Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [05-10 November 2018]

We bring to you the latest edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week.

One of the biggest funding this week was raised by Bengaluru-based social commerce startup Meesho. The company raised $50 Mn in a Series C funding round, with the entry of three new investors: Shunwei Capital, DST Partners and RPS Ventures. Existing investors including Sequoia India, SAIF Partners, Venture Highway, and Y Combinator (2017) also participated in the latest funding round. This brings the total funding raised by Meesho so far to a total of $65.2 Mn.

This week, around $88.6 Mn funding was received by sectors including social commerce, digital gaming, logistics, among others and two 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

Mobile Premier League (MPL): Digital gaming startup MPL raised $5 Mn in a Series A round of funding led by VC firm Sequoia Capital. The startup is operated by Galactus Funware Technology Pvt. Ltd.

Amazon Transportation Services (ATS): Amazon invested $16.7 Mn in its logistics arm Amazon Transportation Services (ATS), thereby taking the total funding raised so far to $92.4 Mn (INR 675 Cr). To date, Amazon has established 67 fulfillment centres in the country, which cover an area of 20 Mn cubic feet of space in 13 Indian states.

Walmart India: After acquiring Flipkart for $16 Bn, Walmart Investments Cooperatieve U.A, Amsterdam, invested $37.68 Mn into its Indian subsidiary Walmart India. Walmart opened its 23rd wholesale store in Visakhapatnam recently. It claims 19 of these centres have achieved break even.

Dunzo: Bengaluru-based daily tasks management app, Dunzo raised $962.5K from venture debt firm Alteria Capital, by issuing secured non-convertible debentures. The firm will use the capital to expand its services.

iChamp: New Delhi-based Adda52.com, an online poker platform, invested an undisclosed amount in edtech startup, iChamp in a seed funding round. To be noted, the founders of Gurugram-based iChamp, Mohit Bansal and Anil Kumar were the core team members of Adda52. Since then, Bansal has headed many education ventures.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Bengaluru-based Mphasis, an IT solutions provider specialising in cloud and cognitive services, announced its acquisition of US-based Stelligent Systems LLC, in an all-cash deal worth $25 Mn.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Impact investor and advisor Aavishkaar Group, shared its plan to raise $300 Mn for its South Asia-focused fund by early next year to invest in Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and Laos and others. The Mumbai-based firm plans to raise the funds from sovereign investors in Singapore, Japan, Australia and the UK, in addition to Asian development finance institutions.
• Amazon is reportedly in talks to buy 9.5% stake in Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail in a deal worth $342.86 Mn. The deal, expected to be announced next week after approval from the board on November 14, will be done via foreign portfolio investor (FPI) route.
• Chinese early and growth-stage venture capital fund Shunwei Capital raised its sixth fund of $1.21 Bn, its largest till date, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to over $3 Bn across all its funds. The sixth fund comes with a special focus on India, as the firm has doubled down on its investments in the country in the past few quarters.
• Telangana government scheduled the launch of its prototyping center T-Works for electronics, electro-mechanical, mechanical startups, and individuals by April 2019.
• The Indo-European Business Forum (IEBF), an independent organisation facilitating a two-way flow of trade and investment between India and EU member countries, launched its startup Summit – ‘Acceler8’.  Acceler8 programme will address ground issues like recruiting, fund raising, legal and financial guidance, product development and product-market fit.
• ah! Ventures announced the roll out of its national Venture Partner Network by welcoming Satz Advisors and Innerwave. Satz Advisors will handle the regions of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala. Innerwave will operate in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru.
• Venture Catalysts launched a new incubation center in New Delhi, called “Venture Catalysts Let’sWork Global Startup Incubation Center”. The launch of the incubation center is aimed at further bolstering its position as a leading platform for innovative startups to grow and access funds. For this, Venture Catalysts has partnered with China Accelerator, China’s first startup accelerator. Besides this, Venture Catalysts has also joined hands with India-Israel Innovation Center in Israel and in the UK with Relam Investments, a $50 Mn accelerator fund.
• Ahmedabad-based Technology Business Incubator (TBI) iCreate signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with BootUP Ventures and University of Houston. With this MoU, iCreate and BootUP Ventures seek to leverage capabilities on both sides. BootUP Ventures will provide a platform for Indian entrepreneurs to gain exposure to Silicon Valley.
• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in association with Alibaba Business School enrolled its class four of entrepreneurs in a bid to empower them to build sustainable startups in developing economies. A total of 40 participants from various sectors such as ecommerce, logistics, fintech, tourism and big data, from 11 Asian countries, will be participating in this programme.

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