Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [July 13- 18]

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

Reliance Industries’ digital venture Jio Platforms has raised $4.5 Bn (INR 33,737 Cr) from global tech giant Google for 7.73% equity stake, Mukesh Ambani announced at Reliance’s 43rd Annual General Meeting (AGM). Google is investing at an equity valuation of INR 4.36 Lakh Cr. The investment is a part of Google’s $10 Bn ‘India Digitization Fund’ to help the country unleash the potential of its digital economy.

Google’s CEO Sunder Pichai, in an event, highlighted that the digitisation fund will be used to  invest in India through a mix of equity investments, partnerships and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments.

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Meanwhile, Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart also raised a $1.2 Bn funding round led by its majority stakeholder Walmart along with other existing shareholders at a valuation post-money valuation of $24.9 Bn. The fresh fund will be used to support Flipkart’s recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said, “Since Walmart’s initial investment in Flipkart, we have greatly expanded our offer through technology, partnerships and new services. We will continue innovating to bring the next 200 Mn Indian shoppers online.”

Overall, $123.36 Mn was invested across 16 Indian startups this week, and five acquisitions took place. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amounts).

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. Vedantu: $100 Mn
2. Paytm Money: $5 Mn
3. Lifestyle Incnut Digital: $4 Mn
4. Mystifly: $3.3 Mn
5. Treebo: $3 Mn
6. Magicpin: $3 Mn
7. goDutch: $1.7 Mn
8. Yumlane: $1 Mn
9. Plum: $934K
10. Crio: $934K
11. Country Delight: $934K
12. PumPumPum: $293K
13. FLYX: $200K
14. Uable: Undisclosed
15. Walrus: Undisclosed
16. 6Degrees: Undisclosed

• Vedantu
  Bengaluru-based online tutoring startup Vedantu has raised $100 Mn in Series D funding round at a $600 Mn valuation. The investment was led by US-based investment firm Coatue with participation from existing investors. Rahul Kishore, managing director of Coatue will also join Vedantu’s board. Vedanti’s CEO and cofounder Vamsi Krishna said that it will use this funding to add new categories and invest in content and technology towards live teaching-learning experience.
• Paytm Money
  Bengaluru-based wealth management company Paytm Money has raised a $5 Mn (INR 40 Cr) infusion from Paytm parent company One97 Communications. Paytm Money, launched in September 2018, sells mutual funds directly to consumers via a low-cost regular plan that eliminates the expense of distributor commissions.
• Lifestyle Incnut Digital
  Lifestyle Incnut Digital has raised $4 Mn in a pre-Series A funding round, from RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group-backed venture capital firm, RPSG Ventures. Personalised beauty care startup Incnut houses SkinKraft and Vedix. Incnut is planning to invest in its research and development (R&D) labs and overall infrastructure and AI-driven data technology.
• Mystifly
  Singapore and Bengaluru-based air retailing and payments platform Mystifly has raised $3.3 Mn in Pre-Series B funding round from its existing investor Recruit Holdings to strengthen its airfare distribution product and technology.
• Treebo
  Bengaluru-based budget hotel chain Treebo Hotels has raised nearly $3 Mn ( INR 22.50 Cr) Series D funding from existing investors Bertelsmann SE & Co, Matrix Partners India and SAIF Partners India.
• Magicpin
  Hyperlocal discovery platform Magicpin has raised nearly $3 Mn ( INR 22.5 Cr) in Series C funding round from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation. Magicpin’s parent company Samast Technologies has allocated 11 equity share and 510 Series C2 Cumulative Convertible Preference Share (CCPS) at a nominal amount of INR 10 per equity share and INR 100 per Series C2 share.
• goDutch
  Early-stage payments startup goDutch has raised $1.7 Mn in a seed round led by venture capital firm Matrix India along with investors including Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, Soma Capital, and VentureSouq. Tinder cofounder Justin Mateen, Twitch cofounder Kevin Lin, ICICI Labs head Rohan Angrish and ClearTax Sumon Sadhu also participated in the round.
• Yumlane
  Cloud kitchen brand Yumlane has raised $1 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Singapore-based fund Jetty Ventures. The company will be utilizing this capital to expand in new cities and its workforce. It has previously raised funding from Flipkart’s cofounder Binny Bansal, RB Investments and Orios Venture Partners. Yumlane was previously serving FMCG packaged food, but pivoted to cloud kitchen in 2019.
• Plum
  Bengaluru-based group health insurance startup Plum has raised $934K (INR 7 Cr) in seed funding round led by Incubate Fund. Gemba Capital and Tracxn Labs also participated in the round, along with  Abhijit Gupta and Ram Sahasranam of Praxify Health, Sudheendra Chilappagari of Belong.co, Nitin Jayakrishnan of Pando and Alvin Tse of Xiaomi.
• Crio
  Learning platform for developers Crio has secured $934K (INR 7 Cr) in pre-series A round led by Binny Bansal-backed 021 Capital. Prior to this, the company had raised $1 Mn in a debt funding round-led by Bansal.
• Country Delight
  Gurugram-based food production company Country Delight’s parent Beejapuri Dairy Private Limited has raised $934K (INR 7 Cr) in debt from Milestone Trusteeship. According to the ministry of corporate affairs filings accessed by Inc42, Beejapuri has allocated 700 Series D unlisted, redeemable, secured, non- convertible debentures at the nominal value of INR 1 Lakh per debenture.
• PumPumPum
  Second-hand car leasing company PumPumPum has raised $293K (INR 2.2 Cr) in seed round from LetsVenture syndicate led by Fastfox.com cofounder and former CEO Pallav Pandey. Other angel investors such as Innov8’s Dr. Ritesh Malik, Near.co’s cofounder Shobhit Shukla and CFO Rahul Agarwal also participated in the round. The company plans to use this funding for  technology development and expansion.
• FLYX
  Delhi and New York-based social media platforms for OTT content FLYX has raised pre-seed funding amounting to $200K from High Networth Individuals (HNIs). The company will use the funds to accelerate product development and further expand services in India.
• Uable
  Bengaluru-based online life-skill development platform Uable has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding round led by 3One4 Capital. PineLabs’ CEO Amrish Rau, Jupiter founder and CEO Jitendra Gupta, Global Founders Capital, Inflection Point Ventures, and AngelList have also participated in the round. The company is looking to use this investment for product/brand development, technology and hiring talent. The company is founded by Vedantu’s cofounder Saurabh Saxena.
• 6Degrees
  Fashion commerce and retail management platform 6Degree has raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A round led by SucSEED. With this funding, the company will now be able to move quicker and bring about a democracy in styles to consumers and support local designer talent in becoming strong national & global brands, founder Nikhil Hegde.
• Walrus
  Bengaluru-based neobank Walrus has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed funding round led by Better Capital. Angel investors like Myntra’s cofounder Raveen Sastry, TaxiForSure founder and former CEO Raghunandan G and Brijesh Thakkar among others also invested in the company. The company plans to utilise the funding to expand its team and enhance product features.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Bengaluru-based edtech startup Unacademy has made its third acquisition in four weeks by acquiring a majority stake in K12 learning platform Mastree for $5 Mn. The acquisition has given Mastree’s investor, Blume Ventures, an exit.
• Kolkata-based RP Sanjiv Goenka Group (RPSG) has acquired a 51% majority stake in AI-powered news app Editorji for an undisclosed amount. Founder Vikram Chandra will continue to serve as the managing director of Editorji.
• Cloud data services NetApp has completed the acquisition of computing management and cost optimization platform Spot. Spot by NetApp delivers application-driven infrastructures (ADIs), cloud infrastructures that use analytics and machine learning to continuously adapt to the needs of applications, to help drive cloud resource optimization in real-time, for both compute and storage.
• Cyber protection platform Acronis has acquired DeviceLock, which is designed to stop data leaks at the source. Acronis will integrate DeviceLock’s technology into the Acronis Cyber Platform, making new services available through the Acronis Cyber Cloud Solutions portal.
• Mumbai-based mobile gaming company Nazara has completed its majority stake acquisition of 51% stake in Paper Boat Apps by issuing Nazara shares worth $5.7 Mn (INR 43 Cr) as part of its final tranche of the transaction. Paper Boat Apps are developers of the popular ‘Made in India’ app Kiddopia catering to young children in the age bracket of 2 to 7 years old.

Other Developments Of The Week

• PolicyBazaar’s parent company EtechAces Marketing and Consulting has received the $47 Mn (INR 356 Cr) from its existing investors SoftBank. The investment is a part of a larger round. PolicyBazaar’s CEO and cofounder Yashish Dahiya last week confirmed that the company has raised $130 Mn at a $1.5 Bn valuation from SoftBank.
• Indian edtech giant Unacademy may raise $150 Mn-$200 Mn from SoftBank at a pre-money valuation of $1.2 Bn.
• Healthtech-focused venture capital fund HealthQuad has announced the first close of its second $73 Mn (INR 550 Cr) fund at $68 Mn (INR 514 Cr).
• Startup Buddy has launched its 12-week-long-virtual Launchpad to support and enable startups to scale and elevate their businesses in all aspects. Some companies in its cohort include AirMan, Freeco Education Private Limited, FirstShow, Khetra Agritech, Nearby Grocer, O ‘2 Nails India, Projexel Technologies Pvt ltd, Snap on Rent, SoloCoin and South Man.
• TiE Hyderabad and SR Innovation Exchange (SRiX) announced a multi-year partnership to provide incubation support for the Women Entrepreneurs participating in TiE Women Mentor Camps. TiE Hyderabad will conduct a series of boot camps in the initial phase of building businesses, to nurture and get them access to seed funding, the market connects to validate the business models plus establish revenue traction.

Stay Tuned!