Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [12-17 Feb 2018]

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

This week 14 Indian startups raised about 190 Mn in funding altogether and just one startup acquisitions took place 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 round of the week was raised by Ahmedabad-based SME lending platform Lendingkart. The Bengaluru-based startup who secured over $87 Mn in an equity funding round as part of its Series C round. The round was led by Singapore’s Fullerton Financial Holdings Pte Ltd. along with the participation from existing investors. With this new round of funding, Lendingkart Group’s cumulative equity and debt raising will exceed $173 Mn (INR 1129 Cr).

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

Zoomcar: Bengaluru-based Zoomcar closed $40Mn in a Series C funding round led by Mahindra & Mahindra. Zoomcar’s existing investors also participated in this funding round. Zoomcar’s capital raise will be used primarily for accelerating its marketplace supply growth, improving its lead within applied IoT technologies, and expanding into additional mobility categories across India.

HackerRank: Coding talent evaluation platform HackerRank raised $30 Mn in Series C funding led by JMI Equity. Existing investors, including Khosla Ventures, Battery Ventures, Randstad Innovation Fund and Chartline Capital Partners, also participated in the round. Suken Vakil, General Partner at JMI Equity, has joined HackerRank’s Board of Directors. The funding will be used to accelerate its growth in the enterprise, expand and support its growing community of more than 3.4 Mn developers, and advance its data science research and development.

IMAX Program: Bengaluru-based edtech startup IMAX Program has raised $13.5 Mn (INR 87 Cr) funding from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, LGT Impact Venture, and Aspada. The startup will use the funding for product innovation and expansion of IMAX Program’s customer base through multiple distribution channels and to team up with school publishers globally.

MoneyOnMobile: Mumbai-based fintech startup MoneyOnMobile raised $5 Mn in Series H funding from Russia-based private aviation and aerospace holding company S7 Group. The development comes just two weeks after the startup secured $7.6 Mn Series F funding from undisclosed investors. The capital infusion will enable MoneyOnMobile to drive growth across its range of products.

Wydr: Mobile-based B2B marketplace Wyder raised an undisclosed amount in a fresh round of funding from its existing investors. Wydr will use these funds to strengthen its seller base, set up pan-India offices and improve its product and technology stack to penetrate deeper in the Indian wholesale market.

Cashify: Cashify, an online used phone platform raised close to a million dollar in a venture debt funding round from Trifecta Capital. Cashify will use these funds to meet its growing working capital requirements.

Pandorum: Bengaluru-based biotech startup Pandorum Technologies raised $3.2 Mn (INR 21 Cr) in its Series A funding from Binny Bansal, Indian Angel Network (IAN) and other high net worth individuals (HNIs). The startup has already received $1.2 Mn (INR 7.9 Cr) and the remaining amount will come in tranches.

Eduvanz Financing: Mumbai-based edtech startup Eduvanz Financing raised $500K in a round of funding round led by Blinc Advisors. The startup aims to utilise the funds for strengthening its AI-based lending technology for loan appraisal and expand its operations across the country.

Awaaz De: Awaaz De Infosystems Pvt. Ltd, a startup providing mobile solutions to enterprises that focus solely on social programmes, raised an undisclosed amount of funds from angel investors rounded up by Tribe Impact Capital LLP. The angel investors include Takeshi Kato, Paula Mariwala, Prashant Adurty, Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs India. Other participants in the angel round include Pravin Gandhi, co-founder of Seedfund Advisors LLP, a venture capital firm; Ajay Balvantray Parekh, director at Pidilite; and Samir Shah, managing principal at early-stage investor Sattva Investment Advisors.

Holachef: Food-tech startup Holachef raised $311K (INR 2 Cr) from Ashok Kumar Gajera, director at Mumbai-based Laxmi Diamond Pvt Ltd at an estimated valuation of $27.4 Mn.  The startup last raised funds in December 2017, when it secured $1.38 Mn through a mix of equity and debt from IPI Technolab and Innoven Capital.

Littlemore: Singapore- and Chennai-based edtech startup Littlemore Innovation Labs raised $3 Mn (INR 20 Cr) funding from Centrum Group’s PE fund Kalpavriksh. As per reports, the company is planning to use the newly-secured capital to fund research and development activities. A portion of the financing will also go into filing patents and copyrights in Singapore.

Fincash:  Mumbai- based fintech startup Fincash raised $150K in a funding round from Angel investors. including industry veterans like Mohammed Khan (Founder of Rediffusion), Sameer Narayan (ex- Fund Manager BNP Paribas), and a couple of other industry stalwarts from financial services participated in the startup funding round. The startup will use this investment to expand it’s product solutions, customer base and widen the reach of its financial services across the country.

PetSutra: New Delhi-based niche pet startup PetSutra raised $147.7K (INR 9.5 Mn) from undisclosed angel investors whose names were not disclosed. The raised funds will be used towards expanding its brand presence across India and globally, thereby increasing the customer base around the globe.

Infibeam: Infibeam has raised $6.2 Mn (INR 40 Cr) from Network 18 by issuing the Preferential shares in form of fully convertible warrants via its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Ltd.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• New Delhi-based home rental marketplace ZiffyHomes acquired FellaHomes for an all-cash plus equity deal. With the acquisition, Ziffy plans to consolidate the expansion database for both the companies, wherein they will continue to serve exclusive rooms and FellaHomes would provide rentals at affordable pricing.

Also,  the FMCG arm of Tata Group, Tata Global Beverages is looking to enter the health beverage segment, with the buy out of Mumbai-based FMCG startup Paper Boat.

Other Important Developments Of The Week

• Anthill Ventures launched a business accelerator programme Anthill Studio, in partnership with Hyderabad-headquartered film production and distribution company Suresh Productions. The duration of the programme will be three months and will support tech startups in media and entertainment sector and will invest up to $1 Mn in each of the promising media and entertainment startups participating in the programme.
• Mumbai-based VC fund IvyCap Ventures is in talks to set up a $100 Mn (INR 640 Cr) cross-border fund between India and Israel. The fund will invest with a ticket size ranging between $500K to $7 Mn and aims to focus on startups that are based in Israel but are working on India specific solutions in areas such as water, healthcare, agriculture, and cybersecurity.
• Microsoft announced ‘Microsoft for Startups’, a programme aimed at supporting the startups, and has committed $500 Mn over the next two years to offer joint sales engagements with startups.
• The Indian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (IVCA), announced that it would now be representing Angel Investor Groups as well.  This will result in overall industry growth, with the sustainable and effective integration of the Angel investment community with the PE VC ecosystem. IVCA also works closely with policy makers and Government entities like DIPP, NITI Aayog, Ministry of Finance, CBDT, MeitY and regulators like SEBI, IRDA, PFRDA, and RBI and has enabled over 25 changes in regulations that have contributed to accelerating investments in AIFs over the past three years.
• Omnivore Partners announced the first close of its second fund at $46 Mn raised from SIDBI, RBL Bank, Sorenson Impact Foundation, Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) and The Rockefeller Foundation, among others. US-based single-family office Ceniarth and German government-run development bank KfW also participated in the round. The VC firm is aiming to make the final close of the second fund at $75 Mn (INR 500 Cr) by August 2018.
• LetsVenture announced the launch of LV Titans – a platform to help family offices to participate in the emerging asset class. With LV Titans, the platform will enable family offices to access growth stage startups and even differentiated global VC Funds for investment.
• The New Delhi Chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization, a global network of entrepreneurs launched its Accelerator Program to empower entrepreneurs with the tools, accountability, and community support to aggressively grow and master their business. The first Accelerator program by EO New Delhi, already has 12 entrepreneurs enrolled on board out of which 9 are women.  The program is a three-year experiential model.
• Axilor Ventures launched AXENT – an enterprise network program. The program allows access to top VCs, industry-leading corporates, go-to-market partners and tech services. The accelerator has called for applications for its 7th accelerator cohort starting in March 2018.

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