Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [6 March – 11 March]

Reliance Capital sold around 1% stake in payments firm Paytm for $41.2 Mn (INR 275 Cr) to China’s Alibaba Group. The Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Capital had bought this stake for $1.5 Mn (INR 10 Cr) in One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm in 2010.

In another development, two homegrown unicorns – Flipkart and Snapdeal have been in talks with their investors to raise funding. Where Snapdeal is looking to raise a sum of $300 Mn under $3 Bn valuation, Flipkart is busy convincing investors to raise $1 Bn at a valuation of $10 Bn.

Next up, at Pitch@Rahstrapati Bhavan, a startup event organised by the Presidential Residence in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), 12 startups received a total funding of $12.75 Mn (INR 85 Cr).

This week 33 startups raised about $60 Mn in funding. (Funding is based on startups that have disclosed their funding amounts.)

Startup Fundings Of The Week

PeeBuddy: Female hygiene product maker PeeBuddy raised about $443K (INR 2.96 Cr) Pre-Series A funding from Indian Angel Network. Sanjay Mehta, Ishan Singh, and Vikas Kuthiala led this round of investment on behalf of Indian Angel Network. It will use the newly raised funding to focus on making investments in strengthening its market position as well as creating an innovative product portfolio mix and a strong team.

MagicBricks: Online real estate portal MagicBricks secured $4.48 Mn ( INR 30 Cr) from Times Internet Ltd. The company plans to utilise the freshly infused funds towards product development, brand building, and marketing initiatives.

Parentune: Gurugram-based online community of verified parents and real-time trusted advice, Parentune raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Kae Capital and Singapore-based Segnel Ventures. The raised funds will be utilised towards building personalised support for parents, with technology, data and intelligence at the centre of Parentune’s scale up. Also, there are plans to launch the network in Hindi and other languages.

Smartron: Hyderabad- and Bengaluru-based smartphone maker Smartron raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Sanjay Jha, CEO of GlobalFoundries, the global contract manufacturers of semiconductors. The current round of funding has raised the total investment in the company to date to $15 Mn (INR 100 Cr). Also, the company is further planning to raise another $30 Mn (INR 200 Cr), primarily for research and development.

PipeCandy: Chennai-based PipeCandy, an intelligent sales prospecting platform raised $1.1 Mn (INR 7.3 Cr) in a Seed round of funding from IDG ventures, and Axilor Ventures. Emergent Ventures, Indian Angel Network along with a few more undisclosed startup investors also participated in the round. The startup plans to utilise the raised funds to deeply verticalise its analytical models and to build tools that make sales representatives follow best practices effortlessly. Also, the goal is to touch 100 paying customers by July 2017. The company had earlier raised an undisclosed amount in February 2016.

Rivigo: Gurugram-based logistics platform Rivigo raised about $15 Mn (INR 100 Cr) in debt finance from undisclosed private sector banks. The startup will use the newly raised funds to increase its fleet and for preparing to introduce new products, including a technology to automate its trucking operations.

Data Resolve: Noida-based cyber-security startup Data Resolve raised $1 Mn from early-stage fund Parampara Capital. This is Parampara Capital’s first investment, post its announcement of a tie-up with IDFC Alternatives, the private equity arm of IDFC Group.

Blowhorn: Online marketplace for last-mile logistics Blowhorn raised $3.75 Mn (INR 25 Cr) in Series A funding from IDG Ventures India, together with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and existing investors, Draper Associates, and Unitus Seed Fund. For Tim Draper’s new fund ‘Draper Associates,’ Blowhorn is the first Series A bet in India. The startup plans to utilise the funds to expand operations to eight cities in the next 24 months, with over 25,000 daily active drivers.

AgroStar: Pune-based agritech startup AgroStar raised $10 Mn Series B funding led by Accel India. Existing investors IDG Ventures and Aavishkaar also participated in this round. The startup will use the newly raised funding to solidify its leadership position in the agri-tech space and have a pan-India presence in the next two years. It also plans to build its leadership team and further strengthen its technology and data analytics platform.

Zapr: Television broadcast network STAR invested $8 Mn in Bengaluru-based Zapr Media Labs, against a minority stake. The two companies will work together to create a deep understanding of mobile audiences that can be leveraged by brands to create personalised communication and offers.

Juno Clinic: Mumbai-based Juno Clinic raised about $1.2 Mn (INR 8 Cr) in Pre-Series A round of funding from Atul Nishar (founder of Hexaware Technologies & Aptech Computers) and other individual investors. The round also saw participation from the family office of Sunita and Neeraj Bhargava (founder of Zodius Capital), Vikas Khemani (President & CEO, Edelweiss Securities Ltd) and other individual investors. The startup will use the funding proceeds to expand into both domestic and international markets online.

LetsVenture: Former chief product officer at Snapdeal Anand Chandrasekaran invested in Bengaluru-based IndiePitch Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which runs online funding platform LetsVenture. In October 2015, LetsVenture had raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Accel Partners, People Group’s Anupam Mittal, and 16 other investors.

myCBSEguide: Delhi-based edtech startup myCBSEguide raised an undisclosed amount in an angel funding round led by Rajesh Magow, CEO of MakeMyTrip. The platform aims to use the funds for new hiring and enhancing marketing spend and product technology. It aims to increase its employee strength from 18 to 40 in the next four months.

AppBrowzer: Bengaluru-based Roid Technologies Pvt Ltd, which operates instant mobile app store AppBrowzer raised $500K led by Deepak Gurnani, a member of Singapore Angel Network. A group of angel investors also participated in the round. A significant amount of the capital was invested in building and launching the product and forming a team.

Property Share: A Bengaluru-based startup that enables fractional property ownership, Property Share raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round that was led by Japanese asset management firm Asuka, and existing investors Pravega Ventures, and Singapore-based venture capital fund Beenext. The startup plans to spend the funds mainly on technologically upgrading the product and recruitment across areas such as investment, operations and technology.

PICKmE: Mumbai-based PICKmE raised $1.79 Mn from the SIDBI Venture Capital Fund. SIDBI has bought 30,133 shares at INR 3,982.34 apiece. The gadget insurance and repair services startup will use the capital for expanding its presence to 50 cities over the next two quarters.

BookServicing: Online car servicing platform BookServicing raised $30K in seed funding from the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), a government arm that promotes tech enterprises. The funds will be used for developing solutions for optimising operational inefficiencies in the automotive aftermarket and enhancing the car owning experience for customers.

SummerLabel: Fashion and lifestyle discovery platform Summerlabel closed a Seed round of funding totalling $150K (INR 10 Mn) through multiple angel investors based out of Silicon Valley and India. The startup is looking to invest the funding in building technology infrastructure, expanding its team and build a more robust network of private labels, users and influencers.

Easter Egg: Bengaluru-based Easter Egg a blockchain-enabled, global gifting platform has raised its initial round of funding from Wealthy Ideas. This funding will help them take the products to other geographies as well as hire talent.

Lavelle Networks: Early-stage venture fund Ideaspring Capital invested $600K in Lavelle Networks, a startup in the SDN (Software Defined Networking) space. The startup has offices in Bengaluru, Singapore, Dubai, and California.

IOrderFresh: Delhi-based online fresh fruits and grocery store, iOrderFresh raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Singapore Angel Network Pte. Ltd. (SGAN), the angel investment arm of Singapore-based Thakral Group of Companies. The startup had earlier raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by Best Foodworks Pvt. Ltd, in August 2015.

Next up, Delhi-based cold pressed juice maker MyGreens acquired JusDivine for an undisclosed amount in an all equity deal to gain entry into the Mumbai market. The deal values the merged entity at $2.8 Mn (INR 20 Cr). The merged entity will operate under the MyGreens brand and look to launch operations in Mumbai this month.

Other Developments

• Priyank Kharge, IT Minister of Karnataka announced a fund of $1.4 Mn (INR 10 Cr) for women entrepreneurs of the state. The Idea2PoC (Proof of Concept) fund will provide women-led startups with support upto $75K (INR 50 Lakhs) for ideas that disrupt technologies.
• Startupbootcamp FinTech, the global accelerator for fintech startups announced the 12 startups to join its accelerator programme in Singapore. The cohort was selected after a final evaluation from a panel of industry experts and VCs. The 12 startups are Jumper.ai, Scalend Technologies, Fugle, MostShorted, Smart Trade, Tixguru, Welltrado, Morakot Technology, Small Ticket, CherryPay, AIM, and SmartFolios.
• In a bid to provide a boost to startups working in the field of information and communication technology, the Telecom Centres of Excellence, India (TCoE India) along with the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) is setting up an incubator – Telecom Entrepreneurship (TEN) Square. TEN Square will be under the guidance of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications, Government of India. It will be set up at the C-DoT Campus.
• Y Combinator announced its W’17 batch and five more Indian companies have made it to the mentorship programme. These include Playment, Bulk MRO, Servx, WiFi Dubba, and Supr daily. Also, it announced its online Startup School with classes beginning from April 5, 2017. The 10-week Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) can be accessed through its website. The classes are designed for founders who are actively pursuing their startup. In addition, these founders will have additional access to founder-advisors who can help give feedback on their company.
• Early-stage venture fund pi Ventures announced the first close of its maiden fund at $13 Mn. The $30 Mn fund is expected to close within this year. Its partners include the SIDBI, prominent family offices from the US, Canada, Singapore, and India and leading entrepreneurs like Mohandas Pai, Binny Bansal, Deep Kalra, Sanjeev Bikchandani, and Bhupen Shah among others.
• T-Hub and Anthill, a platform for early-growth stage startups announced the launch of  Smart Women Angels Network or SWAN in India. This initiative is aimed at supporting the entrepreneurial spirit in women, create awareness about investing, and facilitate investments.