Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [1Feb-7Feb]

So, we are back with the funding galore for this week. This week, in terms of fundings, acquisitions and announcements, was big and so is this week’s Funding Galore.

This week saw startups massive fundings, in total, more than $210 Mn was raised by 20 startups this week (this is based on startups that disclosed their funding amount). Amidst fundings & exits, there were news of IPO as well. So have a look at the funding galore and know more :

Aisle.co: Bangalore based matchmaking portal Aisle.co, with help from termsheet, raised $100K in seed round of funding from several executives from Internet majors including Anand Vijay of Microsoft and Shashank Mehrotra of Bigrock. The startup plans to use the funds raised to expand its team and invest in technology.

Kobster: Ecommerce portal Kobster.com raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by Splice Advisors. The funds raised will be used by the company to explore and foray into new products like industrial supplies, medical supplies etc.

Culture Machine: Amongst the largest investments in the multi-channel network (MCN) space in Asia, Culture Machine, the digital video company, raised $18 Mn (Rs 111 Cr) from Tiger Global Management and existing investors Zodius Capital and Times Internet.  The funds raised will be used to upgrade the technology.

Paytm: China-based Alibaba announced its plans of entering India’s ecommerce industry by buying a 25% stake for an undisclosed amount in One97 Communications Ltd. which owns Paytm. The deal will be finalised in the second quarter of this year. The funds raised will be used to expand Paytm’s user base.

NewsHunt: Local Language mobile app Newshunt owner Ver Se Innovation Pvt Ltd raised INR 120 Cr. in Series C round led by New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital and existing investors Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India and Omidyar Network. Newshunt has plans of adding more categories besides audio and video on the platform.

FreeCharge: Online mobile recharge platform FreeCharge raised funding worth $80 Mn from  a group of investors including San Francisco-based Valiant Capital Management, Hong Kong-based Tybourne Capital Management and also, existing investors Sequoia Capital, Sofina and RuNet. The company plans to use the funds secured for product innovation, team expansion and marketing.

Manthan: Bangalore-based data analytics startup Manthan raised close to $60 Mn in Series D round of funding led by Temasek and Norwest Venture Partners. Manthan plans to use the investment to accelerate the SaaS adoption of its products, for product development and to expand globally.

SellerworX: Infosys co-founders Kris Gopalakrishnan and S D Shibulal, along with the company’s former board member Srinath Batni announced their plans of investing $1 Mn in Bangalore-based ecommerce platform SellerworX Online Services through their newly launched Axilor Ventures.

SmartPocket: Mobile tech startup SmartPocket, that connects offline businesses to loyal customers, raised seed funding of INR 1.5 Cr. from early-stage investment firm Sol Primero and Rajiv Mehta of Arvind Group. The startup plans to use the funds raised for product development, increasing users and forming partnerships with offline businesses.

FirstCry: Kids and baby products Ecommerce platform Firstcry raised $26 Mn in Series D round of funding led by San Francisco-based Valiant Capital Partners. Firstcry’s existing investors IDG Ventures India, Ventex Venture Holdings and SAIF Partners also participated in the round of funding. Firstcry plans to use the funds to scale across various channels and to invest in growing the private label business.

NowFloats: Small and Medium Businesses (SME) business presence enabler, NowFloats, raised Series A funding from Omidyar Network and existing investors Mumbai Angels, Blume Ventures and Hyderabad Angels. The funds raised would be used in technology and expanding customer base globally.

Yumist: Mobile App Yumist which enables users to select a meal and get the food delivered to the mentioned address raised funding worth $1 Mn in Series A round led by Orios Venture Partners. The startup plans to employ the funds towards building its technology platform, expanding services and marketing.

FRSH: Food Home delivery website, FRSH raised funding in the neighbourhood of $200k – $250k from India Quotient. The startup takes orders online and delivers it to the homes/offices of the users.

Holachef: Another food industry startup, Holachef, raised INR 2Cr from India Quotient. The startup uses a predictive algorithm to guide chefs and has a target of receiving 200 orders per day by the end of this month.

IITB organised an on-the-spot funding event wherein 6 startups secured INR 10 Lakh funding each, against 4% equity. The startups that raised funding include InstaBounce, an app providing options for last minute going-out plans; Faaya, online platform for unique user-built outfit design, CleverSharks, a data analytics based career website, Chloroplast Foods (Snackexperts.com);  website delivering healthy, nutritious and tasty snacks directly to homes, Dealwithus, a cashback site covering the users left by other cashback sites, and Leaf(Guardian), an autosensing app that notifies user’s friends, family and police in case of any threat.   

After the long list of fundings, here’s the startup acquisitions that took place this week:

JustEat: Online food ordering portal Foodpanda.in acquired the Indian operations of JustEat to expand its total coverage to over 526 cities in 39 countries across 5 continents. According to the deal, JustEat handled full ownership of JustEat India in exchange for a minority holding in foodpanda.

BabyOye: Mahindra Group announced its acquisition of Babyoye.com, for an undisclosed amount. The terms and conditions listed under the deal have still not been disclosed.

Croak.it : Cloud telephony company, Exotel announced its acqusition of Singapore-based voice sharing social media startup Croak.it. The terms of the deal are undisclosed, as of now.

Yorke Communications: Mumbai-based Adfactors PR, in order to strengthen its PR value chain, made an investment in Yorke Communications, a Bangalore based communication services company. Although the amount of investment has not been disclosed yet, but, as per the agreement, Yorke Communications will continue to operate as an independent company under the guidance of Peter Yorke, CEO and Co-Founder of Yorke Communications.

Other Important developments that took place this week:

Japanese investment firm SoftBank, in order to increase its stake in Delhi-based online marketplace, Snapdeal, would buy shares from other existing investors. The company plans to up its stake from 33% to around 38%.

Chennai-based online matrimonial portal Matrimony.com signed on Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank and Kotak Mahindra Capital as investment bankers and is heading for an initial public offering (IPO), eyeing a valuation of $450-500 Mn. for issue.

TaxiForSure’s Co-founder and CEO, Raghunandan G declined all rumours of the company being acquired by Ola. Also, in another development in the app based cab booking services, rumors floated about Uber’s possible acquisition of MeruCabs.

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