Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [June 15-20]

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

This week, Reliance Industries Limited managed to clear off its net-debt almost nine months ahead of its set target of March 31, 2021. This can be attributed to Reliance Industries’ massive funding streak in the last eight weeks through its digital venture Jio Platforms.

The company not only raised more than INR 1.15 Lakh Cr from global tech investors , but also raised another INR 53,124 Cr through a rights issue in the last 58 days. Taking the amount to INR 1.68,818 Cr. Besides this, the company made close to INR 7,000 Cr in capital with the sale of 49% shares to Bharat Petroleum in an Indian fuels and mobility joint venture branded as Jio-BP. Adding this, Reliance Industries has raised more than INR 1.75 Lakh Cr in the last seven months.

Overall, 19 startups raised around $23.2 Mn funding and three startup acquisitions took place in the Indian startup ecosystem this week. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amounts).

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. 1. Milk Mantra ($10 Mn)
   2. Jai Kisan ($3.9 Mn)
   3. MedikaBazaar ($3.3 Mn)
   4. FabAlley ($2.72 Mn)
   5. LetsTransport ($1.3 Mn)
   6. Leap ($1.1 Mn)
   7. NetMeds ($877K)
   8. Stellapps ($656K)
   9. GoldenPi ($459K)
   10. Crimson Healthcare ($223K)
   11. Edvizo ($150K)
   12. Lattu Kids (Undisclosed)
   13. GoMechanic (Undisclosed)
   14. Gabbardeals (Undisclosed)
   15. Agro2o (Undisclosed)
   16. SARVA (Undisclosed)
   17. Peppermint (Undisclosed)
   18. DROR (Undisclosed)
   19. Sai Estate Management and Skills Institute (Undisclosed)

• Milk Mantra
  Dairy food company Milk Mantra has raised $10 Mn from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). The company plans to use this funding to build its digital financial services platform for its network of farmers to drive financial inclusion.
• Jai Kisan
  Mumbai-based fintech startup Jai Kisan announced that it has raised $3.9 Mn (INR 30 Cr) in Pre-Series A funding round led by Arkam Ventures, along with NABARD-backed NABVENTURES Fund I. Existing investors Blume, Prophetic Ventures and Better Capital also participated in the round, alongside players like affiliate of The Chatterjee Group (TCG), Rajiv Sahney (New Vernon Capital), Sanjay Mariwala (Omniactive) and others.
• MedikaBazaar
  Mumbai-based B2B healthtech marketplace MedikaBazaar has raised $3.3 Mn (INR 25.6 Cr) from Antwerp-based Ackermans & van Haaren (AvH). According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs accessed by Inc42, the company received the board’s approval, on March 4, to allot 84,984 equity shares at a face value of INR 1 with a premium of INR 3011.38 per share. It has received the money now.
• FabAlley
  Delhi NCR-based online fashion store High Street Essentials Pvt Ltd (HSE), which owns omnichannel women’s fashion brands FabAlley and Indya, has raised $2.72 Mn (INR 20.75 Cr) in pre-Series C round from SAIF Partners, India Quotient Opportunities Fund, Abhishek Dalmia, Star Global Resources, Atma Ram Builders, Ashwin Babulal Shah, Pratima Singh and Harki Properties and Investments.
• LetsTransport
  Bengaluru-based tech-enabled logistics marketplace LetsTransport has raised $1.3 Mn (INR 10 Cr) Series A debt funding from Stride Ventures. Pushkar Singh, cofounder and CEO of  LetsTransport, said that the company has been scaling up its operations and network by enhancing its capabilities. It is also looking to partner with organised logistics players to facilitate direct to consumer deliveries.
• Leap
  Logistics startup Leap is also raising fresh debt and rights issue funding. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings accessed by Inc42, the company in a board meeting on June 11, approved the offer to issue 4,175 convertible debentures worth $1.1 Mn (INR 9.99 Cr) to Sargam Retails Private Limited and INR 11.24 Cr worth Rights issue to existing shareholders.
• NetMeds
  Healthtech startup NetMeds has received a fresh infusion of funds from its parent, Tresara Health. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings accessed by Inc42, the company received $877K (INR 6.68 Cr) in two tranches from Tresara Health on May 27 and June 4 by issuing fresh equity shares.
• Stellapps
  Bengaluru-based dairytech startup Stellapps had floated an offer to raise $656K (INR 5 Cr) from Stride Ventures in two tranches on June 12, 2020. This will be Stride Ventures’ second investment in Stellapps within a year. The company highlights that the fund intends to be a strategic partner in bid to customised offerings and strengthen relationships across banks and corporates.
• GoldenPi
  Online marketplace for fixed-income investments GoldenPi has raised $459K (INR 3.5 Cr) from Indian fintech fund and incubator Rainmatter. The company aims to make quality debt investing in this bond market an easy, affordable and staple household opportunity for all, said GoldenPi’s CEO and cofounder, Abhijit Roy.
• Crimson Healthcare
  Delhi-based healthtech startup Crimson Healthcare has raised $223K (INR 1.75 Cr) from Mumbai Angels Network. The company, which has developed an ostomy management device SphinX, plans to use this funding to expand its research, enter new markets and expand its customer base.
• Edvizo
  Bengaluru-based edtech startup Edvizo has raised $150K in seed round from Inflection Point Ventures. This is the company’s first institutional investment and it plans to use it to strengthen its technical and sales team, acquire more users and expand to more cities.
• Lattu Kids
  Edtech startup Lattu Kids has raised an undisclosed amount from Airtel Startup Accelerator Programme, in exchange for a 10% stake. Airtel’s investment in Lattu Kids, will allow the telecom major to add edtech to its premium digital content portfolio and offer quality learning material compiled by the company.
• GoMechanic
  Automobile service and maintenance startup GoMechanic has raised an undisclosed amount in Series B funding round from Hero Group’s chairperson Pawan Munjal. Previously, it has raised $15 Mn in Series B from Chiratae Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Orios Venture Partner.
• Gabbardeals
  Omnichannel mobile phone retail brand Gabbardeals has raised an undisclosed amount from Venture Catalysts to ramp up its operations, expand services and forge new partnerships. The company aims to onboard more than 10K mobile phone sellers on its platform to bridge the gap between supply and demand, while making faster deliveries.
• Agro2o
  Delhi-based agritech startup Agro2o has raised an undisclosed amount from Mumbai Angels Network. The company has developed a Smart Garden technology that offers intelligent nutrient dosing, water refill reminder, automated lighting and watering and air quality detector.
• SARVA
  Mumbai-based fitness and wellness startup SARVA has raised an undisclosed amount from Indian cricketer and entrepreneur Shikhar Dhawan. During its last fundraising in April 2020, the company had specified that it is looking to focus on its digital presence to work around the lockdowns and the reluctance of consumers when it comes to going to a physical gym or fitness studio.
• Peppermint
  SINE-IIT Bombay incubated industrial robotics startup Peppermint has raised an undisclosed amount from Venture Catalysts and Naveen Kshatriya, who is the former head of Castrol Asia and ANZ. The company is looking to use this funding to scale up their manufacturing efforts, strengthen their after-sales support infrastructure and foray into new markets.
• DROR
  Citizen safety technology platform DROR has raised an undisclosed amount from Inflection Point Ventures and US based serial entrepreneur and investor Gopi Latpate. The company is looking to use the funding to build a technology-driven platform for innovations and enterprise solutions.
• Sai Estate Management and Skills Institute
  SAI braided edtech venture Sai Estate Management and Skills Institute (SEMSI) has raised an undisclosed amount from Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty. According to media reports, the company is valued at $80 Mn post this round

Startup Acquisition This Week

• Mumbai-based digital lending startup InCred has acquired Bengaluru-based fintech platform Qbera for an undisclosed amount. With the acquisition, InCred is aiming to expand its portfolio of consumer loans and expand its distribution reach, leveraging Qbera’s existing partnerships. The deal is also set to benefit Qbera, which will benefit from InCred’s personal loan expertise.
• Mumbai-based online-to-offline (O2O) consumer healthtech startup HealWell24 has acqui-hired DocCare AI for an undisclosed amount. With this acquisition, HealWell24 will integrate DocCare AI technology and add their extensive and experienced physicians’ network into their own.
• Gurugram-based SyncMedia has acquired media-tech company Adorithm for $1 Mn. With this acquisition, SyncMedia will also absorb the Adorithm team, product and intellectual property and its rights. It believes that the acquisition would help the company derive enhanced capabilities to make its product offerings more data-driven and provide better value to their customers using artificial intelligence (AI)  machine learning (ML) algorithms.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Japanese venture capital firm BEENEXT announced the close of its BEENEXT Emerging Asia Fund at $110 Mn. The fund will focus on empowering early-stage startups and founders in India as well as South East Asia to accelerate digital technologies led innovation and growth in the new normal across sectors.
• Diagnostics startup 5C Network, AI-powered DeepTek, visual enhancement stack provider Orbo, healthtech startup Predible and radio diagnosis platform Synapsica have graduated from the first batch of ‘Edison[X] – Startups powered by GE Healthcare’.
• Lowe’s Innovation Labs, the innovation hub of FORTUNE, launched the first Indian cohort of its stage-agnostic startup accelerator program, CONSTRUCT. The first batch consists of seven Indian startups, consisting of Stylumia, Infilect, StoryXpress, Headway, Siddhi.ai, Rephrase.ai and Nanospan.
• Online financial services platform Paisabazaar has raised INR 4.99 Cr from its parent company.

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