Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [23- 28 July 2018]

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

One of the biggest Indian startup funding this week was raised by Bengaluru-based insurtech startup Digit Insurance raised $44 Mn (INR 302.6 Cr) in its second round of funding from Fairfax Holdings. Digit Insurance plans to use the funding to expand its distribution network across the country.

In another development, there are speculations around online retailer eBay to join forces with ecommerce company ShopClues to relaunch its platform in India. With the planned acquisition, eBay plans to relaunch in India for cross-border trade play.

This week 19 startups raised around $152.46 Mn funding altogether. (The startup funding calculations are based on the startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Fundings Of The Week

Educational Initiatives: Ahmedabad-based edtech company Edtech company Educational Initiatives raised $25 Mn from a private equity firm named Gaja Capital. The company will be using the raised funds to build its technology platforms, expand its product portfolio, and enter the new markets, including the US.

Awfis: Delhi-based collaborative workspace provider Awfis raised $20 Mn in a Series C funding round from existing investors including Sequoia Capital, The Three Sisters: Institutional Office (TTS:IO), and InnoVen Capital. The company plans to bolster and deepen its network across India. It also plans to launch new and innovative products/services and further enhance the existing technology platform.

PaySense– Mumbai-based fintech company PaySense raised $18 Mn in its Series B round of funding led by PayU. The company plans to tap into the emerging middle class of India and looks to hire more people to strengthen its tech and data analytics team with the help of raised funds.

LoginRadius: New Delhi-based enterprise application provider LoginRadius raised $17 Mn in a Series A round of funding led by ForgePoint Capital and Microsoft’s venture fund, M12. The company plans to use the raised funds to accelerate product innovation, customer acquisition, and global expansion. It further plans to expand globally to serve the fast-growing $20 Bn customer identity market.

LifCare– New-Delhi based subscription online pharmacy LifCare raised $11 Mn in a Series B round of funding from SAIF Partners, Nexus Ventures, and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited. The startup plans to use the funding to expand its geographical presence and further invest in technology.

Aye Finance: Delhi-NCR-based online lending startup Aye Finance raised $10 Mn in a latest round of debt funding by converting non-convertible debentures. The deal was led by global impact investment managers Triple Jump BV and MicroVest Funds and was executed by Northern Arc Capital (formerly IFMR Capital). The startup has already expanded its reach to 100 cities in 11 Indian states and has opened up its 102^nd branch in Hyderabad last week.

Vokal: Bengaluru-based knowledge sharing platform Vokal raised $5 Mn in a Series A round of funding. The investment was led by Chinese investor Shunwei Capital, and 500 Startups. Existing investors Accel India and Blume Ventures also participated in this funding round. The startup is looking to soon expand into languages like Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.

GirnarSoft– Jaipur-based business value focussed IT company GirNarSoft raised $3.6 Mn in debt fund from Trifecta Debt Fund-I. The company caters to various services including website designing, website development, ecommerce site building, mobile app development, internet marketing, among others.

Iqlect: Bengaluru-based big data analytics startup Iqlect raised a bridge round of $2.5 Mn from Ventureast and existing investor Exfinity Ventures. The company is looking to hire VP’s for engineering, product management, marketing and sales and also a country manager for India. Also, it is in process of shifting its base to San Jose, US.

Entropik Tech: Bengaluru-based emotion AI startup Trell raised $1.1 Mn in a pre-Series A round of funding led by Bharat Innovation Fund. The startup plans to use the raised funds to scale its platform, Affect Lab 2.0, launch more IP-based products, and expand its global footprint.

Trell: Bengaluru-based experience discovery platform Trell raised $1.25 Mn in a Seed round of funding co-led by BEENEXT AND WEH Ventures. The startup plans to use the raised funds to expand and strengthen the team in the areas of product, technology, and data science.

Bitla Software: Bengaluru-based travel tech startup Bitla Software raised an undisclosed amount of funding from MakeMyTrip. The company plans to use the latest fund raise to rapidly develop and expand its suite of travel focused technology products.

MinersINC: Singapore and India headquartered P2P blockchain startup MinersINC raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding from V C Bothra. The startup further plans to deploy a community-driven approach in the entertainment sector for content creation and distribution, enabling direct and more rewarding interactions between all the stakeholders that make up the entertainment economy.

ModSpace- Gurugram-based designer brand for customised modular kitchens ModSpace raised $1 Mn from Arrivae. The company plans to use the raised funds to build its technology, team to expand its product offerings, and drive a better customer experience.

AyurUniverse: Bengaluru-based online health and wellness portal, accredited by the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India has raised $1 Mn from Air Deccan investor, the Ladhani family. The company plans to use the funds in developing disruptive AI and VR technology to enhance customer experience on the portal.

Log 9 Materials- Bengaluru-based nanotechnology startup Log 9 Materials raised around $437 K (INR 3 Cr) in a pre-Series-A round of funding from Metaform Ventures, Hemant Luthra, Chairman, Mahindra CIE, GEMS and other angel investors. This is a continuation of Log 9’s pre Series-A funding received from GEMS Advisory earlier in 2017. The startup has planned to use the raised funds to strengthen its commercial operations and patented product portfolio, as well as to boost R&D activities extensively.

VTION– Mumbai and Gurugram-headquartered SaaS-based platform VTION raised $280 K in a funding round led through AngelList India. The startup plans to use the raised funds to expand its product line in the Indian market and abroad, recruit its next level team, patent applications in select countries, and expand its product map into adjacent digital areas.

Kidovators– Bengaluru-based edtech startup Kidovators raised $180 K in a Seed round of funding from impact investor Gray Matters Capital. M Chandrasekaran, board member at Sylvant Advisors and former corporate advisor to the Manipal Group, also participated in the funding round. The startup will use the raised funds to scale its programmes to over 100K students and 600 partner schools in 2018 and to strengthen its core content, technology, and sales teams.

Kyte.ai: Mumbai-based smart sms application Kyte.ai raised $120 K from Y Combinator as part of its summer cohort 2018. The startup specialises in blocking spam and automatically organises the user’s inbox. It comes with an inbuilt spam blocker which gets updated in real time. The company claims to have crossed 100K downloads in the last two months.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Singapore-based healthtech company Mobile Health acquired Songline Analytics which runs its deep analytics startup Uninstall.io for an undisclosed amount. With this acquisition, Mobile Health plans to enhance its offerings by integrating the technology stack of Uninstall.io as well as implementing technologies such as data-warehousing, image analysis, machine learning, data analytics and predictive analytics.
• Edtech unicorn BYJU’S acquired Bengaluru-based maths learning startup Math Adventures for an undisclosed amount. Post acquisition, the team of Math Adventures will become a part of the BYJU’S content and R&D team. With this acquisition, the BYJU’s team will be using Math Adventures activities to work on their K-3 product development.
• Global fintech and e-payments division of Naspers’ PayU acquired Israel-based payments technology company ZOOZ for an undisclosed amount. With this acquisition, the ZOOZ and the PayU teams will work together to create a leading, global standards payment infrastructure of the future. They both will work to create a comprehensive, modular, and highly flexible payment OS platform.
• Singapore-based healthtech startup Symple Wellness Platform acquired Pune-based AllizHealth for an undisclosed sum. With this acquisition, both the companies will work together to provide a comprehensive digital health offering with over 65K partners.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Non-banking financial company BlackSoil Capital raised $17 Mn from its existing investors in a Series C round. The company focuses on providing customised innovative debt solutions to diverse segments such as real estate, promoters of unlisted growth companies, and works to establish institutional Investors-backed new companies and their ecosystems.

• Lightspeed India Ventures launched Extreme Entrepreneurs– an entrepreneurial training series aimed at connecting eight select Indian startups with the top guns in global technology and entrepreneurship. This eight-week programme will start in mid-September in India. The company has roped in various business leaders and well-known investors who will who will be sharing their experiences.
• Gujarat government claimed to have provided 175 startups with financial assistance worth $3.2 Mn (INR 22Cr) over two years. This development comes in line with the aim of the government to facilitate 2K startups by 2021. In the Electronic & IT/ITES Startup Policy (2016-21), the state government had set a target to facilitate the establishment of about 2K startup firms during the five-year period.
• Social Alpha and Tata Trusts’- Path Impact Lab launched a nationwide search – Social Alpha Quest for healthcare innovations. The programme is designed to solve key healthcare challenges, eliminate disparities, and achieve health equality in India. The programme will further focus on healthcare technology innovations in devices and diagnostics including point of care devices in certain areas.
• Accenture announced the winners of the first edition of Accenture Ventures Industry X.0 Challenge which are detect technologies, ecolibrium energy, and SatSure.The challenge recognises innovative technology startups in India with disruptive solutions for the industry X.O segment. Industry X.O is the digital reinvention of industry, where businesses use advanced digital technologies to transform their core operations, their worker and customer experiences and ultimately their business models.
• Ramesh Ji and Sharda Agarwal Foundation announced plans to launch India’s first startup funding competition for startups from cities which are the growth engines of New India. The foundation is promoted by leading media group- Dainik Bhaskar.The programme will shortlist startups that can pitch for funding to more than 300 members of the MA (Mumbai Angels) Network across the country.
• T-Hub has tied up with leading technology companies to enable its startups to scale faster and accelerate their growth. It has joined hands with Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, HubSpot, Microsoft and Zoho. Under the T-Hub cohort-based incubation programme Lab32, the technology companies will be helping startups in advancing their daily operational tasks.
• Online property solutions provider MagicBricks announced a growth of 48% in Q1 FY19 revenues for its online operations, reaching $6.9 Mn.The factors that helped in the revenue growth were product innovation, new revenue streams, and market buoyancy.
• B2C ecommerce startup SaleBhai announced its IPO opening to the public on July 27 and will be closing the same on August 2. With the IPO, the startup will look to raise $3.4 Mn (INR 23.73 Cr) through the BSE’s SME platform. It plans to use the funds to help in growing the company through increased customer acquisition, improved IT platform, the addition of more authentic sellers as well as product categories, and make the customer experience even smoother and effortless. It further plans to add 400 sellers by end of 2018.
• Snapdeal announced that it has been cash flow positive in June 2018 which means that the company is now earning money from its business. It also announced that it has achieved this target ahead of demanding headline they had set for the company.
• A total of 36K people participated in the Hackathon at the Rajasthan Digifest that kicked off on July 26 and ended the next day. Over 800 teams participated and the first prize went to team Venom from New Delhi. The team had designed a robotic snake with sensors. The winners took away prize worth $47.5K.

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

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