Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [8-13 Jan 2018]

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

This week 15 startups raised about $27 Mn in funding altogether in the Indian startup ecosystem. (startup funding calculations are based on the startups that disclosed funding amount.)

One of the biggest Indian startup funding of this week was raised by NiYO Solutions. The Bengaluru-based fintech startup secured $13.2 Mn (INR 85 Cr) in Series A funding from Social Capital, JS Capital LLC, Horizons Ventures and existing investor Prime Venture Partners. The fresh funds will enable NiYO Solutions to expand its presence across tier II and tier III  cities.

Also, this week news surfaced that Ola had acquired Foodpanda India from Germany-based Delivery Hero Group for $31.7 Mn (INR 202 Cr). As per its filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ola parent ANI Technologies issued preference shares worth $4.4 Mn (INR 28 Cr) last month to Pisces eServices, the Indian company that operates Foodpanda.

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

Hippo Video: Online video-as-a-service (VaaS) platform Hippo Video raised an undisclosed amount of Pre-Series A funding from Kae Capital. The newly-secured funding will be utilised to expand the startup’s present operations to Europe, apart from India and the US.

Kinsane: Global digital entertainment company Kinsane Entertainment Inc raised $2.5 Mn funding from an undisclosed consortium of angel investors. Kinsane Entertainment Inc. is a US-based corporation which operates in India through its subsidiary, Kinsane Digital LLP. With the new funding round, the startup plans to launch over eight new shows and 100 games featuring 30 new and compelling characters over the next 12 months. The core target markets for their content are the US, Europe, India, Brazil, and China.

Moneytor: Mumbai-based stressed receivables management startup Moneytor raised an undisclosed amount of Seed funding from 500 Startups and fintech accelerator ISME ACE. The round also saw the participation of a few angel investors including Satyen Kothari, founder and CEO of Cube Consumer Services and former executives of Dun & Bradstreet. With this fundraise, Moneytor is looking to automate and digitise all the processes related to debt collection, post a consumer or organisation defaulting on their loans.

Lendingkart: Ahmedabad-based SME lending startup Lendingkart raised $4.7 Mn (INR 30 Cr) in a debt funding round from a Dutch development bank – Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO). This new influx of debt funds will be used towards growing the loan book and expanding the reach of Lendingkart Finance across SME industries in different parts of the country.

ToneTag: Offline, proximity-based mobile payments solutions startup ToneTag raised $1.3 Mn (INR 8.46 Cr) funding from the overseas investor, Tropical Star Limited. As per its regulatory filings accessed by Inc42, the Bengaluru-based fintech startup secured the financing in September 2017. With the newly-secured $1.3 Mn funding, ToneTag is likely to gear up to capture the relatively untapped NFC-based mobile payments market in India.

SalesPro: Bengaluru-based SalesPro raised an undisclosed amount of funding from a Silicon Valley-based VC firm 37.37 North Capital. With this funding, SalesPro aims to accelerate its market expansion into North America and India.

IndianMoney: Bengaluru-based financial advisory startup IndianMoney raised $3 Mn (INR 19 Cr) in a Series A funding round led by SRI Capital. The round also saw the participation of existing angel investor Hyderabad Angels. With the fundraise, IndianMoney is looking to scale up operations and increase its user base. More specifically, the company plans to utilise the newly-secured funding from SRI Capital and the existing backers to increase its capacity to 100K phone calls every day.

KivaShots: Gurugram-based ayurvedic healthcare beverages Indian startup KivaShots raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Max Life Insurance CEO Rajesh Sud, Max Healthcare MD Rajit Mehta, Ward Ferry Management chief information officer Vineet Mitera, MindTickle cofounder Mohit Garg, Zomato cofounder Pankaj Chaddha and Startup Buddy cofounder Amit Singal.

Simulanis: Delhi-based virtual reality startup Simulanis raised $500K in a Pre-Series A round from Education Catalyst Fund. Founded in 2013, Simulanis initially offered skilling programmes for engineering students via computer-based modules.

Satvacart: Online grocery store Satvacart raised an undisclosed sum in its Pre-Series A round of funding from Keshu Dubey, the founder of startup database platform Xeler8 and Shishir Kumar, a former top executive at security solutions firm Symantec India.

Workflexi: Bengaluru-based online platform for contingent workforce raised $157K (INR 1 Cr) in Seed funding. This round of funding was led by Kamalraj Chandrasekaran, Executive Director, Kamalraj Hospitality Concepts India Pvt Ltd and also saw the participation of Parashiva J Ravikumar, Director, Orva Networks Pvt Ltd. The funds will be used for product development, team expansion and execution of marketing activities.

Kuants: New Delhi-based algorithmic trading platform Kuants raised $786K (INR 50 Lakh) from angel investors – Pankaj Chopra and Ankush Gupta at a valuation of $1.03 Mn. The fresh funds will be majorly used to build up the GUI-based online stock market simulator, and acquiring high-end servers required for multi-core processing.

Bikxie: New Delhi-based bike taxi startup Bikxie raised $314K (INR 2 Cr) from GEMs Partners and Sachin Khandelwal, ex-Honda Cars and ICICI Bank Vehicle Loans Head in a fresh round of funding. The funds received from this round will be utilised in upgrading technology and infrastructure, pushing internal growth, consolidation, and expansion of operations to other cities.

Daaki: Bengaluru-based Indian sports nutrition brand Daaki raised an undisclosed amount in an angel funding round from Rohan Agila, Business Partner and Capvent Advisors. The funds secured will majorly be used in research and product development, in order to provide nutrition to athletes beyond existing standards. They will be leveraged to establish the upcoming brand as a promising business entity as well as help in expanding its all-new supplement product line.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• InMobi acquired Los Angeles-based mobile mediation and revenue management platform AerServ for $90 Mn in a cash-and-stock deal. The acquisition aims to create industry’s first ad mediation platform with a unified programmatic auction for mobile in-app publishers.
• Mumbai-based mobile gaming studio Nazara Technologies has acquired a majority stake in NextWave Multimedia. With the acquisition of NextWave, Nazara has strengthened its portfolio of offerings in the virtual interactive sports genre in India and other emerging markets.

Other Developments Of The Week

• VC fund CBA Capital raised $15.6 Mn (INR 100 Cr) towards the first close of its fund, Education Catalyst Fund or ECF. The VC fund will focus on backing startups at Pre-Series A, Series A, B and C equity rounds. The ECF’s mission is to support 15 entrepreneurs dedicated to providing solutions for imparting education and skills training to individuals and professionals from the low-income segment, as in households that earn less than $12 per day.
• Real estate giant Embassy Group fueled $15.6 Mn in its coworking space JV WeWork India. The 10 Mn compulsorily convertible Series B debentures with a face value of $1.6 (INR 100) each, will be allotted to Embassy Group. WeWork India is a joint venture of New York-based coworking space WeWork and Embassy Group.
• Appario Retail, the seller entity formed under the joint venture between Amazon and Patni Group, raised $18.8 Mn (INR 120 Cr) funding from parent Frontizo Business Services. The development comes less than a month after the Delhi-based company received a capital infusion of $15.69 Mn (INR 100 Cr) from its parent entity. Prior to that, Appario had also secured about $6.27 Mn (INR 40 Cr) funding from Frontizo.
• The UK government’s Department for International Trade (DIT), India and the British Deputy High Commission, Bengaluru hosted the 2017-18 TECH Rocketship Awards’ live pitching round with 15 startups. The shortlisted startups will move on to the Grand Finale, which will be held in Mumbai during next month’s India-UK Createch Summit.
• Indian Angel Network (IAN) announced to raise $38 Mn funding from Indian as well as overseas markets to fuel the second round of funding for its $70 Mn Fund-I. The nnetwork has already raised $32 Mn as part of its Fund-I.
• Karnataka government announced plans to launch a fund for tech startups in the country. Entrepreneurs can avail the proposed funding by registering their companies under the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1961.
• Kerala Startup Mission in association with Zone Startups India is launching ‘Kerala Accelerator Program’. This will be a first of its kind program in the state to accelerate startups in the revenue stage. Both KSUM and Zone Startups India will help the startups to achieve the right product-market fit through a curated customer validation process. The program will kick start on February 5.
• The NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) announced the launch of the nationwide ‘Women Startup Programme (WSP)’, funded by Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), a global investment bank and active investor in India, and the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. The programme seeks to facilitate the growth of women entrepreneurs by providing in-depth training to foster and augment managerial and entrepreneurial skills through mentoring, incubation and financial support.

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

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