Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [1 February – 6 February]

This week two venture capital firms raised funds. Silicon-based venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital, managed to close $920 Mn fund capital to invest majorly in Indian startups along with South East Asian companies. With this, venture capital firm, Kae Capital, raised $30 Mn as part of its second fund from existing and new investors. The second fund has already been invested in at least five startups. It was reported that Flipkart approached Alibaba to raise next funding round. Though the talks are at a very nascent stage but the sources close to the development said that Alibaba’s investment will depend upon Flipkart’s willingness to offer a discount on its current valuation of $15 Bn.

This week 14 startups raised $20 Mn in funding altogether. (The funding amount is based on the startups that disclosed their funding amounts).

The Startups That Raised Funds This Week

Magic Crate: An early childhood learning startup, Magic Crate, received an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by Aarin Capital and TV Mohandas Pai in his personal capacity. The startup will use the raised funds towards expanding its product portfolio, growing the team and scaling up manufacturing.

Oust Labs: Edtech startup Oust Labs raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from T.V. Mohandas Pai and Aarin Capital. The startup aims to combine the fun and social aspects of mobile gaming with rigorous curriculum.

Altizon: IoT startup Altizon Systems raised $4 Mn in series A funding led by Wipro Ventures. Other participants in this round included Lumis Partners and existing investors, The Hive and Infuse Ventures. The startup will use the newly raised capital to scale up sales and marketing functions in India and the international market.

Mazkara: Beauty and wellness startup, Mazkara, raised $1 Mn in a seed round of funding from Dubai-based Dunamis Ventures. The raised capital will be used to expand its product team and subsequently launch operations in Delhi, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi.

Blue Tokai: Online specialty coffee retailer, Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters, raised an undisclosed amount in its seed round of funding led by Snow Leopard Ventures with participation from Bold Ventures. The company aims to use these funds to add more roasteries in other major cities across India.

Heads Up For Tails: Luxury brand for pet products, Heads Up For Tails (HUFT), raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding led by individual investors from USA, Singapore and India. The company will used the raised capital to launch 4-6 new points of sale this year, including one in New Delhi next month.

Perfumery: An ecommerce platform that sells fragrances, Perfumery, raised $30K (INR 20 Lac) in its seed round of funding led by Delhi-based Oranda Global and other angel investors. The newly raised capital will be used for Phase 2 of expansion and for creation of a specialised marketplace dedicated to luxury perfumes.

RoadGods: Startup accelerator Green House Ventures (GHV) has on-boarded a disruptive product design & marketplace platform RoadGods.The startup has built an online marketplace for outdoor and automotive products.

PindropMusic: Startup accelerator Green House Ventures (GHV) has on-boarded a music discovery app PindropMusic

Urban Dhobi: On demand laundry startup, Urban Dhobi, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors Vinod Bansal and Sanjeev Singhal. The startup will use the newly raised capital to hire experts in different domains and for expansion in 5 more cities including Kota, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chandigarh.

SmartCooky: NDTV Ecommerce’s venture, SmartCooky, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from VLCC founder Vandana Luthra. The startup is a marketplace for health products and personal care products, and is an extension of NDTV’s existing food site.
Zendrive: Mobile-tech startup, Zendrive, raised $13.5 Mn in Series A round led by Sherpa Capital. This round saw participation from Nyca Partners, Thomvest Ventures (Peter J. Thomson) and existing investors, First Round Capital, BMW i Ventures, Fontinalis Partners (Bill Ford) and Tad Montross. The startup will use the newly raised fund to focus on safety innovation and to grow its team.

Turtlemint: Online-insurance seller, Turtlemint, raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners. Blume Ventures also participated in this round. The startup will use the newly raised capital to scale up its technology & operations and to expand the team.

Gingercrush: Merchandising and product customisation platform raised $1 Mn in Pre Series A Round of funding led by Saha Fund. Mohandas Pai’s family office, Zia Mody (AZB Partners), Mumbai Angels, Ananda Kallugadde (NeoAngels), Rakesh Desai & Rakesh Malhotra (SAR Group) also participated in this round.

The week also saw first of its kind, investment in a co-working space for startups. BHIVE Workspace, raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding led by Raghunandan G, Rajesh Rai, Arihant Patni, Sanjay Mirchandani and Arun Narayan. The funding will be used to open BHIVE in its fourth location in Bangalore.

With this, the US global investment firm Capria that manages two ventures — Unitus Seed Fund and Capria Accelerator, has invested in the firm. The investors, which include Bill Gates and Aaarin Capital co-founders Ranjan Pai and TV Mohandas Pai have committed to invest Capria to help unlock more than $500 Mn in global impact capital over in the next 10 years.

Also, book review and recommendation startup, Woodpie, got selected to participate in a 14-week-long business building program as a part of ‘1440 Accelerator for Publishing Innovation’. As part of the program, Woodpie will receive $30K in seed funding in exchange for 7% equity in the company.

Flipkart infused $98.4 Mn (INR 666 Cr) in its logistics arm eKart through a Singapore-based group firm, to boost its logistics business.

Anti-virus software maker, Quick Heal Technologies Ltd, has fixed the price band for its initial public offer (IPO) at INR 311-321 a share. The company also aims to raise up to INR 250 Cr (about $38 Mn) through a fresh issue of shares.

Four startups won on the spot funding of INR 15 lakhs at Entrepreneurship Cell (eCell) of IIT Bombay, organised the second edition of the program during its The Entrepreneurship Summit 2016.

Acquisitions That Took Place This Week

• On-demand service provider, Housejoy, acquired MyWash, an online laundry services player, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition would give Housejoy a foothold in “a strategic category” to help increase repeat customer usage.
• Ethnic etailer, Craftsvilla, has acquired Sendd, an on-demand shipping service provider startup, for about $4.5 Mn. Post acquisition, Sendd will help Craftsvilla strengthen and streamline its logistics capabilities.

Allygrow Technologies has acquired AE Automotive Elements headquartered in Germany and the engineering services arm of Ranal, an US-based company for an undisclosed amount. The acquisitions are done in a bid to strengthen Allygrow’s product offering.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Anthill Ventures selected 25 startups from over 300 applications at the event entitled “The Marketplace 3.0”, targeted towards online marketplaces and enablers looking to raise up to a million dollar.
• iSPIRT is inviting application for third edition of InTech50, a platform for startups to showcase their innovative software products to a panel of Chief Information Officers (CIOs), Venture Capitalists and Product Leaders from the tech startups.
• Uttar Pradesh has finalised its own startup policy to promote the ‘startup culture’ and entrepreneurship in the state. The aim is to facilitate both small and large IT/ ITeS industry spanning startups and micro, small & medium enterprises by providing incentives and a conducive policy framework.
• Spark10 launched its operations in Hyderabad. With this launch, the accelerator is now inviting applications from the startups working in Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, Internet, smart technologies, analytics and machine learning domains.
• Yuvraj Singh’s investment fund YouWeCan Ventures is planning to start an incubator to tap into a nascent community of entrepreneurs that had no access to angel investors. The company said the first two arms of the incubator will be set up in Gurgaon and Bangalore.
• Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in partnership with Qualcomm launched a contest for startup ideas, in the run-up to the Make in India Week to be held in Mumbai from February 13 to 18, 2016. The winner will be announced at the end of the Make in India Week, and will get an equity investment of about $295K (INR 2 Cr) from Qualcomm, the US maker of chips for smartphones.
• Kalaari Capital is planning to invest about $20 Mn (INR 135 Cr.) in 40 startups over the next two years as a part of its seed and incubation programme. The VC firm also launched a seed program named Kstart.
• BSE Institute Ltd launched a tech-based accelerator for startups in Mumbai, in collaboration with Ryerson Futures Inc (Toronto) the technical arm of Ryerson University, Canada. The accelerator will focus on scalable, technology startups. It will aim to recreate Digital Media Zone (DMZ) – Ryerson’s flagship program in Toronto.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to introduce regulatory changes to ease cross-border transactions for startups in India. This will enable startups to receive foreign VC investments without any restrictions. The changes will be finalised in consultation with the government.