing at a brisk pace, with Rooter looking to engage more than 20,000 daily active users by the time IPL starts. This increased audience engagement, coupled with a growing list of different kinds of sports being incorporated into the app, has endeared Rooter to its target users and has boosted its attempt to revolutionize the sports viewing experience in India, and the rest of the world.

The deal was enabled by Kwan Entertainment & Marketing Solutions and Uday Ahlawat, Partner at Ahlawat and Associates, was the legal advisor for Rooter.

Healthcare Startup Oxa Raises Seed Funding from UAE Based Idein Ventures

Hyderabad-based healthcare startup Oxa, focused on connecting and providing healthcare treatment globally through individually curated medical tourism packages, has secured an undisclosed amount in seed funding from UAE based Idein Ventures. It is currently focusing on medical tourism to India and has global plans in pipeline.

Oxa was founded in December last year, as an offline medical tourism company, but is building itself as a connected healthcare eco-system around the globe. Shashank Shrivastava, previously the founder and CEO of Sunjeevanam, a solar purchase and installation company, is currently heading the organization. Shashank is also a graduate of BITS Pilani and has previously worked with PlaySolar and Tata Power. He is looking to expand his team with inclusion of members in the top management.

Shashank says about the company, “To begin with, we are creating a one-stop shop for people travelling to India for Healthcare or Medical Treatment purposes. We not only arrange for travel, accommodation and treatment but also provide Pre-Travel Medical Consultation and Post-Treatment Care Services.”

Idein Ventures, a global private equity firm, has its India operations headquartered in Hyderabad. This is Idein’s first investment in the core healthcare industry in India. Some of its recent investments include real estate companies Buildtraders and Restate. David Back, founder of Zoomcar, had also joined Idein Ventures to head its strategy and USA operations, earlier this year.

An official statement from Idein Ventures says, “Oxa is building a very strong channel between Africa and India. And Idein is helping them with this global reach, as we are associated with the right players in this industry globally. India alone is expected to cater to at least 10 million overseas patients by 2019. And that is only the expected figure, Oxa is trying to create a new market as well.”

The hospital industry is huge and fragmented and has seen interest from private equity players recently. Specialty hospitals have helped create treatment hubs in different pockets of India. Last year, Abraaj group had invested around Rs 2000 crores in the multi-specialty hospital chain Care Hospitals.[cp_one_half]text [/cp_one_half][cp_one_half]text [/cp_one_half]

The Moms Co., A Natural Toxin Free Alternative in the Pregnancy and Baby Care Space, Raises Seed Round

Amishi Life has launched India’s safest range of nature-based pregnancy products under the brand name The Moms Co. It is India’s first Australian Certified Toxin-Free and Made Safe brand, certified by the Safe Cosmetics Australia Toxin-Free Campaign. The Moms Co follows a strict motto – Nature In, Toxins Out - using only the best natural ingredients and with zero tolerance for potentially harmful chemicals.

The company has launched its first set of products on 10th March 2017. It will be India’s 1st comprehensive natural pre-natal care kit to aid pregnant women with the most common discomforts they face during pregnancy. The kit includes 4 different products – Natural Body Wash, Natural Body Butter, Natural Body Oil and Natural Foot Cream. They will be available for purchase online first on www.TheMomsCo.com as well as online marketplaces.

Co-Founder Mohit Sadaani, Ex - IIMA - McKinsey - Head of Growth and Strategy at Snapdeal, said in his statement - “This is just the beginning for us. Our team is working hard to close the year with 20 products in the space including a full range of natural baby care products and more pre-natal and post-natal products as well.” Over the next few years, the company plans to get into other categories where they will work closely with Indian moms to create the better options these moms seek - from diapers to food and clothing for moms and babies.

CEO & Co-founder Malika Sadani, a banker-turned-entrepreneur, is at the heart of everything The Moms Co. stands for. Malika explains - “3 years in the making, for us it’s always been about building a community of moms, and working with them to launch products Made Without Compromise for themselves and their families. That’s why we’ve brought in experts from across the world to help us with the safest natural formulations as well as the perfect look and feel to create a brand that speaks to moms globally. It is a collaboration of folks from India, Switzerland and US. The products are formulated and tested to make sure they meet every international safety standard there is - across US, Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia.”

All products are made using only the best international natural ingredients and aspire to help Indian mothers make safe, easy and natural choices for them and their family. A very stringent research and methodology is followed to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the products:

1. Careful selection of natural ingredients by expert formulators that meet various international standards across Europe, USA, Canada, Japan and Australia.

2. Extensive validation of short-listed ingredients against international toxicity databases - Environmental Working Group, Paula’s Choice, Whole Foods Premium Skincare, Safe Cosmetics USA and Safe Cosmetics Australia.

3. Multiple rounds of testing for safety and stability on various skin types. These include testing by international and Indian labs and agencies. The products are also dermatologically tested.

4. Approval and certification of product formulations by FDA and Safe Cosmetics Australia - Australian Toxin-free and Made Safe.

(Note: Refer to attachments for detailed research & testing procedure for product formulation.)

The Moms Co team is also backed by industry experts - Shripad Nadkarni and Nandu Nandkishore - who act as mentors and assist the company in their mission to deliver products that are world class and meet the high expectations of mothers across the world. With over 35 years of experience working with moms, their advice helps keep a sharp eye on quality & safety standards.

Shripad Nadkarni, Founder, Fingerlix (Fresh Foods Solutions start-up) and co-creator of brand PaperBoat who was also ex marketing head of Coca Cola and Johnson & Johnson, explains - “Many of the leading brands in this space are full of potentially harmful chemicals and additives. The obsessive drive of The Mom's Co to offer only the safest for babies and their moms is truly inspiring. It is an international brand that happens to be born in India.”

“Many existing brands have a crisis of trust, with several recent scandals about their use of carcinogens as ingredients. There is a crying need for natural, toxin free, safe products which The Moms Co. is trying to fill.” - adds Nandu Nandkishore who has held many senior positions at Nestle across the world including EVP in Switzerland and Chairman & CEO in Philippines.

The company was born out of Malika’s uncompromising attention to the smallest of details, and her desire that no mom should have to compromise on products. After long hours of research looking for natural alternatives, Malika worked with experts across India and Australia to choose the safest ingredients for The Moms Co products. They are targeted at the discerning, safety-conscious mom who does not want to compromise on getting the best products for herself and her family.

The Chennai Angels Invests in Chennai-Based E-Vegetailing Private Limited

The Chennai Angels (TCA) has announced a seed investment of Rs 1.1 Crores in E-Vegetailing Private Limited, a Chennai-based start-up engaged in selling farm fresh vegetables procured directly from farmers and delivered to customers with its innovative technology backend. Gowri Shankar Subramanian, CEO & Co-founder – Aspire Systems, led the round on behalf of The Chennai Angels. This capital will be used by E-Vegetailing to build its farmer network, increase procurement points and enhance its logistics operations.

E-Vegetailing was started in 2014 with the vision of providing quality vegetables to consumers directly from farmers. The company aims to bridge the gap between the Consumer and the Farmer by providing a web-based platform for people across cities to get premium quality produce at the best price for their daily requirements. The company currently serves over 10,000 kg/day in and around Chennai.

This is the first round of funding that the company is receiving since its inception.

Edwin Rajamohan, Founder CEO, E-Vegetailing said, “We are thrilled to receive our first round of investment from The Chennai Angels. This capital will help us scale up our business and simultaneously enhance our seamless farm-to-door solution. We will be growing the business with a multi-pronged approach; increase the customer base, expand into various verticals and scale up procurement from the 10,000 to 50000 kg/day mark.”

Commenting on the investment, Gowri Shankar Subramanian, CEO & Co-founder, Aspire Systems said, "We strongly believe that E-Vegetailing has the potential to forge a strong and productive relationship with farmers to further our common focus on increasing efficiencies in the farm-to-fork supply chain and creating a technology enabled business supporting the requirements of farmers and customers, both individuals and businesses.”

Fashion Startup Look At Me Raises Undisclosed Amount in Seed Round from Eros Labs

Fashion startup, Look At Me has raised an undisclosed amount in seed round from Eros Labs. Founded by an ex-Paytm, Nakul Kapur, LookAtMe is a virtual stylist that helps users to shop better. Users can get professional stylists and community members to rate their looks, get advice on what to wear, and even shop for looks directly from the app. It started its operations in June’2016 and has crossed over 50k+ downloads. across Android and iOS platforms.

The startup intends to invest the raised funds in the team, technology, and growth.

“We are “bottom up” or personalised. Clothes look very different on different people. What looks good on celebrities, may not look good on a vast majority of normal people. Our platform allows users to get advice on what will look good on them. We intend to leverage the infrastructure built by the big e-commerce players and run as an affiliate to them,” said Nakul Kapur,co-founder, Look At Me.

By 2020, India is expected to generate a $100bn online retail revenue, of which $35bn will come from fashion e-commerce. Every third query on Google is related to Fashion and this trend is increasing at 65% annually.

CEO of Eros Labs, Karan Bedi was very excited about Look At Me and the traction it had gained in the past few months. “The team has achieved tremendous results in a quick time and we are happy to support them as investors”, said Karan Bedi.

Technical Acumen Measurement Startup DoSelect Raises Seed Round of Funding

To help organizations quantify their technical talent, HR-Tech startup DoSelect, has received its seed round of funding from 3one4 Capital, Aarin Capital, Mumbai Angels led by Mohit Saxena (Co-Founder, InMobi), Singapore Angel Network along with a cohort of individual investors. The amount remains undisclosed.

DoSelect’s SaaS product suite is enabling HR and Engineering teams measure technical prowess by exposing engineers to real life application scenarios which require them to solve problems for the “code, test, debug, deploy” lifecycle. DoSelect’s suite is geared for talent acquisition, learning and workforce planning teams. With its powerful assessment engine, they are enabling tests on a diverse set of programming languages, frameworks and technologies which makes it easier to evaluate skills of any developer.

Speaking on the development, Pranav Pai on behalf of Mohandas Pai’s 3one4 Capital said, “DoSelect has built a technical assessment platform that helps companies make the best hiring decisions based on real skills and experience.

The key components involve ensuring that requirements are structured clearly, that over 50 of the latest frameworks and environments are supported out of the box, and that the candidates are tested with technically-relevant exercises that replicate real-world situations for the open positions. No more multiple-choice questions and tired algorithms on a whiteboard! Candidates will also have better resources to prepare for these technical interviews by utilizing this platform before the interviews.

The team has a deep understanding of the needs on both sides of the technical interview and is using their domain expertise to deliver clear long-term benefits to all the stakeholders by removing the many asymmetries and manual inefficiencies that exist. When replicated at scale, this unleashes a tremendous improvement to the human resource dimension of the tech ecosystem. We are immensely excited to be working with DoSelect in solving this core need.”

DoSelect is a 12 member team with clients of the order of Amazon India, InMobi and Atom Technologies. The funds would be deployed to scale current traction areas through targeted marketing and sales funnels along with product enhancements that move the needle for HR teams worldwide, vis-a-vis measurement of technical acumen in their respective organizations.

Commenting on the development, Rohit Tirkey, Co-Founder, DoSelect stated, “We are trying to shift the current technical measurement landscape. 3one4 Capital with its poignant HR insights and a rigorous product + tech. world view brings much value to our product road-map. The added belief of ecosystem experts like Mohit Saxena and Mumbai Angels validates our track.”

The founding team is comprised of Iliyas Shirol, Sanket Saurav, and Rohit Tirkey. While Iliyas is a former InMobi engineer, Sanket and Rohit have completed their Bachelors In Technology from NIT Jamshedpur.

Additionally Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, a Mumbai Angel investor, had this to say regarding DoSelect, “We're very excited about investing in DoSelect. Hiring great coders is the key to every company's success in this day and age, where technology is becoming an organisation's competitive advantage. DoSelect's cutting edge platform is aiding HR teams understand in granular detail, why they should or should not, hire a particular engineer.”

Bangalore Based Laundry Startup LaundryAnna Raises Rs 1 Cr in Seed Funding from Angel Investors

LaundryAnna, Bangalore based doorstep laundry startup has raised Rs.1 crore in seed funding from a group of angel investors. LaundryAnna started in 2015 with a capacity of just 300 garments per day and is now processing over 3000 garments every day.

The startup operates on a full stack model and owns complete supply chain from logistics to garment processing. Currently, it operates only in some selected areas in South Bangalore. LaundryAnna operates as the exclusive partner for many apartments and hostels like Symbiosis institute, Serenity Group of hostels, IIITB among a few.

There are several ways to place an order with LaundryAnna. A customer can just download the mobile application from Google Play store and place an order instantly, or visit the website or just pick up the phone and call the number 080-33013384 to place an order. LaundryAnna will pick-up your garments within the selected slot and deliver back within 48 hrs.

Users can also recharge their LaundryAnna wallet online and avoid of hassles of paying cash on every delivery.

Prateek Rana, one of the Founders of LaundryAnna is a hotel management graduate and has rich experience in service industry with companies like ITC Sheraton, Kingfisher Airlines and Biocon. Prior to LaundryAnna, he also co-founded a social enterprise HouseMaidForYou, working on upliftment of domestic workers with his spouse Rathi Rana.

Prateek says, Even though a lot of startups have cropped up across the country over the last couple of years, it still is not enough in terms of the size of the addressable market. LaundryAnna doesn’t see this as a market of just cleaning and delivering garments at the doorstep, but building trust and goodwill with the customers along with top-notch service guarantee to the customer. Still, there are abundant opportunities and no big player emerged as of now, and the one who shows long-term commitment, better in-house technology and logistics along with a strong focus on customer satisfaction can certainly stand to gain a lot of traction and will emerge as the leader.

Started with a capacity of processing only 300 garments a day, LaundryAnna has grown in capacity and well-trained staff to process more than 3000 garments a day.

While speaking about the future plans, Prateek Rana added, “We plan to expand to other areas in the city with a combination of hub and spoke model and physical stores. Owing to the stringent focus on quality and turnaround time, we are not considering franchising model. We will continue to have in-house processing and upgrade the existing infrastructure to cope up with the expanded operations”.

Unlike other players in the industry, LaundryAnna does not outsource any of its services related to the processing of garments and logistics to any third party service providers. Well- trained staff and the perfect infrastructure has been the key to LaundryAnna to provide the laundry services to the doorstep of every customer. LaundryAnna has not only has erased the dirty tag associated with the laundry business, but it has also helped to provide regular workflow, good working environment and employment opportunities for the local dhobis. With a unique IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system in place, all one needs to do is pick-up the phone and place an order without needing to wait for any operator.

Two days back, Gurgaon-based on demand laundry startup Pickmylaundry has raised undisclosed amount from Kedar Lele (a top level executive of a leading FMCG major) and existing investor GHV Accelerator.

B2B SaaS Company Trilyo Raises Seed Round of Funding

Trilyo, a B2B SaaS company with solutions for Restaurants, has announced the closing of its seed round. The Lead Angel is a Singapore-based private investor and backed by members of Amplifi Angel Group including Vishnu Bhat, Bangalore based entrepreneur and former SVP of Infosys, Mumbai-based entrepreneur Rajiv Lunkad and Dubai-based Naresh Ravindranath.

The Bengaluru-based company launched its product as a pilot in Mumbai & Bengaluru over the past few weeks. The company helps restaurants in a complete 360° customer management with solutions for strong Consumer Loyalty in an Engaging way while enhancing the whole Consumer Experience. TRILYO is a cloud-based service app providing restaurants and restaurant chains with solutions for:

• feedback & smart selling
• multichannel order management and
• analytics to improve brand connect for restaurants.
• Managing CRM and promotions

TRILYO’s objective is to improve restaurant sales and keep their customers engage in a pleasant manner to provide best food and service.

The funds received in the seed round will be utilised to expand the product suite and build client traction. TRILYO has quickly grown in Mumbai and is building a presence across major Indian cities before venturing overseas.
“Despite a market crowded with apps for restaurants, TRILYO is exciting because of novel use case features that will put it well ahead of any competition and offer a comprehensive solution which is missing in the market”, says one of the seed round Angel investors.

Trilyo is founded by Abhishek Moharana and Gaurav Gambhir. Abhishek and Gaurav assert that they were fortunate to be part of the Amplifi SaaS Accelerator Program and are thrilled about the product maturity they have achieved under the Amplifi umbrella.

Abhishek is an alumnus of IIT Bombay and has worked with PwC; Gaurav worked with EY and has huge experience in building enterprise applications. Both of them earlier worked at TCS and have always enjoyed playing guitars together.

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YumLane Raises Seed Round of Under $1M from Binny Bansal, Anupam Mittal and Others

In today’s fast-paced life people have no time to wait. They want everything in a jiffy, especially food options that can be consumed on the move. Identifying this need, YumLane has created a new ‘Food-to-go’ category to provide modern day busy Indians with reliable and quick food alternatives at affordable price points. Currently, there are hardly any options available for on-the-go hot snacking and meal that are quick-to-serve, affordable and most importantly hygienic to consume.  

YumLane, the digital FMCG Food startup has received the seed funding of just under USD 1 million by renowned angel investors. The investors in the current round include Binny Bansal, Anupam Mittal, Sachin Bhatia, Katalyzers (managed by SMILE Partners), Darius Pandole, Kunal Khattar, Rajnish Taneja and Dheeraj Jain.   

Founded by Hitesh Ahuja, Ex - VP from New Silk Route PE and MBA from SP Jain, the team includes Rueben Ghosh (Co-founder Product, Le Cordon Bleu), Rahul Kumar (Co-founder Tech, IIT-B) and Anirudh Mantri (VP, Ops IIT-B). The preservative free food that’s made with natural ingredients is ready to be consumed anywhere, anytime.

Talking about the fund raise, Hitesh says “We would like to make great food accessible to everyone, everywhere and leverage the deeply fragmented retail landscape our country offers. The Company plans to use the investment towards brand building, marketing initiatives and increasing the footprint.”

The branded FMCG market is expected to be USD 65B by 2020 as per BCG report in Dec 2015 titled ‘Reimagining FMCG in India’ and estimates suggest USD 15B market for street food and snacks.

India has 11 shops per 1000 people, with 14 million retailers it has the largest number of retailers in the world.  Out of these, approximately 9 million are FMCG retailers and the distribution network of established FMCG brands such as HUL, ITC, Coke ranges between 4 to 6 million retail points. YumLane aims to capture nearly the entire FMCG retail universe to make its offering easily accessible.

Also, in a market where people are increasingly growing conscious of untrustworthy street food and the boring fast food joints, a brand like YumLane might just get embraced whole heartedly.

Mobile-first Learning Management Platform Byndr Gets $700K in Seed Round

Hyderabad-based mobile learning management platform Byndr has raised $700,000 in seed funding from the Education Design Studio (premier Ed-tech accelerator at the University of Pennsylvania), Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and a group of angel investors. The firm will utilize these funds to expand its sales and development team and grow the product scope in terms of giving more access to educational content for students and providing more administrative features for colleges.

Since its launch in March of 2015, Byndr has grown rapidly and is now used by more than 50 top colleges in India and has a total installed base of over 50,000 students on its platform.  The founding team (Joseph Freed, Praveen Vangeepuram and Marc Garabedian in Philadelphia and Satish Nampally and Prashanthi Vangeepuram in Hyderabad) noticed that in many emerging markets students in higher education had limited access to educational resources that were mobile-based, and a majority of students were not connected to their colleges on any online platform.  Byndr was incepted to plug this gap to become a single point of access for students in higher education to connect to their college and to educational resources. The app is now being used by colleges ranging from small set-ups to those amongst the 100 most prestigious institutions and universities in India, including Osmania College of Engineering and Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology.

Commenting on raising the seed round of funds, Joseph Freed, Co-founder & CEO said, “In 2017 it is projected that 80% of the internet users in India will be mobile.  So the only way to truly create a single point of access for students in mobile-dependent markets like India is with a mobile-first product.  With Byndr, students stay engaged and connected to educational resources outside the classroom, enabling the concept of anytime and anywhere learning with a fast and light platform.  This round of funding will allow us to accelerate expansion and continue providing easy-to- use, and mobile-first products for all stakeholders in higher education.”

Bobbi Kurshan, Executive Director of Academic Innovations at The University of Pennsylvania GSE, and Chairman of the Education Design Studio, which participated in this round, said, “Byndr is changing the LMS model. It is creating a solution for emerging economies with lack of persistent internet, lower cost points and need for a lightweight solution. The new funding will be used to support and continue to grow the excellent team and to help expand the impact of this unique mobile solution across India and other emerging edtech ecosystems.

GyanDhan, An Education Loan Startup by IIT-alums, Raises Seed Funding

GyanDhan, an education financing marketplace, has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs with participation from Harvard Angels, and other individual investors including Pravin Gandhi, Partner- Seedfund Advisors in his personal capacity. GyanDhan had earlier received angel funding from Satyen Kothari, founder of Cube and Citrus Pay, to fund operations from the concept phase to their first loan disbursal. The startup provides students an option to apply for loans up to Rs 30 lakhs without any collateral for higher education abroad. GyanDhan was founded by 2 IIT alumni Ankit Mehra and Jainesh Sinha, both of whom spent 5+ years working for Capital One, a leading American Bank.

Ankit during the course of his higher studies at IESE Barcelona came across several Indian students who were denied loans by Indian financial institutions and had to sell their ancestral properties to finance their studies. This inspired him to start GyanDhan, a place where Indian students, seeking high value loans can get a fair chance of being funded.

Indian students spend $14bn abroad annually with bank financing contributing less than 5% to it. “Banks have been reluctant to participate in education loans market due to high NPA levels. As a result, higher education remains a privilege of the rich and contributes to an ever increasing disparity rather than being the great leveler it was supposed to be. We seek to expand and equalize access to higher education through our proprietary models that helps bank assess employability of students and help them make better decisions. ” adds Jainesh, who moved to India last year to start GyanDhan. Jainesh is also an alumnus of Super 30.

The company started operations in May’16. It has partnered with financial institutions to provide education loans for higher studies. The team works closely with the students and the banks to ensure quick resolution of the application. “We realized that lack of transparency in the entire process often resulted in a lot of angst amongst the students, and decided to partner with a few banks to maintain high levels of customer service".

Paula Mariwala, Co-President, SA&E said, “Lack of availability of funding from the Indian financial institutions is one of the key hindrances faced by students pursuing higher studies. Most times, either the banks ask for very high ratio of collaterals or the loan processing takes a long time. GyanDhan’s merit-based lending that accounts for the potential of the student, and an approach that engages the student rather than viewing them as a pure transaction will provide the much needed alternative for education loan.”

The company has processed over 2500 applications to date, and has already helped students avail loans worth INR 10cr through these financing institutions. ‘We expect that the remaining applications will be processed soon and expect to sanction over INR 30cr in loans by the end of this year.’ adds Jainesh.

Ankit Mehra, co- founder, GyanDhan said, "We will use these funds to build the tech platform to provide a better experience for both the banks and the students and to further develop our data sciences capabilities .We will be rolling out new loan product offerings catering to the underserved pockets in domestic education over the next 12 months."

Wellness Startup Gomalon Bags Undisclosed Amount in Second Round of Seed Funding

Gomalon announced the launch of the most exceptional experience of a Spa at very affordable prices withGoSpa. GoSpa services are available on the Android’s Gomalon App and the website. GoSpa services are available at some of the distinguished locations in Bangalore; GoSpa provides spa services at a pocket friendly price without compromising the luxurious experience of the customer. This is very different from existing aggregator in this space.

Gomalon mobile App is Salons & Spas at your fingertips. From offers to suggestions and beyond, the app is designed to enhance salon and spa experiences. With mobile-exclusive deals, they let customers stay one step ahead with deal alerts and view and manage bookings anytime, anywhere.

GoSpa, an on-demand spa booking service also includes Real Time Slot Management System technology allowing the user to confirm appointment slots in real time. It provides standardized services of a spa at a nominal price of just Rs. 999. The simple three step booking lets the customer get an appointment in less than 30 seconds through web and mobile app. Apart from this, major wallet integrations such as credit card, net banking, PayU, Mobikwik, and PayZapp assist in making hassle free and cashless payments. Convenient rescheduling options and guaranteed refund on misconduct make the service stand out. Through the GoSpa service, the user can also gift a spa to their friends and family. It also provides a rejuvenating experience with hygienic disposables, personal kit of products, toiletries and a farewell kit to bid goodbye that is provided by Gomalon. Set in a perfect ambience, the customer enters into a world of scented bliss and musical trance.

Gomalon had raised 200K in angel investment from few angels so far and the recent round of undisclosed funding is a strategic partnership done by a company which produces essential oils, natural food colours and spice extracts and has their business presence in Asia and Europe. The new investment will be utilized to increase traction via marketing, advancing in technology & acquiring talent.

Anil Kumar, Founder, Gomalon said, “The investment was very important because the company being the pioneer in essential oils will be helping us in providing Oil blends that can give our GoSpa customers a great feel of relaxation and rejuvenation and also will be helping us in developing proprietary products in beauty space which we are working on simultaneously. It will also help us standardize the quality of oils currently being used for spa therapies. In November 2015 Gomalon acquired bookmyspa and we launched our own version of “Deals” for spa/salons in 2016 and grew very rapidly from there.” He further added, “For Gomalon, the biggest opportunity lies in standardising 80% of standalone beauty parlours and spas through their technology, helping maintain brand individuality and giving standardised products to work with our customers through Gomalon Platform. Since our technology and robust business model is in place, we are now aiming to have our presence in 5 countries and 50 cities in the next 3 years and looking for further rounds of investments in the firm.”

GoSpa services are currently operational in 20 areas in Bangalore which includes; Domlur, Cunningham Road, Koramangala 4^th Block, Marathahalli, Koramangala 80ft Road, Banaswadi, Indiranagar, Hebbal, Sanjaynagar, Marathahalli Outer Ring Road, Domlur – Amarjyothi Layout, Kalyan Nagar, Koramangala 6^th Block, Whitefield, Rajajinagar, Jayanagar and Bannerghatta Road. Other locations in the pipeline are Malleswaram & JP Nagar.

GoSpa provides carefully hand-picked Spa partners to ensure quality and hygiene standards. As an online platform & App, that enables booking for consumers, GoSpa clearly ensures that every spa partner they on-board provide a uniform service to all with rigorous training and enhancement. GoSpa endeavour is to tie up with as many spas and salons possible in every area that are strategically spread across the city and maintains good hygiene – this is to ensure that GoSpa is able to direct consumer traffic to their nearest location.

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eBook Publisher Matrubharti Raises Rs 20 Lakh Seed Funding from Viridian Capital

Ahmedabad-based eBook publisher Matrubharti has raised a seed funding of Rs. 20 lakh from Viridian Capital. The startup offers a publishing platform to new and aspiring writers in regional languages by taking content directly from authors and publishing it as an eBook.

The new funding will be used for investment in technology and expanding the team. Incubated at the Espark-Viridian Accelerator Centre at GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City), Matrubharti has more than 1,800 authors registered and have published 4,350 eBooks, so far.

The company publishes over 450 eBooks every month with 7.5 lakhs of eBooks downloaded so far. Published in six languages so far, Matrubharti plans to publish eBooks in 21 languages. It publishes stories, novels, articles, biographies, poems and essays in e-book form. It has an app through which customers can download the e-books. The firm uses patent-pending low-cost technology for producing these digital rights protected e-books.

A recent survey by Nielsen India revealed that India's book market, currently the sixth largest in the world at Rs 26,100 crore, is likely to touch Rs. 73,900 crore by 2020.

Matrubharti competes with Chennai- and US-based Magzter Inc., which runs digital magazine store Magzter.com.

Viridian Capital is an arm of Viridian Group and focuses on the private equity real estate space. In June 2015, Viridian Group had tied up with Scotland’s Entrepreneurial Spark to launch an accelerator programme for emerging startups in India.

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FinTech Startup ePayLater Raises $2M from HNIs

Financial-technology startup ePayLater, which is operated by Mumbai-based Arthashastra Fintech Pvt. Ltd, has secured $2 million (Rs 13.3 crore) in a seed round of funding from HNIs who are amongst the leaders in the global financial industry. The firm has also got further commitment from these investors. It will use the funds for product development and marketing.

"We are a product centric company, which is also our Intellectual property. Bulk of the investment would be into product development. The other share would belong to Marketing and Business development," said Akshat Saxena, Co-founder, ePayLater.

The startup was founded in December 2015 by Aurko Bhattacharya, Prasannaa Murlidharan, Uday Somayajula, Shanmunathan Thiagaraja and Akshat Saxena. The company gives customers the option to “buy now and pay later” on online portals with just a 1-click. The customers are billed only after they receive the delivery of the product and hence its solution address the trust issues related to online shopping and acts as a good substitute for COD. In addition, the customers get 14 days to make the payment, in which time they can many more transaction trough a single click checkout, bunch them all together and make a single payment at the end of the period. Further, since the checkout is single click it offers a near 100% transaction success rate model unlike payment gateways which witness significant drops.

"We're building a very exciting product which takes real time credit and fraud decisions with none to minimal customer intervention/ inconvenience. We believe that we can offer the best payment customer experience - and that would be by being completely invisible and operating behind the scenes at the point of checkout!!," added Prasannaa Muralidharan, Co-founder, ePayLater.

"It's an avenue to put our knowledge and creativity into practice and solve some seemingly complex challenges. Besides the effort on product and marketing, we have also consciously tried to build a culture that fosters innovation. We often engage in blue sky discussions, and many of our ideas have actually taken shape when we least expected!," mentioned Aurko Bhattacharya, Co-founder, ePayLater.

The startup has on-boarded few leading eCommerce merchants already and hope to expand the list at a quick pace as the concept establishes its merits. The company charges a commission per transaction from the merchant.

"Indian e-commerce is expected to cross $75 Billion by 2020 which would still be less than 10% of the size of overall retail pie. We expect ePayLater to be the preferred payment solution considering that it offers the most exhaustive set of features to customers and merchants alike. We are looking at penetrating the e-commerce space enough before diversifying our portfolio to also include offline payments as well. This gives us a huge headroom and legroom for growth," said Akshat while commenting on the market size.

Recent deals in the space

Earlier this month, CreditVidya had secured $2 million in Series A funding from Kalaari Capital.

Last month, online investment platform Goalwise had raised $1 million from affluent individuals while online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform i2ifunding had secured Rs 2 crore from a group of angel investors.

In April, digital payments firm TranServ Pvt. Ltd had raised $15 million in its Series C round of investment led by venture capital fund IDFC SPICE and consumer electronics maker Micromax Informatics Ltd. The same month, online lending marketplace Deal4Loans had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from a bunch of investors.

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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.