Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [September 7-12]

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

Gurugram-based foodtech giant Zomato has raised $102.5 Mn in Series J from US-based investment firm Tiger Global Management. The development comes after Zomato Raised $62 Mn fund from Temasek’s MacRitchie Investments.

According to the ministry of corporate affairs filings, Zomato has allocated 25,313 Class J preference shares at an issue price of INR 3,09,235 per share to raise INR 770 Cr. With this, Tiger Global would hold 3.01% stake in the company. Besides this, the company is also prepping up to go public by the first half of 2020.

Overall, $690.7 Mn was invested across 23 Indian startups this week. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amounts).

Checkout Inc42 Plus’ Indian Startup Funding Tracker For Latest Funding Deals Info

Indian Startup Funding Of The Week

1. BYJU’S: $500Mn
2. Zomato: $102.5 Mn
3. Groww: $30 Mn
4. Hasura: $25 Mn
5. Melorra: $8.9 Mn
6. BluSmart: $7 Mn
7. Pandorum: $5.6 Mn
8. Hippo Video: $4.5 Mn
9. Qapita: $1.8 Mn
10. i3 Systems: $1.5 Mn
11. FabHotels: $1.3 Mn
12. Pitstop: $1.2 Mn
13. Market Pulse: $750K
14. QShala: $367K
15. Deepsync: $300K
16. Cell Propulsion: Undisclosed
17. SpeakIn: Undisclosed
18. LetsUp App: Undisclosed
19. ConnectedH: Undisclosed
20. OckyPocky: Undisclosed
21. SOAL: Undisclosed
22. Newsreach: Undisclosed
23. CustomFit.ai:Undisclosed

• BYJU’S: Edtech unicorn BYJU’S has raised $500 Mn in a fresh round of funding led by US-based private equity investor Silver Lake, which had invested INR 10,202 Cr in Reliance’s Jio Platforms in exchange for 2.09% stake in the company. The round values BYJU’S at $10.8 Bn.

• Groww: Data science-based mutual fund investing platform Groww has raised $30 Mn in a funding round led by Continuity Fund, the growth-stage investment fund operated by Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator Y Combinator. The round also saw participation from existing investors Sequoia India, Propel Ventures, and Ribbit Capital.

• Hasura: San Francisco and Bengaluru-based Hasura has raised $25 Mn in Series B funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Vertex Ventures US, Nexus Venture Partners, Strive VC and SAP.iO Fund and new angel investors including Microsoft’s chairperson John Thomspon. It will use the funding to accelerate its hiring and investment in its open-source and commercial product development.

• Melorra: Indian fine jewellery brand Melorra is raising nearly $8.9 Mn (INR 66 Cr) in debt funding led by Shadow Holdings. Lightbox and Embassy Group’s CFO Gopinath Ambadithody also participated in this round.

• BluSmart: Delhi-based electric mobility startup BluSmart has raised $7 Mn (INR 51 Cr) in funding from multiple investors including Inflection Point Ventures, Venture Catalysts, Survam Partners, Mumbai Angels, Chhattisgarh Investments Ltd, Jain International Trade Organization (JITO) Angels, Lets Venture Fund and Kaplavriksh Fund. Besides this, it is also underway to raise venture debt for the same purpose.The company will use this funding to expand the number of cars on its platform, set up more charging infrastructure, technology improvement and expand its geographical reach.

• Pandorum: Bengaluru-based deeptech startup Pandorum Technologies has raised $5.6 Mn (INR 41.25 Cr) from BTB Ventures, Capital Trust, IAN Fund, Kotak Investment Advisors, and Karnataka Trustee Company. Further, the company has issued two equity shares to Indian Angel Network Fund.

• Hippo Video: Video-as-a-service (VaaS) platform for enterprises Hippo Video has raised $4.5 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) and Exfinity Venture Partners. The funds would be used to build its go-to-market (GTM) teams and ramp up the engineering team.

• Qapita: Fintech and legaltech firm Qapita raised $1.8 Mn seed round led by Vulcan Capital and several prominent early stage investors including Alto Partners Multi Family Office, Rippledot Capital’s Atin Kukreja, Koh Boon Hwee, K3 Ventures, KDV Holdings, Mission Holdings and several Northstar Group Partners including Patrick Walujo. It will be used to strengthen and build the team, accelerate product development and build its client base.

• i3 Systems: Insurtech startup i3 Systems has raised $1.5 Mn from Unitus Ventures. The startup plans to use the funds to advance technology that enables seamless adoption of their product across all repetitive business processes in the BFSI industry.
  

• FabHotels: Delhi-based budget hotel chain FabHotels is looking to raise $1.3 Mn (INR 10.66 Cr) from Singapore-based venture capital firm RB Investments. The funding would be used by the company for the expansion of its business and general working capital purposes of the company.

• Pitstop: Car service and repair platform Pitstop has raised $1.2 Mn from auto insurance company Acko as a strategy to improve customer engagement and smoothen the claim settlement process.

More Funding From The Indian Startup Ecosystem 

• Fintech startup Market Pulse has raised $750K in pre-series A funding led by HNI investors Ameet Desai (Founder, Anubhuti Advisors LLP and Ex-Group CFO, Adani Group), Aditya Goel (Director, Securcap, UK), Rashmi Kwatra (Founder and CIO, Sixteenth Street Capital), and Umasankar Nistala (MD, CEO, BNP Paribas India).

• QShala has raised $367K (INR 2.7 Cr) in angel funding led by Zerodha-backed startup incubator and fund Rainmatter Capital with participation from other notable angels including Mindtree cofounder Kalyan Banerjee.

• Deepsync Technologies has raised $300K from three angel funds namely, Anicut Angel Fund, 9Unicorns and Firstcheque. The startup is expected to use the capital to expand business operations, ramp up tech and product development, and expand its technology team.

• Electric mobility startup Cell Propulsion has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A funding round led by growX ventures and Micelio. Existing investor Endiya Partners also participated in this round.

• SpeakIn has raised an undisclosed amount from Richard Rekhy, former CEO of KPMG India. It plans to use its latest round of funding to speedily build more content with its experts and expand into new geographies.

• Narendra Firodia-led LetsUp App has raised an undisclosed amount from Holistic Lifestyle Coach and Luke Coutinho.

• Healthtech company ConnectedH has raised seed amount in funding from venture capital firm First Cheque, Cloudnine Hospitals’ founder Rohit MA, PointOne Capital, and other investors.

• Edtech startup OckyPocky has raised funding from Ankit Kumar through Lead Angels Network. The firm will use fresh capital to further enhance the product through new technologies and boosting their operations.

• Edtech startup SOAL (School of accelerated Learning) has raised funds from the investment arm of  the promoters of Munjal Auto.

• Newsreach has raised an undisclosed amount from various investors including JITO Angel Network, CIIE Initiative startup Oasis, USA-based venture firm, Omnivore VC’s managing partner Jinesh Mehta and other angel investors.

• Bengaluru-based SaaS personalisation platform CustomFit.ai has raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by Java Capital. Upsparks, FirstCheque and angel investment platform LetsVenture also participated in this round.

Other Developments Of The Week 

• The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) released the State Startup Ranking this week. Gujarat and Andaman & Nicobar Islands have been named the best performers, while Karnataka and Kerala were named top performers.

• Venture capital firm Inflexor Ventures has announced the first close of the maiden fund at INR 230 Cr. The target corpus of the Inflexor Technology Fund is INR 500 Cr, along with an additional INR 200 Cr greenshoe option.

• The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) launched the Aatmanirbhar Bharat ARISE – Atal New India Challenges (ANIC) to spur applied research and innovation in MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and startups by challenging them to come up with innovative solutions to sectoral problems.

• Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is reportedly looking to sell roughly 40% stake worth $20 Bn in its retail business Reliance Retail to US-based ecommerce giant Amazon, which is run by Jeff Bezos.

• Epharmacies startup 1mg is reportedly in talks with Indian and global private investment firms to raise $100 Mn to fend off the competition like Reliance, Amazon and the merged entity of PharmEasy and Medlife.

• StartupXseed Ventures has made the first close of its new investment vehicle at $8.8 Mn (INR 65 Cr). It expects to raise its full $20 Mn (INR 150 Cr) corpus over the next 6-9 months. The Fund II also has a green shoe option of $6.5 Mn (INR 50 Cr).

• LetsVenture has crossed INR 100 Cr mark on its Angel Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) The fund has made 97 investments worth INR 107.7 Cr transferred to 81 startups.

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