Top Tech Startups Funding this Week – 19 May – 25 May’19

Sequoia India led $35 Mn Funding of Biofourmis, An AI-Enabled HealthTech Platform

Singapore-based Biofourmis, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) -enabled monitoring and decision support platform has raised $35 million in Series B round of funding led by Sequoia India and MassMutual Ventures with contributions from Singapore government’s EDBI, Jianke and existing investors Openspace Ventures, Aviva Ventures and SGInnovate. With this funding, Biofourmis also announced to move its headquarters from Singapore to Boston, Massachusetts. With fresh funding, Biofourmis has raised a total of about $41 Mn in funding over... Read More

Chatbot Startup Niki.ai Raises ₹11.6 Crore in Debt Funding from Unilazer, RSP India, Others

Bengaluru-based Niki.ai, an AI-powered chatbot service startup, has been raising a convertible debt funding since February this year. Niki.ai has secured around Rs 11.6 crore in covertible debt funding from investors that include Unilazer Alternative Ventures LLP, RSP India Fund LLC, Tarun Nayyar, Vistra ITCL as a trustee of AL trust, Asian E-commerce Alliance, Hansjoachim Koehler of HJK Capital, and Ramakant Sharma, Co-founder and COO of Livspace, among others... Read More

Ex-Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka founded AI Startup Vian Systems Raises $50 Mn

Vian Systems, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup founded by Vishal Sikka, a former Executive Vice Chairman, CEO and MD of Infosys, has raised $50 million in funding from two unknown investors, reported Economic Times citing documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Founded by Sikka, Vian Systems is a Palo Alto, California technology company operating in stealth mode in San Francisco Bay Area. According to the filing, Vian Systems offered $50 million in... Read More

VC Arm of IKEA Invests in Bangalore’s Livspace

Ingka investments, the investment arm of IKEA’s parent firm Ingka Group,has invested in Bangalore-based home furnishing startup Livspace for a minority stake, reported Deal Street Asia. Livspace will use fresh Fundings in areas such as developing new home interior solutions and products, market expansion as well as growing its offline footprint. Ingka Group operates 90 percent of Ikea’s retail footprint. Founded in 2015 by a former Google executive Anuj Srivastava, Livspace was initially started as... Read MoRead More

AI Based Crowd-Sourcing Platform ‘My Mobiforce’ Raises $200K in Angel Funding

Noida based Crowd-sourcing Platform My Mobiforce providing on-demand Field Services raised US$ 200K from a US-based angel investor Mr Arpan Prakash and Mr Sanjiv Mital who is also an Advisor, Mentor and a Seasoned Angel Investor. My Mobiforce is trying to solve one the biggest challenges of the brands and companies to implement on-demand Field Services by providing them with a technology platform to find a qualified field talent at the right time at the right place... Read More

Smart Wearables Startup KaHa Raised $6.2Mn in Funding led by ICT Fund

KaHa, a Singapore-based end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) platform startup for smart wearables, has raised US$6.2 million in Series B funding to accelerate its growth in Asia. The funding round was led by ICT Fund, a specialized deep-tech venture capital fund and an existing strategic investor from Europe. The funds raised in this round will enable the company to boost its research and development and scale its operations in the Asia Pacific region. APAC is... Read More

New York-based Coatue may Lead a $120 Mn Funding of Faasos

Coatue Management, a New York-based hedge fund, is in talks to lead a $120 million funding round in Mumbai-based Rebel Foods, which owns and operates brands of cloud kitchens such as Faasos, reported LiveMint, citing three people privy to the developments. If the deal materialize then Faasos will be Coatue’s second investment in India after Swiggy, in which the US-based investor had invested in last December. Coatue plans to invest $100 million in the latest... Read More

Top Tech Startups Fundings this Week - 13 April - 18 April'19

Bangalore-based LeadSquared Raises $3 Mn in Funding from Stakeboat Capital and Jyoti Bansal

Bangalore-based Marketing and Lead Generation software platform LeadSquared, has raised US$3 million in Series-A funding from Stakeboat Capital, a private equity firm launched by Chennai-based serial healthcare entrepreneur, GSK Velu, and existing investor Jyoti Bansal, a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur who founded AppDynamics and Harness.io, and has invested in the startup in 2017... Read More

Online Farmers’ Marketplace DeHaat Raises $2.84 Mn in Venture Debt from Trifecta Capital

Gurgaon-based DeHaat, a technology-led farmers’ marketplace to offer complete seeds-to-market services to farmers, has received a commitment of ₹ 20 crore (~ $2.84 Mn) in venture debt from Trifecta Capital, a San Francisco based seed stage venture capital fund... Read More

Industrial Automation Startup Ethereal Machines Raised $1 Mn from Blume Ventures, Others

Bangalore-based Industrial Automation startup Ethereal Machines Pvt. Ltd, has raised $1 million (~ Rs 7 crore) in its pre-Series A round of funding led by early-stage venture capital firm Blume Ventures with contributions from PayU India managing director, Jitendra Gupta, and founders of Grey Orange Robotics - Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta... Read More

Grofers Raised Fresh $200 Mn in Funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund

Online grocery startup Grofers raised $200 million in a fresh funding led by Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF), pushing the Gurgaon-based company’s valuation to almost $1 billion. Existing investors Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital along with new investor KTB also contributed in the funding round... Read More

Aerospace Tech Startup Tzar Raised Massive $15 Bn from Singapore’s Dreamvision Overseas

Bhubaneswar, Orissa-based aerospace technology startup, Tzar Aerospace Research Labs, has raised whopping US$ 15 billion for 37% private equity from leading Singapore based company, Dreamvision Overseas. Founded in 2016, by Priyam Mohanty, Tzar Aerospace designs and develops conceptual unmanned Hypersonic Research Aircraft with new computational approaches and methods... Read More

Deepika Padukone Invested in FMCG Startup Drums Food a.k.a Epigamia

Top Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, who had incorporated KA Enterprises 18 months back as her strategic investment firm, has invested an undisclosed amount in Mumbai-based Drums Food, a FMCG startup that makes flavoured yogurt ‘Epigamia’. KA Enterprises, which has also backed other startups like online furniture rental platform Furlenco, and beauty products marketplace Purplle, has contributed in Series C round of funding raised by Drums Food earlier this year, which also saw participation of Danone... Read More

Delhi Startup GIFkaro Raised $250K in Angel Funding for its Product Portfolio Expansion

GIFkaro, a New Delhi-based GIF content startup, has announced that it has raised $250K from angel investors including Pranay Gupta (ex Snapchat and current Google employee), and Dr Ekika Singh, a top gynaecologist and infertility specialist, among others. Launched in June 2017 by Arpit Kumar, Puneet Kalra and Dinesh Kumar, GIFkaro allows users to create, watch, and download funny GIFs. It provides an editing tool through its app to create a short GIF in multiple...Read More

Do Your Thng (DYT), A Shared Economy Platform for Digital Properties Raised Angel Funding from Individual Investors

Do Your Thng (DYT), a shared economy platform for digital properties has raised an undisclosed amount from prominent individual angel investors, Sorabh Agarwal, Pawan Kumar, Girish Minocha, Proteek Dey and Rahul Verma. The raised amount will be utilized for expanding the technology platform and on-boarding the brands, influencers and creators. Sorabh Agarwal, who runs a private angel network for fund raising for early stage startups and is also an advisor to start ups / mid-sized...Read More

Do Your Thng (DYT), A Shared Economy Platform for Digital Properties Raised Angel Funding from Individual Investors

Do Your Thng (DYT), a shared economy platform for digital properties has raised an undisclosed amount from prominent individual angel investors, Sorabh Agarwal, Pawan Kumar, Girish Minocha, Proteek Dey and Rahul Verma. The raised amount will be utilized for expanding the technology platform and on-boarding the brands, influencers and creators. Sorabh Agarwal, who runs a private angel network for fund raising for early stage startups and is also an advisor to start ups / mid-sized... Read More

Rajasthan Govt Disbursed Funding to Over 30 Startups

State government of Rajasthan, which inttroduced its startup ploicy in 2015, announced that it has disbursed funding capital — ranging from Rs 1.20 lakh to Rs 20 lakh — to over 30 startups in the state, as a part of its iStart programme, says a statement released by the Department of Information Technology and Communication (DOIT&C), Rajasthan. The startups that received fundings ranges from ideation to scaling stage reported Times of India. Besides the money... Read More

Top 10 Startup Funding This Week [25 – 30 Sept]

Here is a list of top funding deals that happened in Startup Ecosystem this week. Check out the brief description about all of them.

Naspers Increases Stake in Foodpanda Parent Delivery Hero

Delivery Hero, the leading global online food ordering and delivery marketplace, has announced that Naspers increased its stake in Delivery Hero from 10.6 percent to 23.6 percent by acquiring 22,359,857 shares that were previously held by Rocket Internet for an amount of $775M.

Naspers is one of the largest internet investors in the world, holding minority stakes in digital players such as Tencent, Mail.Ru or Flipkart.

Amazon Picks Up 5% Stake in Shoppers Stop for Rs 179 Cr

US-based online retail giant Amazon is picking up a 5% stake in multi-brand fashion retailer Shoppers Stop for a 5% stake, making it the global e-tailer's first investment in an offline retail company in India, according to BSE filings.

This investment will be made through Amazon.com NV Investments Holdings LLC, its foreign portfolio investment arm.

FirstCry in Talks To Raise Rs 666 Cr

Pune, Maharashtra headquartered FirstCry.com, which claims to be Asia’s Largest Online Portal for Baby Products and Toys, is currently in the midst of raising equity financing of about Rs 665.27 crore ($100 million) from multiple investors including Temasek Holdings, a state-owned holding company that can be characterized as a national wealth fund owned by the Government of Singapore.

According to a report in the Economic Times, two sources close to the company have confirmed the publication that FirstCry’s parent company Brainbees Solutions is hoping to be valued at $400-500 million after this fundraise goes through. The company was earlier estimated at $300-350 million when it last raised funding in October last year.

Xiaomi May Invest $15 Mn In Bangalore-based Social Networking Startup ShareChat

China-based smartphone and consumer electronics manufacturer Xiaomi and its venture capital firm, Shunwei Capital, are reportedly considering investing a whopping $15 million in funds in a Bengaluru-based social networking and regional content platform called ShareChat.

Started in the year 2015 by three IIT Kanpur alumni ‑ Farid Ahsan, Bhanu Singh and Ankush Sachdeva, ShareChat in simple words is a social media platform in local Indian languages. With ShareChat, one can share videos, jokes, GIFs, audio songs and funny images from India in Indian languages like Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, and Malayalam.

Saas Startup Synup Raises $6M in Series A; Aims to Achieve 10x Growth in the Next 3 Years

Synup, a provider of SaaS-based solutions that enables local businesses to manage their online presence, today announced it has completed a $6 million (approx INR 40 crores) Series A round of financing. The fresh round of investment is led by Vertex Ventures along with Synup’s existing investor, Prime Venture Partners, who also participated in the round. The investment will help the company to rapidly expand its sales and marketing efforts as well as broaden and accelerate product development.

Civic Tech Company Transerve Technologies Raises $1.6M from IL&FS Investment Managers and Omidyar Network

Transerve Technologies, a company that offers geospatial technology-based SaaS solutions for sustainable growth and urban planning, has raised $1.6 million from IL&FS Investment Managers and Omidyar Network in a Series A round of funding. The investment was facilitated by Tribe Impact (previously known as Intellecap Impact Investment Network or I3N) which is India’s first and largest impact-focused angel network facilitating investments into early stage enterprises.

Car Service Startup Pitstop Raises $1M from Blume Ventures and Goldbell Group

Pitstop, an after-sales car service provider has secured $1M in pre-series A round of funding from Blume Ventures, Singapore-based Goldbell Group and angel investors such as Anurag Srivastava, Shailesh Rao, Amiya Pathak, Rajesh Yohanan and Rahul Garg.

With presence in Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR, Pitstop was started in 2015 by Mihir Mohan and Nirant Ramakuru. Pitstop caters to 70% of customers who are looking for high quality car service once their dealership service warranty expires.

Lenskart Picks Up Minority Stake In US-based 3D Face Modelling Startup Ditto; Invests $1M

India’s leading online shopping portal for eyewear, Lenskart, has pumped in a whopping $1 million in US-based eyewear e-commerce startup, Ditto.com to pick up a minority stake in the firm.

Lenskart, which is doing good business and has grown more than 200 per cent year on year, already makes use of Ditto’s 3D try-on tech on its website and app. The tech allows customers to virtual try-on eyewear and make their choice based on what suits their face cut and requirement the best.

Keiretsu Forum Invests in Defence-tech Startup Aadyah

The Bangalore chapter of global angel network Keiretsu Forum has led a nearly $1 million (Rs 6.5 crore) seed round in aerospace and defence technology startup Aadyah Aerospace Pvt. Ltd. Founded in April 2016, Aadyah focuses on building electro-mechanical actuators, control actuation systems and electro optics systems for missiles and launch vehicles.

Capillary Leads Pre-Series A Funding in Online-to-Offline Fashion Store Discovery & Loyalty App, Fashalot

Capillary Technologies, homegrown omni-channel and customer engagement platform, has led a pre-Series A funding round in online-to-offline fashion store discovery & loyalty app, Fashalot. Fashalot’s focus on driving footfalls at retail stores ties into Capillary’s push for creating solutions that improve retail store engagement with their customers. The investment was also driven by the fact that Fashalot is a pioneer in this high-potential industry, with a highly experienced team and deep expertise in advanced location-based technology and rich data that powers a new generation of consumer analytics highly contextual consumer marketing.

Apart from these top 10 funding deals, here are a few startups which have also secured funding for their growth and expansion:

GoChoppers Services Pvt. Ltd, a startup that provides luxury helicopter tourism services, has raised funding from Rivergate Capital.

West Indian opening batsman Chris Gayle has picked up minority stake in Bengaluru based augmented reality venture Flippar App.

Agri-tech firm CropIn Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from Singapore-based early-stage fund BEENEXT.

Vogo Automotive Pvt. Ltd, which runs online scooter rental startup Vogo Rentals, has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round.

Consumer lending platform CrediFiable has raised Seed funding from Kae Capital.

ArtiVatic.ai has raised third round of angel funding from Dubai & Singapore NRIs after raising earlier fund from Spark10 Accelerator UK in Jul 2017.

Zomato has invested in Hyderabad-based foodtech startup, TinMen.

Delhi-based startup which provides healthcare contents, myUpchar.com(Health and Wellness Tips) has raised Rs 2 crore in seed funding

Inclov, a matchmaking app for people with disability and health disorders, has raised Pre-Series A funding from angel investors Rajan Anandan, Jamil Khatri, Ravi Iyer, Debjani Ghosh (Ex-MD, Intel South Asia) and Quintillion Media’s founder Raghav Bahl (also the founder, Network 18).

Language learning startup Multibhashi has raised Seed funding

Engee Wellness, which runs a foot-only reflexology chain under the brand Thai Way Foot Spa & Reflexology, has raised an undisclosed amount in its pre-series A round from group of investors.

Vasonomics, a leading VAS services player in Africa, has announced that it has made a strategic Investment in CreatioSoft, iGaming solutions provider based in India catering to various geographies.

Image Source: ShutterStock

Top 10 Startup Funding This Week [25 – 30 Sept]

Here is a list of top funding deals that happened in Startup Ecosystem this week. Check out the brief description about all of them.

Naspers Increases Stake in Foodpanda Parent Delivery Hero

Delivery Hero, the leading global online food ordering and delivery marketplace, has announced that Naspers increased its stake in Delivery Hero from 10.6 percent to 23.6 percent by acquiring 22,359,857 shares that were previously held by Rocket Internet for an amount of $775M.

Naspers is one of the largest internet investors in the world, holding minority stakes in digital players such as Tencent, Mail.Ru or Flipkart.

Amazon Picks Up 5% Stake in Shoppers Stop for Rs 179 Cr

US-based online retail giant Amazon is picking up a 5% stake in multi-brand fashion retailer Shoppers Stop for a 5% stake, making it the global e-tailer's first investment in an offline retail company in India, according to BSE filings.

This investment will be made through Amazon.com NV Investments Holdings LLC, its foreign portfolio investment arm.

FirstCry in Talks To Raise Rs 666 Cr

Pune, Maharashtra headquartered FirstCry.com, which claims to be Asia’s Largest Online Portal for Baby Products and Toys, is currently in the midst of raising equity financing of about Rs 665.27 crore ($100 million) from multiple investors including Temasek Holdings, a state-owned holding company that can be characterized as a national wealth fund owned by the Government of Singapore.

According to a report in the Economic Times, two sources close to the company have confirmed the publication that FirstCry’s parent company Brainbees Solutions is hoping to be valued at $400-500 million after this fundraise goes through. The company was earlier estimated at $300-350 million when it last raised funding in October last year.

Xiaomi May Invest $15 Mn In Bangalore-based Social Networking Startup ShareChat

China-based smartphone and consumer electronics manufacturer Xiaomi and its venture capital firm, Shunwei Capital, are reportedly considering investing a whopping $15 million in funds in a Bengaluru-based social networking and regional content platform called ShareChat.

Started in the year 2015 by three IIT Kanpur alumni ‑ Farid Ahsan, Bhanu Singh and Ankush Sachdeva, ShareChat in simple words is a social media platform in local Indian languages. With ShareChat, one can share videos, jokes, GIFs, audio songs and funny images from India in Indian languages like Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, and Malayalam.

Saas Startup Synup Raises $6M in Series A; Aims to Achieve 10x Growth in the Next 3 Years

Synup, a provider of SaaS-based solutions that enables local businesses to manage their online presence, today announced it has completed a $6 million (approx INR 40 crores) Series A round of financing. The fresh round of investment is led by Vertex Ventures along with Synup’s existing investor, Prime Venture Partners, who also participated in the round. The investment will help the company to rapidly expand its sales and marketing efforts as well as broaden and accelerate product development.

Civic Tech Company Transerve Technologies Raises $1.6M from IL&FS Investment Managers and Omidyar Network

Transerve Technologies, a company that offers geospatial technology-based SaaS solutions for sustainable growth and urban planning, has raised $1.6 million from IL&FS Investment Managers and Omidyar Network in a Series A round of funding. The investment was facilitated by Tribe Impact (previously known as Intellecap Impact Investment Network or I3N) which is India’s first and largest impact-focused angel network facilitating investments into early stage enterprises.

Car Service Startup Pitstop Raises $1M from Blume Ventures and Goldbell Group

Pitstop, an after-sales car service provider has secured $1M in pre-series A round of funding from Blume Ventures, Singapore-based Goldbell Group and angel investors such as Anurag Srivastava, Shailesh Rao, Amiya Pathak, Rajesh Yohanan and Rahul Garg.

With presence in Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR, Pitstop was started in 2015 by Mihir Mohan and Nirant Ramakuru. Pitstop caters to 70% of customers who are looking for high quality car service once their dealership service warranty expires.

Lenskart Picks Up Minority Stake In US-based 3D Face Modelling Startup Ditto; Invests $1M

India’s leading online shopping portal for eyewear, Lenskart, has pumped in a whopping $1 million in US-based eyewear e-commerce startup, Ditto.com to pick up a minority stake in the firm.

Lenskart, which is doing good business and has grown more than 200 per cent year on year, already makes use of Ditto’s 3D try-on tech on its website and app. The tech allows customers to virtual try-on eyewear and make their choice based on what suits their face cut and requirement the best.

Keiretsu Forum Invests in Defence-tech Startup Aadyah

The Bangalore chapter of global angel network Keiretsu Forum has led a nearly $1 million (Rs 6.5 crore) seed round in aerospace and defence technology startup Aadyah Aerospace Pvt. Ltd. Founded in April 2016, Aadyah focuses on building electro-mechanical actuators, control actuation systems and electro optics systems for missiles and launch vehicles.

Capillary Leads Pre-Series A Funding in Online-to-Offline Fashion Store Discovery & Loyalty App, Fashalot

Capillary Technologies, homegrown omni-channel and customer engagement platform, has led a pre-Series A funding round in online-to-offline fashion store discovery & loyalty app, Fashalot. Fashalot’s focus on driving footfalls at retail stores ties into Capillary’s push for creating solutions that improve retail store engagement with their customers. The investment was also driven by the fact that Fashalot is a pioneer in this high-potential industry, with a highly experienced team and deep expertise in advanced location-based technology and rich data that powers a new generation of consumer analytics highly contextual consumer marketing.

Apart from these top 10 funding deals, here are a few startups which have also secured funding for their growth and expansion:

GoChoppers Services Pvt. Ltd, a startup that provides luxury helicopter tourism services, has raised funding from Rivergate Capital.

West Indian opening batsman Chris Gayle has picked up minority stake in Bengaluru based augmented reality venture Flippar App.

Agri-tech firm CropIn Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from Singapore-based early-stage fund BEENEXT.

Vogo Automotive Pvt. Ltd, which runs online scooter rental startup Vogo Rentals, has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round.

Consumer lending platform CrediFiable has raised Seed funding from Kae Capital.

ArtiVatic.ai has raised third round of angel funding from Dubai & Singapore NRIs after raising earlier fund from Spark10 Accelerator UK in Jul 2017.

Zomato has invested in Hyderabad-based foodtech startup, TinMen.

Delhi-based startup which provides healthcare contents, myUpchar.com(Health and Wellness Tips) has raised Rs 2 crore in seed funding

Inclov, a matchmaking app for people with disability and health disorders, has raised Pre-Series A funding from angel investors Rajan Anandan, Jamil Khatri, Ravi Iyer, Debjani Ghosh (Ex-MD, Intel South Asia) and Quintillion Media’s founder Raghav Bahl (also the founder, Network 18).

Language learning startup Multibhashi has raised Seed funding

Engee Wellness, which runs a foot-only reflexology chain under the brand Thai Way Foot Spa & Reflexology, has raised an undisclosed amount in its pre-series A round from group of investors.

Vasonomics, a leading VAS services player in Africa, has announced that it has made a strategic Investment in CreatioSoft, iGaming solutions provider based in India catering to various geographies.

Image Source: ShutterStock

Top 10 Startup Funding This Week [04 - 09 September]

Here is a list of top funding deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem this week. Check out the brief description about all of them.

OYO Rooms Raises $250 Mn From SoftBank Vision Fund And Hero Enterprise

Hotel aggregator OYO Rooms has secured  $250 million from its existing investor SoftBank, with new investor Hero Enterprise also coming on board.  The Japanese telecom and internet conglomerate has invested through its $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund, making this the second major bet placed by the world’s largest pool of private capital in India over the course of the last two months.

The latest transaction has also seen participation from Gurgaon-headquartered company’s existing group of investor which includes, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Greenoaks Capital. Also joining the company’s investor cap table is Hero Enterprise, the Sunil Munjal.

Fintech Startup EarlySalary Secures Rs 5 Cr Debt From IFMR Capital

EarlySalary, India’s fintech startup to offer salary advances and instant cash loans has raised its first round of debt financing of Rs 5 cr from IFMR Capital. The current infused capital will help EarlySalary to accelerate its growth plans. EarlySalary was co-founded by Akshay Mehrotra and Ashish Goyal 18 months back and had raised Seed Funding from Ashok Agarwal of Transcorp International. Till date, the app has received 3,50,000+ downloads across its Android & iOS mobile app platform. The firm focuses on helping young working professionals get Instant Loans and Salary Advances in minutes and is fast becoming the first line of credit to young working Indians.

Homegrown E-commerce Giant Snapdeal Infuse $23.7 Mn Into Vulcan Express

According to filings with the Registrar of Companies, the Vulcan Express has received $23.7 million) from its parent, Snapdeal. According to Vccircle report, the company raised the sum by allocating 15.24 crore equity shares at Rs 10 apiece to Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, which operates Snapdeal, on 7 August.

The new funding round comes even as Snapdeal is reportedly trying sell off Vulcan Express. Vulcan Express was the result of Snapdeal’s decision to build its own logistics arm, after its moves to acquire GoJavas did not materialize. Snapdeal, which had acquired a 42% stake in GoJavas in 2015, pulled out its business after instances of large-scale financial irregularities. GoJavas was later acquired by Pigeon Express.

E-commerce Startup Seniority Bags $1 Mn From RPG Group

The venture-capital arm of the tyres to transmissions tower conglomerate, RPG Group has invested $1 million in an online portal for old age-senior-care, Seniority. With this investment RPG Group ventures into senior care e-commerce.

The current investment is part of RPG Group’s strategy to use RPG Ventures to incubate and build new businesses. Seniority is created especially for all senior citizens. The Startup is here to help senior people with their specially curated products. Users can browse through their e-commerce platform or even through their chain of retail stores. Founded by Ayush Agrawal and Tapan Mishra in February 2017, Seniority is competing with other startups like Old is Gold, BeautifulYears, Senior Shelf, and Seniorworld.

Pet Care App TailsLife Secure Funds From V Balakrishnan

Pet care app Tailslife has raised an undisclosed round of bridge funding from existing investor and chairman of Exfinity Ventures, V Balakrishnan. The company has received commitments from other investors as well and has kept the round open to secure further investments, reports ET.

The firm plans to deploy freshly infuse funds towards the product and service enhancement. Founded in October 2015 by Balaji Ramesh, Prachi Gupta, and Dushyant Rao, TailsLife aims at making pet parenting easier and happier by providing content specific to the breed and age of your pet and easier access to vet, grooming and boarding services.

Mumbai Based CreditVidya Secures $5 Mn From Matrix Partners

B2B financial data technology platform CreditVidya has raised $5-million (Rs 32-crore) in Series-B round of funding led by Matrix Partners. The current round of funding also saw participation from existing investor Kalaari Capital. Post this round, the total capital raised by CreditVidya touches about $7 million.

The company plans to use freshly infused funds to add a wide range of fraud and verification services to its existing big data underwriting platform. Not only this, to enable better implementation of the AI-based algorithms, the company is looking to scale up its employee base from 74 to 100 over the next 6-9 months.

Bengaluru-based Oncology Focused Startup OncoStem Raises $6 Mn From Sequoia Capital

Bengaluru-based OncoStem Diagnostics, an oncology-focused startup offering personalized cancer treatment, has raised $6 million from Silicon Valley heavyweight investor Sequoia India, reported Times of India.

The funding round also saw the participation of its existing investor Artiman Ventures, a California-based VC firm which has so far pumped $3 million in multiple tranches since the company was founded. OncoStem will use the freshly raised funds in R&D to develop new products as well as expand its operations go deeper into Asia and Europe.

Founded by Manjiri Bakre in 2011, OncoStem is focused on personalized cancer treatment planning through the development of tests that try to effectively predict the chance of cancer recurrence in patients.

Datasigns Technologies Secures $1.5 Mn From SRI Capital, BeeNext, Others

Datasigns Technologies, a mobile first financial technology startup that operator of lending platform Shubh Loans has raised $1.5 million in pre-series-A funding from SRI Capital, BeeNext and Pravega Ventures. The firm plans to utilize freshly infused fund to grow its technology team and expand to 25 markets from seven.

Prior to this round, the company has raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding from Sanjai Vohra, former MD of JP Morgan, V Bunty Bohra, India CEO of Goldman Sachs, and Peeyush Misra, a former partner at Goldman Sachs.

Founded in 2016 by Monish Anand, Rahul Sekar, Anand Barua and Tushar Patel, Shubh Loans is a vernacular language app that builds a proprietary credit score and report for loan applicants, who can then borrow from any of the nine banks and NBFCs on the platform.

Paytm’s Parent Company Pumps In Rs 60 Cr More In Payment Bank

Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications have infused Rs. 60 crore more into the Paytm Payments Bank. With Sharma owning majority stake in the bank, Sharma and One97 had earlier invested about 220 crore in the payments bank,

Sharma has invested Rs. 30 crore in this tranche, while One97 Communications has put in Rs.23 crore. According to documents with the Registrar of Companies as per research platform Tofler, the rest has come from One97 Communications India, a subsidiary of One97. The shares were allotted on August 1, according to the documents. The new allotment brings the authorised capital of the bank to Rs.400 crore and the paid up capital of a Rs.278 crore.

Lendingkart Technologies Raises $10.51M in Equity from Sistema Asia Fund and Current Investors

Lendingkart Technologies has raised Rs 70 crore ($10.51M) in the form of equity funds. Singapore-based Sistema Asia Fund along with current investors – Bertelsmann India Investment, Mayfield India, Saama Capital, India Quotient and Darrin Capital Management participated in this round.

With this fresh funding, the company has raised total funding of Rs 534 crore (equity of 243 crore and debt of 291 crore). The latest infusion of equity capital will enable the company to increase their loan book and strengthen its technology & analytics capabilities. Additionally, this will aid the company to further reach out to the underserved markets of India that continue to face lack of access to funds.

Founded in 2014, by ex-Banker & ISB Hyderabad alumnus, Harshvardhan Lunia and ex-Finance Director at Lebua Group Bangkok & IIM Bangalore alumnus, Mukul Sachan, Lendingkart Group has built a technology platform to service the working capital financing needs of SMEs in India.

Bona Vita Technologies’s GoFro Bags Close To $10 Mn

Online holiday marketplace, GoFro has raised close to $10 million in its second round of equity financing, led by Japanese travel major HIS Co and MakeMyTrip, reports ET. Owned and operated under Bona Vita Technologies, GoFro informed that proceeds from the Series B, which is yet to be closed and could cross $10 million, will be used by the company to further build its tech platform and expand to new geographies, along with growing its supply and agent network.

Founded by Misra in 2015, GoFro brought MakeMyTrip on board as its first investor the same year, even while it was in a stealth mode. MakeMyTrip, which had invested about $5 million in the company from its $15 million Innovation Fund, holds a controlling stake in the venture.

PrimaryIO Secures $5.6 Mn Investment From Accel, Exfinity and Partech Ventures

Storage management firm, PrimaryIO has secured seed funding of $5.6 million from Accel, Exfinity Ventures and Partech Ventures, to expedite its product development efforts.

PrimaryIO has developed breakthrough software technology for storage management for virtualized data centers as enterprises embrace the public cloud. This investment will help accelerate product development to bring innovation to the enterprise IT customers that are dealing with data center capacity, cost and performance issues, enabling them to benefit from the public cloud solutions while retaining control and security of their data.

Other Important Fundings

Tthe online food ordering and restaurant discovery firm Zomato is in advanced talks to raise up to $200 million from Alibaba and its payments affiliate Ant Financial, also known as Alipay, reports BGR. The Chinese e-commerce major’s interest in the Gurgaon-based startup comes at a time when Zomato has narrowed its losses by over three-fourths in FY17 while growing its revenues by 80%.

In another development, India’s largest online grocery firm BigBasket is raising whopping $280 million in Series-E round led by Paytm Mall and China’s Alibaba Group. As a result, BigBasket’s ‘post funding’ valuation will now range between $800-900 million, making the company in close range of ‘unicorn’ startups.

Top 10 Startup Funding This Week [28 August-02 September]

Here is a list of top funding deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem this week. Check out the brief description about all of them.

Treebo Hotels Raises $34M from Ward Ferry, Karst Peak and Current Investors

Treebo Hotels, India’s largest budget hotel chain, has raised $34 million (INR 220 crore) in its Series C funding round led by Hong Kong-based investment firms Ward Ferry Management and Karst Peak Capital. Existing investors, SAIF Partners, Matrix Partners India, and Bertelsmann India Investments also participated in the round.

Founded in 2015, Treebo Hotels is a technology-enabled budget hotel brand with close to 300 franchisees operating exclusively under its brand across more than 50 cities. The company offers high-quality accommodation options to travelers in the Rs 1,000-3,000 per night price range.

Research And Diagnostics Testing Firm MedGenome Secures $30 Mn In Series C Funding

Genomics-based diagnostics and research firm MedGenome has raised $30 million (Rs 192 crore) in a Series C round led by existing investor Sequoia Capital and Sofina SA.

The round also saw the participation of existing investor Zodius Capital. Apart from them Infosys co-founder and former CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan and former Cognizant CEO Lakshmi Narayanan, too contributed to the round in their individual capacities.The latest round will help

The latest round will help the firm to accelerate development of the company’s affordable diagnostics tests and expand the market penetration by increasing customer awareness on the importance of genetic tests. Additionally, the funding will also be used to broaden biomarker discovery programs.

Bengaluru Based Medlife To Infuse $30 Mn To Scale Up Its E-Pharmacy Biz

Where startups like HealthKart, which raised $15 million in series-C from HBM Healthcare Investments is grabbing funds, there is one such startup which is largely been funded by capital from the founders, has so far been operating in a quiet mode. It’s none other than Bengaluru-based Medlife.

Medlife.com is a technology company with a heart and dream that every Indian gets to access the best possible health care and aims to be the pioneer healthcare hub that would bring all stakeholders on a single platform so that our customers can have a seamless healthcare experience. At Medlife.com, the team uses their domain and technological expertise to make health care delivery much more efficient and effective.

Founded in 2014 by Prashant Singh and Tushar Kumar, one of the founders of pharma company Alkem Laboratories, Medlife has planned an internal investment of $30 million to scale up its e-pharmacy business.

HealthCare Startup CureFit Secures $25 Mn From Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Others

Healthcare and wellness startup CureFit has raised $25 million in a fresh round of funding from existing investors Accel Partners; Kalaari Capital; IDG Ventures; a joint investment vehicle of the University of California, UC-RNT fund and Ratan Tata’s RNT Associates.

According to the ET, the new round is expected to go up to $35-40 million in the next six months. Further reports state that CureFit founders, who had earlier pooled $5 million into the company, also pumped in more money in this round.

As per the founders, the startup will utilize freshly infuse fund to expand Cult centers to other cities, starting with Gurgaon in October, and will also look to add a new product around medical check-ups and primary healthcare under the Care.fit brand by early 2018.

Mobikon, Marketing & Customer Engagement Platform For F&B Industry, Raises $7M In Series B Funding

Mobikon, a leading marketing and customer engagement platform for Food & Beverages (F&B) industry, today announced raising of $7 million in Series B funding from a three-member investor consortium, Sistema Asia Fund (Proprietary fund of Russia’s largest conglomerate, Sistema JSFC), C31 Ventures (Singapore) and Qualgro & participation from the existing investors, i.e.- Jungle Ventures & Spring Singapore

Mobikon to utilise the latest round of funding to scale up its business in India, South East Asia and Middle East. The company also plans to penetrate deeper into existing markets and build the next level of leadership team in India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Philippines, Singapore and new markets like United Kingdom (UK) and Australia in the next 12-18 months. Prior to this round of funding, Mobikon had raised Seed funding in 2012 and Series A funding, amounting to US$5 million from Jungle Ventures, Life.Sreda, Qualgro, Spring Singapore, and Lion Rock, in 2015. The capital raised by the company from new and existing investors,now totals $12 million.

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Others Invest in Edtech Startup Kings Learning

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the philanthropic venture of Dell Technologies founder’s family, along with unnamed US-based tech investors, has backed spoken English tutoring startup Kings Learning with a $2.5 million (around Rs 16 crore) funding.

Kings Learning, which operates mobile app Enguru, aims to address the employability challenge faced by Indian youth due to poor English language and communication skills through offline, online and blended delivery channels.

Online Office Platform Aahaa Stores Raises $1M in the Second Round of Pre-Series A Funding

Aahaa Stores, one of the fastest growing online office supplies platform, today announced that it has raised the second round of pre-series A funding from investor group led by YourNest Angel Fund, an early stage investor in technology, ecommerce and consumer centric businesses. The company had raised first round funding of equal amount around eighteen months ago. The company had grown multifold since then in terms of Product portfolio, customer base, geographical presence and sales turnover. Two of the existing investors including YourNest have participated in this round as well at a substantially higher valuation as compared to their earlier investments. This reaffirms the investors’ faith in Aahaa Stores. In addition to them, a new investor with a strong equity financing background has picked up 50% equity of the fresh capital.

The company plans to utilize the funds for expanding the business across new verticals and geographies. Aahaa Stores also announced its intent to realize their long-term vision by strengthening its technology platform iPOS, mobilizing top talent and reaching out to new customers across verticals via the funds received.

Health Tech Startup mfine Raises $1.5M from Stellaris Venture Partners and Prominent Angels

mfine, India’s first AI-driven healthcare network, founded by former Myntra executives Prasad Kompalli and Ashutosh Lawania, has raised $1.5 Million in a funding round led by Stellaris Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from Mayur Abhaya and and Rohit MA, top healthcare entrepreneurs from Stellaris’ Founder Network.

Following the investment, Stellaris partner Ritesh Banglani has joined the company’s board.

mfine offers patients access to online consultations and care programs from the country’s top hospitals. Its AI platform helps improve doctor productivity and quality of diagnosis. The company is collaborating with top hospitals like Cloudnine Group, Ovum Hospitals and Femiint health to help increase their reach and provide a high standard of care for patients.

Info Edge Invests $1.3M More in Digital Photography Startup Canvera

Info Edge (India) Ltd, which owns job portal Naukri.com, has increased its stake in Bengaluru-based online photography startup Canvera Digital Technologies Pvt. Ltd by investing Rs 8.6 crore ($1.35 million).

The company said in a stock-exchange filing that it raised its stake in Canvera to 62.2% from 57% by subscribing to 777, 419 preferential shares at Rs 111.48 apiece. This is the same price at which Info Edge had invested in Canvera in 2015.

Digital Health Technology Startup Doxper Raises Seed Round Led by Vidal Healthcare and growX Ventures

Heathtech startup InformDS Technologies Pvt. Ltd. which runs Doxper, has raised seed round of investment of $750K led by Vidal Healthcare and growX ventures. Other investors are Capier Investments, Globevestor and angels including a leading onco-surgeon in the country.

Girish Rao, MD of Vidal Healthcare and Siddharth Dhondiyal representing growX ventures have joined the board of directors of Doxper, a company founded by three IIT alumni – Randeep Singh, Shailesh Prithani and Pawan Jain in January 2016.

Doxper aims to introduce the most natural way of integrating technology in the national healthcare ecosystem.

Apart from these top 10 funding deals, here are a few startups which have also secured funding for their growth and expansion:

Chennai-based Inkmonk, an online marketplace for merchandise printing, has raised $750k in seed funding.

Bangalore-based Medinfi has received $125k in funding from angel investors in Singapore, Germany and the Middle East.

Indian software product company Sapience Analytics has announced a majority investment from Credit Suisse Asset Management’s NEXT Investors.

IFC - International Finance Corporation has proposed to invest around $2-3 million in Bangladesh-based online grocery supplier Chaldal Inc.

Chennai-based financial services provider IFMR Holdings Pvt. Ltd has raised fresh funding from a couple of existing investors, as per media report.

Gurgaon-based FieldAssist, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that provides sales force automation services, has secured an undisclosed amount in debt funding from Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

Gurgaon Based Startup DAZL Gets Backing From Silicon Valley Accelerator HAX

Image Source: ShutterStock

Top 10 Startup Funding This Week [28 August-02 September]

Here is a list of top funding deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem this week. Check out the brief description about all of them.

Treebo Hotels Raises $34M from Ward Ferry, Karst Peak and Current Investors

Treebo Hotels, India’s largest budget hotel chain, has raised $34 million (INR 220 crore) in its Series C funding round led by Hong Kong-based investment firms Ward Ferry Management and Karst Peak Capital. Existing investors, SAIF Partners, Matrix Partners India, and Bertelsmann India Investments also participated in the round.

Founded in 2015, Treebo Hotels is a technology-enabled budget hotel brand with close to 300 franchisees operating exclusively under its brand across more than 50 cities. The company offers high-quality accommodation options to travelers in the Rs 1,000-3,000 per night price range.

Research And Diagnostics Testing Firm MedGenome Secures $30 Mn In Series C Funding

Genomics-based diagnostics and research firm MedGenome has raised $30 million (Rs 192 crore) in a Series C round led by existing investor Sequoia Capital and Sofina SA.

The round also saw the participation of existing investor Zodius Capital. Apart from them Infosys co-founder and former CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan and former Cognizant CEO Lakshmi Narayanan, too contributed to the round in their individual capacities.The latest round will help

The latest round will help the firm to accelerate development of the company’s affordable diagnostics tests and expand the market penetration by increasing customer awareness on the importance of genetic tests. Additionally, the funding will also be used to broaden biomarker discovery programs.

Bengaluru Based Medlife To Infuse $30 Mn To Scale Up Its E-Pharmacy Biz

Where startups like HealthKart, which raised $15 million in series-C from HBM Healthcare Investments is grabbing funds, there is one such startup which is largely been funded by capital from the founders, has so far been operating in a quiet mode. It’s none other than Bengaluru-based Medlife.

Medlife.com is a technology company with a heart and dream that every Indian gets to access the best possible health care and aims to be the pioneer healthcare hub that would bring all stakeholders on a single platform so that our customers can have a seamless healthcare experience. At Medlife.com, the team uses their domain and technological expertise to make health care delivery much more efficient and effective.

Founded in 2014 by Prashant Singh and Tushar Kumar, one of the founders of pharma company Alkem Laboratories, Medlife has planned an internal investment of $30 million to scale up its e-pharmacy business.

HealthCare Startup CureFit Secures $25 Mn From Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Others

Healthcare and wellness startup CureFit has raised $25 million in a fresh round of funding from existing investors Accel Partners; Kalaari Capital; IDG Ventures; a joint investment vehicle of the University of California, UC-RNT fund and Ratan Tata’s RNT Associates.

According to the ET, the new round is expected to go up to $35-40 million in the next six months. Further reports state that CureFit founders, who had earlier pooled $5 million into the company, also pumped in more money in this round.

As per the founders, the startup will utilize freshly infuse fund to expand Cult centers to other cities, starting with Gurgaon in October, and will also look to add a new product around medical check-ups and primary healthcare under the Care.fit brand by early 2018.

Mobikon, Marketing & Customer Engagement Platform For F&B Industry, Raises $7M In Series B Funding

Mobikon, a leading marketing and customer engagement platform for Food & Beverages (F&B) industry, today announced raising of $7 million in Series B funding from a three-member investor consortium, Sistema Asia Fund (Proprietary fund of Russia’s largest conglomerate, Sistema JSFC), C31 Ventures (Singapore) and Qualgro & participation from the existing investors, i.e.- Jungle Ventures & Spring Singapore

Mobikon to utilise the latest round of funding to scale up its business in India, South East Asia and Middle East. The company also plans to penetrate deeper into existing markets and build the next level of leadership team in India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Philippines, Singapore and new markets like United Kingdom (UK) and Australia in the next 12-18 months. Prior to this round of funding, Mobikon had raised Seed funding in 2012 and Series A funding, amounting to US$5 million from Jungle Ventures, Life.Sreda, Qualgro, Spring Singapore, and Lion Rock, in 2015. The capital raised by the company from new and existing investors,now totals $12 million.

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Others Invest in Edtech Startup Kings Learning

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the philanthropic venture of Dell Technologies founder’s family, along with unnamed US-based tech investors, has backed spoken English tutoring startup Kings Learning with a $2.5 million (around Rs 16 crore) funding.

Kings Learning, which operates mobile app Enguru, aims to address the employability challenge faced by Indian youth due to poor English language and communication skills through offline, online and blended delivery channels.

Online Office Platform Aahaa Stores Raises $1M in the Second Round of Pre-Series A Funding

Aahaa Stores, one of the fastest growing online office supplies platform, today announced that it has raised the second round of pre-series A funding from investor group led by YourNest Angel Fund, an early stage investor in technology, ecommerce and consumer centric businesses. The company had raised first round funding of equal amount around eighteen months ago. The company had grown multifold since then in terms of Product portfolio, customer base, geographical presence and sales turnover. Two of the existing investors including YourNest have participated in this round as well at a substantially higher valuation as compared to their earlier investments. This reaffirms the investors’ faith in Aahaa Stores. In addition to them, a new investor with a strong equity financing background has picked up 50% equity of the fresh capital.

The company plans to utilize the funds for expanding the business across new verticals and geographies. Aahaa Stores also announced its intent to realize their long-term vision by strengthening its technology platform iPOS, mobilizing top talent and reaching out to new customers across verticals via the funds received.

Health Tech Startup mfine Raises $1.5M from Stellaris Venture Partners and Prominent Angels

mfine, India’s first AI-driven healthcare network, founded by former Myntra executives Prasad Kompalli and Ashutosh Lawania, has raised $1.5 Million in a funding round led by Stellaris Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from Mayur Abhaya and and Rohit MA, top healthcare entrepreneurs from Stellaris’ Founder Network.

Following the investment, Stellaris partner Ritesh Banglani has joined the company’s board.

mfine offers patients access to online consultations and care programs from the country’s top hospitals. Its AI platform helps improve doctor productivity and quality of diagnosis. The company is collaborating with top hospitals like Cloudnine Group, Ovum Hospitals and Femiint health to help increase their reach and provide a high standard of care for patients.

Info Edge Invests $1.3M More in Digital Photography Startup Canvera

Info Edge (India) Ltd, which owns job portal Naukri.com, has increased its stake in Bengaluru-based online photography startup Canvera Digital Technologies Pvt. Ltd by investing Rs 8.6 crore ($1.35 million).

The company said in a stock-exchange filing that it raised its stake in Canvera to 62.2% from 57% by subscribing to 777, 419 preferential shares at Rs 111.48 apiece. This is the same price at which Info Edge had invested in Canvera in 2015.

Digital Health Technology Startup Doxper Raises Seed Round Led by Vidal Healthcare and growX Ventures

Heathtech startup InformDS Technologies Pvt. Ltd. which runs Doxper, has raised seed round of investment of $750K led by Vidal Healthcare and growX ventures. Other investors are Capier Investments, Globevestor and angels including a leading onco-surgeon in the country.

Girish Rao, MD of Vidal Healthcare and Siddharth Dhondiyal representing growX ventures have joined the board of directors of Doxper, a company founded by three IIT alumni – Randeep Singh, Shailesh Prithani and Pawan Jain in January 2016.

Doxper aims to introduce the most natural way of integrating technology in the national healthcare ecosystem.

Apart from these top 10 funding deals, here are a few startups which have also secured funding for their growth and expansion:

Chennai-based Inkmonk, an online marketplace for merchandise printing, has raised $750k in seed funding.

Bangalore-based Medinfi has received $125k in funding from angel investors in Singapore, Germany and the Middle East.

Indian software product company Sapience Analytics has announced a majority investment from Credit Suisse Asset Management’s NEXT Investors.

IFC - International Finance Corporation has proposed to invest around $2-3 million in Bangladesh-based online grocery supplier Chaldal Inc.

Chennai-based financial services provider IFMR Holdings Pvt. Ltd has raised fresh funding from a couple of existing investors, as per media report.

Gurgaon-based FieldAssist, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that provides sales force automation services, has secured an undisclosed amount in debt funding from Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

Gurgaon Based Startup DAZL Gets Backing From Silicon Valley Accelerator HAX

Image Source: ShutterStock

Top 10 Startup Funding Last Week [21-26 August]

Here is a list of top funding deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem this week. Check out the brief description about all of them.

Hero FinCorp in Talks to Raise Rs 1,000 Cr at $1B Valuation

Hero FinCorp Ltd, the financial services arm of India’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp Ltd, is looking to raise up to Rs1,000 crore at a valuation of $1 billion at its next funding round, two people familiar with the matter said.

The size of the stake sale has not been finalized and will depend on what the final valuation is in the forthcoming round, they said.

“The company expects to be valued around $1 billion,” said one of the two people cited above. In the last funding round, Hero FinCorp was valued at close to Rs4,000 crore, this person said. “Since then, the book size has grown significantly.”

Ali Cloud Investments Fuels $100M in E-distributor Just Buy Live

Just Buy Live, the World’s first e-distributor from India has raised a Series B round of $100 million from Ali Cloud Investments. The funds raised will largely be used for expansion into international markets that have high SME density and fragmented distribution as well as consolidating and growing the existing Indian operations.

Just Buy Live utilizes a cutting-edge mobile application with intuitive interfaces and user-friendly features to democratize product access for its customer base consisting of retailers and SMEs.

The company’s robust technology platform potentially makes almost every unit of physical stock from all listed brands, available to every shop in every zip code directly in real time.

Cloud Data Management Startup Druva Raises $80M Led by Riverwood Capital

Druva, the global leader in cloud data protection and management, today announced $80 million of growth equity funding, bringing the total raised to approximately $200 million. The latest funding investment was led by Riverwood Capital, with strong participation from Sequoia Capital India, Nexus Venture Partners, Tenaya Capital, and most other existing venture investors. Druva will leverage this late-stage investment to dramatically accelerate research and development, expand go-to-market efforts worldwide, and lead the industry in redefining how enterprises protect, manage, and use their data.

Fintech Startup Capital Float Raises Rs 300 Cr Led by Ribbit Capital

Capital Float, a digital lending startup is reportedly is in advanced talks to raise around Rs 300 crore in a new funding round.

According to the media reports, Ribbit Capital, the US-based finance technology focused venture capital is in talks to lead the fresh round of funding. It is believed that existing investors SAIF Capital and Sequoia Capital will also participate in the latest round so that their stake in the company is maintained. The company plans to utilise the fresh funds for expanding its lending portfolio to consumer financing and for financing kirana stores as well. After this round, the company is expected to be valued at around Rs 1,300 crore.

Retail App Maker Tulip Raises $40M from Kleiner Perkins & Others

Tulip Retail, which makes an app for retailers, has raised $40 million in Series B funding round led by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The funding round, which saw participation from existing investors such as Jump Capital, gives Kleiner Perkins' general partner, Mood Rowghani, a seat on the startup's five-member board. The Toronto-based company, which was founded in 2013, helps retailers tailor in-store experiences by giving store employees faster access to realtime inventory and price comparison data among other things.

Payments Firm Ezetap Raises $16M Led by Jonathan Soros Owned JS Capital

Ezetap, the universal mobile payments provider leading the fintech revolution in India, today announced it has secured $16 million in new funding. The largest investors of this round of funding is JS Capital Management, the investment fund of Jonathan Soros. Existing investors Social Capital and Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures not only participated, but increased their stake in the company as part of this round. As part of this round, Salil Seshadri, CIO at JS Capital Management, will join the Board. Ezetap will use the financing to continue innovating and expanding its payments platform – first of its kind that lets any business accept any form of payment – as well as grow its sales and operations across India and abroad.

Tiger Global Plans to Lead $15M Funding in Inshorts

New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management is in advanced talks to lead a $10-15-million round of funding in its portfolio company, news media startup Inshorts, according to two people familiar with the development.

If the deal goes through, it will be the first new round to be led by one of the most prolific investors in the startup ecosystem after over a 20-month hiatus. The move comes as Tiger Global is expected to get a partial exit from its largest investment, Flipkart.

Bombay Shaving Company Gets $2.3M in Pre-Series A Round Led by Fireside Venture Fund

Bombay Shaving Company, a brand known for its men’s consumer care products, has announced that it has raised $2.3 million in a pre-series A round led by Fireside Venture Fund. The round has seen participation from 9 existing investors including S Ramadorai, former CEO at TCS, Pankaj Gupta, Supply Director at USL Diageo and some senior partners at McKinsey & Co who wished to not be named. The company plans to use the capital to fuel branding efforts, new product development and expansion into offline sales channels like salons and supermarket chains.

Myntra Co-founder’s Health-tech Venture Mfine to Raise $1M

Mfine, a yet-to-be-launched online doctor consultation platform floated by Myntra co-founder Ashutosh Lawania, is set to raise Rs 6.81 crore (around $1 million) in its first round of external funding. Bengaluru-based Mfine, which is operated by Novocura Tech Health Services Pvt. Ltd, will use the funds for product development and to meet working capital requirements.

Software Development Talent Platform Indiez Raises $500K Seed Funding From Haresh Chawla

Software development talent platform Indiez has raised $500K in Seed funding from veteran investor Haresh Chawla. The platform, owned by the Futureofwork Inc., brings together companies looking for software developers and freelancers looking for projects, plans to invest the newly raised funds towards technology and expanding into the US market.

Apart from these top 10 funding deals, here are a few startups which have also secured funding for their growth and expansion:

Smart Software Testing Solutions invests in online crowd testing platform, Crowd4Test.com

Milkbasket.com, Indian daily micro-delivery grocery startup has raised pre-series A round from prominent investors Blume Ventures and Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group (LCIG). EVC Ventures and certain angel investors, who initially invested in Milkbasket, are reported to have exited in this round.

EasyGov, Cloud Services for Government Programmes, has raised Angel round for an undisclosed amount from Tata trust initiative (Lead Investor), Rajan Anandan, Rajeev Ahuja (Navayuga Group), Kshitij Arora and other investors on LetsVenture.

Rootefy International Pvt. Ltd, which runs building material megastore Rootefy.com, has raised seed funding from Abhinav Gupta, director at Gurgaon-based real estate firm BNB Group

Vadodara-based ed-tech stratup Cerebroz EduTree LLP, which manufactures a device with customised educational content, has raised Rs 4.7 crore (about $734,000) in seed funding from Dubai-based high networth individuals.

Uniphore Software Systems Pvt. Ltd, a Chennai-based speech recognition startup, has raised a Series B round to further business expansion.

Mumbai-based instant messaging platform Flochat has raised an undisclosed amount of investment from iSquare Global, the venture capital arm of Apex Advisors

Image Source: ShutterStock

Top 10 Startup Funding Last Week [21-26 August]

Here is a list of top funding deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem this week. Check out the brief description about all of them.

Hero FinCorp in Talks to Raise Rs 1,000 Cr at $1B Valuation

Hero FinCorp Ltd, the financial services arm of India’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp Ltd, is looking to raise up to Rs1,000 crore at a valuation of $1 billion at its next funding round, two people familiar with the matter said.

The size of the stake sale has not been finalized and will depend on what the final valuation is in the forthcoming round, they said.

“The company expects to be valued around $1 billion,” said one of the two people cited above. In the last funding round, Hero FinCorp was valued at close to Rs4,000 crore, this person said. “Since then, the book size has grown significantly.”

Ali Cloud Investments Fuels $100M in E-distributor Just Buy Live

Just Buy Live, the World’s first e-distributor from India has raised a Series B round of $100 million from Ali Cloud Investments. The funds raised will largely be used for expansion into international markets that have high SME density and fragmented distribution as well as consolidating and growing the existing Indian operations.

Just Buy Live utilizes a cutting-edge mobile application with intuitive interfaces and user-friendly features to democratize product access for its customer base consisting of retailers and SMEs.

The company’s robust technology platform potentially makes almost every unit of physical stock from all listed brands, available to every shop in every zip code directly in real time.

Cloud Data Management Startup Druva Raises $80M Led by Riverwood Capital

Druva, the global leader in cloud data protection and management, today announced $80 million of growth equity funding, bringing the total raised to approximately $200 million. The latest funding investment was led by Riverwood Capital, with strong participation from Sequoia Capital India, Nexus Venture Partners, Tenaya Capital, and most other existing venture investors. Druva will leverage this late-stage investment to dramatically accelerate research and development, expand go-to-market efforts worldwide, and lead the industry in redefining how enterprises protect, manage, and use their data.

Fintech Startup Capital Float Raises Rs 300 Cr Led by Ribbit Capital

Capital Float, a digital lending startup is reportedly is in advanced talks to raise around Rs 300 crore in a new funding round.

According to the media reports, Ribbit Capital, the US-based finance technology focused venture capital is in talks to lead the fresh round of funding. It is believed that existing investors SAIF Capital and Sequoia Capital will also participate in the latest round so that their stake in the company is maintained. The company plans to utilise the fresh funds for expanding its lending portfolio to consumer financing and for financing kirana stores as well. After this round, the company is expected to be valued at around Rs 1,300 crore.

Retail App Maker Tulip Raises $40M from Kleiner Perkins & Others

Tulip Retail, which makes an app for retailers, has raised $40 million in Series B funding round led by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The funding round, which saw participation from existing investors such as Jump Capital, gives Kleiner Perkins' general partner, Mood Rowghani, a seat on the startup's five-member board. The Toronto-based company, which was founded in 2013, helps retailers tailor in-store experiences by giving store employees faster access to realtime inventory and price comparison data among other things.

Payments Firm Ezetap Raises $16M Led by Jonathan Soros Owned JS Capital

Ezetap, the universal mobile payments provider leading the fintech revolution in India, today announced it has secured $16 million in new funding. The largest investors of this round of funding is JS Capital Management, the investment fund of Jonathan Soros. Existing investors Social Capital and Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures not only participated, but increased their stake in the company as part of this round. As part of this round, Salil Seshadri, CIO at JS Capital Management, will join the Board. Ezetap will use the financing to continue innovating and expanding its payments platform – first of its kind that lets any business accept any form of payment – as well as grow its sales and operations across India and abroad.

Tiger Global Plans to Lead $15M Funding in Inshorts

New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management is in advanced talks to lead a $10-15-million round of funding in its portfolio company, news media startup Inshorts, according to two people familiar with the development.

If the deal goes through, it will be the first new round to be led by one of the most prolific investors in the startup ecosystem after over a 20-month hiatus. The move comes as Tiger Global is expected to get a partial exit from its largest investment, Flipkart.

Bombay Shaving Company Gets $2.3M in Pre-Series A Round Led by Fireside Venture Fund

Bombay Shaving Company, a brand known for its men’s consumer care products, has announced that it has raised $2.3 million in a pre-series A round led by Fireside Venture Fund. The round has seen participation from 9 existing investors including S Ramadorai, former CEO at TCS, Pankaj Gupta, Supply Director at USL Diageo and some senior partners at McKinsey & Co who wished to not be named. The company plans to use the capital to fuel branding efforts, new product development and expansion into offline sales channels like salons and supermarket chains.

Myntra Co-founder’s Health-tech Venture Mfine to Raise $1M

Mfine, a yet-to-be-launched online doctor consultation platform floated by Myntra co-founder Ashutosh Lawania, is set to raise Rs 6.81 crore (around $1 million) in its first round of external funding. Bengaluru-based Mfine, which is operated by Novocura Tech Health Services Pvt. Ltd, will use the funds for product development and to meet working capital requirements.

Software Development Talent Platform Indiez Raises $500K Seed Funding From Haresh Chawla

Software development talent platform Indiez has raised $500K in Seed funding from veteran investor Haresh Chawla. The platform, owned by the Futureofwork Inc., brings together companies looking for software developers and freelancers looking for projects, plans to invest the newly raised funds towards technology and expanding into the US market.

Apart from these top 10 funding deals, here are a few startups which have also secured funding for their growth and expansion:

Smart Software Testing Solutions invests in online crowd testing platform, Crowd4Test.com

Milkbasket.com, Indian daily micro-delivery grocery startup has raised pre-series A round from prominent investors Blume Ventures and Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group (LCIG). EVC Ventures and certain angel investors, who initially invested in Milkbasket, are reported to have exited in this round.

EasyGov, Cloud Services for Government Programmes, has raised Angel round for an undisclosed amount from Tata trust initiative (Lead Investor), Rajan Anandan, Rajeev Ahuja (Navayuga Group), Kshitij Arora and other investors on LetsVenture.

Rootefy International Pvt. Ltd, which runs building material megastore Rootefy.com, has raised seed funding from Abhinav Gupta, director at Gurgaon-based real estate firm BNB Group

Vadodara-based ed-tech stratup Cerebroz EduTree LLP, which manufactures a device with customised educational content, has raised Rs 4.7 crore (about $734,000) in seed funding from Dubai-based high networth individuals.

Uniphore Software Systems Pvt. Ltd, a Chennai-based speech recognition startup, has raised a Series B round to further business expansion.

Mumbai-based instant messaging platform Flochat has raised an undisclosed amount of investment from iSquare Global, the venture capital arm of Apex Advisors

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Top 10 Startup Funding This Week [14-19 August]

Here is a list of top funding deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem this week. Check out the brief description about all of them.

SoftBank In Talks With Gurgaon Based Startup Rivigo To Invest At Least $100 Mn

The Japanese telecom and internet conglomerate, SoftBank has become the talk of the town in India. The largest investor in India’s homegrown firm, Flipkart, PayTM and Ola has again hit the road as the firm is in talks with a logistic startup, Rivigo Services to invest at least $100 million, according to ETtech report.

ETtech reports that if this investment happens, it could value the startup at nearly $1 billion, while another pegged the potential funding at $200-400 million.

Founded by McKinsey alumni Deepak Garg and Gazal Kalra in 2014, Rivigo is not only the largest buyer of trucks in India but has also launched a slew of technology products over the past year.

Fintech Startup Capital Float In Talks To Raise Rs 300 crore

Capital Float, a digital lending startup is reportedly is in advanced talks to raise around Rs 300 crore in a new funding round.

According to the media reports, Ribbit Capital, the US-based finance technology focused venture capital is in talks to lead the fresh round of funding. It is believed that existing investors SAIF Capital and Sequoia Capital will also participate in the latest round so that their stake in the company is maintained. The company plans to utilise the fresh funds for expanding its lending portfolio to consumer financing and for financing kirana stores as well. After this round, the company is expected to be valued at around Rs 1,300 crore.

Founded in 2013, the startup is based in Bengaluru with offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Swarna Pragati Raises Rs 50 Cr in Debt Funding from State Bank of India

Swarna Pragati Housing Microfinance Private Limited, India’s first housing microfinance institution, has raised Rs 50 crore in debt funding from the State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank. A pioneer in rural housing finance, Swarna Pragati helps Indians overcome traditional barriers to home ownership and improvement, ultimately increasing families’ access to better health, education, and job prospects.

To date, the company has provided over INR 1700 million in housing finance to more than 17,000 borrowers across India, including in the states of Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.

The latest round of funding comes after a 2015 Series B funding round from Zephyr Peacock, Omidyar Network, Aavishkaar Ventures, and Asha Impact. The new funding from the State Bank of India will be used to grow Swarna Pragati’s loan portfolio, strengthening its presence in the rural affordable housing market.

Microfinance Institution Margdarshak Financial Raises $3M in Debt Funding

Lucknow-based microfinance institution Margdarshak Financial Services Ltd has raised Rs 20 crore ($3 million) in debt funding from Japan ASEAN Women Empowerment Fund, which is managed by Switzerland-based impact investment manager BlueOrchard.

Margdarshak has received the money through the issuance of non-convertible debentures with a maturity of five years.

“This long-term funding will enable Margdarshak to serve more poor households in the unchartered territories of the country,” said Margdarshak managing director Rahul Mittra, in a press release.

Fin-tech Startup DigiLend Raises Funding from InCred, Fullerton

Mumbai-based fin-tech firm DigiLend Analytics & Technology Pvt Ltd has raised nearly Rs 2 crore ($311,939) from two non-banking financial services companies, filings with the Registrar of Companies show.

Mumbai-based InCred Finance and Temasek-owned Fullerton India Credit Company Ltd have made the investment, the filings indicate.

TVS Motor Invests in Online Rental Marketplace RentOnGo

Chennai-based two-wheeler manufacturer TVS Motor Company Ltd has invested Rs 1.5 crore (around $234,000) in RentOnGo, an online marketplace for renting bikes, electronics and appliances.

TVS Motor picked up a 24% stake in Bengaluru-based RentOnGo in return for the investment, it said in a stock exchange filing.

TVS Motor said the investment is part of its strategy to have a foothold in the emerging pay-by-service model targeting two-wheeler users.

BCCL Backs Sports Content Firm Sports Flashes

New Delhi-based India Sports Flashes Pvt. Ltd, which operates sports content app Sports Flashes, is raising an undisclosed amount from media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL), reported VCCircle.

The current round values the company at $4 million.

In March this year, the company had raised angel funding from Vineet Shrivastava, managing director of Nasdaq-listed investment solutions firm SEI India; Advitya Dewan, a seasoned angel investor; Vikas Bajaj, joint managing director at Bajaj Motors Ltd; and Amit Kharbanda, founder of digital set top box maker MyBox Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Horticulture Firm InI Farms Raises Fresh Funding

InI Farms Pvt. Ltd, which operates across the horticulture value chain and exports fruits to 21 countries, has raised fresh capital from one of its existing investors, reported VCCircle.

Japanese Payments Firm Anypay Backs Bengaluru Based Instamojo

On-demand payments and e-commerce platform, Instamojo has secured an undisclosed amount of funding in pre-series B round from Anypay, a Japanese payments firm. Existing investor, Kalaari Capital also participated in the current round.

This latest round of funding marks Anypay’s foray into the Indian internet market. Prior to this round, the company has raised $2.6 million from Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures, 500 Startups and others in November 2014.

The latest funding will allow Instamojo to expand its suite of offerings and introduce e-commerce enabling services such as cataloging, logistics, shipping and GST compliance assistance.The company will leverage big data and introduce financial services such as lending via third-party providers in the coming months. Instamojo plans to expand its leadership team to meet these goals.

Mumbai Based Get Simpl Secures Series A Funding From Green Visor Capital, Others

Mumbai-based e-commerce startup Get Simpl Technologies has secured an undisclosed amount of funding in Series A round from the US-based fintech VC firm, Green Visor Capital LP II. Other investors like IA Venture Strategies Fund II LP, Boillot Family Trust, Russell M Byrne, The Oliver R. Grace, Jr. Millennium Trust, SF Capital Investments LP and DIA Investments LLC also participated in the round.

Co-founded by Nitya Sharma and Chaitra Chidanand, Simpl Technologies runs the online shopping app, Simpl. Talking about their team, it consists of people who’ve worked in firms like Goldman Sachs, Thomson Reuters, Mu Sigma, Housing and Publicis.

Launched in 2013, Green Visor Capital had closed its maiden fund at $50 million. In May 2016, the venture fund announced that it had raised over $51 million for its $200 second fund.

Apart from these top 10 funding deals, here are a few startups which have also secured funding for their growth and expansion:

Mars Food to Acquire Majority Stake in Asian Food Brand Tasty Bite®

KNAB Finance Advisors Pvt. Ltd, a fin-tech firm that provides unsecured working capital loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has raised a little over Rs 2.5 crore in two funding rounds

IoT Startup Detect Technologies has raised undisclosed amount of funding from IIM Ahmedabad’s CIIE, Axilor Ventures, and angel network Keiretsu Forum.

Bengaluru-based Cure Fit Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, which operates health and fitness platform cure.fit, has raised fresh capital from venture debt firm Trifecta Capital Advisors LLP and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan’s Prathithi Investment Trust.

The Parfait Co. (TPC), which has a menu of twelve flavours of French style parfait, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Mumbai Angels Network

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