Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [10 August-15 August]

Silicon-Valley-based venture capital firm, Lightspeed Venture Partners, raised $135 Mn (INR 865 Cr) for its maiden India fund. This new fund will be advised by Lightspeed India Partners Advisors, managing directors Bejul Somaia and Dev Khare.

This week 20 startups raised more than $122 Mn in funding altogether. (Calculations are based on startups that disclosed their funding amount.)

Let’s have a look at the startups that got funded this week

VanityCube: Delhi-based on-demand marketplace for beauty services, VanityCube, raised seed funding from a group of angel investors. The funds will be deployed in expanding company’s technical capabilities, marketing and expansion into other cities.

OneAssist: Mumbai-based startup that offers credit card and smartphone protection in case of loss or theft, OneAssist,  raised about $7.72 Mn (INR 50 Cr) in Series B round of funding from insurance services provider Assurant Inc., Sequoia Capital India and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company will use the funds in team expansion and targeting debit and credit card holders and smartphone users in India.

SHEROES: Delhi-based jobs and career community for women, SHEROES, raised $770k (INR 5 Cr) in an angel round of funding led by Quintillion Media and 500 Startups. The raised capital will be used in improving the quality of product and scaling the community.

LivSpace: Bangalore-based home design & decor startup, LivSpace, raised $8 Mn in an internal round of funding led by Helion Ventures, Jungle Ventures & Bessemer Venture Partners. The funds will be utilised to expand in other metro cities, enhance design content and technology and build innovative mobile and designer oriented products.

VoxWeb: Social networking app VoxWeb let’s user send a voice message with a picture. The startup raised around $100K (INR 65 Lakh) in a seed round of funding led by Jitendra Gupta, cofounder & MD of Citrus Pay. The startup plans to launch its app in South Korea, Japan and the African continent in coming months.

RainCan: Pune-based subscription service startup that helps customers with their daily needs raised about $100K in a funding from angel investor Ajeet Khurana. Going forward, RainCan plans to raise $1 Mn funding to hit 10,000 orders a day.

Grey Orange: Gurgaon-based startup, GreyOrange creates hardware and software products for warehousing industry. It had raised $30 Mn in Series B funding led by Tiger Global Management & Blume Ventures. With the newly raised funds, Grey Orange plans to focus on R&D of its new products, expand its executive team and accelerate its international expansions.

ToneTag: Offline proximity based mobile payment solutions startup, ToneTag, raised $1 Mn in its first round of funding led by Reliance Capital’s Venture fund arm. The startup plans to use the funds in hiring Technical and Sales & Marketing resources for influencing user adoption and Sales to enable merchants accept cashless and cardless transactions.

Inkmonk: Marketplace for online printing and a provider of full stack merchandising solutions, Inkmonk, raised about $250K (INR 1.5 Cr) in an angel round of funding led by a group of angel investors via LetsVenture. The funding round was led by Girish Mathrubootham, Phanindra Sama, Vikram Chachra, and a few other angel investors.The funds will be utilized for hiring, product expansion and sales and marketing.

Groupon India: Marketplace for deals, Groupon India has raised an estimated amount of around $16 Mn (INR 100 Cr) from Sequoia India. With the round of funding, the company has announced that it is now rebranding to Nearbuy.

MyTaxiIndia: GHV Accelerator backed taxi rental startup, MyTaxiIndia (MTI), bagged Pre Series-A round of $500K from Nihon Kotsu Co., Ltd. The company plans to use the fresh funds to scale up operations across other cities in India.

Scripbox: An online mutual funds investment platform, Scripbox, raised about 2.5 Mn (INR 16 Cr) in Series A round of funding led by existing investor Accel Partners. The startup will use the funds to expand its operations, consolidate its presence in the market and grow its customer base.

Betaout: Behavioural marketing platform that enables online businesses to increase conversions and personalise user engagement, Betaout, raised $500K in a funding round from a clutch of investors. The funds will be utilised in technology and ramping up sales effort.

Agrostar: One stop shop for agricultural goods Agrostar raised $4 Mn from IDG ventures. The raised funds will be used to expand its operations across Maharashtra and Gujarat and strengthen its tech and leadership teams.

Massblurb: A digital marketing tool that solves the issue of engagement between restaurants and their users, Massblurb, raised an undisclosed amount in an angel round led by Mumbai Angels and LetsVenture (few angel investors including Vikram Chachra participated in the round through LetsVenture). The fund will be utilized to strengthen operations and expansion across India.

BigBasket: Online food and grocery etailer BigBasket  raised $50 Mn (about INR 315 Cr) led by Bessemer Venture Partners valuing the company at about  $400 Mn. The startup plans to use the funds to expand into 50 more Tier-II cities.

In the latest SmashUp event organized by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Hyderabad, three startups were selected and raise funding of about $23K each (INR 15 Lakh). These were Carving Notions Technologies, SunwizTech India Pvt Ltd and Driverr.

With this, Lingerie etailer, Zivame, plans to raise $40 Mn in funding led by Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Zodius Capital. The deal will value Zivame close to $100 Mn.

Also, Rahul Yadav, former CEO of Housing.com is reportedly seeking investment for his new venture which  is expected to be announced today. For this, Yadav is in talks with the Paytm’s founder and CEO, Vijay Sekhar Sharma for investment.

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

Mangrove Capital-backed budget accommodation aggregator, Wudstay.com, acquired offline budget hotel aggregator, Awsome Stays in an all cash-and-stock deal. The acquisition will help Wudstay expand into more cities.

Mobikon, acquired marketing platform for F&B industry, Triibe for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition is in line with Mobikon’s strategy to be a market leader in in-store customer engagement for restaurants.

Mobile travel search marketplace, Ixigo, acqui-hired IndianBackpacker.com for an undisclosed amount. Akshay Chhugani, Founder & CEO, Indian Backpacker will join Ixigo as Head, Traveller Communities and will be responsible to build and nurture curated communities of travelers across interest areas.

Job credentialing platform Aspiring Minds acquired mobile software development company Mizcoin for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will bring the two together for product research and development and enhance Aspiring’s mobile product strategy.

Paytm has readied $500 Mn to acquire startups. The company will be using the money to acquire hyperlocal startups and improvise on their logistics. It is expected to focus on establishing a foothold in the ‘local commerce space’.