[Funding Galore] From Khatabook To Digit Insurance — Over $228 Mn Raised By Indian Startups This Week (Aug 23 – 28)

Indian startup’s funding ecosystem has been rather lull this week. With nearly 32 funding rounds this week, Indian startups raised over $228 Mn — a steep drop from last week, where they raised over $743 Mn. 

The highest funding this week was raised by fintech startup Khatabook of $100 Mn in its Series C round, bringing its valuation to $600 Mn. Besides, insurance tech unicorn Digit Insurance closed a fresh round worth $16 Mn from TVS Growth Fund and RS Filmcraft.  

Furniture rental startup Furlenco has raised $15 Mn from TradeCred, whereas foodtech startup Curefoods, the parent company of cloud kitchen startup Eat.Fit, raised $13 Mn in its Series A round led by Iron Pillar.

Overall, the ecommerce sector and enterprise tech amassed the most investments this week:

Startup IPO News

Freshworks Files For IPO In US 

Enterprise tech giant Freshworks has filed for its initial public offering (IPO) in the US, with an offering of up to $100 Mn. The company is yet to specify if it will raise the capital by issuing new shares or offloading shares of its existing investors, or both.

Delhivery Plans To File For IPO By October

Logistics and supply chain startup Delhivery plans to file its DRHP for initial public offering (IPO) to raise nearly $1 Bn by October this year. The unicorn, backed by SoftBank Vision Fund and Carlyle Group, could be offering both new and existing shares. It is targeting an India listing before March 2022. 

Startups M&A This Week 

Nazara Acquires Gaming Platform OpenPlay Technologies

Mumbai-based Nazara has acquired OpenPlay Technologies for INR 186.41 Cr. Nazara will acquire a 23.30% stake in the company for INR 43.43 Cr by the end of Q2 of FY 2021-22. It plans on completing the remaining tranche in FY 2021-22.

OpenPlay offers fantasy sports, quiz, rummy, and other games, and allows gamers and influencers to host tournaments.

Delhivery Acquires Logistics And Supply Chain Solution Provider Spoton Logistics

Logistics tech startup Delhivery has acquired Bangalore-based Spoton Logistics for an undisclosed amount. As part of the transaction, Samara Capital and Xponentia, which acquired Spoton from IEP in 2018, have made a full exit for cash. With this acquisition, Delhivery plans to strengthen its existing B2B capabilities further.

Funding Launches This Week

Atrium Angels Plan To Back Startups With ISB Founders

Atrium Angels, along with Netflix’s director of Abhishek Nag, CarDekho’s cofounder and president Umang Kumar, and Investcorp India’s head of digital technology, Varun Laul, are launching an early-stage sector-agnostic micro VC fund. 

 With an undisclosed corpus, the fund will offer pre-seed and seed-stage capital to startups where at least one cofounder is an Indian School of Business alumnus.

2am VC To Invest In Over 50 Indian Startups

US-based venture capital firm 2am VC plans to invest $10 Mn in more than 50 Indian startups by the end of 2022. The VC has already completed 10 investments between April and August and plans to complete five more by the end of 2021. 

A91 Partners Closes Second Fund at $525 Mn

Venture capital firm A91 Partners has announced the close of its second fund at $525 Mn —  almost double of what it closed in its maiden round in 2019. The VC has onboarded limited partners such as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Allianz Group with this round. Nearly 90% of the investment is in dollar commitment, and the rest will be in rupees. 

Prime Venture Partners Announces Fourth Fund With $100 Mn Corpus

Early-stage venture capital firm Prime Venture Partners has closed its fourth fund of $100 Mn corpus and aims to make 20 new investments in the next few years with a ticket size of $1-2 Mn. 

The fund saw investments from Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, a top-tier university endowment, several returning family offices and institutions, and numerous global technology entrepreneurs.

Update: 28th August, 6:15 PM 

The earlier version of the story had a typo in the funding amount raised this week, the same has been rectified.