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

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

In one of the biggest funding rounds, Bengaluru-based online home furnishing startup HomeLane has raised $30 Mn in Series D funding. The round has been led by new investors Evolvence India Fund (EIF), Pidilite Group and FJ Labs, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and JSW Ventures. The company will use the funds to launch renovation as a category, scale its proprietary design-to-manufacturing platform to more designers, vendors and installers; and expand to 8-10 new cities in India.

Overall, nine startups raised around $83.5 Mn funding and two startup acquisition took place in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. Eduisfun: $28 Mn
2. Aye Finance: $15 Mn
3. Bombay Shaving Company: $6.3 Mn
4. Nu Genes: $6 Mn
5. Cell Propulsion: Undisclosed
6. Keito: Undisclosed
7. YNOS: Undisclosed
8. Vimobin Labs: Undisclosed

Eduisfun:

Mumbai-based edtech startup Eduisfun has secured $28 Mn (INR 200 Cr) from angel investors such as HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, actor Amitabh Bachchan, Ogilvy Group chief creative officer Piyush Pandey and PwC partner – assurance Russel Parera. The company will be utilising the funding to increase its scholarship pool, product development and expand to 1.5 Mn schools across India.

Aye Finance:

Gurugram-based financial services startup Aye Finance raised $15 Mn (INR 107 Cr) debt funding from Switzerland-based impact investor, BlueOrchard. With the recently raised funds, Aye Finance will grow its loan book, expand the lending portfolio, and offer affordable and customised credit solutions to small and micro enterprises (SMEs) in India.

Bombay Shaving Company:

New Delhi-based men’s grooming startup Bombay Shaving Company has raised $6.3 Mn (INR 45 Cr) in a funding round led by domestic consumer-centric venture fund Sixth Sense Ventures. Founded in October 2015 by Shantanu Deshpande, Raunak Munot, Deepu Panicker, and Rohit Jaiswal, Bombay Shaving Company was officially launched in May 2016.

Nu Genes:

Telangana-based agritech startup Nu Genes has raised $6 Mn from Innovation in Food and Agriculture (IFA) Fund managed by Sathguru Catalyzer Advisors. With the recently raised funds, Nu Genes will expand its presence and will take its agriculture-based product offerings to an international level.

Cell Propulsion:

Bengaluru-based electric vehicle startup Cell Propulsion has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from growX ventures as part of Huddle’s EV Accelerator Program. Other investors that have invested in CP include Endiya Partners, Sangam Ventures, CIIE (IIM-A). The EV accelerator program by Huddle is a dedicated acceleration program for EV companies in India.

Keito:

Pune-based SaaS startup Keito raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Pune based Suma Soft Pvt Ltd. Keito is an enterprise artificial intelligence(AI) and productivity-focused startup. The funds will be utilised for scale, improve current products, introducing new products, customer acquisition, and strengthening the fundamentals for consistent, and sustainable growth.

YNOS:

Chennai-based YNOS Venture Engine has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Mahesh Ramachandran, partner at Pontaq VC, and a group of undisclosed investors. IIT Madras Incubation Cell also joined the round as a part of its Seed Support Funding Scheme to its incubatees. The funding would be used to meet planned investments in technology and for strengthening product development.

Vimobin Labs:

Bengaluru-based gaming company Vimobin Labs has raised undisclosed seed funding from a slew of angel investors such as Ranjit Radhakrishnan (CPO, Byjus), Farooq Adam (cofounder, Fynd), Shubh Malhotra (cofounder, Mobile Premier League (MPL), Aprameya Radhakrishnan (CEO, Vokal, Ex CEO – TaxiForSure) and Aaryaman Vir from Prophetic Ventures. The funds will be used towards scaling the technology team and working towards launching a market-ready product in the coming quarter.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Sachin Bansal and Ankit Agarwal’s Navi Technologies (formerly known as BAC Acquisitions) acquired Bengaluru-based technology consulting firm MavenHive. Post-this acquisition, Navi said the MavenHive team will be joining Navi. Founded in 2012 by Bhavin Javia and Anandha Krishnan, MavenHive is a tech firm that specialises in end-to-end product development and training.
• Gurugram-based HRtech startup PeopleStrong has acquired Noida-based enterprise tech startup Qilo. With this acquisition, PeopleStrong said that it will be helping its clients seamlessly measure business outcomes and individual performance across all levels of the organisation. In addition to this, 20 members from Qilo will now be joining PeopleStrong.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Pune-headquartered logistics company Xpressbees is planning to raise $10 Mn from Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba. The filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs showed that Xpressbees is offering 9317 Series D preference shares at a price of $1073.30 per share, making this worth $10 Mn.
• Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is likely to announce the first close of its SoftBank Vision Fund II (SVF II) at $30 Bn in the first quarter of next year, SVF CEO Rajeev Misra told a leading publication.
• Bengaluru-based hyperlocal services provider Dunzo is raising INR 4.8 Cr from Alteria Capital. According to company filings, on December 16, it approved allotment of Series D1 preference shares to Alteria Capital. It is approving allotment of 807 Series D shares at a nominal value of INR 10 with a premium of INR 59518.9 per share.
• With the aim to maintain its position in India’s gaming industry, Baazi Games plans to invest $5 Mn in gaming startups in the country.

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