Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [25-30 Dec]

We bring to you the new edition Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding of the week.

This week five Indian startups raised about $9.9 Mn in funding and two acquisitions took place in the Indian startup ecosystem. (The startup funding calculations are based on the startups that disclosed their funding amounts).

One of the major Indian startup news for this week was – social media giant Facebook disclosing its intentions invest in the Indian startup ecosystem in 2018 in line with the government’s Startup India campaign. A lot of Facebook’s focus will be to support small businesses in India, particularly those run by women to help them connect, share and grow through more initiatives like SheMeansBusiness and SheLeadsTech.

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

Boodmo: Boomo, an online marketplace for auto component buyers raised 780.5K (INR 5 Cr) from its existing, taking its total infusion to $2.34 Mn (INR 15 Cr) till date. The company is looking to raise the additional fund to unlock further possibilities in the domain, adding more storage and sorting hubs and increasing its warehousing capabilities.

Lendingkart Finance: The Ahmedabad-based SME lending startup raised $3.8 Mn (INR 25 Cr) in debt from the State Bank of India. The latest influx of funds will be utilised to bolster Lendingkart’s loan book. The fresh capital will also enable the startup to expand its geographical reach to over 950 cities.

Foyr: Virtual reality-based prop-tech startup Foyr raised $3.8 Mn in Series A funding led by property consultancy JLL and other individual and non-institutional investors. Foyr, which is a technology platform for visualising real estate spaces, will use the proceeds to enable deeper integration of its proprietary technology in real estate projects and for expansion of the brand in global markets.

GarageOnRoad: Noida-based online auto services startup GarageOnRoad raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from Gaurav Gupta, SVP at Reinsurance Multinational Swiss Re, reported VCCircle. The startup will use the funds to enhance its technology and operations. It will introduce features like on-demand car services and expand into other major cities.

Anytimeloan.in: Spice Mobility is gearing up to buy 30% stake in Luharia Technologies, which owns and operates P2P lending platform Anytimeloan.in. As part of the all-cash deal, which is expected to be completed by next month, an investment of $1.95 Mn (INR 12.5 Cr) has reportedly been made in the fintech startup.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Women’s growth platform SHEROES acquired Delhi-based mother’s community startup Babygogo for an undisclosed amount. With the acquisition, SHEROES will use the women’s community network of Babygogo to deepen its presence among the female population in the country. The startup has been adopting an aggressive acquisition strategy to provide exhaustive services to the women on its platform and has previously acquired startups like GharKamai and LoveDoctor.
• Bengaluru-based MonkeyBox, a startup that provides nutritious meals to kids in schools acqui-hired 75inabox, a startup that focusses on delivering customized nutrition based food meals to adults. With this acquisition, MonkeyBox is now expanding its customer portfolio to corporates and offices based in Bangalore and will be focusing on delivering delicious and fresh home-cooked meals. As part of the acquisition, the founders and team of 75inabox will be joining MonkeyBox team. The company will be officially launched on 2nd January 2018 across locations in Bangalore.

Other Developments From The Indian Startup Ecosystem

• The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) announced that it will provide a financial assistance of $414K (INR 2.65 Cr) to 31 startups and student teams from all over the state, who presented a range of innovative technology solutions at the 8th edition of Grand Idea Day, a KSUM initiative. More than 240 applications were received for the Grand Idea Day, and 49 grand ideas were selected for pitching, out of which 31 have been considered for funding.
• The India-Israel Innovation Bridge announced the winners of the India-Israel Innovation Challenge, which comprised of 18 teams from various sectors like agriculture, water technology and digital health. The 18 winners will get an opportunity to take their ideas to the next level with the support of the two governments.
• The fintech giant announced its plans to launch an incubator for startups, with the aim of facilitating the development of innovative tech solutions in India. As part of the incubator programme, the digital wallet will assist developers in designing open source-based solutions and sharing these projects with the global tech community.

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