HUG Innovations Raises $5 Mn Series A Funding At $15.5 Mn Valuation At A TiE Event

Hyderabad-based HUG Innovations has raised $5 Mn in Series A funding round during a live instant funding event organised by TiE Hyderabad – The Guardian Angel.

Hug Innovations raised this round of funding at a $15.5 Mn valuation from NRI Startup India.

Kishore Ganji (Angel Investor), Venkat Vallabhaneni (Parampara Capital), and Rajeev Menon (Anthill) were also present during the event.

Founded by Raj Neravati in 2014, HUG Innovations is a technology startup developing gadgets for fitness lovers which work on gesture recognition mechanism. Raj Neravati comes with 17+ years of experience in the IT industry and has worked in diverse industries, ranging from financial services and insurance to healthcare.

The startup has developed a gesture control smartwatch weighing 46 grams. It lets users make calls, track physical activity and nutrition, play music and find devices. The smartwatch also offers personal safety features and comes with an SOS button, it provides continuous heart rate monitoring, fatigue detection ensuring personal safety for consumers.

The Hug Smartwatch was unveiled at Microsoft Future Unleashed in 2015. The startup was also among the final selected startups from the Nasscom TechMarch Roadshow Hyderabad edition.

The funds raised in this round will be used to develop four different application areas including fitness, virtual reality, industrial automation, and drones.

This was the second edition of TiE-Hyderabad – The Guardian Angel. As stated in an official statement, during its first edition, two startups raised funds to the tune of $271K (INR 1.75 Cr).

Along with Hug Innovations, three more startups pitched during the second edition. These include GoLive Gaming, Voltus Wave, and Cargo Exchange.

Cargo Exchange a platform for cargo-owners, truck owners and intermediaries to trade easily was offered $207K (INR 1.4 Cr) in funding, though the deal on the stage did not go through due to a differential opinion on valuation.

While, incubated in CIE, IIIT-Hyderabad, GoLive Gaming Solutions is a gaming technology company which creates game IPs.

As claimed, apart from Hug Innovations, over 125 startups had pitched their ideas to angel investors at the platform. Rakesh Bhatia, Chairperson, The Guardian Angel said, “We are overwhelmed. The second edition of The Guardian Angel brought a rejoicing number of innovative startups and great stories to the platform. We are confident the tale of these successful startups will create new benchmarks in the ecosystem and drive entrepreneurship in the coming generation.”