Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [02-07 Sept]

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

One of the biggest Indian startup funding this week was raised by AdvisoryMandi. Noida-headquartered stock broking advisor startup raised $36 Mn in a fresh funding round from the EST Group. The company plans to use the funds to strengthen the ecosystem by integrating multiple stockbrokers, insurance brokers, asset management companies, and research houses to build a multilingual investment platform starting with equity, commodity, and currency assets classes.

In another development, Gurugram-based hospitality unicorn OYO Hotels and Homes acquired Copenhagen-based data science company Danamica for an undisclosed amount. The company believes that starting with Europe, Danamica’s technology innovations will benefit OYO’s global vacation homes business.

In total, this week, 12 startups raised about $90 Mn funding and one startup acquisition took place in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Fundings Of The Week

ProPhysio: Bengaluru-based healthtech startup ProPhysio raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from NestaVera Group of companies. The funds will help the company further accelerate its growth and build new products and services. It will also explore technology with AI-driven solutions to treat various health issues and reaching out to a larger consumer demographic in multiple locations across India at the clinic and extended care at home.

OTO: India’s first car leasing company OTO received funding of INR 10 Cr ($1.3 Mn)from Prime Venture Partners. The company plans to use the funding to expand in 10 cities in the next 6 months.

FPL Tech: First Principle Labs Technologies (FPL Tech) raised $4.5 Mn seed funding from marquee investors such as Matrix Partners and Sequoia India. The fresh funds will reportedly be used to strengthen the company’s product offering, team expansion and customer acquisition.

3rdFlix: Hyderabad-based edtech startup 3rdFlix raised $5 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round. The company said that the round was led by Exfinity Ventures with participation from YourNest, IDFC Parampara and HNIs. 3rdFlix plans to use the funds to increase its current market penetration and launch immersive and experiential content later this year. It is also looking to launch in international markets in the next 18 months, particularly the USA, UAE, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

75F: Bengaluru-based smart building solution provider 75F raised $18 Mn Series A funding. The company said that the round was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Climate Initiative with participation from Building Ventures, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, and Clean Energy Trust.

Atomberg Technologies: Mumbai-based hardware deeptech startup Atomberg Technologies raised $10 Mn in Series A funding, cofounder and CEO Manoj Meena told Inc42. The investment was led by A91 Partners, with participation from Whiteboard Capital Fund and Survam Partners. The funds will be used for amplifying distribution networks across all metro and non-metro cities. It will also double down the existing research and development team to strengthen the IP and develop a competitive and differentiated product the pipeline targeted at the evolving Indian consumer.

Myelin: Bengaluru-based deeptech startup Myelin Foundry raised a $1 Mn seed funding round led by Endiya Partners. The company is expected to use the funding to accelerate product development and market penetration.

Digital Refresh: Mumbai-based digital marketing company, Digital Refresh Networks (formerly Digital F5) raised about $6 Mn in funding from buyout fund TIW Private Equity. The company will use these funds to strengthen its core services and acquisitions.

Yelo: Neobanking startup Yelo raised an undisclosed amount in its first round of institutional funding from Matrix Partners India. Other investors in the round include Omidyar Network India, Flourish VC and Better Capital.

CashFlo: Mumbai-based lendingtech platform CashFlo raised $3.3 Mn in Series A funding, founder and CEO Ankur Bhageria told Inc42 on Tuesday. The investment came in from SAIF Partners, and angel investors such as Ashish Iyer (previously Sr. Partner at BCG) and Arpan Sheth (partner and managing director, Bain & Co.) among others. The funds will be used for business expansion, platform enhancement and expanding its team to about 80 employees in the next 24 months.

Simply Vyapar: Accounting software startup Simply Vyapar raised INR 36 Cr ($4.97 Mn) Series A funding led by IndiaMart with participation from existing investors India Quotient and Axilor Ventures. Of this, INR 30.12 Cr ($4.16 Mn) has been invested by IndiaMART for a minor stake. The company plans to use the fresh funds primarily for growing customer base and building the next set of major functionalities to provide a complete business solution for MSMEs.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week (In Speculation)

• Data management company Commvault is all set to acquire software-defined storage (SDS) company Hedvig for $225 Mn (INR 1,621 Cr). The cost includes the purchase price and ongoing employee retention, a statement said. The acquisition is expected to close Commvault’s 3Q and is subjected to certain closing conditions.
• Private equity firm Kedaara Capital is reportedly in talks to acquire stakes of the eyewear retailer Lenskart. Existing investors in the company PremjiInvest and Chiratae Ventures are reportedly planning to liquidate their shares as part of this deal.

Other Developments Of The Week

• French cosmetics giant L’Oreal invested an undisclosed amount in Fireside Fund II, an early-stage venture capital fund managed by Fireside Ventures. L’Oreal says that the latest investment aims to support innovative Indian consumer brand startups that have emerged due to the company’s dynamic digital ecosystem and new consumer needs.
• The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is all set to invest $20 Mn in early-stage venture fund Chiratae Ventures. The international financial institution is also likely to discuss the investment proposal by the end of this month.
• US-based fintech investment firm Accion Venture Lab launched a new $23 Mn fund to invest in fintech inclusion startups. In India, Venture Lab has invested into eight startups including Aye Finance, CreditMantri, CredRight, and SmartCoin among others.
• Lightspeed India Partners shortlisted 10 startups for Extreme Entrepreneurs 2019. The firm received more than 870 startup applications, a 90% increase over the first year, from across 102 cities. The startup names include Blackboard Radio, Bakbuck, Deepsync, EazyPG, Gratitude, GroMo, Ithaka, Openapp, Womaniya, and Xeno
• Asia’s largest startup conclave, Huddle Kerala, is returning with its second edition on September 27-28 to celebrate the startup ecosystem in one of the most progressive states in the country for startups. With over 30 display zones, more than 50 startup pitches, beach-side huddles with industry leaders, hackathons and many more events, Huddle saw more than 2,000 attendees, over 1,500 startups, 30+ speakers and over 15 investors officially participating.
• The Japanese government launched an Asia Digital Transformation Partnership Initiative (ADX Initiative) on September 1. The official statement from the ministry said Asian startups can utilise Japan’s strength in depth and hardware technologies to partner with Japanese companies.
• Gurugram-based ecommerce company Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal have come together to set up an investment vehicle, Titan Capital. It claims to have invested across 70 startups including Ola, Snapdeal, Mamaearth, UrbanClap etc. The website says that their portfolio companies have raised over $4 Bn from 100 institutional investors in follow-on rounds.
• YouTube in India, said that the company is committed to growing the learning community in India. It has already been supporting local creators with funds to develop high-quality learning content, which in turn is supporting the development of high-quality learning content, covering topics like English language training, environmental science, political science, calculus, genetics, chemistry in English, Hindi and Tamil. The company has already funded eight creators from India— ExamFear Education Hindi, Learn Engineering, Don’t Memorise, Study IQ Education, D’art of Science, Learnex – English Lessons Through Hindi, GetSetFlySCIENCE, and Let’s Make Engineering Simple.
• Three months after selling shares worth $76.4 Mn, Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal sold additional shares in the company to Tiger Global Management for $14 Mn. This could reportedly be a part of the accelerated share sale agreement at the time of the company’s acquisition by Walmart in November last year.
• In a bid to extend its services and products to the state, and offer mentorship guidance to startups in Punjab, YES BANK has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government’s Startup Punjab initiative.

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

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