Funding Galore: Indian Startup Fundings Of The Week [8 May – 13 May]

Earlier this week, Snapdeal agreed to sign a non-binding Letter of Intent (LoI) for the merger with Flipkart. Flipkart will be merging the Snapdeal entity at a valuation of just $1 Bn. The deal is expected to get signed in the next five-seven days. Nexus Venture Partners is speculated to receive $100 Mn along with a stake in the new entity. Kalaari Capital is expected to get around $70 Mn-$80 Mn, while the Snapdeal founders will get $30 Mn each post their exit from the company.

The decision came after SoftBank wrote off nearly $1.4 Bn in the combined Ola and Snapdeal valuation, for the quarter ending March 2017.

Next up, Paytm signed a non-exclusive term sheet to acquire FreeCharge, a Jasper Infotech-owned company. Paytm will start the financial and commercial due diligence of FreeCharge, next week. The deal has been estimated between $45 Mn–$90 Mn, a much lower valuation than FreeCharge’s $450 Mn valuation in 2015. The company had earlier held discussions with MobiKwik as well.

This week 20 startups raised about $22 Mn in funding altogether. (Funding calculations are based on startups that disclosed their funding amounts.)

Startup Fundings Of The Week

LegalRaasta: Delhi-based legaltech startup LegalRaasta raised $5 Mn in Series A round of funding led by Impanix Capital. The startup will utilise the raised funds in building GST compliance software for SMEs, CAs and enterprises. Also, Senior VAT official, RK Jain has joined the company’s Board as an advisor.

RemitGuru: The joint entity of Infibeam- CCAvenue will invest $466K in digital money transfer platform, RemitGuru. Infibeam will partially acquire Avenues Payments and will invest $310K and the remaining $155K would come from CCAvenue. CCAvenue holds a 26.76% stake in Mumbai-based RemitGuru.

Log 9 Materials: Bengaluru- and Delhi-based Nanotechnology startup Log 9 Materials secured an undisclosed amount in the Pre-Series A round of funding led by Delhi-based micro VC firm, GEMs. The startup plans to license out two technologies this year, a move that might help it to attain a total profit over $2 Mn.

EarlySalary: Pune-based fintech startup EarlySalary raised $4 Mn Series A funding from IDG Ventures India and Dewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd (DHFL). The startup will use the funds to leverage on capital deployed for building products and lending book as well as expanding the team.

ION Energy: Mumbai-based stealth mode startup ION Energy raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding. The round was led by Sushil Jiwarajka, Chairman of OMC Power and Founder of Nippo Batteries; Aakrit Vaish and Swapan Rajdev, the founders of Haptik. Executives from Times Internet, Dentsu Aegis, Salesforce, and Credit Suisse also participated in this round of funding. The funds raised in this round will be utilised towards product development and bringing the technology closer to mass manufacturing.

Chymera VR: San Francisco- and Bengaluru-based Chymera VR raised an undisclosed round of angel funding from a clutch of investors including Anupam Mittal (People Group) Varsha Rao (Airbnb, LivingSocial), Surojit Chatterjee (Google), Nirav Choksi (HHC Holdings) and others. The deal was facilitated by angel network LetsVenture. The platform will utilise the funds to ramp up its operations in Bengaluru while expanding the client base overseas, primarily in the US.

Vidooly: Noida-based video intelligence platform Vidooly raised $1.4 Mn in Series A funding from Times Internet and GVFL (Gujarat Venture Finance Ltd). The raised funds will be used to further expand in India, as well as in international markets in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Fourth Ambit: Bengaluru-based startup Fourth Ambit raised $600K from crowdfunding platform 1Crowd and its investor community. Fourth Ambit is a digital showcase platform for schools and colleges, which enables them to connect and engage with their key stakeholders.

Lucideus: Delhi-based cyber security startup Lucideus closed an undisclosed amount of angel funding round from a set of marquee investors. The investors who participated in the round include Vellayan Subbiah (Managing Director, Cholamandalam Finance); Jonathan Boutelle (ex-Director of Technology, LinkedIn); Rajan Anandan (VP Southeast Asia and India Google); Rahul Chawla (Managing Director, Head of Global Markets, Deutsche Bank); Salil Donde (ex-EVP NASDAQ); Anurag Goel (CEO, Cactus Communication); Govind Rajan (ex-CEO Freecharge); Amit Ranjan (Chief Architect, Digi Locker); and Kulmeet Bawa (Managing Director, Adobe). Sunil Kalra and Victor J Menezes also participated in the round. The funding news comes in sync with Lucideus’s platform launch – SAFE.

Sequretek: Mumbai-based cyber security startup, Sequretek raised an undisclosed amount in its Series A funding round from GVFL and Unicorn India Ventures. Sanjay Randhar, MD, GVFL and Manoj Laddha, Partner, Unicorn India Ventures will join the Board of Sequretek as a part of the round. The startup plans to use the raised funds to build intelligent security platform, enhance current offerings and explore newer markets in India and abroad.

CureFit: Bengaluru-based sports and fitness startup Curefit raised $3 Mn funding from Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata’s RNT Capital and others. The round also saw participation from Gokul Rajaram (product engineering lead, Square); Aditya Agarwal (Vice President of Engineering at Dropbox); Ruchi Sanghvi (former VP, Operations, Dropbox); along with Shishir Mehrotra (founder of TBD).  The startup has raised about $18 Mn to date. The startup will currently focus on its operations in Bengaluru, before offering its services to other major cities in the country.

Ace Turtle: Bengaluru-based omnichannel platform Ace Turtle raised $5 Mn in Series A funding from Vertex Ventures and C31 Ventures. The startup will use the newly raised funds to build its leadership team, augment the technology platform, and work toward an aggressive expansion of its customer base in India and overseas.

Anchanto: Singapore and India-based ecommerce enabler and logistics startup, Anchanto secured funding from Luxasia Group and Transcosmos Inc. (TCI). The startup will deploy the newly raised funds to propel its network of partners, sellers, and service providers. It will also use it to expand its network in Southeast Asia.

MyGreens: Cold pressed juice startup, MyGreens secured $1 Mn in an angel funding round via LetsVenture. The round was led by Ajay Relan (Founder and Chairman, CX Partners). Other investors in the round included Sundeep Bhandari (Director & CEO, Petrodil) and other undisclosed investors as well. The startup will deploy the raised funds towards expansion and launch new products targeting the Indian market.

Devourin: Pune-based restaurant automation firm Devourin raised an undisclosed amount of Seed funding. The investment was led by Cybage co-founder and Relfor Labs founder and Chief Executive of Technology, Deepak Nathani against a 20% stake in the startup. The startup will use the funds to expand its operations across India.

NightStay: Delhi-based mobile marketplace for last-minute hotel bookings NightStay raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A funding. The round was led by IAN and LetsVenture. Aroon Purie (founder/editor of India Today), Ambarish Raghuvanshi (former Info Edge CFO), and existing investor Shailesh Vickram Singh (Executive Director of SeedFund), also participated in this round. The funds raised will be primarily used to ramp up tech platform and for geographical expansion.

Tiyo: Kolkata-based healthtech startup Tiyo raised an undisclosed amount of funding from its existing investors Anish K and Ajith Nair. The company claims to have recently crossed 100,000 doctor appointments through its platform.

Uncanny Vision: Bengaluru-based computer vision solution provider for robotics, video surveillance Uncanny Vision raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Facebook’s Product Head Anand Chandrasekaran. Its main product is an intelligent surveillance camera that uses deep learning for scene/face/human pose recognition.

Curie Labs: Delhi-based energy analytics startup Curie Labs raised $50K from Southeast Asia-based blockchain incubator Satoshi Studios. The startup will use the funds for increasing product and sales.

Book My Diamond: Mumbai-based B2B diamond etailer Book My Diamond raised an undisclosed amount in an angel funding round from Chirag Nikunj Sheth (Chief Research Consultant at UK-based firm Metals Focus) and two other undisclosed investors.

Invoice Bazaar: Dubai-based fintech firm Invoice Bazaar raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Shirish Apte, former Asia-Pacific CEO and Chairman at Citigroup. Apte has also joined the advisory Board of Invoice Bazaar.

Aequm: Bengaluru- and Singapore-based cloud ecommerce firm Aequm raised $1 Mn in a Seed funding round from undisclosed investors. The company will use the funds to expand its operations.

Acquisitions Of The Week

• Bengaluru-based home rental startup NestAway acquired residential rental management company Zenify, run by parent company City Synapse Information Pvt. Ltd, for an undisclosed amount. Post-acquisition, Zenify will continue to operate as a separate entity.
• Bengaluru-based IT firm Happiest Minds Technologies acquired Cupola Technology for an undisclosed amount. The move is expected to help the firm strengthen its presence in the Internet of Things (IOT) space.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Bengaluru-based venture partner firm Stellaris Venture Partners raised $10 Mn from investment firm International Financial Corporation(IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. This investment would be made through the IFC Startup Catalyst (ISC) programme.
• Mumbai-based venture growth investor Iron Pillar announced the first close of its India Fund with a funding of $20 Mn from SIDBI and IIFL Seed Fund along with family offices of successful entrepreneurs. The targeted corpus for the fund is $31 Mn.
• The Karnataka state government announced a funding of $1.65 men to 26 selected startups in the biotechnology sector. Each winner has been awarded a cheque of $77.2K (INR 50 Lakhs).
• Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center selected 15 startups across sectors such as Internet of Things and healthtech for its Milestone Makers India programme. The programme aims to help early-to-mid-stage founders set and achieve milestones critical to their companies’ growth.
• Atlanta-based global investment management firm Invesco opened its first innovation hub in Hyderabad. The innovation hub aims at engaging with local startups to encourage strategic partnerships that would allow Invesco to collectively solve problems the industry faces.
• Seedstars World, the global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, has selected eight of India’s best seed stage startups. These startups will compete in the finale to held on May 13, 2017, to represent the country at the Seedstars Global Summit in Switzerland and win up to $1 Mn in equity investments.
• Venture Catalysts will soon be extending its reach to global companies as it looks to enter Hong Kong, the GCC countries, Japan, Singapore, and the US.
• The ‘Startup India, Stand Up India’ Action Plan proposed the setting up of seven new Research Parks modelled on the Research Park set up at IIT Madras. The Government said that the new Research Parks in institutes will be set up with an initial investment of about $15.4 Mn (INR 100 Cr) each. The proposed parks will be up at IIT Guwahati, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IISc Bangalore, IIT Gandhinagar, and IIT Delhi.
• K-Startup Grand Challenge’s second India season was launched this week. It’s a NIPA (National IT Industry Promotion Agency) initiative and offers technology-based startups that have a prototype or product service – catering to various industries – a chance to enter the Korean market and further expand its reach to global customers.