Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [29 Apr-4 May]

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

This week Bengaluru-based logistics startup BlackBuck closed its Series D round of $150 Mn led by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Silicon Valley-based Accel. BlackBuck plans to use the funds to penetrate deeper into the market, by on boarding new trucking partners along the existing as well as new transportation corridors. It will also invest heavily in product and data sciences capabilities, to enable more efficient freight matching processes.

In all this week, 19 startups raised $338.2 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

Pesto: Gurugram based edtech startup Pesto raised $2 Mn angel funding led by Matrix Partners, with participation of a group of angel investors including — Swiggy founders, Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimini and Nandan Reddy; Innov8 founder Dr. Ritesh Malik; Posist founder Ashish Tulsian and OIC Capital’s Jack Yeung. Pesto plans to use the funds to expand services and open training centres in other cities.

Zenoti: Bellevue-headquartered SaaS startup Zenoti raised $50 Mn in a Series C funding round led by Tiger Global Management. The round also saw the participation of Norwest Venture Partners and Accel Partners. The funds will help the company expand deeper in the UK and Europe

Happy Loans: Mumbai-based digital lending startup Happy Loans raised $20 Mn in an equity and debt funding round. The funding round includes a mix of equity from Indian and US strategic investors, and financing lines from institutions including DMI Finance. The funds will be used to improve customer experience, Happy Loans claims. It will also invest in strengthening the back-end capabilities to improve its evaluation of customers and determine their creditworthiness.

Altizon: Pune-based industrial Internet of Things (IoT) company, Altizon raised $7 Mn Series A funding from Singapore-based subsidiary of automobile manufacturer TVS Motors. Other existing investors such as The Hive, Wipro Ventures, and Lumis Partners also participated in the round. Altizon plans to use the funds to strengthen its international presence and continue its investments in intellectual property (IP) development.

InCred: Mumbai-based digital lending startup InCred closed its Series A round at $85.89 Mn (INR 600 Cr). The funding round was led by Dutch development finance institution FMO with participation from US-based asset manager Moore Capital, India/Latin America-focused PE fund Elevar, and Alpha Capital. The funds will help the company boost its balance sheet lending. It will also help InCred in making further investments in technology initiatives to drive analytics and risk management capabilities.

Mihup: Kolkata-based AI-based personal mobile assistant app Mihup raised $1.7 Mn (INR 12.5 Cr) in its Series A funding from Accel Partners and Ideaspring Capital. The funds will be used to further the startup’s ambition of adding more Indian languages into its engine

Housr: Gurugram-based coliving startup Housr secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Abhishek Lodha, MD and CEO, Lodha Group; Pirojsha Godrej, executive chairman, Godrej Group; and Harsh Patodia, president Elect of CREDAI and chairman, Unimark Group. It will use the funds to expand its India footprint by capturing 50K beds across Chandigarh, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad in the next 18 months

Flynote: Bengaluru-based curated marketplace Flynote raised $2.02 Mn (INR 14 Cr) from Surge, India Quotient, and Sequoia. The funds will be used to expand the startup’s operations.

MilkBasket: Gurugram-headquartered hyperlocal delivery startup Milkbasket raised $2.86 Mn (INR 20 Cr) from Sachin Bansal’s BAC Acquisitions. These funds will help this milk and grocery delivery startup to reach the required capital expenditure and expand its research and development across domains. 

WorkIndia: Bengaluru-based technology market-place WorkIndia raised $3.47 Mn (INR 24 Cr) from BEENEXT and Asuka Asset Management. The funds will be used to further develop the product.

ZunRoof: Gurugram-based home tech startup ZunRoof  raised $1.2 Mn led by Godrej, existing investors Ramakant Sharma, founder of Livspace; Gaurav Gupta, Asia director of Dalberg Advisors; and Ajith Pai of Paipal Ventures also participated in this funding round. The startup did not disclose what the funds will be used for.

Sarva: Mumbai-based fitness startup Sarva raised about $6 Mn – $8 Mn from a group of national and international celebrities such as global icon Jennifer Lopez, American baseball player Alex Rodriguez, Indian Bollywood actress Malaika Arora, and a fitness brand Zumba. With the current funding, the startup will branch out to other metros of the country.

1-India Family Mart: Delhi-based value retail chain 1-India Family Mart raised $2.89 Mn (INR 20 Cr) in a round led by APAC Financial Service. The funding, will be leveraged by the company for expanding to newer geographies as well as for its working capital requirements.

AccioJob: Gurugram-based jobs marketplace startup AccioJob  raised $180K (INR 1.25 Cr) in a round led by Hershel Mehta. The funds will be used to scale the numbers rapidly, aiming to onboard 1000 colleges in the next 2 years by expanding geographically to other parts of India.

ChqBook: Gurugram-based Fintech Startup ChqBook raised an undisclosed amount of funds from renowned cricketer Harsha Bhogle. The company not specified what the funds will be used for.

Progcap: Delhi-based technology-driven lending startup Progcap raised $1 Mn (INR 7 Cr) seed funding in a round led by GrowX ventures. The funds will be used to build a platform that will target over 20 Mn retailers in India who are unplugged from formal financing.

StyleDotMe: Delhi based AR fashion tech startup StyleDotMe raised an undisclosed amount of bridge funding from Indian Angel Network and angel investors. The startup will use the funds to bolster its operations, strengthen its team, and drive its presence across the country by getting more clients on board.

Atomberg Technologies: Mumbai-based electrical appliances company Atomberg Technologies raised an undisclosed amount from Suman Kant Munjal family office. The funding will be used for expanding operations to other cities and new product development.

Ftcash: Mumbai-based micro-lending startup Ftcash has raised $7.23 Mn (INR 50 Cr) in a Series A round of funding. The round has been led by two new investors, Dutch development finance institution FMO and US-based Accion International, existing investor VC fund IvyCap Ventures also participated in the round. The startup plans to use the funds to accelerate product development and drive its expansion efforts.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Gurugram-based hospitality chain OYO committed to acquire Amsterdam-based vacation rental company @Leisure Group. with this acquisition, OYO’s capabilities of asset management and technology will be combined with the presence, local know-how and category-specific expertise of the @Leisure Group in the sphere of vacation rentals.
• Gurugram-headquartered online travel company MakeMyTrip acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-based corporate travel management startup Quest2Travel for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will help the company to extend its service offerings to large corporates for their travel requirements.
• Hyderabad-based healthcare technology firm Suvarna Technosoft is acquiring a controlling stake in Mumbai-based laboratory information management systems (LIMS) solutions provider MedPrecinct Solutions.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Auto portal CarDekho announced that it will buy back shares worth $2.5 Mn (INR 17.5 Cr) from its employees, under the Girnar group ESOP repurce plan, 2019. The company circulated the offer letter to 71 eligible employees for participating in the repurce plan.
• Jungle Ventures made the first close of its third fund at about $175 Mn. The early stage investment fund’s Indian portfolio includes LivSpace, PaySense, and Engineer.ai.
• Bengaluru-headquartered ride hailing startup Ola’s parent company, ANI Technologies  proposed to increase its authorised capital to include an additional number of Series-J shares. This move indicates the company’s intentions to raise an additional $300 Mn (INR 2,089 Cr) as a part of its ongoing funding round.
• Walmart-owned Flipkart is looking to expand the offline reach, as well as boost its grocery delivery business. A report on May 1 said that Flipkart is in talks with Bengaluru-based grocery chain Namdhari Fresh.
• Government of Maharashtra introduced Mumbai FinTech Hub for startups to enable financial empowerment and technological advancement. The initiative came on the heels of Mumbai FinTech Accelerator, wherein 12 startups made it to the debut cohort in December 2018. On April 30, 2019, these 12 startups showcased their innovative solutions on Mumbai FinTech Hub’s Demo Day.

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