Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [16 March- 21 March]

The two most sought after startups in their own domain caught buzz for all the right reasons. On one side, Bangalore-based taxi aggregator, Ola, is close to seal a funding round of INR 2500 Cr. led by Yuri Milner’s DST Global, at an estimated valuation of $2 Bn. With that valuation the two angel investors Anupam Mittal and Rehan yar Khan’ current stake in Ola would be nearly $20 Mn and $36 Mn. On the other side, reports suggests that Snapdeal investment from Alibaba might have fallen apart, Alibaba was valuing the Indian firm in the range of $4-5 Bn as against a valuation of $6-7 Bn sought by Snapdeal.

Let us have quick view of the funding and acquisitions that took place week. In total, 15 startups raised about $66 Mn funding altogether. (based on the startups which disclosed their funding amounts)

A Quick Recap Of The Funding Around The Week

GolfLAN: Delhi-based Golflan Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs a subscription-based service for golfers, raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from early-stage investor YourNest Angel Fund. The funds will be spent on geographical expansion, technology and marketing.

Slyds: Bangalore-based PPT maker raised INR 50 lakhs from an interior design firm, Bonito Designs to spend the amount in diverse areas to build the product. 20% per cent of the funds are decided to be spent for marketing and the rest is to be spent in hiring employees and shifting to a new office.

Harness Handitouch: Chennai-based ed-tech startup raised undisclosed amount in its Series A round of funding from Luxembourg based Armat Group, the round, marked the exit of ah! Ventures. Ah! had invested INR 1 Cr. in Harness through CLUB ah!, its angel investment network in 2012.

Graphic India: Mumbai-based, Comic characters and super heroes creator, raised seed funding of $2.8 Mn (INR 17.5 Cr) from its existing investor CA Media LP, the Asian investment arm of The Chernin Group, LLC (TCG), and NY-based investment group Start Media. The startup plans to infuse the funds raised to launch new superheroes and characters for India through mobile to capture 550 Mn youths (under the age of 25) as well as 850 Mn-strong mobile market in India.

Tripoto: Online travel community startup raised its Pre-Series A round of funding led by IDG Ventures India. With this round, Karan Mohla from IDG Ventures India would be joining Tripoto as a board member. The deal is said to be around $2 Mn, which will primarily be used for rapid growth in mobile, team augmentation and global expansion.

Drivestream: Wipro invested $5 Mn in this Chennai & US-based Oracle cloud applications systems integrator startup. The two entered a strategic partnership to provide an amalgamated benefits and integrated Cloud Solutions stack for customers with Wipro picking up minority stake into the startup.

wWhere: Ahmedabad-based wWhere, which allows people to share their location with each other received over INR 1.2 Cr in funding from a consortium of angel investors across US, India and Singapore.

Meru: The online cab aggregator, Meru, raised $50 Mn (over INR 300 Cr) in a new round of funding led by its existing investor, India Value Fund Advisors (IVF). India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA) had 80% stake in Meru Cabs, prior to this round. The company also expects to raise another $100 Mn from new investors including PEs and hedge funds by this month end.

TheBetterIndia: Bangalore-based website has announced an investment of INR 1 Cr from Intellecap Impact Investment Network (I3N or I-cube-N). Raveen Sastry, founder of NudgeSpot and a co-founder of Myntra also participated in this round.

NestAway: Bangalore-based, NestAway Technologies raised INR 8 Cr from InMobi founder Naveen Tewari and venture capital firm IDG Ventures. The startup uses advanced algorithms to solve the daily problem of exchanging locations with people and businesses around us, plans to utilize the funding for further expansion of its operations in the National Capital Region and Pune.

Gorkha: Mumbai based visitor registration app raised INR 1 Cr funding from an angel investor Ramesh Kavediya. The funds raised will be used in building technology, marketing, infrastructure development and expansion.

RoundOne: Delhi-based networking platform for job seekers Round One raised $1 Mn pre Series A round led by HT Group’s Shine.com and angel investor Arun Duggal of Infoedge. The startup plans to use the funds raised in hiring, product development and marketing.

Lets Corp: This Enterprise technology startup raised $3 Mn (about INR 18.8 Cr) from Wu Chay Chin, Taiwan-based angel investor.  The funds will invested in in its go-to market expansion.

CollateBox: The startup raised INR 1 Cr in angel round of funding from a group of angel investors and Hyderabad-based technology incubator, Teninnovate through LetsVenture.

Gojavas: The logistics startup raised undisclosed  amount in a funding led by Snapdeal.

Online parenting portal theAsianparent announced multimillion-dollar investment led by Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd and angel investors. This brings company’s total funding to $3.3 Mn with LionRock Capital and Tigris Capital amongst its previous investors. The funding will be used to expand regionally, but especially into India, where it already has a local site called Indusparent, which will offer localized content.

Apart from these, couple of startups are also said to be raising new round of funding which include, MapmyIndia, which is planning to raise $20 Mn (about INR 126 Cr), Pepperfry is said to be looking to raise fresh funds of $60-80 Mn, Fabfurnish is looking to raise $50 Mn from fourth round of funding, led by existing investors Rocket Internet and Kinnevik as well as new investors and Ahmedabad-based Zebpay is also eyeing second round of funding worth $ 2 Mn (INR 12.5 Cr roughly) for its Bitcoin app business.

Whereas, Hungama is said to be in the cusp of raising more than $100 Mn from its existing investors Intel Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners.

Apart from this, Rocket Internet is looking to acquire Sequoia backed TinyOwl, sources say. However, the later exclaimed that the company has no plans to be sold out at this moment and raised fresh funds recently.

Other important developments:

• RBL Bank has announced that it will be the anchor investor in Trifecta Capital Venture Debt Fund, with a commitment of INR 50 Cr. The fund will focus on providing structured debt to high-growth startups that have raised Series A or B rounds of equity funding, it plans to deploy around INR 125-150 Cr. per annum.
• TiE-ISB Connect event which is scheduled to be held in Hyderabad next week, will provide 50 startups will pitch their  idea for funding the funding INR 10 Cr. to Rs.50 Cr equity funding. The three-day annual event, will have sessions structured for such companies to discuss their growth plans with
• Venture capital seed fund and startup accelerator, 500 Startups is in process of raising about $10-20 Mn (about INR 60-120 Cr) for its India focussed startup fund StartupWallah which is supposed to be launched this year.
• JP Morgan Asset Management is in news, as reports states that, it is looking to buy early stage investor Canaan Partners’ India portfolio for more than $200 Mn. This will be the largest secondary portfolio sale in India’s private equity and venture capital market.
• Yipeedo.com and Fixy.in have made it to the venture Nursery’s seventh batch. The startups have been selected from over 450 applications received from multiple cities across the country.
• Indian Angel Network (IAN) launched an initiative called Small Ticket Funding’ program which will help early stage ventures to raise quick funding of INR 25 lakh to meet immediate fund requirements. Besides, entrepreneurs will also benefit from the expertise of accomplished mentors who form a part of IAN.
• LetsVenture launched LetsIgnite, an angel summit, to connect startups to the angel ecosystem. 30 startups would qualify from all the applicants out of whom the top 5 startups would be selected to pitch for live funding to the jury of selected angels and VCs.
• InTech50 has announced the list of 10 startups shortlisted for its first batch. InTech50 is a“matchmaking” event, created by entrepreneurs from India for tech startups to showcase their mettle to a panel of Chief Information Officers (CIOs), Venture Capitalists, and Product Leaders. Out of 228 applicants 50 companies will be shortlisted to provide product marketing support and funding to scale to the global markets.

For news updates of the week click here.