Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [January 11 -16]

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

Three weeks into 2021 and we already have our very first unicorn of the year — Digit Insurance. The Bengaluru-based insurtech startup raised $18 Mn from existing investors A91 Partners, Faering Capital and TVS Capital at a valuation of $1.9 Bn. The company plans to use this capital to meet the solvency margin requirement, following 31.9% growth in the last nine months.

With $11.5 Bn raised in 2020, the Indian startup ecosystem recorded a modest fall of 10% compared to 2019. However, 2021 is estimated to record a total funding amount of $13.7 Bn across 1,044 funding deals, as per Inc42 Plus’ report. In totality, the total funding raised by Indian startups since 2014 would rise to $83.4 Bn, with a total deal count of 7,029.

This week, about $286 Mn was invested across 27 Indian startups and two companies got acquired.

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

Top Indian Startup Funding Deals Of The Week

• Unacademy: $50 Mn from Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadview Capital and General Atlantic

 

• Digit Insurance: $18 Mn from A91 Partners, Faering Capital and TVS Capital

 

• CoinSwitch Kuber: $15 Mn in Series A by Ribbit Capital, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital India and CRED founder Kunal Shah

 

• Samunnati: $12.6 Mn debt from FMO

 

• Chalo: $7 Mn from Raine Ventures, WhatsApp’s Neeraj Arora, Google Search’s Amit Singhal, Dabur’s Saket Burman and Tarun Sawhney of Triveni Group

 

• Infra.Market: $6.8 Mn in venture debt from InnoVen Capital

 

• VComply: $6 Mn in Series A from Accel and Counterpart Ventures

 

• Gegadyne: $5 Mn from V-Guard

 

• Ergo: $3.1 Mn in Series A from CDC Group, Aavishkaar Capital and Chiratae Ventures

 

• SSA Finserv: $3 Mn from Blue Ashva Capital

 

• Box8: $2.7 Mn in Series C from KVS Software, Amgele Family Trust, Neerav Parekh, Fortune Investment, Craft House India and Vijay Kumar Mishra

 

• Zluri: $2 Mn from Endiya Partners and Kalaari Capital

 

• Nao Spirits & Beverages: $2 Mn in Series A from several VC firm

 

• Karkhana.io: $1.5 Mn in a seed round from Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India

 

• Biconomy: $1.5 Mn from Eden Block, Fenbushi Capital, Binance, DACM, Outlier Ventures and others

 

• True Elements: $1.3 Mn from Maharashtra State Social Venture Fund (MSSVF)

 

• Generico: $1.3 Mn in venture debt from Alteria Capital

 

• ReadyAssist: $1 Mn in seed round from angel investors in two tranches

 

• Siply: $1 Mn in seed round from Inflection Point Ventures

 

• FreshMenu: $478K in Series B1 from Lightspeed India, Zodius Technology fund and Vistra India
  

 

• PurpleTutor: $300K in seed round from Ivy Ventures, Simplilearn’s Krishna Kumar

 

• KIWI: $250K from PointOne Capital, Core91 VC,and  AppyHigh

 

• Toolbox: $210K in seed round from Globevestor Angel Fund and other angel investors

 

• Knocksense: $200K in seed round from Mohit Satyanand’s syndicate on Let’s Venture, We Founder Circle, and other angel investors

 

• OYO: Undisclosed amount from Swedish billionaire Martin HP Soderstrom

 

• Bolkar: Undisclosed amount from GSF Accelerator, Axilor Ventures

 

• Wright Research: Undisclosed amount in pre-seed round from BSE Institute Limited Ryerson Technology Startup Incubation Foundation (BRTSIF), Innovation Partners Capital, Broadcom’s Ajat Hukkoo

 

Acquisition Among Indian Startups

 

• Fintech startup Wishfin has acquired Prakhar Aggarwal-led Ladders, a platform that simplifies mutual funds buying, investments and insurance products for its users. Aggarwal, will be joining Wishfin post this acquisition.

  “We plan to leverage the products build by the Ladders team and offer easy access to investment and insurance to millions of customers through our massive distribution pipe of 37 Mn customers of financial products, spread across India,” Wishfin’s chairperson and MD Puru Vashishtha has said.

 

• Bengaluru-based B2B ecommerce marketplace for pharmacies Saveo Healthtech Pvt. Ltd. has acqui-hired Gurugram-based retail startup ShuttrStores, which aims to organise and aggregate the retail pharmacy market. With this acquisition, both ShuttrStores founders, Kshitij Yadav and Kamlesh Meena will join the Saveo Technology team.

  Vivek Jaiswal, Cofounder Saveo said, “This acquisition will help strengthen the overall pharma-ecosystem of our country. ShuttrStores capabilities, reach and expertise in this area will help Saveo improve its key offerings to customers.”

Other Developments Of The Week 

• N+1 Capital has partnered with early-stage VC fund LetsVenture for its maiden $100 Mn debt fund. The N+1 Capital target includes a green-shoe option of $25 Mn.

 

• Bengaluru has been ranked as the world’s fastest-growing tech hub, according to data from Amsterdam-based Dealroom.co analysed by London and Partners. The data reveals that investment in the Karnataka capital of Bengaluru grew 5.4x in terms of funding in the past five years.

 

• Paytm is reportedly going to raise $400 Mn from Swiss multinational investment bank UBS Group AG.

 

• San Francisco and Bengaluru-based edtech startup Simplilearn is reportedly looking to raise $100 Mn-$150 Mn funding from global investors.

 

• Online grocery startup Grofers has confirmed that it is looking at acquisitions in the ecommerce technology space to enhance the customer experience and help boost retention.