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

After making headlines for months, Quikr finally acquired Commonfloor for an undisclosed amount. Quikr will merge its real estate vertical QuikrHomes with CommonFloor. The merger is is expected to be completed in over the next two to three months.

This week, 25 startups raised about $219 Mn in funding altogether. (The funding amount is based on the startups that disclosed their funding amounts).

Startups That Raised Funds This Week

Freshmenu: Online first restaurant FreshMenu raised about $16 Mn (INR 110 Cr) in a new round of funding led by Zodius Capital. Existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partners also participated in the round. The deal values the startup at around $ 45 Mn (INR 300 Cr).

Gyaanzone: An online education portal Gyaanzone.com raised an undisclosed amount in a funding from GBIM Technologies. With this development, the startup believes that GBIM will empower millions of students with greater convenience and flexibility to access and complete a huge range of accredited online courses and degrees.

Infurnia: A startup that provides virtual reality technology for the furniture segment, Infurnia, raised $160K in a funding round from UAE-based venture capital firm Idein Ventures. As part of the deal, serial entrepreneur Ashwin Srivastava, co-founder of Idein Ventures, will join Infurnia’s board. The startup will use the raised capital to expand its tech and business team.

Myly: A cloud-based app for communication and transaction between schools and parents, Myly, raised $100K (about INR 67 lakh) in a seed round from Newbie Promoter Private Limited. The company will use the raised funds predominantly towards customer acquisition.

Mycity4kids: Mycity4kids, an online platform that helps multitasking mothers manage the task of modern-day parenting, raised $3 Mn from SIDBI Venture Capital Limited and YourNest Angel Fund. With the funding, the startup plans to achieve a milestone to have 5 Mn mothers using the platform every day in the next 18 months and achieve operational break-even in 12 months.

Careers360: Counselling & education services firm, Careers360, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from MeritTrac. The startup will use the raised amount to expand its team, strengthen its technology, infrastructure, and brand in the next two years.

PlanMyMedicalTrip: A platform that offers international patients access to medical care, PlanMyMedicalTrip, raised $150K (INR 1.25 Cr.) in a funding round from angel investors – Bhanu Vikram Parsotam, Rohan Desai and Paras Patel. The startup will use the raised capital to strengthen its global presence and boost digital experience for its customers.

Zebpay: Mobile bitcoin wallet startup, Zebpay, raised $1 Mn (around INR 6 Cr) Series A round of funding from angel investors in order to promote bitcoins in India. The startup will use a part of the funding to develop the blockchain technology which is used to  innovate authentication and authorise transactions. The other part of funding will be used to hire talent and scale its bitcoin services.

Sensara: Tech startup Sensara raised seed funding of about $750K (INR 5 Cr) from former Google India head Lalitesh Katragadda and Ganayantrika Systems. With this, Lalitesh Katragadda and Anant Pandit – director of Gana Yantrika will join the board. The startup will use the raised funds to grow the company and add more products to its portfolio.

Qdesq: Branded workspaces aggregator Qdesq raised an undisclosed amount in seed round of funding led by Redcliffe Capital’s partner Dheeraj Jain. The round also saw participation from former Du-Pont executive Jagdish Kumar, and high networth individuals Bharat Gupta, Ankush Saigal and Praveen Saini. The raised funds will be utilised in building Qdesq’s core team, upgrading its technology and expansion to newer cities in the coming six months.

Tracxn: Tracxn Technologies raised an undisclosed amount in funding round led by Ratan Tata. The startup also has a fundraising platform called Tracxn Syndicate which help budding entrepreneurs accelerate.

ConfirmTkt: Venture Catalysts (VCats) invested of $250k into ConfirmTkt. VCats angels including Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Anirudh Damani, Anand Ladsariya, Sanjay Mehta and Krishna Jhujhunwala led the round, while other investors, such as Urrshila Kerkar also participated in the funding drive. The startup will use the fund for product development and hiring

Melorra: Online jewellery designer and retailer Melorra closed its seed funding of $5 Mn (about INR 33.4 Cr) from Lightbox. The startup caters to urban Indian women, by developing, designing and retailing contemporary jewellery through its mobile app. The startup will use the proceeds to further build its technology platform, towards marketing and expanding its team.

SavvyMob: An online marketplace that helps customers with last-minute hotel bookings, SavvyMob, raised about $1 Mn in an initial round of funding led by investors including TV Mohandas Pai and online fundraising platform LetsVenture. The startup will use the funds to expand to another 50 cities over the next year, strengthen the startup’s technology team and improve the product. Alef Mobitech:

Alef Mobitech: Mobility-cloud interconnect platform & solution suite company, Alef Mobitech Solutions Pvt Ltd, raised about $5 Mn in a funding round from Tata Capital Innovation Fund (TCIF). The raised capital will be used to strengthen Alef Mobitech’s business development, marketing, research and development initiatives in order to establish a leadership position in the mobile internet space.

360Ride: P2P ride-sharing startup 360Ride raised $150K (INR 1 Cr) in seed funding from a Delhi-based HNI. The startup will utilise the funds to expand its marketing and promotional campaign and create awareness about the company. It also aims to solve the major problem of demand and supply in the ridesharing segment.

ProcMart: Procurement marketplace for office products – ProcMart, raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Indiamart founder and CEO Dinesh Agarwal. The startup will utilise the funds to expand its reach, improve buyer-supplier network and introduce new features on its platform.

Mychild: An app that can detect developmental disorders in children, MyChild, raised seed funding of $100K led by 500 Startups. Other angel investors who participated in this round were Samir Bangara, Anisha Mittal, Amit Gupta, Pallav Nadhani, Lalit Mangal, Arihant Patni, Dr. Ritesh Malik, Deobrat Singh, Saurab Paruthi and Singapore Angel Network. The startup will utilise the funds to develop its technology and product along with hiring an efficient team.

Wimwi Foods:A startup that brings healthy food ingredients & snacks to Indian kitchens and offices, Wimwi Foods, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from IIM Ahmedabad’s technology business incubator, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE). The round also saw investment from Ahmedabad-based angel investors Siddharth Jain and Dinesh Bindal.

Bulbul Apps: Bulbulapps raised an undisclosed amount of funding on global crowdfunding platform Kickstarter from over 60+ backers for its project – ‘TUK-TUK goes to Hyderabad’. TukTuk is a travel app designed for pre-school goers to help them discover his or her city with TukTuk (a 3-wheeler automobile) in a visual and interactive manner. The raised funds will be used to pay writers, illustrators, animators, voice over artists, musicians and app development, testing, and listing.

Dogspot: Online portal for pet care, DogSpot.in, raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ratan Tata, along with a few new and existing investors – Ronnie Screwvala, India Quotient and K Ganesh. The newly raised funds will be deployed towards offering new range of products under the existing brand.

MakeMyTrip: Online travel company, MakeMyTrip, raised about $180 Mn from China’s Ctrip.com International, Ltd., through convertible bonds. Ctrip may beneficially own up to 26.6% of MakeMyTrip’s outstanding shares and as per the terms of the deal, Ctrip will acquire the right to appoint a director to the MakeMyTrip board of directors.

Bikxie: Two-wheeler taxi service provider Bikxie raised an undisclosed amount in an  angel round led by investment banker from the Middle East, and an  Indian entrepreneur. The raised funds will be utilised for its app development, expansion of services in Haryana and building marketing strategies.

Bira91: Craft beer company Bira91 raised $6 Mn round led by Sequoia with participation from a select set of super angels including Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal from Snapdeal, Deepinder Goyal from Zomato, Ashish Dhawan of ChrysCapital, and Mayank Singhal from Temasek. This is a first for a blue chip venture capital firm to invest in an alcoholic beverage brand in India.

Flatfurnish: Furnishing rental company FlatFurnish.com raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Jabong’s founder Arun Chandra Mohan. The raised capital will be used for expansion of the company.

With this, California-based and Nexus-backed, Blueshift Labs Inc., a predictive marketing automation software provider, raised $8 Mn in a Series A round led by Storm Ventures and Nexus.

Roadside assistance services firm CrossRoads India Assistance plans to raise $25 Mn (about INR 165 Cr) to fund technology-led expansion, including setting up of new business verticals. The company is in the process of transitioning from simply being a car helpline to a one-stop shop for any vehicle related problems.

Besides,  Flipkart is also plannig to raise about $1.4 Bn (INR 9,200 Cr) in a new funding round, which is reportedly to be led by existing and a few new investors.

Acquisitions That Took Place This Week

• Times Internet acquired ViralShots, a micro content mobile app for an undisclosed amount. ViralShots will leverage the deep understanding that the Times group has in the content and mobile space to grow faster.
• Paytm acquired Shifu, a consumer behaviour prediction platform, for $8 Mn (INR 53 Cr.). With this, Shifu’s 20 member team, including the three founders, will join Paytm. The startup is looking to enhance its consumer experiences on the Paytm platform.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Unicorn India Ventures, a SEBI registered AIF-I VC fund, made its first close of about $6Mn of its $15 Mn (INR 40 Cr of its INR 100 Cr) fund. The raised funds will be invested in early stage startups working in areas like social media, mobile, analytics, cloud tech and IOT.
• Primarc Group, which is into real estate and retailing, has set up a venture capital fund to support startup ecosystem, especially the West Bengal-based startups working towards social impact or unique ideas. The startups will be angel funded with Primarc iVenture fund.
• Crowdfunding platform Ketto won the Wharton India Startup Competition. The startup received $30K as prize money along with 150 hours of legal advice from Khaitan and Co. Ketto will also get an opportunity to pitch at the annual conference to be held in Philadelphia, USA planned for March 25, 2016.
• In a bid to select startups for its three-month accelerator programme in Singapore, Startupbootcamp FinTech has announced a two day FastTrack program in Mumbai and Bangalore. It is open to innovative early-stage FinTech startups looking for expert advice, mentorship and exposure.
• Uber is partnering with Invest India to launch UberEXCHANGE incubation program. The program is aimed at providing mentorship to Indian entrepreneurs. The formal announcement will be made during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s ambitious Startup India Initiative on January 16.
• Early-stage venture capital firm, Endiya Partners, reportedly raised $15 Mn (INR 100 Cr) in its first round of fundraising. The VC firm plans to raise a corpus of $30 Mn (INR 200 Cr), which will be done by getting investments from five to six partners. The funds are said to be utilised in funding nearly 25 companies over a period of next three years.