Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [4 May – 9 May]

The week was filled with number of startup funding and acquisitions activites taking place. This week, 17 startups raised approximately $160 Mn in funding altogether. (Calculations are based on startups that disclosed their funding amount.)

Lets have a look at the startups that raised funding this week:

Delhivery: Ecommerce Fulfillment Company raised $85 Mn Series D round of investment led by Tiger Global Management. The company plans to tap the India’s rural market as well with a four-fold increase in its current reach along with investment in over 2.5 Mn square feet of fulfillment centers by the end of this year.

GrandOpinion: Healthcare startup raised $150k seed round from Florida-based angel group. The funds are to be utilized to develop its technology enabled service platform by bringing the patients together digitally with doctors as well as to expand its network of prestigious medical experts.

KleverKid: Web-based marketplace to view after-school and extracurricular activities for school children raised undisclosed amount of funding from Aarin Capital. Delhi-based startup will use the funds to expand into six tier I cities including Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Vedantu: Bangalore-based edtech startup raised $5 Mn Series A round of funding from Accel Partners and Tiger Global Management. The startup plans to use the funds in creating a system where a student can choose a suitable teacher in real time.

HealthifyMe: Micromax made a strategic investment in digital fitness provider. The startup specializes in offering mobile focused services to motivate people towards healthy behavior.

World Art Community: Gurgaon-based online platform for art and craft goods, World Art Community, owned and operated by Inventive Business Promotions Pvt raised $200,000 from serial entrepreneur and angel investor Viraj Tyagi and other investors.

Applicate: Bangalore-based software product startup, that helps consumer-facing companies manage workforce better, raised about $500k from Rishi Vasudev,Amit Gupta, and Rajiv Nayan. The funding will be utilized to expand operations across the country.

Customer360: Mumbai-based customer engagement platform, co-promoted by CCAvenue and eBrandz raised angel funding from CCAvenue’s CEO Vishwas Patel. The startup had earlier raised a seed funding during its establishment.

Toppr: Mumbai-based digital ed-tech startup raised $10 Mn in the second round of funding led by Fidelity and its existing investors which includes Saif and Helion.

Uniphore Software Systems: Chennai-based speech recognition solutions startup raised undisclosed amount in Series A round of funding from Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan. The startup plans to utilize the funds in global expansion and product & core technology development.

Box8: Mumbai-based on-demand food delivery startup has raised $3.5 Mn funding from Silicon Valley-based early-stage venture capital firm Mayfield. The investment will be used to build technology, team expansion and deepen market penetration.

Ramco: Chennai-based Cloud Software Company raised $52 Mn through Qualified Institutional Placements (QIP). The fresh funds will be used in building the right workplace to attract the best talent to work on developing cool innovative products as well as to expand into global markets and in reducing debt and interest cost.

Znapin: Mumbai-based SelfieChallenge, soon to be rebranded as Znapin that will help brands and users to co-exist along with an interactive environment raised undisclosed amount of seed funding. The funds are to be used majorly for Talent acquisitions, Strategic Tie-ups and Initial Marketing.

BuyHatke.com: Bangalore-based price comparison website raised $1 Mn in first round of funding from Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and Japanese ecommerce and Investment Company, BEENOS. The funds will be utilized in marketing and working on new products, besides expanding the team size.

Ignis Careers: Hyderabad-based edtech startup raised $250K from Acumen Fund. The raised funds will be used to strengthen the curriculum and the processes needed to scale up the operations.

SEED: Hyderabad-based edtech startup, Standard of Excellence in Education and Development (SEED) raised $650K from social venture capital investor, Acumen Fund. The invested amount is to be used to strengthen the curriculum and the processes needed to scale up the operations.

Uniken: Pune-based startup has secured around $2 Mn in bridge funding from Exfinity Ventures. Founded in 2003 with its Innovation Center in India and presently operating in India, Israel and the US, Uniken has its flagship REL-ID platform which currently has over a million of users

Lendingkart, a startup helps entrepreneurs and small businesses with short-term working capital loans plans to raise $25 Mn by next two months. According to reports, another food tech startup Swiggy is raising $15Mn from Silicon Valley based Norwest Venture Partners.

Let’s have a look at the acquisitions that took place this week:

• In a strategic move to shift entirely to the mobile platform, online fashion and lifestyle portal, Myntra acquired Bangalore-based mobile application development platform Native5. The co-founders of Native5 will be a part of Flipkart’s technology team, which had acquired Myntra last year.
• Curated marketplace for tech talent, TalentPad, acquired the tech recruitment platform OptimizedBits to strengthen its offering to tech recruiters in India. Helion backed TalentPad is currently doing a revenue run rate of close to $ 1 Mn.

Four year old social media news portal, Social Samosa was sold to private investors for an undisclosed amount. People familiar to the development said that the company has been sold for over INR 2-3 Cr.

Ridesharing service, Uber has reportedly submitted a $3 Bn bid for Nokia’s Here maps. Besides, a separate bid from an undisclosed private equity firm has also been submitted, and Nokia is expected to announce the sale of its mapping unit by the end of May.

Other important developments of the week include:

• In a bid to match its pace with the rapidly evolving startup ecosystem in India, SEBI considered to make changes in the rules on alternative investment funds (AIFs). The market regulator is planning to create a seven member panel committee led by Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy to create an environment in which enterprises can raise private capital efficiently.
• Healthcare-focused startup incubator, HealthStart has decided to set up a new sector-focused angel network. This will be India’s first accelerator program dedicated to supporting startups in healthcare industry through funding, mentorship and other requisite support.
• GreenHouse Ventures Accelerator selected Gurgaon-based LazyLad as its first startup for accelerator programme. LazyLad connects customers with nearby and local retailers who can upload and update their inventory on the platform.
• Infosys is evaluating a few early stage startups in India to invest $10-25 Mn per startup dedicated in developing disruptive technologies. Besides, the company is also finalising an agreement to sign up for software products think-tank iSpirt’s mergers and acquisitions program.
• GSF has announced the list of eight startups for its m-Accelerator program. The selected entrepreneurs will be connected to peers, mentors, advisors and investors in India, San Francisco, Singapore, Berlin and more.