Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [25-30 Mar]

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

This week logistics unicorn Delhivery confirmed its latest funding round of over $400 Mn led by Japanese investment firm SoftBank. Other existing investors in the company such as private equity firm Carlyle Group, and China-based conglomerate and investment company Fosun, also participated in this round. This round is believed to have taken Delhivery’s valuation to about $1.5 Bn.

Also, this week expense management startup Fyle confirmed $4.2 Mn funding round led by Tiger Global with participation from existing investors Pravega Ventures, Beenext, and Freshworks.

One of the major happenings this week came when a source close to the development told Inc42 that Reliance Jio is acquiring chatbot maker, Haptik for over INR 200 Cr, to build its own conversational platform on the lines of Amazon’s Alexa. The transaction is expected to be completed this week.

In all this week, 11 startups raised $37 Mn funding and three startup acquisitions took place in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Fundings Of The Week

Furlenco: Bengaluru-headquartered furniture rental startup Furlenco raised $5.84 Mn (INR 40.46 Cr) in a Series C funding round from Lightbox Ventures, Crescent Enterprises and others. Romnesh Lamba, Lakshmi Narayanan, Monika Garware Modi and Innovative quest LLP and AMK Family Trust also invested in the funding round.

Zivame: Bengaluru-based online lingerie retailer Zivame raised INR 10 Cr ($1.4 Mn) from Allana Investment and Trading Company in its extended Series C funding round. According to a MCA filing assessed by Inc42, 22,368 cumulative convertible preference shares (CCPS) were allotted to the investor at INR 4,370.71 per share.

eShiksa: Jaipur-based education service portal eShiksa raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Mumbai-based Mentor Capital as part of an extended seed round. The funds will be used for expanding the user base in India to over 2000 institutions in the upcoming 12-18 months and geographical expansion, beyond the four countries it is present in— India, Nepal, Malaysia, and the Maldives.

Bonito Designs: Bengaluru-based Bonito Designs raised $6.3 Mn in its pre-Series A round of funding led by Tomorrow Capital. It is looking to use the funds to extend its operations and ramp up the production. The funds will also be allocated for R&D to build processes and delivery know how to bring personalisation and international appeal to every family and home we touch.

Zetwerk: Bengaluru-based manufacturing services platform Zetwerk raised its $9 Mn Series A funding round from Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital India. The existing investor Kae Capital also participated in the round. The startup will utilise the new funds for its supply base expansion across India and build new tools for small manufacturers, in order to help them run efficient businesses.

Stanza Living: New Delhi-based student housing startup Stanza Living raised $4.4 Mn in venture debt from Alteria Capital. The company plans to use the funds to bolster its momentum to unlock an inventory of one lakh beds by 2021 and bring its high-quality Stanza Living brand experience to students across India.

OxfordCaps: Singapore-headquartered student housing platform Oxfordcaps raised $8 Mn in Series A funding, led by Times Internet with participation from existing investors Kalaari Capital and Silicon Valley-based 500 Startups. The fresh funds will be used to expand to nearly 10K beds in more than 10 cities in India. The funding will also help them in standardizing its student housing product with design thinking and technology at the core of the experience.

New Street Technologies: Bengaluru-based fintech startup, New Street Technologies raised $2 Mn in Series A funding led by Unitus Ventures, as it plans to take its flagship platform built on blockchain — MIFIX — to the Middle East and Southeast Asian markets.

GamingMonk: Delhi-based gaming and esports platform GamingMonk raised $150K as strategic investment from Japanese gaming media GameWith. The strategic partnership is expected to build on synergies, support and collaboration for the Indian gaming industry.

iChamp: Delhi-based innovative digital platform iChamp raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by Singapore-based Ariana Investment Management’s CEO Raju Shukla. Other notable investors include Anuj Gupta and Mohit Agarwal, cofounders of Adda52.  The company will utilise the funds for technology up-gradation and expanding its product offerings. It also plans to diversify into more subjects and classes across various curriculums in the coming months.

Doubtbox: Kochi-based edtech startup Doubtbox raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Times Internet-owned Brand Capital. The funds will be used for branding purposes to compete against larger players in the industry.

Expected Fundings:

• Bengaluru-based hyperlocal startup BigBasket is close to completing its $150 Mn funding round with sizable investments from Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, South Korean Mirae Asset Global Investments and the UK government-backed CDC Group.
• Digital payment company Paytm is reportedly in the middle of raising around $1.5 Bn – $2 Bn from its existing investors SoftBank Vision Fund and Alibaba’s Ant Financial. Following this funding round, the company may be valued between $16 Bn – $18 Bn.
• SoftBank and ecommerce giant Amazon are reportedly in talks to lead a $100 Mn (INR 690 Cr) equity financing round in Bengaluru-based vehicle-sharing marketplace Drivezy. Drivezy has been on the lookout for fresh funds to expand its fleet across the country and also foray into the foreign markets.
• SoftBank is in talks to invest nearly $100 Mn in epharma startup PharmEasy. PharmEasy is reportedly seeking a valuation of about $400 Mn in the latest round of funding, more than double what it was valued in the previous fundraising.
• SoftBank may lead a $75 Mn-$100 Mn funding round in cloud kitchen startup Faasos. Goldman Sachs, Chinese internet giant Tencent as well as Temasek are also expected to participate in the round.
• Bus shuttle service startup Shuttl is set to close its Series B funding round with $7.23 Mn (INR 49.9 Cr) from Sequoia, Lightspeed and Times Internet. The company is expected to receive the funds soon.

 Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Ahmedabad-based Infibeam, which runs payments processing services CCAvenue, announced that its Dubai-based wholly owned subsidiary Infibeam Global EMEA FZ-LLC has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Middle East’s investment firm UniPropitia FZCO. Through this strategic alliance, Infibeam is looking to expand its web service platform in the Arab League countries. Also, as part of the deal, UniPropitia will acquire a 51% stake in the Dubai subsidiary for a total consideration not exceeding $25 Mn.
• Chennai-based pharmaceutical ecommerce portal Netmeds.com has announced the acquisition of another healthtech startup KiViHealth in a cash and stock deal. The Chennai-based company will invest about $10 Mn to integrate and grow KiVIHealth  business segment.
• Delhi-based grocery delivery startup Milkbasket has acquired Noida-based grocery delivery startup Veggie India for an undisclosed amount. According to the deal, all Veggie India employees, including the founders, Jainendra Upadhyay and Shailendra Upadhyay will join Milkbasket.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Hyderabad-based investment and scaling platform for early-stage startups — Anthill Ventures — has opened its $100 Mn fund for Tel Aviv-based startups working in media and entertainment, healthtech and urbantech sectors across technologies. Since its inception last year, the fund is already investing in Indian, Singaporean and Mauritius-based startups.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is looking to issue guidelines for setting up a regulatory sandbox or innovation hub for the fintech startups in May. This hub will help the companies build innovative products at a lower cost. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, said that there is a need for a definite regulatory and supervisory framework for the fintech startups.
• Walmart-owned Flipkart has set up an internal fund to invest across early stage startups in order to further strengthen its ecommerce operations. The fund size is estimated to be around $60 Mn – $100 Mn (INR 414 Cr – INR 691 Cr) and the venture will be led by Emily McNeal, who serves as the group CFO of Flipkart. With this fund, Flipkart is looking to invest around $2 Mn – $3 Mn in startups working across financial technology, supply chain, and SaaS with an aim to get hold of 20% to 25% stake in these companies
• International health-focused innovation platform Well Tech announced its collaboration with Venture Catalysts to initiate a healthtech-oriented acceleration programme ‘HealthCare Catalysts’. The programme will provide healthtech startups with access to capital, industry partnerships, and product and technology support along with helping them scale to new markets.

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