Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [July 27- August 1]

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

Indian SaaS unicorn Freshworks has raised $85 Mn (nearly INR 636 Cr) in Series H from alternative asset manager Steadview Capital Management through a secondary transaction. The transaction had closed in January 2020, only two months after Freshworks raised $150 Mn at a post-money valuation of $3.5 Bn.

The Series H round was led by Sequoia Capital, CapitalG, and the company’s first investor Accel. Freshworks had then highlighted that the funding will be utilised to create a more cohesive SaaS platform for all key business verticals — marketing, sales, support and customer success. The unicorn was also planning to roll out a “Customer-for-Life Cloud” to enhance the user experience.

Overall, $135 Mn was invested across 12 Indian startups this week, and one acquisition took place. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amounts).

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. Freshworks: $85 Mn
2. Rebel Foods: $26.49 Mn
3. BulBul: $8.7 Mn
4. Hevo: $8 Mn
5. Delightree: $3 Mn
6. BigSpoon Foods: $2 Mn
7. Chingari: $1 Mn
8. Sharechat: $351K
9. Pickright: $175K
10. Firescore Interactive: $150K
11. Datstop Hostel: Undisclosed
12. IPHM Services: Undisclosed

• Rebel Foods: Cloud kitchen chain Rebel Foods, previously known as Faasos, has received $26.499 Mn (INR 198 Cr) in Series E2 funding round from US-based hedge fund Coatue Management. The company has allocated 27,284 Series E2 compulsorily convertible cumulative preference shares at a face value of INR 100 per share and a premium of INR 72,833.2678 per share.

 

• BulBul: Video and live stream led commerce platform BulBul has raised $8.7 Mn in a funding round led by internet company Info Edge, who has invested $6.33 Mn for 17.82%. Sequoia and Leo Capital have also participated in this funding round.

 

• Hevo: Data pipeline startup Hevo has raised $8 Mn in a Series A round led by Singapore-based venture capital firm Qualgro and Stripe’s former executive Lachy Groom. It will use the funding to increase the number of integrations available on its platforms, also hiring sales and marketing teams in more countries, including the US and Singapore.

 

• Delighttree: Enterprise tech startup Delighttree has raised $3Mn in seed round from  Accel Partners, Emergent Ventures, Brainstorm Ventures, Axilor Ventures and Alchemist Accelerator.

 

• BigSpoon Foods: Ahmedabad-based cloud kitchen startup BigSpoon Foods Private Limited has received the first tranche of its $2 Mn Pre-Series A funding round for product and brand development. Urmin Family Office, Lemonade Ventures, TrueValue Group MD Yash Shah, investors from Vcats Network and others participated in this round.

 

• Chingari: Homegrown short video platform Chingari has raised nearly INR 10 Cr (nearly $1 Mn) in seed funding from LogX Ventures, AngelList’s Utsav Somani, NowFloats’ Jasminder Singh Gulati, AL Trust (Vistra ITCL), Village Global.

 

• ShareChat: Indian social network Sharechat has raised $351K (INR 2.6 Cr) from All About Inc, Beenext Pte Led, Beenos Asia, DG Ventures, Kanamori Assagement Singapore, Rebright Partners I, Rebright Partners II and Tetsuro Koda in exchange of 8 equity share at a premium of INR 10 Lakh per share.

 

• Pickright: A marketplace for stock market investors and advisors, Pickright Technologies, has raised $175K in a seed round from 100X.VC’s Sanjay Mehta, SP Jain School of Global Management’s director Vikram Pandya, Ekstep’s Gaurav Gupta, Director of Business Solutions-Singapore’s Vivek Srivatsav, Capita Insurance’s Madhavi Bollipalli, Paanem Groups’ Srinivas Paanem and Whitestone projects’ Satish Bogullu. This investment will be utilised by the startup in product development, marketing and positioning the brand in the market.

 

• Firescore Interactive: Game development studio Firescore Interactive has raised $500K funding led by CrazyLabs to launch Hyper Casual Gaming Hub for game studios around the world in India.

 

• Datstop: Hospitality company Datstop has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Zenga TV’s CTO Shabir Momin, OneDigital Entertainment and many other ventures along with Digital Democracy’s Saurabh Pathak. It aims to advance its backend operations, speed up food research, space for another hostel, marketing, and strengthen team structure.

 

• IPHM Services: Mental health startup IPHS Services has raised an undisclosed amount from India Angel Fund. The round was led by Monaliesa Sarkar, Jyoti Tiwari, Koel Dutta, Sabana Khatoon, Dr. Vikaas Grover and Rahul Narvekar.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Bengaluru-based fintech startup NiYO has acquired a tual fund investment platform Goalwise to expand its product offerings. The Goalwise founding members will join NiYO’s leadership team to run NiYO Wealth as an independent vertical.

Other Developments Of The Week

• OYO’s founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal has set up an investment firm, Aroa Ventures, to invest in early-stage startups working across consumer, technology and leisure infrastructure sectors. Agarwal is looking for startups that have proven unit economics, a % year-on-year (YoY) growth rate, and $1 Mn-$10 Mn in annual revenue. The company is willing to invest $500K to $5 Mn in its portfolio companies.

 

• Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) has launched the ‘Dare to Dream 2.0’ challenge to promote innovation in defense and aerospace. Both individuals and startups can participate in the challenge, more details will be announced in the coming weeks.

 

• Reliance Brands is reportedly looking to acquire 100% stake in lingerie retailer Zivame for $160 Mn (nearly INR 1,200 Cr). The Mukesh Ambani-led company has already acquired a 15% stake held by Ronnie Screwvala-owned Unilazer Ventures last week, Screwvala has confirmed.

 

• Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, on August 31, announced that the government will invest close to $1.58 Mn INR 11.85 Cr in 112 agritech startups this financial year, ending March 2021.

 

• Doorstep alcohol delivery platform Hipbar is looking to raise INR 4.50 Cr through 45,00,000 preference shares at face value of INR 10, the company’s regulatory filings have highlighted. The funding will be used to maintain the net worth requirement as per RBI guidelines, the fillings said.

 

• Paytm Insurance Broking Private Limited has raised INR 10 Cr from parent company One97 Communications in exchange for 1 Cr equity shares.

Stay Tuned!