Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [Jan 13-18]

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

In one of the biggest funding round, Bengaluru and California-based enterprise tech startup focused on field operations — Zinier raised $90 Mn (INR 638 Cr) in Series C funding led by tech-focused investment fund ICONIQ Capital. The company will be utilising the funds to expand its platform globally, product enhancement and development, and partner with leading system integrators around the world.

Zinier was founded by Andrew Wolf and Arka Dhar, along with Girish Mysore and Matthew Nolan in 2015. The company offers an AI-driven platform called ‘ISAC’ that helps businesses to tackle every aspect of field service operations across industries. Till date, the company has raised $120 Mn funding.

Overall, 23 startups raised around $138 Mn funding in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. Zinier: $90 Mn
2. Epifi: $13.2 Mn
3. Ninjacart: $10 Mn
4. Pando: $9 Mn
5. Purplle: $8 Mn
6. Wysh: $2 Mn
7. Klub: $2 Mn
8. TechnifyBiz: $2 Mn
9. ExtraaEdge: $0.7 Mn
10. Capital Quotient: $0.6 Mn
11. ProEves: $0.5 Mn
12. Kafra: $25K
13. Toddle: Undisclosed
14. Power Gummies: Undisclosed
15. Zimyo: Undisclosed
16. CricZone: Undisclosed
17. Sabse Sasta Dukaan: Undisclosed
18. FitPhilia: Undisclosed
19. GoFloat: Undisclosed
20. Teach Us: $12.7K
21. Medicus: $12.7K
22. Monech: $12.7K
23. Dealberg: Undisclosed

• Epifi

Bengaluru-based neobank Epifi has raised $13.2 Mn in a seed funding round led by venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital and Hillhouse Capital. Within eight months of its launch, Epifi is valued at $50 Mn. Founded in 2019 by former Google Pay executives Sujith Narayanan and Sumit Gwalani, Epifi is a digital banking solution that will be focusing on young millennial workers in India.

• Ninjacart

Bengaluru-based online grocery delivery platform and agritech Ninjacart has raised $10 Mn (INR 71.83 Cr) in Series C funding round led by homegrown ecommerce giant Flipkart India and Singapore-based GEC3. The fund is said to be the first tranche of Flipkart’s commitment to invest in Ninjacart, along with the global retail chain giant Walmart which was announced earlier.

• Pando

Bengaluru-based logistics and supply chain startup Pando has raised $9 Mn (INR 63.8 Cr) in funding led by Chiratae Ventures alongside existing investor Nexus Venture Partners. The round also witnessed participation from Siemens’ backed Next47, the venture capital firm’s first direct investment in India. The company would be utilising the funds to scale its business to other markets including Southeast Asia and Europe, invest in technology and talent and enhance its transaction capabilities by working closely with its vendor partners.

• Purplle

Mumbai-based online cosmetics and beauty products retailer Purplle has raised $8 Mn in Series C funding round from Belgium-based investment firm Verlinvest. Founded by Manish Taneja and Rahul Dash in 2011, Purplle is an ecommerce platform that offers beauty products, appliances and cosmetics.

• TechnifyBiz

New Delhi-based B2B food commodity startup TechnifyBiz has raised $2 Mn (INR 14.16 Cr) in seed funding from social impact venture capital firms Omnivore and the Insitor Impact Asia Fund. The round also witnessed the participation from cofounders of Razorpay Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur; existing investors like R Narayan (Power2SME), Rajnish Gupta (Aakash Namkeen) and Indigram Labs. The company will be utilising the funding to expand its client and customer base across Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jammu and Orissa.

• Wysh

Celebrity engagement and wishing platform, Wysh, has raised $2 Mn in Series A funding round led by Kalaari Capital. Investment firms IIMK, Gemba Capital also participated in the funding round, along with Wysh’s existing investors Whiteboard Capital, Touchstone Equities and AngelList. With this funding, Wysh plans to strengthen its marketing strategy and bring more celebrities on board.

• Klub:

Singapore and India-based fintech startup Klub has raised $2 Mn in a pre-seed round led by the Sequoia Surge. 40 angel investors including Naveen Tewari and Piyush Shah of InMobi, Kunal Shah of Cred, Rajesh Yabaji of Blackbuck, Ramakant Sharma of Livspace, Amit Gupta of Yulu, also participated in the round. The funds will be used for building Klub’s investment and data platform along-with building the team and acquiring partners on the platform.

• ExtraaEdge:

Pune-based education-specific tech enterprise ExtraaEdge has raised $0.7 Mn in Pre-Series A round led by Sprout Venture Partners and Indian Angel Network. TiE Pune Angels, First Cheque LLP, UIncept and other angels also participated. The company plans to use the funds for expanding customer footprint, strengthen data science team and product depth. It will also use this capital to expand into existing international markets.

• Capital Quotient

Bengaluru-based fintech startup Capital Quotient has raised $0.6 Mn from a leading family office. The company plans to invest the funds for product enhancement, team building, and customer acquisition.

• ProEves

Delhi-based childcare discovery and booking platform ProEves raised $0.5 Mn (INR 3.6 Cr) in a seed funding round led by 1Crowd. A host of angel investors also participated in this funding round. “This round provides us with the capital to drive the next phase of our growth, which includes ramping up ProEves enabled centres across Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi NCR and other major cities,” said Divya Agarwal, cofounder of ProEves.

• Karfa

Delhi-based ecommerce platform Karfa has raised $25K in a seed funding round from undisclosed investors. Founded by Kartikeya Goel, the startup sells products crafted by artisans across India. Karfa claims to have associated1200 skilled artisans from West Bengal, Punjab, Varanasi and Jharkhand.

• Toddle

Bengaluru-based edtech startup Toddle has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round led by Matrix Partners India. The round also witnessed participation from seed-stage fund Better Capital and angel investors such as Swiggy cofounder Rahul Jaimini among others. The company said that it will be utilising the funds to cater to more educational segments in the coming years.

• Power Gummies

New Delhi-based personal care brand Power Gummies has raised an undisclosed amount from investment firm DSG Consumer Partners as a part of its Pre-Series A funding round. With this funding, Power Gummies is looking to further develop its brand and expand its product line to include chewable functional and nutritional supplements to enhance health, wellness and personal care.

• Zimyo

Gurugram-based HRtech startup Zimyo has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Yatra Angel Network (YAN) and other angel investors. The company will be utilising the funding to develop its product offerings and scale into multiple diversified platforms. It will also be using it to expand its team and to onboard around 200K employees by 2020.

• CricZone

Pune-based women focussed sports media startup CricZone has raised an undisclosed amount in its seed round from a clutch of angel investors. With this funding, the startup plans to expand the team as well as enhance product and services portfolio.

• Sabse Sasta Dukaan

Kolkata-based online pharmacy startup Sabse Sasta Dukaan raised undisclosed funding at the ‘Shark Tank’ event organised by Mumbai-based Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO) Angel Network. Overall, six startups raised a total amount of $0.56 Mn (INR 4 Cr) in the form of seed and shark fund from JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation (JIIF) investors.

• FitPhilia

Mumbai-based healthtech startup FitPhilia raised an undisclosed from angel investors and early-stage venture capitalists. The startup got the funding at the ‘Shark Tank’ event organised by JITO Angel Network.

• GoFloat

Mumbai-based GoFloat raised an undisclosed investment at the ‘Shark Tank’ event organised by Mumbai-based Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO) Angel Network. Various investors and early-stage venture capitalists participated in the investment event.

• Medicus

Mumbai-based healthtech startup Medicus raised $12.7K in seed funding from angel investors at the ‘Shark Tank’ event organised by JITO Angel Network. Medicus was founded in 2017 by Bhavesh Shah and Manav Shah.

• Monech

Mumbai-based fintech startup Monech raised $12.7K in seed funding even before launch at the ‘Shark Tank’ event organised by JITO Angel Network. Monech is an automated platform which will users to take their financial decisions.

• Teach Us

Edtech startup Teach Us raised $12.7K in seed funding from a clutch of angel investors at the JITO Angel Network’s ‘Shark Tank’ event. Teach Us is an educational portal which enables the students to access the diverse information related to education at one common platform.

• Dealberg

Bengaluru-based B2B marketplace has raised undisclosed funding. Founded by Abhishek Emmanuel, the startup provides an online platform for SMEs to buy office supplies, general merchandise, gift cards, among others.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Indian Angel Network has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Caspian Debt to bring larger fund access to early and growth-stage startups.
• Wipro Ventures announced the closing of its $150 Mn Fund II. The strategic investment arm of Wipro Limited said that it will continue to invest in early to mid-stage companies.
• Delhi-based early-stage investor Venture Highway raised $78.6 Mn for its second fund. The firm said that it is backed by iconic investors from Silicon Valley but didn’t share further details about the investors. It said that a large part of the capital will be used for new investments in nearly thirty early-stage companies.
• Silicon valley-based accelerator Y Combinator has announced that 26 Indian startups have been shortlisted for its upcoming winter batch 2020. The winter batch has almost doubled the entries from India, compared to its summer batch that had 14 Indian startups.
• Accion, a US-based non-profit organisation, has sold its stake in Aye Finance to Indian investment firm A91 Partners. A91 is a venture capital firm founded by ex-Sequoia executives VT Bharadwaj, Abhay Pandey, Gautam Mago and Kaushik Anand in November 2018.
• Amazon is all set to invest $1 Bn in India to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), said the company’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, while speaking on the sidelines of the Amazon Smbhav event, which was held at the JLN Stadium, New Delhi.
• Mumbai-based marketing capital firm Spring Marketing Capital has onboarded Belgian investment holding company Verlinvest as an anchor investor in its inaugural fund.
• Amazon’s Indian units— Amazon Wholesale and Amazon Pay— have received INR 1715 Cr fresh capital infusions. Amazon’s payments arm, Amazon Pay, received INR 1355 Cr while Amazon India’s B2B arm, Amazon Wholesale, got INR 360 Cr.
• Microsoft has selected 54 tech startups from five states to be part of its ‘Highway to a Hundred Unicorns’ initiative that works with local governments to strengthen the startup ecosystem in each state.
• Early-stage tech-focused fund Inventus Capital Partners, in December 2019, recorded three successful cash exits worth INR 230 Cr ($32 Mn) from companies — PolicyBazaar, AasaanJobs and Funtoot.
• Venture capital fund Ankur Capital has announced the first close of its second fund Ankur Capital Fund II (ACF II) at INR 240 Cr. The fund expects to reach its target close of INR 350 Cr later this year.
• Mumbai-based Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO) Angel Network organised a ‘Shark Tank’ event where six startups raised around $0.56 (INR 4 Cr).

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

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