Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [13-18 May]

We bring to you the latest edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!

This week the largest funding round was raised by Gurugram-based online grocery startup Grofers. It raised a $200 Mn in Series F round led by SoftBank Vision Fund. The company also raised capital from existing investors Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital as well as new investor KTB.

Grofers is looking to utilise the funding to expand into new markets, build out its supply chain, improve warehousing infrastructure and expand its private label portfolio.

This week, nine startups raised $205.39 Mn funding and one startup acquisition took place in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Fundings Of The Week

Disrupt: Mumbai-based fashion retail startup Disrupt raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A funding from Fynd cofounders Harsh Shah and Farooq Adam Anil Gelra and Mumbai-based VC firm First Cheque. The funds will be used to further invest in strategic collaborations, research and development, executive appointments, talent acquisition and offline retail expansion. Further, the funds will also be utilised for expanding its sales and marketing efforts.

DeHaat: Patna-based agritech startup DeHaat secured $2.84 Mn from venture debt firm Trifecta Capital. DeHaat plans to use the funds for piloting of financial services, such as credit and insurance, for existing farmers on its platform.

Epigamia: Mumbai-based food startup Drums Food International, parent company of Epigamia, raised an undisclosed amount from Deepika Padukone, Verlinvest, Danone Manifesto Ventures, and DSG Consumer Partners. With the investment the company aims to ramp up distribution to 50K outlets in more than 25 cities.

DocsApp: Bengaluru-based healthtech startup DocsApp raised $1.6 Mn (INR 12 Cr) from InnoVen Capital. With the funding the company will look to launch the DocsApp interface in Indian regional languages, besides the existing Hindi and English options.

Veratech: Gurugram-based business intelligence startup Veratech raised $100K from Chandrashekar Kupperi, GK Jaishankar and Srinivas P Naidu. The company is looking to expand its technology platform and utilise a portion of the funding for hiring.

Docttocare: Bengaluru-based healthcare service provider Docttocare raised $600K (INR 40 Mn) in seed funding from startup mentor Krishnakumar Devnally. The startup is aiming to touch 20 Lakh appointments by December 2020.

GIFkaro: New Delhi-based content startup GIFkaro raised $250K in angel funding from  Pranay Gupta and Dr Ekika Singh. GIFkaro said it plans to expand its product portfolio with the new funding.

Do Your Thng: Delhi-based shared economy platform Do Your Thng (DYT) raised an undisclosed amount from Sorabh Agarwal, Pawan Kumar, Girish Minocha, Proteek Dey and Rahul Verma. The funds will be used to expand the technology platform and on-boarding the brands, influencers and creators.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• New York-based game publisher and studio Rockstar Games acquired Bengaluru-based game development studio Dhruva Interactive for an undisclosed amount. The company’s existing client projects will continue the same but the team will now operate as part of Rockstar India.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Transport tech venture Virgin Hyperloop One has raised $172.2 Mn of its target $225 Mn equity funding round. The LA-based company has already secured $172.2 Mn, leaving $52.5 Mn in the equity offering as-yet unsold. So far, 80 investors have contributed to Virgin Hyperloop One’s funding round. The company is working on multiple Hyperloop projects in India.
• Singapore-headquartered investments enabler LetsVenture has launched a healthcare council. The council will be a specialised healthcare investment programme which will help startups access market and mentorship. The council aims to make 15-20 investments of INR 3-5 Cr each in startups over the next one year, focusing on healthcare at the seed and pre-series A stages.
• Anthill Ventures has shortlisted startups for its Asian market access programme A-Scale. The selected cohort comprises of startups from Singapore, India, Israel, and the US, which are working across fields such as healthtech, media tech and urban tech. The investment company had also announced a partnership with the Andhra Pradesh government for this programme.
• She Loves Tech, is entering India this year in a partnership with Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM). KSUM will be organising the competition in India and is inviting applications from women-centric startups to participate in the global challenge.
• In a bid to support growing agritech ecosystem, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has launched INR 700 Cr ($99.6 Mn) venture capital fund. The fund will make equity investments in agriculture and rural-focussed startups. The fund has a proposed corpus of INR 500 Cr ($71.1 Mn) with an option to retain over-subscription of INR 200 Cr ($28.4 Mn) also known as the greenshoe option.
• Venture capital firm A91 Partners has reportedly closed its $350 Mn maiden fund led by former managing directors of Sequoia Capital.. A91 informed its limited partners that it had racked up dollar commitments of $280 Mn. Further, almost $70 Mn of the corpus was in Indian currency.
• Mumbai-based venture debt-focussed investment firm InnoVen Capital received $200 Mn in additional funding commitments. The capital commitment has come in equal tranches from its existing shareholders, Temasek and United Overseas Bank Limited.
• GREE Ventures has rebranded itself to STRIVE. The new name follows on the heels of the first close of its $130 Mn STRIVE III Investment Limited Partnership Fund. The venture capital firm plans to do a final close by the end of 2019.
• The Indian arm of the American venture capital firm Sequoia Capital has rolled out the applications for the second round of its 16 weeks startup accelerator and incubation programme, Surge. Surge is open to early-stage startups based out of, or building for, Indian and Southeast Asian markets. The programme focusses on industry sectors such as consumer internet, media, enterprise software, or healthcare to fintech and direct to consumer brands.
• A group of 35 entrepreneurs have come together to launch an early stage startup accelerator — Risers. The Delhi-based accelerator will shortlist 200 startups in a year and will provide support in the form of infrastructure, funding and mentorship. The ticket size of the seed capital will be between INR 10 Lakh to INR 50 Lakh for each startup.
• Gurugram-based incubator and accelerator, UIncept, is inviting applications from idea and early stage startups in edtech, elearning, and skilltech for the fourth cohort of its incubation programme. The applications for the cohort will close on June 15, and the programme will start in July.
• The early-stage funding arm of SoftBank, is reportedly in talks to invest in logistics management software provider LogiNext Solutions. The Japanese conglomerate has invested more than $10 Bn in the Indian startup ecosystem through its Vision Fund for late stage or growth stage ventures. But this investment would come from Softbank Ventures Asia, which invests in early-stage companies.
• The government of Rajasthan has disbursed funding ranging from INR 1.20 Lakh to INR 20 Lakh to over 30 startups under iStart Rajasthan programme. The iStart Rajasthan programme includes  sustenance allowance, seed funding, marketing assistance and the state’s Techno Fund.
• Mumbai based media startup incubator MEHUB and Venture Catalysts have collaborated to bring investment and growth expertise to content creation companies working with OTT players in the country. The portfolio companies will work closely with industry experts as well as mentors at MEHUB.

Stay tuned for next week’s edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!

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