Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The week [25 July – 30 July]

After being in news for acquisition offers from biggies, Jabong got finally acquired by homegrown ecommerce biggie from its Myntra unit. The acquisition was revealed through a tweet from Flipkart Executive Chairman Sachin Bansal, which said “Welcome Jabong India to the Flipkart family. We’ll create history together.” The deal was closed in three days for which Flipkart paid $70 Mn.

In another development, according to the quarterly filings made by Fidelity Rutland and T Rowe Price in SEC filings for the quarter ending June 2016, Flipkart does not have a definite valuation. Mutual fund investor Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II fund has marked-up the valuation of its Flipkart shares marginally by nearly 3% while T Rowe Price has further marked down the value of shares it owns in it by 20%. Consequently, this values Flipkart at around $9 Bn by Fidelity and pegs it at $10.3 Bn , rising from the $8.8 Bn valuation earlier, while T Rowe’s mark down.

Fundings That Took Place This Week:

This week 20 startups raised $29 Mn in funding altogether. (The funding amount is based on the startups that disclosed their funding amounts).

Startup Fundings Of The Week

Tiyo: Healthtech startup Tiyo raised $120K in angel funding from Anish K & Ajith Nair. The startup plans to use the newly raised funds to further develop their patient care technology and consolidate sales efforts. It plans to foray into Tier I and II markets by 2017.

Lemon Leaf: Fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain startup Lemon Leaf raised $133K (INR 90 lakhs) in first external round of funding. The investment was secured from angel investors, Saurabh Sahni and Tushar Gupta. The startup plans to utilise the raised capital to develop its manufacturing facility in Dwarka and build up sales.

IStyleYou: Bollywood and TV celebrity Rannvijay Singh invested an undisclosed amount in IStyleYou, a mobile app to deliver personalised styling service. Rannvijay will also be endorsing the brand.

Modasta: Health content portal and queries platform, Modasta, raised $1.5 Mn (about INR 10 Cr) from Mauritius-based high net worth individuals (HNIs). The startup plans to use the funds for business growth, technology upgradation, talent acquisition and marketing outreach activities.

Square Plums: Shared accommodation startup, Square Plums, raised $446K (INR 3 Cr) in a funding round led by IAN. As a part of deal, VGN Prakash will be joining the company’s board. The raised funds will be used for expansion plans in five cities including Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad. The startup also plans to launch its app in the coming week. .

Byndr: Mobile learning management platform Byndr raised $700K in seed funding from the Education Design Studio (premier EdTech accelerator at the University of Pennsylvania), Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and a group of angel investors.

Fella Homes: Fully furnished home rental service startup Fella Homes raised a seed funding of $2 Mn from unnamed investors. The startup plans to utilise the newly raised capital in acquiring new properties and tenants, team building and product development.

Zoomcar: Self-drive car rental venture Zoomcar reportedly raised $25 Mn in Series C funding led by Ford Motor Company. Its existing investor Sequoia Capital along with new investor, Reliance Ventures also participated in the round.

Qwikcilver: Gift card technology startup Qwikcilver raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by Sistema Asia Fund. Its existing investors, Amazon Asia-Pacific, Accel India and Helion Venture Partners, also participated in the round.

WakoW: A hyperlocal buddy finder and a social network WakoW closed its second angel round of $141K funding from an undisclosed angel investor, primarily dealing with a traditional jewellery business.

Qdesq: A workspace rental platform Qdesq raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Anurag Jaipuria, Ruchirans Jaipuria and Rishi Kajaria. Its existing investors Dheeraj Jain and angel investors Ankush Nijhawan, Gaurav Bhatnagar and Manish Dhingra also participated in this round. The raised funds will be used to expand its presence in Mumbai and Bangalore. It also plans to enhance its marketing and technology backbone.

10i Commerce Services: Ecommerce startup 10i Commerce Services raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Nandan Nilekani. With the newly raised capital, the startup plans to expand across hundreds of towns and cities in India and empower traditional small retail stores with its technology platform, ShopX.

Lucideus: A startup working in the field of cyber security Lucideus raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Sanjay Baweja. The team is working on a product, which is currently in pilot mode and expected to launch soon

GoCoop: A social marketplace, GoCoop, from where users can buy and source handmade apparels, home furnishings, fabrics, crafts directly from weavers and artisans, raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Kris Gopalakrishnan and Saha Fund.

MaxWholesale: B2B commerce and supply chain platform MaxWholesale raised $150K in a seed round of funding led by investment bank Maple Capital Advisors. The startup plans to use the funds to scale existing operations and strengthen its technology platform.

AppSay: Business communication platform AppSay raised seed funding of $150K from Venture Catalysts. The round was led by Shreyans Shah and Mayank Shah of Toyochem Laboratories. The startup plans to work with the BFSI sector to help protect customer information, privacy and choice.

Neuron: A machine learning platform for text analysis, Neuron, raised angel funding of $200K led by Harvinder Singh Bhatia and Vinners group of angels. The company plans to use the funds for its R&D in machine learning and natural language processing to develop deep learning models with the best accuracy industrially possible and hire the best talent pool for machine learning and artificial intelligence.

SimplyMoveIn: A startup which operates online marketplace for curated rental properties, SimplyMoveIn, raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Hong Kong-based investment firm Swastika Company Ltd. The company will use the funds for hiring across verticals, marketing, augmenting the technology backbone and geographical expansion.

AbeRuk: A startup that operates curated online marketplace for used books AbeRuk raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Hong Kong-based Swastika Company. The funding will be used for scaling up operations, expanding seller base and augmenting the technology backbone.

BigDeal: Venture capital firm EVC Ventures invested an undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A round in BigDeal, an exclusive student deals platform. The startup will use the fund to expand the team, further enhance technology and customer & merchant acquisition.

Byju’s is in talks with a few potential investors to raise around $50 Mn in a new round to fuel its international expansion.

Distiman, makers of a mobile app that allows mom and pop stores to procure stocks on-demand, is in talks with venture capital funds to raise $5 Mn.

Acquisitions Of The Week

Quikr acquired online recruitment startup Hiree, focused on white collar jobs, for an undisclosed amount. With this Hiree, will be merged with its jobs vertical QuikrJobs and will operate out of Quikr HQ.

Other Developments Of The Week

• GHV Accelerator has announced a strategic tie up with World Innovation Labs (WiL) and onboarding of Makoto Takano (ex-President of PIMCO Japan) as a Board Member. With this strategic tie up, the trio has announced the launch of $52 Mn fund for Indian startups.
• My Home group, Telangana’s largest business house, is preparing to set up a INR 500 Cr equity fund to invest in startups. The group proposes to invest from this fund in real estate, cement and power businesses and also in buyouts of scaled-up businesses over the next five years.
• Spark10 announced the graduation of its first batch of its accelerator program by hosting its demo day on July 31, 2016 at Hyderabad.
• The Government of Karnataka announced a set of schemes with an aim to bolster the startup ecosystem in the state. The announcement was made by Minister for IT and BT,  Priyanka Kharge.
• Deloitte’s subsidiary, Tohmatsu Venture Support (Deloitte Japan) is inviting applications for the first time from Indian IoT startups for its accelerator programme in Japan. The selection process will commence in September, and 10 selected startups will visit Japan this October. Accommodation and travel will be provided free of cost.
• Swiss Re, a reinsurance company based in Zurich has selected six startups for its first batch of InsurTech accelerator programme. The 6 startups are ekincare, Touchkin, GOQii, Arya.ai, Niki.ai and Datasigns Technologies.
• According to a report released by Google And BCG, the digital payments industry in India is projected to reach $500 Bn by 2020, contributing 15% to India’s GDP, as a per a recent report by Google and Boston Consulting Group.
• New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) cleared a proposal to set up business incubation centres for startups. Twenty new startups will get assistance from NDMC, who will be provided with the basic amenities like internet connectivity, conference rooms, libraries and more.

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