Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [29 February – 5 March]

Indian Unicorn Ola has reportedly decided to go for an  IPO. According to Rajiv Bansal, chief financial officer at Ola, the company will have world class processes in 6 to 8 months, and will be ready for an IPO as early as possible.

This week 23 startups raised about $42 Mn in funding altogether (the funding amount is based on the startups that disclosed their funding amounts).

Startups That Raised Funds This Week

medECUBE: Healthcare startup medECUBE raised about $4 Mn (INR 25 Crore) in Series A round of funding from Artiman Ventures. The startup helps patients get second opinion from leading medical experts across the globe, give sound advice on the most appropriate healthcare solutions, help them make up their minds and hand-hold them right through this journey.

FTCash: Mobile payments platform for micro merchants, FTCash, raised around $148K (INR 1 Cr) in Pre-Series A round of funding from the IvyCamp platform. The startup plans to utilise the funds primarily for customer and merchant acquisition along with product development.

Imarticus Learning: An e-learning portal that offers certified industry-endorsed courses in financial services, business analysis, business analytics & wealth management. It raised $1 Mn in a funding round from investors like Amit Nanavati, Tashwinder Singh, Anil Gudibande, Taranjit Jaswal and Amit Khanna. The raised capital will be used to expand the e-learning business in India as well as in the Asian Markets.

Shouut: Social discovery app Shouut reportedly raised $500K in an angel round of funding from unnamed HNIs in India. The startup uses Geofencing and iBeacons to target consumers and give them relevant and contextual information.

Jabong: Global Fashion Group (GFG) has infused an additional $20 Mn into fashion ecommerce company Jabong, to keep it afloat for one more year.

IoTfy: A startup that offers a self-serve IoT cloud platform, IoTfy, raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round of funding led by the US-based B2B accelerator 9Mile Labs. The funding was received as a part of 9Mile Labs accelerator program. The startup is currently in talks with Indian investors and will soon close its next round in a couple of months.

MoMark Services: A mobile app-based customer engagement platform and mobile wallet aggregator, MoMark, raised $600K in Pre Series-A funding led by YourNest Angel Fund along with participation from LNB group. The startup will utilise the funds to strengthen its technology platform and product offering, increase presence in existing and new markets as well as hire top talent.

Systemantics: Robotics firm Systemantics raised an undisclosed amount of funding from existing investor Accel Partners and Nandan Nilekani. The startup aims to enable widespread adoption of flexible automation in industry.

Skedool.it: A B2B smart assistant startup powered by AI, Skedool.it, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed Funding round led by Kludein LLC and angelsincluding Phanindra Sama, Narayan Ramachandran and Pranav Pai. The funding will be used to scale up its product development, accelerate operations and to hire new talent.

Gympik: Online fitness discovery platform, Gympik, raised an undisclosed amount in its Pre-Series A round of funding from RoundGlass Partners. The funding will be used to help the startup meet growing demand and expand into new geographies.

Testbook: Edtech startup Testbook raised an undisclosed amount of funding from publishing house S. Chand and Company. The startup leverages technology to make exam preparation more efficient.

DriveU: A firm that aggregates on-demand drivers for private car owners, DriveU, raised $1 Mn in Seed Funding from Unitus Seed Fund. With the raised capital, the startup looks to expand its network to 100,000 drivers in 20-30 cities in a couple of years.

Tauro Wealth: Investments platform Tauro Wealth raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from TracxnLabs and a few angel investors.  With the newly raised funds, the startup plans to  build the web platform and  hire expert developers.

Hopscotch: Online retailer of baby care and children’s products, Hopscotch, raised $13 Mn (INR 90 Cr) from Facebook’s co-founder Eduardo Saverin. The startup plans to utilise the raised capital to augment the customer base by adding products and features.

Nestaway: Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in Nestaway Technologies Pvt Ltd. This is Tata’s eighth investment in a startup in 2016.

Aahaa stores: An end-to-end online office supplies superstore specialising in indirect purchases, Aahaa stores, raised about $1 Mn funding in Pre-Series A round of funding from a group of investors led by Gurgaon-based YourNest Angel Fund. The startup will utilise the funds to fuel market expansion, enhance its technology & infrastructure and for team expansion.

Tinystep: Parenting-focused social networking platform, Tinystep, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor Matt Glickman. With this, Glickman will be stepping in as an advisory board member.

Vertuals: Actor and entrepreneur Dino Morea reportedly invested an undisclosed amount in digital content creator for brands Vertuals. The startup allows brands to market themselves better using compelling audio-visual stories.

IQLECT: Analytics startup IQLECT reportedly raised an undisclosed amount in funding from the US investors including the founders of VC firms Walden International and Riverwood Capital. The company is building a line-up of clients in ecommerce, financial services, media and telecommunication industries.

Civilsdaily: An online startup that aggregates news relevant for civil services aspirants, Civilsdaily, raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by Manoj Kumar of Malgharia along with a few HNIs. The raised funding will be used for team expansion, product development and exploring upcoming sectors of news consumption.

Zappka: A personal app store to share, review and discover apps, Zappka,  raised $100K angel funding from former Line Corp India team Damandeep Singh Soni & Rajat Gupta and other High Networth Individuals. The newly raised capital will be used for enhancing the technology and for improving user experience.

VanityCube: On-demand wellness and beauty services company Vanity Cube raised $250K in an early stage round from Unicorn Ventures, friends and family. The startup plans to fund expansion plans and marketing of the brand with the newly raised capital.

Tarusa World: An online platform that sells handicraft products, Tarusa World, has reportedly raised an undisclosed amount in seed round funding from Mohit Gulat. The startup will use the raised capital to scale up its brand, add more inventory & designs, and to further expand its team.

In the recent SmashUp event organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Hyderabad, four startups managed to raise a seed funding of about $29K each (INR 20 Lakh) for an exchange of 10% equity stake. These include CupidCare, Theranosis Life Sciences, Green Pyramid Biotech and Newsdash.

UK and India-based Blippar Inc, which specialises in augmented reality, artificial intelligence and computer vision, raised $54 Mn (around INR 364.7 Cr) in Series D funding round led by Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad and existing investors.

Acquisitions Of The Week

• Hyperlocal mobile marketplace Zopper acquired EasyPOS, a point of sale (PoS) software company, for $5 Mn (INR 33 Cr) in a mixed cash and equity deal. The move is directed at raising additional revenues through the PoS solution and increasing stickiness in the network of small and medium businesses.
• Times of India Group’s digital wing, Times Internet, acquired Willow TV International, a cricket broadcaster in the US. The acquisition is considered complimentary along with its recent acquisition of Cricbuzz, as the two (Willow and Cricbuzz) will be exclusive destinations for premium content from the ICC World Twenty20 tournament, and available to millions of Americans across TV and digital.

Besides, Zee Media is planning to acquire 80% equity stake in two India Today group companies. The two companies together run an ecommerce portal Bagittoday.com and a yet-to-launch television shopping channel. The investment in the company is said to be made in tranches.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Bihar Entrepreneurs Association (BEA) is organising its third Bihar Entrepreneurship Summit (BES). The Summit aims to bring together more than 200 entrepreneurs and leaders of entrepreneurial organisations from different countries to exchange innovative ideas and establish international networks and partnerships.
• The Indian School of Design and Innovation (ISDI) and Microsoft Ventures announced graduation of first batch of startups of ISDI accelerator program. The accelerator’s first batch consists of 6 startups that was commenced in August 2015.
• IIM Ahmedabad’s technology business incubator, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), launched a Healthcare Accelerator, in partnership with The Dasra Girl Alliance. The 3-month-program aims to accelerate, nurture and invest in innovative early stage startups in the healthcare space.
• Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) will raise the proposed $1.4 Bn (INR 10,000 Cr) corpus for ‘Stand Up India Fund’ from RBI. The fund will be disbursed to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women entrepreneurs.
• HDFC organised Digital Innovation Summit on March 3-4, 2016. About 30 Fintech startups were shortlisted to showcase their ideas from the 105 applicants. The final top three startups will be announced next week after evaluation by the internal team at HDFC.
• The Electronics Incubator at Kinfra Hi-tech Park, has invited startups for incubation.The incubator aims to create new and innovative products in consumer electronics, especially in IoT, robotics and wearables. It will provide electronic workbenches to the incubated startups, along with high-end testing and measuring equipment.
• UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) India and iSPIRT has announced six winners in the Great Tech Rocketships Initiative 2016 (GTRS). Through this trip, the winners will get an opportunity to interact with the local technology ecosystems, identify funding options and build product propositions to fit those markets.