Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [20-25 May]

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

This week, one of the biggest funding was raised by Gurugram-based used car marketplace Spinny. It raised $13.2 Mn in Series A funding round led by Accel and SAIF Partners. Existing investors such as Blume Ventures and Simile Ventures had also participated in the round.

Raghunandan G (cofounder and former CEO Taxi For Sure) and Haresh Chawla (partner at True North PE firm) also joined the round in their personal capacity and Alteria Capital provided venture debt.

The fresh funds will be used to strengthen its team across functions, improving inventory assortment and expanding the coverage and presence to newer locations.

This week, seven startups raised $23.37 Mn funding and two startup acquisitions took place in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Fundings Of The Week

LocoNav: Delhi-based fleet management startup BT TechLabs, the parent company of LocoNav, raised $4 Mn (INR 28 Cr) in a Series B round of funding. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings, the investment has come in from the company’s existing investor Sequoia Capital in two tranches from January to May 2019.

TVF: Mumbai-based Contagious Online Media Network Private Limited, parent company of The Viral Fever (TVF), raised $4.97 Mn (INR 34.67 Cr) in a Series D round. The fresh funding has come in from existing investor Tiger Global. In a media report, paper.vc founder Vivek Durai said that TVF’s valuation is $82 Mn post this round. However, this doesn’t account for new Series D participants.

LivSpace:  Bengaluru-based end-to-end home design and decor service provider Livspace raised an undisclosed amount from IKEA group franchisee, Ingka Group (Ingka Holding B.V and its controlled entities) for a minority stake. The funds will be used by the startup to develop new home interior solutions and products, market expansion and expanding offline retail footprint.

XploraBox: Noida-based edtech startup XploraBox raised $1 Mn in a Pre Series A funding round from Green Shoots Capital, Sucseed Ventures, JITO Angel Network, SWAN Angel Network and other angel investors including IIM alumni. Existing investor Metaform Ventures, USA, also participated in this round. The funds will be used to scale up in India, US and GCC countries.

My Mobiforce: Noida-based crowdsourcing platform My Mobiforce raised $200K funding from angel investors Arpan Prakash and Sanjiv Mital. The fresh funds will be utilised to hire and strengthen talent across sales team and others.

PublicVibe: Hyderabad-based vernacular hyperlocal news platform PubliVibe raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by Indian Angel Network, Anthill Ventures and Hyderabad Angels. IAN investors Bikky Khosla (Board of Director) and Prashant Pahade (lead investor) led the funding round and also joined the company board. The funds will be used to  scale in one of the vernacular languages and to optimize its AI technological infrastructure to build vernacular hyperlocal community news platform at scale.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Chennai-based SaaS unicorn Freshworks acquired Silicon Valley-based customer success management software Natero for an undisclosed amount. Freshworks’s Natero acquisition would help the former strengthen its customer success vertical and create more visibility for customer needs among its operational teams.
• RP Sanjiv Goenka Group-owned Spencer’s Retail Limited is acquiring 100% stake in Godrej Industries Limited-owned Nature’s Basket. The transaction is, however, subject to approval of the shareholders of both the companies. Both the companies believe that with the acquisition of Nature’s Basket, Spencer’s will get access to the West of India through its 36 stores in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru.

Other Developments Of The Week

• New Delhi-based ecommerce platform Snapdeal is inching closer to acquire its rival, ShopClues in an all-stock deal. If the 100% buyout deal is successful, all of ShopClues’ investors, including Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Helion Venture Partners, Tiger Global, Nexus Venture Partners and Unilazer Ventures will move to Snapdeal.
• Pune-based cloud kitchen startup Rebel Foods, which owns the Faasos chain, is looking to raise a $120 Mn (INR 834.4 Cr) funding round led by New York-based technology hedge fund Coatue Management. Coatue is expected to invest $100 Mn, while existing investors may pool in an additional $15 Mn – $20 Mn in the latest round.
• B2B-focused early stage investment fund, Endiya Partners, announced the $40 Mn first close of its second fund. Most of the existing limited partners have backed the new fund, according to Sateesh Andra, cofounder of Endiya Partners. This second fund is expected to have a total corpus of $70Mn (INR 500 Cr) and is likely to hit its  final close by the end of 2019. The early stage VC firm usually invests between $500K to $1.5Mn in Seed or Pre Series A funding rounds and may invest up to $5Mn per startup.
• Silicon Valley and Mumbai-based venture capital firm Nexus Venture Partners raised $38.5 Mn from three new investors for its $450 Mn fifth fund. The investment declaration comes as an amendment to last year’s filing in which the firm said it has raised $315 Mn from 29 investors.
• NITI Aayog circulated a cabinet note to infuse INR 7.5K Cr. for the AI development and research in India. The cabinet note reportedly proposes that the new government invests an initial INR 7.5K Cr. over the next three years along with setting up a high-level taskforce to lead the launch and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI).
• San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Vian Systems raised $50 Mn in its first funding round from two unnamed investors, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing in the US. Led By former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka, Vian Systems is aimed at building a world full of life and intelligence.
• Singapore-based end-to-end IoT platform for smart wearables, KaHa, raised $6.2 Mn in Series B funding led by ICT Fund and an existing strategic investor from Europe. The funds will enable the company to boost its research and development and scale its operations in the Asia Pacific region.

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