Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The week [11 July – 16 July]

SIDBI will invest about $64 Mn (INR 428 Cr) in eight venture funds working in the areas of internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence, healthcare, consumer media, fintech, data analytics, cyber security, digital media, machine learning and agri-related businesses. Its Venture Capital Investment Committee (VCIC) screened 13 proposals from VC funds.

Let’s Look At The Fundings That Took Place This Week:

This week 20 startups raised $33 Mn in funding altogether. (The funding amount is based on the startups that disclosed their funding amounts).

WorkApps: Intranet portal WorkApp that offers one-view to all the task requirements in an enterprise, raised $1 Mn (INR 6.7 Cr) in seed round of funding from SaaS investor, Sashi Reddi led SRI Capital. The startup plans to roll out its business globally for industries such as banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), advertising and media, telecom and manufacturing.

Ridlr: Public transport app Ridlr raised $6 Mn in Series B round of funding led by Times Internet and Innoven Capital. Existing investors Matrix Partners India and Qualcomm Ventures, also participated in this round. The raised funds will be used for scaling up public transport ticketing in focus cities, growing user-base, as well as hiring across key roles.

SatvaCart: Online grocery retailer Satvacart raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding from Abhijit Avasthi, Karan Chellani, and SP Vijay. The raised funds will be utilised to achieve complete break-even within next 4 quarters. The startup is also aiming to raise additional $2 Mn in next angel round.

ShoppinPal: Retail-tech startup ShoppinPal raised $1.07 Mn in its first equity round of funding. Plug and Play Tech Center and Steelhead Ventures led this round. The startup will use the funds to build its team and expand its market presence, primarily in India.

CityFurnish: Furniture rental startup CityFurnish raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Brand Capital. Existing investor Manoj Gupta, Director, Credit Suisse also participated in this round. The startup plans to launch its services in Pune this month. It also seeks to increase its footprint in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.

HEAL Institute: Sports-focused healthcare startup HEAL Institute raised an undisclosed amount of funding from a group of high-profile investors including former Standard Chartered ace banker Jaspal Bindra and son of JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal, Parth Jindal. The startup plans to use the fresh round of funding to expand its presence to various geographies. It also plans to raise $ 5-8 Mn in future.

Twigly: Foodtech startup Twigly raised $600K seed funding from Tracxn Labs, Hyderabad Angels, Kunal Shah, Aditya Verma, Gaurav Bhalotia, partners at McKinsey and other angels participated in this funding round of Twigly. The startup will use the funds for top of the funnel marketing, expansion to Delhi and Bangalore.

ShareChat: Vernacular content app, ShareChat raised $1.35 Mn in seed round of funding from venture capital firm SAIF Partners. Existing investor India Quotient also participated in this round. The startup plans to grow its team size to 40 and user base to 15-20 Mn over the next one year. It claims to have more than 1.3 Mn downloads and five lakh monthly active users since its launch.

Urban Tailor: A startup that customises, professional tailoring service for women, Urban Tailor, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Unitus Seed Fund. B. S. Nagesh also participated in this round. He will be advising the company on strategy and growth. The startup will use the newly raised funds for building tailor capacity to undertake more orders/day. Also, the funds will be used to innovate its service offerings, and for expansion to more cities.

Tripshelf: Online travel marketplace TripShelf raised $250K in pre-Series A round of funding from Delhi-based GEMS Group. The newly raised funding will be used to establish traction with the customer and travel operator community.

MintM: An in-store customer engagement startup, MintM, raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its pre Series A funding round. The funding was co-led by Mumbai Angels and Times Internet following MintM’s step out from TLabs. With the newly raised capital, the startup plans to grow its signage platform Magnet across the world. It plans to make the product more intelligent and expand its fast-growing international markets.

YAAP: Rainmaker Ventures invested over $5 Mn in digital content service provider, YAAP. With this, Atul Hegde, co-founder, Rainmaker Ventures will join the YAAP board. The startup will use the current round of funding for improving branding and visual identity, automated content creation and content distribution platforms.

UTOO Cab: Ajay Piramal, one of India’s leading industrialist and social entrepreneur, has bought a ‘marginal’ stake in Chennai-based cab aggregator UTOO Cab. The investment has been routed through Piramal Group company, Alpex Corporate Services.

FindMyStay: A reverse bidding platform for hotel booking, FindMyStay, raised an undisclosed amount of Pre-Series A funding from theIndian Angel Network (IAN). Rishi Parti and Yogesh Bansal led this round. The startup will use the funds towards product development, brand building and also enhancing its technology.

Purplle: An online portal for beauty products, spa and salon services, Purplle, secured $6 Mn in a Series B round of funding from existing investors led by JSW Ventures. Blume Ventures and IvyCap Ventures also participated in the round. The startup plans to use some part of the capital to set up a warehouse in Bangalore, which makes up 15 per cent of its annual GMV of INR 150 Cr.

Trak N Tell: automotive telematics technology company Bits N Bytes Soft Pvt Ltd doing business as Trak N tell raised an undisclosed amount of funding from a group of investors including Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp. The startup plans to deploy the raised funds towards product development and business expansion.

HiGrit: On-demand legal services provider HiGrit Services Pvt. Ltd has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from two Chandigarh-based investors. The startup provides legal services to startups, entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized businesses and professionals through its online platform.

Rentomojo: Home appliances and furniture rental marketplace RentoMojo, raised about $5 Mn from existing investors including Accel Partners and IDG Ventures India. The funding is believed to be part of the Series A round.

GyanDhan: An education financing marketplace GyanDhan raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs, and Harvard Angels. Pravin Gandhi, partner at Seedfund Advisors also invested in his personal capacity. The startup will use the raised funds to build the tech platform, and to further develop their data sciences capabilities.

SirionLabs: A provider of enterprise SaaS products, SirionLabs, raised $12.25 Mn (INR 81.5 Cr) in a Series B round led by existing investor Sequoia Capital India. Besides, QualGro Asean Fund and Canopy Ventures also participated in the round. The startup plans to utilise the funds to support expansion and R&D.

Besides, Online travel venture Ibibo Group acquired a majority stake in Peru-based bus ticketing platform Busportal (Empresa Digital Peruana S.A.C.) for an undisclosed amount. The investment in Busportal will give ibibo Group’s redBus an entry into online bus ticketing markets in Latin America, such as Peru, Colombia and Chile.

Acquisitions Of The week

• ShopClues acquired mobile payments startup Momoe Technologies. As part of the deal, India Quotient, IDG Ventures India and Jungle Ventures, who invested in Momoe, will get both cash and stock in ShopClues.
• GirnarSoft acqui-hired Valueserve Management Consultants in a cash deal. The acquisition marks a diversification of the company to cater to the public sector by providing e-governance solutions, consulting and management support services.
• Myntra has acqui-hired Cubeit, a startup focused on content aggregation on mobile. Post acquisition, the entire team of Cubeit will join Myntra. The amount and other terms of the deal remain undisclosed.

Also, Snapdeal is planning to completely acquire its online delivery partner GoJavas. It already holds a significant minority stake in GoJavas.

NASDAQ listed Terrapin 3 Acquisition Corp (TRTL) will buy the Indian OTA firm Yatra in a multi-phased transaction, valuing it at $218 Mn. As a result of its merger Yatra will be listed on NASDAQ.

Other Developments Of The week

• Sri Lanka and Singapore-based BOV Capital, announced a $15Mn (INR 100 Cr) fund focused on Sri Lankan startups. This venture capital fund focused on early stage startups in the country. It intends to invest in 7-10 startups, each with an investment in the$750K (INR 5 Cr) to $1.5 Mn (INR 10 Cr) range.
• Innov8, JustRide, and Meesho, have been selected by YC for a three-month programme based out of its Mountain View headquarters. The accelerator invests $120K in startups for a 7% equity stake in the selected startups.
• Global startup accelerator Kyron is planning to raise about $3 million for its maiden fund by the next quarter from limited partners to invest in startups between seed and Series A rounds
• US-based DCM Ventures raised $770 Mn for its various investment funds. Of this amount, $500 Mn will be used for DCM’s eighth flagship global investment fund, $100 Mn (A-fund) for early-stage startups, and $170 Mn (Turbo Fund) for growth-stage companies.