Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [November 2- 7]

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

Reliance Industries-owned retail unit Reliance Retail raised about $1.3 Bn (INR 9,555 Cr) from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to accelerate the growth of its digital retail empire. This investment — a record eighth by marquee global investors — values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of INR 4.587 lakh Cr (around $62.4 Bn).

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) have jointly invested $1.01 Bn in an Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT), which holds Reliance Industries’ fibre-optic assets.

About $28 Mn was invested across 18 Indian startups this week, and two acquisitions took place. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amounts).

 

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. Leena AI: $8 Mn
2. LivFin: $4.7 Mn
3. Charge+Zone: $3 Mn
4. Stones2Milestones: $2.5 Mn
5. Eggoz: $1.5 Mn
6. Charcoal Eats: $2.1 Mn
7. Bizlog: $1.6 Mn
8. Gully Network Retail: $1.2 Mn
9. AjnaLens: $1 Mn
10. Fedo: $1 Mn
11. TurboHire: $1 Mn
12. Tamasha.live: $338K
13. Steradian Semiconductors: Undisclosed
14. USPL: Undisclosed
15. Expertrons: Undisclosed
16. Traya.health: Undisclosed’
17. Lattu Kids: Undisclosed
18. Mitron: Undisclosed

• Leena AI: Gurugram-based HRtech startup Leena AI has raised $8 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Greycroft to expand its go-to-market programme and accelerate product development.

 

• LivFin: Delhi-based fintech startup LivFin has raised $4.7 Mn (INR 35 Cr) from German development finance institution DEG, which is a subsidiary of KfW Group. It will use the fund to strengthen the supply chain finance segment as well as expand its reach to the un-banked and under-banked segments of the SME eco-system of the country.

 

• Charge+Zone: Electric Vehicle charging startup Charge+Zone has raised funding of $3 Mn in a pre-series A funding round led by Venture Catalysts. The round saw participation from Mumbai Angels, Keiretsu Forum and Ramakrishnan Family Office. It will use this funding to scale its operations and work towards building one million unmanned charging points in the country within 10 years.

 

• Charcoal Eats: Mumbai-headquartered quick service restaurant (QSR) startup Charcoal Eats has raised $2.1 Mn (INR 16 Cr) in a round of funding led by Lokmat Investments, a division of multi-platform media company Lokmat Media.

 

• Stones2Milestones: Gurugram-based edtech startup Stones2Milestones (S2M) has raised $2.5 Mn led by Unreasonable and its LP Goldhirsh Foundation. The round saw participation from a Singapore-based investment banker along with a few lawyers and three angel platforms AngelList US Syndicate, LetsVenture and FaaD Network.

 

• Bizlog: Bengaluru-based reverse logistics startup Bizlog has raised $1.6 Mn (INR 12 Cr) in a pre-series-A round led by IAN Fund. The company plans to leverage the technology, create a roadmap to onboard new verticals, and expand the business pan India over the next few years.

 

• Eggoz: Bihar-based egg producer and agritech startup Eggoz has raised $1.5 Mn in a pre-Series A round from Avaana Capital and Rebright Partners. It will use the funds to expand into newer markets, launch new products, grow its supply base, and strengthen its tech platform.

 

• Gully Network Retail: Bengaluru-based ecommerce platform Gully Network Retail has raised a $1.2 Mn pre-Series A funding round led by early-stage investor Venture Catalysts and DFAN. The company plans to use this funding to open new income streams with scale.

 

• AjnaLens: Mumbai-based AjnaLens has raised $1 Mn in a bridge round led by Oman-based conglomerate Mohsin Haider Darwish (MHD) Group and a few angel investors in India. It will use the funding to strengthen its manufacturing, fulfilling customer demand, filing more patents. A part of the funding will also be used for R&D, sales, marketing and hiring talent.
  

 

• Fedo: Bengaluru-based insurtech startup Fedo has raised $1 Mn in a pre-Series A from Unicorn India Ventures with participation from SEA fund along with Max Bupa’s Ashish Mehrotra.

 

• TurboHire: Hyderabad-based Augmented Intelligence-driven recruitment platform TurboHire has raised $1 Mn in seed funding from Pentathlon Ventures, with participation of Kia Ora Ventures as well as individual investors Monish Darda, Sanjay Balram and Prabir Jha among others.

More Funding From The Indian Startup Ecosystem 

 

• Influencer-led live social gaming platform Tamasha.live has raised $338K (INR 2.5 K) from 9Unicorns, Snapdeal’s cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. Point One Capital, Livspace’s Ramakant Sharma, Gromo’s Ankit Khandelwal, Hostar AVP Aakash Kumar and several others also participated in this round. It will use the funding to strengthen its team with cross-functional expertise, invest in building a strong product, and grow its initial user base.

 

• Bengaluru-headquartered deeptech startup Steradian Semiconductors has raised an undisclosed amount from Inflexor Technology Fund, a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-registered early-stage technology-focused venture capital fund.”

 

• Ecommerce giant Flipkart has invested an undisclosed amount in Bengaluru-based fashion startup Universal Sportsbiz Pvt Ltd (USPL). The funding was a part of Series F round which saw participation from existing investor Accel Partners.

 

• Mumbai-based edtech startup Expertrons has raised an undisclosed amount from venture capital fund IvyCap Ventures, Iceland Venture Studio and Sarcha Advisors. With the fresh infusion, the company plans to leverage its consumer base, improve the technology base and put the company on a growth trajectory.

 

• Mumbai-based healthtech startup Traya.health (formerly known as Tatva Health) announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by Kae Capital and Whiteboard Capital.

 

• Bharti Airtel-backed edtech startup Lattu Kids has raised seed funding from Mumbai Angels Network. It focuses on improving English vocabulary, English reading and Maths foundation skills for children under the age of 10 years through entertaining, fun learning animated videos and games.

 

• Short video app Mitron has raised an investment from 9Unicorns. Previously, Nexus Venture Partners and 3one4 Capital invested in the company.

Indian Startup Acquisition For The Week

 

• Ecommerce giant Flipkart has acquired of Bengaluru-based mobile gaming startup Mecha Mocha for an undisclosed valuation to strengthen its foray into the gaming segment. The Walmart-owned platform has acquired the Intellectual Property of Mecha Mocha and team, the company said in a statement.

 

• Car-care service startup AutoBrix has acquired Xenon Automotive-owned Cartisan. With this acquisition, AutoBrix entered the car periodic maintenance and repairs business, allowing it to offer doorstep car services to its customers.

 

Other Developments Of The Week

 

• Delhi-based online gaming platform WinZO has announced a $5 Mn (INR 37.50 Cr) fund for the Indian Game Developer ecosystem.

 

• US-based early-stage startup accelerator programme Y Combinator has finalised 16 Indian startups that will be participating in its winter batch of 2021, which is scheduled to be conducted between January and March. The interview process is ongoing, and there will be more additions to the list in the upcoming months. You can go through the complete list here.
  

 

• Zomato, which has planned its IPO in 2021, is looking to hire bankers and has brought in Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Indus Law as legal advisors.

 

• T Rowe Price has cut down the valuation of its shares in Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led Paytm by 26% as of June 2020, while Vanguard has revised the valuations of its shares in Ola by nearly 50% as of August 31, 2020.

 

• Global investment firm KKR launched a new platform, Virescent Infrastructure, to acquire renewable energy assets in India. Virescent will be headed by Sanjay Grewal as chief executive officer and will be headquartered in Mumbai.

 

• Tata Group is reportedly looking to acquire a majority stake in Gurugram-based startup 1mg to enter the epharmacy segment and expand its offerings.With this, the Ratan Tata-led company wants to create its dominance over the online retail segment.

 

• The Kerala government has inaugurated an accelerator facility for electronic startups. The facility will help startups scale up as a sustainable enterprise.

 

• Punjab government has signed a MoU with The Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME), supported by social impact investment firm Omidyar Network India under its recently announced ReSolve Initiative.

 

• Startup laundry brand UClean is looking $4 Mn by next year for expansion. The company is looking to add experience stores in its portfolio.

 

• Lightspeed launched the third edition of Extreme Entrepreneurs (EE), a learning programme designed to train founders. Applications for the cohort starting January 2021 are now open.