Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [November 23-28]

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

Gurugram-based online used car marketplace Cars24 has entered the unicorn club by raising $200 Mn in a Series E funding round led by DST Global. Existing investors Exor Seeds, Moore Strategic Venture and Unbound also participated in the round that valued the company above $1 Bn.

Cars24 will use the funding to invest aggressively in technology and product innovation and scale new business verticals. The company had raised $100 Mn (INR 714 Cr) its Series D funding round from a batch of new and existing investors led by Unbound and Toronto-based KCK Global. Both these companies have invested $25 Mn each in the company.

About $345 Mn was invested across 31 Indian startups this week, and two companies were acquired. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amounts).

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. Cars24: $200 Mn
2. Cashfree: $35.3 Mn
3. Pravasirojgar: $33 Mn
4. Country Delight: $25 Mn
5. Plum: $14.8 Mn
6. Dailyhunt: $9.8 Mn
7. Cityflo: $7.7 Mn
8. Shipsy: $6 Mn
9. Credgenics: $3.5 Mn
10. Kinara Capital: $3 Mn
11. ERPNext: $1.3 Mn
12. Yellow Classes: $1.3 Mn
13. STAGE: $1.1 Mn
14. Chumbak: $1 Mn
15. SignalX: $811K
16. Kaagaz Scanner: $575K
17. Ensuredit: 338K
18. GeoIQ:  $338K
19. Lancify: $300K
20. NewsReach: $150K
21. Unacademy: Undisclosed
22. Inntot: Undisclosed
23. LightSpeedAI Labs: Undisclosed
24. Astrogate Labs: Undisclosed
25. Nykaa: Undisclosed
26. Grip Invest: Undisclosed
27. AppsFlyer: Undisclosed
28. AlgoBulls: Undisclosed
29. Power Gummies: Undisclosed
30. Awign: Undisclosed
31. Omatra: Undisclosed

 

• Pravasirojgar: Bollywood actor Sonu Sood’s job searching platform for migrant workers Pravasirojgar has raised $33 Mn (INR 250 Cr) funding from Temasek Holding-backed Goodworker. With the fresh capital, Pravasirojgar.com aims to provide jobs and career progression to applicants through upskilling services, financial, healthcare and social security services.

 

• Cashfree: Bengaluru-based payment gateway platform Cashfree has raised $35.3 Mn in a new financing round. The startup’s Series B was led by London-headquartered private equity firm Apis Partners, with participation from existing investors Y Combinator and Smilegate Investments.

 

• Country Delight: Gurugram-based milk delivery startup Country Delight has raised $25 Mn in a Series C round led by Elevation Capital. Existing backers Matrix Partners, Orios Venture Partners and IIFL PE Fund also participated in the funding round.

 

• Plum: Thane-based skincare products startup Pureplay Skin Sciences, the parent company of Plum, has raised $14.8 Mn (INR 110 Cr) in Series B funding led by Faering Capital, Trifecta Capital as well as existing investor Unilever Ventures. The company plans to use the fresh funds in research, sourcing, new product launches, technology and expansion of distribution footprint.

 

• Dailyhunt: News and content aggregator Dailyhunt has raised $9.8 Mn (INR 73 Cr) in primary capital from B Capital Group, and the company is reportedly moving fast to rework its ownership structure, after the Indian government, last month, reiterated its decision of capping the foreign investment for digital media entities at 26% by October 2021.
  

 

• Cityflo: Mumbai-based app-based bus service Cityflo has raised $7.7 Mn (INR 57 Cr) in Series A funding round led by Lightbox Ventures to expand its services on the current and new route. It plans to use this Series A funding to enhance its offerings beyond industry standards and strengthen its position as a daily commute brand for the city’s working professionals.

 

• Shipsy: Gurugram-headquartered SaaS startup for shippers and logistics companies Shipsy has raised $6 Mn in Series A funding in a round led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge and existing investor Info Edge.

 

• Credgenics: New Delhi-based debt resolution startup Credgenics has raised $3.5 Mn (INR 27 Cr) in a pre-Series A round led by Accel Partners, DMI Alternatives fund with participation from existing investors Titan Capital.

 

• Kinara Capital: Bengaluru-based digital lending company Kinara Capital is looking to raise $3 Mn (INR 22.56 Cr) from multiple investors Gaja Capital, Michael, Susan and Dell Foundation, Patamar Fund and Global Financial Inclusion Fund (GAWA). According to filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, accessed by Inc42, the company is raising the funds by issuing 3,55,314 Class A1 Equity Shares, at a face value of INR 10 per share and a premium of INR 625 per share.

 

• ERPNext: Zerodha’s fintech fund and incubator Rainmatter has invested $1.3 Mn (INR 10 Cr) in open-source enterprise resource planning software ERPNext.

 

• Yellow Classes: Online hobby platform Yellow Class has raised $1.3 Mn in a pre-Series A funding round led by India Quotient. It will utilise the funds to launch more classes and develop more products.

 

• STAGE: Startup incubator and accelerator Venture Catalysts has recently led a $1.1 Mn (INR 8.5 Cr) investment in dialect based hyper-local OTT platform STAGE. Aavishkaar’s partner Sushma Kaushik, Bulbu.tv’s Sachin Bhatia, POSist’s Ashish Tulsian, and others also participated in this round.

 

• Chumbak: Bengaluru-based lifestyle brand Chumbak has raised about $1 Mn (INR 7.39 Cr) in a Pre- Series E round from Gaja Capital Fund (GCFII-A). According to filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) accessed by Inc42, the company has raised the funds by issuing 1,475 Pre-Series E Cumulative Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) at a face value of INR 100 per share and a premium of INR 53,753 per share.

 

More Funding From The Indian Startup Ecosystem 

 

• Hyderabad-based AI-powered governance risk management and compliance startup SignalX has raised $811K (INR 6 Cr) in seed round led by 3Lines VC. 9Unicorns and a US-based VC fund, along with Hyderabad angels, participated in this round.

 

• Indian document scanning and file storage app Kaagaz Scanner has raised $575K in a seed funding round led by Pravega Ventures. Former Infosys vice-chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan’s Axilor Ventures and Better Capital also participated in the round, along with a few prominent angel investors such as redBus founder Phanindra Sama and Fynd cofounder Farooq Adam.

 

• Insurance technology startup Ensuredit raised $338K (INR 2.5 Cr) in pre-Series A round of investment led by Venture Catalysts. The funding would enable the company to establish its position as a market leader by expanding its tech infrastructure and outreach.

 

• Bengaluru-based location Intelligence platform GeoIQ has raised $338K (INR 2.5 Cr) seed investment led by 9Unicorns. IPV and Kayenne also invested in the company.

 

• Edtech startup Lancify has raised $300K from Techstars, BigBasket’s Head of HR Hari TN, Shopify’s executive Brennan Loh, Freshwork’s executive Krish Ramachandran also participated in this round, along with other investors.

 

• Ahmedabad-based digital media tech startup NewsReach has raised $150K in its seed round funding led by JITO Angel Network. Other investors including CIIE Initiative startup Oasis and Omnivore VC’s Managing Partner Jinesh Shah also invested in the round, along with other investors.

 

• Bengaluru-headquartered edtech startup Unacademy has raised an undisclosed amount in an investment round from Tiger Global Management and Dragoneer Investment Group.With its latest round of funding, the company’s valuation stands at $2 Bn, up from $1.45 Bn in September when it had last raised $150 Mn.

 

• Kochi-based radio technology company Inntot has raised an undisclosed amount from Unicorn India, who had led the company’s seed round in 2018. The recent fundraiser is a part of the bridge round before the company can open up its Series A round.

 

• Bengaluru-based deeptech startup LightSpeedAI Labs has raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by YourNest Venture Capital and growX Ventures. With the fresh capital, the company plans to build and deploy LightCompute MVP for pilots.

 

• Bengaluru-based spacetech startup Astrogate Labs raised an undisclosed amount in its pre-series-A round. The round was led by Speciale Invest, with participation from Anicut Angel Fund, SuprValue.vc and existing investor FirstCheque.Vc.

 

• Omnichannel lifestyle retailer Nykaa has raised undisclosed amount from Boston-based asset management company Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC. The investment has facilitate exit of several early-stage investors and employees.

 

• Gurugram-based digital platform for facilitating investments Grip Invest has raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding led by Anicut Angel Fund with participation from Gemba Capital and well-known angel investors such as Anupam Mittal, Sunjay Kapur, and Maninder Gulati.

 

• Marketing analytics solutions provider AppsFlyer has received investment from Salesforce Ventures.

 

• Mumbai-based algorithmic trading platform AlgoBulls has raised an undisclosed amount from integrated incubator and accelerator platform Venture Catalysts.

 

• Delhi-based dietary supplement brand Power Gummies has raised an undisclosed amount in bridge funding round led by Agility Venture Partners, along with DSG Consumer Fund and Venture Catalyst.

 

• Work-fulfillment startup Awign has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series B funding from Unitus Ventures, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundations and Eagle10 Ventures.

 

• Omatra Hotels has announced to have received an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by Capify Network. It plans to utilise the funds to expand its footprints and restructure its sales division for creating an indomitable brand presence.

Acquisitions Of The Week

• Indian edtech startup upGrad has made its foray into the test preparation market by acquiring Bengaluru-based coaching institute The Gate Academy (TGA) for an undisclosed amount. With the acquisition, TGA will operate as a subsidiary of upGrad and will continue with its brand name and Ritesh Raushan will become its CEO.

 

• Intelligent Customer Engagement & Communications Netcore Solutions has acquired real-time product experience platform Hansel.io in a cash and stock deal. The company believes that the addition of Hansel’s complementary and differentiated capabilities of Contextual Nudges and A/B Testing will accelerate Netcore’s offering of Intelligent Customer Experience at scale across all the digital touchpoints.

 

Other Developments Of The Week

 

• Online insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar could receive an investment in the range of $50-100 Mn from Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI), an early-stage fund anchored by Abu Dhabi’s state entity ADQ and managed by Falcon Edge Capital, a New York-based venture capital and hedge fund.

 

• Bengaluru-based edtech decacorn BYJU’S is in the final stages of closing $200 Mn in equity funding from its existing investors — New York-based asset manager BlackRock along with participation from its latest investor T. Rowe Price, a Baltimore-based investment management firm, according to sources close to the funding talks.

 

• Tech giant Google is reportedly planning to buy out Bengaluru-based social media platform ShareChat for $1.03 Bn. This speculation comes after ShareChat has recorded a 166% spike in its monthly active users base from 60 Mn during the pandemic to 160 Mn till now.

 

• The tax department has turned down a proposal by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to extend the incorporation cut-off date for startups by five more years.

 

• The SaaSBOOMi community has decided to recognise and reward Indian SaaS companies and startups that have been working to set India on the global tech map. The SaaSBOOMi award will be given across eight categories — SaaS startup of the year, breakout SaaS startup of the year, bootstrapped SaaS startup of the year, deeptech startup of the year, category creator SaaS startup of the year, vertical SaaS startup of the year, moonshot startup of the year, and B2D SaaS startup of the year.