Funding Galore: From KreditBee To Vogo — $192 Mn Raised By Indian Startups [February 15 -20]

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

In the biggest funding round this week, lending tech platform KreditBee raised $75 Mn (INR 544 Cr) in a Series C funding round led by Azim Premji’s PremjiInvest and South Korea’s Mirae Asset Venture, with participation from US-based Alpine Capital and Arkam Ventures. The round was a mix of primary and secondary transactions, which has cut Chinese investors in the company from 40% to 10%. Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi has completely exited, while Shunwei Capital and Kunlun reduced their holdings.

Founded in 2016, KreditBee is operated by Finnov, which also runs the non-banking financial company (NBFC) Krazybee. The lending platform specialises in personal loans and consumer durable loans up to INR 2 Lakh with tenures ranging from two months to 15 months. It claims to have a user base of over 20 Mn, and will venture into secured loans and insurance products with the new round.

“With a larger portfolio of loan products, our objective is to provide credit to over 180 million new-to-credit (NTC) customers who were not provided formal credit earlier,” KreditBee CEO and cofounder Madhusudan Ekambaram said. “This investment would help us take more positive steps towards achieving that,” he added.

Overall, $192 Mn was invested in Indian startups across 22 deals this week.

Note: This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amounts

Top 10 Indian Startup Funding Deals This Week

Acquisitions In Indian Startup Ecosystem

• Unacademy has acquired a majority stake in Bengaluru-based professional networking and recruitment platform TapChief at a post-money valuation of $13 Mn. Unacademy believes that the acquisition will help it launch Unacademy Pro, which would be the company’s vertical for higher education, career guidance and placements.

• Bengaluru-based neobanking platform Open has acquired goods and services tax (GST) and financial automation startup Optobizz for $5 Mn in a stock-plus-cash deal. With this, all 35 Optobizz employees will be joining the neobanking startup.

• Bengaluru-based Ohm Mobility has acquired a Nagpur-based company CloudNBFC that develops loan management systems for financiers. “While the government aims for EV adoption on a big scale, financing of EV remains one of the biggest challenges. Ohm’s tech platform is trying to make financing of EVs easier for lenders,” Ohm Mobility’s CEO and founder Nikhil Nair added.

• Property and home loan brokerage firm Square Yards has acquired PropsAMC, a data intelligence, asset management, and real estate services firm. With this, PropsAMC’s team will join SquareYards, but will operate under the older brand name.

Other Developments Of The Week 

• Global impact investor Creation Investments Capital Management LLC has set up a debt fund in India, for which it will raise $100 Mn to invest in the country. The alternative investment manager will focus on financial services and financial inclusion for the underbanked segment of the population. It has appointed Remika Agarwal as its vice-president and India head.

• Bengaluru-based growth stage fund Avataar Capital has raised $100 Mn for its Opportunities Fund to invest about $10 Mn – $30 Mn in its existing portfolio as well as new rounds in B2B and SaaS startups. The fund has set a minimum $15 Mn annual revenue rate (ARR) criterion for picking the startups, with the products being relevant internationally.

• Pune-based kidswear ecommerce unicorn FirstCry is reportedly close to raising $200 Mn from various growth stage and private equity firms such as TPG Growth, Premji Invest and ChrysCapital. The round will likely provide double its valuation and provide exits to its early-stage investors.

• Amazon, along with Startup India, have shortlisted 10 D2C startups and brands to be a part of Global Selling Propel Accelerator to fuel ecommerce exports and help early-stage startups in the consumer products space to create global brands from India. These brands include — Azani Active, D’Moksha Homes, Femora, Rage Coffee, Sirona, Slurrp Farm, Soulflower, True Elements, Why Wait and Wellbeing Nutrition.

• Elevation Capital’s former partner Alok Goel has launched his new startup Drivetrain. The startup will develop a business planning and monitoring software for software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies. The startup’s social media page reads: “Business planning and monitoring software to help scale your business”.

• Twitter CEO and cofounder Jack Dorsey and American singer-songwriter Jay-Z have set up ₿Trust, an endowment that will fund bitcoin development starting with India and Africa.

• Tata Group has reportedly reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in online grocery platform BigBasket in order to boost its yet-to-be-launched ‘super app’ play.  Tata will acquire up to 68% stake in BigBasket for $1.31 Bn, a report added.

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