Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [15-20 Jan 2018]

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

This week 13 Indian startups raised about $43 Mn in funding altogether in the Indian startup ecosystem. (The startup funding calculations are based on the startups that disclosed funding amount.)

One of the biggest Indian startup funding this week was raised by digital payments company RazorPay. The Indian startup raised $20 Mn in a Series B funding round from existing investors Tiger Global and Y Combinator along with the participation of Matrix Partners.

Indian Startup Funding of The Week

myGate: Mobile-based security management solution for gated premises myGate raised about $2.5 Mn (INR 16 Cr) in its first round of funding, led by Prime Venture Partners. The Bengaluru-based startup will use the funds to invest in technology and scale to 2 Mn homes across the country’s top seven cities within the next two years.

ShareChat: This was the second biggest Indian startup funding this week. Bengaluru-based Indian regional language social platform ShareChat raised $18.2 Mn in Series B funding round from Xiaomi Singapore and its sister company Shunwei Capital. Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Saif Partners, India Quotient, VH Capital also participated in this funding round. The newly raised funds will be used to strengthen the machine learning and AI efforts of the company, with a major focus on expanding the aforesaid technology divisions.

CorporatEdge: Gurugram-based serviced offices platform CorporatEdge raised an undisclosed sum from SIDBI India Opportunities Fund, the venture investment arm of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). The company will use the funds to expand in over six cities across the country.

PeopleStrong: This was also a notable Indian startup funding of this week. New Delhi-based digital payments and meal vouchers company Zeta invested an undisclosed sum in Gurugram-based PeopleStrong HR Services for a minority stake.  In the coming week, the two companies will jointly launch a human resources-focused mobile app.

CollPoll: Bengaluru-based edtech startup CollPoll raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a Pre-Series A round led by Manipal Global Education Services (MaGE) and a few other individual investors, whose names were not disclosed. The raised funds will be used to invest in technology and to expand the startup’s offerings of campus-related products and services. CollPoll also plans to expand globally, especially in markets such as South Asia and Africa.

Faclon Labs: Smart water management startup, Faclon raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Vish Sathappan, Sameer Sainani along with Neev Angel Advisors on LetsVenture With Paula Mariwala joining Faclon’s board, the Mumbai-based startup is looking forward to utilising the funds for commercialisation and further product development.

Awign: Bengaluru-based outsourcing by crowdsourcing platform Awign raised $783K (INR 5 Cr) from Unitus Seed Fund and a couple of undisclosed angel investors. With this funding, the startup aims to expand its presence in 12,000 pin codes across India, partner with 100 corporates and startups by June 2019.

Streak: Rainmatter, Zerodha’s fund, and incubator invested a sum of $352.5K (INR 2.25 Cr) in startup Streak. The startup had built a platform for algo trading without any coding being required and alerts the user when the right signals are generated, giving an algo trading edge.

Keepsake Automation: Robotics startup Keepsake Automation raised $78.5K (INR 50 Lakh) in debt funding from YES Bank. The startup is incubated by CrAdLE EDII. Keepsake Automation is presently equipped with Six-axis articulated arm robots and has been successful in roping in industrial giants like L & T as their client.

Naapbooks: Cloud-based customised accounting application Naapbooks received $25K (INR 16 Lakh) in debt funding from YES BANK.The startup is incubated by CrAdLE EDII. The startup provides an automated process of accounting which gives accurate and secure accounting records.

Rubix 108: This was another important Indian startup funding of the week. Pune-based edtech startup Rubix108 Technologies secured $1 Mn Pre-Series A funding led by Polaris Fund. Ayush Kankariya, an HNI, and financial services expert, also participated in the round. The funding will be utilised to facilitate customer acquisition and enable seamless communication at the school and college levels.

Green Ideology: An organic cotton and bamboo fibre manufacturing company, Green Ideology raised $78.5K (INR 50 Cr) in debt funding from YES Bank. The startup is incubated by CrAdLE EDII. The startup has more than 60 styles under its fold and also sells in the US, UK, and Malaysia.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing platform Grab acquired Bengaluru-based iKaaz. With this acquisition, Grab is aiming to capture the rich functionality of iKaaz’ mobile payments platform. Post acquisition, iKaaz’ leadership team will accelerate feature development and partner integration of GrabPay, Grab’s payments platform, at its Bengaluru R&D centre.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Digital video advertising company Adomantra announced to set up India’s first digital advertising incubation centre with an investment of $7.85 Mn (INR 50 Cr). The incubation centre will select 15 to 20 startups in the digital advertising space, as well as those with strong artificial intelligence and virtual reality technological capabilities.
• Andhra Pradesh has launched TiE Amaravati Chapter and Andhra Angels in Vijayawada to boost the startup ecosystem in the state. Andhra Angels is expected to invest over $15.38 Mn (INR100 Cr) in Indian startups over the next few years.
• Maharashtra State Cabinet has approved Startup Policy. The policy, which was in the making for over a year, aims to facilitate the emergence of around 10,000 startups over the next five years through investments worth over $782.2 Mn (INR 5,000 Cr). With the goal of creating 500K direct and indirect jobs in the state, the Startup Policy also includes a roadmap for setting up at least 15 incubation centres across Maharashtra.
• Jaarvis Accelerator has shifted its focus from early stage startups to slightly more established startups who already have a product and or service and some proof of their concept working. The decision is to streamline the program and accelerate startups which can leverage the Jaarvis’ strengths – its network and experience to achieve accelerated growth.
• Silicon Valley-headquartered AngelList announced the launch of its Syndicates platform in India. The Syndicates platform allows investors to invest in promising tech startups alongside experienced VCs and angel investors. Syndicates allow experienced technology investors to create a single investment fund that raises money from institutions and other angel investors.
• YES BANK in partnership with LetsTalkPayments and PricewaterhouseCoopers launched the second cohort of its fintech startup accelerator, YES FINTECH. The 15-week innovation programme will witness eight startups, chosen from over 500 applicants across 10+ countries. The list of startups include Balance Technology, Karza, Sentimer, Pingal, Fyle, FinBit, bNESIS, and Dov-E.
• Ratan Tata committed $4.7 Mn (INR 300 Mn) to set up startup research facilities under his social impact fund and business incubator FISE. FISE has so far funded over 24 companies ranging from cleantech to robotics.
•  SIDBI can now commit an additional $252 Mn (INR 1600 Cr) to AIFs from $1.5 Bn (INR 10000 Cr) Fund Of Funds by March 2018. SIDBI has recently allocated $31.5 Mn (INR 200 Cr) under Fund Of Funds to three AIFs namely Bharat Innovation Fund, JM Financial Fund II and North Eastern Venture Fund. This raises the total number of funded AIFs to 20.
• Early stage VC fund pi Ventures has announced the second close of its $30 Mn fund at $25 Mn. Key contributors to the fund include Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman of Hero Enterprise Electronic Development Fund (managed by Canbank Ventures), Hero Electronixs and leading HNIs and entrepreneurs.
• Karnataka government will launch a new Centre Of Excellence in Bengaluru that will serve the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics industry. The centre, to be set up in collaboration with the Association of Bengaluru Animation Industry – the apex body for the sector, is designed as a holistic, state-of-the-art centre with a host of facilities and features.
• Morgan Stanley has marked up the valuation of Zomato to $2.5 Bn. Per se reports, the estimation of Zomato’s valuation was done by the global financial services firm while taking stock of the startup’s largest shareholder Info Edge. The development comes just four months after the Indian arm of Japan-based financial holding company Nomura valued the Gurugram-headquartered online restaurant discovery and food ordering startup at $1.4 Bn till March 2019.
• Bajaj Finance will now hold 12.60% stake in digital payments company MobiKwik, up from the 10.83% it acquired in August last year for about $35.2 Mn (INR 225 Cr). The non-banking finance company also revealed that it will not invest further in MobiKwik and readjusted its valuation of the digital payments company to about $279 Mn from $327 Mn.
• Newgen IPO marked the close with 4.28 times subscription, receiving bids for 5.23 Cr shares, against the total issue size of over 1.22 Cr scrips. The Newgen IPO took a slow start on day 1 with only 18% subscription, however, gained pace on the second day with 70% subscription. The IPO was closed on January 18, 2018. With this public offering, the IT company is attempting to raise $71 Mn and provide an exit to a few of its early investors.
• Calcutta Angels entered into a partnership agreement with Mumbai Angels. Both the angel networks will be working together as a single team. With this collaboration, the duo will aim to bring the best, curated deals to their member base, faster deal closures with their combined strength, a standardised deal closure framework and active management of the investment portfolio.

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