Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [2-7 April 2018]

We bring to you the latest edition Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding of the week.

This week 19 startups raised around $528 Mn in funding altogether in the Indian startup ecosystem. (The startup funding calculations are based on the startups that disclosed funding amount.)

One of the biggest Indian startup funding news this week was Paytm Mall reaching a new benchmark- Unicorn. Paytm’s ecommerce subsidiary Paytm Mall has secured $445 Mn in a funding round by SoftBank and Alibaba. The funds will be deployed for empowering the shopkeepers with superior technology, building superior logistics, strengthening the Paytm Mall brand and bringing an enriching experience to the customers.

Also, Amazon is said to be in talks to acquire Indian rival Flipkart. Amazon recently has already initiated exploratory talks to buy Flipkart. If the talks materialise, it might soon submit a rival bid for the homegrown ecommerce unicorn. This comes at a time when Flipkart is engaged with Walmart for a proposed $7 Bn investment, as part of which the retail giant is eyeing a 25% to 51% stake in the online marketplace.

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

UClean: Faridabad-based Tech-enabled laundry and cleaning solutions company UClean raised additional $615.6K pre-Series A funding from US-based existing angel investor Anubhav Chopra. The company plans to use the funds for its growth. As part of the investment, Chopra will also finance its first full-stack live dry cleaning studio, UClean Select, which would offer premium services for “delicate and ornamental clothes”, besides leather items such as bags.

BeatO: Delhi-based healthtech startup BeatO (short for beating the ring ‘O’ of Diabetes), a comprehensive platform dedicated to diabetes solutions raised $1.3 Mn in funding, led by Leo Capital and co-led by Blume Ventures. The startup plans to use the funding to scale up the production and focus on better technology and innovations and distribution network.

Fitternity: Mumbai-based fitness discovery startup Fitternity raised $2 Mn in a funding round led by its existing as well as new investors. The latest funding round also saw the participation of marquee angel investors including Arihant Patni (of Patni Family Office), Anjali Bansal (ex-TPG Partner), Akshay Chudasma (MD – Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas), Satish Khanna (Ex-Group President Lupin) and the Taparia family office.

MoveInSync: Bengaluru-based employee transportation startup MoveInSync Technology Solutions raised $8 Mn in Series B funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners. Existing investors including Inventus Capital Partners, Saama Capital and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this round. The startup plans to use the funding to further develop end-to-end transport offerings, accelerating customer acquisition and pace up its launch in the international markets.

Finzy: Bengaluru-based P2P lending company Finzy raised $1.3 Mn in Pre-Series A round of funding from a group of investors. The startup plans to use the funding to accelerate growth by investing in technology, making the processes leaner and faster and  in building the team. A significant amount of the funding will also be utilised for geographical expansion across Tier I cities to take Finzy’s value proposition to a wider audience.

Zilingo: Southeast Asian fashion marketplace, with office in Bengaluru, Zilingo raised $54Mn in Series C funding round to grow further and expand internationally to new markets such as Malaysia and Philippines. The Series C funding round was led by Sofina, Burda Principal Investments and Sequoia Capital India. Amadeus Capital too joins as a new investor.

IndustryBuying: New Delhi-based B2B procurement startup and a one-stop platform for business, industrial and office goods, IndustryBuying, raised $1.8 Mn (INR 12 Cr) as venture debt from Mumbai-based specialised debt player Blacksoil Capital. The debt would be used to scale further and address working capital requirement on account of increasing order book with blue chip customers.

Namaste Credit: New Delhi-based SME lending company Namaste Credit raised $3.8 Mn in Series A round of funding from Nexus Venture Partners. The startup plans to use the funding to grow its geographic footprint, continue to enhance its technology and data analytics platform and further scale its businesses. With this, the startup plans to significantly increase its channel partner programme across India and further expand its technology licensing partnerships with leading lenders globally.

Letstrack: US-headquartered IoT startup Letstrack raised $1.7 Mn in a Seed funding round from a US-based investor, James Arthur at a valuation of $17 Mn. The funding round is aimed at bringing additional talent into the company at the highest level, to expedite the international expansion.

CoutLoot: Mumbai-based fashion recommerce startup CoutLoot raised $1 Mn as part of its Pre-Series A funding. The round was led by Jadevalue Fintech, the investment arm of Chinese unicorn CashBUS while existing investors including Artha India Ventures and Venture Catalysts participated in the round. The startup will use the latest funding to add more categories and further expand geographically.

Power2SME: Gurugram-based B2B marketplace and SME lending firm Power2SME has raised debt financing of $6.2 Mn (INR 40 Cr) from InnoVen Capital. Power2SME will use the debt funding towards propelling the company’s growth and working capital.

IndigoLearn: Hyderabad-based finance and accounting focused edtech startup IndigoLearn raised $150K in its seed round from angel investors. The company plans to use the funding to expand its student base 10x in next 12 months on the back of its funding and new product launches scheduled in the coming months.

DriveU: Bengaluru-based on-demand driver provider DriveU raised $246.49K in pre-series A round of funding from Amitabh and Shilpa Singhal Living Trust, Amit Singhal’s investment vehicle.The company has so far raised $3.38 Mn from its investors.

Dosamatic: Bengaluru-based Dosamatic, which designed a machine that can make dosas, raised $146.35K from existing investor, Indian Angel Network.

Zooty: Mumbai-based salon and spa search and booking platform Zooty raised $261.93K from existing investors Orios Venture Partners and Singapore-based RB Investments.

Sepalika: US-headquartered with office in Mumbai healthcare content provider Sepalika raised $306.6K from existing investor Accel Partners.

BeYouPlus: Delhi-based health and wellness startup BeYouPlus (earlier MyDermacy) raised $77.03K from existing investors including Fortis Healthcare president Daljit Singh.

Medikoe: Bengaluru-based healthcare platform Medikoe raised $154.08K in a rights issue from By The Bay Enterprises LLP.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Homegrown cab hailing major Ola acquired Mumbai-based Ridlr. The financial terms of the deal have been left undisclosed for now. Both believe that combining Ridlr’s innovations in mass transit with Ola’s mobility products will enable true multi-modal mobility solutions for their users at scale.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Chennai will get its own government-aided incubator dubbed Centre of Excellence for Financial Technology, for fintech startups. It is expected to be launch before the end of 2018 and will be housed within the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). $3Mn has been earmarked for the facility’s infrastructure and ecosystem by the Centre, while an additional sum of $3.5 Mn will be pooled in by the state government and private investors.
• Microsoft selected 12 startups for the 12th cohort of its Microsoft ScaleUp (earlier called Microsoft Accelerator) programme. The selected startups are AppICE, Appiyo Technologies, Avanseus, eGovernments Foundation, Gaia Smart Cities, GrowthEnabler, Karo Sambhav, Kogence, MachineSense, SmartVizX, Sprinkle Data and Xurmo Technologies.
• Tencent is looking to invest $5 Mn-$15 Mn in startups such as ShareChat and Kissht.Tencent could invest between $5 Mn and $15 Mn across segments including, gaming, content, social media and consumer lending
• Seven companies that underwent the QRate skill-building program as part of the Government of Rajasthan’s iStart initiative received $30,816 (INR.20 Lakh) from the Government of Rajasthan’s BHAMASHAH Techno Fund. This includes FreshoKartz, ScooNews, ToRoots, Srjna, MYLY, Sattviko and Quriyo.
• Venture capital firm India Quotient made the first close of its $50-$60 Mn new fund raising more than $30 Mn. The biggest investment came from a Gulf-based billionaire of Indian origin, Dr. BR Shetty, who committed a capital of $10 Mn, with remaining capital coming from other HNIs and institutions like Government of India’s SIDBI.
• India Accelerator opened applications for their 2nd Cohort Batch this summer 2018 of acceleration program commencing on May 21, 2018. The batch is focused on emerging exponential technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, Deep learning and Blockchain with a strong focus on two verticals – Finance and Healthcare. India Accelerator (IA) will be considering upto 7 most promising – early stage and technology oriented start-ups to help them transform their idea into meaningful companies.

Stay tuned for the next edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!

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