Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [August 24- 29]

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

Online lending startups Avail Finance has raised $11.8 Mn (INR 87 Cr) in Series B funding round from US-Based Falcon Edge India-managed Alphawave Incubation and Matrix Partners at a valuation of $68.1 Mn (INR 500 Cr). According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ filings, Alphawave Incubation has infused nearly INR 57 Cr in Avail Finance, while Matrix Partners invested INR 30.2 Cr. After these transactions, Matrix Partners will own 26.4% stake and Alphawave will get 11.5% in the fintech startup.

Prior to this, the company had raised $9 Mn from Matrix Partners last June to offer a complete online banking solution for blue-collar workers by catering to a multitude of their financial needs such as savings, investments, and insurance.

Avail Finance was founded in 2017 by Ankush Aggarwal and Tushar Mehndiratta. It provides short term loans to the blue-collar workforce in India, including gig workers such as cab drivers and delivery persons. Only users earning less than INR 35K can avail a personal loan on the platform. Avail Finance allows personal loans upto INR 40K for a maximum tenure of eight months at a fixed interest rate of 2% per month.

Overall, $37.4 Mn was invested across 28 Indian startups this week. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amounts).

Checkout Inc42 Plus’ Indian Startup Funding Tracker For Latest Funding Deals Info

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. Avail Finance: $11.8 Mn
2. MedLife: $6.8 Mn
3. Gamezop: $4.3 Mn
4. TrueFan: $4.3 Mn
5. Virohan: $2.8 Mn
6. IDfy: $2.1 Mn
7. Otipy: $1 Mn
8. True Balance: $887K
9. Bira91: $764K
10. MaxWholesale: $603K
11. Gradeup: $546K
12. CraftsVilla: $409K
13. MechMocha: $292K
14. Mindhouse: $286K
15. Tracxn: $262K
16. DeepSync: $136K
17. Purple Style Labs: $43K
18. ProPhysio: $40.9K
19. Flickstree: $40.9K
20. Settl: Undisclosed
21. Evage: Undisclosed
22. Fanspole: Undisclosed
23. The Money Club: Undisclosed
24. Sarva: Undisclosed
25. Univ.AI: Undisclosed
26. PurohitJi: Undisclosed
27. Eruditus: Undisclosed

• Medlife: Bengaluru-based online pharmacy Medlife has raised $6.8 Mn (INR 50 Cr) in debt from Ivy Icon, according to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs fillings.

 

• Gamezop: Mobile gaming platform Gamezop raised $4.3 Mn (INR 32 Cr) in a Series A funding round led by BITKRAFT Ventures. Other investors in the funding round include Velo Partners and FJ Labs.

 

• TrueFan: Celebrity-fan engagement startup TrueFan has raised $4.3 Mn in a seed funding round from venture capital firms Mayfield India and Saama Capital, and Ronnie Screwvala, media industry veteran and serial entrepreneur.

 

• Virohan: Gurugram-based healthcare vocational institute Virohan raised $2.8 Mn across Seed and Series A funding round. The seed round was led by Keiretsu Forum and Series A round was led by elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization and by the Singh Family Trusts, advised by Artha Impact with participation from founders and National Skill Development Corporation. It will use the funding to introduce and expand new virtual technologies in the vocational training segment.

 

• IDfy: Mumbai-based online fraud detection platform IDfy is raising $2.1 Mn (INR 16 Cr) in debt from existing investors Millenna FVCI III, NB Ventures and Dream Incubator as a part of its Series A funding round.

 

• Otipy: Social commerce platform Otipy has raised $1 Mn from early-stage investment firm Inflection Point Venture. The company has managed to scale 4x growth in the three month, and will use this funding to further accelerate the growth.

 

• True Balance: Gurugram and Korea-based mobile balance management service startup True Balance has raised $887K (INR 6.5 Cr) from South Korea-based Balancehero, according to regulatory filings. The company had raised $23 Mn (INR 164 Cr) in Series C last year.

 

• Bira91: Delhi-based craft beer maker B9 Beverages, the parent company of Bira 91, is raising $764K (INR 5.6 Cr) through equity shares from Anicut Capital, according to regulatory filings. The company has already raised $491K (INR 3.6 Cr) from the investment firm.

 

• MaxWholesale: B2B ecommerce platform for kirana stores, MaxWholesale, has raised $603K (INR 4.42 Cr) from Al Falaj Commercial Investment Co and Vistra ITCL India, which is a trustee for IAN Fund-I.

 

• Craftsvilla: Mumbai-based ethnic etailer Craftsvilla has raised $409K (INR 3 Cr) through equity from Supera Investments, according to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings accessed by Inc42.

 

• MechMocha: Real-time multiplayer gaming platform Mech Mocha has raised $292K (INR 2.14 Cr) in Series A round from Accel India, Blume Ventures, 3F Ventures, and Akatsuki Inc, according to ministry of corporate affairs filings.

 

• Mindhouse: Healthtech startup Mindhouse has raised $286K (INR 2.1 Cr) in debt from Better Capital and a clutch of angel investors Karan Singh, Anandakrishnan Chandrasekaran and Sahil Barua, the company’s regulatory filings noted.

 

• DeepSync: Bengaluru-based AI startup Deepsync is raising $136K (INR 1 Cr) from Grand Anicut Angel Fund (GAAF), AL Trust, Beeline Impex Private Limited, 9Unicorns and Accelerator Fund.

 

• Eruditus: The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a non-profit organisation headed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, has confirmed its investment in Mumbai-based edtech startup Eruditus. According to people close to the matter, CZI and US-based tech-focused funds are reportedly in advance talks with the edtech startup to invest $80 Mn-$100Mn at a valuation of $800 Mn to $850 Mn.

 

More Funding From The Indian Startup Ecosystem 

 

• Edtech startup Gradeup is raising $546K (INR 4 Cr) from Times Internet Limited, while audio streaming platform Gaana is taking a $5 Mn loan from the Times Group-owned company.

 

• Business tracking portal Tracxn raised $887K (INR 1.92 Cr) from SAIF Partners and others as part of Series B round.

 

• Luxury fashion house Purple Style Labs has raised $43K (INR 32 Lakh) from multiple angel investors.

 

• Healthcare startup ProPhysio raised $40.9K (INR 30 Lakh) from Nestavera Ventures.

 

• Video publisher network Flickstree raised $40.9K (INR 30 Lakh) in Series A from Optimise Media Group’s Laxmi Datt Sharma.

 

• Coliving startup Settl has raised an undisclosed amount from the personal arm of Arvind Kumar, CEO of VRR builders. The company plans to use this amount for hiring, product development, and growth.

 

• Mumbai-based marketplace for coworking spaces Passwork has raised undisclosed amount in seed round from angel investors Gaurav Gandhi and Vivek Bhargava.

 

• Electric vehicle (EV) startup EVage has raised an undisclosed amount from Ola Electric cofounder and senior advisor Anand Shah, BryAir director Varun Pahwa, and DMI Group partner Anmol Nayyar. The company is looking to launch its first electric delivery van.

 

• Fanspole has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed funding round from Better Capital for product development and boost marketing.

 

• Fintech startup The Money Club has raised an undisclosed amount from Venture Catalysts, Proptiger.com’s CEO Dhruv Agarwal, Polycab Wires’ director Bharat Jaisinghni, Dominor Investments’ Tushar Singh, veteran technologist’s Dr. Aloknath De. LetsVenture and Keiretsu Forum also participated in this seed round.

 

• Yoga and wellness company Sarva has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Cutting Edge Group, which is an international full-service provider of music for the film, advertising and television industries. The funding will add over 20,000 minutes of music & meditation content to the company’s catalogue.

 

• Bengaluru-based online AI and Data Science University Univ.AI has raised an undisclosed amount from Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.

 

• Bengaluru-based puja service PurohitJi has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed round from Angel Investor Bhadresh. The startup plans to use the funds to launch its services in new cities and add new services to its users.

Other Developments Of The Week

• US-based early-stage accelerator Y Combinator hosted 14 Indian startups in its three-months-long accelerator programme. These included Zuddl, Medpiper, SockSoho, Decentro, Statiq, Mesh, Farmako Healthcare, Eatable, inFeedo, Bikayi, WareIQ, SuperTokens. Overall, the programme had 197 startups.

 

• Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group is reportedly close to hitting pause on further investments into Indian startups and businesses due to India’s economic pressure on China and the country’s new rules for foreign investments from China.

 

• Mela Ventures, a fund for B2B early-stage tech startups, started by Indian multinational technology company Mindtree founders Krishnakumar Natarajan and N S Parthasarathy, has marked the first close of its maiden fund worth $27 Mn (INR 200 Cr).

 

• Flipkart cofounder Sachin Bansal-led Navi Technologies is reportedly in talks to buy out the insurance business of Liberty General Insurance Ltd.