Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [25-30 June 2018]

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

In the monsoon season, the ever-growing startup fundings have kept the Indian startup ecosystem engaged, however, the real thunder came with SoftBank’s $200 Mn investment in PolicyBazaar, the newest entrant to the Unicorn club. The company claims that it will grow at a CAGR of more than 80% over the next three years achieving 10 Mn transacting customers by 2020.

Also, the global payments technology company Visa may invest $250 Mn in a fresh funding round for Mumbai-based payments gateway BillDesk at a valuation of $1.5-2 Bn.

This week 16 startups raised around $255 Mn in funding altogether in the Indian startup ecosystem. (The startup funding calculations are based on the startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Let’s have a look at the other major fundings in thhe Indian startup ecosystem this week.

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

Edureka: Bengaluru-based elearning platform Edureka raised $2 Mn from Leo Capital. With the funding, the startup plans to expand global reach and accelerate growth and innovation. It also aims to achieve 6X growth in the next three years.

Wow Express: Mumbai-based ecommerce delivery platform Wow Express raised $4.5 Mn in a Series A round of funding from its existing investor — the Tamarind Family Private Trust of the Mansukhani family. The startup plans to use the capital raised to expand its geographical presence, ramp up its technology platform, and strengthen its senior management team.

ZunRoof: Pune-based cleantech startup ZunRoof raised angel funding of $242.45K (INR 1.66 Cr) from i3N, Paipal Ventures’ Ajith Pai, Gaurav Gupta, Asia Director, Dalbergr and a bunch of IIT Kharagpur alumni based in US. The startup plans to use the funding to triple its sales run rate, to bolster and scale up the tech.

Picostone: Mumbai-based smart home automation startup Picostone raised $803.2K (INR 5 Cr) funding from Metaform Ventures (USA), Arise Ventures (USA), and other Indian angel investors. The startup plans to use the funding to further invest in technology development, in moving deeper into the existing market, and in team expansion.

Aahaa Stores: New Delhi-based office supplies etailer Aahaa Stores raised $2 Mn from a UAE-based global investment Group Calega. The company plans to utilise the latest funding to expand business across new verticals and geographies. Also, it is looking to upgrade its technology, and enrich infrastructure by inducting more independent service providers and mobilizing superior talent.

Hashtag Loyalty: Mumbai-headquartered CRM and automation startup Hashtag Loyalty raised an undisclosed amount in a Seed funding round from New York-and Delhi-based seed stage-focused investor Ahimsa Capital. With the funding, the startup plans to increase its businesses value proposition and expand its presence.

Cashify: Gurugram-based recommerce startup Cashify raised $12 Mn in a Series C round of funding led by CDH Investments and MorningSide Group, with Chinese recommerce company AiHuiShou participating as a strategic investor.

Spotle.ai: Kolkata-based HRtech startup Spotle.ai has raised an undisclosed amount of funding and wants to continue to disrupt this space with more innovations and is preparing to file for a number of patents.

Fixpocket: Mumbai-based crowdworking startup Fixpocket raised $250K in seed funding from La Gajjar Group. The startup used the funding to set up the initial team, design and development of technology and early-stage marketing activities.

Wholesome Habits Pvt. Ltd: Mumbai-based healthy snacks startup Wholesome Habits has raised $500K in a Seed round of funding from Sprout Venture Partners and a few high-net-worth individuals. The startup plans to use the funds primarily for marketing, branding, increasing the distribution network and launching new products in the healthy snacks category.

Eggoz: Madhya Pradesh-based egg producer and agritech startup Eggoz raised $175.3K (INR 1.2 Cr) from a clutch of angel investors including Narendra Sankar, Sunil Mishra, Vishal Sharma, Anurag Jhanwar and Mohini Jhanwar. The startup plans to use the funding to expand their business in states Madhya Pradesh and Bihar and also build a company-owned farm in Nalanda, Bihar.

SigTuple: Bengaluru-based healthtech startup SigTuple raised $19 Mn (INR 130 Cr) in a Series B funding round led by Accel Partners and IDG Ventures. SigTuple plans to use the Series B funding to expand assembly and distribution of AI100 as well as on research and development of new solutions, enhancing its existing solutions, clinical trials, and expansion in other markets.

Paytm Entertainment: Entertainment arm of digital payments giant Paytm, Paytm Entertainment raised $8.95 Mn (INR 61 Cr) from parent company One97 Communications. The company aims to sell over 100 Mn tickets by the end of this year.

HipBar: Chennai-based digital payments startup dedicated to serving the needs of the alcohol beverage industry HipBar secured an investment of $3.96 Mn (INR 270 Mn) from beverage alcohol company Diageo India for 26% stake.

Sqrrl: Gurugram-based App-based investment platform Sqrrl Fintech raised $1 Mn in its Pre-Series A round of funding from Equanimity Venture Fund. The startup plans to use the funding to pursue aggressive growth and add to its product and tech prowess.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Times Internet Ltd (TIL) has acquired South Korea-based video platform, MX Player, in a deal worth $144 M (INR 1,000 Cr). With this acquisition, Times Internet is looking to build a digital-first video streaming platform atop MX Player and also to leverage its 350 Mn installed base in India.After the acquisition, MX Player will continue working as an independent entity with teams across India and China.

Other Developments Of The Week

• UST Global, a global digital transformation solutions company, raised $250 Mn from Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund Temasek at a valuation of more than $1 Bn. The money will be used to fund global expansion and acquisition of players with niche capabilities.
• With a view to facilitating the listing of tech startups in the sectors of IT, ITES, biotech, 3D printing, spacetech, and ecommerce, BSE India is set to launch a Startup platform. The platform will aid in the listing of startups from other sectors like hi-tech defence, drone, etc.
• To fuel its India expansion plans MoneyOnMobile will invest $6.2 Mn. The announcement came on the heels of its $5 Mn Series H fundraise from the S7 Group. The startup wants to provide services to unbanked consumers with an aim to bring them under the umbrella of financial inclusion. MoneyOnMobile has also enabled Aadhaar-enabled transactions, thereby creating a mini-ATM in far-flung rural areas.
• Google Play has launched its first Indie Games Accelerator Programme as a special edition of Google Launchpad Accelerator. The programme will coach developers from the Asian countries so that they can successfully build, scale, launch, and market the next generation of hit mobile games.
• Fintech startup InCred is reportedly exploring an investment of $7.3 Mn (INR 50 Cr) in Pune-based personal finance management startup Walnut as the company looks to invest in new-age companies.
• After successful loans of the first round of MUDRA scheme, the government has now opened second financing round under which the startups can avail up to $146K (INR 1 Cr) as part of this financing to expand their business further. The second line of financing will be under the Prime Minister Employment Guarantee Yojna.
• The Chennai-based startup, SP Robotics has launched Makers Lab to boost innovation in the fields of robotics and IoT (Internet of Things). Makers lab is currently active in 30 cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and some other cities. The younger generation can learn things through this platform using Robotic kits, IoT( Internet of things), image processing and virtual reality.
• Philips is launching a global startup acceleration programme for the AI in healthcare. The programme will be launched across various countries like US, Europe, India and China aims to help the startups build, test, de-risk and scale their ideas. The 12-week programme will give early-stage healthcare AI startups access to experts from Philips and its global ecosystem of hospitals and clinics.
• Coworking space provider The Mosaic and sector agnostic incubator Huddle have signed a strategic partnership to collaborate to extend their services to their member startups. Under this collaboration, Mosaic will work as an innovation lab whereas Huddle will extend its active incubation support. The focus of the two will be on dedicated mentorship through their panel
• Anthill Studio, an accelerator programme of Anthill Ventures, has signed a strategic partnership with Viacom18 to provide additional market-access opportunities to the startups of Anthill Studio. The duo is looking at tech innovations especially in the areas of AI, ML, Automation for our TV, Films and digital business.

Stay tuned for the next edition of Funding Galore: Startup Fundings of The week!

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