Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [31 October

Paytm’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma announced to invest $1.5 Mn (INR 10 Cr), in his personal capacity, in startups working on environment sustainability. He will also support any ongoing government or private initiative working on the protection of the environment. He is already in talks with other investors and fellow entrepreneurs. The application process for the same is yet to be structured.

Chennai-based SaaS startup Freshdesk announced a $55 Mn Series F funding round led by Sequoia Capital India along with Accel Partners. The newly infused funds will be utilised in fuelling the company’s aggressive expansion strategy across the entire product line. With this round, Freshdesk’s total funding to date has touched $150.5 Mn. Freshdesk also counts Tiger Global Management and Google Capital among its investors.

This week 17 startups raised about $67 Mn in funding altogether. (Funding amount based on startups that disclosed their funding.)

Startup Fundings Of The Week

DoSelect: Bengaluru-based HR tech startup DoSelect raised an undisclosed amount of Seed funding from 3one4 Capital, Mumbai Angels led by Mohit Saxena (co-Founder, InMobi), and Aarin Capital. Singapore Angel Network along with a cohort of individual investors also participated in the round. The raised funds will be deployed to scale current traction areas through targeted marketing and sales funnels. A part of the investment will also be used for product enhancements that move the needle for HR teams worldwide, vis-a-vis measurement of technical acumen in their respective organisations.

Zarget: SaaS-based web optimisation and marketing platform Zarget raised $6 Mn in its Series A round of funding led by Sequoia India. Current investors Accel Partners and Matrix Partners also participated in the round. The startup will use the proceeds to scale its marketing automation products and help small businesses easily optimise their web presence in real-time without requiring any coding skills.

Sattviko: Delhi-based health food restaurant chain Sattviko raised a round of follow-on funding from a series of angel investors including Quattro founder Raman Roy and, others. The amount of funding remains undisclosed. The investment will be focussed on a specific business vertical of the startup i.e. scaling up its packaged food business both operationally and geographically. The funding will also be used to launch a new branch of the business, an IoT-based vending machine for corporates, in the next three to four months

LetsMD: Delhi-based healthcare comparison platform LetsMD secured an undisclosed amount in funding from Calcutta Angels Network (CAN), LetsVenture, Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com, and Currae Healthtech Fund. The funding will be used to develop its technology. It will also be used to expand the team and for marketing.

LaundryAnna: Bengaluru-based doorstep laundry startup LaundryAnna secured $150K (INR 1 Cr) in Seed funding from angel investors. The raised funds will be used to expand to other areas in the city with a combination of hub and spoke model and physical stores.

PickMyLaundry: Gurugram-based on-demand washing and dry cleaning startup, PickMyLaundry raised an undisclosed amount in funding from FMCG executive Kedar Lele and existing investor, GreenHouse Ventures Accelerator (GHV Accelerator). The raised funds will be divested to scale its expansion operations in NCR and other Indian cities as well.

TalentNext: Entertainment tech platform TalentNext raised $1 Mn Seed funding led by Karanpal Singh (Managing Director at KJS Cement) and other angel investors. This investment will be used to expand to hundreds of cities across India and beyond the typical metropolitan and Tier I regions. The startup is also planning to expand to other regions in the next few weeks.

ImpactAnalytics: Bengaluru- and US-based data science company Impact Analytics secured $750K in a funding round led by early-stage VC firm Aarin Capital, a joint venture founded by TV Mohandas Pai and Dr. Ranjan Pai. Other investors in the round included Michael Herzig, serial entrepreneur, and Ashish Lakhanpal, CEO, Kismet Capital. The current round of capital will be utilised for product development and to expand the team.

The Gourmet Jar: New Delhi-based The Gourmet Jar raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding from Chandigarh Angels Network (CAN). The funding will be utilised by the startup to build team, scale operations and add global customers. It will also be used for marketing and brand building.

AsepsisLife: Bengaluru- and Dallas-based immunisation management platform raised an undisclosed amount in angel investment from a radiologist certified by The American Board of Radiology. The company will use the capital to enable inorganic growth via social marketing.

Connect India: Bengaluru-based ecommerce logistics firm Connect India has raised $1 Mn (INR 6.7 Cr) growth capital from Aavishkaar Venture Management. The funds will be used to build a network covering more than 20,000 PIN codes across the country.

Bizongo: Mumbai-based B2B marketplace for industry materials, Bizongo raised $3 Mn in Series A round of funding led by IDG Ventures and Accel Partners. Earlier, in October 2015, Bizongo also raised an undisclosed amount in Seed round of funding from Accel Partners. The raised funds will be used to expand their seller base and serve pan-India demand in a better fashion.

Medzin: Delhi-based healthtech startup Medzin raised $45K in an angel funding round from investor A. M. Sikander, the owner of Sitics Logistics Solutions. The round was closed earlier in March 2016. The startup has so far raised $74.86K (INR 50 Lakh).

Besides, Nasscom 10,000 Startups hosted the finale of TechMarch 2016 on the sidelines of National Product Conclave in Bengaluru. The three startups, viz. Velmenni, Volta Motors, and Cyclops have been committed an investment of $100K each by Kalaari Capital. Other startups which were part of finale included ThingsCloud, IOT Pot India Private Limited, NeuroTech and TitanObots.

Also, venture capital firm RedCliffe Capital invested an undisclosed amount in a Seed round in Xanadu Heights (XH), a VR game studio based out of San Francisco. The terms of the investment remain undisclosed. The round was closed earlier in October 2016. The startup will use the newly raised capital to build and launch the game’s first chapter later this year.

Acquisitions Of The Week

Bengaluru-based car purchase and service platform BookMyTime acqui-hired car management startup Servicemykar. The acquisition entails the inclusion of its 10+ member team and also the appointment of founder Raghavendra Chandrappa as the CEO of the new and expanded BookMyTime.
Amazon is planning to acquire the remaining 74% stake in Westland Ltd, the publishing unit of the Tata Group retail company Trent Ltd. The terms of the deal are undisclosed. Following this investment, Amazon will get the right to name one member to the Westland board.

Other Developments

Hyderabad state government-backed startup incubator T-Hub launched an ‘AgriTech Accelerator Program’ in partnership with ICRISAT(International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics). The three-month programme is powered by RViP (Riverbridge Ventures Innovations Platform) and will begin on February 15, 2017.
Spark10, India’s first European startup accelerator aimed at helping early-stage startups to turn their minimum viable product (MVP) into scalable, investable business, opened applications for its second batch, Cohort 2017-A. The accelerator will select 10 startups in its second cohort and the selected startups will be given $15K (INR 10 Lakhs) each as Seed funding, in return for 8% equity.
Times Internet Ltd (TIL), the digital business arm of the Times Group, announced to create a large fund exclusively for mergers and acquisitions. The fund is likely to come into existence by early next year. The exact process is yet to be finalised.