Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [19 December – 24 December]

After securing $50 Mn from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, edtech startup BYJU’s adds funding from the investment firm International Financial Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. The funding will enable BYJU’s to further its plans to make quality education accessible for students across the nation as well as in international markets.

Next, in a bid to gain an edge over competitors, ecommerce giant Amazon has invested a fresh capital of $295 Mn (INR 2,010 Cr) in its main Indian unit, making it the single-largest capital infusion so far. The investment was made in November and marks the total capital invested in Amazon Seller Services to over $1 Bn (INR 7,000 Cr) in the last 12 months, according to regulatory filings.

This week 13 startups raised over $10 Mn in funding altogether. (Funding amount is based on the startups that disclosed their funding amounts.)

Startup Fundings Of The Week

enKast: Seamovation Labs Pvt. Ltd, a Bengaluru-based startup which provides cloud-based CRM product enKast raised $2 Mn in Pre-Series A round of funding. The funds were infused by the Ivy League Alumni Angel Network in a round led by Manish Maheshwari, CEO at Network18 Digital and former Head of Flipkart’s Seller Marketplace. The raised funds will be used by the company to enhance scalability and quality of enKast’s on-demand platform and utility application suits.

Innoplexus: Germany- and India-based DaaS (Data as a Service) startup, Innoplexus secured an undisclosed amount in its Pre-Series A round of funding from HCS, a Germany-based Venture Capital Fund. Post the investment, Hans-Christian Semmler, Managing shareholder of HCS will join as Chairman of the supervisory board of Innoplexus. The startup plans to deploy the raised funds to file patent applications, develop its trademark platform, iPlexus, and for marketing purposes.

Tiyo: Kolkata-based healthtech startup Tiyo, run by Labsense Technology Services,  raised an undisclosed amount in its Seed round of funding led by Middle East-based existing investor, Ajith Nair, CEO iAdepto Global. The startup will deploy the newly raised funds to further accelerate its patient care technology and to increase its sales and marketing strategies.

MCaffeine: Ecommerce-based personal care startup, MCaffeine secured $300K (INR 2 Cr) in angel investment from Harminder Sahni, Kaushal Aggarwal, Krishna Mehra, Pranay Jivrajka, and Navjot Singh Saini. The raised funds will be deployed towards marketing, development of its R&D and analytics department, and increasing its supply chain.

The BlueBook: Bengaluru-based online-to-offline (O2O) marketing platform, The BlueBook raised $500K in its Seed round of funding led by Indian Angel Network (IAN). Fundraising platform LetsVenture, Srinubabu Gedela, CEO, OMICS International, Avinash Vashistha, founder, Tholons Capital, and Rajiv Mehta, CEO, Arvind Lifestyle also participated in the funding round. Post the investment, Avinash Vashishta and Srinubabu Gedela will join The BlueBook’s board of the Directors. The capital raised will be deployed in consolidating the merchant and user base in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Gurugram, apart from investing in product and technology to offer deep customer analytics, loyalty solution for merchants, and unique payment solution.

Supr Daily: Subscription-based micro delivery startup Supr Daily secured an undisclosed amount in Seed funding from investment platform Venture Catalysts. Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Anil Jain, Anuj Golecha, Krishna Jhunjhunwal, and Anirudh Damani led the investment round. The raised funds will be used to scale up its pan-Mumbai operations in the next 6 months.

Zoomcar: Bengaluru-based self-drive car rental venture Zoomcar raised an undisclosed amount of funding from China-based Cyber Carrier CL. This is an additional fundraise following its $25 Mn Series B round of funding in August 2016.

NoBroker: Bengaluru-based brokerage-free real estate portal, NoBroker raised $7 Mn, as an extension to its Series B funding. This extension round is led by Korean investor KTB Network. Existing investors SAIF Partners, BEENEXT, and Digital Garage also participated in the funding.

VivoCarat: Mumbai-based online jewellery marketplace VivoCarat secured $50K seed funding from a group of individual investors. The funds will be used for product development, team building, and marketing.

E-Vegetailing: The Chennai Angels (TCA) infused a Seed investment of $162K (INR 1.1 Cr) in E-Vegetailing Private Limited, a Chennai-based startup engaged in selling farm fresh vegetables procured directly from farmers and delivered to customers with its innovative technology backend. Gowri Shankar Subramanian, CEO & co-founder – Aspire Systems, led the round on behalf of The Chennai Angels. This capital will be used by E-Vegetailing to build its farmer network, increase procurement points and enhance its logistics operations.

MyAdvo: MyAdvo, a legaltech concierge that helps its clients connect to lawyers for their legal needs, raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding led by Pradyumna Dalmia (Calcutta Angels Network), S. Somasegarand other investors through LetsVenture. The startup will be using the funds to setup a stronger technology and operational backbone. The startup is planning to soon expand to eight more cities.

ShopKirana: ShopKirana, a startup connecting brands and traditional retailers, secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Japanese seed-stage investors, Incubate Fund. Mumbai-based Lead Angels Group and senior executives from leading FMCG companies also participated in this round. Earlier, the startup had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Samsung’s Atul Jain and Anil Gelra (Holachef founder). Also, ShopKirana was among the top 10 startups that were part of Inc42’s StartupPulse Bangalore 2nd edition.

Acquisitions Of The Week

• Gurugram-based test preparation app OnlineTyari (OT) acquired Plix, a photo and video sharing platform. OnlineTyari and Plix will integrate within the next couple of months. With this acquisition, OnlineTyari will now be 75 employees strong.
• Swedish game developer Starbreeze AB acquired 90.5% stake in Indian art production and game development company Dhruva Interactive for $8.5 Mn (about INR 57.6 Cr), in a mixed cash-and-stock deal. $7 Mn of the total deal amount will be paid in cash. Post the acquisition, Bengaluru-based Dhruva will continue to operate under its own brand and service its clients in the global gaming industry.
• Delhi-based Internet media and news startup, ScoopWhoop Media acquired Touchfone Technologies for an undisclosed amount. With this development, Touchfone Technologies co-founders Mahesh Subramanian and Brahmayya Akella will be appointed as ScoopWhoop’s Chief Technology Officer and Chief Integration Officer, respectively.
• Karnataka-based fresh fruits and vegetables etailer Freshboxx acquired Hubli-based last mile logistics startup, Urmajesty. Post the acquisition, Urmajesty co-founders Pavan Patil and Nihal Revankar will join Freshboxx’s team as Head of B2C and Head of logistics department, respectively. With this acquisition, the startup aims to multiply its revenue by starting business operations in South Karnataka while launching in new cities of North Karnataka.

Also, PayPal is in the final stages of a deal to acquire a significant minority stake in Freecharge. The deal is expected to see the sale of a 25% stake for around $200 Mn.

Other Developments

• IBM has announced the winners of its startup challenge, IBM Smartcamp for Deeptech in India. The finals were held in Bengaluru on December 17, 2016. The event showcased startups from sectors such as IoT, big data & analytics, security, storage, BI, mobile, cognitive & machine learning, blockchain, social, infrastructure services management, and Cloud. The top 10 finalists included Fluid AI, Emotix, SigTuple Technologies, Appiyo Technologies, Merxius, GenCrunch, Clean Slate, KrypC Technologies, NeuroEquillibrium Diagnostics, and Staqu Technologies.
• Former Group-COO of Network 18, Alok Agrawal and Applyifi founder, Prajakt Raut launched a new platform The Growth Labs to provide advice and assistance to emerging startups. The platform has a group of experienced and successful CXOs from different industries to mentor the startups.
• Tamil Nadu Government’s Amma Venture Capital Fund will soon be made operational, as per official sources close to the development. With a corpus of $29.5 Mn (INR 200 Cr), the Amma VC Fund will work in conjunction with the functioning biotech incubation centre in Chennai.