Funding Galore: From Pine Labs To Ola – Over $1.5 Bn Raised By Indian Startups This Week

As the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic eases up, India’s tech startups are raising funds at an unprecedented pace. The end of June also marked the end of the first half of the calendar year (CY) 2021, when investor confidence in Indian startups was at an all-time high.

According to Inc42 Plus data, between January and June, 2021, the total capital inflow in Indian startups stood at $10.8 Bn across 614 funding deals. More importantly, both half-yearly funding and deal count were at their historical peak. Compared to the year-ago period (H1 2020), total funding amount in H1 2021 surged 2.1x, while it recorded a 72% increase compared to H2 2020.

This week, Ola and Pine Labs led the funding charts with their mega rounds, while Furlenco and DealShare also raised sizeable funding to fuel their next phase of growth. Overall, $1.506 Bn was raised by Indian startups this week.

Note: This funding report is based on funding rounds that were disclosed or announced by startups

Coming back to the half-yearly performance, interestingly, fintech, enterprise tech and edtech startups in India have spearheaded the funding bull run in 2021. The three-sector combine accounted for 48% or 15 out of the total 31 mega funding deals (funding rounds of $100 Mn or above) recorded in the first half of 2021. In addition, media and entertainment, ecommerce (driven by D2C) and healthtech are also gaining significant investor traction. Find more in the Indian Tech Startup Funding Report, H1 2021 by Inc42 Plus.

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Startup M&As This Week

InfoEdge Acquires Skill Assessment Platform DoSelect

Skill assessment platform DoSelect has been acquired by Naukri.com’s parent company InfoEdge. InfoEdge has acquired 100% of the company in an all cash deal.

This deal enables the InfoEdge to offer a new variety of services under its brand Naukri.com, helping the platform consolidate its position in the market. Based in Bengaluru, DoSelect is the brainchild of ex-InMobi and NIT Jamshedpur graduates – Iliyas Shirol, Rohit Tirkey, and Sanket Saurav. The startup became operational in 2015 as a collaborative and technology-independent hiring tool for companies to hire the right kind of talent.

Matrimony.com Acquires ShaadiSaga

Publicly listed matrimonial services company Matrimony.com has announced that it is in the final stages of acquiring Delhi NCR-based online wedding services startup ShaadiSaga.com. The acquisition will help Matrimony.com expand its presence significantly in the northern and western regions, and enhance its product capabilities. Murugavel Janakiraman, chairman and managing director of Matrimony.com, said that the company aims to integrate ShaadiSaga’s product, technology and social media assets with its offerings — WeddingBazaar.com and Mandap.com.

Cleartax Acquires YC-backed yBANQ

Clear (formerly known as Cleartax) has acquired Y Combinator-backed enterprise payments startup yBANQ in a cash and stock deal. The acquisition is estimated at less than $5 Mn, according to reports. The fintech startup, which is focused on software services for enterprises as well as tax solutions for individuals, will now foray into the B2B payments and credit market with this acquisition. “It’s a logical next step for us to provide enterprise payment collection infrastructure for our clients and offer pay out facilities as well,” said Clear founder Archit Gupta.

Moglix Acquires Used Machinery Marketplace Vendaxo

B2B ecommerce and services startup Moglix has acquired ecommerce platform Vendaxo, which offers a used machinery marketplace. Moglix will be looking to provide high-value capital goods at economical prices to its network of manufacturers Vendaxo provides used machinery liquidation solutions to MSMEs and large manufacturing enterprises such as Siemens, Arvind India, Marico, Raymond, and Torrent Pharma.

“We are excited to welcome Vendaxo into the Moglix ecosystem. We started Moglix with the vision of providing doorstep access to high quality, affordable industrial products. The integration of Vendaxo with our platform is aligned with our vision to bring the ease and speed of E-Commerce to the manufacturing sector,” Moglix founder and CEO Rahul Garg said in a statement.