Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [5 September – 10 September]

The Bihar Government launched the state’s startup policy. The policy includes a startup venture capital fund with a value of $750 Mn formed as part of CM Nitish Kumar’s ‘seven resolves’. It will be adopted as policy governance for the next five years in conjunction with the secular alliance government.

This week 25 startups raised over $99 Mn in funding altogether. (Funding amount is based on the startups that disclosed their funding.)

Startup Fundings Of The Week

StalkBuyLove: Online Fashion brand StalkBuyLove raised an undisclosed amount of funding from William Bissell, Managing Director of ethnic retailer Fabindia. The funding was an extension to the last round where it raised an undisclosed amount from Germany-based venture fund Littlerock, 500 Startups, Singularity Ventures, and others. The company plans to use the money to spur growth and improve its supply chain, fulfillment network and hire fresh talent in its design team.

Zybo: Kochi-based software solutions provider Zybo Tracking Solutions raised an undisclosed amount. The investment was led by foreign equity investment from Grasshoppers, a Netherlands-based company. The amount of investment is undisclosed. The funding will be used to develop and market Trackbizz, their app.

Social Quotient: A startup for  social causes, Social Quotient raised an undisclosed amount of funding from fashion designer Anita Dongre and her son Yash Dongre. The mother-son duo has partnered with Milind Sarwate, founder, Increate Value Advisors for the investment. Following the investment, Yash has been appointed as the director of the company, while Milind will join the advisory board.

Zilingo: Online fashion marketplace Zilingo grabbed $8 Mn in Series A funding round from Venturra Capital, Sequoia India, and Susquehanna International Group. Wavemaker Partners, Beenext, Beenos, and Digital Garage were the other investors who participated in the round. The funds will be used to aggressively gain market share in Singapore and Thailand. Also, there are plans to expand to Indonesia and get more sellers across the region to use its seller centre.

Lenskart: New Delhi-based eyewear platform Lenskart raised over $30.14 Mn from PremjiInvest. The funding has been done at a valuation of $270 Mn. The deal also marked the partial exit of IDG Ventures India from the company. IDG first invested $4 Mn in the company in 2011, at a valuation of $10 Mn. The raised funds will be utilised to extend its omnichannel presence.

AlternaCare: Delhi-based healthtech startup AlternaCare raised $500K Seed funding from Eros Labs. The startup will use the funding for product development, building out its team, branding, and geographic expansion into key language markets.

Prozo: EdTech startup Prozo raised Pre-Series A round of $315K funding from a London-based venture capital firm Earlsfield Capital and two Delhi businessmen, Sailender Solanki and Rajiv Solanki. The investors collectively picked up a 7.34% stake in the startup.

eShakti: Chennai-based online women’s apparel portal eShakti raised $1.34 Mn from Infina Finance Pvt. Ltd, an investment firm jointly controlled by Kotak Mahindra Bank and its promoter Uday Kotak in his personal capacity. Financial services provider Polaris Banyan Holding Pvt. Ltd also participated in this round.

CheersOye!: Mumbai-based social gifting platform CheersOye! raised angel funding of approximately $500K from undisclosed investors. The raised funds will be used to introduce other entertainment categories, hire staff and expand to other cities.

BigStylist: Mumbai-based beauty and wellness services marketplace BigStylist raised $900K in a fresh round of funding from Info Edge.This is a bridge round, which will help the company break even.

Makkajai: Educational gaming platform, makkajai raised $250K in Seed funding from angel investors via LetsVenture. The investors who participated in the round included Ananth Narayanan, CEO, Myntra; Anand Chandrasekaran, former CPO, Snapdeal; Mekin Maheshwari, former CPO, Flipkart; Ravi Garikipati, Divyesh Shah, and Swastika Company. The funding will be utilised to enhance technology and design in order to introduce more educational games in the coming year.

NoBroker: Bengaluru-based real estate portal NoBroker raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investor and Entrepreneurial Product Leader, Anand Chandrasekaran. The funding aims at strengthening NoBroker’s investor portfolio which includes SAIF Partners, BEENEXT- Singapore-based venture capital firm run by Teruhide Sato, Digital Garage (an early investor in Twitter), BEENOS, Qualgro and Mamoru Taniya of Asuka holdings.

Burger Singh: Fusion burger chain Burger Singh secured a funding of $800K from investors such as Beer Cafe founder Rahul Singh, Dheeraj Jain (Redcliffe Capital) and television actor Rannvijay Singh. Ashvin Chadda, Capt. Salim Sheikh (ex-Sayaji Hotels) and Avtar Monga (COO of IDFC Bank) were others who participated in the round. The funds will be used to expand its retail presence to 26 stores by September next year.

BYJU’S: Bengaluru-based edtech startup BYJU’S raised $50 Mn funding led by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan, along with Sequoia Capital. Sofina, Lightspeed Ventures, and Times Internet Ltd are the other investors who participated in the round. The newly-raised funds will be deployed to fuel international expansion and inspire additional funding investments from leading companies around the world.

BuildTraders: Bengaluru-based BuildTraders, an ecommerce-based building materials trading company raised $200K in Seed funding from UAE-based Idein Ventures. The funding will be used to enhance its technology, infrastructure and strengthen its supplier base.

TopRankers: Bengaluru-based online test preparation startup TopRankers raised $670K in angel funding from CareerNet Consulting Pvt. Ltd and Ideation Initiative Pvt. Ltd. The funds will be used to expand technology and marketing verticals and in research and development.

Freshboxx: Karnataka-based fresh fruits and vegetables etailer Freshboxx has secured an undisclosed amount of angel funding from entrepreneur and angel investor, Ravi Linganuri. The raised funds will be deployed towards hiring a core team, upgrading its technology, improving its infrastructure and expanding further in the state of Karnataka.

Simplilearn: Mumbai-based venture debt fund InnoVen Capital extended a loan to Simplilearn Solutions, a Bengaluru-based online professional certification platform. It had earlier raised more than $25 Mn from Mayfield Fund, Kalaari Capital, and Helion Venture Partners.

Capillary Technologies: Mumbai-based venture debt fund InnoVen Capital extended a loan to Capillary Technologies, a  cloud-based software solutions provider. It has earlier raised more than $31 Mn funds from Sequoia Capital, American Express Ventures, the venture capital arm of American Express, and Norwest Venture Partners (NVP).

Gurugram-based online marketplace ShopClues will invest $150K collectively across four startups –  Pepper Agro, Glam Studios, Ornitva and Scrapify. With the proposed funding, ShopClues will also provide assistance in operations, technology and strategic partnerships to these startups. The company will divide money based on the stage and requirements of the startups.

Online shopping platform Amazon India is considering an  investment in online food delivery startup, Swiggy. According to sources close to the development, it has already held several rounds of discussion with the startup over the past three months. The concerned parties dismissed the rumours calling it “market speculation.”

Acquisitions Of The Week

• Online real estate advisor PropTiger acqui-hired Mumbai-based startup PropRates. Post acquisition, the team of PropRates will come on board at PropTiger. The startup will continue to build on their data gathering and analysis to augment and fine-tune their offering, with the available resources at Proptiger.
• Digital content service provider YAAP acquired Brand Planet Consultants for $3 Mn (INR 20 Cr) in an all-cash deal. Post-acquisition, Brand Planet will be rebranded as YAAP. The deal will help YAAP with its global expansion plan towards marketing its technology tools into branding practices, such as product packaging and logo designing.
• Quikr has acquired Stepni, a platform that connects vehicle owners with the service providers nearest to them. With this move, Stepni’s founders and team will join QuikrCars. The overall platform integration will help QuikrCars consumers shortlist service providers that can ensure the best service for their vehicle within 5 km of their location.
• Bengaluru-based healthtech startup GrowFit has entered the functional beverages field with the acquisition of Drink King. The cash and stock deal was executed for an undisclosed consideration. Post acquisition, GrowFit’s offerings will span areas including expert health advice, customised diet plans, therapeutic and functional foods, and nutritional beverages.
• Scale Ventures’ The India Network – a platform aimed at boosting startup activity in Tier II and Tier III cities – has acquired Udaipur-based MagicSpace – a coworking space company in a part cash and part equity deal. Post-acquisition, founder Vinav Bhanawat will join The India Network as a co-founder. While another co-founder Pallav Nahar will hold part equity for the coworking space.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Z Nation Lab launched an incubation and accelerator programme in Mumbai to focus on startups functioning in the US-India corridor. The platform will also offer collaborative workspaces in Mumbai. It has already selected 20 startups for its first batch.
• After ONGC’s $15 Mn fund, Cabinet Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan urged public sector undertakings (PSUs) to create a startup fund to boost innovation in the energy sector. The proposal came in light of the recent startup investments initiatives of Narayan Murthy and Ratan Tata.
• Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (RGPV) formed a corpus of $3 Mn. The objective of the corpus is to encourage students to take up entrepreneurship and for funding startups.
• The Department of Science and Technology (DST) announced $75 Mn fund to scale up the startup ecosystem. Also, the central government approved six proposals to set up centres of excellence to promote and fund startups under the National Initiative for Development and Harnessing Innovation (NIDHI).
• Google announced the call for applications for third round of Launchpad Accelerator. Startups can utilise Google’s mentorship and privileged product access to scale business. They can then capitalise on local markets, while also tapping into new global opportunities.
• Mohandas Pai, ‎Chairman of Manipal Global Education Services and co-founder of Aarin Capital is looking to build an ‘ecosystem’ of funds. The aim is to focus on private equity, real estate, late-stage capital, early-stage high returns funds and promoting women entrepreneurs.
• The French Government has opened its doors to the global competition, French Tech Season 2. A total of 70 teams will be selected. They will be hosted in France by 40 incubators for one full year starting January 2017. Each winning team will be awarded $51K (€45,000) in prize money with no loss of equity (€20K to cover personal costs and €25K to cover professional services).