Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [15-20 October]

We bring to you the latest edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding of the week.

One of the biggest funding rounds this week in the Indian startup ecosystem was raised by Zomato. Zomato signed a definitive agreement to raise a primary funding of about $210 Mn from Alibaba-owned digital payment subsidiary Alipay Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd.

Further, founders of cab aggregator Ola -Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati- along with MacRitchie Investments received final approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire an additional 6.75% stake in its parent entity, ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Ola will acquire a stake from a few existing investors through Singapore-based Lazarus Holdings, a special purpose vehicle which will be used as an investment holding company.

Apart from these, this week eight startups raised around $48 Mn in funding and seven startup acquisitions took place in the Indian startup ecosystem altogether. (The startup funding calculations are based on the startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup funding Of The Week

Universal Sportsbiz: Bengaluru-based company Universal Sportsbiz raised Series E funding of $13.5 Mn (INR 100 Cr) from American venture capital firm Accel Partners. With this, its valuation soared to $163 Mn (INR 1,200 Cr). The company plans to utilise the recent funds to spread its offline retail network across key markets in the country.

Smule: US-based music-focused social networking platform Smule raised $20 Mn strategic investment from Times Bridge. With this, Times Bridge is looking to expand its existing investment portfolio of consumer tech companies. Smule also plans on increasing its exposure in the Indian digital music market and help the market grow organically.

TravelTriangle: Gurugram based travel tech startup, Travel Triangle raised $3 Mn from Asian venture debt and speciality lending firm InnoVen Capital. The funding will be directed to meet the pressing expansionary demands for the organisation and strengthening its outbound based operations.

FarmersFZ: Kochi based agritech startup, FarmersFZ raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round of funding. The startup will use the fresh funding will help it strengthen its position in the existing market. It is also aiming to use the funds for expanding its geographical reach in India and also strengthen its customer acquisition.

Worxogo: Bengaluru-based AI-focussed enterprise startup Worxogo raised $2.2 Mn (INR 16.5 Cr) in a Series A round of funding. Led by Inventus India and Ideaspring Capital, the startup will use the funds to strengthen its cognitive AI led products for enhancing enterprise performance and enter global markets.

myGate: Bengaluru-based myGate, a mobile-based security management solution for gated premises raised Series A funding of $8.7 Mn (INR 65 Cr). The round was led by existing investor Prime Venture Partners, who earlier invested $2.5 Mn in the company in January this year. With the latest fundraise, it is now looking to expand to 10 cities including Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi/NCR and is targeting 10x growth in 2019.

BookMyBai: Mumbai-based domestic help provider startup BookMyBai raised an undisclosed amount in pre-series A funding round led by Japan-based social venture fund ARUN Seed. Other Japanese angel investors had also participated in this round. The platform plans to use the fresh funding to help increase its market share in the existing cities, and also to expand their geographical reach in Hyderabad and Delhi.

Metalstreet: Bengaluru-based metals trading marketplace, Metalstreet raised USD 700K In an angel investment round to enable efficient and transparent trading. The startup is currently focused on the steel trading ecosystem and aims to deliver value across the supply chain using its intuitive and interactive mobile and web-based apps. The funding will be deployed towards ramping up and building a robust product team focused on solving challenges that are bespoke to the steel supply chain through tech enablement and innovations.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Delhi headquartered One Co.Work made its first acquisition of a Mumbai-based coworking space provider IShareSpace for more than $476K (INR 3.5 Cr). With the acquisition, One Co.Work will now have eight centres and more than 1,500 seats to its coworking offering.
• Bengaluru-based mobile entertainment company OnMobile Global Limited acquired 100% shares of Sweden-based Appland — kids app clubs subscription services provider, with a special focus on game wrapper technology — in an amount “not exceeding 15 Mn”. According to OnMobile CEO François-Charles Sirois, the combination of OnMobile and Appland will provide immediate business value and innovation to the customers.
• Bengaluru-based micro-delivery startup DailyNinja acquired another startup operating in the same segment – WakeUpBasket – in a cash and equity deal. Post this acquisition, the entire customer base of WakeUpBasket as well as all of its employees will be transferred to DailyNinja.
• Foodpanda, an Ola-owned online food delivery company announced its acquisition of Mumbai-based food-tech platform Holachef. Through this collaboration, Foodpanda marks its strategic entry into cloud kitchens and plans to launch its own brand of food products in different categories.
• Bengaluru-based mobile advertising and discovery platform InMobi announced to have acquired US-based mobile data and advertising platform, Pinsight Media in an all-stock deal. The acquisition will help InMobi to meet the consumer expectations via improved customer understanding for superior targeting, engagement and retention.
• Bengaluru-based, Techstars funded company Spoonshot which leverages food science and artificial intelligence to predict consumer taste and food trends acquired Hyderabad-based restaurant analytics startup, Brisky. With this acquisition, Spoonshot plans to leverage its taste prediction and food trends technology to further strengthen Brisky’s capabilities in providing insights to the restaurant industry across US and India.
• IIFL Wealth announced to acquire the entire share capital and the company of Chennai-based Wealth Advisors India Private Limited (Wealth Advisors). IIFL Wealth will conclude the transaction for a consideration of INR 235 Cr (plus cash and cash equivalents). The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Mumbai-based online gaming company Nazara Technologies revealed its plans to make a slew of acquisitions, particularly in the real money gaming space as it is reportedly in late-stage discussions with at least four companies in India and Africa.
• Speculations were ripe this week that Amazon is reportedly all set to pick up a minority stake of 10% in the Kishore Biyani-owned Future Retail that owns the popular Indian hypermarket chain Big Bazaar, supermarket Easy Day and premium lifestyle food superstore Foodhall. The deal is likely to be approved by Future Retail’s board on October 29. Also,  Amazon was said to have offered $400 Mn to Kolkata-headquartered Spencer’s Retail for 30% stake in the company.
• POWERED Accelerator, which has been focussing on women-led startups in the energy value chain, announced seed funding of $10K each in six startups shortlisted from its first cohort. The six startups are Cellerite Systems, Loans4SME,  HoneyComb Investments, Kumudini Enterprises, Upcycler’s Lab and Taru Naturals.
• Mumbai-based venture capital (VC) fund IvyCap Ventures is raising an $8.2 Mn (INR 60 Cr) angel fund that will invest in 30-40 companies in the technology sector. The fund will be raised in the next two-three months and sectors like health tech, consumer tech, and agritech will be the focus areas.
• Mumbai-based Rebel Foods, owner-operator of food delivery brand Faasos, is said to be in talks with investors to raise a little over $100 Mn (INR 735 Cr). The company looks to enter overseas markets and expand both its product range and cloud kitchen presence nationally
• Sharing economy-focused startup Drivezy is in advanced stages to raise $20 Mn (INR 147 Cr) in its next round of funding, as the Bengaluru-based startup looks to ramp up its vehicle fleet.
• Online bus ticketing platform Abhibus is in talks with a few venture capital firms to raise around $15 Mn by divesting some 25% stake, valuing the company at around ₹450 crore, said two persons in the know of the talks. The bus aggregator firm, which has appointed merchant bankers for the negotiations, hopes to sign the term sheet and complete the due diligence process and fund raising by December-end.

Stay tuned for the next week edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!