Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [March 23-28]

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

In one of the biggest funding round this week, Mumbai-based cryptocurrency exchange aggregator CoinDCX has closed its Series A round with $3 Mn in funding, led by Polychain Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and HDR Group, operator of BitMEX, with participation from other venture capitalists.

The funds will be used for its next phase of development including product enhancements, service enhancements, research and development, marketing activities, and human resource growth. The company said that the fresh funding will allow it to accelerate improvements to its service-offering to match the recent uptick in Indian crypto users.

Overall, seven startups raised around $6.27 Mn funding and one startup acquisition took place in the Indian startup ecosystem this week. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. CoinDCX: $3 Mn
2. QTalk: $1.6 Mn
3. Excess2sell: $1 Mn
4. NuNu TV: $670K
5. Accion Labs: Undisclosed
6. Shadez: Undisclosed
7. Snack Amor: Undisclosed

• QTalk

Bengaluru-based QTalk raised $1.6 Mn in seed funding from venture capital firms Accel India and Lightspeed Venture Partners. With this funding, QTalk is planning to improve its tech stack and hire more people to work on its product which is in the early stages of development right now. As of now, 20 people are working with the startup at its office in Koramangala, Bengaluru.

• Excess2sell

Mumbai-based B2B marketplace Excess2sell raised $1 Mn in a funding round that was sourced through private equity investor Gautham Madhavan. As part of this transaction, Madhavan has also joined the company’s board of directors as well. The company plans to deploy the investment to ramp up its technological solutions and further expand its growth across additional product categories.

• NuNu TV

Kids-focussed Youtube channel NuNu TV has raised $670K (INR 50 Lakh) in a funding round from Delhi-based angel network Risers Accelerators. With this funding, the startup plans to improve the quantity and quality of video content.

• Shadez

Mumbai-based home painting startup Shadez has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from IP Ventures. As part of investing at the early stage in the startup’s journey, IPV will also provide incubation support to the team to help them with business strategy, expansion and risk mitigation.

• Accion Labs

Pennsylvania-based SaaS company Accion Labs, which has offices in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, has raised an undisclosed amount from TA Associates and Basil Technology Partners. Notably, Mumbai-based Avendus was the advisor for this deal.

• Snack Amor

Snack Amor raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors. The angels who invested in their personal capacity include founding managing director of Endeavor Lebanon Tarek Sadi; senior VP ABB, Switzerland Michael Cooke; CEO of Mekor USA Sapan Nainani. Founded by Deepak Grover, Snack Amor offers a range of healthy and affordable snacking alternatives. It claims to have some of the leading online, offline platforms and corporates in India as its customers.

Indian Startup Acquisition Of The Week

• To take a leap in the subscription delivery space, grocery delivery platform BigBasket has acquired online milk delivery service DailyNinja. With the acquisition, BigBasket will be able to facilitate the growth of its BBdaily milk and daily needs subscription business.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Social-impact investment firm Omidyar Network has announced a rapid response fund of INR 7.5 Cr ($1 Mn) for tech proposals that are looking to support the vulnerable sections — vendors, daily wage earners, gig-economy workers, and small businesses — through and beyond the coronavirus pandemic.