Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [27 May-1 June]

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 Bengaluru-based electric two-wheelers maker Ather Energy. The investment of $51 Mn was led by Flipkart cofounder Sachin Bansal’s who poured in $32 Mn. For this round, Hero MotoCorp has converted its convertible debt of $19 Mn and InnoVen Capital has extended an $8 Mn venture debt.

The company plans to use the funds to enter an expansion phase and has already lined up Chennai as its next city of operations. It plans to eventually expand it to 30 cities by the end of 2023.

This week, 15 startups raised $117.74 Mn funding and three 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

GlowRoad: Bengaluru-based social commerce startup GlowRoad raised $11.5 Mn in a Series B+ funding round from South Korea-based Korea Investment Partners (KIP) and Singapore-based Vertex Ventures. The company is now looking to ramp up hiring across technology and customer care operations.

FreshToHome: Bengaluru-based online marketplace for perishable goods FreshToHome raised $11 Mn in Series A funding round led by CE Ventures with participation from Das Capital, Kortschak Investments, TTCER Partners, Al-Nasser Holdings, M&S Partners, Al-Nasser Holdings & Abdul Azeez Al-Ghurair from UAE, PLB other Asia and Valley-based Investors. The funds will be used to expand its operations in all Tier 1 cities of India and strengthen the sourcing supply chain.

Bira91: Delhi-based craft beer maker B9 Beverages, the parent company of Bira91, raised $20 Mn in a bridge funding round. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings accessed by Inc42, the company has raised $4.26 Mn in pre-Series C funding round from Sixth Sense Ventures as well as $1.28 Mn debt funding from Anicut Trust.

Homescreen Network: Bengaluru-based vernacular digital media startup Homescreen Network raised $2 Mn in a Series A round of funding from Saama Capital. The startup plans to use the funds to grow on vernacular reach in India and build a highly scalable Professional Generated Content (PGC) platform.

FreshVnF: Mumbai-based agritech startup FreshVnF raised $2 Mn in its first round of funding led by Equanimity Ventures. The round also saw participation from  GVFL and Manish Choksi (non- executive vice chairman at Asian Paints Limited) through his family office. The fresh funds will help the company grow its farm network for consistent supplies, build its technology platform for seamless supply chain operations at scale and increase its retail footprint and service over one lakh retail customers in western India.

Airblack: Gurugram-based travel commerce startup Airblack raised $1.5 Mn in a seed funding round from Asia-focussed venture capital firm, SAIF Partners. The funds will be used to launch its consumer product, which is currently available on an invite-only basis. The company is also looking to ramp up its traveller and influencer community features and recruitment for its core team.

Clairco: Bengaluru-based cleantech startup Clairco raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from US-based curated closed marketplace for startups and investors, AngelList. The fresh funds will be used to expand its footprint to key cities across the country and strengthen its core technology team.

Agara Labs: Bengaluru-based deeptech startup Agara Labs raised $2.5 Mn in a pre-Series A funding round from venture capital firm Blume Ventures and Russian VC fund, RTP Global. The funds will be used to continue its product development and establish a sales team in North America. It is also planning to acquire high-performance computing machines to strengthen its product development.

UrbanClap: Gurugram-based hyperlocal startup UrbanClap’s founders— Abhiraj Bhal, Raghav Chandra and Varun Khaitan committed to $15Mn (approximately INR 107 Cr) investment in the home services company as part of its Series D round.

Skilancer Solar: Noida-based artificial intelligence startup Skilance Solar raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Dhianu Das’s venture capital fund, Alfa Ventures. The funds will help the company scale up operations and market presence.

Hyperhire: Delhi-based HRTech startup Hyperhire raised $200K seed funding from Seoul based early-stage venture capital firm Springcamp and supported by Korean government. The funds will be used to launch its job platform JOBKET in the country.

Leadstart Publishing: Mumbai-based mediatech startup  Leadstart Publishing raised $500K in a pre-Series A funding round from SucSEED Venture Partners. The funds will be used to scale operations, develop technology, and focus on customer acquisition.

Kabaddi Adda: Mumbai-based kabaddi web portal KabaddiAdda raised $215.2K (INR 1.5 Cr) in a seed round of funding from Artha Venture Fund. The funds will help the company increase their reach to the millions of Kabaddi fans across the globe, enhance the website’s user experience and pool in the resources required to deliver high quality content in multiple languages.

@: Mumbai-based social media marketing startup @ (At) raised $330K funding from angel investors including Anupam Mittal, founder and CEO of shaadi.com, makaan.com and Mauj Mobile; Dharti Desai, founder and CEO Finewinesandmore.com; and Hardik Zaveri, founder and director, 8finity Global. The funding will help the company build further technical capabilities.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Patna-based agritech startup, DeHaat acquired Noida-based VezaMart, a platform which builds farm management solutions for farmers for an undisclosed amount. After the acquisition, the team at VexaMart will continue developing solutions for farmers. The acquisition will also help DeHaat gain access to new regions and farmer networks in western UP.
• Bengaluru-based printing retail startup Printo acquired custom online printing marketplace Inkmonk for an undisclosed amount. Post-acquisition, Chennai-based Inkmonk’s founders Isaac Wesley and Surya Sankar will join the Printo management. Inkmonk will continue to grow as an independent brand.
• Gurugram-based health test enabler Healthians acquihired Mumbai-based Wow Web Solutions Private Limited that runs Healthy Labs – A B2B diagnostic logistic service provider. As a part of the deal all Healthy Labs employees, including the founder, Nikhil Jadhav will join Healthians. With this, Healthians has expanded its operations to Mumbai and Pune.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Info Edge (India) Ltd, the parent company of online job portal Naukri.com, announced that it will acquire Highorbit Careers in an all cash deal worth INR 80.82 Cr. Post the completion of the acquisition, iimjobs will become wholly-owned subsidiary of InfoEdge. The proposed acquisition would help the Info Edge company to further consolidate its position in the online recruitment solutions segment.
• Gurugram-based eyewear startup Lenskart may raise $350 Mn from SoftBank Vision Fund. The funding is expected to hike the company’s valuation by 162%, reaching a valuation of $1.3 Bn from $495.5 Mn at the last round.
• Bengaluru-based online payment platform PhonePe is in talks to raise about $1 Bn from marquee investors like China’s Tencent and Tiger Global. The Bengaluru-based payments company is planning to boost its valuation to $7 Bn – $8 Bn and may not look for any deal below this level.
• Bengaluru-based hyperlocal services company Dunzo is reportedly in talks to raise $50 Mn funding from Mumbai-based venture capital firm Lightbox Ventures. The deal is close to being finalised in the coming one or two months.
• Alibaba has reportedly invested $100Mn in a short-video sharing app VMate to increase its foothold in the Indian market. VMate was launched in India in 2016 by Alibaba subsidiary UC Web. VMate has 30Mn global users and will use the funding to scale its business in India.
• Bengaluru-based packaged food company, MTR Foods announced an INR 50 Cr (about $7 Mn) fund to invest in early stage food processing startups. The company plans to be a minority partner in its every investee. So far MTR Foods has invested in one Bengaluru-based children food manufacturer Firoots, in which the company picked up 42% stake.
• Gurugram-based incubator for cleantech startups, AIC Sangam signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with semiconductor solutions provider Infineon Technologies to nurture technology startups that focus on the environment, recycling and clean energy. Under the collaboration, Infineon will sponsor lab equipment and offer business and technical guidance as well as training specific to building on Infineon technology platforms.
• Gurugram-based AI and deep learning solutions provider ParallelDots won the Tech4Future challenge, a collaboration of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and Invest India under Japan India Startup Hub. As the winner, ParallelDots has received a cash prize of $50K. SoftBank has also invited ParallelDots for an incubation opportunity in Japan for 2-3 months.
• Hyderabad-based incubator T-Hub announced second batch of 45 startups for its Lab32 incubation programme. They will have access to the workshops and seminars from senior corporate executives/CXOs and serial entrepreneurs, besides networking and peer-mentoring opportunities within the batch. Selected startups included Acuwin, 23.4 Degree Solutions, AIRFI etc.

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