Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [20-25 August 2018]

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

One of the biggest funding round this week was raised by Digital real estate marketing and transactions services company Elara Technologies. It raised a credit facility of $35 Mn from Citi Singapore. The company plans to use the raised funds to accelerate business growth by investing in brand building, product and technology, sales force, and geographic expansion.

Elara Technologies is the owner of Indian online real estate companies Housing.com, PropTiger.com, and Makaan.com.

Also, this week, Flipkart acquired artificial intelligence company Liv.ai for $40 Mn. With the acquisition, Flipkart will be able to add voice to its platform and unlock the next big opportunity in India.

Apart from the above, this week 13 startups raised a total of $31.7 Mn funding and four acquisitions took place in the Indian startup ecosystem. (The startup funding calculations are based on the startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

Bombay Shaving Company: Delhi-based men’s grooming startup Bombay Shaving Company raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from new investors such as Colgate-Palmolive Asia Pacific Limited, and existing investors including Fireside Ventures. The startup plans to use the raised funds to invest in brand building, product development, and expanding its capabilities in technology and sales.

Revv: Gurugram-based self drive car rental startup Revv raised a funding of $14 Mn in a Series B funding round led by Hyundai Motors. Existing investors including Edelweiss and Beenext, and some new investors including Dream Incubator, Sunjay Kapoor of Sona BLW and Telama Investment also participated in this funding round. The startup plans to use the raised funds to expand its product offerings for both long-duration and on-demand use cases, strengthen its technology team, and build brand awareness.

Sattviko: Delhi-based healthy and pure food startup Sattviko raised an undisclosed amount of strategic funding from marquee investors led by Ashish Gupta, an angel investor and founder of Helion Venture. Other investors include Sunil Chandiramani- Former India Head, Ernst & Young Advisory, and others senior private equity professionals. The startup plans to use the raised funds to expand into US, UK, and the Middle East.

Raw Pressery: Mumbai-based organic juice startup Raw Pressery raised $4.8 Mn across equity and venture debt from venture debt firm Alteria Capital. The startup plans to use the raised funds to scale its new categories including nut milk, soups, and probiotic dairy products. It is also looking to expand its distribution in India as well as in international markets such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Finzy: Bengaluru-based P2P lending platform Finzy raised $1 Mn in continuation of its previous Pre-Series A Round of funding led by senior professionals from BFSI, and successful entrepreneurs. The startup plans to use the raised funds for geographical expansion, technology enhancement, and stronger distribution networks.

Wovoyage: New Delhi-based women-centric travel startup Wovoyage raised seed funding from Shabir Momin and Rohit Nanda who is from Singapore. The startup plans to use the raised funds to scale up the services and products offered to a wider market by building a tech-enabled ecosystem including booking services, search and planning platforms, on-demand travel, and recommendation sales.

InstaCash: Jaipur-based recommerce platform InstaCash raised an undisclosed amount in a fresh funding from Singapore-based CompAsia. The platform plans to use the raised funds to scale its business in India and expand its presence in international markets like Southeast Asia and East Asia.

Cygni Energy: Hyderabad-based innovative solar-dc solutions startup Cygni Energy raised $6.4 Mn through a combination of equity and debt. The equity funding was led by Endiya Partners and the debt funding was led by Indusland Bank. The startup plans to use the raised funds in expanding capacity, strengthening R&D capabilities, and increasing market reach.

Imarticus Learning: Mumbai-based professional education platform Imarticus Learning raised $2 Mn in  a Series B funding round led by education-focused venture capital fund, CBA Capital. The platform plans to use the raised funds to expand its operations in the international markets.

Hush: Workplace discussion platform Hush raised an undisclosed amount in a seed funding from Accel, Sanjay Nadkarni, and other Angel investors. The platform plans to use the raised funds to advance their mobile and web platforms with new and advanced features. It will also be using funds to develop the team, expand to various metro cities in the country, and improve upon existing technology.

University Living: Delhi-based global student housing marketplace University Living raised an undisclosed amount in a Pre-Series funding round led by IAN and LetsVenture. Ishan Singh, Bikky Khosla & Nitin Singhal along with Manipal Group and Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman, Hero Enterprise also participated in this funding roundup. The startup plans to use the raised funds in technology, market expansion and recruitment and build a pipeline of new projects for supply in the Indian subcontinent and the Asia Pacific region.

Sensibull: Bengaluru-based options trading platform Sensibull raised $3.5 Mn from Rainmatter. The startup works with an aim to make small traders profitable, super simplify option trading for all by cutting through all the math and technicals and create an alternative avenue for wealth management for high-income crowd.

MedCords: Kota-based healthcare startup raised an undisclosed amount from WaterBridge Ventures and Infoedge. The startup plans to use the funds to expand the team, further develop the technology platform and to expand the scope of operations to new geographies.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Hyderabad-based Tanla Solutions acquired Karix Mobile in a $48.45 Mn cash and stock transaction from GSO Capital Partners. With the acquisition, GSO will receive a cash payment of $16 Mn (INR 112 Cr), and further GSO will be issued $17.9 Mn (INR 125 Cr worth of Tanla stock. Tanla will be taking over a debt of $14.75 Mn (INR 103 Cr).
• AltF Coworking acquired Noida-based co-working space provider Daftar India. With the acquisition, AltF Coworking will add over 14K square feet of prime co-working space in Film City, Noida, along with over 250 additional seats to its present inventory of 2K seats in Gurugram.
• Cognizant acquired consulting firm SaaSfocus for an undisclosed amount. With the acquisition, Cognizant will expand its end-to-end digital transformation services and Salesforce cloud capabilities in growing markets. SaaSfocus will be broadening Cognizant’s digital transformation portfolio in India and Australia.
• Amazon and Sequoia India-backed online lending platform Capital Float acquired personal finance management startup Walnut for $30 Mn in a cash-and-stock deal. With the acquisition, Walnut’s founders Patanjali Somayaji and Amit Bhor will join the leadership team of Capital Float along with their team of 35 employees.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje launched India’s largest business incubator, the Bhamashah Techno Hub, in Jaipur on August 23. The incubator will provide end-to-end support to startups, ranging from infrastructure, technology, angel funding, etc to national and international organisations and experts. Presently, 180 startups have their base at the Bhamashah Techno Hub.
• AI and IoT focussed  pi Ventures raised $6 Mn from UK government’s development finance institution CDC Group plc. Pi Ventures will be using the raised funds to invest in startups with deep tech capabilities that have the potential to disrupt sectors and facilitate a lasting change in businesses and lives.
• SpiceJet’s chairman Ajay Singh is in talks with the JetBlue Technology Ventures to invest in startups in the Silicon Valley. Ajay is looking to tie up with startups that can contribute to the low-cost carrier’s operations, as well as with companies that come up with overall solutions for the travel industry.
• Ride sharing platform QuickRide may raise $4 Mn from an American venture capital company Sequoia Capital. The company aims to eliminate one million cars on road in the next two years.
• Gurugram-based sector agnostic incubator Huddle collaborated with Startup India and HealthStart and has invited healthcare startups to apply for a six-month structured incubation programme. After the collaboration, Huddle and HealthStart will jointly select up to 10 startups for the programme, which will get an opportunity of being funded with $35.82 K (INR 25 lakh) each, with a provision of raising additional funds.
• BLS International Services Limited launched a startup accelerator programme BLS Accelerator that helps innovative business attain the right mentoring and scale. BLS Accelerator will support early stage startups with up to $71.64 K (INR 50 lakh) seed fund along with mentoring in areas such as technology, upgradation of citizen services, product ideation, and development.
• US-based Techstars is looking for 10 companies in India that are using technologies including AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, and IoT to solve massive problems in the emerging markets, with the potential to scale solutions to developed markets down the road. The applications for the programme are now open and will be hosted in Bengaluru,India and will run 13 weeks from February 4, 2019, with a Demo Day on May 2, 2019.
• Sequoia India announced the close of its sixth fund at a fund corpus of $695 Mn. It will be using the funds to double down its investment in early and growth stage startups. It will be further targeting technology, consumer and healthcare sectors across India and Southeast Asia. (SEA). Sequoia India has also announced several changes in its leadership teams.
• The Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH) shortlisted six startups as a part of the cancer conference and innovation on August 21. The selected startups include EPR Gene Technologies, Embryyo Technologies, NanoHealth, Onward Assist, Aindhra and Cyca Oncosolutions.
• Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and Columbia Global Centres announced the launch of Urban Works Innovation Challenge 2018. The Urban Works Innovation Challenge 2018 that will run from July 2018 to March 2019 will provide mentorship and infrastructural and financial support for innovative solutions on environmentally sustainable workspaces to passionate young professionals and entrepreneurs.  Broad areas for solution development in workspaces include green technologies and infrastructure, decentralized energy-efficient solutions, ergonomics, sustainable resource use, and waste/pollution reduction.
• World Bank, WRI, and EESL have invited entries for innovate to inspire challenge. The participants are required to submit sustainable and scalable solutions in grid management, emobility, energy efficiency, and energy market transformation. The winners will be getting INR 5 lakhs along with the mentorship to help bring future-ready solutions to the market.
• The government think-tank NITI Aayog has launched MoveHack, a global mobility hackathon. The hackathon will provide a platform for driven individuals and teams to collaborate and produce ideas, solutions, and prototypes to some of the most pressing issues in urban mobility in the country.
• US-based seed accelerator Y Combinator announced its summer 2018 (S18) batch wherein four Indian startups — ZiffyHomes, Leena Ai, OK Credit, and Kyte.ai — have been selected. The accelerator invests $120K in startups for a 7% equity stake in selected startups, which later move to Silicon Valley for three months, where, too, it helps them pitch to investors.

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

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