Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Jan 6-11]

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

In one of the biggest funding rounds this week, Bengaluru-based edtech company Byju’s raised funding from New York-based Tiger Global. The company didn’t share the funding amount, but reports have said that Tiger Global has invested $200 Mn in Byju’s. The round reportedly valued Byju’s at $8 Bn. It is estimated that secondary transactions, estimated at $100Mn-$200 Mn, are also expected to provide an exit to early investors of Byju’s.

Founded in 2008 by Divya Gokulnath and Byju Raveendran, Byju’s offers a learning app, which was launched in 2015 and has learning programmes for students in classes IV-XII, along with courses to help students prepare for competitive exams like JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE, and GMAT.

Overall, 22 startups raised around $719.4 Mn funding and two startup acquisition along with one merger happened in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. Zomato: $150 Mn
2. HighRadius: $125 Mn
3. Bounce: $97 Mn
4. Elara Technologies: $70 Mn
5. Rivigo: $20 Mn
6. Indegene Omnipresence: $20 Mn
7. Mamaearth: $18 Mn
8. Testbook: $8.3 Mn
9. Axio: $5.2 Mn
10. Rheo: $2 Mn
11. Generico: $1.39 Mn
12. High Street Essentials: $1.1 Mn
13. Chai Kings: $1 Mn
14. Escrowffrr: $150K
15. PayMart: Undisclosed
16. Ripplr: Undisclosed
17. IncubateHub: Undisclosed
18. Aadar: Undisclosed
19. Harappa Education: Undisclosed
20. Rage Coffee: Undisclosed
21. Skilancer: Undisclosed

• Zomato

Gurugram-headquartered foodtech unicorn Zomato has raised $150 Mn at a valuation of $3 Bn from existing investor Ant Financial, which is an affiliate of Chinese ecommerce business Alibaba. The investment is a part of a larger $500 Mn funding round, which was confirmed by Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal in December.

• HighRadius

Hyderabad and Houston-headquartered SaaS company HighRadius raised $125 Mn Series B growth funding. With this, the company has been valued at over $1 Bn and joins the unicorn club. The funding round has been led by ICONIQ Capital with participation from existing investors Susquehanna Growth Equity and Citi Ventures. HighRadius will use the funds to accelerate platform development and expansion.

• Bounce

Bengaluru-based dockless bike rental startup Bounce has raised $97 Mn (INR 692.39 Cr) in Series D funding round led by Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin’s venture capital fund B Capital. With this funding, Bounce’s valuation has almost doubled to $450 Mn. Besides B Capital, Omidyar Network, Vistra ITCL, SCI Investments and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this round.

• Elara Technologies

Singapore-based real estate tech and advisory company Elara Technologies, which owns Housing.com, PropTiger.com and Makaan.com, has raised $70 Mn from its existing investors NewsCorp and REA Group. The company will be utilising the funds to accelerate growth, develop new products and technology and expand its sales team.

• Rivigo

Gurugram-based logistics startup Rivigo has raised a fresh round of $20 Mn Series F funding from existing investors SAIF Partners and Spring Canter Investment Ltd. Moreover, Rivigo has issued 250 Series B non-convertible debentures to Trifecta worth INR 10 Lakh each. With this, the company has raised $3.4 Mn (INR 25 Cr) debt.

• Indegene Omnipresence

Bengaluru-based healthcare-focused SaaS company Indegene Omnipresence has raised $20 Mn from Syneos Health, a US-based biopharmaceutical solutions provider. With these funds, the company plans to accelerate the Customer Experience Management (CXM) platform for life sciences and healthcare clients.

• Mamaearth

Gurugram-based baby and mother care products startup Mamaearth raised $18 Mn (INR 130 Cr) funding from Sequoia India. The funding round also witnessed the participation from existing investors like Fireside Ventures, Stellaris Venture Partners and Sharp Ventures. The company will be utilising the funds to accelerate growth, launch more brands, hire talent and expand its presence across Southeast Asia.

• Testbook

Mumbai-based edtech startup Testbook raised $8.3 Mn (INR 60 Cr) in a fresh funding round led by venture capital firm Iron Pillar, which focuses on mid-stage technology companies in India. Matrix Partners India, Better Capital, AngelList and Vikas Choudhury, president of Reliance Jio, among others also participated in the funding round. The company plans to utilise the funding to add more state government job recruitment exams to its platform and expand its base of exams to 400 from 100 in the next two years. In addition to this, it will be spending the funds to set up offline centres in smaller towns.

• Axio

Medtech startup Axio Biosolutions has raised $5.2 Mn (INR 36 Cr) in Series B-1 round led by Omidyar Network India. Axio’s existing investors Accel, University of California, Ratan Tata-backed RNT Fund, and Chiratae Ventures also participated in the round. With this funding, Axio wants to expand into overseas markets like the US and Western Europe, as well as continue to develop surgical and wound care products for the global market.

• Rheo

Bengaluru-based game streaming platform Rheo has raised $2 Mn in seed funding from Sequoia Surge, Lightspeed and angels such as Gaurav Munjal of Unacademy; Prashant Mallik, advisor, Zomato; Phanindra Sama, founder, RedBus among others. With the fresh funds, the company is looking to work towards product development and also expand its team from 15 employees to a team of 25.

• Generico

Mumbai-based pharmacy chain Generico has raised $1.39 Mn (INR 10 Cr) in Series A from venture debt fund Alteria Capital. With this funding, Generico plans to strengthen its supply chain, technology and healthcare prepositions. The pharmacy chain also wants to expand its outlet from the current 49 stores to 150 stores in Mumbai and other cities such as Pune by 2021. Besides this, Generico is also looking to diversify disease management that will have a deeper impact on the lives of consumers with chronic diseases.

• Chai Kings

Chennai-based QSR retail chain Chai Kings raised $1 Mn from The Chennai Angels (TCA), Hyderabad Angels, and TiE India Angels. With the recently raised funds, the company wants to foray in Coimbatore, Bangalore and Hyderabad in this current year and get closer to our target of 100 stores in 5 years.

• High Street Essentials

New Delhi-based fashion house High Street Essentials (HSE), the parent company of women’s exclusive brands — FabAlley and Indya, has raised $1.1 Mn (INR 8 Cr) in venture debt from Trifecta Capital in the second round of debt infusion. With this fresh round of funding, the company will be aggressively expanding its offline and online presence across India.

• Escrowffrr

Gurugram-based digital payments platform Escrowffrr has raised $150 K from Inflection Point Ventures. With the recently raised funds, The startup is planning to expand to seven major cities in India.

• PayMart

Chandigarh-based fintech startup PayMart India has raised a fresh funding round led by IIM Ahmedabad’s incubator, CIIE.CO. Angel network Chandigarh Angels and a few Delhi based angels also participated in this round. The startup aims to provide cash to its users, however, without using any ATM or POS machines.

• Ripplr

Bengaluru-based logistics and distribution startup Ripplr has raised an undisclosed amount funding in a seed round led by 3one4 Capital and Sprout Venture Partners. The full-stack platform will use the seed funds to strengthen its tech and infrastructure and expand the team in distribution, tech and finance.

• Aadar

Mumbai based Ayurveda wellness and lifestyle consumer brand Aadar has raised an undisclosed seed round from Sprout Venture Partners, JITO Angel Network, and angels from LetsVenture. With the fresh funds, the startup plans to expand into daily supplements, sexual wellness, menstrual wellness as a focus area; amongst others.

• IncubateHub

Bengaluru based open innovation and corporate venturing platform IncubateHub has raised an undisclosed amount from Venture Catalysts. The strategic investment from Venture Catalysts will startups incubated by IncubateHub to work closely with successful corporates and experienced professionals to test, pivot and validate their ideas.

• Rage Coffee

Delhi based FMCG startup Rage Coffee has closed an undisclosed round of funding led by Refex Capital. Members of Keiretsu Forum and a few other prominent investors also participated in the round. The freshly infused capital will be used to launch new products, scale-up production, strengthen the team and expand omnichannel distribution presence.

• Skilancer

Noida-based cleantech startup Skilancer Solar has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Venture Catalysts. The funding will help the company to bring improvements to the solar power plant operation and maintenance sector.

• Harappa Education

New Delhi-based edtech startup Harappa Education has raised undisclosed funding from James Murdoch-led Lupa Systems. This is Lupa Systems’ first-ever investment in India. The newly infused capital will be used to accelerate product development, invest in high-quality curriculum creation, build a rich learning experience, and scale its presence across corporates and campuses throughout India.

Indian Startup Merger And Acquisitions Of The Week

• PayU has announced plans to merge business operations of its consumer lending entity LazyPay and fintech startup PaySense to build a full-stack digital lending platform in India.
• Flipkart cofounder and former CEO Sachin Bansal has acquired Mumbai-based insurance company DHFL General Insurance from Kapil Wadhawan-led financial services group Wadhawan Group Capital (WGC) for $14 Mn (INR 100 Cr).

Other Developments Of The Week

• Bengaluru-based accelerator and seed fund Axilor Ventures has shortlisted 14 startups as winners for the Winter 2019 cohort programme. Axilor claimed that the company had received more than 725 applications, an 80% increase in the number from the last cohort.
• Masayoshi Son-led Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is planning to sell its majority stake in SBG Cleantech, its renewables joint venture in India to make room for an additional partner.
• The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is looking to invest $30 Mn for a 4.5% stake in Sachin Bansal’s Navi Technologies. According to an IFC disclosure notice, the transaction values the Flipkart cofounder’s new venture at around $650 Mn (INR 2100 Cr).
• US-Based cross border fund Mantra Capital launched its $60 Mn fund that will focus on early-stage foodtech, healthtech, agritech and startups working on the circular economy in India and the US. The venture fund has already raised $24 Mn for the fund and aims to close the fund by the end of 2020.
• Delhi-based budget hotel chain FabHotels is looking to raise INR 39.08 Cr from existing investor Accel India, along with marquee venture capital firms, Goldman Sachs, and RB investments.
• T-Hub announced the selection of 31 startups for the first edition of T-Angel from industries such as technology, healthtech, edtech, enterprise technology, etc. The startups will receive opportunities to raise funds from LetsVenture platform, angel networks, and venture capital funds.
• Agritech and foodtech focussed accelerator Gastrotope has shortlisted three startups — Sprinng Foods, Clear Meat, and RAAV Techlabs — for its second cohort.

Stay tuned for the next week edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!