Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Dec 30, 2019-4 Jan 2020]

We bring to you the latest edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!

In one of the biggest funding round, Gurugram-based automobile service and maintenance startup GoMechanic raised $14.7 Mn (INR 105 Cr) in a Series B led by Chiratae Ventures and Sequoia Capital. The funding round also saw participation from existing investor Orios Venture Partners. The company will be utilising the funds to scale up its operations and expand its presence across other geographies pan-India.

Founded in 2016, GoMechanic runs over 215automobile service and maintenance workshops in nine cities. In the coming days, it plans to expand to about 30 cities and aims to scale its workshop network to 1000 partners by 2021. GoMechanic is backed by Sequoia Capital, Orios Ventures Partners, Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, and angel investor Dhianu Das.

Overall, six startups raised around $18.9 Mn funding in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. WealthBucket: $2.5 Mn
2. Fashor: $1 Mn
3. Super Surfaces:$0.5 Mn
4. Quicko: $280K
5. FarmERP: Undisclosed

• WealthBucket

Delhi based fintech startup WealthBucket has raised $2.5 Mn (INR 18 Cr) in a funding round from NorthStar Ventures, founder of Devnagri, Vinod Khatumal, and other high net worth individuals (HNIs). With the recently raised funds, the startup will take its mutual fund product offerings to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Additionally, WealthBucket will utilise the funds to improve technology capabilities, customer acquisition, and improving the overall experience of users on the platform.

• Fashor

Chennai-based women’s fashion and apparel startup Fashor raised $1 Mn (INR 7.1 Cr) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by an early-stage and seed-stage venture capital firm Sprout Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from IP Ventures, Venture Catalysts and other investors. The company will be utilising the funds to accelerate growth and expand its brand presence, both in online and offline channels.

• Super Surfaces

Hyderabad-based Super Surfaces raised $0.5 Mn Series A funding from NRI investor Vishnu Reddy. With the recently raised funds, Super Surfaces is planning to increase product range in organic paints, textures, and plasters. They are also planning to enter the global market starting with Srilanka and Bangladesh by 2022, and USA and Australia by 2023.

• Quicko

Ahmedabad-based online tax planning and filing platform Quicko raised $280K in the seed round from Zerodha’s fintech fund and incubator Rainmatter. With this funding, the company plans to build its income tax return filing service for the online trading community as well. In addition, the company will get access to the online stockbroking platform Zerodha’s customer base.

• FarmERP

Pune-based Agritech enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform, FarmERP, raised an undisclosed amount in its Series A round from Singapore-based strategic investor Technogen. With this funding, FarmERP plans to build artificial intelligence (AI)-based climate resilience intelligence to help customers to mitigate climate risks in agriculture and achieve sustainability.

Other Developments Of The Week

• American seed-stage accelerator Y Combinator (YC) has awarded equity-free grants of $15K to four Indian startups, namely Circles, Vizitor, Sandoras, and Wealth42, along with others who participated in 10-weeks programme of its Startup School.

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